Stamp Club 10.3.09 - Parts I and II

Am submitting two posts again this time - well actually - two parts in one post so you don't have to go looking for another part. This first part are the 3 cards we made (and related materials). The second part is other cards I made ahead of time and had on display and called attention to. Two using Scallop Edge punch to make a medallion; using the A Flower for All Seasons poinsettia in pot stamp because I like that stamp!; and a clear disposable plate decorated for Thanksgiving.


Stamp Club 10.3.09 - Part I -- Workshop Cards etc.

This first card was probably the easiest of all to do at October Stamp Club. I needed something simple since the Bleach card we did had a lot of steps. So - am starting off showing you this one first. Wheat stamp from Autumn Days stamp set was embossed in white (after de-static -ing with Embossing Buddy) toward top of the smaller Soft Suede cardstock piece - leaving room at bottom for Dusty Durango ribbon (11 1/2" length - trim after tying), which we tied on, then layered that Suede cardstock piece onto a Whisper White piece and set aside. Then we stamped "Happy Thanksgiving" from Teeny Tiny Wishes in Dusty Durango ink and punched it out with Word Window Punch. Punched Modern Label punch out of Durango cardstock and glued Word Window sentiment to it, then put it at bottom right of Soft Suede card front. Then went back and adhered the wheat layered pieces to the Soft Suede card front and attached to card base (that has fold on left). On the inside is a sentiment from Falling Leaves stamp set. There's something beautiful about the simplicity of those wheat stems...

CASED from http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ -- poster: discoverstampin -- dated July 30, 2009.

This next set of pictures uses the new Ornament Punch that is in the Holiday Mini. I'm LOVIN' that punch! Ran across so many neat ideas to use it for, which you'll see in a picture further down. (Since it is the the Holiday Mini the ornament punch won't be available after January 4, 2010 - the punch MAY or MAY NOT be in new regular catalog come July.) It has proven quite popular. This first card is one I had on display in September - had done it very quickly just so I could show a card that time using the ornament punch. This one was done with plain Rich Razzleberry cardstock - but I bet it would have been really neat using designer series paper .

So -- that shows you the Ornament Punch used to make an Ornament. Now -- another use for the ornament punch: a vase! I did two versions below. The one I was casing had the leaf from Great Friend stamp set embossed in white on the "vase." Of the two, I really like that one the best. The white leaf just gives the vase some definition. I made the simpler one on the left in case someone didn't want to take the time to emboss the leaf on there. Everybody did though.
The berry stem coming out the top of the vase is from Autumn Days (I said somewhere else -- I'm loving that set - it's a great masculine set, the berry branch is perfect here on the birthday card, and the other stamps can be used for Fall, Thanksgiving, and Christmas as well . The card base is Sahara Sand. I REEAALLLY like the Sahara Sand, White and Night of Navy color combination.

Card on right (one with embossed leaf on vase) is CASED from: Butternutsage - dated September 18, 2009 - on Splitcoast.



The more simple vase on the left has Happy Birthday sentiment from guess what set? Teeny Tiny Wishes. A birthday verse from Curvy Verses is stamped inside. The other vase on the right has sentiment from Heard from the Heart Stamp set. I didn't stamp anything inside of that one.


Thought I'd show you how to get the vase from the ornament punched shape - since it took me about 4 tries. I tried first cutting off the bottom with my paper cutter -- too much; not straight. Finally, as you can see from my display below -- with my paper snips I cut off just a teeny bit of the bottom of the ornament. And was happy.

As I had looked through cards I saw the ornament punch used for various other things (my mind doesn't work this way, so "out of the box" ideas always fascinate me). I must say, though, I did come up with the two versions of the strawberry - I didn't see those yet! At top in the turquoise, is the ornament. Then leaf - cut off top part and with bone folder make leaf veins - which I then went back and used a pencil to make them more see-able.

Next - my strawberries.

Next row -- you can see how one person figured out how to get a Christmas tree. I did several of those and layered like they had on their card.

Next - in the yellow - they used the top part of the punch to give corner interest. I also saw this part of the punch used on a strip to make a different "border."

And ... my favorite -- the fish made from the ornament punch. Aren't they just the cutest! Especially the turquoise and yellow one with the big eyes on the right! His smile and stripes and tail fin lines are done with pencil. His little yellow fin is the Modern Label punch then punched with 1/2" circle punch. His other fins, as well as the top and bottom fins on the orange fish are the Modern Label Punch. The tail on the orange fish is Photo Corner punch - one of them. His side fin is the 1/2" circle and then negative cut again to get it to look like a fin.

The blue and red fish uses the 5 Petal Flower Punch (several punches) and the Eyelet Border Punch in addition to the Ornament Punch. The lips on both the blue and the orange are the Modern Label Punch with just part of it cut off.

