A Touch of Grace

The thing I like most about the JustRite products is the ability to personalize designs.  People feel special when you take the time to create a little work of art for them.  What a wonderful way to show how much you care for them.  I designed this ensemble as a thank you gift for a wonderful dinner shared with special friends.

I used the Damask Monogram Stamper (my personal favorite) for the center initial on this card.  The finished size is 5″ x 7″.

I designed a simple set of six customized note cards using the Small Letter Set. The note cards measure 4″ x 6″.

This purse is similar to the design I posted last month, I used a different designer paper and different colored cardstock.  I used gold pearls instead of gold brads.

I’m a big fan of Joan’s Gardens, supplies used in this project purchased from Joan are: Black Kaiser pearls, Zip Dry adhesive, Glue Glider Plus, Dimensionals, Nestibilities, Scor It

• Stamps:  JustRite Stampers
• Paper:  DCWV LaCreme; Basic Black, Prism (red and green papers)
• Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black
• Accessories:  Sewing Machine, black thread, Cuttlebug embossing folders, gold pearls, Coluzzle, black grosgrain ribbon, gold chain, BossKut Flourish die, glue dots, Therm O Web dimensionals, oval punches (SU and EK Success), corner punch, black Kaiser pearls, Scor It, EK Success border punch, Fiskars decorative corner punch, Mat Pack (SU), tweezers, tool kit (SU), stylus for embossing on purse, Glue Glider Plus, Circle Nestie, Marvy scalloped circle punch

Thank you all so much for stopping by.  I wish you a wonderful weekend with your family!

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)

I’m so sorry I didn’t get the last purse posted three days ago as promised.  I’ve been working on an ensemble for CHA that is taking me far longer than I anticipated and I also took a day off from stamping and drove over to Orlando Saturday to met up with some of my SCS friends for a funtastic night.  There are times when I truly believe I’m a total ditz!  I forgot my camera and remembered it about halfway over to Orlando.  My new friend, whom I totally adore, Silke Ledlow, sent me these pictures from her camera.  Thank you so much Silke, you’re a treasure!  I also got to finally meet a person who holds a very special place in my heart, we are fellow “Dirty Sisters” and were on the Dirty Dozen Design Team together, and without further adieu, the absolutely wonderful Denise Marzec . . . . love you Denise! We had a fantastic dinner at Don Pablo’s where this picture was taken and then went for coffee and I’m afraid I talked their ears off.  I tend to be a chatterer, especially when I’m excited, and boy was I excited that night!  Also at the dinner were Deb Felts, Penny Allen, and Kathy.  Deb and I met up at Regionals in Tampa two years ago, I was so excited to see her again.  I met Penny and Kathy for the first time and those two ladies kept us in stitches over Penny’s pond full of Gators and Beavers.

Standing:  Deb Felts, Penny Allen & Kathy

Seated:  Me, Silke Ledlow, and Denise

Denise and Silke, aren’t they adorable!

Edited to add this picture sent to me by Deb Felts

Today’s purse is a rose purse that I designed using the small rose border stamp.  Due to time constraints, I have not taken a photo of the stamps.  I will edit my post at a later date to include the picture.

I stamped the rose border around the edges of the purse and embossed it in gold and then stamped it again in the middle of the purse and embossed it in white.  I masked the gold embossing before stamping with Versamark for the white embossing. I water colored the gold embossing and used a mixture of Pearl Ex and Gum Arabic to paint the white embossed flowers.  The little flowers for the clasps were stamped from the Wildflowers stamp, water colored, cut out, and covered with several layers of Crystal Effects.

I added a little extra on the inside of this purse.   After attaching the water colored Mulberry paper, I attached a pocket that I stamped and embossed on vellum cardstock using the Lace Scarf stamp.  Once I adhered that down, I then drew with a Versamarker around the edge of the purse and embossed it.  The little pocket is perfect for including a gift card.  I plan on making similar cards for my mom and mother-in-law for Mother’s Day and including gift cards to their favorite shops.

• Stamps:  Elegant Inspirations Sentiment, Stampin’ Up!
• Paper:  Canson 140 lbs. cold-pressed water color paper, White Mulberry Paper, Vellum cardstock
• Ink:  Versamark; Versapen
• Accessories:  Tombow markers, heating tool, watercolor brush, blending pen, Ranger gold/gold tinsel EP, Crystal Effects; pearl beads, dimensionals, craft knife, self-healing cutting mat, More Mustard Reinker

Hi everyone, today is day three for the purse series I’m featuring this week.  Today’s purse is a chintz purse that I designed using the chintz background stamp.  I’m including in this post a picture of the stamps used to create the purse so that you can see the size of the stamps as well as providing the stamp numbers below in blue.

