Brayered Sky Video

I found some time to make a video on the technique used on yesterday's card! Hope you like it :)



thinking of you ...

Stamps: Lovely As A Tree, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black
Ink: Stazon™, Basic Black, So Saffron, More Mustard, Bashful Blue, Not Quite Navy, Old Olive
Accessories: Dimensionals®, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Scallop Edge Punch, Eyelt Border Punch, Basic Black Grosgrain, Metallic Brads, Brayer

Good morning! I was playing yesterday with my stamps and my mum and I decided to use the brayer (well, she wanted to so that's what we did!). I don't do much with a brayer except for this technique (called "Brayered Sky") and I really love the results of this technique. We'd used a combination of inks (all are listed in the stamping recipe above) and began with the lightest colour. I used the sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You and went from there! I made some paper lace for the bottom using the eyelet border punch and some folding back and forth to create a bit of texture. Generally, I like ribbon better because it creates a little less bulk but this is a bit of a different look and it worked for this card!

Anywho, hope you like the card - thanks for visiting my blog and sharing your thoughts :)!


Here's a few recent questions!!


The ribbon holder that was on that pic of how I took my photo's for my blog --> it was made for me by my oh-so-fabulous hubby! I'd told him what I wanted and he made it for me :) I love having handy men in my family!

More specific camera settings:
ISO -- 800
f stop -- 5.6
shutter speed -- 100
lens -- 18-55mm (with Image Stabilizer; Canon Lens)

Hope that helps!

Inkspirations Challenge #46

Stamps: Jolly Old Saint Nick
Paper: Baja Breeze, Poppy Parade, Candy Cane DSP, Very Vanilla, Watercolour Paper
Ink: Whisper White, Poppy Parade, Stazon™, Versa Mark®
Accessories: Pearls, Eyelet Border Punch, Linen Thread, Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder, Dimensionals®, Very Vanilla Seam Binding, AquaPainter™, Northern Frost Embossing Folder, 1-3/4" Circle Punch

It's time for a new Inkspirations challenge! This week, there's actually two different colour challenges available for you -- one with some retired colours and then the one I chose to use :) My mum and I worked together on this one yesterday since she's up again for the weekend so you get to see both cards!

For my card, I used an image sent to me by Mindy (thanks Mindy!)! I did end up purchasing this stamp set because I really couldn't resist this snowman. I don't have any other snowman either so that just didn't work for me! So, I punched him out after I cut out part of his hat so that I wouldn't punch them off. The sketch is from this week's Mojo Monday. Here's my mum's card:

Stamps: Oval All, Baroque Motifs
Paper: Very Vanilla, Baja Breeze, Poppy Parade, So Saffron
Ink: Baja Breeze, Poppy Parade
Accessories: Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Lots of Tags Sizzlit, Ticket Corner Punch, Twill Tape, Brads, Square Lattice Embossing Folder

Lots of fun details, eh?! Please let her know what you think of her card too!

And, the rest of the Inkspirations team is sure to have something fabulous to wow you with :) Please check out the challenge on Keesh's blog and post your card using these colours :) Can't wait to see what you come up with! Thanks for visiting ~


Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha


Season's Greetings

Stamps: Friends 24/7, Scenic Season
Paper: Gold Card Stock, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla
Ink: Versa Mark, Cherry Cobbler, Gold Encore (retired)
Accessories: Gold Embossing Powder, Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder, Microbeads (retired), Sticky Sheets, Dimensionals®, Gold Organdy, Holiday Windows Bigz Movers & Shapers


Another Christmas card for a class! This time, I paired a red and gold together for a really pretty and rich look. The trees were stamped with gold ink (how I wish that wasn't retired ...) and then embossed it with Iridescent Ice embossing powder. The bottom part is my fav background stamping, that damask image :)

Hope you like this card :) Thanks for visiting my blog!


Noel

Stamps: I Love Snow Jumbo Wheel, Many Merry Messages, Baroque Motifs, Tags Til Christmas
Paper: Crumb Cake, Night of Navy, retired DSP
Ink: Crumb Cake
Accessories: Tasteful Trim Bigz XL Die, Dimensionals®, Frost White Shimmer Paint, Sponge Dauber, Silver Thread (retired), Ornament Punch, Rhinestones, Navy Organdy (retired)

Welcome back to another Christmas card! I've got another Christmas Cards class to work on and this will be one of the designs for that class. At the last class, we'd used the shimmer paint to make a shimmer mist and this time, I thought I show how to use it as an ink for stamps.

