In the Works...

More Winners!

Today marked the closure of the 2007 Quarter 2 smART Card Stamping Contest.  Designers of the winning entries have been notified as follows:

1st Place - Elizabeth Trachtenberg
2nd Place - Dina Kowal
3rd Place - Sarah Stainback

Congratulations, ladies!  I love your work, and can't wait to share it with the world... All three cards will be on display in the smART gallery starting July 1 (that's tomorrow).

I thought, however, I would share these winning entries, one at a time, with some additional information, here on the blog.

Today, I'll present the 1st Place winner, tomorrow the 2nd Place winner, and Monday, 3rd Place.

1st Place
Title:  "A-Fishin"
Designed By:  Elizabeth Trachtenberg
smART Rubber Used:  WD-151 A-Fishin' (catalog pg. 93), and Watch Parts (pg. 74)

Note: Blue border applied so card will show up against the blog's background.

This is one of those "can't get enough creations."  Where you just stop everything and try to drink it all in... A moment of time captured on paper... So unexpected!

Now for a little background -- This card appeared with four other beauties, created by Liz, sometime at the end of April.  Each of the five was a definite "WOW!"

There was also a note saying, "This time, I'm not going to settle for second. I want to be Number 1. I don't even care about the prizes, I just want to win 1st Place."

I've chuckled every time I think of it, but ol' Liz was serious... and each of her five cards proved it.  The most difficult part was choosing only one, Number 1.  (Her other four cards will also make it to the gallery, but not until next month.)

On a very personal note:  These cards were the last Elizabeth created before becoming gravely ill. Suffering from an incurable disease process, Liz could feel herself failing, and mailed her entries out while she could. Her life has been hanging in the balance ever since... Most of May, and all of June has been spent in the hospital...

If any of you would like to send this lovely lady a RAK card, please e-mail me, and I'll share an address... Whenever well, Liz is an avid stamper who loves "sparkle," and when incapacitated, misses her rubber and ink terribly.  On July 5, she will "celebrate" a milestone birthday she was told she'd never see...

Winning Name

CONGRATULATIONS, Cheri Mosgrove of Salem, Oregon! Your stamp set prize is already in the mail, and the smART giraffe will forevermore be known as:

Beauregard (Bo, or Bogie for short)

Now I don't want to diminish Cheri's acclaim, but I was... REALLY surprised!!!  Not the name choice I expected at all!

However, once I read Dina's reasoning, and saw her grand announcement card at Mama Dina's Stamperia, I got it... Have been smiling ever since, and am sure you'll agree, it's all in the facial expressions.

A big thank you to all who participated. For me, this contest was loads of fun, and also a little educational -- After all, I learned Swahili.

Updates

Mentally these updates were scheduled for posting on Thursday.  In reality, the clock says "Friday," but since I haven't made it to bed quite yet, maybe it can still count as Thursday... That way I can cross the final item off my "To Do" list. ~Ahhhhh! It will feel soooooo good!~

Update #1 Name the Giraffe Contest is now closed.  The collective list was forwarded to Dina this afternoon, and boy, is she in for some fun!  If you'd like to view the entire name pool, visit Dina's Stamperia. By the way, if you don't see the name you suggested, it's because you submitted via a "comment," and not e-mail.  Sorry, but I'm a little weird about rules... My motto:  "Rules are our friends."  Remember, the winning entry will be revealed right here, on Saturday.

Update #2 smART Cookie Design Team applications are due by June 30 (also Saturday).  Notifications will be made on July 3 (Tuesday).  I don't know about you, but for me the tension is mounting...  So many worthy candidates...

Update #3 This quarter of the smART Card Stamping Contest closes on June 30 (yup, Saturday again).  Winning submissions will be displayed in the smARTworks' gallery on July 1.  By the way, the acrylic block prizes awarded to the 1st and 2nd place winners are custom sized... which to me, makes entering very well worth it.  What size would you like?

Okay, guess I better crumple up that "To Do" list and hit the hay.  After all, Saturday is now less than 24 hours away, and it's a really big day!   

Rejoice!?!

