Starting Afresh

Today I sat down and got out some previously unused items for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge "Start Afresh". The idea is to take something out of the package that hasn't been used before and see what you can make. For me, this meant I had time to play with a few things that I haven't had a chance to before now.  A few months back I got several sets of the Altenew Cube Inks that come in Color Families. While I have used most of the colors at least once I hadn't done any layered stamping to see how well the colors go together.

For the stamping I did today, I used the three lightest shades of the families Rose Petal, Glacier Caves and Cool Summer Nights.  I have 8 different sets of these cubes encompassing nearly every color group except yellows and greys. I have those colors in other brands of ink, but today was only about trying out the families of Altenew Inks. The containers I use for Distress Ink Cubes and Altenew Ink Cubes hold 32 colors each, so I'd have to add another container in order to expand either of those sets. This 5 drawer chest is on my wish list. I'm really good with the inks I have right now.  I have some larger style pads but I love the ink cubes for using with my MISTI tool as I have a tendency to drop the larger size pads.  They are also great to use for techniques and the Altenew Inks share many of the same characteristics as Distress Inks.  They blend well and easily, they are great to use for watercolor techniques, and they are easily distressed by adding water via spray or droplets.  I don't personally care for too much of that look but I like to keep my options open to include everything.

I want to spend just a few minutes talking about the Altenew Ink Cubes. These are, like many others out there, 1 x 1 inch raised felt ink pads.  The biggest and most important difference for me is how incredibly well the Altenew Inks keep their lids on. They "snap" on tighter one way vs. the other, so if I don't feel I got that snap, I rotate it 90 degrees and do it again.  I have never had an Altenew Ink Cube lid pop off (so far).  Even Distress Inks lose their lids from time to time and if you don't notice right away, it can dry out your pad.  I keep reinkers for my most used Distress Inks (Pinks and Purples) and also for all of my Papertrey Ink Cubes. Altenew's Reinkers come in individual colors or in the sets of four colors from the coordinating sets that can be bought together.  It's a pretty significant investment of funds so I haven't done that yet but when I do, I'm pretty sure I will start with the Rose Petals family of colors given my love for pink.  I really love how clear and transparent the Altenew Inks are as well.  For me, different inks accomplish different things so you have to know what you are looking for.  Simon Says Stamp Inks for example, are highly pigmented and give you deep rich color. Distress Inks require multiple layer stamping to get the deeper tones.

It's a little bit hard to figure out or narrow down your choices if you are just getting started with making cards. I chose the inks I wanted to try by asking lots of questions from some of my favorite designers.  I also try to stick to one or two lines of inks.  WPLUS9, Simon Says Stamp and Hero Arts Inks are all manufactured by the same company and have the same properties so it probably isn't necessary to buy all three lines.  There are so many inks to choose from out there but a good place to start is by watching Jennifer McGuire's Ink Comparison Video here.

I also pulled out a December release stamp set called Fresh Bouquet along with the Fresh Bouquet Coordinating Die from Papertrey Ink.  This may seem like a simple set but it is not to be underestimated. One of the great things about this stamp set is that it contains an outline image for the floral grouping and then individual layers for the various parts of the bouquet. If you're like me and love heat embossing, this set is genius.  It was designed by Nichole Heady and I hope she'll be doing more of this style in the future.  I love to watercolor but I don't always have the time to do it.  This stamp set gives me the best of both worlds!

The bouquet on this card was created using the Rose Petals Inks in Rose Quartz and Puffy Heart and the berries were done in Lavender Fields which is part of the Shades of Purple Family with the leaves stamped in Forest Glades.

This bouquet was stamped in the Cool Summer Nights family using the Sea Glass, Ocean Waves and Dusk inks.  Forest glades was again used for the greenery.  For these florals, I die cut the bouquet first, then heat embossed the outline image using Versamark with Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  The sentiments are from Papertrey Ink's Big Basics Die Collection.  All of the sentiments in this collection are large and impactful but you can pick and choose which ones work for you.  The little hearts are from the Simon Says Stamp Mini Hearts Die.  The card base is made from Simon Says Stamp Audrey Blue Cardstock with the Noted: A2 Scalloped Notecard Die.

Thank you so much for coming by today.  I hope you enjoyed my observations on Altenew Inks and I'd love to see what you make.  Your kind and encouraging comments are very much appreciated and I hope you'll take time to leave me one. Happy Friday everyone!

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge

Hey everyone! It's time for another Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and this week's theme is Thanks/Thanksgiving. I have several projects on my desk right now but I took time to color this the other day. It's a digital image from Power Poppy and I can't wait for them to actually make it into a stamp.

I found out quite by accident that I can print digital images from my printer and they are Copic friendly. I printed this on Stamper's Select White #110 Cardstock.  I still prefer watercoloring or stamping over Copic coloring, but it's nice to know that I can improve. Some people have absolutely MAD coloring skills, but I don't fit in that category just yet.  I'll keep practicing though.  I hadn't realized until I went to do this blog post, that Simon Says Stamp carries not only the sketch markers, but also the refills and replacement nibs.  You can head here to see the full line-up of  Copic products. My overall experience with Simon Says Stamp is that that carry almost everything. And if they don't you can send an inquiry to Customer Service and ask.  

