Belle Papier {pretty paper}

Bold bright colors and funky combos are a trend that is showing up more and more in the papercrafting world. While I’ve always been a fan of subtler combos…this trend is really catching my eye. It’s fun, funky, warm and it’s perfect for summer. I thought it would be fun to give it a whirl and also plan a challenge around it. Your WT challenge today is to find ways to use bold and bright combos. Check out the challenge here.

Welcome Home

A wild mixture of products, colors and patterns seems to work for this trend. What I think ties this card together is the white in each of the layers. Looking for the stamps in this project? The key from the Key Elements ATC set, the Vintage Text Scrapblock is stamped onto white cardstock and home from the Key Expressions set is stamped into the chipboard painted house.

Quick tip: To keep the project from looking oh so 80’s, use fresh papers and patterns to bring it up to date.

Stamps:
Key ELements (ATC line) by CHF
Key Expressions (MLM line) by CHF
vintage Text Scrapblock by CHf
Ink: Rose Bud & Black Memento Ink by Tsukineko
Paper: Kraft cardstock by Bazzill Basics, Simply smooth Vanilla cardstock by CHF, patterned paper by Fancy Pants Designs & MME
Other: sewing machine, chipboard by Maya Road, Watermelon Paint Dabber by Ranger, dymo label maker, rhinestone heart by MAMBI, labels 1 Nestability die by Spellbinders

Don’t forget…you have until tomorrow morning for a chance to win the Sweet Bee set.

Happy stamping and have a great day!

I’m still buzzing here with yet another Sweet Bee design to share with you today. Actually…I have a little more than that so be sure to read to the end of the post.

I’m buzzing around today trying to get ready for my son’s graduation. Pick up the cake, iron the shirt, tidy the house, help decorate the community center, get teacher gifts ready for last day of school…etc. I’ll be sure to share some pics when it’s over.

Do you like coloring? One of the images in particular in the Sweet Bee set is perfect for it. This image would look great in chalks, watercolors or colored pencils but today I pulled out my Copic markers and airbrush system. I could have masked off the specific details of this image but rather…I just went ahead and airbrushed the entire thing, trying not to get too much spray on the image. I’m a busy girl, what can I say?! Actually…using the Copic colorless blender works great for lightening up areas where you don’t want the sky to be. To get the shimmer on the wings and flowers, I used a clear Copic Spica pen.

Bee Happy

Quick Tip: Spray the sky is two shades to get a realistic effect. I used a soft blue and a purple-tinged blue to airbrush in the background of this image.

Supply List:

Stamps: Sweet Bee (The Rummage Bin line) by CHF
Ink: Black Memento Ink by Tsukineko
Paper: Simply Smooth white cardstock by CHF, patterned paper by MME
Other: Copic markers and air brush, sewing machine, Spica glitter pen by Copic, vintage insertion lace

As for what I have to share with you…I have one Sweet Bee stamp set to send to one lucky winner. Simply comment on this post between now and 8 am EST Friday June  26th for a chance to win. I’ll announce the randomly drawn winner on Friday morning. Good luck!

Off to start my buzzzy day. Take care!

Wow…what a disparate group of items. Actually…the Thomas Kinkade and the fishing do go well together as CHF has a new Thomas Kinkade stamp release, The Fishin’ Hole. This is another smaller vignette image release and I’m loving this size. It makes it super easy to color it without taking as long and it also gives you more space to design around when you’re creating your project.

As for the photo editing part…you know how I love Jessica Sprague courses! Right now JSprague has a two year celebration going on and if you sign up this week…there is a new photo-editing class you can take for free. Guess who must have been one of the first to sign up? LOL I took the Photo Editing: Good to Great workflow class and have been waiting for this one for months.

Fishin

close-up

Quick Tip: To get a realistic image, try to color each detail in the image with two markers for shading. I know many people tell you to color along a color group but I find with these image, you get a more natural look if you use two different shades of green for instance. Where the light hits will have a much warmer green tone than green in the shade.

Supply List:

Stamps: The Fishin’ Hole (Thomas Kinkade line) by CHF
Ink: Black Memento ink by Tsukineko
Paper: Simply Smooth White cardstock by CHF, kraft cardstock by Bazzill Basics, patterned paper by MME
Other: sewing machine, buttons by Autumn Leaves, Copic Markers

Happy creating and don’t forget about those Summer Stamp Star Challenges!
Julia

Happy Monday! It’s officially summer and I have a summer-themed project to share. There’s lots going on today as we have a Challenge Chicks blog hop. It’s been a while so we’re really excited to share some projects with you today.

