Sunday, August 24, 2008

MORE VSN cards

I think I did really well this VSN. I got 9 challenges done - which is half. I probably would have gotten more done, but work's been a little nuts. School starts on September 2nd, my group is moving to a new room for the start of the school year, and I have had a lot on my mind.

SO... onto the cards.

Challenge H: Create a Bookmark. Who would have guessed that THIS would take the longest out of every challenge I did????? I'm serious. 43 minutes to create this bookmark. The dress is paper pieced and I colored the rest with Prismacolor pencils (the background was blended with baby oil.) I wanted to add some dimension to the skirt with some well placed colored pencil markings, but I knew I wouldn't get done in the time.

Stamps: Rubbernecker/Stamp Oasis - Left Beauty. Paper: Riding Hood Red, PTI Select White, Basic Grey Boxer dp. Ink: Palette Noir. Accessories: Basic Grey Boxer fibers, eyelet, Prismacolor pencils, baby oil, glue pen, tacky tape.

Challenge I: This challenge was based on the poem in Alice in Wonderland - The Walrus and the Carpenter. We were to use Pearl Ex, Twinkling H2Os, or scallops to create our card. My card was created with my largest scalloped square Nestability die. It's a small card. The image and sentiment come from the PTI set Out on a Limb. The sentiment didn't show up very well, but it says "Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

Stamps: PTI - Out on a Limb. Paper: Blue Bayou cs and dp, PTI Select White. Ink: Palette Burnt Umber, Blue Bayou. Accessories: Square Nestability die, ribbon, corner rounder punch, dimensionals, glitter pen, tacky tape.

Challenge L: We had to incorporate the color purple into our card somehow. Well, I'm not subtle sometimes, so it was a LOT of purple for me. This was the fastest card I made - 13 minutes from picking my colors to attaching my main image.

Stamps: SU - Embrace Life. Paper: Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Whisper White. Ink: Perfect Plum, Pale Plum. Accessories: primas, brads, dimensionals, aquapainter.

Challenge P: A color challenge based around the names of Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swensen series of books. Hannah Swensen is a baker, so they're all named for sweet treats: chocolate chip cookies, cherry cheesecake, strawberry shortcake, etc.

To be perfectly honest, I didn't really start this card to go with this challenge. This card started with me playing with some Antique Linen Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder that I got on clearance at Hobby Lobby. I started layering more and more colors of Distress Ink on top of it and wound up with what's the background on my card - and I added some Sugar Cookie Glimmer Mist. After I finished all this, I realized that it didn't fit ANY challenge that I was planning. Then I remembered the Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder.

Stamps: Flourishes - Damask, PTI - Out on a Limb Sentiments. Paper: Chocolate Chip, River Rock, PTI Select White. Ink: Chocolate Chip, Versamark, Distress Inks in Vintage Photo, Tea Dye, Antique Linen. Accessories: Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder in Antique Linen, Ribbon, double rectangle punch, Glimmer Mist.

Challenge R: The last challenge of the night was to use a stamp set that hasn't been used in over 4 weeks. Well, I don't have any of those *guilty blush* Okay, I have a LOT of those. I've used a few over the course of this VSN weekend. This card started off as another challenge, then I got frustrated with what I was doing and just pulled out my butterfly from Garden Whimsy and stamped it in Aqua Mist on watercolor paper. Add some Stickles and brads, and the card was finished.
Stamps: SU - Garden Whimsy. Paper: Aqua Mist, Watercolor paper, My Mind's Eye dp. Ink: Aqua Mist. Accessories: Corner rounder punch, dimensionals, brads, Crystal Stickles.

That's all for this VSN and I had a blast playing and sharing my cards.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

My VSN cards

I only got to about 4 VSN challenges last night - I was hoping to get to more, but I started later than I wanted to. I was in the middle of a really good book and I couldn't put it down. Which is kinda fitting considering that this VSN is called the Book Club.

How VSN works is challenges are issued every hour on the hour. You're given 45 minutes (you work on an honor system) to complete the card, and have 15 minutes to take pictures, upload, potty break, snack, chat, whatever you want.

I personally work in spurts. Since I don't have a computer down in the Dungeon with my stamping supplies, I tend to do 3 or 4 challenges in a row (timed with a kitchen timer) and then come up for air. If I'm in the cardmaking zone, I really don't want to be distracted.