Then -- acorns. One of the caps is made with the Large Oval Punch and one is made with the Scalloped Oval punch. I also saw them done with the Scalloped Edge Punch. Also could punch ornament again in darker cardstock and just cut off part of it for the cap. On all the acorns, I cut the top part to make it look like a stem.

And then last, but not least, the vase.

After I had done this sheet I also saw the Ornament Punched shape turned upside down, drawn on with marker -- and used as a flame for a candle.

So -- I'm starting to think -- how can I hold this ornament shape different ways -- and maybe see something else ?????? Can you?

There was a list someone did on one of the forums about different things could use ornament punch for -- how's this for a list?

radish, onion, butternut squash (not quite sure how you would use these on a card - but I know Cathy was making onion cards last year for the Vidalia onion festival), hot air balloon, top of church (like you see in Russia or Germany), spade, petals of a flower, maybe a Chinese lantern, holiday tags, garland, small frames for photos, leaves, acorns, light bulb, snowglobe (upside down), fish, trees, elf head.

I know Erin said something about a hot air balloon -- so she came up with that one --I had not read that list out at stamp club.

And next - this month's technique - Stamping with Bleach. We all survived, I think, without our clothes being, as Kristina so aptly described her earlier experiences with bleach - a bleach magnet. (What a perfect word description for what happens!) I made the paper towel bleach stamp pad in a Rubbermaid dish pan and we stood up and worked on the island in the kitchen. Had aprons too. And wore clothes that were Ok to get messed up had the bleach jumped on us.

Card CASED from krischir - dated August 11, 2009. She used Autumn Splendor from the Holiday Mini for her leaves though.

I had already cut the Top Note die piece out with the Big Shot. We used the oak leaves stamp from Lovely As a Tree stamp set. This set has been around a long time, but so rightly so. I think someone said they heard it has been the best selling stamp set of all time, and I can see that. It can be used for sooo many techniques and for so many occasions. It is probably THE most versatile set and the most used set. I've seen it used for masculine cards, birthday cards, sympathy cards, fall cards, Christmas cards. Techniques I've seen used are embossing, thumping, highlighting, bleach, brayered background (or in my case I used sponges - that was one of the most beautiful cards I think we've ever made -- while Laneah was still meeting with us, marker to stamp, as a background image for other stamps, etc.

OK - back to the Stamping with Bleach Technique card. First thing was to stamp the leaves around the edge of the Dusty Durango Top Note piece using paper towel/bleach pad. It is important to remember to STAMP OFF one time first - I had several layers of grid paper to do that on. (If you don't stamp off, you're going to most likely get a bleached blob instead of a leaf on your cardstock. I have an example! Then stamp on edge of cardstock piece. Then work way around card, inking up stamp with bleach, stamping off, stamping bleach onto card each time. Set aside to let bleach do its thing. It takes a few minutes for it to process and dry.

In the meantime, you could be working on other parts of the card. We had another piece of Dusty Durango, card front size. We used the Sanded background for that piece - turning the stamp rubber side up, inking it, then putting cardstock over, scrap paper over and pressing and rubbing. Then take off scratch sheet and bring cardstock piece straight up. I tried just using a plain A2 piece for the front of the card -- and it looks much better with the Sanded background.

We then glued that piece to the card base. (Or your whole card base could be Dusty Durango -- but I didn't have enough DD cardstock to do 20 of those + 20 Top Note pieces.)

Once your Top Note piece has dried -- SPONGE the edges with Dusty Durango ink pad. This helps it to stand out on the DD card front. Next adhere the Textured Crushed Curry strip behind it - check to see if one side has more texture. I really like the Textured cardstock.

Next, with Piercing Tool and sponge part of Mat pack, make two holes for brads through the Top Note side points (about 1/4" in) and the Crushed Curry strip. Insert Vintage brads. Important to put brads in at this point because if you waited til later after you glued everything to card front (especially if you were using Dusty Durango as your card base) - then your brads would show on the inside of the card.

Then loop 1/2" width Chocolate Chip ribbon (8 1/2" length) and hold it in that position with a mini glue dot. Adhere it to Top Note piece with another mini glue dot.

Stamp "Give Thanks" sentiment from Holiday Best hostess set in Chocolate Chip onto Whisper White. Punch out with Wide Oval Punch. Adhere this over ribbon with mini glue dots. I used a different adhesive under the oval and it didn't stay down well because of the ribbon under it.

Trim edges of ribbon.

Different colors of cardstock will bleach differently - and some better than others. The bleaching on Basic Black looked like gold. Several colors brought forth yellow or as in the case of the Dusty Durango - a color that coordinates with Crushed Curry or similar. Elegant Eggplant bleached area would coordinate with Blush Blossom. I give this info now -- but a color of cardstock may bleach one way one time and a different batch a year later might bleach a different color.

