NOT A GOOD PLACE

I am not in a very good place right now. No real creating going on at the moment. I am worried sick about my mom, who fell last Friday, broke her hip and her hand, had surgery on her hip, and is now not doing well at all. 

My husband and I live two hours away from her. We were there on Friday, the day it all happened, and stayed until she came out of surgery. We drove home that night. My sister and brother-in-law are in the same town as Mom, and are doing a wonderful job of watching over her, and subsequently keeping me up to date on any developments, as she is still in the hospital. 

We are going to spend the next day or two with her, so that will be better for my psyche. Or will it? 

My dad died a little more than a year ago. His death was the result of complications from a fall and hip fracture, plus dementia. When we heard Friday morning that Mom had fallen, and was being transported via ambulance to the hospital, and then later, after x-rays, that her hip was broken, I felt like my nightmare was starting all over again. Luckily, she doesn't have dementia, and is in fairly good health otherwise. 

She was a devoted caregiver to my dad for the ten years he was sick, tending to his every need 24/7. She is having a difficult time trying to understand why she is still here, feeling that her mission on earth was to take care of dad. And now he's gone.

Being worried sick is not too conducive to constructive creating. I know I look to Creative Therapy in times of great stress, but this is proving to be too much for Creative Therapy alone. I am referring to Creative Therapy in which I end up with a satisfying result.

Sunday started the time of mindless "creating". 

From the Stampin' Up! CLEARANCE RACK, I had ordered the lovely Leaflets Framelits Dies, originally $27.00, but on the Clearance Rack, for $16.20. I'd had them in my possession for a few days, so Sunday, when I wasn't feelin' it, I ripped open that package, shuffled through all my scraps of Designer Series Papers in search of fall-feeling prints, and went to work. 

I even pulled up a chair to my Big Shot (because too much constant standing hurts my back), and started cranking out beautiful autumn leaves. Crank. Crank. Crank. The. Stress. Away.

Monday I continued in the same vein. Until I have enough leaves now to fill an empty backyard.

I have no idea what I am going to do with this plethora of leaves. None whatsoever. 

But it's helping with the stress. 

I think.

My leaf pile is pictured above.

I'm not sure if I'm finished.

We'll see how this all plays out.

Worried

Smiles.

REVERSE CLONE TECHNIQUE

Normally (and these times are anything BUT normal!), I would have held my monthly Stamp-In Workshop yesterday, April 13. But, obviously under the current circumstances, an in-home workshop was completely out of the question.

With this in mind, I sent a care packet to my regular Stamp-In customers. In lieu of a workshop and the chance to share something new with them, the USPS brought them a mini workshop. In the sunshine packet, I included a letter, a few pieces of DSP, a snippet of trim and a square of acetate, as well as the directions sheet for making a card using a new technique.

The technique, reverse clone technique (I don't know if this is an official name, but it fits), is new to me. 

Do you ever have a cute figure stamp where the character is facing in one direction? But you'd like this little guy/gal to be able to have a conversation with another figure just like him or her? Or how about a reflection? A stand of trees alongside a body of water, just begging to be reflected in the water.

Well, with this technique, you can do this type of stamping. In my experience with it, it's not perfect. But then, what in life is actually perfect?

The previous two paragraphs shown here is how I introduced their mini workshop in my letter to my girls. I continued:

Your assignment is to create a card using this technique. You can use the DSP and/or ribbon in your card. But you don't need to. 

When we can finally start to get together again for our workshops (May???), please bring your creation along with you to share with everyone.

With all that said, I promised that I would publish in this blog post the card I created using the reverse clone technique:

Since they were two froggies (from last year's Sale-A-Bration!), I couldn't resist using some of the delectable DSP from this year's Sale-A-Bration. Of course, you would find two frogs having a conversation in a lily pond!

The frogs also begged me to let them have googly eyes, so I graciously complied with their request.

The little water ripples in which they are submerged is cut with a cool die from the Lakeside die set on page 193 of the Annual Catalog.

In looking at my completed card, can you tell which is the cloned frog? I realize, as I'd mentioned previously, that the technique is not perfect, but still satisfying enough in the results.

