Fun with Embossing Paste

When the Embossing Paste was first announced at Stampin' Up's On Stage, I didn't think I was interested.  But last month I decided to order it and see what the fuss was all about.  Well, now that I have used it, I am hooked!  It adds such a nice dimension to a card.  Here is my favorite card that I made using the paste.  I took a small bit of the paste out of the jar and put it on my Silicone Mat and mixed in 2-3 drops of Smoky Slate reinker.  Use the palette knife to get the color all mixed in and then using the Brick Wall mask (Pattern Party Decorative Mask - p. 201) smooth the paste onto the Smoky Slate card.  It doesn't take very long to dry.  For this card, I als used the Hearth and Home Thinlits to make the window.  I sponged a piece of white cardstock in Soft Sky and Tempting Turquoise.  Next I cut out this cute little bunny with the birthday cake from the Birthday Memories Designer Paper.  I had to cut this one out but a lot of the images in the DSP can be cut out with a framelit!  I glued the bunny down to the sponged background.  I adhered a piece of window sheet to the back of the window and put it all together using dimensionals.  This whole piece was adhered to a Basic Gray card.  (The red ribbon I used is retired.)

Check out this video from Stampin' Up for the "how to's" of using the paste.  Just a couple of tips that I'm not sure are mentioned in the video.  When you get your paste, the jar will only be half full.  That is the way it is supposed to be.  It settles in shipping.  Each jar has 4 fl. oz of volume.  It dries pretty fast so I would recommend keeping the lid on it as much as possible.  Also if you scrape it back into the jar after using, make sure you push it all down towards the bottom of the jar.  If you leave some on the rim, it will dry out.  There is also a picture of using the paste on page 176 of the catalog.

Here is another card I made with the paste.  

I used a piece of the glossy cardstock that I made last week with a reinker technique (see HERE) and another mask with the Embossing Paste and colored it with Marina Mist reinker.  The leaves are from Vintage Leaves which also have matching framelits.  To make the flowers multi colored, I did the Baby Wipe Technique.  I dropped a few drops of reinkers on to a baby wipe, thus making my own custom stamp pad.  The colors I used were Early Espresso, Lemon Lime Twist, Marina Mist and Soft Suede.

I had a little bit of the colored paste left over and instead of throwing it away, I added a little Lime Twist reinker to the blue and applied it to another piece of card stock that I had available.  I'll be using it later to make a card.

June Stamp Club

Last month in Stamp Club, I had the gals do two pretty labor intensive cards but I think they really like them.

First we did a waterfall card.  These were real popular when I first got involved with Stampin' Up.  At the spring Quarterly, we made one of these cards and I decided that my gals would love making one. I gave them 3 choices.  Surprisingly, the flower one was the most popular!  You can find instructions to make these cards on Splitcoast Stampers.

Garden In Bloom

Sprinkles of Life

This Little Piggy

Next we made a card using a window sheet.  I used the retired DSP for the background.

This is the inside of the card.

Instructions:

After creasing the vanilla card at 4 1/4", put it in the trimmer and remove a 1/2" piece, then remove an additional 1-1/4" piece. The 1-1/4' space will form the window and the 1/2" piece will adhere to the window sheet to create the full sized card.

 Add strips of Post-it-Notes to mask off an area for sponging.

Sponge the background LIGHTLY w/Soft Sky & a little Crumb Cake on the bottom.

Stamp the seaweed with Crumb Cake.

Adhere Window Sheet to card, lining up the right edge with the card.

Adhere ½” strip to the backside of the Window Sheet – again matching up the right edges.

Adhere DSP to left side of the card front (covering up the area you taped the Window Sheet onto the card front. Best adhesive for this is the green Tombow Glue so you will have wiggle room to get everything in order.

Adhere ½” strip of DSP to front of card on right side.

Stamp fish on scrap paper, cut out and adhere to card front.

Stamp fish “bubbles” on inside to match the fish

Our next card was much easier!  I used Seaside Shore to make this card.  I again used the retired By the Shore DSP.  Everyone had different strips do the finished cards were all different.

This was our calendar for July using the wonderful Colorful Seasons.

If you live in the Lake Norman area and would like to join my Stamp Club, we meet on the 3rd Tuesday and Thursday (your choice) at 1:00.  Let me know and I will set a place for you!

Ribbon of Courage

Hope you had a great 4th of July.  Ours was pretty quiet this year.  My mom stayed with us Friday and Saturday nights and I took her to Camp Dogwood on Sunday afternoon.  This is a great summer camp right on the lake (and about a 10 minute drive for me) for the blind and visually impaired.  This is mom's second year to attend and I hope she enjoys it this year as much as she did last year.   Although she got off to a rocky start.  She found out last week that her friend and roommate was not going to be able to come per doctor's orders.  She was not so sure about rooming with someone she didn't know!  When I got her registered, one of the counselors, Jeff, came up to her and welcomed "Miss Becky" back.  He told her he was not her counselor but he was going to take her to her room and get her settled.  Along the way, they met up with her new roommate who seemed very nice to me. Jeff told mom he was saving a place for her at dinner that night.  He told us that mom was the best camper he had ever had!  And mom told me Jeff was the very best counselor.  He took her tubing last year and she was quite impressed with him.  She was supposed to do archery today - that should be interesting!  A blind person trying for the bulls eye!

