We have come to the last day of 2015 and I look back fondly on my creative endeavors during the year! I wish you all a Happy New Year and look forward to having you visit my blog in 2016!
January–Bokeh Technique and Sneak Peek From 2015 Occasions Catalog
February–My Least Favorite Card To Create
March–Projects From Stamping Group
April–Remnants of Easter
May–Corner Garden Blues
June–2015 Catalog Launch
July–New Floor and Grateful For You
August–Best Thoughts Joy Fold Card
September–Pretty in Pink Poinsettia
October
This was a busy month for me and I didn't get to post AT ALL :( Hopefully, 2016 will allow me to post every single month!
November–Color Burst Christmas and Wonderful Wonderland
December–Tag Exchange and December Stamp Class
I hope you have enjoyed this review of my most popular posts from 2015. I look forward to your comments in 2016!
Thursday, December 31, 2015
My Most Popular Posts of 2015
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Love For The Lotus
With Sale-a-Bration quickly coming to an end, I feel myself drawn to play with the items that will no longer be available. Of course, my favorite product has to be the Lotus Blossom stamp set!
Being able to experiment with the myriad of possible color combinations for the flower is like giving a child a 48 pack of crayons! So much fun!
This time I created a card that uses a non-typical color scheme for a flower yet I love the look and the drama it lends to the card. As well as choosing a non-typical color scheme, I chose an unusual card size for this project, using a card base of 8.5 x 4.5.``
Of course, I utilized my MISTI for this card as it is perfect for multi-step stamping!
The colors I used for the flower are Crushed Curry, Bermuda Bay, and Island Indigo. Because of the way the inks combined, the Bermuda Bay areas came out looking more like Garden Green so that guided my paper choice for the card.
In stamping the lotus on the 2 x 2`` square of Whisper White, I stamped in reverse order. I used stamp #3 with Crushed Curry, then stamp #2 with Bermuda Bay, and finally stamp #1 was used with Island Indigo and stamped three times.
The squares were edged with Island Indigo ink, using a sponge dauber and then mounted on squares of Garden Green, using Dimensionals.
The sentiment from the Blooming With Kindness stamp set was stamped with Versamark and then Crushed Curry and embossed with Clear Embossing Powder. The Whisper White paper was also inked with Island Indigo and the sentiment mounted on a Garden Green strip of card stock.
A matte of Island Indigo was run through a crimper and then I applied a Garden Green stamp pad to it directly to highlight the texture. I think it makes it look sort of like corduroy.
I used a mixture of Rubbing Alcohol and Crushed Curry reinker in a Stampin` Spritzer to color a strip of Jute ribbon. Once dry it was adhered to the crimped matte using Sticky Strip and then the matte was adhered to the card base using Fuse Fast adhesive.
The three lotus flowers were adhered on top of the ribbon using Dimensionals.
Because the card base was dark in color, I adhered a panel of Naturals White card stock inside the card. It was also stamped with a Lotus Blossom and its edges were inked with Garden Green ink.
What are your favorite color combos for the Lotus Blossom stamp set? Drop me a comment below to let me know!
Monday, March 23, 2015
Projects From Stamping Group
Yikes! Our last Stamp Group night was VERY LONG!Note to self: Do not attempt to teach two involved projects to stamp group on the same night!
Be that as it may, the projects turned out very nicely and they got to practice a variety of techniques.
The first project of the evening was similar in style to the card in my Play MISTI For Me post. I chose this project because I thought it was a simple project that provided a lot of impact.
Also, I wanted the give the group the chance to work with my MISTI tool as well as the Lotus Blossom stamp set from the soon to be ending Sale-a-Bration catalog.
When I created the card, I utilized the MISTI so that I could use the magnets to hold the Sun Rays mask from the Hooray It's Your Day Project Kit on top of the matte. The ladies in class first adhered their matte to scrap paper using repositionable adhesive and then used Washi tape to adhere the mask over their matte.
Using Crushed Curry with a sponge dauber, color was stroked onto the matte, with a heavier application of ink applied in a type of "Corona" around the circular area of the mask.
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| Adding Crushed Curry |
Next, the mask was rotated so that only half of the yellow ray was showing in each opening. Tangerine Tango was now stroked onto the matte.
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| After adding Tangerine Tango |
Finally, the mask was repositioned a third time, showing an inked strip on either side of the opening with a white area in the middle; Real Red was stroked onto the matte.