Challenge A: The first challenge on Friday and the first challenge on Saturday are kid-themed challenges to let the kids get involved with stamping and having fun with Mom (or Dad.) The challenge revolves around Eric Carle's book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" and the animals seen in the book. We were to pick an animal out of the book and create a card with it. I chose the Blue Horse and thankfully I have the Punny Farm set from MFT to create my blue horse. I finished pretty quickly - it only took me about 20 minutes to make this card, though I think something's missing.

Stamps: MFT - Punny Farm. Paper: Bashful Blue cs and dp, Whisper White, Basic Black. Ink: Palette Noir. Accessories: corner rounder punch, rhinestones, paper piercer.

Challenge B: The challenge was to take something out of a favorite childhood book and create a card with it. One of my favorite books when I was growing up was "Beauty: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast" by Robin McKinley. I read it so much that my original copy fell apart. The change in Beauty's life revolves around a rose - which was a perfect excuse to use the single rose stamp by Rubbernecker.

Stamps: Rubbernecker - single rose. Paper: Barely Banana, Old Olive, Riding Hood Red, Whisper White, Olive Press dp. Ink: Palette Noir, Distress Ink: Antique Linen (or Old Paper - I can't remember at the moment), Barely Banana, Old Olive. Accessories: Mat pack, ribbon, brads, dimensionals.

Challenge D: It's all about the warm and fuzzy feelings of a book. So, time to use the fuzzy feelings of flock on a card. I have flock - in all the colors of the Doodlebug rainbow (I bought a sample assortment.) I have these shapes out of glue or tape made for flock and glitter and it was a match made in stamping heaven. I didn't want to create a traditional sized card so my card is 3.5"x8.5" The shape was put on a piece cardstock that I ran through my Cuttlebug with a Square Nestability die and the black mat was done with the same sized die, only scallopped. I stamped part of the card base with Flourishes LLC's Damask stamp and put my focal point where the stamping ended.

Stamps: FLLC - Damask. Paper: Lovely Lilac, Basic Black, Select White. Ink: Lovely Lilac. Accessories: flock, square nestabilites, flower sticker for the flock, adhesive pearl, dimensionals.

Challenge E: To use twine or hemp on a card. Hmmm... hello masculine card! With a masculine card in mind, I pulled my colors - and then realized that they match the Apple Cider dp from Stampin' Up! last year. I made a mat with that and fringed the edges (I think it looks a little like a rug.) My image is stamped in Burnt Umber (now Dark Chocolate PTI) Palette ink and colored using the Gamsol magic technique - in my world, Prismacolor pencils and baby oil.

Stamps: SU - Give Thanks. Paper: Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, Wild Wasabi, Very Vanilla, Apple Cider dp. Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate. Accessories: prismacolor pencils, baby oil, blending stumps, dimensionals, hemp.

I'll have more cards to show later.


Thursday, August 21, 2008

VSN Reminder!

Tomorrow night at Splitcoast Stampers the VSN - Virtual Stamping Night kicks off at 7pm EST and continues all day Saturday. The theme is Book Club, so be ready to think like an author!

I've seen the write-ups for most of the challenges (one of the perks of hostessing) and they're going to be fun!

Yay for the week being almost over!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

How I store my Nestabilities

***I wanted to give credit where credit was due, so I have to start out by saying that the idea for storing my Nestabilities in DVD tins comes from Gina K - who showed off the Gina K store's storage system on her blog in March. She's in my blog roll off to the right if you want to check her blog out.***

If you're new to stamping or haven't been keeping up with trends, Nestabilites are dies that are sold in sets of a certain shape and they graduate in size. The choices are mind-boggling sometimes - small classic ovals, large classic ovals, small scalloped ovals, large scalloped ovals... you get the idea. I've been buying mine from Cut@Home.com in full shape sets (aka: the large and small straight squares AND the large and small scalloped squares are in a full shape set.)

They come in plastic and taped to pieces of cardstock - great packaging for being in a store - not too great for my stamping room. I'd either have to hang them up or lay them down somewhere and space is limited.
So when I found how Gina K. stores her Nesties, I kept it in the back of my mind for when I was going to get them - I hadn't gotten any at the time of her post, but ideas were lurking in my mind. Metal DVD tins work amazingly for storage and I can personalize each tin for what's inside.

