Saturday, January 23, 2010

Ghosted Pour Toi, Merci!



If you haven't tried the Ghosting Technique, rustle up a Rubber Brayer, Glossy White Card Stock, VersaMark and Classic Inks, and get to work! This is one of the easiest and most "magical" stamping techniques I've tried.

Catherine (4yo) and I had a blast this afternoon whipping up a dozen of these for Mme Bissoy to send to volunteer Science Fair Judges. Catherine loved doing the magic roller part, and did a great job.

1) Card base is standard-size (8 1/2" x 5 1/2", socred at 4 1/4") of Stampin' Up!'s Close to Cocoa cs. I rolled the bottom half with Chocolate Chip ink on my "Rough Texture" Jumbo Wheel.

2) The main image panel is a 3 1/4" x 4" piece of Glossy White cs, stamped with the leaf and flower images from "Best Wishes & More" in VersaMark ink. Catherine and I added Barely Banana, Ruby Red and Close to Cocoa inks (in that order) with our Rubber Brayer. See how the stamped images look kind of "ghostly?" It's just like magic! I really wanted to use my new Corner Punch that can be found in SU!'s current Occassions Mini Catalog. There is a coordinating straight-edge punch, too, that you can choose for FREE during Sale-A-Bration with any $50 order. This panel is mounted on Ruby Red (3 1/2" x 4 1/4").

3) The sentiment (from "En Ovale," the French counterpart of "Oval All") is stamped with Chocolate Chip on Glossy White, and punched out with the Scallop Oval Punch. I love these stamps that coordinate with the various punches! Backing the sentiment is a Scallop Square of Chocolate Chip.

If you'd like to volunteer to be a Science Fair Judge, contact your local Elementary, Middle or High School. Kind-hearted community members are always needed to provide thoughtful, constructive feedback to our nation's budding scientists.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Easy Easel!

The featured technique at Splitcoast (http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/) last week was an Easel Card. I modified the design a bit and came up with a layout I've fallen in love with!



I like this layout so much that I've made three cards at home with the same pattern. Plus, on Monday our Artist Guild at church used the layout to make 25 Birthday cards. We tailored the color combinations to coordinate with the four seasons. All of the designs turned out great. We're excited to be able to provide high-quality, hand-made cards to members of our congregation who have earned a special Birthday visit. An added bonus of the cards for this year is that they stand up nicely with the help of a couple of folds and a carefully placed brad.

Here's how:

1) Cut card stock for card base (Bordering Blue) to 4 1/4 " x 11". (This is oppposite of a "normal" card base.) Score the card base at 5 1/2". Turn in over and score from the back side at 2 3/4". Fold the card in half, and then fold the extra flap back up so that the edge meets the top fold.

2) I've used a mat here of Rich Razzleberry textured card stock. This isn't necessary (and we didn't use a mat for our Artist Guild Birthday cards), but it does add a nice touch. The mat is 4" x 5 1/4", and my image panel (Naturals Ivory) is just a bit smaller at 3 3/4" x 5". (If you eliminate the mat, just make the image panel the larger size.)

3) For this card, I've used Stampin' Up!'s A Rose is a Rose stamp set. The roses are 2-step stamps: you superimpose 2 different stamps, with different inks. I used combination of yellows (Barely Banana and So Saffron) and purples (Orchid Opulence and Rich Razzleberry) for the roses, as well as Bordering Blue for some other accents. I use two tricks to help me stamp these elegant blooms. First, I always use my Stamp-a-ma-jig stamp positioner. Works like a charm! Second, I have written right on my wood blocks the words "light" and "dark" so that I remember which images to stamp in which inks.

4) My favorite part of this layout is the stack of squares on the right hand side. I stamped the images on one piece of card stock, punched them out with my 1 1/4" Square, and popped them up on Scallop Square punch-outs of the coordinating colors. (I snuck a Scallop Square out of the Rich Razzleberry mat before I adhered the image panel to it.)

5) One final detail: I used my new fun toy, the Color Spritzer Tool, with the Rich Razzleberry Stampin' Write Marker to make those cool little sprays of RR ink.

6) The brad placement is right in the center of the back panel of the card. I used my Grid Paper to help center it. I found that I needed to put the brad in a bit more loosely than I usually do, in order to allow it to stand up a bit more and catch the bottom edge of the image and hold it upright.

This is sure a fun card to make, and I hope my Technique Club ladies enjoy playing with this design Friday evening!

Thanks for looking, and I'd love to hear your comments.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Happy 13th!


We are now the parents of an official teenager!

I made a CAS (Clean and Simple) card for Janie this year, and I really like it. I hope you do, too. CAS cards are a fun and easy avenue if you need a quick card. For example, if it is 11 PM and your eldest daughter's birthday is the next day.

