A Touch of Grace

It seems nowadays there are as many bachelorette parties as there are bachelor parties, and from what I hear almost as risque!  Although, from personal experience,  I wouldn’t know .  .  . (wink)!  So while I was working on my bridal ensemble, I decided to design a bachelorette’s card.

Designing this card for my wedding series was a blast.  The bachelorette image is the same stamp that I used for the bridal card.  I cut the bun off the back of the head and adhered it to the top, covering the seam with micro mini pearls.  A watercolored flower and leaves were attached near the pearls creating a head piece.  The close up picture below shows the detail.  I love adding small details, a pearl necklace, earring, bracelet, and ring were added to the image.  The pearls were adhered with Crystal effects.  I placed them on the adhesive by licking the tip of a toothpick, picking up a pearl and placing it down on the adhesive (okay I know this sounds really gross, but it’s a great tip and it works).  The pearls stick perfectly to the end of the wet toothpick and then come off easily when placed on the adhesive.  I used a toothpick to draw the jewelry lines with Crystal Effects (a wonderful adhesive).  The gorgeous black dress is a Jolee’s sticker.

You can see the headpiece much better in the close up, the mini pearls are so pretty, they are less than 1mm in size.  I used a craft knife to cut out the leaves and flowers. 

I use a lot of dimensionals in my designs and would like to share a tip for all the newbie stampers who may follow my blog.  Don’t throw away the negative portion of the panels the dimensionals are on.  I’ve attached a photograph to show you how I use mine so that nothing is wasted.

These are dimensionals from Stampin’ Up! and All Night Media.  On the left you’ll see Stampin’ Up!’s sheet.  Once I’ve finished using all the dimensionals, I then cut around the outer frame and use those pieces as well, it doesn’t matter what the dimensional looks like since it’s on the back of your project.  Stampin’ Up! is very smart in the layout of their design, placing them on the sheet in a honey comb pattern.  All Night Media uses circles, leaving a lot of waste.  As you can see from the right side of my sheet, I cut the negative pieces and use those on my projects as well, leaving no waste.  I like using both of these products. Stampin’ Up!’s dimensional are thinner and perfect in some designs, whereas All Night Media’s dimensionals are a little thicker and sometimes I need the extra thickness in other designs.

• Stamps:  Me & Carrie Lou
• Paper:  SU DP, watercolor paper, Carol’s Rose Garden DP
• Ink:  Versamark
• Accessories:  Tombow markers, cutting mat, heating tool, watercolor brush, Ranger gold/gold tinsel EP, micro pearls, craft knife, Jolee’s stickers, dimensionals, Crystal Effects, toothpicks

This is one of my favorite cards and can you believe I didn’t keep the template when I made it!  What was I thinking????  I changed the template so many times while designing it that the original one no longer applied to the finished product .   .   . LOL. 

I used multiple papers in the design, the card has several layers.  The lapel and pockets are a shimmery charcoal gray cardstock that I purchased from Flourishes.  I didn’t have stripe paper so I used shimmery silver and Basic Black SU papers to make the striped paper for the tie.  I cut black strips and adhered them to the gray paper and then cut out the tie.  The tie tack, cuff links, and buttons on the vest are Kaiser pearls that I also purchased from Flourishes.  I used a Krylon silver pen to paint the buttons on the vest to match.  I watercolored a rose, cut it out and attached it to the lapel for the groom’s boutonniere.  The size of this card is about 5 x 7, possibly a bit larger.

I made a tag on the inside of the card that says Happily Ever After.  If I give this card to a bride, I’ll leave the tag in, if I give it to the groom, I’ll replace it with a plain piece of note paper.  The flowers and leaves were painted on watercolor paper, cut out and adhered on dimensionals.

• Stamps:  Me & Carrie Lou, Sentiment is a Retired SU set
• Paper:  Shimmery Charcoal, Shimmery Silver, Basic Black, Whisper White, watercolor
• Ink: Versamark, Basic Black
• Accessories:  Tombow markers, Ranger gold/gold tinsel EP, heating tool, watercolor brush, Kaiser pearls, dimensionals, Nestibilities, craft knife, cutting mat

Okay, I have to share this with you.  I don’t normally endorse products, but I want to tell you about this product I recently purchased.  I ordered the Scor Mat from Joan’s Gardens (and Joan I shamelessly harvested this picture from your blog because I’m way too lazy to take the time to photograph my mat).  I have to say this is the best mat ever!  I’ve used it non-stop the past several days while making Christmas designs that I’ll soon be sharing.  What I love most about this mat is that the measurements go all the way to 1/8″ increments .  .  .  fantastic for perfect placement of layers on cards or any other projects.   As you can see in the picture, it also has diagonals lines that are fabulous for cutting angles.  I love the mat so much I’ve placed another order with Joan for a second one.  I want one for cutting on and one to be kept perfect, I’m a tad bit spoiled, but in my defense this mat is very affordable.  Check out Joan’s store on her blog, it’s fabulous and she ships immediately.

