A Touch of Grace

I know I sure do!  I dread when I have to design a card for the male gender .  .  . LOL.  Well the beginning of the year is definitely male birthday season in my family.  My husband and brother’s birthdays are in January; my son, nephew, and dad’s birthdays are in February.  Well, I totally blew it with my husband and brother in January.  I was so busy getting ready for CHA I gave them BOTH store bought cards.  BIG MISTAKE!!!

My husband was very put out that I didn’t make a card for him and while I was at CHA, I received an e-mail from my brother stating that he couldn’t believe that his sister, who is a card designer, would deem it appropriate to send him a “store bought” card for his birthday.  He then told me how much he looked forward to his birthday card . . . you know . . . really laying the “guilt” trip on me.  And, it worked!

So once I finished up a couple of commitments I set about designing a card that I hoped would make everyone happy.  I made four of the design and now realize I need to make two more.  It was a hit!  My husband and son both loved the card.

I designed a wallet card using designer papers from Hot Off The Press.  I first made the design on regular xerox paper to get the template and then once I had the template, I set about cutting the paper.  At $1.99 per 8 1/2 x 11 sheet this paper doesn’t come cheap, but I think the end result was worth the expense.  When I handed the card to my husband to sign for Daniel, he said, “You got Daniel a wallet for his birthday?  I thought we were getting him gym shoes?”  I told him the wallet was the card, it was paper.  He couldn’t believe it, he turned it over and over in his hands looking at it.  I knew then it was a hit and later that evening, after Daniel’s birthday, I gave my hubby his card.  I’ll be sending one to my brother and one to a friend as a thank you.

The wallet opened from the back side.

The inside of the wallet.

A group shot of all four wallets.

A view of the inside of another wallet that hasn’t been written on.

A visual of the Just Rite stamper and font set that I used for the lettering on the inside of the wallets.

I strongly recommend that everyone who stamps should have at least a few on the JustRite products in their arsenal of stamps, and more if you’re like me and have to have it all . . . LOL!  They really are a must have!  I used the Harmony Rectangular Stamp Set together with the Small Letter Set to spell out the words “Genuine Leather” on the left side of the wallet and the names of the recipients on the right side of the wallet.  I love having the ability to spell out anything I want on the rectangular blocks, in any size or font that’s available at JustRite.  There are so many to choose from, and I have to admit I have several of the font sets.  I love having so many choices with the different font sets that are available for different occasions.  The thing I love most about the JustRite products is that once you begin to collect the various sets and fonts, they all work together, they’re interchangeable, and as more designs become available, you can make additional purchases either as kits or by individual items, to suit your needs that will coordinate with what you already have.  I was tickled pink when Violettes chose several of the JustRite products at CHA to carry in their store, more toys for me to play with.

Thank you so much for stopping by, I appreciate your comments, they keep me inspired.

• Stamps:  JustRite Harmony Rectangular Stamp Set; Just Rite Small Letter Set
• Paper:  Hot Off The Press
• Ink:  Stampin’ Up! Chocolate Chip Craft Ink
• Accessories:  Scor It (available at Joan’s Gardens); sewing machine, doubled sided strong adhesive (red tape); Stamp-A-Ma-Jig

This is the last piece in the Afternoon Tea series.  I was out in appointments most of the day and wasn’t able to get a picture of the entire ensemble.  We’re headed out of town for the weekend, I’ll try to get the picture on Sunday when I return and get it posted. 

Yesterday was my youngest son’s 16th birthday.  It’s hard to believe my baby is 16 years old.  I made a card for him and hope to get a picture of it before we leave.  I struggle with masculine cards, they are so difficult for me.  This one passed my hubby’s inspection and my son liked it.  If you struggle as I do with masculine cards and are looking for inspiration, stop by tomorrow and take a peek at the card I made.  If there’s enough interest, I’ll create a template and post it.  When I return, I plan on working on the template for the tulip purse and the monogrammed purse I featured last week and hopefully get those posted within the week.

• Paper:  Prism Cobalt Blue, Canson water color 140 lbs. coldpressed
• Ink:  Versamark
• Accessories:  Heating tool, Ranger Gold/Gold Tinsel EP, Fiskars corner punch, water color brush, Tombow markers, Wizard, Nestibilities, Kaiser Pearls, dimensionals, Glue Glider (Nesties, Kaiser Pearls, Glue Glider from Joan’s Gardens)

Remembering a gorgeous design that Becca  had made last September with a beautiful Flourishes stamp, I contacted her and told her I had an idea I wanted to run with and asked if she would mind if I “borrowed” one of her designs and ran with it.  Well bless her sweet heart, Becca was very gracious and said, “run with it girl”.  Here’s the ensemble Becca designed that was the inspiration for my design below. 

