Welcome to my blog!

Thank you for visiting my blog about cards and other hobbies. Stamp Club is for anyone that would enjoy making cards and learning new techniques - we would love to have you come! We meet the first Saturday of each month or the following Monday (unless changed because of holidays). (Each monthly get together is held those two days - sometimes one day is more convenient than the other!) An Evite is sent out each month - so if you would like to come to Stamp Club, just email me and let me know to put you on the Evite list: helencashon@gmail.com . Sometimes we have Stamp-A-Stacks or other classes also.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Stampin' Saturday 9.12.09

Three cards were demonstrated on 9.12.09 - two "from the past" and one new technique. From the past were the Glitter Window card and the Crayon Resist. The new technique was Faux Cloisonne. After much coaching during class, I can now pronouce cloy-so-nay!



GLITTER WINDOW

So, this first card is the Glitter Window Card. I used a little piece of cardstock the width of the card (folded that little piece in half) so that I could mark the center so I could center the circle punch. The card base is SU! Basic Black and is a half sheet folded in half so that the whole card is black. I marked the center with a pencil down some where I knew it would get punched out.

Then I punched the circle out with the 1 3/8" circle punch. By the way, I typed up the directions for each card station this time if anyone would like me to email them to you. Just let me know.

I thought the Little Boo stamp would work perfect with this technique!

When Laneah sent me a card using this technique years ago, she had a bug behind it and words inside: "Heard you caught a bug!" I loved it!


Before I get into the directions of how to do the glitter window, let me explain how the orange ends are on the Modern Label Punch sentiment. Stamp the "happy halloween" sentiment (from SU!'s Teeny Tiny Wishes - I sure like that set!) on white, then punch out with Modern Label Punch. Also punch out an orange Modern Label Punch. Cut the orange one in half and glue it to the back of the white so that the orange ends stick out to give the white orange ends. Like so:





OK, now for the glitter window. We have the circle punched on the front part of the Basic Black as explained above. Working with the INSIDE front of the card - take a piece of clear packing tape and put it over the hole. I learned, after the first attempt which I stuck to the paper underneath - to do this in my lap so I wouldn't stick it to my grid paper.

This is the INSIDE of the card:

Not shown: After putting packing tape on, flip back over to the actual front of the card - the circle is now sticky where the tape is. Sprinkle Stampin' Up! Dazzling Diamonds glitter, which is a fine glitter, all over the circle and then shake excess off. (The example above does actually have the glitter on the other side.) You now have a glittery circle. Put that aside.

Take a small piece of white cardstock and stamp, in Basic Black, the Little Boo ghost. (Single stamp on page 208 in the Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalog). Put adhesive on the corners of this white piece - not close to the stamped image because that image is going to be put so that it shows through the circle. Position the Little Boo circle in the punched circle so that the white margin is even all around and then press to adhere. You can see below the inside front of the card - it is ok if some of the tape shows as well as the white piece - it will be covered.

This is also the inside of the card - first step was the packing tape, second step, shown here, is the white piece that has the ghost stamped on the other side.
Next step, so you won't see the tape and white piece on the inside of the card, is to glue a liner in. See below. A half sheet of white was folded in half and then 1/2" cut off two sides while it was folded. Put adhesive on the back of this. Do not glue together with the pieces lying down - the folds won't work well together if you do that. Pick up the black and hold it mostly folded and then with the white mostly folded insert the white into the black, positioning so that you have even black border, fold together and press to adhere the white into the black. So now the inside of your card is all pretty! And easier to write on since it's rather difficult to write on a black card - unless you have white or silver ink or pen.

The inside of the card all pretty now with the white liner so that you don't see the tape and little piece of white that you glued on the inside front:



FAUX CLOISONNE


To do this technique find a glossy magazine picture or brochure picture that has a wide expanse of color. The color can be solid or it can have variations in it. (The flower above has some orange on the left side.) I like pictures with variation of colors since that is another way of having a variation of color on a flower rather than a solid color like on cardstock. Pictures of sunrises, sunsets, and fire are particularly good for this technique because they have a lot of variations of color. Smaller pictures can be used too - the size just depends on the size of the stamp you're using. (So now everytime I see a magazine picture with an expanse of color I think of this technique!)
This card above used a flower from SU! Embrace Life stamp set. Any line image stamp will work. Fifth Avenue Floral would work well for this also - actually the flower in that set that has a lot of lines would probably work better because you have more lines covering up whatever the picture is you're using. My first try at this I used a brochure that had the Atlanta skyline silhouette in yellows, oranges, and lavender. When I finished, you couldn't tell that the flower was made using the Atlanta skyline!

