Kirsty’s Birthday Card

I was reading Kirsty’s blog, and lo and behold it occurred to me that it was her birthday. LOL. Why I wasn’t aware of this before hand is just pure slackness on my part for not asking, and her’s for not saying in lieu of me not asking. Once I had knowledge of her birthday I couldn’t plead ignorance, nor could I just rifle thru my card stack to find a card for her. Noooo. I had to make one up just for her. Since my mojo has taken a vacation and hasn’t replied to my calls for help, I was left to my own devises. I was hoping to create a WOW card in a simple style, instead I ended up doing my complicated style and come up with this -

• Stamp Set – Baroque BG, Paisley BG, Brocade Basics, Baroque Motifs, Warmest Regards
• Card Stock – Whisper Whita, Orchid Opulence, Elegant Eggplant, Pale Plum
• Ink – Versamark, Orchid Opulence, Elegant Eggplant, Lavender Lace, Pixie Pink, Regal Rose.
• Accessories – Embossing Powders ( Gold and Angel Wings Peacock by MoonGlow), Sponges

I like to create layers with my stamping and because of this, there is a bit of a process involved. I also combined a few different techniques, just because I could. I must also confess that I was making the whole thing up as I was going along. I’ll try to remember what I did in a numbered order, just in case someone has the nerve to re-create something similar for themselves. BTW if you do make a stamping project like this, leave a comment as I’d like to see it too. Anyway here goes -

1. Ink up Baroque background stamp with versamark
2. Press Paisley background stamp in to the inked up Baroque stamp. (Kissing technique)
3. Now use the Paisley stamp to stamp onto Whisper White
4. Clear emboss. I used Angel Wings Peacock by MoonGlow (Heat embossing technique)
5. Sponge embossed image with pink and purle inks (Emboss resist technique)
6. Versamark vine from Brocade basic stamp set, randomly stamp over the top of the piece.
7. Apply embossing powder and heat. ( Yes, embossing over the top of embossing)
8. Sponge again with just the purple inks.

The stamped card was then cut to size, mounted onto Elegant Eggplant CS. The motif, on Pale Plum CS, and birthday greeting was heat embossed in gold, with the motif popped up on Dimensional. The card base is Orchid Opulence.

You may notice from the close up the added effect from the MoonGlow heat embossing powder on the right hand side of the picture. As the light catches it you can see a glow of irridecent blue and green.

After I finished making the card I was not happy with it and I was almost not going to give it to Kirsty. All my doubts were diminished when I saw the look on her face when she recieved it. Safe to say – she LOVEd it.

Satisfaction Rating – 7/10 ( I wish I was feeling more inspired that day. I probably would have made it exactly the same, just with a more creative attitude, KWIM)

Christmas and gardening

Here’s a simple card that I made a few weeks ago. It wasn’t suitable to scan due to the fact that the pionsettia flower was given a bit of oomph with dimensional foam, and therefore wasn’t a flat card.

• Stamp Set – Season of Joy
• Card Stock – Real Red, Old Olive, Whisper White
• Ink – Real red, Old Olive
• Accessories – Photo Corner punch, Stamp-a-ma-jig

I stamped the Swirl three times, overlapping each other as shown in the photo. Believe it or not, but I didn’t use the Stamp-a-ma-jig (SAMJ) to get that trailing thingy to match up right. I totally winged it!!! ( I rock – tee hee). What I did do, was practise creating it several times on my grid paper until I got it right. I stamped the flower onto the pointy end of the trailing thingy, and then stamped and cut out another one to layer on top of the first. When it comes to the sentiment I did use the SAMJ, coz I find that straight lines are just not as forgiving as swirly ones. Straight just has to be straight – right??

Now onto some news. On Friday afternoon I ordered a new digital camera from these guys, http://www.digitalcamerawarehouse.com.au/index.htm  Now I was expecting that it might turn up at my place by Wednesday at the earliest, so imagine my surprise when I had it delivered to my door at 8.15 am today (Monday)!!!! Now that is what I call speedy service.

