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.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Christmas Stamp-A-Stack

We had a Christmas Card Stamp-A-Stack last week.   Participants made 3 cards each of the following 5 designs.  All images and supplies Stampin' Up!


Come to Bethlehem stamp set, embossed in silver; Whisper White cut with Top Note die.
Note bling on star!   I don't think this is CASED; I think it is a compilation of several I have seen using this set. 


 CASED from CardMaker Magazine, November 2010.   Jolly Holiday designer series paper, Scallop Trim border punch. 



CASED from Susan Bastedo as shown on SU! Stampin' Connection 9/20/10.   Stamp set is Contempo Christmas.  Hard to see in photo, but the tree has dazzling diamonds glitter in each oval.  


CASED from Lee Conrey as shown in SU! Stampin' Connection on August 6, 2010.  Stamp set used for ornament is Contempo Christmas.  SU! embossing folder is Elegant Lines.   The ornament was stamped in Versamark and then Heat and Stick powder and heated; then Celery glitter poured on and Heat and Stick Powder reheated to set the glitter. 


CASED from judym09 on splitcoaststampers shown 9/4/10.  Her website:
Stamp used is Dasher;  designer paper is Jolly Holiday. 








Monday, October 4, 2010

October Stamp Club



October 2 and 4, 2010



CASED from: Lee Conrey
Stamp Set:  Scenic Season
Embossed in Silver
Added rhinestones on top of trees
Did different way to do bow
Inside is also embossed with the verse from this same set



Created by Helen!
Technique:  Waxed Paper Resist
Stamp Set:  Tree Trimmings (I thought the ornament coordinated with the background)
Cardstock:  River Rock
Modern Label Punch
Used Stamp-a-ma-jig


Somewhat CASED from: 
Technique:  Faux Pinwheel
Cardstock:  Daffodil Delight and Poppy Parade (I love those two colors together!)
Designer Paper:   Sunny Garden
Stamp Set for sentiment:   Sincere Salutations
Squares punched with 1 1/4" square punch. 
Layered on 2 5/8" x 2 5/8" Poppy Parade.  I think next time I'll make these squares a little bit bigger so there is a little bit bigger border.



Step 1:  Put Dotto adhesive just in one corner and put that glued corner in the middle each time, cause you've got to go back and pull up the squares and insert the white flowered square behind the yellow dotted ones.  Using grid paper helps you line up things.


Step 2:  Insert the white flowered squares behind the yellow dotted ones.   After I got everything positioned using Dotto, then I went back with 2 way glue pen and without moving squares, I lifted up part of them and glued them down better. 





Step 3: Put other Poppy Parade behind the "naked" squares.
And add colored rhinestone brad in middle.
Then position pinwheel and then stamp sentiment.  Then glue pinwheel down.

Note:  Some glued (I would use Dotto in case need to adjust) the two Poppy Parade squares together and then worked their other pieces with that so that they ended up bordered.  They indicated that that was easier than the other way. 



FROM THE PAST:
Sponged Sky and Masking

This technique - with brayering - was developed by Michelle Zindorf.  Her gallery has some beautiful cards she has done with this technique.  
Showing brayering with torn paper so straight lines wouldn't show - but we didn't brayer the card.   Sponging seems to work best for me, and everyone agreed they liked sponging better too - gives you more control using the sponges and ink pads and also can blend from color gradiation to color gradiation better.
Colors used:  So Saffron, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie
Lovely As a Tree line of trees stamped in black.
Found it works better to stamp trees first, then you can make sure your sponging goes just below the ground lines.

Other samples used while discussing this technique:

Sponged, by used some masking paper as we went up the card from the bottom with the different colors of ink - this helps do away with straight lines too.  But we still decided we liked just using the sponges and just leaving the mask line at the bottom to make sure the bottom most part stayed white.


This was a card I did the first time learned the sponged sky technique - so it doesn't have the moon like the ones we did today.  Also shows that you can stamp the image and sponge it and then cut it apart and get at least 2 cards, if not 3 out of it.

Note on the cards that are layered how the black or the black and gray makes the colors pop.