Today I am mid a rather good-sized wholesale block order.  I should be happy instead of concentrating on all the work ahead...Right?!?  I should be wearing a smile instead of groaning...

But alas, I am a melancholy personality through and through... The optimistic gene somehow managed to pass me by.

What makes it worse is, as a Christian, I'm fully aware that optimism should be a way of life...  Knowing it, however, doesn't always make it so... I'm just not hard-wired to have an initial cheery, upbeat disposition and outlook on anything.  I have to work on it, and work through it -- CONSTANTLY!

As I pondered all this for about the millionth time (trying to get to "the happy and the smile"), I realized the one thing I can always rejoice in is the personage of God.  In Him there is no half-empty... no downside... no unhappy reality.  Wow!  Even melancholy me was amazed!

Guess that means, if I really want to work on my general outlook, I need to spend more time thinking upward, and allow Him to be the software that upgrades my hard drive.

Cardworks:
Floral image (catalog pg.21) was stamped on a Fabriano Medioevails note card, using misted, direct-to-rubber Lyra watercolor crayons, then overstamped with "huffed" Marvy markers.

Bible verse (pg.26) was stamped in Memories ink.

Note: Fabriano Medioevalis noted cards are dreamy!  They measure 3-3/8" x 5-1/4" - are 96lb. in weight - have a soft deckle edge - and a fine felt finish.  Anything put on them, even the simplest image, or easiest technique, ends up looking quite posh.

Solving Problem Lift-Off

Tuesday's here!  Time for another tip --

Every once in awhile, regardless of mounting method used, one will discover a section of a layered panel or image has either "lifted off" or was never properly adhered.  For me, it's usually a corner...

Here's an easy fix for making everything smooth and flat:

Take a small strip of liner paper (can be the backing from glue dots, foam tape, cold laminate, stickers, etc.),

Dot one end with a thin film of tacky glue (photo 2),

Slide the strip in under the unadhered area, and

Simultaneously pull the strip out, while pressing the lifted area into place (photo 3).  Problem lift-off solved...

As we say in Maine, "Supah!"

Note:  If you don't have liner paper available, you can also use a strip of any text-weight scrap, but make sure not to press down too hard during the removal stage... or the scrap will get permanently "sandwiched" into place.

On Impulse... A Naming Contest

Doing anything on impulse is so unlike me, but this time I can't resist...

I'm actually supposed to be putting the finishing touches on a rack of acrylic blocks (for those of you who don't know it, smARTworks handcrafts 3/4" acrylic mounts called The Clear Thing), but first I just had to finish up my morning coffee with a visit to Mama Dini's Stamperia... Man! Can that gal create!  I LOVE everything she does with the smART giraffe (catalog pg. 61)!  If you click on her "green link," you'll see what I mean...

Now, apparently, Dina thinks this gentle giant needs a name... Can you see where my impulse is going?

YOU are going to name him (or her)! And the originator of the winning entry will receive a free set of the WD-124 High Hopes (that's the giraffe set), postage included, on me. Fun!  Fun!  Fun!

To enter this "Name Game" Contest please e-mail your one best name proposal with "Giraffe" in the subject line, and include your contact information...

On Thursday, June 28, I will compile an anonymous list of names, send them to Dina, and let her choose the winner... 

Winning name and submitter, will be announced right here, next Saturday -- June 30.

Ready... Set... Get Naming!

Pink Kick

I have never been a "pink" person, so the fact I've reached for pink in making my last four or five cards has me both mystified, and a little apprehensive... Can one all of a sudden turn "girly girl" at forty-six?

Anywho, one of these pink kick creations has its roots in an old Technique Junkies tutorial called "Mono Mosaics."  I followed the basics, then deviated...

Cardworks:

Per the original instructions, (4) 1-1/4" cardstock strips (in this case white) were each repeatedly stamped in black with a different image/design.**

Strips were then cut into squares.

Next, these 1-1/4" squares were arranged onto larger panels as follows --

     (4), one of each design, onto a 3-1/4" square.

     (8), two of each design, around the perimeter of the card base.

Note:  I stuck to square configurations, but obviously, many different layout and layering variations exist.