After the application of each of Tangerine Tango and Real Red inks, the matte had to be carefully repositioned a the edges to ensure proper ink coverage all the way to the edge of the matte. Also, the Corona was enhanced each time with the new ink.
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| Completed inking |
Once the matte was inked using the stencil, the card was edged with Cajun Craze.
The MISTI was used to stamp the sentiment from the Lovely Amazing You photopolymer stamp set, using Jet Black Stazon ink.
The MISTI was also used to stamp the lotus blossom on a 3.5" square of Whisper White.
The flower was stamped in reverse order from the directions for using the stamp set. The #3 stamp was inked with Crushed Curry and stamped first. Next, the #2 stamp was used to stamp with Tangerine Tango. It was reinked and stamped again to provide a rich, vibrant orange. Finally, the #1 stamp was used with Real Red to provide the final details of this amazing flower.
Using the 4th from centre Circle Collections Framelits Die, the lotus was cut out using the Magnetic Platform on the Big Shot. The 3rd from centre die was used to cut out a circle from Gold Glimmer paper. Another circle of Real Red was cut out using the 2" Circle Punch.
The Lotus was adhered to the Real Red circle using adhesive and then mounted with Dimensionals on the Gold Glimmer circle.
The inked matte was adhered to the Real Red card base using Dimensionals and then glue dots were placed in the un-inked white circle. Gold cord was adhered in a pleasing circular arrangement and then the Lotus stack of circles was adhered using Dimensionals to finish the card.
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| Adhering gold cord below embellishment |
The second project was a 3D Book Card. I was inspired by the gorgeous card by Dawn Heuft that I pinned long ago on Pinterest. Following Dawn's video tutorial, I was able to create the Under The Sea card I had envisioned.I used both Stampin' Up! and non Stampin' Up! materials to create this card.
To begin with, the inner "frame" of the card needed to be created by scoring and accordion-folding pieces of Lost Lagoon card stock. The folded pieces were then intertwined at each corner (easier to do than to describe with words!) and adhered with a drop of Tombow.
Next, the backdrop for the card was created by sponging ink onto a 4.25 x 5.5" piece of Whisper White. The colors used were, from the top, Pool Party, Lost Lagoon and Marina Mist. Using the coral stamp from the By The Sea stamp set, bits of coral were stamped using both Crisp Cantaloupe and Calypso Coral. The backdrop was adhered to the back of the frame using Sticky Strip.
I provided each lady with three shells and one seahorse (Sea Animals from Lin & Lene Design) die cut from Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper as well as a lobster (Deep Ocean Lobster from Memory Box) and a crab (Coastal Crab from Memory Box) die cut from Whisper White. A starfish was die cut from sandpaper.
A variety of inks were used to color each die cut, using sponge daubers:
- Shells: Blushing Bride, Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral and Cajun Craze
- Seahorse: Daffodil, Hello Honey, Crushed Curry, Tangerine Tango
- Lobster: Marine Mist, Night of Navy, Elegant Eggplant, Cajun Craze, Calypso Coral, Pacific Point
- Crab: Blushing Bride, Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral, Cajun Craze and white dots from a White Signo Uni-Ball Gel Pen
- Starfish: Baked Brown Sugar, Chocolate Chip and white dots were added with a Chalk Marker
The fish stamp in the By The Sea stamp set was swimming to the left and would not work right with the card. To bypass this obstacle we needed to use the leaf stamp from the Sheltering Tree stamp set.
This large photopolymer stamp was mounted on a clear block face down. This provided us with a large, smooth surface.
The fish stamp was inked using Tuxedo Black Memento Ink and then stamped onto the leaf stamp! This was then immediately stamped onto Whisper White card stock to produce a fish that was swimming in the correct direction!
The Mirror Stamping Technique does not have to be done using the Sheltering Tree stamp set; any photopolymer stamp set that has a very large stamp can be used. This is a handy technique to have in your stamping arsenal!
The fish was stamped three times and then was colored using Stampin` Write Markers in colors of Crushed Curry, Coastal Cabana, and Bermuda Bay. Each fish was fussy cut.
The cover of the book was cut from Lost Lagoon like the frame, 12 x 4 9/16`` in size and scored at 5.75`` from each end. Using Calypso Coral, the sentiment, from the now retired Sweet Essentials stamp set, was stamped on the front cover of the card.
The back of the cover was adhered to the back of the frame/backdrop using Sticky Strip. As well, Sticky Strip was placed on the spine of the frame and adhered to the cover.
