It’s Sunday…and what a great day to play with The Paper Players!  Anne Marie has a quartet of colors for us to work with this week:  Island Indigo, Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake, Rich Razzleberry.  I reached for one of my favorite stamps from the Spring Catalog, Just Thinking.  What was going to be a quick and easy card, turned into a richly colored confection of layers.  Enjoy!

The Stampin’ Schach Design Tips: Layering
This finished card measures 4-1/4″ wide by 5-1/2″ long.

• Anchor your layers! A Paper Doily serves as the foundation for this card’s central design element.  The Crumb Cake Paper Tag, from the Pop-Up Posies Designer Kit, is followed by a Baja Breeze Oval embossed with the Lacy Brocade Textured Impressions Embossing Folder.  The Lacy Brocade pattern provides an elegant contrast against the Geometric Island Indigo pattern from the Summer Smooches Designer Series Paper collection. 

• Work those patterns! Don’t be afraid to pair up different styles.  The Rich Razzleberry “Fan” pattern, also from Summer Smooches, looks great with the Island Indigo pattern.  The key is separating the two with a small Baja Breeze border, punched with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch.  And although I wanted to put a little pearl on each one of those little white dots, I restrained myself!

• Ribbon flower! A Crumb Cake Seam Binding flower tops everything off.  They are so easy to make.  I simply knotted one end of a piece of seam binding, stuck it onto a small adhesive circle, and twisted and wrapped my way around until the circle was completely covered.  The end of the seam binding was then tucked underneath. 

At first I was overwhelmed with what to do with these colors, but once I pulled out card stocks and patterns, the process became easier.  What do you think of today’s card? Won’t you let me know in your comment today?  Of course, if you have any questions about the cards I create or the techniques I use, I am only an email away.  Until next time…

(In case you missed my post earlier this week, Muffy and I are in Crown Point, IN today.  What a long road trip this will have been!  We head back to Iowa late this afternoon.)

 

Stamp Set:  Just Thinking; Inks: VersaMark, Soft Suede; Designer Series Paper:  Summer Smooches; Card Stock:  Island Indigo, Rich Razzleberry, Baja Breeze;  Misc. Paper:  Paper Doilies, Pop-Up Daises Designer Kit; Tools:  Big Shot, Oval Framelits Collection,  Lacy Brocade Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Heat Tool, White Stampin’ Emboss Powder, Paper Snips, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch, Multipurpose Adhesive Sheet;  Glitz and Glam:  Crumb Cake Seam Binding, Basic Pearls;

It’s time for another dog show weekend here at the Schach house.  Well, it’s actually more than a weekend.  I am leaving today for the Chicago area where Muffy will be showing on Thursday and Friday in the Midwest Boxer Club Specialty shows.  These are the same shows where her sire won Best in Specialty Show several years ago.  Then we head over to Crown Point, Indiana for shows on Saturday and Sunday.  These are majors (big shows)…and if Muffy wins, you will hear me whoopin’ and hollerin’ no matter where you live!

Brody was evaluated Sunday by professional handler, Amy Bieri, to see he could return to the show ring and be competitive.  Her answer was….YES! But he needs to lose 3 pounds.  Don’t I wish I only had three instead of 30!  But he has until this fall to accomplish that.  I have until Stampin’ Up!’s Convention. Here are a few pictures of chunky Brody with his clunky collar!

As is always the situation when I am on the road with the furkids, I will have limited Internet access. However,  I will definitely check my email.  If you have any questions during this time, please don’t hesitate to ask.  And please be sure to check out my Paper Player card on Sunday!  Until next time…

It’s Sunday…and do you know what that means? It’s time to play with The Paper Players! This week the incomparable Nance Leedy has quite the challenge for us:  Use a repurposed or recycled item on your project.  I decided to re-purpose some magazine pages while using the “Faux Cloisonne” technique.  I can’t wait to see what YOU repurpose or recycle!

The Stampin’ Schach Design Tips: Faux Cloisonne
This finished card measures 4-1/4″ wide by 5-1/2″ long.

• Faux Cloisonne is as easy as 1-2-3! 1.  Stamp the image with VersaMark onto a magazine page.  I find that fashion magazines like Harper’s Bazaar or Vogue are filled with artsy images in a myriad of colors.  2.  Heat and emboss.   3.  Snip!

• How cool is the result?  The leaves were punched using the Bird Builder Punch…once again from magazine pages.  A Floral Trim flower, tinted Rose Red was added to the middle. Need a refresher on how to tint these flowers?  Click HERE to watch the video.

• Emboss with dies! After seeing this technique on Lisa Eisner’s blog, Crafting with Princess Lisa, I had to give it a try.  Once again, it’s as easy as pie.  Ink the flat side of  framelets (I used the Labels Collection) with VersaMark, and position as shown, with the cutting edge facing up…away from the paper…and zip it through the Big Shot.

• Don’t you love the look?

•   I snipped it out with paper snips, and added a piece of lace from the Artisan Embellishment collection.

• Brayer a layer! Crumb Cake ink, brayered onto a Paper Doily, looks much more subtle than plain white.

What a mess I ended up with! I just had to snap a picture of it.  I usually put things away as I go, but not this time.  Yikes!

Then I couldn’t decide if I wanted to keep the second blossom on, but as you can see at the top of the page, I removed it.  Here is the one with the extra flower: 

Which one do you like the best…one flower or two?  Won’t you let me know in today’s comment?  Your comments are important to me, and I do read each and every one of them.  Of course, if you have any questions about the cards I create, or the techniques I use, I am only an email away! I will be away doing “dog” business today…Brody gets evaluated to see if he can return to showing, so I will be away from the computer until evening, so be patient if you need to contact me.  And don’t forget…

Stampin’ Up! is offering FREE SHIPPING April 6th, 7th, and 8th. There are still two days to take advantage of this amazing opportunity! Until next time…

Stamp Sets:  Secret Garden, Sweet Essentials, French Foliage, Distressed Dots; Inks: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Rose Red, VersaMark; Card Stock:  Crumb Cake, Pink Pirouette, Very Vanilla;  Tools:  Big Shot, Labels Collection Framelets, Heat Tool, White Stampin’ Emboss Powder, Bird Builder Punch, Paper Snips, Brayer, Spong Dauber; Glitz and Glam: Basic Pearls, Artisan Embellishments, Floral Trim, Paper Doilies, Pink Pirouette/Rose Red Two Tone Ribbon