Apr 30, 2014 | Cards, Occasions Catalog 2014, Starburst technique, Techniques |
Do you like to try new techniques? At my team meeting this past weekend the theme for our swap was to try a technique that was featured in one of the past Stampin’ Success magazines (that is the magazine that all Stampin’ Up! Demonstrators receive). I decided to try one called the Starburst technique that I had seen a few months ago.
It just so happened that I already had a spritzer bottle filled with Crushed Curry ink (and alcohol) so I thought I would play with that to begin with. And that made me think of sunrays and being happy which made me think of the phrase Cheer Up buttercup in the Geometrical stamp set. Now I feel like I’m tell the “when you give a pig a pancake” story….. well maybe not.
I was pleased with how it turned out. So let me tell you how I made it.
- Create a starburst mask. I used a piece of the cardboard that comes in the back of our Designer Paper. First I cut it to be slightly larger than my white card stock. I found something on my table that was round and traced it. Then used a ruler and drew lines through the circle. Then I cut out every other wedge up to my circle. Here is what my mask looks like –
- I laid the mask on top of my Whisper White card stock and then spritzed it with the Crushed Curry in my spritzer bottle. I aimed towards the center because I wanted it darker near the center and light out near the edges like a starburst/sunray.
- While the mask was still on I stamped the dots on there using the Gold Encore ink. The dots are from the Happy Watercolor stamp set. Then I moved the mask.
- I stamped the greeting “Cheer up Buttercup” also in the Gold Encore ink.
- I tied a piece of Whisper White Baker’s Twine around the White layer before adding it onto a Crushed Curry card base.
- To finish I added a punched Butterfly. It’s the Elegant Butterfly punch and the Eastern Elegance designer paper. I added a Vintage Faceted button that I tied with some of the gold thread that I pulled off the Gold Baker’s Twine.
- It’s bright and cheerful!
Thanks for stopping by today. Oh and I got to look in on my bluebird today. I thought she had laid 5 eggs and when I checked today – there are 6!! It’s going to be one crowded nest box with 6 babies in there. I have a picture on my Facebook page.
Apr 28, 2014 | Cards, Punch Art |
Animal Talk is one of the sets in our annual catalog that I really like. I love the animals and what they are saying. But I’m sad to say it is on the retired list. This fun card was one I received last year at convention as a swap from Shanae Nay. She created a punch art frog and paired it with the Animal Talk stamp set for a cute card. I used this as a card for my Welcome Spring class earlier this month.
Here are some of the details on this card:
- The front of the card is actually a pocket and the frog itself slides in like a book mark – you could take him out and use him elsewhere. Afternoon Picnic Designer Series paper (retiring) and a strip of Basic Gray embossed with the Needlepoint Embossing folder (retiring).
- The frog is a punch art frog and here are all the pieces
- Arms- Square Framelits to make the arms – cut out a corner
- Body – Apothecary Accents Framelits
- Hands – Boho Blossoms punch – trimmed to 3 petals
- Head – 1-3/4″ Circle punch
- Eyes – 1/2″ circle punch in Basic Black & Whisper White, 3/4″ circle punch in Old Olive
- use Sponger Dauber for the cheeks (these are on the retired list but only because they are changing the packaging to a smaller quantity)
- hand draw the mouth – you can trace an oval punch out it you want
- The tag is the Hexagon Punch and the Six-sided Sampler stamp set along with the Animal Talk little frog. Drag the edge of the hexagon in the ink to add color on the edge. To color the Baker’s Twine use a Stampin’ Sponge to hold the Whisper White Baker’s Twine into the ink pad while you pull it through.
- Animal Talk stamp set (retiring) was used to stamp the background and on the frog on the tag.
There are many retiring items on this card – I’m going to come back later and fill in with a list of everything used. Right now I’m leaving for the day for Stampin’ Up! business. Going to join a focus group prior to dinner with 24 of my demonstrator friends and then the catalog premiere in the theater tonight!!
Have a great day!
Apr 23, 2014 | Big Shot, Cards, Occasions Catalog 2014 |
Have you noticed that there are Hostess sets in the back of the Stampin’ Up! Occasions catalog? I recently got one of them – it’s called Nature’s Hello. There are four images – a butterfly, a bird, a flower and a sprig of leaves. I used it for one of the cards in my Welcome Spring class earlier this month –
I used the butterfly stamp and colored it with multiple Stampin’ Write markers – Calypso Coral, Coastal Cabana and Pear Pizzazz.
The card idea came from one that I saw on the display boards at convention.
Here is a list of what I used to make the card – I’ve also indicated if it is on the retired list or in the Occasions catalog. Retired list items will be going away as soon as they sell out. And the Occasions catalog will end at the end of May – I’m crossing my fingers that many of the things in there will be added to our new annual catalog.
