Encre, papier, ciseaux

Dirty Dozen - April Projects

These are the projects I designed for the April Dirty Dozen gallery on Splitcoast Stampers:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great Hall

My local scrapbook store carries the Harry Potter dies. While I was initially excited about them, after looking at them closely, I was not sure I would really use them so I held off on buying any. Recently, I finally decided to get the Hogwarts crest. I think I can make a few greeting cards with it for Potter fans, and I also knew I could work it into my scrapbook pages, since I visited the Warner Bros. lot when I was in London. I have quite a few pictures I want to work into my album, and I started with the Great Hall pictures. One of the Potter papers I have has 6X6" squares of the house colours on the back, so I cut a 4" x 6" piece from the midle, to get the cross section of the four colours, and I added the Hogwarts crest die-cut out of Silver Foil Paper over it. I used Harry Potter Alphabet stickers from Creative Imaginations for the title. That's pretty much all I needed since the pictures filles out the rest of the pockets.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Mois de l'année Courier (Lime Citron)
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento
Patterned Papers: Wizard World (ColorPlay); Wizard 101 (Reminisce)
Alphabet Stickers (Harry Potter (Creative Imaginations)
Accessories: Glitter Washi Tape; Gold Gel Pen; Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo),
Hogwarts Crest Die; Silver Foil Paper (Stampin' Up!)

 

Typewriter Retirement Card

I wanted to get my Foodie Friends stamp set inked and I thought it would pair well with the Lovestruck papers from Authentique. I decided to draw inspiration from the Clean&Simple sketch #67 and the tic-tac-toe grid from The Paper Players #391. The top part of the card came together quickly, but I was hesitant on what to use for the sentiment. I have the We R Memory Makers typewriter and thought I could type my own sentiment, but I also had a couple of fun dies that could work as well. The Happy Birthday one had more of a typewriter font to it, but I liked the "Happy Retirement" one, since the typewriter reminds me of work and an office. In the end, the retirement die-cut won, even though it's written in a fancy, flourish font. (As a side note, I was SO happy to find those French sentiment dies from Simple à souhait. There are a ton of gorgeous sentiment dies in English in various beautiful fonts, but French options are few and far between, and not always the most exciting. The new offering from Simple à souhait is definitely fun and on point.)

I die-cut the words out of black cardstock and used a clear gel pen to add shine to it. For a fun touch, I used a pink Copic marker to highlight some of the dictionary definitions underneath my sentiment, and I glued a few sequins around. The eyes of the paper sheet were dabbed with Black Enamel Accents for shine and dimension.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Foodie Friends (Simon Says Stamp)
Cardstock: Thick Very Vanilla, Basic Black, Pink Pirouette (inside)
Patterned Papers: Lovestruck (Authentique)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Accessories: Real Red Satin Ribbon, Pretty in Pink Organza Ribbon, It's My Birthday Enamel Dots,
Medium Vanilla Envelope, Washi Tape, Stitched Shapes Framelits (Stampin' Up!);
Bonne Retraite Chance Journée Dies (Simple à souhait); Markers (Copic); Black Enamel Accents (Ranger);
Sequins (Little Things by Lucy's Cards); Clear Gel Pen; Stitched Rectangle Stackables Dies (Lawn Fawn)

 

Outside Living Room

A couple of years ago, I shopped the summer sales for some outside furniture for my deck. I found this awesome couch that opens up. You can extend the legs and you can even recline the back to make a full bed. The sides also open up so that you have a place to keep your drink or other stuff. It's truly awesome and very comfortable. And I like how the colours brighten up my deck!

I thought the bright and funky Hello Summer collection from Simple Stories might showcase my picture nicely. The design came from a November 2017 Page Maps sketch.

Challenges: Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes) + lasting Memory Challenge #391 (four different pattern papers)

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Layered Letters Alphabet (Stampin' Up!); Dear Lizzy Stay Colorful Alphabet (American Crafts)
Cardstock: Cameo Coral, Lemon Lime Twist, Textured Bermuda Bay, Cucumber Crush, Powder Pink, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Cucumber Crush (Stampin' Up! Classic Ink)
Dies: Starburst Framelits, Circle Framelits (Stampin' Up!); Toppers CutUps (The Cat's Pajamas)
Embossing Folder: Basket Weave (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers and Stickers: Hello Summer (Simple Stories)
Accessories: Black Enamel Accents, Glossy Accents (Ranger); Black Journaling Pen;
Striped Ribbon, Mini Stapler, Candy Dots, Stampin' Dimensionals, Black Mini-Sequin Trim,
Bermuda Bay Shimmer Ribbon, Washi Tape (Stampin' Up!); Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo);
Buttons (Autumn Leaves); Washi Tape (Doodlebug Design)

