Archive for September, 2008:
Junto Sizzix Leaves
On Saturday before the game, Mary, Lisa and I had a couple hours to do a couple challenges. I always enjoy making time to do these. This was our last assignment to finish by the end of the day if possible. We used a layout from SCS and the theme was Fall.
I just received my new Leaves Sizzie die earlier in the week, but hadn’t used it. So I pulled out the new Juntos Designer Paper (from the Spanish catalog…I think that name is correct!) and cut out three of the larger leaves from this DSP. Then I crimped two of the leaves for more texture. I adhered these to the Very Vanilla oval I cut from the Coluzzle. I used different patterns from the paper for the background layers, too. I added a couple Artichoke brads in the corner and tied a Very Vanilla 5/8 grosgrain bow at the bottom. The only stamping was the greeting from the Level 1 set Best Yet (I love the greetings in this one!) in Really Rust. But, I love how this turned out!
It was funny how similar all our cards were…we all used the same DSP, Lisa and my card were VERY similar since we both used the Sizzix Leaves in addition to the DSP.
Today is our 29th Wedding Anniversary. I can’t believe it has been that long (and YES, we were married young…I was 19, he was 21.) Our family comes from long, happy marriages on both sides, my in-laws are going on 54 years and my parents will celebrate 50 years soon. We have been blessed with two wonderful boys, too.
Stamps: Best Yet
Inks: Really Rust
C/S: Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke, Mellow Moss, Really Rust, Juntos DSP
Other: 5/8 Vanilla grosgrain, Artichoke mini brads, Sizzie Leaves die, Crimper, Oval Coluzzle
Blogger’s Challenge – Warhol
Years ago our yahoo group, Creative Stamping Friends, did Technique University challenges. Pat from Technique Junkies shared the Warhol technique with us then and I thought it was SO hard. (It is now in a past issue of Technique Junkies Newsletter.) I remember how challenged I was when I did it years ago. This time was easier…don’t know if my stamping "eye" has expanded or I’ve seen more samples done since Lisa Somerville does this technique to perfection, but I could see the Warhol immediately when I looked at the new set, Winter Post. Here is a SNEAK PEAK of a couple stamps from this set along with the SNEAK PEAK of new Designer Paper, Frosty Day. Very retro colors for holiday paper, don’t you think? I love it!
For the details, I stamped the Snowflake with Chocolate Chip Craft ink on each of the colors, then embossed with clear embossing powder. Very shiny! I mounted the colors of Really Rust, Kiwi Kiss, Bashful Blue and Chocolate Chip on Very Vanilla cardstock. Then I stamped and embossed the Santa Postmark and punched with the 1" circle punch. I sliced a small piece of the new Frosty Day designer paper (you KNOW the first cut is the hardest!) and layered the 5/8 Chocolate Chip grosgrain over top. I wanted something in the center of my snowflakes and was inspired when I saw my Pretties Kit with the vanilla half pearls in a perfect size! I started with a base card of Old Olive since I wanted a little contrast between the Kiwi Kiss and Old Olive. I love how those two colors work together, too!
Hope you enjoy the weekend. I’ll still be busy working on my craft fair items…I’ll have lots to share after next week!
Set: Winter Post
Inks: Chocolate Chip Craft Ink
C/S: Old Olive, Really Rust, Bashful Blue, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Frosty Day DSP, Very Vanilla
Other: Clear EP, Pretties Kit, 1" circle punch, dimensionals, 5/8 Chocolate Chip ribbon
Halloween Dinner Anyone?
I must admit. Sometimes I have a strange sense of humor. I thought this one up LATE at night…we had Chicken Cordon Bleu for dinner and it just popped into my head. Now…I’ll also admit that the first draft of this was MUCH more graphic (and not so nice to that poor chicken). The next morning I decided to change it. I am putting a disclaimer here saying that "no chickens were hurt in the making of this card!" Oh, but I digress… I submitted it for the Halloween publication to a magazine, but they passed and returned it to me Oh well…think I’ll send it to my brother for Halloween!
