Archive for Challenges
Trigger Tuesday & Technique Tuesday in One!
Posted: Tuesday, May 4th, 2010 | Comments
For the last few weeks I’ve been having a lot of fun following along with Cath Evaldson’s Trigger Tuesday. So today, since it’s my turn to do Technique Tuesday, I decided to combine them both. The trigger for today’s card is shown below:
When I saw this purse I immediately fell in love with it! The colors are right up my alley. I knew immediately what kind of a card I wanted to make and which stamp set I wanted to use. My challenge was coming up with the polka dot background. Now that color reminds me a LOT of Kiwi Kiss, and as you may know, that color is one of Stampin’ Up!’s retired colors, so there is no DP like that.
As I was playing around with ways to achieve the same look, I stumbled on my technique for today. I call it distressed pastels. I don’t know if there is already another name for it, or if it exists already or not.
To create my background paper I cut a piece of Stampin’ Up!’s Old Olive DP in the solid pattern. I then ran it through my Big Shot using the polka dot textured impressions plate. I took a sanding block and sanded over the embossed area so that the white core of the paper was revealed underneath. I then used my sponge dauber and Old Olive pastel to add color to the distressed white portions of the DP. You can see the difference in what it looked like before adding pastels (the right side of the paper) and after adding pastels (the left side of the paper). What I liked was the contrast between the area using the pastels and the color of the DP. The area with the pastels looked very much like the Kiwi Kiss color.
Today’s card actually includes a few different techniques. The second one is watercoloring with reinkers. That is how I created the variegated look on my flower petals (you can see a close up below).
I stamped my flowers onto watercolor paper in Basic Black Craft ink, embossed them with clear embossing powder ad then colored them in with my aquapainter and two reinker colors: Regal Rose and Rose Red.
You can download a handout of how this card was made HERE. The pdf handout includes a full supply list, dimensions and written directions on how I made this card.
I also wanted to share a picture of another super quick card that involves the use of Pastels as well. It’s kind of a variation on the pastel technique I shared above. I’ll share more details about this variation below as well as additional card samples using this technique next Tuesday (just keeping you in suspense LOL!)
If you’re a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator don’t forget to scroll down and check out our May Workshop Planner release!
Finally Friday: A Card for the Embellish Magazine Challenge & Some Secret Comment Patrol Winners
Posted: Friday, April 30th, 2010 | CommentsHappy Friday everyone! Today I wanted to share with you a card I made for the Embellish Magazine Color Challenge. I stumbled upon Embellish Magazine one day when I was blog hopping, and immediately fell in love. Remember last Thursday when I was talking about ways to keep up on trends? Well I’ve added the Embellish Magazine to my arsenal.
You can read all about the details of this challenge HERE. As part of the challenge you had to use the colors shown in the Polaroid swatches, and you had to incorporate some form of embossing whether heat embossing or dry embossing.
When I created my card I decided to kill two birds with one stone. I decided to make a card for my youngest son’s birthday (he’ll be turning two in July), while following along with the challenge. I did use all four colors for my card, but also added in orange. As the challenge didn’t say anything about not adding in extra colors I figured it should be okay. The other thing is that it also didn’t say anything about using the exact same shades they did, so hopefully that’s okay too. For the embossing, I dry embossed the card front with the Polka Dot Textured Impressions folder and I used heat embossing with craft ink, heat & stick powder, and aqua glitter on the chipboard number.
You can download a pdf handout for this card HERE. The handout gives you a full supply list, dimensions and written directions on how this card was made.
Well I hope you enjoyed today’s card. And now, as promised, I’m announcing some Secret Comment Patrol winners. If you’re new to my blog you may be wondering what the Secret Comment Patrol is. It’s our way of saying thank you to those of you that not only stop by the blog for a visit, but take the time to leave a comment. On the last Friday of the month we are going to pick 2 names from those that have left comments the preceding month. If your name is picked you get to pick a digital product of your choice from the Sunny Stampin’ Store. What that means is that the more often you comment the more likely you are to win. Soph and I read each and every comment, so when we see the same name in the comment section of each post, you can bet you’ll be seeing that name announced as a winner.
Drumroll please……..and the winners are:
1. Alita Long
April 30th, 2010 at 4:00 am
Hi Andrea and Sophia!
Wow – this is one LOVELY Box!
