End Of the Week Technique #40 - Triple Layer Stamping & Some Wintry Relief

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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.

Be Safe,
Shan

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Merry Christmas- Stampin 411 Challenge SSC 229

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Hey y'all - No, I'm not posting twice in one day. (I wish) I'm just putting this picture up so I can link to it today. The challenge ends tomorrow morning at 8am and with class tonight, well, if I don't submit it now I might miss it... and I think it's too pretty to miss. Hope you think so too. ****Note**** I came back and edited this to include the blog entry. See below the picture and initial sign off. Thanks! Shan****

Here's my card-

Here's the Stampin 411 Sketch-

I'll be back tomorrow with the blog to go with it....

Till then-

Be Safe,
Shan


Hey Y'all! Here's the continuation from the above post.
I hope today finds you warm and dry! That is surely NOT the case here in the DMV! Had I not seen the weather and known this mess was coming I would have been afraid I brought this mess upon us by mentioning those two bad Horrible 4-Letter words the other day.... you know the c word and the s word. UGH! It was so cooooold and windy and then the rain started at the slug line this morning...The good news though is that at least it made me feel like it was winter, so I could feel good about posting a Christmas card! Bright side of things, right?

So, for those of you that are new here, I am somewhat (A Lot) technologically challenged. In fact, that I have managed to get to this point in my blog without any major problems is a minor miracle in it's own right. I'm sure there is probably a way to have linked yesterday's post and today's but I sure don't know it. SMH.... Thanks for hanging with me as I figure this stuff out! :-) Yesterday's post is linked to the Stampin 411 page, I'm posting today for anyone who doesn't see that page. Hope that makes sense.

I'm a Scaredy Cat. Did you read the name of my blog? But I'm trying to not be such a big one at least and I entered a challenge a few weeks ago. This week though, I think I lost my ever-luvin-mind! (What? It's a real southern word) I found and entered two of them.

Yes, I said two. On the same day. Like I said... Lost my ever-luvin-mind! The good news is when I saw the sketches I had a plan in mind, right away. Unfortunately, they both had the same central element. So a little tweaking had to occur, but I got to go home and stamp & play all evening! SCORE! I have to say I was really pleased with how they both turned out.

This whole challenge thing though is like being back in High School or like being Single and Dating again. It's soooo intimidating and stressful! (Especially for us Scaredy Cats! Right?!?) It's not just me is it? I mean you're putting yourself out there, exposing yourself to everyone. Is it good enough? Will they like it? Will they get it? Augh! Is it in line with what others are doing or totally off base? Oh, but maybe if I try enough, it won't be as hard, right?

Well, Stampin 411 has been a challenge that I have followed for some time. I really like it because they give you a suggestion for the sizes of the different layers. I don't know about you, but this is one of the hardest parts for me, trying to figure out the measurements for different layouts, so this really helps simplify things for me. You can even go to the site and print out the challenges. I find it a great resource for card layouts.

Here's this weeks sketch-




I saw this and thought of the Poinsettias from the WOW Christmas Card Class from my upline Robin Merriman. Now that it's so C--D outside and making me feel Christmassy it seems like the perfect card too!
However, it was 70 on Tuesday when I was making it. *TEAR* I want summer back!

Here's my card-

I stuck right to their sketch and suggested dimensions except for the Wild Wasabi strip which I cut long and trimmed down.

I started with a base of Real Red cardstock. My next layer was Holy Berry DSP  that I had run through the Big Shot in my Lattice Embossing Folder. I love the texture it gives it.This is absolutely one of my favorite folders! I then used a strip of Wild Wasabi I embossed with the Snow Burst Folder. I had to do this piece twice. You definitely have to cut your material big and trim down when you use this folder if you want precise sizing. I adhered both of those layers down with Tombow so they would stay put.

The next layer of Real Red and Very Vanilla is Tombowed together and I heat embossed the Merry Christmas from Four for the Holidays in Gold Embossing Powder and then popped it all up with dimensionals.

The beautiful poinsettia was from Robin's class. Have you been to her blog? Check her out.... She has such Amazing stuff!....But, wait till after you're finished here. I was so excited I was able to turn it so it fit on the card, and in the envelope. It looks like it extends past the edge at the top, but it doesn't really.

