Tag and Colors Challenges

Manilla tag base. Stamped all elements in grey ink, masking as needed.  Used a mask of the border to swipe chalkboard white acrylic with a foam brush onto manilla cardstock in the triangle areas and along the side. Bird and phrase are pop-dotted.  Hat was made by swiping markers and cutting triangle shape.  Eggs were stamped on white cardstock with black ink, colored in with markers and taped down. White gel pen was used to highlight flower buds and eggs. Swished blue Distress ink onto sides with a waterbrush.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! "Nature Walk" & "Trust God", Stamper's Anonymous border (#U4-1147)

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Staz-On Stone Gray, Distress Stormy Sky

Copic Markers: (On eggs) E97 Deep Orange, E99 Baked Clay, B95 Light Grayish Cobalt, B97 Night Blue, BG72 Ice Ocean, G09 Veronese Green, G85 Verdigris, G99 Olive, BG75 Abyss Green (On bird) YooooYellow Fluorite, YR31 Light Reddish Yellow, YR21 Cream, R02 Flesh, E33 Sand, E44 Clay, W3 Warm Gray No.3

Other: Waverly acrylic Chalk white, Sekura Gelly Roll 08 white pen

Tools: Foam brush, waterbrush pen 

Challenges: Tag Tuesday Anything Goes , Color Throwdown # ctd567

(Inspiration photo/colors)

Thanks for stopping in! 

May you be blessed and may you be a blessing...  :o)

One Layer Challenge Card

Stamped flourish corner in brown ink, stippled over with yellow, then orange, then Cajun inks. Used paint pen to add white dots. Stamped tag in brown ink, coloring in/over words and reinforcement circle with black marker. Used fussy-cut masks to sponge sky around main bird, etc and top edge of card. Colored images with Copics and added white accents. Shadowed side of tag for faux-dimension with grey marker.

Bird colors inspired by the Flicker:

STAMPS: Invoke Arts "Flight Tag" (#5306-E3), Impression Obsession "Flourish 2" (#H5575)

INKS:  Stampin' Up!: Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Cajun Craze, Early Expresso, Bordering Blue, Basic Black marker.  

COPIC MARKERS: W3 Warm Gray No.3, BG72 Ice Cream, B95 Light Grayish Cobalt, YG95 Pale Olive, YG67 Moss, E71 Champagne, E44 Clay, E25 Cariba Cocoa, E07 Light Mahogany, YR21 Cream, YR24 Pale Sepia

OTHER: Judi-Kins Color Dusters, Sakura Pen-Touch 1.0mm Opaque/Permanent paint pen

CHALLENGE: Tuesday Throwdown #443 One Layer Wonder

 Thanks for stopping in!

May you be blessed and may you be a blessing...  :o)

'Less Is More' Challenge Card

STAMPS:  flowers - PSX, words - Paper Artsy (Petals Plate), tag - Inkadinkadoo

TECHNIQUES:  Clean and Simple, One Layer Only, Spotlight, colored pencils

INKS:  StazOn Jet Black, Stampin' Up! Going Gray
CHALLENGE:  Less Is More One Layer Only featuring Frames 

Not sure if this is 'less' enough - I tried to follow the guidelines at the Less Is More blog as I understood them ie. lots of white, one layer only, clean and simple, including a frame of some sort, little to no embellishments

Thanks for stopping by!

Zebra Baby

Last night was monthly Stamp Club and our theme was Wild Animals. We all make a sample card and then take along all the componants so everyone gets to make everyone else's card. It's a nice cozy little group so it's never too overwhelming.

(Click photo for more detail)

Card measures 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"

This is one of those cards that looks better in hand. The leaves are clear embossed and the white panel has score lines around it. I have to give credit to Debbie at Thinking Inking for the layout idea, and also she brought to my attention that I could use a Scor-Pal to make the embossed box around the main panel. Go check out her blog - she does amazing work!