I did the simplest style of coloring possible as I am still learning my way around the numbering system that Copic uses for their markers. In fact, I forgot to write down all the colors I was using and had already put them away before I remembered that I needed that information.  I used two shades of green for the olive branches, two shades of orange with 1 red for the oak leaves, and three purples for the olives n the photo.  

If you want to find out how to use Copic and other alcohol markers, you can find lots of tutorials on YouTube.  They are a significant investment so make sure you do your research before you start buying.  I have had mine for about 10 years and most of the markers I have are Ciao Markers rather than Sketch Markers.  I understand that the main difference is that Sketch markers hold quite a bit more ink than Ciao meaning you have to refill or replace less often.  I got mine when Copics were just getting to be popular in the stamping world and we were advised to get Ciao over Sketch.  They are slightly less expensive but it would probably be worth it in the long run just to get the Sketch Markers, especially based on availability. Ciao Markers can be more difficult to find but you can find them at DickBlick.com or MerriArtist.com.

Once I had this image colored, I die cut it with the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die then laid it back into the side with a bit of two edges showing and cut it again so that it was just a little smaller than the size of the die. This lets me have a background mat for the image. I cut that from some textured coppery paper that I had on hand and attached the colored panel to it using my ATG adhesive. Next, I cut the Simon Says Stamp Grateful Die from Gold Foiled Cardstock and cut the shadow from some Chocolate Brown shimmer paper. The die comes in two pieces with the word in one part and the shadow is the other part.  You can also use the word without the shadow and have it just as striking. I attached the word with Multi Medium Matte. The coloring took some time, but I did it the other day while I was listening to the TV so I didn't really pay attention to how long it took.  Just like anything else you do in life, mastering the technique requires practice.  

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today.  I'll be back soon with another project!  This is a really short post for me but I didn't feel I could add much more that would be of use.  So I hope no one minds the shorter post.

This card will be entered at the Card Concept Challenge with their Thanksgiving theme.  

Shine Bright Like A Diamond

I am popping in with a super fast post today!  I took several days off last week to get a few days in with my best girls (my daughter and best friend were both here) and also one of my brothers was here with his daughter, my niece Livvie (short for Olivia).  Liv is a senior in high school this year and an honor student who will be starting college next fall.  She is planning to be a lawyer.  It was so awesome to see her and my brother and we browsed through my Heritage Album and filled her in on as many family stories, traditions and so on as we could remember.  It was a lot of fun.

I wanted to get something made quickly today for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge this week in the theme of "Shine Bright Like A Diamond".  I tried to keep things as simple as possible for today's card.  I have so many ideas in my head right now that it is hard for me to stay on task and finish one before starting another.  I have bits and piece for at least a half dozen more sitting on my desk.

I started by doing some ink blending on a piece of watercolor paper using a Mini Ink Blending Tool and some Simon Says Stamp Audrey Blue Ink.  If you use a light touch, you can give it just that hint of color which exudes more of a light source look rather than a definitive color.  You can enhance that look my adding a bit of shimmer mist to that panel and letting it dry. I love using this on my cards and when it was dry I cut it with the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die in the largest size. Next I stamped the Pine Branch from the Sunny Studios Holiday Style Stamp Set. I first inked the stamp in Versamark and then without cleaning off the stamp, added Pine Feather Ink then stamped it onto the watercolor panel. By doing it this way, you can add embossing powder over the top to intensify the color and provide iridescence.  I used WOW! Neutral Ultra Shimmer Embossing Powder and heat set it. This ink is my favorite green for the holidays but I don't really have any other ink in a similar color.  Simon's has a new ink color called Evergreen that's on my wishlist. Next I cut the What The Doodle Ornament from gold glitter cardstock. I used a metal shim and didn't have any trouble but my glitter paper has a kind of vinyl backing on it which can sometimes give me trouble.  Luckily it didn't today.  I also cut the Simon Says Stamp Believe Die from the same glitter paper.  Using Ranger Multi Medium Matte, I attached the die cut to the branch and the die cut word below.  I also added some of the Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear Sequin Mix which has them in the 4, 6, 8 and 10 mm size all in one package.  I don't usually have all the sizes so I'm glad that Simon Says Stamp offers these in a mix.

I mounted everything onto a top folding card base made from Pine Feather Cardstock and attached my panel using 1/4 inch Scor-Tape for a super strong hold. Finally, I added Stardust Stickles to all of the openings on the ornament for the ultimate in sparkle and shine.  It did take a little while to dry, but I feel like the end result was worth it.

This is it for me today but I hope you'll stop over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog to see all the great ideas and inspiration there.

Treat Box, Bag or Envelope

This week over at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, the theme is "Treat Bag or Box". It just so happens that I had something perfect for this challenge. The limited edition Holiday Kit from Papertrey Ink this year is called Post & Parcel and has the dies to create these adorable letter boxes that are large enough for chocolates, mints, or candy, and the optional Gift Card Envelope Die that has been added to the regular line is the perfect size to hold those gift cards.  There were so many dies included in the kit this year and that made it very hard for me to resist.

Betsy Veldman's Post & Parcel Sneak Peek

This is the first time I've had a chance to sit down and play with this set, but it was so easy to put together having Betsy's download and YouTube Video available to reference.  Even the adorable little padlock is part of the die cuts included in the kit.  As soon as I saw Betsy Veldman's and Kay's projects, I knew I was in trouble because I loved both of them.  I didn't even have to look at what the rest of the Design Team had done to know I was getting the kit.