Here's the inside-

I stamped the greeting in gold and was done.  For those of you that know me, Yes, I forgot to stamp something else on the inside. Truth be told, at this point I was tired. I had to remember to stamp the greeting, since it wasn't part of the challenge. LOL.

And Tink has been on Vacation. I think there was enough shimmer on the front of the card, though. I'm sure she will be back in full force soon.

I hope you liked today's card. It's starting to feel like Christmas around here so there will be more coming. If you liked it, 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. :)

If you need supplies to make today's card or cards like it you can shop in my online store 24/7.

Card recipe:
Cardstock- Real Red, Very Vanilla, Wild Wasabi, Holly Berry DSP, Red Glimmer Paper
Ink- Versamark
Big Shot- Lattice Embossing Folder, Snow Burst Embossing Folder
Punch- Blossom Petals Builder Punch, 1 1/4 inch Circle Punch
Misc- Vintage Brad, Mat Pack, Piercing Tool, Tombow Adhesive, Stampin Dimensionals, Gold Embossing Powder, Heat Embossing Tool

Well, that's it for today.  If we don't see each other tomorrow I hope you have a great weekend and get to spend it with friends and family and of course Stamping. I'm going to spend tonight finishing up my swaps for this weekend's big meeting and Valentine's themed Swap, hard to believe that's what we're working on already...

Till next time,

Be Safe,
Shan


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End of the Week Technique (EWT) #8 Versamark Marker - Embossed Gently Falling Card

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Hey y'all! I hope this post finds you well and if not sunny and warm, at least dry. Here in the DMV we have rain with 100% chance of more rain throughout the day. Seriously?!? You couldn't even give us 1% chance of sunshine. SMH... Oh well at least it's not my 2 least favorite 4-Letter words Cold and SNOW!

On the upside as I walked in to work this morning, the sidewalks were strewn with beautiful multicolored leaves. I do have to say that's one thing we never got much of back home. There's even this big tree across the street from my office and every once in a while when the wind is just right, you'll see a little swirling and fluttering of the golden leaves as they fall. So pretty!

It seemed kind of appropriate for today's card since it uses the Gently Falling stamp set. I'm a little early this week with the EWT but I put this card in as a challenge entry and wanted to be able to link it up here so, I'll try and do an extra post tomorrow or Friday with the other challenge I entered.

Have you been to Try Stampin on Tuesday? Not sure how I stumbled upon CherylAnn's regular site, but I'm so glad I did! Check her sites out....but after you finish here. :-)

Here's the sketch from Try Stampin on Tuesday-

Pretty simple, not a lot of fuss. I had an idea for the sketch as soon as I saw it. Too bad it had the same centerpiece as the idea I had for the Stampin 411 challenge. What to do....What to do? You know my inner Pooh-Bear came out- Think, think, think, think....come-on you know you just said it with me in your inner Pooh-Bear voice as you read that. :-)

Well, I have to say my upline Robin Merriman is such a creative inspiration for me. I missed her Firehouse camp last week, but saw the cards and wish I hadn't because they were SOOOOO Amazing! She posted one yesterday, here, that became the inspiration for my challenge card.

Here's my card-

As you can see, I only deviated from the sketch by changing the circle to a square. I have to say though, I only did that because I didn't have anything to make a large circle with, however I really like how it turned out. I hope the Try Stampin on Tuesday people aren't super sticklers for not deviating from the sketch.  I used a cardbase of Soft Suede and layered that with Very Vanilla. The next layers have DSP from the Spice Cake collection. So pretty! The more I use this collection, the more I like it. The final layer has Pool Party added for a pop of color and a bit of the unexpected. I sponged all the layers gently around the edges with Soft Suede and used Tombow to adhere them all.

For the Spice Cake sections, I ran them through my Big Shot with my Lattice Embossing Folder and then lightly sponged the top with Soft Suede to help define the embossing just a little.

Tip- When you use an Embossing Folder that has a lot of impressions or makes really deep or intricate impressions, Cut your cardstock larger than you need to (you can always cut it down to size). It will shrink up! Ask me how I know. In fact for this card I embossed a 5 1/4 x 4 piece of DSP and didn't have much waste at all.