All you need to use the paint to stamp your stamps with is:

• a plate of some sort (I used the cover of a stamp box so I could close it to save any excess)
• a sponge dauber
• shimmer paint (I'm using Frost White here)

Take your sponge dauber and daub the shimmer paint onto your stamp and stamp away! It dries slower than classic ink (dye ink) but faster than craft ink (pigment ink).

So, for this card, I'd inked up the Baroque Motif swirl image and stamped it onto the navy card stock so it could be really easily seen. The sheen is so pretty in real life! Hope you like this card, thanks for visiting my blog and sharing your thoughts :)

Colour Q Challenge #56

Stamps: Butterfly Prints, Inspired by Nature, A Word for You
Paper: Whisper White, Rich Razzleberry, Razzleberry Lemonade DSP (retired)
Ink: Certainly Celery, Garden Green, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry
Accessories: Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Dimensionals®, Dotted Razzleberry Grosgrain (retired), Eyelet Border Punch, Butterfly Embosslit

Good morning! I hope you're up for a challenge with these colours! Whoo boy ... I stared and stared and stared at these colours for a while before I figured out what I was going to do. But, that's the total point of a challenge - to push you outside of your norm and try something different. I happen to LOVE how this card turned out with these colours! It's pretty clean and simple -- no sponging or distressing as is my typical norm - and LOTS of white space!

Please check out the challenge on the Colour Q blog and see what the Royal Court has come up with (links are in my sidebar).


I get asked quite often how I take photo's of my cards so I thought I'd show you where I take my pics and what little I do :)

This is a corner of my desk ... no great set up, no fancy light box or anything ... just my desk. I put up a piece of 12x12 card stock (generally white, black, or kraft) and I have two desk lamps sort of shining in the direction of the card. I use my digital camera (a Canon EOS Digital Rebel), set it on the "M" feature (I have NO idea what that means) and set the light source to tungsten. Then, I snap my photo, fairly close up, generally my chin seems to always hit that inside corner of the desks ... and upload it to my computer! A teensy bit of editing with GIMP (a free photo program) - sometimes I use the White Balance feature, not always; always sharpen (the default setting seems to be sufficient); add my watermark; and add a "fuzzy border". That's it, nothing too fancy! I'd read on a forum where someone else had asked how I took my pics and there was one answer that boggled my mind ... so detailed and technical that I had NO clue what they were talking about, LOL!

Anywho, thought you may (or may not) enjoy that :) Thanks for stopping by my blog, have a great day!



Birthday Wishes

Stamps: Autumn Harvest, Occasional Quotes
Paper: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Ski Slope DSP (retired), Watercolour Paper
Ink: Stazon™, various for colouring, Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Dimensionals®, Corner Rounder, Tangerine Tango Striped Grosgrain (retired), Linen Thread, Gold Eyelet, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, AquaPainter™

This is a simple card for an upcoming class! Simple as in relatively little stamping. I'd been reading on some forum that some people hat when they read that "it's a simple card" when they have difficulty recreating it so I'm loathe to say that something is simple ... BUT, it was simple for me :) Few layers, little stamping = a simple card -- nothing to do with time however :) I'd made this one using a sketch from Clean & Simple Stamping along with last week's inspiration challenge from Stampin' Celebration. I hope you like my card, have a great day!



Inkspirations Challenge #45

Stamps: Dasher, Star Studded Season (retired), Snowflake Wheel (retired)
Paper: Bashful Blue, Very Vanilla
Ink: Whisper White, Bashful Blue Craft & Classic
Accessories: Top Note Die, Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder, Snowflake Punch, Dimensionals®, Bashful Blue Wide Grosgrain, Pinking Heart Border Punch

ahhh ... I'm on vacation and got this card done a little while ago :) My two girls and I are headed out for our "girls weekend" (I try to do this annually) to visit my sister in Victoria! Whoo hoo :) I'll be back sometime next week so if you have any questions, I'll get back to you when I get home (I'm going computer-less, *ack!*).

This week for the Inkspirations sketch challenge, I chose to use blue! I've been telling my Christmas Class attendees that it's high time for some blue snowy Christmas cards :) So, I pulled out Dasher and set to work!

