You Mean the World to Me Card

Here's a card that would make a good masculine card, for a birthday or Father's Day or any special occasion.

I really like the Night of Navy and Crumb Cake together.  If you don't have these stamp sets, you could still use the color story for inspiration to create a masculine card.

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Core'dinations CS and a Little Fun

Here's a little fun for you to enjoy today.  (Click the link to see it.)  I love it!!!

And now, let's get to the core of things --- with our Core'dinations CS, that is.

We now have Core'dinations CS in several colors:
Early Espresso
Cherry Cobbler
Gumball Green
Primrose Petals
Pool Party
Real Red

You can use it 'as is' to give extra texture to your project or you can really bump it up and use it with embossing folders.  Our CS has a solid core, so if you tear or emboss it, you get the same solid color.  The Core'dinations CS has a lighter core, so if you emboss and then lightly sand the top surface of the image, you get a highlighted, lighter color that really shows off your embossing design.  Here's a card I made using the Primrose Petals.

Here are all the colors:

... and a close-up of the dyed roses:

If you missed my posts about dyeing, you can check here and here.

Here are some other cards I've made using the Core'dinations CS:

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

How to go About Dyeing!

Today, as I did in my workshop last Saturday, I'll teach you how to go about dyeing -- with reinkers and roses, that is:)  I tried to do this in the easiest way possible and with the least mess.  I think this works great.

How to go About Dyeing:

• Lay out several layers of paper towels.
• Cut a strip of our Flower Trim the length you'd like to dye.  (p.5, Spring Catalog)
• Take a Stampin' Spritzer and fill it 2/3's full of water.  (p. 179, large catalog)
• Add 3-6 drops of the reinker color of your choice.  (The more reinker, the deeper the color.)
• Add a little more water, if needed, leaving room to replace your top.
• Shake, to mix the color into the water.
• Gently spritz the Flower Trim, as desired.  The more you spritz, the greater the saturation.
• Let dry.
• Add the Flower Trim to your project by attaching with Liquid Tombow.  

Optional:

• Add a spritzing of alcohol / shimmer paint, if desired, for a little sparkle.
• You can add a little more depth of color by highlighting the top edges of each flower with a marker.  (Mine shown do NOT have this detail.  I'm just highlighting examples of several color choices.)
• You can also use sponge daubers to add color to the flowers.  The spritzing gives a quicker and better coverage, I think.  Try both ways and see what you like the best.

I experimented with several colors, to see how I liked them.  The flowers do look a little lighter after they dry. 

Here's the card we made, using some of our flowers.  The embossed layer is actually Primrose Petals, even though our flowers are dyed with Regal Rose reinker.  As with ribbons, you can use coordinating color tones together and it will look great.

 

 

Which color do you like the best?
In my next couple of posts I'll be sharing more about dyeing, so come back soon and check it out.  Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

3 More Fun Cards

Slowly but surely, I'm getting all my cards posted for my Jan. 17 class.  As promised in my last post, these are full of color.  One is with softer, subtle colors, one is monochromatic and one is very bright and cheerful.  I've used lots of our new Spring Catalog products for these cards.  It was super fun!

Here are more close-ups of each, along with a few details:

As you can see, I've bumped up my card fun by making the envelope a lot more special, to compliment the coordinating card.  Sometimes I stamp on the front (usually lower left corner) and sometimes on the back flap, as well.  Sometimes, I emboss the flap and sometimes I cover the flap with coordinating DSP.  It's like a little sneak peek that something special is inside.

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Reason to Smile, Sample 2

Here's another card I made using the Reason to Smile stamp set.

I used summer starfruit, midnight muse and soft suede CS.  To add texture, I layered the focal piece using 3 graduated sizes of framelits.  I also used 2 different embossing folders to add texture to the background.
The text is from the Word Play stamp set.  I stamped images in the background of the text piece, for added interest.
I added a summer starfruit dahlia to the center of one of the flowers and a sprig of 2 stitched satin ribbons for the finishing touches.
Don't forget to check out my schedule for my next classes!

Hostess Scrapbook Club Vintage Layout

Here's our layout from this week's Hostess Scrapbook Club.

We used Beau Chateau DSP on a Marina Mist background for our layout.  We stamped a little on the left side, using the Elements of Style stamp set.  The 'Remember When' is from the Word Play stamp set.

The hearts are cut using the Framelits.

My daughter has named the technique for getting the vintage look to the seam binding.  She calls it the 'wet and wad'  technique.  I love it!  It is just exactly that.  We spritzed the seam binding with water (I also added a little Stiffen Quick to it.) and then wadded it up to dry.  After a while, I laid the ribbon in an old cake pan and heated it with my heat tool to speed up the drying process.

Pearl accents add a little bling to the flowers and to the smaller hearts.  The flower are created using an embosslit.  I tied a 'spring' of crochet lace trim into the seam binding and cut the leaves with a sizzlit.

All in all, we had a wonderful evening --- again.  I just love my scrapbook club girls.  We have so much fun!  I'm already advertising that, if you sign up on or before May 7 for the next round of Hostess Scrapbook Club, you will get to make TWO layouts at our May crop.  May is National Scrapbooking Month, so I can't think of a better time to make an extra layout.

If you aren't in the current club, but would like to sign up for the next round, do so on or before May 7 and you may join us for making the 2 layouts on May 7!
We're going to kick off our first crop of the new round --- July 2 --- with a party!!!  At every crop, we share our completed projects with each other, show 'works in progress' to get ideas, inspiration and suggestions from each other and then we enjoy creating one complete layout + a project, just for fun.

Lately, I've been adding an extra bit of fun to our evenings by giving out some sort of a challenge item.  They are to bring it back finished to the next crop.  It's so much fun to see what different ideas people can come up with starting with the same item and then taking off with their creativity.  I hope you'll consider joining our group.  It's more fun than you can imagine!!!

Wish Big

Here's a card I created using Timeless Portrait DSP.  The stamp sets are Word Play and Bordering Romance.  I colored the image with markers, Blender Pen and inks (with the Aqua Painter).  I wanted to add a little bling, so I lightly went over each flower petal, leaf and flower center with Dazzling Details (clear) and even added a dot to the star on the Wish Big.
Tips:

• It doesn't take too long for the Dazzling Details to dry, but you do want to be sure you give it a little time.  It's best to just set your project aside for a little while and work on something else.  Then you won't have to worry about smearing it.
• Keep the amount you use light, when using it over Classic Inks, so the ink won't bleed into areas where you don't want it to be.

Here's a close-up of the coloring.

Try some coloring today.  It's so much fun... and relaxing.
By the way.....as you know, I've been enjoying entering several sketch challenges lately.  I just love it!  This card is for a challenge on the Stampin' Queen's Sketch Challenge.  Check it out and maybe you'd like to join in on the fun of a challenge.

Trying a Sketch Challenge

I'm becoming addicted to participating in some of the sketch challenges.  Here's what I came up with for the Paper Players Challenge:  'Use a floral image on your card.'

I used the Everyday Enchantment DSP, ribbons and brads from our S-A-B products.  I also used some buttons from the Bold Brights, the Boho Blossoms Punch, the Little Leaves Sizzlit and the stamp set Word Play.  The text is stamped and cut out with one of our new framelit dies.  The colors are Calypso Coral (ribbon and CS), Pool Party (scallop edge from the Tasteful Trim die) and Lucky Limeade.  Would you like to chase away the winter blahs?  Try this color combo and you'll love it!
Here's a close-up:

Here's the link to the Paper Players challenge.