A Golden Wedding Card

I have beautiful card to share today that is featured on the Imagine Crafts blog.  A wedding is truly something to celebrate!  This card is reminiscent of the winding maze of a romantic relationship to the joy of celebrating a marriage and a new Mr. & Mrs.!  I wanted a faint background of the Seth Apter Maze embossing folder by Spellbinders, so decided to use VersaMark and golden pigment powder. 

 

I like using embossing for folders for more than one application, embossing on the panel and inking up a matching background.    A pop of red accents the golden color nicely.  Please do stop by the Imagine Crafts blog for an easy to follow tutorial to create this card in about 30 minutes.  

TBT Paper Tole featuring Magenta Stamps

Splitcoast Stampers featured tutorial this week is One Layer Paper Tole.  Paper Tole has existed for a very long time; my first experience was with using pre-printed cards and fussy cutting layers.  The next step was to repeatedly stamp an image and fussy cut various layers to create dimension.  

Created in 2000

This card was created with a Magenta stamp, one of my favorite companies in the early 2000s.  The center image was stamped three times, heat embossed and water colored with Jacquard Pearl Ex pigments.  It is hard to see the shimmer in a photo.  The various layers are fussy cut.  The background is stamped with the same image.  Various colors of handmade paper and card stock back the central image.  At the time the only dimensional adhesive we had was home repair chalking!  The various layers are raised with the chalking allowed to cure.  It was a little stinky!

Created 2000

This second card uses smaller Magenta images and embossing powder layers technique on the backing layers.  The center image is stamped once, colored with colored pencils and a Dove blender, then fussy cut before adhering with the chalking.

Thanks for stopping by my Throw Back Thursday post.  It is fun to share my creative work that still resides in my “idea archive” drawer.

Retro Rubber Challenge Blog Tag You're It

Time for a new challenge over at Retro Rubber ChallengeBlog, create a tag or use one on a project.  Our rules are easy to follow, just use a stamp that you have owned for at least a year, follow the prompt, and link directly to the post highlighting the project.  Come join the fun!

For a time tags were all the rage, and Making Memories even came out with a Tag Maker system.  There were plenty of pre-made tags to choose from as well.  The traditional office tags in many sizes, tags cut using a Coluzzle, small tags die cut dies, and Making Memories tags like this one.  I experimented with a few tags before I settled on this Making Memories tag because the sentiment fit perfectly in the size.

The card base is pink card stock trimmed to 9” x 6 ½” folded in half.  The bottom layer of green card stock was trimmed to 4 ¼” x 6 1/4” and the bottom edge is punched with a Fiskars edger punch that was one of the first ones I owned.  Love this little scalloped edge.  The next layer of Kraft cardstock was pressure embossed with Darice Butterflies embossing folder and trimmed to 4” x 5 ½”.  These layers were adhered with 1/16” dimensional foam adhesive. 

I have many butterfly images I purchased in about 1997 along with the sentiment.  Butterflies are a favorite of my Grandma, my Mom and myself!  This image is by Distinctive Impressions.  It is stamped in Tsukineko Versa Magic Aloe Vera on light pink card stock and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  The butterfly is watercolored with Jacquard Pearl Ex pigments mixed with Gum Arabic.  The Gum Arabic is a fixative to allow the pigment to be used as a watercolor.  Other brands have the fixative already added.  I used Duo Green Yellow on the body of the butterfly and Flamingo Pink and Interference Violet on the wings.  It is hard to photograph how the wings shimmer and change colors as you shift the card.   The image is fussy cut removing the antennae.  A little piece of craft wire is fashioned to make new antennae that are a little sturdier that paper.

The Where the Rubber Hits the Road sentiment is stamped in Tsukineko Versa Magic Aloe Vera on the Making Memories tag and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  I added three complementary colors and textures of fibers to finish the tag.  The butterfly image and tag are adhered with dimensional foam adhesive. 

Please do come and add your creation using your Retro Rubber and a tag at Retro Rubber Challenge Blog!  

Anything But a Card Friendship ATC Booklet

This month the challenge over at Anything But a Card is to create a project that celebrates Friendship.  There are so many sayings that give us an understanding of friendship . . . and I have several that are stamps in my collection!  Artist Trading Cards are one way to make new friends and share art at the same time.  I have a collection that dates back to 2006 from the now defunct Memory Makers forum.  I have remained friends with many of my ATC trading friends through new forums and now in blogland too.  Another reason to dabble in ATC creation is the small "canvas" size that allows experimentation with a number of fun techniques.  I am glad that you have stopped by to see the full version of my ATC Friend booklet.

Front Cover, ATC 1

I knew that I wanted to make a collection of ATCs for this project.  So I decided to make a booklet along the lines of the tutorial over at Splitcoast Stampers.  I choose to make my booklet from 8” x 12” card stock and fold at 3”, 6”, and 9” on the long direction and 4” on the short direction.  The card stock was stamped with a Fiskars’s roller stamp and Tsukineko Kaleidacolor Berry Blaze.  After training the folds the edges were inked in corresponding colors.  The front cover edge was slit and ribbon was adhered inside, the back cover has an open edge and the corresponding back ribbon was adhered inside.  Each page was adhered together to form the booklet.

