Brayered Winter Twilight Redwood Landscape

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I had the opportunity to take two brayering classes this past weekend by Michelle Zindorf.  If you don’t know who Michelle is, she’s an artist who has been teaching the art of brayering and sponging scenery for the past six years as a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator.  To say she’s an expert is putting it mildly.  Luckily one of the last classes she’s doing on the road was held this past weekend in St. Petersburg, Florida – just a short two hour drive from my house.  

Six and a half hours later, I had completed her beginning and advanced brayering class.  I by no means do I consider myself an expert, but I now have a great foundation to create my own artwork and feel comfortable enough to teach this technique. 

If you’ve followed me for a while, you know that if I had a mascot it would be the redwood tree.  So I broke out my retired set Plant Hope for that cute little trio of trees.  Here is the result – it’s not perfect, and I have Michelle’s voice in my head for reminders on her technique, but I love it.

Creative Tips:

  • I used four shades of blue to create my sky and water with my brayer – Tempting Turquoise, Marina Mist, Not Quite Navy and Midnight Muse.
  • Be sure to start and end off your paper with your brayer.  This will help prevent those harsh looking lines.
  • Window sheets or the sheet from the Stamp-a-Majig are a necessity to create the reflection in the water.
  • To give my trees height, I used a Chocolate Chip Stampin’ Write Marker to extend the trunks.
  • Rather than have my trees be black in the twilight, I chose to use the Versamark and Always artichoke ink pads in conjunction with the Chocolate Chip Marker and Versamarker.  I then embossed the images with clear embossing powder.
  • I added some green shrubs along the base of the trees and went over with the versamarker and clear embossing powder to help keep a light snowfall on the ground.
  • To give the illusion of water, I used our White Gel Pen to create water ripples.

  • I didn’t want the card itself to take away from the scenery that I created, so I chose to give a little pop of Whisper White with a 1/16th inch border before matting it on Chocolate chip.  I then gave the Chocolate Chip the same 1/16th inch border.  Any more, and it would have taken away from the image.
  • These little brayered sceneries are works of art.  Take pride in your creation, sign the lower corner!

I wanted my Christmas card to stand out this year, so I decided to send my father this handmade little masterpiece, dad I hope you’re not looking – if so, act surprised when you get it!  I know he’ll treasure it.  It’s completely imperfect – I made several mistakes, but I know he’ll love it just the same, how could he not – his little girl made it for him!

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Stamp Sets – Plant Hope (retired), Sweet Essentials (128315) Paper – Whisper White (100730), Chocolate Chip (102128) Ink – Midnight Muse (126860), Marina Mist (126962), Not Quite Navy (126971), Tempting Turquoise (126952), Versamark (102283), Early Espresso Stampin’ Write Marker (119680) Cool Tools –Brayer (102395), Stamp-a-Majig (101049), Heat Tool (129053), The Perfect Finish – Clear Embossing Powder (109130), Gold Embossing Powder (109129) Untitled-12

Filed Under: Cards, Christmas, Masculine, Techniques, Tools Tagged: , , , , ,

Mojo Monday Big Shot Flowers

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Today is the big online extravaganza.  And since the several items are on sale for the first time I can remember, I thought I’d make a fun clean and simple card featuring what else, my trusted friend the Big Shot – just one of the featured products today.

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Creative Tips:

  • I added texture to my Pink Pirouette flower from the Floral Frames Framelits by using the new Fancy Fan Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. 
  • The So Saffron flower is the second smallest framelit in this great set of nested frames.  I highlighted it with a little sponging around the edges
  • I used the ornament punch to create the Wild Wasabi leaf for my three flowers.

  • To create my Elegant Eggplant smashed flower – I used two of the smallest flowers from this Framelit set.  Click here to watch my Smashed Flower Video
  • To make my banner flag end I used a square punch.
  • I wanted to add some small details without taking away from the flowers, so I added some paper piercing around the border of my Bashful Blue and then Pearl Basic Jewels in each corner.

To check out all the great sales going on today and the remainder of the week click here.  You do not want to miss out on the up to 50% off savings that Stampin’ Up! has to offer this week!

