Archive for Autumn
Video Tutorial on Watercoloring Embossed Leaves using Stampin’ Up!’s Aquapainters….& some Secret Comment Patrol Winners
Posted: Monday, September 28th, 2009 | Comments
Today I wanted to share with you another card I created using Stampin’ Up!’s aquapainters and Classic reinkers. This card layout was inspired by one that I saw in last year’s fall issue of Papercrafts magazine.
This technique is slightly different than the one I showed on Friday because the image was first embossed in gold embossing powder. I used the reinkers at virtually full strength to achieve a more intense look. Also, instead of using Stampin’ Up!’s beautifully thick 140 lb weight watercolor paper, I used a 90 lb weight watercolor paper I picked up at an art supply store. I opted for the lighter weight watercolor paper because when saturated with water, the edges tend to curl, giving the leaves a much more realistic look. I know, I know, Taken with Teal leaves isn’t exactly realistic, but it’s one of the colors in the Autumn Meadows DP which is why I pulled that color into the leaves. You can see exactly how the card was made in the video below:
Directions:
- Stamp the leaves from the Autumn Splendor stamp set onto a piece of watercolor paper in Encore Gold ink. Sprinkle on gold embossing powder and heat emboss.
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Take a small plastic palette and place a drop of the following colors of reinker each into their own well: Close to Cocoa, Really Rust, More Mustard and Taken with Teal.
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Color in the leaves and the acorn using the reinkers and your aquapainter. Let them dry and then blot off any excess ink using a paper towel.
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Cut out the leaves using a pair of paper snips, being sure to leave a small border around the outside edge of each leaf.
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Mat a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Autumn Meadows DP onto a 4-1/8″ x 5-3/8″ piece of Chocolate Chip CS. Mat the Chocolate Chip CS onto a 4-1/4″ x 5-1/2″ Really Rust card (created by taking a 4-1/4″ x 11″ piece of Really Rust CS and folding it in half using a bone folder).
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Take a 1-1/2″ x 5-3/8″ strip of Chocolate Chip CS and tie an 8″ piece of Dusty Durango Polka Dot Grosgrain ribbon around it in a knot. Slide the ribbon upwards so that it is about 1-1/2″ up from the bottom of the CS strip.
- Stamp your greeting in the bottom right corner of the DP in Chocolate Chip Classic ink. Stick the leaves onto the CS strip using Snail adhesive. Stick the acorns onto the CS strip with a mini glue dot. You’re done!
1. Julie
September 24th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
LOL on the “hint, hint” comment. That is so fun!!! I’m so sorry to hear about your trial with the storage unit. That is truly distressing. In the meantime, you’ve created a very fun card. I never would have thought of the idea to use circle circus on the tree!!!! Clever girl, you!
2. Leslie Jones
September 24th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
Andrea,
I am so very sorry that those special items were lost. I have been through a similar situation, having lost grandfather’s letters to my grandmother during World War II. I am the oldest grandchild, so I was given these letters. I should have been more careful. They were in a small shoebox, and when I moved from an apartment after I got married, it must have gotten thrown away with several other boxes of things. I’ve never seen them again. Not only do I feel awful, but I feel guilty for depriving my cousins the opportunity to read those lovely letters. It was around the time that I lost these that I decided to start scrapbooking. To get those important documents and pieces into a place they will be taken care of. Old habits die hard though, I have old photos, old recipe cards, and the like in none other than shoe boxes. They are labeled this time “Do NOT Throw Away!”
Again, I am so sorry, because I know that it feels like you lose the loved one all over again. My prayers are with you.
Leslie
3. katie
September 25th, 2009 at 9:11 am
haha, this is so adorable it makes me want to giggle!
4. Susan G
September 19th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Thanks so much for showing all the different ways to use the shimmer paint. I like to get as much use as possible from a product like this when I purchase it.
5. Pamela Knox
September 16th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Thank you so much for the video tutorial. Love the ideas with shimmery paint.