Following are the directions I sent to my girls on how to do the technique. Read them over, and if you are so moved, try it out on your own! It's fun!

DIRECTIONS:
You will need a piece of clear acetate (or Window Sheets, page 169 in the Annual Catalog) slightly larger than the stamp you plan to use in your project.

In my sample I used a whimsical frog facing slightly to the right. Stamp the image onto Whisper White cardstock (if you plan on coloring it), or cardstock of your choice.

In a nonpermanent black ink (DO NOT USE STAZ ON INK; IT IS PERMANENT), stamp an image onto the acetate. Be careful not to wobble or move the stamp and pick it straight up off the acetate. If you are not careful, you will get an indistinct image. If this does happen, simply rub it off with a baby wipe and start again.

Be sure to use a good black ink. I used Memento Tuxedo Black Ink because I wanted to color in my froggies with Stampin' Blends.

Working quickly, position the reversed clone exactly where you want it near the stamped image on the cardstock. If you're doing a reflection, do the same thing.

Use the edge of a bone folder, and holding the acetate tightly in place, scrape across the acetate to transfer the image where you want it. You need to scrape all the stamped ink onto the cardstock. If, when you lift it up, a bit still remains on the acetate, carefully set it back in place and do a little more scraping.

I did find that the cloned image is not quite as dark as the original. But, if you color it somehow, that seems to diminish the differences.

Once you have your cloned image, decide how you want to finish your card and proceed from there.

Wipe off the acetate with a baby wipe for use in another future project.

Cloned

Smiles.

HAPPY FALL, Y'ALL!

Hey!

Happy Fall, Y'All!

Today, the official first day of Autumn, I wanted to share something fallish with you. So, I present to you these two punkins made from Stampin' Up! Designer Series Paper.

I am a paper hoarder. Did you know that about me? Stampin' Up!'s DSP is so exquisite that I have a tendency to hang on and hang on and hang on. I'm sure many of you know firsthand what I'm talking about. I am especially bad about seasonal paper. Sure, I'll use SOME of it, but the rest? Hang on -- just in case.

Well, I'm glad I hung on to fall/Halloween DSPs I've owned over the years. Because this project took a lot of sheets of different designs. And I had to be extra careful that the oranges blended well, and that the neutral in the papers was Very Vanilla as opposed to white. 

These are the two pumpkins I made. One takes six sheets of DSP, while the other -- smaller -- one requires 12 sheets. 

This next photo shows the two of them sort of from the top.

I made the first pumpkin a couple days ago. For this one, I used a 4" circle die to cut out six different fallish Designer Series Papers. I then folded each of the circles in half precisely. In making these, or any other similar project, it is so so important to be precises in folding,  matching, etc. It is too easy to be a little haphazard when doing these projects, and then the final result is a little wonky, and/or doesn't sit up straight. So, be careful!

When I was using stripes, I was absolutely sure that the stripes went exactly up and down. Once I had all six of the 4" circles folded in half, I realized that I should have folded the good sides -- the sides I wanted facing outwards -- together. So, I refolded my six circles, creasing each one well with a bone folder.

Then, I carefully looked at all the prints and decided the order I would add the circles together, in hopes that the papers would be differing enough if they were to be right next to each other. If you know what I mean. Once I had my circles stacked the way I wanted them to appear, I started with the first circle folded in half, adding Tombow Multipurpose Glue (Green Glue!) to one side, being careful to not get glue too close to the folded edge. Being precise once again, I took the next circle in line, and matched up that half. Each time I added another folded circle, I clunked the folded flat edge against the table to be double sure that it was all straight and even. I continued on in this manner through my entire pile of circles. 

At this point, I made a critical mistake. Yes, I was sort of making this up as I went along. OK, here's the mistake: I finished the pumpkin circle by gluing together the first and last circles so I had a complete pumpkin shape. Great. This presented me with two problems.

When I set the pumpkin up, it was wobbly. Of course, the bottom was ROUNDED. What did I expect?!? I folded the pumpkin flat, and went to my trusty old Stampin' Up! guillotine papercutter, and trimmed a bit off of one end. Happily, it was only six layers of paper, and the cutter handled the job. Whew.

