Make it Monday #305 - Love of Layers

This week's Papertrey Ink Make it Monday Tutorial #305 is "Love of Layers" by Laurie Schmidlin and shows us how to add lots of layers and texture to our projects. I am a big fan of Laurie's work and to get to see her process was a treat for me.  Laurie showcased her layers by adding ink to her die cuts and by using foam tape.  I love this look but I don't do it often because I know it might not fit in my envelope after and it can add to the cost of postage.  However, given the season, I was all in for this challenge. I  try to keep a few 6 x 9 padded mailers on hand for just such an occasion.


My card started with a top folding card base made from Stamper's Select White Cardstock.  I've been so anxious to use Brilliant Baubles so I die cut a few of each shape I planned to used and stamped them using my MISTI so that I could double or triple stamp for better color saturation.  I'm participating in the Merry Monday Christmas Challenge # 267 with this card and their colors dictated my color scheme; Hawaiian Shores and Green Parakeet with White/Silver or Vellum.

For the next layer, I wanted the texture of Linen Cardstock but I added lots of sponging around the outside after die cutting and embossing the panel. You can't really tell in photos, but it is there.

I have been using the Gemini quite a bit on some of my larger dies or those that can be embossed because even with a tan or grey embossing pad, it cannot come close to the level of detail from the Gemini. I also noticed that Simon Says Stamp is planning to carry these machines in both the regular and junior sizes but they aren't available yet. It does take a bit of practice to figure out the sandwiches and I encourage you to keep your manual handy to check recipes because I accidentally cut through my rubber embossing mat and had to order a new one.  The thing is, because it is so thin, you wouldn't think it could do anything, but the embossing is second to none.  I'm still using my Cuttlebug for most of my die cutting, but if it is one that can be embossed, I'm hauling it into my kitchen right now because that's the only place I have room to set up the Gemini. Don't get me wrong, I think it has a smaller overall footprint than the Cuttlebug but I have a system in place for this house that needs to stay in place until we move next spring.  Since our kids are grown and gone, it isn't an issue to leave it sitting on one end of my kitchen island.

I had stamped all of my ornaments last night so they were completely dry before I hit them with some Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist and set some little jewels in place. After I sponged the ink onto the linen cardstock paper, I also misted it.  With the texture, the shimmer mist kind of settles in some of the deepest corners of that paper and really catches the light in real life.  I mounted that directly to my card base with my favorite Kokuyo dot runner.

Next I cut the next size smaller in the hemstitch rectangles from Hawaiin Shores Cardstock but without the hemstitched detail layer this time.  It just cuts a plain regtangle when you do it that way but I really like the crisp, die cut edges.

Using a piece of the larger Bitty Big Plaid in Aqua Mist adhered to a piece of Papertrey Ink #160 Tag Stock I die cut Tag Sale #12.  If I need to do this again, it would have been much easier in the Gemini vs. my Cuttlebug.  I had to run it through a few times to get it to cut the hanger part completely.  After cutting that, I inked up the very outside edges with a Mini Ink Blending Tool in Aqua Mist Ink.  That just helps to separate that layer from the background layer. I attached that with foam tape.  Next came the ornament that I had stamped in Green Parakeet with another layer of foam tape.  I also stamped one of the small flowers from the set in Hawaiian Shores and added a little gem to that.  The banner is from Keep It Simple Frames and is stamped with the "Merry Christmas" greeting from Beautiful Berries: Winter in Versamark and heat set with Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.

Once I had this card all finished, all the layers assembled and, of course, all the photos taken and edited, I decided it needed a little pop of color from some sequins. I adhered them using Ranger Multi Medium Matte and then added a little gem in the center of each sequin.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  You can find the supplies I used linked below.

Stamper's Select White Cardstock Shop at: PTI	Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder Shop at: SSS	Kokuyo Long Dot Runner Adhesive Shop at: SSS	Papertrey Ink Hawaiian Shores Cardstock Shop at: PTI
Papertrey Ink Beautiful Berries: Winter Shop at: PTI	Papertrey Ink Keep it Simple Frames Shop at: PTI	Wagner Heat Tool Shop at: SSS	Cuttlebug Die Cutting Machine Shop at: SSS
Ranger Multi Medium Matte Shop at: SSS	Papertrey Ink White Tag Stock #160 Shop at: PTI	Papertrey Ink Tag Sale #12 Shop at: PTI	Perfect Match Green Parakeet Shop at: PTI
Perfect Match Hawaiian Shores Shop at: PTI	Papertrey Ink Brilliant Baubles Shop at: PTI	Papertrey Ink Brilliant Baubles Dies Shop at: PTI	Spellbinders Hemstitch Lace Dies Shop at: SSS
Fresh Snow Linen Cardstock Shop at: PTI	Gemini Full Size Die Cutting Machine Shop at: SSS	Aqua Mist Bitty Big Prints Shop at: PTI	Perfect Match Aqua Mist Shop at: PTI

Merry Monday #256 Challenge

Over the course of the last year I have been on some Challenge Design Teams and through this, I've found a lot of other card makers whose work I really enjoy. One of the most recent people I found is Kelly Lunceford.  I just adore her work! When I saw that she is now designing for the Merry Monday Challenge, I just had to play along.

