Sunday, March 30, 2014

Stamp technique camp

Hi! This weekend my niece and I attended a card technique camp. We stayed two nights (about 46 hours) and made 30 cards. There were four kits and I purchased another two (each had 5 cards/techniques) so some made 20, some 25 and some 30 (though I am not sure I will put them ALL on here). Each thing we made, we made twice. Once to go into a scrapbook that explains the technique, and once to have a card for ourselves (or notecard).

Card one: How to have part of a stamp poking out of a shape you cut with a die. I did a much nicer one for my scrapbook, every time I tried to fix his mane, Emma stole my tiny scissors (she forgot to take hers).


Card two: How to make a lattice side to a card. Surprisingly easy! The card is folded then diagonal cuts are made. It opens out, every second cut (longer than the other cuts) is folded up. Once done, it is refolded into a card.


Card three: Using ripped paper to sponge backgrounds, creating the appearance of hills (this is always artichoke ink from Stampin' up!)


Card four: The idea of this (which I'd done before many times) is to ink up a stamp and keep stamping with it without re-inking it. Once you cant make an image appear anymore, you re-ink and start stamping again.

Card five: I don't really recall what I was learning with this...perhaps to colour one stamp with more than one colour. Once done, you huff on it to moisten it and then stamp it. This is one of the easiest and earliest techniques most card makers learn. Needless to say, this isnt a challenging card for me but I liked the colours and decided to use a background embossing folder:


Card six: This card was stamped with white ink. Once it was TOTALLY dry, you coloured over it with marker a nd then highlighted with white gel pen.

Card seven: It is safe to say this was one of my two least favourite techniques. It is heat embossing an image on velum (I think it was velum?), flipping it over and colouring it in.


This isnt a card but an element of a card I made at camp. It was heat embossed with four layers and on the final layer, we pressed a stamp into it (that was first inked with versamark to protect it):



Card eight: This one, I totally stuffed up. But I know how to do it now and will do it properly to show you soon lol. The idea is you stamp in a lighter colour then roll the edge of the stamp in a darker colour and stamp it again. For some reason, I didnt line this up!


Card nine: This is called 'the kissing technique' where you get a stamp with a flat surface, ink it up and 'kiss' it against a card that is inked in a different colour (this one should be a patterned stamp). The pattern transfers to the smooth stamp and you can stamp it onto card:


Card ten: For this card, an embossing folder was inked up. Then three colours were sponged onto the raised up part in the middle. Finally patches of this were embossed, then ribbon and sentiment added. Add a few distressed layers and the card was complete!


Card eleven: Shadow stamping. The first layer of this was stamped then a second layer of the same stamp (using either co-ordinating ink or versamark) so that if you look at this card, it gives the notion of a shadow.


Card twelve: This card is awful and I put very little effort into it because I knew how to do this technique already lol. It is two step stamping where first you use a lighter ink to stamp the inside of an image then a darker ink that lines up with it, for the outside of the image.


Card thirteen: Emboss-resist. The circles on this card started out white. I stamped them, heat embossed them, rubbed them with purple ink and then rubbed off the excess (kinda polishing the embossing).


Card fourteen: I dont know why I love this card but I do. It was very simple. Stamp onto white card stock, put it through the big shot using an embossing folder then layer it onto card stock, stamp and punch greetings and it is done!



Card fifteen: This is another technique I had already made before. In this case, all the layers of white card are stuck together (temporarily) and one stamp is stamped onto all of them. Then each is pulled apart and layered onto black card then all those are attached to create a tiered image.

Card sixteen: Ok this was one of my VERY favourite cards of the weekend because it was SO COOL! We started with glossy card stock which we wet with a water spritzer. I made mine quite wet so I had to dry overnight. I wet it a lot because I liked the way it made the ink run. Once it is wet, we used re-inkers to drip colours onto it and dropped rock salt on top (sea salt works too). See the little blotches? Those are where I had salt. And if you look to the brownish colour on the top left, you can see where the salt sorta created a salt crystal texture! The salt stays until it is dry.


Card seventeen: This top layer is velum which went through an embossing plate in the big shot. I inked the backside of this velum so it matched the card stock. I was meant to use it the other way over but I preferred this side. You can also just ink the flowers, it really depends on what you prefer. It needed something so I added a bow (made with a fork) and some bling.


Card eighteen: See the vertical colours on this? They are made using an acrylic block from Stampin' up! This is their smallest block (which normally you'd attach a stamp to), inked and stamped! I really like the simplicity of this card, it has a clean look and I think you could use it for a male's birthday card. I suck at making those lol.

