Monday, January 5, 2015

Live with an Open Heart



Well, I had one of those difficult stamping weekends.  It was a nice weekend in all other respects.  I saw two great movies, had a nice drive with my hubby and got my house back to normal after the holidays. But I was experimenting with some new toys and that doesn't always go well.

I was inspired by this Pinterest Pin:



I thought this piece of jewelry was so striking! I wanted to create something of the sort for a steampunk style valentine. I also wanted to use my new ecutter, as I haven't had a chance to play with it until now.  Believe it or not, I probably chose the hardest ever image to try cutting out - the flourish from Everything Eleanor!! Talk about trial by fire for my Brother ScanNCut! I wanted to use the swirly flourish as a "nest" so to speak for the heart!  I embossed the flourish in Black Stampin' Emboss Powder on Whisper White Cardstock and ran it through!  It was amazing to see what an awesomely intricate job the ecutter did! But the problem was the white cardstock was just too...white to work for this design.

I set to work trying to cover it up in a way that suited my inspiration piece above.  I sponged but still too white. Then I thought to emboss it again with a mixture of Gold and Silver Stampin' Emboss powders, but that simply completely covered up the black embossing and took away from the intricacies of the design. Finally, I gave up and embossed the flourish in black again over a piece of Soft Suede which I'd previously embossed using the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set and the same mixture of Silver and Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder. That did the trick! The moral of the story? Never toss things away because they just might come in handy down the road.


  • Is anyone else loving the textures and colours from the Adventures Abound Designer Series Paper Stack from the new Occasions Catalogue. You will be able to order it starting tomorrow, Tuesday, January 6. I think this might be my favourite design from it. That mortar between the bricks looks so 3D! It was the perfect background for this card!
  • As I mentioned, I had a piece of Soft Suede cardstock that I'd previously embossed with a mixture of Silver and Gold Stampin' Emboss powders and I stamped over it with Versamark Ink (make sure to use the Embossing Buddy first) and embossed it again using Black Stampin' Emboss Powder. I love how this turned out.
  • To make the heart, I used the Sweetheart Punch to punch out 6 hearts from Cherry Cobbler cardstock and glued 5 of them together. The sixth one I stamped with the I Love Lace background stamp with Versamark ink and covered it with the same mixture of silver and gold embossing powder as above. I brushed away some of the powder here and there to give it a more vintage appearance and then heat set it with my Heat Tool. I sponged the whole thing with Soft Suede.
  • The sentiment is from An Open Heart stamp set and I stamped it on Crumb Cake cardstock with Tuxedo Black Memento Ink and die cut it using the Apothecary Accents framelits. The Crumb Cake cardstock is the same as the layers on the card base and on the flourish panel.

Today is the last day to order from the Holiday Catalogue!

Today is your last opportunity to get products from the 2014 Holiday Catalogue. I will be putting in an order around 5 pm today so please contact me before that time if there is anything you don't want to pass up!  There are a few products that will be carried over until June, but only while supplies last. To check those out, go to page 49 in the new Occasions Catalogue to see them listed. Also there are some dies and punches and tools from the Holiday Catalogue in the regular pages of the Occasions Catalogue, such as the Gift Box Punch Board, the Confetti Stars Border Punch and the Lucky Stars Embossing folder, the Handheld Stapler and the Note Tag Punch.  These can be ordered until June as well but supplies will be guaranteed.


Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today! *List does not include Stampin' Up! sneak peek items.  They will be available Jan. 6, 2015.


Product List

*Adventure Abounds Designer Series Paper Stack

2 comments :

  1. I like all the design elements of your card. You're correct about never throwing anything away. I have a box of die-cuts and semi-finished things that I go to before cutting something new. You just never know how they may fit a current project, and they save time!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Sharon! Me, too, except I have to train myself better to look in it first.

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