Pamela
Click Here to Order your Stampin’ Up! Products Online 24/7! (Canada Only)
Stamps: Autumn Splendor (116502), Best Yet Hostess Level 1 set (retired)
Ink: Chocolate Chip Classic ink (100908), Close to Cocoa Classic reinker (102444), Really Rust Classic reinker (100685), More Mustard Classic reinker (101962), Taken with Teal Classic reinker (100550), Encore Gold Pad (101017)
Paper: Chocolate Chip CS (102128), Really Rust CS (100661), Autumn Meadows DP (116769), 90 lb watercolor paper (non-Stampin’ Up! from art supply store)
Accessories: Bone Folder (102300), Paper snips (103579), Snail adhesive (104332), mini glue dots (103683), Dusty Durange polka dot grosgrain ribbon (115609), gold embossing powder (109129), heat tool (100005), aquapainter (103954), plastic palette (Non-Stampin’ Up! – from dollar store)
Fun Fall Card using Stampin’ Up!’s Circle Circus stamp set
Posted: Thursday, September 24th, 2009 | Comments
I want to thank you all for your encouraging words on our post yesterday. Please know that that in that post I was not “pointing fingers” at any one person – this was an issue I’ve been wanting to clarify for awhile now. I had such a bad day yesterday. Very emotional. When we put our old house up for sale a year ago spring, we underwent some renovations. In order to better facilitate our renovations we moved a bunch of stuff into a storage unit. Now I spent some time researching storage units and made sure that the one we picked was climate controlled and had pest-management etc. Although we intended it as only a short term measure, with the crazy year we had this past year, we never got around to clearing it out. My husband is off on a MULA this week (mandatory unpaid leave – a cost cutting measure his company implemented) so he decided to clear out the storage unit. Imagine my dismay when the first box he opened up – a box of shoes – was filled with mould. A couple of those pairs of shoes were shoes that had belonged to my mother who passed away 10 1/2 years ago, which I had kept for sentimental reasons (my mom had a thing for shoes – we used to tease her that if she kept it up her collection would rival Imelda Marcos’ legendary shoe collection). That of course sent me into a panic because I had a couple of boxes of bedding with down-filled pillow cases and down duvets that my grandmother (who passed away this past March) had MADE by hand. She sewed the fabric and stuffed them with down herself. When we opened up those boxes, I pretty much collapsed in tears – you guessed it – several of the pillows had mould on them, and the duvets stunk. I was angry and feeling guilty at the same time. Why in heaven’s name did we leave THOSE things there – I should have taken them out of storage right away after the renovations were done. Hindsight is 20-20 of course and it’s not like I can go back. Unfortunately the pillows with mould we have to throw away, but we’re hoping that if we send the duvets to the dry cleaners they’ll be okay. So there you have it….more drama in the Walford household *lol*…or is it *COL* (cry out loud?)!
Today I wanted to share with you a fun & whimsical card I created using Stampin’ Up!’s Circle Circus stamp set and a variety of circle punches. In the video below, in addition to showing you how I made the card, I also show you how I “faux thread” my buttons.
Here’s how I made my card:
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Take a 4″ x 5-1/4″ piece of Whisper White CS and sponge the edges using Chocolate Chip Classic ink and a wedge of Stamping Sponge.
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Stamp the tree image from Season of Friendship onto the Whisper White CS piece in Chocolate Chip Classic ink.
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Stamp the “grateful” greeting from Stampin’ Up!’s new Falling Leaves stamp set in the bottom right corner of the Whisper White CS using Chocolate Chip Classic ink.
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Mat the Whisper White CS piece onto a 4-1/8″ x 5-3/8″ piece of Chocolate Chip CS. Mount the Chocolate Chip CS piece to a 4-1/4″ x 5-1/2″ More Mustard card front (created by folding a 4-1/4″ x 11″ piece of More Mustard CS in half using a bone folder). Set aside for a moment.
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You will now need the Circle Circus stamp set, the following ink colors: More Mustard, Ruby red, Pumpkin Pie Classic inks, scraps of CS in coordinating colors, and the following punches: 1 3/8″ circle punch, 1 1/4″ circle punch, 1″ circle punch, 3/4″ circle punch and 1/2″ circle punch.
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Stamp a variety of circles in each color onto the coordinating color of CS. Punch out the circles with the above listed punches. You want to create a variety of sizes.
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Stick the circles onto the tree using Stampin’ Dimensionals.
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Take two Pumpkin pie buttons from the Sherbet designer button collection, two More Mustard buttons from the Playground designer button collection and one Rose Red button from the Fresh Favorites II button collection.
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“Faux” thread the buttons using coordinating slivers of CS (see video for clarification). Stick the buttons to the trees using Mini Glue dots. You’re done!
By the way, I just wanted to remind you all about our “Secret Comment Patrol” in case you guys have forgotten. For those of you that may be new to my blog I’ll take a minute to explain what the “Secret Comment Patrol” is. Basically it is my way of saying thank you to all of you that not only take the time to visit my blog – but who take the few extra minutes to leave me a comment. I absolutely LOVE reading all your comments, and through your comments getting to know you better. Whenever I’m having a bad day or a “down” day, I’ll read through my comments as a “pick-me-up” *lol*. Every so often - at least once a month, sometimes more – I draw names from those that have left comments – if your name is drawn then you are a “Secret Comment Patrol” Winner and you get to choose any one of my stamp or scrapbook classes by email OR my class planner versions for Stampin’ Up! Demos. All you have to do to be entered is to leave a comment on a post. Every comment you leave gets you one “ticket” – so those of you that leave comments on a regular basis have a much greater chance of winning. Now I just thought I’d bring this up again because I’m over-due in announcing Secret Comment Patrol winners, so you’ll be seeing some names soon *hint, hint*.