I used the now retired (but still one of my favorites) Best of Cluck stamp set. I stamped the chicken in Basic Brown on White Naturals and then used Watercolor Crayons to color her in. I used a white gel pen to make the spots. I cut her out and popped her up with dimensionals. The background is Denim, a technique from Technique Junkies. I also used Sanded Background Stamp for the layer on the base card. Halloween Dinner and Chicken Cord-on-Blue were both computer generated on Whisper White and cut/punched. The ground is Close to Cocoa that I sponged with Basic Brown and used the speckle stamp i this set. It has been a while since I made this, but I believe the colors are Bordering Blue and Not Quite Navy.
Hope you aren’t offended by my pathetic joke. As I said, sometimes I have a strange sense of humor.
Batty for You
I’ve had these glass bottles in my "stash’ for a year or so, I think I bought them at Michaels. I pulled one out and decided to decorate it for Halloween. I also had a bunch of different colored Bath Oil Beads I picked up after Christmas last year for 25 cents a package (about 12 in each package). Good deal! The jar holds about 2 packages.
I stamped the Frankenstein from Batty for You with his greeting Smell my Feet…appropriate…in Green Galore on Whisper White, then punched it out with the 1 1/4 circle punch, layered on the 1 3/8 circle and a Black Scallop Circle. I printed out the words Monster Mash Beads on Whisper White and punched it, too. Tied a black gingham grosgrain ribbon around the neck, sandwiching the tails of the ribbon between two layers of the black scallop circle. Fun and easy Halloween project!
I’ve been on a roll working on my craft fair projects. Yeah! I’ll make sure to take pictures when I’m done to show you. A couple CUTE things I worked on today…inspiration just hit! I had no plans on making what I did.
Window Dressing
I love this Level 3 hostess set! I was so glad I picked it to preorder. You may recognize parts of this card. I used some "starts" from this card that was my Control Freaks Swap. I think I’ve explained "starts" before…those random pieces of half finished things that sit on your desk or in a basket. I pulled out the finished Scallop Circle punch with snowman, then placed it on another start…the snowflake wheel background and used the Scallop Edge punch along the bottom. I added a Riding Hood Red layer, and wrapped around the new Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon…love that little silver edge on it! Placed it all on a Baja Breeze base card and added the Christmas greeting from Heard it from the Heart in Basic Grey.
Well, my hubby is back to work and I have TONS of work to do this week getting ready for Stamp Club and a craft fair in a couple weeks. Wow, it was so long ago that I committed to doing the Fair and now it is HERE…I’m SO not ready!
Hope you have a great day!
Tomorrow is the Last Day!
Tomorrow is the last day to order my September Card Kit of the Month featuring the Eastern Elegance stamp set!
CLICK HERE for more information!
Blogger’s Challenge 65 Watercoloring
I’ve admired Autumn Harvest stamp set for a long time and finally broke down and purchased it with my free hostess dollars last order. My favorite stamp is the little gourd! lol! My neighbor has this beautiful display of pumpkins and gourds on her front porch, so I used that as an inspiration for my card. Her gourds are the size of pumpkins, though! Amazing!
This week’s Blogger’s Challenge was watercoloring, so I used a couple different techniques. The background is Watercolor Wash (12/02) from the Technique Junkies Newsletter. I wanted it to resemble the dusk sky around here. For the second technique, the pumpkins, gourds and leaf were colored using Watercolor Crayons. I remember how intimidated I was when they first came out, now I love them! They are the easiest way to color in my opinion. Each of the pumpkins and gourds were cut out, some popped on dimensionals. Of course, I used my Big Shot Bigz Top Note Die to cut the background. I tried to add some ribbon, but it just wasn’t coming our right, so I left it off.
Simple, but I like how it turned out! Hope you have a wonderful weekend! It has been gorgeous around here…making up for the horrible winds we had on Sunday, I think. At least the cleanup is going well. Less than 100,000 still do not have power. A lot of the grocery stores still do not have refrigerated foods. It really has made me appreciate what the people go thru that live along the coasts when hurricanes go through.