Card nineteen: This is one of my top three favourite cards I made over the weekend. White tissue is laid flat (you need much more than you think, probably 3-4 times the size of the card) and stamped on (in this case, it is a two layer stamping of light pink then the darker pink). Then the tissue is rolled into a ball to crumple it. Then unroll it, lay it flat and laid face down. Don't flatten it out totally flat if you want the cool background appearance here. Then use a glue stick to glue a piece of white card and put that card onto the upside-down tissue. Fold and glue the sides to the back.

Card twenty: This is a card made using masking. See that flower panel? It isnt a paper that you buy already printed. We stamped the darkest flowers onto white card stock then stamped them again onto a post-it note. We trimmed around the post-it note flower and placed it on top of that first flower we stamped. That means the dark flower is masked off. When we stamp the lighter pink flower, part of that stamp will be on the mask instead of stamping over the top of the dark flower. I like this card, I do not like masking (never have lol).


Card twenty-one: Another card using a masking technique. This time we stamped AND sponged areas as they were masked off. Though I made a couple of boo-boos on this card, I still like it.


Card twenty-two: Ok now this is SO MUCH FUN! Guess how I made this patterned paper...SHAVING CREAM! We filled a tray with a layer of shaving cream and dripped re-inkers onto the shaving foam. To give you an idea, each of these colours was three drips in each place (ie that orange on the right was three drips of ink). Then using a paint brush handle (or whatever you have near), you swirl or streak to create a pattern then place a piece of white card stock on top and press it gently into the foam. Take it out and lay a piece of paper towel over it and kinda press down. It begins the soaking up of the foam and helps colour areas that might have escaped colouration. Take that piece of paper towel off and grab another (you will prob need 2-3 more). Dab until you get all the foam off. If you swipe the foam off, you may create swipe patterns on the card. But you might decide to try that as a design technique. Once the foam is off, it just has to dry and is ready to go on a card. I'd highly recommend putting down a cookie sheet before you start and getting a BIG roll of paper towels. And wear gloves if you dont want multi-coloured hands lol.



And at the end of the 30 cards we made, I had precisely one hour left before clean-up began. I used it to make this card. I THINK I used daffodil delight ink and night of navy card stock with antique brads. I cant recall the name of that stamp set nor which label I used but it was a framelit, not a punch.

The rest of the techniques, I'm not going to highlight today...I need to go make dinner!

Sunday, February 23, 2014

The beginning of 2014














A card for someone special

My dear friend Gita is having a bit of a tough time at the moment so this afternoon I sat down and made her a card. I was at her house for dinner yesterday which I only mention because the stamp on the front might otherwise seem odd. 

I made this card using a stampin' up! pop up card maker and my big shot machine.  Once I layered the black behind the pop up card, it looked too plain so I embossed it with a flower pattern and clear embossing powder. Next up I punched out some decorative labels and embossed my sentiment in black embossing powder.

Front view:


When you open up the card, it has a little pop up feature which I decorated using the matchin shapes from the front. Behind this pop up part is the black background. 


The final feature of this card is that it has a couple of closure slots at the bottom:


It really is quite a striking card in person. Next time I make it, I might consider using an embossing folder to texturise the front (the part that is black) and maybe have something different pop up inside.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Card class

Today, Emma and I went to a 'make and take' at Odette's house. She is my stampin' up demonstrator-most of my supplies come from her.

Right now stampin up has a sale on where you get something free with every $90 purchase and I got free stuff! I qualified for two other forms of free gifts as well as the $90 ones. Can't wait for that order to arrive! Anyway, to encourage you to attend, you get to make and take two cards. 

Emma and I made this top card quite different because it was double sided paper and I didn't like the other side. The two flaps with tie together with some kind of pretty twine but I am undecided.


I loved this bottom card. It is made mostly with the free stuff I will get! The rubber stamp is coming free as is the spotty embossed folded that give it that raised texture. I have the things that cut out that shaped part in the middle and also have the white ribbon. I loved this last card and Emma loved the top one. Which do you prefer? 


Tuesday, December 31, 2013

A few cards that I made towards the end of the year. The Christmas ones were really simple but quite pretty...the paper sparkled. All ended up going to my friend Maile so she can send them to people.








Sunday, November 17, 2013

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Cards...after a long break!

These first two cards, I call 'limited supplies to make cards' aka I was at Sheryl's and didn't take much with me!


Below are my first attempts at washi based Christmas cards!