To do Faux Cloisonne you simply heat emboss (using Versamark pad, gold embossing powder, heat gun) the line image stamp onto the GLOSSY magazine/brochure picture and then cut it out. If the magazine/brochure picture you stamped on is flimsy, you might want to glue it to a piece of cardstock before cutting out to make it stronger. Select colors that coordinate well with it to make your card. On the Faux Cloisonne card above, after stamping the Embrace Life flower, I adhered it to the Dusty Durango strip, then put the Fire circle rhinestone brad in. I put the brad in at this point - had I done it later after the Durango strip was glued to the Crushed Curry card, the brad would have shown on the inside of the card. So after the brad, I adhered the Durango/flower strip to the card. Then I stamped the Happy Birthday to You sentiment (single stamp from previous SU! catalog, p. 208 - presently on Dormant list so still available for purchase) in Dusty Durango. So -- Faux Cloisonne is actually pretty easy!

CRAYON RESIST

The pine branch card above was CASED (although some changes were made) from kellestamps on splitcoast - here.

Click the highlighted "here" above to see her card - I hyperlinked it!

The card front is SU! Always Artichoke cardstock, as is the Large Oval punch under the Word Window. The Merry Christmas sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes, stamped in Always Artichoke onto a scrap piece of Glossy White and punched out with the Word Window Punch. We made and glued that sentiment part together and set it aside. The Word Window punched piece fits perfectly inside the Large Oval punched piece.

The white part of the card front is Glossy White cut to size before beginning. It is cut so that it will have a 1/4" Always Artichoke border after adhering to the AA card front. Glossy White cardstock works best for this technique because it is slick. In the bottom right corner - not too close to the edges - you want to come in and up about 1/2" or so (eyeball what looks best, taking into consideration you will also be putting your sentiment in about same area in top left corner so that they balance each other) -- stamp the pine bough from the Autumn Days stamp set in Soft Suede ink. Let it dry a few seconds while you clean your stamp, put it back up, etc.

Then take a light colored crayon - yes, crayon like we used when we were little! (Marbles last month, crayons this month - we're revisiting childhood!) Some directions say use white crayon, but I find that a light colored crayon works better cause you can tell where you colored whereas with white you can't. I colored most of the pine cones - but not the very top of them (note in the picture that most of the pine cones have white in between the whatever they're called, but not the ones toward the top of each cone); I also highlighted just a few of the pine straws (I was looking at kellestamps sample and highlighted like she did).

Then you take a sponge or sponge dauber and sponge Always Artichoke ink over the image til you like it. During class we decided we liked the way using a sponge piece worked as opposed to the sponge dauber - with dauber you see more of the round dauber circle. This picture was of the one where I used the sponge, not the dauber.

After sponging and letting it dry a few seconds, take a tissue or paper towel and rub across your image. You rub off the crayon - leaving white underneath because the crayon kept the ink from getting to the paper. And that is why you can use any light colored crayon - because in the end, you take the crayon off!

Then eyeball the spacing to balance and adhere your sentiment oval in the upper left corner and complete your card!


Below is another example of Faux Cloisonne with a larger image - one of the flowers from Fifth Avenue Floral (the one I talked about above that has lots of lines). They were stamped in Soft Suede also. You don't have to get all the area of the inside of the flower colored in -- you just color it some. Then, instead of sponging, I used the brayer and Crushed Curry ink pad and brayered that ink all over the Glossy White strip with the colored flowers on it. (Do this on top of a piece of scratch paper/grid paper as you will get it on more than just your little strip of glossy cardstock.) As you continue to brayer on the color, it gets absorbed really well by the Glossy White cardstock and is very even - it's amazing how even it gets. Turns out really pretty. Wendy Weaver had a tip here - I'll have to think to remember what it was. Then, after brayering on the color, rub the crayon off the flowers - and you have partially white flowers!
Aha -- a day later - I have remembered Wendy's tip! When stamping on glossy cardstock, your stamp will have a tendency to slide because of the slickness -- so carefully press down to stamp and then bring your stamp straight up.

The Glossy White (now a shiny Crushed Curry from the ink) strip is then backed in Dusty Durango and adhered to Soft Suede card front. Modern Label punched sentiment is again from Teeny Tiny Wishes.



This Crayon Resist technique will work on Stampin' Up!'s Whisper White cardstock also because it has a slick finish - although not as slick as the Glossy White. So it works, although not as well. And note that the brayered Crushed Curry is not quite as even - it doesn't soak into the WW cardstock as well as it did the Glossy and I could see some of my brayer lines. This butterfly is from the God's Beauty hostess set from the Spring Summer 2009 catalog. All other stamps above are in the present 2009-2010 Idea Book and Catalog (except the Happy Birthday to you stamp also in the last catalog/on dormant list).




We've also learned that it is a good idea to keep your brayer in the box as the rubber can get nicked easily as you put your brayer in with all kinds of other tools - and then the place where it is nicked will show up on whatever you are brayering. But -- if that happens, don't throw away that rubber roll that has gotten messed up -- it can be covered with rubber bands to create a rubber band background!

Happy Stampin'!