Art of the Possible

Layered Dry Embossing

depth Dry embossing creates a beautiful effect. But what about layering the embossed images one on the other? I used that idea to create this card. I think it gives the embellishments an interesting depth.

Baby Announcement

I made this to help a friend celebrate the birth of her son.  It is wonderful to be able to do something I love and share it with a friend. 

Shaker Card of your Dreams

This cute little shaker card was the perfect use for the Hostess set, Sweet Dreams.  I love how rich the thick grosgrain ribbon looks next to the pretty little window full of beads.  The flowers are cut out and applied with snail adhesive and dimensionals. 

Have to have this set? Remember to call me now to reserve your own Stampin' Party for you and your friends.  Get together, learn something new, have fun and go show off what you made to everyone.  Plus my hostesses get lots of rewards.  Call me for details.

All Stamped images copyright Stampin' Up! 1999-2008

Rock and Roll Flowers Book Mark

Ok, I admit it.  I don't know if "bookmark" or "book mark" is correct so I've used both so I'll be right at least half of the time.  A broken clock is right two times a day, unless it is digital, right?

Recognize these flowers?  Scroll down to the "Ready for Spring" card and you'll see that it is inspired by the flowers that we did for that card.  Simple and easy, with two colors of ink and two colors of paper and a ribbon--what a great, quick gift.  You could make the book mark to put in the card as an added treat.  Or you could incorporate the bookmark into the design of the card so it is both card and treat.

All stamped images copyright Stampin' Up! 1999-2008

Time Well Spent Book Mark

This flower and leaf combination is from the Time Well Spent Hostess set.  The reason I have this great set is that Stampin' Up! decided to treat me to it for FREE--one of the great benefits of being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.  They treat us very, very well.

I love how the repeated leaf becomes a more geometric design when it is repeated.  These colors are a bit of a stretch for me--not the first combination for which I would reach.  It is good to stretch, don't you think?

Notice that the background for the main flower is made from two pieces of cardstock.  This is a great way to add interest subtly without adding bulk.

All Stamped Images Copyright Stampin' Up! 1999--2008

Jazzy Bookmark

This bookmark is all about the angles.  I had a scrap of real red cardstock that I had crimped for another project so it became a great base for another scrap--one with a zig zag edge.  What better compliment to that edge than the harelquin diamonds of a stamp from the A to Z Accents stamp set.

All stamped images copyright Stampin' Up! 1999-2008

Chocolate and Rose Bookmark

As you can see, I used the same technique I did with the blue ribbon on the Flight bookmark to add a chocolate tone to the black and white gingham ribbon.  These flowers are from doodle this and are so easy to customize with some watercolor licks of hue. 

All Stamped Images Copyright Stampin' Up! 1999-2008

Fleur de Lis Bookmark

To create this layered image, I stamped the fleur de lis on the confetti cream cardstock first, then on a piece of baroque burgundy that was larger.  I trimmed the red on the diagonal, aligned it with the image on the base and adhered the layers.  Only then did I trim the three edges of the red cardstock--thus creating the illusion that I knew exactly where I was stamping my fleur de lis.  So there.  Quick, easy and elegant.

All Stamped images Copyright Stampin' Up! 1999-2008

Victorian Wallpaper Bookmark

The colors and the design of this bookmark remind me of the wallpaper that was on the walls of my childhood bedroom.  Again, I've used images from the set Carte Postal.  By using the same color, but different stamps, I was able to create a design that was in harmony.  by layering solid colored cardstock with the design, I was able to accentuate the central design without adding too much bulk to the book mark.  The leaf design was acheived by inking the image and stamping it a few times before reinking to get degrees of ink saturation on the image.  The image layers up this way and becomes its own background.

All stamped images copyright Stampin' Up! 1999-2008

Flights of Swallows bookmark

This bookmark features the elegant swallow in flight from the set Carte Postal.  I used a sponge dauber to press the gingham ribbon into a brocade blue ink pad to darken the design and reduce the contrast that existed between the blue and the white elements without loosing the design or the shine of the ribbon.

All stamped images copyright Stampin' Up! 1999-2008

Bookmarks--a Thoughtful Gift (I Hope)

I noticed recently that a friend was using random pieces of paper as bookmarks.  I asked her about it.  She is a stamper.  Why, I inquired, didn't she make herself some book marks?  Her answer was interesting.  She didn't have any ideas.  She wanted to spend her time making cards she could give away.  She would be upset if she went to all the trouble and then lost the bookmark.

