SAF 2017 10th Anniversary, Tin & Aluminum with Laurie Schmidlin

Hello again! Squeaked in one last card before the deadline for entries into Stampafaire 2017. The nice thing is I have lots of cool techniques to try in the weeks ahead when I get a chance. Always amazed at the folks who  manage to work their way through all of them. I'm poky.

Anyway, this was one of the last challenges for tin and aluminum. I used tin foil although I can see why a tin crafting sheet would work much better; you need the stiffness. I quadrupled my sheet but had to be careful rubbing on the black ink, and looking at the photo I think it could use a bit more black on mine. You can find the video in youtube or the link on Nicole's blog. But thanks Laurie, I had fun with it!

I framed mine in kraft and sort of thought of the old west, with saloons and abandoned mirrors in ghost towns or the tin ceilings and accessories so common then. I was shooting for that sort of look with my card, which is why I framed it in the Stitched Die. I painted the petals on the die in champagne and gold inks; they're a bit translucent so depending on how the light hits it, only some of the leaves look like they're painted, but they all are.

I also liked the way she gilded the bottom half of her die cut sentiment so I tried that too. Cool technique once again.

Thanks for looking and have fun stamping!

SAF First Anniversary Tradition of Paper Hostess: Lauren Bassen

Hello again. Thought I would post this separately as my last one was getting rather long.

I also got a chance to play along with Lauren Bassen's challenge for the first anniversary of paper. She took a cover plate and then paper scraps and using multiple colors, laid out a pretty grid and then selected a few of the cut outs for a vellum overlay. She sewed on the vellum.

I don't have a sewing machine for paper purposes and I realized I don't have a cover plate that does cut outs either. So I cut out separate hearts from paper scraps. Who doesn't have a ton of paper scraps? Then I cut out a few vellum hearts as well. Instead of a sewing machine I put a very thin line of glue in the center of each vellum heart, then when I adhered the hearts and they dried, I used a white gel pen to make faux stitches to mimic the sewing on Lauren's project. I tried to take one shot from an angle that would show the edges of the vellum. They're turned up a bit like a butterfly wing.

Thanks for looking!

Some late SAF projects for take ten and Paper challenges

The best laid plans of mice and stampers. I intended to play along with Stamp a Faire but we just got busy. Things we can handle even if eventually though. Prayers going out to Houston and all those still battling with flood waters.

So I did get a chance to play some with a few challenges and I might try one more tonight.

The first is for a take ten warm up challenge. We had ten minutes to look and pick a picture for inspiration, ten minutes to gather our supplies, etc. So not the same as a ten minute card, but broken into ten minute segments!

I selected this inspiration photo although I didn't use all of the colors:

And here is my card. I case'd a technique Melissa Phillips had shared a while back with the cut out heart. I liked her card quite a bit better though!:

Next up was a challenge from Rebecca Luminarias to dye paper in hot water with dye inks mixed in. The paper comes out a delicate sort of pastel color. My next few cards are going to look quite a bit similar because I used the same dies and images I already had out...some very similar colors too.

Here are my dyed die cuts:

And here is the card I made using them. Very similar color scheme to the card above, same basic shapes really. I think it should have had a bit more yellow. Not feeling it really but hey, it is good practice to make something better in the future. Blog post is long enough, think I'll put the next card in a separate post. Thanks for looking!

Sketch Saturday with Crafty Sentiments

Hello and welcome to a new sketch challenge from Sketch Saturday! This is challenge #477 and the sponsor this week is Crafty Sentiments! I chose Mia who is all cozy in her fall jacket, boots and tights because Fall is my favorite season and I'm looking forward to its beginning!

I chose the blue section of paper behind the image to highlight the beautiful shade of blue in the sky when September and October come. The plaid strip I imagine to line her jacket, and the red strip of course is to link back to the color I chose for the jacket itself.

Thanks for looking! I had fun with this image and hope you find some time to get crafty and have a little fun this week as well.

Stamps: Crafty Sentiments digital "Mia" ; Paper Neenah solar white, blue panel, scrap of patterned paper, Bazill red, scraps of green and teal; Dies: Gathered Garden from Papertrey Ink, MFT stitched rectangle, punch from Stampin' UP; Other: PTI button, twine, Prismacolor pencils and gamsol, twine, button

Sketch Saturday #475 ... New Designer

Good morning and thanks for stopping by! I am so pleased to announce that I am a new team member at Sketch Saturday, which has a fabulous team of international designers. I always enjoy a good sketch as a way to get the creative juices going. This first one was a lot of fun to put together.

The sponsor for this particular sketch is MMedel Illustrations on etsy. I selected this cute kitten from the Kitten Bundles who seems to have a bit of a self-satisfied look on her face. That's what prompted me to use the die for the wee birds (Memory Box) as the embellishments, and the sentiment (from a Papertrey Ink set). There might or might not have been five birds when I started this card. :) Ask the kitty.

Thanks so much for looking and have a great day. Hope you can play along!

Stamps: Digital from MMedel Illustrations, Sentiment from Papertrey Ink; Ink: Soft stone, raspberry PTI; Dies by Spellbinder and Memory Box (resting birds); Paper: PTI soft stone, black, blush and white; Coloring medium Copics, white gel pen