Cracked Frame

Card design number two from our Cracked Glass technique class.


This one used the En Francis Stamp set on the Certainly Celery background stamped with Versamark and Embossed with clear to add texture and distressed the edges with the Cutter tool.

Than using the Large Oval Bigz die we cut out the Watercolor paper and stamped the Because I care image with Staz On and than used our Watercolor Wonder Crayons to color in the Hydrangea and sponged around the edge using Soft Suede for a antique look.

Than we covered with Versamark and the Glassy Glaze emboss powder - now when I did it I only needed 3 coats - however the ladies in the class seemed to need 4 coats to get the 'cracking effect' so it must depend on how thick you can get your powder to stick to the Versamark and how much blows off?

To finish up the card we sponged Cherry Cobbler on the outer portion of the frame and adorned half back pearls to the frame portion and than added the Thank you sentiment with a few more coordinating pearls .... it really turned out to be a striking card and this technique was a huge hit with the group!

If you are looking for a fun night out - the Totallyawake4 Technique Tuesdays are a blast with some great company around the stampin table and lots of new and unique ways to use Stampin' products!

So come on out and join the fun - we would love to add another chair to the group ;)

Bare Essential Challenge

This is a card inspired from our April Team Challenge combined with the Clean and Simple layout ... our Team challenge was to create a card using one stamp set, one ink color, one embellishment and two cardstock colors...those of you who know my card making style know how much of a challenge that really was for me - but I managed with a little creative 're-inking'!

I chose for my Stamp set the Because I care set, for my one ink color I chose Certainly Celery, my one embellishment is the 'connected strip' of Rhinestones which I cut three off of and my two colors of cardstock are Old Olive and Whisper White!

So now looking at my card you are likely thinking HEY there are more than two colors there ... that is where re - inking comes in .... I used my brayer on my Whisper White cardstock to create two tones of Certainly celery on my second layer background image and than stamped the Because I care hydrangea on the lighter side!

I also used the brayer on the paper ribbon I cut out to make it look like it was Certainly Celery cardstock as well and than stamped the sentiment on Whisper white with the Rhinestones for that added flare!

I admit that the Clean and Simple challenges are always a true challenge for me - but are VERY helpful in inspiring me to be creating the quick and easy cards for classes and workshops!

Thanks for stopping by!

My Open House - a 'business warming' party!

WOW ... I had an awesome busy weekend so my apologizes for not posting on the blog this weekend.

I had my first open house 'business warming party' and my thanks to everyone who was able to come out to support me I had an awesome time and hope everyone else did as well!

We made two cards this is the first one featuring the Because I Care hostess stamp and showcasing the corner punch and ornament punch and colour spritzer tool - which rocks for making a 'antiqued' looking paper depending on the colour choices!

Our second card features the Elements of Style stamp set and showcased the ease of the Big Shot and the Daisies 2 bigz die as well as the ticket corner punch.

I wasn't sure how I was going to fit everyone into my little living dining room while still creating an 'inviting space' but I hope I pulled it off!

Even carved out a little niche for a card and project display for people to peruse to get inspiration on how Stampin' Up! products can be used to create wonderful unique cards!

And well not social gathering will be complete without some yummy food for sharing over great conversation and card making .... thanks again to family and friends for making my open house a success ;-)

This is cool - follow up from my sneak peek

This was so much FUN for me last night .... making your own designer series paper and turning it to 5 coordinating cards ... going to be making a lot of these in the near future to prepare for the Run for the Cure fundraiser!

First you choose a 'color scheme' for your card. I chose Blushing Bride, Regal Rose, Melon Mambo and Whisper White ... a think pink theme for the Breast Cancer awareness!

Than you take a 6x6 piece of card stock and choose a stamp set for your background to work with - I chose Vintage Vogue.

You than stamp your background in the lightest color and the largest stamp you are going to use ... so in this case I chose Versamark for the vines from the set for the very back ground.

Next choose your next shade of ink and your next largest stamp image - so in this case I chose Whisper White ink and the flowers from the Vintage Vogue Set.

Than you use the Quarter Wonder page cutting dimensions from Sharon's website http://createdbyu.blogspot.com/2010/06/quarter-sheet-wonder-tutorial.html to cut and prep your paper ... and finally you have fun creating your cards ... so here are my 5 card samples

Finally with a few scorelines and a couple cuts - you can even make a little box out of paper and decorate it up for a little 'gift package' for someone .... project complete ... and in one night I made FOUR of these little beauties to add to my fund raising pile!

Because I Care ... more

A classic Black and White with a little Cherry on top ... this hydrangea is just so pretty and I love how you can water colour it to give it more pop factor or just stamp it for a subtle look!

Here I have water coloured it with Cherry Cobbler and the Stampin' Up! Aqua painter - awesome tool by the way! The leaves are Old Olive and the little bird who stopped by to smell the flowers is from our Two Step Bird punch ... and is sponged with Cherry Cobbler and the eye is a dab of black marker and a dab of white gel pen! Also threw in some half backed pearls as well!

Hope you like it ... had a lot of fun creating this one!

Because I Care ...

I have a feeling I am going to LOVE this set as well ... this is a sneak peek set from the upcoming July 2010 catty ... a Level One Hostess gift you earn FREE from hosting a qualifying workshop!

This is a card I made for my 'Shoebox Card Swap' tonight with the other demonstrators in my up-line team ... this is my first Shoebox Card Swap - but it sounds like lots of fun!

Everyone brings one card sample and all the materials needed to make the card neatly organized in a shoebox and then you pass the shoe boxes around the table , make a card from each and at the end of the night you have many unique card samples for sharing at workshops or if you are not a demo for sending to loved ones! What a great way to experience stamp sets you might not own yet!

Front of Card
Inside of the Card