Penny Black Filigree Tree

Over on the Penny Black blog they are having a challenge to make a Christmas card in July this week. I managed to find a few minutes to get one whipped up. I have loved this tree image ever since I saw it a few years back, so elegant! I began the card by embossing the tree twice with clear embossing ink and then embossing them with clear embossing powder for some extra intrest in the background. I then embossed the tree slightly to the right of the center with Crafty Capers Silver Rainbow embossing powder (it has a nice sparkle to it in real life). I added two strips of Be Creative tape and applied Glitter Ritz glitter to them (Liberty Blue). I stamped the sentiment (Penny Black Holiday Cheer) with Ranger's Adirondack Denim dye ink on a 1/2 of a Spellbinders Labels 8. I hid the edge of the label with a piece of Hero Arts ribbon. I added clear gems to the tree and the sentiment piece then used my Tombow Glue pen to add stars to the sky and glittered them up with Glitter Ritz Warm Highlight.
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Butterfly Garden

Managed to get a quick card made over the weekend and judging by my theme I'd say perfect timing since it seems (fingers crossed) summer has finally arrived in the Pacific North West!
I began by stamping Butterfly Garden stamp set by Just Rite on a piece of My Minds Eye Lime Twist paper (flowery side) I colored the butterfly with my Tombow markers (colors used: 528, 985, 391 and N00). I used my Spellbinder circles to cut out the image. I stamped the sentiment (also in the Just Rite set) on a piece of coordinating blue cardstock.
I matted everything as shown using the back side of the My Minds Eye paper I used to stamp the image on. I think I have mentioned how much I LOVE this blue wood grain pattern!! I added some yellow butterfly eyelets which I have had forever but are still available! To finish off the butterfly I used some yellow Liquid Pearls and faded jeans Stickles by Ranger.
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Burnished Velvet Sizzix style

I managed a few minutes to play with the Sizzix Ink It plates with Be Creative tape and Glitter Ritz this week. Love how it turned out! More subtle than the Fun Flock but still lovely. I cut out a frame with my Spellbinder Labels 1 and Classic Ovals then applied some Be Creative tape over the whole thing and added Mystique glitter from the limited edition Mardi Gras glitter pack. Then I pulled out my Sizzix Ink It plate and applied Versamagic Cloud White ink to the plate. I ran the sandwich through my Cuttlebug machine. I got this subtle burnished velvet look. I stamped some clear Hero Arts leaves in the middle of my frame with Memento Bahama Blue ink. Added a Just Rite sentiment (Victorian Sentiments) and a green border using my NEW Parisian Accents Spellbinder set. I thought the green border needed something so I took my Tombow Glue pen and added some Mystique glitter dots on the border to tie it in a bit better. Thanks everyone for looking.

Stampendous Fun Flock with Sizzix Ink It plates

I'm very excited to show you this card because I came up with this technique by myself! No Youtubing or anything! LOL You saw it here first. I was in the shop one morning and wondered how Stampendous Fun Flock would work with the Ink It plates. They work out very cool as it turns out! I started out by applying a piece of Be Creative tape to a piece of light purple Bazzill cardstock. I dumped Stampendous Lavish Lilac Fun Flock onto the exposed tape. I pressed the flock onto the tape. It needs quite a bit of pressure to get a good full flock coverage so no being lazy and not pressing the flock into the tape! I then ran the Ink It plate Rustic Trellis through my Cuttlebug a couple of times to the entire piece of cardstock was covered with a beautiful embossed design. The finished result looks like embossed velvet! Beautiful! I used my Spellbinder Classic smooth and scallop ovals and stamped my Hero Arts sentiment with Memories Lavender ink. I cut out 2 corners from the Spellbinder die set Parisian Accents using gold glossy cardstock. The ribbon is one of the Hero Arts Hero Hues Ribbon. We also tried this technique with the Be Creative tape, Glitter Ritz and Brillance ink during the Saturday demo and it was pretty fabulous as well. I hope to get a card made up with this technique in the near future.

Perfect Pearls with Ink Its

Here is another card done with the new Sizzix Ink Its plates. This time I applied Ranger's Perfect Medium  to the plate Rustic Flower Border and ran the plate through my Cuttlebug then I dusted the impressed areas with Perfect Bronze Perfect Pearls. It added a beautiful metal type look to the inky areas!  I turned my card around to add just a bit of the border to the bottom of the card then dusted it with the Bronze Perfect Pearls. I stamped my Hero Arts sentiment with the Perfect Medium and dusted that with the Bronze powder as well. I LOVE how this card turned out! As is usual with pictures of Perfect Pearl projects the photo does not do it justice looks much better in person!
I really hope Sizzix comes out with some Christmas Ink It plates so I can use this technique on some Christmas cards! :)
Stay tuned for another VERY cool Ink It sample tomorrow!

