Lovely Romance for Pals Paper Arts

I just got back from holding a wonderful weekend retreat with my friends in my stamp class down in Okanagan Falls! We had so much fun and I was astounded by the creativity I saw down there! Beautiful, amazing work! And when they found out that I had a secret love of steampunk art, they generously shared several amazing jewelry findings, pieces and gears that they had collected over the years. Even one of the ladies' sons, who likes to create steampunk jewelry, gave me some extra gears and watch faces! I was blown away! You'll be seeing them in some of my cards in the next little while! But last night I was pretty tired and didn't have the energy for a long post, so I wanted to quickly share a card I made at the retreat for Pals Paper Art's latest challenge, using the stamp set, Lovely Romance.

• Of course, this colour scheme is perfect for a Valentine's card and I was dying to use one of the little jewelry findings I received, so a Valentine's card is what I designed. The little cupid on the top was actually a burnished bronze colour, but since silver was a more appropriate colour with this scheme, I actually cover him with Versamark ink, dipped him in Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder and, using tweezers to save my fingers from third degree burns, heat embossed him to get that silver look.
• The design series paper you see is the Sale-A-Bration set called Irrisistably Yours, which you can earn free with a $60 purchase. It is white, pre-embossed paper, heavier than normal DSP. You can add ink to colour the white portions and the embossing resists the ink, allowing you to simply wipe it clean. I used an ombre technique here, sponging Rose Red full strength at the top and blending it out to the bottom where I used some light Pink Pirouette for that effect. Some Silver Sparkle Dazzling Details complete the look on the paper.
• I used one of the older stamp sets from the Annual Catalogue, Lovely Romance, which has appropriate sentiments for Valentine's Day, but also the vintage look that is harmonious with the style of the cupid. I embossed the sentiment in silver and die cut it with the coordinating Chalk Talk Framelit.
• The Sweetheart Punch created the heart threesome there, reminding me of the triple heart emoticon that I've been seeing so much of lately!

What creativity did you get up to on the weekend? Please leave me a comment and tell me what you did. I will show you some pictures of the retreat, just as soon as I can figure out how to get them from my tablet to my pc!

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 Stampin' Up! products used to make this card today!

Product List

Lovely Romance Wood Stamp Set [130264]	Lovely Romance Clear Stamp Set [130267]	Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper [135315]	Irresistibly Yours Specialty Designer Series Paper [138635]	Basic Gray 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [121044]
Rose Red 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [102544]	Pink Pirouette 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [111351]	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730]	Rose Red Classic Stampin' Pad [126954]	Pink Pirouette Classic Stampin' Pad [126956]
Versamark Pad [102283]	Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder [109131]	Embossing Buddy [103083]	Heat Tool [129053]	Sweetheart Punch [133786]
Chalk Talk Framelits Die [129983]	Big Shot [113439]

Grunge Butterfly for As You See It Challenge 006

I can't believe that the As You See It Challenge Blog has already issued five weeks of challenges and now we're ready for #6!!  It's been a blast designing for the challenge and also seeing the great projects our readers are coming up with.  Amanda is doing a great job with the sketches and other types of challenges and our participation rate increases each week!  I have to tell you how impressed I am with the entries.  It's always SOOO hard to pick winners!

Here's the sketch for this week:

There doesn't look like a lot of room for interpretation with this sketch at first glance, but then I decided to get grungy and it opened up a whole world of uniqueness.  Here's my take on the sketch:

• Of course, I used Gorgeous Grunge to get all my water marks and those great tire tracks!  I'll never forget Pam Morgan at Convention this summer saying that you shouldn't use Gorgeous Grunge inked up in red, because it would look like a crime scene.  I used Smoky Slate for some of the marks, and others I inked in VersaMark and embossed with Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder.
• I used Victoria Crochet Trim for the scalloped border on the sketch.  I pleated it in parts and used my sewing machine to add it to the Very Vanilla panel.
• Did you know you can emboss almost anything?  I added silver embossing powder to the button, the scallop circle, the embossed butterflies.  I even silver embossed some linen thread to make antennae for the butterfly, but took it off because it looked too busy!

