Faux Silk Technique

On my last Technique Night the theme was "Faux Techniques", and one of the techniques I taught was the Faux Silk Technique.  It appealed to me because I love raw silk. In fact, I love all natural fibres for their comfort, but especially for their texture.

Silk makes me think of Asian design and my inspiration was this photo from House Ideas:

:

Here's how the card turned out:

•  I used the Creative Elements images for all but the sentiment, which is from Regarding Dahlias. Creative Elements Stamp Set is a retiring set and the clear mount is already sold out, but you can still order the wood mount set. The images do have an Asian flair if you use the right colours.
• Black, red and gold colours create the look.  Here I used Basic Black cardstock for the card base, Real Red for the back panel and Brushed Gold cardstock for the image matte.

•  In this photo, you can see the fine flourish, stamped in Real Red and then embossed with gold Stampin' Emboss powder on Whisper White.  The flower image is stamped over these in StazOn Jet Black.  
• Once all the ink is completely dry, I used an Anywhere Gluestick to completely cover my central panel with glue, taking care to cover all the edges and corners.  I took a slightly larger piece of white tissue paper and crumpled it up. I then opened it up and applied it to the image panel, pressing it down everywhere with my fingers, but not smoothing out the wrinkles. Once applied, then the extra is trimmed off around the panel.
• I originally tried to use Real Red cardstock for the image panel, but adding the white tissue paper didn't work.  It was too noticeable against the red and just looked messy.  This technique only seems to work with Whisper White cardstock and white tissue paper.
• The butterfly image from Creative Elements was stamped with Versamark ink on Real Red and embossed with Gold Stampin' Emboss powder.  It was hand cut because it doesn't coordinate with the Elegant Butterfly punch.

This was again an easy, fun technique and you should give it a try, adding it to your stamping technique repertoire. 

Here's an important note:  Stampin' Up! has been able to secure a limited amount of the retiring 2012-14 In Colour cardstock, but once it is gone it will be gone for good.  If you missed out the first time on the Gumball Green, Midnight Muse, Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple and Summer Starfruit, you still might be able to score some if you act quickly!

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!

Product List

Creative Elements Wood-mount Stamp Set [128523]	Regarding Dahlias Wood-mount Stamp Set [130324]	Regarding Dahlias Clear-mount Stamp Set [130327]	Basic Black 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [121045]	Real Red 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [102482]
Brushed Gold 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [102935]	Whisper White 8-1/2X11 Card Stock [100730]	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad [126949]	Jet Black StazOn Pad [101406]	Versamark Pad [102283]
Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder [109129]	Heat Tool [129053]	Anywhere Glue Sticks [104045]

The Skinny on Adhesives

What do you need to put a card together?  Adhesive of course!  But, what kind of adhesive?  Stampin' Up sells no less than 11 different kinds!  Which one do I need and when would I use it and why?  Here to answer those questions for you is Crafty Clues by Heather:  The Skinny on Adhesives for Movie Monday.

                       

I hope you learned something and if you already knew all that, share this with someone who is just starting out with papercrafting.  Maybe it will help them.

I wanted to show you the results of a play session I had with the new photopolymer stamp sets, Sweetie Pies and Sweetie Pies frames.

I had a lot of fun making thank you cards for my customers using this adorable new set!  Normally, I don't like the cutesy card designs (though I admire the skills of those who are able to use copics to colour them in), but these are cute without being over the top and you can colour them in or not. I really like the frames and flourishes that comes in the coordinating frames set as well.  The little faces will work as stamped or you can do a little bit of colouring with Stampin' Write Markers, or ink and blender pen or aqua painter.

It won't be long though until, Stampin' Up finally brings out it's own Blendabilities, alcohol based markers with each of the 12 colours available as a set of three - light, medium and dark - easily blended like copics.  I will be able to preorder 6 colour sets on May 1 (although release date to customers is still unknown), but I know I'm going to need some training to use them to best advantage!  I'm up for it - always liked learning something new!

My colour scheme for these thank you cards was Bermuda, Day, Crushed Curry, Melon Mambo and Whisper White.  I used some of the Kaleidoscope DSP series papers as the background panel.

I hope you enjoyed Movie Monday and I'll see you tomorrow with another challenge entry.  Leave me a comment about what you think you'll see in the new catalogue.

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!


Product List

136849	137121	132995	131197	100730	126948
131171	131173	130931

A Thousand Thanks to our Wonderful Demonstrator Support Team

Today I am saluting the most wonderful support team a small business owner could have: our Stampin' Up! Demonstrator Support Team.  Oh, my goodness!  Where would I be without their patient helpfulness when I call with some pretty strange questions and problems?  A Thousand, nay... a Hundred Thousand Thanks to each and every one!!!  This post is intended to be part of a Virtual Flash Mob of Gratitude to our amazing DS Team from all the Stampin' Up! Demonstrators, and I thought it would be great to incorporate The Paper Player's Challenge #192.  Nance Leedy came up with this cute one:

You know what a HUGE fan I am of washi tape, right? (not) But it's growing on me and I really like how easy it is to use.  I haven't quite gotten to the point where I can just rip it and apply it willy nilly.  I'm still either cutting or hiding the ends, but I admit that it is a lot of fun to just stick it on!

So, here's my thank-you to DS:

• I chose an odd colour scheme of Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Soft Sky and Gold for this card.  I have no idea why!  It just came to me, but I like it.  The Soft Sky softens the drama of the Black, Vanilla and Gold.
• I unwittingly created an optical illusion with my Watercolour Wonder Washi Tape.  Can you see it?  Leave me a comment if you can explain it.
• The background DSP is from the Modern Medley collection which will be retiring this year.  I will really miss the Basic Black and Very Vanilla designs.  Best order that one soon, as it will only be available while supplies last!

• The heart is from the Peachy Keen Stamp Set.  I stamped it twice, once in StazOn Jet Black and once in Soft Sky.  I hand snipped them both out, but I left off the "shadow" on the Soft Sky heart.  I used Stampin' Dimensionals to mount the blue heart on the black one, offset a little, and more Dimensionals to mount both of them on the card for a little vertical dimension.
• The Soft Sky swirl is from Clockworks, a retiring stamp set that is really going to be hard to say good-bye to!  It is one of the great masculine sets we have and it has those great background collage elements.  I can hardly wait to see what new masculine sets Stampin' Up! will include in the new Annual Catalogue coming out June 2.
• I added a few splatters of the Encore Metallic Gold stamp pad with the Gorgeous Grunge splatter stamp.

So, in closing, give three cheers for the Stampin' Up! Demo Support folks!  Nice and loud now, so they can hear you, there in their cubicles in the home offices at Riverton, Utah!  "Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!"  Oh, well done!

Don't forget this week is Free Shipping from Stampin' Up!, bless their hearts!  Perfect for ordering some of those retiring products you won't be able to live without!  Email me or place your order online!

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!

Product List

133110	133113	131973	127292	130514	130517
129687	129690	126926	121045	101650	101406
132141	131181	133000	104430	103579