Camouflaged Letters Tutorial

Hi Friends, and happy Monday.  Today I have a tutorial on the Power Poppy Blog on how to incorporate words or letters into your design with a raised camouflaged effect.  I have several examples of some fun ways to use it in your cardmaking.  Hope you can join me there!

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Camouflaged Letters Tutorial

Honeycomb Pair

I enjoy making designs work in multiple ways, so today I thought I’d show you another couple of ways I played with the fabulous So Distressed Set from Flourishes, creating a more feminine and then masculine design with the set and chalboard style technique.  

I began by picking some interesting colour palettes that both included grey, one that has more feminine direction with the pink, and the masculine one with the blue and rust.  

On the feminine design I stamped the honeycomb hexagons in the multiple inks running on the horizontal plane, linking up the corners of the shapes along the way in a random pattern (Memento inks - Olive Grove, Gray Flannel and a hot pink) all stamped on Flourishes Classic Ivory cardstock.  Then after I had a pattern I liked I overstamped the design with the smaller damask image in the set and stamped off grey ink.  Then I sewed this panel onto some Color Made Easy - Cool Neutrals cardstock and Candy Pink card stock.   

For the main sentiment I used some designer paper that had these gray chalboard style sheets and cut out a larger honeycomb shape with the Spellbinders Hexagon die.  I overstamped this shape with Gray Flannel ink with the damask stamp.  Then, I embossed the sentiment from Country Time Christmas set in white, and then did a little chalkboard enhancing, white primacolor pencil accents around the words, then with a baby wipe I dipped a bit in white craft ink and swiped it over the hexagon.  I like the softness that the damp baby wipe adds to the ink so it doesn’t blotch too much.  To me it looks more realistic chalkboard effect.  

Then I stamped a few extra hexagons, trimmed them out and popped them up as accents with some enamel dots and pink seambinding and gray braided trim.  

Now for the masculine design I have a few subtle changes, do you notice them?  I’ve oriented the hexagons to a more vertical plane with the points up and down, changed the colors to Teal Zeal, Gray Flannel and Morocco ink.  The sentiment is from our new Grab A Cup set, and is done chalkboard style the same way as the feminine card.  

More masculine accents are buttons and silver metallic cording.  

This So Distressed set is SO fun to play with!  I think it’s helped give me a real renewed joy in just stamping!  

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Honeycomb Pair

Happiness

Hi Again!  Today's Technique Lover's Challenge on SCS is to use the Faux Tile technique that was showcased a few weeks ago on Splitcoaststampers....I thought it was a gorgeous technique and thought I'd give it a try today.  I'm not typically a very "technique-y" person but it's nice to play a little sometimes right?

I pulled out one of my all time favourite stamp sets from Flourishes - Cherry Blossoms and colored it up with Prismacolor pencils, then cut it into 1 x 1 inch squares.  After you cut it then I added UTEE embossing powder over VersaMark ink and heat embossed (this is where all the fussiness comes in).  I actually like the bumpy look it gives each tile...sort of an old world feel.  And the embossing seems to deepen the coloring as well.  After they cooled I sponged each square with some Marina Mist ink and then attached it to the Basic Grey cardstock with Scor Tape.  I also spritzed the squares with some Pearl Glimmer Mist to give them a touch of shine.   Which you can catch a little of below.  

I'll be giving this to my sister--in-law today to congratulate her on a good job delivering that baby....still not telling you if it's a boy or a girl!

Stamps:  Flourishes - Cherry Blossoms;  Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Marina Mist, VersaMark;  Paper:  Blushing Bride, Bashful Blue, Basic Grey, Flourishes Classic White, Blushing Bride Prints DSP;  Accessories:  Big Shot, Victorian Embossing Folder, Large Scallop Punch, Corner Rounder, Oval Punch, Square Rhinestone Gems, Pink Loop Trim, White SU Ribbon (ages ago!), Sponge, Prismacolor pencils, OMS, Blending Stumps, UTEE, Heat Tool, Glimmer Mist

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Happiness

Stained Glass Crocuses

Welcome to Friday!  For us it's the start of Spring Break tonight so my kids couldn't be more excited.  I have a very spring like card to show you today for Flourishes Friday too. 

