Vintage collage bookplate

It's no secret that I'm somewhat collage-challenged, and I don't do vintage very well either. But when I saw the antique bookplate technique in the Technique Junkies Newsletter two years ago (Oct 2011), I really liked it. Well, I finally got around to trying it, and it was incredibly easy. It probably really helped that the Stampin Up Botanicals set turned out to be the perfect choice, because it had everything I needed -- script stamp, good sized image and lots of small detail stamps to work with.

I don't usually like distressed edges, either (boy, I'm sounding opinionated here, aren't I?), but I made one without the distressed edges, and I think it works better with a little distressing.

Supplies
Stamps:  Stampin Up Botanicals set
Ink:  SU Creamy Caramel (DTP to age paper) and Memento black
Other items: Colored pencils, flat-back gems, fine-tipped black marker, distressing tool.

I'm entering this card in these challenges:

Simply Create Too #45, Vintage
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, Anything Goes.
 

Herringbone Christmas

This card features the herringbone technique, which I learned from the Technique Junkies Newsletter. It's made with 1/4-inch strips of patterned paper (and yes, it's very time consuming). Here's the funny part. I made a 1/4-page sheet of the herringbone about a year ago, using up some scraps of Christmas patterned paper. Then I couldn't figure out what to do with it, and just left in on my stamping desk. Luckily, it didn't get lost or buried too deeply, because a few days ago someone posted a card to the TJ Yahoo group featuring this technique, and I finally knew what to do with it.

I am entering this card for 365 Cards challenge #271, to make a card that is "festive, with green and a circle". 

The paper is from a Hobby Lobby stack, which includes some glittery paper. Sentiment is from Serendipity.  I got the little holly leaves in a scrapbook kit, and used mini red stubs and green ribbon from my stash.

Cleaner technique

      That's cleaner as in "I used a cleaning product" on it, not that it has less dirt than the average technique.
      The card began its life several weeks ago, when I tried to do a Virtual Stamp Night challenge to use the salted background technique (apply reinker to glossy cardstock, spritz with water and sprinkle on salt). I wasn't pleased with the results, so I washed off the salt and spritzed the inked background with spray Lysol cleaner, which creates a wonderful splatter background. I've only tried a few cleaners on this technique, but I don't think any particular brand is needed. It's probably some basic ingredient in spray cleaners that works its magic this way. If you have some other brand, try it and let us know if it works!
      The resulting design on the paper reminded me of a snowy night, hence this card.  I stamped the tree, then used a white gel pen to add the accumulated snow in the branch joints.  The sentiment features a TJ tecnhique called spirelli -- I found embroidery floss that matched the purple paper and used two strands to get what looked like the perfect weight for that technique.

      The layout here is the sketch that is current challenge at Victorine Originals (VO25).

The details: Trees by Posh Impressions; Sentiment by Hobby Lobby. White gel pen, embroidery floss, Oval and scalloped oval nesties.

Thanksgiving Card

I finally got around to trying some of the new techniques from the current edition of Tecnhnique Junkies.  One, called chalk resist, required chalk ink and a solid stamp, so I used this pumpkin. The technique takes advantage of the fact you can see what is stamped beneath the chalk ink, so the background stamping shows through (although the photo didn't pick it up very well, I just noticed)
I thought the curlicues of the background stamp (an old Stampabilities stamp) were a good complement to the curlicues on the stem of the pumpkins.
The sketch is Card Positioning System   sketch #242. I replaced the paper clip with a tiny safety pin and a bow. The flower seen in the picture looked too stark white; after taking the photo I sponged on some orange ink to make it fit in better.
Other details:
Inks:  colorbox Chalk in tangerine and chestnut roan; Memories shadow ink in pale leaf
Sentiment: taken from two different sets

Fall Fun

You're probably sick of me saying that fall is my favorite time of the year. Looking at blogs and other sites, I think a lot of cardmakers are inspired by fall colors and images.  So, I was delighted to make a fall card that fits Really Reasonable Ribbon's Fun 4 Fall theme  (RRR34) and Victorine Original's Fall theme (VO19).
I don't usually do a lot of distressing, but fall seems like an appropriate time for the distressed look.  Two different distressing techniques I learned from Technqiues Junkies came in handy.
I used distressed coloring blocking in yellow and brown ink to add color to the image (which someone sent me as an RAK, so I don't know the origin), and framed the image with a "torn frame." I wrapped the image with gingham ribbon and added a leaf brad before matting it on the frame.
The autumn sentiment is from Purple Onion Design, and I finished the card off with faux stitching.