I used a chintz background stamp that I used on the chintz purse I posted earlier.  I stamped a smaller image for the little spray on the oval.  I used my Nesties petite ovals, long rectangles, and long scalloped rectangles to cut and emboss the paper.  The verse is from Verve clear stamps.  I used the Nesties Labels to cut the vellum for the verse.  An SU punch was used to cut the slit at the bottom of the rectangle.   I attached gold cord and added pearls to the ends.

Well, what’s an afternoon tea without a pair of elegant gloves!  I painted this set using blue tones and adhered Swarovski Saphire crystals across the top for a lovely pair of jeweled gloves.

We had such beautiful sunlight today.  I took another picture of my favorite piece and just had to squeeze it in again.  The image is a little clearer, with much better lighting.  The center of the heart shimmers with the Pearl Ex and Gum Arabic mixture that I painted on.  The tiny Kaiser pearls show up much better in this photo, as well as the gold on the outer edges.  This is a super simple image to paint, it took me all of about 15 minutes.  The cutting took a little longer .  .  . LOL.  I have a few more hearts that I can’t wait to get painted to show you with different types of flowers.  One has a gorgeous magnolia on it that is absolutely fabulous and beautiful to paint using a different technique to get a more “thick and fuzzy” texture.  The Nestibilities, Kaiser Pearls, Zip Dry, and Glue Glider are from Joan’s Gardens.

• Stamps:   Verve
• Paper:  Prism Cobalt Blue, Canson 140 lbs. cold pressed water color paper, vellum cardstock
• Ink:  Versamark
• Accessories:  Heating tool, Ranger Gold/Gold Tinsel EP, Tombow markers, water color brush, Kaiser Pearls, Wizard, Nestibilities, Taffeta ribbon, Dimensionals, Krylon gold pen, deckle scissors, gold tassel, magenta flowers, gold cord, pearls, Swarovski saphire crystals, Glue Glider, Zip Dry Adhesive, SU slit punch

Yesterday I began an Afternoon Tea ensemble that I designed for CHA.  Today’s featured piece is a gift for the guest.  I think this is my favorite piece of the entire ensemble. 

I stamped the image on water color paper using Versamark and embossed it with Ranger Gold/Gold Tinsel embossing powders.  The image was water colored with Tombow markers, I painted the inner portion of the heart with a mixture of Pearl Ex and Gum Arabic.  Once the painting was dry I used a kraft knife to cut around the edges.  Deckle scissors were used to cut a heart out of Cobalt Blue Prism paper.   I placed the image on top of the blue heart using SU Dimensionals.  Using a hole punch, I punched a small hole in the upper portion of the heart and attached Ivory taffeta ribbon.  The ribbon is long enough to tie the heart onto a doorknob or a chair post.  I attached a gold tassel at the bottom of the heart, together with a bow and fuchsia rosettes.  Tiny Kaiser pearls were used intermittently on the inner portion of the heart and can be purchased at Joan’s Garden’s.  At the end of the tea, the gift is given to the guest to take home.

This ensemble would be very beautiful for a wedding as well.  I would tone down the hues and use pastels for the background papers, using the brides colors.

• Paper:  Canson 140 lbs. cold pressed water color paper, Prism Cobalt Blue
• Ink:  Versamark
•  Accessories:  Heating tool, Ranger Gold/Gold Tinsel embossing powders, paint brush, Tombow markers, Pearl Ex, Gum Arabic, Kaiser Pearls, Ivory Taffeta Ribbon, Gold Tassel, SU Dimensionals, kraft knife, cutting board, Fiskars deckle scissors, Gold Krylon pen, hole punch

I’ve been so busy working on CHA samples, I haven’t had an opportunity to sit down and blog.  As soon as I return, I’m going to start posting what I’ve been working on and will start on the purse tutorial I promised.  Today I’d like to share a purse I designed several months ago.  My dear friend, Joan Ervin, created a fabulous design that I fell in love with.  After practically begging Joan (please, please, please, please), I know, I’m totally shameless, she graciously shared her stash of that wonderful leopard print DP with me.  I designed a set of matching luggage to go with it.  If you haven’t stopped by Joan’s blog, please do, she’s got this fabulous, totally gorgeous Valentine’s card posted with three insanely gorgeous roses on it, you can’t miss it, stop by and check it out.