I used VersaMark ink to stamp the leaf bkgd (Stampin' Up!) and then embossed it with fine clear detail powder. Versamark can fade over time so the embossing over it keeps it's integrity long-term.

*tip*

Nancy S. reminded me last night that if you coat a clipboard with tinfoil you can just clip your artwork to the board to emboss. The tinfoil allows for more even heating and your cs is less likely to warp. Also, wait for your heat gun to get good and hot before aiming it at the cs, and heat one area at a time, moving the nozzle along as each spot melts.

I stamped the zebra (Stamp Affair) with black Versafine, then highlighted the edges of his coat with a Tombow biege-tone marker #020. I added some shadows under his hooves with a grey-tone marker #N89. I cut this image into a rectangle and used the Scor-Pal to emboss a border all around. I then used a circle punch to make a notch as shown. I layered this to a biege panel with the same type of notch.

I pop-dotted this panel over the leaf panel and then threaded a gingham ribbon thru, tying a knot near the notch. I added a small jewelry tag edged with the beige marker and stamped with a Stampin' Up! word (Good Times set) by tying it onto the ribbon with a length of fine twine.

Then I just adhered the leaf panel to a black panel and then adhered that to a dark orange panel.

Thanks for looking!

Word Tags

I'm liking the pocket-card theme, so here's one that I did for Innovative Stamp Creations earlier this year.

Card measures 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"

I had a sheet of rubber from ISC that was all words (Scrapbook Layout sheet, I think), and I wanted to see what I could come up with using just these with no images.

I started with a scrap of bkgd cs I had made using the Watercolor Distress technique (see yesterday's post for quick description). I believe the Distress ink colors I used were Frayed Burlap and Worn Lipstick. I edged the panel with a sponge and the Burlap ink.

The tags are tucked into a premade library style pocket, but these are easily made with a little cutting, folding and corner-rounding. I edged this with a little ink, stamped it as shown, and added a wide Stampin' Up! ribbon. I tied a piece of white twine around this and added a tag by cutting a slit in the reinforcement part.

For the tags, I think I used regular size tags from an office supply store, and cut them down to get them narrower and retrimmed the corners.

*tip*

To get even corners no matter what the angle, trim one corner off, take the discarded piece, lay it on the other corner matching the edges up, draw a pencil line and cut.

I stamped each side of the tags with a word (soulmate, simplicity, etc.), and a postmark or cancellation mark (both also on the words sheet), then edged each tag with ink. I chose some coordinating ribbons and tied them on in various ways for interest. I believe I used Distress Peeled Paint in addition to the other colors mentioned.

*tip*

To get nice v-shaped points on your ribbon ends, just fold ribbon in half and use a nice sharp scissor (like for quilting - Fiskars and Tonic are my choices) and cut on the diagonal.

I adhered everything as shown and that's it - a fun, interactive card for the recipient to play with ;o).

Thanks for looking!

Happy New Year!

How's the resolutions list coming along? LOL I actually made a workable one this year which is odd for me - I usually don't even bother making one! But recently I've just felt like I needed to regroup a little bit. Best of luck with yours this year!

Here's a specialty fold card going out to my brother and his wife and family tomorrow to thank them for hosting Christmas this year. They did such an awesome job - their home is beautiful and comfy, they have lots of bathrooms for the morning rush LOL and the food was outstanding as always. It was a pleasure to be there, even counting the long drive to and from in less then ideal weather and road conditions. The older I get the more I appreciate all getting together and catching up. My brother's so talented in wood-working - he put such a fabulous 6-light votive stand he made in my "stocking" that I would have been happy to have just that! I'll try to remember to ask him if it's okay to post a photo of it here for you....

I got the layout idea for this card browsing what I think was a Papercrafts magazine at Joann's a few days ago. You may need to click on the photos below for more detail:

For this card I just cut a piece of dark kraft cs in half the long way, then rounded the corners with a Stampin' Up corner punch. I used the Scor-Pal (see yesterday's post) to score in half, then at the 1 1/2" line on one end.