Hmmm.  Ideas?  The web--this website--are full of ideas.  Just becuase it is an idea for a box, a card, a scrapbook page or a gift doesn't mean that it won't translate into the long, narrow frame of a bookmark.

Give aways?  Sometimes, we should be stamping for ourselves.  I love that our hobby has a sharing component.  I love that we take what we do and we bless other people with it.  However, pamper yourself with a hand stamped gift once in a while.  OK?

All the trouble?  The cool thing about stamping is that it can be quick and easy.  And the cool thing about book marks is that they shouldn't have all the embellishments that we add to other projects.  They are fast projects.  And the cool thing about scanners and digital cameras and cell phones is that we have lots of different ways to capture our project's image so we can repeat it again later if need be.  Or you can make two bookmarks and save one as a sample.  Or make three and share one (back to sharing again).

So I hope you enjoy these.  I made my friend a bundle of book marks for her birthday.  (OK, my friend is my Mom.  I guess I tipped my hand on this one, given the sentiment I stamped on the book mark).  The one featured here uses a rainbow of inks and the flip flop images from very useful Holiday Blitz set.

All Stamped Images copyright Stampin' Up!  1999-2008

Find Out Friday: Basic Color Theory

A color wheel is a great way to understand how colors relate to each other and to plan for color combinations.  Because of the comprehensive nature of the pallet of colors in the Stampin' Up! line, it is easy to put together a color wheel to keep it all straight.  Here are some color basics:

The PRIMARY colors are Red, Blue and Yellow.  These are the basic, foundational colors that, when mixed, form all the other colors.  In our culture, the primary color scheme suggests childhood as it reminds us of our kindergarten teacher's frantic attempts to teach us at least three basic color names.

The SECONDARY colors are Purple, Orange and Green--these are the colors that are formed when two primary colors are mixed (remember the zipping plastic bag commercial?  Yellow and Blue make Green.  Yellow and Blue make Green...)

The TERTIARY colors are the ones that you get when you mix the secondary colors with a primary color:  If you mix Green with Yellow you get...yellow green (green galore, gable green, certainly celery). You can keep mixing and mixing from here, but the relationships stop having names. 

In school, I had to make a 16 panel color study.  Four colors were selected and painted into the corners of the grid.  Each square was supposed to be a carefully mixed color that reflected the combination of those colors in the proportions its position on the grid implied.  Geez.  It was oddly fun but also frustrating.  I had a very hard time getting the latex paint to become smooth--I'm too impatient to paint slowly like that.  The original is entombed in a box in my attic (picture the last scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark).  Now I'm glad that someone else does that kind of work for me and I have 48 useful colors to choose from.

COMPLIMENTARY colors sit exactly opposite each other on the color wheel.  Many sports teams use complimentary color schemes because this arrangement sets up a contrast that is exciting because there is conflict embedded in harmony.  Think orange and blue, purple and yellow.  And why do we find the Christmas Holly and Berry theme of red and green so appealing?  It is a complimentary scheme.

A MONOCHROMATIC scheme is one in which tints and tones of the same color are used.  I am drawn to these kinds of schemes--they make me so happy I have to make a conscious effort to remember to add other colors sometimes.  As much as I like it and as effective as it can be to use a monochromatic scheme, the world would be boring if it was all blue.  Or all red.  Or all any one color.

TINTS of a color are that color with white added, a lighter color:  A tint of Blue would be bashful blue

TONES of a color are that color mixed with black, a darker color:  A tone of blue would be night of navy

So now you have a basic understanding of color theory.  You should probably bookmark (book mark?) this article so you can revisit basic color theory in case it all evaporates from your memory again.   Or you can make your own color wheel to keep with your stamping supplies to help you.  Or you could call me and order the color coach, Stampin' Up! custom color wheel that allows you to select color combinations easily.  Of just close your eyes and select paper and see what you get--I really do do that sometimes. 

Spring is Coming Card

This is the other card that we did in our Card Making 101 class.  The nesting tag punches make it so easy to make a card like this.  I used the Rock and Roll technique to add dimension to the images.

In rock and roll, you ink up your rubber stamp in one color (in this case, certainly celery) and then you roll it on another color (ballet blue) so that only the edges and tips of the design touch the ink.  That gives you the contrasting edges.  The flatter you roll it, the more the color invades the center of the design.

