simple dreams

Snowflake Serenade and Eat Cake

Once again Nichole has hit a home run with her sets this month. They are SO easy to work with and so many ideas kept popping in to my head as to how to use them. I decided to keep it REALLY simple this month and focus on making the projects easy to replicate. This first card was made using the Snowflake Serenade set, the font used on the larger words in this set is just GORGEOUS.

For this card I began with the May Arts ribbon. I adore the slight shimmer and the colors in this particular ribbon. Then I only needed my Versamark pad, Soft Sky ink pad, I Kand-ee Pearlescent Chalk, Egyptian Gold EP (this EP is SO over the top sparkley - I just couldn't resist), some Powder cardstock, and my piercing tools.

My biggest tip with this type of design is to stamp the "Peace" first, sprinkle it with the embossing powder and then heat set it. Next stamp the snowflakes one at a time and shimmer them up with the Pearlescent chalks. If you stamp your snowflakes first unfortunately they still have some "sticky" to them and guess what - the EP sticks to them as well. Hmmm - guess how I know that Ü. It was an OK look, but... I really wanted it to look clean and sophisticated. I know that you could make a whole series of these cards in no time at all and that was my goal for this project - simple sophistication.

Next was the Eat Cake set. One of the first techniques I learned as a beginner was "stamping off". Using this technique you ink up your stamp image and then stamp, stamp again and then stamp yet again without reinking your stamp image. This was a bit of an experiment on my part being that I was curious how acrylic stamps would do with this particular method. Well... they worked just great. I believe that chalk ink will be your best bet when using this technique with acrylic stamps.

To create this project I inked up the cake stamp using two different colors of chalk ink and then stamped it off three times on Shimmery White cardstock. I then inked up the flowers and stamped them on each of the three layers. Being that you can see right through the stamps it was simple to place the flowers in the same position on each of the three layers. I sighted on the lower right flowers and the top left flowers, finding my intersecting points on the cake and just stamped away. To create the layered look I cut the lightest layer out in it's entirety, shortening the edges on the underlying layers that needed to be hidden beneath. Then repeated my cutting using only two layers and lastly one. Using pop dots I positioned the cake in layers and added Micro Twinkle Stickers to the centers of the flowers. In hindsight I would have used a deeper color on the flowers to make them pop just a little more off the cake, but... time was of the essence.

The polka dot paper is Nichole's very own. You can find the digital paper here. Yes, I know it is blue - but that is the joy of digital designs. By opening it up in your photo editing software you can easily change the hue and saturation of the colors and voila - it coordinates perfectly with whatever color scheme you are using. In this case I used Begonia and Peony - two of my favorite Memory Box colors. The little "swiss dots" were created using a Fiskars texture plate, tan embossing mat and Wizard. A little texture adds so much to these simple projects. The scalloped edge was once again cut using my Create-a-Cut. Oh how I wish I could share more information as to where you could find one of these, but unfortunately I have no idea what has happened with the manufacturers of this product line. I absolutely love my cutter and I have received many, many emails from you as to where you might get one and I just don't know.

Just a quick update on the Micro Twinkle Stickers - unfortunately there have been some manufacturer difficulties and we will not be able to get any more of this size in until (catch my breath) the end of November. We have plenty of Mini Dots, Mini Hearts and Mini Stars though - so hopefully you can think "big" for a while Ü

I hope you enjoy the simplicity of these projects - it is such fun to have the opportunity to stamp!!!

Newest Paper Trey Release

So I hear you girls were crashing the site again last night - LOL! I tried to join in the fun over on the Paper Trey forums as well and felt so badly for Nichole - sometimes computers just don't want to cooperate with us beginners. But as usualy Nichole thought fast on her feet and provided a fun party for you all on her blog. Thank goodness for our blogs - I know it has been a wonderful way for me to communicate with all of you in a pinch.

Just a couple of quick product updates before I share close-ups and information on the projects I created for Paper Trey Ink this month.