• The sentiment is from the Loving Thoughts stamp set and is stamped in StazOn here.
• I really like the subdued palette of So Saffron, Very Vanilla and Pool Party.  It's perfect for a grunge look.
• I have quite a selection of butterflies among my stamps and punches and dies, but opted for the Beautiful Wings Embosslits.  It die cuts and embosses at the same time and you get a total of five butterflies of various sizes and designs each time you run it through the Big Shot.  I added VersaMark by lightly touching the pad to the raised embossing and the edges of the largest butterfly and covered it with Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder and heat set it with my heat tool.

Won't you try some grunge design?  It's so much fun to play around with and allows you to be super creative.  You can't live without the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set though!  Leave me a comment about your work with grunge design.  Do you like it?  How have the projects turned out for you?

Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge (w130514; c130517); Loving Thoughts (w128436; c125845)

Paper:  So Saffron (105118), Pool Party (122924) and Very Vanilla (101650) cardstock; Smoky Slate Textured 12" x 12" cardstock (132131)

Ink:  StazOn Jet Black (101406); VersaMark (102283); Classic Stampin' Pads In Smoky Slate (131179)

Accessories:  Victoria Crochet Trim (118481); Very Vintage Designer Buttons (129327); Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder (109131)

Tools:  Heat Tool (129053); Beautiful Wings Embosslit (118138); Big Shot (113439); 2 3/8" Scallop Circle Punch (118874)

Beautiful Wings Embosslits

Big Shot

Gorgeous Grunge Stamp Set

Heat Tool

VersaMark Ink

Very Vintage Designer Buttons

Victoria Crochet Trim

Horse Frontier

Beautiful spring day today!  I love when the sun wakes you in the morning!  The day just seems so much better for it.  And so much more productive than dragging yourself around in the gloom!  I think I should move to a sunnier climate in the winter.  Today I am going Western on you:

I got a new stamp set a couple of weeks ago, called Horse Frontier, and I wanted to try it out for my Beginner's class.  We were covering Heat Embossing, hence the shiny silver horseshoe in front.  I actually inked up the horse stamp using Stampin' Write markers in Early Espresso, Crumb Cake and Old Olive but after I decided to heat emboss the horse image as well in Silver embossing powder.  Both versions looked great, but I liked this one just a tad better.  Parker's Patterns DSP is perfect for this Western look, with it's Southwest designs making it look like a horse blanket.  And the Natural 7/16" Trim Ribbon was also made for this card.  I have to apologize for the retired Ribbon Slide from the Holiday Mini catalogue.  I rarely use the retired products, but there was nothing else that worked the way this did.

The Woodgrain embossing folder created the proper rustic background for this masculine card.  Happy Trails!

I wanted to remind you about the Big Shot Club that I have started.  I am looking for 6 people who want a Big Shot!  To get one without breaking the bank all at once, the 6 people will start a Big Shot Club, where they commit to contributing $25.25 a month for 6 months.  Each month, one of the members will get their Big Shot until, at the end of the 6 months, everyone will have it.  The first ones to join will be the first to get their Big Shot and your month will be assigned by the order you sign up, so be one of the first in order to get yours soon!  I can't start the club until I have all 6 people, but if more of you show an interest, I will start another club.  You don't have to be local, just as long as you live in Canada!

