CAS on Sunday

I'd love to participate in this challenge at the CAS on Sunday blog, but I have the awful feeling it might be too many layers to be strictly "Clean and Simple."

This card was one of a number of similar cards in what's essentially a single design in different colorways. The cupcake tower image is from Peddler's Pack and was stamped with VersaFine Onyx Black ink on what's probably a generic white cardstock, but might even be Neenah Solar White. There are three shades of purple Bazzill card stock, with Hero Arts' "Envelope" background stamp inked with VersaMark on the light vertical strip, and the three light "ribbon" strips stamped with an Inkadinkado background stamp also inked with VersaMark. Nothing was popped, and the card ended up going to a BFF for her birthday.

Does it qualify as CAS with so many layers?

Oddly enough, that's not the first essentially monochrome birthday card I've given to BFF-M!

Another MISTI Class

So today was another class at the LSS learning some new tricks with the stamping tool MISTI. These are taught by Amanda, and this one was a much smaller group than the first session was. Today's focussed on a (1) simple row of a single image, (B) a focal image with a multi-stage background image, and (iii) a single image in multiple layers.

My dear buddy Melissa was in this class, too, and so I used images borrowed from her selection, and I think they're all Lawn Fawn.

Number One: a single simple image stamped across the bottom of a piece of card stick, which allows you to create a border.

 Number Two: A focal image with background images. The sheep is, of course, the focal image, and the grass and sentiment were stamped as background images. It's pretty hard to see in this photo, but I actually used two shades of green ink for the grass; the sentiment is "Need a Hug?" The graph paper behind the tag is the only way I could get the scanner to scan the whole tag; it kept cutting bits off. The graph paper was convenient; I didn't expect it to show through so well (the paper is actually upside down)!

Number Three: one image stamped to look like rows of that image. I got my greys in the wrong order.

I pretty much already knew these basics--I've done masked stamping before, as well as repeating images in a row much like the first piece we did in this class. This focussed on how to use the MISTI to achieve these ends.

I wish I had a photograph of the envelope I covered with a scene involving a 2-piece trash can set, a comet/shooting star stamp, and a box-framed "This Is Not Junk Mail" phrase stamp; there was a lot of masking in that one!

52 Christmas Card Throwdown challenge

While blogsurfing today, I checked in on this blog, and decided I could easily play along.

I don't remember the manufacturer of the "confetti" paper I used for the image layer and the card base, but the olive green accent layer is from one of the Michaels house-brand collections. The green image is by Power Poppy inked with Tsukineko VersaMagic "Hint of Pesto," and the barely visible background stamp is Impression Obsession's Cover-a-Card "Pine," inked with Tsukineko VersaMagic "Cloud White." I also used my MISTI stamp positioner.

I'm posting this to 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.

I'm Still Here

Haven't fallen off the planet or anything. Just lazy.

So today was another of Shirley's card classes, which are really more group crafting sessions than classes, at my LNS, Stamp Fever.

Since most of the instruction revolves around how to assemble the cards (once the coloring's done) rather than learning new techniques, we were free to do the cards in any order we liked. That worked out well, because she had made two samples of each of the three cards, and that spread the "wealth" of samples-to-consult-while-crafting around.

The first one I did was actually the most complex, involving a lot of coloring and then some fussy cutting.

The scan's a bit crooked, I see, and not well cropped. The patterned paper is from Lawn Fawn (and, weirdly, is being discontinued almost immediately after being introduced!). I liked the look of the diagonal plaid more than the other side of the sheet, which was vertically/horizontally oriented. The stamp is from Penny Black. The solid colored card stocks are Bazzill, and the white card stock is from Neenah. It's not a stock I find favorable for colored pencils--at least not the oily/waxy ones like I use. In this case, the pencils are all Prismacolor, although I do have a small selection of Faber-Castell's PolyChromos, too.

The second one I did was a lot simpler, and I just had to decide which lavender/purple/violet shades and which greens to use.

