random.on purpose.

Not So Grim, After All...

I decided that it would be a good idea to show the digital stamps on a card or something when I post them on Etsy, in addition to just a pic of the stamp itself, so I set about playing with a couple of them today.  Here's the first one:

Stamp: RandomBliss digital Not-So-Grim Reaper; Paper: Core'ordinations Black Magic, DCWV green and black textured cardstock; Accessories/tools: DIY texture plate, Martha Stewart graveyard border punch, Recollections ribbon, colored pencils, Gamsol

I used the Gamsol Magic technique to color my reaper.  It just seemed like he should have an acid green aura, so I went with it...  Curious about the embossed/sanded bats in the background?  Read on:

Remember this post, where I shared how I made my own texture plate?  Yeah, I forgot about it, too, until I read a thread about making them on Splitcoast a couple of weeks ago...  I decided that I needed to make one with bats for Halloween (after all, I have new digi stamps that need company), so I got a Ritz cracker box and my Martha Stewart bat punch and made this:

Here's a closeup of the texture:

After I ran the cardstock through the Cuttlebug with my new texture plate, I sanded the surface to expose the color core (in real life it's yellow, not white).  I got to use some fun Halloween ribbon I bought on clearance last year, and an as-yet-unused Martha Stewart border punch, too!  I didn't really think the card needed much else, so I left it alone.

And that's that!  I have a witch all colored and ready to go, too, but I'm not sure when I'll actually get the card made.  I didn't want to hold up this post waiting on that card ('cuz I'm just so excited to share what fun I'm having, don'tcha know?), so...

I should have at least a few things up on Etsy by tomorrow night, so I'll post the link in my sidebar once I'm up and runnin'!  Thanks for stopping by, and please post a link if you decide to make your own texture plate - I'd LOVE to see what you come up with!  G'night!

Still In Heaven...

There wasn't anything pressing that I had to do today, so I went ahead and did more of the challenges for Splitcoast Stamper's "Virtual Stamp Night".  Several of them were done yesterday, but I wanted to do as many as I could.  As long as the cards were uploaded by 10:00 EST, you were good to go!  I didn't do all of them (there were 20 total), but I managed quite a few of them!  I also went back and edited yesterday's post, adding info and giving a little more detail about each card, so if you'd like to scroll back down and check it out, the info is there!

For today's efforts, I'll start off with the "Princess Bride" one that I rolled over from Friday night:

 

Stamps: Close To My Heart Amore Alphabet; Ink: Close To My Heart Barn Red; Paper: K & Co and DCWV; Accessories: Cuttlebug with corner flourish die, Stampin'Up! photo corner punch, Martha Stewart border punch,  key charm, heart concho, ribbon, jute twine, sewing machine

I was inspired by this quote from the movie:

Westley: Give us the gate key.
Yellin: I have no gate key.
Inigo Montoya: Fezzik, tear his arms off.
Yellin: Oh, you mean *this* gate key.

The reference to a key and the "Old World" setting of the movie were my starting points, and I wanted to incorporate some distressing (a la Bibbi ) and jute.  The heart concho was originally bright brass, so I colored it with brown and gold markers (Bic) and some black distressing ink (Close to My Heart) to age it.  I heat-set the inks with my heat gun, just to be safe.

The first challenge was at noon yesterday, and I was sort of a spaz/dork about it.  I was reading how it was for kids, and to drag your children (or the neighbors') in to play, and thinking that I didn't have any handy, but that it also said "for kids of any age", and that applied, so I went ahead and did it, only to realize later that there was a second "adult" option at the same time that I completely overlooked - DOH!  Anyway, the challenge was based on the song "These Are a Few of My Favorite Things" from the movie "The Sound of Music", and I incorporated "whiskers on kittens" and copper (as in "bright copper kettles"), and the colors cream and blue, which were on the list:

 

Stamps: Inkadinkado $1 clear stamps; Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Stampin'Up! Ballet Blue; Paper: Manila tag, Basic Grey Cupcake and Sugared dsp, Stmapin'Up! Ballet Blue; Accessories: Stampin'Up! round tab punch, unknown fiber and ribbon, photo turn

It's a matchbook-style card, held shut with a photo turn.  The cat's eyes look really scary in the pic, but not so much in real life...  The "Happy Birthday" was all one stamp - and in a straight line - but, since they're clear stamps, I could maneuver them.  I stuck the "birthday" part of the stamp on the acrylic block while holding it over the tab punch to see where to align it to end up where I wanted it, then inked it up and stamped it.  After I cleaned the ink off, I stuck the "happy" part onto the block (straight) and inked it up and stamped it above the "birthday".  It worked!  When I punched the tab it came out exactly as I'd envisioned...

