2013 Spring Calendar-25 Years of Memories

 

2013 is Here!

Olathe Stamp Club - August 2012

Can you believe it's September already?! I have some catching up to do, but I'm determined to get back in the saddle here in blogland this month, despite a number of things working against me. 

I taught an "emboss resist" card in Olathe for the August session. Above are two possible layouts using the same set of elements. It is such a thrill to watch the clear-embossed "invisible" image appear as if by magic when you start to sponge on color!

When you sponge, remember to work from lightest to darkest ink color. Here I've used So Saffron, Regal Rose and Raspberry Ripple.

Inside, the card repeats the image using Regal Rose for the background images and Raspberry Ripple for the simple sentiment. The card combines an image from the must-have Serene Silhouettes with sentiments from So Sorry.

Here's an alternative color scheme in blues, using Just Believe for the stamped images. It's actually a Whisper White background, but I was editing the photo in bad lighting and seem to have overcompensated in the wrong direction! Anyway, as you can see, this technique is ideal for silhouette stamps and adapts well to a variety of themes.

Wish Big!

Here's a masculine birthday card that I CASE'd and then tweaked a little to make it my own. In an office full of guy's it came in handy!

Enjoy,
M.

Materials:
Card Stock: Pear Pizazz, Not Quite Navy, Cajun Craze, Very Vanilla, and Well Worn DSP (Ret.).
Stamp Sets: Word Play, French Foliage, Affection Collection, July Fourth (Ret.), and Happiest Birthday Wishes.
Ink: Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, River Rock, and Not Quite Navy.
Punches: Small and Large Stars (Ret.).
Misc.: Library Clip (Ret.) and Dimesionals.

Christmas in August

Hello again,
I created this card for our annual "Cool 'n the Gang" all day stamp extravaganza!  Oh my, and what a day it was!  Lots of fun, great projects and yummie food!  What more could you ask for!?!  Hope you like!

Thanks,
M.

Materials:
Card Stock: Real Red, Whisper White, Island Indigo, and Summer Smootches DSP.
Stamp Set: Scentsational Season.
Ink: Island Indigo.
Punch/Dies: Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border and Holiday Collection.
Embossing Folder: Perfect Polka Dots.
Ribbon: Real Red Polka Dot Grosgrain (Ret.).
Misc.: Clear Embossing Power and Stampin' Dimensionals.

Zindorf Inspiration

Hi!  I am Kimberly, Kathy's most recent recruit.  I am very excited to be posting my first card ever!  It's my first time posting I mean, not the first time making a card ;)  This is my attempt to CASE a Michelle Zindorf project.  I was pretty pleased with the result and hope that you will be inspired too.

This is a great way to use up scraps of DSP!  The "stitching" along the edge of the card is simply done by piercing a straight line of holes and then drawing the "stitches" in with my black marker!   

A Good Layout Stands on its Head!

I promised to show you more tricks with our "Rule of Thirds" layout.

Compare this to the horizontal format from the last post. You can see that the balloon panel is the 2/3 piece, and the stripe is the 1/3 (back to using the World Spectacular DSP that was featured this month at the Lawrence club). The banner has narrowed slightly into a half inch strip.

And once again, if you would rather use stamps, the same proportions work - I've cut a couple of strips of paper with the Adorning Accents Edgelits, embossed them with the coordinating folders, and added two images from the My Friend set (French version, why not?!).

So many looks, so simple. What are you waiting for?

-Kathy

Stamp Club Olathe - July 2012

How would you design a card that can be quickly modified for any recipient, any occasion? That was the hostess' challenge for the Olathe club this month!


I decided to focus on a good strong layout, using DSP as my main element. Patio Party seemed a good choice, since it contains general "birthday" themes as well as some patterns and also some florals.

Did you spot the "Rule of Thirds"? That's always a great place to begin. One panel is roughly 1/3 the width of the card, the other 2/3. The banner strip ties them together, and the medallion provides a focal point. Aren't the new Apothecary Accents Framelits great shapes? The birthday sentiment is from Itty Bitty Banners.

See how simply substituting the floral DSP for the cakes makes immediately more feminine? I thought the butterflies made a nice combination with the flowers.

 
Wait, what happened?! It's doing tricks. A strong layout can easily be turned in another direction, as you can see.

If you prefer to use stamps instead of DSP, you can still get the same effect. Here I've collage-stamped an image from the set Papaya Collage, then added a banner strip (using another image from that set) and medallions as above.

In my next post, I'll show you how to turn this layout on its' head! 

Stay tuned,

Kathy