Recently in my blog hopping I saw Laurie Wilson do a technique that I had done a long time ago but had forgotten about, and in my SU order I got a new container of Microbeads....so the timing was perfect. 

Doesn't it look like stained glass?  Ok.  I'm just smitten with this creation so I have lots of pictures of it to show you. 

How do you do it?  Well....I colored the crocuses from A Year in Flowers with the Hydrangea Copic Collection and the Fields Collection, and ran it through a Labels 12 Nestabilities.  Then I took red-line tape or sticky strip and lined the entire image in strips with the tape, cutting off the excess over the sides. (I was so sure I had taken a picture of this to show you, but my memory card must have been out of the camera!  Sorry!)  Then you place this in a tray of some sort and take off the top layer of the sticky strips and gently cover the entire image with microbeads (careful microbeads are SUPER bouncy)  Burnish the beads onto the image by turning upside down and pressing.  This will give you the effect you're looking for!  It's all glittery and shimmery. 

Completely cool isn't it? 

Here's another view  - each time you turn it, the light hits it a different way and the colors take on a different look too.

And here's a closeup of the ribbon treatment.  I took a length of sticky strip and then ruffled the silk ribbon on top of it bit by bit, then added the green gingham overtop.  Then cut the sentiment out and looped it through the ribbon with some linen thread. 

I like it so much I think I'm going to use it for one of our former students' Bridal Shower next month! 

Well, the other Flourishes girls have some great things to show you today too!

Cindy Lawrence, Dawn Burnworth, Danielle Kennedy, Julie Koerber, Laura Fredrickson, Leslie Miller, Stacy Morgan

Recipe:  Stamps - Flourishes - A Year in Flowers II, Tag Lines;  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black;  Paper:  Certainly Celery, Lavendar Lace, Certainly Celery Prints DSP, Flourishes Classic Ivory;  Accessories:  Big Shot, Ribbon Tags Trio Shapeability, Labels 12 Nestability, Fleur De Lis Pendant Die, Silk Ribbon, Gingham Ribbon, Sticky Strip, Microbeads, Copic Markers, Dimensionals, Linen Thread, Basic Grey 1/2 Pearls.

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Stained Glass Crocuses

Pretty Packaging - A Creative Photo Card

Hello everyone!  Hope you're enjoying this new week.  We have unseasonably warm temperatures right now...but we saw a bunny tonight sporting all-white fur...so we're thinking that snow won't be too far away. (sob!) 

Speaking of those icy temperatures coming.  I have a pretty Stair Stepper Card to show you that also doubles as a great photo card.  This project was designed by my SU Demo Susan, so I can't take credit for the design, just the stamping (wink!)

What I really like about this project is that it combines a number of techniques, the Stair Step fold, the mirror image technique and a picture, so it would be perfect for those special people that you want to send a special Christmas picture to.  Now ideally it would be a cozy outdoor picture in the snow (didn't have any snow), or in front of the fire place or the Christmas Tree (not up yet)....so you'll just have to do with this picture of my trio on the first day of school this year. 

Here's a closer picture of the mirroring.  We used acetate to do the double image. And the blue sponging leaving the middle unsponged really gives it a lovely glow. 

And the great news, it still fits in an A2 envelope! 

Have a great day!  See you tomorrow!

Recipe:  Stamps:  Lovely as a Tree, Winter Post, Snowflakes set? ;  Ink:  Basic Black, Bordering Blue;  Paper:  Bordering Blue, Basic Black, Whisper White;  Accessories:  Scorer, Sponge, Acetate, Snowflake Punch, Blossom Punch, silver brad

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Pretty Packaging - A Creative Photo Card

Spectacular Solid Stamps

******* BLOG CANDY ALERT click HERE*******

I really love today's Friday Focus: How to use Solid Stamps.

