Weekly Giveaway: I Brake for Stamps!

 I love an elegant stamp set. The I Brake for Stamps Collage Elements #4 stamp set that is being given away today is one of my favorites. I think it is one of the best sets for collage; a touch of vintage, stamps in different sizes, and a great writing background. Even without collage, this is great for Romantic cards, too. I love the man and woman in the boat!

The card that goes with today's giveaway uses the Pulled Pastels Technique from the February 2010 issue of the Technique Junkie Newsletter. I thought the feather would be beautiful with the technique -- I love how you can see the detail of it when pulled from the pastels! Although the PP technique has been around for many years, we have never "covered" it -- and you know I love to put old and new techniques in the issues I publish. I just don't ever repeat any (well, I have twice with over 500 techniques, but that was because I had a brain burp). If you are not a TJ member, note that I have a two-year, online-only special for only $18.88 -- that is over 180 techniques for a very low price. Email me for details!

Here is the stamp set for today's giveaway:

I Brake for Stamps has been one of my most supportive partner companies over the years -- and their contribution of the stamp set above is no exception! Remember that TJ members receive 10% off purchases, too, with the code TJ10.  With 13 images on the stamp set, and the discount to boot -- it is a bargain! Della just came out with the most adorable Easter Sheet, too. You should check it out!

Okay, enough "chatter"! To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment by Monday, March 1st at 9am EST.  The winner will be selected on Monday morning (03-01-10). Make sure that you leave enough information so that I can contact you to let you know you won. Just a reminder that Blogger does NOT leave me your email address. A great way to do this is to leave your email address in a spelled-out way, such as "p huntoon at optonline dot net." I will use my handy random number generator to pick the winning entry. You do NOT need to be a TJ subscriber to win. Good Luck!

Congratulations, Elaine Allen, the winner of this giveaway!

 

Happy Birthday Alex!

Today is my son Alex's 14th birthday. How did he get so old? My baby is...well, not a baby any more.

In any case, this is his birthday card. Although a bit plain, it is shimmery in person -- the snowboarder was done with the Shimmers Direct Technique, and the blue numbered background is the Dabbed Shimmers Technique. Both are in the February 2010 issue of the Technique Junkie Newsletter.

I kept the card pretty understated -- my boys hate ribbons, bows, flowers and other stuff. It's best to just keep it simple!

All Stamps: Stampin' Up!

Whoa! The Paper Temptress is offering MORE!

Patrica Dunbar, the owner of Paper Temptress, is so warmed by all of your comments that she wants to offer a SECOND $25.00 Gift Certificate to her site as part of the giveaway this week!

I will also offer the card above to the winner. I made this card for the Rainbow Collage article I wrote in the Tips and Technique column for RubberStamp Madness last year. The didn't use this piece, so I am sharing it here! The paper is lustre from The Paper Temptress, and the stamps are from I Brake for Stamps. 

All you need to do is comment on THIS post for the second giveaway. Leave me enough info so that I can "find" you and I will use the random number generator to pick a winner on Monday, February 22. The best way to do that is to leave your email like this: phuntoon at optonline dot net (phuntoon@optonline.net). That foils any internet "bots". You do not need to be a Technique Junkie Newsletter Subscriber to win.  Good Luck!

Oh, and if you have not yet entered for the first post, click here to see it and enter!

The winner of this Gift Certificate is Lori Reinholz! Congrats!

Blogger's Challenge - sketch challenge

Today's Blogger's Challenge was to create a card using the sketch on the right for inspiration. A very easy sketch, really. My interpretation is above. I chose to be very literal with this one!

My card uses the Glassy Embossing Technique from the February 2010 issue of the Technique Junkie Newsletter for the floral designer paper portion. It's too bad that you cannot see the embossing very well in the scan -- it is really pretty in real life! The images used are Glamour Girls from the Time to Stamp Collection at I Brake for Stamps (use code TJ10 for 10% off, junkies!). The gorgeous striped lustre cardstock is from the Paper Temptress.

A list of the other Blogger's Challenge players can be found here.  Enjoy!

Weekly Giveaway - Paper Temptress!

Ah, the joys of beautiful paper. For those of us who like to caress our cardstock, it is Nirvana. Today, I am bringing you a little of that Nirvana with a $25.00 shopping spree from The Paper Temptress!

The card I made to go with today's giveaway uses all Paper Temptress stock. I have to tell you, airbrushing the stars onto the Poison Ivory Incandescent Cardstock was a breeze, and it has the most beautiful lustre I have ever seen! The Airbrushed Markers Technique from the February 2010 issue of the Technique Junkie Newsletter has never looked better! (All Stamps: Stampin' Up!)

The incandescent paper is perfectly complemented by the Blue Raspberry Poptones cardstock and the subtle shimmer of the Sparkle Vermilion cardstock. 

One lucky winner will receive the card and a $25.00 shopping certificate from The Paper Temptress. Take a look on the website and then leave me a comment about which papers you would buy if you won! I dare you to - I know I would have a hard time choosing!