Click Here to Order your Stampin’ Up! Products Online 24/7! (Canada Only)
Stamps: Falling Leaves (115368), Circle Circus (115778), Season of Friendship (111776)
Paper: Pumpkin Pie CS (105117), Ruby Red CS (102030), More Mustard CS (100946), Whisper White CS (100730)
Ink: More Mustard Classic ink (103162), Ruby Red Classic ink (102259), Pumpkin Pie Classic ink (105216), Chocolate Chip Classic ink (100908)
Accessories: Stamping Sponges (101610), Snail adhesive (104332), Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430), 1 3/8″ circle punch (104401), 1 1/4″ circle punch (104403), 1″ circle punch (109046), 3/4″ circle punch (107217), 1/2″ circle punch (104390), Playground Designer Buttons (116313), Sherbet Designer Buttons (116312), Fresh Favorites II buttons (107422), Mini Glue dots (103683)
Autumn inspiration & a tutorial on altering your buttons
Posted: Thursday, August 20th, 2009 | Comments
Well, I just realized that I broke my own rule today. What rule you ask? The rule of never showing projects featuring a stamp set that is not yet available for purchase. To me there’s nothing worse than falling in love with an image only to discover you can’t get it yet – since I personally hate waiting to buy something I like, I try to spare you all the agony too *lol*. So what happened? Well, my mini catalogue pre-order arrived yesterday and this stamp set was in it (it’s called Wandering Words) – it just so happens that this is one of my favorite new stamp sets in the mini and I got carried away in my excitement and couldn’t resist playing with it and the new Autumn Meadows DP. It was literally as I was uploading this card that it occured to me that I had broken my rule. Oh well – sometimes rules *need* to be broken right? *lol*
See the button on my card? Notice that it’s Really Rust color coordinates perfectly with the CS and DP? But Stampin’ Up! doesn’t carry Really Rust buttons – so where’d it come from?…….I altered it and I’m going to show you how. It’s so easy that it’s addictive. Since I didn’t need any more Really Rust buttons I decided to create a black button and show you how I did it (after all, Halloween is just around the corner!).
First off, you’re going to need buttons. Now buttons with a smooth finish (such as the So Saffron button shown in the picture) are easier to alter than buttons with little nooks and crannies like the circular cream-colored buttos in you can see in the picture above. You’re also going to need a craft ink pad or Stampin’ Spot in your desired color, some clear embossing powder, a heat tool and tweezers. The best tweezers to use are ones that have an angled tip and are spring-loaded (you have to squeeze them to open the tip). These tweezers were a part of the Stampin’ Up! tool kit which is no longer available, so if you don’t have any you can probably find them at your local craft store among other places.
You want to insert the tip of your tweezers through the holes of the button. Notice that the tips of the tweezers are just barely sticking out of the holes. Ideally you want to keep your tweezers in this position so that you can really press your button into your ink pad without tearing up the surface of your ink pad.
You’re now going to press your button onto the surface of your ink pad. Because this button had a little “dip” in the center of the button front, I actually found it easier to remove my tweezers and then use my finger to squish the button against the ink pad. I then inserted my tweezer tips and picked up my button again. Make sure you also ink up the sides of the button.
You can see from the picture above how well my button is covered in ink.
Now with all other colors (other than gold and silver) I would emboss with clear embossing powder, but because I wanted the black to be really intense, and because Stampin’ Up! carries black embossing powder, I decided to use that instead. So still holding my button with my tweezers, I dipped it into the embossing powder, making sure that the sides were covered as well. Don’t worry if embossing powder gets on the back of the button.
Once your button is covered with embossing powder, heat it with the heat tool until all the powder melts. The reason you need to emboss your buttons after coloring them is because on it’s own, the craft (also known as pigment) ink won’t dry – it’ll just smear off. Make sure you heat the back of the button too in order to melt any of the powder that ended up there (that way it won’t accidentally smear onto your project later).
Give your button a few minutes to cool thoroughly before removing it from the tweezers. Scrape off any ink/embossing powder from your tweezer tips and then clean with a damp sponge or paper towel before putting them away. If any of the embossing powder accumulated in the center holes of the button you can CAREFULLY clean it with a paper-piercing tool or needle – just be careful you don’t scratch the surface of your button or you will scratch off the color.
That’s all there is to it! Now I’m really sorry, but I just have no more energy to keep typing right now, so at some point tomorrow I’ll update this post with directions on how I made the card and a full supply list. I was up until 1 am last night because I just couldn’t sleep (I had too many ideas and thoughts floating around my head *lol*).
Andrea Walford 
Sophia Landry 
For details & to sign up for this class click 
For details & to sign up for this class click 
For details & to sign up for this class click 
For details & to sign up for this class click 
