Great 2013 Calendar Class in Salado

 

 The class in Salado today was fantastic.  We made two concertina cards with mini calendars on them.  Great gift idea!  See my inspiration at Splitcoast Stampers

Leaves for all Seasons

 I just love the versatility of the new leaf stamps from Jam'n Stamps and Texana Designs.  Use bright colors and you can have a lovely, bright spring card.  Change to a deeper green and you can just feel the heat of the Texas summer.  Ah, then change it to the look of autumn.

I was having too much fun playing with the new Sizzix Flip-Its die cut.  It is a great die cut that makes a 5" square swing card.  Two-sided paper works great, but solid papers are just as much fun.  The really hard part is getting the movement captured in a photo.  You really have to play with it to have all the fun.

Spring Card

Texana Design Stamps:  Oak Leaf - large, Oak Leaf - small, Oak Leaf - mini, "Welcome" and "There's no place like TEXAS in the Springtime." 
Cardstock by Core'dinations
Green Patterned Paper by Paper Studio
Judikins Metallic Bronze Embossing Powder
Sizzix Movers and Shapers Large Dies Kit
      Card, Square Flip-Its

Fussy cut various leaves and sizes from the patterned paper to decorate your card.

Summer Card

Texana Design Stamps:  Leaf 1 - small,  Leaf 1 - mini, 
     "Welcome"
Green Cardstock
Green Patterned Paper by Paper Studio
Judikins Metallic Bronze Embossing Powder
Bleaching on some small leaves 
Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze - Wicked for highlighting
     bleached leaves
Sizzix Movers and Shapers Large Dies Kit
    Card, Square Flip-Its

Fall Card

Texana Design Stamps:  Oak Leaf - small, Oak Leaf - mini,
    Leaf 1 - mini,  "Welcome" and "There's no place like TEXAS
    for the Holidays!"
Cardstock - Duo Tones - Olive
Judikins Metallic Bronze Embossing Powder
Bleaching on the front three stamps 
Versafine Ink - Sepia for border stamps
Sizzix Movers and Shapers Large Dies Kit
    Card, Square Flip-Its






Below are the six cards I made.  This card die cut can easily be trimmed on two sides to make the card fit in an A2 card envelope.

 Here's the card that I had the most fun with.  I had no idea how much fun bleach could be.  And it worked great for these stamps and this Duo-Tone paper.  All but the front three leaves on the square flip-it are simply stamped, embossed and bleached.  The three small oak leaves under the ribbon were stamped and embossed on light weight yellow paper, then colored with various shades of Tim Holtz Distress Stains.

 

Texana Birdhouse Stamp and more

I had so very much fun this month playing with the wonderful birdhouse and mini flower stamps that I just didn't know where to stop.  I played with brayering.  I played with punches.  And I played with mods (see last card) if you dare.

Stamps: Texana Designs – Birdhouse, Wildflower Border, Mini Cactus and “Wild about Texas Flowers”

Papers:  Tag

Distress Inks for brayering:  Broken China, Bundled Sage, & Peeled Paint

Pens:  Marvy Brush Markers, White Signo Paint Pen, Stardust Gelly Pens & Silver Metallic Gelly Pen

Stamps: Texana Designs – Birdhouse, Mini Daffodil

Papers:  Cardstock
Punch:  Martha Stewart – Punch around the page - Wildflowers

Pens:  Red & Blue Sharpies, White Signo Paint Pen, Stardust Gelly Pen & Silver Metallic Gelly Pen

CAUTION:  Mods below!!!!

I just couldn't help myself.  I kept seeing a mailbox when I looked at the birdhouse and I got to thinking "what if I just changed the front a little to make it a door instead of a hole?"  And it worked... I stamped the image with black stazon on metallic tape and was able to modify the front slightly.  I added a brad for the knob and "US Mail" and voilà!  I stamped it again on thin wood paper for the post.  I painted the roof with sharpie markers and a white pen.  I liked what I was seeing.


Now how was I going to design the card?  Well ya know the mailbox is down the dirt road by the fence, so I cut my Sizzix Halloween die (Fence, Spook) from the thin wood paper and distressed it a little.  No one can water little flowers around the mailbox, but the cactus like to grow there and the mailman is okay as long I keep the thorns under control.  The mini cactus was a bit too small, but the cactus border was about the right size.  However, I didn't want them in a straight line so I cut several apart and staggered them along the dirt road and around the mailbox.  Some were pop dotted for added dimension.  Now I could see the mini cactus a little further out for depth.

Well the design is coming together, but I needed a card background.  I thought I would try the new brayering techniques that I am attempting to perfect.  It's gonna take lots of practice to be as good as Ms. Zindorf, but I'm working on it.  The sky was easy - just a couple of colors of blue.  The ground was a little different story, so I started with a  light green, then added a bit of brown and tried to mask in the dirt road.  The more I look at it today, the better I like it.

Now I just need a little house in the background.  I'm loving the new house stamps.  They have a large single house and a mini single house and a medium sized border of multiple houses.  Guess which one was the right size?  Yep... I stamped the house border on the thin wood paper and cut out a single house and added a tin roof (from tape again).  The house just didn't sit well at the end of the road.  I needed to cover up some imperfections.  Ah... yes.... a yard.... a little torn piece of Tim Holtz distress paper did the trick.  A white pen for the door, windows and rock walkway.  Nice... a touch of red curtains and we are about done.

