Nicole Stagg Studio

Hand painted baby name

2016-11-29T06:10:00.002-08:00

Safari theme baby name door decor. Baby Alessandro will have a matching door decor according to his bed cover. Hand drawn and painted. Delivery only to Panama. Can send a scan or digital file for you to carbon copy on wood worldwide.

Those cute eyes

Nautical baby shower

2016-05-08T14:56:00.001-07:00

Baby boy nautical theme baby shower. We did it all!!! From games, to centerpieces to decoration of entire room. Here's the invitation too

Delivery only to Panama, digital cards and games for print worldwide.

Baby shower kit

2016-05-08T14:49:00.001-07:00

This kit include 5 different baby shower games with answer sheet, customized pencil, pencil sharpener, bingo cards and chips. Everything beautifully wrapped and ready to deliver. We can design you many games for your baby shower, printed and delivery only in Panama, digitally worldwide.

Hello Monday!

2016-02-29T19:56:00.002-08:00

Nothing says baby as knitting or crocheting. I'm having a second baby in a few months and I decided to go big and make him a blanket. This is how is going. I'll let you know when finished. Here is very hot so I make sure to use a larger needle for this skein to make the blanket breathable yet very cozy and soft.

Easy flower-drawing card

2016-02-12T09:55:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone! I made this card in 35 minutes because I stopped every few steps to take pictures bit you must trust me this won't take more than 20 to 30 minutes and can be painted any color. I think flowers are very easy to draw but you can make clusters of flowers with greenery that are fancy and easy too. I'll make another one with this option too.

Check the video below

https://flipagram.com/f/kGGLFgoIwa

Beach nails

2016-02-01T13:26:00.001-08:00

Summer is here, at least here in Panama! So I'm starting the summer with orange and bright blue nails with some "water foam effect" if requested I'll upload a video tutorial. On the meanwhile this is how is done:

1. Fill a cup with tap water

2. Add a drop or two of white nail polish

3. Spritz the water with nailpolish with some rubbing alcohol and the nailpolish will break down

4. Insert your nail into water, remove excess polish with a toothpick and remove nail from water

5. Clean excess from finger and you are done

Extra step for extra shine and protection:

Because I intend to go to the beach I used sensationail clear top coat and used the led lamp one minute on my four fingers, then one min on thumb and repeat one min again to be completely sure they are "dry" as I didn't use uv polish on my nails but the top coat. It won't last as long as if you use all the rigth products but it will dramatically decrease the chipping and give you ultra shine. I've only used sensationails and kiss top coat, can't say it will work with any other brand.

Baby bling shoes - totw!

2016-01-28T15:59:00.001-08:00

Tip of the week: my mom got this cute inexpensive shoes and my daughter pull out the flowers mote than once, so the petals were a bit damaged.
I re-arrange the petals and ad some rhinestones to get some spark! I got the bling from an old headband, look around so you can find something you can use.

Update: I do recommend to hand sewn every piece of jewelry even in shoes because:
1. they can get in your baby mouth specially if you are not watching
2. they can tear them and eat them
3. they will last longer if you sew them

One layer 10 min male bday card

2016-01-13T17:31:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone! Happy 2016. I'm back with new ideas and new stuff. Meanwhile here's today post:

Bday card for men. Ughhh extremly tough for me, but this time it took only 10 min. This card is 3 by 4.5 inches but this could be a panel on a bigger card or even a whole card. The possibilities are endless.

Just need to stamp repeatedly onto your card and mask just one item to make it the focal point. Don't have to be centered, I imagine doing the same with the colored one on the right bottom corner.

Paint the background with distress ink in salty ocean and peacock feathers and the center gift with colored pencil.

Try with different stamps or different images to make it more interesting. As a male card less is more thats why I only use a gift stamp and no need for sentiment.