There really are so many wonderful uses for a solid stamp and the wonderful Leslie Miller has challenged the Design Team girls to show off new ways to use them. Be sure to check out Leslie's tutorial at the Flourishes Newsletter too!

One of the ways I love to use solid stamps is to ink them up with my Stampin' Write Markers and stamp them down giving an image multiple colors.

BUT...you can also step that up a notch too!


I sort of found this out by accident actually. When you used a water-based marker on a polymer stamp, sometime the ink beads a little and despite huffing and puffing you don't get a perfectly clean image. So, after stamping, I take out those same Stampin' Write markers and use the brush tip AND the fine tip, to create depths in the stamped image to make it look more realistic.

Here I've taken my Bashful Blue marker on these Checkered Lilies from the Spring Ephemerals set, and added some shadows at the top of the blossoms and at the petal tips with my brush tip, then added details lines with my fine tip. This takes a very light hand! And not too much color. Less is better. Then I added a tiny touch of Ballet Blue with the fine tip side to the deepest areas. The biggest thing to remember is leaving enough white or light space to keep it looking realistic. I find this technique works best on smaller images too.



Doesn't it give it a great look? On the leaves and stem I used Certainly Celery and a tiny touch of Old Olive with the fine tip.

And I LOVE how it turned out. Some cards you make and just fall in love! I think it's the Lily Kate Basic Grey paper too. I love the soft combinations of blues and greens.

I used my Pierceabilties border to trim the edges of the long horizontal panel and added simple satin ribbon tied in a knot and Kaiser pearls as accent.

Be sure to see what the rest of the design team has come up with - using their solid stamps.

Cindy Lawrence,
Laura Fredrickson
Julie Koerber
Faith Hofrichter
Latisha Yoast
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan


Recipe: Stamps: Flourishes - Spring Ephemerals; Ink: Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery; Paper: Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Lily Kate (Basic Grey) DSP; Accessories: Big Shot, Pierceabilities Border, Large Rectangle Labels Nestabilities, Blue Satin Ribbon, Kaiser Pearls , Dimensionals, SW Markers.

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Spectacular Solid Stamps

Baffling Befuddled Butterflies

Oh this color challenge almost did me in! Emily gave us Only Orange, Purely Pomegranate and Brilliant Blue....now where are you going to go with that? They all have the same deep saturation and the Pomegranate and Orange are complementary...but then you throw in that blue..sheesh!

Here's what I finally came up with after much dis-assembling and rearranging and staring and frustration!

I had no designer paper to throw in here, so I had to create my own using the Whisper White. I used the Rock and Roll technique on the butterflies.

Whew, that's done, I'm not sure how I feel about it! It's definitely vibrant...which is a far cry from the snow we have today, can you believe it? And our daughter has a school track meet today....all day, out in the snow!

Oh my poor flowers!

Recipe: Stamps: Great Friend; Ink: Only Orange, Purely Pomegranate, Brilliant Blue, White Craft; Paper: Purely Pomegranate, Only Orange, Brilliant Blue, Whisper White; Accessories: Big Shot, Top Note Die, Texturz Plate, Oval Punch, Large White Brads, White Organza Ribbon

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Baffling Befuddled Butterflies

Bandanas for Rock and Roll

Betcha I got you with that title! You're wondering where I'm going with this one!

Well, today's Technique Lover's Challenge is one called The Bandana Technique, one where you use a background or other stamp color on color and then adding opaque white pen higlights to create the feel of a bandana. I thought it looked cool, and quite easy!

I was also going to incorporate the Clean and Simple Challenge this week which is to use the Rock and Roll Technique on your card. And I did use the Rock and Roll technique...but it's not really clean and simple with all the cutting....and the color change is really subtle with the colors I used...so I'm not entering it in that challenge :) But it was a good thought, and it jumpstarted my creative process.

This is for a swap due tomorrow so you can see that they're not all put together yet! I'll do that later today. But you can see that I stamped the butterflies on Soft Sky paper with Baja Breeze ink. I added the leaf stems in Soft Sky and then added the white gel pen highlights. Pretty isn't it? The main cut out butterfly is rock and rolled in Soft Sky then Baja, and I added a simple ribbon and brad treatment and some more highlights on the sentiment. A little more close up here...

