Collage Backgrounds for Valentines

In my technique nights this coming week, we are using the theme of collage backgrounds and Valentines!  So I kind of went a little crazy in my Craft Cave yesterday.  I think it was a result of denying myself the pleasure of vintage stamping for too long.  You wouldn't believe how many stamp sets I had on my desk at once!!   But I had fun.  I'm not going to lie and say the results were stellar at first.  It's been so long that I had to get back into the Vintage Groove again, but I eventually came up with a design that I liked:

•  My first attempt had a solid collage background and because there are collage elements in the main panel as well, there was not enough contrast or a real focal point.  Cutting up the background into two smaller pieces and layering them with Raspberry Ripple really helped.
• There are a good many stamp sets represented here.  On the main panel, I've used Hearts a Flutter, Off the Grid, Background Builders, Papaya Collage and Petite Pairs!  Whew!
• My palette for this card is Raspberry Ripple, Basic Gray, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake and Very Vanilla.

• For the background, I used En Francais, the Very Vintage Wheel, Clockworks, Gorgeous Grunge and the butterfly from Papaya Collage, although you can't really see it.  Basically, to make a vintage background collage, you just layer stamps in coordinating inks until you get the look you want.
• A doily and a bow in Raspberry Ripple Stitched Satin Ribbon add some little touches that balance and enhance the look.  

There are so many stamp sets involved here that if I gave you the links to both the wood mount AND the clear mount, the list would go on for ages, so this list contains only one of the two.  You can easily navigate the my On-Line Store to find the other if you need it.

• Hearts A Flutter
• Papaya Collage
• Off The Grid
• Clockworks
• Gorgeous Grunge 
• Very Vintage
• En Francais
• Background Builders Wood-Mount
• Petite Pairs - Clear-Mount Stamp
• Crumb Cake 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Raspberry Ripple 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock
• Very Vanilla 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad
• Basic Gray Classic Stampin' Pad
• Raspberry Ripple Classic Stampin' Pad
• Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad
• Raspberry Ripple 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon
• Tea Lace Paper Doilies
• Envelope Punch Board
• Stamping Sponges

New Year's Card for Pals Paper Arts

Pals Paper Arts Challenge #185 has been out for a while, and as I was looking around for inspiration today, I found their sketch, and decided to make a New Year's card with it:


                                               
  It's a mixture of new and old products, but definitely on the glitzy side:

• I don't know if I'm breaking a cardinal rule of the Arts, but I'm mixing my metallics!  This card features gold and silver embossing powder, gold foil sheets, silver glimmer paper and gold sequins. I like the way it looks so, if it looks good, break all the rules!!!
• I decided New Year's was a good celebration to use up some of my Modern Medley designs that I tend to overlook.  Here I mixed a mosaic design with some variable width stripes.  I'm such a rebel today!

• Everyone watches the clock for midnight New Year's Eve, so I used the Clockworks stamp set for that great pocket watch.  I had to use the Stamp-a-ma-jig to center the clock face, but I had SUCH a hard time with it.  Part of the problem is that my Clockworks set is clear mount and that can pose a problem with two-step stamping, especially if you have to clean the stamp in between stamping the acetate of the Stamp-a-ma-jig and inking up in Versamark so you can add embossing powder.  The cleaning of the stamp moves it slightly on the clear mount block.  If I had it to do over, I would definitely get this set in wood mount, and that goes for any two-step stamping set.
• The sentiment is half of one of the Christmas Messages set stamps.  I carefully inked it up in Versamark ink as well and embossed it with gold embossing powder.  Don't forget to use your embossing buddy for these kinds of projects, so you don't get embossing powder where you don't want it.
• I used an old neglected friend, the Curly Label punch, for the sentiment and it was just the right look! Yay for old friends:  "Should Auld Acquaintance be forgot...."

What are your plans on New Year's Eve?  We are going with two other couples to see the Hobbit Part 2 and I am so excited about that.  Have I mentioned that I am a huge Tolkien fan?  And that the Lord of the Rings Trilogy is my favourite movie series ever?

 

Click on any of these products for a direct link to my Stampin' Up! On-Line Store!

• Clockworks Clear-Mount Stamp Set
• Clockworks
• Christmas Messages Wood-Mount Stamp Set
• Christmas Messages Clear-Mount Stamp Set
• Modern Medley Designer Series Paper
• Gold Foil Sheets
• Silver Glimmer Paper
• Basic Black 8-1/2X11 Card Stock
• Versamark Pad
• Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder
• Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder
• Embossing Buddy
• Stamp-A-Ma-Jig
• Heat Tool
• Curly Label Punch
• Gold Sequin Trim*

*Available starting Jan. 3, 2014 from the Occasions Catalogue.

The Best of 2013 with Playing with Papercrafting V

Welcome to the Best of 2013!  For the next week I will highlight some of my best projects during the year.  Each photo will have a link to the original post for instructions and comments.  Hope you enjoy the series, while I take some time off to be with my family this Christmas. (Just a note:  any promotions you see in the original posts are not valid now!)


May




This card uses Clockworks, one of my very favourite masculine/steampunk sets.  Here is the original post.


June



This sympathy card won a Dynamic Darling Honorable Mention in The Paper Players Challenge #57.

Don't forget to send me photos of your favourite projects this year.  I'll be back on Sunday, with some fresh material.  Enjoying my time with my family very much!

Exciting News!

I wanted to share with you some exciting news!  I've been selected as one of the Design Team on a brand new Challenge Blog called  "As You See It Design Challenge".  I hope you'll visit the site and submit your projects once challenges get started on September 6th!  Right now, my bio is posted, and over the next couple of weeks, you can learn about the other Design Team members and see their work.