Another of the challenges was "Long-Lost Love" - to use a stamp we "had to have" when we bought it, but haven't used in eons.  I dug out one that I've had since at least 1989, but probably haven't used since then.  (No, truly - I never do throw out stamps.  I did give a few to Sherry for her grandkids, but I still have the VAST majority of them!)  I have grandkids now, so maybe they'll like it:

 

Stamp: Hero Arts;Ink: Versafine Onyx Black; Paper: Stampin'Up! Ballet Blue and Pixie Pink, Close to My Heart White Daisy; Accessories: EK Success scallop square punch, Fiskars hand-held tiny flower and 1/8" hole punches, detail clear and detail white embossing powders, Sakura Souffle pens, Bic MarkIt and Prismacolor markers, gingham ribbon

Hmm...another kitten...I'm not usually a cat person...what's up with that?!  Anyway, I didn't have any patterned paper that I liked with this, so I made my own by stamping and embossing little flowers on some cardstock the same color as the mat behind the main image, then adding centers with Souffle pens.  I also Souffle-d the center of the punched flowers in the white mat.  The kitty and flowers were colored with Bic and Prismacolor markers, and the border lines above the scallops were made using my Scor-Pal.  I guess that's about it for that card...

I think I've mentioned before that I'm not really into techniques, but there was another technique challenge that i really enjoyed.  The challenge was called "Melt My Heart", and the technique was to make a melted crayon background:

   

Stamps: Close to My Heart Cherish; Ink: Versamark, Stampin'Up! Lavendar Lace, Perfect Plum, Old Olive; Paper: Stampin'Up! Elegant Eggplant, DCWV textured gold, Georgia Pacific white; Accessories, gold ribbon

It ends up looking sort of marbleized, and is super easy to do!  I thought the cracked glass technique and this gorgeous rose from Close to My Heart would pair well with it, and I wanted to do a color other than pink or red for the rose.  I have to say that I'm very happy with it! 

A challenge that I really struggled with - again! - was to make a clear card (remember this disappointing effort for the Dare to Get Dirty challenges last summer?)  I gave it a go, though, and here's the result:

   

I used some rub-ons that Sherry gave me on the front, then cut some Urban Prairie papers to echo the rub-on shapes.  The green is glued to the back side of the front, while the butterflies and the little circles at the right side of the flourish are glued to the front side of the back (clear as mud? If this was a four-page book, the green is on page two and the others are on page three...)  I punched lholes down the side of both pages with my Crop-a-dile to tie my little ribbons through.  I just canNOT figure out how people make these without getting glue and dust and scratches all over them - I'm DEFINITELY challenged, here!  Don't you think I'm brave for trying again?  Ha!  Anyway...

Here's a fun one:  "Tickle Your Fancy" challenged us to incorporate feathers into a design.  Here's what I did:

 

Paper: Close to My Heart Watermelon and White Daisy, DCWV dp; Accessories: Martha Stewart border punch, ScorPal, feathers, ribbon

I didn't have any stamps even remotely close to what I needed here, so I did the computer-generated dealie-o (CAC Pinafore font).  Great colors for feathers and ribbon, eh?  On to the next one:

 

Stamps: Stampin'Up! A Tree For All Seasons; Ink: Versamark; Papers: Stampin'Up! Night of Navy, Very Vanilla, Kraft; Accessories: Martha Stewart border punch, brads, Zig chalk writer, navy embossing powder

The challenge here was to make a card that a man would give to a woman (any woman - mother, wife, niece, neighbor - didn't matter), and the restrictions were: colors were kraft, navy and vanilla; images had to be from nature and not "cutesy"; use three brads (no more, no less); no ribbons, bling, etc.  Took a little thinking and more help from computer-generated sentiments (Lucida Handwriting font) to pull this one off, but I ended up liking it.