The chintz purse was designed using the chintz background stamp.  After stamping the purse frame, I stamped the chintz background stamp and embossed it.  I stamped it again on a separate piece of water color paper. I painted the purse and the stamped image.  I let the image dry overnight and then cut out the flowers and leaves using a craft knife.  Several layers of Crystal Effects were applied, drying thoroughly between each application.  I attached the enameled flowers to the purse using dimensionals.  To make the leaf clasps, I stamped the Daisy stamp that I featured yesterday several times and cut out the same leaf four times, I painted them and let them dry overnight.  I applied several layers of Crystal effect to the leaves, letting it dry thoroughly between coats.  In real life the leaves look like emeralds, the entire purse has an enameled jewel tone effect, it doesn’t show up as pretty in the picture as it does in real life.  I used Stampin’ Up!’s More Mustard for the background wash.  I have found that Crystal Effects, if applied thinly, in several layers, dries clearer than clear embossing power and looks more like enamel.  I’ve tried using UTEE and it either turns cloudy or tints a yellowish color and sometimes has small bubbles in it.  It’s also messier to work with and the edges get a little chunky.  I have much more control with Crystal Effects and a much prettier effect.

I apologize for the poor quality of this picture, it’s very blurred and dark.  I normally take more time and get several shots, but the National Championship game is getting ready to start and I’ve got to put my priorities in order folks. Go Gators!

As you can see, these are the stamps I used for the Chintz purse.  Not included is the Daisy Border stamp that I featured yesterday and the Stampin’ Up! sentiment.  Please check back in tomorrow for the last purse in the series.

• Stamps:   Stampin’ Up!
• Paper:  Canson 140 lbs. cold-pressed water color paper, White Mulberry Paper
• Ink:  Versamark; Versapen
• Accessories:  Tombow markers, heating tool, watercolor brush, blending pen, Ranger gold/gold tinsel EP, Crystal Effects; pearl beads, dimensionals, craft knife, self-healing cutting mat, More Mustard Reinker

Hi everyone, today is day two for the purse series I’m featuring this week.  This is my favorite purse in the series.  As I did yesterday, I’m including in this post a picture of the stamps used to create the purse so that you can see the size of these stamps as well as the stamp numbers.   This week I’m going to be featuring four purses that I have made and, you guessed it, these purses are going to CHA with me so that all of you who attend can see them in person.

This is my daisy purse.  It consists of six stamps, three of which are shown in this picture.  The two flower clasps were stamped from the Violet Border stamp I featured yesterday on the violet purse.  They were water colored, cut out and left to dry over night.  The following morning I applied Crystal Effects and let that dry for a couple of hours.  I did that three times to build depth without it getting cloudy.  The tip is to apply Crystal Effects in thin layers several times allowing it to dry thoroughly between each layer.  The mesh you see in the middle of the purse is a mesh background stamp, shown below.  The purse stamp itself is the outline of the purse, also shown below.  In this series, I’ve tried to provide backgrounds that enhance the designs and colors of the purses.  The blurred images are almost like a water color itself!  I love the splash of gold on the left side, it brings out the gold in the bottom of the purse.  Looking closely at this image, you can see Kaiser pearls in clusters just above the flowers. Joan’s Garden’s sells these beautiful pearls.

This photograph is a picture of the inside of the purse.  To make the purse I first stamped the purse outline on water color paper and embossed it, I then cut a piece of white mulberry paper for the lining to be placed on the inside of the purse.  I used the stamp that I used on the lower portion of the front of the purse to stamp the daisies on the Mulberry paper.  Mulberry paper is sheer, like a very thin cotton and so beautiful.  I used it on the inside of the purse to give the appearance of a sheer cotton lining like you would see in a formal clutch purse.  I stamped the Mulberry paper with Versamark, embossed it and then water colored it.

To give you pictures with a little more detail I’m including the upper and lower portions of the inside of the purse in two separate pictures.

The colors came out beautifully vivid on the Mulberry paper, I was very pleased with the results.