Tip:  Trying to line up the individual squares evenly is a bit, well... trying, so here's a solution -- Apply short lengths of cellophane tape over the back side of the seams.  Squares can then be positioned onto larger panels as a unit.  Much, much easier!

Now for the SusanT deviation -- Instead of stamping a solid image over the center of the 4-square panel, I used a stamped and colored cut-out -- In this case the cut out image** was first embossed, colored with markers, edged (see June 19 post), and had dimensional glaze applied to the image's center.

**smART rubber used on this card -- FL-02 Sprigs (catalog pg. 1), BG-09 Screen (pg.10), Swirls from ACCENTS #6 (pg. 44), Script from WD-127 One Smile (pg. 61), and Flower from WD-87 Delight/Bliss/Pleasure (pg. 52).

And, okay, I'll admit it, "pink" is pretty, but I absolutely refuse to get any "girly-ier."  So, if you see me reach for the lace, I beg of you, please kick me.

Design Team Update

Only nine more days before Stage 1 of the smART Cookies application process closes... To date, eighty (yes, 80) or so applications have been sent out, and forty (around half) have been completed and returned.  Awesome!

BUT it isn't just the response -- It's the flood of talent behind the response, and the obvious love of stamping which drives these "sister" applicants... Awesome!  Amazing!  Plain, old WOW! 

So far, every application perused, every art sample studied, every new blog or gallery visited, has been like opening a great big present (in many cases, complete with ribbon ~hee hee~).  I can't wait to see what some of these gals will do in Stage 2. ~Sigh... If only I didn't have to choose.

Got Attitude?

Today I had plenty.  Wish I could say this was a positive thing, but it wasn't... Seems nothing went as I had hoped or planned... Work, work, work, and zero "play." (Poor, poor me!)  Should have been thankful, but since the work wasn't what I wanted to be doing, I got cranky.   

As time went on, and things got worse, I could see the entire day evaporating with no hope of my ever getting to do anything I wanted.  I became completely disgruntled. 

Finally, as I snapped at hubby over something that wasn't his fault... I knew it was time to get a grip, talk to God, and ask for an attitude adjustment...

As always, God is faithful, and once I asked for His forgiveness and help, things were different. 

Did the circumstances change?   No, but I did... Left the pity party, altered my expectations, apologized to hubby, and started attending to the rest of the day with an entirely new outlook...

Believe me, whenever things aren't going your way, "Attitude is everything!"

Cardworks:

This card uses a scrap of stamped watercolor paper.  The distinguishable image is from smART rubber set FL-07 Daisy Trio (catalog pg.2).

Black, embossed quote is from set WD-14 Glory (pg.5).

Stamped scrap is mounted to a slightly larger layer of black, then to a spring green, top-folded card.

Flower embellishment, constructed by layering two, six-petal daisy punches, with a tiny sun punch, is adhered to the card using foam tape.  Yellow glitter glue is applied to the flower's center.

It's Tuesday -- Time For A Tip!

To achieve a more polished, professional look on your cut-out images, color the cut edge.

For best results, make sure the cutting has been done as close to the stamped or embossed outline as possible, then edge in the same color as the outline.

Nine out of ten times, my cut-outs have a black outline, so based on that fact, one of the very best "edgers" is the Micro Pigma BRUSH-tipped marker by Sakura. (Please note, smARTworks does not sell these, so this is not a sale pitch -- I found mine at Michael's.)

When dry, the Micro's ink is permanent, waterproof, and fade proof... Important because you don't want something easily re-activated by other products.

The BRUSH tip is also important as it tapers of to an ultra-fine point, and is somewhat flexible.  This means it fits and maneuvers well into really "tight" spaces.

Now, How To Work It:

Hold the marker with it's tip facing toward the wrong side of the image.  This way, any stray marks go on the back side, so one will ever see them.

Lastly, once edged, allow a few minutes of drying time before mounting the cut-out, or before applying any further product(s).  If you don't, unwanted ink transfer, and/or undesirable product interaction may occur.

Note:  Another marker which works very well, comes in a brush-tip, and in a wider assortment of colors, is the PITT pen by Faber-Castell.  The reason it is not my first choice -- the end is not as fine as the Micro.