Have you heard about the Summer Stamp Star Challenge at CHF this summer? It’s a fabulous challenge that you won’t want to miss. There are five weeks of challenges with great prizes and the grand finale will be a guest designer spot at CHF for the month of September. As part of the winning prize, the winner will receive a month’s worth of stamp releases from Cornish Heritage Farms. If you’ve  noticed just how many releases we have a month,  you’ll know that it is a boatload of rubber. Whether Thomas Kinkade or Kim Hughes, Scrapblocks or Rummage Bin, Friendly Kritters or Scene-it are your thing…we can’t wait to see your designs. Be sure to check out the details here.

With five weeks of fun, goes five different challenges. I thought it would be fun to try out some of the challenges and perhaps inspire with ideas for them. The CHF design team has a sample for each of the challenges and for a few of the challenges…more. Check out Lisa Strahl, Becky Olsen, Joanne Allison, Sherrie Siemens, Kristine Reynolds, Jennifer Roach, & Lisa Silver.

Ornamental Resist

Resist techniques seem to be hot in the scrapbooking industry right now but they’ve always been a great technique that stampers have come back to time and time again. My design is for challenge #3: resist. To create my resist I stamped the Ornamental Borders Scrapblock onto some Simply Smooth white cardstock and embossed it with clear embossing powder. I then freehand cut a butterfly mask out of a roll of repositional masking, discarding the actual butterfly and using the negative shape instead. After placing the masking onto my background, I sponged the butterflies first with Dried Marigold Distress ink and then with Worn Lipstick Distress ink. Any dye ink will work well. I love how the embossing resists the dye ink and highlights the stamped pattern on the project.

Supply List:

Stamps: Ornamental Borders Scrapblock by Cornish Heritage Farms

Ink: Distress Embossing Ink, Dried Marigold & Worn Lipstick Distress ink by Ranger

Paper: Simply Smooth White cardstock by CHF, kraft cardstock by Bazzill Basics

Other: buttons by Melissa Frances, ribbon, corsage pins, clear embossing powder by Ranger, heat gun

Happy creating!
Julia

It’s Father’s Day and in honor of the men in our lives, I have some masculine themed designs.Actually none of them are specifically for Father’s Day as I’ve already shared those with you at some previous moment. You’re getting three for the price of one (wink) as I’ve been so busy stamping this past month, I ended up creating a lot of projects.

100 Years of Railroad

This  image is from the B& O Railroad line and is simply stamped. I thought it would be fun to add some texture to the design so I used some embossed Prima chipboard as a layer. The raised areas are highlighted with ink sponged across the surface.

STamps: 100 Years of Railroad (B&O line) by CHF
Ink: Black Memento Ink by Tsukineko, Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink by Ranger
Paper: Simply Smooth Vanilla by CHF, patterned paper by Graphic 45
Other: brad by Karen Foster Design, chipboard by Prima 

Bear at Sunset

I thought this Saturday Evening Post bear needed a beautiful wilderness sunset. The image is colored with my copic markers and the sky blended by flicking color from the bottom and then another shade down from the top until it is well blended.

Quick Tip: Add highlights with a white gel pen.

Stamps: Standing Black Bear (Saturday Evening post line) by Cornish Heritage Farms
Fine Gingham Backgrounder by Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink: Black Memento Ink by Tsukineko, Burnt Umber Palette Ink by Stewart Superior
Paper: Simply Smooth white cardstock by CHF, kraft cardstock by Bazzill
Other: brads & Twill tape by Creative Impressions, linen thread, Copic markers, White Signo Gel Pen 

Birds in Flight

A super simple stamped image paired up with Graphic 45 paper and a little gaffer tape. Guys don’t like frou-frou!

Stamps: Flock of Ducks (SEP line) by Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink: Black Memento ink by Tsukineko, Vintage PHoto Distress Ink by Ranger
Paper: Simply Smooth Vanilla by CHF, patterned paper by Graphic 45
Other: gaffer tape by 7 gypsies, big brad by Karen Foster 

Have a wonderful day with those special dads in your life!
Julia