Other Samples:

Below are not cards we made - they were just samples I showed. 
These first two have been embossed with the Big Shot and the Petals-A-Plenty embossing folder.  Because this folder came out in the Holiday Mini last year, it is easy to think of the flowers as being Christmas poinsettias.  These cards show that the flowers aren't just for Christmas! 


CASED from:  Cathy Tomlinson

CASED from:  kitkat55 on splitcoast on August 3, 2010.  See her card here.

While I was embossing in silver for the Scenic Season card we did, I wanted to try Come to Bethlehem on a white Top Note piece layered on Night of Navy.   Also shown is the inside verse which was also embossed in silver inside.



Sunday, September 19, 2010

Stamping September 4 and 6, 2010

Cased from: Weekend Warrior on splitcoaststampers dated December 22, 2009.    See her card here.   Changed to Rich Razzleberry and Brushed Silver
Stamp Set:  Gifts of Christmas
Heat embossed in silver.  The dove is painted with Smooch Illuminate Top Coat.  I really like the shimmer it adds.  The Smooch Accent Paint has a brush about the size of a nail polish brush, but the brush is firm and shaped to a tip so that you can apply the Smooch Accent ink in the smallest of areas.
This stamp set, Gifts of Christmas - heat embosses BEAUTIFULLY with the gold or the silver embossing powder!  Smooch accent paint also comes in a pearl white, a gold, and a silver.


This may have been cased from a different stamp set from long ago.   Used the new 2 1/2" circle punch that is in the new holiday mini catalog (p. 19 at the top) and stamped the little witch from Fang-tastic from the new mini on it.  Ribbon is the 1/8" taffeta ribbon in Pumpkin Pie.



Cased from: Angelahath on Splitcoast dated March 17, 2010.  See her card here (link to come).
Stamp set is Teeny Tiny Wishes used for sentiment.  I enjoyed the story she told about where she got her inspiration.


Cased from:  ButterflyGirl1000 on splitcoaststampers dated March 26, 2010.  See her card here. Masculine birthday card.
Stamp sets:  Woodgrain background; Birthday Bliss


By golly, I created this one myself - not CASED.  This was the From the Past -  showing Faux Tearing Technique.  Loving this Cherry Cobbler ink on the side and the Garden Green used with the Lovely As a Tree pine tree.  The Cherry Cobbler ink on the left side is much prettier, much richer, in real life.


This was the original card I did, which is a direct CASE from:
 Weekend Warrior on splitcoaststampers dated December 22, 2009.    See her card here.
Stamp Set:  Gifts of Christmas
Chocolate Chip cardstock and Brushed Gold Cardstock.
Really like this Chocolate Chip and Gold together.


But I decided I like Rich Razzleberry for Christmas - just an elegant color.   So CASED it again with the Brushed Gold cardstock.   Like it not so much.   I like Brushed Silver cardstock with the Rich Razzleberry, so that is why we decided to go with Razzleberry and Silver for the card we made in class - shown as the first one in this posting. 

Stamp Club August 7 and 9, 2010

CASED from:
Stamp Set:  Awash with Flowers
Technique:   Stained Glass


Cased from:
Stamp Set:  Gifts of Christmas
Showing Christmas set used for a non-Christmas card
(There is no sentiment in the Modern Label Punch piece because I couldn't find my Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set at that particular time.  It finally decided to come out of hiding right before class on that Saturday.)


Cased from:
Stamp Set:  Thoughts and Prayers
Using the tree stamp on the side to look like a vine.


Adaption of envelope for a 4 x 4 card.  (I need to doublecheck the measurements of the card since I did it more than a month ago.)


Cased from:
Stamp Sets:  Lovely as  Tree
Another card showing a different way to use a stamp.  This is the tall pine tree in the Lovely as a Tree set turned on its side to make branches of a Christmas Tree.



Cased from:  
Stamp Set:  Watercolor Trio
This is the Generation stamping technique.  The image is stamped three times without reinking, so you have first generation (fully inked) stamp, second generation (having already stamped once and stamping a second time without reinking) and third generation (stamping a third time without reinking.)  The butterflies are stamped with versamark. 
The matching envelope is featured also - stamped regularly.
This is the inside of the card.  Sentiment stamped with Chocolate Chip ink; the flower stamped with Versamark.   Just adds a little interest to the inside of the card. 

