Swallowtail Card - Triple Time Stamping Technique

I went through a phase where everything I made had butterflies on them.  As a result, I have all kinds of butterfly stamps, dies and punches.  I actually haven't touch any of them in like a year or so.  And then Stampin'Up came up with the Swallowtail stamp in their Spring catalog and I'm hooked all over again.

Last summer a technique called triple time stamping was so popular everyone was doing it.  I wanted to try it but the holidays rolled in so fast I never got around to doing one.  When I saw the Spring catalog preview, I knew the Swallowtail stamp is perfect for this technique (at least for me).

Once I started playing with it I couldn't stop.  These are the two samples I have for today.

The first one is a simple black and white with a pop of red.  I added a gray ribbon, too,

The second one is the triple time stamping technique.  I cut my card stock from memory and it turned out I was way off.  I did mine in a quarter inch increment and it should have been an inch increment.  But it's a "happy" mistake because I was able to highlight a bigger image of the swallowtail.

I stamped the Swallowtail in black craft ink and heat embossed using clear embossing powder.  Then I sponged Summer Starfruit all over the image and border.  Next I sponged Primrose Petal in areas where I want some pink to stand out and blended the two colors together.  Some of the blended colors came out orangy.  The base card and mats are Old Olive card stock.

I will include a more detailed instructions on my next post which will feature more cards using the same technique.

Stay tuned for more Swallowtail and Triple Time Stamping technique.

Cheers!!!

irene




All supplies used were from Stampin'Up.

Stamps: Swallowtail, Vintage Verses, Perfectly Penned
Card stock:  Whisper White, Basic Black, Red Glimmer Paper, Old Olive
Ink:  Black Craft Ink, Summer Starfruit, Primrose Petal
Embellishments:  Ribbon, rhinestones

Christmas/Holiday Card #21 - Holly Bough

Hello!  There's just not enough time in the day to create and post lately.  This past week, I have been busy making cards and battling a nasty cold plus getting through the Thanksgiving holiday.  Today I'm catching up on the daily holiday cards.

First up is this simple card created using Stampin'Up's Bells and Bough stamp set.  I normally stay away from stamps that need coloring to be a stand out but this set is easy to work with.

I started with a white base card scored with three straight lines in the middle.  I stamped the holly bough with StazOn solvent ink on a 3.5" x 2.5" piece of card stock.  I colored it with Gumball Green ink using a blender pen.  I added the Cherry Cobbler dazzling details on the berries.  Then I matted the main panel on a Gumball Green cardstock.  Tied a ribbon below the three scored lines and stamped the sentiment below the ribbon.  Finally, I mounted the main panel using dimensional off to the left side.

Hope you like it.

Like I said earlier, this stamp set is easy to work with so I will continue with the other image in the set.

Until the next post............ Cheers!!!

All supplies used were from Stampin;Up.

Christmas/Holiday Card #16 - Holly

Hello!  Today I made a super simple card.  I have to admit that it felt like I was cheating because I got  today's card done so quickly.  Earlier today, I was reading Hero Art's blog post about highlighting sentiments and their samples inspired my card.

I dry embossed the white textured card stock with the Mistletoe embossing folder.  Then I stamped the sentiment in cherry cobbler ink.  Finally, I mounted the embossed panel with dimensionals on a white base card.  My card is done.  What do you think?

Remember my two cards rule?  I couldn't resist adding "berries" to the second card.  Just a few.

There you have it.  Some days all you need is a simple card.

Until next time............. Cheers!!!

Acrylic Block Collage

I came across this technique a few weeks ago but haven't had a chance to try it.  Today, as I was putting away all my Halloween stuff I saw my rough notes on how to do the technique.  I thought this is as good time as any to give it a try.

You need acrylic blocks, two or three coordinating inks or markers, a water spritzer, white or vanilla cardstock and stamps.  The first step is to ink your acrylic block with either ink pad or markers starting with the lightest color and moving onto the darkest color.  Spray block with water and immediately stamp onto your cardstock.

Mask around your stamped block with post it notes and stamp multiple images using light and/or dark inks.  Remove mask.  Stamp another image and/or sentiment in the darkest color, I used black for a better contrast.

My first try was not good, the ink combination got muddy.  Altogether I did seven and only four were usable.  You definitely have to find the right color combination as well as the right block size for your stamps.  TIP:  I had better results by doing the colors separately.  Ink block with one color, spritz with water and stamp onto cardstock.  Then repeat the steps with the next color until you get to the darkest color.  If you try doing the colors separately make sure you are using heavy weight cardstock or watercolor paper since you will end up with three spritz of water instead of one.  If you're mounting your cardstock to a panel, let it dry for a few minutes.

I initially did my stamping on a folded white card as I planned to do a CAS (clean and simple) no layer card but the block was off center so I had to cut it and center it on a panel.  Here's the end result.  I think it turned out okay after all.

No, make that better than okay, it's gorgeous!  I love it when an idea in my head works out well on paper.  When I first saw this technique I knew I would use a stamp set called Garden Silhouettes.  After 5 years, this is still one of my go to stamp set.

For those of you who might be inclined to play with this technique my recipe is as follows:
Inks:  Baja Breeze and Marina Mist for the block, Summer Starfruit for the collage images and StazOn black for the main image and sentiment.  Cardstock: White, Black and Summer Starfruit.

Stay tuned for the Christmas card created with this technique.  Until then ............

Cheers everyone!!!

Day Seven - Masculine Cards

I always struggle with masculine cards.  Almost all cards I create have some kind of floral elements to them and tend to be on the "girlie" side.  I always start with colors: blue, green and brown shades to me are masculine.  I stay away from any shade of pink although I totally disagree with a statement someone once said: "real men don't wear pinks".  I don't remember who said that, might have been my extremely sexist former boss.  I have seen quite a few men looking fine in a pink shirt!

For me, pinks just don't it when it comes to cards for men.  So I stick with blues, greens and browns.  Since I can't use floral patterns or elements, I stick with geometric patterns when choosing papers or embellishments.  I also avoid ribbons, instead I use twine or linen threads.

Here's a card I recently made for my brother.  I couldn't resist adding blings.  After all,  men like blings too!

And these are what I call CAS, clean and simple.  The card on the left features "buttons" made with cardstock.