Thursday, February 28, 2013

Sketchy Challenge - Butterflies

Over at Canadian Scrapbooker they have a monthly challenge.  Since I don't scrapbook, I did a card. 

Here is the layout for the February challenge.  I was running out of time, so this is a bit hasty.... (You don't have to be Canadian to play in the challenge.  And if you use Quietfire stamps then you're filling the Canadian content requirement! Gee, I sound like it's a radio station....)

You can't see my circle in the main photo very well, so here is a detail shot. I used Spellbinders Exquisite Circles and just embossed the die onto the paper, rather than cut.

For the white stamping, I used Colorbox Frost White as a first time user experiment.  I'm not sure the stuff ever dries!  Needless to say, there was some inking indiscretions.  It slowed me right down!
 
Well this was a good bunch of experiments. At least I had an excuse to hit the drafting table.  Since this is the last day of February, I just squeaked in! 
Don't you love the blended ink around the edge of the label shows the embossing so well?  That's the new Spellbinders Gold Label Four (thumbnail link below).
The paper is Glitz Happy Travels.
 
 
I edged the labels by blending Distress Rusty Hinge and VersaMagic Oasis Green as well as the Versafine Crimson.  The images were stamped with Versfine Crimson and VersaMagic Oasis Green.
 
Yogi Grunwald also did this challenge and chose butterflies, but used the Butterfly Circles set.  I used butterflies completely coincidentally! 
 
Thanks for having a look! Suzanne
 

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Bienvenue Lyly!

 
The family face is changing on my husband's side.  Two of his sisters have become grandparents in the last few months!  (I am more than happy to wait for that experience - besides, I'm *far* too young to be a grandparent.....)

Bienvenue Lyly!  She's a real cutie from the photos! This card was made with a deadline - my husband is hand-delivering it to Montreal tonight! 


This little rocking horse is a Martha Stewart sticker I bought over a year ago.  It was quite the challenge to find coordinating paper.  But I dominated that challenge!

 
This is one of the new Spellbinders die sets, Radiant Rectangles.  I knew as soon as I saw it that this set would be very useful because it is rectangles and ovals.  Not only that, it's incredibly versatile.
 
 
 
The lettering was done with Mitchell Roundhand Nibs, sizes 1-1/2, 3-1/2 and 6 using a mixture of Schmincke Gouaches, White, Paris Blue and Chromium Oxide Green on Arches Text Wove paper. The little heart was made with a Gel Extreme.  Between finding the right paper and mixing the gouache to match, this card took quite a few hours and even then, you can see I didn't have the flow of the gouache optimized.
 
My French is so rusty that I had to Google the correct spelling. (but I was right before I checked.  All hope is not lost.)  This lettering was done with a Zig marker.  Mostly because it is instantly dry and I didn't have to worry about wrecking the card at this point!

 
Thanks for visiting! Suzanne
 
Here are thumbnail links to some of the items I used in this card.

Cupcake Birthday!

Okay, so he's 23 today. No more dinosaur/truck/spider birthday cakes.  *sigh*  But cupcakes never go out of fashion.  Turns out, it was Tim Horton's Chocolate Chip Muffins!


 
I used the Happy Birthday part of the Happy Birthday - Cupcakes set on the inside of the card.

 
Here are the thumbnail links to the products I used!

Friday, February 15, 2013

Queen of Hearts Winner on My Blog

My winner in the random draw for my blog post is


What a FUN card - with a simple technique now that you worked out the kinks for us! It's beautiful and fun for any age. This has been a great learning experience!

 
Congratulations Dottie!  Please email me your snailmail address so I can send your prize.  Just click on the Contact Me link in the sidebar>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
 
Thanks to everyone for commenting.  I'm pleased you enjoyed the technique!
Suzanne
 
 

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Quietfire's Queen of Hearts Blog Hop

Welcome! We are sharing our love/Valentine project ideas as we arrive at the Queen Of Hearts event today, February 14, 2013!

It's my turn! I'm glad you are here!
Each day designers have been posting new artwork they have created using Quietfire rubber stamps. This should get your creative juices flowing for your own entry in the Queen of Hearts Challenge.

You can go back and visit all our Designers blogs (see the links below), post a comment on each Blog Hop Post and you will be eligible to win a grab bag of Quietfire Design rubber stamps valued at $50! (Yes, I doubled the value from the original announcement!)

Each Designer will randomly choose a winner from the comments on their own Blog Hop Post, so make sure to leave your comment on all the blogs by
Midnight Thursday, February 14th, 2013.
Tell your friends!

All winners will be posted on the Quietfire creations Blog on Sunday Februrary 17th.
If you are one of our lucky winners, please contact Suzanne privately with your snail mail address.  My email address is in the sidebar >>>>>>
Here are the other blogs you need to go leave comments on:



and here!  Don't forget to leave a comment here!!
 
First of all....
Happy Valentine's Day!
 
I've been seeing lots of projects on the web using the chalkboard look.  I thought I'd see if I could get that look. 
So I took my pastels and rubbed them over the stamp surface and stamped on black paper and oh wow!  It worked.  But.  It really only worked that one time.  So I tried different pastels and putzed around for a while playing with Perfect Pearls, Pearlex and still wasn't happy with the results.  This is what I finally came up with - and was happy with:  A reverse chalkboard look.
 
 
This was so easy, it's embarrassing.... 
 
 
I rubbed the side of the chalk stick on over the black cardstock and used my finger to blend the chalk to a more "solid" surface.  If I didn't do that, all the fine features in the stamps were lost.  I inked up the stamps with VersaMark ink and stamped into the chalked area. The sticky VersaMark ink pulled the chalk off the cardstock surface perfectly.
 
That's it. So fast, you guys!


I would probably recommend spraying the image with Workable Fixative if you were going to give it away or mail it. I have to add a thank you to my Dad, who left behind a pristine piece of chalk in one of his tool chests. Yay Dad, still saving my bacon!         
I hope this gives you something to add to your creative tool chest!
Now just add a bow and a button and you're done. The chipboard is there to make it look a bit like the wooden frame on an old chalkboard. How about that? No fancy ingredients in this project!
 
 
Here are a couple of pastel test using the same technique.  It works!  Stick pastels give you a more chalkboard look than the Conte pencils, but maybe if I'd had enough of the pastel exposed it might have been better.
 
Please leave a comment below so you are eligible to win a $50 grab bag of Quietfire Design Rubber stamps.
Thanks for dropping by!  Good luck!  Suzanne