I think from talking with people that this bleach technique works on Stampin' Up cardstock because it is colored all the way through - it does not have a white core as does most other cardstock.

Here's the Technique card for Stamping with Bleach.

Stamp Club 10/3/09 Part II - Samples on Table

These are samples that were made and displayed on table (course I called attention to them when I was talking too) at Stamp Club on October 3. Lawanda Shepard was the hostess, and she has commented several times that she liked the medallion made using the Scallop Edge Punch. So I made two cards using that medallion. To make this medallion, you start off with a 2 3/4" square. Place it in your scallop edge punch under the lever part so that the same little amount of space shows on both ends (or top/bottom - depends on which way you're looking at it) -- and then punch. Move around to each side of the square and do the same til you've done all four. Result is pretty neat, huh? I understand that this can be done with some of the other edge punches -- I'll have to try the eyelet border punch soon.







Above card CASED from jdance13 - date June 25, 2009, on Splitcoast.
This first card above has the 2 3/4" square cut from Soft Suede cardstock and when ready to assemble it is positioned in the diamond position on the white card base. Before doing that, I cut a smaller square to fit right inside the scallops (I don't remember the measurement.) Then using Soft Suede and Always Artichoke markers, I colored direct to the pine cone/bough stamp and stamped on the Whisper White square. The pine cone/bough stamp is from Autumn Days (like that set a lot!) Then glued that white square to the Soft Suede square and adhered to top part of card base. Then stamped sentiment "Season's Greetings" from Snow Swirled stamp set at bottom. Tied a bow out of Always Artichoke ribbon and set it aside. Put Always Artichoke ribbon strip across (and taped on inside of card) the front of the card. Then put a glue dot on back of the bow and adhered it in the middle of the ribbon. (Believe me, that's a lot easier and it turns out better than trying to tie ribbon around front and then tie into a bow!)


Above card CASED from chrisations.ink on Splitcoast - date October 19, 2008.
I've been wanting to make a card with A Flower for All Seasons set - with the poinsettia stamp. (I have a thing for poinsettias - I remember Mama saying she liked them.) So I made another medallion with the Scallop Edge punch out of Whisper White and stamped the poinsettia pot image directly on the medallion. Then I adhered the white medallion on top of a square of red that was bigger than the medallion. Colored the stamped image with Old Olive, Crushed Curry, and Real Red Markers. I adhered to white card front. (The fold for both this one and one below is at the top. I just punched a Crushed Curry wide oval and didn't stamp anything on it yet -- (mostly because it was REALLY late and I didn't want to go upstairs A-GAIN and bring another stamp back down). But one could do a card this way and then go back and add a sentiment later - like this could be used for a Christmas card or a December birthday card.

I wanted to show that the poinsettia stamp from A Flower for All Seasons also fits nicely into the Wide Oval punched shape, so did card above. Somewhat CASED from OregonStamper - date May 28, 2009, on Splitcoast.

Card CASED from lisahenke on Splitcoast dated August 7, 2009.

This was one of the cards I had thought about for Stamp Club, but then decided on some of the others. I have a blank wheel cartridge I bought for the specific purpose of this card - to ink it with Soft Suede reinker -- but again, it was upstairs, it was late, and I was downstairs. So I inked it up the Bright Blessings wheel with Soft Suede ink pad. To get the part I wanted more easily than trying to position the wheel, I just wheeled the whole 11" direction of the Kraft cardstock. Then I cut out the Blessing part I wanted leaving some blank at the bottom for the Dusty Durango ribbon. Then adhered to Textured Crushed Curry cardstock. Also wheeled the leaf in Durango, colored in the words with Durango marker, cut it out, and pop dotted it up. Glue dotted Chocolate Chip button that had hemp twine tied through it.

This circle above was also done with the Bright Blessings wheel with Dusty Durango ink onto Dusty Durango cardstock. Backed it with Crushed Curry cardstock. Oh how I wished I had the Circle Scissors Plus and mat when I did this. I'm adding them to my Wish List! I then adhered this circle to the bottom of a clear plastic disposable plate with glue dots. I scanned it, but something won't let me upload it to the blog. Maybe I'll take a picture with the camera and upload the plate picture later (like next week or two). I really liked this plate when I saw the one I cased from.

Don't ya just love it when you go to another room (or in my case downstairs) to get something and when you get there, you forgot what you came to get! I just went downstairs to get my October club prep folder and since I couldn't remember what I went down there to get, brought my drink back upstairs and looked at what I had written and then remembered I went for the folder. So back downstairs I went again!

The plate above was CASED from mjscrapper on Splitcoast - dated July 28, 2009.