Cardstock:  certainly celery, ballet blue and garden green.  Ink:  certainly celery and ballet blue plus Versamark (background flowers).  Stamp Set:  All Through The Year

All stamped images copyright Stampin' Up! 1999-2008

Question: Art and Boys

This is not stamping.  Nor is this artwork mine (I hope that by now you can recognize that, right?).  The artist, however, is mine--my seven year old son.  Can anyone tell me why a poor, defenseless peanut man has to become a blood sucking vampire?  (Note red dental protrusions)  Anyone else have a son?  I feel for that poor teacher.

The Red and Black Flower

During our recent Cardmaking 101 class, we made this striking, yet simple card.  Usually, I'm pretty free and easy with two step stamps--it is important that my cards look home made and minor mis-alignment helps with that.  This set, however, looks best when the solid fill image lines up tightly with the line overlay.  To acheive this, I used a Stamp a ma jig.  This simple tool allows me to line up my stamps exactly.  Need to know how?  Just check out the tutorial here. 

Ink:  real red, basic black.  Cardstock:  real red, basic black, whisper white.  Stamp set:  Heartfelt Thanks.

All stamped images copyright Stampin' Up! 1999-2008

The Gift--A Mark to Keep Her Place

And finally, a book mark.  I used another slanted piece and I think it lends itself beautifully to the shape of a funky bookmark.  Now she has a fun, coordinated set of items to take with her on her trip or to enjoy when she returns home. 

Gift giving does not have to be elaborate.  How many times do we hear that?  It is said often because it is true.  However, it is heard often but not implemented.  I don't know if we are afraid that simple gifts speak ill of us or if we just have shopping habits.  I know that I would be thrilled to receive (in fact, I have been thrilled to receive) gifts with a little of the giver in them.  And such gifts don't have to complicated or difficult to convey to the recipient our love and regard.  A little thought and a little ink go a long way.

All stamped images copyright Stampin' Up! 1999-2008

The Gift--Her Third Card

This card also takes advantage of the diagonal cut left from the notebook project.  I think I like this card the best.  You could get 8 cards similar to this from just stamping one piece of cardstock.  If you cut it in quarters, each piece is the same as the front of the card.  If you cut each of the quarters in half, you have the accent pieces for 8 cards.  So, with 4 pieces of colored cardstock (plus 8 1/2" wide scraps of black) and 1 whisper white, you can make 8 cards.  And all that with just one quick stamping and some artful cutting.  Quick and sweet.

All stamped images copyright Stampin' Up! 1999-2008

The Gift--A Second Card

Just to add a little interest, I did a torn paper layer on this card.  The beautiful thing is she can choose whether to orient these cards long way or short way.

All Stamped Images copyright Stampin' Up! 1999-2008

The Gift--A Card for Her to Send

To go with my friend's notebook, I used pieces of my single stamped sheet to make three cards which I included with envelopes.  I let the "scraps" help me design the cards.  In this one, I wanted to take advantage of the cool slanted cut that happened when I made the bias piece for the front of the notebook.

All Stamped Images Copyright Stampin' Up! 1999-2008

A Gift for a Friend: A Notebook For Her Ideas

I was privledged to spend a delightful evening last week at a surprise party for a very good friend.  Her Mother and Boyfriend conspired to lure her to a great Vietnamese restaurant near us, Mekong. There, 17 of her closest friends and family were waiting in a back room to surprise her.

She will be traveling to Ecuador at the end of the month on a medical mission to a small community.  This mission is sponsored by Virginia Commonwealth University's Medical College of Virginia (where she is a second year medical student).  I'm so proud of her and very excited about the work she will get to do.  He gifts included travel toilet paper (of all things), heavy duty bug repellent and other items essential to travel in rural South America. 

I decided to make her a group of coordinating gifts, in case she wanted to journal her ideas on her travels or just daydream at home.  The first was this notebook.  I covered a compositon book with cardstock and built black into my design to accommodate the black binding that still shows through.  All of the projects, which I will put up slowly over the next few days, featured pieces from one 8 1/2x 11 piece of whisper white card stock which I stamped all over with two flowers from the Office Ephemera set.  Easy and coordinated--what's not to love?

