Spring in my mind, definately not outside my house!!!

Okay, I should have the chilliest silver blue wintery card to portray the weather outside. Instead I have one more card (for now) with more retro colours and a stamp from the new Occasions Catalogue. Hope you enjoy this.

The colours are Tangerine Tango, Coastal Cabana and Baked Brown Sugar

Spring is in the air....

Well... At least in my head. 

I have been creating SO many Xmas cards, I just had to do something else (and I also got my goodies from the Occasions Spring Catalogue a week ago and I really wanted to play with some of the new stuff.

I already used some of the framelits (on film) on couple if cards (one Xmas and the WOW card.)

Here is a card using the new retro Washi tape (occasions catty)  and a new banner stamp (and punch) from the Sale-a-bration catalogue 

The hot air balloon is from the annual catalogue hostess set (incl, the frame around it). This image was supposed to be in another card, but didn't work for that (the scale was wrong), so I decided to pile on top of all the other stuff ;-)

The colours on this are: Coastal Cabana, Tangerine Tango, Baked Brown Sugar and Daffodil Delight

A true WOW card!!!!

Okay, I take NO credit for this! This is all Cortney Kaczor's design. 

When I saw this card! I thought WOW!!!! And I had to see how she did it = case it to the umpth!!!

This is also a sneak peek for couple of things available in the new occasions Catalogue (starting early January)

Wow, right???

It's using 'peachy keen' stamp set (has a camera, couple of sentiments, arrows...) and 'on film' framelits, which has a polaroid, film strip, camera, arrows...

The colours are basic black, smoky slate and whisper white. The patterned paper is Winter Frost Designer Series paper from the holiday catalogue.

 The images are stamped with black Staz'On ink, except the 'hello' is stamped with Whisper White craft ink on basic black card stock. Oh and the film strip on the background is an individual stamp from the annual catalogue (forgot to write down the name of the stamp)

Poinsettias, various ways

The first card is based on an earlier card cased from LeAnne Pugliese.

For this version I changed the colour into Blushing Bride and I stamped a striped background with Gorgeous Grunge stamp.

The sentiment is a Finnish stamp saying 'merry Christmas'

These two cards are partly cased.
I guess I got the first idea for the poinsettia stamped on vellum from Mary Brown.

So these ones are stamped with gold Encore ink and then gold embossed. Then they are coloured on the BACK of the vellum.

One is done with Strawberry Slush and the green is actually Wild Wasabi and the other is with Crisp Cantaloupe and Pistachio pudding, the sentiment on both is with Pistachio pudding 

You may see my mistakes too, well I actually dropped the encore pad once on the vellum and other time I dropped the stamp partly on already stamped image - well... I wanted to see how they work so I didn't bother to throw the pieces out.

Not very typical Xmas colours, but I wanted to see how they would look. I'm still working on my silver coloured versions.

Xmas cards, set 2

Some of these cards are from my Xmas card classes

For this one I got the idea from Dawn Olchetske. I used a different sentiment (all stamps from Santa's List set. The striped paper is from the holiday catalogue designer series paper stackThe belt buckle is 1"x1" silver glimmer paper and I punched out the center with one of the small label punches (looks like a stamp)

This one was the trickiest for my classes. Mainly due to the 'merry' and glueing it down neatly. I wish there was a trick.... I tried even one of those gadgets, that you drop the piece in, pull from other end and the piece has glue at the back (one of the xyron machines), but it got really sticky and the glue was too visible.

I wonder if I would glue the glitter paper on sticky page and then cut it out...... Well... Too late now ;-)

This is part of my masking tape and Xmas card classes. The background is done with masking tape and pear pizzazz ink. The tree is from 'lovely as a tree' and stamped with Gumball Green and the sentiment is from last years holiday catalogue 'more merry messages' which still is available.

Xmas cards, set 1

Some of the cards I have done this fall. Now I simply cannot recall if and whom I cased on these! so my apologies for that

This showcases some new framelits from the occasions catalogue - can you see them??

Now this one I cased from Tina Weller. The point here was to create an embossed image with the framelit shape. It was much harder than I thought but I think I got it okay. Would have helped if I'd have that silicone pad for my BigShot ;-) you can see her tutorial for this on YouTube, if you search for her or 'inside out embossing'

My new favourite card - so quick and easy to do. This also is a cased work from LeAnne Pugliese.