I then cut a white panel to fit under this flap, and stamped it with flourishes by Stampin' Up! (Finest Flourishes set) in Versafine black and SU Cranberry Crisp from last year's In Colors. I adhered the white panel to the kraft card front, and then added punched and layered circles as shown with eyelets before adhering the kraft flap down to the cardfront. I tucked a little embroidery floss under one eyelet and wound it around as shown, tucking the end under a circle.

*tip*

If you don't have the color eyelets or brads you need for your project (I couldn't believe I didn't have any black!) just use a permanant ink to color them. Here I had silver eyelets and used a Slick Writer in black. You could also try alcohol inks, Sharpies, embossing ink and powder or nail polish.

I cut a red rectangle from textured cs and rounded the corners, then did the same with a white piece. I stamped thank you (SU Sincere Salutations set) in the black ink, and the swirl in the Cranberry. I adhered these as shown over the flap.

For the pull out tag panel, I cut a white panel narrow enough to clear the double-stick tape holding the kraft card together along the sides. I stamped a swirl on the bottom in black in, then punched a few coordinating circles for the tab. The red is a half circle glued down, and there are two kraft cs circles back to back with a looped ribbon and the brad prongs tucked between.

*tip*

When mailing a card like this where there are some embellishments that stick up a bit, either put a scrap piece of cs the same size as your card over them in the envelope, or apply clear packing tape to the outside of the envelope where they rest to avoid tearing while going thru the mail system.

Thanks for looking!

Faux Layers Snow Children Tags

I have been desperately wanting to make a Faux Layers card ever since I saw one posted to a group a few months back. And I finally have!

This cardfront is literally one sheet of white cardstock. The layered look is achieved by careful placement of color and shadow.

Card measures 51/2" x 4 1/4"

(click for more detail)

This is one of the 12 new techniques in the December 2007 TechniqueJunkies newsletter. I really hope anyone not already subscribed will consider it - you can't spend $20 any better in the stamping world! My brother was kind enough to buy a one year subscription for me last Christmas and I'm not exagerating when I say it has totally changed my stamping for the better. Every other month you recieve a color newletter in the mail with all techniques, steps and sample photos, and then access to the website subscriber-only pages where you get full color step-by-step photos with written directions for each technique, PLUS a page of artwork by the awesome TJ designers so you know what your finished artwork should resemble LOL It's just an awesome resource and really one of those things where after you do it you groan "Why didn't I do this sooner?!"

This card is an unusually complicated one to describe, although easy enough to do IRL (15 TJ steps compared to the usual 6 or so!) but the page on the TJ website couldn't be clearer. If you "join" TJ it's with the agreement that you won't use her words or photos and repost her material, so of course out of respect I need to just direct you to TechniqueJunkies on this one. I'm pretty sure if you join anytime this month and request it she'll be willing to start your subscription with the December issue. If you've got ants in your pants >;o) try Googling Faux Layers Card, or check Splitcoaststampers technique page...

The basic idea as you've probably figured is to use masking, and reverse masking. I didn't have a tag punch so I made rectangles and used a hole punch for the rounded area. For colors on this card I used last year's Stampin' Up! In Colors, and then a blender pen and sponge to apply.

Stamp credits: kids and small snowflake grouping are Stampin' Up!'s Winter Play set, large snowflake is Northwoods, tiny single snowflake is imaginations!, greeting is Savvy, ribbons are Inky Antics Ravishing Ribbons set, and flourish is Flourishes v:I by Rhonna Farrer for Autumn Leaves.

