Blogger's Challenge #33 - Friendship Blooms

Our Bloggers Challenge mission this week was to use the following Stampin' Up! color combination: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Taken with Teal, and Rose Red. The best part about this challenge is that those are my favorite colors from the SU palette! I thought it would be hard to combine them in one card, but this was EASY.

I used a new stamp set from Stampin' Up!'s Sale-a-Bration called Friendship Blooms. I colored these flowers in a unique way -- one that I like so much that I am filming it for a TJ tutorial for June's issue! Stay tuned, Technique Junkies!

In any case, hope you all have a great weekend. Don't forget to sign up for the ISC stamp Giveaway by commenting on the appropriate post (Wednesday's post).

P.S. Does anyone have any ideas for making the Spell check start working again in Blogger? I know I can compose the post in word, but one step is always better than two, kwim? Any suggestions are appreciated.

Pastel Detailing & Technique Development

I'm sorry for the crooked picture! It looks a bit skewed...but I think you probably get the right idea.

Fall is one of my favorite seasons -- at least it is in the top four ; ) This stamp by I Brake for Stamps was just made for fall colors, and since I didn't stamp much in November, I am catching up! The technique used on this card is Pastel Detailing from the December issue of the Technique Junkie Newsletter. Although the technique works best on highly detailed stamps, I love the way the color was so easy to apply using the technique. I really like the subtle shading!

This was the first time I tried the jumbo eyelets from Stampin' Up!, too. I still don't have the settings down for setting them with my Crop-a-Dile, and really struggled putting them in. I need to play with these more!

Next week I get to create! Now that the December issue is mailed, I have two more techniques to put to pictures for the February newsletter -- then I can go into "sample-making-frenzy" mode. I love the first week after the newsletter is mailed more than any other week! I usually start with a few techniques in my file to put into tutorials, then I just start to play -- putting together different ideas I have floating in my head....trying out one thing with another...and new techniques are born.

As I am creating, I pump out tons of backgrounds and unfinished pieces all at once, then make 25 to 50 cards or so over the course of the week to create samples. The hardest part of all this is not being able to scan and share them with anyone else!

I have some more things to post for tomorrow that I did yesterday, and a scrapbook page to share, too. I also need to make my Christmas Cards, so you may see those in a day or so, too....

Have a nice weekend!

Good Technique Gone BAD...and I'm organized again

Well, here it is. A good technique gone bad... This one just did not turn out how I thought it would. I was going for a very textural, lacy, almost spidery effect, and ended up with this blobby-holey thing (that is a technical term!).

I was attempting to duplicate a gorgeous technique that I saw demoed at a stamp convention. The technique directions called for Fusible Webbing. I was excited, because I thought: "I have some of that and I have never used it! Here is my chance!!"

So I pull out all the supplies: Starburst Stains from Lindy's Stamp Gang, Moonglow duotone embossing powders, my heat tool, the cardstock and Fusible Fibers. Anyone see anything wrong with that? Fusible Fibers and Fusible Webbing are NOT the same thing. Not at all. When I heated the fusible fibers, they were great at adhering themselves to..... themselves.... Not to my shimmery cardstock! Back to the drawing board.

So that is how I came to this technique. Again, my thoughts went here "OHHH! I know! I have some of that Heat and Bond stuff! I can use THAT!" So off I go -- sprayed the cardstock (okay, I admit it, my fingertips, too), adhered the Heat and Bond, dumped on duotone EP, and heated it...and these huge, ugly holes erupted. ohhhh... Heat and Bond is not the right stuff either...and although this is kinda cool (notice, it is kinda with a little "k", not a capital "K"), it is not a technique suitable for the Technique Junkies!

Why not, you ask? Well, mainly because I have a few criteria for what I include and what I do not. I have been producing newsletters for 5 years; I think my formula works MOST of the time. Of course, I have made a "few" mistakes. Beaded Toothpaste cost me alot of subscribers (everyone has a lapse in judgement SOMETIMES).

Each time I consider a technique I ask myself a few simple questions:

1. Does this have appeal to a relatively large audience?
2. Are the supplies easy to get, or can I offer substitute ideas?
3. If not, is this a product that is new/fresh/hot on the market?
4. Does this have a quick and easy appeal?
5. Is this something that I would be proud to send to my own family and friends?

Let me tell you, this mess failed #1, and most certainly #5. I did end up making two ATCs and a card from the blobby-holey paper (that technical term, again!), but I am still not using it. I love the idea for ATCs, but I wouldn't send a card using it. Would YOU? By the way, I did find the correct product in my stash yesterday while I was cleaning, so the "real" technique will be filmed for a future newsletter. Just in case you want to go shopping : )



Although the card at right isn't something I would send out, the "A" was a cool discovery. That happens sometimes -- one failure leads to a cool idea.

Don't you just love the saying on the card? "Art is not what YOU see, it is what you make OTHERS see." Isn't that appropriate?

Stamp credits:
Dream ATC: Stampland, Rubber Cottage, Stampers Anonymous
Predict the Future ATC: Club Scrap
Art card: Innovative Stamp Creations



Finally...my room is clean!