Dunes at Sunset, Revisiting a Personal Favorite

I made this card last summer and it is one of my favorite cards that I have made.  When I first saw the Stampin’ Up! Set Inspired by Nature, it immediately reminded me of beach grass on sand dunes.  When I was a young adult, I lived in the Florida Panhandle and the sunsets there were magnificent. I loved to go down to the beach with a picnic dinner and watch the sun set over the bay and this card was inspired by that time in my life.

To make this card, I chose Kraft for the card base and Bermuda Bay for the mat.  Using Whisper White for the image panel, I masked the sun with a circle punch and sponged the sunset sky with Summer Sun and Pumpkin Pie.  I used Bermuda Bay and Baja Breeze for the water and Creamy Caramel for the sand.  I stamped the grass first in VersaMark and then in Creamy Caramel and embossed with clear embossing powder.  I stamped one of my favorite sentiments on a Stampin’ Up! Labels die cut in Creamy Caramel and sponged the edges.  I wrapped the twine around the bottom and mounted the sentiment label on the twine.

 

Chloe Best Wishes, 21/100

I made today’s card for the Ways to Use it Challenge WT377~ Let’s Get Negative on Splitcoaststampers, to use the negative portion of a die on a card.  I chose to use this pretty Chloe Die by Memory box on a black and pink card.  I love the whimsical yet elegant feel of this die, and that it is not too intricate made it perfect for this challenge.  I cut the die on a piece of Shimmery Pink Paper by DCWV and then cut it with the Nestabilites Oval Die, also cutting a mat in black and in pink.  For the black panel, I used an EK Success border punch on the bottom edge and threaded with Stampin’ Up! Taffeta Ribbon.  I stamped Stampin’ Up! Short & Sweet best wishes sentiment in black on white and punched with the Stampin’ Up! Word Window Punch.  I punched the mat in Shimmery Pink with Stampin’ Up! Modern Label Punch.  I use this punch combination quite a bit for my sentiments, not too fussy, just a pretty presentation.  And I love  that Stampin’ Up! has so many sentiments that fit perfectly in the Word Window Punch.  My favorite set is Teeny Tiny Wishes, it has such a great variety, something for any occasion.  To finish, I mounted the panel on a Shimmery Pink card base.  Another  CAS card finished for my 100in100 challenge!

Dreams Come True, 20/100

Another relatively quick card today using the Honeycomb Shapes technique.  We have a friend who just got engaged while vacationing in France and I wanted to make a card with a nod to their experience in France, but not over the top French themed.  I decided to use Stampin’ Up French Script stamped in Crumb Cake on Pretty in Pink for the background.  I mounted that on a Kraft card base.  I stamped and embossed the PSX sentiment in gold and used Nestabilites Labels Four to cut the sentiment and mats.  I punched 21 hearts out of pink patterned paper with the Stampin’ Up! Heart punch and used a chalk ink cat eye to ink the edges.  I creased and glued them together and mounted on the card to add a little whimsy.

Honeycomb Ornament, 19/100

Today’s Sketch Challenge SC387 on Splitcoaststampers was a tough one for me, I am so not a swirly girl!  I was wracking my brain trying to think of what I could use for a swirl and then I remembered the swirl in Stampin’ Up Ocean Commotion.  I also wanted to try the Honeycomb Shapes  technique featured in this week’s Wednesday Tutorial, so I combined the two on this Christmas card. I love to use nontraditional colors on my Christmas cards.  Being in South Florida, I try to infuse a bit of tropical warmth in my Christmas cards, so I chose Bermuda Bay for my card base and mat.  I stamped with VersaMark and embossed the swirl and sentiment with Gold embossing powder.  I punched 24 ornaments from an old DCWV Winter Mat Stack.  I used Taken with Teal to ink the edges of my punches.  Although the tutorial showed to ink the edges after the shapes were glued together, I found it much easier to do before hand.  The only thing I would have done differently is to ink the top part of the ornaments in gold.  I assembled my punches in groups of 6 and then glued the four stacks together.  I found that by making smaller stacks, it was easier to keep the shapes from shifting out of alignment.  This is a fun technique and a great way to extend the use of your paper punches!

PSX VW Surf’s Up Box in a Bag! 18/100

I want to show you this quick little gift bag I made today.  It is such a fun and easy project and so versatile!  You can find the tutorial for this adorable Box in a Bag on Splitcoaststampers.  The VW Bug stamp I used is from PSX and was colored with 3 Stampin’ Up Markers, Bordering Blue, Pear Pizzazz and Barely Banana.  The Round Tab and Scallop Border punches are from Stampin’ Up! and the ovals are Nestabilities.  The paper is from my stash, no clue where it’s from.  Give this cute little bag a try, you will use it again and again!

Bird in the Pines, 17/100

I have a quick and easy one for you today!  I made this card for today’s Color Challenge on Splitcoaststampers.com CC377 -CERTAINLY SOFTLY BLUSHING BRIDES, as well as yesterday’s Technique Lovers Challenge TLC379 ~ Distressed Edges ~.  You can’t see it very well in the photo but the top and bottom edge of the Soft Suede mat is distressed. Believe it or not, I just got my Stampin’ Up 2010-2012 In Colors on Friday and now I see what all the fuss is about.  Blushing Bride really is the loveliest shade of pink!  I sure hope it makes it back into a color family someday.