I believe this image is Technique Tuesday. They do have some beautiful botanicals! My greens should have been a bit brighter for these crocuses, but…oh, well. Once again the colored card stocks are Bazzill, Sources for the black stock layered behind the focal image and the striped paper behind the lighter purple are unknown to me, although the striped is probably the Michaels house brand.

The third one was a little bit more complex in terms of assembly. And color choices. The images aren't the kind I'm likely have, or to put in, my stash, so I probably spent more time actually trying to decide on colors than I spent on any of the three cards.

And I see now that my orange creamsicle is upside down! I don't remember whose images these are--Newton's Nook, maybe?--but these have matching dies, so no fussy cutting on this one. That sentiment really needs to go inside.

I'll try to post more often. No promises, though.

Retreat November 2012

Another stitching retreat in Temecula! Here's a view of the area from the top of the stairs by the dining hall:

And here's just one of the hot-air balloons from Saturday morning:

I didn't have a lot of luck with my stitching over the weekend. I had a hard time deciding what to work on (and even brought along a couple of extra projects!), and then kept making mistakes. This piece is a Dimensions' kit which only rarely sees the light of day. I actually started this piece back in 2005, so it's pretty obvious it doesn't get much lovin'. The first photo shows the status of "A Bird for All Seasons" as of Friday morning:

And here's the progress from this session:

(Ack! Another one popping up sideways!)

I also worked on Margaret's "Spot Sampler." Here's where I left off in June:

And here's where I left off on Sunday:

The motif in the upper left corner is actually farther over to the right than is charted on the original, so I'll have to decide whether to frog it and put it where it belongs or whether I'll juggle the other motifs around.

I had a good time, but seriously missed my BSF-M, who wasn't able to make it this time.

Inky Fingers

It's been a while since I've posted any card crafting. I've already posted about the classes I took in June, but I also had a couple of June birthdays. BFF-M, older sister of BFF-N, was first.

I don't work often in yellows, but I had the flowery card stock and wanted to utilize that, since I have quite a stash of printed card stock and I don't use much of it. One shade of solid yellow for the base, and another, slightly lighter, for the image layer. The stamp is by Peddler's Pack, and I don't remember which brown ink I used. A little bit of accenting on the top layer with one of the Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Inks and the new-to-me postage stamp die by Spellbinders.

And the inside.
Margaret's birthday was later in the month, and I gave her this card while we were at the retreat.

More patterned paper from the stash, the same stamp I used on BFF-M's, some Kraft card stock for the base, the matting layer behind the stamped image, and also for the center strip. That center strip was also stamped with a Peddler's Pack background stamp of cupcakes. I used "Old Paper" Distress Ink for the distressing on all elements, but again don't recall which ink I used for the main image. The center strip was cut with a My Favorite Things Die-Namics "Fishtail Banner" die. This card was an adaptation of a class card from back in April.

TUSAL 1207 and a Progress Pic

Combined! Yes, I'm late again with the TUSAL, but that's life. This one contains mostly Margaret's Monochrome Madness and some nearly invisible--because of lighting and position--strands from the pictured current project, Hannah Beeby.

I see also that we're about 2/3 of the way through the month and I never posted anything from the monthly stitch class. Well, here's MMM, before class:

...and after class:

For some reason, the upper photo is turned 90° to the right from the correct orientation. I finished the block at the lower right corner of the center motif, started and got about halfway on the one on the far right side in the vertical midpoint, and got the center motif started. It looks a lot closer to "done" than it actually is, as there's a honkin'-big-arse border to go around it, too. With beads.

TUSAL 120619

Three days late, but here it is, mostly Margaret's Monochrome Madness:

Today I'm away to Temecula for a stitching retreat. Eat your hearts out, suckers!

Inky Fingers

Another card class today, taught by Gina Alferez at Stamp Fever in Orange.

