In the Works...

Salty Tea???

Yup! Salty because our Cookie hostess, Donelda, challenged us to create a salt background, then use it on a card.

For me, the salt background technique was not a new one.  In fact, I think I probably tried it sometime during my first or second year of stamping, after reading a how to by Suze Weinberg in her book, The Art Of Rubber Stamping, but I don't think I've used it since...

Anyhoo, sometime during the week it dawned on me that this was not a T-party creation that could be left until the day of the party, so that evening I applied dye inks to glossy stock, misted over them with water, sprinkled on the table salt (wish I'd had kosher), and went to bed so I wouldn't be tempted to mess with the drying process.  Note: I actually created three different color combinations... Two with Marvy pads either twisted or streaked onto the stock, and the other using a Kaleidacolor pad and a brayer.

I must confess that thinking of completing this challenge sort of made me groan...  Not the salt part, but working on glossy cardstock.  You see, for the most part, I'm not a 'glossy' fan... I think it's because I have such hit or miss results stamping/embossing foreground images over the background... especially when attempting to use my favorite ink color (black).  While other stampers seem to like Staz-On, I've yet to see any results I'd consider 'excellent'.

Okay, by now you just want to see my finished project... Well, after ruining my first background trying to stamp it with solid florals in black (told you I didn't like it), I finally decided to try stamping over the second background in Versamark, and embossing in white.  This I liked, and made three cards:

Card #1 - stamps used: SBO-Cookie Plate #1, and WD-155 Prayer Trio.

Card #2 - stamps used: SBO-Cookie Plate #1, and BV-36 Prov.16:3

Card #3 - stamps used: SBO-Cookie Plate #1, and WD-195 Unimportant Day

So, what about the third background?  Not to be defeated, I returned to black ink, and keeping my Stamp-a-ma-jig in place, stamped the image three times -- first in Brilliance, then in Memento, and finally, a second time in Brilliance, heat-setting between applications, and buffing with a tissue when finished and cool.

Inside the card it says "Happy Birthday".  Stamps used on this card: SBO-Happy Silhouettes, and WD-183 Great B-day.

Oh, the other reason I'm not too fond of 'glossy' is because technically speaking, one is supposed to spray it with a fixative to prevent fading, but I dislike using 'stinky' sprays, so usually pass on that step, then feel sorta guilty.

So who else added salt to their tea?  Donelda, Dina, Donna, and Giovana... Check out their salty projects by clicking on their names in my sidebar.

If you created a salt background card, make sure to leave a comment containing a link to your creation.

A little sprinkle here, and a little sprinkle there,

Susan T.

Tea Party #21

Time for a new T-party challenge which will post next Wednesday -- July 1. 

This one comes from Donelda, and consists of making a salt background for a card.

I haven't done this for quite awhile, so it should prove to be a lot of fun.  Just in case you've never used salt in your stamping, and are wondering what to do, SplitCoastStampers has a tutorial.

Sprinkle, sprinkle, shake, shake.  Can't wait to see what everyone does,

Susan T.

I Almost Forgot!

So far my week has been in topsy-turvy mode with no day feeling like the day it is, and although I knew better, I spent half the day thinking today was Friday.  The realization that it was, in fact, Wednesday, hit me like a ton of bricks... "Wednesday!?!  Oh, no!  I don't have my Tea Party card ready!!!"

Fortunately, I had some time this afternoon to stop everything else, and work the challenge sketch that Dina gave us last week.  Then I had to wait for posting until after I'd taken Mr. Eli to his trumpet lesson, gotten/served supper, and helped Eli design a thank you for his bus driver.

Concerning this particular challenge, I figured it would be easy, but it really was a challenge for me.  I'd thought about it enough, and started out doing as I'd anticipated -- piecing strips of print together on the back of a scrap of sticker paper, and sizing the striped panels to fit on the square card.  After that, what I'd envisioned looked too much like a purse, but since the rounded portion is only a 'faux flap,' a purse just didn't make sense... so I had to start experimenting.

In the end, I rotated the sketch a quarter turn to the left, added an image panel (should've made it smaller), adjusted the location of the 'circular' element, included a second, similar element, and stamped a sentiment at the bottom.  Perhaps I changed the sketch to much???

Other Details: Stamps used -- WD-60 Butterfly Wishes (sentiment), and WD-230 Frog Hoppin', assorted flower punches  (EK Success , Marvy, Cuttlebug, and PBMD2) adhered with either chipboard or foam tape, image colored with marker, and eyes, tongue, & 'warts' accented with dimensional glaze.

