Distinctive Touches

Friday Featured Card... by Latisha

Sorry about the lack of post yesterday.  I spent another few hours at the dentist office and came home pretty beat.  This morning I'm the proud owner of a swollen lip and some pretty sore choppers.  At least all of the hard work is done now.  Now I just wait for my permanent caps to come in and then have my temporary caps replaced. 

I DO have a great card to share with you today... actually I have TWO!  Since it's Friday, I have my Featured Card to share and of course, the card that I made in response to it.

Today's Featured Card is this GORGEOUS holiday greeting from Latisha.  I was browsing the gallery this week... really feeling a bit of the holiday blues, when I saw this card.  The thumbnail was pretty... I clicked on it and BAM... the card is AMAZING!  I fell in love with the vintage Santa.. and when I found out it was a piece of patterned paper cut into the strips for the layout I was ga-ga for it!  Inspiration For Sure!

I ran into my craft studio and riffled through my patterned paper to see if I has some that would work for this technique.  Drat... none... (pout)

I didn't let that stop me though.  I pulled out my own vintage holiday stamp and went to town.  The stamp is called Tin Can Mail and is from Inkadinkadoo.  (Ummm, no idea why the name ... seems a bit weird to me, but I'm not complaining as it is a really cool image.)  I stamped the image on white paper and decided NOT to color it.  (I know, I know... I really was feeling a bit crazy!) I used my new labels nestability to cut out just a portion of the stamped image.  I wanted to use a bunch of different shapes in my layout, so I used the funky label, an oval, a rectangle, and of course, I mounted them on a square card.  I wanted lots of layers too.  I stamped and embossed a snowflake image (sorry, don't know the company) and cut it out.  A few little embellishments like the brads and the stitching finish it off nicely.  

I REALLY wanted to make this more vintage'y" by adding some distress ink... (after all, that is part of what I liked about Latisha's inspirational card) but I decided to keep it stark.  Part of me still wants to ink it up and color it in.  (M_U_S_T _ R_E_S_I_S_T)...

I hope you like it.  I have to thank Latisha for her stunning holiday card... it got me up and in my studio.  For even more inspiration from Latisha, you can check out her blog HERE... it's amazing!

Have a Wonderful Weekend Everyone.
Colleen

Friday Featured Card... by TheresaCC

Good Afternoon!  I would have posted earlier, but today's card is a doosie... and it took me a while to get mine done.

I was browsing the SCS uploads yesterday and came across this gorgeous card by TheresaCC. It immediately caught my eye (and apparently lots of other eyes too).  I fell in love with the colors and the great distressing that was done on it.  After studying it for a bit, I realized that the layout was completely new to me and really was interesting.  (She has a mini-tutorial on her blog about how to make that awesome swirly border for the sentiment oval HERE.)  I decided that this was going to be my Friday Featured Card.  I didn't even go any further in the uploads.  I knew that this was the one for today!

I wasn't sure if I was inspired more by the colors (I have a color thing) or by the neat layout.  I figured that I wanted to try the layout... so off I went.  I started out by picking an image for the focal point oval.  I had the adorable Sugar Nellie knight stamp all colored with silvers, blues, and greens... and it fit perfectly, so I cut that out and prepared all my layers.  (I sponged weathered wood, china blue, and shabby shutters distress inks onto each layer of card stock.  I texturized the green layer with a screen pattern, and I mounted each layer on a piece of black card stock.) 

 I then made the big bow with silver wide organdy, thin blue grosgrain, and a piece of silver cord.  When I started putting my card together, I realized that the bow was too girlie for the knight image.  What to do, what to do???  I decided I liked the feminine look today, so I went in search of a more suitable image.  I came across this bird from my new Inkadinkadoo set and figured it would work.  I stamped it on white with black pigment ink and then sponged shabby shutters distress ink over it to cover the white.  Then, I set to work painstakingly cutting it out.  A few of the swirls at the bottom didn't survive the sharp blades, but I think it looks okay.   I fancied it up by adding some stamped swirls on the blue layer and the blue grosgrain ribbon on the left. 