Now, another problem I then discovered:

I needed to add the stem, leaves and curlicue. How was I going to do that??? Luckily, I'd had the foresight to not glue too close to the folds on each of the circles. So, there was just enough of a gap at the top of the pumpkin to do some weird insertions. 

For the stem, I took a piece of cool kraft packing material that came in my Young Living box, cut it to the appropriate size, and rolled it tightly, gluing the end to the stem. I added glue to the bottom of the stem and wiggled it into place.

Next I did the same with the diecut leaves and the squiggly. I did carefully undo that last gluing to slip them into place, keeping my fingers crossed that nothing would tear or buckle in the process. I lucked out, and it worked just fine.

The first pumpkin with mistakes and only six pieces of paper:

That pumpkin seen from above.

It doesn't have a whole lot of character, in my opinion.

This afternoon, I'd had my heart set on creating a smaller but fuller pumpkin. For this one, I needed to go into my stash again to find more fallish prints that would work well with the six I'd used on the first pumpkin. As luck would have it, I was able to manage it.

I then die cut TWELVE different papers into 3 1/4" circles. Once that was finished -- you know, they say that experience is the best teacher -- I took my folded half circles to my papercutter, and one by one, tucked the straight folded edge against the top of the cutter, moved the pumpkin to the 3" mark, and snipped off that much. By being so careful, I was able to get through all 12 circles and have them all match.

Experience again: I learned to fold my circles in half by putting the "good" sides together. The only exception was when it was a stripe or a distinct design. Then I needed to put the "bad" sides together for the first fold so I could match things up. At that point, I turned it "inside out" and used a bone folder to crease my folds. 

I proceeded as with the first pumpkin then. After sorting to get a good combo of designs, I started to glue it together. But . . . I DID NOT GLUE THE PUMPKIN TOGETHER. Yay me!

For the stem, I did the same thing, but could comfortably glue it in place with the pumpkin lying in an open state. I used a different leaf die to cut the two leaves for this pumpkin, and glued them in place. It was a little tricky to get it glued back together with the extra bulk, but I got it to work.

The smaller,, but fatter, pumpkin from above:

And the two of them side by side together once again:

Now, here's the question: Do you prefer the pumpkin with fewer circles or the fatter one with twice the number of circles?

I love learning from my mistakes. When working with more expensive paper like Designer Series Paper, it is heartbreaking if you make an error and are not able to work with it to rectify the situation. Then it gets garbaged. Grrrr. But, I lucked out, even though I'd had a few errors on the first one, and was able to salvage the situation.

Fall

Smiles.

KISSED CACTUS

There are ever so many wonderful old stamping techniques out there that I, as well as lots of others I'm sure, tend to forget about. But they are so good that we just have to do our best to keep them alive and thriving.

One of those techniques is that of "kissing". I know it sounds really romantic, but it's really not. It's just a great way to add some wonderful texture to a stamped image that might otherwise have little to no personality.

In my card today, that's how I did the pot in which the cactus grows.

The pot would otherwise have been just a plain solid stamped pot. But, a little kissing added lots of unexpected personality to it.

You can see in the images below  how different each of the pots are. That's part of the beauty of kissing, the unpredictability.

To do kissing, ink up a solid stamp with a color that you want your base color to be. Take a dry -- uninked -- stamp with some line work, as you can see in the rubber stamp in the lower right of the photo. Place the uninked stamp onto the base inked stamp and give it a little twist. Not too much. Too much twisting can remove more of the detail than you'd like.Then lift the uninked stamp straight up. And your pot is finished!! The kissing is complete.

Once my pot was kissed, I fussy cut it and glued it to a piece of cardstock that I was going to use as my focal point. Next step was to plant the cactus inside the pot.

Other than the layers of cardstock, this is basically a one-layer card, not much dimension at all, except for the cactus layer popped up with Stampin' Dimensionals on the DSP layer.

Here's a tutorial on how to make a card similar to this one.