First - those pesky Copic marker backorders! I have my fingers crossed that we are close to solving the back order issues. They keep telling me that they have never experienced anything quite like the "thirst" of you girls when it comes to their markers. We are doing our VERY best to try and solve this issue and I have my fingers crossed that inventory will be showing up this week. As you all know I keep crossing my fingers and toes (yep - trying to do that again now that I can walk :D) that these issues will be solved. It's not that I don't have plenty of items on order - the problem is they are all backordered. The long and short of it is that it takes a LONG time to float those babies over here on the slow boat. Please cross your fingers and toes with me that we can resolve this issue this week and then I can get on with plan B - bringing in the complete set of 48 Stampin' Up! colors as well as the additional colors that I feel are missing from the palette I have. So I will continue to diligently work at getting all supplies at the ready so that we don't have to keep waiting, and waiting, and...

Secondly - you will notice that the Nestabilities in our store are mostly off of the Preorder status - yahoo!!!! Only one set is completely sold out and on preorder - the Oval, Classic Large. More of all product is on order and hopefully it will be here in less than two weeks.

You will notice I did a little organizing today to try and get all the different Nestability shapes together better. So what do you think? Is it easier to see? I also added more links to each item to try and assist you in coordinating the items.

Please never hesitate to contact us. We do our utmost to reply to each and every e-mail every day. If you do not hear from us in a timely manner then PLEASE resend your message. I kid you not when I tell you that we receive 100's of e-mails each day and so some of them get buried or go missing in our SPAM folder, or even never seem to arrive and must be floating out there in cyberspace. So if you haven't heard from us after a day - then please do not feel like your are bothering us, by resending your message! We are here to help. I know that the questions will arise with your new product and we will do our very best to answer those questions as quickly and thoroughly as possible. Sometimes it will be in a blog post, others it will be a personal email or phone call. Thanks for hanging in there with us through thick and thin!

Many have also seen Michelle hinting of good things yet to come. I sent her some new "things" to see what she thought of them and I have had these goodies sitting in my garage since June - yes, June! How pathetic is that?!? I just haven't been able to manage everything in my life with my "incident" this summer and so I am now trying, trying, trying to make some dents in my to-do list. I still need to rest often. This doesn't appear to be an easy recovery, but the great news is that I am on my way! So very soon I hope to have a few more new things uploaded to the store and I think you are going to like what you see :D

Now on to the fun stuff!

Paper Trey Ink has done it again. Their latest Holiday images were just wonderful to work with. Sometimes I feel that my ability to create is overpowered by the workload that is needing to be completed behind the scenes. It has also been frustrating for me that I haven't been able to get about to create as I did when I was on both feet, so I am very much looking forwards to a new lease on creating here again soon. I hope to get the stacks put away that have accumulated being that I was always begging for help - I find it empowering to have a clean space to work on and thus I find that my work is much neater and more precise when I have a "clean slate" so to speak.

One of the first creations I attempted was using the Believe set. Nichole was worried about how it would be accepted being she doesn't "color". I assured her that I found it fabulous to color! She did such a fantastic job creating the tree so that adding depth would be simple. Below is a step by step on how I used my Copic markers to color in this image. It was so quick and easy!

First I color my lightest colors - in this case I used YG00 as the base color for my tree leaves and YR21 for the berries. I find that when I use a golden shade with my red it gives a fun twist to the red colors upon completion.

The other thing that I do at the very beginning of my coloring session is to determine where I want to place my colors - thus I cover my entire image with color determining where the green will be colored and also the red. This way I don't have to think so hard as I continue to work. My basic color placement is determined and these light colors are much easier to cover if I do make a mistake in my locating my colors.

Next I added my green highlights. I selected a total of three greens for this project - YG00, YG95 and G99. I added YG95 to some of the leaf area and background spaces, as well as added G99 to all of the background spaces. As I colored I found areas that were not leaf shaped and just added the depth in those "corners". By balancing the dark areas across the tree from top to bottom I was able to easily create depth in the image. I worked quickly and once I had all the foliage colored I came back in with the YG00 and pressed the tip in to each leaf allowing the color to pool slightly - thus it easily blended the different colors that I had used. If you look closely you can see the difference at the top of the tree and the bottom.