I must say, it took several tries for me to achieve the look I was going for but, I'm ahead of the Christmas Card "Game" now because I already have about 8 cards made, which is one of the reasons for Merry Mondays. This is a weekly year round challenge with the idea that if you make one card a week for the whole year, you'll have your Christmas Cards well started or maybe even finished by the time Christmas rolls around.  I make a lot of one-off's during the Holiday's so that I can showcase new products that have been released and since blogging and card making are my job, there are usually many Christmas cards shared here between now and the first week or two in December.

This week's Merry Monday Challenge is "Holiday Movie List" and the Movie I chose is "It Came Upon a Midnight clear".  As I said, I had several tries to get to a finished product I was happy with, not for the work itself but to clearly convey my movie choice.

Can't you just picture peeking out through snow laden branches in the deep, clear, still night and seeing the stars? There is something so magical about the stillness of a snowy night.  This card is incredibly simple in the design but a bit trickier to capture.  I still didn't get it nearly as good as I would like but sparkle is very hard to capture. In fact, I felt it was really only captured in my last card photo and even then, not very well.

For this card, I started with a Cover Plate: Winter Floral cut from White Shimmer Cardstock and a background panel of Night Sky Shimmer Cardstock.  I misted both with a heavy layer of Tsukineko Sparkle Sheer Shimmer Spritz and let them dry while I did some other things. Even though the paper is shimmery, it doesn't sparkle until you add the sparkle spritz. Once they were dry, I adhered them together with Ranger Multi Medium Matte.  I applied that to a top folding card base made from Stamper's Select White Cardstock.  I knew I wanted to use the "Believe" die from Simon Says Stamp (it was my favorite from last year) but I also wanted to be able to have an iconic symbol for Christmas in that night sky. It just so happens that Memory Box makes a die called "Star of Wonder", available from Simon Says Stamp and other retailers.

So as you can see, this design was very simple and easy to execute.  The hardest part was finding the right color and style of cardstock to really emphasize the sparkling white and starlit night.  If you look closely at the top photo, I think you will see the shimmer, I took a photo from that angle so that you could see a tiny bit of that sparkle.  It is truly stunning in real life!  Of course after I had this blog post all put together, I decided I need to add a gem to the center of that star, so I did, but I did not take a picture of it.

Thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope I've inspired you in some way.  As always, if you'd like to leave a kind and encouraging comment, I really appreciate them!

Merry Monday #215

I'm in with a super quick post this morning.  I recently found a new challenge that I want to participate in called Merry Monday.   This is a Christmas Card Challenge Blog and the idea is that by the time you send out your Christmas cards, you will have at least one a week ready to go and a nice little stash built up. And if you don't send quite that many it's still nice to have a little stash to sell (if that's what you do) or for a last minute dinner invitation or that kind of thing because everyone appreciates getting a card.

The challenge for this week is to use light and dark pink with silver or gray.  I did both -- shiny silver and also shimmery gray cardstock.

First I stamped the What the Doodle Ornament from Papertrey Ink in Versamark onto Canson Bristol #140 Watercolor Paper and heat embossed it using Fine Detail Silver Embossing Powder from Judikins. I have had mine forever and it's still nearly full because I use a lot more gold than silver embossing powder.  I used a couple of Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens in Pale Rose and Light Pink with a water brush to color the ornaments. The branches are a Tim Holtz Sizzix Die called Holiday Greens cut from some pearlescent evergreen cardstock that came from my scrap bin.  I cut the pearlescent grey cardstock panel to 4 x 5.25 and dry embossed it using the Musical Flourish Cuttlebug Embossing Folder and mounted that to a card base made from Autumn Rose Cardstock.  The ornaments were given a coat of Clear Wink of Stella once the watercolor was dry.

This card came together really quickly because it is similar to the design I am planning to use for some of my Christmas Cards this year.  The silver details don't photograph all that well and I am planning to use gold accents for the other cards I'll be making in this design.  Y'all know how much I love Pink and Gold, Purple and Gold, or heck, just gold!  Metallic Gold is the perfect neutral to go with everything!  But it was fun to do something that I normally wouldn't choose.
Thanks so much for stopping by today and be sure to check out the What The Doodle Ornament at Papertrey Ink.  There is also a coordinating die set and Papertrey is having trouble keeping it in stock at this point.  I appreciate and treasure all of your kind and encouraging comments.  Have a great weekend everyone!