Improving on the Christmas Oldie but Goodie!

WONDROUS NEWS!  

THIS CARD IS NAMED A

SPLITCOASTSTAMPERS FAVORITE OF THE

WEEK ENDING - SEPTEMBER 16, 2017!!

In my last blog post, I made a card from an old, never used 1995 PBX stamp with a verse from the poem, The Night Before Christmas.  I entered it in several Splitcoaststampers challenges, and one in particular, the Alphabet Challenge, Round 7, it was entered for Letter J = "Just color...no dies."  The kicker is, the very next challenge for Letter I is "Improve upon your last card," which means I needed to do another card using this same stamp, CASE the card, and change it somehow by improving upon it.  Now, I really like my previous card, so all the while I was making it, I kept saying to myself, "Now, don't go overboard, because you have to leave something to do to it to improve upon it."  Take a peek below...here is my improved upon card.  I have also included the original below it so that you may see what I did to improve it:

Newest Version...improving upon the original.

Original version.

Ingredients:  Papers: Master's Touch 140# Watercolor Paper (WalMart); Core'dinations Silk Glitter Opulent Oval cs; Stampin' Up--Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer cs (retired), Night of Navy (card base).  Stamp: PSX (Personal Stamp Exchange)--Dasher Dash Away All!  Ink:  Stampin' Up--Night of Navy, Rose Red, Marine Mist; Versamark--Watermark Ink.  Paint: Folk Art Metallic Pearl White (splatters).  Gelly Roll White Gel Pen.  Stampin' Up White Embossing Powder. Dies:  Spellbinders--Layered Poinsettias; MemoryBox--Poinsettia Trio Blooms.  Offray Ribbon: White/Silver Striped Organdy (stash).  MISTI Stamping Tool.  Techniques: Heat Embossing; Watercolor background; Splattering.  Size: 4-3/4" x 6".  Inside: Computer verse.

Christmas Card from an Oldie But Goodie!

 MORE GOOD NEWS!  

THIS CARD IS NAMED A

SPLITCOASTSTAMPERS FAVORITE OF THE

WEEK ENDING - SEPTEMBER 9, 2017!!

I own what is now considered a vintage stamp, produced in 1995 by Personal Stamp Exchange (PSX) Stamps.  It is a stamp I have actually never used, but always wanted to.  There is, of course, a story behind my owning it, but never using it.  Well, I decided it was time to dig it out and use it to make my second Christmas card for 2017, and enter some challenges at Splitcoaststampers as well!  Take a peek below at my finished card, and then jump down to "The Story" below if you are interested.

Ingredients:  Papers: Master's Touch 140# Watercolor Paper (WalMart); Core'dinations Silk Glitter Opulent Oval cs; Stampin' Up Night of Navy (card base).  Stamp: PSX (Personal Stamp Exchange)--Dasher Dash Away All!  Stamp: Ink--Stampin' Up: Night of Navy, Rose Red, Marine Mist; Versamark--Watermark Ink.  Paint: Folk Art Metallic Pearl White (splatters).  Gelly Roll White Gel Pen.  Stampin' Up White Embossing Powder.  Offray Ribbon: White/Silver Organdy (stash).  MISTI Stamping Tool.  Techniques: Heat Embossing; Watercolor background; Splattering.  Size: 4-3/4" x 6".  Inside: Computer verse.

"The Story"

In 1996, I was the office manager for a brand new elementary school to which our staff had been transferred.  The principal was a very classy lady with whom I got along famously.  She really wanted our Christmas card for our new school to be very original, handmade, and using our school colors, which were navy, forest green, and maroon.  I went out on a search for the perfect idea, thus visiting Joanns, Michaels, and the local craft store.  I found this Night Before Christmas stamp that I fell in love with, but didn't really know if it would suit the principal...I could see it with gold stamping mat layers of navy and forest green, with some possibly in navy and maroon.  

I was crafting, but if you've read my blog at all, you will know that I did not become a cardmaker until 2008!  I knew nothing about papers, stamping, ink, embossing, etc., etc....so I had no idea how any of this could be accomplished, but I decided when we made a decision on what we'd do, I learn somehow!

