Congratulations on Your New Home

A card I made for an acquaintance that I'd like to become better acquainted with! ;)

Some cards are quickies, and some take dedication. This is one of the latter. I'm not particularly fond of working with glitter, but how can papercrafters avoid it?!

I masked the house and airbrushed the blue background, keeping the Eyelet Square die (Spellbinders) in place. I'm still a newbie with the airbrushing... After Copic-ing the house (Boards & Beams stamp set), I pulled out, for the first time ever, my glue stamp pad and used it to add the icicle eaves and snow drifts (Home for the Holidays stamp set). I used a glue pen for additional roof and drifted snow.

The sentiment was stamped and embossed and then the strip inked (Vintage Photo) around the edges. I inked around the eyelet square with Antique Linen. The front panel icicles were punched (Martha Stewart) and the panel/sentiment sewn.

I adhered the whole card together before deciding to ink the card base as well... Turned out alright!

An unusual color combination for me but I like it!

{Supplies--all Papertrey Ink unless noted}

• Cardstock: Spring Rain, Dark Chocolate, Golden Harvest
• Stamps: Boards & Beams, Home for the Holidays
• Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Antique Linen/Vintage Photo (Tim Holtz Distress Ink)
• Die: Eyelet Square (Spellbinders)
• Punch: Icicles (Martha Stewart)
• Copics: Golden Harvest trio, Dark Chocolate trio, Pure Poppy trio, B00, B000, B0000, 0, W1, W3, T1
• Other Tools: sewing machine/thread, Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers), clear embossing powder, Copic Airbrush System, The Essential Glue Pad (Tsukineko), glitter (Stampendous)

Before and After

Remember the card dud here?

Well, I remembered a tutorial by Jennifer McGuire that mentioned she used a white gel pen to fill in white embossing issues.

So I went back and turned this:

...into this...

Still not perfect, but much better! Usable, even!

Perhaps that little white gel pen tip will benefit someone else out there!

Thanks, Jen!

Coming Soon To Scrapbookers - Hearts & Love Card Class

With Valentines fast approaching we think of those special people in our lives that we love and want to let them know what they mean to us. With that in mind I will be teaching a few techniques in the "Hearts & Love" card class that may be new to you. So to my Calgary followers, the class will be held at the South Scrapbookers Paradise store (403-253-4799), in Macleod Plazza, #20 - 9250 Macleod Trail South on Thursday, January 13th from 5:50 pm to 8:10 pm.

These are the three cards that we will be making in class.

The techniques included in the class will be - stamping on velum, a glitter stamping technique that will keep the glitter from falling off your card (yes - you can use glitter on stamped images/text!), paper piercing and hand stitching, stamp on embossed paper so that only the raised embossed surface is stamped on, and use Spellbinders to make a shaped card.

I look forward to seeing you in class as we have fun creating these varied style cards for Valentines.

The Stamps of Life: Card Dud

Edited to add: View the fix-up here!

Our sponsor this month over at the Stamping Vacation blog is The Stamps of Life. The exciting part for me was that I had actually already heard of this company and owned some of their stamps. They're so fun!

I decided to create a card that would show off the versatility of the stamp set youare2kind, but ended up making a dud. So why post it? Maybe in the hopes of reminding myself not to repeat errors!

I tried to make this in the easiest way possible. I placed all the stamps on the card and then applied a large block to them so I could stamp them all at once. Now I was actually wary of not getting enough Versamark on the stamps, but it made no difference. Next time, I will SATURATE!! ;) Or the mistake could have been uneven/un-thorough pressure on the stamping block...

Here, you can see my unmanicured, brutally dried out cuticles how the card looks when it is closed... It had potential. I think I would've added some bling if the card hadn't been a lost cause...

Feel free to give advice!

{Supplies--all Papertrey Ink unless noted}

• Cardstock: True Black, Stamper's Select, Clear
• Stamps: youare2kind (The Stamps of Life)
• Ink: Versamark (Tsukineko), Pure Poppy
• Die: Small Scalloped border
• Other Tools: white and clear embossing powder (Filigree), Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

Papertrey Playhouse: Stamped Background (2)

How easy is it to create cards with stamped backgrounds? So fun!