The swirly leaf background stamp is from Hero Arts; the music background stamp is a Judikins image from my own stash (I like it 'cause it looks like it's from a hand-written score); the butterfly is from Penny Black; and I think the banner image is Lawn Fawn. We stamped the butterfly twice with Tsukineko VersaFine Onyx Black and heat-embossed with clear powder, then colored with Ranger's Tim Holtz Worn Lipstick. And then we fussy-cut both butterflies. ("My eyes!! My eyes!!") The leaf background was stamped and distressed with Ranger's Tim Holtz Peeled Paint, while the music background (Gina used the Hero Arts music background stamp) was stamped with Ranger's Tim Holtz Distress Scattered Straw. Wafer-thin steel dies were used to cut the holes in the card base and the leaf panel. The banner was stamped with Tsukineko VersaFine Onyx Black and heat-embossed with clear powder, then colored with Ranger's Tim Holtz Distress Scattered Straw. We also flipped one butterfly over and stamped and colored the other side, even though the image isn't symmetrical and that meant we had to fudge things a bit--the object was to have something other than plain card stock on the back. The bodies of the butterflies were glued together and the wings of the upper one lifted a bit (which you can kind of see in the other shot of this card).

Shot at a slight angle to show a little better how the butterfly was stamped twice, the two images stuck together, and the wings lifted slightly on the upper one.

Background stamp from Hero Arts, stamped on Kraft card stock with Ranger's Tim Holtz Distress Brushed Corduroy, and the base was distressed slightly with the same ink. The "ribbon" is Kraft cardstock colored with Ranger's Tim Holtz Distress Worn Lipstick; the bow is natural jute. An ordinary paper doily was adhered to the corner of the card base, then trimmed. The leaf elements were punched with a leaf punch from the scraps of the first card. The crinkled card stock flower was stamped in Ranger's Tim Holtz Distress Worn Lipstick, punched with two sizes of flower punch, then lightly distressed with the Worn Lipstick ink. The buttons came from Gina's stash.

The rose is a La Blanche image, stamped twice with Tsukineko VersaFine Onyx Black on Kraft card stock. The rose was fussy cut, as were two sets of leaves. The rose was colored with Ranger's Tim Holtz Distress Worn Lipstick and the leaves with Ranger's Tim Holtz Distress Peeled Paint. The distressing around the card base, the fishtail flag layer, and the Kraft and white layers was done with Ranger's Tim Holtz Scattered Straw. The butterfly was from a clear set Gina brought with her, and was stamped in Ranger Archival Sepia. Gina also supplied us with the patterned paper.

TUSAL 120421

A little more this month, since I tossed poor neglected Beatrix Potter aside for even more neglect and put Hannah Beeby in the floor stand. The golden browns are from Margaret's Monochrome Madness, while the greens are from Hannah.

Card Class

Today's class, the third session of a four-session set, involved coloring with a new medium, Faber-Castell's Gelatos. (how bizarre is it that I can't find these things on the F-C website?)

First we played around with these things, which come in a tube much like Chapstick, trying watercolor paper, cheap card stock, and adhesive-backed canvas. And plain ol' water.

Then it was on to the card:

First we pulled the adhesive off the canvas and stuck it to our craft sheets. Then we water-spritzed our background stamps and smeared the stamp with the Gelatos of our choice. Then another spritz with the water and press the stamp onto the canvas, holding it there for 10 to 15 seconds or so. We also inked up (with regular stamp ink; I used Ranger's Jenni Bowlin "Brown Sugar") a text stamp--I used the HA "Old Letter Writing," and used the "stamp-off" technique to lighten up the ink just a bit, thereby making it a second-generation impression. We colored some better-quality card stock with the Gelatos and then stamped the flowers, for which I used Ranger's Archival "Sepia." The flower images are from a Hero Arts/Sizzix set which comes with dies for cutting around the images with Cuttlebugs and similar crafting devices. The sentiment was also stamped with the "Sepia." The sentiment strip was adhered directly to the canvas and decorated with pearls. Four of the flowers were adhered with PopDots, while the fifth was attached directly to the card.

The second project was turned into a magnet, but began as a 3" x 3" stretched and prepped canvas.

