Where even Design Scaredy Cats can have fun creating and learning new design techniques. Come look around, leave a comment and let me know what you think. I'm an Independent Stampin' Up Demonstrator and I love what I do. If you like to have fun, create or want to learn new techniques, stop in and have a look or drop me a comment. I'd love to hear from you!
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Hey y'all. Happy Tuesday! I hope you're having a good day and an Awesome week. We've spent the last few days with snow and ice and are expecting another 2-6 inches today. YUCK!!! Today's card reminds me of Fall which seems like just last week since we were in the upper 60's. WOW! What a difference a few days can make.
This week the Nacho's have a sketch challenge for you. I needed a card for our Resident's going away (I get to make all the clinic cards) and wanted to do something a little different. Here's what I came up with-
I'm so excited with how this card turned out and happily our Resident really liked it too! I've really been loving the emboss resist and I thought it made for a surprising "Pop" of color and a beautiful Masculine card. I don't know about you, but I find them so hard to do! Believe it or not this was a really simple technique. Sponge on different colors, Stamp in VersaMark and Heat emboss, Brayer your top color, rub the color off the embossed areas and Surprise! you have a beautiful image. Let me know if you have any questions.
This week's sketch is super versatile & I can't wait to see what you come up with-
Here's a closer look at the embossed portion. I just love the colors peeking through. So pretty. Ah, I mean so Masculine. :)
I added a little embossed leaf to the inside for my little something extra and my card was done-
Don't you just love the font on the sentiment. It's from our Photopolymer set. L.O.V.E. it!. Know what else I love and am thankful for? This little beauty-
Nacho's getting so big! She's crawling all over the place and is even pulling herself up to stand like a Big Girl!
Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you liked my card and I hope it inspires you to play along with us this week and to maybe try something new. If you have any questions about today's card or the technique, make sure you leave me a message below.
Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated! Till Next Time-
Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storm to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.
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Hey y'all. Happy Tuesday! I hope you had a safe and enjoyable Holiday weekend. The Nacho's have a color challenge for you this week. You know they're not normally my favorite, but I definitely can't say that this week. It's been a rough 2 weeks for me and I'm so happy to bring you today's card. It uses 3 of my favorite colors and it brings a smile to my face, something that has been mostly absent the last 2 weeks. I hope it makes you smile too. Here's this week's card-
I don't know about you, but with all the fancy folds and techniques, sometimes I forget about the really simple techniques. I've been enjoying emboss resist lately and I think it was just the "pop" of color this card needed. This card was for one of my good friends birthday. I spent Thanksgiving Day with her. They're kind of like extended family. I used my square framelets to create a "Polaroid" type layer in. I sponged the inside and outside to add a little depth, along with some dimensionals. The sentiment was colored in with my Stampin Write Markers.
In case you haven't figured out the colors, here they are-
You know I couldn't leave the inside plain so here's a look at it-
The Happy Birthday is from Sketched Birthdays. I just colored the inside and left the banner un-colored.
Ok- so here's one more thing that makes me happy. I got to Face-Time with her twice on Thanksgiving Day. Her infectious little smile is the result of seeing herself live on the I-Pad. She was so excited to see that smiling baby!!! Look at those toofers. My sweet, little Nacho turned 8 months old this weekend. Love this little girl.
Well, That's all I have for you today. I hope you liked my card and that it inspires you to play along with us. I can't wait to see what you come up with! If you have any questions about today's card, don't forget to leave me a message below and I'll be sure to get back to you.
Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated. Till Next Time-
Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.
