Running With Scissors…

When I started working on this I had a vague recollection of a pink Teddy bear from when I was little.  As I worked, the memory became more defined, took on more substance.  I clearly remember my brown Teddy bear.  He had the sweetest face for a little girl to love and grew only more precious when he became scruffy and his music box no longer worked.  But there was a pink Teddy bear, too.  A little plumper, not quite as easy to hug and tote around.  I remember feeling sorry that I could never love it quite the way I loved my brown Teddy bear.  Gosh, that was a long time ago.  I don’t remember exactly when my brown Teddy bear and I parted company so it must have been pretty painless.  I guess we simply outgrew each other, but I’ll admit I just this moment felt a little pang of regret that I don’t still have that little guy.

I decided to turn this into a tutorial because I was doing something a little different and maybe some folks would like to see how it’s done.  The Teddy bear was given a little puffy texture with Liquid Applique, nothing new there, but I dyed the LA with a few drops of Pretty in Pink reinker.  That’s probably been done before, too, but I haven’t heard of it so for the sake of this tutorial, let’s pretend this is all brand new stuff.

First, I started with white Liquid Applique.  I squeezed about 5 ml into a disposable measuring cup, like one of those you get with liquid cough syrup.  I added 4 drops of Pretty in Pink, stirred it and it came out this color.  You can see that it lightens up a little when it’s puffed.  I thought it was so cool that I learned I could color my Liquid Applique!

I stamped my Teddy bear onto Naturals White cardstock in Timber Brown Stazon, then painted all over the image with the tinted Liquid Applique.  The stamped image is just serving as an outline so you’ll know where to paint the LA.  Don’t worry about obscuring any of the features or lines within the image. This is similar to the brayering technique with LA, but with less waste.  One more little thing:  I used a rayon tipped swab (sort of like a Q-Tip, but made with rayon fibers).  The fibers got kind of stringy and messy, but neatness isn’t important at this stage.  You just want to fill in the image and it doesn’t matter if you go outside the lines a little bit.  A foam applicator would have been a little neater.

The next step is to heat the image with your heat gun, just the same as embossing, but heat only just until the LA puffs.  Isn’t he cute?

Now we bring the Teddy bear to life by stamping right over top of the puffed image.  I used my Stamp-a-Ma-Jig for positioning.  Sorry I don’t have a picture of that step but you can see in the next photo how it looks after it’s stamped but before it’s cut out.  One of the eyes turned out a little blank but I filled it in with a brown fine-tipped Sharpie.

So here he is, puffed and stamped and ready to cut out.  After I cut him out I added a little bit of shading with Pretty in Pink Stampin’ Pastels (soft chalk).  The rest is just a matter of putting the card together.

For the card I used Pretty in Pink and Soft Sky cardstock and three different sei designer papers in a color block layout.  The scalloped oval was made with one of those big punches which I don’t have but Candy Williams was nice enough to send me a little supply of punched circles and ovals.  I sponged the edges of this one with Soft Sky ink.  The scalloped border under the ribbon was made with the slit punch.  Julia S. is responsible for that innovation and she’s given a complete how-to here on her blog.  Thank you, Julia!  I used the key tag punch for the sentiment tab.  Stamps and cardstock are by Stampin’ Up!.  A summary of the supplies is included below.

This was a fun, easy and fairly quick process.  I hope it’s useful information for someone and that you’ll give it a try.  Have a great day!

Stamps:  Bundle of Joy, Holidays and Wishes

Paper:  Pretty in Pink, Soft Sky, Naturals White, Whisper White, sei designer paper

Ink:  Timber brown Stazon, Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky

Accessories:  Ribbon, eyelets, Prima, brad, scallop punch, key tag punch, slit punch, Scotch brand mounting tape

I spent yesterday lunching and shopping with my friend, Jan.  I was hoping to do some stamping, too, but the evening had other plans for me.  Isn’t it fun to bring home a bag full of new supplies?  Doesn’t new paper smell wonderful?  I was pretty conservative on the paper this trip.  I did get one of the Tsukineko glue pads and I’m anxious to try it.  Lots of brads came home with me…I use a lot of brads.  I love quotes, too, and I picked up several of those.  I’ll have to figure out how to get them on a card and still do some stamping on it…hmmmm…  Anyway, the road to my stamp room is paved with good intentions…we’ll see if I can’t make something real come out of it later tonight.  Enjoy your day!

