Craft Test Dummies

I couldn’t be more excited to share with you today’s review!  For starters, I am officially a Ranger U graduate and am a Ranger certified instructor!  Last month I travelled to New Jersey to the Ranger Ink factory to learn some amazing tips and techniques taught to us by Tim Holtz, Claudine Hellmuth, Dyan Reaveley [...]

If you love to upcycle or recycle, you know the value of spray paint! It can transform yard-sale finds into new treasures for your home economically and in almost no time flat. That’s why today I want to share with you Krylon ColorMaster Spray Paint! Here’s how it’s described on the website: ColorMaster’s formulation provides [...]

I was sent the brand new glass chalkboard paint from DecoArt to try out.  I was excited to jump into it after the failure I had on glass when testing the Americana Clear Chalkboard Coating.   I started with the information on the DecoArt website about this Americana Glass Chalkboard Paint: Glass Chalkboard Paint makes [...]

It’s a well-established fact that I do like shimmery, shiny things. So when I heard that there was a new glittery brush-type pen…well, I had to get them, right? (I picked them up at a LSS while I was on vacation, so it counts as a souvenir, too!) Meet the Wink of Stella Brush Glitter [...]

Most crafters are also DIY-friendly folks. I personally like to paint furniture and accessories to upcycle them, and so when the friendly folks at Color-Glide Pro reached out to ask me to try and review their painting tubes, I thought it would be a good fit.     The Color-Glide Pro is a brushless painting [...]

I admit it, I have never, ever tie dyed anything before.  It’s always seemed messy and a little daunting to me.  My oldest daughter Emma picked up this Tie Dye kit by Creativity for Kids (which is owned by CTD favorite, Faber-Castell) up at the local Target with some of her allowance money.  I kind [...]

Stamp pads are a wonderful, marvelous thing. Every paper crafter needs to have at least FOUR different stamp pads in their crafty toolbox. But there is always a question so which stamp pad works best for which jobs. So today, we’re taking a closer look at VersaFine Stamp Pads by Tsukineko!     From the [...]

Decoart sent me a wide selection of their Patio Paint to try out.  Perfect for this time of year don’t ya think?  First a little from the Decoart website about the product.   Product Description: Patio Paint is permanent, weather-resistant acrylic paint for outdoor decorating on concrete, wood, and terra cotta. Patio Paint is formulated [...]

Today we are playing with Faber-Castell’s Crafter Crayons.  These are part of their Design-Memory-Craft division that is geared towards using high-quality art products in mixed media and paper crafts.  So, these aren’t your average crayola’s!  According to Faber-Castell, “Paper Crafter Crayons™ are highly-pigmented wax crayons that can be used on all types of crafting surfaces.” [...]

“Make new friends, but keep the old; One is silver and the other gold.”  I was definitely singing this Girl Scout song while reviewing the new Jacquard Pinata metallic alcohol inks.  We previously reviewed their regular alcohol inks here, so go over there to get a little bit of a information if you are new [...]

Sprays and mists are still popular (and fun) in both papercrafting and mixed-media. Once upon a time a long time ago, I tried the original Walnut Stain by Tsukineko. Since then, they have come up with some lovely new, contemporary colors and are now called “Antiquing Solutions.” I wondered how they would work- want to [...]

I was given a bottle of Americana Clear Chalkboard coating from Decoart at CHA.  I smuggled it in my liquids bag and onto the plane home.  I couldn’t wait to give it a test.  Make any surface chalkboard?  Well lets just see about that! The Decoart website has the following to say about this product: [...]

Are you a child of the 80′s? Remember those cool black velvet flocked posters that you could get at the drugstore? They came with a set of crummy markers and you got to color them in yourself? Those were the days. However, you can relive that time with SEI’s Color My Own Fuzzy Iron-On Art [...]

Die cutting is still immensely popular in the crafting world for both fabric and paper crafters. And among the manual die cutting machines, only a few are electric- which means no cranking and hand fatigue. The newest of these “electrictronic manual” machines is the eBosser by Craftwell.    Here’s how it’s described on the website: [...]

  From the website: Roll out long patterns to create elegant and festive borders. Use multiple rows to create backgrounds for scrapbook pages and cards. Even make your own gift wrapping paper. The self-inking stamp cartridge allows you to apply the pattern without having to stop and use a blotter. Just roll it on! The pattern cartridge [...]