Kay Miller's Post & Parcel Parcel Peek

As I mentioned, there was a separate Gift Card Envelope Die that you could purchase and that is one of my favorite things and will be able to be used for many things in the future.  I can hardly wait to make Valentines next year, especially keeping in mind that Betsy has other ideas for the Gift Card Envelope Die.  It is separate item from the Post & Parcel kit which sold out, so it will continue to be available for purchase.

Truthfully, these pastel colors don't photograph all that well, but I had this stripe and damask patterned paper from American Crafts that I've held on to for a long while.  I knew it would be perfect to use with these dies.  I was careful to line up the stripes before cutting the paper. I had thought this paper would match Aqua Mist Cardstock from Papertrey, but it wasn't quite the right shade, Aqua Mist having just a touch more green than the Robin's Egg Blue of the patterned paper. You can see it a little bit in this photograph, but it's okay using elements with such a small amount.  It's just not that noticeable.

One of the things I discovered when assembling my letter boxes is that although there is a die included in the kit that makes a slot for receiving "mail" (such as a gift card) in the box, I felt it weakened the box lid and opted not to use it on most of the ones I made. The one thing I didn't try was a double thickness so I need to try that another time.  The boxes are easy to assemble using 1/4th inch Scor-Tape and I used the 1/8th inch wide Scor-Tape for the envelope flaps and Letter Box top.  

The Gift Card Envelope Die will make a really quick way to dress up any kind of gift card any time of year.  All of the greenery for the swags is included in the kit and the stamp set to make more in whatever color you like is also part of the kit. Think of all the ways you can give a gift card and how many lovely papers you have that you can make envelopes out of.... The possibilities are endless. The die cuts the shape and puts in the score lines for you as well as cutting the little slit for the envelope flap to tuck into.  The Post & Parcel Pre-printed Papers and pre-printed envelope cuts are available in the Papertrey Ink Store on an ongoing basis and are printed on Papertrey's Signature White Linen Cardstock. There are so many elements to this kit and I touched on only a few.  I used one of the kit stencils to add the "Post" word to my letterbox and the stamp set to the insert of the Gift Card Envelope.  Betsy always thinks of all the details.  Everything was assembled using Scor-Tape, Ranger Multi Medium Matte and Thin 3D Foam Squares. Simon Says Stamp carries all of these products.  

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today.  If you have time, drop me a comment because I love hearing from you!  

Simon Says "Stamp It"

This week at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and Wednesday Challenge, they are featuring their very own Simon Says Stamp Exclusive products. It just so happens that
I have a few of those products and one I've been waiting to use because I didn't have the coordinating dies.  In fact, the coordinating dies weren't offered initially at all. But I had a small order last week and that arrived yesterday and the coordinating dies were in that package.  At long last, I got to use the Sketch Ranunculus Stamps and Dies from Simon Says Stamp.  You can buy them separately or together.

The problem is that since I like Gold Heat Embossing, that is really hard to do using masking.  So I have a lot more success heat embossing my images individually, coloring them, die cutting them and finally, assembling them into a bouquet on my card.  That is what I did for today's card.

Those of us who work in this industry are fortunate to have really great companies to work with.  I have one such person that I want to send a card to, thanking her for all she does.  Everyone enjoys hearing that they are doing something right or well or great. I'm one of those people who likes to encourage or acknowledge when someone is doing that.  

I started by stamping the Ranunculus blooms and accompanying leaves and stems in Versamark, heat embossing them in Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder, then watercoloring them using reinkers as my watercolors. This is quickly becoming a favorite way to watercolor.  For the flowers I used Hibiscus Burst and Berry Sorbet along with Vintage Jadeite for the leaves.

The background is one of the many that I made last week utilizing my Finetec Mica Gold Watercolor rinse water.  You can see for yourself why I was reluctant to pour this water down the drain - look at all that shimmer and shine!  You can read more details about it here.  I still have 3 more backgrounds to use from all that I made that night (12 in total). In fact, I am wanting to do this same style and design in a different color scheme for another card I have in mind.

I positioned all of my elements on top of the background panel, then put a piece of Press N Seal on top of that and pressed all around.  This lets me lift the arrangement off while keeping everything in its place. I cut the background panel with the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles Die and adhered that to a Top Folding 5.5 x 4.25 inch tall card base made from Stamper's Select White Cardstock.  I turned the piece of Press N Seal over and put glue on the back side of all the elements using Ranger Multi Medium Matte then placed it onto my background how I wanted it and pressed down. I attached the sentiment "Grateful", a Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember 2016 die.  After that I had to add a few more dots of adhesive but once I had flipped it over I just stacked some glass blocks on top to hold it while it dried. I'll have to take a picture of that for you sometime.  I love how this card came out and as I said, I'm going to do a similarly styled card in a different color scheme. When you put watercolor into the mix, each card is a unique and one of a kind piece.

This will finish my blog post for this card but I'll be back soon with another project.  Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope if you enjoyed this project you'll leave a comment for me.  I treasure each and every one.

*STAMPtember® is a registered trademark of Simon Says Stamp

Simon Says: Celebrate!

The Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is celebrating their 6th Birthday this week so "Celebrate" is the theme for the challenge. They are also featuring their very own Simon Says Stamp branded products.  I had never heard of them until I started making cards last year about this time.  Yes, I was sort of living under a rock for a while there.... but that's a whole other story.

I could hardly wait to sit down and play with Altenew's Remember This Stamp Set when it arrived in my mail yesterday.  It was released last Friday and was designed to use with the Altenew Beautiful Day Stamp Set.  It's a great addition to Altenew's lineup.

I started with a 4.25 x 5.5 inch panel of Canson Bristol Watercolor Paper.   I started by stamping in the large outline bloom from Remember This in Versamark twice and heat embossing them with Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  Using a post-it note for a very lazy mask (ha ha), I stamped the leaves from Beautiful Day on the same panel and heat embossed them with the same embossing powder.   On a separate piece of watercolor paper I stamped the large outline bloom from Beautiful Day Stamp Set and heat embossed it. Next, I colored the blooms and the leaves by misting my paper with water then stamping the solid surface stamp of the images in Vintage Jadeite for the leaves and Spun Sugar Distress Ink for the blooms.  All of these images are multi layering and have different levels of detail in each layer.  For the second color, I stamped one of the detail layers for each of the blooms in Lovely Lady Ink from Papertrey. By misting my paper with water before stamping it, the color softens immediately and blends into the bloom with just a touch of color on the outside for that very loose and organic feel. Once the inks were dry, I misted the panels with Tsukineko Sparkle Sheer Shimmer Spritz and let it dry.

Since I was trying to get some depth to my blooms, I die cut the largest bloom from Beautiful Day Dies and used Thin 3D Foam Squares to mount that bloom on top of the rest of the blooms and leaves in just the lower left hand corner. This was a great way to give the depth without having to fussy cut the blooms from "Remember This" since there aren't dies to coordinate with this set yet. I hope they will be coming in the very near future.

Next, I cut that entire panel with the largest of the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles Dies then cut it again just a little smaller by realigning the die cut back into the die and cutting a bit more off the top and one side.  This is my favorite trick for having just a narrow border around my focal panel. Then I cut a Stitched Rectangle of Lovely Lady Cardstock to put behind the first panel for a mat.

You can see how narrow the mat is here.  If I would have used the next size of rectangle down, I would have lost a lot more of my image.  I've been doing the re-alignment thing for several months now and it's a fantastic way to get more out of your dies.  The Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles are my single most used die set in my tool box.  I use them on nearly every card I make.

To finish off my card, I stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment from the Simon Says Stamp Sketch Ranunculus Stamp Set and cut the Gold "Celebrate" using a Waffle Flower Die that can also be found at Simon Says Stamp.  I added a few sequins in pink and gold for a whimsical touch and mounted it to a top folding card base made from Stamper's Select White Cardstock.

I'll be entering this card over at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge also for the "Fabulous Florals" theme.  Thank you so much for stopping by.  I really appreciate it.

A Masculine Birthday Card for Two Challenges

Hello!  I haven't had time in the last several weeks to participate over at The Paper Players Challenge but I was finally able to yesterday evening for a little while. This is for The Paper Players Challenge #306. Although it did take a little time to figure out my design, this is a card that is a super nice choice for any men in your life and came together very fast once I had my design figured out.  The challenge at The Paper Players this week is a Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge. I chose the top row (Enamel Dots, CAS and Masculine) for my card. Masculine cards are always a bit of a struggle for me but I'm very happy with how this one turned out.

I also try to always participate in the challenges over at Simon's — The Monday Challenge and the Wednesday Challenge.  The Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge theme this week is "Celebrate" which fits right in with this birthday card.

To start this card, I selected the papers I wanted to use - True Black, Spicy Yogurt, and Gold Metallic (I use Gold Metallic Poster Board from Hobby Lobby). Black and Gold is always a classic look as is a Clean & Simple (CAS) Card.  For the focal point, I wanted to use this Spellbinders Die called Ritz Decorative Accent.  It is such a bold piece so I switched back and forth between the colors of each piece for a more dramatic look. The die cuts three separate pieces so you can choose what you want each piece to be cut from. I cut the whole thing in Gold Metallic, then used a scrap of black for the center piece and then back to the small diamond piece in Gold Metallic from the original large diecut.  Easy Peasy! I made a vertical and horiontal mark in the center of my Spicy Yogurt Panel so that I could get the first piece of the die cut in the right spot and then the others came easily. I adhered them with Ranger Multi Medium Matte.  I stamped the sentiment from "Mums The Word" on True Black Cardstock from Papertrey Ink and heat set it with Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  then mounted that on a scrap of Metallic Gold.  I considered not mounting the sentiment, but by going ahead, it made it a much more cohesive look.  I die cut that panel using a Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die in the largest size, taped down with a bit of washi tape so it would move around.  I needed to keep that panel lined up.  I wasn't planning to cut the panel down initially or I would have done it before I started adhering things. *Ü*  I also cut another stitched rectangle for the inside of the card since I ended up using a black card base.  I really like how tied together the entire card is from front to back.  It is perfectly Clean & Simple!