It's a gorgeous day here, I'm going to take our little guy out bike riding this afternoon! Hope you have a great day today!

Recipe: Stamps: Great Friend; Ink; Baja Breeze, Soft Sky, White Craft, Basic Grey; Paper: Baja Breeze, Basic Grey, Soft Sky, Whisper White; Accessories: Grey Taffeta Ribbon, White signo Gel Pen, Scalloped Oval Punch, Silver Brads, Dimensionals

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Bandanas for Rock and Roll

Happy Easter to My Peeps!

Today's Friday Focus at Flourishes is on Paper Piecing. A great technique to give an open-lined image a totally fun look. And with so many Flourishes stamps being open lined images, they work perfectly! Faith has a great tutorial over at the Flourishes Blog today so be sure to check it out!



I wanted to do something very sweet, springy...and yellow today. So I pulled out two sets, Signs of Spring and Thank You to make a pile of sweet "peeps" from the little chicks paper pieced in a pile and also 3 pretty tulips paper pieced, all in monochromatic Saffron designer papers.


Aren't they cute!

We are just days away from our April release! Do you want to use a little of your creativity to get your hands on all three newly released sets? All you have to do is make a card with a little paper piecing on it! Upload to SCS with the keyword FLLCAPR or leave a comment HERE on the Flourishes Newsletter under the challenge post. We'll accept entries until Friday, April 10th at 5PM CST. A winner will be drawn from all the entries during our RELEASE PARTY which is set for April 10th from 8 to 10 PM CST!! We can't wait to see what you piece together!

Check out the rest of the Design Teams' creations today:

Cindy Lawrence
Faith Hofrichter
Latisha Yoast
Laura Fredrickson
Leslie Miller
Stacy Morgan and Julie Koerber

Recipe: Stamps: Flourishes - Signs of Spring, Thank You; Ink: Palette Noir; Paper: So Saffron, So Saffron Prints DSP, Whisper White; Accessories: Big Shot, Scalloped Circle Bigz Die, White Satin Ribbon, Saffron Brads, Dimensionals, Scissor

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Happy Easter to My Peeps!

Paper Texture Class

On Tuesday night I had my Club girls over for our monthly class. This time we did 3 projects, all around creating a sense of texture with paper.



One of the girls requested learning how to do Faux Silk so here is what we created:



Hopefully you can see the faux silk texture on the flowered layer behind the bird. I just think this set is the prettiest. So versatile! And did you see the buttons? I didn't leave them naked, I did a faux stitch with the white gel pen :)



Jami and I were talking about workshop projects last month and she suggested I teach the girls the Crimped Envelope....it's been around for a long time, but I had never taught it to them! This project was the easiest - which is always so fun, easy but a wow effect. (so thanks Jami!)



And last but not least I really worked the girls on this one :) we did an Easter Basket totally cased from Mary Jo Albright. I really think MJ is one of the most innovative and out-of-the-box creative thinkers around, and though the project took a while, the result is worth it. It shows off the paper, ribbon and the versatility of the Scallop Envelope die for the Big Shot. Her tutorial is here.


Thanks for coming on over to visit! Have a lovely day!


Recipes:


Faux Silk Friends: Stamps: Friends 24-7, Friendly Wheel; Ink: Black Stazon, Mellow Moss, Pale Plum, Perfect Plum; Paper: Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Mellow Moss, Whisper White, Tissue Paper; Accessories: SW Markers, Glue Stick, Key Tab Punch, SS Buttons, Gel Pen, Eyelet Punch, Dimensionals, Mellow Moss Taffeta Ribbon


Texured Fifth Avenue: Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral; Ink: Basic Grey, Pacific Point, Baja Breeze; Paper: Pacific Point, Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Envelope; Accessories: Crimper, Sponge, Rhinestone Brads, Scallop Circle Punch, Baja Breeze Striped Ribbon


Easter Basket: Stamps: Yummy; Paper: Delicate Dots DSP, Whisper White, Certainly Celery (bottom of basket) ; Accessories: Big Shot, Scallop Envelope Bigz Die, Top Note Die, SAB Ribbon pack, Dimensionals, Sticky Strip, basket filler.

