Saturday 29 October 2011

Quick and Easy Christmas Card

I came up with this idea after figuring out I'd need a slew of Christmas cards this year to send to our customers at the shop.  Each card only took a couple of minutes and IRL... they look really kewl!  The lighting in the dining room wasn't cooperating and my photog skills don't show this off well at all but here goes!


I used a brass stencil for this and coloured it with a large stippling brush.  Starting with Adirondack Dye Ink Aqua, stipple all over.  Next stipple on Adirondack Pool to the outer edges and work inward.  The last step is to stipple on Adirondack Dye Ink Stream to the outer edges. 

I thought it needed a bit more sparkle so used some Smooch!  perfect!  The cardstock is Staples 110 pound and scored 1/4 inch around the image.  Sentiment is stamped in Turqouise from Stampin' Up! and heat embossed.  Voila!

Have fune trying something like this.  I'm going to experiment with other colour combinations as well.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Hugs,
Sheree





New Use For Autumn Leaves


Good Morning Chickees!

I learned a new trick from my fab friend Victoria.  Should I be posting this.... who knows but, Victoria understands me!!  All of my friends in lower half of the world won't be able to try this for another 6 months when your leaves start falling.

If you are looking for a super simple way to make a fall card then try this!

Find some maple and oak trees and pick up the leaves.  I went with a Japanese Maple because the leaves are a lot smaller and turn a vibrant red.  Supposedly Oak leaves are the best so I'll go hunting later today or tomorrow.

The trick is to use a 'tight' sandwich with the CuttleBug to get the right effect.  I used the A and two B plates along with 5 layers of cardstock and the rubber mat.  The sandwich goes from the bottom up...
A, B, Cardstock, Leaves facing down, Cardstock, 3 more cardstock, Rubber mat, B Plate.

Here is what you'll end up with!!

These two first shots are of the bottom cardstock that shows the fronts of the leaves.  I'm not sure if you can see it but the paper is also embossed from the stem and ridges on the leaves.



This photo shows what the cardstock looks like from the back side of the leaf.  You see more ridges than actual leaves... kind of reminds me of a sand dollar.


I thought that these prints needed a simple layout because too many layers or embellishments would deter the eye from the embossed image.... What do you think??  Also, these cards will be part of the bundle going with my bundle for Children's Hospital in Vancouver!




Thanks for looking and I hope this gave you some ideas!  It would be fun to see how it worked with different species of tree leaves from around the world!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs,
Sheree
p.s.  I want to apologize to my followers!  Blogger allowed me to comment on everyone's blogs the other night but I haven't been able to since then.  Just want you to know I'm 'creeping' my way around!
xxx

Wednesday 26 October 2011

Learn To Brayer... Check These Out!

Good Afternoon Everyone!

I've been doing some surfing and keeping in touch in Blogland today as the weather here is rotten which tends to make walk in business slower.

I have three blogs for you all to check out!  These have gorgeous examples of brayering and tut's!

Cards Calligraphy - Shaz in Oz  -  Shaz's cards are just beautiful and a must see!  Check out her calligraphy as well as her brayered cards.   She's also a participant in WOYWW.  I'm not brave enough to show photos of my rubber room yet! 

Eileen's Crafty Zone - Stunning cards and Eileen has three step tutorials on brayering.  The example photos make everything so clear that you can't mess it up!  Eileen has a new card posted every day and it will take all afternoon to surf her blog of goodies. 

Lavinia Stamps Blog - Not only can you purchase gorgeous stamps here, there's a gallery of brayered pieces as well.  I'm checking into whether I can purchase stamps and have her ship to Canada.  There's stamps that would go along with Stampscapes stamps and that includes scenery stamps, animals... and the list goes on! I'm lovin' it!!!

So there you go girls!  I know you'll be impressed !

Hugs,
Sheree 

Tuesday 25 October 2011

Distressed Christmas (The ink kind!!)

Hi Everyone!