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Hey y'all. Happy Thursday! I hope you are having a wonderful week so far. Just one more day till the week-end. Yea!!! *Happy-Dance* It's another "Will We or Won't We" day here in the DMV. Will we get Thunderstorms that keep the heat in the low-mid 90's or won't we? If we don't we are expecting the temp to be 100 again. Yowza! That's Hot! You want to know what's cool? HAHAHA! You know me so well. Today's card is Cool...not just in the "That's really neat" coolness category but in the "take the edge off the heat" kind of cool too. Ha, A little play on words. *tee-hee-hee*
Here's today's card-
Triple Layer Card featuring
Delicate Doilies and Emboss Resist
I love this set and haven't used it in a few months. I don't know about you, but most of the time it reminds me of snowflakes. Now, if you know me at all (IRL or from here) you know I'm a Southern Girl, always have been always will be. And FYI- just because I live below the Mason-Dixon Line does not mean this qualifies as the south! Well, temperature-wise if it's below 72 then it's too darn cold for me. Hence I don't do snow. You know that whole "it has to be really cold to get snow" means it has to be below 72 so it's really a no-go for me. Don't get me wrong, I think it's beautiful and magical, how in the world does God make it so each little snow flake is different? Talk about Amazing!!! But, I only want to see it if I know my pantry is stocked and I don't have anywhere I'm going to have to be in the next 3-4 days and if it magically disappears from my steps, sidewalks and car without me having to intervene and it also has to magically disappear before it turns brown and Yucky! If it meets those criteria I'm ok with it. Since it somehow never quite manages that then...still a no-go. Or at least it usually doesn't. Some-how it managed for today's card. Don't you feel cooler just looking at it. Well ok, that and the ac is on. Lol. :D
I started with a base of Pacific Point, I think this is the first card I've made with this as the primary color and used layers of Bashful Blue. I stamped my images in VersaMark (tutorial to follow), added White Embossing Powder and Heat Embossed. I then sponged Pacific Point over the embossed images in a circular motion and wiped off any excess with a clean paper towel. It really makes the images "pop". I also sponged the edges of all the cardstock with Pacific Point. The Bashful Blue layers were then Tombowed onto the Pacific Point layers. These panels were then adhered with Dimensionals. I've seen this technique done a lot lately. Mostly with Everything Eleanor or Reason to smile, but I haven't seen any with the Delicate Doilies. I hope you like it. I can definitely get behind these kinds of snowflakes. :)
Here's a close-up-
Triple Layer Card featuring
Delicate Doilies and Emboss Resist
You can really see the detail in this shot. Of course you can also see that I failed to use my Embossing Buddy. *head-desk* I finally get one and I forgot to use it. *SMH* This is a really cool technique though. Who comes up with these ideas? I wish I could come up with some random, Fabu idea! You know stampers/crafters are so cool about coming up with ideas and then naming them easy to remember names. Not like Gymnastics or Ice-Skating where a new move gets named after it's creator. Thank goodness, because Triple Layer Stamping or Emboss Resist is so much more descriptive and easier to remember than a "Boitano" or a Sukahara. *Olympic Giggles*
Here's a look at the inside-
Triple Layer Card featuring
Delicate Doilies and Just Believe with Emboss Resist
I used the sentiment from Just Believe. It just kinda felt right with this card. I heat embossed this and some more "snowflakes" and then sponged over them again. I think the whole card has a cool, serene feel to it. It makes me happy just to look at it, I hope it makes you feel the same way.
So, on to the technique portion- Why do I always realize as I'm writing my post that I should have taken extra pictures!?! AUGH!!!
Here's what you'll need- Cardstock (your choice of two colors), stamp set- preferably one with midsized images, Ink pad of your choice, adhesive of your choice for the layers, Dimensionals for elevating the panels, and a paper-cutter.
For those of you like me that are measurement challenged, here's what you need to know and with these guidelines you can make your card any size you'd like bigger (for frames) or smaller (notecards) than this. I will use P.P and B.B for my designators.
Here's how you make your own-
1- Cut your cardstock- For a standard card here are the measurements, Base Layers P.P. 8 1/2 x 5 1/2, scored at 4 1/4, B.B. 5 1/4 x 4. Middle Layers- P.P. 4 1/2 x 3 1/4, B.B. 4 1/4 x 3. Top Layers- P.P. 3 1/2 x 2 1/4, B.B. 3 1/4 x 2. Using this formula you can make any size card you'd like. For each layer the "mat" color is 1/4" (width and length) bigger than the piece mounted on it. Each subsequent layer (both the mat and the focal layer) is 1" smaller.
2- Center your focal layers (the one you will stamp on and then mat) on each other using a small bit of re-position-able adhesive.