Monday, July 5, 2010

July Stamp Club

July Stamp Club - July 3 and July 5, 2010

Card CASED from:  CAmomof2 on SCS June 4, 2010.  See her cards here.
Ignore the yellow background - that was to help the white card stand out better.  Stamp set
is Watercolor Trio.  Colored direct to stamp with Watercolor Wonder Crayongs.   Sentiment is from same set - stamped with Chocolate Chip ink pad.   There is a scored border 1/2" in all the way around - difficult to see in the picture though.  I like the way the scoring adds a decorative touch though. 


Card CASED from:  TrishG on SCS on May 27, 2010.  See her card here.
Stamp set used is Vintage Vogue.  Certainly Celery innk and cardstock and satin ribbon.  White piece was crimped and then cut to size. 

Card CASED from:  Kristen Moore.  See her card here and also info about link to blog to see rest of her set. 
Painting with Versamarker Marker.  Stamp set is Fifth Avenue Floral.   We stamped the flower and stem using the Versamark ink pad onto Crumb Cake cardstock, then heat embossed with Vanilla embossing powder.  After it cooled, we then used the brush end of the Versamarker Marker to paint in the petals o the lily.   Then tied vanilla satin ribbon on bottom.  Sentiment is from Sincere Salutations - stamped here in Chocolate Chip.   

Card CASED from: Michelle Singer on June 22, 2010.  Stampin' Up!
Standard wheel Baroque Border inked with Daffodil Delight on Whisper White Cardstock - layered onto Daffodil Delight cardstock.   Sentiment from Well Scripted stamped in Daffodil Delight.   Daffodil Delight 1/8" ribbon adhered so that it was on the edge of the wheeled border, then used another piece of Daffodil Delight ribbon to tie small bow around the other ribbon.  Everyone seemed to like this card and this new yellow color!   I also showed a different way of using the wheel that I learned from a video on the Stampin' Up set!   She lines up (off the cardstock) the wheel with the edge of the paper and lays the wheel handle down so it is touching the paper, and then pulls in across, watching to make sure the edge of the wheel stays lined up with the edge of the cardstock.  This worked well! 

Card CASED from:  Kristen Moore.  See above for link to her card and from there, link to her blog.
Another example of Painting with the Versamarker Marker.   This rose is from the same set - Fifth Avenue Floral - this example shows that it looks pretty just painting part of the flower with the Versamarker also.  Sentiment is stamped in Crumb Cake, punched out with Wide Oval Punch, and popped up on Dimensionals.  (Actually it is covering up an Oops - original intention was to stamp the sentiment directly onto the card. 

Card CASED from:  Kristen Moore. See above for link to her card and from there, link to her blog.

This is the third flower in the Fifth Avenue Floral set - wanted to show a variation of using a colored ribbon, in a different place, and coloring the middle of the flower (or in the case of the lily - the stamens -- or whatever the tip part is - where the pollen would be - I need to go look up flower part names!)  These flowers are just painted partially also.   I did another sample where I painted these flowers completely.

Card CASED from:  kayleen 7589 on SCS.  See her card here.
This was the From the Past card showing how tearing - in this case the bottom edge - gives a different personality to the card than a straight edge would have given.  Stamp Set for hats is Party Hearty; sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes - punched out with Word Window punch.  Cardstock colors are Whisper White, Tangerine Tango, and Pacific Point. 

Here are some other links for torn edge cards.  One can also go to http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ and go to Gallery and then do a search on tearing.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

June Stamp Club

Stamp Club June 5 and 7, 2010

All images and supplies are Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted.



Please leave a "Hi" comment just so I know you've visited.   I can't ever tell who has come to look at the blog!  (Added info:  I've realized that where to leave a comment is kinda hard to find -- scroll all the way down to the very bottom of this blog entry.  Right under "Stamp STAMPED BY and put your name and initials" is the word "comment" that you can click on.)


PUNCH CARD
This first card was an "advertisement" for punch class to be held soon - Holiday Punches.   20 cards or other creations.  I just loved the little car!   We didn't make this one in class - we just passed it around. 