The title almost sounds like I'm sending out an SOS! 
This card was fun to make and I played and learned at the same time.  I started with cream paper and first stamped the background stamp in Distress Walnut.  After the stamp was covered in ink I dabbed a paper towel here and there to create blotches.  The next step was to distress the paper and use my deckled scissors to jag the edge.  Once again it was distress on the front and back of the cut edges.  Looked pretty neat so sprayed some Smooch to give it a hint of glisten.
The rest of the card was easy and the longest part was playing with the layout so everything would fit!  It looks sooooo much better IRL!  The corners are actually squared but don't look it because of my fab photography skills again!

Here's the recipe

Stamps - Greeting - Unknown; Background Stampendous?  (Help Victoria!)
Inks - Distress Frayed Burlap, Walnut; Stampin' Up! Bravo Burgandy
Pointsettia (one from an old container I picked up from Michaels a couple of years ago.)
Pop dots
Smooch

Thanks for looking!

Hugs,
Sheree

Fall Challenge Entry

Hi Everyone!
I'm finally posting!  There will be quite a few over the next while as I've been busy dealing with the sewer backup into the house lately.  When I found a couple of minutes I hibernated into my rubber room to play.  Here's one I've come up with!
Also, this card will be included in the package I'm putting together for Send A Smile 4 Kids Canada which gives cards to B.C. Children's Hospital for either patients or for patients to give to staff who do an incredible job!

And the recipe is....

Stamps - Rubber Stamped;  Small and Big Maple
Inks - Distress Ponmegranate, Gathered Twigs, Seedless Something and Frayed Burlap. Versa Mark Black, Ranger Big N Juicy (Foliage)
Clear embossing powder
Perfect Pearls - Green Patina, Mint, Heirloom Gold
3D dots - Dollarama

Challenge:
The Outlawz - Sunday CAS

Have a wonderful day!

Hugs,
Sheree

Saturday 22 October 2011

Where have I been??

Morning everyone!

It's quiet at the shop this morning but will be another scene of chaos when I get home so... am posting while I have a minute!

Where have I been?  Well, having the most wonderful week of my life!  The sani-drain (sewage) backed up into the basement on the 14th of October.  Good thing I heard it when I let all the dogs out at 5:50 a.m. or it would have been a lot worse!  Of course I went into battle mode... hiked my nightie, took off my socks and waded into the murky water looking for anything to make a dam.  Whew!  My improvised dam worked but not well enough!  My damming skills are so fantastic that I should look for work in Holland! 

Thank goodness for insurance and reno crews!!  The restoration crew arrived around 8:30 a.m. and immediately went to work.  This is where it gets sort of funny!  Due to the fact that this is a sewage backup... the crew had to wear white hazmat suits and respirators.  We live on a busy street and people driving by were looking at them like a murder was committed at our place..yes, they clean that up too!  Carpeting, lino, the vanity and other things were tossed.  The area was tarped off and huge fans and dehumidifiers went all weekend... noisy as heck.  Everything was dry by Monday afternoon.  Whew!

It took two visits with different equipment to figure out where the blockage was.  Finally!  We could have showers!  You have no idea how you miss your throne until it's gone!

I brought home samples of carpet and lino yesterday and am returning them today.  Then this morning.... I needed something downstairs before heading to the shop and eegads!!!  More water and this time it's even further into the room and looks like more walls will have to come out.  Out came the cleaned rags (the restoration crew sanitised them for me) and up went my dams.  There was more water this time and it's now hitting the laminate floor going up the stairs, into the office carpet and... I did what I could and left before I could get sick.

I'm enjoying my time typing this out because it keeps my mind off my crappy day.  Sorry about the novel I'm producing!

Once my life gets under control again I'll post the cards that I've done the past two weeks.  Some are pretty kewl (I think) and some are iffy but kewl.

I'll do an update in a day or so.  Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!

