Totally Techniques II

Since we held this class yesterday I thought I would go ahead and show the samples that I created for the class.

FAUX STITCHINGYou can see the tools needed to complete this technique in the picture: Mat Pack, Paper Piercer, and a Gel Pen. The stamp set I chose for this technique is SU's Pick A Petal. I stamped the petals in Lavendar Lace Ink on Whisper White cardstock and then cut them out leaving a 1/8" border on each petal. You can use the Pick a Petal Classy Brass Stencil to outline your stamped petal on the white cardstock before you cut it out, but I didn't want to worry about pencil lines. After I adhered the petals to the Ballet Blue CS, I did use the classy brass stencil for the paper piercing placement (say that 3X fast!). The gel pen is used to "connect the dots" thereby creating the effect of stitching or quilting. I used the mat pack in the corner to put in two small rows of dots and then used a cross-stitch in white get pen. To finish, I stamped the circle image on Lavendar Lace CS and then punched it out with the 1 3/8" circle punch. The background paper is Barely Banana CS.

PINWHEEL CARD

You really don't get the full dimensional feel of this card from the picture. This is a combination of punching and origami and it really is not hard. You need the large tag punch and some double-sided designer paper - in this case I used SU's Berry Bliss (I love this paper!!!!). Punch eight tags out of the paper you desire. Let me add a side-bar here. I am very stingy with my paper. In other words, when I punch, I generally start in the corner and punch very closely to one another in order to cut down on the scrap that's created and have as much remaining paper as possible. What I'm trying to say is - don't take your punch and punch in the middle of the paper. You may need or want a larger piece of that paper for something else and the less you waste the better. The fold is very simple, fold diagonally across first and then fold that piece back down towards the center. Make sure that all the pieces are folded in the same direction. Adhere your ribbon (SU's double-stitched Purely Pomegranate) to the cardstock for the stem. Then add your tag petals butting each one up to the next. I do the top half first, sliding the tags slightly under each other so that there is a definite horizontal line visible, and then add the last four tags. The sentiment is a stamped from the Circle of Friendship stamp set. The background is Pretty in Pink CS mounted on Purely Pomegranate using the ticket corner punch on the PiP CS.

SPLIT IMAGE

Isn't this eye-catching? Start with equal-sized pieces of black and white cardstock. I use a post-it-note turned upside-down to line up the two pieces on. Make sure to use your embossing buddy to get rid of the static for this one - especially since it is a line image. You don't want any stray dots of embossing powder on this one. Ink your stamp up with VersaMark Ink - the stamp set used in this sample is from the '08 Sale-A-Bration brochure - Friendship Blooms. Use black embossing powder (EP) on the white paper and white EP on the black paper. Get out your trusty heat gun and emboss. Mount the pieces side-by-side on your background (Regal Rose used here). I then added some Certainly Celery 1/4" grosgrain and a knot of black gingham across the bottom. The leaves are stamped in Certainly Celerly ink on Cert. Celery CS and cut out. Finally, use a black marker to highlight the word Friendship from the sentiment stamp in the same set and stamp in the margin on the bottom.

VERSAMARK PEN

I have to say, that until we decided to do this technique I had never done it before. In fact, I didn't even own a VersaMarker Pen. Well, was I missing out!!! This is a very versatile tool to have. Not only can you use it in the way that I have in this sample, but you can also use it to draw with, add journaling, or even touch up larger solid embossed images. I used the Time Well Spent stamp set on this sample. This set was given to all the Stampin' Up demos before the holidays and I am really thankful for this gift. If you want it, however, you will have to hostess a party and qualify with sales for a Level II Hostess set. The CS that I used: Soft Sky, Groovy Guava, and Rose Red. The inks used were Blue Bayou, Groovy Guava, and Rose Red. The ribbon is SU's Soft Sky double-stitched. The VersaMark pen was used to color in the work "FRIEND" and to darken certain areas of the large flower to give it the effect of having more layers. I used several punches on this sample starting with the 1/4" circle for the groovy guava dots in the little flowers on the sentiment. (If you want to punch this up a little, use some Crystal Effects on the little circles - makes them shiny!!!!) And I used the crop-a-dile to punch the holes in the large flower where the stamens are (or are they the pistils?) - you know the thingies in the middle of the flower. I punched a scallop out of the Soft Sky for the back of the flower so you can see that color through the punches in the large one.

Just a note about all of the these samples - they are samples which means with the exception of the pinwheel card, none of them are "card size" . They could be added to CS to make a card, but generally you would use the technique on standard size CS so you could used it for a card.

