Operation Write Home

Christmas is in the air!

August 30, 2010 Jentimko No Comments

It may be the end of August but Christmas is in the air around my house. I continue to work towards making cards for my Operation Write Home challenge. Only two more weeks until the big “stamp-a-palooza” known as an Open House. Today I am posting two more cards made for my donation box. But first, as promised in the Stampin’ Addicts Blog Hop post, I have some more pictures of the candle I made using Rejoicing in Christmas. The picture shown over the weekend shows the subtlety of the colors but didn’t quite show the shine on the candle. As I mentioned in that write-up, I watercolored the ink onto the tissue paper and then applied Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint on top. One of the unexpected effects of this was that the Shimmer Paint took on a gold-leaf feel. Here are some pictures that show this a little better:

Now on to my cards for today. The first uses this week’s OCC Sketch Challenge 30 which is a super layout. The start of this card was actully the tag. As part of the “creative process” for the blog hop, this was a leftover piece. Not one to waste a good scrap, I realized that it fit perfectly into the sketch. I pulled out my friend Dasher again (really, I do have other sets but he works with so many things!). The result is a card I really like and that isn’t too complicated to replicate. The ribbon, I confess, is non-SU and was tied onto a gift box from Mother’s Day (perfume). This nice piece of grosgrain was just waiting for the right card. Here is the result:

The final card for today uses last week’s OWH Stars & Stamps Sketch Challenge 31. This is one of those go-to layouts that will work time and time again. They have a lot of super ideas over there, by the way, so check them out! I pulled out some retired SU paper from last year, Christmas Cocoa DSP. The snowflake paper immediately inspired another tone-on-tone card. I sponged some Soft Suede on the Whisper White paper and then added a little Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint with a sponge dauber. Dasher was out and I threw a little more ink on him. While I certainly want each card for OWH to be special, I also need to make as many as I can. For me that means staying with one “theme” per stampining session. I am encouraging my participants to do the same so we can fill a nice big box for those heroes!! Ok, the rest of this card explains itself so here it is:

Thanks for dropping by today. Tomorrow I will have a birthday card (for a change of pace) and on Wednesday, some more details on my cracked glass card from the blog hop. If you missed the hop, please go over to Stampin’ Addicts and take a look at all the wonderful projects from Stampin’ Up’s new Holiday Mini.

Candle:

Stamp: Rejoicing in Christmas; Ink: Early Espresso, Soft Suede, Not Quite Navy, More Mustard; Paper: Tissue; Accessories: Blender pen, Aquapainter, Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint, Heat tool, Espresso Satin Ribbon

Card 1:

Stamp: Dasher, All Holidays; Ink: Soft Suede, Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black; Paper: Basic Black, Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede, Naturals Ivory; Accessories: Neutrals Designer Buttons, Ribbon, Shimmer paint (on tag with sponge dauber)

Card 2:

Stamp: Dasher, Short & Sweet; Ink: Soft Suede; Paper: Christmas Cocoa DSP (ret), Soft Suede, Whisper White; Accessories: Neutrals Designer Buttons

All products Stampin’ Up unless otherwise indicated.

Holiday Mini Blog Hop – Rejoicing in Christmas

August 27, 2010 Jentimko 42 Comments

Welcome to your next stop on the Stampin’ Addicts Holiday Mini Blog Hop!! If you missed someone or want to see the whole hop list, just click on the banner above. I am sure you loved Cindy’s projects with Jolly Bingo Bits! If you missed it, jump right on over to her blog, Heart’s Delight Cards. My chosen set for this hop is Rejoicing in Christmas and let me tell you, this set is worth rejoicing over! I have been looking for the right Holy Family set for a while and this exceeds all my hopes. You can see any project closer simply by clicking on the image.

My first project is a card that really puts the focus on the Holy Family itself. I kept the card stock colors a bit subdued in order to shine the light on them…and I mean shine. Yes, my shimmer paint has returned in full force for this set of projects! I stamped the image on watercolor paper to start. Using my blender pen and Crumb Cake ink I colored Mary’s dress and Joseph’s garments. I used Night of Navy and Early Espresso on the borders of Mary and Joseph’s head coverings, respectively. Some Cherry Cobbler was used for Jesus and So Saffron for the halos. This is where the fun started. I pulled out my Champagne Mist and Frost White shimmer paints. Mary’s veil had no color on it and I used the Frost White to give it a beautiful shine. I added a little that was left on my Aqua Painter to put some shimmer on Jesus. Finally, I used the Champagne Mist on Joseph. To up the wow factor, I sprayed my homemade shimmer mist (rubbing alcohol and Shimmer Paint) onto the Crumb Cake paper. I tied on the richly colored Cherry Cobbler seam binding (p. 21 Mini) and was done. The sketch is the Fall-to Layout 103 from last week.

My next project started looking towards holiday gifts for teachers. As I say that, I have to admit that this one will stay right here at my house and I’ll just have to make more. I have never stamped on a candle before but this set seemed tailor made for it. I used white tissue paper and stamped the Holy Family, the star and the quote in Early Espresso ink. Using my blender pen again, I gently applied Soft Suede, Not Quite Navy and More Mustard ink to the image. On Jesus, the star, the halos and the headpieces I applied Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint. I cut the image and used wax paper to hold the image on the candle. Heat was applied with my heat tool to melt the paper into the wax. Finally, I put on Early Espresso Satin Ribbon using Sticky Strip. You can see the motivation for the colors in the candle in the picture beside it. I will have a more detailed set of pictures on Monday so watch for that.

