Sunday, July 24, 2011

Summer Card Camp - Week 4 Part 3

I had so much fun making the previous card that I embossed another Mehndi Medallion (or as my sis calls it "Mindy Medallion"!) with white embossing powder and used that same ink combo plus a little of the Perfect Pearls powder. Love that effect!

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Hopefully you can see a little bit of the shine that the Perfect Pearls added. I kept the rest of this card simple - just used a bit of Basic Grey fibers that I've had for eons that happened to be just the right colors. Fun when something like that works out!

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I'm sad to see this class end. I've learned some new tricks and stepped out of my comfort zone a bit. The class got me kick started & put the enjoyment back into making cards again! Thanks for looking!

Supplies:
Merci
Stamps: Mehndi Medallion, Think Big 3 (both PTI)
Cardstock: kraft & white (PTI)
Ink: Distress Ink (Ranger), Perfect Pearls, black Memento
Other: Basic Grey fibers, circle Nestabilities, Winter White embossing powder (SU)

Summer Card Camp - Week 4 Part 2

I had a little time to play today - woo hoo! I tried out Jennifer McGuire's finger inking technique. So easy and very fun. You should see my blue/green fingers though! Here's the color combo for this week again:



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I used Distress ink in Chipped Sapphire, Peeled Paint and Broken China. I only have a couple of Distress ink pads, but since blues are my favorite color, I was lucky enough to have the right colors on hand. I was going for something different for me - an artsy look, so I used the pools of ink that I had on the seam binding and also put some of that same ink on a sponge to swipe the edges of the mat stack and label. I'm more of a clean & simple type so artsy does not come naturally to me!

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Supplies:

Thinking of You
Stamps: Mehndi Medallion; Up, Up & Away (both PTI)
Cardstock: kraft & white (PTI)
Ink: Distress Ink (Ranger), Perfect Pearls
Other: Mat Stack 5 die (PTI), Angled Label die (PTI), Damask Designs IP, circle Nestabilities, Winter White embossing powder (SU), seam binding

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Week 4 - Summer Card Camp

So sad - this is the last week of the great class Summer Card Camp. This week's color combo was one of my favs of all time - greens and blues with white.



I embossed the image with white embossing powder first, then used the blender tool to rub ink into areas that were not embossed. Love how it turned out! Definitely will be playing more with that stamp and technique again. The embossing really is white - I took the picture outside in the golden hour right before sunset so it's got a pretty gold glow to it. I had to make this card for a sad reason though - a coworker's father passed away this week. They were close so she's taking it pretty hard. Hopefully, a small gesture such as a card will brighten her day, if even for a moment.



Thanks for looking!

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Summer Card Camp - Week 3

It's already Week 3 of our summer card class! I was out of town all week for work and didn't have a chance to play at all until today so this is a fast card, but I love how it turned out. Our color combo for this week was:



I've used this color combo before in my card making and love it, so this was a simple challenge. Here's the card that I came up with:



All PTI except for twine. I'll try to post the supplies later but would love to go take a dip in the pool before it closes (ds is lifeguarding - love to see him in action!). Have an amazing day and hope that you stay cool (heat wave here!).

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Summer Card Class - Week 2

I am so glad that I decided to take this Summer Card class because it's gotten me back into making cards and playing with new techniques and most importantly, excited about the process again. This week we were given this color combo to work with:



I tried a technique that I've seen floating around the internet (if anyone knows where it originated, please let me know so I can give proper credit). I took the 5 inkpads that I thought came closest to this week's color combo and smeared some ink from each in a pinwheel pattern onto my non-stick craft sheet which I purchased awhile ago on Jennifer McGuire's recommendation. Boy, do I love that craft sheet! Anyway, after putting the ink on the craft sheet, I sprayed it with a little water to blend the inks together a bit and used this ink to stamp with my Mehndi medallion stamp (or, as my sis calls it, the "Mindy" medallion stamp!). Love how it turned out even though the ink/water combo pooled in a few places. I tried it a few times without spraying the ink with water and that wasn't quite as pretty so I stuck with the pooled ink. I will be trying this technique again. It's hard to see but I used my new Damask impression plate on the Scarlet Jewel CS - it's beautiful and I know I'll be using the Damask impression plate again and again.