The other person who played along with us was Mary Dinucci (seamom at SCS), and I feel awful because I knew her card was being mailed in, but no one got to the post office to pick it up... I thought hubby was doing the mail run today, and he thought I was doing it... Thankfully, I do have a link to Mary's SCS gallery and card, so you can still see what she brought to the party.

As for the smART Cookie Design Team, their creations should be on their blogs.  To view, please click the links in my sidebar.

All for now,

Susan T. 

A Sketch Challenge

For the next Tea Party Challenge scheduled to post on June 17 (next Wednesday), Dina has given us a layout sketch taken from a logo design she noticed on a calendar.

If you happen to find this sketch too interesting to pass up, and if you decide to play along, make sure to add a link to your creation by way of a comment...

Hope to see you at the party,

Susan T.

Three Cheers For Color!

Today's Tea Party Challenge, compliments of smART Cookie Trish D'Antonio, is all about color.  Colorful color with no white allowed!  ~Arrrrgh!  At the start of every project I almost always reach for white cardstock, so while not the most difficult of challenges, it still took a major alteration of mind set before I could actually visualize a project... In fact, I think the saying on the card says it all!

Once finished, I felt quite happy with my sans white creation, and all in all, it was pretty easy.  I used one of my all-time favorite botanical images from FL-15 Grow, and a saying from WD-14 Glory.  All stamping was done on light blue stock using Fluid Chalk ink in Blue Iris, Wisteria, Yellow Cadmium, and Lime Pastel.  I used my handy, dandy Stamp-a-ma-jig to place the flower stems on the saying panel, and attached the foreground flower to the card with foam tape.  While the ribbon may look as if it's tied around the foreground stem, in reality it's an overlay.

Oh, yes, just in case you're wondering, there is a bit of 'white' within the ribbon, but it really isn't all that distinct, and based on Trish's blog entry which posted the original challenge, this is considered 'acceptable'.  ~Whew!

So how colorful do you suppose the rest of the Cookies got???

Trish
Dina
Donna
Donelda
Giovana

Off to check them out,

Susan T.

Unanticipated Absence

Can it really be a whole week since my last blog entry?!?  Wow!  I can assure you the the absence was completely unanticipated... Monday was Memorial Day with everyone home, so I sort of took it easy... Then Mr. Eli has been working on several end-of-the-year projects to get ready and/or present at school, and I've found myself pretty involved in helping him make his ideas tangible... Add in three days of rain, which plays havoc with our internet connection, and I guess time-wise it all adds up.  Still, how quickly the days pass on by!

The next Tea Party Challenge, by the way, has been posted in the sidebar.  Simply stated, Hostess, Trish, wants us to create a card using no white.  Since I almost always make cards that use 'white' in some way, the ol' brain is already mulling this one over...  Remember, if you decide to go 'white-less' with us, cards will post on Wednesday, June 3.

The one thing I haven't done a lot of in the last week is stamp. ~sniff, sniff  That, of course, means I have nothing fan-tab-u-lous to show you. ~more sniffing... 

What I do have is 'a share' concerning a $1 bin product I found at Michael's... Studio 18 Mini Note Cards/Envelopes sold in packages of twelve... But get this, at the end of each season, the remaining packs in the bin get transferred to the clearance aisle, and reduced to as little as 25 cents per pack!  That's A LOT of value!

Anyhoo, these little cards measure 2.25" x 2.25", and are perfect to embellish with stamping, then use as inserts for lots of things -- gifts, lunch boxes, suitcases, pillows cases, etc. Here's an example of a card straight from the package:

and here's an embellished version:

I trimmed the card  1/8" on the top and right side, layered it to a 2.25" x 2.25" square of colored stock, added a couple more layers to cover the original motif, and popped an Inchie Block  from Set 2 in the center.  Yellow Spica marker was applied over the colored dandy image, so in real life it really sparkles!

This particular card patterns also looks great layered with Nestie scalloped ovals... Fun, easy, and super inexpensive!

I know the weekend ahead is going to be super busy, so this time I am  anticipating an absence, and will close saying, "See you next week,"

Susan T.

 

 

Hostessing T-Party #18

As Tea Party hostess, last week I posted this 'cup of inspiration', and left the door wide open for wherever the creative spirit would take us...

I don't really feel as if I got all that artistically creative this time, but I did manage an attempt to try and replicate several elements together, and so incorporated a similar image, color scheme, pattern, and border into one card:

This was accomplished by using a flower image from the  WD-31 Bloom With Joy stamp set, a saying from  DK-17 Rose Trio #1, Brilliance inks (Victorian Violet & Pearlescent Thyme), green and purple markers, a Sizzix border die, and of course, my couldn't-manage-without-it Stamp-a-ma-jig.