I bought the stamp personally, because I thought it was too pricey for our school budget, and I love it.  My youngest daughter, who was a teen-ager, loved to stamp thinks and had lots of little stamps and cheap inks, so I figured eventually it would not go to waste, right!  I inked up the stamp and tried to stamp it, and found it had lots of gaps in the printing, and I could not get a good, clean image...so we did not use it at school.

When I began making cards, I did not learn embossing right away, so still didn't use it.  I did find that I did not LIKE wood stamps because it was difficult to tell where they would land and were often difficult to ink up, especially if large...so my stamp continue to stay buried away.  As the years passed, I see it every now and then at Christmas time, but by then I really didn't like wood stamps and knew it didn't ink up well.

A year ago or so, I learned wood stamps can be unmounted and made into rubber stamps used on an  acyrlic block, but not being too familiar with this trick...the stamp continue to sit.  Then came my MISTI, and I seriously became interested in unmounting this lovely Christmas stamp to see if I could get a better imprint with my MISTI.  Recently, I saw a challenge on Splitcoaststampers called "Oldies but Goodies," and I seriously became interested. 

A few nights ago, I wasn't sleeping well, so up I popped, the stamp to the microwave and stripped it with foam pad attached from its wood.  The image on this stamp was not an acyrlic sheet glued to the wood, but rather it varnished right onto the wood, therefore, I could not remove it.  My solution for this problem is to ink up the stamp and stamp on a small sheet of white printer paper just larger than the stamped image.  I take this stamped paper and many strips, vertically and horizontally, of my tape runner, and glued it down to the foam pad.  Next, I cover this stamped paper with 3" wide clear 3M tape covering the entire paper surface (at school, we called this library tape) and then fussy-cut around the taped paper up to the edge of the rubber.  When I'm ready to stamp with it, I run a few very small tape strips on the clear tape and stick it to my MISTI.  Now, it's ready to use just like any other stamp!

My first card above is done with Versamark Watercolor Ink in order to apply an embossed finished...in this case white embossing powder, which is heat set with your heat embossing tool (like a very hot mini blow dryer).  When the powder is heated, it becomes shiny.  The stamp was still difficult to ink up and took 6 applications over and over of Versamark to get it all inked, especially the word Vixen and Away, after Dash!  But, I managed and I do LOVE the stamp!!  I'm so excited that I finally used it!

Celebrating Father's Day Late!

WHAT A PLEASURE!  

THIS CARD IS NAMED A

SPLITCOASTSTAMPERS FAVORITE OF THE

WEEK ENDING - JULY 23, 2017!!

My husband was away on Father's Day, so the children decided they would just wait and celebrate him belatedly.  I went to a card class while he was away, and I decided right then and there that one of the design ideas available to created would be perfect for hubby.  It reminded me of a family reunion vacation that hubby and I took, where most of his brothers, sisters, and their spouses were there.  We all pooled together and rented a beautiful three-story home on the Outer Banks of North Carolina right on the ocean...lovely, lovely.  Take a peek below...my husband will loved his card.

While making my card, our hostess ran out of the ombre-shaded paper from Stampin' Up's Color Theory dsp stack, so I thought sponging would do the trick just as well using Dapper Denim ink.  One other pattern in the same paper stack was used as the ocean waves by applying the torn paper technique.  The darker blue part of the paper was also in short supply, but when we checked the opposite side we felt this side would work just as well.  Personally, I like it better than the original suggestion.  I wanted my card to be a Father's Day card, so I took my card home and applied my own sentiment.  Such a fun card to make.  Thanks Dar Peterson for the design idea to CASE.

Ingredients:  Stamp;in' Up products:  Cardstocks--Whisper White, Dapper Denim, Crumb Cake;  Pattern dsp: Color Theory DSP Stack; Stamps--High Tide(birds, sand), Colorful Seasons (Adirondack chair), Delightful Dozen (sentiment - retired); Inks--Dapper Denim (ombre sponged sky), Crumb Cake, Soft Suede (distressing chair), Always Artichoke (grass).  Size: 4-1/4" x 5-1/2".