While I design my ATC I kept the rule of threes in mind.  The ATC needs three things:  a background, a focal image (in this case the friendship sayings), and an embellishment.

ATC 1 (front cover)

I wanted to play a little with my Superior Palette Stamp & Stick Gluepad that I’ve owned for awhile.  I stamped glossy card stock with a star image from Technique Tuesday Twinkle Twinkle set and “friend” sentiment from Stampendous Happy Messages.  After the images are heated I gently brushed Jacquard Products Pearl Ex Flamingo Pink across the image with a paint brush and buffed.  Using a soft foam roller (normally used for small household paint jobs) I added Tsukineko Kaleidacolor Denim ink over the top of the image then inked the edges with the darkest blue.  My Moments Paper Roses were the final touch to embellish the ATC.

ATC 2 and ATC #

ATC 2

This saying I found on the Internet and printed it on white card stock.  Using the same soft foam roller I inked the ATC with Tsukinkeo Kaliedacolor Berry Blaze over the sentiment and inked the edges with the darker purple.  The Inkadinkado image is stamped in Berry Blaze just below the sentiment.  The finishing touch is a bit of bakers twine tied in a small multi-loop bow.

A few process photos

ATC 3

I stamped the sentiment from Hampton Art on white card stock.  I used several pastel pink and purple chalks from Decorating Chalks with a stencil from Recollections I recently received as a prize from winning a challenge.  A few buttons from my stash and white craft thread finish the ATC.

ATC 4 and ATC 5

ATC 4

This is actually the first ATC I created and I did a bit of experimenting with the Superior Palette Stamp & Stick Gluepad and different media.  I tried foiling with no success, glitter (too chunky), and finally the dry Pearl Ex.  The images are stamped and heat embossed on black glossy card stock before brushing Duo Red-Blue and Flamingo Pink Pearl Ex over the images.  There really is a nice iridescence to the Pearl Ex that does not show in the photographs.  The frame is by Sweet Impression (in my stash forever!) and the sentiment is by Creative Cousins.   I added a heart shaped paper clip to the ATC.   ATC can be created either portrait or landscape style as shown with this image.

ATC 5

This was another experimentation ATC.  I finally went with using the Tim Holtz Mini Mask Compass to create the background image FIRST on white card stock, then printing the saying over the top.  This saying I found on the Internet as well.  The Jacquard Products Pearl Ex is mixed 4 parts to 1 part of powdered Gum Arabic.  I have used this process a few times and created my own well plate from an old candy box.  I add just enough water to make the well moist enough to use the Pearl Ex as a paint.  The water evaporates and the remaining pigment and gum Arabic are good to go for the next round.  After printing the sentiment over the image, I added the small watch by Recollections with a small black brad.   The edges are inked with Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black.  

ATC 6 and ATC 7

ATC 6

The image by Hero Arts was inked with Tsukineko Memento Luxe Tuxedo Black and heat embossed with clear embossing powder on white glossy card stock.  The leaves were colored in with Chameleon YG3 Spring Meadow.  The image was masked with a fussy cut post-it mask and then the edges were inked with a Tim Holtz handle and Adirondack alcohol inks in Purple Twilight and Wild Plum.  I added a flower brad over the top of the stamped flower with a Liquid Pearls Lavender Lace center and a little dragonfly brad to finish the ATC.

ATC 7

I used another saying from the Internet and then inked the white card stock with Tsukinkeo Kaliedacolor Denim and the soft foam roller.   The star image by Personal Stamp Exchange is inked in Tsukinkeo Encore Silver and stamped around the sentiment.  The brad was inked with Tsukinkeo  StazOn Azure to match the ATC, and the edges of the angel were inked to help her stand out from the background.  Mrs Grossman’s Vellum Vines Silver & Rose finish the ATC as a frame around the edges. 

To say I used just a few supplies would be an understatement . . . !

Almost everything used in creating this project.

  

Whew!  Thanks for stopping by and checking out my Friendship project, and as always, please join our challenge at Anything But a Card!  As a final note I wanted to show you just a portion of the experimental failures for this project . . . just so you know that playing with our inks, paper, and media is a process and is meant to be fun!

The not ready for prime time ATC versions!

I would like to enter my ATC Friend Booklet in the following challenges:

We Do Doobado #3 Hearts and Flowers-Flowers on the cover and ATC 6, hearts in ATC 2, ATC 3, and ATC 4

Suzy Bee’s Bloomin’ Challenge Blog #66 Anything goes with wings—Wings on ATC 6

dragonfly and ATC 7 Angel

Simply Create Too #78 Use Hearts--hearts in ATC 2, ATC 3, and ATC 4

QRK Stampede Challenge #125 Anything But a Card