 

Retiring Set: Going Far

Inspiration: Simon Says Stamp Monday (Let's Doodle) + Clean&Simple Sketch #66 + Just Us Girls #437 (Prominently Purple)

The starting point of this card were the retiring stamp sets from Stampin' Up! I had put aside to use before they go bye-bye. The Going Far stamp set is part of that list, and the Clean&Simple sketch was the perfect size to use one of the images. I ended up using other images from the same set to stamp my cardstock. Since the Just Us Girls' theme was about purple and we have two retiring purple shades, I based my color combo on Elegant Eggplant and Wisteria Wonder and picked Crushed Curry as my third color. Once upon a time when I first started as a demonstrator, I used Elegant Eggplant on a regular basis. These years - not so much. I never stopped loving the colour, but Stampin' Up! stopped including it in its Designer Series Paper and Rich Razzleberry was the purple shade that became the most versatile for current color combo. I was surprised to see Wisteria Wonder on the retiring list because this one I used a fair bit, but we'll see what the new purples look like in person. (Not judging the new colors from online images, you always get a better idea when you get the cardstock and play around to create combos.)

I kept the design very simple. Because the images have English text, I placed a French "congratulations" die-cut going across the image. And I used a Stampin' Write marker to doodle a frame around my main image. This brought me back to when doodling was the new trend and I was adding little frames and doodles to most of what I was making. It was fun to pull this technique out again, and it works well with the whimsical look of the stamp set, anyway.

 

 

Color Combo: Elegant Eggplant + Wisteria Wonder + Crushed Curry

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Going Far
Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Wisteria Wonder,  Crushed Curry, So Saffron, Watercolor Paper
Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Wisteria Wonder,  Crushed Curry, So Saffron, Smoky Slate
Accessories: Gold Foil Paper, Voeux ensoleillés (Sunshine Wishes) Thinlits),
Wisteria Wonder Stampin' Write Marker, White Square Envelope

Impossibly Magical

I was watching a video from Stampin' Up! about the color revamp on YouTube and once the video was over, something caught my eye in the right feed: a video about an "impossible card." This piqued my interest, so I clicked to see what this card was. As I was watching the instructions, I stopped the video midway and decided instead of watching, I'd pull out cardstock and follow along to give it a try. I looked at the current Designer Series Paper and decided to pull out Myths & Magic, so I picked a sheet of Fresh Fig cardstock to do my card base.

I decided I wanted to use the unicorn on the main panel, so I picked the unicorn paper to decorate the side panels. The result is interesting: your mind is trying to figure out how you can possibly have a full panel in the center with the top and bottom cutouts. Once you know the trick, it makes a lot of sense, and it's quite easy to put together considering how intricate the result looks. I left some room on the back of the main panel to write a message, and I made a envelope to match with the Envelope Punch Board.

As I was watching the video, I realized this card was perfect for the Little Red Wagon challenge #442, which calls for unusual-sized cards. This one is 5" x 7".

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Journée magique (Magical Day)
Cardstock: Fresh Fig, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White
Specialty Designer Series Paper: Myths & Magic
Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento, Dapper Denim
Accessories: Myths & Magic 6" x 6" Glimmer Paper, Envelope Punch Board, Lots of Labels Framelits,
Stampin' Blends Markers, Magical Mates Framelits, Stampin' Dimensionals, Clear Wink of Stella Brush,
Bermuda Bay 3/8" Mini Chevron Ribbon

 

A Common Interest

The Crafty Girl collection from Simple Stories inspired me to pull out some pictures I took of my niece when she came over for the night. She asked if we could make a house together, since she had seen some ltitle houses I had made with the Home Sweet Home bundle. I hadn't expected to craft with her that night, so I had not cleaned up my craft room, which she took a lot of joy in exploring. That night, she made two discoveries that amazed her: scallop decorative scissors and embossing folders! She went through the whole pile, selecting her favorites, and we embossed a bunch of cardstock that she went home with to use on future projects. (My sister reported that she used them the very next morning after going back home!) She's been asking to craft with me every single time she's visited since. I hope she'll keep her interest in artistic endeavours even as she grows older. It's a cool interest for us to have in common.

