Tutorial!

I have posted the tutorial for "Faux Airbrushing/Splatter Backgrounds" . I hope it helps those of you who are visual learners! Here's the card I made for that tutorial (which can also be seen at the link).

Just can't get enough!

I love this colour combination. There's just something very fun about pink, teal, and brown! This was one of those cards where I sat down at my space and had no idea what I felt like doing. I knew I wanted to use All in a Row, so I started with that. I found some paper where it wasn't supposed to be, so I continued with that. Then I decided that since I was using Winter mini paper and colour scheme, I would use a winter mini set, Big Pieces. So that's pretty much my design thought process from last night.

I will be posting the tutorial for faux airbrushing some time soon. I just have to organize my stuff and take the photos.

In other news, how about a New Year's Eve challenge? A while back my sister came up with this one challenge. Put together a card using a colour combination with colours that would taste GOOD together. Stampin' Up! isn't the only company with food inspired names, but it's a place to start. Maybe some chocolate chip, barely banana, and very vanilla is on the menu? Or perhaps some always artichoke, more mustard, and certainly celery? If you choose to partipate, please post a link to your gallery or blog! Also, why not join in the fun? Start your own New Year's Challenge!!

Friend!

Here's a cheerful card to brighten up this foggy, snowy day. I finally pulled out the gift set and created something I was pleased with. The inspiration came from the Saturday inspiration challenge seen here . I used the colours of the blocks behind the word friend for my colours.

The little paisley charm was made using polyshrink. I stamped the paisley with orchid onto sanded polyshrink, then coloured it in and shrank it.

Birthday Tag Card

These types of creations always take me so long to make, but I really enjoy it. It's kind of like making 4 mini-cards. To get the basic tag card shape, I cut my paper to 12x4.25. I scored it every 3 inches and used the tag corner punch. Then I went crazy making the card. When I plan on doing these types of designs it is never spur of the moment. I sketch the whole thing out, usually in an environment where I am away from my supplies (aka WORK). If you're interested, here's my sketch from earlier this morning.

Then you can see the final product. I didn't deviate too much. I switched aspects from the 2nd and 4th panels, but other than that I pretty much kept to my plan. It also just so happened that the bonus LSC was to use alphabet sets. I used two alphabets on here, so I figured it qualified.

Quilted Colour Blocking

I saw the "Less Loved Stamp Set" at ScrapTV this last week and wanted to participate. I definitely have a few stamps that fit into the "so not my style any more/lives a dark, lonely life in the drawer"-category. This set, Quick & Cute was the first set that my mom bought from Stampin' Up! It was the first party we had been to, and it was when the US/CAN exchange was REALLY bad so we scared away by the prices of other stamps. We were also starting out so we wanted something that was multi-occasional, something that came with a few images, as well as a few sentiments. Quick & Cute fit the bill! Well, then 4 months later I discovered SCS, and I quickly realized that this set was SO not my style. I don't mind it, I just never use. It was the first of MANY. I just quickly realized that there was so much more out there. And when it retired this last July, it stayed away. I decided to pull it out for this challenge. I also used this year's All in a Row. This is a set that I had great intentions for, but it was also part of my first (and a little impulsive) new catalog order. I used the diamond/x stamp as quilted faux stitches.

Yahoo for free stuff!!

Yesterday my contest winnings arrived (after sitting at the Winnipeg airport since late Dec 22...). I got Headline Alphabet, Short Order Alphabet and this set seen here, Stamp of Authenticity. This isn't my usual style, but I like the look of it. I also thought it'd be fun to use for scrapbooking projects. The card is based on this week's sketch challenge. I used a pocket note envelope as a library card pocket (the library card stamp in Stamp of Authenticity fits very nicely, go figure. I love purchasing stuff from a company that coordinates virtually EVERYTHING). I tried a collaged style, and stuck with earthy tones.

I also used the words from Amazing to Zany, and the Rough Edges alphabet, and the Aida Cloth background on here.

Happy Holidays!

I haven't had much time for sitting down and stamping. I've been having loads of fun with my family. Everyone is in town, so the pace is pretty much non-stop. It's intense, but lots of fun. However, I did receive some wonderful supplies for Christmas, so I couldn't just let them sit. I managed to squeeze in this one card. The main image stamp is Plum Branch, by Judikins. The paper is shimmery cream and this cool fabric brown 'paper'. It came in a fancy textured paper pack (also a gift).

