Colour Refresh & FREE SHIPPING

I don't care what anyone says - I love this time of year at Stampin'Up!  You never know what little surprise is going to be around the corner, but you know change is in the air because the new catalogue will be launched soon.  And today - we got our first surprise - it's a

To be honest, I don't often use the colours that are retiring.  And I love that Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry, Soft Sky, Pool Party and Calypso Coral are joining the main groups!  Plus - Yipee for a softer shade of gray!

Also - this weekend, April 6,7,8  you can place any sized order and get FREE SHIPPING!  I'm having a Mystery Hostess Virtual Event attached to this opportunity - so either e-mail me with your order or place your order through my on-line store (from ANYWHERE in the country!!!) and by using the assigned Hostess Code  (NARXF9ZS) , you may win $35+ of FREE product.

Oh - and butterflies - I worked with butterflies on the weekend and this month's BEST OF set is Best of Butterflies...

I was inspired by Andrea Gideon's bleached butterfly and so cased her card.  Wow, I love this....so I decided to try the bleaching on some other colours.  The Elegant Eggplant isn't too bad - not crazy about my added ink on the Night of Navy.  But ya gotta try!

Hope you're having a great day - thanks for dropping in.

Joan

Ducks, Dinosaurs and Butterflies

I must say, my opinion of Summer Starfruit is beginning to change a bit.  I wasn't enamoured with it when I first saw it, but as I'm working with it, it's growing on me! 

The sketch for the duck card is from Create with Connie and Mary.  I decided I wanted to use the "Cherish Friendship" set because it's been neglected - and then I wanted to find an idea for colouring the duck.  Stampin' Connection (a website available to Stampin'Up! Demonstrators with loads of ideas and inspiration) came to the rescue and I took some inspiration from Sandy Mathis who had bleached the duck last June.  

So - I used the same Crumb Cake paper, stamped the image with Black Staz-On and then took an aqua painter dipped in bleach to colour in the duck.  Once I die cut the image with one of the Apothecary Accents Framelits, I took a sponge dauber with bleach to go around the edges and added some Cajun Craze after that.

The "gingham" piece is Very Vanilla put through the Stripes embossing folder in two directions - the embossing folder was brayered with Crumb Cake first each time.

Since I had the brayer out, I decided it was time for me to try out one of Michelle Zindorf's tutorials.  

I've cased her card pretty much exactly as she created it - except I need a WHOLE BUNCH of practice using the brayer so that I don't end up with straight lines.  

I learned two things making this card - 

1 - if you're real quick, you can add (clear) embossing powder to Classic Ink.

2 - In order to keep the dinosaurs' "true" colours while you brayer the background, you colour him with VersaMark Pen and add clear embossing powder so that he becomes a embossing resist.  Duh!!!  Fantastic idea.

Since I was on a role, I cased another of Michelle's cards.  I saw this card a couple of weeks ago, and thought it would be a good tutorial to start with.  She gives such fantastic, step by step, instructions.  The images were coloured with the AquaPainter using ink from the lid of the Ink Pad.  I think what I learned most - which I need more practise with - is the use of different colours to produce shading.  Next I'll have to create something of my own using the new things I've learned.

So - it was a productive afternoon - on top of doing 3 loads of laundry - and folding it....on the SAME day...WOW!

Hope your day has been filled with inspiration.  Thanks for stopping by!

Joan

Bleached out Paper

 Today at our Extravaganza I am doing a technique demonstration and I decided to try the Bleaching Technique.  That means that the last couple of days I've been experimenting with bleach and paper and having a ton of fun doing it!  It's almost as magical as embossing powder!  I really don't like sharing so many cards at once - but since they all centre on the same thing I guess I will. 

For this first card (above) I used Elegant Eggplant and Wisteria Wonder.  After punching out the flowers I also sponged bleach around the edges to change the colour.

 Soft Suede created a yellow bleached area - and as long as the stamp isn't saturated with bleach the writing comes out okay too.

 Baroque Motif worked well for this technique, and again, I sponged around the edges just to add a bit.

 I love the colour that gets bleached out with the Pacific Point.  I loved it so much that I bleached a whole strip after punching out the lace border.  The butterfly from Creative Elements was a bit hard to do with bleach - the lines were a bit too delicate.

Finally - just for fun - I crumpled up a piece of Poppy Parade after wetting it with a bit of water.  Then I dabbed it onto the little towel of bleach  and let it dry.  When I opened it there was a cool yellow colour in a "sort-of" tie-dyed effect.  After I tore my piece, I punched out circles to create the matching pumpkin.


It just takes patience, willingness to experiment, and be sure that you recondition your stamps with Stampin' Mist before putting them away again!

I know I'll be having tons of fun at the Extravaganza, and I'll share those projects with you later.  Hope you are having a fun day too!
Joan