It's 6 AM on Christmas Eve as I type
This final group were all inspired by Ellen Hutson and use paper and trims from Webster's Pages and cards with matching envelopes from Memory Box. Additional products used (clockwise from upper left): Angel Stamp unknown, sentiment from Papertrey Ink, ink from StampinUp; Joy to You stamp from Hero Arts, Bramble Wreath from Memory Box, ink & cardstock from StampinUp, Stickles Glitter Glue, Distress Ink, Spellbinders Labels Three; Peace from PSX, cardstock, ribbon & ink from StampinUp, border punch from Fiskars, Glitter by Stampendous, Spellbinders Labels Five die, Distress Ink; Doves stamp by PSX stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Prismacolor markers and a white gel pen, Stickles Glitter Glue, Spellbinders Deckled Rectangles die. Both the Angel and Dove cards also have a border drawn with a Prismacolor Metallic Gold marker.
I've taken things very slow and easy this year. I saw no point in making my hands hurt worse than they do so I eliminated many things from the schedule and really enjoyed the things I did manage to do. One of the things I really enjoyed was making my Christmas cards. I only made 2 a day and didn't stress over them. They became the highlight of my Christmas preparations - that and online shopping.
Where has the time gone? Where has the year gone? Tomorrow is the first day of December which means in only 32 days it will be 2010. I just can't seem to wrap my mind around it. I've been plugging along, making my Christmas Cards and even photographing them but I just haven't been keeping up with this blog. No shopping or decorating and, usually a night owl, I've been going to bed by 8:30. Weird!
I just love this technique and I love these colors. I recently bought SU's Razzle Dazzle after it finally dawned on me that it coordinates so well with all the "Bella" sets and it insisted that I ink it up. I used White Craft ink and Sparkle embossing powder on Very Vanilla then cut it out with a Spellbinders circle die. The border piece, which was done with Bella's Border Wheel used the same ink and embossing powder and was very easy to center since all my wheels are unmounted. I sponged a combination of Pale Plum, Perfect Plum and Bashful Blue on both pieces then cleaned off any excess ink with a paper towel. The Very Vanilla card was embossed with SU's Flourish Embossing Plate. The Rich Razzleberry pieces were cut out then embossed with the Cuttlebug Textile Texture embossing folder. For the Card Club Swap I stamped "For You" in Rich Razzleberry on Bashful Blue, cut out with an oval punch then mounted to a slightly large Very Vanilla oval. The day after Club, my Fancy Tags die set arrived. Isn't that always the way? I just had to see how it would look so I stamped my sentiment in Rich Razzleberry on Bashful Blue, die cut and embossed it then, while it was still in the die, I used a sponge dauber with Rich Razzleberry to lightly dust the center oval and darkly ink the designs on the sides of the tag. I just mounted it over the excisting ovals which gives it a dimentional look.
September's Card Club Technique was Emboss Resist. For the technique, we rolled the Stamping Wheel in Versamark, rolled it onto Glossy cardstock,embossed with clear embossing powder,brayered on black ink then wiped off excess ink with tissue.
Using the Viva la Verve Sketch Challenge with an Edgy Twist for Week 2 of August, I came up with this little number. I stamped the background piece with Versamark Dazzle in Frost and I just wasn't dazzled. Fortunately the ink stayed tacky longer than I expected so I was able to dig out a jar of Pearl embossing powder, sprinkle it on and have it stick. It looked really cool besides until I realized that I had to try to stamp a sentiment onto that embossed background. Back to digging into the 3 drawers of embossing powder that I was going to get rid of. Ha!! My hoarding has been justified!! So a little punching here, some embossing there, some ribbon and a bow and I ended up with a very presentable card.
So now I am making a "New" new bookmark to replace this mess and will limit my photo sessions to afternoon naptime. Live and learn.
On this first card, we stamped the rose leaves from A Rose is a Rose with Certainly Celery by stamping off on the base stamp and using the ink full strength on the detail overstamp. The white panel on the left was done by inking up a crimper with Certainly Celery and running the cardstock through, reinking as needed then smoothing out the cardstock. We tied a piece of white satin ribbon towards the top and mounted it to the left side of the Cameo Coral card. We ran a piece of cardstock through the Big Shot with the embossing folder and used the debossed side. We randomly brayered Regal Rose and Summer Sun onto it then cut it and our leaves out and mounted as shown. The final touch was to stamp the sentiment onto a strip of vellum and mounting across the bottom of the card with brads. Quick, simple, yet so elegant! I saw this technique on Patty Bennett's Blog here, back in April but never got around to trying it.
