Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Snapespiration

My fine friend, Cav, over on the "Demo Side" at www.splitcoaststampers.com, organizes the weekly Demonstratable Cards Challenge. Within her guidelines, we are to create and upload cards that would be easy to use in a workshop.

Last week, another gal and I engaged in a short, on-line discussion about the Harry Potter stories, in particular touching on the character Snape. I suggested we have a "Snapespiration Challenge," and--here it is!



I think I'll use a similar design for my May Technique Club meeting, adapting it to be a Father's Day design. (When I showed it to Matt, he commented that it looked like a tie.)

1. Card base is Handsome Hunter (one of the many retiring colors); standard 1/4" reduction for the Basic Black layer (4" x 5 1/4").

2. To make the white "lapels", I started with Glossy White sized 1/4" smaller than the black (3 3/4" x 5"), and used my Cutter to mark a point 1" in from each edge on one short side. On the other short side, I marked 1 1/2" in from the edges, then aligned the card stock so that the two points formed my cut line.

3. The swirl from Baroque Motifs (golly, I really use this stamp set a lot!!!) is stamped on the Glossy White with Handsome Hunter Classic ink. I used the Encore Silver to stamp the "Ss" image ("Severus Snape", you know) on the black piece.

4. Part of Cav's challenge was to incorporate a stone ("Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"), so I placed a Rhinestone Square Brad from the Fire collection at the top center.

Can you see the Snapespiration in my card? Thanks for taking a look.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Thanks, Eddo

I was surprised and delighted on Sunday morning, when, as I made my way out of the worship service to fulfill my Sunday School "Shepherd" duty, my young friend Eddo relieved me of my duty. What a blessing!

I made him a card; here it is.





As you know, Stampin' Up! is retiring a lot of colors, and I am working on using up most of my stock, to make room for the exciting new selections that are coming on July 1. This card uses only retiring card stock, as well as an old Sale-A-Bration stamp set (Very Punny) that I've kept because I think it is really cute. Here are some details for this card.

1. Card base is Brocade Blue, but is a bit smaller than standard size. Why? Because, for some reason, I had a piece of card stock that was 7 1/2" x 5 1/2". I had scored it at 4 1/2" before I realized, and--instead of wasting it--I decided to make some adjustments to the design. I added a strip of Close to Cocoa card stock, punched with the Scallop Trim Border Punch to the edge.
2. On the front, I stamped "thank you" from the Enjoy Every Moment stamp set with VersaMark ink, and embossed with Gold embossing powder. (I should have used my Stamp-a-ma-jig. Oops! But will a 13 year old boy really care? I think not.)
3. The focal image on the front is a Creamy Caramel mat beneath a Close to Cocoa panel that I put through the Big Shot with a Texturz plate. I am really loving that machine! Adding the texture or the die-cut elements to my projects gives me a little thrill every time. I stamped and embossed the pig on Naturals Ivory, cut her out with my Paper Snips, and popped her up with a Stampin' Dimensional.
4. For the inside of the card, I stamped the entire "tickled pink" image (including the words) on a piece of Naturals Ivory, and then added a Faux Cloisonne pig on top with a Dimensional.

I hope you'll try this cool technique. I'd love to hear about your experiences, or help you figure out how to get more enjoyment out of your paper crafting. Please leave a comment!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

SU! Color Renovation

Do you have a favorite Stampin' Up! color? Maybe there is a color you've always wished SU! had in their collection? Or is there one of the retired In Colors you cried over when the year was up?

Well, get ready for some exciting changes to the Stampin' Up! color palette! Beginning with the new catalog release on July 1, 2010, SU! will have a very different look: lots of current "core colors" are retiring, there are five brand-new colors(*), and a lot of favorite In Colors(**) are returning!

Here are the new color collections:

Brights Collection

Regal Rose
Melon Mambo**
Rich Razzleberry**
Pacific Point**
Tempting Turquoise
Old Olive
Daffodil Delight*
Pumpkin Pie
Tangerine Tango**
Real Red

Neutrals Collection

River Rock**
Chocolate Chip
Soft Suede**
Early Espresso*
Crumb Cake (formerly "Kraft")
Sahara Sand
Very Vanilla
Whisper White
Basic Gray
Basic Black

Regals Collection

Elegant Eggplant
Night of Navy
Not Quite Navy
Always Artichoke
Garden Green
More Mustard
Cajun Craze*
Riding Hood Red**
Cherry Cobbler*
Bravo Burgundy

Subtles Collection

Pink Pirouette**
Pretty in Pink
Rose Red
Perfect Plum
Marina Mist*
Bashful Blue
Baja Breeze
Wild Wasabi**
Certainly Celery
So Saffron

So, what does this mean to you? It means now is a great time to order some ink refills for those favorite colors that might be retiring. It means you need to do some extra stamping with the retiring colors: you need to have as much data as possible in order to make the best decision about what colors of card stock you really need before June 30, right?

Most of all, though, it means you can start dreaming about playing with the vibrant new color combinations we'll have at our fingertips starting July 1!

