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Today’s Card Challenges

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Oct 31, 2007 in Cards

I did two SplitCoastStampers challenges today – it’s been a busy morning!

The first was a card sketch challenge – here’s the sketch we were to follow:

image

And here’s my card based on the sketch:

Card - Christmas sketch

I used an Always Artichoke cardstock base and added a strip of Holiday Harmony paper at the top.  I wrapped the center seam with a piece of satin ribbon (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that satin ribbon!!!!) and then put a self-adhesive die-cut from the Hand Selected Accents and Elements tin in the center. 

I took a chipboard scallop-edged frame piece from one of the On Board sets and sponged it with Purely Pomegranate ink, then placed it over the die-cut. 

I took a star from another On Board chipboard set and inked it with Versamark then applied Heat and Stick Powder.  I heated it and applied Dazzling Diamonds glitter, then set it in the center of the scallop frame with a pop-up glue dot.

The other challenge was a demonstrator challenge to use the acetate-and-tissue technique on a card.  There’s a great tutorial for this technique on SplitCoastStampers.  Here’s my card using the acetate and tissue technique:

Card - acetate tissue

I did another one as well, but the ink turned out a shade or two too dark under the acetate:

Card - acetate tissue-2

I love this technique and have many other samples that I’ve shared in previous blog posts.

I know I’ve been showing lots of Christmas cards lately, but let me remind you that today is actually only Halloween.  Have a great one!

 
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Halloween Doggie Parade

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Oct 31, 2007 in Our Goldendoodle Puppies

This morning, our local retirement home held a Halloween Pet Parade…and of course, we HAD to participate!

Daisy wore her ladybug costume and Geddy wore his bumblebee costume:

Daisy and Geddy

I had a really hard time getting a good photo of the dogs – they were SO excited, they just couldn’t sit still!

Here I am with the two of them:

Kathy and Dogs-2

Marie and her Newfoundland, Zoe, also joined us:

Marie and Zoe

There were some great doggie costumes!  Here’s a pimpin’ pug, but how big do pug get?

Pimp My Ride

Pocahontas:

Ginger as Pochohontas

And a ballerina:

Ballerina puppy

(That’s Daisy rolling over on her back in the lower left corner of the photo).

There was even a cat and a bird in the parade, too!

The dogs were great and we were asked back to visit the residents again during the holiday season.  Daisy and Geddy were so exhausted after the parade, they slept the rest of the morning!

Doggie parade

Pitman Manor

 
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Saffron/Turquoise/Red Card Challenge

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Oct 30, 2007 in Cards

Today’s SplitCoastStamper challenge was to use Real Red, So Saffron and Tempting Turquoise on a card.  Sounds like an odd color combination, but it’s one I really like and have used before.

Here’s my card for the challenge:

Merry And Bright Card

I used the Merry and Bright Stampin’ Up! stamp set – the snowflakes are stamped on the background, the trees are on the left side and the snowman is in the circle.  The trees and snowman are colored with markers (I wanted this card to have a very bright look). 

I received the new Build-A-Brad kit from Stampin’ Up! yesterday and wanted to try it out.  I stamped the snowflakes from Snow Flurries on white cardstock and punched them out with a 1/2 inch circle punch.  Then I adhered them to the tops of the brads and inserted the clear pebbles on top – really cool! I used three of them as the tree toppers on this card. 

I punched out the snowman with a 1 1/4 inch circle punch then went to layer it with my 1 3/8 circle punch…but I realized that I had lent it out.  So…I improvised and used my Coluzzle to cut a larger circle then layered it onto a scallop punch.

Fun challenge!

 
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Today’s Technique Challenge

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Oct 29, 2007 in Cards

Today’s SplitCoastStampers technique challenge was to make a cracked glass effect using clear embossing powder.  This is a fun one to play with!

To do this technique, take your image and ink the entire piece with Versamark ink.  Then coat it and heat emboss with three or more layers of clear embossing powder (the thicker powder works better), re-inking it between layers with Versamark if necessary for the powder to stick.

After the piece cools, bend it slightly to achieve the cracked effect.  You can rub a light ink into the cracks to intensify the effect if you’d like.

Here are two cards that I just made using this technique:

Peaceful Wishes Card

True Friend Card

This technique is addictive – make sure you have LOTS of clear embossing powder and lots of time on your hands before you try! 🙂

 
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A Card With No Layers Or Embellishments?

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Oct 29, 2007 in Cards

Sounds like an impossible challenge, but I gave it a try!  This week’s demonstrator challenge on SplitCoastStampers was to create a card using only stamps, paper and ink – no layers and NO embellishments!  That’s a REAL challenge!

Here’s my attempt:

SIP Card

My card base is Very Vanilla cardstock.  I used Stampin’ Up!’s French Flair background stamp in Soft Sky, then added some flowers and a sentiment all from the Carte Postale stamp set stamped in Groovy Guava.  I then overstamped the whole card with the Linen background stamp in River Rock and sponged around the edges for a vintage look.

It didn’t turn out too bad – and this is a quick, super-easy card to stamp, too!

 
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Featured Stamper Challenge

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Oct 28, 2007 in Cards

Today’s SplitCoastStampers challenge offers us a beautiful gallery from a talented stamper and challenges us to take one of her creations and CASE it to make one of our own.