Embossed swirls

I really love dry embossing. I got a new light table, and it's amazing. There's so much space, it's so bright, and it's not dangerous (the old one was!). I was trying to reproduce the look of the Cuttlebug Swirl Embossing Folder using the Bodacious Bouquet Brass Template. I'm really happy with how the card turned out. I also used the corner rounder on my oval to make it scalloped. This card is going to go to the lady at work who is retiring tomorrow and I am her replacement. We are having a little party in her honour tomorrow, so I wanted to make something special.

More Clear Cards

You know it, I can't stay away from these clear cards. The card base is 8.5 x5.5 acetate. Only the front is stamped with the white stazon flourishes. One the front is also the Blush Piece and the "Mom Amie" greeting. Inside is a 4x5.25 peice of sage stamped with the fancy French Flair. I made this card for this week's colour challenge (rose red, sage shadow, blush blossom, and chocolate chip). These colours screamed VINTAGE to me, so Carte Postale it was.

I also made this other card for the colour challenge. I wasn't too keen on it, but here it is anyway. It just wasn't coming together how I wanted.

Petal Prints Stationary Set

It's my Grandma's 81st birthday today, so I've made her a stationary set. I like using Petal Prints for this type of project. They lend themselves well to quick cards that still look very nice. To make a stationary folder, you need 12x12 paper. I scored and folded it in half (6 inches). The bottom fold-up is at 3.5 inches. I used the horizontal slot punch along the sides. I fed ribbon through those and that's how it's kept closed. I used glue dots along the sides of the fold-up to keep everything contained. The cards and envelopes are standard size. The stationary paper is 8x5. This whole project, including all cutting took less than an hour, so if you're in a pinch for last minute gifts, this one goes really fast.

Stamp Night

On Sunday night, I invited a few stamping friends over. There certainly were some interesting cards made. I kept mine very tame, but theirs were very entertaining. There was a juggling Santa stuck in a jar at the bottom of the ocean. There was a crying penguin in a bag on a "not wild about Christmas?" card. There was a wedding card using candy love hearts and a gumball machine. There was also a juggling Santa on top of a festive cupcale. Definitely some gems in the humour department!! Here is one of my creations from yesterday. Like I said, I kept mine tame. They brought over Flaky Friends, a set that I don't have, but like. It is so nice to colour it in. I love colouring in snowmen, using Bashful Blue to add just the slightest of shading. I may have to break down and get me a snowman set. This card also uses the Four Seasons double sided papers, some marker coloured ribbon (my ribbon swap from Texas has not reached me yet), and some of the rich regals buttons.

Maps!

I haven't been able to find a nice map stamp. For now, I found a nice alternative, printing detailed brushes from Photoshop Elements onto acetate. The background you see on this card was found here: http://scully7491.deviantart.com. I printed it, then sponged some acrylic paint on the backside, then ran it through the xyron, and pasted it to some aged brown paper. Yes, a stamp would've been easier, but this works for now. Then I set about colouring the sailboat image to match nicely with the map. I stamped the saying on the twill tape. It wasn't as dark as I had hoped, so I carefully went over it with a marker. It actually worked better than I expected. The little dangling charm is a shrink art sailboat. Ideally, a metallic anchor charm attached with a jump ring would've been great on this card, but I don't have any of those. I saw a few in Victoria, but they were over a $1.00 each. Not exactly cost effective.

Faux Air-Brushed Background

I finally got some minature misting bottles!! So now I've been playing with them, experimenting with different things. My favorite technique so far is what I call "faux air brushing". I made a template by punching out various different circles in a piece of cardstock. Instead of sponging, I used the template as a mask and sprayed colour over it. I mixed reinkers (cool caribbean in one and tempting turquoise in the other) with a little bit of rubbing alcohol, then firmly held onto the mask and sprayed away (don't inhale too much). The result is a very cool background. Then, I removed the mask, held the misters farther away and sprayed a few times to get the splattered effect all over. If there's any demand fo it, I can post a photo tutorial, so speak up if that is something you'd like to see. This card is relatively simple because I didn't want to cover my background after all that work! If you are wondering why I mixed the reinkers with rubbing alcohol and not water, it's because the alcohol dries a heck of a lot faster and it won't warp your cardstock.