Let me know what you think! Sorry for the typos but Im not even near a computer and phone keys are very ugh

Easy banner

2015-01-17T13:44:00.001-08:00

Long time no see. Mini tutorial showing how to create a banner with a Bracket border that is mostly centered and very symmetrical.

Make a streight line and mark the center

Draw two lines on each side of center line to make the point

Curve the edges and smooth lines

Cut and erase pencil lines. There you go!

Father's day cards

2014-06-15T11:11:00.001-07:00

A few father's day card ideas. I made them last night, and were very easy to make. Most of them with paper scraps.

- The stars are made from cork, didn't have veneer, but I wanted to add some embellishment and stars are very easy to make (specially irregular ones)

- Here I stamped the "faher's day" wrong, so to pretend it was intencional y stamped the other part in diagonal too. Thie perls were made with liquid perfect perls.

- some random watercolor with distress, red pearls over watercolor paper and craft paper

-This PAPA letters were the positive cutout from the next card that I wraped with washi tape and finished with glossy accents

- Negative cutout popped with foam tape over a watercolor paper gradient made with distress inks. The dots are studs and the black cardstock was actually white and handpainted it with copic marker, so the inside is white and the front is black

Latest cards

2014-05-02T18:46:00.002-07:00

To all my readers, I'm very sorry that I haven't post anything in the last few months, BUT there's a good reason.... Moved back to Panama, buy a house, we are working on many home improvements and above all and the most important reason is that I'm 6 month pregnant now 😁 of our first baby!!!!

I'd like to thanks all of you for your support and constant messages I'm expecting to finish my working studio soon but on the mean time here are some projects that I've been working on.

Please leave a comment or send me a message, I'm working secretly with some friends to prepare a giveaway soon, so stay tuned!

- Kind of Tim Holtz inspired card.
Used lots of distress ink, embossing folder, bird die and hand cut banner with sentiment. Very simple.

- Embossing folder, gift stamp, versamark for watermark on pink paper, glossy accent for bow, copic markers and vellum with sentiment.

Playing with my nails

2013-08-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone...it's been a long time since my last post, I've been traveling for the last 3 months and today I make some time to post something that's got my interest. It seems that nails are taking importance this days, and designs are getting more and more complicated, that's why I wanted to give a try to those design plates where you can stamp a design onto your nail. It super easy, and i'll post a tutorial soon (I hope) but on the meantime let's see how I did...

I think its ok... Gold - turquoise leopard =p

Ps this blue thing in the second photo is a made-to-order bunny... Love it! My shop is closed thor the time beign but custom orders are open to date, nmstaggo.etsy.com

Color Over Black

2013-04-15T04:30:00.000-07:00

I'm not a big fan of this card, but I do love the contrast. I wanted to make many things at one, that's why it's not so good :(

1. Chevron
2. Native American
3. Neon

Choose one and it might look good. Just like my next card that looks sooooo much better. What do you think?

One Layer Card

2013-04-13T13:39:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make a card in less than 10 min. This is what it came out. Stamping in the center with lots of white space makes the stamps pops out. The bright colors helps too :p

Using Scraps #2

2013-04-11T12:21:00.000-07:00

There's something about using scraps. I can't toss anything away, I feel that I would regret it if I do, so I keep them. I have lots of scrap, but my new philosophy is to work with the scraps I left behind as soon as possible.

I made this cards the same day and turn out great. I also used the other half of the background cardstock for this mini cards. They are very self-explanatory. Just cut in half the circles and lay them out differently on each card. What have you done with your scraps recently?

Pattern Paper Collage

2013-04-08T18:14:00.006-07:00

Pattern paper... it's a love - hate relationship. Love the colors, the patterns but hate I don't know how to mix and match, don't know what to do with it. I spent almost two hours making this card. I know, a lot of time, but I challenge myself to use five pattern papers, two circle dies and no stamp (only sentiment). That was hard! But I love it, it turned out great and so bright. Here's the how to:

TIPS:
- When using pattern paper try to use a single paper pad. Mix and match will be a breeze.
- Keep it simple. When colors and shapes takes over, single color paper or cardstock brings everything together.
- Save the scraps for another card, you won't have to think about mix and match.
- Break the pattern (circle pattern on the background) with another shape or changing the direction (like the banner, that is rectangular and diagonal) This way the element will stand out.