Embellished Circles

I've been wanting to try a technique from the latest Technique Junkies newsletter for a while. It's called embellished circles, and the title pretty much says it all. As part of my haul of goodies from last week's yard sale (see previous post), I have a new pack of Autumn Leaves stamps that are all variations on circles, so I'm fully prepared.

I used the color scheme from the current Off the Wall Craftiness challenge (OTWC53, inspiration photo at right.)

I like the fun, casual effect of the technique.

Supplies -- Large circle is Impression Obsession, the rest are Autumn Leaves (except sentiment).

Inks -- Colorbox Prussian Blue; Ice Blue and Dark Moss; Versamark Sand and Bamboo.

Bow (Martha Stewart), rhinestones, silk flower and mini brad.

Fun with new techniques

I created this card for this week's Off The Wall Craftiness challenge, OTWC11 which is to use brown and robin's egg blue on a card. The inspiration photos included a bird's nest, so I pulled out this bird's next stamp by Impression Obsession. It's stamped with Colorbox Chalk chestnut roan ink, and sponged on the egdes with SU Blue Bliss.

I used a Technique Junkies technique called torn frames to highlight the image. Now, normally, I don't go for distressed anything, but I really like how this came out. I added some silk flowers (sponged with the SU ink) and a little tag. Once I had all that put together, I decided the card needed a little more, so I tried faux stitching -- piercing holes around the edge and connecting them with gel pen. I must say, when you're at just a short distance away, it really does look real.

Neither TJ techniques are "new" -- as in from the latest newsletter -- but I hadn't tried either of them until now, and I am really pleased with what they add to this card.

Poppies

When I saw the "word" for this month's SmART-Words challenge was "flowers" I was already mentally going through my huge array of flower images. I'm going to bet I'm not alone in owning dozens of floral stamps. And I keep looking at more.

I spent part of the weekend playing with the techniques from the newest Technique Junkies Newsletter. They all looked so easy on paper, but I didn't have much success with several. I tried the one called Metallic Parchment a few times, as I've seen lots of cards done with it, and it looks stunning. I was reasonably happy with my second attempt, and decided to use it for this card. To complement it, I turned to this recently acquired poppy digistamp, which I got from Bird's Blog (she does freebies quite frequently). I colored it to match the Metallic Parchment colors (poppy doesn't grow around here, and I've only ever seen red poppies in pictures) so the colors may not be botanically correct. I picked up the gold metallic from the "parchment" with gold ribbon and cording and a very thin border from a gold pen around the main image panel. The button dropped out of the box when I was cleaning up the stamping area and it matched -- it seemed like I just had to incorporate it somehow.

EIC70

The Etsy Inspired challenge (EIC70) this week is Skylar's Candy Clips, an Etsy shop that sells hair clips decorated with felt flowers. They are all very cute. Most of them are bright and colorful, but I chose this white flower. A few weeks ago, someone did a mono-white card for the EIC challenge, and I was going to try that, but I got drawn to this light lavender, and ended up just doing light pastels.

The lavender is done a TJ technique called faux painted panel. That gave it sort of a vintage feel, and the Anna Griffin stamp of hydrangea worked so well with it. And I found the perfect ribbon to match -- it's a bit of Offray ribbon. The ink is Versamagic Petunia.

EIC54, I heart flowers

This week's Etsy Inspired Challenge, #54, sends us to an Etsy shop called I Heart Flowers, which offers both lovely photos of -- what else? -- flowers, and jewelry. I love filigree work, so I was drawn to this filigreed piece as my inspiration. That gave me a chance to try a new Technique Junkies technique, called Alcohol Ink Foil. The foil is the "filigree," and I tried to pick up the jewel colors in my flowers -- pinkish and yellow.

The stamp is from Impression-Obsession, and that's the cuttlebug textile plate.

If you don't normally do the Etsy challenge, check it out. I Heart Flowers has donated a gorgeous pair of earrings for this week's winner. (pick me, pick me!)

Etsy Inspired #38

This week's Etsy Inspired Challenge #38) is Bacon Square Farm (now there's an interesting name, wonder what the story is?). This Etsy site sells home decor items, many made from recycled items including barn wood and recycled pieces of metal (such as door knobs and faucet handles.)

My inspiration piece was a birdhouse decorated with a recycled white doorknob. So how did I end up with a butterfly? Well, my former neighbor used to have butterfly houses -- I always thought the idea of a butterfly house was very odd, but it's really stuck with me, I guess.

The butterfly is white embossed on vellum, which is attached to mulberry paper. I made the background paper by sponging different colors of orange chalk onto white CS, then created a grid pattern (a TJ technique). There are minibrads on the corners of the dark strip. Butterfly is by Stamps on Fire, sentiment is Another Stamp Co. (Silly me, I just realized I used "inspire" on an inspiration card.)