Techniques

Awesome class from my friend Debbie!

This past weekend, one of my good friends and downline, Debbie Keane, offered a class that was fabulous!!   She went to a class offered by Michelle Zindorf last fall and I have been begging her ever since to do a class on it.  Michelle is another Stampin Up demonstrator who is famous for her brayer technique classes. She travels all over the country teaching people these techniques. You can find the tutorials for these cards on Michelle's site here.  Anyway, Debbie showed us how to make 3 gorgeous cards using Michelle's techniques.This first one uses the brayer for the background and torn paper to create those mountains. I just love it!

This vase card was done by brayering also. The vases are made from the modern label punch and the wide oval punch.

This card we did by using the direct to paper technique. You take your ink pad and just rub it directly onto the paper in a back and forth motion to create this look. Make sure you start with the lightest colors first. I am so bummed that this tree set is retired. I just love it! Maybe Stampin Up will bring it back one day.

Cool Flower technique

My friend Lorrie posted  a really cute card with a similar flower on the Stampin Connection site yesterday. That is an awesome website just for Stampin Up demonstrators to share ideas. It has only been active for 3 weeks and already has over 30,000 samples on there! That is just another great reason to be a Stampin Up demonstrator!

Anyway, I looked at the picture and tried to figure it out and after playing around with it for a little while (I should have just called Lorrie and asked her how to do it) I think I finally got it. I knew it was just a stack of different size circles scrunched up so I punched out 3 of each size (1 3/4, 1 3/8, 1 1/4, and 1 inch) . That was a little too much so I took a few away….so I ended up using 3 each of the bigger ones and 2 each of the smaller ones. So, I scrunched them all up and unfolded them and then poked through all of them with the paper piercer and then inserted a brad to hold them all together. Then start scrunching them back up again one by one until you get them to look like this. I did use 2 different colored patterns from the Bella Bleu designer papers to give it more depth. The vine is from my favorite set Vintage Vogue!

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Another take on the faux lace

I was having one of my stamp clubs on Saturday and a few of the girls were commenting that the faux lace technique was really a little too hard for them so one of the girls cut her strip in half and did a double layer with the crimped piece and it looked great so this method is much easier but still gives a beautiful look.  So, we can credit one of my customers (Brenda S) for coming up with this easier version. I showed it to several of my other classes and about half of the girls chose the double layered look. All you have to do is take an 11 x 1 1/2 inch piece of cardstock, punch a border along one edge, run it through the crimper several times and cut it in half. Then add sticky strip to the back and tape it down kind of loosely. Then add the other half to the top of that.

Here is a close up of just the lace part. I did end up with about an inch left over on each piece so you could make it a little bit fuller if you want to.

This was the original card that we were making with the faux lace on it.

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Baby Wipe Technique video!

I finally had a chance to do another video! I hope you like it. I would like to do a lot more videos but I need to be able to do them faster. It does take a couple of hours from start to finish…..mostly the editing is what takes so long. It would be so much easier if I could just tell my computer what to do and it would do it for me! LOL! I am showing the Baby Wipe technique with the Autumn Splendor stamp set from the Holiday mini.    

Autumn splendor…what a gorgeous set!

Here is a card I did in all of my stamp clubs this month. I used the Autumn Splendor set from the holiday mini and then I did the baby wipe technique for the leaf. It is a super easy technique…just take a baby wipe, lay it on a small plate or tray and then drop about 12 drops of each refill color onto it. I used more mustard, really rust and chocolate chip. Then this is your ink pad to stamp on.

Autumn Splendor….

It seems like fall is in the air today. It is a crisp 55 degrees this morning in Chesapeake, VA. I can’t believe it. It was just in the 90’s a couple of days ago. It is supposed to be around 80 later today but it is chilly now. So, I thought I would post a few fall cards. These are from the two Holiday mini swaps I just hosted.

This card was made by my friend Cathy Casey who lives in Colorado. It is absolutely gorgeous. I love the textured background and also the die cut leaves from the Big Shot. All of these cards are made using the Autumn Splendor set from the Stampin Up Holiday mini.

This beautiful card  was made by my upline, Melissa Ellis. She used the polished stone technique for the background and she also used the Big shot to cut out the scallop square part of the card. The designer paper is from the Holiday mini also. It is called Autumn Meadows.

This was my card. I used the baby wipe technique for my main leaf image and also used the Autumn Meadows designer series paper and Autumn Splendor set. I also used the vanilla hodgepodge hardware around the sentiment on the bottom.

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Quilt card

I am doing a quilt card class this week and this is one of the cards we are making.

I used the Bella Rose designer paper for the quilt piece and then stamped the rose from A Rose is a Rose set and cut that out. Then I added the organza ribbon and the jumbo grommet.

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DCBD challenge #126

Hey stampers,

It is Wednesday so that means it is time for anotherDiva Coffee Break design challenge. This week it is another Big SHot challengs which is always my favorite since I use the Bog Shot almost every single day. It is definitely my favorite Stampin Up product.

Here is my card……

I used the Manhattan Flower Impressions folder which I LOVE! It is so versatile and looks great in any color. I copied this technique from Patty Bennett. She has a great step by step video on her blog. I started with a piece of shimmery white cardstock (it is hard to see the sparkles in the photo) and then embossed it using the big shot and the manhattan flower folder. THen I brayered the back side with regal rose and then so saffron and cut it out. These are super easy to make and everyone who comes to my May classes will get to make this one.  Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think. Also, don’t forget to check out the other Divas here .

Tutorial for brayered background using the Manhattan die….

I have had so many requests asking for directions to Melissa’s card that I posted a couple days ago so I decided to do a tutorial with pictures so it would be easier to understand. So, here you go…..

This is the original card I posted….created by my upline Melissa Ellis

and here are the directions…..

This is what you will need……a brayer, a classic ink pad, the Manhattan embossing folder, a Big Shot machine with the cutting pads and all purpose platform, and whisper white cardstock.

Step 1: open the folder so that the flat side is on your right (you can see the arrow and sizzix symbol through the other side)

Step 2: Ink up your brayer in the classic pad color of your choice and roll over the  plastic embossing folder making sure to cover the whole right side….

Step 3: Place your quarter sheet of whisper white cardstock into the center of the folder and close.

Step 4: Run this through your Big Shot machine like you usually would….as you can tell, my cutting pads are well used…..it is kind of hard to see through them anymore! LOL!

This is what it looks like when you pull it out…..

Step 5: Open the folder and remove your paper

The flower will stay white but everything else will turn the color that you brayered onto the folder.

Here is another one I tried using Pacific Point ink.  The darker color really makes the flower pop.

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Another quilt card idea

 I absolutely love the quilt card technique that I am showing this month in my classes and when I saw one that my friend Tiffany Bauer had posted on the Stampin’ Up website, I just had to make it right away. I changed it a little bit from hers but the general idea is the same. I used the Parisian Breeze dsp which is my FAVORITE one out of all the DSP’s right now. I just love the colors. I am so going to miss this baja breeze color when it goes out in June. You just punch out 12 squares from the dsp using the 1 1/4 inch punch, glue them all side by side onto a 5 x 3 3/4 inch piece of whisper white cardstock and flip it over and run it through the big shot on the top note die. Super easy. The flower is from the Fifth Avenue Floral set and I stamped that in baja breeze on white, cut it out and outlined it in dazzling diamonds glitter. LOVE IT!!! The back baja breeze piece is textured with one of our textured dies also. Why don’t you try out this technique yourselves. It is so easy but makes a gorgeous card.