Geared Up Garage for PP488

After a recent discussion with a friend about bits boxes and white paper off-cut boxes, today I decided to do something about them. I don't know about you, but so often a good clean out is a form of procrastination. In this case, I was hoping that if I cleaned up my desk I'd find my mojo hiding there somewhere and be able to get on with some creating.

I'm not entirely sure I found it, but I did find in my bits box something of interest. Some time ago, I did a class using Geared Up Garage and I taught my people how to make faux metal out of paper. There in the bottom of the box was the piece I made as demonstration, along with another thing we did in that class: using small stamps to create a tone-on-tone DSP.

Since my mojo was still on a go-slow, this week's sketch from The Paper Players came to my rescue with some inspiration.

So, here it is - the bits box bonanza:

The faux metal gears were made on Crushed Curry to get the golden underglow, then built up with layers of different browns and partial layers of clear embossing. A fun technique!

The strangest thing is that the stamped panel and the embossed card front are both Sahara Sand, even though they look different. The inner panel has been stamped, the edges sponged and then mounted on a narrow border of embossed copper foil. The card base has been embossed using the Subtle folder. Somehow, these two treatments make them seem as though they are different colours. After looking at the photo, I even had to go back and check the original card with my colour swatch!

So the results of this afternoon's activities were: this card, a much reduced bits box, a much smaller (and tidier) white off-cut box and a MUCH fuller paper recycling bin. 😀

If you live in New Zealand and don't have a Stampin' Up Demonstrator, I'd love to be yours. I can help you with ideas, get you catalogues and provide you with Stampin' Up products. You can leave a message in the comments or contact me using any of the methods listed in the Contact Me tab at the top of the page. You can shop with me from anywhere in New Zealand by clicking on the SHOP NOW button in the sidebar or clicking on any of products below.

Product List

Geared Up Garage Cling Stamp Set

[148590]

$44.00

Garage Gears Dies

[148521]

$69.00

Soft Suede A4 Card Stock

[119982]

$18.50

Sahara Sand A4 Card Stock

[121695]

$18.50

Copper Foil Sheets

[142020]

$10.50

Card Stock A4 Crushed Curry

[131288]

$18.50

Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad

[147115]

$15.75

Sahara Sand Classic Stampin' Pad

[147117]

$15.75

Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad

[147114]

$15.75

Versamark Pad

[102283]

$20.00

Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder

[109130]

$12.50

Subtle 3D Embossing Folder

[151775]

$20.00

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$7.25

Dashing Deer for Inspire. Create 54

This week, the challenge at Inspire. Create. is Die Cutting. 

I love die cuts and I know that the day I decided to invest in a die-cutting machine was the day that my paper crafting moved on to a new level. This Christmas card ended up being more die-cutting than stamping but I've just got so many lovely dies!

I started by patinating a piece of Whisper White. The embossing folder I used was Tin Tile and the colours used were Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, a touch of Early Espresso and gold embossing.

I think that dies fall into two camps: plain and sexy. While the sexy ones are show stoppers, it's the plain ones that are the most used.

The Stitched Shapes dies are a case in point. How plain is a circle? Yet how amazing is the little stitched edge on the circle that steps up any card you choose to use it on. Same with the Layering Circle dies. That's the largest scallop shape sitting in behind, just quietly adding a flash of colour that helps tie the design together. The same goes for Stitched Rectangles. It's another of those plain die sets that quietly add elegance and interest without drawing attention to themselves.

The Christmas Layers dies and Detailed Deer are in the 'sexy' camp. They draw the eye and scream for us to look at them. They make a great accent or focal point.

If you live in New Zealand and would like to add to your die collection, then message me or visit my on-line store by clicking the SHOP NOW icon in the sidebar, or on any of the items in the product list.

You can join up with Inspire. Create. until 27 October.

