Welcome to the place where I get to share my love of stamping and creating with the wonderful people of the internet. Yes, that’s you fine folks! lol!
My 11 year old son gave me the inspiration for the card today. I was short on time and told him the theme of the challenge for this week on the As You See It Challenge blog. He said, “stamp a bunch of the word, ‘celebrate’, lots of times in lots of colours on a square piece of paper (like you often do) and stick it on a card. Then add balloons and confetti.” BRILLIANT!
Here’s the challenge today:
So, I didn’t do all of those things, but he definitely had a great idea and got my mojo going! I started with my Alphabet Rotary Stamp and stamped the word ‘celebrate’ all over a Tempting Turquoise piece of cardstock and the design for today’s challenge card just pulled together from there. Thanks, bud! Love that kid!
Here’s our finished card:
I decided to go with a set of bright colours and am trying to move away from my white card bases that I have been leaning toward so often lately. I just love that look! But I’m realizing I need to branch away from that and work with some different colours. Here, I chose to start with a Tangelo Twist card base, which I ran through the Big Shot with the Lucky Stars embossing folder. I sponged the edges with Tangelo Twist ink, just to add some richness to the card base.
There is a strip of Melon Mambo that I scored parallel lines on with my Simply Scored tool, then sponged around the edges with Melon Mambo ink.
I chose to do some paper-piercing with my new Updated Essentials Paper Piercing Pack as it has the coordinating shapes to go with the Lots of Labels framelit that I used to cut the Tempting Turquoise cardstock. My White Signo Gel pen allowed me to create the faux stitching. Love it!
Of course, the Tin of Cards stamp set came in handy for the Happy Birthday sentiment, which is stamped in Melon Mambo ink (though I think I stamped it a little too quickly and made the image a bit smooshy – mental note: don’t stamp quite so vigorously next time).
And with my son’s confetti in mind, I added the sparklies: the gold sequin pieces for an added celebratory feel.
You might not have my fabulous son to give you inspiration, but you do have this great theme idea from the As You See It Challenge this week. Try this one and load it up on the challenge blog to share it with us!
I love speed stamping! It gets the heart pumping and pushes my creativity! Today’s challenge is all about shades of pink! Can you make a card in under 10 minutes? It’s tough, but I’m proud to say that I did it just under the wire at 9 minutes and 59 seconds! Phew!
I decided to do colour blocking with my pink cardstock. Here’s what I came up with:
I probably would have done it in less time had I not had a minor issue with my big shot and then stuck my colourful layer down crooked! I’m pleased with the overall look of the card, but thought it needed one more thing. Can you see the difference?
The Blossom Accent in Watermelon Wonder adds a lot to the design, I think.
The card base is the Thick Whisper White cardstock (love this!). To a piece of Whisper White cardstock, I added strips of coloured cardstock (shades of pink) including Melon Mambo, Watermelon Wonder, Blushing Bride, Rose Red, Pink Pirouette, and Real Red (yes, red is a shade of pink … a very dark shade of pink). Then I trimmed it down to the size that I wanted it and ran it through the Big Shot with the ‘thanks’ from the Greetings Thinlits. The two bottom corners were rounded with the Project Life corner rounder punch and the Black Baker’s Twine was wrapped around this piece of cardstock for added interest and texture. That entire layer was then adhered to the card base with Stampin’ Up Dimensionals.
And the beautiful Blossom Accent was added after my 10 minute mark was done.
That’s it. Easy Peasy.
You should try this challenge. Seriously! This is such a good exercise to help you get your creative mojo going. Even if you absolutely HATE your card when you’re done, it can spur on some new creative flow and teach you to be more efficient in the future.
Welcome to my blog where I have the joy of sharing my love of designing with paper and ink using my beloved supplies from Stampin’ Up! Today’s design shows off the new Awesomely Artistic stamp set and begins with an As You See It colour challenge.
I love the whimsical beauty that a dragonfly image automatically adds to artwork, whether it’s a photograph, a painting, a scrapbook layout, or a card design.
This colour combination calls for Not Quite Navy, which is a colour that has retired from Stampin’ Up’s colour collections. It was a favourite of mine. However, since it isn’t available, I chose the next best thing: Night of Navy. It’s a lovely rich navy blue, that when a bit of the same colour of ink is sponged around the edges, it makes it even more rich and gorgeously deep!
I wanted to add some ribbon to my card, but didn’t have anything that worked. Since necessity is the mother of invention, I chose to dye some satin ribbon to match my project!
Tips:
Use gloves. I am pretty good at keeping my hands and my workspace clean, but dying ribbon is a messy process. Gloves will be a member of my craft studio from now on.