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Paper Texture Class

Punchy October Club Cards

Well I have a bunch of fun things to show you today. This was the post I had intended to do last week, but just couldn't get it done because I knew I wanted to add a little bit of a tutorial.

Tuesday was my monthly 11 for 11 Club and I taught the girls a bunch of Punch/Thanksgiving style cards with Autumn themes etc. Thanksgiving for us here in Canada is ....Monday, October the 13th!



Here is a look at all 4 projects.

Project One: All Dressed Turkey!

This sample idea was in the most recent edition of the magazine that SU demonstrators receive each month. I just loved the cute little turkey and knew I could achieve my own version of it with the supplies I had. He is made from various punches.






I've listed the punches I used to make him here:



Sorry...the writing is so small.... From top l - r punches needed:

1 " Circle Punch (More Mustard), 1 3/8" Circle Punch (Close to Cocoa), 3/4 " Square Punch (Basic Black), 1 1/4" strip (Basic Black), Partial Scallop (More Mustard), Patterned Paper Scallop Circle x 3 (in different or the same colors).


To make the folds for the Turkey Tailfeathers, first take a scalloped circle and punch out from your choice of patterned paper (here I've used the Level One Hostess Pack of paper). Count out 5 bumps and fold down toward you (you decide how you want to use the sides of pattern).

Then fold that in half to give you a center line.

Unfold and then take the first folded side scalloped section and fold in toward the center line (like paper airplane sides). Then you have a petal type image. You could use this for a folded flower on your cards too. Do this 3 times for the Turkey Tailfeathers.

Then take your 3 sections and piece them together for the tail feathers and adhere on your card where you'd like it to be, (upper center in this case).

For the feet and beak I used a partial Scalloped Circle in Mustard (you just don't need a whole circle) and cut out the feet (one scallop bump in the middle and 2 halves on each side) and beak (one scallop bump cut upwards in a triangle shape). I added More Mustard with my Stampin' Write Marker on the beak because my daughter told me it didn't stand out enough otherwise! :) At almost 12, she's getting a very good eye of a designer!

Layer over top the smaller circle for the head attached to the larger circle for the body with Dimensionals. Put together your 3/4 inch square and strip for the dapper hat. Add eyes with the SW Marker.

The sentiment I thought was kind of cute...from Fun and Fast Notes, it says "All Spruced Up" hee hee. Not for long...soon he'll be DRESSED up! Inside and out! Yum, I love stuffing! We're responsible for dessert this year. I might make a Chocolate Pecan Pie....another YUM!


I think these would be really cute used as Thanksgiving place cards too.



Sample Two: Autumn Blooms

My upline showed us this style of card last month, so I recreated it in autumn colors. For the stamped image you start here with inking up your Upsy Daisy flower stamp in Summer Sun. Then take your Sponge daubers inked in Tangerine Tango, and Riding Hood Red and dauber then directly on the stamp (already inked with Summer Sun). Huff on it to give it more moisture, then stamp on the paper. This gives you that gorgeous variation of color. I also used the daubers to give some sponged color to the edges of the main image piece. The punches are layered together to give a different look to the sentiment.

Sample Three: Grateful Blooms

I love the fall feel to the new Haiku papers, and love the Eastern Blooms style. Here the vine image is stamped toward the center from each corner in Mustard on Vanilla. The two blooms are stamped in Saffron and Mustard from each end of the 3 Bloom stamp and cut out. The background is created with one of the stamps from the set in Saffron.

The sentiment is from By Definition and the ribbon is added with a knot for a nice simple feel.

I didn't do this in the class (but would have if I would have thought of it), but later I added some Microbeads on the flower centers with some 2 Way glue. I think it gives it some pretty texture.

