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Monday, August 31, 2009

Prickley Pear Submissions - Long Post

I finally had time to edit and upload my pictures for the Prickley Pear Design Team call. The deadline is tomorrow evening and I just hit SEND on my email to them! Since this and the Whiff of Joy design team are my first submissions ever, I'm not sure that I'll be picked. However, I think the experience is worth it. With so many experienced and talented papercrafters out there, the competition is bound to be tough! The rules asked for three samples and here's what I came up with.

The first one is a birthday card I made for my sister. I haven't sent it to her yet, but I will! Sorry Jess. I used The Poppies stamp set from MFT and combined it with a PPRS sentiment to complete the look. I finished out the inside and used Veramark to make a tone on tone pattern on the black paper using the larger nautical star from PPRS. The cute little 3-D star on the outside was made by cutting a silver star out with the cricut and making straight line scores from each tip all the way down. Once your star is completely scored, the star is folded in an alternating pattern: tips are folded up, sides are folded down. I used a pop dot to attach it to the card.

Stamps: MFT - The Poppies; PPRS - Rock & Roll sentiment, nautical stars
Paper: black, white, silver cardstock; DCWV - All Dressed Up
Ink: Memento - tuxedo black, angel pink; Versamark
Other: pop dots, copics, silver and rose glitter markers

The second item I made is a layout showcasing Aldo playing his new guitar. He's very proud of this new guitar. I really enjoyed making this page. I started out with one concept, but my project moved in a different direction and I just ran with it. I made a charm using polyshrink and the same stamp as the background. It was my first time using the polyshrink in the oven and it worked great; it just takes a few seconds and it’s done. I plan on displaying this at work.

Stamps: PPRS – Flourished Guitar
Paper: cream, copper, navy blue cardstock
Ink: Memento – rich cocoa, paris dusk; Brilliance – coffee bean
Other: chocolate suede leather lace, jewelry wire, K & Co rub on, polyshrink, chipboard embellishment, UTEE, Mod Podge

The last item I made came together very quickly once I knew what I wanted the project to be. Aldo suggested I alter a cigar box I had a home, but I found this box at Michaels and it was already white and ready for altering so I went ahead and picked it up. I painted it with thinned green acrylic paint using a wet sponge for a see through effect and lightly sanded it once it was dry. Using black ink, I stamped the imaged around the four sides of the box and the inside of the lid. I sanded the box again to take away some of the ink. I tore a piece of 8x8 designer paper at an angle and attached it to the lid of the box using Mod Podge. The finishing touch was the Happiness embellishment that sits across the front of the box.

Stamps: PPRS – Funky Floral
Paper: DCWV – Once Upon A Time
Ink: Memento – Tuxedo Black
Other: white keepsake box, acrylic paint, Mod Podge, sanding block, Me and My Big Ideas – Happiness embellishment
Creating the projects for this design team call has been a fun learning experience. I had the opportunity to try new techniques, use new stamps, and create items that are outside of my comfort zone with pleasing results. And, as a bonus, I now have a handy gift ready for future use! Thank you for reading my long post. :)

Whiff of Joy Designer Call

Whiff of Joy is holding a Guest Designer Call!! I just received two stamps that I purchased from them and they are amazing!! I purchased them from Stamper's Dream and received them within 2 days!! I just had to pull them out and start playing with them right away. The images stamp so crisp and clean and they are so much fun to color. The first stamp I played with is Willow with Hot Chocolate. I stamped two images side by side and colored one in with Copics and the other one with color pencils and odorless mineral spirits. It was such joy to use these stamps that I've decided to submit some samples for their Designer call. Keep watching this post for more samples as they become available. If you're interested in submitting as well, click on THIS link to go to Katharina's blog for instructions.
This is the first sample I'm submitting for the designer call. It's a matchbook style coffee packet holder. It was so easy to make that I'm thinking this will make great little gifties for RAK's and those random occasions that pop up. Here's some details on the card front before I start talking about the inside: I stamped the image on white cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored the image in with Copic markers. The panel was edged in orange ink and attached to my favorite My Mind's Eye paper. The small flowers are from My Favorite Things, they come in white and I painted them with brown and orange ink and layered them using a mini brad in copper. The wrapper was made using chocolate colored Bazzill cardstock from the Preppy paper pad.

I purchased a box of these individual coffee packs from Wal-Mart for about $1. In order to attach them, I first stapled them onto a small strip of cardstock. I then glued the cardstock along the bottom score mark, folded the score mark up and stapled the packet once along the bottom. Since the packets are so long, I used a little bit of double sided tape to hold them against the cardstock so they don't flop around so much. I'm thinking that with assembly line style production, these cute little gifts can be done in no time at all!!

I plan on adding a few more entries before the deadline, so please check back often for more Whiff of Joy creations. Thanks!

ETA: Please check out this and this post for another Whiff of Joy entry. Thanks!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Say Charge!

Well, I didn't get a chance to take pictures of the Prickley Pear submissions, but I did take some pictures of a card I made for the weekly MFT challenge on Splitcoast Stampers. The challenge was to use an uninked set. Since MFT had a great sale a couple of weeks ago, I actually had several sets to choose from! I'm going to have to give my new MFT stamps some serious love soon!
I stamped the main image onto white cardstock (I use Hammermill cardstock) with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I colored the image with Copic markers and kept the scheme with the pink, grey, and black. I attached a tiny hot pink gemstone to the center of the flower on the bag for a little more pizzaz. The sheer black ribbon is attached with a We R Memory Keepers designer grommet. I found the grommets on clearance at Hobby Lobby a few days ago.

I finished out the inside to complete the card. For some reason, I always have a harder time deciding on the inside layout than the outside! Go figure! I made a black border with the Fiskars Treading Water border punch and made a circle tag using one of the smaller images from the stamp set. The edge of the tag is inked in Memento London Fog and attached with pop dots, but the picture doesn't show it that well.

Paper: DCWV - All Dressed Up; Hammermill white cardstock; black, pink, and silver cardstock
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Memento London Fog
Accessories: pink satin ribbon, black sheer ribbon, We R Memory Keepers Designer Grommet, Copic markers, pop dots, rhinestone

That's it for today. Thank you for joining me.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Creating Keepsakes Convention

My mom, my aunt, and I are going to our first Creaking Keepsakes Convention in San Marcos. I'm so excited!! We've signed up for several classes including the Latest and Greatest with Basic Grey. I'm hoping we learn lots of great new techniques (well new to us anyway!) and find some great products at their vendor's faire. It's going to be a great girls' weekend.

I'm going to try out for my first design team ever!! I'm nervous and excited at the same time. Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps is doing a design team call for a one year term. I've completed a card that is going to double as a birthday card for my sister and I'm working on a layout/altered chipboard binder page that will portray my husband's musical prowess :). I still need one more piece to complete, but I'm still not sure what I'm going to make. I'm thinking of doing an altered item, but I'm not sure what...

If I get a chance this weekend, I'll take pictures of the two items and post them next week. Byee.

Monday, August 17, 2009

My First Blog

I'm starting my very first blog!! I never thought I would be a blogger, but I'd like to try out for a couple of design teams and they highly encourage the use of blogs to promote their products. So... here I am. In the future I hope to post some of the projects I've made, tutorials, and other announcements related to scrapbooking and just life in general. Feel free to stop by from time to time and take a look around. See you soon!