Use a small container. A small container allows you to be frugal with your ink refill. A small ziplock baggie works great and gives you freedom to squish your ink and ribbon around, ensuring total coverage. I chose to use an empty embellishment container and coiled my ribbon inside. It was very cool to watch the colour wick up the ribbon until it was saturated.
More ink gives a darker colour. I started with 12 drops of ink refill and a couple teaspoons of water and my ribbon came out a lovely steel blue, but it wasn’t quite as dark as I wanted. I added 20 more drops of ink to the same container and placed my coiled ribbon in it again. This gave me the desired colour.
Dry the ribbon. If your ribbon is wet, it will colour anything it touches. You can lay your ribbon on a paper towel and let it dry overnight. If you’re impatient (like me), you can dab it on a paper towel until most of the wet comes off, then hold in in your (un-gloved) hand and use your heat tool over it like a blow dryer (not too close). Holding it in your hand will prevent you from melting your ribbon (because you will feel the heat on your hand). If your ribbon isn’t dry, you will see marks of ink on your project as you add your ribbon. Also, it will not adhere well if you use glue dots or other adhesive to attach a bow.
Different ribbon give varied results. Satin ribbon takes colour beautifully. Others will take colour differently, so test it out and see how it goes. Some ribbons are treated with sizing, which make them repel water, so they require extra work to get them to absorb the colour. You can wash them ahead of time in the sink or just take the time to massage in the colour (plastic bag technique would be the best container choice in this case).
Not always true to colour. Some inks won’t give true colour on your ribbon. Sometimes it’s the ribbon, but sometimes it’s as though the ink separates. For example, I have seen Chocolate Chip ink end up a dusty rose pink colour when used on ribbon!
I ruched the ribbon using a length of Tear Tape to adhere it as I ruffled and attached, ruffled and attached. The photo above also shows the piece of Daffodil Delight cardstock, which I textured by running it between my bone folder and my thumb multiple times until the fibres in the paper began softening. I actually softened it enough that I could separate it into two layers which makes a sort of suede-like finish (can’t really see it in the photo). This process makes the paper really pliable for a nice distressed look. I stamped it with the textured image from the Awesomely Artistic stamp set for an added amount of colour and texture.
And I’m quite pleased with the use of the black Candy Dot in the Candy Dot brad! I can’t remember the last time I used one of these brads with the Candy Dots! It looks great!
The sentiment is a combination of the Greeting Thinlits “hello”, which I created using Daffodil Delight cardstock with that same texture stamp image over it; the “beautiful” is created using the Rotary Alphabet stamp; and the “friend” image from the Awesomely Artistic stamp set.
I was very pleased with my circle section of this card. I started by rubbing my Embossing Buddy over the paper and stamping the floral image from the Awesomely Artistic stamp set by first inking the stamp with Versamark ink, then inking over that with Daffodil Delight ink. This allows the ink to stay “wet” longer so I could cover it with Clear Embossing powder and heat-set it with my Heat Tool. Once set, I added Night of Navy ink over it with a sponge and circular motions. Torn pieces of sticky note paper were applied as a mask to create the vacant area on the circle.
After sponging to my heart’s content, I used my Embossing Buddy again and stamped my dragonfly with Jet Black Stazon. Then I applied Black Embossing Powder and used my Heat Tool. I applied the Night of Navy splatter with the splatter image stamp from the same stamp set.
The thin mat of Daffodil Delight cardstock was a great finish to the overall card. It looked so plain before adding that splash of light. That Daffodil Delight mat is on Stampin’ Dimensionals, as is the circle of Whisper White cardstock with the dragonfly image.
I had the pleasure of stamping with a friend while creating this card. I think that’s why the sentiment says “hello beautiful friend” – because I was thinking of her. She was my muse for the day. Thanks Gwen!
What would you do with this colour combination? Try it and share it with the As You See It Challenge blog! We love to see what you create!
So, I didn’t do all of those things, but he definitely had a great idea and got my mojo going! I started with my Alphabet Rotary Stamp and stamped the word ‘celebrate’ all over a Tempting Turquoise piece of cardstock and the design for today’s challenge card just pulled together from there. Thanks, bud! Love that kid!
I decided to go with a set of bright colours and am trying to move away from my white card bases that I have been leaning toward so often lately. I just love that look! But I’m realizing I need to branch away from that and work with some different colours. Here, I chose to start with a Tangelo Twist card base, which I ran through the Big Shot with the Lucky Stars embossing folder. I sponged the edges with Tangelo Twist ink, just to add some richness to the card base.
There is a strip of Melon Mambo that I scored parallel lines on with my Simply Scored tool, then sponged around the edges with Melon Mambo ink.