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Stamp Sets – Sweet Essentials (126457) Paper – Whisper White (100730), Elegant Eggplant (105126), Bashful Blue (105120), So Saffron (105118), Wild Wasabi (108641), Pink Pirouette (111351) Ink – Elegant Eggplant (126969) Cool Tools – 1” Square Punch (124094), Stampin’ Trimmer (126889), Paper Snips (103579), Big Shot (113439), Floral Frames Framelits (127012), Ornament Punch (119847), Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack (126187), Paper-Piercing Tool (126189), Stampin’ Pierce Mat (126119) The Perfect Finish – Pearl Basic Jewels (119247), Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430)

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Filed Under: Big Shot, Cards, Challenges, Clean and Simple, Mojo Monday, Tools Tagged: , , , , , ,

Mojo Monday Birthday

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I love Mojo Mondays!  This morning I really was challenged by this sketch.  I don’t do many round cards, so I thought I’d take the square challenge on.  I love how this creation turned out.  This is a very special birthday card for my sweet Mother-In-Law’s 85th birthday.  I wanted a card that was fun, classy and colorful, just like her!  Happy Birthday Vigie!  Here are some fun creative tips for you.

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Creative tips:

  • Keep your mattes uniform.  Here I played with some 1/16” mattes.  I did switch up the colors since the International Bazaar DSP were so colorful. 
  • Strips of card stock are great fillers for an odd amount of space.  Here you see Tangerine Tango 3/8” strips behind the greeting.  They added a fun element to this birthday card and are a great way to use up scraps!
  • I had a strange amount of white the the top two corners, so I added a little piercing.  To continue this flow I decided to add a smaller amount to the corners of the Lucky Limeade Matte as well.

  • To create the banner ends, use a square punch.
  • My original idea was to stamp the greeting on several sheets of cardstock and cut out some of the letters, giving the greeting a fun feel, but since the card had so many colors already, I decided to stick with the Clean and Simple look of just one color – Rich Razzleberry.
  • To create a little pop, the Greeting Accent Framelit is popped up by using Stampin’ Dimensionals.
  • This greeting can be ordered in this set Seasonal Greetings or by itself until January 2, 2013.  Click here for Single Stamp Details
  • When adding Pearl Basic Jewels to your project – use a paper-piercer or Paper Snips tip to lift them from the sheet.  That way you will easily grab the glue dot beneath the pearl and have a much easier time placing it on your project.

I hope you love the end result as much as I do.  Enjoy making yours!

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This Monday is our one day sale – first ever!  Don’t miss out on this great opportunity to get your stamps at a discount, just because!  To see the details of this fun special – click here.

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Stamp Sets – Seasonal Sayings (128009) Paper – International Bazaar DSP (126920) Whisper White (10730), Lucky Limeade (122926), Rich Razzleberry (115316), Daffodil Delight (119683), Tangerine Tango (111349), Chocolate Chip (102128) Ink – Rich Razzleberry (126950) Cool Tools – 1” Square Punch (124094), Apothecary Accents Framelits (127003), Paper-Piercing Tool (126189), Stampin’ Pierce Mat (126119), Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack (126187) The Perfect Finish – Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430), Pearl Basic Jewels (119247)

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Filed Under: Big Shot, Cards, Challenges, Clean and Simple Tagged: , , , , ,

15% off Wicked Stamp Sale – One Day Only 10/29

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Hot off the press – Stampin’ Up! is having its first ever One Day Sale!!  I’ve never seen this in 10 years, how cool is that!  On Monday October 29th – Stampin’ Up! will have almost every stamp on sale for 15% off!  You don’t want to miss out on this one day sale.

Here are the details:

Starting at 12:00 AM (MT) and ending at 11:50 PM (MT), almost every stamp we sell will be 15 percent off.

Stamps that are 15% off:

    • Practically every stamp set and single stamp available in the Holiday Catalog and Annual Catalog.  Click here to see Catalogs online
    • Personalized name stamps
    • Incentive stamp sets from the supply list
    • Cookie press stamps
    • Single-image stamps

Stamps excluded from this one day sale:

    • Hostess sets
    • Bundled stamp sets
    • Digital stamp brush sets

There is no minimum purchase, and no limit to the number of stamps you can order.

For card ideas – be sure to check through my blog using the search feature.  If I’ve stamped with it – you’ll find plenty of samples!

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Single Stamps – Do you love that Greeting set, but wish you could buy just the one or two stamps?  Well, now you can from these select stamp sets: Perfectly Penned, Word Play, Seasonal Sayings and two more Collections that include some never before seen images!  Buy some of our best Greetings Stamps individually!   Hurry, this special is good for a limited time only through Jan 2, 2013! For more details, click here.  

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Filed Under: Specials Tagged: , , , , , ,