Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Janice's Last Chance Workshop

Sorry it took so long to get these up, but I've been having a hard time getting time and motivation to work on my blog in synch! Several friends have been bugging me, so here goes.

On June 14, I had a last chance workshop with Janice and met a couple of new stampers. We all enjoyed the make and takes, but SU, in it's infinite wisdom, retired most of what I was doing for make and takes. First, we were going to make this darling alligator card, but SU is retiring the Kiwi Kiss CS and the Key Tag Punch, so I just made these as samples. Got the alligator idea from Angie Juda's Chic 'n Scratch blog. She makes the cutest critters with punches and set off a frenzy for the Key Tag Punch with her alligator. By the date of my workshop, it was all sold out, so I didn't even bother to demo this little guy. Angie has lots of video tutorials and her alligator video is great. She has a new puppy one, too. Having trouble getting a link to work here, so can only tell you to go to www.mychicnscratch.com and scroll down right side of page to punches. The above may or may not be a live link, but you can copy and paste it into your search engine.

This card and alligators were made with Kiwi Kiss, basic black and Whisper White CS, and a bunch of punches: Spiral, Key Tag, 1/2", 1/4" and 1/8". Angie used the scalloped edge punch for his teeth, but since I don't have that one, I used my scalloped edge scissors. I used the rounded side for the bottom left gator and the "negative" side for the other two so he would have sharp teeth like a real gator. The matchboxes are a new die from SU that I borrowed from my upline Vivian.
This is a pic of the 6 cards I made to go into a simple portfolio made with designer series paper (DSP). I made one card from each of the retiring In Colors and stuck some matching retiring DSP behind the 1" band of CS. This was a very simple card, punched up a bit from a design on Angie's Chic 'n Scratch blog. I gave this set to my hostess.

Our first make and take was this Father's Day card. I had him all planned and SU retired the Baja Breeze and Pacific Point CS and promptly sold out of the Baja Breeze everything. Oh, well, we all made him anyway. For those without fathers, they put Happy Birthday or whatever as the sentiment. The guests (can't call them "ladies" as Marvin was there!) really loved the reflection technique using waxed paper.

Marvin took my design and ran with it, doing the same scene on the inside but without the reflection. Carmen did that to the inside of her card, too. Turned out smashingly, don't you think?

After all the work of the first make and take, I had everyone make this simple thank you card with the retiring Lovely Labels. I didn't have a lot of Pacific Point CS left, so it was really simple.
Buuuut, Carmen went crazy with a scrap and the Eyelet Border Punch and came up with this! My digital screwed up the colors, but it turned out great. Too bad I didn't have enough Pacific Point CS for everyone to do this to their cards!

That's it for now. Now, I get to play with my new stuff to get ready for my July 7 workshop.
Thanks for stopping by!

(-: ¸.·´* .·´*¨¨)) -:¦:- ***
((¸¸´*~Kathy.·´*)****¨¨))
-:¦:- ·· ((¸¸.·´* .·´*((¸¸.·.·´ *-:¦:- ... :-)

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Stamp Club June 8, 2009

Hi, ladies! We had a great turn out last night and I think everyone but Tange (who had a great excuse!) brought in an exchange card. We had a great meeting, gave ourselves an updated name (Creative Images) and clarified stuff for next month.

The theme for last night's exchange card was "Stamper's Choice," and we were all over the map. First up is my Father's Day card made with the deer from SU's Nature's Silhouettes, the pine tree from Lovely as a Tree and the greeting from All Holidays. Love that Chocolate Chip ribbon and the black brads I made by heating up silver brads with a candle and dipping them in black embossing powder.
This little cutie is Ella's exchange card from a couple months back, the theme of which was "Guilty Pleasures." That meeting didn't happen as our venue disappeared, but this works for a "Stamper's Choice," for sure. And, yes, rice cakes would taste better smothered in hot fudge!

Therese made this relaxing card with the fussy cut fishies dangling on a line in the corner. This is a great guy card!

Pam made this little cutie. We decided she needed bows in her hair and I actually had some ribbon in my kit!

Ta daaaaaaa! Isn't she cute and I got her as my exchange card! Woo hoooo!

This is Lona's lotus card in lovely blues and greens. You can't see it in the picture, but she added gliter to the flower petals.

Theresa figured out something to do with the "negative" of the Top Note Die! It made a great frame on a card she stamped with the flowers and greeting from Echoes of Kindness.

Next up is Rosie's sunflower, fussy cut and mounted with a brad and a lovely popped up butterfly. I spy the Swirly embossing folder on a layer.

Holly made this nifty folding card. I can't remember what she called it, but she also managed to reduce the pattern to make an ATC with this technique. I didn't take a pic of the ATC, but wish I had. Maybe next time. Several ladies asked Holly for her ATC's dimensions.

Holly brought her daughter-in-law Lisa as a guest and so that Lisa would have an exchange card, Holly gave Lisa this cute Cattitude card made with same technique as the lotus card above. There is so much going on with this card with primas, feathers, embossed paw prints, etc. Love it! Maybe we can do this fold as a project some time. Helen and I have the project for January. Hmmmmmmmm.

When I asked for her exchange card, Jeannie pulled this lovely flower basket out of her stash. It's one of Jeannie's favorite stamps and it watercolors marvelously. I think she said she used Twinkling H2O's to color it. Flowers, baskets - what's not to like!

