Silhouette Sympathy for Sunday Stamps

Happy Sunday! I hope you are having a good weekend. Mine has been spent in my studio holding my Occasions Card Buffet and then doing some spring cleaning, pulling retiring products from my stash in preparation for the release of the new Annual Catalogue. Have you checked out the retiring list yet? If not, click the image in the right side-bar to see what's going away to make room for all the fabulous NEW products!
Today marks the start of a new colour challenge over at Sunday Stamps. Check out this gorgeous inspiration photo:

I have to admit, this one stumped me for a bit. These are not colours I tend to use very often, so I pulled out my sponges and started blending. I'm really happy with the way my project turned out...

Sympathy card featuring the Serene Silhouettes and World of Dreams stamp sets with sentiment from Rose Wonder.

I began with a piece of Whisper White card stock. I pulled out my retired Crisp Cantaloupe ink pad, which is a perfect match for the coral shade in the inspiration photo. I sponged the Crisp Cantaloupe, then Lost Lagoon (how sad are you going to be to see THAT one go??), Wisteria Wonder, and finally Elegant Eggplant. To pull all of the shades together, I then sponged over the entire panel again with the Crisp Cantaloupe. I decided I wanted to soften the colours even more so I spritzed the sponged panel with some Stampin' Mist (yep, the stamp cleaner) which acts almost like bleach and gives a soft, mottled look.

I dried the panel with my heat tool and then added some gold spatters using the Gorgeous Grunge set and (retired) gold metallic Encore ink. I then stamped images from Serene Silhouettes and World of Dreams (both of which are on the retiring products list) in Basic Black ink. I layered the panel on some gold foil card stock and then on Basic Black card stock. I added some Basic Black striped satin ribbon (also retiring!) before adhering the panel to a Sahara Sand card base. I stamped the sentiment from the Rose Wonder set in Basic Black ink below the stamped panel.

On the inside I added a Whisper White panel on which I stamped the sentiment from the Rose Wonder set and another of the floral images from Serene Silhouettes in Basic Black ink.

Be sure to check out the other Design Team member's blogs to see their beautiful takes on the colour challenge. Then give this one a go...it may just stretch your creativity like it did mine!



Product List

Serene Silhouettes Clear Stamp Set [127324] $22.00	World Of Dreams Clear-Mount Stamp Set [134186] $25.00	Rose Wonder Photopolymer Stamp Set [140697] $33.00	Gorgeous Grunge Clear Stamp Set [130517] $22.00
Crisp Cantaloupe Classic Stampin' Pad [131176] $7.25	Lost Lagoon Classic Stampin' Pad [133644] $8.00	Wisteria Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad [126985] $8.00	Elegant Eggplant Classic Stampin' Pad [126969] $8.00
Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad [140931] $8.75	Metallic Gold Encore Pad [132141] $12.95	Sponge Daubers [133773] $6.50	Stampin' Mist [102394] $5.50
Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [100730] $10.50	Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [121045] $8.75	Sahara Sand 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [121043] $8.75	Gold Foil Sheets [132622] $5.00
Basic Black 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon [138430] $11.25

Traveller Birthday

Happy Thursday...just one more day till the weekend...woohoo!
Today I have another of the projects I had on offer at my Birthday Blitz card buffet last week.  It was inspired by a card I saw on pinterest designed by Bonnie Klass.

Masculine birthday card featuring the Open Sea and Traveller stamp sets with sentiment from Petite Pairs.

I simplified Bonnie's design a little bit, eliminating some of the paper piercing, and adding embossing to the background layer.  I used the Pretty Print TIEF (retired) to add texture to the Naturals Ivory card stock.  The globe image, from the Open Sea stamp set, is stamped in Early Espresso ink and die-cut using the Circles Framelits.  I added colour with a sponge dauber and Pool Party ink and then pierced a border using the Essentials Paper Piercing template and a piercing tool.  I layered it on a circle, also cut with the Circles Framelits from Early Espresso card stock.  The suitcase, from the Traveller stamp set, is stamped in Early Espresso and coloured with a sponge dauber and Crumb Cake ink.  It is punched using the 1-3/4" circle punch and layered on a 2" circle in Early Espresso.  The compass, which is from the Open Sea set, is heat embossed in gold, punched with the 1-1/4" circle punch and then layered of a 1-3/8" Early Espresso circle.

The sentiment, from the Petite Pairs stamp set, is heat embossed in gold and die-cut using the Banners Framelits.

Inside view with sentiment from the World of Dreams stamp set.

On the inside I stamped the globe image again using Early Espresso ink, stamping off twice to ensure a very faded image.  The sentiment, from the World of Dreams set, is stamped full-strength in Early Espresso ink.
Have a thrilling Thursday!!

World of Dreams Birthday

Today I have a non-Christmas card that I CASE'd from one I saw on Pinterest.  It is another one of the projects we did at my techniques class this month.  I mentioned earlier this week that I wanted to showcase the off-set stamping technique and different effects that can be achieved with it.  Today I have a 3-D-looking image...

