TCC128 LOVE

Hi Friends!

Welcome to The Card Concept #128 {Be Mine, Valentine} Challenge!

What a fun inspiration photo! I love all of the colors as well as the theme of Valentine’s Day!  Originally I was going to create a Clean and Graphic card, but since I wanted to use this vintage LOVE stamp, I decided to design a Shabby and Vintage/Mixed Media card.

In addition to the retired Love Is A Great Thing (Stampin’ Up!) (and in my effort to continue to ink up stamps I already own) I also used images from several other Stampin’ Up! retired sets, Botanicals, Timeless Textures and Tiny Tags. 

I used the Splitcoaststampers SC52 Sketch for the layout and am also linking to the Joy of Sets Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge (diagonal love-embossing-die cuts), the Tuesday Throwdown #450 “Create Your Own Background” Challenge and the Stamping Sensations “Feminine” Challenge.

The splattered background of this card was created using an acetate envelope technique (I used clear packaging from a stamp set).  Slice open one end of the envelope, open and tap a bit of Real Red Classic Ink onto one side of the envelope, lightly spritz with water, close the envelope and “smoosh” the ink together through the acetate.  Open the envelope, lightly press the white cardstock into the ink and continue with the process until you are happy with the results.

Use Frost White paint diluted with water to add a bit of sheen and tone down the panel.  Ink the script image from Botanicals with black ink and randomly stamp over the background.

Add a bit of platinum embellishment mousse in certain areas and stamp the small splatter stamp from Texture Tiles with silver metallic ink.

Die cut a stitched rectangle from the center of the background panel (for the center focal image panel) and set aside.

Cut the remaining background panel to approx.. 4” x 5 ¼”, adhere to a piece of white cardstock, trim again, mount onto black cardstock, trim and mount onto a white card base.

Ink the Love Is A Great Thing image with Versafine™ Onyx Black Ink, stamp onto white cardstock, apply Clear Embossing Powder and heat set with a heat tool.  

Color the image with water-based markers, watercolor pencils, silver metallic marker and frost white shimmer paint.  Add white highlights with an extra fine white paint pen.

Mount the focal image onto black cardstock, trim close to the edge and add a strip of lace.

Stamp the sentiments from Tiny Tags with black ink, punch out with the Jewelry Tag Punch, add a hole for hanging and thread through the silver cord.  Wrap around the central panel and add the silver cord bow. 

Mount the entire center panel onto the card front, die cut a few flourishes from white cardstock and add to the corners.  Use a clear glitter pen to add shimmer to the die cuts as well as the letters and finish off the card with a few rhinestones.

Stamp Sets:  Love Is A Great Thing, Botanicals, Timeless Textures, Tiny Tags (all retired Stampin’ Up!)

Ink/Mediums: Versafine™ Onyx Black,  Real Red Classic Ink, Encore™ Silver Ultimate Metallic Ink, Stampin’ Up! Watercolor Pencils- Real Red, Old Olive, Arteza ™ Trimarkers- Poppy Red, Watermelon, Bright Pink; Silver Metallic Marker, Nuvo™ Pure Platinum Embellishment Mousse, Frost White Shimmer Paint, Wink of Stella™ Clear Glitter Pen, White Paint Pen

Cardstock/Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black

Tools/Accessories: Gemini, Jr™, MFT Stitched Rectangle STAX A2 Set 1 Dies, Flourish Corner Dies, Embossing Buddy®, Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, 3/8” White Crochet Lace, Silver Cord, Jewelry Tag Punch, Rhinestones, Acetate Envelope

Thanks again for taking the time to visit!  I hope I have inspired you to create your own card based on our {Be Mine, Valentine} photo and link up to our gallery at The Card Concept- we would love to see what inspired you! The challenge is open until Monday, February 17^th  at noon EST.

C is for Cat- A Color and Sketch Challenge :-)

Hi Stampers!   

Last night I had a chance to play in my craft room and decided to create a card using the CC499 Splitcoaststampers’ Color Challenge- "Saffron Pumpkins in the Meadow" with the dessert option of using something gold and do not make a Halloween card along with the MoJo366 Sketch Challenge.

I could not add Gold to this card without distracting from the image (but it is not Halloween) :-)

If you have not visited either challenge site yet, I encourage you to do so- marvelous inspiration from all!

To create this card:

The main focal panel is from Graphic 45’s Raining Cats and Dogs series (I love animals especially cats and just had to have this paper- lol!) - I decided to use a Mossy Meadow Stampin’ Write marker too darken the leaves a bit on her dress but all of the other colors matched perfectly.

Once the coloring was finished, apply Ranger© Tim Holtz® Old Paper Distress Stain to “antique” the paper.

Mount the panel onto a piece of Mossy Meadow cardstock, trim and mount onto Basic Black cardstock.

Use the Big Shot™ along with the Alpabet Press Textured Impressions™ Embossing Folder to emboss a piece of retired Pumpkin Pie Designer Series Paper (DSP).  Lightly sand the embossed panel using a Sanding Block, trim and mount onto a piece of Basic Black cardstock.

Also mount a piece of retired I Am Me DSP to a piece of Basic Black cardstock for the additional vertical part of the sketch challenge.

Mount a piece of Mossy Meadow cardstock to a piece of Basic Black cardstock.

Add the I Am Me DSP panel first, then add the strip of ¾” Black Satin Ribbon over the panel, securing the ends behind the panel.  Add the distressed Pumpkin Pie layer and mount the focal image using Stampin’ Dimensionals®.

