Crayon Resist

I've been wanting to try the Crayon Resist technique for awhile but hadn't had a chance yet. Can you believe I didn't own any crayons - at least not until yesterday. I finally remembered to pick some up on my weekly trip to Wal-Mart.

Here's my first attempt at the technique. I really love how the background on this card turned out. It reminds me of a bandana.

In case you've never tried Crayon Resist before, there's a great tutorial on splitcoaststampers. For this card, I stamped the two images from True Friend with Basic Black ink on glossy cardstock. I used a white crayon to add some highlights to my images and then used a brayer to add the Really Rust ink. After removing the excess ink from the highlights, I layered the background on Basic Black cardstock and added it to a Really Rust card base.

The True Friend sentiment was stamped with Whisper White craft ink on Basic Black cardstock and layered on Whisper White that had been sponged with Really Rust. I added a couple of Vintage brads to complete the card.

This card doesn't have as many layers, images, etc. as the cards I normally create, but I really wanted the background to be the focal point. I wasn't sure if I liked the final result at first, but I've really grown to like it and can't wait to try out some additional ideas with this technique!

Recipe:
Stamps: True Friend
Cardstock: Really Rust, Basic Black, Whisper White, Glossy White
Ink: Really Rust, Basic Black, Whisper White
Other: White Crayon, Vintage Brads

True Friend Sketch Challenge

I don't get to do the challenges on splitcoaststampers very often, but this week I've managed to do 2! Every Wednesday, a new sketch is posted, and the challenge is to create a card using that layout. I decided to use True Friend again for this challenge.

Here is the original sketch and my interpretation.

My card base is Really Rust cardstock. The striped designer paper is from the new Apple Cider series available in the Holiday mini. I went back and forth on this paper so many times before I preordered it, but I'm so glad I did. It is great with the True Friend set and sets a fall mood so well.

For the middle layer, I stamped the small flower from True Friend in River Rock on River Rock cardstock and added a piece of Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon. As I've heard from several others, the Chocolate Chip Taffeta isn't as dark as what I might have expected, but I really like the way it looks and the texture it gives the card (versus grosgrain).

For the focal image, I inked the larger flower stamp with Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, and Garden Green markers. The sentiment is from Happy Harmony, one of the 2007 Sell-A-Bration sets. The whole piece was then wheeled with the Rough Texture Jumbo Wheel in River Rock and sponged with River Rock and Really Rust. The final piece is the Everything definition from Define Your Life along with a couple of Vintage brads. All of the pieces are layered on Chocolate Chip cardstock.

I really like the way this turned out, so I think it might be the winner for my Thanksgiving cards this year. We'll see!

Recipe:
Stamps: True Friend, Define Your Life, Happy Harmony
Cardstock: Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, River Rock, Whisper White & Apple Cider Designer Series Paper
Ink: Chocolate Chip, River Rock
Markers: Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, Garden Green
Other: Chocolate Chip Taffeta Ribbon, Vintage Brads

True Friend Color Challenge

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I've had anything new to post. I'm not sure where the time went! It's hard to believe my DH has been back at school for almost 2 weeks now, Nebraska football starts on Saturday, and the beginning of September is just around the corner. Christmas will be here before we know it - I'm not sure I'm ready for that! I am starting to plan though. I finally decided on my Christmas card designs and ordered the supplies for them. My order came yesterday, and one of the other items in my order was the new True Friend set from the Holiday mini. I always have to try out my new sets the first day I get them, so having a die-cut set made it so easy. I was ready to go in minutes!


For my first card, I decided to use today's Color Challenge from Splitcoast. This weeks's challenge was to use Purely Pomegranate, Pretty in Pink, and Old Olive. I stamped the small flower in Old Olive for my background and added a strip of Pretty in Pink, layered with Basic Black, and Purely Pomegranate ribbon. For the main image, I used markers to add Old Olive and Pretty in Pink to the same flower used for the background. I then sponged Purely Pomegrante around the edges of the flower. With the exception of the flower in the middle, all of the others are stamped off once. My final addition was the sentiment in Basic Black.

Recipe:
Stamps: True Friend
Cardstock: Old Olive, Purely Pomegranate, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White, Basic Black
Ink: Old Olive, Pretty in Pink, Purely Pomegranate, Basic Black
Other: Purely Pomegranate Double-Stitched Ribbon

Weekend Sketch Challenge

One of the blogs I like to visit on a regular basis is Fresh & Fun by Beate Johns. She has a great style, and I love to see how she uses Stampin' Up! sets and designer paper in such creative ways. She also has a weekend sketch challenge with some fun layouts. I've followed the sketches for a few weeks now, but this is the first one I've actually been able to complete. My card is based on her sketch challenge #14.