Product List

Dashing Deer Cling-Mount Stamp Set

[151362]

$46.00

Rooted In Nature Cling-Mount Stamp Set

[148217]

$88.00

Early Espresso A4 Card Stock

[121686]

$18.50

Whisper White A4 Card Stock

[106549]

$20.50

Gold Foil Sheets

[132622]

$10.50

Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad

[147114]

$15.75

Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad

[147115]

$15.75

Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad

[147116]

$15.75

Versamark Pad

[102283]

$20.00

Gold Stampin' Emboss Powder

[109129]

$12.50

Tin Tile Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

[147906]

$20.00

Layering Circles Dies

[141705]

$69.00

Stitched Shapes Dies

[145372]

$60.00

Stitched Rectangle Dies

[148551]

$74.00

Christmas Layers Dies

[150654]

$61.00

Detailed Deer Dies

[147915]

$71.00

5/8" (1.6 Cm) Burlap Ribbon

[141487]

$14.75

Stamping Sponges

[141337]

$8.50

Stampin' Dimensionals

[104430]

$7.25

Freshly Made Sketches 368

With Christmas over, it was good to get back into my craft room to have a play with some of pre-order items.

The sketch at Freshly Made Sketches was inspiration for my first card of the day.

I'd pre-ordered the Geared Up Garage bundle: a gloriously masculine set of stamps with matching dies. Ever since I'd seen the gears die-cut, I'd been desperate to give it a faux rusted metal treatment. I first saw this technique about three years ago on a video by Canadian demonstrator, Allison Okimitsu at Nice People Stamp.

It's magic watching the plain card transform into rusted metal. After happily playing with that, I added in some of the co-ordinating  Classic Garage DSP for the rectangular panels.

Here you can see just how realistic the faux rusted metal looks.

The Geared Up Garage bundle and Classic Garage papers will all be available on 3 January 2019 when the Occasions catalogue goes live. Is it on your wish list yet?

Colour Inkspiration 11

I've been so busy lately that I haven't entered the challenges I wished I had. So it was a great pleasure to find the time to put together something for the eleventh challenge at Colour Inkspiration, a Facebook based challenge. The graphics are always beautiful and this one is no exception. It just begs you to come play!

It's been a while since I got out Touches of Texture but these colours seemed to call for it. As a background for the panel, I used the challenge colours as a base for a piece of faux metallic paper. I made this a few times around Christmas and used it in a class, where it was very popular. The new Garden Trellis embossing folder is perfect for this technique, I think. 

There are tiny pearls in the flower centres and there are some flicks of clear Wink of Stella in the mix as well. I couldn't resist tucking in a little bit of the gorgeous Copper Trim ribbon to pick up the touches of copper embossing on the background paper.

Ingredients

Card: Early Espresso, Marina Mist, Very Vanilla

Stamps: Touches of Texture, One Big Meaning

Inks: Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Marina Mist inkpad and marker, Versamark

Other: Copper embossing powder, Stitched framelits, Layering oval framelits, Copper Trim, Garden Trellis embossing folder, pearls, clear Wink of Stella

CAS Colours and Sketches - DT call

This afternoon, I held a technique class with a lovely group of ladies. I'd demonstrated how to make faux metallic paper for them before they made a piece and used it for a Christmas card. While I was packing up, I decided that the demo piece was too good to waste so I used some of it for this card for the sketch at CAS Colours and Sketches this week.

I spent quite a bit of time choosing between Garden Green and Old Olive holly leaves. I wanted to bring out the green in the faux metallic DSP. There's a bit of green in the inking to add a touch of verdigris which I wanted to accentuate. I think the right choice was made, in the end. 

Ingredients

Card: Very Vanilla, scraps of Old Olive, Gold foil card

Stamps: Holly Berry Happiness

Inks: Versamark, Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Tuxedo Black

Other: gold embossing powder, Holly embossing folder, Holly builder punch, Real Red enamel shapes, Pear Pizzazz stamp'n'write marker to highlight holly leaves.

Stampin' Royalty 347 - Monochrome

This week's challenge at Stampin' Royalty - to make monochromatic project - brought me back to my recent experiments with making faux metallic paper. I love the richness of the browns/golds for a Christmas card.

Update: Very pleased to be a Top Pick at Stampin' Royalty.

Ingredients

Card: Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Gold Foil

Stamps: Totally Trees, Holly Berry Happiness

Inks: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Versamark

Other: Holly embossing folder, Gold embossing powder, linen twine, metallic star shape.

All products Stampin Up.