Happy Almost New Year's Eve

Can you believe that we are just a few days away from 2011? Ouch, kinda hurts to type that. The years are zooming past. I think I want time to move a little slower or somehow add more hours to the day. How about a thirty hour day? I would LOVE that. Now, that would make the years move a bit slower.

I am pretty sure you are not impressed by my time challenges since we all face them. I do have something that just might impress you, and it is the Martha Stewart corner and border punches--but used on circles and ovals.  Now I can have more than four shapes on a piece. Yippee!!!

Here is a quick look at what I was able to accomplish using just a corner punch. 

Family

You can see the complete Vee-dio here. Caution, it is LONG, but I did cut out about 10 minutes worth. lol

For your enjoyment I have also posted a tutorial on using the border punches and making small snips to place them on an arc --Circles and Ovals--which results in breathtaking pieces. Vee-dio below these pics. Just a bit shorter but not by much.

Tulips

Double Arches

 

 

I know that 2011 will bring new and exciting changes and challenges to our lives. Hold tight to your faith. I don’t know how people who do not believe in a power higher than themselves manage. It is ONLY through the grace of God, that I am lucid and able to function on a daily basis. It is not my purpose to preach to you or anyone else, this is an expression of my faith in God. The Bible says that if we don’t spread the Good News and acknowledge God, the very rocks will cry out.  Luke 19:40.  I am not giving the rocks a chance.

Thank you for stopping by. Although the tutorials were about the punches, you know I had to throw in a bit of ink. Love the Tim Holtz Distress ones.

Until then.

The last of the Outlines Entries

In a bigger effort to be as brief as possible I am posting the final two designs submitted for the Outlines Design Team. Keeping it short for two reasons: I want to do Tim Holtz's tag #4 (it is soooooo cute) and DS will be ready for bed soon. This first one is done using one of their mandela flower type stamps.

I had a load of fun using my Sakura pens to color them in to create a unique design.

I used my craft knife to cut away the 'leaves' from the main image and curled them using a pencil. The underside was spritzed with Glimmer mist so there would not be any glaring white peeking out. I stamped a second image to use under the main flower.

I made a mask by removing one petal and used that to spray a different color of Glimmer Mist on each one. After drying them, I used my Sakura pens to mimic the pattern on top.

This reminds me of a lotus blossom. If I were to do this card again, I would stamp the main image and then remove the inside petal of the large petal and create a third level for added dimension. I secured the two with a brad and gave the upper petals a slight turn to the right. It does matter how you place the top. Make sure that the petals are aligned correctly prior to turning. This is another shot but with normal lighting. Look at how glistening it looks.

The Believe is from a metal embellishment from Pressed Petals. I simply used it in my Cuttlebug and was able to get the impression to show very well on the Bazzill cardstock.

I wanted to keep the background and the accessories as simple as possible so as not to detract from that breathtaking stamp. I lightly embossed a petal background using a Sizzix texture plate. You can really see the stamp's dimension.

The final card was a Halloween one. This one should be titled looks are deceiving. I stamped this image 5 times. Twice in black, once in green, orange, and brown. I did quite a bit of paper pieceing to make this one happen.

The image was built up from the cats. I went over them with a black embossing pen and heat embossed. They have a lot of solid dimension.

I distressed the pumpkins after heat embossing them. I used an orange Sakura stardust pen to highlight the veins on the pumpkins and to create the Jack-o-lantern face. The leaves and stems are all pieced to the main image. I traced over the leaves and vine with a Sakura metallic pen.

I distressed the edges of the card using a combination of Dusty Concord and Vintage Photo. I colored the moon with a Yellow embossing pen and then went around the cat to create a slightly scary shadow. Considered doing something wierd to the eyes, but decided to leave them alone. The paper is Halloween Echo Park Collection, ribbon is from a swap and the Boo is one of the EK Success slimline punches--love those. The pumpkin prop was borrowed from my son. :)

So, it is back to the drawing board for me.  I will either need to re-work my ideas or come up with something much more clever or have less talented people to compete against to make it for the next design team call.

In the meantime I will continue to create and ink in the name of love.

Until then.