New Things to Come!

2013-04-03T19:54:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I'm making a super quick post today. I'm working hard on some graphic design projects and one of them is this blog and it's future webpage :) This blog will remain and you can find it here, or thru my webpage (soon to be) as a link. Such big changes in a few days, hope time stretches out.

For today's card I used this stamp set from Maya Road with umbrellas and a cute bird. I used the umbrellas as flowers, the water drop as the disk flower or center of the flower and finally the cane as flower stem.

TIP: turn your stamps upside down to see another shape that you can use besides the obvious one!

As a graphic designer I work from home for many clients through email or skype and one feature I want to talk to you about is time. Many graphic designer charge by the hour, and they might take a week or two for a specific project. Since I started working back in 2002 I was in a hurry every day! It was an in-house graphic design department, where EVERYTHING was done in hours or days tops. Thanks to this training for almost 5 years I develop this ability to create the final product or at least a version of it while I'm talking to the client. I grasp very easily what the client wants and make something I know they will love and works best in less time.

I usually work with a client at a time, sometimes I got crazy and work with 3 but I always deliver and keep up to whatever the client needs. That's why I decided to open this Graphic Design Express to the world through my (again, soon to be) website. I'll have a portfolio, some tutorials and my personal info for quote. Most of the time the price is set and I will include it on the website along with some terms to make this freelancing smooth as possible.

Some of the work you can expect from me is corporate identity, POP, any paper publicity and some web banners and minimum web design. Depending on how this website turns out I will be offering some web design for blogs or self-maintained webpages.

I'm also working on a digital design for cardmakers and scrapbookers. I will let you know when it's on my shop. Hope you share your projects here.

Using Scraps

2013-03-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

Late post tonight. Today my hubby was home all day :)

So as promised, here's what I did with the remenants of this card. So remember to save those scraps specially those bigger than 2 cm. Sooo tell me what have you done with your scraps! see you on monday!

Etsy Shop

2013-03-26T06:39:00.002-07:00

I've been working on photos for my etsy shop. At a very slow pace I've been adding items that you might want to check out here. I'm doing it as fast as I can but this weather isn't helping to take photos with natural sunlight :(

I do custom orders. You can see below the latest order. If it's made with felt, yarn, paper or fabric I can probably make it. Notice I don't mention clay, I don't feel that confident yet :p
See you in the shop!

Lovely Postcard

2013-03-22T04:00:00.000-07:00

Love is in the air. With my hubby everything is great. Next weekend is our monthly anniversary :) So I made this postcard for him. Pattern Play uses lots of beautiful patterns and I wondered if I could make my own. Guess what, I can and so do you. I'll be sharing some techniques I use for make my own pattern paper. Let's begin.

This first one is super simple, all you need is paper, stamps and embossing powder. I made this one with clear embossing powder, but I'm thinking metallic embossing powder or even clear embossing powder over colored paper to create an incredible tone on tone paper, super "in" right now.

How to left the perfect space for the word Love in color? You can stamp this first (that would be the easiest way) or calculate placing the stamp over the card and stamp it next to it and go from there up, down, and side by side... I finished it with baker's twine. So, how I did? Think I'm getting better :p Share yours on the comments.

Stamps & Pattern Paper

2013-03-20T21:10:00.001-07:00

Happy birthday to you! Look at the colors. I used two patterned papers from the same pad. This tip was gave on Pattern Play class and is sooooo obvious and we probably never do it. Well, I think it's kinda busy with all the yarn, stamps and washi tape, but I'll get better.