SUPPLIES:

White cardstock

Soft Succulent cardstock

Recycled light-colored cardstock

Designer Series Paper

Forever Fern stamp set (retiring)

Cactus Cuties stamp set (retired)

Melon Mambo ink

Soft Succulent ink

Gray Granite ink

Die Cutting/Embossing Machine

Deckled Recctangle Dies (page 163 in the new Annual Catalog)

Stampin' Dimensionals

INSTRUCTIONS:

Fold a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of white cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

To this card base, add a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Designer Series Paper that will coordinate with the rest of the card elements.

Set this aside for now while we work on the focal point area.

Using the Deckled Rectangle Dies, die cut from Soft Succulent cardstock a 3" x 4 1/4" rectangle, and from a light-colored neutral cardstock, using the same dies, cut a 2 5/8" x 4" rectangle. Adhere these two together.

On white cardsdtock, in Soft Suffuculent ink, stamp the two pieces of the lined cactus. In Melon Mango ink, stamp the flower. Fussy cut these components, leaving a fine white margin.

On white cardstock, you will be stamping your pot using the kissing technique. Ink up the pot image with Gray Granite ink. Take a clean stamp with lines of interest on it (I used a flower stamp) and place the stamp to the inked pot and give it a quick twist. Stamp the kissed stamp onto white cardstock. This will provide an interesting textured look to the pot. Fussy cut the pot.

On the layered rectangles, lay out your pot and cactus, and, once satisfied, glue the cactus in place and add the pot with a couple Stampin' Dimensionals.

Adhere this completed focal point to the card.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Close your eyes and I’ll kiss you, 

Tomorrow I’ll miss you.

- Paul McCartney -

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Kissed

Smiles.

GHOSTLY TREES

There seems to be many ways of doing a technique referred to as "ghosting". In fact, I have done a few of the other ways myself.

Recently, however, I ran into a suggestion to do "ghosting" using a stencil! 

I had just received my order for the new Basic Pattern Decorative Masks, only $6.00 for four 6" x 6" masks! I felt this was the perfect opportunity to put one of these masks, a.k.a., stencils, to work. I chose the one that looks like a forest of trees. By the way, this set of masks can be found on page 35 of the Creativity Is Calling catalog, which goes live on September 4.

The first one I tried was in my mind not quite a success. I'd used Gray Granite cardstock and ink, thinking that would be a good combination for the look of a forest. Using White Craft Ink against the fairly light color of cardstock inhibited me unduly when trying to line up the mask again to use the Gray Granite ink. And then, once I'd finished I felt the white couldn't be seen well enough.

Let me back up a bit. 

In order to do the Ghosting in this fashion, cut your cardstock to the size you want to work with. I cut mine to 3 3/4" x 5", a size that allows for a mat and then the card base.

Lay the cardstock onto your work surface. Position the stencil over the cardstock. With some sort of removable tape -- I used Post It Tape -- adhere the mask in place while you do the first step. 

The photo below shows my mask taped in place, as well as the Sponge Brayer.

You can use any of your favorite tools to add the ink, such as Stampin'  Sponges or Sponge Daubers. I, however, decided to dig out my unopened box of Sponge Brayers (page 181 of the Annual Catalog) and give them a try. I had had this box tucked away ever since they'd been introduced years ago.

Once you have the mask taped in place, use one of the Sponge Brayers to begin brayering White Craft (Pigment) Ink across the stencil. When inking up the brayer, run it across the ink pad several times, always in one direction, to ink it up well. Once you have the layer of white ink laid down, carefully peel the mask up and away. Immediately clean off the sponge brayer and the mask with warm water before continuing. Because Craft Ink stays wet fairly long, use the Heat Tool to make sure the ink is completely dry before moving on to the next step. 

Once the first layer is dry, reposition the mask. Only this time, move it just to the right or left or up or down from the first bit of brayering you did. Just a little "off" from the first layer of ink. This will give the ghosting effect.

I chose the same ink color as cardstock color I was working on. Using a second sponge brayer, repeat the process, only this time with the matching ink. Carefully remove the mask. Since this is water-based ink, it will dry quickly. Wash off your brayer and the mask.

As I mentioned, my first try was not a success. At least, I thought it was at first. 