While I’m working on Christmas designs, I’ve decided to post some of my older designs.  Over the next few days I’ll be posting a series of designs that I did for a bridal ensemble. 

This card is such a beautiful card to give to a very special bride, maybe a sister, or another family member that you’re close to or even a special friend who is like a sister to you. 

Several Me & Carrie Lou stamps were used in this design.  I stamped and watercolored the bride, then cut her out using a craft knife and set her aside.  I stamped the gown twice, once on Pale Plum and once on vellum cardstock using bridal embossing powder.  I cut out both gowns, cutting the center portion of the vellum skirt out as well and glued the vellum gown to the pale plum gown on the embossed lines so the adhesive wouldn’t show through.  I used micro pearls to make a bracelet and a necklace, she also has a tiny pearl earring. 

I stamped the four floral corners, painted them, cut them out and arranged them on the four corners using dimensionals.  I stamped tiny little roses and made a head piece with a tulle veil and attached that to her head.  It’s hard to see in the photo, the tulle has Dazzling Diamond dots on it.  I stamped a bridal bouquet and attached that to her hand.  The rose and ribbon on the dress were stamped separately on watercolor paper and attached to her dress.  The bride’s shoes were painted with a mixture of Pearl Ex and Gum Arabic giving them a pearly satin sheen. 

 Below is a close up to show the detail on the bride’s jewelry and veil.

• Stamps:  Me & Carrie Lou
• Paper:  Pale Plum, Patterned Cardstock Vellum, SU DP, Basic Black, Whisper White, Carol Wilson Embossed DP
• Ink:  Versamark
• Accessories:  Tombow Markers, Bridal EP, Ranger Gold/Gold Tinsel EP, dimensionals, watercolor brush, micro pearls, tulle, heating tool, craft knife, mat pack, dazzling diamonds, Pearl Ex, Gum Arabic

Since returning from Nashville, I’ve been working on the samples I posted before I left.  I’ve run into issues with my Wizard and it took me much longer to get the paper cut than what I originally intended.  It seems like I’m always running behind.

I made cards for all of the samples and decided to post several of them since some of you asked for close ups.  To keep attention focused on the watercolors, I’ve kept the designs very simple.  As you can see, I’ve painted the same stamped image in several different colors using Tombow markers.  The washes were painted with Stampin’ Up! re-inkers.

I used More Mustard for the background wash on this picture.  The paper looks black, but it’s actually gold mirror paper.  It’s very difficult to photograph.

I used an embossed gold paper on this one.  The wash is a combination of Certainly Celery, Mellow Moss, and Lovely Lilac.

I used Lovely Lilac on this wash.

I used Lovely Lilac and Mellow Moss on this wash.

I used More Mustand on this wash and used the gold mirror paper.  The gold mirror paper is very elegant, but difficult to photograph.

I used Pale Plum on this wash.

More Mustard was used on this wash.

I used Pale Plum and Mellow Moss on this wash.

The sentiment is a stamp from A Muse.  Since these are notes I’ll be sending out, I thought it was the perfect sentiment. 

• Stamps:  Me & Carrie Lou
• Paper:  Whisper White, Gold Embossed and Gold Mirror (The Paper Company), Canson watercolor 140 cold pressed, the butterflies were punched from Prism, Stampin’ Up!, and Papertrey, Ink papers
• Ink:  Versamark, SU re-inkers
• Accessories:  Tombow markers, heating tool, paint brush, Ranger gold, gold tinsel EP, satin ribbon, Kaiser Pearls, dimensionals, Wizard, Mega Nestibilities, Dazzling Diamonds, glue dots, Glue Glider Pro, tweezers

One on my viewers very kindly wrote to me to ask how I am as she hasn’t seen me post in a week.  Oh my gosh, life does get in the way.  I’ve been super busy with working on designs for Christmas cards.  I’ve got a general layout and hope to start painting next week.  In the meantime, I’d like to share a photo I look yesterday of several images I painted this past week.  Check out the Nestibilities die I used to cut the images.   I do believe this set of dies is my new all-time favorite of the Nestibilities.  I hope to get these images made into cards next week and posted. 

I’m flying to Nashville today to visit my son, we’re going to take in the Vandy/Gator game, I’m so excited! 

Have a wonderful weekend with your families! 

