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.

It's beginning to look a lot like Winter

Ha, ha, ha. I know you were expecting to read, Christmas. I must admit, it is beginning to resemble that time of the year. Especially since my tree is up and decorated. No presents as of yet. Just to keep myself in the mood, I am posting a card I did for our November Challenge and a submission entry for a design team call. 


Without further ado, here is the card:

Merry Christmas, Deer

This card was created using the deer cut at 3 inches (images 3& 4) from the Christmas Solutions cart, Martha Stewart snowflake punch--Echo Park Christmas pack, and the Spellbinder Beaded oval die--also Echo Park paper. Red pearls are Kaiser Kraft. The creamy ones, not sure, but their quality is not that great. Might have grabbed them from a discount barrel. You get what you pay for. Antlers and hooves are colored using a Sakura metallic brown pen. Spritzed the card with Peach Delights Glimmer Mist and the label with Red Velvet Glimmer Mist. The stamp is Studio G stamped with black ink and embossed. I know I could have jazzed this up with lots of other embellishments, but kinda like the simplicity. And from another angle.

Merry Christmas, Deer

And then last but not least is a layout I submitted as one of my design team entries. I think I submitted four in all.

The base paper is Fancy Pants  Spring Fling (circles) and Holly Jolly (green) with the ivy embossed panel done with a Sizzix plate and brought out with the Shabby Shutters and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks. Also used the Martha Stewart deep edge Presents punch. I know I said to someone else that I did not need this one since I had the smaller version. Famous last words. The Looky, Looky was done on the computer using the Snowdrift font. The circles (Spellbinder) are Fancy Pants Holly Jolly line and overstamped with a Fancy Pants writing acrylic stamp and edged with Adirondack inks: Oregano, Lettuce and Ginger.  The photo doesn't show it, but the Outlines Rubber stamp trees are all glistening from Sakura stardust pens. Have I mentioned before how much I love those pens? The presents are the circles that I cut away from the Outlines tree background and used a Fiskars punch and reassembled on a white base. Fiskars has some super cute Christmas ones this year.

I will spill the beans on which company when I hear from them---one way or the other.

Have been spending more time with my son. Hope to get some projects completed and posted in the next few days. All with lots of ink. I should change my name to inky fingers. Nah, too close to icky...lol.

Until then.

CropChocolate Online Crop: Challenges #2A&B

This challenge was based on what you ordered from a menu selection. We did this on Saturday night. On today, Sunday, we found out what our menu choices meant.
I ordered: Appetizer--potato wedges, Entree--Chicken Pasta, Soup--Cream of Broccoli and for Dessert--Chocolate Sundae.

That meant that my card/layout had to be: 
Entree--Black 
Appetizer--Square
Soup--Punched out shape or trim
Dessert--Stamped

So when I belched (lol) here is what came out.

My photography skills do not do justice to this card. The Pearl Ex makes it all very sparkly and pretty.

So how did I get started? It is a bit long so grab a cuppa and come back.

First, I selected the 12 x 12 American Crafts Black Metallic: Foil Linen card, cut it in half and then in half again so that I ended up with 4 6x6 pieces. I only used three of them.

I then selected the Spellbinder Spades Pendant for my window opening. I stacked all three pieces of card and put them through my Cuttlebug. This cut the first piece and made impressions on the second two pieces. I used that as a placement guideline to cut the other two pieces. 

After cutting them I embossed each piece one at a time. I used the Sizzix Paisley board for this one. The sandwich I built was A Plate,Sizzix texture plate, Paper in face down, Purple embossing pad, two pieces of shim, and the purple plate that comes with the Sizzix kit. You can do the same with the CB B plate and the Spellbinder tan embossing mat, it might not cover the entire plate.

 

 

This extra bit of shim results in a nice crisp impression.

After going through the Cuttlebug, I needed to trim the sides of the card that became frayed. I removed 1/4 inch from each side resulting in a card that measures 5 1/2 x 6 inches.

Once all three pieces were trimmed decorating time came. I used my small Versamark cat's eye to rub over the raised portions of the card. I then used the Pearl Ex Powders: Super Gold, Super Copper, and Duo Red-Blue to 'color' my card. Once they were all 'colored' I fixed the Pearl Ex with this fixative. I sprayed into the air and then wafted the card through the mist. This sets the powder so that it does not rub off onto your hands.

Next, I scored all of the pendant frames right down the middle. Since I removed 1/2 an inch this might not be directly on a score line. Since you are dividing the frame down the center line it really has no bearing on where you place the piece to get your score mark.

After scoring and folding all three pieces, I was ready to glue. I used the ATG for this as the adhesive is VERY strong. (I found that if you have ink or mist or whatever between the two pieces you are gluing--using the ATG-- that if you make a mistake it lifts off pretty easily--if you do it right away.)

I applied adhesive to one side of the card and adhered it to one of the other matching sides. Be careful...b/c I trimmed the pieces, I want the edges to line up along with the inside pieces. You can nudge this a bit if you must.





Next I took a length of ribbon (Anna Griffin) tied a bow and placed it along the seam of the first two cards. Since this ribbon is very wide, I narrowed it by folding it over and using a strip from the ATG. This makes sure that it will not come open. Make sure it is attached at the bottom also.





I then applied adhesive to the other side and attached the third piece on one side only. Does that make sense? Again being careful to line up the cut pieces.


 


  

Then I attached the embellishments to the card. For the small die cut I used the inside piece from the pendant die and 'colored' it with the Pearl Ex powders. I stamped the background script (Heidi Swapp) using the Hydrangea Big and Juicy. The Just for you was stamped with black archival ink and cut using the Inverted scallop Spellbinder die--also cut a black piece. I inked around the insides using black archival ink. I attached the medallion using my Quickie glue pen.


Finally, I affixed the last side and viola...thar she blows, matey.


I think for photographing this card properly, I needed more and better lighting. It is gorgeous in person. Oh, since this card is white on one side, I inked the exposed edges in blue ink. As you can see, I got a bit carried away with my fold and some of the white shows through, this can be easily fixed by using a black marker or ink to cover those white spots. If you like how it looks, leave it be.

When I was making my menu choices I had no idea I was selecting to do a black based layout, with squares, a punch out/trim and a stamp. I think I met the challenge. What do you think?

By the way, I have also done this as a two panel swing card by removing the center. This does fold flat for mailing.

FYI, I did not do Challenge 4--create a home decor piece using a word, wooden letters, etc. I wanted to do something for Z's Art Gallerie but the wooden pieces I wanted to use are packed in a container high on a closet shelf. I can see them, just cannot get to them.

I also bowed out on Challenge 5--that was to scraplift someone's layout from the site and change three elements.

Lo and behold, I did complete Challenge 6. You'll have to come back to find out what it was and what I did.

Lovingly done in ink might I add.

Until then.