So I tried it again, carefully choosing a color on which I thought white would show up better. This time, I went with Old Olive. This is a nice color to use for a forest in the middle of the growing season. However, these trees don't have any leaves, so, to me, it looks a bit weird.

Shown below are my two attempts. I must admit that working on the green, it was easier to see the white ink for repositioning.

Well, so there you have it. My two attempts. Now what? I decided to embrace it all and turn them into simple cards.

Although they don't look very red in the photos, I'd stamped two cardinals in the trees of each of the "forests". 

This first photo shows my first attempt with the Gray Granite cardstock and ink. Once the white ink had dried further, it showed up a bit better than I'd originally thought it would.

Then we have the Old Olive attempt. While easier to work with, the final look isn't quite as satisfying as I'd mentioned previously the question of why bare naked trees are set against a green background?

And, then close-ups of what the trees look like after their ghostly treatment:

The two cards side by side. The serene feeling of the background 

prompted me to add this particular sentiment.

Now that you know how to do another version of "ghosting", do you think you'll give it a try?

Ghostly

(Ghastly??)

Smiles.

BELIEVE

I woke up this morning, the first day of a new year, 2022, with a feeling of something like despair. The feeling that 2022 isn't going to be a good year for me. Not a great way to begin a brand new year. After the last two years we've experienced, I suppose that's not an unusual feeling for some of us to have.

The way I understand it, it's always important to maintain a positive outlook on life. I've been having such difficulty in doing that, especially lately. 

For that reason, I chose to showcase this card today. Because the sentiment is so fitting.

BELIEVE.

I vow to BELIEVE that the  year will be an improvement over the past two years. I BELIEVE the world will be a better place during the year 2022. Do you BELIEVE it will be?

The card is created on Balmy Blue cardstock, a color that I think works so well with snowflakes.

Have you ever created anything using two colors of embossing powder? I think it has a wonderful interesting look that is a step up from single color embossing.

To do multi-color embossing, stamp some of your images in VersaMark ink randomly across the cardstock, leaving ample space in which to stamp more images. 

Cover the initial stamped images in one color of embossing powder and heat set. 

Stamp more images in the spaces in between in VersaMark. This time, sprinkle a different color of embossing powder and heat to set. 

On my card, I only used two colors of embossing powder, gold and silver. If you space things just right, you can do even more colors. The colors need to be embossed separately. 

You can try a few colors of embossing powders in a single stamping, carefully dropping the powders over the stamped images. In this case, however, you will be contaminating any excess powder since they will mix as you tap it off and the powder colors mix. If you don't mind having a mixture of embossing powders, this is a way to get more than one color on a single image.

After the embossing was done, I used snowflake dies from a few sets to cut smaller Balmy Blue snowflakes, which I adhered over some of the embossed snowflakes.

I used a Dark Balmy Blue Stampin' Blend to color some Basic Rhinestones. Others I left in their natural color. I added these rhinestones to the centers of all the snowflakes.

It's the simple sentiment --- BELIEVE -- that gives the real meaning to the feeling behind this snowy card.

How positive do you feel about this new year? Do you BELIEVE that it will be a good one? 

Happiest New Year to all of you!

Believing

Smiles.

IRRESISTIBLE RESIST

Using the resist technique in a papercrafting project is always sure to impress and is really fun to do. One of the greatest things about any resist is that it is so unpredictable. It is impossible to get the same look more than once.

I usually use ink pads or ink pad reinkers when I do my resist projects. This time, however, I decided to use actual watercolors. I used Koi Watercolors by Sakura in this card.

It is difficult to get a great stamped impression on very textured watercolor paper. 

I used a stamp press tool, and even after stamping it a few times, 

it didn't come out great once it was embossed.

Part of the problem is that I was stamping in VersaMark ink, which is clear. 

And, even though it looks like you might have a good image, 

once the embossing is done, 

you discover that the ink wasn't as evenly applied as you'd thought (hoped). 

The little gaps in the embossing provide a bit more interest 

in that it gives the color one more place to go.

You see, the whole purpose of the resist technique is that wherever you apply the resist -- in this case embossing -- that area will repel added color. 

