Aspen Blog Hop

Welcome to the Aspen blog hop! If you are following along, you got here from Tiare's BLOG.  If you have stumbled upon my blog or got here from Facebook, you can start back at the beginning to see ALL the amazing creativity from the bloggers this month HERE at Club Scrap Creates.

With this being Christmas week when the creative juices sometimes flow more slowly, I opted for a simple project this month. (This is mainly because I created this project the day after Christmas, when my energy level was low from all the festivities! I'm a natural procrastinator, though I've been trying to change that for years. I'm afraid it's too late.)

Here's the card I created with my Aspen kit. I call the technique "layering with ink" because there are no paper layers. In fact, the only paper used is a 5.5x8.5 piece of Almond paper.

Ink Layer 1 uses the 5.5x8.5 Almond paper folded in half, Club Scrap Hybrid Ink (Moss), and the leaf border stamp from the Aspen Borders and Backgrounds UM sheet.

For Ink Layer 2, tear off 3/4 inch from the front of the card and ink with Club Scrap Hybrid ink (Earth).

3rd Ink Layering Technique uses the group of trees stamp (also on the Aspen Borders & Backgrounds sheet), the same Moss ink, and a brown marker. I stamped once, then again (without reinking the stamp) a little higher and to the right to create more trees in the distance. I wanted more trees behind those on the left, so I inked the stamp again and stamped onto a scrap paper, then stamped some background trees on the left side of the first image.

For the greeting, I used a 4th ink layering technique with Moss and Earth CS inks, Post-It notes, an ink applicator, and the Happy Birthday stamp from the Aspen Greeting unmounted sheet.

For this technique, I ripped a little bit off the sticky ends off two Post-It notes, covered the area where I stamped the greeting, and lightly sponged ink over the tree trunks. Repositioning the Post-It notes, I inked under the greeting.

And that is how I used inks to create layering on my Aspen card. I have to admit that I was very tempted to add ribbon or other embellishing, but I held back and let inks take center stage.

Bonus project: For Christmas, my oldest daughter gave me a framed picture of her and her fiance from their engagement photo shoot. I'll have to ask her for another picture for the frame, because I just had to create a page! The papers, green ribbon, and buttons are from Aspen, while the words and alpha stickers are from Bridges (February 2006). Leaves are from my stash.

Thank you for visiting my blog. I hope you have been inspired to create something with your Aspen kit. If you don't have a kit, you can get one HERE. 

The next stop on the hop is Marya's blog. Click HERE.

Gnome Blog Hop (sans gnomes)

Greetings, hoppers! Welcome to the special Club Scrap Gnome for the Holidays blog hop. If you found me from Julie's blog, you are in the right place. If you've stumbled upon my blog and want to start at the beginning of the hop, go HERE.

This hop features this year's fun Christmas stamps, Gnome for the Holidays. I purchased the unmounted (UM) stamps (below), and I fell in love with the holly stamps. (My first born daughter's name is Holly. She wasn't born at Christmas--named after her maternal grandmother's family, Hollingsworth.) I just smile every time I see Holly, I mean holly--well, I guess both of them!

This is the project I made. It features the holly stamps (bottom right and center left of the picture), and it looks so pretty sitting on my piano. I might have a hard time putting it away after Christmas!

Here are the items I used to create my home decor project:

• 6x6-inch canvas
• 5.75x5.75-inch Red cardstock from Comics (February 2011)
• 5.5x5.5-inch Green translucent from Ornamental (December 2009)
• 5x5-inch White cardstock from Comics (February 2011)
• UM stamps from Gnome for the Holidays (2013) 
• UM stamps from WOW Holiday (2012)
• Stencil from Gnome for the Holidays (2013)
• Club Scrap inks--Moss, Ruby, India Black
• Ink applicators
• Position It board (actually just the acrylic plate and small L)
• Acrylic mounting blocks
• Clear ruler
• Pencil
• Eraser 
• Die cut machine
• Scalloped circle dies
• Black photo corners
• Pop dots
• Heavy duty adhesive (I used 1-inch red-line tape)

I used the small "holiday wishes" greeting in the center.

The inspiration for my project came from a video I remembered from three years ago called Pinpoint Rotation. You can see it HERE. Tricia used a stamp from the All That Jazz Jr (Lite) (November 2010) collection, and as soon as I saw the large holly stamp, I knew it could be used for that technique. If you want to recreate my project, I highly suggest you check out Tricia's step-by-step video.

I only stamped the image four times, so I only needed to draw two very light lines with my pencil forming an "x" on the 5x5-inch white cardstock.

Using India black ink, I stamped the holly onto the acrylic, then I placed the acrylic onto the white cardstock where I wanted the stamped image.

Keeping the acrylic in place, I positioned the black L tightly against it, then replaced the acrylic with the inked stamp (below).

The key is to hold everything in place to ensure the stamping is where you want it.

