TeaPot Tuesday - Strawberry Milkshakes!

Today's card actually goes to an 11-year-old boy by the name of Tyler. You can read the teapotter story here. Tyler's medical problems began in 2002. To say the least, it has been a very long journey for someone so young. His full story can be found on his website. He is a typical little boy. He has his favorite characters, is as active as his health allows, likes jokes and strawberry milkshakes.

Part of our challenge was to incorporate a joke... the opening being on the front of the card with the punch line being inside. Oh yeah, and bring plenty of strawberry milkshakes.

I had a cow stamp from the $1 bin at Michaels. I'm not a cow person but it's one of those stamps everyone should own because someone, somewhere likes cows. LOL I also has a four seasons faerie stamp set from Sarah Williams stamp line. One of those wonderful freebies when you purchase the UK magazine. LOVE those! Anyway, the spring faerie was all about strawberries, complete with a vine of the scrumptious treats. So here's what I came up with for the front of the card...

Do you know?

I can't wait to see who we get to send to next week!

If you are not a TeaPotter but would like to play, just click on the button that says I Survived TeaPot Tuesday. It will take you to the SCS Teapot thread list where you can get all the details. Help spread the cheer!

Creative Blessings!
Kelly

A Sneak Peek and a Give Away

Later this week I'll be showing you my entry in a Creative Challenge at the Telling Stories blog. But today I want to give you the opportunity to win one of Courtney Walsh's books. You get to choose which of her books you'd like to have.

PLUS Studio Calico is giving away one of their September scrapbooking kits! Wowzers.  Courtney has a few ways you can rack up your chances of winning so scoot on over to Telling Stories and say Hi.

Magazine Monday - Halloween

I seem to be in a Halloween  mood lately. I found several cards of inspiration in the Fall 2011 issue of Paper Creations. I’ll be sharing my take on them over the next few weeks.

Today’s card was inspired by Trick or Treat by Jenny Gropp. (pg 62) Jenny chose to use a 5” square card. She matted a striped patterned paper in gray/ white/orange/ black print against a black mat. She used a white pen to create a running stitch line around the edge of the black mat to ‘enhance’ the frame effect.

Here layered ‘diamonds’ in an orange plaid and a gray print were matted on black. She then ‘top stitched’ the prints with a black pen.  She used the same prints to stamp Trick or Treat tabs.

Her shoes image (Outlines Rubber Stamps) was stamped on white CS, matted on a the orange plaid then again on black. She anchored everything with a black/ orange plaid ribbon.

I like working with what I have. I just bought these shoes as part of a Studio G Halloween stamp set. The set also included a hat and a crow. I stamped the shoes on white CS with Memento Black then colored in the stripes with LePlume yellow-green. The Trick or Treat is part of a 4-pack $1 from Micheals.

My background mat is from All My Memories. The other papers were all from a misc. slab I bought at Michaels years ago. The green and purple CS are from ValuCS packs. I used an EK Success corner punch for my mat. The ribbon is one of the new ribbons from Studio G Halloween collection. I cut it in half lengthwise to make it more narrow.

The only thing I wished I’d done differently was to mat the striped paper against black CS to help pick up the black mat in the center.

Next Monday… Spiders pay us a visit and I’ve used one of the embossing folders I picked up at convention.

Creative Blessings!

Recycle Wednesday

For today’s recycle I’m pulling out something I’ve been using for about 5 years. My marker holder.

This is full of all my LePlume markers, Permenant Markers, a few Copics and glitter markers…
Markers should be stored horizontally. In the issue of space we sometimes forget and just stick them in an upright pencil holder or similar on our work surface. I designed this holder when I was first creating all the storage and whatnot for the then new office/ studio space.

I found these 16 oz glasses at Menards. I believe they came cellophaned together 3 for a $1. I bought 2 sets. These are blue whereas the ones I used in the project are clear.

With the help of a little E6000 glue, I put them together in a pyramid. I wrapped them tight with a rubberband and let the glue rest overnight. This is what it looks like empty…

All it takes is looking at something a little differently to come up with just the item you need to get organized.