Stamp the sentiment tags using the retired Tiny Tag stamp set onto Very Vanilla cardstock and punch out using the retired Jewelry Tag Punch.  Antique the paper using Ranger© Tim Holtz® Old Paper Distress Stain.  Insert a Mini Black Brad at the top of the two tags and mount onto the card panel.

Use the Big Shot™ to cut out the cat (Impression Obsession die?) from Basic Black cardstock and mount onto the front of the focal image panel.

Mount the entire focal image panel onto the So Saffron card front, add the triple ¾” Black Satin Ribbon bow along with Pearls to finish off the card.

Stamp Sets: Tiny Tags

Ink:  Memento™ Tuxedo Black Ink, Stampin’ Write Mossy Meadow marker, Ranger© Tim Holtz® Old Paper Distress Stain

Paper/Cardstock:  Basic Black, Mossy Meadow, So Saffron, Very Vanilla; retired Pumpkin Pie DSP, retired I Am Me DSP; Raining Cats and Dogs (Graphic 45)

Accessories:  Big Shot™, Alphabet Press Textured Impressions™ Embossing Folder, Cat Die (non-SU!), retired Jewelry Tag Punch, ¾” Black Satin Ribbon (from my stash), Pearls

Thanks again for stopping by- I hope all of you have a great Thursday!

Farewell to Tiny Tags and the Jewelry Tag Punch!

Hi Stampers! 

I hope all of you are having a great week so far!  I wanted to take another moment to highlight another one of the retiring sets, Tiny Tags along with the corresponding punch, Jewelry Tag. 

I love how the Tiny Tags can be added to any card and the punch can be used for more than just the stamp set. 

Here are a few examples of how this set can be used:

Tiny Tags were used for the sentiment on this card :-)

Layered the Tiny Tags with cardstock punched from the Jewelry Tag Punch

Used part of Artistic Etchings for the center tag 

Tiny Tags under the bow add a sentiment that does not overwhelm the card 

Jewelry Tag Punch and Nature's Pace for the Tiny Tags

I hope you have enjoyed this farewell to Tiny Tags and the Jewelry Tag Punch and again, if this is one that has been on your wish list of a while, now is the time since it is only be available until May 31^st.

Thanks for stopping by- have a great evening!!

"Paper Pieced" Pinto for The Paper Players

Hi Stampers!           

                                                                                                    

This week has been an unusual week with a lot of computer issues at work and sporadic connections at home – difficult to get our work done but it gives me a break from the computer and time to stamp :-)

This week the PP109 Challenge at The Paper Players is "Paper Piecing" (not to be confused with Paper Piercing).  Paper piecing is one technique that I do not use that often- not sure why, I love the results that I see on all of the Design Team projects as well as the other entries so I may have to try this one more often :-).

I decided to pull out a new favorite stamp set, Horse Frontier.  I have several women (and young ladies) in my life that love horses so when this set came out this year, I knew that I would have to own it.

To create this card:

Using Early Espresso Classic Ink, stamp the horse image on your patterned paper (two different colors if you want to create a pinto type horse or sometimes they are referred to as a "Paint" ).   I used Comfort Café (the brown tweed piece) and the Whisper White Designer Series paper from the current Neutrals paper stack (the one with small words – you can barely see them).

Carefully cut out the horse image from the brown DSP and set aside.  With the White DSP, cut pieces to resemble the pinto spots, tail, mane and “boots’).  I used Two Way Glue to adhere to the brown horse image matching up the stamped lines (fyi- this was the most time consuming part of this card so I am not sure if I would describe this technique for me as "simple"- easy but took a bit of time  :-)

I stamped the grass area onto the Lucky Limeade Poppy designed paper in the Floral District DSP and cut out the area for the horse ‘s hooves and feathered the grass a bit.

Close-Up of Horse "Paper Piecing" 

Use the Big Shot™ with the Large Scallop Edgelit™ to cut a piece of Whisper White cardstock.  Emboss with the Big Shot™ and the Delicate Accents Lace Textured Impressions™ Embossing Folder.

Stamp the Estrucan Elegance Jumbo Wheel with Early Espresso Classic Ink (lightly stamping off a bit of the ink) and stamp onto your background paper – I used a piece of the retired Bella Chateou DSP.   Emboss this panel with the Big Shot™ and  the Fancy Fan Textured Impressions™ Embossing Folder (the image side was accidentally on the reverse side of the EF but I think it worked better for this card). 

Adhere the background to the embossed lace edge piece of Whisper White.  Adhere the horse and grass image using SU! Dimensionals.  Add the 5/8” Early Espresso Satin Ribbon bow and little tag sentiments to finish off the card.

Stamp Sets:  Horse Frontier, Estrucan Elegance (Jumbo Wheel), Tiny Tags

 Ink: Early Espresso

Paper:  Whisper White, Early Espresso, DSP- Comfort Café, Floral District, retired Bella Chateau

Accessories:  Big Shot™, Fancy Fan and Delicate Accents (Lace) Textured Impressions™ Embossing Folders, Paper Snips, Jewelry Tag Punch, SU! Dimensionals,  5/8” Early Espresso Satin Ribbon (retired)

Thanks again for stopping by- I hope you like my take on paper piecing :-).  As I  mentioned above, it was a bit time consuming gluing all of the little pieces but I did have fun!  I hope all of you have a great week stamping and creating!