Welcome to the last Artisan Wednesday Wow hop for the 2013 Artisan Design Team! Wow…that was hard to say. If you just came over from the amazing Jeanna, welcome to the next stop. If you are starting here, just continue around using the next buttons until you get back to me. Before I start on my project….I just have to say what a joy it has been to follow Jeanna in the hop all year. She is such a talented designer and a lovely person.
This card came about in that fun kind of creative way. At first I was completely overwhelmed. After all, how to create a project that reflects this year on the Artisan team? First of all it had to be a card. Because that is my true happy place. Then I started playing around with the new Flower Patch stamp set…because you all probably know by now that I love a flower. Gold…gold is the new silver, black, whatever….Bonnie Thurber told us so at Convention last year and I didn’t quite believe her. I should have! It is so awesome! And then stenciling. It is trendy and so fun to experiment with the ones from SU. I stamped the flower in Versamark Ink and then embossed with Gold Stampin’ Emboss Powder. A quick run through the Big Shot with the Flower Fair Framelits to cut them out. I stamped the speckles from Gorgeous Grunge and the sentiment onto Whisper White and embossed with the gold again. Then I pulled out the chevron stencil from the Build a Banner Simply Created Kit. I put it down on the card and added some Light Molding Paste on top of it (there are variations of these embossing pastes with different consistencies….this is pretty thick and dries pretty fast). When I pulled the stencil up, I loved the effect. I pulled off some of the gold thread from the Gold Metallic Baker’s Twine and wrapped it around my fingers. When I was happy with the look, I secured the ends with a glue dot and placed it on the card. Then I added the flowers/leaves with Dimensionals/Glue Dots. I threaded a little left over metallic thread through the Vintage Faceted Button and attached it. Some Gold Foil behind the image panel as a frame and done.
This sentiment actually means a lot to me as I made this card. About a year and a half ago, I decided to take a leap of faith and enter the Artisan Design Team contest. After working on the 10 projects for months, I felt like I had a pretty good representation of me as a stamper to show (you can see the posts by clicking here). But my fear was that maybe my style was too clean. What I discovered is that Stampin’ Up truly loves and values ALL stamping styles. Just look at the variety on the team and you’ll see what I mean. I can never fully say how much their choosing me to represent them for a year has meant! They empowered me to be ME, creatively! And you know what? That applies to you too. When you make things that reflect your style, it can be a little intimidating. You know that voice….what if “they” don’t like it, what if “they” feel it is too clean/fussy/layered/simple/fill in your description here. This year taught me to ignore that voice and continue to take those leaps of faith. You can too! Whatever you create, because it is made by you, really is Be You {tiful}!
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My Next Adventures in Stamping
So here it is. I am done with a chapter. But I also have some new beginnings. New ideas, new adventures! Because we have enjoyed these hops so much, the 2013 ADT has decided to continue them….but only once per month. See all the details below.
Come back on August 1st to see the my first announcement and then later in the month, I have two more really awesome new things to share!! Make sure you subscribe to my blog so you don’t miss any of these!!
For those of you who have hopped with us all year long, I thank you for your continued support. If you want to take a look at what we created as a team this year, go take a look through the 2013 ADT’s Pinterest Board. It is an incredible display of art by a group of women I am proud to call friends.
Fancy Friday
We hope you all have enjoyed joining us on our weekly ADT blog hops. We sure have had fun sharing our creativity with you! We’ve had a little something in the works for awhile, and we are excited to announce that we are going to continue to create together and share with you during our monthly Fancy Friday blog hop! Join us all the last Friday of each month, starting August 29th, for “Fancy Friday” as we are sure to continue to WOW you with some clever ideas you’re sure to love! So be sure to check back August 29th!
Okay, off to go visit the awesome Mercedes Weber (who, by the way is a 2014-15 Artisan Design Team member….the first world wide team). I can’t wait for you to see what she has created and will continue to create this next year! Make sure you hop around the whole loop to take a look at beautiful creations by the whole team…you’ll be happy you did!
Click HERE to purchase any of these wonderful Stampin’ Up products.
Stamp: Flower Patch, Gorgeous Grunge; Ink: Versamark; Paper: Whisper White, Gold Foil; Accessories: Flower Fair Framelits, Big Shot, Heat Tool, Gold Stampin’ Emboss Powder, Gold Metallic Baker’s Twine, Vintage Faceted Buttons, Build a Banner Simply Created Kit (Stencil), Light Molding Paste