Masculine birthday card featuring the World of Dreams stamp set with sentiment from Petite Pairs

The focal image appears to be three dimensional.  I achieved this look by stamping the image, from the World of Dreams stamp set, first in Chocolate Chip ink on Typeset DSP.  I then stamped the image again with Versamark ink, using the Stamp-a-ma-jig to position the image slightly higher and to the right of the original image.  I then heat embossed using white embossing powder.  To make the image really pop, I added sponging in Pool Party, Mossy Meadow, Crumb Cake and Chocolate Chip inks.

The sentiment, from the Petite Pairs set,  is stamped in Chocolate Chip ink on Kraft card stock.  I used the Banners Framelits to die cut it.  The ribbon on the card is some (retired) 5/8" natural trim.  For the background layer, I simply stamped another of the images from the World of Dreams set using Mossy Meadow ink on Mossy Meadow card stock.  I also sponged the edges lightly in Mossy Meadow ink.  The card front is mounted on a Kraft card base.

  

 

On the inside I stamped the images from the front of the card again in Chocolate Chip and Mossy Meadow inks.  The sentiment, also from Petite Pairs, is stamped in Mossy Meadow.

Purple Haze for Sunday Stamps!

Today's new colour challenge over at Sunday Stamps is all about the purple! 

Now, I will admit, these are not colours I use often...in fact my Perfect Plum ink pad is in almost pristine condition!  It was a true challenge for me to come up with a project featuring these colours.  Here it is:

Birthday card featuring the Everything Eleanor, Papillon Potpourri and Simply Sketched (retired) stamp sets, and using the Stampin' Mist ghosting technique.

 Since I had my monthly techniques class this past week, I decided to use one of the techniques we would be doing on my project.  We were learning the Stampin' Mist Ghosting technique, so I decided to try it with this colour scheme.  Here is how I did it...

• I sponged Whisper White card stock with Wisteria Wonder, Perfect Plum and a touch of Elegant Eggplant ink.  
• I spritzed the flourish image from the Everything Eleanor stamp set with Stampin' Mist until it was quite wet.  Then I stamped the image on the sponged card stock, allowing the stamp to sit on the card stock for a few seconds before removing it.  The flourish image begins to appear and gets more pronounced as the Stampin' Mist dries.
• Once it was dry I stamped the flourish again using Versamark ink, offsetting it from the ghosted image, and then heat embossed in silver.

• The focal piece is layered on a piece of Brushed Silver card stock.
• The butterfly, from the Papillon Potpourri stamp set, is stamped in silver metallic ink on Wisteria Wonder card stock and punched with the Bitty Butterfly punch.
• The background panel is embossed using the Beautifully Baroque TIEF.
• The card base is Wisteria Wonder.
• I used Whsiper White Organza ribbon and pearls I coloured with the Wisteria Wonder Blendabilities by way of embellishments.
• The sentiment is heat embossed in silver and then die cut using the Banners Framelits.

Inside view with sentiment from World of Dreams.

 On the inside I stamped the flourish again in Perfect Plum.  The sentiment is from the World of Dreams stamp set.
I would love to see your take on this colour challenge, so be sure to give it a try and then enter your project over at Sunday Stamps.  Have a great Sunday!!

World of Dreams Wishes

This is the time of year when we teachers meet to celebrate the various events in eachother's lives that we've been too busy to acknowledge all year.  Later this week, the ladies from our staff are gathering to honour several of our colleagues who are getting married or having babies and, naturally, I volunteered to make the cards for the guests of honour.  Yesterday I sat down to create 5 over-sized cards for 5 special ladies...today I have the first one to show you.  This one is for a colleague who is both getting married over the summer and leaving our staff for another school due to a drop in our enrollment.  It is never easy to say good-bye to colleagues who aren't leaving by choice, so I wanted to focus on the happy event, rather than the unhappy one, this is what I came up with...

Wedding card featuring the World of Dreams stamp set with sentiment from Petite Pairs.

Now, I had a bit of an inside edge in designing this one, as I helped the bride plan her invitations, so I pulled several of the elements from those into this card.  I used some of the recently retired (but still much beloved) Natural Compositions Specialty DSP for the card base, which is over-sized at 6" x 7".  I always find it a challenge to fill the larger canvas, so the texture and pattern provided by the DSP helped. 

The leaf images are stamped in Mossy Meadow and the birds are in Early Espresso.  I heat embossed a Tea Lace Doily in gold for some weddingy elegance and then added texture with burlap ribbon, crochet trim and a bit of seam binding ribbon.  I couldn't omit the bling, so I added a Vintage Faceted button, threaded with some Linen Thread.  The sentiment is heat embossed in gold and die cut using the Banners Collection Framelits.
Of course, making an over-sized card meant also making an envelope to fit it...thank goodness for my large collection of retired DSP and my envelope punch board!  Quick and easy to create a coordinating envelope, sized perfectly to this card.  I think the bride-to-be will love it!