I made another card with the Papertrey Playhouse stamped background challenge in mind...

This one was inspired by Lisa Johnson's argyle card from this post. Simple yet engaging!

I didn't like this card when I made it but liked it alright the next day... :)

The sentiment is hiding a stamping blooper (who hasn't had one of those?) but it ended up working out.

I love this color combo!

{Supplies--all Papertrey Ink unless noted}

• Cardstock: Blueberry Sky, Stamper's Select
• Stamps: A Little Argyle, Mega Mixed Messages (sentiment)
• Ink: Fresh Snow, Smokey Shadow, Tuxedo Black (Memento)
• Die: Labels 8 (Spellbinders)
• Other Tools: white gel pen (Signo Uni-ball)

Papertrey Playhouse: Stamped Background

The first challenge of the year is up at Papertrey Playhouse! Adele has asked us to get creative with stamped backgrounds. I decided to be daring and try something new for me.

I stamped a background pattern from Asian Fusion on to a section of vellum in Berry Sorbet. Then I used the tiny solid flower stamp to cover over the solid flowers with Pure Poppy. Using ink blending foam, I inked the edges and corners with the Pure Poppy, though it blended with the Berry Sorbet to make a lighter color.

After the vellum was dry (next day), I flipped it over and adhered it some white cardstock. Attached some gorgeous flowery tulle (discovery from Laurie Willison) across the front and pasted the whole thing to a Pure Poppy card base.

The sentiment is from Mega Mixed Messages, stamped in Pure Poppy on a Tiny Tag (Cuttlebug die), heat embossed with clear powder and edge-inked with Berry Sorbet. Threw on some silk ribbon and adhered to the card.

This card is different for me; I'm still on the bench about it.

{Supplies--all Papertrey Ink unless noted}

• Cardstock: Pure Poppy, Stamper's Select, Vellum
• Stamps: Asian Fusion, Mega Mixed Messages
• Ink: Pure Poppy, Berry Sorbet
• Ribbon: Bloomer's Deluxe Card (Webster's Pages) (gray), 1/4" wide silk (creamy-white)
• Die: Tiny Tags (Cuttlebug)
• Other Tools: clear embossing powder

Inspiration Moment: Heather P.

Heather of Witty Title Here posted this gorgeous creation here!

Love that white embossed vellum flower! The card and it's layers remind me yet again that I should use my Cricut more often! (She uses a Silhouette.)

Another Moment of Heart-Stopping Inspiration from Laurie

Oh. My. Goodness.

Enough said!

(Find Laurie's card here.)

Lawnscaping

Can you believe that there is now a challenge blog dedicated to Lawn Fawn stamps? I'm so excited! They're the cutest stamps of the most amazing quality! It's called Lawnscaping and the first challenge is All About Snow. The inspiration is incredible and the prize is any Lawn Fawn stamp set! I haven't had a chance to make up anything yet but wanted to pass along the link!

First Challenge For 2011 - Sabrina

Viva La Verve Challenge January 2011Week 1

I haven't crafted for a while and had a little time. So I found this challenge and wanting to use up some of my large pile of scraps I made a Thank You card. With all the friends coming to help me get ready to move, I know I'll be able to use a lot of Thank You cards. So this is probably what I will mainly be making for the next little while.I still have a couple of classes coming up later this month and will have to work on them as well.

This is the sketch from Verve, and below is my Thank You card. Remember, I'm still getting used to my new camera so I apologize for the blurriness. (Maybe, if I figure out to use the camera better before the challenge deadline, I 'll take a better pic and perhaps make another entry.)

I tried to keep it simple (CAS) and I regret using those large pearl brads as they are a little too big, but, with the holes created for them, I didn't want to make a new sentiment piece. I do like how the faux stitching looks on the patterned strips along with the ribbon loops on either side of the sentiment.

Tools & Materials
Paper piercer, white gel pen, pearls, Inkadinkado Thank You Words set, VersaFine Vintage Sepia ink, Spellbinders Labels 2, large Pearl Brads.