Friday, April 2, 2010

Sea Foam "Thinking of You" and Special Celebration Offer

I had a fun evening with my neighbor and good friend, Chris. Sharing some time together is very renewing for me, and having stamping be part of our camaraderie is great fun.

"THINKING OF YOU" CARD


We had a message today that a long-time family friend, and very special friend of my mother in law, got some bad health news this week. I made this card with her in mind.

1. Card base is Sage Shadow (standard size); Whisper White (4 3/4" square); Top Note is Gable Green.

2. I sponged the edges of the Whisper White square with both Gable Green and Sage Shadow. The Sage is heavier on the edges, the Gable more toward the center.

3. I ran the Gable Green cs through my Big Shot with the SU! Texturz plate "Flourish" before cutting it with the Top Note die. This panel is also sponged, but only with Sage Shadow. Notice that, in addition to sponging the edges of the Top Note, I also added some sponging to the textured portion, just to help give the piece a bit more texture.

4. The sentiment is stamped with Sage Shadow ink on Whisper White, punched out with SU!'s Scallop Oval Punch, and then sponged with both Gable Green (center) and Sage Shadow (edges). This piece is popped up with a Stampin' Dimensional.

5. The flowers are stamped in Sage Shadow on Whisper White, cut out with my Paper Snips, and then sponged all over with Gable Green, and Sage Shadow at the very edges.

6. Of course, you'll notice that the main flower used the Faux Cloisonne' Technique that I described in my last post. (You recognize the wacky color scheme, too, I hope!)

7. Lastly, the embellishment is simply a coil of Linen Thread, stuck to the back of the flower with a Mini Glue Dot. I had planned on cutting the strands to let them all hang down at various lengths, but I liked the look as it was, so left it coiled.

I would love to hear what you think, so please leave a comment!

SPECIAL OFFER!

I can hardly believe that I've been with Stampin' Up! for FIVE WHOLE YEARS! In celebration, I'm offering a 5% DISCOUNT on all orders placed through me (sorry, can't do it for customer-submitted online orders) THROUGH APRIL 15. Contact me with an order or for details!

It is because of my GREAT FRIENDS AND CUTSTOMERS, as well as the support of my FAMILY that I've been able to make my hobby into a business. THANKS!!!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

SCS Milwaukee Swap #3

Here's my last Swap card for the Stampin' Up! Milwaukee Regional that is coming up on April 9/10. Since I can't make it to the event, I'm mailing my cards to my friend Jana in Duluth, and she'll be nice enough to swap them out for me. I'm excited to see what everyone else came up with.

(The scanned image isn't the greatest, sorry. I'm still working on how to get the right contrast with cards that have this much white.)



The technique I used on this project is called Faux Cloisonne'. It is gold embossing on top of a glossy photo, such as you find on a calendar or magazine. I've been wanting to use Faux Cloisonne' for a while, and just this week got a fresh container of Gold Embossing Powder from the UPS guy, so I was ready to roll.

Today, I searched through some old Nature Conservancy mags I had saved for this technique and found a photo of a coral reef on a seamount. I made a super-bold color choice; I have to admit that I was a bit worried, but I think it worked out. I pulled the crazy color combination (Sage Shadow and Gable Green, if you can believe it!)straight from the corals, sea water and fish!

1. Card base is Whisper White (standard size); Gable Green panel (at back) is 4" x 2 1/2"; Sage Shadow (really!) panel is 2" x 3 1/2"; Basic Black piece is 1 3/8" square.

2. The Whisper White image panels are all 1/8" smaller in each dimension than their mats (3 7/8" x 2 3/8";1 7/8" x 3 3/8"; 1 1/2" square).

3. This is my first time using this cute stamp set Happy Together, which I earned during Sale-A-Bration. Stems are stamped with Gable Green, flowers with both Gable Green and Sage Shadow, three little chicks with Sage Shadow.

4. For Mama Bird, I used the Rock-and-Roll Technique. Ink her up with Gable Green, roll the stamp on the Sage Shadow pad, then stamp! (It is important to clean the stamp before repeating the technique. Otherwise you'll get Sage on your Gable, which is not as good as chocolate in your peanut butter.)

5. The Faux Cloisonne' Technique looks really cool, but is actually super easy. (Those are the best techniques, in my book.) I just used the flower image (it is important to use a line-art image), stamped it with VersaMark ink, and then heat set the Gold Embossing Powder. Stampin' Up!'s Paper Snips work great for doing some accurate and neat cutting to produce the accents for this card. I popped those to blossoms (and Mama Bird) up with Stampin' Dimensionals.

The only caution I have for this technique is that with the glossy image, it is easy to let the stamp slip a bit; you need to be pretty careful. Also, it is good to use the Embossing Buddy before stamping with VersaMark to keep the excess Embossing Powder from sticking to other areas of the paper.

This was a fun and easy project: even with so much cutting, the embossing, and careful assembly, I was able to get the whole set that I needed for my swaps done without burning the midnight oil.

Do you recognize the layout? Check out my earlier post, 'cause I did a bit of recycling!

I'd love to hear what you think, and I hope you'll try this easy way to add some texture to your projects.