Yesterday I posted an e-mail that touched my heart.  I felt compelled to take a stance in my conservative Christian beliefs.  The reason I have named my blog A Touch of Grace is because I am a sinner.  Yup, a big one too!  I try, I really do, but I fall far short of the glory of God.  I realized a long time ago how much I need His grace in my life.  So when designing my blog, I thought what better way to remind myself every day of what is needed in my life. 

While my stance has not changed, my husband has asked me to remove the post.  It was never my intention to cause controversy or strife in our stamping community.  I love you all, I truly do, I pray for you and your families daily as I do for my own.  When I design a card, I always design with the hope that His love touches you. I wish you His blessings in all aspects of your life. 

I would like to say that I am not judgmental, I do not judge anyone.  Far from it, I love all people, I am no better than anyone on this earth.  Our minister once said, “this church is not a country club for Christians, it’s a hospital for sinners” Amen!  I , for one, need to be in the pew.  As a child, our congretation always sang Doxology at the end of each service.  I would like to end this post with it.

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

 Amen.

I sincerely hope that you are not getting tired of seeing the same stamps used over and over.  One of the reasons why I do this is to provide you with different designs that hopefully inspire you to stamp.  I have to selfishly admit that the biggest reason I do this is because I just love the stamps!  I love using them over and over again, I never tire of them like I do some of my other stamps.  There aren’t too many stamps out there that do that for me.  Usually I use a stamp once or twice and then I’m done.  Not so with the Me & Carrie Lou stamps, sometimes I’ll see something in a magazine that will spark a thought and I try to find a piece of paper so that I can jot down my ideas. 

On this card, I used the wild flowers again, I cut the image in two and placed the main cluster of flowers in the upper left corner of the sentiment and the placed the other half of the image in the lower right corner.

I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder on the four corners of the Vintage Cream paper (PTI).  I used my Scor It to emboss the double lines (sorry, they’re not showing up well in the photo).  I also used the Cuttlebug to cut the four gold corners on gold mirror paper, doesn’t it look just like metal!  I used the negative pieces from the four corners for the gold swirls on the sentiment, I just love my “bug!”  I didn’t have ribbon to match the flowers and raspberry paper so I opted for a neutral cream that I purchased from Jacksonbelle Embellishments. 

• Stamps:  Me & Carrie Lou, Elegant Inspirations
• Paper:  Vintage Cream (PTI), Basic Black (SU), Raspberry (MB), Gold Mirror (TPC), Canson Watercolor 140 lb. cold pressed
• Ink:  Versamark
• Accessories:  Tombow markers, heating tool, watercolor brush, Ranger gold/gold tinsel EP, Cuttlebug, border punch, Scor It, craft knife (SU), self-healing mat, Xyron adhesive, dimensionals, ivory ribbon

Hi everyone,

I hope you’re all having a wonderful weekend and taking in your favorite football games!  Go Gators!!!

I’ve designed another card using the Birdhouse Flower stamp that I’m sending to a friend to tell her how much I appreciate her and all that she does.  I’ve changed the colors a bit in this design and added a beautiful cross charm.  I applied gold corners and gold edging stickers that I found in a scrapbook shop.  They’re not showing as pretty in the picture as they are IRL.    

I’ve been advised by a couple of you that you have been placed on suspension in my blog.  I’m not sure what that is all about, but it is happening with quite a few accounts with Feedburner.  I hope to get this problem corrected shortly.  I’m not computer literate, so I ask that you please have patience with me while I try to get this issue resolved.

• Stamps:  Me & Carrie Lou; Elegant Greetings
• Paper:  Basic Black, Orchid Opulence, Vintage Cream (PTI), Canson Watercolor 140 lb. coldpressed
• Ink:  Versamark
• Accessories:  Tombow Markers, Ranger gold/gold tinsel/very fine detail gold EP, heating tool, watercolor brush, sheer black ribbon, gold charm, nestibilities, butterfly punch, gold stickers, dimensionals, gold cord

Hi Everyone,

Several weeks ago I advised that I had an announcement to share and at that time, I thought it would be forthcoming within a few days.  Unfortunately sometimes circumstances get in the way, things don’t go as quickly as we plan and there are delays. 

Well (insert drum roll here) .   .   .  I’m very excited to announce that Sande McDonald, owner of Violette’s, has purchased the Me & Carrie Lou stamp line.  Sande has asked me to do the design work for Me & Carrie Lou.  I cannot tell you how excited I am to be a part of the Me & Carrie Lou stamp line!  It’s no secret where my heart is when it comes to these fabulous stamps! Over the next several months I will be designing and uploading as many designs as I can come up with.  I’m tickled pink to have been given this opportunity!