For my Enamel Dots, I used a fairly new product called Nuvo Crystal Drops in Black Gloss.  You totally freehand these dots (its a good idea to practice on a scrap first to get a feel for them) and then once you have them, tap or flick the card on the underside to help them spread out just a little bit. Don't do too much as they need just a tiny bit of dimension to them. Because you are putting them directly onto your card, they won't pop off.  It's like making your own custom enamel dots.  This is a great product!  I love the glossy ones (Black and White) better than the sparkly ones, especially for using on Masculine cards.

This was super fast and easy to put together and would be a great style to use for mass production since the only thing that is stamped is the greeting.  I love the bold graphics.

I very much appreciate you stopping at my blog to take a look and I hope you'll continue to come back and visit.  You can also like and follow Twinkling Paper Studio's Facebook Page.

Birthday Wishes Among the Stars

This week on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Challenge Blog the theme is to "Add Some Texture". The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog is "Anything Goes".  I'll be entering this card in both challenges.

We learned a night sky technique during last weekend's Stamp-A-Faire event at Papertrey Ink but I've been doing mine a bit differently so here's the details on how I do one.

To start you need a panel of good quality watercolor paper. My panels have been cut down to 4.5 x 6 inches.  I normally use Canson Bristol Watercolor Paper, but this technique uses much more water and needs to be able to hold the water a bit longer so I used Arches Hot Pressed Watercolor Paper for this technique.  The Hot Pressed Paper is much smoother than cold pressed. Lots of folks like the texture of the cold pressed.  I just don't happen to be one of them.  I have some cold pressed paper as well, but it is my last choice rather than 1st or 2nd choice.

Select some inks in night sky colors such as a deep Blue, Green, and Purple and with a touch of a medium toned pink. Using a Ranger Mini Ink Blending Tool apply liberal amounts of the Deep Blue color all the way around the edge.  The one I used here is Enchanted Evening from Papertrey Ink.  You can get pretty heavy handed for this part. Once I started working on the inside of the panel, I used Pine Needles (Distress Ink), Amethyst Allure and a touch of Hibiscus Burst both from Papertrey Ink.  I could have used Papertrey's Pine Feather rather than Pine Needles Distress Ink.  I applied those colors really randomly on the inside areas using a back and forth motion rather than blending in circles. I switch back and forth adding a couple of areas for each of those three colors and adding a bit more of the Enchanted Evening here and there as well. It's all going to be misted with water and I'm doing heavy coverage so I don't need to be as careful about marks showing up on the panel. Once I have all the color on there in a way that I like, I mist the whole panel with a liberal amount of water and set it aside to dry. You want it to be wet, but not dripping wet. Because I used better quality watercolor paper, it will hold the water in there a bit longer and do a great job of blending the different inks seamlessly for me.  You just have to leave it alone and let the water do the work for you.

I drew in the silhouette of some hills at the bottom of my panel and since my little set of Altenew's Pine Trees had arrived, I used it to stamp the tree silhouettes which did work a bit better than my hand drawn ones on the previous version.  I did okay with the Zig Pen that one time since it was only a silhouette, but stamping them in Versafine Black Onyx Ink was faster and easier.  This is a little mini stamp set available from Altenew in their store or over at Simon Says Stamp.

Next I went in with some Finetec Mica Watercolor Paint in Sterling Silver and added splatters for added texture and interest to the background. I did forget to cover my trees and hills, but it's just not that noticeable. While that was still damp, I took a pinch of WOW! Neutral Ultra Shimmer Embossing Powder and sprinkled it over my night sky then heat set it.  Then I spritzed the whole panel with Tsukineko Sheer Sparkle Shimmer Spritz and let it dry once more.  At this point, the panel was very damp all the way through so I left it alone until the next morning.  I knew I was going to be doing heat embossing for my greeting, so I needed to be sure the paper was good and dry.

Normally for a card that I am making only one of, I wouldn't bother getting the MISTI out, but because of the added texture on the background panel from the embossing powder, I didn't know if I could get a good impression from the Mama Elephant Birthday Wishes Greeting on the first try so I did use my MISTI so I could Double Stamp in Versamark.  I am so glad I did this because it did not stamp cleanly the first time and needed that second layer of Versamark to get a clean image.  I used WOW! Metallic Platinum Sparkle Embossing Powder to heat set my greeting and the front panel was finished.  I cut it using the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles Die and then adhered that to an A2 Top Folding Card made from Enchanted Evening Cardstock.  I also cut a panel of Stamper's Select White from the same Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles Die for the inside of my card. I used the new Background Basics: Galaxy to heat emboss the stars across the inside panel.  I love that the stamp is large enough to go across the panel on the diagonal.  I used the same WOW! Metallic Platinum Sparkle Embossing Powder as I did for the outside sentiment.  I adhered both panels to my card base with my ATG adhesive.  My Simon Says Stamp Stiched Rectangles Dies are my absolute MOST used dies.  They never get put away and in fact are always on my table right next to my die cutting machine.  They make an appearance on 95% of my cards and have been a very good investment for me.

For the finishing touch, I took several Darice Silver Star Sequins and placed them randomly on the front panel and a few on the inside panel using Ranger Multi Medium Matte.

My husband's birthday is tomorrow and this card is for him.  He loved the card I did for Stamp-A-Faire last weekend and I was having trouble before then figuring out what to do for his birthday card.  He made it easy for me at least this time.