Saturday night we drove into Mooresville to have dinner at a restaurant on the lake where we hoped to watch the fireworks after eating.  Well, we waited for 2 hours - until 10 pm! for the fireworks show with nothing happening!  It had been raining earlier in the evening so we figured it was too wet for them.  So, we returned home.  I called on Sunday and was told they have rescheduled them for next Saturday, July 8!  Strange!!  Last night we planned on going to Mooresville again for the YMCA's fireworks.  Well, it started pouring down rain about 6 and when we went outside to get in the car around 8:30, it was still raining so we went back in the house.  I think they did have the fireworks around 9:30 but we weren't there.  So tonight, we just watched the fireworks on TV from New York!!  Better luck next year - or next Saturday!!

I had time today to play with a new stamp set - Ribbon of Courage - that I knew I had to buy as soon as I saw the new catalog.  This stamp set was inspired by Million Dollar Achiever Patty Bennett in memory of her mother.  

This card uses a technique with Glossy Cardstock again similar to the Oh So Eclectic card I did last week.  I sprayed the glossy cardstock with the spritzer filled with alcohol.  Next I dropped 2-3 drops of reinker (Peekaboo Peach and Bermuda Bay) and let it run.  To help it spread around, I sprayed more of the alcohol.  I used a tissue to pick up some of the ink that pooled along the edges.  I love these colors together!  Who would have thought?!  I stamped the hearts with Archival Black ink and used markers to color the flowers and Wink of Stella to make them sparkle! 

This next card made me think of my sister, Debra.  I miss her every day!  She was actually my step-sister (we shared a dad) and we didn't get to know each other until the mid 70s when I moved to Texas where she and my dad lived.  There was about a 10 year gap in our ages (I'm the oldest!) but that didn't matter. We both had a daughter and a son that were the same age (within a few months) and we used to take family camping trips together.  She was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer shortly after I moved to Washington state (2003).  The last trip we took together was when she and Jack (husband) came to visit us at our new home in Washington.  The 4 of us went to Victoria, Canada for a few days and had such a good time.  They were supposed to come visit us in NC for Thanksgiving but sadly, that was not to be.  She died at the age of 50 (too young!) November 16, 2007. Can't believe it has been 10 years.

We had this picture made shortly after her hair grew back in from the treatments.

OK - back to the details of the stamp set.  I used the new in-color, Powder Pink with Basic Black card stock and love how it pops!  I stamped the ribbon with Memento ink and used my blender pen and the ink pooled in the lid to color the image.  The ribbon is cut out and a pink ribbon is cut out with the thinlet in the set and raised with dimensionals.  I love the sentiment.  It is so true - Live every moment - you never know when it will be your last so Live, Laugh and Love!


I have an organization tip for you.  I have always kept all my framelits and thinlits on a magnetic sheet and in their plastic envelope.  I filed them all in a basket in alpha order.  I often would not remember if a set had a matching die or not.  So now I am putting the dies in the box with the stamp set.  I have adhered a green sticker on the sets that have matching dies and written how many dies are in the set on the sticker.  That way, I can quickly count them to make sure I haven't misplaced one of the dies before putting the stamp set away.  I still have framelits in my basket - the ones that don't match a stamp set like the Stitched Shapes, Ovals, Circles, etc.  Maybe this will work for you.

Inkie Fingers meets Oh So Eclectic

I had lots of fun yesterday playing with one of the new stamp sets.  I got Oh So Eclectic when I went to Virginia Beach for SU's On Stage.  I wasn't too thrilled about it at first.  But, oh how I have changed my mind!  This stamp set creates a wonderful soft watercolor look with no effort on your part.  It is a two-step stamp so you can use the images by themselves or layer them to get a different look.  And the added bonus is the framelits that you can get if you purchase this set as a bundle.  There are 13 dies in the set.  These dies have a unique feature - the flower pieces nestle together to create the two layered look.  So you can use just one flower image or use the two together!  

Here's one of the cards I made yesterday using a technique that I will tell you about.

So what do you think?  Love it like I do???  The background paper uses SU's new glossy paper.  It's been so long since I played with glossy paper, I had to think back to some old techniques.  Here's what I did.  (note:  you might want to wear gloves - see my fingers below!)  Cut a piece of glossy paper in half (4 1/4" x 5 1/2")  Spray one of the pieces of glossy paper with a spritzer filled with alcohol - get it pretty wet.  Next pick two reinkers - I used Lemon Lime Twist and Bermuda Bay and drop several drops onto the glossy paper.  Next I picked up the paper and let the ink run all over the paper.  Then take the second piece of glossy paper and put it on top.  You can give it a twist or just pull it straight up.  Now you should have two background pieces of paper to use!  2 for 1 - I like that! Let it dry and then use it to make a beautiful card!