3- Stamp your image making sure to overlap all 3 layers as you do so.
4- Finish off your layers by embossing or sponging the edges if desired.
5- Mount these layers to their corresponding mats.
6- Mount your layers together using Dimensionals to enhance the layered look.
7- Smile when you look at your fabulous creation and smile even more when you think of the smile this will bring to it's recipients face. :) I always love that part the most!
Because I'm a dunce and didn't think to take pictures of each step I'm including a video here for you. It's from the Amazing Dawn Olchefsky. She gives you all the dimensions and you'll be making this type of fabulous cards in no-time! :)
Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope I've inspired you to try something new today and I hope it's beautiful and not too hot-not to cold but just right wherever you are. I love hearing from you so if you liked today's card or have any questions, I hope you'll leave me a comment. I read all of them and they really do make my day. :) If you'd like to +1 or Pin today's card, I've put the buttons here on my blog for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too! :)
Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated! I hope to see you back real soon. Till next time-
Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.
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Hey y'all. Happy Monday! You're probably thinking, Monday and End of the Week Technique? Well I totally flaked last Thursday night and forgot to take a picture of this card, so I wasn't able to do my EWT last week and then didn't get to post it over the weekend either so here we are with an EWT at the Beginning of the week instead. SMH :( I'm still going to try and get a new EWT posted for this week as well.
Today's technique is one I've seen done plenty of times and have just never done at home. It also uses a stamp set I've been wanting to get since it first came out almost a year ago. I was lucky enough to get to use it a couple of weeks back when my upline Robin Merriman offered an "Open Stamp" in her studio. Thanks Robin! In fact This is a popular technique with this stamp set. I've seen it done countless times before, by countless stampers and it still strikes me as sooo beautiful, I had to do it as well.
Here's today's card-
I am sooo having a moment right now, and can't even remember the name of this stamp set that I love so much. I blame it on all the steroids I've been taking for my pneumonia. They make my brain so muddled!
This is a really simple technique but gives such a WOW result. I used my All-Time Favorite color, Island Indigo as a base. First you stamp your image with VersaMark, I stamped mine on a Whisper White background. Next you apply your Embossing Powder, I used White Embossing Powder, to your VersaMarked image and heat set it with your Heat Tool. I absolutely love Heat Embossing! It's so magical to watch your image appear. After heat embossing the image, you simply sponge over it with the color or colors of your choice, I stuck with Island Indigo. You can use Sponges or Daubers, I used the daubers here, but have used sponges in stampcamps before. It just depends on the look you're after and your preference. Experiment and see which one you like the best. Once your done layering your color over your image, you simply take a napkin and rub over your embossed image. Any ink that may be on it will simply buff right off, leaving your image to stand out clearly from your colored background. See- I told you, really simple!
I sponged the edges of my cardstock with Island Indigo and then stamped one of the sentiments from the set in Island Indigo as well and the front of my card was done.
Here's the inside-
I kept it very simple here. Since I used the sentiment "Hello" on the outside I didn't put a sentiment here. I left it blank so there would be more room to write.
I stamped a small image from the Everyday Elegance stamp set in the bottom corner and added a little bling to it. It felt so good to do that! It's kind of one of my signature looks and for some reason lately, I haven't had a lot of cards where I used it. I thought the little butterfly was a nice addition, since it tied in with the flower theme from the front of the card. It's also fun to use because I got it for FREE with a $50.00 purchase. It's one of our Exclusive Sale-A-Bration items. You can get your Free items by placing an order in my ONLINE STORE.
That's all I have for you today. Seriously- two posts is enough don't you think? :) I'll be back tomorrow with another new card. ( Pictures are already taken (: )
I hope you liked today's card and that it inspires you to try something new today. If it does, I would love to see what you create!
If you liked today's card, I would love it if you left me a comment. It's great when I get to hear from you! Also, if you liked today's card, please feel free to +1 or Pin it. I've added the buttons to my side-bar for your convenience. Friends and Followers are also welcome. :)
Till next time-
Remember- Life isn't about Waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to Dance in the rain.
