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]

Twice in One Week

You know the saying:  "Once in a blue moon"?  Well, I heard that phrase all my life, but I never thought to question what it meant.  I mean, I just accepted that it meant rarely, but didn't realize that there actually is a phenomena called a blue moon.  It comes when there are two full moons in a month.  That happens once every two to three years.







Well today, I have a "Blue Challenge"  for you!  That means I'm showing you a card for the same Challenge Blog twice in one week.  If you remember, I squeaked in for the Pals Paper Arts Challenge just hours before it closed.  Well, now there is a new challenge up on that blog and I completed a card for the new colour challenge that I wanted to show you.

Here's the Pals Paper Arts Color Challenge #171 challenge:

Mmmm!  Love those colours together and I bet you can guess what style of card I made, can't you!  Did you guess vintage? 

• This is definitely partially vintage because of the requisite French script and the sponging and soft colours, but there is no edge distressing, because, frankly, I just get tired of scratching and ripping paper all the time, and I love those clean edges.  Besides, when vintage cards were new there were no torn edges.  (I guess there were no water stains or yellowed papers either, but then it wouldn't be in any way vintage, would it?)
• The only Calypso Coral ribbon Stampin' Up sells is the wide Chevron ribbon and it was just too wide and modern looking to complement this card, so I did what I did yesterday and dyed some Whisper White Taffeta ribbon by making a Calypso Coral spritzer with 70% alcohol and a few drops of Calypso Coral Reinker!!  A few spritzes and it is dyed and a few seconds and it's dried and ready to use.

• The stamp sets I used were Lovely Romance, En Francais for the background,  Wetlands for the sentiment and Gorgeous Grunge for the water mark.
• The Design Series Paper is from the Et Cetera series.  I love the vintage look of it!
• Do you notice the little peak of Victoria Crochet Trim from beneath the dyed Calypso Coral ribbon on top.
• And no vintage card would be complete without some Pearl Basic Jewels!

Now here's the great part:  I also finally got a Mojo Monday #310 card completed - same one!  Here's the sketch for that one:

Finally!! It took me all week to get around to that one! I really like the elegance of this sketch and it also lent itself nicely to a vintage design!

And now you know what a "Blue Challenge" means!  Aren't you glad you dropped by today?  (Actually, I just made that term up!)

Stamps:  Lovely Romance (w130264; c130267); En Francais (w128562; c127790), Wetlands (w126695; c126697) and Gorgeous Grunge (w130514; c130517)

Paper:  Et Cetera DSP (130129), Baked Brown Sugar (131296), Calypso Coral (122925) and Very Vanilla (101650) cardstock

Ink:  Classic Stampin' Pads in Calypso Coral (126983) and Baked Brown Sugar (131174) and Calypso Coral Ink Refill(122934)

Accessories:  Pearl Basic Jewels (119247); Victoria Crochet Trim (118481); Whisper White 3/8" Taffeta Ribbon (109070)

Tools:  Stamping Sponges (101610); Stampin' Spritzer (126185)

If It Ain't Baroque, Don't Fix It!

Wow!  Already it's time for a new challenge over at As You See It Challenges.  What fun we had the for the first week!  And if you didn't have time to enter that first challenge, see how you do with this next one!

The talented Amanda has come up with another winner!  It looks deceptively simple, but there is a lot of space that you have to design here.  I first tried a fall design, but decided it was much to similar to my first sample so I went to something completely different!

• My palette is Coastal Cabana, Smoky Slate and Whisper White, and I went to Eastern Elegance for some DSP to match!
• My stamp set is Lovely Romance, which has a definite Baroque style, similar to Eastern Elegance.  Baroque is an Arts period starting in the late 1600's defined by sumptuous ornate details.  Read more about it here.  I hand cut the little Smoky Slate design thingy (what do you call that??) and popped it up on Dimensionals.
• Do you notice the little slots I made in my Smoky Slate Cardstock to allow the Coastal Cabana strip to pass through?  I actually had to do some math in order to have it centered properly!  The Smoky Slate has been embossed with the Beautifully Baroque embossing folder.

• Now let me draw your attention to the doily, ribbon and Rhinestone Basic Jewels on this card. Stampin' Up doesn't sell any of them in this colour.  The ribbon and the doily are Very Vanilla and the rhinestones are - well, just rhinestones.
• I mixed up some 70% Alcohol with several drops of Coastal Cabana reinker in a Stampin' Spritzer.  I place the doily and the ribbon in an old pie plate and spritzed away.  In seconds, both the ribbon and the Tea Lace Paper Doily were duly rendered Coastal Cabana coloured!  And in a few more seconds (thanks to the alcohol), they were dry and ready to use!  I love how they look here.
• The rhinestones were coloured using a Sharpie permanent marker - easy peasy!

I hope you'll play along, too!  Here's the link again:  As You See It Challenge 2.

Stamps:  Lovely Romance (w130264; c130267)
Paper:  Eastern Elegance Design Series Paper (130131); Coastal Cabana (131297), Smoky Slate (131202) and Whisper White (100730) cardstock
Ink:  Classic Stampin' Pads in Coastal Cabana (131175) and Smoky Slate (131179); Coastal Cabana Ink Refill (131164); Sharpie marker
Accessories:  Tea Lace Paper Doily (129399); 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon in Very Vanilla (retired); Large Rhinestone Basic Jewels (129324); Rhinestone Basic Jewels (119246)
Tools:  Big Shot (113439); Beautifully Baroque Embossing Folder (130917); Stampin' Spritzer (126185); Stampin' Trimmer (126889); Stamping Sponges (101610)

Beautifully Baroque Embossing Folder

 Big Shot

Eastern Elegance DSP

Lovely Romance Stamp Set

Rhinestone Basic Jewels

Stamping Sponges

Stampin' Spritzers

More Swap Cards

Good morning, stampers!  Convention starts today in earnest!  This morning we will be doing a tour of Stampin' Up Home Office in Riverton, Utah.  Then, in the evening, we will have the Opening Session.