Repeating the process: Placed the stamped acrylic where I wanted the stamped image, nested the L against the acrylic, then replaced the acrylic with the inked stamp (on its acrylic block).

Repeated the process two more times. This is how it looks with the four images stamped. I knew I was going to cover the center with my sentiment, so I wasn't really nit-picky about the way the center turned out. Of course, if I wasn't going to cover it, I would have been more exact with my stamping.

 

The next step was to color the leaves and berries. The stencil that comes with the UM stamps is an overlay stencil--what a fun way to combine stamping and stenciling!

My completed image. I set it aside for a few minutes to ensure that the ink was dry, then I erased the pencil lines. Not an easy task, so I was careful as I could possibly be.

To dress up the white canvas, I inked the edges, creating a green frame. I then inked the small holly border stamp and stamped three times on each side of the canvas. I really like the way that turned out.

I then layered my inked image onto the green and red papers, adding black photo corners. I also lightly inked the edges of the white cardstock with black ink. Stamping the sentiment onto white cardstock, I die cut it using a scalloped circle die--also die cut a red scalloped circle. The circles were added to the center using pop dots for dimension.

To ensure the cardstock adheres to the canvas well, I used very sticky red liner tape around the perimeter and in the center.

 

Here's a side shot of the project. I like how the holly border mimics the stamped images on the front. What a fun pair of stamps!

Thanks so much for making it to the end, my friends. The next stop on the blog hop is Annette's blog. Click HERE to continue hopping along.

Card Box Using Versailles

Last week, Club Scrap featured a quick project on their blog--a case to hold a set of eight greeting cards. It's a great gift idea! You can see the pics, instructions, and video tutorial here.

I haven't made the cards to go in mine, yet, but here is the card case. It's made from the kit called Versailles. 

I only used two sheets of 12x12 paper--cream and blue with a silver print. The envelope wrap and stamp pocket on the inside were stamped with some of the Versailles unmounted stamps. (The ribbon closure is from an older kit called Ivory Elegance.)

This really was a fun and quick project. I'm going to make some cards to put in the pocket, and I'll be making some of these using other kits, too!

Fire & Ice Blog Hop!!

Welcome to Club Scrap's Fire & Ice Blog Hop! If you are following along, you may have come here from Janet's blog. If not, or if you need to start at the beginning, check out Club Scrap Creates.

The November 2013 kit from Club Scrap is an interesting mixture of warm and cool colors and hot and cold designs, hence the name: Fire & Ice. Don't these colors just scream "burning hot!" and "freezing cold!"? Lovin' it!

When thinking about this blog hop, I was trying to come up with a Christmas card like I did last month with Lock & Key. You can see that card here. I could have used the red and gold, but there is a really cool "ice" stamp on the Borders & Backgrounds stamp sheet. 

See it in the top right hand corner? Very unique! And although it's quite rare to have icy Christmas weather here in Georgia, this stamp did make me think of snowmen, and I love a "white Christmas" as much as the next girl.

Here are the supplies I used for my icy blue Christmas card (though I did change out the white StazOn ink for my much better Club Scrap white pigment ink pad). 

• Black StazOn Ink
• Faded Jeans Ranger Distress Ink
• CS White Pigment Ink
• Two shades of Blue and the White Glossy Cardstock from Fire & Ice
• Icy Background Stamp (Fire & Ice)
• Snowman Stamp from CS 2005 Christmas Collection
• Post-It Note
• Small Snowflake Stamp from CS 2010 Happy Holidays
• Snowflake Brads
• 3/4 inch Blue Ribbon from CS 2009 Birds of a Feather
• Greeting Stamp from CS 2009 Joyful

First, I stamped the cute snowman on the Post-It note with black StazOn ink and trimmed out the lower part to create a mask (the sticky part is at the bottom of the snowman's body). Then I stamped the same cute little guy on the white cardstock. This StazOn cleaner is great for cleaning the stamp (I love clean stamps!).

I used the stamped Post-It note as a mask and covered the stamped image on the white cardstock. Then, I covered the lower part of the cardstock with the ice stamp inked with the distress ink. Peeled off the mask and voila! the snowman is standing on the ice!

To prepare the blue panel, I stamped it with small snowflakes using the CS white pigment ink (I stamped first onto scrap paper to make a lighter image). Adding three snowflake brads adds dimension to the background.

I "fussy cut" the snowman. No Copics in my studio since I'm not much of a color-er, so I pulled out my old Sakura micron pens to add a bit of color to my little guy. And to add more dimension, I added foam squares to the back of the white piece. On the front, I added a strip of ribbon and a fun sentiment to go with the fun snowman.

And here is my completed card. I love the effect that the masking does--the snowman looks like he's sitting on an icy hill, and he's as pleased as he can be!

If you've made it this far--thank you! I hope you like my fun Christmas card using papers and a stamp from the Fire & Ice collection. 

