Tuxedo wedding invitations

Here are two images of the wedding invitations that I am just finishing today. The actual invitation is printed on natural ivory and the "tuxedo" is basic black. We used kraft taffeta ribbon for the bow and attached a word window, folded in half, with a clear circle rhinestone brad. We embossed the collars with the swirly stamp from To Have & to Hold. These turned out beautiful and I have a very happy bride! Even though they were a tremendous amount of work, I have had a blast creating them. I printed response postcards and directions on very vanilla card stock and stamped my name with my SU! stamp on the postcard and inside the top of the tuxedo. I'm not sure about the rest of you, but I am having way too much fun being creative!

Fifth Avenue Floral To The Nines

First of all I'd like to say "Thank You" to Dawn for creating this blog and for inviting me to share this sample. What fun! Hope you enjoy this quick and easy card using To The Nines Textured DSP from the Spring and Summer 2009 IBAC . I have a "thing" for beautiful prints whether it's DSP or fabric. I always look forward to the new designs in each catalog. This paricular paper doesn't look all that pretty in the pictures, but in real life, it's gorgeous. The prints work well for any design. The paper is card stock weight with a wonderful texture. The coordinating colors are Sage Shadow, Sahara Sand and Chocolate Chip. I added Close to Cocoa as well.

The sentiment is from Fifth Avenue Floral, the butterfly from Dreams du Jour. I stamped both with Close to Cocoa Classic Ink, then clear embossed. I used my VersaMarker to enhance the color of the butterfly, then applied Iridescent Ice Emboss followed by Stickles. For the inside I chose the sentiment from Nature's Sillouette and more butterflies as shown below.

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Dreams du Jour, Nature's Sillouette

Ink: Close to Cocoa

Paper: To The Nines DSP, Chocolate Chip, Sage Shadow, Sahara Sand

Accessories: VersaMarker, Clear emboss, Iridescent Ice emboss,

Stickles

Refilling Markers

I have never tried to refill my SU markers. I just pitch them and buy a new one...however, I read this on SCS. The gal said it was really easy. Here is her comment: "I use tweezers to gently grasp the pen tip and pull it straight out. Make sure to set it down somewhere that it won't get misplaced. Place a few drops of ink in the pen tube. I found you literally only need a few, like 3 or 4, to fill it up. Pick up your tip with the tweezers again and place it back in the pen, gently pushing in. I repeat this for the other tip on the pen. Now scribble the pen on scrap paper until the coloring is good and you are ready to go." Has anyone tried this or have another method?

Taking Pictures of Your Projects

Dawn asked for suggestions on photo taking.

This is my project photo taking set up. I have found that having a continuous white background and a light projecting down from the top makes for the best color...in my art room anyway:) If you check the pictures on my blog you will notice some with a continuous white background and some other ways. The continuous is definitely the best.

In this picture, it looks like the only light on is the desk light, however, the room light is also on.

To take my photos, I set my camera on no flash and the macro setting (the tulip on most cameras). After I take the pictures, I load them on my computer and do any adjusting/cropping using Picasa.

That's how I do it. How do you do it?
Barb

Shower Invitation

I have been having a great time this weekend stamping! I've been working on wedding invites(surprise!), wedding treat boxes, thank you cards and shower invites. Whew! I can't wait to finish a wedding invite so I can share it. Hopefully by the end of the week:) This little shower invite is for my best friend's daughter's shower and I had such a great time creating it that I wanted to share. I used the carousel note to begin with and decided that it needed a little bit of texture so I used the small dots from the Big Shot Texturz Die. I added half of a circle scallop, also for the Big Shot, and made shallow, large scallops across the bottom with the 1 3/4" circle punch. I stamped the handle in silver using the stem from a retired set, Build a Blossom and added a white taffeta ribbon. I printed the actual invite on whisper white and cut a circle and added it to the back. The carousel notes are actually from the old In Colors, but I needed to make use of them. I thought they turned out pretty cute so I couldn't wait to share. I hope you are all having as much fun as I am!!!

Inspiration for some Little Stampers

I was asked to do some stamping with a Girl Scout troop this past week and this is one of the cards that I shared with them. My inspiration came from two samples shown on page 39 of the catalog...you'll know exactly how I combined them if you take a second to look it up.

The card colors are Pacific Point, Summer Sun, Tangerine Tango and Kiwi Kiss. The girls loved the card and were already deciding who was going to be the recipient of their labor of love. It was so fun to see!

And if anyone has any tips for how to ensure that photos of projects are well-lit and and not in a shadow being cast by the photographer, please post them...I'd love to know your secrets!

Purse

This is a very easy card using the Big Shot and Bigz Top Note Die. I also used the Designer Series Paper and Designer Brads.