I chose the color scheme straight from Stampin' Up!'s DSP "Tall Tales" (Ballet Blue, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, So Saffron). DSP is a great tool for cutting down on the time you need to invest in your card project. For this layout I simply selected a couple of the quail (I'm pretty sure it isn't "quails") and then positioned my sentiment around their cute little heads.

I thought this sentiment (from Stampin' Up!'s "Hope Happens" stamp set) was a great one for a young woman: It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. This is the only stamping I did on the front of the card. I did add another sentment on the inside. It reads, "laughter joy happiness bliss delight Wishing you all this ... and more!" Those two stamps are part of the "Best Wishes & More" stamp set.

Happy Birthday, Janie!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Emerging Colors

I got an order for some custom-made cards today, and got right to work. (The first one card has to be mailed in a few days in order to arrive on time to the birthday girl!). Making cards for certain people I have in mind is a very rewarding part of my "job" as a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.

For this card, I wanted to use the Emerging Colors technique. I've used it once or twice before, but it is always a challenge: finding the right images, colors that coordinate but don't overpower, getting the placement right. I hope you'll agree that I worked it out all right for this card.



Here's the drill:

1. Stamp bold-image stamps in 2 different color ink. For this card I used the cherry image with Rose Red Classic Ink and the candle image with Regal Rose Classic Ink. Both stamps are from SU!'s "On a Pedestal" stamp set.

2. Stamp over the top of your images with VersaMark ink, and emboss with clear embossing powder. I used SU!'s really fabulous "Medallion" stamp. This stamp is very versatile; looks great in so many different situations.

3. Finally, use a brayer to add ink over the top. On this card I used Pretty in Pink Classic Ink.

An optional 4th step adds one more layer of stamping over the top. By doing this, you can cover up some of the images in the first layer. I decided to skip this step tonight.

To finish my card, I matted the image panel on Going Gray, and then tied some luscious 1" Double Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon (Regal Rose) around the whole card front.

Because this card is for a very special person, I decided to add a bit of Wow! to the inside, too!



1. On a piece of Naturals Ivory (4" x 5 1/4"), I stamped the Medallion again with Pretty in Pink. I deliberately used minimal ink and light pressure to create a watermark effect.

2. The components from the "On a Pedestal" stamp set are stamped in Regal Rose and Rose Red on Natruals Ivory, and then cut out and popped up with Stampin' Dimensionals.

Hope you like this card! I encourage you to give the Emerging Colors Technique a try. It is a bit challenging, but when you get it right, the result is very satisfying.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Accordion Card

Welcome 2010!

I have spent more time sending cards than making them the past few weeks, but last night I found some time to complete a WICKED challenge for December on the "demo side" of the Splitcoaststampers website.

If you are looking for a great resource for stamping ideas, check out www.splitcoaststampers.com! This fab site has everything you need to keep the ideas coming. I like completing the challenges--both those just for SU! demos and the weekly challenges on the main board.



This accordion card is one that I'll feature at my January 2010 Stamp Club meeting.

I will post some basic measurements here, and then I'll also post the link to Patti Lee's blog where she has all the details and fab photos of her work in progress. Thanks to Patti for the great direction and inspiration!!!

For the outside of the card:

1. The standard card base here is Whisper White (8 1/2" x 5 1/2", scored at 4 1/4". I stamped flower images from Petal Pizazz in SU!'s Classic Pixie Pink (large blossom) and Pink Passion (small blossom).

2. The sentiment on the front of the card is stamped in Pink Passion. I've double-matted it with both Whisper White and Pixie Pink card stock, and popped the whole thing up on Stampin' Dimensionals. These are 1/4" mats, and the panel for this particular sentiment I cut at 2 1/2" square.

My sentiment is from SU!'s Hope Happens stamp set. I just got this one, and really like all the sentiments. I think it will be a favorite of mine!

Now, the inside:

1. The Pixie Pink card stock is 8" x 4", and then scored at 3", 3 1/2", 4", 4 1/2" and 5". (The score at 4" is the center, and then there should be 2 parallel scores on either side of the center.) Fold this part like an accordion.

2. The pop-up parts of the card (in my card, the punched-out flowers) are mounted on 3/4" wide strips of card stock. These vary in length (1 1/2", 2", 2 1/2") and are kind of stacked along the various folds in the center of the card. If you get a chance to check out Patti's blog, you'll see that she used acetate to mount her fun little images. Using acetate really makes it look like your images are just floating there--very cool!

4. I used flower images from Petal Pizazz to make my bouquet, and punched them out with the 1 1/4" Circle and 5-Petal Flower Punches.

Here's the link to Patti Lee's blog with more information: http://creationsbypatti.blogspot.com/2009/12/wicked-challenge-1-floating-snowflakes.html.

Hope you get a chance to try this fun card out! I'd love to hear your comments, too. Happy stamping!