In the meantime, yesterday we rented a minivan and did some sightseeing.  First we visited the Great Salt Lake and the Saltair Pavilion.

This is a photo of the Saltair Pavilion around 1900.  It was built as a resort by the Mormons and the railroad and it was billed as a wholesome place for courting Mormon couples to enjoy an outing together (likely with Mama and Papa along!)

It was a beautiful structure built on pylons over the water.

A disastrous fire in 1930 destroyed this amazing building and this is a picture of the replacement pavilion, built with no where near the grace and beauty of the original.

Today it is still sometimes used for concerts and you can walk out on the salt flats to wade in the salt water of the Great Salt Lake.

We also went to Park City to see the Salt Lake City Olympic Park and village.  We enjoyed watching the summer ski jumpers, who ski down a small jump right into a pool!  Some were really good!

I have another swap card that I want to show you.  You've seen it before, but not in it's finished state.

• Here I've added some Very Vanilla 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon that has been aged by spritzing with water, scrunching it up, then letting it dry.  I actually tied the bow first before I aged it.
• I used the Pop 'n Cuts dies to cut out two card shapes - the plain backing and the inside with the Dress Form Insert.

• The hardest part was gluing them both together and keeping them aligned when you closed the card.  
• You can see I used two stamp sets, Lovely Romance and the sentiment is from Bring On the Cake.

Hope you like how it turned out.  It was a bit frustrating but rewarding with the final result.  Tomorrow, I will share some of the roomy gifts given to me.

Stamps: Lovely Romance (w130264; c130267); Bring On the Cake (w128490; c121958); Waterstain stamp from Paper Pumpkin

Paper:  Soft Suede (115318), Blushing Bride (131198) and Very Vanilla (101650) card stock; Subtles Designer Series Paper Stack (130135)

Ink:  Classic Stampin' Pads in Blushing Bride (131172) and Soft Suede (126978)

Accessories:  Victoria 5/8" Crochet Trim (118481); 1/2" Seam Binding Ribbon in Very Vanilla (120999); Pearl Basic Jewels (119247); Very Vintage Designer Buttons (129327)

Tools:  Dress Up Framelits (130101); Chalk Talk Framelits (129983); Card Base Pop 'n Cut Die (130099); Dress Form Pop 'n Cut Insert (130100)

                                               

Lovely Romance Stamp Set

                                            

Card Base Pop 'n Cuts 

       

Dress Form Insert Pop 'n Cuts

                                             

Victoria Crochet Trim

        

Very Vintage Designer Buttons

New MOJO!

I can hardly wait to share this post with you!  Because the excitement continues!  I sat down yesterday to create with all my new products and I want to let you know that it's all way better than it looks, and it looks amazing!  The colours, the performance, the images!  Let's just say I'm in Stamper's Heaven!  You've got to get your hands on some of this stuff!

We have a team meeting tonight, and our swap theme is products from the new catalogue, so I thought I'd create something using the MOJO Monday Sketch #297.  (Whoa! They're getting close to 300 challenges over there at MOJO Monday!)  I also got out a new set that I just bought, Lovely Romance, and some Eastern Elegance DSP, with coordination inks, Coastal Cabana and Crushed Curry.



Here's the card:

And here's the MOJO Monday #297 sketch:

Well, the first thing I want to share with you is that I used my new magnetic platform for my Big Shot, when I was making this card.  It worked even better than I expected!  The strong magnetic field held the Square Framelits and the Chalk Talk framelits firmly in place and enabled me to cut out shapes without plastering Post It Notes all over to keep them in place. WOOT!

The second thing I wanted to share was that the 3/8" Ruffle Stretch Trim really does go easily around circular and oval shapes because of the stretch and the ruffles.  Take a closer look at this gorgeous colour, Coastal Cabana, and the way it backs the oval!

I was so hoping it would work just like this!  Imagine the possibilities!  You can get it in all the new 2013/15 In Colours.  And those lovely images you're looking at?  They are from the Lovely Romance stamp set.  The "Amazing" piece coordinates with the Chalk Talk framelits as well!

Then there is the colour palette, taken from the Eastern Elegance DSP that I used - Coastal Cabana and Crushed Curry (so pretty together) - on a base of Soft Sky.  I can't get over how gorgeous that Designer Series Paper it!

What experiences have you had with the new products, so far?

Stamps:  Lovely Romance (w130264; c130267)

Paper:  Eastern Elegance DSP (130131); Coastal Cabana (131297), Soft Sky (131203) and Crushed Curry (131199) card stock.

Accessories:  3/8" Ruffle Stretch Trim in Coastal Cabana (130024)

Tools: Magnetic Big Shot Platform (130658); Ovals Collection Framelits (129381); Squares Collection Framelits (130921); Chalk Talk Framelits (129983);  Scallop Trim Border Punch (118402)

Magnetic Big Shot Platform

Ovals Collection Framelits

Squares Collection Framelits

Eastern Elegance DSP

Lovely Romance Stamp Set