Thursday, July 11, 2013

Be Virtuous - A Mark's Finest Papers, A Heinrich Company Blog Hop

July Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

 Featured July 9th
Lotus Blossoms
 
Featured July 10th
Shello 
 
Featured July 11th 
Be Virtuous
 
Featured July 12th
Presents

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be announced on July 13, 2013 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for commenting is 11PM EST on Friday July 12, 2013.

 The special stamp set we have for you this month is:
"Dino News"

 The mini stamp set we have for you this month is
"Dragonflies"
I made a smaller than A2 card using today's set called Be Virtuous.  My card measures 3 1/2" by 4 3/4".  I gave it a little faux binding on the side because it reminded me of the menus in the Chinese restaraunt that my parents used to take my sister and I to, for dinner when we were much younger.  I used four of the images from the set on my card!  It's a bit hard to see, but I drew in the veins on the leaves with a gold gel pen.
 
You'll want to head off to Sue's blog in just a bit!
 
Here's the Design Team:
Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!
 
Details - Stamps: Be Virtuous (MFP); Paper: Very Vanilla, Brushed Gold, Black Licorice; Ink; Tuxedo Black; Accessories: Scor-Pal, Scor-tape, gold gel pen, MM gold eyelets, vanilla satin cording, crop-a-dile, stampin' dimensionals.

A Scor-Pal and Clearsnap Card Box and Cards

Hi, Toni here!  It's my turn to showcase a Scor-Pal and Clearsnap project.  We will have a week long showing of some crafty goodness by both the Scor-Pal design team and the Clearsnap design team.  I received some really fabulous product and I wanted to show it all off, so I made a Card Box* and an assortment of cards to go in it.
For this project, you will need:
For the cards, you will also need:
Place the 7 3/4" by 9" piece of card stock on your Scor-Pal with one corner at the top of the  6" groove and the opposite corner between the arrows at the bottom of the 6" groove.  Score every half inch across the entire piece of card stock.  I have illustrated three of the score lines below.
Turn your piece of card stock 90 degrees and center the new corner at the top of the 6" groove and the opposite corner between the arrows at the bottom of the 6" groove.  Again, score every half inch across the entire piece of card stock.  You will create a diamond grid pattern on your paper. 
If you want to highlight the grid pattern with ink, you will do that now.  Refer to the card below for more information on inking the grid pattern.  For now, we will continue on with creating our box base.  With the 9" side of the card stock up against the top fence of the Scor-Pal,  score at 1 1/2" on all four sides. 
On the 9" sides, cut along the 1 1/2" score lines in to the 1 1/2" score lines.  You will create four tabs to adhere the box together.  Crease all of your score lines. 
Turn the box base over and line all four tabs with Scor-tape.
Remove adhesive backing and adhere tabs to inside of the box.  Now you see the finished box base.
Creating the box lid follows the same steps with slightly different dimensions.  This box lid was created with acetate, but could easily be made with card stock.  The acetate measures 6 7/8" by 8 1/8".  It is places into the Scor-Pal and scored at 1" on all four sides.  Tabs are created by cutting on the 1" score line in to the 1" score line.  Adhesive is placed on the outside of the tabs and adhered to the inside of the lid.  Below, you see the acetate lid placed on my scored grid box base.
For the first of four cards, I recreated the scored grid background on my card.  
Since my background was smaller, I placed my Scor-Envi into my Scor-Pal and used it to help me stabilize the smaller piece.  I placed one corner into the 6" groove and lined up one side flush with the Scor-Envi.  Score every half inch across the whole piece. 
Turn 90 degrees and repeat the scoring every half inch to create the diamond grid pattern. 
Without turning the paper over so that raised score lines are on the bottom, brayer on Clearsnap Mix'd Media Inx Chox ink.
I finished my card with a couple of stamped flowers, dies and burlap string.  For my gold flower centers, I used both Gold Lame Smooch and Goldrush Smooch Glitz.