The layout calls for a circle on the right but I took some creative liberty and used the Top Note die instead. Dasher has been embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder and then popped up with dimensionals.

Hope you like my card today! Please check out the challenge and link up your creation using this sketch :) Here are links to the rest of the Inkspirations team, leave them some love too :)


Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha



Control Freaks Blog Tour!


Welcome to a new Control Freaks blog tour! I'm sooooooooooooo excited to be a part of this fantastically creative and talented group!! I was asked a few weeks ago if I would join and I did without any hesitation. I rarely swap, but I couldn't say no to this group :) This month, the tour is all about the December Holidays and I'm the 9th stop on this tour, right after Dawn Olchefske.

So, jeez, I was a little intimidated to do a blog tour along with these gals but I hope I made something that will inspire you to get out your stamping stuff and create something fabulous for your December holiday!

Stamps: Dot, Dot, Dot, Gifted, Baroque Motifs
Paper: Perfect Plum, Very Vanilla
Ink: Elegant Eggplant Craft & Classic ink, Chocolate Chip Classic Ink
Accessories: Stars #2 Die, 1-3/4" Circle Punch, Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder, Gold Embossing Powder, Olive Grosgrain, Linen Thread, Dimensionals®


I was playing around with making some tags for an upcoming class and thought I'd start out with purple! It became my theme for today :) So, a quick how-to: I stamped the background with the Dot Dot Dot stamp and then sponged it with chocolate chip classic ink and then added gold embossing powder on the edges. I stamped a little bit of the swirl image from Baroque Motif's on the bottom corner. The star is die cut and then the circle was stamped with Eggplant craft ink and heat embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder for a little bit of sparkle!

Stamps: Christ is Born, Many Merry Messages
Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Whisper White
Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, VersaMark
Accessories: Top Note Die, Very Vanilla Seam Binding, Dimensionals®, Gold Embossing Powder, Scalloped Oval Punch, Lg. Oval Punch

For this card, I'd started out with the recent Mojo Monday sketch; the wavy line at the top intrigued me for some reason or other and I interpreted that with the Top Note die. I'd stamped the white top note panel with the three different inks (olive, razzleberry, and then versa mark to emboss with gold ep).

Stamps: Christ is Born, En Francais
Paper: Rich Razzleberry,Early Espresso, Very Vanilla
Ink: Early Espresso, Soft Suede, VersaMark
Accessories: Early Espresso Wide Grosgrain, Gold Brads, Dimensionals®, Gold Embossing Powder,Petals A Plenty Embossing Folder, Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder

I think this card is my fav of all three projects. I love lots of stamping and texture on cards and this one has it! Of course, I had to do some fun ribbon -- I love this technique and I hope you're not sick of seeing it yet?!

For the background vanilla piece, I'd stamped and gold embossed the poinsettia's and then stamped the En Francais stamp using Soft Suede ink. I wiped away any ink from the embossing and then I sponged it all with Chocolate Chip ink. The popped up poinsettia is stamped with Rich Razzleberry ink and then I covered it with versa mark, embossed it with iridescent ice embossing powder, and then I cut it out!

So, that's my three projects for this blog tour! I hope you've enjoyed what I shared today. The next stop on the blog tour is Wendy, have fun checking out all the fab projects today :)


Have a great rest of your day :)


Colour Q Challenge #55 :)

Stamps: Greeting Card Kids, Serene Snowflakes, Bells & Boughs, Music Notes Standard Wheel
Paper: Pink Pirouette, Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Watercolour Paper
Ink: Stazon™, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Pear Pizzazz, Basic Black
Accessories: Crochet Trim, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Powder, Shimmer Pain (made into a spray), Dimensionals®

Welcome to a new Colour Q challenge! This week, Arielle has chosen pinks as the colour combination along with Basic Black in honour of Breast Cancer Awareness month. I just did a card in pinks but I'm always game to try it again, aren't you?! I really love pink Christmas cards for some reason, so that's what I did for this week's challenge!

I started out by using Mercy's sketch from last week (I sure wish there were more days in a week ...). It's an interesting and challenging layout (at least for me) with all those pieces of paper. now, don't get me wrong, I love using lots of paper, this was just different for some reason ):


The bottom was sprayed with the shimmer mist along with the main image. I just LOVE that shimmer mist! You have totally got to try it out :)! I hope you can see it in the main pic above but I tried to take a close up of it as well (just click on the image to enlarge). It's really hard to photograph ... it's such a subtle shimmer! I could add more shimmer paint, I suppose, but I'm happy with the look of it!