So, anything that's not covered with the resist will allow the color to sink into the paper.

You can do the resist technique on virtually any type of cardstock. But, because I was going to be adding lots and lots of water to my surface for this project, I chose to use heavyweight watercolor paper. 

To do this type of resist, rub your paper surface well with an Embossing Buddy to make sure you don't have embossing powder where you don't want it. Stamp your desired image in VersaMark ink. Cover the stamped image with clear embossing powder and use a heat tool to set it until it is shiny all over. There. Now your resist is in place.

Paint the entire surface of the watercolor paper with clear water. I brushed it on with a clean wide brush. Carefully add watercolor, not letting it pool too much in one spot. Move it around a bit. You can use the heat tool to speed the drying in between. But, you get a much different look if you let it air dry. So, if  you have the patience, that is really the way to go. If you get too much pooling at the edges, gently wick it up with a clean dry paper towel. 

If you use too many colors with this technique, you run the risk of it all turning to mud. The nice thing about working with variations of the primary colors -- red, yellow and blue -- is that they all blend beautifully, and the risk of making mud is minimal.

Once you are happy with the looks of your dried piece, take a bit of paper towel just slightly moistened and gently rub it across the embossed image to remove the bit of color that may have adhered.

With this technique, unless you use painters tape to flatten it on to a firm surface, you are going to get some buckling and warping. Not to worry. Simply use a good liquid glue to adhere it firmly to a cardstock base. 

Look at my first photo. You cannot notice any unevenness, can you?

For a brighter, less subtle look, use white embossing powder in lieu of clear. The use of white makes the stamped and embossed image pop much more.

What is your favorite resist technique to use? Please share with us!

Resist-able

Smiles.

COLOR CRAZY

I am here to permit you -- no ENCOURAGE you -- to get a little crazy with color once in awhile.

You see, I've been coloring these flowers for several months now. I finally got tired of trying to make them look realistic, traditional, and/or at least, cohesive.

Do you remember me talking about these coloring pages of Designer Series Paper that Stampin' Up! had available during Sale-A-Bration?

I love them, and am tending to hoard them. In fact, one of the designs is still sitting whole and untouched. I don't want to RUIN it! Huh? Linda!!

Two of the designs I had cut up into 3 1/4" x 4 3/4" pieces for a workshop I'd had featuring them. I took all the unused (unloved??) pieces that were left over, and stuck them inside a folder which I bring to the 319 Gallery where I volunteer each Tuesday.

Recently, while I was there I pulled out a piece similar to the one I show above. I looked at all those lovely hand-drawn flowers, trying to decide what to do. I'd colored them in so many different ways. I wanted something that wasn't so cliche.

I always bring along with me to the Gallery a random selection of my Copic Markers. Seriously, no rhyme or reason for the colors I bring with me. I'd love to bring them all, but since I have about 130 of them, it's way too heavy. So I just pack up whatever fits in a pencil box.

I decided to treat this sparse floral scene the same way -- randomly.

I blindly grabbed inside my container for a marker, and colored two petals in that color -- two petals not near each other, but on different parts of the canvas.

Next, I randomly selected another marker, and colored two distant petals in that color. 

I continued in that fashion until I had all the petals colored, sometimes reusing colors I'd already used. What a feast for the eyes! The mishmash of colors was so much fun! No rhyme or reason gave way to a plethora of colorful petals. Fun!

And talk about coloring being therapeutic! Doing it in this fashion requires little thinking. Just do it!

 I decided to leave the dragonfly as is, thus adding no color to him at all. Later on in the process, he seemed kind of like dead wood, so I added a layer of clear Wink of Stella. Of course, no matter how I positioned this while taking the photos, I could not capture the glisten. Just imagine that it really is there. It is!

After I had all the flowers colored in, sure, it was fun and vibrant, but there was so much WHITE space. I know, I know. A certain amount of white space is a good thing. A place for the eyes to rest, a break from the routine, etc. etc.

 But I wanted MORE! And I just did not want to color all that white space. Yuk. Boring.