I stamped the image with Staz'On black ink and then used the Watercolour brush and real red ink to colour in the flower, then some crumb cake strokes around the flower and the splatter is done with Gorgeous Grunge set.

An I loved this! more before I went and cased it (I cannot make the name from the sample print).

Lots of small things and took quite a while to do. So this is definitely a WOW card and could be a card for a technique or advanced class, but not something for a 'stamp-a-stack' or a workshop!

Weekly Deals and Clearance Rack Blitz

NOTE! There seems to be some problems with clearance rack prices. Hopefully Stampin'Up! gets that sorted out swiftly


Here is the latest Weekly Deals - great stuff - great prices too!
(sorry, the picture is really small - you may want to check the deals on Stampin'Up! store - look for weekly deals :-)

Silver Embossing - 3 ways

I have, for a while now, wanted to try the difference in various embossing options.

Stampin'Up! has previously had silver embossing powder, which I have used a lot, but now with the Holiday Catalogue's Silver Encore pads, I was not 100% sure what the difference in the embossing was.

So I had to do an experiment

The first is using Versa Mark and Silver Embossing powder. The result is a smooth, almost foil finish.

The Second is using Silver Encore Ink and Clear Embossing powder. The Encore ink gives it a rough tecture, but there is this opaque look to the image, due to clear emboss (it does not show on this image that well)

And the final, and the best, result for me was the Silver Encore Ink combined with Silver Embossing powder. The texture is there due to Encore ink and it almost has this glitter effect. 

and don't forget to check the Clearance Rack tomorrow!!!

Clearance Rack Blitz TOMORROW

Clearance Rack Blitz: 

A new Clearance Rack Blitz begins December 10. Retired products-up to 80% off-will only be available while supplies last.

Cyber Monday Sale -30%

      24 hours only!!!!    

 

 

Masking Techniques, part 2

The first card is done by cutting out the base shape with Labels Collection Framelits.

Then I took a piece (covering the base) of scrap paper and cut the inked sized opening with a smaller framelit from the same set. I placed the stencil over the base shape and sponged some Crumb Cake ink.

Then stamped the bird from Simply Sketched Hostess Set with Early Espresso

This is one of my favourite cards in a long time. I took a piece (4"x5 1/4") Whisper White Card Stock, placed a doiley over the piece and sprizzed the cover with Pool Party ink blended with rubbing alcohol.

supplies:
- rubbing alcohol (from pharmacy)
- ink refill of your choice
- Stampin'Spritzer

Fill the spritzer with rubbing alcohol (leave little space for the ink - the darker or more tinted you want the spritz, the more space). I think with Pool Party I added about 10-15 dropps of ink. With darker colours you might want to keep it light, specially if you just want a light spray.

My spritz was a bit too light and I ended up spritzing a bit too much, so the background is not 100% even :-)

Then I removed the doiley and let the paper dry. Then stampped the flower from Oh, Hello stamp set with Pistachio Pudding and Strawberry slush. The chevron I think I stamped withPistachio Pudding and the sentiment with Bermuda Bay 

This is again using masking tape at the background. I wanted to experiment with different widths of masking tape and different colours. I should have used more orange to get the sunset looking right - oh well....


This one would need a bit more vivid Designer Series Paper or a stamp that would have larger un-inked spaces to really see what it is about.

I stamped the sunflower with VersaMark on a piece of Designer Series Paper from the Sweater Weather pack (Holiday Catalogue p. 18). Then I heat embossed it with Clear Embossing powder.

Once it had cooled down, I took a brayer and covered the DSP with Cajun Craze ink.

The embossing resists the ink, so once you are done, you can just wipe any extra ink from the image and you can see the patterned paper through the embossing. (you can kind of see the white spots from the background - can't you?)

Masking Techniques

I promised pictures of my masking technique class and finally got some pictures taken.

The first card is using Early Espresso and Crisp Cantaloupe card stocks and inks. The background "stamp" is done with masking tape (painters tape).

 

On my card I used 2 strips. You can vary the width of the tapes and leave more of a gap in between the tapes or use different colours.

I wanted more subtle look, so I went with only one colour.

