August 2010 Stamp of the Month

Wow, July flew by.  I just realized that I didn't post any of my creations this month.  I remember waiting so I wouldn't spoil anything, but here we are at the cusp of August (and I still have the unmailed items in my possession), and it's time for another Stamp of the Month blog hop.  This month we have over 60 Close To My Heart consultants participating in our hop, featuring the August Stamp of the Month Something Splendid.  If you just arrived from Angela's blog, you are on the right path.  If you are just starting here, our round-robin hop can still be enjoyed in it's entirety.  Just follow the links at the end of each post, and eventually you'll end up right back here!

My creation is an altered wood frame for a 4X6 photo.  I think I may have picked this up from the dollar bins at Michael's.  I mixed Delta Ceramcoat paint (available in the Distressing Kit Z1299) and Chocolate Re-Inker (Z2211) to achieve my desired shade to coordinate with the Cherry-O papers.

After painting the frame with a sponge brush (also in the Distressing Kit) and allowing it to dry, I mixed my second custom paint.  This one was made using the Create-a-Shade Pearl paint (Z1039) and Chocolate Re-Inker, mixing to a darker shade than my first custom color.

I then used the fan-shaped brush from the Distressing Kit and dry brushed the mixture on the frame.  The result is almost like a shimmery wood grain.  After allowing that to dry, it was on to the stamping.

The coolest (I think) thing about Something Splendid is the two versions of the large flower, which allow you to get lots of definition without lots of work.  I stamped the more solid image first in Blush, then followed up with the outline image using Tulip ink.  The image was stamped on the Crystal Blue side of the striped paper from Cherry-O.  The center of the flower was stamped with the second generation (in Chocolate ink) and rock and roll techniques (ink the image, stamp once on a piece of scrap paper, then roll the edge of the stamp on the ink pad to give more dimension and definition to the image, then stamp.  I used Tulip ink for this part.).  Of course, it wouldn't be me if I didn't use 3-D Mounting Foam, so the center of the flower has been mounted using it.  I added five Adhesive-backed Pearls (an old Connections Club reward) to the corner opposite the flower, and used a piece of Cherry-O paper so that the frame is decorative even without a picture.  If you love the Adhesive-backed Pearls like I do, just WAIT for the new Autumn Idea Book (***HINT HINT***), which will be available September 1st.

Remember, the August Stamp of the Month is only available 1-31 August 2010.  Contact your CTMH consultant, or click here to get yours. 

Now, hop on over to Traci's blog to see what she has created!

July 2010 Stamp of the Month Blog Hop

It's hopping time again!  If you just arrived from Melissa's blog, you are on the right path.  If you are just starting here, no worries.  Our hop is a round-robin, so you can jump in anywhere and still see EVERYTHING!

This month we are featuring the July Stamp of the Month Happy Forever, a set of nine stamps.  This set features the most ADORABLE little hedgehogs, along with a few sentiments.  These cute critters are sure to be great for a variety of projects for many occasions. 

This is only my second crafting project since I've arrived in Okinawa a month ago.  I'm still getting settled in, and haven't had much time for crafting.  I made this card following this sketch from Sweet Sketch Wednesday.  I used the Cherry-O Creative Basics paper pack, which includes that adorable Cranberry velvet ribbon.  Other challenges include Xtra Dimension at The ABC Challenge Blog, Paper Cutz Challenge #47, and Stampin' B's Challenge #64.  This is intended to accompany a gift for a friend.  But anyone who knows me knows I have postal issues, so this will definitely be posted before I actually get it postal!

Papers: CTMH Crystal Blue, Sweet Leaf, Tulip and White Daisy cardstock, CTMH Cherry-O Creative Basics

Inks: CTMH Chocolate, Crystal Blue, and Tulip, CTMH markers in Tulip (kite bows) and Chocolate (accents in hedgie's scruff), CTMH Re-inker in Blush (large flower)

Tools and Techniques: Paper piecing (kite), crosshatching, direct-to-paper edge distressing, CTMH button, CTMH Just Blooms, CTMH ribbon, CTMH Watercolor Pencils, Waterbrush, 3-D Mounting Foam
Stamp Sets: CTMH Happy Forever


Directions for coloring your paper flowers with re-inkers follows below.  Remember that Happy Forever is only available July 1st-31st 2010.  Contact your CTMH consultant, or click here, to find out how to get this stamp set for a discount or even for FREE!