Hugs,
Sheree

Saturday 8 October 2011

Stampscapes - Autumn Whatever Card

Evening Chickees!
The football game is on (yay!) so I've been doing my own thing in my rubber room again.  Yes, I'm on a 'fall' kick using Distress inks and Perfect Pearls.  This time I also incorporated a Stampscapes stamp to see how it would turn out.  Next time I'll live on the edge and try stamping a whole scene on something like this!
This card is a little different than the ones I posted this morning.  The original background is the same as they were all done at the same time... SUPER fast and easy!  It was blotchy using the Distress Inks and foam blender but each one was different so I could stamp whatever in different highlighted areas.
I started by using the Stampscapes oak branch and only stamping with the smaller edge branches.  As I stamped each one I immediately dusted on the perfect pearls randomly and dusted off with the larger brush.  (Now here's a huge hint!  Victoria at Craft Capers told me about using Swiffer dustin cloths.  I tried dusting my work and she was right!  It picked up all the loose pearl dust!)  Then it was stamping one by one around the paper.
Once it was done I stamped the sentiment which is also from Stampscapes.  I thought it fit perfectly!  I still wasn't satisfied though so took my oak branch again and just touched the tips of the branches onto the paper using Distress Ripe Persimmon.  Dusted that with clear embossing powder and these following photos show a close up of how it looks.. a REAL close up haha!
Hope those help to show what I've been trying to tell you!  Now here's the recipe:
Stamps:  Stampscapes 203G Oak Branch
              Sentiment - Stampscapes sheet
Inks:  Distress Wild Honey, Walnut, Frayed Burlap, Ripe Persimmon, Seedless Preserves
Perfect Pearls:  Biscotti, Mint, Green Patina, Cappuccino
Embossing Powder
Paper:  Staples 110 lb. white, Others are unknown from stash but could be Stampin' Up!
Twine:  From the greenhouse and dyed here and there with Distress Walnut
Button:  Stash
Thanks for looking and have a wonderful weekend!
Hugs,
Sheree

My Card For Debby


Good Morning Chickees!
I was playing again last night while cooking dinner and these are what I have come up with so far. 
The card above is going to Debby who is on the design team at Send A Smile 4 Kids....  You will see her picture on my sidebar.  Click on the link above to learn of her tragic accident and how we bloggers are needed to send cards to inspire her.  Her address is also listed there.
I started with white 110 lb. cardstock from Staples and using Ranger Distress Inks I came up with the background.  The leaves were stamped with Walnut Distress and I used Perfect Pearls, Cafe, to give them colour and sheen.  Once the paper was dried I stamped the sentiment in Walnut as well and used clear embossing powder to give it texture.  Easy Peasy!

This second card is one I played with using a different sentiment.  It looks so pretty IRL!

Here is a photo of the Perfect Pearls taken with the light angle different ...



The recipe is as follows:
Stamps: Rubber Stamped Small and Big Maple
Sentiment:  Top card - Stampin' Up!
                  Bottom card - Stampendous
Inks:  Distress - Wild Honey, Walnut, Frayed Burlap, Ripe Persimmon, Seedless Preserves
Perfect Pearls - Cafe collection... I LOVE this set!!
Clear embossing powder

Thanks for looking and have a wonderful weekend!  The Canadian Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I can hardly wait to dive into the turkey!

Hugs,
Sheree

Thursday 6 October 2011

Distress Christmas Card

Once again my photography skills are showing how bad I really am on 'automatic'!!
This card came to me while playing with Distress Inks and  Ranger Perfect Pearls.  This card stock really started out as plain white!  Kind of looks like I was taking out my agressions on the paper!   
The background stamp is stamped in Frayed Burlap along with the Flourish.  Perfect Pearls Bronze was dusted onto the Flourish and the excess dusted off.   Next was that awesome sentiment which was stamped with Gold Brilliance and embossed with gold embossing powder.
The snow flakes were stamped with Frayed Burlap and dusted with Gold Perfect Pearls. 
I added more light to this photo so that the perfect pearls would stand out a bit more for you to see.  The card looks like #*%! in the photo but, IRL... It's not too shabby.  Victoria said it looks like store bought and classy... I love Victoria  :o) j/k
The Recipe:
Stamps:
Background - Penny Black Letter Background
Flourish - Stampendous! Jumbo Dahlia set  (Love this set!!)
Sentiment - Inkadinkado
Snowflakes - Penny Black
Inks:
Distress - Fired Brick, Frayed Burlap, Walnut
Memento - Rhubarb
Perfect Pearls
Bling - Dollarama
Thanks for looking!
Hugs,
Sheree
That's about it other than adding a wee bit of bling!

Seasonal Distressed Tags - Something New For Me!