Happy Sunday everyone!  We have a beautiful day here in Oklahoma.  Today is the anniversary of my first blog post 1 year ago.  Since then I have done 209 posts, counting this one.  I'll have a new project up soon, so be sure to check back.  I treasure every comment you take the time to leave for me.

Amazing Grace with Texture

As a card maker, one of my favorite ways to add texture is through the use of Heat Embossing. The Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge this week is to "Add Some Texture" to our project so I started with a few of my favorite Stamp Sets, Background Basics: Sheet Music from Papertrey Ink and Beautiful day from Altenew. If you missed the Altenew July 2016 Release, be sure to check it out here.  I was waiting to order "Remember This" when it went live this morning.  There are other sets from this release that I'll want, but this set was a must for me since it can be used with the Beautiful Day Stamp Set I've used here.  It will be a week or two before the new Altenew sets are available at the Simon Says Stamp store.

I was recently in a class that focused on many different ways to use heat embossing in your cards. One of the things they showed us was that you could mix embossing powders.  It was for a specific application in that case, but I figured if I didn't like what I had done, I wasn't really out anything since it only takes a fraction of a teaspoon of powder for each project you use it on.  So I mixed a little Simon Says Stamp Rose Gold Embossing Powder with Simon Says Stamp Gold Embossing Powder (not the Antique Gold).  What did I get?  A fantastic "18 Karat Gold" looking color. That is how I labeled it on the jar I put it into.  I like it so much that I made a 2 oz. jar full of it, 1 oz of Simon Says Stamp Rose Gold and 1 oz. of Simon Says Stamp Gold Embossing Powder.  Both of these products are Ultra Fine Detail powders. I love love love the Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder, but I can see uses for this "new" color as well. A bonus is the fact that the color is a perfect match to the Arabic Gold in the Finetec Mica Watercolors Set.

After I was done playing around with the embossing powders, I stamped my background panel using Versamark with Papertrey Ink's Background Basics: Sheet Music Stamp Set onto Stamper's Select White Cardstock.  Next I stamped the bloom and some leaves in Versamark from the Beautiful Day Stamp Set by Altenew onto Canson Bristol Watercolor Paper then sprinkled my "new 18 Kt. Gold Embossing Powder" on both and heat set them.  I also heat embossed the word "Amazing" from the Inspired: Grace Mini Stamp Set on to this same panel. To color the blooms, I lightly misted the paper with water and let it soak in for just a minute before stamping one of the detail layers onto the bloom. Since the paper was slightly damp, this let the color move away from the edge of the stamping and blend into the water and paper. Once that had dried, I lightly misted it again and stamped the other detail layer in the same way.  The second detail layer has less surface area so it keeps more of the detail and blends the way I want it to. Since I am using such a bright color for my mat, I really wanted to use this new to me Papertrey Ink called "Pine Feather". I stamped and heat embossed the leaves using the same products as on the blooms. Then I misted the paper and lightly inking up the detail layer of the leaf stamp, stamped it lightly. This ink is a very dark forest or pine green with definite blue undertones just like the Hibiscus Burst Ink I used on the blooms.  Both of them are cool tones which I love.

After that I assembled my card onto a Fresh Snow Linen Cardstock Card Base using my ATG and Ranger Multi Medium Matte. With the texture on the background, the card base and in the leaves and flowers, I felt that sequins would be too much this time.  But I'm still thinking about adding a few before I mail it out. *Ü*  The pink mat on this card is a Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle cut from Papertrey Ink Hibiscus Burst Cardstock.  Hibiscus Burst is quickly becoming a favorite color in both ink and cardstock.

This is all I have for today.  Last weekend was so focused on trying all the new techniques during the Papertrey Ink Stamp-A-Faire 2016 and there are a few that I want to experiment with further. Thank you so much for stopping by today. Please come back soon to see what I've created for some of the other challenges going on now.

A Nautical Wedding Card

The Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog's theme for this week is Nautical/By the Sea. I don't really have any beach themed stamps or dies but whenever I think of Nautical, I automatically think of a Naval Officer's Uniform, Sailor Dresses, Sailor's Suits, Sailor's Knots and even a few Sailor's style outfits I've had through the years.  There's some interesting information on Wikipedia about this style that came to be popular for women and children in the 20th century.  For this card I naturally got out my stash of Navy Blue and Gold Striped Paper. Sadly, this is the last piece of it.  I have a little left from the Diagonal Stripe but only enough to use on maybe two cards.

As I sat and looked through my stamps and dies, I didn't have the one thing I really wanted for this challenge — a compass. So I went to look for one on the Internet and found one in some free clip art.  I had to pull it into my photo editing software to fix the rotation, but I remembered how to do that without too much difficulty. This image was just what I wanted. I tried to print it from Microsoft Word, but that didn't work. When I opened it in Windows Picture Viewer I could tell it to print from there, what kind of paper I was using (Stamper's Select White Cardstock) and it also allowed me to print at 600 dpi for a presentation quality image.  I've tried to print on Cardstock before without success so I was excited to notice these setting as available in that program.  I'm using an HP Inkjet Photo Printer that I've had since we moved to Oklahoma more than 6 years ago. The printer before this one was also an HP Inkjet Photo Printer.