Your next stop on the hop is Marya's blog, so click here. Happy hopping!

My Fave Retreat Project

I have to admit that I don't often complete the projects we make at the Club Scrap retreat in a timely manner. I get the construction done during class, but when I get home life just gets in the way, and I don't get the item finished. This year, though, was different. Within a week I was done with the magnetic board project and it was on the wall outside my home office.

I actually wish I had taken a pic of my basic project before I started embellishing, but I did find one on the CS website!

This is pretty much the way mine looked when I finished Jac's class. But, I love the look of flattened bottle caps, so I didn't decorate mine (or put the magnets on the back) until I got home and pounded them with a mallet. Then I looked through my stash for flowers, leaves, and other dimensional embellishments to beautify my board. 

I challenge YOU to take a constructed project and finish it! 

OWH in the News

I love it when someone takes the time to compile a large amount of information into one easy-to-navigate format, and someone at OWH has done just that. If you ever wanted to know pretty much all the terminology related to cardmaking, you can find it HERE!

Operation Write Home (OWH) serves American servicemen and women around the globe by providing handmade cards for them to write letters home to their loved ones and supporters. In fact, OWH recently "deployed" its 2.5 millionth card--that's 2,500,000 handmade cards that have gone to military personnel so that they can keep in touch with their families since 2007. I am very pleased to be a tiny part of this amazing project. 

To see a recent local news segment about OWH founder Sandy Allnock and her mission, click HERE, and then click on the photograph. When you see Sandy open her door to pick up a box of donated cards, look closely at the return label. I'm pretty sure that's a Club Scrap label--and those cards are from CS members!!

OWH has guidelines to follow for submitted cards on their site. Another way to help is by donating money to help SEND those boxes overseas. It costs quite a bit to mail those packages! All donations are tax-deductible.


I do wish OWH was around when my hubby was overseas!

It's Blog Hop Time!

Welcome, Hoppers! If you have just left Tiare's blog at iClassyGirl.com, then you are at the right place. If not, then hop on over to Club Scrap Creates to start at the beginning of this month's hop, so you don't miss any of the fun and creativity!

The featured kit this month is Lock & Key, and I challenged myself to come up with a Christmas card for this kit. The name doesn't really cry out "Christmas," does it? I knew I really had to put my thinking cap on! (To see the Christmas card I made with last month's Take Wing kit, go here.)

So, I was looking at the UM rubber, and the large words caught my eye. As a Christian, I believe that Jesus is the embodiment of these words: Hope, Faith, Love, and Joy. I realized that I had my connection between Lock & Key and Christmas!

 

I paired the words with the holy family and a snowflake from the Silent Night (December 2010) unmounted stamp sheet. Such unique artwork, don't you think?

Here's one of my final cards. Below you find the basic steps I used to create this unique card and four others.

However, if you are ready to hop on, your next stop is Marya's blog at A Notebook Novel.

I chose to work with five cards in the Lock & Key Greetings to Go pack. It's so handy to have cards that are precut and scored, with panels that fit so well! The pack even includes envelopes; I told you it was handy! Each month the Greetings to Go pack has 15 card/panel/envelope combinations (in three sizes) with cutaparts and fibers. One of my favorite Club Scrap products! (It's hard to tell, but those tan-colored panels are actually metallic--too cool!)
 

 

To start the cards, I stamped each of the ivory panels with the words using Club Scrap's Sandstone ink. An acrylic block with lines on it comes in real handy for keeping words straight.

 

On the words, I used CS Earth ink to stamp the holy family, then added snowflakes at half strength. Some folks call that "second generation" stamping. You just ink up the stamp, then stamp once onto scrap paper and then onto your project. You get half the amount of ink. I like the way Joseph, Mary, and the manger really stand out darker than the other elements. I stamped five similar ivory panels.  

When using metallic paper, I love to emboss it--there's something about the way the light hits the raised areas on metallics. Anyway, I used a Fiskars embossing plate for four of the panels and a Cuttlebug folder for the fifth. Since this Cuttlebug folder doesn't have an all-over design, I wasn't sure how I was going to use it, but I came up with a way. Below are the embossed panels. The fourth one is the Cuttlebug one.

And here, again, is my favorite of the five cards. I just layered the stamped and embossed panels on the card base and added some torn handmade paper and brads (the paper was from a 2003 (?) CS kit called Evergreen. I like the addition of the green for Christmas, but a deep red or burgundy would look nice.

Below are the other four cards. You can see the way I used the Cuttlebug embossed metallic on the top card--just cut along the image with a craft knife to create a frame.

I hope you enjoyed a little early Christmas cheer using Lock & Key in an unexpected way. Next month's kit is Fire & Ice. Oh, dear!!

Thanks for making it to the end of my post. Your next stop on the hop is Marya over at A Notebook Novel. I'm looking forward to her Lock & Key creation!