I added R27 and R29 to the berries. Instead of applying the color evenly across the berry I laid down the R27 (the lighter red) to the top right side of the berry and the R29 to the lower left. This helped to "round" the berry out.

Last (but certainly not least - LOL) I added some gorgeous shimmer to each berry by using my orange Spica glitter pen. Why orange you might ask? I find again that by adding contrasting colors it truly makes the image come to life. I would like to suggest that the next time you create try practicing on a scrap sheet of paper and combine some "unusual" colors to see what they will look like when blended together. You may be pleasantly surprised.

As you can see I have been having "issues" with taking my pictures sitting here in my chair and just shooting on to my work space. I look forwards to moving back to my little tent to photograph future projects :D

To complete the background the sentiment was stamped using Adirondack Willow ink on Memory Box Willow cardstock. This is an absolutely stunning green - so different from the typical greens. I just loved how it looked with the red accent word stamped in Colorbox Chalk Lipstick Red.

I think I will begin a new post to describe the other projects I created being that this post is so lengthy. I certainly am being long winded once again - LOL!

Spooky Treats...

When Nichole sent the latest sets and goodies to get started on this month's projects my jaw dropped. I can not believe the brilliance behind these creative sets. The projects that she has been creating are just over the top FANTASTIC!

So what does someone like myself do to try and come up with anything just a "little clever" to add to the mix. When I saw the Spooky Sweets set and those darling little "grins" it brought back a craft from the "good 'ole days". Remember all those old egg carton "things" we made. Well my thoughts went to those cartons and thought how clever these little "grins" would be when combined with a little glue and paint. So with that I created these "Littlest Pumpkin Treat" containers. I sent my girls on a scavanger hunt through the toy box to see if they just might find one of those old plastic spider rings to add as a prop for this photo, but no such luck. I've also kept all of the sweets out of reach so that I don't get an even wider back side. So please envision these filled with the most enticing array of little goodies for your little Halloween monsters. Or set by their plates in the morning before they head out for a day of adventures on the 31st.

All you need is a cardboard egg carton, green twist ties, linen thread, green paper, some orange paint, Nichole's Spooky Treats stamp set, (and I did use the Beautiful Blooms for the leaf), some of those fab little Making Memories Tag Rims, and some ink.

Cut your egg carton apart and trim it down until you can get an even top as shown in the photo below.

Place your treat inside the bottom carton, run a ring of hot glue around the top rim and set the other half on top. Paint orange, add a slightly different shade to make stripes. Ink lower portion of "little grin" and stamp mouth. Clean stamp and ink up the eyes and nose - stamp. Add the twist tie for the stem, stamp and affix the leaf using a little more hot glue, add your cute little tag and you have a treat fit for any child or child at heart :D

I hope this little project brings back some fun memories and gives you just one more way to use your new Spooky Sweets set!

 

Borders and Corners

ETA: I have taken pictures of the process I went through in developing these cards and hope to share it with you soon. I also want to let you know that Nichole has been working on determining which of her stamps from the Borders and Corners sets will work in the Nestabilities. So head to her blog for more information as well. The wonderful thing about acrylics is that they bend and stretch, so you can sort of change their shape (I am referring to the Ovals). The circles and squares work great - unless they are the ones designed with the "bumps" to fit the Marvy Punches. I have not had enough time to experiment yet and truly figure out which fit and which don't. I can tell you that the rectangles are not the same dimension, but there are innovative ways that you can use them in your creations as well.

Nichole will be carrying the Nestabilities in her store as well. I want you all to know that Nichole and I have a very special relationship. In this world of competitiveness it is probably rather strange to all of you that this has happened. It was I who approached Nichole and asked her if she would like to carry the line. I support her 100% and can honestly tell you that it feels good to know that I can have a good and open relationship with my "competitors". Treating others with kindness and respect is of the utmost importance to me.

