A Touch of Grace

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

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. 

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.   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:   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: 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

Today I was supposed to have lunch with a dear friend in celebration of her birthday.  My husband scheduled a home delivery without checking with me (does your hubby ever do that?) and I had to re-schedule the luncheon, I was not a happy camper!  I had arranged for my sister-in-law to drive Daniel to school this morning so that I could make this card to give to Barbie at our luncheon.  I visited Splitcoast to see what today’s challenge was and if it would work with my card.  I was happy to see that all I needed to do was add the charm, and I would be able to squeeze it in. 

I ordered the new gold and silver pens that Papertrey, Ink is carrying in their store and received them yesterday.  I absolutely love them and highly recommend them, they are made by Sakura.  The tips are fine point and are perfect for writing, the ink dries super fast as well.  The butterfly charm was silver, I needed gold to match the embossing on the card.  I decided to color it with the gold pen and it worked perfectly.  I then sponged chocolate chip ink over the gold ink to antique it.   Worked liked a charm  . . . pardon the pun.

Stamps:  Elegant Greetings

Paper:  Handsome Hunter, Basic Black, Fabriano watercolor  paper

Ink:  Versamark

Accessories:  Tombow markers, watercolor brush, Ranger gold/gold tinsel EP, heating tool, butterfly punch, charm, gold cord, sheer black ribbon, dimensionals, Scor-It

Good morning ladies,

Today I’m joining in the celebration of Sharon’s (notimetostamp) blog anniversary party and I’ve got lots of blog candy that I’m giving away.  I’ve designed samples for some of the items to give you ideas of what you can do with the blog candy.  The samples are not included in the giveaway.  I’m overstocked and must move these items out of my stamping room to make room for new goodies.

Here are the Rules to enter the drawing . . . Are you ready?

1.  View the designs I’ve posted on my blog and tell me which one you like the most and why.  Now this shouldn’t be too difficult since I’ve only been blogging for six weeks;

2.  One comment only to qualify, duplicates will not count;

3.  E-mail your friends and ask them to visit my blog to enter the blog candy giveaway.   Why?

The size of the prize will be determined by the amount of comments left.  There will only be one prize . . . the lucky winner takes it all!  If I receive 50 comments, Package A will be sent to the lucky winner.  If I receive 100 comments, Package B will be sent to the lucky winner.  If I receive 200 comments, Package C will be sent to the lucky winner.  Are ya’ll following, the more comments I get, the more I add to the kitty?  So, the more comments I receive the bigger the package the winner will receive.   The winning number will be chosen on Sunday, September 14, at 2:00 p.m.  by Random.org. 

My friend, Joan Fricker, is giving away blog candy today in celebration of Sharon’s week long celebration, be sure to stop by her blog to sign up for another chance to win some blog candy.

 I purchased all items in the giveaway from Papertrey, Ink. 

50 Comments Required —- Package A above consists of:

• Two Frosted Tin Tie Bags (small)
• Four Coffee Bags consisting of: two small bags (white and kraft); two large bags (white and kraft)
• Two Window Coffee Bags (one large, one small)
• Four Glassine Bags (two large, two small)
• Two Clear Boxes

100 Comments Required —- Package B above consists of:

• Package A
• Large Nugget Tin
• 8 oz. Large Round Tin
• 4 oz. Medium Round Tin
• 2.5 Small Round Tin
• Tea Tin

200 Comments Required —- Package C above consists of:

• Packages A & B
• Small Clear Paint Can
• Medium Clear Paint Can
• Large Clear Paint Can

It was hard to get the entire package in a good photograph.  I’ve taken a picture of the three clear paint cans to give you a close up view so that you can better see their size.  Below are pictures of the sample designs I made.

I designed this ensemble to give you examples of fun ways to decorate the items in the blog candy.  The designer paper used is from Papertrey, Ink’s First Fruit’s collection.  I used the retired set Happy Fall Y’all from Stampin’ Up! in the designs.  To see the recipe you’ll need to continue to the bottom of this post.

I had fun designing this card.  I stamped the scarecrow with Versafine black ink onto Naturals Ivory paper and watercolored the image.  The birds were both stamped twice and popped up with dimensionals.  I used nestibilities to die cut the images.  The leaves were punched with a Martha Stewart punch that I purchased at Michael’s.