Credits:

Stamps - PTI Mehndi medallion, Gracious Vases
Dies - Spellbinders nestabilities circles, Spellbinders ribbon tags, PTI Damask impression plate
Cardstock - PTI Vintage cream and Scarlet Jewel
Ink - SU Mellow Moss & Old Olive, Adirondack Butterscotch & Cranberry, Ranger Beach Ball yellow
Ribbon - PTI Fine Linen Satin

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Thank You Card - Week 1



Since I have had not even an ounce of creativity in me for a long time, I decided to sign up for the Summer Card Camp 2011 to hopefully jump start my mojo. Happily, I think it's working since it's just the first week of class and I've made a couple of cards. Best of all, they were fun to make! Here's one that I made using the suggested color combo.


Thank You card

I did learn (the HARD way!), that Copics do NOT wipe off of an embossed surface. Determined to make this card work (not to mention I was on attempt #5 or 6!), I used some rubbing alcohol on a cloth and that removed most of the Copic marker from the embossing. Not my finest work, but it kind of did the trick! Thanks for looking (but please don't look too closely)!

Supplies (all PTI except Copics)

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Make It Monday Challenge - Let Your Dreams Take Flight

I made a quick card this afternoon using the embossing technique with dies featured in this week's Make It Monday challenge. I cut some Hawaiian Shores cardstock with Mat Stack die, then embossed with the back of a Fillable Frame and finally ran it through my Big Shot again in polka dotted embossing folder. What a great idea - use the flip side of a die to emboss. The butterfly was a gift from from my crafty sister. When I saw it with the music notes on it, I knew it would be perfect since this card is for my daughter. She's traveling with her amazing college choir to sing all over Europe for the month of May. Thought I could sneak this card into her carry on bag - maybe she'll find it on the airplane?

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I put this saying on the inside because I knew that it would make her smile!
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Thanks for looking!

Monday, April 4, 2011

Make It Monday Challenge - Sympathy card

I finally had time to participate in a Make It Monday challenge again. The challenge this week to was heat emboss. I love the look of embossing but don't use it nearly enough, so it was fun to fire up the old heat gun & play with the embossing powder. I first used Versamark ink with the Backgrounds Basics text stamp & embossed the text using clear embossing powder. The butterfly was stamped with Chai ink, then embossed with clear embossing powder. PTI's silk ribbon was sprayed with glitter mist to give it a little color & shimmer. Love that ribbon! I used the same glimmer mist to spray the whole card when it was completed. It was hard to photograph, but the card has a pretty shimmer to it in real life. Thanks for looking!

Sympathy Card

Supplies (all PTI unless indicated):
Stamps: Background Basics: Text Style, Communique Sentiments, Antique Engravings (Hero Arts)
Cardstock: Rustic Cream
Other: silk ribbon, Spellbinders Labels 8

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Make It Monday Challenge - Spring

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I have been craving spring for months (since sometime in October!) so coming up with a color scheme for this week's Make It Monday challenge was easy. The challenge was using my Big Shot to emboss a partial piece of cardstock. It was super simple, but one of those light bulb moments - why didn't I think of that?

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I ran the CS through the Big Shot first with my Edger Die to cut the bottom edge, then ran it through again using the In Bloom embossing plate, taping the plate first to the Big Shot platform, then using post-it notes to hold the CS in place on the embossing plate so only the bottom portion of the card was embossed. Worked like a charm! The butterfly on the card was an image from my sister from my pre-Copic days. I was determined that I was NOT going to like Copics or buy any Copics so I borrowed her Copics to prove to myself that I did not need markers. Spent a whole afternoon happily coloring butterfly after butterfly! That was a mistake - I've been hooked on Copics ever since!

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Happy Spring!

Supplies (all PTI unless indicated):

Stamps - Round & Round, Fillable Frames #4, Spring Jar Fillers
Dies - Edgers #1, Fillable Frames #4, Doily Details
Paper - Hibiscus Burst, Spring Rain, Spring Moss
Other - In Bloom embossing plate, Hibiscus Burst twill, bakers twine (a gift)

Monday, March 7, 2011

Make It Monday card

I'm loving creating these Make it Monday cards! Today's challenge was to use distressing on my card. I distressed both the spiral notebook page and the edge of the card using my scissors. I hadn't played with my new doily dies yet, so decided to layer channeling Dawn McVey's amazing style. I'm not usually very good at layering, more of a clean & simple sort of person, but this went together pretty easily. Thanks for looking!