Inspiration: Lasting Memories Layout Challenge #391 (Use at least 4 different patterned papers on your page)

 

  

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Mois de l'année Script (Lime Citron)
Cardstock: Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Crafty Girl (Simple Stories)
Dies: Months, Alisha Lowercase (Echo Park); Sentiments Dies (Waffle Flower); Ref. Articles (Kesi'art);
Chevron Stripes, PInking Edge Square Die-namics, Basic Stitch Lines, Sttiched Scallop Basic Edges (My Favorite Things)
Accessories: Stampin' Dimensionals, Bermuda Bay 3/8"  Mini Chevron Ribbon, Project Life Corner Punch, Washi Tape, Journaling Cards (Stampin' Up!);
Aqua Shimmer Glitter Gloss Brush (Nuvo)

 

 

Tutu Cute

Tu-Tu Cute might be one of the most adorable stamp sets ever made. I had my local store special order it for me, and this is my first creation inspired by it. It's based on the sweet color combo from Hand Stamped Sentiments #287 and the Freshly Made Sketch #332.To me, that sketch totally looked like a slider card, which worked well with the ballerina images.

I stamped and embossed the little stars with iridescent Ice embossing powder, and I created a green halo on my background cardstock using a blending tool and Twisted Citron Distress Oxide ink. I then overstamped additional stars using the same ink. The floor piece was stamped with the Woodgrain background stamp to give it texture. I also used the same stamps on two more pieces: one to glue underneath the slider slot, and one as the piece that pulls out of the card. (In all truthfulness, I didn't think of this in advance so I ended up washing and reinking my stamp three times but at least I ended up with a blue floor with pattern throughout, whether the ballerine is at left or at right.)

I stamped, colored and die-cuts four ballerinas and started assembling my scene. The card still felt a little bare, so I decided to use the curtain image and see if I could widen it to fit the whole card. I stamped the image three times. I die-cut all three and for two of them, I took out of the sides, then used a white gel pen to hide the unnecessary lines at the bottom. Then, I cut the third one in half, and I overlapped the top curtain part over them. To hide the seams better, I added 2016-2018 In Color enamel shapes where the fabric gathers. Finally, a touch of Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer was added to the tutus.

By the way, Soft Sky is the colour I'm most bummed about seeing go. It's one of my favorite shades and I found it paired very nicely with a lot of things. We'll see how the new colour palette compares.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Tu-Tu Cute (Waffle Flower); Ballons à l'aventure (Balloon Adventure - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Whisper White, Flirty Flamingo, Soft Sky, Lemon Lime Twist (Stampin' Up!)
Envelope Paper: 2016-2018 In Color
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Flirty Flamingo, Soft Sky (Stampin' Up! Classic Ink);
Twisted Citron (Distress Oxide - Ranger); VersaMark
Accessories: Blending Tool (Ranger); Iridescent Ice Stampin' Emboss Powder, Stampin' Dimensionals, Foam Adhesive Strips,
Envelope Punch Board, Decorative Ribbon Border, 2016-2018 In Color Enamel Shapes (Stampin' Up!);
Markers (Copic); Glitter Gloss Aqua Shimmer Brush (Nuvo); Slide On Over Lawn Cuts (Lawn Fawn);
7/8" Circle Punch

 

Take to the Sky

This card started out with leftover papers from a recent scrapbooking page. I was looking through my Cat's Pajamas stamps for something that would fit their current theme (Spring, challenge #345) and when I spotted Up, Up and Away with the kite, I knew it would pair great with the papers.

The design was based on MFT Sketch #380. The French sentiment loosely translate to "You soar above the rest. Congratulations!"

 

 

 

  

 

Supplies
Stamps: Up Up and Away (The Cat's Pajamas); Gentil remontant (Lift Me Up - Stampin' Up!)
Cardstock: Barely Banana, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Practically Perfect (Carta Bella), Panorama (Making Memories)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Blue Brocade (Stampin' Up! Classic Ink)
Accessories: Cloud Border and Stitched Clouds CutUp dies (The Cat's Pajamas); Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders);
Washi Tape, Envelope Punch Board, Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); Markers (Copic); Button (Autumn Leaves)

 

How Many Candles?

I noticed that we have the word "candles" in the Cupcake Cutouts Thinlits set and I thought it would pair well with the candle image from the Picture Perfect Party Designer Series Paper (2018 Occasions Catalogue). This was the starting point of my card. Inspired by the Clean & Simple sketch #65, I came up with this card. I had to spell the beginning of my sentiment using the Labeler Alphabet stamp set, and it reads "Blow out the candles."