I really enjoy adding texture and patterns to my mixed-media projects- and Melt Art Texture Treads from Ranger Industries does just that. While they were designed to be used with UTEE (ultra thick embossing enamels,) they can be used on so much more. Let’s take a look! Here’s how they are described on the Ranger [...]

I’m intrigued by new ways to create my own fabrics. Whether it’s for a home decor project or the background fabric in a mixed media project, I’m forever searching for new things to try. Enter Ink Effects from DecoArt. From the DecoArt Ink Effects website: Ink Effects are fabric transfer inks that absorb into the [...]

Every crafter has their “idols.”  You all know of my undying love for all things Tim Holtz.  And in my creative Bible, if Tim is God, then Heidi Swapp is definitely my crafty Jesus. (Jennifer McGuire is my Holy Spirit of inspiration.)   I have always enjoyed seeing Heidi’s clean, happy and identifiable style.  I’ve also [...]

Some time ago we reviewed Distress Stains by Ranger and you got to see the wonderful semi-transparent color in a dauber bottle. Now, Ranger has released three new signature Tim Holtz products in this line- Metallic Distress Stains in Antique Brass, Tarnished Bronze, and Brushed Pewter. So let’s take a nice close look! First, here’s [...]

Spray mists and inks have been really hot in the scrapbooking and mixed-media world for a few years now, and if what I saw at CHA last summer is any indication there is no sense of it cooling down anytime soon. One of the new spray inks/ mists I saw was Plain Jane Simply Sheer [...]

If you like to journal or scrapbook, having a great white gel pen is really handy to have. A nice white line on a dark background can have a LOT of impact and “pop!” But which white gel pen really delivers?? I was on a quest to find out and today I’m sharing my results [...]

I was sent a bottle of Magikote by Decoart to try out and review.  Magikote claims to be able to transform stryrofoam into a hard paintable surface.  Let’s test it out. The Decoart website describes the product with the following information: Create Styrofoam™ masterpieces. Simply carve, combine, or sculpt ordinary Styrofoam™ shapes. Then cover with [...]

It seems like glass painting is all the rage lately- and now Plaid is hopping on the bandwagon with Martha Stewart Glass Paints. As you may remember, I reviewed the Martha Stewart Craft Paints and they were purported to work with glass, too. (Actually, I tried them and they worked great.) So why the specialized [...]

As a mixed-media artist, I find myself using a lot of different paintbrushes, for a lot of different techniques.  A couple years ago, I picked up a Royal & Langnickel Soft Grip brush at my local Michaels – paying no attention to the brand, not really knowing anything about brushes or bristle-types or anything – [...]

Color, color, color! Mistable sprays and inks are still really “hot” in paper crafting, and it was time to try out a new-to-us brand here at CraftTestDummies WHQ- Mr. Huey’s Color Mists for Studio Calico (by American Crafts.)  The first thing I realized when I dug out the product was that some are metallic/shimmery and [...]

In a world of allergies and questions about what chemicals REALLY go into art supplies, I was excited to try out Clementine Art products. I saw them on Amazon.com and couldn’t wait to try them out! Here’s how it’s described by the manufacturer: Clementine art introduces a new way of doing art with children. Our [...]

Every now and then, there is a merging of product lines that is wonderfully helpful and organic. Recently, Vintaj (a line of metal jewelry components) has teamed up with Ranger to create a specialty line of metal paints- Vintaj Patinas . Here’s how it’s described on the website. Vintaj Patinas are opaque inks specially formulated [...]

It seems like only yesterday… I was running off of a massive intake of caffeine and extreme creative crafty goodness at the 2010 Creative Escape Scrapbooking Retreat.  It was the final night with a fabulous dinner (dessert first!), auctions and giveaways.  There was one thing in particular that I had my eye on in the [...]

I was lucky enough to get to try out the glass paint markers from DecoArt.  I have wanted to play with these for some time.  I dove right into the product I received.  I tested seven different colors. The DecoArt website has the following to say about the markers: DecoArt glass paint markers are designed [...]

One day, a few weeks ago, I was playing around with some of my spray inks.  I happened to spritz one kind on top of another kind, and realized that they didn’t want to mix together.  It made the mad scientist in me come alive with wonder…and I started going crazy, spraying various ink sprays [...]