A little different...

I got these new Flourishes stamps by Rhonna Farrer/Autumn Leaves. They are really cool! These are clear stamps, which make it very easy to place all the flourishes together. I was very glad that the store ordered them in, and held them for me. Apparently, only 2 came in, the rest were back-ordered. Anyway, I was itching to use them yesterday, but I had already made evening plans. So today, I pulled together this somewhat strange card. The red paper is the Dasher Tree Skirt paper. I made a transparency overlay to go over top. The Seasons Greetings was printed in the very popular font Porcelain on my laser printer. I stamped the Flourishes ( I got V. 2, by the way) in white stazon. It didn't feel complete enough, so I went about adding ribbon. I dyed the white and the organdy ribbons with a mix of Caribbean, Teal, and Glorious Green inks. This light blue might seem like a surprising choice, but I had seen it work several times over this week, since Red and Caribbean were this week's colour challenge. The blue ribbon also brings out the little flecks of blue in the Basic Grey paper.

Bubbly birthday.

This side pocket, with the circle levered insert is one of my favorite types of pocket cards. The original style is by Cindy Lyles (aka StarLitStudio). You can find the instructions and measurements there. I had to modify mine a tiny bit. Normally I wouldn't put the circle pull so high, but there was a taping incident with the bottom fold, so I had to improvise. My insert is 4.75x 3, instead of 5x3. I used the "Loves Me" papers, and Big and Little Pieces, as well as Amazing to Zany for the outside greeting, and In My Thoughts for the interior greeting. I also used almost all my circle punches: 1-3/8, 1-1/4, 3/4, 1/2, 1/4, and 1/16.

Answering a question.

There was a question regarding my local scrapbooking store. There are actually two I check out, both are located on Pembina Highway. Dalcrafts is located behind the Office Depot, and Scrapbooking By Design is closer to the Pancake House, near the Shell gas station. I've had better luck with the customer service at SBD. Both places have a huge selection of papers. They both carry quite a few stamps. Dalcraft has lots of Hero Arts. I've seen My Sentiments Exactly and Rhonna Farrer Clear Stamps at SBD (I've actually got a set on order from there, they are willing to specially order things in for you!).

Copper Garland Monogram

Here's a card showcasing more of the papers I picked up on Monday. The elaborate background is Basic Grey's Garland. I also picked up some brushed copper cardstock.

I handstitched the x-stitches with copper thread. The copper scalloped circle was made using the corner rounder (check here for details on how to do that). The vanilla piece is some covered chipboard. The m is made by Heidi Swapp. I sponged Sage Shadow all over, then stamped Paisley in white craft on top of that. I finished it off with a piece of twill tape with some copper eyelets. Now I just need to send this to someone whose name starts with the letter m. I just liked the way the m looked, I have no recipient in mind yet.

Glittery Chipboard Ornaments!

Hello everybody! Sorry for the lack of weekend updates, I was busy making the Family Christmas cards. I even got my mom to help. We only have a few more to make. We did 2 designs, each design had 2 versions, the mail version (i.e. FLAT so it could be sent at the .51 rate, and not the 1.05 rate) and the in-person version (not so flat, bows and knots and whatnot).

Today, I had time to go to a local scrapbooking store. I saw the Holiday Undressed Chipboard by Basic Grey. Is that stuff ever fun. The shapes are crazy detailed! So I picked up a pack, as well as some Fruitcake paper. I've only made one so far, but they are so easy. I covered both sides (one already has adhesive). Then I sanded it, covered one side in versamark and coated with iridescent ice. I tied some silver cord through the top, and look at that, a lovely ornament. Just think, you could decorate your whole tree with Basic Grey papers. It'd be a gorgeous tree too. And you wouldn't have paid tons of money for the ornaments!

