Stamper's Sampler - Neon Valentines

I got that fun package in the mail last week. The one that says, "Congratulation! You've been published in Stamper's Sampler." I'm still waiting for my subscription copy, but since Tim starts his 12 Tags of Christmas tomorrow...I needed to get this posted!!!!!!! (GRIN)

I have to tell you about the paper, the bird is stamped on. It's a napkin!! I pulled the two sections apart, glued the lime/raspberry napkin onto white paper then stamped the bird. The stamps are Purple Onion.

I love this card. The background was a scrap I had from the Fred Mullett class I took last year (year before?). When the challenge was NEON Valentines, I knew this piece would work. I don't remember who makes the stamp...it's a California shop.

This is a small 3x3 card. Stamp is Amuse Studio.

This was the pinwheel challenge. I *HAD* to put pinwheels on my favorite girls! I love this Lost Coast stamp!

I'm going to try my best to keep up with Tim this year...yeah, I know I said that last year and failed. But it's a good goal! I'm also taking Christy Tomlinson's The 12 Artsy Ornaments of Christmas. Not so sure I'll be doing those but I liked her list of visiting artists.

GC105: From the Mall - MANNEQUIN

I had to laugh when I saw this month's theme at GINGERSNAP CREATIONS - SHOPPING!

I'm not a shopper by nature. I almost never step foot in a mall, shopping center, or big box store. The one major exception to that - - I will shop for stamps! Almost everything else I order online!

But this week we're AT THE MALL!

For my shopping trip, I made a mannequin to model those haute couture clothes I buy (NOT!) LOL...

I started with a 5-inch paper mache bust and painted it white. I had lots of bits and pieces of beautiful paper left from my Fred Mullet ELEGANT MESS class. They were too pretty to throw away and too small to be of much use. But with a little gel medium they covered the bust beautifully! After the gel medium dried, I rubbed Perfect Pearls here and there to add a bit of shine and shimmer.

I used a Tim "door knob" for the "head" I love the bit of crystal sparkle it brings.

A friend sent me this beautiful hand-dyed, crushed ribbon for my birthday last year. I've been hoarding it but the dress form needed it! The Eiffel Tower charm is my salute to Paris Haute Couture.

The back of the form didn't need much visual interest. The rose is covering a small section that I missed covering in Elegant Mess paper. The wings are Kaiser Craft wood die cuts "painted" with a gold Paint Dabber.

Finally, I'm delighted to say that I've been invited to join the talented ROGUE REDHEAD Designs design team! You'll love these stamps with a vintage flair!

GC98: Mists

It's Wednesday! That means another Gingersnap Creations post!! Today we're playing with Mists!

I have a VERY GOOD local stamp/scrap store. Kathy is great at bringing in traveling teachers. Several months ago, Fred B Mullett came to teach some messy but FUN classes. I took THE ELEGANT MESS. This is just one of the techniques we did that night to make incredible, 0ne-of-a-kind backgrounds!

One of the papers we used was Oriental Calligraphy paper. The best way to describe this is really stiff tissue paper. It's very thin but will hold up to lots of water. You can find it here on Fred's web page.

We used Adirondack Colorwash in a variety of strengths, but any color wash/mist will work. I used Glimmer Mist for this card. I chose 4 colors (Key Lime Pie, Sunflower, Turquoise Blue, and Tiger Lily) and started with the lightest and randomly sprayed on part of the paper.

Then I used several kitchen items as masks (penny sink mat, sushi mat, rubber shelf liner). Spraying other colors over the masks, flipping them over onto other sections, and making an "elegant mess".

Then I let it dry for a bit. You can use a heat gun to speed things up - I did to finish the drying.

24 hours before I started, I choose three Twinkling H2Os (Dreamsicle, Summer Breeze, Apple Blossom). I filled each pot up with water and let it sit. The water made the H2O's very "gloopy"...kinda like Elmers Glue.
By scooping a little color out onto my mat and adding a bit more water, I could stamp with it (Apple Blossom and Memory Box Sonoma Print). Or fill my brush and fling it. The final result is a large piece of background that can be used for multiple card!