Sample Four: Spidey Senses Tingling

And last but not least....I totally cased this cutie patootie spider from CaseGJ over at Splitcoast. Seriously I think it was brilliant. She has a really nice gallery of creative 3D things too. I'll be honest, I'm not much of a Halloween person...but these I just couldn't resist, and they fit in our theme. I've simplified parts of mine here for the class. Scallop Punches for bodies, and the Photo Corner Punch in 2 colors for the legs, 1/8 " punch for eyes and nose, SW Marker for the pupils. In the middle are Peppermint Patties :) NO stamping! ....a great way to use up scraps... they would be cute classroom treats too.

Thanks for popping by!

Recipes: All Dressed Turkey Stamps: Fun and Fast Notes Paper: Always Artichoke, Whisper White, Close to Cocoa, More Mustard, Prints DSP Ink: Basic Black Accessories: Punches (see above + Word Window), Brad, Chocolate GG Ribbon, Dimensionals

Autumn Blooms: Stamps: Upsy Daisy, Canvas Paper: Summer Sun, Tangerine Tango, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White Ink: Summer Sun, Tangerine Tango, Riding Hood Red, VersaMark (on the Canvas Bk), Accessories: Scalloped Square, Oval, Square Punches Sponge Daubers, Rhinestone Brads, Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon

Eastern Blooms: Eastern Blooms Paper: So Saffron, Very Vanilla, More Mustard, Haiku DSP Ink: So Saffron, More Mustard, Old Olive Accessories: Olive GG Ribbon, Key Tab Punch, Brads, Piercer, Microbeads, 2 Way Glue

Spidey Senses: Stamps: NONE Paper: Basic Black, Lovely Lilac, Real Red, Whisper White Accessories: Scallop Punch, 1/8 " Circle Punch, Photo Corner Punch, SW Marker, 2 Way Glue, Peppermint Patties

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Punchy October Club Cards

Life Shared with a Friend

Today's Technique Lover's Challenge over at Splitcoast is called Black Magic and uses Prisma color pencils, a blending solution, light colored craft ink, and a dark background paper. By coloring with these pencils and blending solution (Odourless Mineral Spirits) on the dark paper you get a pop of color. It's a new technique for me, but I think it's really pretty.

So these Flourishes coffee mugs are stamped in white craft and then the colors are dipped into the odorless mineral spirits and added to the black being careful not to color over the white stamped areas.

For my sentiment I changed the first word from *Coffee shared with a friend* to *Life shared with a friend*. Life is hand written with a fine point marker and I tried to get it to look like the fonted script on the lower part of the sentiment.

I'm trying to create the right card for my very good friend's 40th birthday. So this is one possibility. She and I met each other at camp in Junior High, became friends, did some things together in junior high and then lost touch. We both grew up and started our careers and began raising a family. 10 years ago we moved back to Canada from the States and started looking for a church. One of our first Sunday's after we had said the church we call home now was really *HOME*, we sat behind this couple; she looked at me and I looked at her...and we realized who the other was. It was so funny. We joined a small group with them as our leaders, each had two of our three kids within months of the other and have shared much of life together. So, turning 40 together (I'm just about 8 weeks behind her in the end of October)...is pretty special. We've walked through a lot of life together in these 10 years in particular. I'm blessed to call her my friend.

I also added a little scalloping on the edge of the red layer of the large oval punched piece to distinguish it from the white and to give it a little pop. Pretty layered ribbons and rhinestone brads for some pizzazz.

Recipe: Stamps: Flourishes - Coffee With Friends, SU Polka dot Background Ink: White Craft, Basic Black Paper: Whisper White, Real Red, Basic Black Accessories: Organdy Ribbon, Wide Grosgrain Ribbon, Black Gingham Ribbon, Scallop Edge Punch, Wide Oval Punch, Ticket Corner Punch, Fire Rhinestone Ribbons, Dimensionals, White Gel Pen, SW Marker, Prismacolor Pencils, Odorless Mineral Spirits.

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Life Shared with a Friend