Sweet Friend's Milestone Birthday!

A very dear friend is celebrating a milestone birthday this week.  Several really good gal friends are getting together to celebrate her and take her to lunch.  I wanted to make her a special card, and since I seem to be loving my new Stampin' Up Beautiful You stamp set, and also seem to have another card idea floating around in my gray matter, I thought I'd see what I came up with.

I found a lovely piece of patterned paper from the Watercolor DCWV Stack that looks like a watercolored paper with gold foil embossing.  I decided to make a salt watercolored background incorporating the colors from this paper to use as the layer upon which I would stamp my dancing lady image.  Though I had only done one other card with watercolors and never used the salt technique, I decided to be brave and give it a go.

I wanted my stamped dancing lady to have pink arms and legs, so I started my watercoloring with pink where I planned to stamp my image.  I used blues in the sky area along with a bit of pink and orange to give the allusion of the beginning of a sunset, and I used greens and yellow at the bottom to represent grass and a carpet of yellow flowers.  

After my watercolor application was complete and while the paper was still fairly wet, I sprinkled a good amount of regular table salt onto my paper and let it set for about 10 minutes.  I then helped the drying process along with my embossing heat tool.  I brushed and rubbed off all the dried salt so the paper was once again smooth and salt-free.  With salt, my understanding is that the larger the salt crystals and varied their sizes, you achieve a more dramatic effect.  Since table salt is much finer and more uniform, it creates a more subtle effect, but I was pleased with how it turned out and excited to try something new.

Since my patterned paper was gold foil embossed, I stamped my dancing lady onto my watercolor background with Encore Gold Metallic ink.  I stamped the patterned paper as well with the dancing lady stamp and the umbrella from another image in the stamp set.  I then fussy-cut them to adhere over the top of the image already stamped on the watercolor background to give her a patterned dress and matching umbrella.

For my layout, I found a Sketch Layout #SC639 on SplitcoastStampers' April 5th Sketch Challenge that I thought I would use.  See below:

For my #6 top left, I added an umbrella for my stamped lady, and for the #6 lower right, I added a butterfly to my double fishtail flag sentiment.   Below is my finished card, that I think Sandy will really like for her birthday!

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstock--Island Indigo, Watercolor Paper; Stamps: Beautiful You; Inks: Pool Party, Soft Sky, Pink Pirouette, Sweet SugarPlum, Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Mint Macaron, Pear Pizzazz.  Other:  DCWV Watercolor Stack (gold foil pattern).  DCWV Foil Stack (Aqua).  Recollections:  Cardstock--Cool Breeze 5-Color Pack; Gold Metallic pearls.  Encore: Gold Metallic Ink pad.  Wink of Stella: Gold.  Martha Stewart 3-in-1 Petite Butterflies punch.  Papertrey Ink stamp: Tea for Two Additions (sentiment). Technique: Salted Watercolor Wash.  Size: 4-3/4" x 6".

A Delicate Ornament for My Cousin!

I am barely getting started with my 2016 Christmas card needs.  I am starting with the cards that I have to mail long distance and out of state.  This one is for my cousin who lives midway across the United States in Colorado.

I was late placing my order for this year's Stampin' Up Christmas products; therefore, none have yet arrived.  So, I am using products from last year's stash, starting with the Delicate Ornaments die set and the Oh, What Fun! stamp set.  After choosing the Merry Moments plaid paper, it was easy to choose the rest of the papers I wanted to use: Old Olive and Real Red cardstock, Red Foil and Gold Glimmer papers, and a mini red print from Merry Moments as well.

I placed my red foil ornament onto a Lots of Labels die-cut of the Merry Moments plaid matted with a Gold Glimmer layer.  To achieve the gold layer, I die-cut the glimmer paper with the next larger framelit than that used for the plaid.  Then, I re-cut the gold piece smaller, using the same die, to fit more closely around the plaid die-cut, leaving only a 1/16" bordered edge all the way around (see card picture below).

