A New (to me!) Technique!

I am SOOO excited about the project I have for you today!  It uses a new technique I just came across and it is such fun!  It's called Hot Glue Embossing and boy did I go to town on this card...check it out:

Any-occasion card featuring the Hot Glue Embossing Technique

Isn't that cool??  Here's how I did it:

• Starting with a piece of watercolour paper, I spritzed it liberally with water.  Then I splashed drops of reinker, in the following order:  Hello Honey, Pear Pizzazz and Lost Lagoon.  I let the ink do it's thing...helping it along with a small paint brush in spots to ensure the entire piece of paper was inked.
• Once the paper was dry I squeezed strings of hot glue all over it.  I worked from a height of about 12" above the paper to get thin strings of glue.  I also at times added a couple of large daubs for interest.
• While the glue was still tacky I sprinkled the whole thing with gold embossing powder and shook off the excess.  Then I heated the glue with my heat tool, melting the glue and activating the embossing powder at the same time.  The glue strands smooth out nicely and also move around a bit during this process.
• I then mounted my masterpiece on a piece of gold foil paper and matted that with a piece of Lost Lagoon card stock.  
• The background is embossed using the Pretty Print (retired) TIEF.
• The sentiment is from the new Work of Art stamp set.

On the inside I stamped the sentiment from the Best of Greetings set (retired) and added a bit of Watercolour Wonder Washi tape.



I love the simplicity of this card...and the technique?  Well let's just say I'll be experimenting with it a whole lot more once I get finished with my report cards!

Now for some fun news!  I am FINALLY getting my very own craft studio!!  A room in our home has recently been vacated by a gal who had been living with us and it is soon to become stampin' heaven on earth!  I can't wait to get started on it.  I have a design in mind and I'm getting some fantastic (free!) shelving and cabinets to make it happen.  It will take some work and  a whole lot of creativity, but I am so looking forward to the challenge!  I am going to document my progress here during the month of July.  I won't have time to get much done till then, as I am swamped with end-of the-school year craziness.  I also likely won't have much time to stamp while this project unfolds, so I hope you'll bear with me.  I can't wait to share this dream-come-true with all of you and, who knows...maybe I'll give you an idea or two for how you can improve your little corner of stampin' heaven ;)

Thinking of You

I recently learned that one of my team members is dealing with some significant health issues.  They are serious enough that she is unable to attend our monthly meetings and is even having trouble sitting to stamp.  I wanted to send her a card to let her know that I'm thinking about and praying for her, so I pulled out some of my Sale-a-bration sneak peek items...

Thinking of you card featuring the Best of Greetings stamp set.

I used several Sale-a-bration items on this card!  The DSP is from the Sweet Sorbet pack.  The polka dots on the white strip were done with the Decorative Dots TIEF and the cork elements are from the Sweet Sorbet Accessory Pack.  The best part?  I got all of those items for FREE!!  Woohoo!  What's not to love about that?!?  Starting January 28th you can get all of these items free too.  Sale-a-bration has so much to love this year...I can't wait!  Let me know if you need a copy of the brochure...I'll send you one on me!

Inside view with image and sentiment from the Thoughts and Prayers stamp set.

If the front of the card is all new product, the inside uses a tried and true stamp set.  Both the sentiment and the image are from the Thoughts and Prayers set, which is one of the first stamp sets I ever bought!  The colours I used were Summer Starfruit and Pistachio Pudding, both of which are in the Sweet Sorbet DSP patterns.
I truly hope this little card brightens this gal's day a little.  She is discouraged and frustrated and I wish there was more I could do to help.  Here's hoping this does the trick!

More Blurred Watercolouring for The Twist

Success!!  12 hours later than I had hoped, here is today's post!

Happy Monday!  The first full work week of 2014 and time for me to head back to school.  We have just three weeks until the start of exams, which means mucho marking for yours truly!  Good thing I managed to get most of this month's classes prepped last week!
Today I have another sample of the Blurred Watercolour technique for this week's challenge over at The Technique Twist.  If you saw my post on Saturday you know we have a Blog Hop happening to celebrate our three new Design Team members.  I'll post the list below in case you missed it on Saturday :)
This project is one of those types of cards that no one likes to make but everyone needs from time to time.  It is a sympathy card that uses the Blurred Watercolouring technique in two different ways...

Sympathy card featuring the Everything Eleanor and Flower Shop stamp sets and using the Blurred Watercolouring technique.  Sentiment is from Best of Greetings.

Here's a quick how-to:

• For the background I first brushed my watercolour paper label with my Aquapainter so that it was damp, but not soaked.  I then stamped the flourish, from the Everything Eleanor stamp set, in Pistachio Pudding ink.  The ink ran slightly on the wet paper.  Once the paper dried I ran it through the Big Shot with the Fancy Fan TIEF.

• The flowers are from the Flower Shop set and are stamped in Crisp Cantaloupe ink on Naturals White card stock.  I brushed over each image with my Aquapainter and then went back and added more colour with my blender pen.  I punched them out using the coordinating Pansy Punch and then added the pearls in the centre of each flower.

• The sentiment is from the Best of Greetings set and is heat embossed in pewter on a label cut from watercolour paper using the Apothecary Accents framelits.

• The DSP background layer is from the Sweet Sorbet DSP pack, available as part of the Sale-a-bration promotion beginning January 28th.

• The sentiment on the inside of the card is from the Thoughts and Prayers stamp set.

Inside view with sentiment from Thoughts and Prayers.

Now, in case you missed it on Saturday, here is the Blog Hop list:

The Technique Twist

Julz

Becky B

Pam

Terria

Leena (You are here!)

Katie Zoey Ha

The Technique Twist

 Be sure to check out our new Design Team members:  Terria, Katie and Becky.  They do amazing work!  in the meantime have a great week!

Sympathy for a Friend

Last week a good friend of mine lost her Mum to Alzheimer's.  Although it was the inevitable conclusion to a horrible disease, it certainly wasn't easy for her to lose a parent.  I made this card for her:

Sympathy card featuring the Flowering Flourishes and Papillon Potpourri stamp sets with sentiment from Best of Greetings

Inside View with sentiment from Blessings From Heaven

I wanted this card to be soft and soothing, so I chose several of the new In-colours to feature.  I used Pistashio Pudding, Crisp Cantaloupe and Blushing Bride for the flourish.  The butterfly and the sentiment are both heat embossed in pewter.  I layered the front panel on a piece of Smoky Slate, which worked quite well with the embossing.  Rather than punch a label for the sentiment on the front of the card,  I opted to highlight the it by paperpiercing a label shape using my Essentials Paperpiercing Template.  On the inside I oped for the punched label so that I could layer it over top of the stamped image. 
Although this was designed as a sympathy card, a change of colour scheme and sentiment would make a lovely wedding or anniversary card.  Gotta love a versatile design!