To enter:

To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment by Monday, February 22nd at 9am EST.  The winner will be selected on Monday morning (02-22-10). Make sure that you leave enough information so that I can contact you to let you know you won. Just a reminder that Blogger does NOT leave me your email address. A great way to do this is to leave your email address in a spelled-out way, such as "p huntoon at optonline dot net." I will use my handy random number generator to pick the winning entry. You do NOT need to be a TJ subscriber to win. Good Luck!

The lucky winner of this giveaway is Kim Eckert! Congrats, Kim!

Brayered Brilliance Valentine

This is the last Valentine for me this season...

I used the Brayered Brilliance Technique for the background (from the February 2010 Technique Junkie Newsletter). The flourish I used is from the Rustic Artsy Swirls Set from Innovative Stamp Creations.  This background is gorgeous and has a subtle shimmer that is not showing up, unfortunately.

The image is from Twisted Papers. I colored the black and white image lightly with colored pencils. I love having the ability to alter these images however I choose. (Make sure to check out their awesome discount on my sidebar, too!) The flowers are Decorated Pretties (October 2009 Technique Junkie Newsletter). I layered those two items over a purple piece that I stamped with a Stampin' Up! Stamp in white, then misted with a silver shimmer spray. It's a pretty piece all on its own!

I hope you are having a great Valentines Day!

Sweet Cupid Wisped Frame

How can I resist giving my youngest son a sweet football cutie pie? The images on the Cutie Pie set from Artistic Outpost are just too cute for words!

And my son will HATE it. But it is nothing against the stamps or the card itself -- he just thinks all stamps are stupid these days. Gotta love 14. It was better when he "helped" me do techniques when he was 8. . So I guess you can say that I made this card for me! LOL

In any case, my card uses the Wisped Frames Technique from the current February 2010 issue of the Technique Junkie Newsletter to highlight my football dude. I have a really cool frame stencil sheet from Impression Obsession that has decorative edged rectangles, and that is what I used for the wisped frame.  I also used the Paper Tole Technique from the June 2003 Newsletter on the football (I haven't added the Crystal Effects yet, but I will). It's hard to see the dimension in the scan, but it is there, and it really makes the "Be Mine" on the football stand out.I colored my dude with Gamsol Pearls, too (June 2006 TJNL -- I am really spanning the years here!).

Happy pre-Valentines day !

Starving Artistamps - buy one get one set of sentiments free!!

Hey! When I posted the giveaway yesterday, I neglected to post the special offer from Starving Artistamps! I would hate for you to miss out on this deal! Basically, for every full sheet of Starving Artistamps or DoodleFactory set you purchase, you will get the coordinating Sentiments for FREE!  The details are in the blue box on the right. Have fun!

Valentines Mono Die - Blogger's Challenge

Today I am in the process of making Valentine Cards for the three men in my life. Today's card uses the Mono Dies Technique from the February 2010 issue of the Technique Junkie Newsletter as a background. I used my new "I {heart} Hearts" Stampin' Up set on the white and pomegranate panel and the   Well Scripted and Best Holidays sets on my other hearts. I love the way this one turned out -- this will be for DH for sure! I usually try to be more syrupy with him, but I think he will like this none-the-less.

I will post the other two over the weekend.

If you follow Blogger's Challenge (the link to the other players is on my sidebar), I am sorry I haven't played for weeks -- my intentions have been there! This week the theme was Valentines, so I actually was able to play. Thanks for stopping by today!

Weekly Giveaway -- Starving Artistamps!

 

Sometimes, two things just go together. Take, for instance, the Pieced Zines Technique from the February 2010 issue of the Technique Junkie Newsletter.  It just SCREAMS for stamps that have large open areas. Then take Starving Artistamps Boudoir Stamp set (below). That just SCREAMS for paper piecing.  So let's give them away together!

A match made in heaven, wouldn't you say?  The curtains in my baby's boudoir were cut from a Prima flower ad. The rest of the pieces were colored with copic Markers and they were all layered on cardstock from The Paper Temptress. The Baby and the saying are from the "Oh Baby" Starving Artistamps Doodlefactory set. 

Starving Artistamps always has free shipping on orders over $65.00 to the US and Canada -- some restrictions may apply (they are HERE). There are so many sets here that just call out for the Pieced Zines Set. Go take a look at the Doodlefactory line -- they are ingenious!

To enter this giveaway, simply leave a comment by Monday, February 15th at 9am EST. Let me know which of the sets inspires you to try the Pieced Zines Technique! The winner will be selected on Monday morning (02-15-10). Make sure that you leave enough information so that I can contact you to let you know you won. Just a reminder that Blogger does NOT leave me your email address. A great way to do this is to leave your email address in a spelled-out way, such as "p huntoon at optonline dot net." I will use my handy random number generator to pick the winning entry. You do NOT need to be a TJ subscriber to win. Good Luck!

The winner of this set is Susanstamps! Congratulations!