Happy Valentine's Day

Yes, I'm a day late with the wish but it was a very busy day and I was exhausted last night. I got the most beautiful flower arrangement from my DH delivered to me at work. I had told him earlier in the week not to do that, but he had it already arranged. He uses the Branchburg Florist and they always do a great job on the flowers for a couple of reasons. One, I work in a school office, so what better advertisement for their work than a display in a pretty well travelled place. And secondly, when I was a teacher substitute (for 15 yrs. !!!) I had one or more of the owner's children and apparently they liked me and remember me. At least that's what I've been told. We didn't go out to dinner, instead he had his beloved pizza and I got one of the Angus burgers from MacDonald's. If you haven't tried them, they're delicious.

I did manage to stay up until 1 a.m. the night before finishing my V'day projects and I did take pics -

I didn't make the pretzels - thank our local Shop Rite for that - but they are enclosed in a CD holder that I decorated in Real Read using the Priceless set from Stampin' Up. The belly band is in Real Red CS and the little heart is again from Priceless and just slipped behind the sentiment. When I do these, I usually wrap the food item in plastic before I insert it into the envie so that the oils, if there are any, don't stain the packaging.

Then there were the altered Starbucks bottles for my office cohorts -

Frank (my principal) and Carol (his secretary) got M&M's and Cherry Kisses inside bottles that I decorated with Stampin' Up's Berry Bliss designer paper. I added a Chocolate Chip ribbon for the masculine one and Purely Pomegranate for the feminine one.

And then there were these marshmallow treats that I sent to a few friends -

Again, the heart was stamped using SU's priceless in Real Read, then cut out and glued to a Real Red punched scallop. I used the paper piercer on the small scallop. Then I punched out the large white and red scallops using my mega and giga scallop punches (which were a Christmas gift in '06) to make the sandwich. It was real easy to stack all the megas together and punch the ribbon holes with the crop-a-dile and do the same with the gigas. That tool is the easiest for punches. The labor here was using the 1/16" hand punch on the scallops of the white one. Each punched scallop had to be done separately - doing more than one at a time was hurting. But it was worth it when you look at the finished product. I just tied it all together with some white satin 1/4" ribbon from Mike's. You can't really see from the picture, but the smaller red scallop on top is popped up with dimensionals and the ribbon is slid behind it and tied between the layers.

Valentine Tea Lights

My initials are LM and I swear that stands for "Last Minute" because here I am two days before Valentine's Day and I don't have my Valentine's finished. I am done with these little tea lights though, thanks to my upline Debbie. I got this idea from her you see. Aren't they cute!! The tea lights were in the V-Day section at Walmart - 16 to a package so now I have to determine who the lucky 16 will be.

If you look closely you'll see the SU scallop punch behind the tea light in Real Read and the leaves that were stamped with Wild Wasabi on Certainly Celery are from the Time Well Spent Hostess set. The Happy Valentine's Day at the top is also an SU stamp and I did use the Word Window Punch but the sentiment is a little longer than the length of the punch so you have to cut your stock to 3/8" first, then stamp, and then feed the stamped strip into the punch to punch the ends. It takes a little time, but it's well worth it.

Here's a close up:

Winter Gathering Swap

This is the card (front) that I made to swap at the Inkredibles Winter Gathering that was held this past Saturday. My Stampin' Up Upline Debbie is an East Coast Orphan which means that her Upline lives too far away to give her one-on-one assistance building her business. So this wonderful group "The Inkredibles" led by an equally wonderful woman named Tina have adopted us. We are called the Paperazzi. And, I am lucky enough to be able to also take part in their events. There were more than 60 demonstrators at the event on Saturday and there were great swaps, demonstrations, and an information session that has sparked me to start this blog.

Here's the recipe for the card that I swapped: (All Stampin' Up Materials)
Stamps: A Little Birdie Told Me, Pretty Petals
Paper: Confetti White, Certainly Celery, Brilliant Blue, Ballet Blue, Cameo Coral, Black
Ink: Black Stazon, Ballet Blue, Cameo Coral, Tempting Turquoise, Versamark
Additional: Cert. Celery 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, large oval, photo corner, and 1/4" punches
I used my aquapainter to color the little bird, and yes, he is colored as a true Eastern Bluebird should be. The punch bird is actually hinged at the top of his head with just a paper hinge, so that when you pull up on his beak you can read the message on the inside.

OK - Here We Go

Welcome to Paper Vernissage. I guess I should start off and explain the title. Well, the "Paper" part of it comes from my latest medium of choice - paper. Be it cardstock, scrapbooking, wrapping, tissue, handmade, whatever. Paper is easy to come by and for the most part, it is easy to create with. And "Vernissage" is a one person art show. Fitting, don't you think! I hope to be able to figure this blogging thing out and share my latest creations. Wish me luck!