A 30`` piece of Calypso Coral ribbon from the Best Year Ever Accessory Pack was adhered to the cover using Sticky Strip. The shells were adhered over the ribbon using Dimensionals.
The various sea creatures were temporarily arranged into the creases of the frame to find the best arrangement. They were then adhered using Crystal Effects. The seahorse and the starfish were adhered to the front of the frame.
A small amount of Crystal Effects was mixed with a drop of Soft Sky Party reinker and then droplets were placed on the backdrop to produce bubbles. In my card, the color of the bubbles was a bit dark. I should have used a bit more Crystal Effects.
Finally, the ribbon was tied in a bow to close the book card.
In retrospect, this book card project was much too involved to pair with the first card at a stamping class! However, it would work fine as a single project for a class. Live and learn!
I really like this 3D book card idea. I already have another idea that I hope to be trying soon–stay tuned to the blog to see it!
Friday, March 6, 2015
Play MISTI For Me
So, have you ordered your MISTI yet? If not, you better get in line now! Though not a Stampin' Up! product, it is a tool certainly helpful to stampers of all product line faiths!
MISTI stands for Most Incredible Stamp Tool Invented and that is no lie. The tool is wonderful for multi-step stamping, background stamping, stamping the same stamp multiple times in the exact same position, multi card stamping . . . and on and on.
Never before have I been able to re-stamp on a card because the stamp did not stamp well the first time. MISTI allows me to not only re-ink and re-stamp in the same spot, as many times as I want, I can also stamp multiple cards just by changing out the card stock and stamping again!
To find out more about the MISTI, you can view some videos on YouTube or do a search on Pinterest. Iliana, the creator of MISTI, has even set up a Facebook group for the lovers of MISTI.
The very first stamp I tried when I finally received my own MISTI was the beloved Lotus Blossom stamp, FREE with a $60 order during Sale-a-Bration. I was amazed and filled with wonder at its ability to allow me to perfectly line up and stamp this lovely flower.
Tonight, I decided to create a special card using the MISTI, the Lotus Blossom, and the simply gorgeous Sun Rays mask which comes in the Hooray It's Your Day Project Kit from the Occasions 2015 Catalog.
To begin with, I used my MISTI and its four super magnets (MISTI accessories) to hold the Sun Rays mask over a piece of Whisper White card stock. I used a sponge dauber to ink up the rays with first Rose Red and then, after repositioning the mask, Blackberry Bliss.
It was necessary to move the mask out past the edges of the card to be sure that the inked rays reached the edges of the card stock.
After removing the finished piece, I then proceeded to stamp the Lotus Blossom on another piece of Whisper White.
The Lotus Blossom is a three-step stamp. I inked the first detailed stamp with Blackberry Bliss. For the second stamp, I used Rose Red. With third stamp, I first positioned the stamp and secured it to the MISTI's lid.
I inked the stamp with Strawberry Slush and then removed the card stock and replaced it with a piece of scrap paper. I stamped off once on that and then replaced the card stock, being sure to butt the card stock up against the bottom and left side of the MISTI. I then stamped again, without re-inking the stamp.
My lotus flower was complete!
I used one of the framelits from the Circles Collection (fourth from the centre) to cut out the flower. I then used the next size up to cut a circle from Blackberry Bliss.
Using a sponge dauber, I inked the edges of the flower circle with Blackberry Bliss.
The 2" Circle Punch was used to punch a circle from Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper. I adhered the flower circle using Fuse Fast. I then used Dimensionals to adhere this to the Blackberry Bliss Circle.
I inked the edges of the Sun Rays matte using Blackberry Bliss. Using Versamark, I stamped the sentiment in the bottom right corner and heat embossed it using Silver Embossing Powder. Dimensionals were used to adhere the matte to the card base.
To echo the glimmer of the circle under the flower, I unravelled some Silver Baker's Twine and clipped some pieces of the silver thread. After determining the exact placement of the flower embellishment, I used some Fuse Fast to secure the threads and then adhered the embellishment with Dimensionals.
To add just a hint more of glimmer, I used my Wink of Stella brush pen to trace over the Strawberry Slush ink on the lotus blossom. (Unfortunately, I couldn't capture a photo of this cool effect so you'll have to take my word for the glimmer!)
I am pleased with how this card turned out and look forward to every opportunity to use my MISTI! When are you going to get yours?