 

This is how you do it:

• rip a strip apporx. 2 inches longer than what you wish to ink (just to leave you some space to handle the tape)
• open your ink pad
• Press the painters tape on the pad - STICKY SIDE DOWN (towards the pad) and "rub" the tape so that the ink sticks on the tape. NOTE! the more you rub, the more solid your tape gets covered - so if you are using darker ink or want lighter effect, don't rub too much
• grab the tape and press it on the card stock
• pull the tape off

This is one of my favourite cards - and it is SO simple - when you figure out how to do this correctly (admit - I had to try couple of times before I got the right kind of result).

I used the Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die to cut a shape from card stock - now this is where I went wrong. The card stock is too thick to then stamp the image through the cut out - I recommend using thin copy paper or even wax paper.

So my solution - I inked the En Francais background stamp (I laid it on the table, stamp side up) and then put the card stock stencil on the stamp - placed the Whisper White card stock carefully on top of the template and rubbed the card to transfer the ink (just make sure your cardstock does not move!)

Then I added some rhinestones and a Strawberry Slush heart (punched with Owl Builder Punch). So simple, so quick but SO BEAUTIFUL!

I have 2 more masking technique cards, but I'll post them later this weekend

 

More Xmas on this snowy day

Cased from Laurie Lee Doucel

Couple of more cards that I saw on the Stampin'Up! demonstrator web-site.

They had couple of great things going for them and I wanted to see if they would be easy enough to do on my Xmas card classes.

They are not super hard, but took enough time that I decided to leave them out of my selection.

Might use the first one in some way for my Valentine's Day card class.

It is using Raspberry Ripple cardstock and ribbon and the "white" background is actually embossed vellum! when you emboss vellum, it becomes white. Then I added some Dazzling sparkles in the middle (I think I went a bit overboard but I had some glue showing through the vellum, so I had to hide them :-)

The second card is also cased, just could not find it again. I should have checked the card a bit closer. I think in the original she had punched the leafs in two direction (some with the foil facing up and some with foil side facing down). The silver and gold foil sheets are from the Holiday Catalogue as well as the Stylish Stripes embossing folder.

I only realized this when I started laying the leafs on the card - well - too late at that point. That was one of the reasons I scratched this from my list. The second was that I used gluedots to adhere the leafs and I had hard time covering the dots so that the top would not stick to the envelope.

Did you guess where the leafs are from? Bird Builder Punch!! What a clever idea.

I guess if I would have used basic cardstock, I could have just flipped the leafs around. In this case, I had hard time making the shape circular and I think I should have added few more branches - oh well - I can fix it before I mail it :-)

HOLIDAY SALE - note 24h doorbuster deals!

And check out the weekly deals at the end!

 

 

Upcoming Classes

Just a reminder of my upcoming classes.

Sampler of cards I have made using various masking techniques

The first one is on Monday November 18th at 6:30 pm. This class is a technique class looking at various masking techniques.

You get to make 4 cards, and the cost is 15cad, or the class is FREE, if you place an order of 20cad from the current Stampin'Up! catalogue.

Please sign up for the class latest by Saturday, November 16th, evening.


The next class is on Saturday November 23rd at 2pm. This is a Christmas card class and I just realized I forgot to take pictures of the cards - oh well.. I can tell you that they are Christmas cards :-)
I will try to get the photos posted during the weekend.

Then a class I'm most happy about! a banner class!! I LOVE the Banner Simply Created kit and I'm going to be very sad if that banner kit does not carry over into the spring (it is not on the spring Occasions catalogue, but it does not mean that it would not be available after the Holiday Catalogue expires - I certainly hope it will make it to the next annual catalogue!!).

So if you were thinking of getting the banner kit - get it now - who knows, if it will be available next year!

So, the class I'm doing is on Sunday December 1st at 2pm. The cost of this class is 20cad (as it's using more supplies). The banner and the class is free, if you place an order of 25cad or more from the current Stampin'Up! catalogue.

Please sign up for this class latest by November 28th.


Then another 3D class is happening on Sunday December 8th at 2pm. This is a Christmas ornament class and we will be using the new Snowflake Ornament kit that Stampin'Up! has just released. I don't have a picture, since I don't have that kit yet :-)
So pictures will show up later!

More Xmas cards

The two first cards are both using the festive flurry stamp set. The first card was stamped with silver Encore ink and then embossed with silver embossing powder. The coloured card stock is Coastal Cabana.