Thank you for sharing.
Alita
2. Isabel Z
April 28th, 2010 at 11:27 pm
This is stunning. The attention to detail is fabulous.
3. Stephanie Pézolet
April 27th, 2010 at 11:15 am
What an inspiring picture! You created a fantastic card. TFS!
4. Roberta Smith
April 27th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
Very pretty card! I have this DSP but haven’t quite figured out how to use it. It is very bright and busy. This is a great way to tone it down. Thanks for the inspiration!
5. Desirée
April 22nd, 2010 at 11:03 pm
How cool! I will DEFINITELY check out that website – gotta stay current
To claim your prize please email me at andrea@sunnystampin.com. In the subject line please put “Secret Comment Patrol Winner”. In the body of the email please let me know what you would like as your prize. Remember, you can pick any digital product from the Sunny Stampin’ Store or a registration to an online class.
Have a great weekend!
All Supplies are Stampin’ Up! unless otherwise noted. The * denotes retired items, however they can be substituted with Old Olive products.
Stamps: Look Who’s Turning, Animal Stories, Hoppy for You
Ink: Basic Black, Crushed Curry, Tempting Turquoise, Kiwi Kiss*, Pumpkin Pie, Melon Mambo Classic inks, Tempting Turquoise Craft ink
Paper: Whisper White CS, Tempting Turquoise CS, Pumpkin Pie CS, Melon Mambo CS, Kiwi Kiss CS*
Accessories: Snail adhesive, Dotto adhesive, Stampin’ Dimensionals, paper snips, Stamping Sponges, Big Shot, Polka Dot Textured Impressions folder, Heat tool, Heat & Stick powder, Fine Supernova glitter, Polka Dot Melon Mambo & Crushed Curry ribbon, ¼” Tempting Turquoise & Pumpkin Pie Grosgrain ribbon, Kiwi Kiss Striped ribbon*, Kiwi Kiss Corduroy Buttons*, On Board Lots of Letters
Trigger Tuesday: Poolside Inspiration
Posted: Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 | CommentsToday I decided to participate once again in Cath Evaldson’s Trigger Tuesday challenge on her blog Moxie Fab World. This is my second week participating and I have to say that it’s a lot of fun! Usually when I look for inspiration it tends to be on other paper crafting blogs or magazines. Looking for inspiration through photographs is something totally new for me. I really like it because I find it stretches your creativity further. You never know, you may be seeing Trigger Tuesdays on a regular basis LOL.
Soph will be posting our regularly planned Technique Tuesday feature a little later today, so be sure to check back.
The photo that was used as inspiration is this one:
Wood-Slat Sectional from West Elm
The card I created that was inspired by this photo is posted below:
Click on the card for a closer view. You can download a pdf handout on how this card was made HERE. The pdf includes a full supply list along with dimensions and written directions. The DP for those of you that are wondering comes from Stampin’ Up!’s new Island Oasis DP which is being released in the Summer Mini Catalogue and will be available for purchase as of May 1. Just a reminder, don’t forget to check back later today for Soph’s Technique Tuesday post.
Rock-a-Bye Big Shot Card (Reverse Die Cut Technique) & your chance to be featured on my blog!
Posted: Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 | Comments
As I was playing around with my Big Shot yesterday making my faux die-cut/laser cut paper, I stumbled across another way to use my Swirly Big Shot Decorative Strip die – I used the reverse cut (i.e. what’s left-over after you die cut the swirls) to create the look of waves in my baby card. Now I do have to say that this was an “Aha” moment for me and that I personally have not seen this die used in this way before, so I decided to take the liberty of naming this the “Reverse Die Cut Technique.”
That’s not to say someone else hasn’t already come up with this idea – you know the saying “there’s nothing truly original.” If you are reading this, and you have already used the die in this way, then please do leave me a comment and in the comment make sure you include a link to your card because I’d love to see it. If you’re like me, and using the reverse cut of this die is an “aha” moment for you too, I’d love to challenge you to make a card using this technique and leave me a comment with a direct link to your card or project in the comments section of this post. It’ doesn’t have to be with this die in particular, it can be with any die. Of those that participate in the challenge, I will randomly draw 5 names, and “feature you” on my blog. If you are one of the ones featured I will post your card (or other project), a small picture of you (if you want), a brief bio (whatever you want to tell others about you) and a link back to your blog. I will let random.org choose my winners on Friday, and then the winners will have one week to email me their info and I’ll feature the winners next Friday.