I also wanted to try and capture the translucent quality of the cup itself, so stamped everything on a layer of vellum.  Unfortunately, when placed on the colored base, the vellum by itself didn't provide enough contrast, so I ended up backing the border strip with white cardstock.  In real life it looks at least semi-translucent... 

The round dots of the pattern were made using the end of a cotton swab.  Note:  To get consistent dots, I found the swab must be well inked, and the application must be in a straight down, then straight up motion.

Right before I mounted the finished border piece to the card, I remembered I had some very purple, sort of metallic brads that never seem to go with anything, and was thrilled to find them a perfect match!  As a bonus, just look at how many I got to use!  The card received added interest via dimension, and the ol' brad stash is smaller!  ~Yay!

Really can't wait to see what everyone else did, so am off to check out all the Cookie blogs:
Mama Dini's Stamperia
Believe
Dee's Studio
Wiggy's World
Tah Dah!

If you took a sip from this 'cup of inspiration' make sure to post a link to your card as part of a comment.

Thirsty again,

Susan T.

A Cup Of Inspiration

It's my turn to hostess the next Tea Party, so I thought since I've never given out an 'inspirational' challenge, that's the direction I would take...

I found an entire stack of these 16 oz, disposable cups at the Christmas Tree Shop for sixty-nine cents, and felt at that price, they were just too pretty to pass up... Being that my water cup is usually 16 oz, disposable , and plain (I use one an entire week then toss), it's really rather nice to drink from something cheery.

But back to the challenge... 'Inspirational' means you can take anything about this item, and use it as the launching pad for a card -- the colors, patterns, images, shape, etc.  No right or wrong, just whatever strikes your fancy.

This T-party will post next Wednesday (May 20), so if you decide to play along, make sure to send either myself, or one of the Cookies a link to your 'inspired' creation.

Am now incredibly thirsty, so it's off to 'use my inspiration',

Susan T.

Bright & Cheery Tea

Peggy's yellow challenge made me realize that I usually use yellow as an accent color versus the main focus... Since it's such a bright and cheery color, I really wonder why this is???  Maybe I should make a mental note to change.

Anyhoo, to get the ball rolling, I grabbed a bright yellow, A-2 card base I had in my 'yellow' scrap drawer, then decided to reach for an image from the new inchie rubber.  After that, things sort of took on a life of their own...

I chose an Inchie Block from set #4.  I stamped, embossed, and colored... then cut out and mounted to a white, Inchie Square.  I ran a marker down the sides of the square, applied dimensional glaze to the flower tops, and set the inchie aside to dry.

When I returned to complete the card, a disappointing discovery -- the marker I'd applied to the sides of the square had re-activated my black edging (both were alcohol-based), and caused it to spread inward.  Hmmmmm... Start over, or try to fix?

I decided to sponge black ink over the undesirable 'feathering'.  At first I wasn't sure I liked the effect, but decided if the finished inchie were teamed with the right saying, it would work.

The card base was a whole other 'fix-it' story... I had stamped the vertical border (also Inchie Blocks Set 4) , and the saying (FS-04 DK-Look Up)THEN happened to notice a black 'speck' in a very conspicuous place.  Does that ever happen to you?  You'd swear the little nasty isn't there when you started, and it isn't ink... more like an embedded grain of 'pepper'???  I usually try to remove these with my x-acto knife.  Sometimes it works.  Sometimes the digging or scraping turns out to be too noticeable.  Such was the case this time. ~grrrrrr...

Being so very close to 'done', however, I knew there must be some way around it. Sooooooooo, I added the horizontal border, then messed about layering the inchie, added the custom colored length of ribbon, and called it a wrap.

Now that you've seen how bright and cheery Peggy, Sarah, and I got by going yellow, it's time to see what all the other Cookies did:
Donna @ Dee's Studio
Trish @ Tah Dah!
Donelda @ Wiggy's World
Giovanna @ Believe
Dina @ Mama Dini's Stamperia

Thanks for stopping by,

Susan T.

More Yellow...

When I have no smART orders to ship out, I'll often pass on making a mail run.  Had I done that yesterday, I wouldn't have gotten the chance to share guest designer Sarah Stainback's 'yellow' Tea Party creation until after the party was all over. Guess it's a good thing there were a few other errands to do, or I'd have felt beyond terrible.

Here is Sarah's card:

The image and saying are from the SBO-Cookie Plate.  Sarah states she didn't really have any yellow compatible ink so she scribbled marker directly on the rubber then, right before stamping, touched the rubber to a wet sponge. 

As you can see by the close-up, this gives the stamped image an interesting, textured look. I don't know if Sarah learned this as a technique somewhere, or whether necessity became her mother of invention.  I do know I like the effect and will have to give it a try sometime.

Goes to show you just never know what the mail might bring,

Susan T.