Ingredients:  inks:  purely pomegranate, bayou blue, bashful blue, more mustard, close to cocoa, basic black, certainly celery.  Cardstock:  basic black, whisper white, certainly celery and purely pomegranate.  Punch:  tab  Stamp Set:  Office Ephemera

All stamped images copyright Stampin' Up! 1999-2008

The Five Most Essential Tools for Stamping

The Five Most Essential Tools for Stamping 

When I started stamping, I didn't have the five supplies listed here.  This led to a lot of frustration instead of a lot of fun.  Besides a SIP (stamps, Ink and Paper), these tools are the ones that make stamping fun, easy and quick. 

Have you ever watched one of those DIY shows on PBS?  An expert constructs perfect reproduction furniture with ease.  Why?  Because he has the right tools.  I am happy to report that the correct tools for stamping are much, much more reasonably priced than those space hogging wood shop beauties.  Do you want to enjoy your crafting more?  Make sure you have the right tools.  Are you prepared to really enjoy stamping? You are ready to start stamping, making cards, scrapbooking, creating beautiful paper crafts.  You are excited by the samples you've seen and the possibilities that you can imagine--even the possibilities of CASEing (Copying and Stealing Everything) ideas you've seen. 

Well, first you need a SIP--Stamps, Ink and Paper.  And really, with that and a pair of scissors, you can create great projects. 

However, in order to have the most fun, your stamping needs to be easy.  And these are the five tools that make it easy--I wouldn't be stamping without them. 

You Need:  A Way To Cut Your Rubber

Our stamps come unmounted and they need to be trimmed in order to work well.  Un trimmed rubber can pick up stray ink and deposit in on your project in places you don't want it to.  The best tool I've found for mounting stamps is our Craft and Rubber Scissors.  These heavy duty wonders cut through the rubber like it was butter.  They are great for a variety of crafting uses (I even use them to cut out the plastic pieces when I build train models, so I guess the disclaimer is:  hide them from other crafters in your house!)

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You Need:  A Way to Clean Your Stamps as You Work

The single most frustrating thing I did when I first started stamping was try to keep my stamps clean.  I would wait until I was done and then clean them with soap and water in the sink.  This did not work.  The stamps couldn't be easily used with more than one color in the same design.  Also, the foam backing and the wood would become wet and I would have to leave the stamps out all night to dry.  This was the number one reason I never did get around to stamping when I first started.

Then I discovered this cleaning system.  The Stampin' Scrub is a case that encloses two scrubbing surfaces.  I simply open the case, spray one side with the Sampin' Mist Stamp Cleaner and I'm ready to clean my stamps as I go.  By scrubbing a stamp first on the wet side and then on the dry, I am able to remove the ink from the rubber and replace the stamp in its case right away.  Stampin' Mist is specially formulated to clean the ink from my rubber while conditioning and protecting the flexible surface of my stamps.  The scrubbing surfaces are easily removed from the case.  I give them a quick shampoo in the sink when they need it, then leave them in my dish drainer to dry.  Because the case closes, I can throw it in my bag to take to crops without worrying about messing anything up.

You Need:  A Way to Cut the Paper for Your Projects

Yes, you can use a ruler to mark your lines and the scissors to cut.  But really, that is not a lot of fun, is it? 

The best portable paper cutter I've found is this one.  I love the easy to read metal surface.  The orange cutter blade switches out with another that serves to score cardstock, so it is a double duty tool.  The swing arm allows me to measure and cut even larger pieces of paper without adding to the size of the tool.  This one lives in my bag--I take it to all my classes, crops and all other away from home stamping fun.  It is thin, lightweight, durable, accurate and easy--what more could I ask for?

You Need:  A Way to Make it All Stick Together

Stampin' Up! offers several kinds of adhesive, but this is the one that I reach for over and over.  snail adhesive is a two sided tape dispenser.  Unlike many other two sided tapes, however, there is not sticking and peeling.  The paper that carries the adhesive rolls back onto an internal spindle so all that is applied to your project is a sticky strip.  This tool is fast, neat and easy to use.  And when you use up the adhesive, you only throw away a cartridge--less waste and less expense.  The refill pops in easily with no threading or fiddling required.

So That's It. 

With these five tools to compliment your ink, stamps and paper, your are ready to really enjoy stamping.  If you have any questions, or if you need to add these tool to your supplies, please contact me. 