For my center piece I used my Gently Falling stamp set and this single leaf fit like it was made for my card. Thank-you very much Stampin' Up! I was soooo excited to finally get to use this set as a 2-step set. I used Pool Party, More Mustard, and Old Olive. I don't have the In-Color markers yet so I inked up my stamp with my Pool Party Classic Ink Pad and then using a q-tip randomly (UGH, Random-U know it stressed me out, too!) swabbed off some of the ink. I then used my Stampin Write Markers to color in the bare areas. I stamped onto a scrap piece of Very Vanilla and then inked up the outline stamp in Soft Suede (it's becoming a favorite color of mine) and stamped.

For those of you that know me, or have been here before, you know how OCD I am about stamp placement. I know that one of the nice things about the 2-step sets are they don't have to be perfect, but can I just say I still had fits when I saw the placement wasn't perfect. I took a breath though and decided the Very Vanilla showing through was a nice color addition and left it like it was. Boy, it was hard though to not flip that scrap over and stamp again!

So, are you wondering about today's EWT yet? Well, I think the leaf would have been pretty enough as it was, but I wanted to make it a little more special. (As if a Blue leaf isn't special enough, Shan?)

Well, I recently got a Versamark Marker and have been dying to try it out. I wanted to edge my pretty leaf in Gold and I knew just how I was going to do it! (Or at least I hoped I knew just how I was going to do it)

I grabbed my Versamark pen which, by the way, is dual ended (so nice) and used the Brush-Tip to outline my leaf. (It's just like using the brush end of your Stampin' Write Markers). I went just outside of both images, whether it was the solid line or the colored image. I then coated it with my Stampin' Up Gold Embossing Powder and fired up my Heat tool and watched as my leaf went from pretty to OOOOHHHHH! (And Yes, I did my Happy Girl Dance, yes I did).

But, as pretty as it was, this Scaredy Cat wanted MORE! I wanted the whole leaf to be Extra Pretty and Shiny, so throwing caution to the wind (who knew how this was going to work out...was I going to have to scrap everything and start over with a fresh stamp....oh stress, oh worry...) I took my Versamark Marker back out and ....wait for it.... Colored in my Whole Leaf! I was so excited the colors didn't blur or anything. So I held my breath (figuratively not literally, because that would have been really hard *tee-hee*) and using my Clear Embossing Powder and Heat tool waited for the magic to happen. I was not disappointed! I watched it go from OOOOHHHH! to WOW! (And Yes, I did my Happy Girl Dance a second time!)You can't really see it in the first picture so here's another one-

Ooooohhhhh..... Aaaahhhhhhh! Right! So Shiny and Pretty! Not bad for my first try, huh? This is definitely a technique I will be trying again! How about you? It's so quick and easy and gives almost Instant Gratification (always nice!) and such amazing results.

I cut it out with my Paper Snips as close to the embossing as possible and the positioned it with 4 Stampin Dimensionals, one at the N, E, and W points of the leaf and one a little low middle and then used some of the side Dimensional to put behind the stem.

I did do the inside of the card, but it was getting late and I forgot to snap a picture of it. Sorry. It uses the sentiment "Magnificent!- The perfect word for you" in Soft Suede on Very Vanilla. The sentiment is from our Hostess Collection "Perfect Words"

Well, that's it for today. I hope you like my card for the sketch challenge and today's EWT. I hope you try it! I think you'll be very happy with the results. 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. :)

Card Recipe-
Cardstock- Soft Suede, Very Vanilla, Pool Party, Spice Cake DSP
Ink-Soft Suede and Pool Party Classic Ink Pads and More Mustard and Old Olive Stampin' Write Markers
Stamps- Perfect Words
Embossing Powders- Gold and Clear
Big Shot- Lattice Embossing Folder
Others- Versamark Pen, Heat tool and Powder Trays, Tombow, Stampin' Dimensionals

If you need supplies to make this card or others you can shop in my Online Store, 24/7.

Come back soon and see what else I have for you. I have a Stampin 411 Challenge to post probably tomorrow.

Till then,

Be Safe,
Shan Pin It