See my inkie fingers -

I also did a piece using Melon Mambo and Dapper Denim (I picked up the wrong ink refill -  thought I was using Flirty Flamingo ink instead of Denim.)  So I'm not so crazy about it.  But wanted to show you this cool imprint on the paper.  When I realized what I had done, I grabbed a paper towel and lay-ed it over the paper to blot up some of the ink - see the impression of the paper towel - it's texturized! The colors get muted as it dries.

The Berry Burst flower on the card was stamped with VersaMark  on watercolor paper and embossed with gold embossing powder.  Then I "smooshed" some ink in the lid of the Berry Burst and painted the flower with my Aqua Pen letting the color run out to the edges.

Eclectic, what does that mean? According to the dictionary…

ec·lec·ticəˈklektikadjectivederiving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.
synonyms: wide-ranging, broad-based, extensive, comprehensive, encyclopedic

Stampin’ Up! loves the idea of broad and diverse range of sources that they used the ‘Oh So Eclectic’ stamp set on the cover of the new annual catalog. I love the bright colors, water coloring possibilities and so much more!

Stampin’ Up! trainer, Shannon West, demonstrates many of the eclectic ways that the Oh So Eclectic Bundle can be used to create fun and interesting projects!

Here are pictures of other items included in the Oh So Eclectic Product Suite - ribbon, DSP, thinlits, card stock pack and overlays!  I'm loving the DSP although I haven't ordered it yet.  Stay tuned - I made a card using the DSP as inspiration!   

Crafting Forever

I'm back!  It's summer time and I've been super busy!  Most of today was spent getting ready for my bridge group tomorrow.  I have 12 gals coming in the morning for a day of bridge.  I made a quinoa salad (that Sonny turned his nose up on!), a watermelon and blackberry salad, and some Pumpkin Chocolate cups (a new recipe I wanted to try.) 

Yesterday Marianne and I went to Allison's Stampaganza and made a bunch of different boxes.  I have a box for every occasion now.  I'll be sharing them later.  We also did some swap cards and I got a lot of new ideas for some of the new stamps in the catalog.  I want to share my cards with you today.  

This first one was pretty labor intensive.  Luckily I only had to make 6 cards to swap - it's not one that you'd want to make a bunch of!!  I found an apron template on line and used it to make this cute card using Crafting Forever.  The labor intensive part was in cutting out the pens, paintbrushes and scissors!!  I stamped them all in black and used markers to color them.  

I used all the new in colors to make the cards.

My second card also uses Crafting Forever.  It has a surprise inside!

Do you remember making paper dolls when you were little?  I loved them!  So this took me back to my childhood.  They are attached to the inside with a glue dot under the hand of the doll on the right and the one on the left.  No adhesive in the middle.

For these cards, I used the DSP from the Color Theory stack.

More Swaps!

I'm back with a few more card swaps from Quarterly.

This is the last one that I received for the sketch swap.  It is by Phyllis Thurston and uses the wonderful stamp set, Colorful Seasons.  This is such a versatile stamp set!  You can use it for all the seasons since it has snowflakes, beach chairs, fall leaves and spring flowers!

This card is just so cute!  Beth Queen combined This Little Piggy with the Birthday Delivery set!

This card, using Eastern Medallion, is by Connie Gentry.  I love the Lemon Lime with Black!  And check out below - there is a little surprise when you open up the card.

Another great card (by Lisa Pressley) using the Birthday Delivery set.  I'm telling you, you need to order this set!!  There is the stamp set, the Birthday Friends Framelits Dies AND the Birthday Memories DSP as part of the bundle.  The framelits not only fit the stamps, but also some of the images on the designer paper!!

This card uses the Daisy Delight stamp set and was made by Gayle Presnell.

This card was made by Robyn McClanahan and uses the Daisy Delight stamp set.  I love the new Pretty Label Punch!

Sketch Swaps #2

These are the remainder of the Sketch Swap from Quarterly.  Hope you enjoy them!

This card by Carol Snow uses the Eastern Elegance and the Daisy stamp setts.  The pretty DSP is Delightful Daisy.

No name on this card but I love the Pretty Label punch she used.  The daisy is made with Vellum that she colored yellow and card stock.

This card is by my downline and travel buddy, Debbie Michael.  She put a lot of time into this card, folks!  It is a shaker card!!

Love these primary colors that Lisa Pressley used.  This Birthday Delivery set has grown on me and is now in my list of things to order.

Suites in the NEW Catalog!!

The new catalog launched today!  It is pretty awesome.  As with other catalogs, this one is divided into suites of products - each themed suite has its very own personality.  While everyone can find something that speaks to them in the variety of suites, many of will find all the suites appealing!

Here is a quick look at the suites in the catalog:








































Aren't they great?!  Have you picked a favorite yet?  Don't worry - you don't have to limit yourself to just one - you can pick from them all!  You can go to my ONLINE STORE by clicking the link above (or just click on ONLINE STORE in this sentence) and seeing all the suite themed products.

If you need a catalog, just let me know.

Thanks for visiting me today!