Squash Book

Hey there everyone. My share for today is a "Squash" book that I made for both of my sons for Valentines day. They both are engaged to be married and I thought this was a cute way of showing people their engagement pictures. I got the idea from another blog by Dawn Griffith called "Dawn's Stamping Thoughts". Here is the link which shows the video on how to make these adorable little books. - - Sheryl Diemer

http://dawnsstampingthoughts.typepad.com/dawns_stampin_studio/2009/02/squash-book-.html

Faux Felt

This card, though it doesn't look like it in the picture, is Perfect Plum, Going Gray and Pink Pirouette. I used the Friendly Words jumbo wheel, scallop edge punch, 1-3/4" circle punch and 5-petal flower punch along with the Polka Dot Punches SAB stamp set. It's quick and easy to make and featured the faux felt technique (if you could touch this card, the gray card stock is soft and fuzzy).

I've done this faux felt technique in the past...like 3-4 years ago...and had forgotten about it. The whole faux felt look is created by tearing a piece of card stock in half -- and I don't mean simply ripping it into two pieces that are smaller than the original. When you do this technqieu, you end up with two pieces of card stock that are exactly the same size as your original piece, because the tearing happens to the depth of the card stock. Are you intrigued???

The easiest way to do this is to take a piece of card stock and run it through a crimper, then turn the card stock 90 degrees and run it through again. This breaks down the fibers in the card stock and makes it really easy to work with. Starting at a corner, separate the card stock into two "layers". The inside will be soft and fuzzy -- the faux felt part. Carefully peel the layers apart. If you get stuck, start at another corner and keep working toward the middle.

If you don't have a crimper, you can still do this technique, but it takes more time and patience (and it works best with small pieces of card stock). Start by working your card stock over a bone folder, edge of a table, or small ruler. Don't be too gentle as this is how you are breaking down the fibers. It will take lots of prodding, and eventually your card stock will likely start to curl up a bit. This is normal, and in fact, desirable. When you think you've broken enough fibers, start at a corner and peel apart the layers. Chances are you'll get stuck. Experience has taught me that this means you need to break down the fibers even more, so keep working on it until it pulls apart without any resistance.

And FYI -- you can stamp on the faux felt, but as you might imagine, the image isn't crisp. It does add an interesting dimension to your projects, though, and with the right stamp set can be breathtaking.

This is the card that I used for my January technique clubs. We used the paper piercing and watercolor techniques as our focus. We used the Itty Bitty Buds and Love You Much Stamp sets, the amazing Heart to Heart punch, Riding Hood Red and Pink Pirouette card stock. Simple but adorable! Happy Stamping!!!

Two-step pastels

I don't know about you, but it's been quite a while since I've used my pastels. Once a staple of my stampin' repetoire, newer toys have taken the place of these oldie but goody. This week, I dug back through past convention notes and found this gem of a technique -- two-step pastels. It made me remember why pastels are a must for every stamper.

To get this look, apply a light color of pastels (I used Cameo Coral) to your dauber and rub it directly onto the card stock.
Ink your stamp using VersaMark and stamp image directly onto the pasteled area. Apply your color using a dauber. (Here, the solid part of the flowers are also done in Cameo Coral.) I took it one step further and did 3-step pastels. I stamped the detail stamps in VersaMark and then used a dauber to apply Ruby Red pastels.

And if you're wondering...this card is Ruby Red, Cameo Coral and So Saffron. The ribbon is the 5/8" So Saffron grosgrain that's part of SAB. If you look closely, you'll also see some dry embossing on the Cameo Coral portion of the card -- gotta' love the Big Shot and the Texturz Stampin' Up! backgrounds!

Decor Elements Design

I made these framed designs using letters that are part of the Decor

Elements for each of our teenagers to hang in their rooms. For each

one I choose cardstock &/or designer paper that matched the colors of their rooms. Pictured are the ones for my daughter Alexis. Her room is a pale purple color, so all of these shades of purple look great in her room. I took the decor elements letter and rubbed it onto the 1st color of cardstock. Then cutter around the letter. Once I had the letter cut-out I glued it onto the designer paper and cut it out again. Her name got printed out on the computer, it was cut out then glued to the same color of cardstock that the coordinating letter was glued on, cut out then glued onto the designer paper. Then both the letter and the name got glued to the final piece of cardstock. Both my other daughter's and my son's were made the same way. Although my son's is the lower case letters (made up from the leftover lowercase letters that came with his sisters uppercase letters) and cardstock only.

Valentine's Day Class

At the end of January, I held a adult/child stamping class in anticipation of Valentine's Day. Each set of participants purchased the Love You Much bundle and then we used their items to make the cards shown here, along with the card I've previously posted. We had a great time, and everyone agreed that the Heart to Heart punch is a blast to play with!

Polished Rooster

This card uses what is called the polished stone technique. Onto glossy white card stock, I used the Encore metallic gold ink, and Really Rust and More Mustard Classic Reinkers to create the background for the stamped rooster.

After the polished stone piece was dry, I stamped the rooster using StazOn Jet Black ink and finished up my card.

Stamps: Rustic Rooster

Paper: Really Rust, More Mustard, White Glossy Cardstock

Ink: Stazon Jet Black, VersaMark

Accessories: Black Grosgrain, Black Brads