I’ve been so busy in my garden these last two days. I got my mother to come up and stay over to give me a hand. I’ve been collecting pulled weeds and prunings for weeks now, but my car doesn’t have a towball to cart the trailer, which is where my mother comes in. Besides even if I did have a towball, my mother is much better at these things than I am, so if in doubt ( which I am) leave it to people who actually know what they are doing (mother).

I cut a garden bed out of my lawn about 12 months ago, and have waited patiently for the all variables to be co-ordinated (ie; mother with trailer, weather, money, motivation) so I could get a cubic meter of garden soil to finish it off. Well folks I’m very happy to annouce that it has finally happened, and this is how it is looking even as I type this post.

I got half of the plants in, but by 10.30 this morning I had to abandon it as it was getting very hot and I was getting very burnt. Lucky I had a couple of little helpers or I wouldn’t have even got that much done. I’ll finish planting it this evening when it is cooler and then i can sit out on my patio and watch it grow!!

My Elegant Friend

Carte Postale is one of my latest aquistions and I wanted to make myself a card with it today. I wanted to try a very simple style as well. I’ve been asked to make a wedding card, and while this isn’t a wedding card I was inspired to make a simple elegant style that I could adapt into one.

• Stamp Set – Carte Postale
• Card Stock – Elegant Eggplant, Lavender Lace, Very Vanilla
• Ink – Elegant Eggplant, Lavender Lace, Almost Amethyst, Whisper White
• Accessories – Stamp-a-ma-jig

I recently learned about the faux dry embossing technique, and I love it. First you need to stamp your image in Whisper White Craft Ink, then using the same ink as the base card stock, in this case Elegant Eggplant, stamp directly on top of the white stamped image. The trick is to have the second stamping ever so slightly out of alignment from the first stamping. This then creates an illusion of a raised image on the card. I demonstrated this technique at my card makers club last week end and they loved it too. Next I stamped the border on the right hand side in elegant Eggplant, then coloured the leaves with Lavender Lace and Almost Amethyst Markers.

Satisfaction Rating – 8/10 (what can I say, not a bad effort. PS – If you click on the picture you’ll get to see the effect of the Faux Dry Embossing better )

At long, long last.

This has been a long time in coming. A few of you have been wondering where I’ve been. Lets just say that my new job has been extra tiring lately. My camera has also given up the ghost as well, which I found out last week when I went to take some photos of some card to upload here. It completely slipped my mind that I could have scanned the card, until just now.

• Stamp set – Brocade Basics
• Card Stock – Pink Passion, Orchid Opulence, Blush Blossom
• Ink – Pink Passion, Pixie Pink, Orchid Opulence, Pale Plum, Versamark
• Accessories – Clear embossing powder.

Onto the Bluch Blossom CS I stamped the vine in Passion Pink and then overstamped the vine again with versamark and clear embossing powder. Then, using the emboss resist technique, I randomly sponged the dye inks over the images. Once I was satisfied with the sponging, I finished off the card front by stamping in the flowers and the scrolls.

I liked this style of stamping so much, that this was in fact my third card like this. The other two were done in different colour ways but I’ve already given them away. I challenged myself to make cards for a couple of friends in the colours they detested. The first was using Groovy Guava for my Stampin’ Up! upline Madonna. I gave it to her yesterday and she was amazed herself at how she liked the card. Groovy Guava is not my colour either, but I managed to impress myself with my creation too. LOL. The other card shall remain a mystery until the recipient has it in her hands. If she happens upon this blog she’ll know it’s for her if I mention the colour used. So mums the word for now. BTW, the other colour combo was in fact my favourite, but in the spirit of good stamping sisterhood……… (tee hee)

Satisfaction Rating – 9/10 (this is definitely my style of stamping and I did make three of them too.)