- Sahara Sand card stock
- Hardwood stamp (Occasions catalog)
- Starburst Framelits (Occasions catalog)
- Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder
- Big Shot & Magnetic Platform
- Texture Boutique (will be in the new catalog)
- Modern Medley Designer Paper (Retired list)
- In Color 2013-2015 Designer Series paper stack
- Beautiful Butterflies Bigz Die (Retired list)
- Nature’s Hello stamp set (Occasions catalog – it will be retiring too)
- Backyard Basics Framelits (Retired list)
- Rhinestone Basic Jewels
- Petite Petals Punch (Occasions catalog) – I know you can’t see this one on the card – but what I used it for is to cut the ends in the little flag strips
It turned out really pretty and natural.
Apr 22, 2014 | Cards, My Digital Studio, Scrapbook Pages, Virtual Crop |
Have you heard about the My Digital Studio Virtual Crops that my friend Cindy and I are hosting on Facebook? We have done a few now and they have been so much fun! In just a few weeks the participation and members in our group have grown! And we have people joining us from all over the WORLD – how exciting is that! We love this software product from Stampin’ Up! and are eager to share and encourage everyone to use it. Just try it!
Last week we had our April Virtual Crop and Cindy and I each had a challenge for the group. Mine was much easier than hers! I made two samples for mine – here they are –
Mine are both cards and the challenge was to take an element and repeat it on your project and then use the Align Feature to line them all up and space them all evenly.
And here is my creation for Cindy’s challenge –
She gave us a sketch that was a 2 page layout and we needed to create it as a photo book and use the 2 page view, we had to include ribbon elements, and a quote – and the quote was to be made up of different fonts/texts or cropped words. Well I left out the last part – my quote is all one font, but I did have another font on my page. You can’t tell in this shot but since my photo and my quote cross between the two pages they are actually in my layout twice – once on each page. The double page view allowed me to line everything up because I could see both pages as a spread at the same time! And believe it or not I was even able to attach my quote to my circle punch shape that the photo is in and got it lined up correctly – I wasn’t sure it would work but it did! I just took a photo snip of my screen so you could see the two pages all line up together.
We also had our “pick of the crop” for those that tried the challenges and submitted their creations to our photo album. There was one pick for each challenge and they get to display this cute badge on their blog or Facebook page to show that they were the “pick of the crop”.
If you would like to join us next month then you need to join our group on Facebook – MDS Virtual Digi Crop. Leave me a comment here and let me know you plan to join, ask to join the group on FB, and then I’ll approve you.
I hope to see you there when we have our next Virtual Crop – it should be in May sometime – a date will be posted in the group once we schedule it.
Apr 15, 2014 | Cards, Designer Series Paper |
I used my Welcome Spring Scrapbook layout to inspire a spring card for one of my card groups. I turned it into a Mother’s Day card but it doesn’t have to be.
Does it look familiar? I used the frame element with the flowers that I had on my scrapbook layout and put it on a card front. I used the same supplies as the scrapbook page just added the greeting stamp and the Flower Shop stamp set to decorate the envelope.
The flowers on the front are on Stampin’ Dimensionals as well as the frame. But the flower on the inside of the card is just glued flat. Here is a view from the side so you can see all the dimension in the card.
The girls loved this card. It is a little bulky for mailing but if you see your mom for Mother’s Day you can just hand it to her.
Thanks for stopping by!
Apr 10, 2014 | Big Shot, Cards, Masculine, Occasions Catalog 2014 |
Today I have a trendy card featuring the Kaleidoscope product Suite from the Stampin’ Up! Occasions Catalog. This card has a unique style – the front is cut short and a piece of Designer Paper is attached on the inside of the card base to show to the front when the card is closed. Here is what the inside looks like
Just something a little different to add interest to this fun card. I tried to stick with the grey, blue, yellow colors in the product suite so it would be a more masculine card. Here are some more notes for you –
- Card base is Crushed Curry
- Kaleidoscope Designer Series Paper – the gray strip on the inside and the gray strip on the front, plus the gray circles – punched with the circle from the Punch Pack (***it’s on SALE this week), and the little tiny triangles are cut from one of the prints in the paper pack
- Stamp the images from the Geometrical stamp set using Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, and Basic Gray – punch out with the Triangle Punch
- Stamp Hooray for today on a piece of Whisper White card stock – then cut it with the Banner Framelits – then add one of the arrows on underneath the words
- attach everything to the front of the card (well except the one strip that goes on the inside)
Enjoy! Let me know what you think of this card and what you think about my blog changes.
I was pleased with how it turned out. So let me tell you how I made it.