Here are the stamps minus the sentiment from Stampin’ Up!.  You can substitute any sentiment stamp you want, I used this verse because I felt this is a beautiful gift to give someone who may be ill or feeling down.

When I return from CHA, I will be featuring a tutorial on how to make this purse from start to finish with pictures as well as written instructions.  We’ll start with embossing, I’ll show you how to mask the front of the purse to make it appear as  just one stamp has been used.  We’ll emboss it and then I’ll show you how to make the actual shape of the purse.  We’ll then size and cut the Mulberry paper and I’ll show you how to emboss that as well.  I’ll show you step-by-step how to paint the leaves, the flowers, and background on the front of the purse, as well as the Mulberry paper on the inside of the purse, I’ll provide a list of the Tombow markers that we’ll use.  I’ll also provide a list of all the supplies you’ll need to complete and assemble the purse once you’ve completed the watercoloring.  I’ll show you how to attach the Mulberry paper to the inside of the purse and to emboss the outer edges, and lastly we’ll adhere our floral clasps, as well as our beaded purse strap to complete our design.  Does it sound like fun?  You’ll be amazed at how beautiful your design will be.  Today is day two of the four day series.  When you’re ready to give it a try, you’ll have four different designs to choose from, or you can make up your own design with any stamp of your choosing.  Look at the picture above, do you see the stamp in the lower right corner with the daisies?  That stamp was made specifically to fit within the purse.  Two of the purses I’ll be featuring this week were designed with stamps that were made for the purse.  The fourth purse was designed with a background stamp that I chose and I’ll explain how I did that as well.

If you like this design, you’ll want to check back tomorrow for design three in this series.

• Stamps:  Stampin’ Up!
• Paper:  Canson 140 lbs. cold-pressed water color paper, White Mulberry Paper
• Ink:  Versamark; Versapen
• Accessories:  Tombow markers, heating tool, watercolor brush, blending pen, Ranger gold/gold tinsel EP, Crystal Effects; pearl beads, dimensionals, Pearl Ex Pearl White Powder, Gum Arabic, craft knife, self-healing cutting mat, Dazzling Diamonds,Kaiser Pearls

I just love this purse!  It’s one of my favorites to play with.   What I love most about the purse stamp is how versatile it is.  I can design any purse I want.  This week I’m going to be featuring four purses that I have made and, you guessed it, these purses are going to CHA with me so that all of you who attend can see them in person.

This is my violet purse.  It consists of four stamps, three of which are shown in this picture.  I’m featuring it first because my grandmother’s name was Violet and while I didn’t appreciate such a beautiful name when I was a child, I’m now crazy about it. The two flower clasps were stamped from the stamp used along the bottom of the purse shown in the picture at the bottom of this post, they were water colored, cut out and left to dry over night.  The following morning I applied Crystal Effects and let that dry for a couple of hours.  I did that three times to build depth without it getting cloudy.  The tip is to apply Crystal Effects in thin layers several times allowing it to dry thoroughly between each layer.  The mesh you see in the middle of the purse is a mesh background stamp, shown below.  The purse stamp itself is the outline of the purse, also shown below.  Isn’t the background so lovely in this picture, it’s almost like a water color itself!

This photograph is a picture of the upper portion of the inside of the purse, I wanted to give you a shot with a little more detail.  The butterfly is the fourth stamp used in the design.  I water colored it, cut it out, and adhered it to the inside of the purse.  To make the purse I first stamped the purse outline on water color paper and embossed it, I then cut a piece of white mulberry paper for the lining to be placed on the inside of the purse.  I used the stamp that I used on the lower side of the front of the purse to stamp the violets on the Mulberry paper.  Mulberry paper is sheer, like a very thin cotton and so beautiful.  I used it on the inside of the purse to give the appearance of a sheer cotton lining like you would see in a formal clutch purse.  I stamped the Mulberry paper with Versamark, embossed it and then water colored it.

This photograph is a picture of the upper and lower portions of the inside of the purse.  I apologize for the darkness of it, I didn’t have the benefit of sunlight and my OTT light wasn’t strong enough to function as a flash .  .  . LOL.   Looking at this picture, I now see that I actually used five stamps.  A stamp from Stampin’ Up!’s Elegant Inspirations was used for the verse.  Do you see the gold outline going around the edge of the purse?  I used a Versapen to draw that line and then sprinkled embossing powder on the outer edge and embossed it, being careful not to overheat and burn the embossing previously done on the flowers.