For the next card, I scored sun rays onto my card base.  I used Gold Lame Smooch to line each ray and then ran a finger over it to spread it like it was glowing.  I also covered some card stock with the Smooch and die cut and trimmed it to represent my sun.
For the third card, the leaves were clear embossed on white card stock.  Then, I used River Mossy Smooch Spritz to spray over the top in an emboss resist technique.  Additionally, I scored on either side of the emboss resist panel, wrapped burlap string around the embossed panel, stamped a sentiment and rounded the corners.
For the final card, I scored a tic-tac-toe grid and embellished.  In the four corners of the grid, I used the Honey Mix'd Media Inx embossing powder to emboss the leaves.  I stamped flowers for the four outer boxes of the grid, adding Gold Lame Smooch to each flower center.  Finally, I stamped a sentiment, matted the grid and rounded the corners. 
The cards and envelopes fit neatly into the box with the lid.  It was finished with a simple bow tied with mini cording to match. 
Thanks for reading along!
 
*Card Box tutorial found on Splitcoaststampers. 


Details -  Stamps: Bloom & Grow (Verve), Doodled Occasions (Verve); Paper: Sweet Tooth White, Chocolate chip; Ink: Clearsnap Mix'd Media Inx Chox Petals, Momento Rich Cocoa, Versamark; Accessories: Scor-Pal, Scor-Envi, Scor-Tape, paper snips, brayer, Clearsnap Mix'd Media Inx Honey embossing powder, clear embossing powder, heat tool, Clearsnap River Mossy Smooch Spritz, Clearsnap Gold Lame Smooch, Clearsnap Goldrush Smooch Glitz, Nestabilities, Floral Circles dies (Verve), May Arts mini cording, May Arts burlap string, glue dots, stampin' dimensionals, corner rounder.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Shello - A Mark's Finest Papers, A Heinrich Company Blog Hop

July Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

 Featured July 9th
Lotus Blossoms
 
Featured July 10th
Shello 
 
Featured July 11th 
Be Virtuous
 
Featured July 12th
Presents

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be announced on July 13, 2013 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for commenting is 11PM EST on Friday July 12, 2013.

 The special stamp set we have for you this month is:
"Dino News"

 The mini stamp set we have for you this month is
"Dragonflies"
Don't you love that turtle???  I know I do.  I think the saying is pretty fun.  I have no doubt that I will be able to use this card.  It's not that I forget birthdays or anniversaries, I just sometimes can't get my act together in time to get the card there on time.  Forgetfulness seems somehow more forgivable than disorganization! 

My card has some stenciled waves and then some sponged water.  I stamped my sea grass, turtle and sentiment right over the top and then colored.  I finished off my one layer card with some bling bubbles.  Who wouldn't want bling bubbles?

You will want to travel on to Sue's blog to see what kind of easel she has today.  If you were there yesterday, you know that is what Sue is up to this month!
 
Here's the Design Team:
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!
 
Details - Stamps: Shello (MFP); Paper: Sweet Tooth White, Ink: Marina Mist, Tuxedo Black; Accessories: Nautical Frames and Accents dies, Copic Markers, corner chomper, Recollections rhinestones, sponge dauber.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Lotus Blossoms - A Mark's Finest Papers, A Heinrich Company Blog Hop

July Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

 Featured July 9th
Lotus Blossoms
 
Featured July 10th
Shello 
 
Featured July 11th 
Be Virtuous
 
Featured July 12th
Presents

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be announced on July 13, 2013 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for commenting is 11PM EST on Friday July 12, 2013.

 The special stamp set we have for you this month is:
"Dino News"

 The mini stamp set we have for you this month is
"Dragonflies"
As soon as I saw the solid block image with the rounded corners, I thought of shadow stamps.  I worked it into today's card with some color blocking.  The line art lotus image crosses several of the blocks.  I had to work in some of the scrumptious dragonflies from the mini stamp set with the same name.  The "wonderful day" sentiment was perfect for today.
 
Today was my husband's birthday and we celebrated with a grand dinner at home.  We barbecued pork chops and beets straight from the garden.  I added some rice pilaf, roasted garlic bread and blackberry pie for dessert!  It was delightful...now I need to stay away from that pie.  Wish me luck!

