Don't Hide Your Eyes From This Eclipse

I became fascinated last summer when 'eclipse' cards became the rage, or the revival of the eclipse card. I was immediately going to create a card for my youngest grandson, his name has just four letters.

Opps, I did not have the large letter framelits.

Debate with SU Self:
SU Self: You need the framelits to make the eclipse cards.
Self: They seem a little pricey.
SU Self: Is anything too expensive for your sweet grandchildren?
Self: Of course not, ridiculous question. Hmmm, COLE. ABBY. COLIN. BRADLEY - oh, way too long.
SU Self: what about words: LOVE. KISS. YOU. HELLO.
Self: Good ideas, but will I really make them; I have stamp sets I haven't used yet (don't tell anyone!).
SU Self: Well you surely won't make them if you don't have the framelits.
Self: Yeah, I do need the framelits.

Well, I did not buy them.

Then came Cole's birthday. No Large Letter Framelits. I did, however, make a cute Special Delivery Happy Birthday card using that nostalgic DSP,  happy fox  framelits and fun foam.

Well, I have done it! Ordered. Shipped. In use. For Valentine's Day.

Here are a few tips for when you break down and order the Large Letter Framelits:

* stamp the top art layer of your card, I would not cut it any smaller than 5 1/8 x 3 7/8
* leave some white area, and or lightly stamped areas
* use grid paper and a rule to line up letters, you may place the letters tightly side by side as the cutting edges are a wee bit more narrow than the top edges
* you can also use washi tape to gently secure the framelits on your card before running through the Big Shot ~consider practicing with your line up before cutting into your stamped layer
* cut several sets of the letters from card stock to stack and provide the height

* I used liquid tombow to glue letters into thick stacks of the same letter, glue stamped art letters on the top of the coordinating stacks - don't forget the middle of letters, like with the O, like I did

* gently insert stacked letters into corresponding space

So, don't you need the Large Letter Framelits?

Let's stamp!

Color Inspiration from the Caribbean

How do you choose which colors to use on a card, or for the card base? There are so many different color combinations.

Having stamped for many years now, I often look for color and design inspiration in nature's landscapes as I travel and take photos. Hmm, does that mean I can write off my vacations as work expense...

Recently in the Caribbean I visited several botanical gardens, including an orchid garden ~ wow, some of those colors were intense.

Row after room of hanging beauties. Of course I was holding up those behind me walking through this greenhouse, but I was intent on studying the shading, thinking of our Stampin' Up! Blends. 

I love to create using white on white, but look at what just a pop of color does for this velvety white orchid. 

More color combinations from looking out of a window... 

And texture. This is a Fish Tails Palm. It resembles our new Petal Pair Textured Impressions Embossing Folders.

Finding color inspiration is the easy part, choosing exactly which of our colors to put together seems to take me a little longer ~ another reason why I am up all night!

Let's stamp!

Greetings for the New Year!

I hope you are getting excited for the new year and the release of Stampin' Up!'s Occasions Catalog and Sale-A-Bration Event. It is going to be tremendous year ~ Stampin' Up! celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, so I feel certain that we will all have many chances to celebrate with them.

But before the clock strikes midnight and calendar rolls over, consider some stampin' housekeeping before the new products arrive on your doorstep.

I do not want to say that I abuse my Stampin' Trimmer, but it does get a tremendous amount of use as the only paper trimmer I have; so I attempt to keep the surface clean of snail adhesive and liquid glue goo ~ I usually use my silicon craft mat for all of my work, as I am sure you do as well, but sometimes I get in a hurry, or behind ... 

Give your trimmer a good wash down, as well as the cutting mat and the plastic slide/ruler for the blades. I use alcohol wipes to clean the surface and plastic ruler. The trimmer mats do come out of their position and can be turned over. Dust and minuscule bits of paper get trapped in the mat. If needed, add replacement mats to your next order. I always have a spare pair of cutting blades on hand, too.

The alcohol wipes I use work wonderfully well on acrylic blocks; now is a good time to get them cleaned up for new year stampin', too. Try cleaning your bone folder, paper snips and piercing tool while you are at it.

I recently cleaned my Stampin' Scrub ~ just in the kitchen sink under running water, drying it in the dish drainer. 

How about your Big Shot Cutting Pads? Are they clean? Fairly flat? Try to rotate the pads occasionally to help keep them flat. Flatter pads hold framelits to the magnetic platform easier. Having a spare set of pads is a good idea.

Once everything is in terrific working order, stamping becomes even easier and more enjoyable.

The cleaning and supplies take little time and little funds.

Organizing ~ now that's a different matter, but something to consider as you prepare to begin ordering from the new catalog. Take stock of what you already have and make a list of what you need to replenish. As you look through the new catalog at the gorgeous Designer Series Papers, stamp sets and kits, check that you have the coordinating colors of cardstock and ink or refills. 

Cheers! Let's stamp in 2018! 

Quilt All Year with Quilted Christmas and Stampin' Up!

A 101 years ago one of my best friends taught me to quilt. Her grandmother quilted, as did her mother, as did she. I admired all of their handiwork as well as those countless women I never knew, but either lovingly touched their quilts or bought their quilts to keep my young family warm.

At the time I was living in the Midwest in a somewhat country environment and surrounded by Amish communities. I took every chance I could get to venture out to fall weekend festivals and obscure antique shops 'just looking' for quilts.