I used my three newest sets for this card - Priceless, Define Your Life, and It's All Good. For the focal image, I used the butterfly stamp from Priceless, stamped it first in Groovy Guava, and then rock-and-rolled it in Purely Pomegranate. After stamping all of the butterflies, I randomly stamped the small Priceless swirl stamp in Groovy Guava, stamped off once for a lighter tone. The Delightful stamp from It's All Good was stamped in Purely Pomegranate, punched out with the 1 1/4 in circle punch and layered on a Pomegranate Scallop. Finally, I added the Delight definition from Define Your Life and the small row of dots, also from Define Your Life.

The photo corner was an afterthought. I don't have the new photo corner punch yet from Stampin' Up!, so I still have to create them the "old-fashioned" way. I cut a small square of cardstock and then cut it in half diagonally. I then took the 2 triangles, laid them on top of each other, cut off the "pointy" section, and arranged them into a photo corner. I almost always add a brad to my photo corners - they just seem naked without one.

Recipe:
Stamps: Priceless, Define Your Life, It's All Good
Cardstock: Groovy Guava, Purely Pomegranate, Basic Black, Whisper White
Ink: Groovy Guava, Purely Pomegranate, Basic Black
Other: Black Gingham Ribbon, Black Brad, 1 1/4 in Circle Punch, Scallop Circle Punch

ETA: I realized this morning (8/14) that my focal image is upside down! I don't think it matters a whole lot, but I intended the majority of the butterflies to be facing upwards. Oh well - I still like the card! (And I hope you do too!)

Big Stampin' Up! News!

If you've ever thought of becoming a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, NOW'S the time! Stampin' Up! is offering a great promotion between now and September 14th called Choose Your Family. See all of the details below and contact me when you're ready to sign up!

Choose Your Family Promotion

Between Grandma Louise (who drips with sweetness) and your oh-so-suave brother, Vic, you know that in life you can't choose your own family. But at Stampin' Up!, we've found a way to bend the rules so you can!

Purchase the Starter Kit between August 10 and September 14, and you'll get to pick the family of your choice-color family, that is-of Classic Stampin' Pads® FREE. That's a $57.95 value! And we've designed our exclusive coordinating color families (including our In Color collection) so that every color fits in. After all, it's all in the family!

More Priceless!

I think Priceless has become my favorite set from the new catalog. It's been fairly easy to create some quick cards using the swirl as a background and then adding one of the other stamps from the set as an accent. I do think I need to get the coordinating wheel though. It would make creating the backgrounds much quicker.


Here are a few cards I made last night. The first is a quick 3x3 card I did as a "warm up". I hadn't given my DH any "love notes" lately, so this one fit the bill. It's pretty self-explanatory, so I'll just provide the recipe below.

Recipe:
Stamps: Priceless, Define Your Life
Cardstock: Basic Black, Rose Red, Rose Red Prints DSP
Ink: Rose Red, Basic Black
Other: Black Gingham Ribbon, Scallop Punch, 1 1/2 in Cirlce Punch


This next one is my favorite of the three. I love this color combination - Basic Black, Purely Pomegranate, and Whisper White. I also love how the swirl looks in white on the black cardstock. When I was creating these cards, I really wished I had some of the double-stitched Pomegranate ribbon, but I bet you can guess what will be on my next order.

For this card, I randomly stamped the swirl in Whisper White craft ink on Basic Black cardstock. I attached black grosgrain ribbon across the Pomegranate strip, and then added the heart and scallop circle. The you definition is from Define Your Life of course. This will probably end up being another card for hubby. Our anniversary was in June and Valentine's Day is still quite a ways away, so maybe it'll be a "just because" card. I like to put cards or notes in his lunch, and I think he likes receiving them (at least he says he does!).

Recipe:
Stamps: Priceless, Define Your Life
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Purely Pomegranate
Ink: Whisper White (craft), Purely Pomegranate
Other: Black grosgrain ribbon, Scallop Punch, 1 1/2 in Circle Punch


This final card ended up being a little different than what I usually do. I've seen lots of panel cards lately, so I wanted to try one. I still can't quite decide what I think of it, but I think it's good to break out of the mold every once in awhile.

It uses the same basic recipe as the one above, with the exception of Define Your Life and the circle and scallop circle punches.

Priceless Joy Fold

This is my first "Joy Fold" card. Well - I should say my first completed Joy Fold card. I've started several others, but I could never seem to get them to work out the way I envisioned - either color combination or placement of the stamped items. Anyway, I'm finally happy with this one.

I used Basic Black as my base and layered the Certainly Celery over it. The celery pieces were stamped with the swirl from Priceless. I had the coordinating wheel on my order but took it off at the last minute. Oh well - the swirl works fine for now.

The main panel has the flower from Priceless stamped in Purely Pomegranate and Pretty in Pink. I added the Because definition from Define Your Life and For You from Happy Everything. The flower in the lower left is on dimensionals on three sides so you can slip the front flap underneath to keep the card closed.

Recipe:
Stamps: Priceless, Define Your Life, Happy Everything
Cardstock: Basic Black, Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White
Ink: Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink, Purely Pomegranate, Basic Black
Other: Black Brads