The last one that I did was also the fastest!  The challenge was called "Celebrity Crush", and we were supposed to make a card inspired by whichever celebrity we were all hot and bothered about.  I don't really go there - they're just people with higher-profile jobs, ya know? - but I decided to play along because even though "crush" is overstating the case, I think Jon Bon Jovi is aging beautifully and remains eye candy, so I made a card inspired by one of his songs: "While My Guitar Lies Bleeding In My Arms" (Come to think of it - I don't know if that's the name of the song or just a line from it, but whatever...):

 

Stamp: Inkadinkado Rock Star; Ink: Versamark; Paper: Paperbilities black, unknown red; Accessories: Martha Stewart border punch, silver tinsel and stardust embossing powders

All I did here was emboss the guitar with silver tinsel embossing powder onto black cardstock, punch some red with my Martha Stewart "goo" border punch and emboss it with Stardust embossing powder, and layer them both onto a black base - done!

I hope at least one or two of these projects has been inspiring to you - I sure had fun and streteched a bit making them!  I'm going to sign off now and go to bed!

And So It Begins...

True to my word, I've begun the "Holiday Crafting Blitz".  Depending on how enthused I get, how much time I have, and what else is going on, I may do multiple posts in a day (or not).  We'll just have to see.  Also, I need to put a disclaimer right here:  These are experiments - some successful, some maybe not so much - but I'm sharing all of them because they could spark an idea that you get all stoked about and improve on or whatever...

First, to reinforce the "Queen of Cheap" title, know that I am all about the "dollar deal"!  I regularly scout Target's Dollar Spot, JoAnn's and Michael's dollar bins, clearance areas, etc.  I've mentioned before that I love sequins, but here's the latest purchase, just so you can get an idea:

 

Snowflakes, Christmas trees, and snowmen - how can you go wrong?  Those were found at JoAnn's by the registers.  An even more thrilling score:

 

From Michael's clearance - they're called "Bangle Bling", and the idea is that you glue them onto your plain bangle bracelets to bling them up.  A TOTAL waste of great bling, if you ask me!  These beauties belong on cards, candles, frames, etc., etc.!  Anyway, the pictures don't do them justice (of course), and there's a whole lot of bling in there for a buck!  The least in a package are the black and white ones with gold frames - there's only 18 in there.  The other packs have 75-150 pieces in them!  Just too cool!

Okay, today's installment (or at least this morning's...) 

TINSELTOWN:

I wanted to do some silver stuff, and had this brainstorm to do something with foil and the Cuttlebug and such-like. I knew from past experiments that regular household foil is too fragile, so I pulled out the Heavy Duty Reynolds and some punches and the Cuttlebug.  In order to make the foil stable enough to retain the embossing and so that it would punch without tearing, I first cut copy paper into quarters (4 1/4" x 5 1/2"), cut the foil approximately the same size, and glued them together with a plain old glue stick (make sure you get good coverage so corners don't lift, etc.). Then I ran them through the Cuttlebug (I used the textile embossing folder), and punched, etc.  Here are some of the results:

 

This is a garland made with embossed, punched stars, silver thread and star stickers. I punched some non-paper-backed foil (still embossed, though), and sandwiched the thread between the paper-backed one and the non-paper-backed one:

 

 

I spaced them about 3" apart, then stuck star stickers back-to-back with the thread between about halfway between the large stars.

 

I punched two pieces with the round tab punch - one embossed foil, and one black (which I heat-embossed with Stardust embossing powder), made a thread hanger, and added some "bangle bling".  This is a view of the back before finishing to show you the construction:

 

These are snowflakes punched and sandwiched together with a thread hanger - one with sequins and bangle bling to make a dangly one, and the other just a single snowflake:

 

I punched a few other shapes, too, just for grins:

I also have a whole stack of doilies like this one:

 

so I did a couple of projects with them, too.  The first one, I cut down the doily into pieces and reassembled it, then added a snowflake from Stampin'Up!'s "Snow Swirled" set, stamped and embossed in silver, with bling in the center (I didn't add a hanger yet):

 

I cut another doily in half, formed each half into a cone, and added wired-ribbon handles:

 

I haven't decided what I'm putting in them yet, so they look a bit unfinished...  Last up is my favorite out of this morning's play session:

 

The black is cut with one of the Cuttlebug dies from the Heritage set, and the center is a button (plastic and velvet, believe it or not) that I've had for years.  I just clipped off the shank and pop-dotted it, then added a thread hanger.

