African Sunset with Serene Silhouettes

It's been a long time since I made a square card, but I decided to go for it  today after seeing Mojo Monday's Sketch Challenge for a round or square card.

And in keeping with my plan to showcase retiring stamp sets and other retiring products, today I decided to use the Serene Silhouettes stamp set, another one of my favourites. One of the trees in the set reminds me of the African Plains and so I decided to do a sunset design kind of like these:

My colour palette is a striking one using Watermelon Wonder, Basic Gray and Whisper White.

Here it is:

•  I love the look of all the layers in this design and I love the two colours and white look. Basic Gray just makes the Watermelon Wonder pop!
• It's another chance (Yay!) to use the gorgeous Watermelon Wonder Stitched Satin ribbon that is retiring soon. 
• The image panel is actually Whisper White that was inked in Watermelon Wonder using a brayer and a mask for the sun. The current brayer is retiring in favour of a new design, but I really like the firm surface of the current ones and will be hanging on to the ones I have.
• I found that after doing the brayering, I could add some variety and interest using an Aqua Painter to remove some of the ink and draw it into the sun, looking like clouds! 
• I stamped the image from Serene Silhouettes and the sentiments in Basic Gray Archival ink. Doesn't that tree look African to you? The sentiment is from the Petite Pairs stamp set, another retiree come June. I like how all the sentiments in the set come in pairs, which is also great for having an inside message. The sentiments are really varied, too, so that they cover a lot of different occasions.
• All the Scallop Circle punches will be retiring. I haven't used them a lot lately, but when I do, I remember why I have them all!! lol

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

Serene Silhouettes Wood Stamp Set [132073]	Serene Silhouettes Clear Stamp Set [127324]	Petite Pairs Clear Stamp Set [122497]	Petite Pairs Wood Stamp Set [128706]	Basic Gray 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [121044]
Watermelon Wonder 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [138334]	Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730]	Basic Gray Archival Stampin’ Pad [140932]	Watermelon Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad [138323]	Watermelon Wonder 1" Stitched Satin Ribbon [140580]
Aqua Painters [103954]	1-1/4" Circle Punch [119861]	1-3/8" Circle Punch [119860]	1-3/4" Circle Scallop Punch [119854]	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755]
Fast Fuse Adhesive [129026]	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430]

Brayer

[102395}

100,000 Views, Blog Candy and Brayer Techniques!

Blog Candy
I was planning to have a Blog Candy Give-Away when my page views reached 100,000, but then I got busy and wasn't paying attention to my stats and I looked and I had gone over 100,000!  But I'm not planning on waiting until I hit 200,000 page views so I'm having a Blog Candy Give-Away now.  Here's what you could win:

• A full package of Sweater Weather DSP
• A full package of retired Certainly Celery 8 1/2" x 11" Card Stock
• Affection Collection, a retired stamp set that creates amazing vintage and collage stamped cards.
• A retired embossing folder featuring a central oval shaped wreath
• A full roll of Island Indigo Chevron Ribbon
• Remnants of three rolls of retired ribbon

Here's how to win!

Leave me a comment on this blog.  I'll give you until Saturday, March 15 at midnight to comment on whether or not you have ever used a brayer and how you liked it if you did.  At midnight I will use a random number generator to choose the winner.  I will contact them for their information and ship the package off to them!  

If you would like a second entry, please join my site by signing up with the gadget in the left hand column and let me know in the comments section that you have done it. Sunday morning will be the big reveal.  

Brayer Techniques

My technique classes this week are all about using a brayer and I wanted to share one of the techniques we will be using.  This one is called "Ghosting" and it is a form of emboss resist.  First, take a look at the card:

• I started by stamping the little dandelion seeds on the Very Vanilla oval shape, die cut using the Ovals Collection Framelits, with VersaMark ink and heat embossing them with clear embossing powder. The dandelion seed image is from the Summer Silhouettes stamp set.
• I inked up the roller with Pink Pirouette ink and brayered that colour all over the paper.  I could see the little seeds pop as the coloured ink revealed them.
• I inked up the brayer again with Crisp Cantaloupe and rolled it on the top of the oval.  I went over it again with the lighter colour, Pink Pirouette, to blend the line between the two colours.
• I stamped the silhouette from Serene Silhouettes in StazOn Jet Black ink.  StazOn is not resisted by the embossing powder as it is a permanent ink.

• The design on the Crisp Cantaloupe paper is from Summer Silhouettes and is stamped in StazOn ink as well.
• I matted both panels with Soft Suede and added a bow made with Victoria Crochet Lace Trim and a Antique Brad.  When placed with a glue dot at the bottom of the oval, it added just the right balance and character.

I'm planning one more Brayer Technique so tune in tomorrow for the results!

Remember to leave your comments and join my site to be eligible to win that fabulous Blog Candy!

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

132082	126447	132073	127324
130336	130339	120953	111351
131298	101650	102283	101406
126956	131176	102395	129381
118481	117273	113439

Brayer Techniques for As You See It Challenge 027

I love the look of cards done with brayer techniques and there are some artists who do amazing work. Check out these blogs:  Michelle Zindorf  and  Julie Gearinger.  I'm really just a beginner, who has picked up a few tips along the way, and I hope to learn more from artists like these two, but a brayer was my first thought when I saw Amanda's sketch for As You See It Challenges #027:

I decided to do that instead of adding a large sentiment, mainly because I'm making a sympathy card.  One of my fellow demonstrators recently lost her mom and I wanted to send her a serene ocean scene.  Here's what I came up with:

• I punched out a 1" circle using (you guessed it) a 1" circle punch from a Post It Note and added it to my Very Vanilla cardstock just above where I wanted the horizon to be.
• I inked up my brayer in Soft Sky and added it to the middle of the page.  Then I used Pool Party ink for the top and bottom of the paper, again using the brayer.
• I used a ruler and my Basic Black Stampin' Write Marker to add a horizon line with a little depth and also some water lines randomly toward the shore (making sure to keep them perfectly horizontal.

• I stamped the wading birds image from Wetlands Stamp Set in StazOn Jet Black and the sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes, which I die cut with the smallest of the Window Frame Collection Framelits and layered it on a piece of basic black die cut with one of the Apothecary Framelits.
• I sponge a litte Wisteria Wonder and Blushing Bride on the setting sun and the sky to create some clouds.
• My next technique class will feature some Brayer techniques, so sign up for that if you're interested in learning how to do that.

What would you do with Amanda's As You See It Sketch?  Why not try it and enter the Challenge?  

Product List

126695	126697	128748	127802
121045	111351	131297	131181
126982	126985	101406	101610
102395	131172	129021	127003