 

Retiring items:

• Picture Perfect Party 6" x 6" DSP
• Cupcake Cutouts Thinlits Dies
• Enamel Shapes

 

 

 

 

 

Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Labeler Alphabet
Cardstock: Lemon Lime Twist, Berry Burst, Bermuda Bay, Whisper White
Designer Series Paper: Picture Perfect Party 6" x 6" Stack
Ink: VersaMark
Accessories: Petit gâteau Thinlits (Cupcake Cutouts), Decorative Ribbon Punch, Circle Punch,
White Medium Envelope, Enamel Shapes (2016-2018 In Color, Brights), White Stampin' Emboss Powder

 

Covent Garden Frame

After I finished making my Covent Garden page for my London album, I was left with one unused picture, which I figured I could turn into a frame of some sort as a memento of my London trip. The papers and embellishments were left out on my work table overnight and when I came back to it, I got struck by inspiration. I remembered a turquoise metal frame (from Prima) I bought on a whim at my local store probably three years ago. I could never figure out what I fill it up with, and I suddenly realized I had the perfect picture and papers for it. That's why I have a roomful of crafting stuff - because the stuff I keep always end up being useful at some point in time when the right idea and supplies collide.

The frame had a tag with the item info tied to the top with twine and I thought it was so pretty that it could probably get reused by simply covering the marketing parts with patterned papers. The ideas kept coming and within an hour, my frame was done.

It was only when I was completed finished and turned to my computer to start a blog post with the project info that I realized in my excitement I had made a pretty big mistake... I added the incorrect name on the tag! Using rub-ons, I had written Camden Market without thinking twice about it. The picture was not taken at Camden Market, it was taken at Covent Garden!! Which I should know considering I just made a page about it!! In fairness, I also made a page about Camden Market a day prior, so I think the two names were floating in my head, but for a second, I wonder how I would save my project.

I got REALLY lucky: I still had that wooden paper and I was able to cut a strip that covered the previous rub-ons while still fitting between my embellishments, and because the wood is a pretty even pattern, the seam does not show at all. I was able to add new rub-on letters with the correct name, ink the edges, glue over the previous name and nobody will ever know when looking at the project. What a relief! I really loved my design, so I would have been disappointed if I had had to change it.

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Metal Frame: Prima
Rub-ons: Making Memories (Providence Small White, Heidi Small Black)
Paper Flowers: Prima
Buttons: Autumn Leaves
Ink: Walnut Stain (Distress Oxide - Ranger)
1-1/2" Circle Punch: Stampin' Up!
Stampin' Dimensionals: Stampin' Up!
Stamps: Mois de l'année Script (Lime Citron)
Twine Rickrack Trim: Michaels
Patterned Paper: Spring Market (Carta Bella)

 

Camden Market

During my visit to London, my local friend wanted to show me places that were not necessarily touristic, so she suggested Camden Market. It was a Saturday and the place was crowded! It was hard to take in the place because we mostly had to mind the crowd and look where we were going not to bump into anyone. The indoor market is pretty cool, though, as they've turned old stables into a market. Part of the indoor market showcased art pieces, and they had some striking ones! I was even tempted to buy one showing animals packed in a Volkswagen car, but I just couldn't see how I could possibly carry it back with me on the plane (it was not super big, but a frame is fragile and not exactly something you can easily tuck away on a plane). In retrospect, now that I know how complicated it ended up being getting back home from the airport in Montreal, I'm very grateful I didn't get that frame! Hindsight... It would have been a nice souvenir to hang home, though.

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers: Detour (Bo Bunny)
Stamps: Pétillant de bonheur (Stampin' Up!); Mois de l'année Courrier (Lime citron)
Ink: Night of Navy, Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Baker's Twine, Key Charm, Eyelet, Vintage Tag, Stapler, Wooden Element (Stampin' Up!);
Alphabet Stickers (Prima); Button

Covent Garden

When I stumbled unto the Spring Market collection from Carta Bella at my local store, I noticed that the colours and patterns would be perfect to highlight my pictures from Covent Garden in London. I wanted this layout to be extra special because those are some of my favorite pictures from the trip.

