Glitter window

Lately, I've been revisiting old favorite techniques. This week, I made a glitter window card. I saw this version of the glitter window back in 2008 at the Milwaukee regional. My tutorial is here.
For this week's card, I went super simple. Instead of using punches, I used the die-cut Fresh Cut note card. All I had to do was trim it to size, pop out the petals and apply the packing tape. (I did stamp it with Fresh Cuts first.) I chose a wild color combo that I got from the Color Lab site: Tempting Turquoise, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz and Crumb Cake.
To tie the ribbon, I cut a slit in the ribbon and slid the other end through, tying it with linen thread. I love the look, and it lies so nice and flat!
Supplies: Stamps: Fresh Cuts, Extreme Elements; Paper: Fresh Cut Notes, Crumb Cake, Level 1 DSP; Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Tempting Turquoise, Crumb Cake, Poppy Parade; Accessories: cosmo glitter, neutral button, pear pizzazz ribbon, linen thread, packing tape
Happy stamping!

WICKED spotlight

This month's WICKED stamper is Brandi Wiggins, AKA beedubya on SCS. One of her challenges for us this month is the spotlighting technique. I just love it! I got Fresh Cuts way back when it was a sneak peek set a few years ago, and I don't use it nearly as much as I should. Isn't it just perfect for this technique?
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Fresh Cuts; Paper: Whisper White, Basic Gray, Old Olive; Ink: Basic Gray, Old Olive, Crushed Curry; Accessories: 1 1/4 and 1 3/8 circle punches, scallop trim border punch, aquapainter, cutter kit, Crushed Curry grosgrain ribbon
Happy stamping!

Cropadile Refresher

Last week's 3D demo challenge was calendar bookmarks. Some genius on SCS came up with these little calendars and was able to fit 5 on a page! I decided to stamp over each month with the little flower from Fresh Cuts, and I used the new In Colors. 2008 is on one side and 2009 is on the other. The white piece is 7 1/2 X either 2 1/8 or 2 1/16 depending on the piece. The Kraft cardstock is 8 1/2 X 2 1/2, so I got 4 of those from one sheet. I used the scallop border punch on the corners. Got that from Andrea Walford's blog. I used the Cropadile to punch the hole at the top and set the eyelet. (See photos below) Then I added 12 inches of Kraft taffeta ribbon in place of a tassel. I'll be giving these to all of my regular customers along with their new catalog. Hopefully, they will be shipping any day now (*fingers crossed*)!
Here is the Cropadile. The big part in the middle is the eyelet setter. Notice that the left side says "top" and has a little picture of an eyelet on it to show you which way the eyelet goes. The right side says "base"; it is the part that rolls back the flanges on the eyelet. The black cubes in the center are adjustable for different sizes of eyelets as well as for snaps. I saved the backing from my package so I have the reference for the different settings. The things on either side down by the handles are hole punches. One is 1/8" (for regular eyelets) and one is 3/16" (for jumbo eyelets). They are labeled with the size, and each one has an adjustable guide. In this photo, they are both set at 1/2". This is great when you want to line up a row of holes or when you are using it for dry embossing.
When you squeeze the handles together, it sets an eyelet as well as punches holes on both sides. This baby can punch through tin and CDs!
Tip of the day: When setting a jumbo eyelet, I squeeze the handles twice. The first time, it rolls the flanges partway down like in the above photo.
When I squeeze the second time, it rolls the flanges down more. You can give it a really good squeeze for this one. (Sorry for the blurry photo!)
If you have any Cropadile questions, please comment or e-mail me!
Happy stamping!

More new stuff

Here is the card I made for this week's Workshop Wow demo challenge. The challenge was to use our newest stamp set. I used the Blurred Vision Watercolor technique on the main image. You stamp the image and then watercolor over it; the ink you stamped with colors in the image, and the lines get a little blurred. This image is from Fresh Cuts and is stamped with Kiwi Kiss. I stamped the butterflies from Dreams Du Jour in Basic Brown and watercolored them with Baja Breeze and Tangerine Tango. (Tip of the day: Let one color dry before you apply the other color so they don't run together.) I cut out the butterflies then dotted on 2 way glue and sprinkled with Dazzling Diamonds. I used a little Mono Multi to adhere them to the main image.
I also stamped the butterflies onto the cardbase with VersaMark.
For the ribbon, I ran some vanilla taffeta over the Tangerine Tango pad, using a sponge dauber on top to press it in. I heat set the ribbon, which crinkled it up a little; it is a cool look! Believe it or not, the Old Olive twill goes perfectly with the Kiwi Kiss!
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Fresh Cuts, Dreams Du Jour; Paper: Confetti White, Baja Breeze, Tangerine Tango; Ink: VersaMark, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Tangerine Tango; Accessories: cutter kit, aquapainter, Dazzling Diamonds, 2 way glue, vanilla taffeta ribbon, Old Olive polytwill ribbon
Happy stamping!