Stamp Club from December: Oops, I forgot to show you

These are the projects that we did on our Stamp Club Fun Afternoon in December.  The center of the flower is made using the oh-so-cool build a brad kit.

All Stamped Images Copyright Stampin' Up! 1999-2007

Christmas Cookies

I made these cookies for the members of the choir at my church and for my extended family.  Each cookie is a giant sugar heart.  Once they were slipped into Stampin' Up! cello bags and tied with a hand stamped card and ribbon, they made an impressive gift.  I also tied a tag onto my baasket so that the whole effect would be festive. 

All Stamped Images Copyright Stampin' Up! 1999-2007.

Valentines for School

For Valentines Day, my son and I made these cute, simple lollipop covers.  Each one is just a 5 1/4" x 2" strip of scored cardstock.  We used the heart from Boatloads of Love and my son patiently (well, maybe not so patiently after a while) wrote the names of each of his classmates in the design.  Fun and simple--the whole project took 44 minutes less than it took to do his valentines last year:

• 12 minutes:  Drive to the drug store, park and go in
• 11 minutes:  Select just the right package of valentines
• 9 minutes:  Wait in line and pay for the valentines
• 12 minutes:  Drive home
• 5 minutes:  try to figure out where we put the valentines once we were home for a while.
• 40 minutes:  Select a valentine for each member of his class, fold them up, write on the name.

This year:

• 10 minutes:  Stamp the hearts
• 25 minutes:  I fold the covers and attach them to the lollipops while my son writes the names

Thats 1 hour 29 minutes versus 45 minutes.  Now, granted, he is a year older and writes faster.  But his class is bigger this year--6 more students.  I think that's pretty good!

Remember, it might seem like a lot of work to make your own cards, gifts and other items.  However, once you factor in driving, parking, selecting, waiting, paying and driving into the equation, stamping is much, much faster.   

Stamp Club for February

Stamp Club met on Sunday, February 10 at my house.  We made these projects.  All club members are invited to attend these monthly free gatherings and make either the two projects or the two page scrapbook page.  If they want to make both, they can for just $12.   What a deal.

Do you think you might like to join us?  Our next Fun Afternoon will be Sunday, March 2 at 3:00 pm.  I encourage everyone to try it just once, with no obligation.  Click Here for the Club information page,  Please contact me for further details.

Silver Leaves

I always forget that you can stamp an image on top of another image.  I'm glad that I remembered when I made this card.

The silver leaves on the black background were made by rolling a jumbo wheel across the silver ink pad.

So what size card fits in a standard envelope?  How do you figure out the layout and theme for a card?  What is the magic of layers?  And what about color?

If you are ready to learn some basic card skills, please come to the Card Making Basics class on Sunday, February 24 at 3:00 in the afternoon.  To reserve your space or get more information about the class, please contact me at Jennifer@ArtPossible.com. 

Ingredients:  Card stock:  certainly celery, basic black, blue bayou, whisper white  Ink:  Certainly celery classic ink, basic black, silver  Ribbon:  5/8" certainly celery grosgrain Rhinestone Brad:  from Pretties Kit  Jumbo Stampin' Around wheel:  Leaves a la carte  Stamp Set:  Carte Postale

All Images Copyright Stampin' Up! 1999-2008

Weathered Flowers--For the Love of Bleach

You didn't know that you needed to hold a workshop, did you?  This is the level 3 Hostess only set Time Well Sent.  And only Hostesses can get it.

I used markers to color the center flower.  The background flowers were stamped on tempting turquoise paper with stayzon ink, then painted with bleach using my aquapainter.  It makes a great, weathered look.

Ingredients:

Card stock:  tempting turquoise, barely banana, whisper white  Ink:  Black stayzon  Misc: bleach, aquapainter pen  Stamp Set:  Time Well Spent.

All images copyright Stampin' Up! 1999-2008

Sign Seven

There was one guy in the crowd, so I made sure I picked up a black frame to help make the design more masculine.  I think this is manly without being bland.  Vintage style designs can get away with more frills and still be masculine (that's my opinion, anyway.  Who knows what men think on the subject).

All images copyright Stampin' Up! 1999-2008

Sign Six

This was a softer design.  The bird and medalion from the Carte Postale set blend into the lower right corner. 

All images copyright Stampin' Up! 1999-2008

Sign Five

I love the soothing, spring/summer feel of this design.

All images copyright Stampin' Up! 1999-2008