TJ Sketch Challenge Card #2

I love a well designed sketch, don't you? Even if it is my own challenge, and I can't win anything...I still love a challenge.  YOU can win, though -- you can become a Technique Junkie Subscriber for life by entering your own card! (Details of the Contest are on this Blog Post.) You do need to be a Technique Junkie though -- and if you aren't, maybe you should be! Only $9.00 for a trial, 3-issue subscription OR $9.99 for one full year (90 Tutorials!) of online-only access. In fact -- you can take an additional $1.00 off either of those prices if you mention the "Blog Sale" -- but that will only be good through Friday, so hurry. It's a good deal!

The card I have today is almost opposite of the first one I posted (in the blog post mentioned above). Where that was was soft and soothing, this one is garish and in-your-face. Bold colors. Bold attitude.

I used the Dabbed Shimmers (February 2010 issue) as the "A" Squares, the Double Embossed Metal (February 2010 issue) for the "C" Squares, and a technique I am considering using in the future for the "B" squares. The Leaf stamp behind the words is from Club Scrap, and the words are from Impression Obsession. I like this bold card.

I hope this card inspires you to try the sketch!

Twisted Papers Giveaway -- Victorian Romance

Wow -- what a celebration I have for you today! Twisted Papers has offered one of their great CDS for our giveaway. If you have never been to the Twisted Papers website, you NEED to get there now! So many beautiful images to download...  And one lucky winner will receive the Victorian Scrap CD -- with 126 high resolution images!

Not only that, but Twisted Papers is offering a 30% discount  (yes, you read that right, 30%!) with the code TJ30.This is all to celebrate Twisted Paper's debut with Technique Junkies as a sponsoring advertiser!

The card above uses one of those images. Isn't that rose just beautiful? I was able to download the rose from the Twisted Paper's site, re-size it in exactly as I wanted it, and print it out. I used a little bit of the "Out of the Box" technique from the October 2004 TJ Newsletter, and layered that over a Pierced Patterns background from the current February 2010 Technique Junkie's issue. I think the pierced patterns looks very Victorian, don't you?(Stamps: Beautiful and Filigree Stamps from Stampin' Up!)  If you have never worked with downloadable images, now it is the time -- they are just beautiful.

In any case, there are some areas that you might want to visit when you go to the Twisted Papers website:

• Wallpaper sample packs with 20+ full-size sheets in the Paper Ephemera Shop
• Vintage Button Packs in Aunt Edna's Attic
• Vintage Brass Hardware in Uncle Henry's Treasures
• Vintage Yarn in Frannie's Fibers, Ribbons and Notions
• And...a Brand new CD -- Victorian Nature Illustrations

So how do you win this great giveaway?
Simply leave a comment by Monday, February 8th at 9am EST. The winner will be selected on Monday morning (02-08-10). Make sure that you leave enough information so that I can contact you to let you know you won. Just a reminder that Blogger does NOT leave me your email address. A great way to do this is to leave your email address in a spelled-out way, such as "p huntoon at optonline dot net." I will use my handy random number generator to pick the winning entry. You do NOT need to be a TJ subscriber to win. Good Luck!

Congratulations to Shari Odut, the winner of this giveaway!

Technique by Design Blog Hop

Want to become a TECHNIQUE JUNKIE FOR LIFE?

Greetings! If you started here, you should know that we are having a BLOG HOP today to celebrate the introduction of the new Technique by Design feature being rolled out in the new February issue of the Technique Junkie Newsletter. You may want to take a couple of minutes to start at the beginning of the hop at the Design Team blog, here: http://techniquejunkies.blogspot.com/.

If this IS your final destination, you have come to the right place!

This issue marks our first this year of the Technique by Design feature -- and I am inviting YOU to play along! Simply follow the directions in the newsletter HERE (this is a password protected page - if you need your password for the issue, please feel free to email me) for using our sketch to design your card and send it to the Technique Junkie egroup, send it to me directly via email OR post it to a public forum and post the link using "Mr Linky" below. If you are using a forum other than the TJ group, please make sure to specify in the post that this is your entry for the Technique Junkie "Technique by Design" contest.   In order to qualify for the drawing, your card must use one Technique Junkie technique on it (from any issue of the newsletter). And you must be a Technique Junkie to enter this challenge contest.

On March 15th, I will randomly draw one of the cards using a random number generator. The lucky winner will become a TECHNIQUE JUNKIE FOR LIFE. That means you receive all the back cds and issues if you do not have them and then everything I publish from now on just gets automatically sent to you. As long as I am publishing the newsletter and CDs!

So get those cards in...I want to see what YOU do with the sketch!

Want to know how I made mine? I used three techniques: The "A" squares use the Antiqued Glimmers Technique (December 2009 TJNL), the "B" squares use the Herringbone Technique (December 2009 issue) and the "C" squares use the Double Embossed Metal Technique from the Current February 2010 issue. The top panel uses a gorgeous stamp from I Brake for Stamp's Time to Stamp collection. And the word Harmony is from a very very very old and retired Stampin' Up! set.

Here is where you post your link, if you are posting it to your blog or a public forum:

Thanks for playing along!