The second card uses Midnight Muse and Soft Sky

Note, you could easily use also the Snowflake Soirée stamp set to get the same results (although you don't have the matching framelit to cut the snow flake out for the first card)

The last card is actually done with a retired stamp set, but you could easily use any other Xmas stamp here, the Santa from Santa's List would look great too. The card stock is Raspberry Ripple and I used gold embossing powder and encore ink instead of the silver

Christmas Cards, part 1

Here are some samples from this weeks card class (yes, I know. The first card sample has a smutch.... What can I say.... )

Christmas Bazaar

First, a quick note: I have added 2 new classes to my class schedule

Yesterday I attended this years first Xmas bazaar. It was a first bazaar for the Ravines retirement place and was not very busy, but I got to meet some great people and some old vendor friends.

 
I had a bit of a struggle with my display as the table was a bit smaller than they usually are and it was actually 2 smaller tables, so they were bit uneven. But I was able to make it work. Could not display all my things I wanted and the table was a bit in a corner so  not the best place - but I made it work.

I finally finished my "CREATE" banner, which is done using the Banner Kit from the Holiday Catalogue.
Here is a better view of the banner:

 

 The colours are Sahara Sand, Pear Pizzazz and Soft Sky.

The button was done with "Simply Pressed Clay" using the clay molds. I coloured the soft clay with Pool Party ink refill (since I noticed I didn't have any Soft Sky ink... one more thing to list on my wish list...). Then I pressed the clay into the mold and placed into my freezer for about 1 hour. then I popped it out of the mold and let it dry overnight. I tied some hemp twine to it and adhered it to the letter with glue dots.

The ruffle behind the "e" is Baked Brown Sugar Ruffle Stretch Trim, since I didn't have any ribbons in my chosen colours (wish list, here I come). But it works, because it is so close to the rope, which is threaded through the banner.

The flower is done cutting Creped Filter paper with Fun Flowers Bigz L die and then sprayed with Stampin'Spritzers filled with ink and rubbing alcohol. Again, the inks used here are Pool Party and Crumb Cake... (wishlist....). I crunched the flowers a bit and poked a hole in the middle and collected everything together with Antique Brad.

Halloween Banner

When I saw the new Build a Banner kits, I thought "this is pretty cool". And I happened to get one free from the convention, and had SO MANY great ideas - but so little time - so never got into making a banner.

So FINALLY I took the kit out and decided to make a small Halloween banner. I didn't want to spend too many banner sheets on this, since it would be up only for such a short time, and Halloween is a "strange" holiday for me to celebrate - so I wanted the banner to say "BOO"

Once I started - I could not believe how fast and easy it is to create the banner!!!

I used hot glue gun to make the rosettes (or lollies) and to glue them to the banners. I used Sponge Dobbers to ink the banners (the kit comes with templates) and it was very quick and easy.

The colours on this banner are Tangerine Tango, Crushed Curry and Smoky Slate and the Designer Series Paper is Sweater Weather (from the Holiday Catalogue). The bats are done with larger butterfly punch  - first punch out your regular butterfly, then adhere it to a post-it note and punch part of the bottom off with the same punch.

And I created these really cute treat cups for my office colleagues - well guess if I remembered to take a picture of them - oh well.... Maybe it's better than I didn't, since they were done using last years halloween paper :-) and now they can be also a surprise for my future hostesses (well without the halloween decor ofcourse!)

I'm already creating the second banner. The backgrounds are done and the letters stamped - just need to cut the letters out and create some embellishments. Hoping to have some images by the weekend (well I'm hoping to display this thing at the Christmas Bazaar this weekend.

Which reminds me - come and visit my booth at the Ravines retirement place at the corner of Prince of Wales drive and Colonnade Road (Nepean)

Undefined VW beetle

I want to make some car stamps, mostly classics. I think those would make really neat cards. I just need my husband's help to find some great images if cars - easy enough to carve.

But I managed to find a fairly simple image of a Volkswagen Beetle. And even if I say so myself! I think this stamp turned out pretty good

Again, at the top is the printed image from internet, then there is a traced version on parchment paper and then the final result stamped in red on a post-it note

I have an image of a convertible 1969 Camaro, but it has a bit too many details. I'll have to simplify it quite a lot before I can carve it out.