Now hop on over to Debra's blog to check out her creation!! 

Coloring paper flowers with re-inker is fairly simple.  I recommend a shallow container with a mostly-flat surface (a shallow bowl or plate is perfect), tweezers (like these reverse-action tweezers from CTMH), and rubbing alcohol.  Simply drip some re-inker into your container, add a little bit of alcohol, and mix.  Paper towels are a quick way to get an indication of your color.  Simply dip a small piece of paper towel into the mixture.  If it is too dark, add a little more alcohol.  Too light, add more re-inker.  Once you've found your desired shade, grasp the edge of your paper flower petal with the tweezer and quickly dip in the mixture.  The flower will absorb the mixture quickly, so be prepared to move it quickly to achieve complete coverage, and then get it out of the mixture as quickly as possible and put it on a paper towel to dry.  If you leave the paper flower in the mixture for too long, some of the "texture" or dimension of your flower may be lost.  So work QUICKLY!!!!  You can probably also do this with water instead of alcohol, but the alcohol dries much faster.  This technique will give you flowers perfectly matched to your project!

For the teacher...

My friend B is at the end of her first year as a teacher, and her birthday is also this week.  So, my first scrapping project in Okinawa (this time) is a name placard shadow box for her classroom.  She loves butterflies, and the colors pink and green, so I wanted to incorporate all of those into the shadow box.  The box is 8X10, and I got it at JoAnn.

Papers: CTMH Blush cardstock, CTMH Emporium

Inks: CTMH Blush

Tools and Techniques: Sponge edge distressing, Silhouette Machine (words and butterflies), CTMH Big Pinks flower, CTMH adhesive pearls, Zva Creative crystal flourish, Karen Foster Scrapper's Floss, Making Memories button, 3-D Mounting Foam, Xyron Adhesive


The butterflies were cut out with my Silhouette machine.  I adhered one completely onto the base, and the second one was mounted using 3-D mounting foam only on the center.  The edges of the wings were rolled slightly to give it dimension.  A row of adhesive pearls defines the butterfly's body, and a piece of floss attached to the underside are his antenna.  The crystal flourish was applied before the top butterfly. 

A piece of floss was tied through the button, which was then attached to the flower with glue dots.  The flower was attached to the background using glue dots as well.  Letters and mats were cut with the Silhouette.  The mats were sponged with Blush ink around the edges.  Letters were run through the Xyron to attach to the mats, then the mats were run through the Xyron to attach to background.  The "W" was instead mounted using a double stack of 3-D Mounting Foam (two pieces stacked on top of each other--remember to remove the paper backing before sticking the pieces together) in order to raise it up enough to clear the flower.  

 

 

Reflections Layout Using Veranda

I had a gathering Saturday, and we made two projects using the CTMH Veranda paper pack.  This was the second project, a layout from Reflections titled "Bottom Border - Title".  I used direct-to-paper ink distressing around the edge of the Juniper B&T paper, and cross-hatching on the Cocoa and Garden Green cardstock.  I stamped the little bird from the Follow Your Heart stamp set, which is only available as part of the Veranda Workshop on the Go (item G1007, only available through April 30, 2010).   This definitely needs a title and some journaling, but since my stamps and my Silhouette are on their way to Okinawa, those will have to wait.

This is a close-up of the ink distressing on the various papers.

Papers: CTMH Cocoa, Garden Green, and Vanilla Cream cardstock, CTMH Veranda

Inks: CTMH Cocoa, Garden Green and Juniper

Tools and Techniques: Direct-to-paper edge distressing, cross-hatching
Stamp Sets: CTMH Follow Your Heart

Sneak Peek at Studio J

Soon, you will be able to create fabulous digital scrapbook layouts from Close To My Heart.  There is a wonderful selection of paper packs (including some retired favorites and a Studio J exclusive pack for each new Idea Book).  I played around with it a few weeks ago, and will be sharing some of my layouts.  Studio J should go live later this month, and you will be able to access it from my CTMH website.  In the meantime, while almost all of my scrap stuff is on the way to Okinawa, I will share my digital scrapping with you.

