Friday, October 4, 2024

THREE-IN-ONE REINDEER DAYS

Each Friday in October my posts will feature a card made with the Reindeer Days Suite of Products.  This really is a fun Product Suite that just makes me smile.  For my first week as the Klompen Stamper Artisan of the month, I decided to make cards using the Stack & Cut Technique.


This technique stacks patterns of designer series paper together and then cuts the stack into whatever shapes you want.  After you finish cutting you mix and match the various patterns to make your cards.

For my 3 cards I stacked three different pieces of 5-1/4" x 1-3/4" designer series paper (DSP) from the Reindeer Days collection.  I then cut that stack into a partial starburst.  Here is a closer-up image of each of the resulting cards.




The starburst pieces on top card were laid out so there was no gap between them.  The bottom two cards were laid out so there was a slight "gap" between the pieces.  I think I like the slight gap of solid color separating the DSP pieces.  Which do you prefer?

The focal point on the first card above was made by die cutting the deer from one of the Reindeer Days DSP patterns.  Don't you love it when dies coordinate with images on the DSP?  The tree was fussy cut from the same paper.  I used blending brushes with Granny Apple Green and Pool Party ink to create the background.


For the focal point on the 2nd card, the two adorable little deer were die cut with one of the circle dies from Spotlight on Nature


The focal point on the 3rd card features a sentiment from the Reindeer Fun stamp set which was decorated with a couple of fussy cut packages from the DSP and a Granny Apple Green Holly Leaf die cut.


The inside of the three cards were all decorated in a similar manner with a strip of the DSP.  On a couple of them I had a fussy cut "leftover" image from the DSP that I didn't want to waste so I added them to the inside.


Each coordinating envelope flap was covered with one of the three patterns from the stacked Designer Series Paper starburst.

If you would like a tutorial that shows the details for each of the 3 cards, use this link to download a FREE PDF.

Other than the Spotlight on Nature Dies, cardstock, and ink, all products used were from the Reindeer Days Product Suite.

You can click on the image below to learn more about this Fun Suite.


Product List

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

AUTUMN LEAVES AND DRY BRUSHED METALLIC

A couple of weeks ago I realized that this beautiful Dry Brushed Metallic Specialty Paper was NOT RETIRED.  For some reason, I thought it had retired and so I had moved it to my retired bin.  This foil paper is so beautiful and I thought it would work wonderfully for a fall card.

If you have followed me at all you probably know that Summer is my favorite time of the year, so when the weather starts getting chilly and the flowers and leaves start looking worse for wear, it doesn't necessarily make me happy.  Don't get me wrong, I do love the changing colors of our trees here in Michigan.  I just don't love some of the other things that come with fall -- like putting the boat in storage, raking leaves, etc.  I know it's weird, but I'd prefer shoveling snow than raking leaves.

But the Dry Brushed Metallic Paper makes me happy, so I'm using it on this autumn themed card made with the Autumn Leaves Stamp Set and Dies.


The large maple leaf was heat embossed with Copper Embossing Powder and the DisINKtive Autumn Leaves stamps create very beautiful, embossed images.  With DisINKtive stamps I always like to make a test sample first when I want to heat emboss with one because sometimes the DisINKtive images don't work as well with heat embossing, but these Autumn Leaves images are great!  Even the DisINKtive shading shows up in the embossing.


One of my favorite color combinations is Copper Clay and Pretty Peacock, so I chose the version of the Dry Brushed Metallic Paper that has the blue shades and matted it to Pretty Peacock cardstock.  The gold ring behind the leaves was die cut with two dies from Deckled Circled dies.

The sentiments for the front and the inside of the card are from the Autumn Leaves Stamp Set.  I think I'm going to send this card to special friend for Thanksgiving.

The dark mat colors of Copper Clay and Pretty Peacock don't show up as well as I would like in the photos, but in real life it is a very pretty color combination.

Use this link to download a copy of the PDF tutorial.

A list of the products used is shown below.  Click on any of the images to learn more about that product or to make a purchase.

Product List

Monday, September 30, 2024

FLOWERS OF BEAUTY ON LINEN

Welcome back to Hodgepodge week where you are going to see a little of this and a little of that.   Yesterday I shared a card made with the Herringbone Technique, and today's Card has a pretty display of Flowers of Beauty on "linen".  

This card is bright and very cheery.  The colorful display of flowers and leaves were stamped on white tissue paper.  After stamping the tissue paper was crinkled up tightly, smoothed out a little and then adhered to Basic White cardstock.  The result is a technique that looks like linen.

If you are unfamiliar with the Faux Linen Technique watch the video below to see exactly how it is done.


In the video I talk about the similarities between the Faux Linen Technique and the Faux Silk Technique.  Both of those fabrics have a similar trait -- they tend to wrinkle!  Personally, I tend to avoid clothes made with either of these fabric because of the wrinkling.  And don't they usually have to be dry cleaned as well?  But I do think both techniques make pretty backgrounds for cards.  So, I will just stick to putting my "linen" and "silk" on cards.


The colors used for today's Flowers of Beauty are all from the Brights Color Family Collection -- Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Berry Burst, Flirty Flamingo and Granny Apple Green.  For cards where I want to use many colors, I know that if I pick them all from the same family they will coordinate well together.  So, today we celebrate the Bright Family of colors.


I used a stamp from the Shepherd's Care stamp set to add a few black dots.  I could have used any speckles stamp or just used a Black Stampin' Write Marker to splatter some specs but the Shepherd's Care stamp set was laying on my craft table, so it was handy.

For the inside of the card and the envelope I decorated the corner with more Flowers of Beauty.


The one thing on the front of my card that I wasn't really crazy about was the placement of the leaves.  So for the inside and the envelope, I decided to mask the flowers and then stamp the leaves.  By masking I was able to get mostly leaves with minimal stems.  The masking added a step so it was a little more work, but I liked the result better.  What do you think? Stems or minimal stems.

Use this link to download a PDF Tutorial for today's card.  The tutorial also includes a link to the Faux Linen Technique video on my YouTube Channel so if you download the tutorial you will always be able to easily find the Faux Linen Video.

A list of the products used on the Flowers of Beauty Faux Linen card is shown below.  Don't forget to add tissue paper and a glue stick (or adhesive of your choice) to your list of supplies.


Product List