I’ve put together a couple of pictures to show you the first few steps of creating this card, as it’s kind of hard to explain using only words. The first thing I did was take a 2 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ strip of Pacific Point CS and lay it across the center of my Swirly Sizzlets Decorative Strip Die. I then die cut it using my Big Shot. The picture below shows you what you have when you separate the “swirls” from the reverse cuts:
To create my first card (I have another one to show you at the bottom of this post), I used the piece that’s shown on the bottom of the above picture. I took that piece and laid it across my 4″ x 5 1/4″ Bashful Blue CS piece (see picture below).
As you can see from the picture above, the blue reverse cut is bigger than the Bashful Blue CS piece. I deliberately made my strip bigger than necessary because I wanted to be able to play with the best placement of the reverse cut on my card. Once you have it positioned, stick it down, and then trim off the excess with your personal paper trimmer. To create the rest of my card I did the following:
- I positioned the rock-a-bye baby greeting just above the CS “waves” so that the curve of the greeting followed the curve of the “waves”, and stamped it in Pacific Point Classic ink.
- I took the boat image from Nursery Necessities, inked it up in Pacific Point ink and stamped it onto a piece of Pacific Point DP. I did this because I wanted a bit of the DP’s pattern to show through the ink and give the boat bottom some texture. I then trimmed out the boat with my paper snips, and stuck it onto the crest of the wave, just to the left of the greeting.
- I cleaned the boat image, inked it up in Versamark and stamped it onto a scrap of So Saffron DP. While the VersaMark was still wet, I used the shine of the ink to help guide me in cutting out the sail. I did the same thing for the smaller sail on a second pattern of DP. The large sail was mounted with a Stampin’ Dimensional and the small sail was stuck on using 2-way glue. To create the small Pumpkin Pie piece of sail, I stamped the boat stamp in VersaMark ink onto a piece of Pumpkin Pie CS, cut it out and stuck it on using 2-way glue.
- Once my image was complete, I matted the Bashful Blue CS onto a 4 1/8″ x 5 3/8″ piece of Pumpkin Pie CS. I punched two holes in the top right corner using my 1/16″ handheld circle punch, and inserted two small Pumpkin Pie corduroy brads.
- I matted the Pumpkin Pie CS onto my 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ So Saffron card front (created by folding a 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ piece of CS in half).
- Finally, I drew a thin line of Crystal Effects glue along the top edge of the waves, and added on some white Chunky Glitter from the Chunky Essentials Glitter Collection. That’s it.
The other way of creating a similar card is by using the actual swirls to create the look and feel of waves. As you can see from the picture below, I took the swirls and lay them across a piece of Bashful Blue CS, stuck it down with 2-way glue and trimmed it.
I followed pretty much the same steps for the rest of the card and created the card you see below. Now I do have to say, of the two of them, my personal favourite is the first card.
I hope you enjoyed this post. Once again, here’s the details of my Challenge to you for your chance to be featured on my blog: Create a card or other project using the Reverse Die Cut Technique, and leave me a comment with a direct link to your card or project in the comments section of this post. It’ doesn’t have to be with this die in particular, it can be with any die. Of those that participate in the challenge, I will randomly draw 5 names, and “feature” you on my blog. If you are one of the ones featured I will post a picture of your project, a small picture of you (if you want), a brief bio (whatever you want to tell others about you) and a link back to your blog. I will let random.org choose my winners on Friday, and then the winners will have one week to email me their info and I’ll feature the winners next Friday. This is a great way to get your blog “out there” even more. Whenever I’ve featured other stampers on my blog, I’ve had them tell me that they got an increase of up to several thousand “hits” (i.e. new visitors) to their blogs. I hope you participate!
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Stamps: Nursery Necessities
Ink: Pacific Point Classic ink, VersaMark ink
Paper: Pacific Point DP, So Saffron DP, Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue, So Saffron, Pacific Point CS
Accessories: Big Shot, Swirly Sizzlits Decorative Strips Die, Crystal Effects, white Chunky Glitter from Chunky Essentials Glitter collection, 1/16″ handheld circle punch, Pumpkin Pie Corduroy Buttons
Andrea Walford 