In Fred's class he had little window template so you could figure out where in your sheet you wanted to cut. He has one on his web page - CROPPING TOOL TEMPLATE. There's also a short video. Note the PDF template does not have the marking holes.

He also has a template for the card base - the rectangle works perfectly with the template. As you can see this card would be perfect without any further embellishments. I choose to stamp the Stampin' Up geisha over the color block. Even my "sits on top of everything" Archival black wasn't 100% crisp.

The final touch was a double coin knot. I used a thick paper cord in a turquoise blue.

Stamps: Stampin' Up! DREAM GARDENS, Memory Box SONOMA PRINT
Paper: Oriental Calligraphy paper, Neenah Solar White
Ink: Archival Black
Accessories: Glimmer Mist, Twinkling H2O's, found masking items, Japanese cord

Please join us in using MISTS at Gingersnap Creations! You have a month to make your entry.

A *BELATED* Happy Birthday to GRANT!!

I have one niece and one nephew...my sister's kids.

I have two nieces and one nephew of the heart...my best girlfriends' kids.

My adopted nephew, Grant, turned 18 last month. And the "scummy" Aunt Deb that I am...I didn't get a card in the mail to him. And then I didn't get a card in the mail to him. AND I STILL DIDN'T GET A CARD IN THE MAIL TO HIM! (UGH!)

Excuses? I have many but I think you'll all understand when I say...making a card for a man is HARD!

Then inspiration hit...my Fred B Mullet fish stamps! They needed ink. Or in this case - BLEACH!

I started with two blue papers from Stampin Up (Not Quite Navy and Night of Navy. I wasn't sure how the bleach would react with the paper. This is the Night of Navy and you can see that it bleached out to a "tan" color. (The Not Quite Navy turned a pink color - yuck!) After that dried I stamped with the same color SU! ink over the bleached fish.

Finally, I added a bunch of water to a pot of Twinkling H2O's and let it set. As the water absorbs the H2O becomes "gloppy". With a paint brush I put some on my mat and added a bit more water and then "inked" up the stamp! And I got the cool metallic looking fish!

The fish on white paper is the same H2O. After it dried I used my stamp positioner to restamp with Archival.

I think it turned out cool!

Happy Belated Birthday Grant!! (love you!)

Stamps: Fred B Mullet, Amuse sentiment
Paper: Stampin Up! Night of Navy, Whisper White
Ink: bleach, Night of Navy, Archival black
Accessories: fly, Twinkling H2O's

The Elegant Mess - Fred B Mullett class

The best thing about having an independent local stamp/scrapbook store (LSS) are the traveling teachers that come! My LSS hosted Fred B Mullet this weekend. I had signed up for his "THE ELEGANT MESS" class before I was laid off. What a TREAT this class was!

Using Ranger Adirondack Color Wash sprays, masks, and Twinkling H2O's we made background papers.

Unlike Glimmer Mist, the Color Wash sprays are straight color with no mica powder. Fred had watered some of them down for lighter shades. The H2O's add the "glimmer" - both through splattering and stamping with H2O's (you wet them down until they are mostly goop).

Here's the first background made on a thin Japanese paper. It's like tissue paper but a bit thicker.

Here's the card from that background.

This is the other Japanese paper background. The H2O's I was using were not "flinging" in a droplet manner but in big blotches. I thought I had "ruined" the paper but as you can see below, it turned out ok!

I think this is my favorite - but in the class it's like trying to pick between your favorite kids. I love them all equally! Then we turned to another paper...

... to 90 lbs. watercolor paper. This time the paper wasn't saturated with color and is more subtle. We also didn't use the H2O's.

The class handouts included a set of "masks" to cut out for a positive/negative image. These "masks" are available on Fred's website in PDF format. I picked the petroglyph horse. The background of this card is the paper above. The horse was cut from the right half of the piece below.

The 2nd sheet of 90 lbs. watercolor paper.

I also used the negative image of the petroglyph horse and a piece of the Japanese paper to back the image.

Both watercolor papers also had backs - the "wiped up" mist left from the other side of the paper. I do this often with glimmer mist - it makes the best backgrounds!

I still have LOTS and LOTS of paper left. I can't wait to continue playing with the left over scraps (and make some more)!!!