The rest of the card was just a bunch of different layers that were either wheeled, stamped, dry embossed, and sponged!



Before I forget, there's a new promotion out from Stampin' Up -- a Holiday bundle promotion! Click on the image or THIS link to check it out :)

Anywho, please check out the Royal Court's creations this week (links are in my sidebar) and link up your creation on the Colour Q blog! Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Have a great day :)





Season's Greetings

Stamps: Delightful Decorations, Tags Til Christmas, Four the Holidays, Apple Blossoms (Hostess Level 2)
Paper: Real Red, Old Olive, Jolly Holiday DSP, Very Vanilla, Whisper White
Ink: Real Red, Garden Green
Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, Dimensionals®, Silver Cord (retired), Ornament Punch, Mat Pack & Piercer

Well, a girl has to have at least one simpler card in every class so that people don't get too overwhelemd with all that lusciousness, eh?! I love ornate cards, I must admit, but not everyone does so I try to include something for everyone in all my classes. Hopefully, I succeed in that and I think I do seeing as how full the classes have been :) So, this is another from my Christmas Cards Class!

I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by today!!



A Merry Christmas -- upcoming class project :)

Stamps: Bells & Boughs, Music Notes Standard Wheel
Paper: Always Artichoke, Bravo Burgundy, Very Vanilla, Watercolour Paper, Old Olive
Ink: Bravo Burgundy Classic & Craft, various for colouring, Stazon™
Accessories: Gold Organdy (retired), Dimensionals®, Clear Embossing Powder, Wide Oval Punch, AquaPainter™


Welcome back to another Christmas card! This is another for my Friday/Saturday class (two times, same class) that we'll be making. I am loving Bravo Burgundy this year -- never have in the past so I'm quite happy to be digging into this luscious colour this year! The only thing I've noticed and learned with all red inks is that they generally need to be heat set to dry completely or they smear ... so if you're using these colours, be careful or dry them so that you aren't disappointed with an otherwise fabulous project!

Hope you like this card! If you'd like to learn how to make this card, sign up for my Christmas Card Class! Kits are always available for those unable to attend in person :)

Have a great day!






Inkspirations Challenge #44 :)

Stamps: Butterfly Prints, Grunge Rock, A Word For You
Paper: Whisper White, Marina Mist
Ink: Marina Mist, Pretty in Pink, Daffodil Delight, Stazon™
Accessories: Vanilla Seam Binding, Scallop Edge Punch, Half-Back Pearls, Designer Buttons, Dimensionals®, Mat Pack & Piercer, White Gel Pen


Hey everyone! Today's the day for a new Inkspirations challenge and you just have to check it out! These colours are soooooooooooo gorgeous together :) At first, I looked at them and wonderred what the heck I'd do with them ... LOL! You know me (or if you didn't, now you will!), I love Chocolate Chip and when a colour challenge doesn't have Chocolate, I get stumped. But, it all pulled together and I'm sooooooooo happy with the results.

I started out with stamping and crimpling one layer of Marina Mist, looked at the recent Mojo Monday sketch (yay! did one on time!), and the rest kinda flowed out of there. There's all my fav things on this card -- dimension, buttons, pearls, and ribbon!

Check out the rest of the Inkspirations team's creations this week and then link up your project on Keesh's blog!

Cindy
Kirsty
Makeesha



thinking of you ...

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Great Friend, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Marina Mist, Watercolour Paper, Whisper White
Ink: Stazon™, Basic Black, So Saffron, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Linen Thread, Half-Back Pearls, Dimensionals®, Little Leaves Sizzlit, Labels Nestabilities, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, White Satin, Mat Pack

I was talking with my mum the other day and she reminded me of the need to send cards of encouragment and prayer to those struggling with various things as a way to cross the distance of miles seeing as how we do live far away from some family and friends ... so, this is one of the cards I made thinking of someone :)

I paired a fav sketch challenge (2 Sketches 4 You) along with the Curtain Call colour challenge (a challenge I always save and somehow never get to ...). I've really been in a watercolouring mood lately, dunno what's up with that but it seems like every card I make has been with watercolour paper - I'm literally going through it like water ... :) I didn't use a circle for the centre part but instead used some neglected Nestabilities dies -- the Labels! Fun shape - kind of reminds me of the Curly Label punch, only bigger :) The background was stamped with that damask image from Great Friends and then I dry embossed the panel.

