Monday, April 14, 2008

Trying some different techniques

I started off the morning not sure what cards I wanted to make today - some days I wake up knowing what stamps or colors or sentiments I want to pull out, but today wasn't one of those days.

I wasn't inspired by the SCS technique challenge today, but as I was browsing my blog subscriptions, I came across Linda's technique video tutorial for the week: faux layers. As Linda says, it's not a technique that you really *need* to do, but it's cool! So check out her video this week for all the directions. I pretty much did just what Linda did and also CASEd her layout, although I changed the stamps and colors. I also made it into a three-layered card instead of a single layer. It's probably just me, but I can't let those brads show through the inside of the card, LOL!

First I took a panel of soft sky and stamped the linen background in soft sky ink. Then I stamped the sentiment from All Year Cheer in chocolate chip right onto the panel. I masked with post-its just like Linda and sponged in the faux layers, first with not quite navy and then with chocolate chip.

Next I stamped the flowers from Garden Silhouettes onto the background. I did have to cover the sentiment panel, but since I had already done the background I didn't have to mask the flowers. (Can you imagine cutting out this image? Yikes!) I colored the flowers with not quite navy marker and the stems and leaves with always artichoke.

The final touch was to make the chocolate chip layer look like hardware. For me this would be the reason to use this technique, because I don't have the hardware frames that look like this. Plus, you can make your frame whatever size you need. Linda shows on her video how to use a punched-out scallop template to draw in the faux hardware, then you just add your brads. These are by Making Memories.

I mounted the panel onto a chocolate chip layer and then a white card. This card is by no means perfect, which as you know bugs me to death, but I wanted to post it anyway because I thought you should see Linda's technique. Try it out and see what you think!

I did a second card this morning - another CASE. Actually it's a CASE of a CASE. For the featured stamper challenge yesterday I almost chose this card from Kharmagirl's gallery but didn't. Another SCSer did, though, and it was beautiful. So I'm CASEing Kathy's CASE of Jodi!

I wanted to use the same stamp set and wheel but change the colors. I chose this combo of very vanilla, bordering blue, always artichoke, and basic black using my favorite color combo web site. This site has all the SU colors and you can pick up to 5 at a time and see how they look together. If you know you want to use one or two colors and want to see what goes with them, you can put in the ones you want and then search for combos that use them. If you come up with a combo that isn't in there, then you can save it for others to find. And for fun, you can click "surprise me" and it'll give you a random combo. Sometimes they are even good, LOL!

I used the weathered background with bordering blue ink on matching cardstock. The wheeled panel (Stems & Silhouettes) is artichoke ink on matching cardstock. The card and layers are basic black. The ribbon is mellow moss - I really wanted to use taffeta and I think it matches pretty well here.

For the flowers, I stamped the solid flower in bordering blue and then did the rock 'n' roll technique (for the first time, if you can believe it) with artichoke ink. I stamped off once first before putting the final images on my vanilla cardstock. To get the speckles, I used a technique I read about on Technique Junkies, where you wet your watercolor crayons with an Aqua Painter and then tap the Aqua Painter against your finger to make speckles. I did it a little differently, since I couldn't bear to get the crayons wet - I know you can use them like that, but I have some hangup about messing up my stuff! I picked up ink from the ink pad lids with the Aqua Painter instead. Then I stamped the outline in artichoke and sponged both colors on the edges before mounting.

The sentiment is a Judy Melvin clear alphabet set, stamped in basic black on a scrap of the background. I circle punched and mounted on dimensionals, and then the Happy Mother's Day is on the inside. This was soooo close to being SUO, but it just couldn't quite get there!

Hey, where did my morning go?? Only two hours left to eat lunch, meditate, and do some cleaning before the sitter goes home. Never enough time in the day for everything, is there? Sigh.

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