The second card uses a technique I first saw on Patty Bennet's Blog here. I didn't have the Fifth Avenue Floral set at the time so I used Embrace Life to experiment then gave the card away without photographing it first. What a dummy! Any who way... At club we only used 2 colors of reinkers so the results were very subtle. I ended up taking all the parts home because I wanted to stamp some sort of background on the card. I ended up using SU's retired Lace background in Pale Plum. The leaves were cut using a Sizzlets die which I then shaded with my Prismacolor Markers (Green Tea & the Colorless Blender) and I sponged some Mellow Moss onto the sentiment label. Once I got all the parts done to my liking I couldn't remember how the card went together so I just winged it.
I actually made it through to the 5th and final week of these twisted challenges. The twist for this sketch was "texture" so for me that was embossing.
I then inked the edges with Mustard Seed Distress Ink. I cut a piece from Summer Sun, embossed with Cuttlebug's Music folder then inked the edges and raised portions with the Mustard Seed Ink. Used and EKSuccess border punch on the narrow Chocolate Chip strip at the top and embossed the Chocolate Chip piece at the side with the Cuttlebug Dotted Swiss folder then tied with SU's Very Vanilla Taffeta ribbon.
Viva La Verve Sketch With a Twist for Week 4 of July involved using vellum. I LOVE using vellum. I have done many styles of Parchment craft with vellum - Tarjeteria Espanola, Tarjeteria en Pergamino, Brazilian Cartoes Rendados, Pergamano and I teach it hence my user name for Splitcoast Stampers "TarjTeachR". I love the lace look you can achieve by embossing on vellum. After doing this card I have a real itch to get out my parchment tools and do a full blown, traditional Parchment card.
Today I did my Verve Sketch with a Twist for Week 3, the Twist being Score Lines. I also incorporated Color Challenge 214 from Splitcoast Stampers which was to use Bordering Blue, So Saffron, Pink Pirouette and Chocolate Chip. The Sketch included a bow so I thought I would use a paper bow using a template from Hot Off the Press instead of ribbon. All in all I like the simplicity of this card as well as the color combination.
Last week I received 2 stamp sets, Celtic Heritage and Irish Blessings, from Waltzingmouse Stamps in Ireland. Besides being very talented, I find Claire Brennan to be warm, funny and generous and just plain delightful. I finally managed to squeeze in time over the weekend to have a go at these new stamps. I had the whole card designed in my head but just couldn't decide what color to use for the main card itself so I did 2 versions. Now that I see them here, I think I like the white one better.
I am really loving these Verve stamps. For the second week of July's Viva La Verve Sketch with a Twist, the twist was to use either the Poppin' Pastels or the Burned Batik technique. I went with the Burnt Batik technique although I did it the Technique Junkies way.
rk and embossing with clear EP. For the capital letters I used SU's Wild West Alphabet and for the remainder of the letters I used Brayton Uppercase from Just Rite Stamps. I then sponged on several colors of Distress inks, wiping the ink off of the letters. While the sponges were inked up I used them on a small piece of cardstock to stamp the rooster from SU on. Using the same colors, I stamped feathers, sunflowers and an ornamental design here and there. The whole thing was overstamped with SU's chicken wire background stamp in pale gray. One more cleaning of the letters and the piece was ready to be cut up and used in Sketch Challenge #225 from Splitcoast Stampers. The rooster piece looked a bit plain so I added the red buttons tied with hemp cord. For those who share my need for all things poultry - the rooster and chicken stamps on the left are Lockhart stamps I purchased from Ellen Hutson and the one on the right is a Stampabilities I picked up at Hobby Lobby.
Here are the next 2 cards using the Sketch Challenges from Splitcoast Stampers. This first one looks rather plain without a sentiment even after adding the pearls. I should have used Chocolate Chip around the edges of the raised border in the center or something. My pearls just blended into the background so I colored them with alcohol ink Prismacolor Markers. Printed paper is from My Minds Eye with SU cardstock in Close to Cocoa, Soft Sky and River Rock. Stamp is from SU's Friends 24-7 and the 2 Soft Sky panels were embossed with a Cuttlebug border folder. Center was cut and embossed with Spellbinders' Labels 4
I am not crazy about this next one so why am I posting it? Beats me but here it is. I tried to climb out of my box but I think I'll just go right back in for a while because this just isn't me! I do like the new border punch I used from EK Success and those buttons have been in my stash forever so it's nice to finally have a use for them.