My next project is a card that takes advantage of the vintage trend. I started by cutting out a large oval of watercolor paper with my Ovals die and my Big Shot. I sponged the paper with Soft Suede and then applied Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint with a sponge dauber to the whole oval. I stamped the star and the Holy Family with Black Stazon ink and watercolored them lightly using Soft Suede, Cherry Cobbler and Not Quite Navy. I punched a hole in the top of the oval with my 1/16″ Circle Punch. I then used the Cracked Glass technique on the oval. Again using my Big Shot, I rolled out my Cherry Cobbler paper with the Backgrounds 1 Texturz Plate. I hand-stitched linen thread onto my Basic Black paper strip and added the Cherry Cobbler Seam Binding. Finally, I made the oval look more like an ornament by adding more Seam Binding and a black button from the Neutrals Designer Buttons. I will have more available on this project on Wednesday.

My final project is probably my favorite of all. Yes, it isn’t technically my project but I did convince my 7 year old son to make it for me so that should count for something. As much as I love my “serious” items above, what drew me to this set was the friendliness of it. So, using my Watercolor Pencils, he generously colored this beautiful image. We chose Pacific Point paper to match his work when he was finished and tied on some old Chocolate Chip ribbon (I apologize for the one non-current item but he chose it and I couldn’t say no). It is impossible not to smile after seeing this. He is so proud of it that he is going to donate it to my Operation Write Home challenge.

If you have any specific questions about any of these, make sure to leave it in the comments so I can address them in my posts next week. I hope you love these projects as much as I do!

Now it is time to head on over to Barbara’s Creative Stampin’ Spot to see her wonderful things made with A Cute Christmas and the Candy Cane DSP.

<–Previous Post Next Post–>

All products are Stampin’ Up!

Monochromatic Wish

August 25, 2010 Jentimko No Comments

I haven’t been posting this week because I have been working on some projects for a Blog Hop coming up this weekend. I am participating in the Stampin’ Addicts Hop this weekend featuring products from Stampin’ Up’s new Holiday Mini. My set is Rejoicing in Christmas and I have had so much fun it. Here is a sneak peek:

Lots of sparkle, yes indeed!! Make sure you drop back by this weekend.

Now for today’s post I have made another Christmas card using a beautiful set called A Wish for Peace. I used the Sketch Challenge 295 from Splitcoaststampers and the Stampin’ Royalty challenge #34, Monochromatic Neutrals. I chose brown as my neutral (big surprise) and started with Naturals Ivory paper. I stamped the church image and then sponged on Sahara Sand, Soft Suede and Early Espresso ink for the sky. Hard to see in the picture but I used Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint for the church and Frost White Shimmer Paint for the ground. Finally, I used some Smooch Spritz on the whole image. Pulled out the Square Lattice embossing folder (well, that would assume that it had been put away, but you understand), tied on the button with Linen Thread and attached the Espresso Satin Ribbon. Here is the final result:

This card is going right into the stash for my Operation Write Home Challenge. It came together quickly so I’ll probably make a few more just like it!

That’s it for today. Make sure to stop back by on Friday (or during the weekend!). Have a great Wednesday!

Stamp: A Wish For Peace; Paper: Naturals Ivory, Soft Suede, Early Espresso; Ink: Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Sahara Sand; Accessories: Big Shot, Square Lattice Impressions Folder, Shimmer Paints, Smooch Spritz, Espresso Satin Ribbon, Linen Thread, Neutrals Designer Buttons

All products are Stampin’ Up!

Silhouette vases

August 18, 2010 Jentimko No Comments

This week I am meeting with my clubs for the first time this year and what better way to celebrate than use a new hostess set??!! I love the new Silhouette Sentiments and have wanted to try punch vases for a while. Michelle Zindorf is an extremely talented Stampin’ Up demonstrator who kindly shares many tutorials. I used her Punched Vases Tutorial as inspiration for my vases. I also loved the OCC Sketch 28 and used that layout. I am so happy with the result!

As you can see, I used the sponging technique to give a shadow to the vases and then popped them up on dimensionals. My Square Lattice Embossing Folder came out again…told you that you would see it alot! The best part is that this is pretty easy to make and yet the details make it special.

Now, I had an extra surpise today. One of my new club members, Nancy, brought me a lovely bundle of cards for my Operation Write Home challenge. Just take a look at these!

How can I thank her enough for all these lovely cards?! Aren’t they pretty? She has certainly put me well on my way towards filling up a box for the OWH project.

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you have a great rest of your week!

Stamp: Silhouette Sentiments (hostess level 1); Paper: Always Artichoke, Not Quite Navy, Early Espresso, Whisper White; Ink: Always Artichoke, Not Quite Navy; Accessories: Small Oval Punch, Sponges, Espresso Satin Ribbon, Dimensionals

All products are Stampin’ Up!

Primary Sidebar