For my card, I wanted to emboss the Magenta Pine Bough Perch in Soft Suede on Blushing Bride, so I used the VersaMark with ink technique. I inked the stamp first with VersaMark, then with Soft Suede, and embossed with clear embossing powder.  This is one of my favorite embossing techniques, it is so versatile.  Just be aware that the color is not as intense with this technique, but you can remedy that by using a Stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp and emboss your image a second time.  To finish my card, I triple matted the image with Soft Suede and Certainly Celery cardstock.  I mounted on a Certainly Celery card based and stamped the sentiment from Impression Obsession in Soft Suede directly on the card base for a quick and easy card!

 

 

 

Two Tip Tuesday! All About Color!

Canon 550d – Pencil Colour (Photo credit: @Doug88888)

I thought it would be fun to designate one day a week to share my crafting tips.  I will always share at least two tips, so I will call it Two Tip Tuesdays!  My first Two Tip Tuesday topic is color.  When I teach classes, I always get a lot of questions about color, how do I know what colors go well together, what about mixing patterns, do I have to use a color from my photograph, you get the picture!  I am very lucky that I was born with a good sense of color, but for those who do not feel comfortable with color, I am going to share a few easy ways to help you learn about combining colors and to help you get a feel for your own personal color style.

My first tip is to look around your home and in your closet, here you will find the colors that speak to you personally.  My home and closets are filled with what I call tropical earth tones, tans, greens, blues, and corals.  Not surprisingly, these colors often show up in my crafting because they are colors I am comfortable with and love to work with.  They are even the colors in the blog header I chose!  So, take a closer look at your home decor and wardrobe with an eye towards defining your own personal color style.  You will likely find these colors popping up over and over again in your cards, scrapbooks and other crafting projects!

My next tip will help you become more comfortable with combining colors.  Let a professional do the work for you!  The people who design fabric and papers do this for a living, they know what works and what doesn’t.  Select a pattern that speaks to you and choose 2 to 3 colors from the pattern for your color palette.  And don’t forget the 60-30-10 rule, your dominant color should make up 60% of your project the complementary color 30% and the accent color 10%.  Following this rule will make your project more visually appealing, no matter what colors you choose.

My last tip for today is a website that can help with choosing a color palette and teach you about color theory. ColorSchemeDesigner.com is a fabulous website for choosing color combinations.  It is interactive and shows you the complement, triad, tetrad, analogic and analogic with accent of any color you choose.  Not only is this a wonderful resource, it is lots of fun too!

PSX Moonlit Swans 16/100

Here is a card I made for today’s Clean & Simple Challenge CAS172- Theme- LOVE on Splitcoaststampers.  So when I looked at today’s challenge, I knew I wanted to use this PSX Heart Swans stamp. I envisioned using shimmer paint, shimmer paper, glimmer mist, all kinds of fun stuff. And then I remembered my personal challenge that I am doing along with the 100in100 challenge, to use my scraps, leftovers and outtakes. I knew I had a misstamped image of the swans in my scrap bin, so I dug it out to see if it could be salvaged. Well there was no way to save it really, as you can see.  So I tossed it in my recycle box and was reaching for the stamp when the silhouette sailboat card I made the other day caught my eye, and I thought maybe that would work with my misstamped swans image.  I figured it was worth a shot!

The first thing I did was make a mask for the bottom and stamp the Coronado Island Water stamp in Island Indigo and I decided to take a picture of my starting point.  Then I cut a circle mask for the moon and stuck it down with repositionable tape to help me position the reflection. I sponged the moon reflection in Barely Banana, Soft Sky and Going Gray. I sponged the rest of the water with Island Indigo and Baja Breeze. For the upper half, I sponged the moon in Barely Banana and a little Going Gray. I sponged the rest of the sky in Soft Sky, Baja Breeze and Going Gray. I colored the swans in with a black Sharpie Marker to create the silhouette  I matted it on black and used a piece of K & Co. designer paper for the background.  I matted that in black also and used a 5 inch square card base in Baja Breeze,

Wrought Iron Bench 15/100

I spent the weekend making cards using scraps, leftovers and unfinished projects for the 100in100 challenge.  This one was easy because the bench image from Stampin’ Up! Simple Pleasures was already colored with Prismacolor Pencils.  I was going to use it for a Mother’s Day card, but decided on a something different.   To finish the card, I stamped the bird in the bush part of the stamp again, colored it, cut it out and adhered it with pop dots. I cut the mats with Nestabilities in Black and Pretty in Pink and used a Stampin’ Up! Print Packs Designer Series Paper in Basic Gray.  I matted the whole thing in black and used a Pretty in Pink card base.

Drink Tea With Me 14/100

Another card I finished today for the 100in100 challenge and boy was it hard to photograph.  This one was all cut and stamped, I think it was for a sketch challenge on Splitcoaststamper.  I used Stampin’ Up! Markers and a water brush to color the image, then sponged with a little Soft Sky.  The cardstock is Brocade Blue and Green Galore.  The designer paper is from a K & Co. Mat Pad.  The sentiment is one I got in a mixed bag of bare rubber