Upsy Daisy Notebook
A few days ago on Cambria’s Blog, I found an altered notebook. I like it because it also contained a pocket inside for placing smaller loose papers. I thought about using this project in my Upsy Daisy Stamp Camp, but went with the Pizza Box and tags instead, so I never finished it. I had the Riding Hood Red covered notebook sitting on my desk and decided to use the Upsy Daisy flower stamp in the same ink across the bottom of the cardstock. Then I had the stamped flower panel with Riding Hood Red sitting on my desk from another project start. I added the the Pink Pirouette flowers in shadow behind the Riding Hood Red ones, then tied a Basic Gray Taffeta ribbon around it and matted it on Basic Gray. The cover still looked unfinished. I just finished mounting my new hostess set, Punches Three, so I decided to stamp the True Blue Friend in Basic Gray on Whisper White and punch it with the new Scallop Square punch. I added it to the bottom right corner so that when you open the front flap, you can still see the Friend image.
I lined the pocket, the top of the notebook and a strip along the left side with paper from the Bella Rose Designer Paper series. I liked how it turned out! I may make up a few of these for a craft fair I have coming up soon!
We had fun at my Punch Class last night! I love doing these classes, it is so much fun to see their faces and how you can use your punches different ways. I have all kinds of ideas for upcoming punch classes, so I decided to offer this on a monthly basis! If you are in the Columbus area, feel free to join us!
My hubby is wanting me to help with more Honey Do projects…I think he is cleaning the carpet in my Studio today. It isn’t too bad, but you can definitely see where I stand to cut paper and teach classes!
Wanted!
I went missing from my Blog yesterday! My husband is on vacation this week…one of those Honey Do vacations, but that means I get roped into "helping/holding/finding/reaching", know what I mean? I’ve also been busy trying to set up my class schedules for the next month of so.
So…I decided to add another Upsy Daisy Stamp Camp (in Canton on October 9th at 6:30 PM), so now I need to wait to post my samples from last weekend’s class! Everyone had fun doing them…and I’m sure the ones that couldn’t make the class will have fun making up their kits!
This card is from my technique class using Reverse Spotlighting. I love the medallion in Wanted, so used that as the random focal point of the card. I also used Define Your Life…what a great set when you need a greeting and nothing quite fits…you have 27 definitions to choose from…one of them will fit! This also fulfills the requests I received for masculine type cards!
Anyone else in the Midwest experience the high hurricane force winds that Ohio received? They said the winds gusted up to 75 miles per hour. We have over 250,000 people still without power in central Ohio…my parents and brother included. HUGE trees were just uprooted, landing on houses, cars, patios, etc. Luckily we escaped from any damage. I thought for sure the old tree in our backyard would come down. Many thoughts and prayers going out to those dealing with the mess.
Flight of the Butterfly 2
OK…I saw that my friends Mary and Lisa did a challenge tonight to make this sweet little box…I’m getting in on the action by making my own little box. The original design came from Jane Matsumoto.
Can you guess what it is made from? The new Big Shot Scallop Envelope BIGZ Die! Isn’t it CUTE? Since I had my Hawaii Papaya Designer Paper out from making some Pillow Boxes, I used it to decorate the box, too. The base Scallop Envelopes are made from Tangerine Tango, then decorated with the Hawaii Papaya and Tangerine Tango striped ribbon. I stamped the flower butterfly with Tangerine Tango, too, then outlined with Chocolate Chip ink. The Butterfly is curled with a dimensional behind him so it looks like he just landed for a short visit!
Now, if you don’t have the Big Shot yet, what are you waiting for?
Order the Big Shot Starter Kit from me ONLINE (click the Shop Now button on my demonstrator website) and get a FREE $4.95 die, PLUS Level 1 hostess set and $20 in hostess credits! As a BONUS, I’ll also prepare 5 original project tutorials for you using the dies that come in your Starter Kit!
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