This tag could be attached to one of the coffee bags or to the large paint can.  In the photograph it looks like I got off centered when I adhered the scarecrow image.  It is off centered, but it’s supposed to be, I designed it that way for this project, it looks better in real life.  The tag is a piece of chipboard from an SU package that I have.  I covered the back of it with DP as well.  I love this tag, it wasn’t part of the original ensemble, but when I saw Sharon’s tag this morning, I was inspired to design one. 

Isn’t this hinged nugget tin just the cutest thing!  I didn’t place any nuggets inside because I wanted you to see the lining in the bottom.  It was very easy to place it inside the tin, I just placed the nugget tin on the designer paper and traced around the bottom of it.  I cut inside the tracing lines using a paper cutter,  I then used a large corner punch from SU to round the four corners.  I adhered the lining inside using a piece of double sided tape.  I used the same paper to cover the outside of the tin.  If you look closely at the lid, you’ll see that I adhered Old Olive ribbon around the outer edges of the lid.  I used a craft knife to cut out the scarecrow and placed him on the tag using dimensionals.

These small tins are super easy to decorate.  I used double sided tape that I purchased at Scor Pal to adhere the DP paper to the tins.  I made a tag for the lid that says Happy Fall Y’all.  M&M’s or Skittles would be adorable in this tin. 

These bag toppers were quick and easy to make.  I simply used an old SU Halloween wheel and ran it across Naturals paper.  I used a round circle from another retired set to make the different colored moons across the topper.   I borrowed this design, I believe, from an old SU magazine that is sent to demos, at least I think I did, I remember seeing something like this about a year ago.  The little ghost tag was made using a Cuttlebug die.

Ladies, I wish you all the best of luck!

• Stamps:  Happy Fall Y’all, Retired Halloween Wheel, Circle Stamp (all retired SU stamps)
• Paper:  Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard, Ruby Red,  Really Rust, Naturals, Naturals Ivory (SU); First Fruits (Papertrey, Ink)
• Ink:  Versafine (black), Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Night of Navy, Basic Grey, More Mustard, Ruby Red, Really Rust, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Colorbox Chestnut Roan
• Accessories:  Martha Stewart punch, SU corner punch, SU 3/4″ and 7/8″ round punches, 5/8″ Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, 1/4″ Old Olive twill, black gingham ribbon (SU), striped black ribbon (JoAnn), dimensionals, watercolor brush, jumbo eyelets, large eyelets, Crop-A-Dile, hemp, various Nestibilities, sewing machine, SU Earth Elements brads, double sided tape, Cuttlebug dies, SU Chipboard, Basic Grey Chipboard, Faber-Castell Sketch pen, sponges, Scor It, Craft Knife

This is one of my favorite ensembles.  The petunia image in this ensemble is the same stamp I used in my blog banner and on boxes in the left margin on my blog.  I kept the lotion bottle and placed it on a vanity table in my bathroom.  The cards were donated to a Splitcoast Function in New York, I believe. Although it took some time to complete this ensemble, it was relatively easy.  I embossed the Fabriano Medioevalis cards in gold and then watercolored the images.  The bees were stamped on another sheet of watercolor paper and cut out with a craft knife.  I used Stampin’ Up’s Small Script set to stamp and emboss the sentiments. 

The lotion bottle comes apart.  It came with a template for cutting the exact size I needed to place inside the bottle.  Once it was painted, I simply placed it in a liner inside the bottle.  I have several more of the lotion bottles and will do a tutorial later on with assembly instructions.

The cards were mailed to New York for a Splitcoast function.  The recipient was very gracious and e-mailed me thanking me for them.  I wonder if she kept them or mailed them out?

The lotion bottle resides on a shelf on my vanity.  I’ve promised my mom I would make one for her and if you’ve seen my Splitcoast gallery, you’ll find almost every thing I do for her is in shades of lavendar, her favorite color.

I really must make another set of these cards, they are so soft and pretty,  many different sentiments can be used on them.  I have a small poinsettia stamp that would be pretty as well, with holly and pine surrounding the flower.   Hmmm, Christmas will be around the corner before we know it.

• Stamps:   Serene Sunflowers (bumble bee), Small Script
• Paper:  Canson watercolor 140 cold pressed, Fabriano Medioevalis watercolor paper
• Ink:  Versamark
• Accessories:  Martha Stewart Apricot taffeta ribbon, SU ivory organdy ribbon, SU gold cord, SU Old Olive twill, pearls, lotion bottle, dimensionals, Tombow markers, More Mustard marker, Ranger gold/gold tinsel embossing powder, SU black and white embossing powder, heating tool, Kolinsky watercolor brush