That's pretty much it for the first installment of the blitz!  I hope you got an idea or two from these experiments.  I didn't show them on a tree or anything, because we haven't pulled our Christmas stuff out of storage yet (Greg's waiting for me to finish this post and get going, so we can do that...), so maybe later...  Meanwhile, I hope you're enjoying your Thanksgiving and thanks for stopping by!

Double Embossing

Earlier today I tested out the "new" technique, with so-so results.  Since I'm not attached to outcomes ever (or at least for the most part), I have no shame in showing you less-than-perfect productions (obviously, since I've shared other things that I'm not wild about).  It's about the adventure and the learning, and I'm guessing that every one of us has our share of results that please us and results that make us cringe, with a majority falling somewhere along the spectrum in between.  So - take heart if you have done things that didn't turn out well - here's my experiment:

  

I started out with plain black cardstock, which I ran through the Cuttlebug with the paisley embossing folder, then cut it in half.  I rubbed my Versamark pad over the raised side on one half and the indented side on the other half, dumped on silver embossing powder, shook off the excess, and applied the heat gun.  They turned out semi-okay:

 

The card went through several incarnations and evolutions before I was even semi-satisfied with it, and I'm still not quite sure.  I also had a hard time getting a decent picture of it, because the sun is going down:

One more little tidbit:  The little square frame in the lower panel started out as a plastic alphabet tile from the dollar store.  I applied silver pigment ink and silver embossing powder to the edges and now it looks like a little silver frame instead of a neon green plastic one!  Thnking outside the box and repurposing things can save you lots of $$$!!!  That little silver concho/brad/rivet/whatever-the-heck-it-is in the center of the accent was intended as an embellishment for clothing, but I used it here instead.  Cruise the notions aisle and see what you find...

Well, that's it for today's little adventure!  I'm going to go find Greg now - we're trying to spend more time together this evening, since it's back to the grind tomorrow!  Have a good one!

Two Techniques and a Trick

I FINALLY got around to finishing my experiment with a new technique! The technique is called "Black Magic", and I discovered it when I was surfing the SplitCoast Stampers gallery.  I saw this card by Karen Barber, and followed the link to her blog.  She had a "tutorial for dummies", as she called it, on how to do the technique.  Basically, it consists of stamping an image with white pigment ink onto black cardstock, then coloring with colored pencils and highlighting with a white gel pen.  My sample, which I TOTALLY CASED from Karen's:

I used Stampin'Up!'s "True Friend" stamp set for everything.  I didn't have any patterned paper that would work, and I didn't have any ink the color I needed, so that brings me to the second technique:  chalk popping.  Those of you who are experienced stampers know all about this already, but here's a "quickie" tutorial for the rest of you:

   

Stamp your images onto desired paper/cardstock with Versamark.  Load a pom pom or applicator with desired color chalk.

   

Using a circular motion, apply chalk to stamped images (and background, if desired) - all done!  The "trick" I referred to in the title is for the "bookplate" on the sentiment strip:

   

Cut a 3/4" wide strip of paper 1/2" longer than desired finished length of bookplate, and mark it at 3/8" on either side of strip, and at center on the end.  Line up the marks on the center and one side along edge of paper cutter and cut.

   

Turn the strip so the mark on the other side and the center are lined up, and trim that, too.  Turn your corner punch (Fiskars Heritage was used here), and insert the strip into it so that there is equal "white space" on either side of the motif, and punch.  Repeat for other end.

   

This is what it should look like at this point.  Now, take your scalloped scissors and use one scallop as a tiny corner rounder.  Repeat for the other end of the strip, and you're done!

Bonus trick:  The "patterned paper" I made was the correct width for my card, but too short, so I cut off 1" at the bottom, moved it down to where I needed it, and covered the gap with my sentiment strip!

Okay, Greg's waiting in the car to take us to dinner with friends, so I gotta jet!  Later, all!