Cards for Friday

Hi All!

Have some cards that I've made for several challenges this week.  I'm really bad at posting as soon as I'm done with the card, so I'm posting these all at once, gotta get them up before I miss the challenges they're intended for!

Challenge card for CCEE Stampers: #1130 Winter or Summer season

Aud Sentiments Challenge Blog:  Make Someone Smile

 Chi Chi Memories:  Summer Time Fun

Little Miss Muffet Challenges:  #14 Summer

Shelly's Images:  Summer

Stampavie and More - #148 Summer

This card is for BIL. I know, not the most masculine card but it's summer, time for cookouts, and it made me smile and that's what I was going for.  The stamped image is by Cats Pajamas (colored w/Copics).  Flags are Imaginisque, chipboard are AC Thickers, and DP is Emma's Shoppe by Crate Paper -- had this DP since June and just cracked it open this week!  Super cute stuff!!  Crumb Cake, Calypso Coral CS and twill ribbon are all SU!

Next a card for an upcoming teen birthday.  A little "cutesy" for a teen probably, but I think she'll like it:

Challenge Card for Art Impression Stamps:  #26 Inspiration from Nature

Paper Play – In the garden

The flower images that I paper pieced are Recollection from Michaels (the set had no name??), the sentiment is Stamps of Life and the little button accents (flower centers, leaves and worm) are "Dress it Up" buttons from HL.  Same DP and CS as the card above!







Lastly, this card is going for a a few more challenges I found -- and then I got distracted and almost didn't post it -- so I finished it up this morning and here 'tis!

 

Stampin' B's:   Use ribbon

Your Next Stamp Challenge:  3 embellishments, 2 patterned papers, 1 image

The Paper Variety:  Tic Tac Toe ("card", faux stitching, pink)

The stamped, paper-pieced image is Penny Black "Whispers, the sentiment is Verve, and the DP is Basic Grey Hopscotch.   The ribbon was heated slightly to curl and it's accented with a string of faux pearls.  I said "faux" in case you might think they're real {kidding :p }.

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Masking on Glossy Paper

 Hi Friends,

Me (left) and Bev Gerard

Went to the local Rubberstamp show this weekend with my stamping buddy Lou (Stamp Cat Creations) and enjoyed shopping with her and being amongst all our other homies!  Stampers really truly rock, don't you know?!  Shout out to Joan (Stamping with a Passion) and Bev (Savor the Journey)!!  Loved visiting with ya ladies!!

This is a pic of me with Bev who was working the Rubbernecker Stamps booth along with Joan. So much fun!!  I always wish I had taken more pictures! 




At the show, one of my fav vendors, "Local King Rubberstamps" had a booth there this weekend. The designer was demo-ing several different techniques using glossy paper including the technique I learned from them last time I saw them.  It's one of my favs and I've blogged about it and used it many times. You can click on this link "Markers to Glossy Technique" (I made up the name, I don't know what it's official name is!!) to see the many times I've used that technique!

I was wowed by the way she was creating a blended, colorful background using regular make-up sponges and water-based inks directly onto glossy paper.  She used a mask to create the "sun" and once the mask was lifted, filled in the blank area with yellow.  Finally, she  overstamped the background with an image using black StazOn.  The results are beautiful!

This card is my version, using their "Silence" stamp.

For this next card, I created a mask from Tim Holtz' "Weathered Clock" die and used the TH "Old Car" stamp for the front image.  I also used TH Distress Inks; they tend to be a wetter dye and so the colors lend themselves to blending really well. I left the mask image blank and liked the contrast it created with the dark colors.  I went ahead and attached the clock hands that the die made with an eyelet to complete the card front.

For this next card, I used SU's "Lattice" die to create a mask and used the "Silence" stamp again as the front image.

A little "oops" required me to hand-draw a third bird flying around on this card!!  You'll have to compare the two cards (the pink one and this one) to see if you can figure out which is the "extra" bird LOL!!

And just for fun -- and because I love the technique, I made another card with the markers direct-to-rubber technique that I learned from "Local King Rubberstamps" last year.  I included a few quick pics of how it was made.

Used SU markers in Bermuda Bay, Ballet Blue, Pear Pizzaz for the color on the birds.

A photo of the rubber that has been randomly colored with the markers. Part of the technique is to then add a tiny bit of black here and there onto the colors before stamping.

This is the first "layer" of the image stamped onto the glossy paper.


I then colored a Rubbernecker branch stamp called "Floral" in the same way using Always Artichoke and Chocolate Chip and stamped it onto the panel.  