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Supplies:
Stamps: Round & Round, Fillable Frames #10, Up Up & Away
Dies: Doily Details, Spiral Notebook, Fillable Frame #10, Limitless Layers
Paper: Library Ledger PP, Aqua Mist, Kraft, Vintage cream
Other: Dark chocolate ribbon

Monday, February 28, 2011

Make it Monday card

Today's challenge on PTI was to use fun foam on a card. Shockingly (since my kids are in high school & college), I did have a piece of fun foam around - bright blue. I knew right away it would look great with a green so paired it with Simply Chartreuse. Foam cuts like butter with the PTI dies & made amazing flowers. I found that that fun foam also makes good buttons using the new button die. Hmmmm... might have to track down a few more colors of foam because the foam buttons don't add much thickness to the card, so wouldn't have to add extra postage. These challenges are so much fun!

Make it Monday Card

Make it Monday Card

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)
Stamps: Signature Greetings
Paper: Vintage cream, Simply Chartreuse, music paper from dh's old textbooks
Other: Simply Chartreuse twill, Fillable Frames #4 die, Beautiful Blooms dies, Memento black ink

Monday, February 21, 2011

Make It Monday Card

Happy Birthday card

So excited to get to play along with Make It Monday today on PTI. Info is HERE. The challenge was to make a glitter strip using Scor-Tape. I love sparkly glitter, so this was fun. Also dyed some white wrinkle ribbon with Spring Rain ink refill by putting some ribbon in a plastic bag with a few drops of water & a few drops of the ink. Smooshed it around & then dried it with my heat gun. I was happy with the results and how easy it was.

Supplies: (all PTI unless indicated)
Stamps - All Booked Up, Round and Round, Communique Sentiments
Ink - Spring Rain, SU Close to Cocoa
Other - Sheet Music Impression plate, doily, Hug Snug ribbon, Scor-Tape, Martha Stewart crystal fine glitter

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

PTI Color Challenge

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For my last card, I used Melissa Phillips color combo of Hibiscus Burst, Sweet Blush, Ripe Avocado, and Spring Moss. This Little Bitty Bird stamp is probably my favorite stamp set right now!

Supplies (all PTI unless noted):
Stamps: Little Bitty Bird
Paper: Sweet Blush, Ripe Avocado, Spring Moss, Happy Spots
Ink: Memento brown
Dies: Spiral notebook
Other: Hibiscus Burst ribbon, Copics

PTI Color Challenge

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For this card, I used Betsy Veldman's color combo of Scarlett Jewel, Hibiscus Burst, Harvest Gold, and Rustic Cream. It came together pretty effortlessly (for me anyway - I usually struggle!). Love how it turned out!

Supplies (all PTI unless noted):
Stamps: Life, Take Three: Summer
Paper: Harvest Gold, Rustic Cream
Ink: Scarlett, Jewel, Hibiscus Burst, a generic yellow that I've had forever
Dies: Spellbinders nestabilities
Other: Harvest Gold ribbon, Hero Arts text stamp

PTI Color Challenge

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I'm joining in on PTI's Color Challenge with a couple of cards. For this one, I used Jessica Witty's color combo of Soft Stone, Summer Sunrise, Aqua Mist and Raspberry Fizz. I haven't done a color challenge in ages (if ever!) and didn't realize how fun it is! I had a blast putting together these cards.

Supplies (all PTI unless noted):
Stamps: Cupcake Collection, All Booked Up
Paper: Soft Stone, Summer Sunrise, Aqua Mist, Raspberry Fizz
Ink: Aqua Mist, Memento black
Dies: Banner Borders, Cupcake dies, Mat Stack 3
Other: Summer Sunrise ribbon, Sizzix embossing folder

Monday, February 7, 2011

Make It Monday challenge

My favorite stamping site, PTI, is having their 4th Anniversary Celebration this month. Today's Make It Monday challenge was to make a card that uses a common sentiment stamped multiple times, somewhat like a collage effect. Sounded fun so I decided to play along. So, after dusting off the old blog and blowing the cobwebs out of the corners, here's the card that I came up with. This is definitely a technique that I will be using again because the card came together easily & it feels good to use all of those stamp sets! The awesome flower was a gift from my sweet sister.

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Supplies:
Stamps - Butterfly Dreams, Up Up & Away, Delightful Dahlia, Fillable Frames #4, Cupcake Collection, Giga Guidelines, Mat Stack 1 Collection, Communique Sentiments
Paper - Sweet Blush, Vintage Cream, Enchanted Evening, In Bloom (all PTI)
Ink - Enchanted Evening
Ribbon - Sweet Blush twill
Dies - Banner Borders