Card is CASED from lisalisella on splitcoast uploaded March 25, 2010.  See a copy of her card here.
The little card is made from the Modern Label Punch, the large oval punch and the small oval punch.  The stamp set used for the driver and the presents and the sentiment is Loads of Love accessories.   The puffs of smoke are made with the Trio Flower Punch; the lines in the road are made with the Horizontal Slot Punch - both these punches are retiring at the end of June.  The sentiment punches are the Large Oval Punch and the Key Tag Punch.  Also used is the 1/2" circle punch for the wheels; the hubcaps are made with the larger circle on the Crop-a-dile.  The cloud DSP is from the Sale-A-Bration paper pack.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAG


This was our From the Past project - but made with the new Build-A-Wheel wheels.  I've been waiting for a larger "Happy Birthday" wheel so I could show our new stampers this, and these new wheels fit the bill perfectly!  I love it - you can change the wheels around; add different ones, ink different blank triple cell cartridges, etc.  Laneah showed us how to do these bags a long time ago - I had to relearn them before teaching them though (it was a long time ago she taught us)!   This one is scotch taped in the back, which means the recipient would tear the bag up to open it;   Laneah had shown us, and I did a different bag and punched two holes and threaded ribbon through.   I did learn as researched this that it works better if your fanfolds are about 3/4" of an inch and if you do 5 or 6 (I started off trying to make smaller folds before I went to look up directions) folds to fold up toward the middle that way.  It also helped that we opened the bag and then did the fanfolding, etc.  The bags are plain white lunch bags from the store.

Also, since it is close to Father's Day - I showed our new stampers the Father's Day shirt card we did last year using the inside of security envelopes.   You can see a picture of that card on the May 2009 listing on this blog.  See here.

MEDALLION CARD


This card was cased from bkbaker1222 uploaded on splitcoast February 23, 2010.  See her card here.
The objective of this project was to show how the Medallion Stamp looked differently heat embossed onto textured cardstock.   The textured cardstock used is Bermuda Bay; the white organdy ribbon is looped under on the left hand side.   Bermuda Bay piece is mounted on Basic Black cardstock which was then mounted on white card base.   

The card below was heat embossed on regular (i.e., smooth) cardstock - this was a sample card (we didn't make it at Stamp Club) to show the difference between embossing on the plain cardstock vs. the textured cardstock.  Cardstock colors are Kraft (soon to be called Crumb Cake) and Chocolate Chip mounted on Whisper White card base.  Brown 5/16" brad.

This card was CASED from ju012835 uploaded to splitcoast on March 24, 2010.  See her card here.
The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes.  The ribbon is Chocolate Chip Satin ribbon.


PANSIES CARD

As always, I am amazed when people come up with different ways to use punches.  These pansies are made with the Butterfly Punch.   You just punch out two butterflies from the Shimmery White cardstock.  We then colored them using an Aquapainter and the Watercolor Crayons.  The fit them together, punch a hole with Paper Piercer, and hold them together with clear rhinestone brads.  The cardfront is Very Vanilla cardstock that was run through the Big Shot with the new Lattice embossing folder.  I REALLLLY like this embossing folder.  It has a pretty embossed design on both sides.  That Lattice piece is same as card base and is mounted on Vanilla card base.  Sharing in your Sorrow is from the Thoughts and Prayers stamp set.  Ribbon is Very Vanilla satin ribbon.   The sentiment was stamped in Elegant Eggplant ink.  

I didn't realize until I was looking at the various projects made with these pansies how many different colors of pansies there are.  The main image of pansies in my head were the yellow and purple ones.  So I googled pansies -- there are a whole LOT of colors!   Once you get into making these pansies, it's hard to stop, especially if you've printed off the pictures of pansies from the google search.   In addition to the watercolor crayons, they can also be colored using reinkers (I made a Cameo Coral outside and yellow centered one that turned out beautifully - loved those two colors together ) - the reinkers make it more soft looking; with stamp pad palette; and one could also make a palette with markers.   Someone asked about watercolor pencils -- I need to try that one.   Please ignore the fact that one of the pansies in the card below has a rhinestone brad and one has a regular gold brad.  I was making a bunch of them and was afraid to use too many rhinestone brads (since I wanted to make sure there were enough of them for Stamp Club), so I started using the regular brads.   I definitely plan to make some more of these.  I have a paper plate full of already colored pansies and punched out a bunch more butterflies before putting up those supplies.  I tried different pansies on this card, but liked the ones with the darker outside against the vanilla base. 