Hope you enjoyed looking as much as I enjoyed doing!! :o)

Circle Punch tutorial

Good morning! Hope your Sunday is off to a good start, and that you'll have some time to rest, relax, reflect, worship, stamp, etc! :o)

We had our first ground-covering snowfall here yesterday, 4" maybe, and now all the trees are covered - the pines are especially beautiful. All that shoveling got me in a Christmasy mood so I came in last night and put up a bunch of decorations - nothing fancy, just some lighted garland over the tops of our large LR furniture, decorative garland around mirrors, a nativity scene, some red berry stems, a clock that plays a traditional Christmas song on the hour, etc. Not sure about a tree yet - we're spacially challenged here (not a lot of square footage! LOL)

Do you have any circle punches lying around? Today I thought I'd share a little experiment with you. A while back I was so enamored with circle punches that I used every coupon for months stocking up on various sizes! (with little thought as to where I would put them all when I got home with them) LOL

Here are the results of my thinking "Hmmm....wonder how many ways I could use my circle punches?" I sat down with all the sizes of punches and made a prototype atc for each idea and put them in pages that hold baseball cards (nine pockets a page) in a three ring binder (yes, I use them for everything!! LOL) I can flip thru this and refer back anytime for ideas. I do the same thing with other topics which I'll try to remember to share in future.

Keep in mind these are all thrown together with scrap cs and not meant to be a finished item - more like a template.

1. I cut squares, then cut them on the diagonal, then punched the center for a photo corner effect.

2. I punched a circle, edged the it with brown ink, then folded one side over the other.

3. I folded the circles in half, glued the bottom side to a base atc, and the inside half to a white panel so the circles work as a hinge and the panel opens.

4. I punched two atc's at the same time, then 2 smaller circles. I adhered fine string between the two white circles, then adhered the string between the two atc bases so the white circle spins freely.

5. I punched four holes in white panel, threaded ribbon thru, and glued panel to atc (this holds the ribbon in place pretty well).

6. This is just a faux metal rimmed tag, made by edging a white circle punched as shown with a silver pen, then pop-dotting it for dimension.

7. These are two graduated circles attached to flap panels with eyelets. There is a piece of thin cording anchored under one circle so you can thread it around as a closure. Quick tip: place a smaller circle under the larger one as well as on top before closing eyelet and you'll have more room to wind the cording.

8. For this one, you can either use a slit punch to get the effect shown, or punch three circles and attach an eyelet as shown when attaching the circles to the white "tag", which pulls out of the pocket with the circles as the tab.



9. Pretty self-explainitory - waste not, want not LOL! Provides a cool retro feel.

10. CS buttons, tied on with embroidery floss *tip* for dimension, glue a smaller circle of cs to bottom of button before punching.

11. The black is a circle, then the white circle swings open using the brad as a pivot.

12. This is four circles - two white edged with black, and two black edged with white.

13. This is a cool effect. Stamp the same image twice. Punch one with a large punch, then mark the center of the punched out piece and punch again with a smaller circle punch. Mount as shown over the base image using pop-dots.

14. Pretty self-explainitory, just using the punches as a tag reinforcement to add interest.

15. This is a circle folded in half, then a ribbon folded over front and back, adhered with a brad, to make a tab on a mini-tag.

16. This one is using the spotlight technique, where a circle from a main image is colored and pop-dotted over the original image.

17. Olives!

18. Frosty!

19. A quick and easy way to frame with no fancy corner punches. *tip* If you draw a line across each corner first in pencil, you can line the punch up with this for even corners.

20. Punch any scrap randomly and glue the piece to a base and the color shows thru. *tip* Save the punched out circles for confetti.

21. A quick tag for stringing onto ribbon.

22. A slit cut in the center of the circles makes for different photo corners.

23. A circle cut in quarters, and you can layer them on top of the top panel or under it for totally different looks.

24. Kind of a reverse spotlight effect.

25. A spinner. Note that you can punch tiny circles in the edge for a gear effect to make turning easier. The white circle spins on the brad, just make sure you punch the spinning circle exactly in the center or it'll wobble and be off-kilter.