Garnet Cranberry Snowflakes

You know, I have no clue why this idea never crossed my mind. I saw Alesha's awesome layered snowflake card and thought hey, I HAVE to try that! I've certainly spent plenty of time in the past cutting out all those snowflakes, so why not actually do something awesome with them?? I really liked her idea of emboss resisting them too, so I did that too. I did change up my layout and my colours. I thought it would look really stunning using cranberry and shimmery paper. Of course, other than the silver, I made my own shimmery paper (mix white pearl ex with rubbing alcohol, spray onto paper, let dry, then set with sealer). I also was somewhat inspired by another outrageously priced card at work. It was a huge square card. This one measures 5.5x5.5. The card base is actually vellum. I stamped the snowflakes with white craft, then dabbed the russet pearlex overtop to shimmer it all up. I sealed it afterwards too. This card also gave me an excuse to USE my rhinestone brads!! Each snowflake layer is mounted with a double layer of foam tape to give it quite a lot of dimension!

$4.99

I saw this card at work, it came in the Christmas shipment from our greeting card provider. It was so ridiculously simple. A long pink card base, with a sparkly white chipboard star. And how much was that? At least 4.99 (it might've been more). It's crazy. And I know we'll sell it. I just don't get it. People continuously push down that which is handmade, yet they embrace that which is manufactured? I know I'm totally ranting to the wrong audience here, but it never fails to boggle my mind what people are willing to pay for something that isn't at all unique, costs a company mere cents to make, and is imitating the handmade look too. Anyway, here's my version. It's by no means a "wow" card. Just simple and sparkly. I coverd a chipboard star with some designer paper, then podgied the top and sprinkled it with glitter. The little word sparkle, was embossed with iridescent ice. Simple, quick, that's it.

Harvested Blooms.

The colour challenge this week was to use Cranberry, Mustard, and Sage. I really like this colour combo, and I am quite pleased with the final result. I pulled out an old favorite, the 2nd set from SU! that I ever owned. I made it a bit more 'now' by adding quite a bit of sponging and some paper pierced accents.

Inspired!

Did you all see this super cute card by Taylor VanBruggen? I was quite inspired by it. I decided to finally open up my Christmas Slab of paper (that I totally forgot I had bought...) and make a holiday version. I also used Big Pieces. My colours were taken from what I could best match in the paper (old olive, always artichoke, regal rose, real red).

Marbled Cake!

I just realized I haven't made an actual card for quite a few days now, like a standard sized card. You'll have to bear with me as I get back into the groove. I decided to pull out Eat Cake, there are a few December birthdays in the family, so I might as well get started now!! I was determined to use the Friends and Flowers paper, so I went with those colours. I also wanted to try some of the faux shaving cream technique (Ink your stamp in a light colour, find a wheel with lots of solid images, ink that up in a darker colour, then squiggle the wheel over the coloured stamp- this works best on solid stamps). I used so saffron as my cake base, and swirled chocolate chip overtop. I also used some masking to get the cake into the swirly label. I love putting stuff in those labels, and I noticed that I tend to ignore all the other labels from that set, other than the rectangle. So expect to see some cards in the next few days with the other shapes, as I am keeping that one out on my table. Other notes about this card, I used some of the Flirty ribbon, which is quite dimensional, so my main image had to be put on pop dots . Then the greeting is on popdots on top of that. So, yeah, this isn't a mailing card, I tend to make those...

Gift Labels

I was "assigned" to make the gift labels for the presents. You see, we put up the tree today, and there are no gifts under it yet. We cannot wrap the gifts until there is something special to label them with. I just cut these to a basic business card size (2x3.5), then decorated them with the stamps from Wishing You, as well as the To/From stamps from the set Label Classics. I made 20 for now, I'm not sure how many we need. They are easily replicable.

And here's a picture from my tree. I got this glass bird ornament in my stocking last year. It's from Pier 1 Imports, I love looking through their Christmas ornaments!!

Cute and Sweet

I pulled out an old, retired set for this card- Oh So Sweet. I remember seeing the cupcakes done up in peach and pink before, and I really liked the non-chocolate take on the set. This card was made using scraps from my desktop. The clear base when folded measure 3.5x2.25. It would make a cute, little note for slipping in someone's lunch, or something. I also used the new Sweet On You set, as well as little pieces.

See, I told ya!

Like I said, since I've got my template all worked out now, I'll change it frequently. The beach one is already gone (if you liked it, I'm sure it will return or be improved in the future). This morning I went searching over the internet for some fun winter-themed Photoshop Elements brushes. I found these cute snowflakes, so I set about making a new banner. I used to do this sort of thing all the time a few years ago, it's nice to do it again. I've got no card to post this morning, was using my creativity to do this instead.