The featured stamper this week is Nitestamper and here’s her gallery on SCS.    Isn’t her work gorgeous?!?!  It was so hard to decide which lovely work to choose…but after much debate, I decided to start with this card for inspiration.

And here’s my CASEd version:

Cased Mon Amie Card

 

When CASEing her card, I kept the same basic layout and placed my embellishments the same way – it’s so easy to create a pretty card when you start with such a wonderful one!

I then changed the colors from pink and brown to blue, saffron and artichoke and used the Le Jardin series as my patterned paper.  I also changed the stamp set to the Garden Silhouettes Stampin’ Up! hostess set and used my markers to color in the flowers and stems.  I also stamped the flowers again and cut some out, popping them up with dimensionals and adding a few little sparkle stickers for a little bling. 

Thanks, Nitestamper, for the inspiration!

 
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My Latest Obsession

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Oct 27, 2007 in Crafts

For those who don’t know me, here’s a little fact I’d like to share. Whenever I learn something new, I usually become obsessed with it until I’ve mastered it, then I move on to something else.

As I mentioned in my last post, I received a soldering iron yesterday as a gift from my friend Denise. This has become my obsession du jour – and I think I can blame this one directly on Denise. 🙂

I tried to hold off experimenting with my new toy yesterday afternoon, but I just couldn’t do it! I’ve been DYING for months now to create these little ornaments and jewelry pieces using microscope slides!

My first two attempts last night ended up in the trash (and resulted in a small burn on my middle finger), but I NEVER give up! So I spent last night scouring the Internet (specifically YouTube) looking for videos to help me figure out what I was doing wrong.

After about two hours in the ‘net, I found some great examples of how to solder correctly (and without burning yourself!). I wanted to try again, but Mike talked me out of it. He told me to “Walk away from the craft room!”, so I did, though reluctantly.

All night I kept thinking about soldering (did I mention I’m a bit obsessive?),what I was doing wrong, what tools I could use, what other supplies I need – all the while, fighting the impulse to go into my craft room to melt metal…

So…this morning, I let Mike sleep in while I snuck into my craft room. He gets to sleep in; I feed my obsession – a win-win situation, if you ask me!

To help while soldering, I grabbed a brick (so as not to set my craft table on fire) and a pair of ‘helping hand’ tweezers from my handy Stampin’ Up! Crafter’s Toolkit (so as not to set my fingers on fire). These tools plus the videos I watched helped tremendously and I have two finished pieces to prove it! These are VERY simple, but at least I proved that I can solder without causing a trip to the E/R or a visit from the Pitman Fire Patrol!

I could only find frosted microscope slides in my stash, so I had to start with them. I made this little Christmas ornament using a vintage image I had on-hand:

Christmas slide

I placed the image between the two slides, taped the edges, applied flux (I’m learning a whole new vocabulary!) and applied the solder. I also soldered a small jump ring to the back so it can be hung as an ornament (I got the jump ring from an office supply tag). This is so simple – as my skills improve, I want to add smaller jump rings and beads to the bottom – but one step at a time, right (did I mention that I’m a bit obsessive?).

As I was cleaning up, I saw today’s SpitCoastStampers challenge.  It is an inspiration challenge where the inspiration piece uses vintage Halloween images – perfect!  Another reason to make a project!

I found some adorable vintage Halloween images in my stash and I made this little pin (all this before 9:00 AM!)…

Halloween slide

I used the same method as the ornament, but instead of a jump ring, I soldered a pin backing to the back of the slide.

I’m done soldering for the day – REALLY – I have to get ready for my Scrapbooking Ministry this afternoon…

 
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Another Number-Card Challenge Entry

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Oct 26, 2007 in Cards

I had another idea for today’s number-only card challenge.  Here’s my card:

Golf Card

I thought this might be cute for a masculine birthday.  I covered a chipboard number with patterned paper and popped up the golf ball with some dimensionals.

And today, I got the supplies for a new extension of my hobby – soldering!   I want to try my hand at making some small pieces of jewelry using some of the ephemera I’ve collected from yard sales.  Wish me luck!

 
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Today’s Challenge

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Oct 26, 2007 in Cards

Today’s SplitCoastStamper challenge was an interesting one – we were only allowed to use numbers on our card, not any words or letters.  Most of the posts were for number birthdays and anniversaries, but I came up with a different idea…

I made this teacher appreciation card:

School Card

The inside will say, “Who do we appreciate?  YOU!”.

I used black cardstock as the chalkboard then stamped the numbers with white craft ink.  I rubbed over them with white chalk and a sponge to make it look even more like a chalkboard.  I added wood grain patterned paper to act as a frame, then stamped, colored and cut out school images from an old retired Stampin’ Up! set, It’s Academic.  I popped up the images for dimension and added a few ribbons – I like how this turned out!

I have an idea for another number card…I hope to get to it this afternoon…

 
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MY Dog Ate THEIR Homework!

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Oct 25, 2007 in Our Goldendoodle Puppies

So…I’m getting ready to go teach my Computers and Society class this afternoon and I walk out into the living room where I had been grading midterms and I find this:

Dog ate his homework

Yes, that’s right – one of my puppies chewed up one of my student’s midterms!!!!!  I had to piece it back together to see whose test it was!  Fortunately, I think I can still read the rest of the answers…hopefully, my student will be understanding about the condition of his test.

Should I give him extra points for this?!?! (the student, not the puppy)

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