If you like this design, you’ll want to check back tomorrow for the next design in this series.

• Stamps:   Stampin’ Up!
• Paper:  Canson 140 lbs. cold-pressed water color paper, White Mulberry Paper
• Ink:  Versamark; Versapen
• Accessories:  Tombow markers, heating tool, watercolor brush, blending pen, Ranger gold/gold tinsel EP, Crystal Effects; pearl beads, dimensionals, Pearl Ex Pearl White Powder, Gum Arabic, craft knife, self-healing cutting mat

Hello everyone!  I haven’t had a chance to post for a few days, it’s been incredibly hectic with all the shopping and packing for Stephen.  We still have a few more items to pick up and then the serious packing begins!

Since I haven’t posted in a few days, I’m posting several photographs of one of my favorite ensembles that I designed in February.  This vintage ensemble makes such a beautiful gift to give to a mom, grandmother, mother-in-law, favorite aunt, etc.  The purse is one of my favorite stamps because it’s so versatile.  To date, I’ve made four purses and will eventually post the other designs.  This purse has roses on it, the other purse designs include pansies, daisies, and a multitude of flowers.  I have an idea to design a Christmas purse with poinsettias on it, please stay stuned for future designs using this magnificent stamp.   

This first picture is of the entire ensemble.  The shiny glow you see on the perfume bottles is a mixture of Gum Arabic with Pearl Ex powders. 

I embossed and watercolored the perfume bottles.  It’s hard to see the Dazzling Diamonds on the lids and around the floral areas on the bottles in this picture. They are about four inches in height and about 2 1/2 inches across.

I opened the purse in this photo to show the detail on the inside.  I embossed and watercolored white mulberry paper and trimmed it to fit inside the purse.  I stamped the bible verse with a stamp from SU’s Elegant Inspirations set.  I adhered the mulberry paper to the inside of the purse using Crystal Effects.  Once that was dry I adhered an embossed piece of vellum over the upper portion of the inside of the purse creating a pocket.  I used a Versamarker to trace around the outside edges of the purse and embossed the edges with Ranger gold embossing powder.  I love seeing the watercolored mulberry paper through the vellum.  The white mulberry paper makes a beautiful lining inside the purse, in real life it looks like watercolored batiste.

It was a joy watercoloring these items.  The compact and lipstick tubes fit perfectly inside the pocket of the purse.  The lipstick tubes were painted with a mixture of Gum Arabic and Pearl Ex, as well as the center of the compact.  The compact opens and has a mirror on the inside. 

This is a close-up of the outside of the purse.  I embossed the center of the purse with white embossing powder and painted inside the floral areas with the Gum Arabic and Pearl Ex mixture.  The two little flowers at the top of the purse were painted and cut out.  I used several layers of Crystal Effects to give them an enamel appearance.  I cut them with a craft knife and adhered them to the pearl strap of the purse.

These vintage gloves are so adorable.  I painted them with a mixture of Gum Arabic and Pearl Ex.  I have several different mixtures of Gum Arabic and Pearl Ex.  In this project I used two different mixtures.  The mixture used on the purse is Pearl Pearl Ex and the mixture used on the gloves, lipstick tubes, perfume bottles, and compact is Iridescent Gold Pearl Ex.  I placed Swarovski crystals in a beautiful green shade across the top of the gloves, they measure about three inches in length and about one and a half inches in width.  They also fit adorably into the pocket of the purse.

And finally, one last picture taken at a different angle to show the inside of the purse with the compact and lipstick tubes.  I love the pearls on the compact.  All of these extra touches really add a lot to this project.  

I hope you’ve enjoyed my vintage ensemble.  As I stated above, it’s a wonderful gift for a mom, grandmother, etc.  Personally, I think Mother’s Day is the perfect occasion for a gift such as this. 

• Stamps:   Elegant Inspirations (Stampin’ Up!)
• Paper:  Canson watercolor paper cold pressed 140 lbs., card stock vellum, white mulberry paper
• Ink:  Versamark, Versamarker
• Accessories:  More Mustard marker, Tombow markers, heating tool, watercolor brush, blender pen, SU white embossing powder, Ranger gold embossing powder, pearl adhesives, Swarovsky crystals, pearl chain, Dazzling Diamonds, Pearl Ex, Gum Arabic, craft knife, stamp-a-ma-jig