When I decided I wanted to try sewing one myself, I labored over the calico choices in the fabric store ~ literally labored as I was expecting my second child! With primary colored calico selections, 'Garden Green' green for the sashing, fluffy white batting and thread and needles, I was prepared for my first quilting lesson. I had also decided upon the relatively simple nine patch pattern and the size of a baby quilt.

I completed it all by hand; it blanketed my youngest and it has moved with me and is now safely stored, but readily available as needed for any visiting baby grand. (I tried a few additional quilts, with varied success.)

Needless to say, I was delighted when Stampin' Up! introduced the Quilted Christmas Suite. It is the first suite shown in your Holiday Catalog, and it was the very first holiday item I purchased!

DSP  and ink for fabric ~ framelits for templates ~  paper trimmer for scissors ~ snail for thread...

Choosing the pattern is simple, but the 'fabrics,' well that's still a little labor intensive, only because I love it all. But, I can have it all! With all of the items in the suite, I can stitch, quilt and even applique.

I particularly like this sweet and joyful font!

As always, I look to the many talented demonstrators and crafters online and in my cyber communities, my upline and downline and the catalog for inspiration and a starting point. The combination of talented artists and SU materials always equals success.

I have many more Christmas cards to make with this suite, but the incredible beauty of this suite is that it does not have to be ~ should not be ~ limited to Christmas!  I used it for Thanksgiving: 

And I copied a design that I thought was interesting and not particularly holidayish:

Can you see that needle and thread? Created with die cuts and the coordinating framelits. 

This is just too much fun!! 

Although you can use this suite of products all year long, the products are only available through the end of this year!!  Join the fun and we can create a virtual quilting bee!

Tell them thanks

Tell them thanks...

Please don't put away your fall and Thanksgiving stamp sets yet! I know everything in the stores is beginning to scream Christmas, but let's not forget about what just may be the least commercialized holiday of the year. 

I love autumn! We have stamp sets and dies and papers and embellishments and embossing folders that make for beautiful fall cards. Stunning cards. Handsome cards. What a lovely way to say 'thanks.' 

I will be happy to help you design a card if you like it - just ask! 

Please don't let this season of gratitude slide by without

telling them thanks! 

Bonjourno!

Bonjourno! The ship is rolling just a bit as we are making our way from La Spezia (our port for Florence and Pisa) to Civitavecchia (our port for Rome), but I think I can still type.

With these breezy days in the seventies on the Mediterranean. it is tough to consider the holidays and how quickly they are approaching. But before I left home on this much anticipated cruise with my husband, I did spend some play time with some products from the new Holiday Catalog.

I started out with two Designer Series Paper offerings : Be Merry (annual catalog page 113)

and Quilted Christmas (holiday catalog page 5). You know I love paper!

And although I did have the holidays on my mind, I was just playing and...

I picked up the new cat punch (have you found that in the holiday catalog?) and began punching out calico and gingham kitties.

Thinking of quilts, I chose different papers for cats and background and sashing and juggled them around a bit. I embossed several options for the background with the Quilt Top Textured Embossing Folder ~ solids and patterened papers. Then, I couldn't decide which side of the embossing I preferred.

I will say that embossed white or white with small and sparse patterns look a little like Northern Quilted Bath Tissue. I opted for a darker, almost-solid colored background for my paper quilt.

Not being the swiftest with numbers, I cut and embossed a piece of DSP measuring
5 1/2 x 4. Then I simply placed four kitties fairly evenly spaced on that layer and used 1/4" ribbon as the 'sashing.' And it worked! I could then layer that onto a standard card base of 5 1/2 x 4 1/4. Heavy cardstock is quite useful here.

So, I have not completed my cards; still playing, but I have lots of ideas, and not all Christmas...

Maybe another glass of wine will inspire more ideas.

Ciao!

Watercolor Tricks

After two attempts I was finally able to make a watercolor class with my fabulous upline. (My foiled attempts were because of dental work which resulted in a bit of discomfort.)

I purchased the watercolor pencils as soon as they were released last year. I just love playing with those pencils, along with aqua painters and blender pens. And there are so many stamps and papers that lend themselves to use with those tools.

In my class I learned two ways to lay down color for two different looks.

I think it is instinctual to color lightly with the pencils - fear of breaking the points and the well known rule 'you can always add color, but you can't take it away.'  So when I was instructed to color heavy, I re-colored several times.

The bottom, vivid image was stamped in Archival Black ink on watercolor paper and then colored with pencils - darker colors out to lighter on the tips of the petals. The object was to lay down thick color. Then, the image was spritzed with water, allowing that thick coloring to bleed. The result was stunning!

I will layer this on a slightly larger layer of Basic Black cardstock and then onto a card base of Rich Razzleberry!

Did you notice that small scrap of white paper in with my pencils, which I store in a  thin stamp case?  It was used as a palette - I colored, heavily, a circle of Calypso Coral. Then I used an aqua painter to pick up just a bit of the color - that light shade provided the perfect skin tone for the Beautiful You gal dancing in the water - top card! It really is just a kiss of peach - you'll have to take my word for it - try it!

I put down a circle of Bermuda Bay and again used an aqua painter to pick up the color and paint a thin shadow line around the gal - neat effect.

I am going to spend more time with these two techniques!!