Nothing serious…I just have a fear of coloring butterflies.  I mentioned in an earlier post that I was butterfly coloring impaired.  I’m intimidated by the realistic looking butterfly stamps, worrying overmuch that I won’t get it just right.  Well, the other day when I was out working in the garden the butterfly in the photo below flitted by.  I chased him (her?) all over the place trying to get this photo.  He was a very busy butterfly.  When I saw him I thought, gee, even I can color a black and cream butterfly, so you can imagine my excitement.  All I had to do was stamp black on Vanilla.  Well, I’m here to tell you a black and cream butterfly looks a lot better in real life than on a card.  So I had to face my fear and color it. 

The butterfly stamp I selected is one of several butterflies in a set of Stampendous clear stamps that I bought in 2004.  All the images in the set are beautiful but this is the first time I’ve done anything other than admire them through their packaging.  I thought I’d break myself in easily on a swallowtail.  It wasn’t so bad.  I colored it with my Barely Banana marker and added a little Summer Sun here and there.  I cut it out and put a little strip of mounting tape under each wing, with glue on the body and adhered it to the card front.  The mounting tape (dimensional) keeps the wings securely raised in a natural position without being too exaggerated to slip into an envelope for easy mailing.  I drew the antennae freehand because I wasn’t about to try and cut around them.  This is Card #2 of a few I’m making for a friend to choose from for his mom’s birthday.  See the first one in my previous post.  He suggested something flowery and this may not be flowery enough so, gosh, I guess I’ll just have to make another one.   I know some of you like to read the details about how the card is made so I’ll talk about that in the following paragraphs.  If you’d rather skip to the end, you’ll find a list of the supplies I used.

The card: 

1.  I did the butterfly first, stamped in Jet Black Stazon and colored as I mentioned above.

2.  The panel that the butterfly sits on is Very Vanilla brayered with a Ranger Big and Juicy Rainbow Ink Pad.  This link takes you to a page that will tell you about these pads and provide you with online resources.  The color I used is Herb Garden but it looks like it’s no longer available.  They have other amazing colors, though.  The ink is blended on the pad so you don’t get any lines.  The pads are huge, too.  I used just one end of it to brayer this panel.

3.  I used the other, darker end of the pad to ink up my Blossoms Abound lilac stamp–the more open image–and stamped it repeatedly, mostly in the upper area of the panel, to give the impression of foliage in a garden.  I stamped an image from Watercolor Minis in Craft Regal Rose to place some flowers in the garden.  “Craft” is what Stampin’ Up! calls pigment ink.  It’s more opaque and vivid, giving better coverage when overstamping other colors.  It takes longer to dry, though, so you have to be cautious about smearing.  Your heat gun will speed up the drying time but I usually just keep an eye out for it and be careful.

4.  The Rose Red panel was stamped with the Canvas background with the finger walking technique for a worn look.  Place background face up on table and brayer it with ink.  Lay cardstock on stamp and press your fingers over it here and there–just “walk” your fingers around a bit.

5.  The card base is Basic Black.  The green layer is Forest Foliage (retired).  I has a bluish cast to it that coordinates with the Ranger ink.  I stamped the Blossoms Abound lilac around the edges in Forest Foliage ink, then put the card layers together as shown and added the Forest Foliage eyelets.

6.  The sentiment panel is mounted on dimensional tape.  It has a little of the lilac stamped on it in a CTMH citrus green ink, stamped off once.  The sentiment says, “Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of it’s own.” — Charles Dickens.  It sounded good for a mature lady’s birthday card.  The inside is lined with Very Vanilla, stamped with the lilac and a “Happy Birthday” in nice script added.  The swirl clip reminded me of a butterfly’s proboscis and provided a nice way to tie on some pretty organdy ribbon.