Creative Blessings
Kelly

Teapot Tuesday

Good morning, Everyone
A head cold has hit full force and don't feel up to creating today. I do want to do the card for Tyler. We're supposed to create a joke on the outside and the punch line on the inside. He loves Strawberry milkshakes. I have the beginnings of the card in my head... which at this point is really scary. So hopefully later in the week I can make it come together and share with you.

In the mean time, please read Tyler's story and consider joining us in sending him some funny love!
http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/19627038-post310.html

Magazine Monday

With the cooler temperatures the past week, it's been easy to get into a FALL frame of mind. It feels like fall so much I'm in 'fall cleaning' mode around here. Not good when I have so many projects I want to get done. Like this card inspired by Jacki Jones.  I'd love to find a blog or website for Jacki. The only thing my search brought up was a profile of her on Hero Arts.  Her card - Natural Gift WRap Khad White - was featured in the May/June 2007 issue of rubberstamper (Yes, I'm about through showcasing artists in this issue lol)
She repeatedly stamped the Skeleton Leaves onto the gift wrap with CTMH's Autumn Terracotta, SU's Close to Cocoa, Ranger's Adirondack Earthtone Raisin, Tsukineko's Versam Magic Mango Madness and Brilliance Galaxy Gold. Wow! You gotta love a gal not afraid to mix her brands! She cut out 2 leaves, where

I only did one and tucked them behind 5/8" brown grosgrain ribbon.  My card is pretty much the same as Jacki's but I added the little tag attached to the ribbon with a gold jump ring. I used SU Dusty Durango, Pear Pizzaz as my paper layers. The leaves are stamped in SU Cajun Craze, Close to Cocoa, Really Rust, and Apricot Appeal. The ribbon is SU Pear Pizzaz seam binding.

Technique Series #3- Mono Printing!

Today we’re talking Mono Printing. Mono Printing is similar to letterpress except you use a die cut as opposed to an embossed image to take your impression from.

This is one of those projects where I should have warned you ahead of time. A good thing to have on hand if you’re playing with ink or paints is a piece of Plexiglass. You might even want a couple of different sizes. The one I used for this was 6.5”x7”. You can get them at most any hardware or lumberyard and they aren’t expensive. I have another one about 4”x6” and paid less than $5 for the two of them. Keep in mind the size of card front you work with most and go at least an inch bigger.

Aside from a piece of Plexiglass you’ll need:

2 colors of acrylic paint
A mister bottle
A brayer
Diecuts
Card stock (cut the piece a bit larger than what you plan to use it for.
Baby wipes or paper towels

Think what you want your background color to be vs. the image. I chose SU Almost Amethyst for my ‘sky’ background. Put a good-sized dollop or straight line or paint horizontal across the glass. Brayer it out to cover the glass then mist lightly with water.

Lay your die cut shape on a sheet of paper or craft mat. Craft paper, reused printer copies or butcher papers make great work surfaces for this.
Brayer your alternate color (I used green) and brayer the die cut shapes. Then mist lightly with water. Be careful not to ‘saturate’ the paint as the paint will run and you’ll lose the details of your image. You want just enough to thin it out a bit.

Turn your diecut, paint side down, onto the Plexiglass. Mist the entire area again with water. Then place a sheet of cardstock on top of the glass and gently rub your hand over it to transfer the image. Don’t ‘push’ as this might make your die cut slide.

Carefully lift the cardstock off the Plexiglass and set aside to dry completely. If it wants to curl let it dry completely then you can press it between a couple of books overnight or with a warm iron. (Yep I own two – one just for crafts LOL)

Vicki stresses this one might take a little practice until you get a feel for the paint to water ratio and the pressure of you hand. But the after effects can be beautiful.

This tree card looks a bit childish but my granddaughter will love it. One more Christmas card done! I used the Sizzix mini-ornaments for the bulbs/ lights/ star, adding gold and silver paint pen for adornment and a glitter pen for the light chord. The stamp is from SU – Holiday Best stamped in SU Marina Mist.

Remember to check out Vicki's blog  for great inspiration and pick up her book so you'll have full instructions and bonus tips for all 40 background techniques!

There isn't going to be a scrapbooking post tomorrow. I'm in St Louis at a stamp convention/ writers retreat. I'll see you all on Monday!

Creative Blessings
Kelly