A little spritzing with the plain ol' water, then smeared with the Gelatos of our choice. I used the same sage-y (they call it Pistachio) green that I used on the card, then used a darker green more to the blue side of green around the edges. Once I was happy with the color smearing, I set the canvas aside to dry and used a bright yellow to color a scrap of Neenah Solar White and then stamped the butterfly in Tsukineko's VersaFine "Onyx Black," which is my go-to black for most stamping. The butterfly is from the same butterflies-and-flowers stamp-and-die set as the flower image used for the card. The sentiment is also a HA stamp, from a clear-stamp set. I stamped it a couple of times with the "Sepia" on more scraps of Neenah Solar White, then used the same Gelato colors I used for the canvas, with a bit more of the blue-green on the "Create Your Own" part.

I love my LSS, Stamp Fever!

CicLAvia 2012

Picture-heavy story of a ride through parts of downtown LA over at Slouching Toward Rivendell.

And completely unrelated to anything else: Friday's rainy-morning sunrise:

Stamp Class--Katie

Another stamp class today, with some techniques I've never used before.

 We used watercolor pencils for coloring in this session. The daisy stamp is from, I think, a Penny Black clear set; the encyclopedia page is from a very old edition of World Book, and the page I chose for this one includes the entries on nitroglycerin and nitrous oxide. You can't really see it here, but I did use a background stamp on the card base, the Impression Obsession Cover-a-Card paisley, which I stamped with Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink in "Dusty Concord" onto the Hero Arts Layering Papers "Aubergine." I couldn't find a coordinating card stock in the selection Katie brought, so I colored some plain white cardstock with "Dusty Concord" to make the little squares in the corners behind the book page. The bows are made from baker's twine.
I brought home the Nicholas and Alexandra page, too.

 We used HA's "Old Letter Writing" background stamp on the Kraft card base; I used Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink in "Bundled Sage" after seeing another stamper use it on hers, instead of the "Faded Blue Jeans" Katie used on her original. I think the floral image is Impression Obsession, stamped with black Memento, then colored with the watercolor pencils. The large butterfly is from a HA set that includes the die for cutting the image out; that was also stamped in black Memento, and I'm not sure where the jewels are from. A more or less coordinating card stock was trimmed with a border punch. The distressing on the white card stock is also "Bundled Sage."

The third one utilized the chevron stamp from Lawn Fawn, stamped twice to create diamonds which were more or less kinda sorta covered with designer card stock Katie brought for us to choose from. I used a Hero Arts dye ink in "Sand," which I also smeared on the card edges.

Card Class with Gina

Running late with the TUSAL post kept me from posting this yesterday, when the class was held at Stamp Fever. We made three cards this time.
We stamped the floral image (HA Hydrangea) three times: once on the tag and once each on colored card stocks. Then we had to "fussy cut" the flower head and the leaf portions from their respective colored bits. While we were refocussing our eyes from that task, we distressed the tag with Ranger's Tim Holtz Distress Inks, primarily Tumbled Glass (the blue, of course) and a touch of Brushed Corduroy at the bottom. Then the fussy cut pieces were "paper pieced" (glued) onto the tag, using the plain stamped image on the tag as a placement guide. The HA keys background (don't know the name of it; it's not in my stash) background image was stamped onto Kraft cardstock with Watermark ink and heat-embossed with clear powder. The decorative band was a strip of cardstock trimmed with a border punch, then distressed with TH Wild Honey. We corner punched the two outer (opposite the fold) corners with a corner rounder, then assembled everything. I think some of the others also rounded one other corner, as Gina had accidentally done with her original.
This one went onto a black card base, with all corners rounded, and with a plain white mat layer between the image layer and the base. Both of those also had their corners rounded. The doily image is another Hero Arts stamp not in my stash. It was stamped four times on the image layer, using Watermark Ink and heat-embossed with clear. The coloring was done with more of the Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Inks, this time Dusty Concord and Dried Marigold. The paper flowers were brushed lightly with the same inks and spritzed with Perfect Pearls, which served to help the colors wash out into the paper of the flowers and add a bit of glitz to them. Not sure the source of the beady bits we used for the flower centers; they were provided by Gina and she didn't create a supplies list. The sentiment strip paper was actually too narrow for the sentiment I chose (I'm most definitely not a fan of front-of-card sentiments!), but I keep class cards as samples and guides for further stamping, so I didn't worry about the fit. I'd be more careful about something I'd be sending out. I once again used the Dusty Concord to distress the strip, and the sentiment was stamped with Watermark ink and heat-embossed with white powder. I set my sentiment strip on a bit of an angle just to be different.
We also stamped a greeting layer for the inside of this one. Note the "embellishment opportunity" toward the top, where my inky finger left a mark.
This one uses a Penny Black image, stamped multiple times with Watermark ink and clear embossed. I'm not sure of the source for the butterfly image, which was stamped (as was the sentiment) with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. The colored bands were created using the Distress Inks in Tumbled Glass, Scattered Straw, and Shabby Shutters; the sentiment strip was very lightly distressed with Tumbled Glass. The butterflies were color-enhanced with a blending pen (we used Gina's blending pen from Stampin' Up; the Dove blender, which I have but didn't have with me, can also be used) and then daubed with Glossy Accents. Many thanks to store manager Linda, who "gave me the finger" while I tied the bow in the twine. The sentiment strip was trimmed into a point on the left, which was then tucked into the knot on the bow, which itself was topped with a gem.
This one also got a sentiment layer for the inside. I sure like the way my distressing bands turned out here!