Linda made this Sunkissed cutie. I wish I could remember the sentiment from inside. Maybe Linda will let me know what it was and I will add it in here.

And for our last exchange card, Ursula made this bright beauty. I think she fussy cut the butterflies and the tulips before popping them up. Whatever she did, it's sure pretty and bright! And that border punch! Yum!

Jeannie and Therese brought in a couple of cards for show and tell, demonstrating how to make something with Artist Trading Cards (ATC's) if you're just not into collecting and trading them. This first one is Jeannie's hummingbird with Primas. Half the card layers are already done with the ATC! Easy, quick and painless.

Therese mounted an ATC on this lacy card, adding punches to some designer paper. I don't know how much of it was the original ATC, but love the lace and the shell with the pearl in it. There are trillions of those little half shells on our beaches. I'll never see another one without seeing a pearl in it!

Ella did the project last night, a nifty folding card, great as a gift card for enclosing a check or money. This sample used a little inchie as the focal point. For those unfamiliar with inchies, they are perfect little pallets made of 1" square chipboard. Colors of this were much better IRL.

This is my finished project. I loves pink!

Bonnie, one of the ladies who teaches and works at Priceless, our new venue, was making a bunch of these as birthday cards. Bonnie volunteered to stay late when they realized we were having our meeting. Thanks, Bonnie.

A good time was had by all last night! We actually got rowdy a couple times!
Thanks for stopping by.
(-: ¸.·´* .·´*¨¨)) -:¦:- ***
((¸¸´*~Kathy.·´*)****¨¨))
-:¦:- ·· ((¸¸.·´* .·´*((¸¸.·.·´ *-:¦:- ... :-)

Monday, June 1, 2009

May 31 Workshop!

Had a great workshop Sunday afternoon where we made two nice make and take cards and a cute little bookmark with punches.

My first picture is the Wow watercoloring technique taught at the Stampin' Up Regionals in Seattle and found all over the place on stamping blogs. The first place I saw it was at a doctor named Lynda's blog here: http://stampingdoc.blogspot.com/, specifically her May 10 post. For this card I used Pink Pirouette, Basic Black, Whisper White, Riding Hood Red and Shimmery White cardstocks. I embossed the Fifth Avenue Rose on Shimmery White, then did the watercolor technique Lynda explained much better than I could. I finished this off with the Little Leaves Sizzlet (cut into three pieces), sentiments from Oval All, stamped in Riding Hood Red on Whisper White CS and punched out with the Large Oval punch and in Craft Whisper White on Riding Hood Red CS and punched out with the Scalloped Oval punch. The ribbon is the new Organza ribbon. It was fun watching the ladies play with the reinker and watercolor brushes and they all turned out gorgeous! Different, every one!

I wanted a snazzy hostess gift, so I tried out the flower pot I saw in a video tutorial at Amy Celona's blog: http://ustamp4fun.com/flowerpot-accordion-card/. I messed around with Amy's pot, making it bigger and changing the shape of the top, but essentially, it is the same.

This is what the inside of my card looks like, before I put the thank you from Oval All in the bottom left corner, layered with the large and scalloped oval punches. Totally CASE'd Amy's flowers and layout, though I did make the accordian a little different (same color as the pot and narrower). When I opened the pot, there was a gasp from all the ladies and my hostess was blown away when I gave it to her. I love 2-step stamping with Rose is a Rose and fussy cutting. Can you tell?

This is a sample I made with Nature's Silhouettes using a brayer on glossy cardstock with Not Quite Navy ink. I used a 1/2" circle as my mask for a moon. Happy Father's Day was from All Holidays.

This is what we made as our second make and take. Very simple card made with Upsy Daisy with Whisper White and Old Olive cardstocks, Old Olive and Chocolate Chip inks and the 1" Chocolate Chip double-stiched grosgrain ribbon. CASE'd this idea from Andrea Bowden's gift box of cards in the Papercrafts Magazine on sale now with 225 cards and gifts. Andrea's card was square, simply stamped on white cardstock. She had a bunch of the cards in a gift box with a clear acetate lid, tied up with 5/8" Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon. I liked the look, but put my ribbon around an Old Olive layer before mounting it on a white card base. It was very simple and the ladies loved it.

Last, but not least, I surprised the ladies with this little guy. I kept what we were making a surprise until everyone had all of his pieces in front of them. When I took out my sample, everyone at the table let out a collective "Awwwwwwww!" We assembled him, drew on his face, stuck him together with pop up glue dots around the big paper clip and ta daaaaaa! I got the instructions from Angie Juda's blog, Chic' n Scratch, specifically her May 21, 2009, Stampin' Academy, here: http://www.chicnscratch.typepad.com/stampinacademy/. She has some really cute animals made with punches, most recently the little hippo. This paperclip would look great on the front of a card, slipped into a little pocket as a handmade gift.

Thanks for stopping by. Next Monday is my stamp club meeting, so I'll have more then. No big changes on the agave plant, but it should be blooming good in a few days.

(-: ¸.·´* .·´*¨¨)) -:¦:- ***
((¸¸´*~Kathy.·´*)****¨¨))
-:¦:- ·· ((¸¸.·´* .·´*((¸¸.·.·´ *-:¦:- ... :-)