It doesn't necessarily mean another class to attend.  We can just agree to send our cheques by the same date each month, but I am happy to get together as a group as well to learn more Big Shot Techniques and How Tos or to mail a tutorial once a month for non-local folks.  Phone or email me soon to let me know you're interested and include your contact info.  Here's a link for more information:  Big Shot Club

Stamps:  Horse Frontier (w126345; c126347)
Paper: Early Espresso (119686), Not Quite Navy (101722), Cajun Craze (119684) and Very Vanilla (101650) Card Stock; Parker's Patterns DSP (131021)
Ink:  VersaMark (102283); Stampin' Write Markers in Early Espresso (119680), Crumb Cake (120967) and Old Olive (100079)
Accessories:  Stampin' Emboss Powder in Silver (109131); Natural 7/16" Trim Ribbon (129287); Ribbon Slides (retired)
Tools:  Woodgrain embossing folder (127821); Heat Gun (129053); 1" Circle Punch (119868); 1 3/8" Circle Punch (119860); Big Shot (113439)                                                                                                                                    

 

Horse Frontier Stamp Set

Big Shot Die Cut Machine

Natural 7/16" Trim Ribbon

VersaMark Ink

Stampin' Up Heat Tool

Thanks with a Flourish!

I mentioned a while back that every year at this time, I organize an outreach event for our church, entitled "One Night in Bethlehem".  I explained it more fully on this particular post.  I have an amazing committee helping me to get this huge event off the ground each year, and each year I like to thank them with a small gift and a hand-stamped card.  This year was no exception.  I picked up a nice poinsettia plant for each one and created a Thank You card for them.

Not easy taking photos of such a silvery, shiny card.  My camera needs a flash for good focus, but the glare is blinding!  Sorry for any of you with sensitive eyes...or migraines!  I did try to tone it down without darkening the whole shot.  The colour palette was chosen in order to enter the Dynamic Duos challenge #30 this week:  Midnight Muse and Silver.  Very classy together, I must say.

 And I took advantage of this design to use up my Flourish Designer Frames.  The card base is Midnight Muse, but that's kind of obvious isn't it.  I layered it with Whisper White and you might be able to see a little peek of the Houndstooth embossing folder around the edges of the next panel of Midnight Muse.  The sentiment is one of my favourite fonts from Lacy and Lovely and you may have noticed how the Decorative Label punch coordinates with the Flourish Designer frame.  The main image is from a stamp set that I've just now used for the first time: Rejoicing with You.  It is perfect for heat embossing with silver embossing powder.  And I used Window Frames framelits for the Silver Glimmer Paper and Midnight Muse backing.


 My special VIPs, the One Night in Bethlehem committe members, were so happy to get these cards, so I was happy that they were happy, and it was all one big happy fest!!  We will all be genuinely happy when the event is successfully completed and we can actually start planning our own Christmas celebrations!  But it is so rewarding to see something like this help people to understand the real reason for the season!

  

I want to remind you that Wednesday, Nov. 28 is the last day to take advantage of our On-Line Extravaganza sale.  Wednesday only, the door busters are:

 

Pg. 7	118941	Clear Block Bundle (Blocks A-I)	$89.95	$71.96
Pg. 7	120279	Clear Block Storage Caddy	$18.95	$15.16
Pg. 175	109127	Stack & Store Caddy	$44.95	$35.96



On top of this are all the other amazing deals: up to 50% off!  Don't lose out.  Email me or call today.  Order goes in at 6 pm. 

Several items are in backorder status or are running low and may not be shipped until some time in January.  They are: Crosses of Hope Clear Mount set; 25 and Counting Clear Mount set, Dr. Bag for the Big Shot, You are Loved Clear Mount set; Scallop Edge Punch; Petite Pocket Bigz XL die and Rhinestone Basic Jewels.  If you have ordered one of these items during the sale, there is a chance that it is back-ordered and unavailable until January.  If it doesn't arrive within 21 days, you could get a full refund or exchange.


Stamps:  Rejoicing with You (w126300; c126302); Lacy and Lovely (w122885: c122887)
Paper: Midnight Muse (126843) and Whisper White (100730) card stock; Silver Glimmer paper (124005)
Ink:  VersaMark (102283); Classic Stampin' Pad in Midnight Muse (126860)
Accessories:  Flourish Designer Frames (127835); Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder (109131); 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon in Midnight Muse (126847); 1/8" Mini Brads in Silver (122941)
Tools:  Window Frames Collection Framelits (129021), Heat Tool (129053); Houndstooth Embossing Folder (123134); Paper Snips (103579)