This card was a combination of several I looked at among quite a few others.  (Do a search on splitcoast on pansies!)  The first one I looked at was by Dawn Olchefske.  She has a Youtube video.  See her site http://www.dostamping.typepad.com/


ON A PEDESTAL CARD

I found this card a while back and liked the way the tag pulled out.



Card is CASED from justbehappy uploaded on splitcoast July 11, 2009.  See her card here and here.

Card base is white (vertical top fold); Chocolate Chip is next layer; Melon Mambo (4" x 5 1/4") is next layer.  Those layers were assembled and set aside.

Then the pedestal was stamped about 1/4" up from bottom edge of 2 1/2" x 3 1/2"  white small layer.  With the Crop-a-dile small hole punch part, punch a hole on top of the pedestal at each end.  Then using Cutting Mat and Craft Knife, (and metal ruler if desired), cut a slot (2 cut lines) from one hole to the other.  One cut line should follow the top of the pedestal.  (The tag will eventually slide in here.)  I found it easier to cut the line along the pedestal NOT using the metal ruler.  Wendy pointed out that you really need to use a metal ruler when you are using your craft knife.   It will make nicks in wooden or plastic rulers and mess up your cutting line.
 
So that the Chocolate Chip which will go behind the piece above won't show behind the slot, cut a small piece of white cardstock about 1/2" x 2" and put adhesive on one side.  Place non-adhesive side behind the slot on the pedestal piece, and, holding that piece in place, position the pedestal piece on the chocolate chip piece.  Lay back so that the small white piece adheres to the chocolate chip piece in the proper place.  Put that piece aside.





On a 1 1/2" x 3" piece of white cardstock, punch off the two top corners with the Tag Corner punch (retiring 6/30/10).  With Crop-a-dile larger hole, punch hole in this tag piece in the middle about 1/4" down. 


On tag piece, using Chocolate Chip ink pad and the On a Pedestal stamp set, stamp the square "Happy Everything to You," looking at the sample for spacing.  For the cake, use the brush end of markers so can get two colors - color the stamp with the markers.  USE THE MELON MAMBO marker first (always do lighter color first so darker color won't mess up the lighter marker, etc.)  Check to make sure the whole image is colored well, including the edges. 

HUFF on the stamp - this puts moisture back on the ink.  Stamp the cake about 1/4" above the sentiment.  Ink cherry up using either the stamp pad or the marker and stamp it on top of cake.
5" chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon - fold ribbon in half.  Trim ends to point if needed so they will feed easily through the hole.  Feed loose ends through the hole, then bring them back through the loop and pull snug. 
(Erin did hers a little different - she put the blank tag in the slot and then marked with a pencil where the bottom of the cake should be.)
Put tag in slot of pedestal piece so that the bottom of the cake is positioned on the top of the pedestal and is also centered horizontally between the two holes.  Turn the pedestal slot piece with the tag in it over - outline the tag lightly on the back of the pedestal piece with pencil.  That will tell you where NOT to put adhesive.  Tag tag out.  Put adhesive outside the pencil lines on the back of the pedestal piece - top above the slot, on the sides and on the bottom.  See picture below.




Adhere white pedestal slot piece to chocolate chip piece that has the small white piece on it.  The little white piece should already be positioned so that there is white behind the open slot. 

Test tag to see if it fits well.  It is usually tight enough that it stays in place - i.e., the cake stays on top of the pedestal. 

Make sure you have the card base positioned correctly.  Then adhere the pedestal panel to the Melon Mambo/Chocolate Chip/card base layer. 

Trim ribbon ends if needed. 

Stamp Happy Birthday from Happy Everything (retiring 6/30/10) set in the inside.

Stamp STAMPED BY on back and write your name or initials.