How I decorate my tins:

Items Used: DVD tin, DP, scissors, Mono Multi, Basic Grey Precision File set, magnetic tape, pencil.

Step 1: Trace your tin onto your paper and cut it out.

Step 2: Run Mono Multi all over your tin where the paper is going to go. Make sure you get the edges really well - sanding tends to loosen the edges.

Step 3: Let the glue set up for a few minutes and then use a file to get rid of the excess paper. I've found that using a coarse nail file and filing straight over the edge works the best.

Step 4: Now that the outside of the tin is done, I measure and cut my magnetic tape.

Step 5: Attach the magnetic tape. Now I don't have to worry about the magnet moving around in the tin - it's taped in.

The finished inside of the tin. For my Classic Rectangles and Classic Oval Nesties, they're narrow enough that I can fit a whole shape set in one DVD tin. I don't have that option with the squares, so I've split my shape set.

The finished outside of my tin. I was using double sided dp, so I could make each side unique. Since (as I said earlier) I have to split my shape set, I took some River Rock cardstock and ran it through my Nestie dies to show what's in what side of the tin. I also wrote on the diecut so I would be sure.

And that's how I make my Nestie tins stand out. Each tin has a different pattern of dp on it so I can tell just by looking at it what's in it.

Wishing everyone a great Thursday!

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

And today makes 3

3 days in a row of blogging - maybe not big elaborate posts with lots of pictures, but I have one of those coming up hopefully tomorrow. (hint: tutorial on how I store my Nesties.)

Bellas arrived today and I can't wait to play with them. :)

Time to send a congrats card to my friend who got engaged last Thursday.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Two days in a row?!?!?!?!?!?!

I got my Nesties today and can't wait to use them. :)

I also checked on my Bellas and they're to arrive tomorrow.

Let's hope that UPS doesn't deliver them to the wrong address - as they did to some movies of mine a few years ago.

I should show off my Nestie storage. Hmm... a tutorial idea... :)

Wishing my sunburn from Saturday would heal faster,

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Sunday Catch-up

I've been in an ordering mood. I wanted some new stuff to add to my "arsenal" (as my sister-in-law put it today.)

I've ordered from Eclectic Paperie, Rubbernecker stamps, Cut @ Home and Stamping Bella.

My stuff from Rubbernecker and Eclectic Paperie arrived on Wednesday and I was thrilled to see it. I've been playing around with it - as can be seen from the cards below.

I'm hoping that I get my Classic Square set of Nesties on Monday and Bellas by Wednesday. We'll see when they actually arrive.

Card #1 - I started this card on Wednesday night. One of the things I ordered from Eclectic Paperie was some Glimmer Mist and I couldn't wait to play with it. So I blended the 2 colors I got: Sugar Cookie (which I ordered) and Robin's Egg Blue (a sample they sent me) and it was really close to Soft Sky in color. So after stamping the large flowers from Thankful Blossoms by Verve Visual, I left it to dry. I finished it Thursday night.

Stamps: Verve Visual - Thankful Blossoms, MFT - Essential Sentiments. Paper: PTI - Select White, SU - Soft Sky cs and dp. Ink: Versafine Black Onyx. Accessories: dimensionals, word window punch, black jumbo eyelets, brads, Glimmer Mist - Sugar Cookie and Robin's Egg Blue.

Card #2 - I forgot until Friday night that I had a baby shower to attend Saturday morning. Since I bought a gift card for the mom-to-be, I wanted to hold it easily and I thought that a pocket card was the best choice. Completely forgetting that I DO OWN baby-themed stamps (I HAD to HAVE Bundle of Joy last year), I went with one of my new Rubbernecker stained glass stamps. I really like how this turned out.


Stamps: MFT - Essential Sentiments, Rubbernecker - Daisy Stained Glass. Paper: PTI - Lemon Tart, Lavender Moon, Select White. Ink: Versafine Black Onyx, PTI Lavender Moon. Accesories: Prismacolor pencils, Stickles, staple, ribbon, dimensionals, baby oil, slit punch, tacky tape.

The last card is the Featured Stamper for today - Knightrone. The card I CASEd (Copy and Selectively Edit) was http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/936445 I pulled out another one of my new Rubbernecker images - a single rose and stamped it in Palette Noir.
Stamps: Rubbernecker - single rose. Paper: PTI - Berry Sorbet, Spring Moss, Select White, Everyday Blessings dp. Ink: Palette Noir, Berry Sorbet, Spring Moss, Cameo Coral, Certainly Celery. Accessories: dimensionals, Heidi Swapp distressor, brads, aquapainter.