I would encourage all of you to start entering some design challenges.  It's a great way to motivate yourself to make cards or other papercrafting projects!  All you need is a webspace to display your photos so you can give the link to the challenge blog.

Here's more of the project I completed to go with my bio:

• I wanted a design that showcased a bit of all my styles and I really like how it turned out.  I love this colour combination of Smoky Slate, Bermuda Bay and Whisper White.
• Clockworks is an old favourite stamp set, and one I can always depend on for a masculine, grungy, pseudo-Steampunk kind of look!
• The backgrounds use images from both Clockworks and Gorgeous Grunge and they work together so beautifully!

• Do you recognize the sentiment?  If you do then you are probably a Paper Pumpkin subscriber!  Good for you!  If you don't then you're missing out on some awesome stamps that you can't get anywhere else!  There is a Paper Pumpkin subscription promotion on right now that allows you to get your first two months at half price - that's right $12.50!  What have you got to lose?
• The heat embossing was done with Pewter Embossing  Powder.  It has a slightly warmer, more vintage look than silver.
• You need to use a Stamp-a-ma-jig to get the watch's face and hands in the right place.  (However did I get along without it???)

And in more exciting news, this time from Stampin' Up, starting Sept. 1, you will be able to order a new toy: the Envelope Punch Board!

It is super easy to use and it can make envelopes in 66 different sizes!!  No more boring envelopes!  Contact me if you want to preorder yours for September 1.  If things go like the Magnetic Platform, you'll be wanting to get your order in ASAP.

Also, they were included in the catalogue, but not available until now - The Stampin' Trimmer Rotary Addition.  See page 176 of the current main catalogue.  Here's a video explaining better than I could:

Do go over and look at the As You See It Challenge Blog.  I've done a Q&A about myself that you might get a chuckle over!  Tomorrow I want to share with you some projects done by some of my Design 101

students!  I was so blown away by their designing skills that I wanted to show their projects to you and to encourage you to try to design your own cards as well!

Stamps:  Clockworks (w131973; c127292); Gorgeous Grunge (w130514; c130517); love your guts (from Paper Pumpkin *not available to order)

Paper:  Neutrals Collection Designer Series Paper Stacks (130132); Bermuda Bay (131197), Smoky Slate (131202) and Whisper White (100730) cardstock

Ink:  VersaMark (102283); StazOn Jet Black (101406); Classic Stampin' Pads in Bermuda Bay (131171) and Smoky Slate (131179)

Accessories:  Brights Collection Candy Dots (130931); Pewter Stampin' Emboss Powder (124114)

Tools:  Stamp-a-ma-jig (101049); Heat Tool (129053); Window Frames Collection Framelits (129021); Big Shot (113439);  Word Window Punch (119857); Modern Label Punch (119849)

Big Shot

Brights Collection Candy Dots

Clockworks Stamp Set

Gorgeous Grunge Stamp Set

Heat Tool

Modern Label Punch

Neutrals Designer Series Paper Stacks

Pewter Stampin' Emboss Powder

Window Frames Collection Framelits

Word Window Punch

Time Flies

Only 3 days back from holidays, and life is hitting full force again!!  I was planning on posting a Mojo Monday challenge entry today, but time ran out on me, so I will try again tomorrow.  In the meantime, I spent an enjoyable and productive day on Saturday at a Mini Creative Retreat organized by Desiree Spenst. I had a great time with lots of other crafters, good food, candy buffet and all the equipment I could ever want.

Desiree is planning on doing something of this sort once every quarter, so if you have a chance, do register for one!  It was well worth my time and so many others that I talked with were extremely productive as well.

I won a door prize - some of the new Simply Pressed Clay that you will be able to purchase when the new Idea Book and Catalogue comes out May 31!!  I have some in the molds now, drying, and I'll show you the results as soon as I can.  I ordered the clay and molds myself as well as part of my Demonstrator Preorder.  That is one of the best perks about being a Stamin' Up Demonstrator, as far as I'm concerned!  You can have that same privilege simply by joining my group for the low cost of $125!  This month, that will get you $195 worth of any products you want, $40 more than usual!!

One card I made is for an up-coming Technique Night where the focus is on masculine cards and Father's Day.

This card features the Clockworks Stamp Set and the new Epic Day Designer Series Paper! If you haven't checked out the This and That product suite yet, you seriously need to do that.  I have really fallen in love with this DSP from the This and That line!   I used a Soft Suede/ Baja Breeze colour palette and embossed the clock case, gears and hands with Pewter Stampin' Emboss powder.  The cool background stamps from Clockworks work so naturally with this DSP, too, but make sure you stamp off once so that the colours remain in the background with less intensity.  If you like the look of those 3/16" Metallic Brads, better pick some up while they are still in stock, because they will be gone for good on June 3, 2013!

Have a great Tuesday!

Stamps:  Clockworks (w127290; c127292); Teeny Tiny Wishes (w115370; c127802)

Paper:  Epic Day Designer Series Paper (130814); Soft Suede (115318), Baja Breeze (111352)** and Very Vanilla (101650) card stock

Ink:  VersaMark (102283);  Classic Stampin' Pad in Soft Suede (126978), Baja Breeze (126960)* and Basic Gray (126981)

Accessories:  Stampin' Emboss Powder in Pewter (124114); 3/16" Metallic Brads (119741)***, 1/8" Mini Brads (122941)

Tools:  Heat Tool (129053); Stampin' Pierce Pad (126199); Paper-Piercing Tool (126189); Stamp-a-ma-jig (101049)

* Retiring Product

**Retiring Product Sold Out

***Retiring Product on sale for 25% off

Clockworks

Epic Day DSP

Pewter Stampin' Emboss Powder