Once I had the compass image printed, I cut it with the 2nd largest My Favorite Things Stitched Square Stax Die.  I cut the striped paper in the largest square die from the same set. I cut a white strip wide enough for the greeting from the Simon Says Stamp Congratulations Stamp Set.  I stamped that using Versamark and heat set it using Simon Says Stamp Gold Embossing Powder. I wanted the little bit brighter gold to match the stripes on the patterned paper. Once I had that stamped and heat set, I went around the edge of that piece with my Versamark Cube and then put the same gold embossing powder on it and heat set it to have the gold all the way around.

I made a mat for the sentiment by using my die creatively with a small scrap of the navy & gold paper.

I used some Navy grosgrain ribbon to tie a Sailor's Knot around the panel with the compass on it. To get it to lay flat I had to cut it in half at the back and tape the ends down.  The knot on the front was positioned and then adhered with Ranger Multi-Medium Matte for a good strong hold. I set a few acrylic blocks on top of that for about 5 minutes so it wouldn't budge. I assembled the card onto a top folding A2 Night of Navy Cardstock Base. I adhered a white die cut panel on the inside of the card for a place to write a sentiment.

So now y'all see how my mind wanders when I am creating a card, but it definitely works for me most of them time.

"Watercolor" Detail Stamping Technique

Today I am sharing a technique that I've decided to call "Watercolor Detail Stamping".  In many other English Speaking Countries, color is spelled colour and whenever I see it spelled that way it makes me smile.  Anytime I correspond with someone from one of those countries I try to remember to use that spelling although it isn't second nature to me. I used to have a friend who lived in Manitoba, Canada and we had some lovely conversations about colour and colour combinations back in the late 90's early 2000's when I was a very devoted scrapbooker and she was the owner of a message board for scrapbookers I used to be on.  Donna had a particular talent for enhancing die cuts using colored pencils. She lost a very short battle with pancreatic cancer in August of 2004 but I think of her often and smile when I remember our many talks. I even have Two-Page Layout (complete with a photo of Penguins) devoted to her in an album I did entitled "Rite of Passage - Journey to the Heart of Me".

I saw this sketch Challenge #179 over at the CAS Colours and Sketches Blog and thought it would be fun to combine it with the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge which has a Tic-Tac-Toe theme this week.  I chose the top row, with Stamping, Sequins and Gold. When I started working on my card for these challenges, seeing the spelling made me think of Donna so in part this card was inspired by her.  The other part of the inspiration came from one of my sisters-in-law who loves pink and black together as much as I do.  One of the options at the CAS (Clean & Simple) Colour Challenge Blog is to make a rectangle card into a square or vice-versa.  I don't do too many square cards since they require extra postage if you use a square envelope.  I get around this by using a 5 x 7 envelope but it bugs me a little that the card doesn't fit snugly so I don't do it too often.  I also really love the combination of Pink & Gold together and decided it would make for a super elegant card to combine it with the black.

I started by stamping the bloom and leaves from Altenew's Beautiful Day using Versamark and heat setting them with Ranger Gold Tinsel Embossing Power.  I colored them with Lovely Lady and New Leaf Inks from Papertrey Ink by lightly misting my watercolor paper with a bit of water and then stamping one of the detail layers into the outline while the paper is wet.  This moves the ink around nicely and it is a super fast way to get a hand water colored look with much less time spent.  I love to watercolor but if I'm doing any kind of mass production, this is a great way to get the look without all the time. I found this method by experimenting with my stamps to see what it would look like and then really liked the results in the softer colors in particular.  I'm planning to make cards for all of my Sisters-In-Law again this year at Christmas and some of them really like the watercolor look.  This technique gives me the ability to do that for them. Once the paper was completely dry, I die cut the leaves and bloom using the coordinating Beautiful Day Dies.

My card base is a 5.5 x 5.5 square note card made from Papertrey Ink True Black Cardstock.  I cut a 5.25 x 5.25 white insert for the inside of the card.  My pink square is cut from Lovely Lady Cardstock using the My Favorite Things Stitched Squares Stax Dies.  For the gold square I cut a Spellbinders Labels 42 Decorative Elements in two sizes and then cut the small one from corner to corner to make the little tabs with a little creative cutting to help.  The "thanks" die is a favorite from Mama Elephant and the 5 mm Gold Sequins are from Darice.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you'll come back soon!  You can subscribe to receive e-mail updates, and follow me on Facebook and Instagram.

Bonjour!

Today I created a card for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge to "Use Patterned Papers" and for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge to "Add Some Shimmer". It is rare that one card will work for both challenges but this week it will.

This is a side folding 3.75 inch wide x 9.25 inch tall card made from Rustic White Cardstock which fits into a #10 envelope; a custom card size I created to fit my need for the project I did today.  I have no idea if folks make this size, but probably not.  It is fun and a little bit different for a change.

Several months ago I had purchased this Spellbinders Eiffel Tower Die but when it came, it was too big to use on most of the cards I make which are the standard A2 size.  I love how it looks although you are not able to see it very well in my photographs. If you click to follow the link, you will get the idea I think. The die cuts are embossed as well as cut. Since the Simon Wednesday Challenge is to "add some shimmer", I used my Essential Glue Pad and dusted the whole thing with some Ebony Glitter from Recollections.  That is the first time I have used the Essential Glue Pad but I remembered to only put a little bit of glue on it — just enough to swipe the die cuts with it. If you have one of these, don't forget to keep the little plastic cover or your glue pad will dry out way faster than normal.  I remembered Jennifer McGuire demonstrating this on her blog once.