At this time, some wood mounted stamps are available in the store.   Coming soon, all of the stamps will be available on wood or cling mount in the store as well as online in the upcoming internet store.  Violette’s is currently working on the internet store and hopefully, that will be online when the stamps are ready.  I will keep you advised as events progress. 

I’m excited to also share that we are going to CHA in January and I will be teaching a class on my watercoloring technique.  One of the reasons I haven’t had a chance to blog in over a week is because I have been making the kits for the class.  I’ve also been watercoloring designs for display at CHA.  Once the internet store is available online and the stamps are in stock, I’ll be doing tutorials on my blog and will provide you with links to the stamps that I use in the tutorials.

You just can’t believe my excitement when I had the honor of meeting Judy DuFoe in person during one of my meetings with Sande.  It was a total surprise, I had no idea Judy was going to be there!  I’m a very casual person and most of the time I don’t wear any makeup (I’m embarrassed that I wasn’t wearing any on the day of this meeting .   .   . oops!) and I usually wear jeans or cargo pants.  I had washed my hair that morning, didn’t bother to blow it dry, just pulled it back in a barrette, and headed over to Violette’s.  Oh my .   .   . day of total embarrassment . . . you know, the kind where you just wish the earth would open and swallow you up!! 

I didn’t have my camera available, but one of the girls in Sande’s store had one and took this photograph for me.  Judy is one of the nicest persons I’ve ever met!  She was so gracious in her compliments as she looked over my designs, including the calendar (I had taken a lot of my designs to the meeting with Sande as she had only seen some of them on the internet). 

This is a picture of Sande, Judy, and Diana.  I was in the picture but I cropped out me and my three chins .   .   . LOL!  I seriously hate getting my picture taken!

I’ll have some designs to post in a few days.  I’ve been working on some watercolors and hope to get them made into designs this weekend. 

Do you remember earlier in my blog when I said I wanted to take classes.  Well, I still haven’t found the time to squeeze that in, but I have been working on a drawing.  I bought a book on drawing flowers at Michael’s and this is my first attempt:

I used saral paper to make the outline.  I then used a cool gray #30 prisma colored pencil to sketch in the petals and large leaf and to do the shading.  For the darker shading I used a #90 cool gray.  The drawing in the book only had the large leaf, I added the smaller leaf, stem, and sepals.  I’ve started the coloring, but that’s taking me a long time as the picture in the book is in black and white.  Colored pencil is like onions, you have to layer the colors for dimension.  As you can see from the small leaf, I’ve only applied the first layer.  I hope to finish this project this weekend.

Today’s color challenge over at Splitcoast is Pink Pirouette, Basic Black, and white.  I substitued the white with Papertrey’s Vintage Cream, love that paper, it’s gorgeous!

I made this card in memory of my grandmother who passed away from breast cancer four years ago.  She was 83 when she was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer and passed away at 86.  Ladies, please don’t ever feel you’re too old to get breast cancer!  Continue to get your mammograms.   My grandmother did get her mammograms, but her cancer didn’t show up on film, due to the rare type that she had. 

I will come back a bit later to fill in the details on how I made this card and the products that were used.  I will also be taking another photograph in the daylight to get a better picture with all the details.  The embossing isn’t showing up well in this shot.  Oh how I dislike using that light tent!  Ugh!!!!

Editing to add:  Today was very hectic and I wasn’t able to take another picture of the card in daylight, I’m hoping to get to that tomorrow.  I want to show a close-up side view of the dimension of the large peony.  I painted it three times, cut out the entire stamped image, then cut out two more peony layers and adhered them on dimensionals.  I used the Mini Scor-It to emboss the double lines around the four edges of the Vintage Cream cardstock.  I then embossed little emblems in the four corners, only one is visible in the bottom right corner.  I embossed the sentiment with fine detail embossing powder.  The cross was punched and adhered on a dimensional.  The butterflies are layered, the bottom layer is Vintage Cream and the top layer is a patterned paper.  Kaiser pearls were adhered to the butterflies’ abdomens.  The ribbon was tied in a bow and adhered to the card with a glue dot. 

Here’s another view taken during the day in natural sunlight, the embossing shows up a bit more in this picture.  You can see the embossed emblem underneath the bow and in the lower right corner. 

• Stamps:  Me & Carrie Lou, Elegant Inspirations
• Paper:  Pink Pirouette, Basic Black, Mirror Gold, Vintage Cream, Gold
• Ink:  Versamark
• Accessories:  Tombow Markers, watercolor brush, Ranger gold, gold tinsel, super find gold detail EP, heating tool, Embossing buddy, sheer ribbon, butterfly punches, cross punch, Kaiser pearls, dimensionals, craft knife, self healing mat, Seashell glitter, Score It, embossing stencil