Wednesday, August 26, 2015

August Parade of Projects

Hello friends, and welcome!
Today I wanted to share the projects we made last week at my monthly stamp camp.  I know, I should be showing you projects from the new Holiday Catalog, and I promise, those are coming. But since I couldn't have the group use any of those products before the catalog goes live on Sept 1st, we made these instead.  Here they are:

 I have to admit, this first card was not my design at all. Sometimes the mojo just doesn't work well, and this was one of those days. As a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, we receive a quarterly magazine that's full of inspiration. This card came from the July/August issue.  I changed it up just a bit, but the basics are there.  We used the Friendly Wishes and Over the Rainbow stamp sets, 4 of the new In Color inks, 2 of the new dreamy In Color Dotted Lace Trim, as well as the In Color Blossom Accents. The sentiment was colored using the In Color Markers, and cut out with the Lots of Labels Framelits.


Here we used the Sprinkles of Life stamp set. I love the new Tree Builder punch. That's what we used to punch out this ice cream on the cone here. We fussy cut the cone and popped it up on a piece of Cherry On Top designer series paper stack, backed by a piece of Cucumber Crush.  The base is Watermelon Wonder.  We used a 2 way glue pen to add some confetti, punched out from the Confetti Stars Border Punch, and sprinkled a little Dazzling Diamonds on top.  I love the drips of ice cream in chocolate and vanilla.  
This was a fun card! I always wanted to try the Bokeh technique. We sponged Crushed Curry, Old Olive and Marina Mist on white card stock. Using an acetate mask I made out of punched circles of different sizes, we used a sponge dauber and applied white craft ink to all the circles, ensuring we overlapped some of them.  We had to heat set it because craft ink takes time to dry. After it was dry, we then stamped our images from the Awesomely Artistic stamp set.  I love this set!  It has so many wonderful images. We used Mossy Meadow for the ferns, Marina Mist for the dragonflies, and Early Expresso for the oval stamp where the "friend" is.  We used the Bow Builder punch to cut out the "friend" and just snipped off the ends so it would fit into the oval image from the stamp set.
Another great set in the annual catalog is Garden in Bloom. Paired with a strip of English Garden designer paper for the striped piece and the banner, these two products were made for each other. A quick punch using the Triple Banner punch makes great banner strips easily. We used a piece of Night of Navy Seam Binding and some Regals Designer buttons, tied with pieces of Whisper White Baker's Twine. Ink colors were Night of Navy, Hello Honey, Pear Pizzaz.
 
Our final projects were two of these gift card / money holders. We used paper from the Go Wild and Pretty Petals Designer Paper stacks, as well as the In Color 12 x 12 paper packs.  These are so easy to make.  Cut your paper to 5-1/2 x 5-1/2 and using the Envelope Punch board, place the left edge of your paper at the 2-3/8 mark.  Punch and score. Continue to line up each scored line with the little tip on the board, punch and score. Do not score on the last turn; just punch only.  Adhere and decorate and you're done!  Easy peasy!



 
I hope you like my projects today. We really had a great time learning the bokeh technique and making these other projects. If you don't already have a demonstrator, contact me today and I'll be sure to send you a catalog, as well as the new Holiday Catalog, that goes lives on September 1st. Trust me, you WANT this catalog! I say this every year, but it's the best holiday catalog so far! They keep getting better and better.  And, if you're local and want to attend my monthly stamp camps, contact me today.  Our next one is September 19, and we will be using all new items from the holiday catalog.  Have a great day and thanks for stopping by! 








Monday, August 17, 2015

What To Do With The Antlers?

Hello and welcome!  I know, you're probably thinking "what kind of a title is that for a post on my blog"? Well, there is a story to it.  As you know I attended the Stampin' Up! convention last month. One of the new stamp sets in the Holiday catalog is called Wonderland.  It's a beautiful 6 piece set...that is...until you get to the antlers.  Yes, there is a set of antlers, not attached to any deer, that are all alone, in the middle of the case front.  In fact, this is so funny because a demonstrator on stage, made a joke about "what do to with these"? She had stamped them on top of a snowman, and other funny images.  Well, I love a challenge, so here's what I made.

I sat in my room, staring at these as they were perched on top of my clear block.  After a few minutes, I saw "the eyes of a pumpkin", so that's what I did. The pumpkin is made from the Paper Pumpkin Business builder set we were able to purchase at convention. The leaves and back ground are from the Project Life Calendar Kit stamp set. A quick squiggle of my fine point black marker, made the mouth.