My friend and I were signed up for a walking tour at 10 a.m. on a Sunday morning, and we knew we could not be late and miss the guide at the meeting point, so we left way ahead of time to be sure. We got to the meeting point with over an hour to spare, which gave us time to walk around and explore. It was our first time at Covent Garden (we went back to that area a few times for dinners during the week) and the place was really quiet, aside from a few people setting up shop in the market for the day. It gave us the opportunity to take plenty of pictures and to grab a bite in the cutest café ever. Less than an hour later, the place was bustling with people, so I was really grateful that we had the chance to roam around the place with no one around (which is particularly great when you are trying to take good pictures!).

To add my journaling, I typed my text in Word, with the font Quicksand in green and I highlighted the name of the place by changing the font to Arizonia in coral, which adds a fun touch to the text. I printed it on Very Vanilla cardstock and I added a piece of adhesive sheet on the back of the cardstock before cutting it into thin strips with my guillotine paper trimmer. Having the adhesive already on the back of the strips made it so much quicker to fix everything in place on the page.

The cute little boots on the left pages were images that were fussy cut straight out of the patterned paper. The market "frame" also came from a piece of patterned paper but since it was all vanilla, I handcut the outside, and I matted the image with another sheet of paper, with flowers. It seemed a waste to hide most of the floral paper, so I used my paper trimmer to cut a square in the center, which I'll be able to reuse on another project. (After finishing this layout, I have enough leftover paper to create a couple of cards, and having a piece of floral paper will give me more design options.)

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Mois de l'année Script (Lime Citron)
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Powder Pink (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers: Spring Market (Carta Bella)
Ink: Calypso Coral (Stampin' Up! Classic Ink)
Accessories: Buttons (Autumn Leaves); Oval and Scallop Oval Nestabilities (Spellbinders);
Natural Trim (Celebrate It); Green Ribbon Trim (?); Pearl basic Jewels, In Color Boutique Details,
2016-2018 In Color Enamel Shapes, Stampin' Dimensionals, Linen Thread, Tailored Tag Punch (Stampin' Up!)
Fonts: Quicksand, Arizonia

Hyde Park

When I watched some videos from Creativation showing the upcoming collections, I had seen the Practically Perfect collection from carta Bella, which is loosely based on Mary Poppins. While I thought the papers were adorable, I just didn't see how I could incorporate them in my cards and make them work for my usual style. That being said, my local store received the 12" x 12" papers and sold them by individual sheets. That got me really excited because one of the sheet displays a map of Hyde Park and it so happens that this park was one of the places I visited during my London trip. I had just printed my London and was ready to get working on my album, so it was serendipity that I found those papers when I did.

They inspired the second layout I worked on for my London album. Because the papers are already busy, I didn't want to add too much when it came to layering, and I worked around the design of the papers to incorporate my pictures in. On the right page, I incorporated two pictures between the existing images, matting my favorite one, and on the lft page, I kept the Hyge Park tag unobstructed so that it would become my layout title. I matted the main picture (the group selfie) with striped paper to make it stand out.

I knew I would have to layer paper to add journaling because I couldn't write directly on the busy paper, but I didn't have any paper from the collection that was plain enough to write on. (And this is what my previous comment was referring to - I have trouble using paper lines that are very busy and that don't incorporate tone-on-tone designs to help balance the busy pages out.) In another lucky coincidence, the very next paper I had sitting in the paper pile I've put aside for my London album was a blue-green leaf pattern that was really close to the green in my park map paper. The color was a little too bright, but I easily solved that problem by dabbing Antique Linen Distress Oxide ink over the whole page, and then adding a touch of Gathered Twigs Distress Oxide ink to the edges. Turned it into a perfect match. The journaling was typed using my typewriter, and I found some super old Gummies embellishment from Basic Grey that must have been sitting in my stash for a decade. They were so old, in fact, that the adhesive on the back stayed on the acetate sheet instead of coming off with the gummy! At least, the embellishments were intact, and I was able to incporate the rest of the pack into my design. Ironically, the colors are not a perfect match to the papers, but they still tie in nicely to the overall layout. To use my favorite quote from Stacey London and Clinton Kelly from What Not to Wear, "It does not match - it goes."

Finally, I fussy cut some patterns from the papers to finish decorating the left page (a butterfly and some kites), and I added enamel dots for three different packs to decorate them. A fun layout to commemorate a lovely place!

