Tag: #OnStage

For my final swap, I wanted something fun for a masculine birthday. Sometimes we struggle to come up with card ideas that are fun, interesting and not feminine.

For this card, I used the super fun Foil Frenzy paper.  The paper is a fantastic contrast between Kraft paper and foil paper. The foil part of the paper comes in four colors – I used the Soft Sky in two of the three patterns, the stripe and the dots.

I ran a two-inch strip of Soft Sky through the celebrate partner of the Celebration Duo embossing folders. Over this, I mounted the strip of the dotted Foil Frezy.

The balloons were stamped using Soft Sky and Night of Navy and the Happy Birthday Gorgeous stamp set. I used Basic Black baker’s twine for their strings.  The middle balloon is lifted up with a Dimensional.  I cut the sentiment using the Happy Birthday thinlet in Soft Sky and Night of Navy and layered them before adhering them to the card.  And all of that was mounted to a Night of Navy cardstock base.

Super fun, lots of texture, and great for the “no flowers” people in your life.

Swap 5 – A Mother’s Day card using the Petal Garden DSP was inspired by a shabby chic card I saw on Pinterest. The source card didn’t use the amazing and versatile Stampin Up! products – so I got creative.

For this card, I used a thick Very Vanilla base.  On that, I layered a piece of Old Olive that I distressed and then sponged with Soft Suede ink.  The next layer is regular Very Vanilla that I dry embossed with the Garden Trellis embossing folder and also sponged with Soft Suede (are you seeing a theme here?).

The next layer is a piece of DSP, about 3″ by 4″ that I what? – distressed and sponged with Soft Suede.

I used the Layering Squares and the Stitched Shapes dies to cut squares out of Crumb Cake cardstock.  I didn’t distress these, but I did sponge them with Soft Suede. I layered on other sheets of the DSP that started out with a Whisper White background before I… sponged them with CRUMB CAKE this time so that they were a little bit lighter and the images would pop. I also used some Wink of Stella in clear on the rose image, in the lighter areas.

The first square was added on top of the DSP that was mounted on the embossed layer that was mounted on the Old Olive layer.  Before I put that all on the base – I added two layers of ribbon – one was a Sale-a-bration ribbon, the other Old Olive Sheer Ribbon.  I mounted all of that to the thick base. Then added the stitched square so it overlapped the ribbon.

The sentiment is three layers.  The first I stamped the outline in Sweet Sugarplum on Very Vanilla. The stamp is from the Lable Me Pretty set and I used the coordinating punch to cut it out.  I sponged that with Soft Suede and mounted it with Dimensionals. I used the Stitched Shapes dies to cut the small oval in Crumb Cake and then sponged it with Soft Suede.  The last layer is a sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes, stamped in Sweet Sugarplum and punched with the Classic Label punch.  I put a bit of Soft Suede ink on the edges of this, but not much. The addition of a few pearls near the sentiment and up in the top left-hand corner and my attempt at Shabby Chic was done!

Wow! On Stage went by so fast and I still have posts to do on the swaps I shared.  This swap, using the Artistically Asian stamp set evolved while I was playing with Glossy paper. Glossy paper is like photo paper.  Super smooth and shiny.

I started by adding layers of color with the Light and Dark Blends in Cherry Cobbler, Pumpkin Pie, and Daffodil Delight.  I went over the layers a couple of times and tried to make the transitions blend a little, but the ink dried very quickly.

I really like the color saturation at this stage, but I needed something to make the layers ‘work’.  So, I broke out the Brusho Crystal Colours in Brilliant Red, Gamboge, and Yellow.

I played with the crystals, adding more water, moving the color around with an Aqua Painter, until I was happy with the overall effect.

This had to dry, and then I had to brush off the extra crystals.  If you are a very tidy crafter, this might not be a product you enjoy. I love mixed media effects and the beautiful imperfection of the results. So I was really happy at this point!

To finish the card I decided to use the Artistically Asian stamp set.  Thank goodness my Stamparatus, that I had preordered, arrived while I was creating this swap.  Stamping on glossy paper is not for the unsteady hand.  I ended up trashing three of these backgrounds.

Finally, I mounted the backgrounds on Tangerine Tango and Basic Black.  The sentiment is from the Artistically Asian stamp set also.  I did put a retired black rhinestone as a touch of bling.  I couldn’t resist.