Next weekend is the big VSN, so I will hopefully have a bundle of cards to show off before next Sunday.

Wishing everyone a great week,

Monday, August 11, 2008

Featured Stamper 79

It's a day late, but I got some stamping done yesterday.

It's something that's going into my VSN Secret Sister's reveal package - a little book journal, paperclip bookmark and a matching pen.

It's based on this set by the Featured Stamper for this week: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/581097

I have one of these little journals that sits in my purse for me to jot little ideas or shopping lists. It's so nice to have something pretty to pull out.
Stamps: none. Paper: Bali Breeze dp. Ink: none. Accessories: mini composition book, giant paperclip, RSVP pen, chipboard, Mod Podge, files, primas, tacky tape, brads, rhinestones, ribbon.

Hope everyone's enjoying the Olympics!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Comments made during the Opening Ceremonies

My brother and I were talking during the Opening Ceremonies for the Olympics on Friday.

Me: (as fireworks go off around the "Birds Nest" Stadium) that makes sense since the Chinese invented gunpowder. Of course they also invented paper and writing.

Brother: And, if you put them all together, you get fireworks with instructions printed on them.


It was definitely funnier when it happened.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

A Discovery

I've been trying to play with the sheets of the new In Colors to decide if I want to order them when the catalog comes out. Today's color is Pacific Point. It's a really nice color - a pretty royal blue.

This is also my card for today's Featured Stamper challenge. You can find the original card here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/983281

I have a thing for cupcakes at the moment and I love this set. I wanted some colored frosting on the top of my cupcakes and I didn't really want to make the entire card Tempting Turquoise with a Pacific Point base. I had to use quite a bit of Tempting Turquoise as it was.

Taking a good look at the Pacific Point cardstock, I thought it could be a combination of Brilliant Blue and Tempting Turquoise - which would make a great color of frosting for my cupcakes. I save all my pieces of acetate that my Papertrey stamps come stuck on, so I used that as a palette for my experiment. Using my markers, I put a little bit of color down next to each other on the acetate and, with an aquapainter, blended them together and colored the frosting. It turned out pretty close to what I wanted.

The chipboard 'C' on my card was inked with Brilliance Moonlight White and embossed with UTEE twice. Them I embossed it again with UTEE mixed with glitter - so there's a lot of sparkle.

Stamps: MFT - What's Up Cupcake? Paper: Pacific Point, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White, East Coast Prep dp. Ink: Palette Noir, Brilliance Moonlight White, Versamark, Brilliant Blue, Tempting Turquoise. Accessories: Classic Rectangle Nesties, chipboard, brads, dimensionals, ribbon.

Hopefully I have a quick week and free time to get some stamping done - I need to start gathering my VSN Secret Sister reveal package goodies.

Sunshine and cupcakes for all,

A bit of old, a bit of new

In Colors that is. :)

I mentioned in my last post that I was fortunate as a non-Stampin' Up! Demonstrator to get some pieces of the new In Color cardstock before it's available to the regular customer. I'm a matchy-matchy girl, so it's a little difficult to work with the cardstock without the "correct" color of ink, but I've been making do.

So... an idea popped into my head yesterday night about using Tangerine Tango (one of the upcoming In Colors) - which is a really deep rich orange. I thought it would look great with River Rock. Oh, and I didn't really want to stamp the main image - it was going to be a Cuttlebug background. I've left a lot of cards without sentiments and I didn't really want to do it with this one, so I pulled one out of Starlight Starbright from Verve Visuals. My "image" panel and accompanying layer were cut out with Nestabilites. I sponged the Cuttlebugged image with Pumpkin Pie ink to make the image really stand out.

Stamps: Verve Visual - Starlight Starbright. Paper: River Rock, Tangerine Tango. Ink: River Rock, Pumpkin Pie. Accessories: Classic Rectangle Nestabilites, D'vine Swirl Cuttlebug folder, rhinestones, corner rounder punch, double rectangle punch, ribbon, crystal Stickles, dimensionals.

It's the middle of the night, but I wanted to get this posted.

Hope everyone has a great day!