Bright Colours with Artistic Etchings

Today's cards were an experiment to see how Artistic Etchings would look in bright colours.  To me, this set has more of a vintage feel, so being out of my comfort zone, I C.A.S.E.D these designs, switching out the colours and designer series papers, and they sure are bright!

This card uses Choc Chip & Daffodil Delight cardstock with the stamping and ribbon in Basic Black.

I've chosen Floral District DSP here so I pulled the colours from that - Old Olive & Rich Razzleberry.  The flower was dyed using So Saffron (not Daff Delight which is in the paper) because it was already mixed in the spritzer with Isocol and I don't like to waste it....giggle.  I also heat embossed the Eiffel Tower with Irridescent Ice.......had to work quickly because Rich Razzleberry is dye ink but it worked out just fine and you can see a bit of sparkle on the real thing.

Happy Monday
Karen

Core'dinations & Artistic Etchings

There's good news and bad news.  The good news is that Core'dinations sandable cardstock is soon to be available in EVERY Stampin' Up! colour.  Woo hoo!  How's that?!     

Here's a look at a card I c.a.s.e.d. (copy & share everything) from one of our demo-only resources.

This is Primrose Petals with Chocolate Chip.  The Choc Chip is our regular standard textured card stock, but the Primrose Petals is Core'dinations sandable.  See the difference?  Kind of cool huh?  You can sand or tear it (or both) to reveal it's lighter core.  Why bother? Well, distressed projects are on trend right now, and getting texture into your stuff adds interest!  So why not give it a try?

Go ahead, make something!
Cheers
Karen

P.S.  the bad news is that Artistic Etchings Stamp Set is retiring.  Hurry up and order it or you'll be sad forever more.

Another Artistic Etchings Card

Why just make one card with a set when you can make two?!

I'm always looking for Thank You cards, so I whipped this one up while the supplies from last weeks Mojo Monday were still on the desk!

Love Love LOVE that natural ribbon.  It looks very hessian-y(?) but it's really quite soft.  And it makes gorgeous bows.  Speaking of bows, have you checked out my first ever YouTube video?  Click on the side bar to the left and have a squizz.

There are no special tricks for this card.   However, it is an unusual size so before you go whipping up a large square like this, make sure you have an envelope, or you know how to make one!  And, since that post back in 2010, Stampin' Up! have released their own Simply Scored tool which has a diagonal plate that you can use to make envelopes even easier than before!

Tip:  When fussy cutting an image like the crown, be sure to anchor your cutting arm on the table.  That way, you will turn the cardstock rather than the scissors and you'll get a much neater result.

Supplies
Stamp Set
Artistic Etchings (Item #121478 wood or #120573 clear)
Fabulous Phrases #120501 clear
Cardstock
Crumb Cake, Early Espresso & Very Vanilla.
Did you know these come in an assorted pack? 20 sheets of A4, 2 each of 10 colours for only $11.95 Item #121699.
Ink
Early Espresso #126974
Accessories
2 3/8 Scallop Circle Punch #119854
1 1/4" Circle Punch #119861
Oval punch Retired
Natural Trim Ribbon #129287 Autumn Seasonal Catalogue

Mojo Monday 288

This is my card for this week's Mojo Monday sketch.

I love this colour combo with Artistic Etchings. It lends itself to vintage style and is quite soft and lovely.

After embossing the Very Vanilla cardstock in the Big Shot, I've used a sponge to rub over the embossing with crumb cake ink on it.  It just highlights the raised image nicely.

The sentiment is from a set that's only available to demonstrators - I think we were given it as a freebie at Convention last year - and as there was a graphic on the stamp I chose to ink only the word using a marker.  This is a great way to get partial images from larger stamps.  Simply use a marker on the bits you want, then breathe on the stamp to moisten the ink before stamping onto cardstock.

The medallion was stamped in Early Espresso.  But notice how it's so much lighter than the Eifel Tower?  That's because I stamped it on scrap first then stamped again onto Very Vanilla without reinking.  You can usually get 3, possibly 4 stamps out of one inking giving you 4 tones of the same colour, and a great way to add depth and interest to your projects.

When cutting multiple "flag" or "banner" ends in DSP, put all the pieces on top of eachother and cut at the same time.  That way they'll look uniform when you go to line them up.

Stamp Set
Artistic Etchings (Item #121478 wood or #120573 clear)
Workshop Words Too (demonstrators only)
Cardstock
Crumb Cake, Early Espresso & Very Vanilla. You can buy these individually but did you know they also come in an assorted pack?  20 sheets of A4, 2 each of 10 colours for only $11.95 Item #121699.
Ink
Crumb Cake #126975
Early Espresso #126974
Designer Series Paper
First Edition #121878
Accessories
2 3/8 Scallop Circle Punch #119854
1 3/8" Circle Punch #119860
1 1/4" Circle Punch #119861
Corner Rounder Punch #119871
Big Shot #113439 with Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder #120175

I'm taking a short break from PaperLady to tour Tassie so while I've set up a few projects to post, they may be interspersed with some of my travels.   I'll try to find things with a crafty bent that I think you'd like to see.

Happy Friday!
Karen

Darling Stamp And Scrap Club

Just popped in quickly to tell you that Darling Stamp and Scrap club was lovely today.   We had a couple of new ladies join us - welcome to Catarina and Hester.  I hope you both enjoyed your crafting time and will come back next month for more chit chat, craft and cake!  

Gloria and Susan are both PaperLady class gals but this was their first DSNS too.   Oh the creative juices were flowing!   Avril, Susie & Claudia were crafting up a storm with lots of Christmas cards made for this years armed forces donation.  And Claudia and Lana were such sweeties picking up coffee, setting up afternoon tea and generally helping out - thanks girls.   Towards the end of the afternoon we had a drop in from Karen & Kate.  Kate has a great eye for colour, as does Susie and they both helped collate supplies for our kits. 

What's more, today was our first dry DSNS - it has rained, no poured, every week!   I was thrilled to pack away a dry banner for the first time.

Unfortunately I forgot to take pics.....sorry.....so here's a couple more from Convention.  

Please don't forget the rules - these designs are not mine and as they were on a board I can't tell you whose they are so please credit SU Convention Demonstators 2011 if you copy!  Thanks for your understanding.

Pop back tomorrow to find out how you can win a fantastic prize!

Karen

Twiddly Bits Frames

This frame was featured in a cardmaking magazine, and as soon as I saw it, I knew it was perfect for a friend of mine who had a birthday coming up.

Anyway, that was months ago (that I saw the magazine article) and I had almost forgotten about it until I went into a lovely shop at Tuggerah called Pages 2 Scrap.   They had these lovely frames and bits and pieces of ephemera from Twiddly Bits.   I bought the frame and some other bits and came home happily ready to create.

What I didn't realise was that I'd chosen the exact same one that I saw in the magazine!  How lucky was that.

Anyway, after adding the beautiful images from Artistic Etchings and some embellishments, this was the result:

And of course, because it's a gift, it had to have a matching bag and card:

Thanks for looking!  Leave me a comment if you like what you see.