Yes, I will be carrying the airbrush system in my store. I am so bummed - I forgot, YES forgot to upload it in the wee hours of the morning before Friday the 13th. So watch for something special to come when I finally get it done :D There are a few other important things that didn't get uploaded either - insert rolling eyeballs. My fingers and shoulders are tired from all the typing. Yes, I do most of the technical computer work as well. Katelyn has been a God send - she has helped me SO much. I hope to get a picture of the wonderful women who work with me and post those to my blog soon!!! That way you will know who it is that helps me out on a daily basis. I couldn't do it without them!

Thank you again for stopping by and I hope to answer many of your questions in the month to come.

Even though life has been rather "out of control" you might say I absolutely relish the opportunity to just play and stamp each month when I receive my stamps from Nichole. Being that they are so completely different then the Lockhart stamps (which of course you can tell I truly LOVE - LOL) it allows me the freedom to create with a completely different "look". My  mind always starts to buzz when I open the package and anticipate what it is that I would like to create.

The simplicity of the designs is what intrigues me. If you were to ask me what my personal style is when dressing or designing my home you would find that it is a combination of contemporary and country. Yep, a strange mix indeed, but it is warm and yet allows for those personal touches. For some strange reason that whole "elegance" thing always happens to sneak in as well - not sure why being that I don't see myself particularly as an elegant person - LOL!

This month's designs are once again just little journey's into creativity. The first I am sharing because I think it may be hard to realize that the little white oval is actually a sticker that is only attached with the paper clip. The whole point being that it can be peeled off and placed on an actual calendar. The inspiration for this was discovered in a stationary store - I just though the little sticker idea for "Saving the Date" was pure genius and so I just had to share it. I love how sometimes you don't actually have to use the punched image - but rather use it to cut a stencil. I cut this stencil out of the Eclipse Tape and adhered it over the printed information on my cardstock. Using my Copic Airbrush system I then recreated the scalloped oval shape utilzing the mask. I hope to get the Airbrush system loaded to my store this next week, but getting your orders together and out to you quickly is more important to me right now, so please be patient with me as I try and continue to get on top of all the new goodies that are soon to be headed your way. To get the coordinating oval for the Marvy punch I utilized my Creative Memories Oval Cutter. I wanted to let you know that the oval shape from Marvy does not fit together with the new Spellbinder Nestabilities Ovals, but I can assure you that the new Nestabilities will fit together PERFECTLY!

I then made certain that the alcohol ink was dry after airbrushing before stamping and embossed using Sterling Silver powder. Once again a striking but simple look is what I found appealing about this creation as well as the novelty of the sticker :D For this design I also utilized one of my favorite Paper Trey sets, Faux Ribbon. This is going to be a staple in my stamp library for many years I do believe.

This next card totally came from the stitched square in the Borders and Corners (squares) stamp set. My mind immediately went to quilting. Why? I have no idea being that I don't quilt, but it has always intrigued me and so I set about creating a quilted background for this simple design. First I cut out the squares and embossed them using my Wizard. I will do my best to get a demonstration up here on site soon (probably after CHA) showing you step by step directions as to how to use the Nestabilities in the Wizard, Big Shot and Cuttlebug. Hopefully this will alleviate any fears you may have and also provide you with the necessary information as to how to use it.

So I cut and embossed the squares and then placed these squares on the stamp inked with Versamark, following up with white embossing powder to really make the stitching pop off the surface. The sentiment was then punched out of vellum and layered multiple times finishing up with the Giga Scalloped punch (or was it the Mega - oops - I can't remember). Simple easy and again quite eye popping.

I hope to share more about the Love You card I created in the near future. It has some awesome and funky stuff that I did that just doesn't want to show up in the picture. It is quite the weird mix - LOL!

One last tidbit I want to share is that I am closing out of the Marvy Giga Scalloped Circle Punches that are in my store. If you are still a punch lover then head over to my store for a true "deal of a lifetime" on these punches. This last order arrived as somewhat of a surprise - LOL! They had been ordered a VERY long time ago and so it was one of those "oh no" moments being that I knew that something much bigger and better is on it's way. So for those who still want only a punch hop right on over, I doubt they will last long at this price.

