Triumphant Technique Tuesday

Had a blast this week with our Faux Patina technique class ~ I just LOVE the vintage look of this technique and it is so quick and easy to do yet yeilds a stunningly beautiful effect card recievers will think you worked for hours to create this beauty! 

The card to the left here features our elegant bouquet embossing folder and the color combination of Crumb Cake, Brown Sugar, Coastal Cabana and Early Espresso with a little simmering accent Champange glimmer paper punched with the Elegant  Butterfly and a splash of color with the Itty Bitty butterfly punch overlaid and some half back pearls to give it some bling and the sentiment is from Perfectly Penned!

Than this beauty over here to the right just looks so striking specially in person ~ like a shimmery copper! 

Showcasing our Honeycomb embossing folder with the color scheme of Crumb cake, Brown Sugar, Crisp Canteloupe and Cajun craze this card also features my FAVORITE stamp set at the moment ~ Secret Garden which comes with some amazing Edgelit die cuts to allow you to quickly cut the flowers out if you'd like ~ I have some cards coming up later this week that showcase just how gorgeous this set is and how fun it is to water color ... just look at these gorgeous flowers and shimmery coppery effect ... and the little butterfly is divine who would not feel extra special opening up an envelope and finding this beauty ... you too could be giving out gorgeous cards like this just come out to a class and check it out?

Would also like to extend a warm welcome to a new friend and wonderful talent joining the stamping table ~ Sherry from Sherry's Custom Cakes! I am not sure who is more excited about the idea but Sherry is going to be combing Stampin' with her cake making PLUS she also features GLUTEN FREE cakes .... which well let me tell you has me tickled pink with anticipation to have both my favorite things in one place stamps and gluten free baking ... I think I am in heaven! 

Please remember to stop by my current steals and deals album on Facebook to see promotions that are going on for the month of August!

Happy Stampin;

Margaret

Peekaboo Embossing - how to!

I have had quite a few inquiries on just how I had been doing my Peekaboo Embossing cards this past week - a fun new variation on an embossing technique I have been playing with for January where a stamped image peeks out behind an embossed one.

So here is the 6x6 technique card that my customers received at this months Technique Tuesday class ... fits perfectly inside a 6x6 album to create a 'inspiration book' for stampers as the attend additional classes each month.

I hope the instructions are viewable on the close up here ... the back of the card has the 'traditional variation' directions for braying the recessed side on an embossing folder to give the two toned embossed look which was the spring board for this variation with 'stamping' instead.

Sharing also with the Stampin' Up Only Challenge blog whose New Years Challenge is to try new techniques to push out of the comfort 'go to' techniques we tend to fall back on ... I myself love trying new stuff which is why Technique Tuesday is one of my favorite classes to host each month - there are just so many awesome ways to paper craft out there!

Happy Stampin'

Margaret

Enchanting Freshly Made ...

Loving this new Sale-bration designer series paper... Everyday Enchanted ... features many of the 2012 In Colors ... which I picked out the Calypso Coral and Lucky Limeade and new Labels Collection Framelit to accent this card with...and yet another 'peekaboo embossing' technique with the grass from the Inspired by Nature set peeking out behind the Elegant Bouquet embossed image as well as the Polka Dots peeking out on the Flight of the Butterfly image.

BTW ... just loving the gorgeous ribbon and matching brads available for free in the Sale-a-bration catty as well - very elegant and subtle addition to a project! 

I did not make the cut of to submit this card over at the Freshly Made website - but pop on over and see the other wonderful entries!

Happy Stampin'
Margaret

Doing the Mash ...

 This card layout inspired by the Friday MashUp from last week ... which I used to explore some more 'peekaboo embossing' techniques with in preparation for tomorrow nights Technique Tuesday class ... just loving this technique with stampin' on the embossing folders!

This card features paper, Big Shot dies and stamp set items from both the upcoming Occasions Mini as well as the Sale-a-bration catties!

Hop on over to the Friday Mashup to check out what the other ladies have created with this layout!

Happy New Year Stampers

Sending out lots of Happy New Year blessing to all my blog hopping friends - 2011 has been a truly amazing year and I am looking forward to having an awesome healthy and prosperous 2012 ~ and send out the same wish for all of you!

Having some fun with challenges this week while trying out my sneak peak goodies from the upcoming Occasion's mini as well as Sale-a-bration items for next month! 

This is another 'peekaboo embossing' technique I used hiding the butterflies behind the Elegant Bouquet embossed image ... just loving the new Framelits from Stampin' Up!