I was so excited with the purse when I completed it, my favorite part is the handle, just love that!  I have it on my desk to make a template, I altered the design so many times from the original template that it was, for all intents and purposes, practically useless.  So, a new template will be forthcoming as well as a new design.  It is my plan to have it blogged some time in February following the purse tutorial.

No stamps were used on this design.

• Paper:  Ruby Red, Basic Black, Leopard DP
• Ink:  Ranger Old Linen Distress Ink, Versamark
• Accessories:  Coluzzle, black grosgrain ribbon, Making Memories gold brads, paper piercer, SU Mat Pack, EK Success oval punches, Fiskars embossing template, , stylus, heating tool, SU black marker, Elephant charm, gold chain, jump ring, large corner punch, medium corner punch, Anna Griffin alphabet embossing template, Ranger gold EP (for initial)

Hi everyone, CHA is fast approaching and I’ve got to get in design mode!  I’ll be busy over the next couple of weeks getting ready for my trip to California.   I have several designs on my blog using this stamp and I’m in the process of categorizing all of my designs so that when you click on the category, you’ll see different designs for that particular stamp.  This stamp’s actual name is birdhouse flowers, but I like to call it wildflowers because it reminds me so much of a spray of wildflowers.

I’ve designed a bookmark using my new long rectangle Nestibilities that I ordered from Joan’s Gardens as well as an order for Kaiser pearls, I love those pearls!  I added the pearls to the glittered butterflies in different sizes using the Martha Stewart butterfly punch.   This design also qualifies for Sharon Johnson’s ssnotime67 - new toys challenge; not only am I using new nesties and pearls, but I’m also using new bookmark tassels from The Paper Company.  My son said these won’t make good bookmarks because of the dimension of the butterflies (three layers total).  Silly guy, these are for looks, not function! Really . . . guys just don’t get it!

Oh, and isn’t this picture so lovely with the background colors, they almost blend right in with the actual design.  Another new toy was a fabulous Canon camera from my hubby, it’s just perfect for taking pictures of my projects, isn’t he such a sweetie! I think he was more excited Christmas morning than I was.

I made six bookmarks and will be bringing some to CHA as samples.  I hope to see many of you there, please come by to say Hi.

• Stamps:   A Muse Sentiment
• Paper:  Prism Dark Cobalt Blue, Bienfang water color paper 140 lbs. cold-pressed
• Ink:  Versamark, SU Classic Black
• Accessories:  Water color brush, hole punch, Martha Stewart butterfly punch; long rectangle nesties, Krylon gold leaf pen, bookmark tassle, heating tool, Ranger gold/gold tinsel EP, Kaiser Pearls, dimensionals, Tombow markers, Dazzling Diamonds, Glue Glider

I’d like to wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving Holiday and offer travel prayers for those of you who are traveling or have family traveling.  I’m posting a picture of my table that I’ve set for the holiday.  I used this same set up last year, sure hope my family isn’t tired of it.  I watercolored pumpkins and placed them on enamels jars that are filled with Apple Pie scented candles using the Autumn Harvest from from Stampin’ Up!  I made little place cards using a retired Stampin’ Up! set entitled Autumn’s Blessings. 

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. 

• 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! 

Hi everyone, I’d like to apologize for not having this tutorial ready on Monday but, finally, here is the tutorial for the butterfly napkin ring.  Life has a way of getting in the way of our best laid plans.  I had to wait a few days for some sunlight to get this photo, and even then it’s not the best.  I find vellum difficult to photograph without good natural light and wouldn’t you know today we are finally getting lots of gorgeous sunshine . . . Murphy’s Law! 

I love the elegance of this butterfly, I recently acquired this stamp and have been waiting to use it.  I have an identical stamp that is about four times the size of this one.  This is a design I made in my gallery over at SCS with the bigger stamp.  If you’re a Fan Club member, you’ll be able to view it.

One thing I’d like to mention about vellum is that over time it will curl, especially if you live in a humid environment as I do here in Florida.  I actually like the curl, it gives life to flowers and this butterfly.  I shot this photograph and two days later my butterfly curled due to the heavy rains and humidity we’ve been having.  The butterfly that I did earlier for the Fan Club gallery that is shown at the beginning of my blog has curled as well.  If you don’t care for the curl, you can always flip the napkin ring over and lay heavy books on the wings, this will flattened it back out, but watch out for your next humid day, it’s going to curl right back up.