I used the same mat idea under my sentiment by first stamping the sentiment with Always Artichoke ink onto Old Olive cardstock, and then cutting it with the label die from the Project Life Cards & Labels framelit set.  Next, I measured and cut a matching piece of Gold Glimmer using my paper cutter so that it was slightly larger than my sentiment die-cut (see card picture below).  I finished off the card using the red mini print as a center panel dressed up with Gold Glimmer scalloped edges.

I am pretty happy with my results, and now I'm ready to send it off on its long trip across the U.S.A.  Take a peek below at the finished card inside and out.

Ingredients:  Stampin' Up products:  Cardstocks--Old Olive, Real Red, Gold Glimmer.  Pattern Paper--Merry Moments dsp.  Stamps--Oh, What Fun!  Ink--Always Artichoke.  Dies--Delicate Ornaments; Lots of Labels framelits; Project Life Cards & Labels framelits; Top Note BigZ die (retired).  1/8" Red Stripe Ribbon.  Scallop Edge punch (retired).  Other products:  EK punch--Victorian Photo Corner.  Size: 4-3/4" x 6."

Hippity Hop to Easter with 2 Cute Ink!

I have just finished my final needed Easter card, and this one was made with another 2 Cute Ink digital stamp named Hippity Hop.  I think I will enter this final card into the 2 Cute Ink Challenge #133, which makes my second and final entry.  You can take a peek at my card, as well as all the other cards that have been entered into this challenge at the following link:   http://2cuteinkchallenges.blogspot.com/2016/03/challenge-133-easter-theme-new-digital.html.  Reading on below will given you more particulars about the making of this card, as well as a picture of my finished card inside and out.

This Easter card will need to lean a bit toward the masculine theme as it will be for my husband.  Since I wanted to continue to try my hand at more coloring and also use more of my 2 Cute Ink digital images, I chose 2 Cute's Hippity Hop image for this card.  I'm sure this digital bunny is a masculine bunny, because he is wearing pants and flexing his muscles while carrying such a big heavy egg!   

I had a picture lurking in my mind for my layout, so to start, I needed patterned papers that would be really colorful, with one blue as one color in them, and they needed to coordinate well together.  Blue was necessary for Hippity Hop's planned blue jeans and a number of other colors for my egg, flowers, and grass.  The striped pattern was perfect, and the word paper coordinated with it quite well.  I'm was excited and ready to begin coloring my bunny!

When Hippity Hop was finished, I moved on to choose by cardbase and mat layer cardstocks.  I settled on a grass green as the cardbase and a warm yellow for my contrast mat layers, but I changed my mind mid-stream.  My final decision was a yellow cardbase, because I liked the green as the mat layer for Hippity Hop and as the layer under the word patterned paper.  Somehow, the yellow didn't look quite right under either, but the green looked great, and the yellow was good under the striped pattern.  Once that was decided, the card went together very easily and quickly.  Take a look below at my finished Hippity Hop card.  Isn't that little bunny just too cute!

Following my longstanding tradition, I completed my card by finishing off the inside with a design and verse to coordinate with the outside creativity.

Recipe:  Papers:  Cardstocks--Paper Company pack/ In Full Bloom (green); Stampin' Up Daffodil Yellow; Patterns--DCWV/ Easter Words, Reminisce/ Happy Easter Stripe.  Digital image: 2 Cute Ink/ Hippity Hop.  Stamps: Stampin' Up--Indescribable Gift (sentiment), Suite Sayings (verse).  Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black.  Dies: MemoryBox--Cross Stitched Frame Borders.  Punch:  EK CardCreator-Basketweave Corner (inside).  Wink of Stella/ Clear.  Recollections: Pearls.  Colorbox: Chestnut Roan/ distressing.  Copic Markers:  Pants--B41, B32, B34. Shoes--T0, T1, T3, T5. Egg--R22, R24, R27, R29; Y11, Y13, Y15, Y35. Flowers/Grass--YR00, YR12, YR18; V000, V01, V05; YG01, YG03, YG17.  Bunny-- C0, 0 (Blender).  Nose--R22.  Size: 5-1/2" x 5-3/4".