If you look closely, you can see that I moved a few of the layers around a bit from Theresa's layout.  I do that a lot.  I have an original idea in mind and cut out all the pieces... and then I play around with them and move the around.  I moved the smaller blue layer off-center a bit to give me a more room for my sentiment (from Verve).

While it took me longer than I expected, I really like the results.  Thanks Theresa for inspiring me to be creative today.

Before I sign off for the weekend I just want to add a quick public service announcement (read - advertisement for my class...) LOL

My Everything Copic class starts on Monday!  Time is running out and it is filling up fast.  If you are interested in learning "EVERYTHING COPIC" hope on over to My Creative Classroom and sign up HERE.

Have a Super Duper Weekend!
Hugs,
colleen

Friday Featured Card... by HardwoodsRUs

I'm SO excited to bring you today's featured card!  Why... because it TOTALLY inspired me to make a card that I LOVE! 

I was browsing through the gallery this morning thinking, "I'm so not in the mood to be creative, I'm just going to pick a card that looks similar to something I've already made and blog that."  Really... I'm being embarrassingly honest here... I just didn't feel like making a card. 

BUT... when I found this amazing card by HardwoodsRUs, I immediately felt a spark... and that's all it took!  It was a TRUE inspiration.  I fell in love with the single-layer collage look... and of course all the sponging and the monotone softness of it.  I think it looks so clean and yet so sophisticated.  I wanted to copy it exactly I loved it so much... but I decided to "make it my own" by changing it up.  It turned out even more different than I expected.

I needed to make a wedding card for one of my hubbie's coworkers, so I started with the sentiment (Verve).  I pulled out a couple of background stamps from SU and my flower silhouette stamps (Inkadinkadoo).  I knew I wanted a monotone look and my pumpkin paper was sitting out on my desk, so that is what I used.  (I also used So Saffron and Very Vanilla.) 

I created a few masks and started by inking Scattered Straw distress ink around the edges and then stamped Canvas, French Script, and Weathered in various shades of yellow ink around the piece.  I pulled out the pumpkin ink and started stamping up some flowers.... building the layers and getting darker as I came forward.  

I almost stamped the sentiment on the card itself and left it at that, but I decided I wanted a bit of "layering" going on.  I stamped the sentiment and punched it out and layered it over a strip of pumpkin ribbon.  To balance the "top heavy" card, I added three pearls along the lower left edge. 

I'm SO excited about how this turned out.  It came together really quickly and turned out even better than I had hoped.  Thanks to HardwoodsRUs for the much needed inspiration this morning! 

Thanks all for stopping in.  Have a wonderful weekend!
colleen

Technique Tuesday - Faux Burning

Wanna see another really col technique?  Of course you do... that's why you're here!

Today I want to share a technique that is soooo easy.  If you like the look of vintage photos (a bit beat up, torn, and possibly burned), you will love the Faux Burning technique. 

I started by taking some vanilla card stock and creating a tag.  I then burnished on all sorts of distress inks.  (Tea Dye, Scattered Straw, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, and Soot)  I added the lighter colors to the whole tag (leaving the center bright) and then added the darker colors to the sides.  To create the burned look, I pulled the card stock across the top of the Soot ink pad until there was a bead of ink along the edge.  I then took my foam blending tool and made quick pulls towards the center.  This drags the black color in random patterns along the edge...giving it the start of the burned appearance.

Once I ink up the edges, I then use a distressing tool to tear up and bend the edges a bit.  This step really helps give it that burned... some parts are missing... look.  I then add more soot distress ink along the edges to cover up the exposed tag edges. 

Then... stamp an image!  I used this Tin Can Mail stamp from Inkadinkado.  I wanted to keep the "dark" look so I stamped it in Soot also.  Once the image was dry, I added a bow with organdy ribbon and printed a name on it.  I have this grand idea to dress my Christmas table with old, vintage, black and cream stuff.  (Who needs the traditional red and green?) 

I thought these would make great place tags.  Or... if I got really energetic, I could make up a bunch with different images and do a "distressed tree" this year.  Hhhhmmmmm, I better get on that... Christmas is only a month and a half away!

Hugs to all!

colleen