The supplies I used for this tutorial are:

• Paper:  SU cardstock vellum; Canson watercolor paper 14o lbs.
• Ink:  Versamark
• Accessories:  Tombow markers, heating tool, watercolor brush, embossing buddy, Ranger gold/gold tinsel embossing powder, craft knife, Pearl Ex/Gum Arabic, mini glass beads (black and pearl), blender pen, Crystal Effects, self-healing mat. 

Stamp and emboss the butterfly on a piece of cardstock vellum, I use Stampin’ Up!’s cardstock vellum because of it’s superior thickness.  Stamp and emboss the border on a piece of watercolor paper.  I used an embossing buddy to help with the embossing.   

I painted the border first, starting with the leaves.  It really doesn’t matter if you paint the flowers first, that’s totally up to you.  I’m listing the colors I used for this project, please feel free to use colors of your choice.  I painted the leaves with #177 Tombow marker.  Lightly apply a small dot of color at the upper center of each leaf petal, use your watercolor brush to pull the color down to the tip of the leaf.  I also used #68 on some of the leaves for color contrast as I didn’t want all my leaves the same color. 

After finishing the leaves across the upper and lower portion of the border, then paint the flowers.  I used #’s 553 and 555 for the blue flowers and #’s 757 and 851 for the pink flowers.  For the pink flowers, lightly color the flower with your marker (#851), using your paint brush to spread the color.  Once the flowers are dry, go back and add a touch of #757 in the petals and gently blend.  You don’t want to use too much water on your brush.  Do the same for the blue flowers, using #553 first, with a dab of #555 and blend.  Do you see the pink spot that I have circled with the black line?  I dropped my #757 marker, oops, not very desirable in this project . . . LOL.  I took my paintbrush and placed a drop of water on top of the mark and used a soft rag to gently soak up the color.  As you can see, it stained the paper.  I would be truly worried if I didn’t plan on painting that portion of my border, but I’m hoping at this point when I do paint it, the blush mark will be covered up.

As you can see in this picture, I’ve completed the upper and lower portions of the border.  Now it’s time to paint the border center.

I’ve now painted in the center of the border with a mixture of Pearl Ex gold iridescence and Gum Arabic with the watercolor brush.  Do you see how the red spot is now covered?  My panic disappears . . . LOL!  I chose to put this in the tutorial so that you can see it’s okay to make mistakes, I have several on every single design I do.  I just try to work with it as best I can and make it part of the design.  Look at the difference between the two borders, the Pearl Ex mixture really makes the colors “pop.”

I’ve included this picture to show you my homemade Pearl Ex paints.  I add liquid Gum Arabic to Pearl Ex powders and make a thick paste.  I place the paste mixtures onto a round palette that I purchase at Michael’s for $0.99.  I let the paste sit for a couple of days to harden.  I label the colors with a black Sharpie for easy identification.  Looking at the palette, you can see that I get quite messy when I’m mixing colors. 

Once the paint is dry, use a craft knife on a self-healing mat to cut out the border.

When you’re finished cutting the border, roll it into a circle and use Crystal Effects to adhere the ends together, holding it for a few minutes to let the adhesive dry.  I know once Crystal Effects dries it’s permanent.  If you use a paper glue, in time it may not hold.  As I stated earlier, here in Florida we have a lot of humidity and some of the adhesives don’t hold up well.  The napkin ring is so pretty at this point I could use it for my napkin without attaching the butterfly.

I used the same markers on the butterfly that I used on the border and have painted them basically the same, except that I’m now using a blender pen.  I’ve tried several pens from different manufacturers and Stampin’ Up!’s pen is my pen of choice, I get great performance out of it and it goes a long way!  I’ve experimented with painting the vellum on the front and the back.  Conclusion:  I like both.  The flowers were painted on the front side of the vellum.

After I completed the flowers, I then flipped the butterfly over and painted the back side with the #757 marker going a little darker in the center and pulling the color out to the edges of the wings.  I’ve left the abdomen unpainted because I’m going to adhere micro glass beads, alternating with black and pearl.

After I finished coloring the butterfly I let it dry for about an hour and then cut it out using a craft knife being very careful around the delicate antennae.  I adhered it to the napkin ring holder using Crystal Effects.  You can see the micro beads in the abdomen were placed in an alternating fashion.

I’ve taken this photograph to show you the side view of the napkin ring, I gently bent the butterfly’s wings up. 

This is such a beautiful project for a bridal luncheon, a tea with special friends, or almost any special occasion.  You’ll really wow your friends, but you’d better be careful, you may find one or two missing when the guests leave.

In my next tutorial we’ll make the butterfly place cards to match the napkin ring holders. 

If you have any questions, please leave a comment and I will be happy to answer you.