The Eiffel Tower Die was made to be 3-Dimensional.  The only thing I can think of to equate this to is that the side seams of the top piece that are the "curvy", have been clipped on your "seam". If you know how to sew your own clothing, this will make sense but if not, I can't really figure out another way to explain this so once again, a picture is worth a thousand words. I attached the top piece to the bottom piece with thin 3D foam and then attached to the card base with regular thickness foam squares. I cut those in half to accommodate the thinner areas if I need to. The printed paper is one I bought last year that was called "Paris Girl".  I don't use much patterned paper but I did buy a few sheets of this at the time because I liked it so much.  The whole background panel is misted with Tsukineko Sheer Sparkle Shimmer Spritz and the edges were ink blended using Lovely Lady Ink from Papertrey.  It seems to be about my favorite pink although Hibiscus Burst is quite lovely as well. I could have used Pale Peony, but it hadn't arrived quite yet. *Ü*

The sentiment I used here was stamped on a Rustic White stitched rectangle (made by using my die creatively), one letter at a time with the Concord & 9th Sophisticated Script in both upper and lower case. The "r" on the end isn't quite right, but it's okay.  I stamped each letter using Versafine Onyx Black and then sprinkled Simon Says Stamp Clear Embossing Powder over it and heat set it. Since Versafine is a pigment ink, it stays wet long enough to sprinkle the embossing powder on it, but I do each letter as I stamp it in case I get pulled away for some reason.  Since I am not using my MISTI for this, I feel better doing it this way.

To finish up my card, I assembled everything using either foam squares or Scor-Tape and put a few black iridescent sequins on it with Ranger Multi Medium Matte.  I'm putting a few pictures on here today so you can see the detail a little better I hope.

I'm planning to send this to a French Canadian friend just for fun.  I think you might be able to see a bit of the glitter on these last two photographs.

There's not a lot of technique involved here. I just wanted to send something fun. I hope you all have a great week. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today. It means the world to me when you take time to leave a comment.

Happy Father's Day

Today's card is for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog for Father's Day/For a Guy and is inspired in part by a card I saw at another challenge and is also for the Color Throwdown Challenge #396.  I only have one stamp set specific to Father's Day so I was trying to figure out what I wanted to make. Especially when it comes to masculine cards, I love to use really bold graphics with very clean lines.

For this first card I started with a panel of watercolor paper that I cut into triangles. I first cut a 4.25 inch tall rectangle and then cut that piece again from corner to corner. I turned my paper a quarter turn and I cut a second rectangle then cut that from corner to corner and so on until all of the triangles were cut. I didn't measure, I just eyeballed it. This makes enough for two cards with five triangles for each card. For my second card I used scraps of cardstock and just cut random triangles instead of ink blending them.  Either method is super easy and looks great.  It's a bonus to be able to use some of the many paper scraps we create as cardmakers.

Since this first card is for a Color Throwdown Challenge of raspberry, plum and peach with white, I ink blended dark and light versions of the raspberry and plum colors to create the extra colors so that each triangle on the card would be different. The darker ones just have more layers of color.  I used SU! Raspberry Ripple & Crisp Cantaloupe, with Seedless Preserves Distress Ink. There is no rhyme or reason at all to the design of these graphic pieces.  I just laid them down one by one until I liked the arrangement on the card front, then laid a piece of Press 'N Seal over the top to keep the arrangement in place, pulled that off of the card base and flipped it over so I could add the glue (Ranger Multi Medium Matte) to the back of those pieces and laid it back down. This particular card base is made from Rustic White Cardstock by Papertrey Ink. Once I had it down and in place, I held it there for a few minutes to let the glue set a bit, then peeled the Press 'N Seal away.  This is also how I arrange the Tulips from Tulip Time or any other floral arrangement. This is not my idea; it is Laurie Willison's.  However, it just so happens that Jennifer McGuire's husband invented Press 'N Seal.

For the "Happy" part of the greeting, I used some Stick-It Adhesive and sandwiched that between a layer of fun foam and gold card stock to cut the dimensional element.  The dies are PTI's One Liners: Happy Die Set.  There are 4 different versions of the word "Happy".   The fun foam temporarily squishes down when you die cut it, but pops right back out a minute or so after die cutting. The banner is from the Tag Sale: Quilted Die and the "Father's Day" is from Boutique Borders: Father Mini Stamp Set.  I performed a bit of stamp surgery to separate the "Happy" stamp word from the "Father's Day".   This is a super easy card to duplicate and make multiples of.

For this second card I used a less "clean" looking die cut but I still like how it looks.  There are 4 to choose from in this set.  For the card base, I used Papertrey Ink's Enchanted Evening Cardstock.  The other cardstock colors that I know are Papertrey Ink's Tropical Teal & Vintage Jadeite, Simon Says Stamp's Mint Cardstock, SU's Night of Navy and Creative Memories Sea Glass.

Thank you so much for stopping by today.  I hope you enjoyed my card and can join me again sometime. I'll be back with another project soon.