Sizzix Ink It plate demo card 1

Here is 1 of the cards/techniques I demoed on Saturday using the new Sizzix Ink It plates. For those that missed the demo the Ink It plates are new on the market and designed to give a "letter press" type look on paper using your Cuttlebug or Big Shot machine. I must confess I did not really know what "letter pressing" was before I started playing with these new plates so when people mentioned letter pressing I just nodded like I knew what they were talking about!!! LOL
For those that don't know letter pressing is used in the professional printing world it involves "debossing" making an indent in the paper then appling ink to the debossed areas. It is different from embossing which raises the paper up and is more extreme. I should have taken some closer pictures of this sample so you could see what I mean. Here is a company that does letter press professionally and they have a good picture in their logo.
The above card is one of the first samples I made when I was playing with the new plates. I love how it turned out and I think this design might become my official Christmas card this year or at least until I get bored of the design and find a new one! :) The bottom part of the card is done with the Sizzix Rustic Trellis Ink It plate and Brillance Rocket Red pigment ink. The deer and sentiment are by A Muse stamped with the same Brillance ink. The store does still have both stamps in stock but they have been discontinued so if you need them hurry in. We still have quite a few of the Rustic Trellis plates still in stock. This card is a single layer card and to prevent the cardstock warping I used a 100lb cardstock also available at the store.
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Ink Its demo reminder tomorrow!

Just a quick reminder for those of you in the Nanaimo area Crafty Capers will be having a Sizzix Ink Its plate demo tomorrow (Saturday July 16) between 10:30 - 12:30. It's free just stop in and see what these great plates are all about! Also, Monday is our 2nd Coffee and a Card session. Between 11:00 am & 1:00 pm stop by and for $2.00 make a fabulous card designed by Kathy and enjoy a cup of coffee too! I've lots of positive feedback from those who attended last Monday. If possible please give the shop a call so we know how much paper etc to cut up but if you forget to preregister that is OK too (preregistering makes our lives a tiny bit easier).
In between demo and class prepping I managed to get a "quick and dirty" card whipped up today. A customer was in today and had heard about a alcohol ink technique where you apply Blending Solution to a stipple brush and create texture in your alcohol inks. I decided to give it a try however found the technique a little less than impressive. I did make a nice alcohol ink background however and managed to finish it up into a card. As most quick and dirty cards are it's pretty straight forward I used Lettuce, Stream and Stonewashed alcohol inks on glossy cardstock. I stamped Hero Arts Small Solid flower all over the background then used a Hero Arts sentiment and matted it as shown.
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A Stampscapes scene

I got a chance to have a play date with a friend today and we decided to do some Stampscape playing. This is what I came up with. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and it was nice to just have an afternoon to play with no restrictions.
I won't go into much detail on how the card is made since it would probably be a the length of a small novel!
The scene was stamped on white glossy cardstock. All stamps are by Stampscapes. All inks are by Ranger. I used a Tombow white gel pen and a Sakura gel pen for accents.
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Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day everyone! I didn't think I would get any blog postings done this week because my week started off by having my car's head gasket and cylinder head blow up on the side of the road leaving me stranded on my way to work! Thank goodness for my good friends Chris and Duane for coming to my rescue since my husband was no where near his cell phone at the time! Looks like I will be celebrating the long weekend by going car shopping. That was not in my plans and kind of put a kibosh on my mojo.
:( Anyway onward and upward!
This card started out as a protype for an upcoming class but did not make the grade so to speak! However I LOVE how it turned out it just was not right for my class.
I began with a piece of Kraft cardstock which I stamped Hero Arts Dictionary Greetings onto with Versafine Sepia ink then I took a Dreamweaver stencil (fern) and ran the Kraft cardstock through my Cuttlebug to dry emboss the stencil the lazy girl's way! lol! I sponged Brillance Pearlescent Thyme ink through the stencil holes then I thought it needed a bit of oomph so I added some Versamagic Ocean Depth ink as well then I was happy! I matted the Kraft on a piece of slate cardstock and white embossed my sentiment (Hero Arts). I stamped my main cardstock because it was looking a little naked with the Hero Arts Fab Flourish stamp with my Versafine Sepia ink. I rounded some corners with my Corner Chomper and attached everything as shown.
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