I’m glad you were able to drop in today.  I don’t mean to be long winded but I know there are a lot of folks who are just learning to stamp and really want to know how certain looks are achieved.  I hope you can see that there’s nothing really complicated about this card and it doesn’t take all that long to make it.  I wouldn’t make this card if I was in a big hurry, but stamping is a pleasurable pastime for me and when I decide to spend the evening stamping I’m not necessarily wanting to hurry up and get it over with.  I want to relax, enjoy and create.  There are plenty of other occasions for rushing around like a chicken with it’s head cut off.  However, the simple-clean-uncluttered look is wonderfully appealing and sometimes it just feels right, no matter how much time you have on your hands.  Whatever style you prefer, I hope you delight in the process.  Take care and have a wonderful day!

Stamps:  Stampendous butterfly, Stampin’ Up! Blossoms Abound, Canvas background, sentiment from On Gossamer Wings

Paper:  Stampin’ Up! Forest Foliage (retired), Rose Red, Very Vanilla, Basic Black

Ink:  Ranger Big and Juicy Rainbow ink pad, CTMH Citrus Leaf, Jet Black Stazon, Stampin’ Up! Rose Red, Forest Foliage (retired), markers:  Barely Banana, Summer Sun, black fine tip Sharpie

Accessories:  Swirl clip, organdy ribbon, Scotch brand mounting tape, Stampin’ Up! Forest Foliage eyelets (retired)

This week’s Ruby Tuesday card uses none of the gorgeous patterned papers in the BasicGrey Stella Ruby collection.  I tend to think of these more plain sheets as companions to the others but they have a lot of character in their own right, too.  I selected two different sheets to coordinate with the Marigold Morning, Old Olive and Bravo Burgundy in the main image and cardstocks.  The flower is watercolored with inks squeezed into the lids of the pads, shaded lightly with Pale Plum and Sahara Sand.  Rather than add another layer to the card I sponged the edges of the Stella Ruby with Burgundy to define and frame that layer.  The “Celebrate” is from That’s Nice.  The rest of the sentiment (Life has many gifts–take time to unwrap them all.) is stamped inside the card. 

I made this card for a friend who requested a birthday card for his mother, stating she’d like something pretty and flowery.  Now, there are many definitions of “pretty and flowery” depending upon what your tastes are.  To me, this is “pretty and flowery”, but with a somewhat rustic feel to it.  She may like something delicate and feminine or perhaps she’d prefer vivid colors.  I don’t know.  It doesn’t take much arm twisting to get me to stamp, especially flowery cards, so I thought I’d make several different types for him to choose from.  They’ll all get used, regardless of his selection.  I guess you know what you’ll be seeing from me for the next several days…  I hope you’ll enjoy some of them.  Have a wonderful Tuesday!

All supplies are Stampin’ Up! except the BasicGrey Stella Ruby paper, watercolor paper and mounting tape.

Stamps:  Still Life Stems, That’s Nice

Paper:  Bravo Burgundy, Marigold Morning, watercolor, BasicGrey Stella Ruby DP

Ink:  Bravo Burgundy, Marigold Morning, Old Olive, Certainly Celery, Timber Brown Stazon

Accessories:  Organdy ribbons, ticket corner punch, Scotch brand mounting tape

I have two posts today because I wanted to share this card that Libby @ Libby’s Little Addiction sent me.  I wish you could see it IRL.  She has a picture of it on her blog that you can click on for a close up.  I haven’t figured out how to do that yet unless I post a thumbnail.  The pattern on the background paper is outlined in gold glitter and I just love the way she did the edge with the scalloped border, ticket corner punch and brads.  Thank you, Libby!  This is truly beautiful!

But that’s not all…she remembered I’d mentioned in one of my posts that I loved Marvelous Magenta and wished I’d gotten a full pack of that color.  Well, she sent me several sheets of Marvelous Magenta.  But that’s still not all…she also sent me several lengths of Martha Stewart ribbon.  Libby, you are one very special person!  I’m so glad we’ve become friends!

This card is all about using underused supplies.  It started out with my intention of using up some of my Four Seasons paper.  Well, by the time I settled on the design you can see how far that went.  I did a little better using some Marigold Morning cardstock, which I’ve barely touched.  Not much of it shows, though.  The semi-funky ribbon is some I purchased quite a while ago on a Joann’s ribbon buying spree, figuring since it was different enough from all my other ribbons it would be a good addition to my collection.  This is the first time I’ve used it.  I used 5 1/4″.  At this rate I could make 27 cards from the 12 foot roll.  Actually, I made two of these cards, so that’s 10 1/2″ — only 25 more cards to go.  If you only knew how much ribbon I have and how I can not stop buying it!  It’s a weakness, but relatively harmless so I’m okay with it.