So I drew in squiggly double lines to create a grid across the piece. Then, having three markers in the yellow family with me that day, I randomly colored in each of those squares with a yellow hue, not paying attention to the fact that sometimes the same color is next to the same color. Like I keep saying: RANDOM. The theme of this piece.

Do you notice that the black mat the piece is set onto is cut squiggly to match the squiggly lines of the grid? I thought that was a cool touch.

After I had my background completed, the flowers seemed a little lost. Believe it or not. With all that color. Refer back to the photo of the uncolored piece. See how the line work is just that? Line work?

So I had a great time RANDOMLY thickening the lines of the flowers. Yes! I really liked that!

Since, of course, because it's what I do, I turned the creation into a card. And here it is!

So there! How little fun it is to constantly follow the tried and true path. Have a blast and do things RANDOMLY! It will be a complete surprise as to what you end up with. Sure to be a little different and outside the box!

Random

Smiles.

ADVENTURE AWAITS

What a fun time I had in putting together the April 2018 Paper Pumpkin kit, You Are My Anchor! I made the entire kit as per the instructions, but found myself with lots of leftovers. Always a nice thing.

So, using some of these leftovers, and adding a little from my stash I came up with the card below yesterday. The main feature I'd planned for this card was the wavy-looking white backdrop for the lighthouse piece. Do you have any idea how I accomplished this look? Keep reading!

The April 2018 Paper Pumpkin kit, You Are My Anchor:

Let's see. What did I use from the kit in my card, you ask? The set of 16 photopolymer stamps (YES, SIXTEEN!!) came in handy for the lighthouse image, the sentiment, the wavy border and the starfish on the round tag. Also all three of these tags were among the leftovers. Everything else came from my personal stash.

Hmm, there's a closer view of that intriguing background. Keep reading!

If you look closely, I used that same technique to add a touch of Island Indigo to the Calypso Coral starfish. I'd also added a couple sequins (which, according to these photos, do not match), as well as some solid Calypso Coral Baker's Twine to add to the nautical look. (The kit had used a natural-colored cord, which I'd almost used up in the projects.)

The woodgrain background paper, as well as the two strips at the top and bottom of the lighthouse piece and the matting for the sentiment all came from the delightful Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack on page 187 of the current catalog. And I am so excited that this stack will appear once again in the new catalog that goes live on June 1! Another year of wondrous wood!

Anyway, I don't know if you can pick it up from the photo or not, but the strips on the lighthouse piece had been run through the Big Shot inside the Pinewood Planks 3D Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, found on page 211. So, it is a double whammy of WOOD -- not only the look, but also the texture. The larger piece on the card is just the paper -- no embossing.

Aw, you've been so patient. 

I will now reveal my secret for the wavy blue on white background:

So easy! And so fun to do! Just wind a couple rubber bands around the removable roller of your brayer, and reinsert. I am lucky enough to still possess the hard acrylic roller that Stampin' Up! carried some time ago, so that's what I used. You can also use the rubber portion of the brayer, but I would remove the rubber bands as soon as you are done, unless you want permanent grooves in your brayer. (Might be a cool look, but not sure I'd wanna risk it!)

Once your rubber bands are in place, roll the brayer across the ink pad in one direction only about 6-7 times to ink up the entire thing. Before using it on your "good" cardstock, ink it up and run it across some scrap paper. Keep adjusting the rubber bands until you are happy with the look. THEN, use it on your "good" cardstock.

When I made my piece for my card, I initially thought I would use it the entire background, so cut the cardstock to 4" x 5 1/4". However, the large piece turned out to be too overwhelming, so I cut it down to a mere 2 1/2" x 4". Below are the leftover pieces -- good for another project!

A few other options would be to first ink up the background in one color, remove as much of the first color as possible from the rubber bands, then follow up with another color. I've already even done a plaid with this technique by brayering both horizontally and vertically. Another thing I've done in the past is to do the rubber band lines in VersaMark, then covered them with a metallic embossing powder. You can check out a card I made using this technique a long time ago HERE. Great look!

OK. Now that you know how easy it is to make a cool background, are you going to give it a try?

Adventure-ous

Smiles.