This gorgeous ribbon and brad is available as of January 24th for FREE during Sale-a-bration! 

 My layout was inspired from the wonderful Design Team over at Stamping 411 ... head on over and check out what everyone else came up with!

Happy Stampin'
Margaret

Technique Tuesday - Selective Embossing

Thought I would share the Technique Card we made at our last class ... each participant gets a 6x6 sample with instructions for their Inspiration book to recollect on later....this card showcased the Cottage Garden stamp set with the Square Lattice, Designer Frames and Elegant Bouquet emboss folders.

With the sample we practice a couple of things from negative selective embossing to create the stampable rectangle space on the pink square lattice embossed cardstock for our sentiment to 'double embossing' as seen here with the Designer Frames with the Elegant Bouquet embossed inside it!

Happy Stampin'

Designer Framed Elegant Bouquet

Yup - yet another Selective Embossing offering - having so much fun playing with this technique - the color combo is Melon Mambo and Pretty in Pink  with a hint of Wild Wasabi!

The back layer of card is stamped with flowers from Cottage Garden stamp set in Melon Mambo on the Pretty in Pink cardstock which is then run through the Square Lattice emboss folder and a strip of Whisper White attached after it was punched with the Scallop Trim punch.

Then the magic happens ... the Whisper White square was run through the Designer Frame to get our frame and than I reran it through the Elegant Bouquet using selective embossing to place the flowers inside the frame and hand cut around the frame to create the floral accent point on the card but before it was popped up on a couple dimensionals I had some fun with the floral frame...

... by playing with the Versamarker ... I heat embossed the various parts of the frame with different embossing powders ... Silver on the frame, Wild Wasabi on the stems and Melon Mambo flowers and than added a little more bling with some Rhinestones!

Happy Stampin'

Butterfly Wing Hybrd

Another card from last weeks Stamp a Stack ... I just love the way this one turned out and cannot wait to send it out to someone!

This card features the Elegant Bouquet emboss folder sponged with Melon Mambo and Old Olive embellished with Butterfly Wings Embosslit to make a rainbow of butterflies and a hybrid sentiment done with the Medium Oval punch and highlighted with the Melon Mambo Scallop Oval and some pretty little half back pearls for bling to finish it off!

Up close of the hybrid sentiment done in My Digital Studio ... one of my challenges as a demo is that sometimes I tend to be drawn to the 'image stamp sets' and therefore do not have as large a selection of sentiments ... making the hybrid cards allows some wonderful versatility in creating personalized sentiments that fit right into our punches as well as using the 'designer stamp' sentiments ... this hybrid sentiment features the stamp from Chat Room Thoughts of You and Artistic Etchings.

More Run for the Cure Cards

This first card is one of the cards from the Stamp for the Cure fundraiser afternoon hosted by Caroline Locke. Done up using the Elegant Bouquet and scallop circle punch and the 1 3/4 circle punch and the Ribbon of Hope with Pretty and Pink.

So I chose to CASE the initial card - which means to copy and share elsewhere - I wondered what it would look like with some Bling ... so I changed the orientation of the next card and glittered up the embossed flowers on the Elegant Bouquet!

Plenty of Pansies!

This spring I planted a Pansie garden with the daycare kids and was totally inspired by their colors as they bloomed this past week that I wanted to create a card in their honor.

So off to Google I went to see if there were any Stampin' Up! techniques already out there inspired by pansies ... cause why recreate the wheel if someone else has already done it ... so as I was online in came an email from my up line mentor Liz Goldhawk with her upcoming technique class - and I couldn't believe my eyes ... she was featuring Pansies!

So once again karma answered my call and brought me what I needed into my life!

So after attending the class I came home to work on the following with my original Pansie inspirations!

A Cajun Craze and Daffodil Delight Inspired Colour Combo:

A Concord Crush and Daffodil Delight combination:

A Night of Navy, Brocade Blue and Daffodil Delight inspiration:

And a wonderful Real Red and Daffodil Delight creation:

I am so totally in love with this Pansie technique ... while some of the youtube videos I Googled showed the use of the re-inkers and involved soaking the paper and well 'mess' plus way more time in waiting for the Pansie's to dry before you can assemble ... this one used sponging and allows for much more control of ink placement and colour blending ... and well anyone who knows me knows that I totally prefer the control!

This technique is sure to become a favorite of mine ... I am excited to combine it with some fairy cards and butterfly cards cause well it is just so 'magical' creating them ... no two are the same!