 I then thought I could use these antlers as a border on a card.  Out they came again, using Real Red and Garden Green ink.  I stamped the antlers off the edge of the card stock, so they looked less like antlers.  I then used the pine cone stamp from the same set, as well as the Christmas Wishes sentiment and the bells, from the Cozy Christmas set.  All in the new Holiday catalog, available September 1st.
 
I will continue my quest to find more ways to use these lonely antlers. Unless of course, Stampin' Up! has an image all set for us, to go with them, someplace in the warehouse.  :-)

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Playing with Bokeh (Bokay)

Hello and welcome.  It's been a busy July for me. I attended the Stampin' Up! Convention and got to see the new Holiday catalog!  Oh boy....it sure is a beauty!  It was great to share this experience with 3 of my team members. We received free prizes, learned some new techniques, and of course we were able to play with some of the new items in the catalog. The catalog goes live Sept 1, so be sure to contact me for your copy today!

I have seen many cards made with the Bokeh technique. Bokeh is a photography term which means essentially, to show "out of focus" light.  You can do watercolor bokeh, dry sponging bokeh and I've been playing around with several ways to do it.  I made a circle "mask" by punching out various sizes of the circle punches, on clear acetate.  When you're finished, just wash and dry your mask to re-use again.

Here's my cards and an explanation of each. The first 2 cards were made using the Awesomely Artistic stamp set in the annual catalog.  I just love this set!  It's so pretty and those dragonflies are a perfect touch to the delicate images in this set.

I used regular white card stock and dabbed my sponge directly to the ink pad.  I used circular motions to blend each color, starting with Hello Honey first, then Old Olive, then Marina Mist. Always starting off the card stock with my sponge, so that I didn't get that sponged edge. Then using the mask, white craft ink and a sponge dauber, place the mask on various areas, and sponge the ink around the circle. It's ok to overlap some of the circles, because that gives it a true bokeh effect. Craft ink takes a little longer to dry, so to speed up the process, you can use your heat gun.  Stamp your images after the bokeh is done, and you've got a soft, subtle result. A little bit of the Wink of Stella pen was used to give the dragonflies some shimmer. I wish Stampin' Up! would sell this pen.  It's awesome.
 
For this card,  I used the retired glossy white card stock, also with the sponging technique above. The result is slightly lighter shades of ink and when you use the mask and your white craft ink, those circles are matt instead of glossy.  I like this effect because it's so different.
 

 
This card was made using the Cozy Christmas set, in the new Holiday Catalog. The cabin with the trees is the main  image, and I then just inked up the tree portions again and placed them on both sides of the cabin, to make it look more like a cabin in a forest.  I also used glossy white card stock (retired) but instead of sponging, I used our watercolor pen and spread quite a bit of water on the card stock. Then I used my re-inkers and dropped a few drops of each color, one at a time, and spread with the pen until I got my desired result. Use your heat gun to dry; and if needed, place a clear block on the back side to flatten it a bit.  Using the acetate mask and white craft ink, sponge your circles and use your dauber for the smaller circles.  Dry the panel and then stamp your images. 
 
 
This last card I think is my favorite.  Maybe it's the trees from our Festival of Trees stamp set (still in our annual catalog).  I had envisioned a "night winter scene" after I did the bokeh effect, and just looked at all my stamps and thought this would work.  I used water color paper for this one, and the water color pens.  Getting the paper pretty wet, and using the drops of refill ink and blending with the pen.  I used more green and blue this time and I love the result.  I stamped the trees with Mossy Meadow ink, stamping three trees in front with full strength ink, and some other trees next to and behind, stamping off once, so they looked like they were in the distance.  I also used our white gel pen to give the effect of snow, then I thought it had to be snowing, so I made snowflakes with the gel pen as well.
 
 

I am going to try this one more time, using our white glimmer paper in the new catalog.  It says it's great for water coloring, so I'm off to place an order.  I hope you liked my cards today.  I love to learn a new technique, and although this has been around for awhile, I'm just learning it. I really enjoyed playing!
 
Don't forget!  If you don't already have a demonstrator, please contact me today to get your copy of the new Holiday Catalog.  If you're local in Arizona, I'd love to have you join me at my stamp camps. Our next one is August 22 and we will be doing this technique.  Email me for details!
Happy stamping!