There was no effort at all involved in deciding which stamp set to use for this card.  I love this type of vase and flower stamp and have several of them.  That’s why Sassy Stems was one of my favorite sets from last year’s SU! catalog.  I was so happy to be able to purchase this Vases in Vogue set, a Level III hostess set which will be available in the new catalog.  I chose this particular vase, the Hot to Dot wheel and the colors all because of the ribbon.  I wheeled Hot to Dot in Marigold Morning on the diagonal so the dots appear more random, rather than lined up in a row.  I tried to keep the design light weight and simple, but still interesting, because this card will be sold and I try to keep those cards “no extra postage required”.  The rest of the card’s ingredients are listed below.  Now, I’m off to use some more of that ribbon!  Have a great evening!

All supplies are Stampin’ Up! except the ribbon and dimensional tape.

Stamps:  Vases in Vogue, Hot to Dot wheel

Paper:  Certainly Celery, Marigold Morning, Very Vanilla, Four Seasons designer paper

Ink:  Basic Brown, Marigold Morning, markers:  Apricot Appeal, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery

Accessories:  Ribbon, Scotch brand mounting tape, mat pack and piercer, distressing tool

I didn’t think I was going to have time to stamp today but Life is full of surprises.  Just so I’d have something creative to do on my breaks at work I took a few things with me to fool around with a background.  I get so caught up with my designer papers these days I tend to neglect the resources I relied upon previously.  I made a couple of different backgrounds, but the other one is in the scrap drawer now.  It may reappear later as those rejected backgrounds have a way of doing. 

I set out to use this Watercolor Vine wheel but wanted to combine it with another background as well, so I stamped French Script in River Rock and wheeled the vine over it with Mellow Moss.  That was my morning break.  Well, gosh, that went so fast I had time to do a little something more in the afternoon.  So at lunch time I looked for a main image stamp and was happy to see how the form and movement of this Garden Silhouettes stamp would grace this background nicely.  I selected a few markers and a scrap of Very Vanilla and headed back to work.  In the afternoon I colored and stamped the flower image.  I was getting together with some friends after work so I figured that was the end of it but I just couldn’t let it be.  I put the rest of it together as quickly as I could, relying on some comfortable old favorites — Print Pattern and the Thoreau quote from The Art of Life.  The flower pot from Fun Filled was an afterthought and that’s how it wound up “out of the box” — there wasn’t room to fit it into the main image panel.  I stamped it in Groovy Guava, shaded it with the Really Rust marker and mounted it on dimensional tape.

It’s a quick and simple layout, not too much fiddling around and not a lot of “extras” on it, but I’m glad I found time to stamp this card.  It felt good!  I hope you had a pleasant day, too, whatever you were up to!  Happy Friday!

 All supplies are Stampin’ Up! except the ribbon, brads and mounting tape.

Stamps:  Garden Silhouettes, Watercolor Vine jumbo wheel, French Script, Print Pattern, Itty Bitty Backgrounds, Fun Filled, The Art of Life

Paper:  Mellow Moss, Blush Blossom, Very Vanilla

Ink:  Mellow Moss, River Rock, Blush Blossom, Groovy Guava, Always Artichoke, markers:  Always Artichoke, Regal Rose, Rose Red

Accessories:  Ribbon, brads, Scotch brand mounting tape

Our friend, the ever resourceful Stella, collaborated with Baroque Motifs and Groovy Guava to give me my first card with this set and color.  In case you’re tuning in late to Tuesdays with Stella, it’s BasicGrey Stella Ruby who’s responsible for this card.  Well…I helped…but she inspired me.  This reminds me a little bit of a card I did a while back with Seeing Spots in Really Rust…hmmmm…let’s talk about color for a minute…

