Faux Linen

This week's demonstratable card challenge is faux linen.  I love the soft look of this!  I paired it with a WICKED challenge to make a non-Halloween card using Halloween colors (gray, green, purple, orange).  I added yellow.

I used Flores Suaves as my main set (from Celebrando Creatividad--the Spanish catalog).  I stamped the background in Basic Gray onto glossy cardstock then sanded in both directions.  Next, I sponged on So Saffron and sanded again.  The tulips are stamped in Pumpkin Pie, So Saffron, Concord Crush and Pear Pizzazz.  I used an aqua painter to blend the colors in the tulips a bit then sanded lightly again once the flowers were dry.

Supplies: Stamps: Flores Suaves, Vintage Vogue, Sanded; Paper: glossy white, Basic Gray, So Saffron; Ink: Basic Gray, So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Concord Crush, Pear Pizzazz; Accessories: antique brad, Pear Pizzazz ribbon, sanding block, spongeHappy stamping!

Trifold card

This week's workshop wow challenge was Cami's trifold card. This was a fun and easy card! The card is 4 X 11, scored at 3 1/2 and 7.
TIP: Score just short of 3 1/2 to make the card lay flat better.
Next time, I may make this card taller. You could use up to a 5 1/2" wide piece of cardstock for a 4 X 5 1/2 finished card size.

Here you can see that you punch with the slit punch on the 4" section of card which is the back of the card.
TIP: Fold the card closed before punching so you can line the slit up perfectly!
Then punch a small hole in the slit to thread the ribbon through.


To add the wow factor to my card, I embossed all of my images in black and colored them with markers. I used the scallop oval punch to punch the hole in the middle section; this becomes the front of the card when closed. I stamped the bee onto a piece of white cardstock and punched it with the wide oval so it would fit into the scalloped oval window.
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Flores Suaves, Perfect Punches; Paper: Whisper White, Bashful Blue; Ink: VersaMark, Markers: Sahara Sand, Daffodil Delight, Pink Pirouette, Marina Mist, Baja Breeze, Tangerine Tango, Wild Wasabi; Accessories: black EP, heat tool, scallop oval punch, wide oval punch, white taffeta ribbon, slit punch, hole punch
Happy stamping!

Spring Color Combo

I saw this color combo on SCS yesterday, and I loved how spring-y it is! Bashful Blue, Melon Mambo, Old Olive. The card is simple, but I like it!
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Flores Suaves; Paper: Confetti White, Old Olive; Ink: Bashful Blue, Melon Mambo, Old Olive; Accessories: Chit Chat rub-ons, Melon Mambo grosgrain ribbon, Bashful Blue taffeta ribbon
Happy stamping!

Free standing pop up card

For this week's workshop wow challenge, I made a free standing pop up card. I first made one of these a couple of years ago. They are so cool and much easier to make than you would think. Here is a link to a document with the instructions and a link to the original thread on SCS.

The base is scored in several places and then folded to make a collapsible base. There is a card that pops up through a slit cut in the center. You can see on my base here that I adhered the pop-up to one end and added sticky strip to the other end. This is a case where sticky strip is definitely good to use so the card will hold up well.

Sorry I missed posting on Wednesday! Life is pretty hectic these days. I have lots going on both at work and at home that makes stamping time hard to find. I'll do my best, so bear with me!

Happy stamping!

Spotlight on spotlighting

Here is one more card I made for VSN. The challenge was to use a flower and a circle on your card. I love the spotlighting technique, so I decided to do that. I actually cheated a bit; I already had this card made except for the stamped panel and the ribbon. I had made another card where the focal image was so horrible that I couldn't bring myself to show it or send it to anyone. So I pulled that panel off, added the ribbon and stamped the flowers. I debated about where to put the spotlight. For balance, I would have liked it on the left, but I decided that the color needed to be on the right. I think it would have looked good the other way too.
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Flores Suaves, Sanded; Paper: Confetti White, Crushed Curry, Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry textured, Razzleberry Lemonade DSP; Ink: Crushed Curry, Melon Mambo, Basic Gray; Accessories: aquapainter, 1 1/4 & 1 3/8 circle punches, Crushed Curry dotted grosgrain ribbon
Happy stamping!

Bring on the sparkle!

Last week, we celebrated the 100th week of demo challenges on SCS! Wow, it's hard to believe we've done that many already. In honor of that, I wanted a sparkly workshop wow challenge, so we did Sparkly Stained Glass. Believe it or not, this technique is actually very easy, and the glitter doesn't fly all over the place either. You stamp a line image onto a window sheet (acetate) then apply Crystal Effects to the back side and sprinkle with glitter. You can do one color right after the other without waiting. The only downtime is waiting for it to dry. I let mine dry overnight. All the glitter is on the back, so it's contained. I hope you give it a try!
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Flores suaves, Refuge and Strength, Tres Chic; Paper: Bashful Blue, Naturals White, Basic Black; Ink: Black StazOn, Bashful Blue, Elegant Eggplant, Tempting Turquoise; Accessories: window sheets, Very Vanilla HPH, designer label punch, fine cosmo glitter, Crystal Effects, black grosgrain ribbon, Elegant Eggplant grosgrain ribbon
Happy stamping!