TUSAL March

Another pathetic month. This one contains both Margaret's Monochrome Madness, from the stitch class earlier this month, as well as a few token bits from Beatrix Potter Quaker.

Very Inky Fingers

Today it was fingerpainting with inks. First we stamped with VersaMark watermarking ink onto Bristol board. We used three different HA images: "Newspaper Eiffel Tower," "Simple Frame," and "Spring Dream." The Eiffel Tower collage was stamped onto two of the Bristol board cards and heat-embossed with white powder; the frame and silhouette images were stamped onto two more pieces of Bristol board, and heat-embossed with black powder.

Then it was back to our work stations where we smeared Ranger's Tim Holtz Distress Inks onto our craft sheets, spritzed 'em with plain ol' water, and began fingerpainting. We used a dabbing technique rather than smearing, so that the card stock wouldn't get broken down by excess pressure.

The Eiffel Tower pieces were cut to 4.25"x4.25" and completely covered the front of the card base, whereas the Spring Dream/Simple Frame pieces were trimmed to fit within a standard A2 (4.25"x5.5") card front, with just a bit of card base showing around the edges.
The first one, with Milled Lavender, Sage Green, Tea Dye, and I've forgotten which of the blues--either Broken China or Tumbled Glass.
The second one, with Victorian Velvet and either Broken China or Tumbled Glass.
Number three, with the same colors Nancy used for her class samples: Seedless Preserves, Crushed Olive, and Tumbled Glass with a bit of Broken China.
For the fourth one, I chose to use Brushed Sage, Victorian Velvet, and Stormy Sky. Both of the Simple Frame/Spring Dream cards were overstamped with HA's "Old Letter Writing" background stamp in Pumice Stone. The sentiments are also HA stamps (with a cutting die to match), and were stamped in HA's Mid-tone Shadow ink "Butter Bar."

Rubber Stamp Convention

In Carson, so I rode the Black Pearl over there and back. Only one make'n'take looked interesting (and I needed a break):
And I got home in time to see the third period of a Caps' win.

Stamp Class and a Stamp Company's Anniversary Party

Katie's first class at Stamp Fever today involved one of the new Hero Arts Shadow Ink pads, an assortment of stamps, and an assortment of Ranger's Tim Holtz Distress Stains.

The first thing we did was learn to dye satin ribbon with the Distress Stains. There was quite a range of colors and combinations among the four of us.
For this one, I dyed the ribbon with "Faded Jeans," and when it was nearly dry I inked the HA Fabulous Flourish stamp with "Scattered Straw" and stamped a bit of the swirl on the ribbon. We used "Picket Fence" stain on the HA Old Letter Writing stamp for the ground. Let that dry, glue the ribbon down, trim off the overhang, attach the flowers (I tried dyeing some, but wasn't happy with the outcome) and the leaves (punched from a dyed strip of card stock with a Martha Stewart leaf punch), and attached the sentiment strip. Even the sentiment strip was dyed.

