Sandi MacIver

INSPIRED BY NATURE - EMBOSSED - Late Night Stampers Challenge

Howdy stamping friends, It's Monday, time for another Challenge over at Late Night Stampers.  This week, Embossed....I wasn't sure if we were Big Shot Embossing, or Heat embossing, so I combined both into my project.

First, I inked up my stamp, I used Melon Mambo and Rose Red for the Flowers and Old Olive for the stems and leaves.  For the "cone" on the flower, I used Soft Suede and edged that with Chocolate Chip.  I used the sponge daubers to do all this.

I stamped my image onto a piece of Whisper White, then I stamped it again, without reinking it.

I used the second faded image to cut out and "MASK" over my good image

I inked up my "En Francais background stamp with my Versamark pad, stamped over my image, sprinkled gold embossing powder over it, shook off the excess and heat set it with my Heat Tool.

Then I cut a big Hole in it, LOL!.

I used the Scallop Circle Die and my Big Shot for the Background piece (page 199),

The Circle I cut with the image on it is 3-1/8

The Black Mat is 3-1/4

My card base is 6 x 12 of Melon Mambo, scored and folded at 6,

The piece of Old Olive is 5 x 5-1/2, I embossed the bottom only, with one of my "Whacked" embossing boarders.

The Basic Black piece is 4-1/2 square, I embossed the whole thing with the Finial Press Embossing folder, (page 195), yes, the new one I bought after I "whacked" up the first one....hey, a girl's gotta have toys!"

So I layered all of these pieces

Next, I used the stamp set WHIMSICAL WORDS that I received for FREE from the Sale-a-bration catalog for spending $50.

I embossed the sentiment on a scrap of Whisper White, then, as my flower stamp still had ink on it, I huffed on it, and got a nice light background image behind my sentiment.

My layers for this piece, is the Scallop Circle Punch in Melon Mambo, the basic black mat is 1-3/8 Circle Punch and the sentiment is the 1-1/4 punch (all on pages 186 and 187).

and here it is all put together.  I made the Old Olive bow with my new satin ribbon from the Occasions Mini,  (page 27)

I also pierced some holes around the scalloped circles using the Mat Pack and Piercing Tool (page 191)

There you go, my first embossed piece for our Design team Challenge, stay tuned for more

and I have an event coming up that you might like to know about.

If you live in the Sequim, Port Angeles Area in Washington State, or you want to visit it on May 15th?  This is where I started my Stampin Up Career and as there are 3 in my downline up there now, I booked a hall and we are going to arrange an afternoon of fun filled stamping.

We are working out the details.  It is a wheel chair accessible venue, it is a half day event and we are going to fill it with Awesome stamping projects for you.  I'm so excited to be going to visit and stamp with this great group who have all become such dear friends, so if you would like more details, come on back for a visit.  As soon as I nail down all the details, we will be putting up a pre-registration and there are only a certain amount of seats, so first come - first served.

Thanks for visiting.  It happens to be an extremely sunny day here today, so I'm off to rake some leaves, and I need to cut my grass - but I won't...our daffodils are also about to bloom, how nice.....it's supposed to rain the whole rest of the week, so I have to take advantage of this.

I promise to stamp more for you tomorrow though.

Big Hugs to you all and hope you get some sunshine where you live today too.

SPONGED - INSPIRED BY NATURE

 

I'm on a roll now.  There is the biggest mess in my stamp room.  I am working on a new technique.  The background is sponged in two colors (Baja Breeze then Pacific Point) on regular card stock - not shinny.  I used a smooth flat sponge.  Then I turned the piece over and stamped the grass from Inspired By Nature (on the dormant list already people). Then, still working from the back, I put the sponge mat from the MAT PAC (pg 188), under the paper, and I dry embossed the grass with my stylus (page 186).  Once finished, I turned the piece back over, and using my green sponge, I sponged Certainly Celery then Kiwi Kiss over just the grass - which is now raised.  You have to be careful not to tilt your sponge, but I actually like some of the green blending in with the blue.

This card is 4-1/4 x 5-1/2.(Pacific Point).  The white art piece is 5 x 3-3/4, next was black 5-1/8 x 3-7/8 then Kiwi Kiss 5-1/4x4.