26. Make use of your alphabet stamps lingering lonesomely! A simple circle punch, a different color cs and pop-dots will add interest. *tip* try mixing different alphabets on the same word.

27. For these 3D flowers, cut slits as shown from edges to center, leaving an uncut circle in the center which will get covered by the smaller punched circle adhered to it. The leaves are circles cut in half.

Hope this inspires you to go dig out those punches and add them to your stamping techniques...

Thanks for looking!

Faux Travel Tag

This travel themed card features a faux tag. I've got a scan and a photo, to show you how the gold highlights glow irl.

Card measures 4 1/2" x 5 3/4"

I started by stamping the tag (Inkadinkado) in black ink on a piece of tan cs. I stamped the tag again on a large piece of copy paper, trimmed out the center and laid this over the tan cs, tacking it down with a piece of masking tape.

*tip*
Any time you want to use tape to temporarily tack your cs, take a fresh piece of tape, press it down lightly on your pants to get it slightly fuzzy and you won't risk tearing your cs when removing it.

Then I stamped the Italian postage stamp at an angle, and the postmark and cancelation over this (these stamps by Hero Arts, International Tour de Luxe set). Leaving the mask in place I chalked the images and the inside edge of the tag. Making another mask by stamping the postmark and stamp on small post-its and trimming around them, and tacking over the same images, I inked up the lettering stamp with Brilliance Galaxy Gold and stamped it as shown over the body of the tag. I took the masks off, highlighted the stamp border with a Marvy DecoColor Opaque Paint Marker Extra Fine in gold, and drew a shadow around the tag with a Tombo #530 grey marker. I freehand tore the cs around the shape of the stamped tag.

I stamped the vintage postmarks (Just For Fun) with Versamark on a rust colored panel, and then edged the panel with the gold ink, direct from the pad. Then I layered two strips of black cs edged with the Brilliance gold ink over it as shown. I trimmed one end to a squared off point, folded it over and tacked it down with an antique copper brad. I tucked the torn-edge panel under this, and then stamped Journey (Rubber Stampede) in the bottom corner with black ink.

The rust panel is layered on a brown panel, and that's layered onto a flecked light brown panel.

Thanks for looking!

Watercolor Tag

Happy Saturday :o) Thanks to all for the wonderful comments. Just one more day till I draw a name from the comments left this week to see who gets their choice of the cards posted thru-out the past week (see sidebar)!

Card measures 5 1/2" x 4 1/2"

For this card I started with a plain white tag as shown.

*tip*

If you need tags but don't have any, just cut a rectangle of cs, trim one corner however you'd like, then take that scrap and use it to draw a line on the other corner so you'll know exactly where to cut to get them both the same. Then using a circle punch, punch any color scrap, glue this down top and center, and then use a smaller punch to punch thru the circle scrap and tag to get the reinforced hole appearance.

To get the floral image I used a Stampin' Up! stamp from the Happy Harmony set. I grabbed a set of opaque cake watercolor paints and a wet paintbrush and painted directly on the stamp with the watercolors. Make sure there's enough water to keep the stamp wet till you stamp, or mist the watercolored stamp lightly with water if it gets too dry.

*tip*

Start with the lighter color first, and stamp on the same type of paper once to make sure the colors work together. The colors will look a bit different when dry.

When the image on the tag has dried, ink up the quote stamp from the same set with black ink (I like the deep saturation of the Versafine ink these days). Edge the tag with a pink chalk inkpad in a corresponding shade directly from the pad. Tie a ribbon thru the tag hole, and set aside.

Cut a strip of green cs to match the stems and use black ink to stamp the harlequin bkgd (Stampin' Up!)

*tip*

When I'm using a portion of a large stamp I like to stamp on a bigger piece of cs than I need and then trim it down, rather than trying to line something up perfectly with the edges.

The last step is to use the same method described in yesterday's post to make a watercolor distress background in Distress Olive Green. Tear the edges, tack down on black cs and layer as shown.

Thanks for looking!