Are you ready for it????


Scroll down.... if you dare.....


Really?  You are brave.....


Remember... modify the products you have on hand to create new, exciting creations....

Stamps: Texana Designs – Birdhouse, House Border, Cactus Border and Mini Cactus

Papers:  Creative Imaginations – Real wood thin cherry, Ranger Inkssentials Specialty Stamping Paper – matte coated, Core’dinations Distress Collection, Silver tape for roof and mailbox

Distress Inks for brayering:  Broken China, Faded Jeans, Bundled Sage, Tea Die & Gathered Twig

Pens:  Red & Blue Sharpies, White Signo Paint Pen, Red Stardust Gelly Pen

Sizzix Die:  Fence, Spooky

Thanks for looking!

Welcome...

What could be more welcoming than a bluebonnet wreath on your front door? I love the Jam'n Barbed Wire Wreath with the bluebonnets. I designed a front door using Sure Cuts Alot just for this stamp. I stamped the wreath and the "welcome" on acetate with staz-on for a clear background or glass window. For the wreath I flipped the acetate over and colored the flowers and bow with copic markers. I used a silver paint pen to shade the wreath. When I turned it over the flowers were too transparent, so I stamped the flowers again and colored them with stardust gelly pens. I adhered them slightly offset on top of the acetate. Now I have more 3-D and a little shadowing also. A small silver brad nail holds the wreath in place and a larger silver brad makes the doorknob.

I wanted something like wallpaper on the inside of the card and found an ancient piece of paper in my stash that looks like stucco. It just need a little Texas greeting wall hanging. The barbed wire heart and "Home is Deep in the Heart of Texas" stamps worked beautifully. I stamped it on thin wood scrapbook paper and paper pieced it on the wall.

Enjoy!

Texana Designs Mini Catalog

Ever wonder how to remember which of the cool Texana Designs Stamps that you already own? How about taking the catalog and creating a mini catalog that you can notate and drop in your purse for easy reference when shopping. Below are instructions for making this great tag-along.

Materials:

Download and print 2 pg catalog

            16 on a page

Print cover or make your own 2 ¾” x 4 ½”

18” of ¼” ribbon

Tools:

Scissors

Paper Trimmer

Scotch Tape

Dry Adhesive

Instructions:

1)  PDF can be downloaded here

2) Cut ¼” off all four sides of 8 ½” x 11” page 1

3) Now cut the top row, horizontally between the lines creating a strip of 4 mini pages.

4) First fold the strip in half with the printed sides facing each other (2 5/8” x 4”).  Then fold back the first page and the last page to the center fold line (2 5/8” x 2”).  You have the first signature or section.  A signature is a sheet of paper printed with four or more pages and folded one or more times to the approximate size of one page and in a manner which puts the pages in proper numbered order.

5) Now cut your second strip and fold it as you did above. 

When you have both folded, attach the sequential pages with tape on the back side.  This taped splice will be at the inside bound portion of your mini catalog.  Refold your first two signatures and begin the third signature.  You will repeat this until you have connected all eight strips (or signatures).  The first two pages will be blank and the last three pages will be blank.  The cover will be adhered to the outside pages.

6) To keep your mini catalog together, you will put adhesive between the insides of each folded page at the spine edge. 

 This will keep your pages from falling out in an accordion fashion.

7) Secure 18” of ribbon around the middle of your mini catalog with tape or adhesive, but don’t pull it too tight.

8)  Now put adhesive on the top most page of your mini catalog and attach it to the title cover of your cardstock leaving about 1/16” from the top, bottom and edge..  The title cover is cut 2 ¾” x 4 ½”, just slightly larger than the inside pages and long enough to wrap around from the front to the back. 

 I like to leave the spine rounded, but you could score it if you wanted (approx 2 1/8” from front edge and 2 3/8”.)  Put adhesive on the back page of the last signature and line it up on the back portion of the cover.

Decorate the back of your book using one of several "Made by" stamps from Texana Desings.

9)  Next comes the fun!  Mark the catalog with Texana stamps that you  have at home.  Carry the mini catalog with you when you go shopping and  you’ll never end up with duplicates again.  The pages correspond to the large catalog online or the one your local scrapbook store has.  If your lss doesn’t have the stamps you want, ask them to order it for you or visit the Texana Etsy site.

I store my Texana cling mounted stamps on the full size catalog printed on transparencies, then backed with a colored paper so that I can easily see what stamps I don't have (or haven't yet put back).

Hope you enjoyed this fun mini book.

Brayering

Last weekend I had the honor of taking a couple of brayering classes from the Master Brayer herself, Michelle Z. The classes were fabulous and she made it look so easy! I promptly displayed my six sample cards in my office and what a wonderful distraction! Finally, I got my nerve up to try it on my own today. Evidenced in the two pictures above I can tell it's gonna take lots of practice. Also the designing is very challenging because the technique is so very different than my "comfort zone".

Things I learned today...

1) Smooth papers are not all the same!
2) Not all inks are the same... still trying to determine which inks I have that will give me the desired effects.
3) Fingerprints show up... I need to be more careful!!!

But with great samples for inspiration and practice I'm sure to get the hang of it! Any comments or recommendations freely accepted. I feel like such a novice!