One of the tips on Pattern Play was use patterns in different sizes so it blends together and use one bold or busy pattern with another one more simple or "blah" (Amber's Words) I failed here: I used two bold patterns, and using the stripes in different directions wasn't the best idea :(

Here's the how to

I'll keep you posted on how to use pattern papers as I learn myself. But practice will make me better, I'm sure of it. For now, are you willing to give me some advice? Comment below! And thanks for laughing with me and not of me :p

Braided Charms Bracelet

2013-03-18T05:02:00.000-07:00

Braided Charm Bracelet - Click to see larger image.

This time I wanted to make some jewelry. It's very easy and you can use as many color combinations you like. I made mine with 3 bright colors (you know I love bright colors) and golden charms. Here's the step by step. I have a facebook page now (again) so make sure to check it out for some last minute tips on other topics as makeup or food ;)

If you want to know how I make the second braid look at the video at the end of the post :)

1. Cut your string desired length and attach clamp. 2. Braid. 3. Attach charms between strings. 4. Add lobster clasp and charm (I love using jingles) And done!

TIP: if you want your charm to have movement use 2 jump rings, one for the charm itself, other to join the first jump ring to the string.

TIP: if you place the jump ring around the braids instead of into the braids all your charms will move to the bottom when using it.

Combining bead colors with strings will make the bracelet look more stylish and sophisticated. When in doubt place both gold and silver charm and jump rings into your bracelet to see which one looks best.

3-Window Card and Template

2013-03-14T06:24:00.000-07:00

Trendy alert! 3-windows on a card either round or square

This can be found on many cards today. There are also many dies that cut out the 3 shapes at the same time, but if you don't have this die, like me, you can download this pattern that will fit a 5.5" x 4.25" card (landscape or portrait). You can use this template for circles too.

1. I used coordinated patterned paper. 2. Cut out the template and cut out some stripes of paper. 3. Draw the template on the back. 4. Cut out as shown. 5. Transfer the template to the card. 6. Stamp your images into the card.

I stamped the sentiment at the bottom and use baker's twine in blue to contrast (look for additional colors on patterned paper or on the coordinates on the same pad). You can color your images or not.

Download the pattern below (at the end) and share your creations! Just leave a comment with a link to your card. Did you use it rounded or squared? Do you think of any other way to use this pattern? Comment, comment, comment!!! We all want to know what you did :)

Download below!


Click to open, right click to download to computer

Mini Card or Tag with Scraps

2013-03-13T11:27:00.004-07:00

Hello everyone! I've been very busy but I'll be posting all I've been up to! ;)

This is one of the cards I made last week. I meant to make "regular size" card, but the stamp was small and I decided to turn it into a tag, using scraps as color. Never toss any paper bigger than 1cm x 1cm, a smaller size might not be useful (and I said might).

Stamp Carving Tutorial - Details

2013-03-07T05:52:00.000-08:00

I'm here again with another tutorial on stamp carving. I just want to let you know that it's been less than a year since I started carving stamps, but I think the results are best when done this way. So here we go:

This are my tips when carving small pieces, thin lines or curves:

- MOVE SLOW and use light pressure, the less you remove, the easy will glide and you can fix it (if needed) later.

- I advise to start and end one stroke at a time, when a "line" makes a 90˚ angle STOP, lift your carving tool and rotate your stamp, now continue carving.

- Curves are easy if you rotate the stamp while carving, if you move your hand while making pressure you might not control directions very well.

- If a thin line is "as thin as your tip" carve on top of the line, but if the line is wider, then your carving tool should be placed aligned with one of the borders of the line, then carve the other side.

- If your tip is too big, use a syringe needle!

- I only use an xacto knife to "divide" what I want to carve from what I don't. I lightly press the xacto into the carving block and make sure it get about 1 or 2 mm deep.

Hope this help, please let me know if you have any questions or if you have another method for stamp carving! Share your knowledge : )
The template of the stamp of this video can be found below for free! And a picture tutorial on how to carve your stamps can be found here.