Now, I was pretty excited about Groovy Guava at first, because it was different — sort of peachy but not an ordinary has-been kind of peachy.  Since I’d already stamped with the other color I was most anticipating, Purely Pomegranate, I wanted to use this color next.  Well, the moment I stamped it I realized it’s rather like a stamped off Really Rust.  Gee, it’s not a new color at all — just a lighter shade of Rust.  How about that?  But then I got to thinking that when something is stamped off, it looks like it’s been stamped off, whereas the properties of this color are pure and dense, enabling it to be perceived as its own color.  Just the briefest hesitation and now I’m excited again.  It doesn’t take much.  As I’ve mentioned before, I like all colors.  Besides, you can’t stamp off cardstock.  It has sort of a pinkish clay look to it, don’t you think?  Maybe?  Just a little?

About the card — I used three different patterns of BasicGrey Stella Ruby paper on Groovy Guava and Chocolate Chip.  The main image panel is a left over piece of Linen in River Rock.  It’s more texture than color and that’s exactly what I was hoping for with River Rock and Linen.  The little flowers in the lower area of the panel were stamped in Close to Cocoa, stamped off one or more times.  I outlined the flowers with the Really Rust marker and distressed the edges.  The small center flowers were stamped in Really Rust, cut out and glued on and a Really Rust eyelet inserted in each.  The stems are the Chocolate stitched grosgrain from the Seaside collection.  I ran them through my itty bitty Xyron so they were easy to position.  The other ribbons are from the Rustic Retreat collection.  Are you excited to see all the new ribbons SU! has in store for us?  I am!  As if I need more ribbon!

Well, I have to run now.  I’ve lingered long enough.  Have a very Ruby Tuesday!

A friend asked me to make an encouragement card for her husband and the only thing she suggested about his preference was “old world”.  Apparently they’re redecorating his office with maps and charts and whatever accoutrements might go along with that.  I thought of Set Sail right away because of the map background and the fact that it’s one of the few guy sets I own.  It was also a good chance to use this Karen Foster paper I’ve had for a long time.

I colored the image with markers and did some tearing, distressing and sponging to further the old world look.  I almost always use Cheesecloth with anything nautical, so out it came, too.  It’s stamped in Creamy Caramel and all the sponging is done with Caramel.  I’d been recently using the sentiments from Friendship Flowers which helped me remember this Winston Churchill quote.  I isolated part of it for this card.  Finally, I added some linen thread and a bar brad for the only embellishment, figuring it looked manly and old worldly enough.

One little note about the bar brads:  It took me a while to figure out the easiest way to get them on straight.  They have two prongs, which aren’t necessarily aligned evenly.  I used to try to measure the distance between the prongs and punch holes for them in just the right spot.  It was a real pain and time consuming.  Now I make sure the prongs are poking out all nice and straight, then place my card layer over the cushion that comes with the mat pack.  I place my bar brad where I want it and push the prongs into the cardstock.  Easy!

I don’t know about you, but with the advent of summer weather I’m spending more time outside and less time stamping.  I’m loving it all, though!  I hope you’re enjoying your summer, too!

Stamps:  Set Sail (retired), Cheesecloth (retiring), Friendship Flowers — all Stampin’ Up!

Paper:  Creamy Caramel, Bordering Blue, Very Vanilla (all SU!), Karen Foster designer paper

Ink:  Basic Black, Creamy Caramel, Basic Black marker for sentiment (all SU!)

Accessories:  Linen thread, bar brad

I’m going to a baby shower this weekend and I’ll be taking this and a big basket full of baby goodies with me.  I love baby cards — so soft and sweet.  This is the SU! Bundle of Joy set from the Spring Mini, my first card with it.

Mom and Dad have chosen not to know the baby’s gender until the big event so I thought I’d keep the colors neutral, but I couldn’t resist this pretty blue Petal Patch paper.  I punched 1 1/4″ squares of two different patterns and pieced them together for the background.  They’re faux stitched with the white gel pen but I see the stitches don’t show in the photo.  The scallops were made with the slit punch and the giraffe is colored with SU! markers.

I hope you have a nice weekend ahead of you.  I’ve got a busy one, it seems, but if I’m lucky it’ll include some stamping, too.  Enjoy yourselves, and happy Father’s Day to all those important guys in your lives!