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.

Baby Wipe Technique

Reinkers + Baby wipes = Cool stamping technique! 

The creative ladies at Club Scrap Creates have a great tutorial on their blog. They are challenging us to try this technique, and I hope you will give it a try!

I don't need to recreate the steps for you, because you can find the complete tutorial here, so I'll just show you my creations.

 

First, I played with the large flower stamp from Hopes, since the tutorial mentions using solid stamps. The top two samples are made by getting ink directly from the inked baby wipe. For the bottom two, I used a separate wipe to pick up the ink from the inked baby wipe and apply it to the stamp. My deep colors are now pastels!

This stamp from Hopes works well, too.

 

So does the large feather stamp from Take Wing! Again, I applied ink directly from the inked baby wipe, then got a pastel effect using a second wipe to apply ink to the stamp.

The tutorial also mentions using a second baby wipe to apply ink to card stock in various ways. I like the middle one especially; in fact, I tore that piece of paper to use on my final project (and challenge entry). 

 I wanted to see how a very detailed stamp would work with this technique, so I pulled out this large hot air balloon from the Up, Up & Away! kit (February 2013)

 

Despite not being a solid stamp, it has a compact, detailed design that works well with this technique.

 Here's my final card. Thanks for making it to the end of this blog entry. Hope you join me on October 30 for Club Scrap's blog hop featuring this month's kit: Lock & Key.

Take Wing Blog Hop!

 Welcome to my blog and thank you for following the September 2013 Club Scrap Blog Hop featuring the Take Wing collection! The starting point of the hop is Club Scrap Creates. There you will find the list of participating bloggers who are all creating with this cheerful kit!

My creation is a card featuring the collage image from the Borders & Backgrounds unmounted (UM) stamps. The technique came from the creative team at Technique Junkies and is found in their August/September 2013 newsletter. Their newsletters are full of fun and creative techniques, and they have CDs with tutorials, too! You can visit the TJ blog at http://techniquejunkies.blogspot.nl/.

This technique is called the Blocked Backgrounds Tutorial.

The supplies you need to create this card are:
5.5x8.5 White cardstock (folded in half for the card base)
5.25x4 Red Translucent 
5x3.75 White cardstock panel
Printed cardstock for the bird 
Black paper/cardstock (not shown)
White paper/cardstock for the sentiment
Green bird brad

Tools needed:
UM collage stamp and mounting block
Post-It notepad
Club Scrap India Black ink
Clear ruler (I love the Club Scrap 2x8 ruler for this technique!)
Black Sharpie marker (not shown)
Take Wing stencil
Paper piercer 
Scissors
Sentiment stamp

 

Step 1: Use Post-It notes to block off the top left quadrant of the White panel. Ink the collage stamp well with India Black ink, and stamp onto the quadrant. (You want to stamp off the edges of the panel, so be sure to have scratch paper underneath.)

 

Steps 2 & 3: Repeat the same technique in the upper right quadrant, being sure to leave a space between the stamped images. You want an intersection of white, like crossing streets along city blocks. Add a third stamped image in the bottom left quadrant, again leaving a space. (I added a piece of red foam under the panel to make the panel more noticeable in the pictures.)

Step 4: Again, repeat the stamping, this time in the lower right quadrant. Notice that I used the same two Post-It notes in each step. I'm a frugal crafter!

 Here is the stamped panel. I did not measure my spaces between the stamped images. I might try using pieces of low-tack tape (like Washi tape) to separate the quadrants next time. That would ensure even spacing, though my perfectionist tendencies have dissipated as I've gotten older. :-) 

 

Step 5: Using a Sharpie pen and clear ruler, draw lines around each block, like curbs around city blocks. My corners are not perfect (see the previous paragraph). I knew I was covering the intersection with a cut-out, so I wasn't too worried about it. The "Blocked Backgrounds" panel is complete. Not shown: Edge the panel using a black stamp pad.

To add a focal image to the card, I chose the bird from the Take Wing collection stencil. I moved the stencil around on the printed paper (below). Since I was using the Red Translucent paper behind the stamped panel, I chose the section with the red "branches."

Hmmm . . . I didn't want to trace the bird onto the front of the paper, because I wanted a nice, clean image. I discovered that if I used a paper piercer to place a tiny indent at the beak and the tail (not shown), I could flip the paper over, find the raised marks, and line up the reversed stencil the way I wanted it. I traced with a pencil and cut out the bird with scissors. (I left off the bird's feet, as cute as they are.)

The printed bird blended in too much with the background. Adhering it to black paper not only added contrast but also made her just a bit bigger. And adding dimensional tape raised her off the panel. Below: A simple white panel for the greeting doesn't detract from the artwork.

I'm so glad you visited my blog today, and I hope you give this fun background technique a try! Your next stop on the hop is Marya's blog.  Continue hopping along to see more creativity with Take Wing!

Horsin' Around

My family has horses, so I love to play with any art supplies that have a horse theme. My latest favorite is Club Scrap's Equestrian kit from November 2012. (There are several items still available from that collection! Check 'em out: http://www.clubscrapshop.com/store/c/112-Equestrian.aspx.)

I like using the pre-printed panels (cutaparts) in the Greetings to Go kits to make cards. They often have a greeting and artwork right on them, so they just need a bit of embellishment.

But sometimes I like to do my own stamping, as I did with this card. The wording is so cute. (Not sure what our girls asked for when we ended up with horses--perhaps giraffes!)

My top card uses embellished panels, and the bottom one a manila tag from my stash. Love the running horses stamp. I used Club Scrap sapphire, moss, and earth inks to get the collage effect.

I had to look if the Greetings to Go pack is still available, and it is! Love these fall colors! All Club Scrap's GTG packs come with card bases, panels, and envelopes to make 15 cards plus cutapart panels and embellishments. It's a great deal, and to have cards made with CS's quality cardstock is such a bonus.

Thanks for taking a look at my entry. Hope you have a blessed week!