Here's the Design Team:

Thanks for stopping by, enjoy the rest of the hop!
 
Stamps: Lotus Blossoms (MFP); Paper: Sweet Tooth White; Ink: So Saffron, Almost Amethyst, Blush Blossom, Mellow Moss, Tuxedo Black; Accessories: Copic Multiliner.

Dino New & Dragonflies - A Mark's Finest Papers Bonus

Only a few more hours now and we will be seeing the very first of the new sets from Mark's Finest Papers.  I'm here with a sneak peek at a couple of the extra sets that accompany this month's release.  First up is Dino News!  I love that Triceratops.  I'm not sure if my photography shows it or not, but I layered the girl up.  Her body is the main layer, her frill is next and then her head and horns are the very top layer.  I tore her up some ground and spritzed it for a rocky look.  My sentiment I pieced together in a ransom note style.  Some line thread crosses the top of my card. 

Next up with have the set called Dragonflies.  I created a dusk sky for beauties that I embossed in gold.  While I was at it, I sprinkled a little gold embossing powder around the edges for some interest and texture.  I matted my scene and used a gold textured ribbon on top of my card base.  Thanks for stopping by today!  No matter where you are or what you are doing, I hope you have a wonderful day.  It's time for me to wrap this up as I have birthday shopping and a pie to make for my husband's birthday. 
Details - Dino card - Stamps: Dino News (MFP); Paper: Favorite Natural (MFP), Sahara Sand, GKD White; Ink: Tuxedo Black, Versamark; Accessories: Color Spritzer, Copic Markers, paper snips, Scor-tape, linen thread, corner chomper.  Dragonfly card - Stamps: Dragonflies (MFP); Paper: Watercolor paper, Black Licorice; Ink: Versamark; Accessories: gold ep, heat tool, aquapainter, water color crayons, May Arts gold ribbon, stampin' dimensionals.
 

Friends and One Color

Good Monday Morning!  I've just come off a long holiday weekend and I am ready to tell you all about the current Friends of Speedy TV challenge.  The challenge is to create a monochromatic card, a card with one hue.  I used browns on my card.  I created a shadowed square with some reverse masking and sponging.  Then I stamped and over stamped my cattails with two different tones of brown.  When I over stamped, I tried to be slightly off to create a three dimensional look.  I used a third brown to stamp my sentiment and finished off my card by rounding a couple of corners. 
 
Now let's not forget how generous Mark's Finest Papers can be and take a peek at today's prize set.  It's called From The Woods mini and features a darling winter image. 
That's all for this post!  Stay tuned for some more Mark's Finest goodness and some new images at that!
 
Thanks for stopping by and see you later.
 
Details - Stamps: Marsh Silhouettes (MFP); Paper: Very Vanilla; Ink: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Early Espresso; Accessories: Nestabilities, post-it, sponge dauber, corner chomper.


Monday, July 1, 2013

Friends and Independence Day

Happy Monday Friends!  Today, I am sharing my card for the newest Friends of Speedy TV challenge, to make a card for the Fourth of July (challenge #79).  I think we will see quite a few fun and festive cards.  This is always such a fun holiday followed up by a ton of family birthdays for me.  We have plans this year to head East of the Mountains and visit relatives up from Arizona.  It should be a hoot.  We are planning to spend quite a bit of time by the river as the expected temperatures are around 90F.  Oh boy, that is a little warm for this Western Washington born and bred girl.  I talked my hubby into packing an umbrella for shade and I will have lots of cool drinks!
I used a Fall To Layout from the clean and simple stamping blog to get my card started.  Now, don't you forget that Mark's Finest Papers offers up a free stamp set as a prize for one lucky participant.  Won't you play along?
 
Details - Stamps: Be Proud (MFP); Paper: Crumb Cake, GKD White, Brilliant Blue, Real Red, PC dp; Ink; Tuxedo Black, Barely Banana, Crumb Cake; Accessories: Sponge daubers, Copic & Touch Twin Markers, Pennant Trim die (Verve), paper snips, square lattice embossing folder, Scor-Tape, corner rounder.