This is our annual Christmas Eve tradition, baking cookies for Santa.  I love that I was able to use that close-up of the cookies the same as you might use a patterned paper.

We also open one gift on Christmas Eve, and this layout is of that tradition.  I love that I didn't have to cut the circle picture myself.

The little bits of gray you may have noticed at the top don't print, they are part of the tools for when you are creating your layouts.  You can switch left and right, rotate each layout, and rotate the papers within the layout, among other effects).  There are lots of embellishments you can add, including ribbon, buttons, threads, metal (brads, photo clips, etc), My Stickease, and even various distressing techniques.  One thing I forgot to do on the left page (after I rotated it) was to rotate the papers so that both sides matched.  But did you notice that before I pointed it out?  That's EXACTLY how I missed it.  I'm going to make myself a quick little checklist of things to verify when I approve my future layouts.  This won't entirely replace paper scrapbooking, but I can definitely see it having its place (especially when I want to create multiple copies of a layout, either for gifts or for others involved in the event).

I have other layouts created, but I will post those at a later time.

Pastel'd Christmas Card

I made this acetate Christmas card following the Friday Sketchers Challenge #96 sketch, Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge #18 (inspiration photo), and Christmas Cards All Year 'Round April Challenge (at least one soft pastel).  Instead of buying acetate card bases, I just bought a package of write-on transparency film, and cut it with my paper trimmer.

This is the inside.  I haven't chosen this year's Christmas card sentiment yet, so I'll stamp it later.

Papers: CTMH Blush and White Daisy cardstock, DCWV Holiday Collection The Christmas Stack

Inks: Brilliance Graphite Black, Copic Markers, Prismacolor marker, Sakura Gelly Roll White

Tools and Techniques: Nestabilities Classic Oval Large, Nestabilities Labels 1 (inside), unknown ribbon, 3-D Mounting Foam
Stamp Sets: CTMH Snow Friends

Lots of Christmas Cards

Today I used a sketch from 365 Cards and followed Sparkle's Christmas Card Challenge #17 (Snowflakes) and KL's Stampin' and Scrappin' (1-2-3 Recipe Challenge) to make a card.  Then I just decided to make a bunch of the same card, so I ended up with a total of ten.  The first five are mostly identical (I ran out of white snowflake brads, so I used embossing powder to cover silver snowflake brads to use--directions at the end of the post).  The next four, I kept the positions of the two papers the same, but on two had to use buttons instead of brads (because I ran out of snowflake brads), and the ink color for the sentiment and the distressing were reversed.  The last card has the paper position the opposite of the rest of cards, but I used the reverse side for some more variety.  The last five all received sparkles in the centers of the punched-out snowflakes.

Papers: CTMH White Daisy cardstock, CTMH Evensong Creative Basics

Inks: CTMH Cranberry and New England Ivy

Tools and Techniques: Nestabilities Petite Oval Large, Martha Stewart Snowflake punches, unknown white snowflake brads, unknown silver snowflake brads, Stampendous embossing powder (Winter Wonderland), Horizon Group USA sparkles, CTMH Craft Buttons (Holiday), direct-to-paper ink distressing (around the oval), Zots glue dots
Stamp Sets: CTMH Christmas Scripts

To use embossing powder to color your metal brads is fairly easy.  You will need a Craft Heater (CTMH product number Z555 is what I use), embossing powder, and some tweezers (I use CTMH Z1205, as they have a fine point, rubber grips so your fingers don't get hot, and reverse action so you don't have to squeeze to hold on to your item).  Grasp the brad by the "flaps" with your tweezers.  Using your craft heater, heat the front/top surface of your metal brad.  This may take some adjusting, depending on the size of your brad as well as the powder you are using.  I held these snowflakes fairly close to the heater for about 20 seconds, but a regular brad wouldn't require as much time.  Once heated, dip immediately in your embossing powder, tap off the excess and then heat again with your craft heater until the powder is melted smooth.  If a second coat is necessary, simply put it immediately back in the powder and repeat the tap and heat.  Voila, perfectly colored or matched brads for your project.  Keep in mind, some powders don't handle too much heat well, so err on the side of too little heat (which you can fix by heating more) rather than too much heat (which can cause your powder to discolor).