Hi Everyone!...  Yep, I've been missing, awol, hiding.. any verb you'd like to use.  It's our Thanksgiving this coming weekend and there for a while it looked like mom was going to make it to my house for her first holiday dinner with us..ever!  She's just a ferry ride away but.... darn..I'm not going to go into details.  So.. lost my mojo for a bit and went shopping at my favourite store (Groan all you like Nancy and Myrna haha!), Crafty Capers, and decided I was going to distress something!  Here is the result.  They are my first ones so they aren't perfect but.... They are really neat!  My tags will probably end up as bookmarks and may make some up to send over to Vancouver's Children's Hospital in teen cards.
So... Here is the first one...
This first one is done with an unknown stamp I purchased before dinosaurs roamed the earth.  The sentiment is Michael's bargain bin from last month.
On my nifty shopping trip I purchased the sold out Distress Ink Fall Trio!  They sold out in 6 hours on the web site and Victoria has a couple more coming in from a second batch they are doing because of the huge success of the first one.  I bought the last set when I was there and that's what I tend to do... always buy the last one haha!
The Distress trio is made up of three colours that will only come out once a year, .  The edges of the tag were distressed with my 'go to' Frayed Burlap.  The sentiment was stamped with Seedless Preserve and embossed with clear powder.  Mr Pumpkin was stamped with Orange Marmalade.
Here is a look at the 'cracked glass' effect that I tried for the first time....
This second one is more of a gift tag for Christmas. 

This Christmas tag is one that I cut out myself.  It was distressed and the sentiment was stamped with S.U. Next to Navy and embossed.  The snow flakes were stamped with Brilliance Copper and embossed.  Wool from the bargain store was used as the ties for both tags.

Recipe:

Stamps:
Some unknown, Background - Penny Black Letter Background
Snowflakes - Penny Black Christmas Set
Inks:
Distress - Tumbled Glass, Weathered Wood, Ripe Persimmon, Seedless Preserves, Spiced Marmalade

If you have distress inks... play with them!  I'm now in love with these and am going to work on using them with stampscapes!

Hugs,
Sheree

Saturday 1 October 2011

Three Different Looks From The Same Stamps

Hi Everyone!
I made these scenes up the other night and finally had them matted Friday night.  I used the same stamps on all three and some of the stamps are in the same spots.  There are different moons in two and one had a major accident so I trimmed it down to fit on a 4 1/4 X 5 1/2 card! 
Each scene was very dark when it was finished.  The white penned highlights really showed up beautifully.  Then... over two days they faded (Adirondack Dye Inks will do that).  I kind of like how they turned out after all!
Here are the finished projects!

This is the first scene.  The reflection of the moon was quite vivid at first so I was very happy with that in the end as it wasn't so overpowering.  The moon was taped off so that it would fit on the horizon.
 
 
 
This is the same scene but I had an accident on the right side so trimmed it down to fit on a smaller card.  It was like the first photo in the beginning which would fit into a business size envelope.  I didn't put a moon in this scene so the sky wasn't as dark in the beginning.  That is why it is lighter than the other one above.
 
 
 
I really like this one and it looks so much better in real life!  Before it faded, the sky was dark and I had done the reflections of the windows perfectly in the water.  Now, you can hardly tell!  The card is 5X7 and was a different size to use up the leftover glossy paper.
 
Stamps used:
Stampscapes
Lakeside Cabin
Pines and Rocks
Rocks and Bushes
Paddlers
Row Boat
 
Inks:  Adirondack Aqua, Stream, Lemonade, Stonewashed
         Memento Sunshine Yellow, Morning Sky, London Fog
 
Thanks for looking and... Have a wonderful weekend!!
 
Hugs,
Sheree

CAS Black and White for The Outlawz

Just a quick post!
The CAS Card for the Sunday challenge is for black and white.  I tried a few different cards but this is the only one that turned out! 
Embossing folder:  Couture Creations - Entangle
Stamp:  Stampin' Up! - Upsy Daisy
Paper:  110 lb. white Staples, Recollections black
Ink:  Black Adirondack Pigment Ink
Embossing Powder:  Clear
Punch:  MS Two sided punch (pretty kewl!)
There you have it!  Now onto post #2!
Hugs,
Sheree