Fluff in a Jar - Fun Flock is in :D

Yeah - Fun Flock is finally uploaded to the store. I apologize, being that the pics aren't the greatest - IRL these colors remind me of scrumptious looking jelly beans. The colors are so pure and intense. I hope to update the pictures soon with larger samples, but at least it's a start.

Once again I used Fun Flock to create the Birthday Balloon in this month's Paper Trey Ink Little Lady gallery. Last night I talked about all the other looks this lady could take on. I saw numerous possibilities for flowers and with the Lockhart dresses being something I adore a little dress was on my mind. I was so tickled to see both Debbie and Lisa play out this idea!! Great job ladies - great minds think a like - right - LOL!

So here is my balloon version.

Being that I wanted to stamp Celebrate right in the curve of the tail and I'm lazy so I didn't want to mask :D the tail was stamped first using a VERY light ink. Next I stamped the "balloon" using Colorbox Petal Points Blossom Chalk ink. I like to work quickly and therefore heat set the ink so that I could move on. I stamped and created a reverse mask using Eclipse Tape. Place the mask over the balloon and then stamp the large flowers using The Essential Glue Pad. Flock with the Cantaloupe Orange (as you can see this is a GORGEOUS color - nothing like my poor little sample on my webstore site!). Press lightly with your finger and tap to remove excess flock. Repeat with the small flower using Pixie Pink Fun Flock. (Pixie Pink is the color I used on my Faux Velvet Ribbon card as well.) Remove the mask and you have this awesome textured balloon. Without this awesome texture this card would have been BORING - but the amazing quality this little embellishment adds is fabulous.

Nichole designs these sets with versatility in mind. Another thing you might want to note is that this trail is the perfect distance for piercing. Yes, perhaps I am the piercing queen - LOL! but again the subtle texture that it adds to this project helps make it sing. Be certain to stamp your greeting first and then skip that portion of the tail when you do your piercing.

I added tails to my balloon using orange velvet ribbon from the Gypsy (Romani) set and pink DMC floss.

If I could do it over I would tilt my balloon slightly - it's just a little off, but time is always of the essence as of late and so I just ran with it. Another awesome idea would be to turn the lady bug into a kite - Maybe if I get a minute I'll try that one :D

Little Ladies

When I get a new stamp set so many ideas flit through my brain. Get it - lady bug - flit?!? Yup, I'm tired again - so here goes one of those silly posts - I hope I make a little sense. :D

Being that I have been working in depth with the principles and elements of design one of the first ideas to pop in to my brain was totally influenced by repetition and alignment. It is so easy to see how these principles help you emphasize the focal lady bug. To create this pattern I drew a very light grid on the surface of the paper with a pencil. This was followed up with lots of ladybugs stamped on the grid :D

I experimented with a couple of different techniques first to get the ladies dressed properly. First I tried stamping the red wings and following it up with the black body and dots, I then tried my stamp-a-ma-jig, at last I tried a technique that Debbie Olson had tried which was stamping the body first and following it up with the red wings. I did find that eyeballing it and stamping the wings first/body last worked best for me, but it is worth while practicing on a piece of scratch paper to figure out what works best for you. The beauty of two-step stamping is definitely enhanced or made easier by being able to see right through your image. It is SO much easier then any other two-step stamping I have ever done.

Once the stamping was completed I heat set it being that I didn't want to risk making the ink bleed and then erased the lines with my kneaded rubber eraser.

There were a number of ways that I tried to draw your eye to the one special little lady - the most obvious is the twinkle stickers and the different antennae.

The sentiment was set off with some piercing and the sentiment "Little Things" was masked and stamped inside.

So if you too love lady bugs, you had better run (don't walk!) over to Paper Trey Ink and snap up one of these awesome sets. The other designers shared some awesome ideas as well - it is easy to see past the basic shape and turn this little treasure in to so many other forms - we have tulips, dresses, apples, and balloons - what other ideas do you have?