Thanks for stopping by my blog and sharing your thoughts! I appreciate all of your visitis :)




SCS Sketch #302 - "because"



Stamps: Because I Care, Define Your Life
Paper: Stazon™, Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black
Ink: Basic Black, Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Newsprint DSP, Watercolour Paper
Accessories: Black Satin ribbon, Square Lattice embossing folder, Dimensionals®, AquaPainter™, Clear Embossing Powder, Versa Marker, Silver Brads

Hey everyone :) I had time yet again to play in this week's sketch challenge on SCS which always makes me happy! I've sooooooo missed playing in SCS challenges ... For this sketch, I dragged out my much loved stamp set called "Because I Care" (a level one hostess set) and played around!

Hope you like this card! Thanks for stopping in my blog and sharing your thoughts :)



Colour Q Challenge #54 :)

Stamps: Apple Blossoms (Hostess Level 2), Cornelli Lace Jumbo Wheel
Paper: Whisper White, Concord Crush, Newsprint DSP, Basic Black
Ink: Concord Crush, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black
Accessories: Top Note Bigz Die, Dimensionals®, Rhinestone Brads, Whisper White Organza Ribbon, Designer Button, Linen Thread, 1" Circle Punch

Good morning! I had a GREAT stamping weekend and got tons done! Surprising because I didn't expect that kind of time seeing as how I'd had to drive into the city on Saturday! But, Saturday the mojo was actually working and I feel like I accomplished quite a bit :)

So, today's card is for the new Colour Q challenge! These colours screamed Halloween but since we don't celebrate Halloween at our house, I'd have absolutely no use for anything like that. makes for an interesting challenge with these colours, eh? But, I'd like to think that I came up with something that was cute and totally usable :) I used last week's Mojo Monday layout for the sketch.

Check out the challenge on the Colour Q blog and see what the rest of the Royal Court came up with! Thanks for visiting my blog, hope you have a fabulous day :)



Just add pink ... and Shimmer Spray!

Stamps: Plant Hope, Serene Snowflakes, Many Merry Messages, Four the Holidays
Paper: Crumb Cake, Pink Pirouette
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Garden Green, Whisper White
Accessories: Frost White Shimmer Paint, Corner Rounder, Dimensionals®, Eyelet Border Punch, Vanilla Seam Binding, Pretty in Pink Satin, White Embossing Powder

Good morning! I'm working on getting ready for a large class at the end of the week and this is one of the four designs that the class attendees will be making. Friday's class is full but there is still a bit of room on Saturday!

I started out with Just Add Ink's challenge - to add pink and bling. I hope you can tell, but the main panel is covered with a shimmer spritz that I made using Stampin' Up's Frost White Shimmer Paint and rubbing alcohol. It's sooooooooooo easy to make and it makes a WONDERFUL effect! Totally, totally love it :) If you croll down (or finishing reading my blather!), I've written out how to create your own spray!

The layout comes from the Fall to Layout and went from there. The text background was created by stamping the one sentiment over and over again with the handy use of Post-It® notes to mask the areas I didn't want the text.

Here's how you make your own shimmer spray, there's no real science to creating it:

Supplies:
  • a spray/mister bottle (I picked one up at the local dollar store)
  • rubbing alcohol (available at any pharmacy and elsewhere)
  • Stampin' Up's Shimmer Paint (I used Frost White)
Take your spray bottle and fill it with the rubbing alcohol. Pour in some of the shimmer paint -- no set amount, just about a 1/2 teaspoon or so. Replace your cap and shake vigorously.

A few tips:
  • Shake your mister bottle frequently - always shake the mister before applying. The paint will settle so if you just get in the habit of always shaking, you will never be disappointed!
  • Test your mister - make sure to test your sprayer/mister on scrap paper so that you learn how your mister sprays. Some dribble, some mist, and some hose things down. This will effect your results.
  • Paper position - Some people like to lay their papers flat and spray, some like to "swoosh" it into the sprayed mist ... play around to find out ow you like it done best!
  • Protect your work surface - the spray WILL go everywhere so protect your surface. You can create your own "catcher" out of a cardboard box or you can purchase the Colour Catcher from Stampin' Up.
Hope you enjoy this card and technique! Thanks for visiting my blog :)



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