 

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Patterned Papers: Practically Perfect (Carta Bella)
Typewriter: We R Memory Makers
Inks: Antique Linen, Gathered Twigs (Distress Oxide - Ranger)
Enamel Dots: Simple Stories, Echo Park, Doodlebug Design
Ribbon Trim: vanilla 5/8" Flower Trim (Stampin' Up!)
Gummies: Olivia (Basic Grey)
Aqua Shimmer Brush: Glitter Gloss (Nuvo)
Adhesive: Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)
Blending Tool: Ranger

 

London Calling

It's already been a year and half since my trip to London but I'm finally getting around to scrapbooking about it.I had tried a couple of times to send my pictures online for printing and because it was a big batch, it kept failing, but I finally managed to have them all printed last month.I've gone through my paper stash and put aside the papers that will work for this trip and today is the day I organized my pictures by day and got started. It made sense to start with the front page of the album, and this one was easy to make since I used the Discover England collection pack from Paper House. The paper I used already had the title on it, so all I had to do was mat my picture with a piece of polka dot paper from the same collection, and add a few die-cut stickers here and there.

The picture of Maggie and I was taken at the Montreal airport before we boarded our red-eye flight to London.

 

 

 

 

Supplies
Papers and Die-Cut Stickers: Discover England (Paper House)

99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall...

Inspiration: Fab Friday Sketch #133 + Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (Anything Goes) + Naughty or Nice #50 (picking past challenge #49, Drinks)

One of the new items released at Creativation that immediately caught my eye were the three Blueprint sets released by Tim Holtz through Stampers Anonymous. I loved the look and the theme - drinks! I debated long and hard on whether to get the whole set with the smaller images or to pick a favorite with the bigger images. I had trouble deciding on favorites but I also knew that I preferred the bigger images, which would fill out a card better - the bigger version finally won when I managed to score them during a sale.

The other night, I pulled the images out and was puttering around, trying to decide which image to use first, and a color combo to go with it. I spotted ColourQ #307 and thought I would pair it with the beer mug because of the golden yellow, but then when I pulled out the cardstock, I thought the three shades of purple and burgundy might work better with the wine images. So I pulled those out, but eventually decided I liked my first idea better and went back to the beer mug.

I stamped the mug in VersaMark on watercolor paper and embossed the image in gold powder, then I used an Aqua Painter brush and my Classic inks to paint the image. I was initially not planning on coloring the mug in purple (maybe just a bit of blue shading) but I was using a bit of burgundy ink to give the beer a gold tint, and I accidently went over, and those deeply pigmented colors will really spread fast! There was no going back, and I could have started over with a fresh image, but before giving up on it, I decided to go with the flow, and ended up liking the image enough to use it.

The Fab Friday sketch #133 inspired me, but I had to modify it so I wouldn't cover up my image. I placed the banner underneath instead and embossed it with a Tim Holtz folder I've had for a long time, that looks a tiny bit like bubbles. The background piece was stamped with the beer bottle image, and I had some bottle caps that were out on my desk. I had come across them during my recent stash rearranging and had pulled them out to pair with the Bubble Over suite from the Occasions catalogue. Turns out they were perfect for the beer theme as well, so I used my Big Shot and some old and used cutting plates to flatten a small cap, and add it to the card. As I was looking for a small sentiment to add on a strip, I actually spotted some French sentiment die-cuts I recently acquired and changed gears. It was my first time cutting out the "Happy Birthday" so I didn't know how big it would be, and it's not so large that it's hard to add to a card, but still large enough that it was not fitting underneath my image. I decided to just go for it and place it over the image. I like how it turned out, goes with the sketch/collage look well. I made sure to place the top of the F in the center of the O to make the overlapping more interesting.

This will be a great masculine card to have up my sleeve for upcoming birthdays.

 

 

 

 

    

 Color Combo: Summer Starfruit + Bravo Burgundy + Sweet Sugarplum + Blackberry Bliss

 

 

Supplies
Stamps: Beer Blueprints (Stampers Anonymous)
Cardstock: Summer Starfruit, Bravo Burgundy, Sweet Sugarplum, Blackberry Bliss (Stampin' Up!);
Watercolor Paper (Fabriano)
Ink: VersaMark, Summer Starfruit, Bravo Burgundy, Sweet Sugarplum,
Blackberry Bliss (Stampin' Up! Classic Ink)
Accessories: Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder, White Medium Envelope, Aqua Painter Brush,
Stampin' Dimensionals, Silver Soda Pop Tops (Stampin' Up!);
Stitched Rectangle Stackables Lawn Cuts (Lawn Fawn); Embossing Folder (Tim Holtz)