Finally, this technique has you using a background stamp over the entire image.  Here I used SU's retired French Script with Adirondack "Lake Mist" ink for my "background".  It's such a light color that it doesn't interfere with the main image colors.

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Simply You

Hi All

Loved making this card!  I used both the "You" sentiment and the running "that fantastic, incredible..." etc. sentiment from Technique Tuesday's "Simply You" set for this card.

The running sentiment is so thin and etched so finely, that it was easy to "bend" it to follow the curves of the card pieces that I cut out (free hand).

Add caption

The little pennant banner that is stamped across the top is a $1 "Hampton" stamp from Michael's.  I added little "bows" made out of brown hemp twine to each end of the banner.







The DP is Basic Grey Hopscotch 6x6 pad.  The main panel is mounted onto SU Crumb Cake CS. And since I'm terribly obsessed with KWerner Design-inspired dashes right now, I added dashes around the panel with my white Signo gel pen. 



TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Stamps of Life

 Hi All,

Last month here in North Texas the Great American Scrapbook Convention came to town.  I noticed a new (to me) company called "The Stamps of Life".  Lots of fun images caught my eye and as I wandered into the booth, I met the very friendly owner, Stephanie Barnard.  Stephanie used to design See D's stamps for the no-longer-in-business "Inique Boutique" line. She is so sweet and was happy to talk to browsers checking out the booth. Since I Iove paper-piecing and coloring, lots of her sets appealed to me!

Two things that made me spend money on her stamps are 1) the value -- so many stamps for a $12.95 a set.  2) They are very very versatile - you can mix them with other sets entirely, they "fit" with other sets (i.e., the petals of the butterfly can be paper pieced into the flower set (that I didn't get yet!).  All the pieces are all separate, you can get very creative with the individual images.

I joined her monthly club (details here) and have already received my first monthly set!  I haven't played with it yet (except I used the sentiment on the title image of this post), I already know it's going to be a fun one!!

The sets I had in my hand when I walked away were:

Kites2Fly

Background is made with blue Pan Pastels, sentiment is from July's Club Member se.

Kite bows are made dimensional with Viva Glass Effects Gel Pen

Card cased from KWerner Designs

Butterfly2Build

And the sentiments I used are from this set -- which is AWESOME and so versatile!! :

"YouAre2Kind"

TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!

Using Pan Pastels - You'll Love them!

Hello Friends!

Wishing you a wonderful holiday and may I just say "God Bless America all His children bravely standing to up to fight for our Country".  I am more grateful today for our freedom than I ever was before.

And on with the show... :)

I recently purchased a few colors (4) of "Pan-Pastel Artists' Pastels" to play with.  They cost about the same as a Copic and come with two different kinds of applicators with each color. I chose colors that would make sunset and sky backgrounds because they seemed to make such beautiful brayer-looking backgrounds.

I watched several You-Tube videos (this is a really good one by the manufacturer, but there are tons of others), I actually emailed the inventors of the product to ask questions that I couldn't find answers to (they were very responsive BTW!), and I searched on-line for pros and cons about using them.  Everything I read about the product, and I mean EVERYTHING, was thumbs-up by both professional artists and casual card makers/scrapbookers alike.

Because I'm short on time today, I won't go into too much detail about my card (I will post more cards that I've already made later), but I did want to share this very quick and easy card I made. I used Magenta, Permanent Red, "Diarylikde" Yellow Tint, and Orange.  All it took was a few swipes of each color using a soft round sponge (similar to the kind you get in a pressed makeup compact), a little blending, and a quick light spray of hairspray to afix the colors.  Insanely EASY to achieve the background, not to mention quick!

The pastels are "almost" creamy, like mineral makeup foundation, they blend beautifully so you can create tons of different colors, they will erase with a white eraser so they are very forgiving, and you can layer color upon color to get as rich and vibrant a color as you need.  They are awesome!!  They don't "dry" on your paper (like ink) so you can continue to blend, change or add colors as long as you like until you get the background you're going for.  When you're done, spray it lightly with a fixative and the colors are now in place and touchable.

After spraying your background with a fixative (hairspray will do), you can stamp right over it like I did here.  You can use any techniques with these pastels that you can do with any other chalks or pastels (will post some samples soon).





Check out You-Tube (search Pan-Pastels) and you'll find several videos on using them. If you try Google you'll also get lots of information.  Or, you are welcome to leave me questions and I'll share what ever I've learned and try to answer!! 

Thanks so much for stopping by!