I'm not usually a front-of-the-card sentiment person, but went with the flow this time.
The second card used one of the HA layering papers--a nice cardstock that's white on one side, so if you use it for the card base, you have a white innard. I used not just the large blossom image from the HA Bold Bloom, but also the bloom-stem-leaves image and the leaf image, both of which ended up poorly placed--the same bloom-stem-leaves image was used as the focal image and was placed right over the background image, and the leaf image ended up buried under the ribbon. The ribbon was stamped, too. I used the Picket Fence stain and stamped a bit of the flower image and the leaf image on it. I also spritzed the focal image with Perfect Pearls so there's a bit of shine which doesn't show in the picture.
This card used the HA Daisy Outline background stamp. I used Antique Linen Distress Ink because I thought the Vintage Photo was too dark. The ribbon was dyed with Scattered Straw, and because most of it was covered with the focal images, it wasn't overstamped at all. The flower stamp is the Penny Black Classic Tea. The green on each one is "Peeled Paint," and the flower heads are (left to right) "Spun Sugar," "Dusty Concord," and "Scattered Straw," all stamped on watercolor paper.

Fun class, and I really enjoyed learning a new technique or two for the stains.

We took a break and headed over to a Del Taco for a light lunch after class and before the Lawn Fawn 2nd Birthday celebration. The make-and-take was really a bit complex for a make-'n'-take, but then, I don't think they expected the turnout they had!!
The Lawn Fawn style isn't mine, but I enjoy learning techniques.

Two Hobbies in One!

I rode down to the Anaheim Convention Center to the Scrapbook Expo and came home with a few stamps. Found a couple of really interesting sets, but didn't realize just what I had until I got home:

Yeah: Teresa Wentzler stamps!!

Inky Fingers: Card Class

Today was the first session of the third series of classes taught at my favorite LSS, Stamp Fever in Orange. Nancy teaches a different technique each time, in four once-a-month meetings, and they've become very popular. She's also repeating her Stamping 101, which is not, in spite of its deceptive name, a basic stamping class!

We made two cards, using only one background stamp, an embossing folder, some stamps with matching dies (for "fussy cutting" the stamped image perfectly, using the die and a die-cutting machine like the Cuttlebug), some Tim Holtz Distress Inks, and pens.
The first card uses a newsprint-collage effect background stamp on both the main layer and the sentiment strip. The main layer is stamped, then dry-embossed. We then used the same ink and a distressing tool to lightly add color to the raised parts of the image. The sentiment strip is stamped in the same color as the main layer, then stamped with the sentiment using black ink, and faux-stitched with a black pen. The flower was inked with pens, "huffed" to refresh the ink, and stamped, then carefully aligned with the matching die and run through the die-cutting machine. I ran the edges of the main layer across the stamp pad to add a touch of extra delineation.
The second card uses two layers--the top layer where the main images are and a mat layer, which in this case we made ourselves by "distressing" the edges of the cardstock that show. A colored or patterned cardstock could also be used. For this one, we masked about a third or so of the main layer, then inked the newsprint-collage background stamp with blue distress ink and stamped above the mask. The mask was repositioned, the stamp cleaned and re-inked with brown distress ink, and the bottom 2/3 or so stamped. The sentiment strip was stamped and die-cut, then holes were punched on the tag's ends. The scrolls were stamped and die-cut (and came from the same set as the flower in the first card). Then the main layer was adhered to the mat layer. Twine was attached to the tag ends with a lark's-head knot and left loose for the moment. I think everybody in class used a different technique for attaching the scrolls to the tag. I decided how I wanted them placed, then used drops of glue to attach them. Very. Carefully. And then attached the sentiment tag to the main layer. The layers were flipped over and a tape-runner was used to put a bit of adhesive along the sides where the twine was to be tacked to the back after being artfully pulled around to the back (you can see the "legs" are spread). Then the matted layers were attached to the card base.

It was a fun class (but then, Nancy's classes are!) and I'm already trying the techniques with other background stamps and images.