More watercoloring with markers

I only have Bold Bright markers (plus neutrals and Chocolate Chip), so that limits my coloring with them. But I really love the way watercoloring with them tones them down a bit. I decided to color the butterfly from Flores Suaves, one of my all-time favorite images. First, I stamped the butterfly, then I masked it and stamped the words over the mask. I used black StazOn for both. The butterfly body is Glorious Green topped with Brilliant Blue. I used Orchid Opulence for the main part of the wings and Lovely Lilac for the edges. I wanted to use Baja Breeze to simulate the sky, so I swiped my stampin' spot all around the edges and then blended with the aquapainter. I had trouble getting all of the lines out, but I think it gives it a vintage look. Next time, I will wet the paper first before adding the ink directly from the pad.
My card base is Orchid Opulence, and I stamped Sanded on it with white craft ink. (Oops, I burned the bottom corner a bit when I was heat setting the ink. I've never had that happen before!) I cut a band of Lovely Lilac and used the scallop border punch on both top and bottom edges. Then I tied some lovely black ribbon from the Valet Ribbon Originals and added one of the new jumbo grommets from the Occasions Mini over the knot. The grommet has prongs on the back that push right through the cardstock; I used my bone folder to push the prongs down. (The hole in the center is 1/2".) An all-occasion word from Warm Words is the finishing touch.
Happy stamping!

SCS swap # 3

Are you asking yourself what happened to swap # 2? Well, for that group, I made a hinge card very similar to the one I already posted. I just changed the color combo to Regal Rose, Rose Red and Certainly Celery.
Now on to swap # 3. I wanted to use rose red grosgrain ribbon, so I had one color already. I got this combo from my old friend the color coach. The other 2 colors are So Saffron and Garden Green. The cardbase is So Saffron with Itty Bitty Backgrounds stamped on it in VersaMark. The Garden Green strip is 1 3/4", and I used the eyelet border punch on both edges. For the focal image, I cut the cardstock the same size as the stamp block. I stamped the butterfly first in Basic Gray, masked it and then stamped the words in Garden Green after stamping off once. I colored the butterfly using ink and aquapainter. The final touch is a flower ribbon slide tied into the knot of the ribbon.
Happy stamping!

Tea bag staining

A little birdie told me that Patty is planning to do tea bag staining for this week's workshop wow challenge, so I decided to give it a try.
I chose some Confetti White cardstock to stain. I brewed a regular cup of tea and then used some of the tea and the tea bag on the cardstock. I made sure I got some actual leaves on the cardstock for texture. I used a paper towel to make sure I get any excess liquid out and then let it dry overnight. After it was dry, I brushed off any stray leaves.
For my card layout, I used this month's WICKED sketch and chose some Parisian Summer DSP as the basis for my color combo.
For the focal image, I stamped the butterfly in Basic Brown, masked it and stamped the writing in Bravo Burgundy. I stamped the tulip twice in Basic Brown and then punched them out with the 1 1/4" square punch. I colored the images using ink and an aquapainter. The cardbase is Pink Pirouette stamped tone-on-tone with the Sanded background.
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Flores suaves, Sanded; Paper: Confetti White, Bravo Burgundy, Pink Pirouette, Parisian Summer DSP; Ink: Basic Brown, Bravo Burgundy, Pink Pirouette; Accessories: clip assortment, Very Vanilla taffeta ribbon, square punches, aquapainter, tea bag

This shows the tea stained cardstock on top of a sheet of Confetti White for comparison.
Happy stamping!

Thinking Pink

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This week's demo challenge was two-fold: 1. Use pink on your project. 2. Make a card using something that wowed you in the past but you had forgotten all about. We've all done that, right? I chose Cracked Glass. You can find the instructions in Beate's great tutorial.
For this card, I used Beate's sketch from the previous week; I just love that 3-panel layout! The stamp set I used is Flores Suaves; it's from SU's new Spanish catalog, and it's gorgeous! I chose the tulip image and inked the stem with Basic Gray then stamped off once before inking the flower with Pink Pirouette. I stamped the bee with Basic Gray and then colored the wings with Pink Pirouette using an aquapainter.
SCS has a new monthly challenge called Cards for a Cause. Each month, they choose an organization that would love to receive your hand-crafted cards. SCS collects the cards and sends them to the organization. This month's recipient is Chemo Angels. You can learn more about how you can help in this thread.
Supplies (all SU): Stamps: Flores Suaves; Paper: Very Vanilla, Pink Pirouette, Basic Gray, Parisian Summer DSP; Ink: Pink Pirouette, Basic Gray, VersaMark; Accessories: aquapainter, Glassy Glaze EP, Basic Gray taffeta ribbon, Pink Pirouette striped grosgrain ribbon
Happy stamping!