Before I glued all this together, I punched a hole in the art piece with my 1 3/8 circle punch,laid this piece onthe black and embossed the butterfly from the stamp set Dreams Du Jour.  I embossed a second one on a scrap of black and cut it out.  Layer the first 3 layers together.

Sentiment, stamped on a piece of Kiwi 1 x 2-1/2, layered onto Pacific 1-1/8 x 2-5/8.  I used markers to color the sentiment, Always Artichoke and Taken With Teal.  Layer this, then punch  with the Horizontal slot punch (page 184).  I used our 1/4 black grosgrain ribbon, around the back of the 3 pieces, under the sentiment which is popped up with dimensionals (foam tape for you newbies).  Tie  a knot, then I took a scrap of that oh so cool Satin Kiwi Ribbon (I love that stuff - page 179) and tied it right beside the black knot.  This adds a little splash of color without using another whole 18 inches of ribbon (did I tell you I was cheap?)

 

Here is a close up of the butterfly.  Ok, here is my beef.  I wanted a dragonfly.  I am trying very hard to keep this site a Stampin Up Only site - but where the heck are the dragonflies Shelli?  There was one cute little guy in the last catalog in the hostess sets, but now he is gone.  Dragonflies are so cool, and good luck in many cultures, and my science project of Crystal Effects and Dazzling Diamonds on the wings - well what can I tell you - BLING BABY.  So, all that said, you won't be seeing the thank you card I make tomorrow using a dragonfly from (someone else). Note to self.  Design a set of dragonflies and send to Shelli>

Ok, so, this is not my original sponge idea.  I went to a class in Victoria British Columbia Canada, at a great store called "STAMPERS" Hi Anne and Steve.  Their store is on Quadra, easy to find, e-mail me if you need contact info.  ANYWAY, they had a class in Feb. last year from the Australian company Stamp It.  They have these very cool little square sponges.  I think I bought 8.  Now, Tim Holtz also puts one out with one of his little handles, andsponges that attach with Velcro.  I have both, both work excellent.  If S.U. had them, I would use theirs, they don't, so VBG (very bad girl - you newbies really need to get with the program here) - we are using someone else's.  Yes I tried makeup sponges, very hard to keep those puppies flat.  I am working on 2 more cards with this technique, and DH will be home this weekend, so we will try our hand at a little video for you (hopefully), so you can see how this is done. 

Ok, that's it for today, hope this new technique is intriguing you enough to come on back for a visit.

 

ORGANIC INSPIRATION

picture by Ian MacIver

Good morning and welcome back.  Here is a new little pretty for you.  This card started with a small piece of designer paper from URBAN GARDEN (page 168).  I didn't want to throw it away, so I decided to create a whole card around it.

This card is a large 5x7, so I worked my way in from the outside on the layers.  The designer paper was cut into 3 equal parts.  I stamped the grass from INSPIRED BY NATURE (pg 100) using black stazon on each piece.  Mounted this onto a scrap of black, mounted this on to a piece of Taken with Teal.  Once I had this card all put together, I got out my new stickles bottle (black stickles - can you stand it?). I used this to highlight the leaves, kind of looks like dew drops at night, pretty darned cool, to bad it doesn't show up in the picture.

The dragonflies came from the Hostess Level 1 set ORGANIC GRACE (page 18).  You have to have a party and earn this set, I LOVE IT.  There is another really cool card coming from this set, but after the 23rd as it is a surprise for one of my clubs, Shhh, don't tell them.  ANYWAY.  I gold embossed that little guy, on a scrap of Whisper White.  Using a sponge dauber, I sponged some Certainly Celery and a little Pacific Point just around the outside wing tips.  Cut them out, and added them to the picture.  Inside the card is another piece of urban Garden, with the grass stamped once on the left side, and one dragonfly attached. 

Ok, there you go.  Phone your STAMPIN UP DEMONSTRATOR - Book a party(or place an on-line order of $150.) earn the stamp set, and CASE my card.  Thanks for stopping by, and come back tomorrow, I have another little pretty to show you.