PAPERLICIOUS

Dear Paperlicious: Top Five Products to Be Revealed at CHA

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

THE BEST OF WINTER CHA 2012

It's CHA weekend!  Soon the internet will be filled with pictures of the latest new products bloggers taking pictures of each other!!

Can't wait to see what is new?  Tired of trips to Southern California in the winter??  Devasted by the prospect of leaving the kids and hubby behind for an entire adult weekend surrounded by papercrafters? 

Me too!

So Dear Paperlicious went pyschic this week and has the inside scoop on releases for the first half of 2012 (actual product availability will be fall 2012).  Here are my favorite 5 new products for 2012 --

5.  LITTLE GUY SEWING MACHINE --  the perfect sewing machine for stampers!!   No bobbins or needles to thread.   This compact machine, weighing only 85 pounds, has a little man living inside who will thread the needle for you and hold the paper as it goes through the sewing process.  Take out the little guy once a week and give him a good scrub and you are good to go for another week.  Suggested Retail Price:  $856 (will be discounted to $59.99 by April).

4.  DISAPPEARING INK -- The beauty of this ink is that is disappears after 2 days.  Gives you enough time to stamp, photograph your card for your blog, and then reuse your cardstock!!  No more wasting time and postage mailing your cards!  Comes in black, red, and 14 shades of orange tangerine.

3. PATTERNED PAPER THAT TURNS INTO STUFFING -- Buy it now and in November it is ready for the big bird.  All the joys of collecting without worrying about it all catching fire after 7 years of storage.  YUM.

2.  **ALMOST DIES** -- Dies are all the rage.  They cut shapes perfectly!!  BORING and so 2011.  The new ALMOST dies do not cut cleanly!  Use with 4 metal shims, an embossing pad and a piece of Twizzlers in any die machine except a Big Shot, Cuttlebug, Vagabond or Grand Calibur, and your Almost Die will cut everything except one part of the die.  Perfect for those of you (like me) who find perfect boring. 

And the #1 NEW PRODUCT FOR 2012

1.  STAMPS MADE OUT OF MONEY!!

Goodbye wood mounted, cling, photopolymer and silicone stamps!  Leave that debate to the chumps.

Hello stamps MADE OUT OF REAL MONEY.  Yes, ten dollar bills have been adhered together to form 2 inch stacks and then hand cut with super trendy Tim Holtz branded exacto knives by design team members to form gorgeous images.   Sigh. Wait to you see the square shapes!!  Oh those talented design teamers!! 

So that's it. My top 5 faves.  See you in the summer for my next CHA reveal!

 

All You Need, 3 Ways

Trying out a new idea -- using the same stamp three different ways. In this case, it is Penny Black's All You Need is Love (really??). With Twinkling H2Os on watercolor paper, big silk bow (so not me) and a Bermuda A Muse Studio card:

With Tombow Markers directly on rubber and a WPlus9 sentiment, on Bazzil textured cardstock (and look - - Washi Tape) and a Hero Arts woodgrain background:

And with Prismacolor Pencils and lots of Ranger Glossy Accents and copic colored pearls:

a close up of the hearts:

This was fun.

MOOD WHEN DONE:  Pondering whether all you need is love...and how I can get a new lens for my camera without spending money.

More Betsy Bluebell

Before the card, thanks so much for the interesting and thoughtful comments on my last post.  

Some resonated with me immediately.  Others are food for thought.  The two themes that resonated right off the bat were how similar we all are.  Sometimes it is easy to forget the common experiences and reactions we have.  The other theme that struck a chord in a big way was the "need to please" comments.  Wow, you ladies should charge by the hour! 

Not sure what path the restlessness will take, but I see good things ahead!

And now another card made with Bestsy Bluebel from Penny Black --

Card Construction Details:

1.  Stamped Betsy with Memories Black Dye ink twice on white cardstock and once on Eclipse Masking Tape.  Trimmed the mask, covered the image and added an additional ballon (the one with the lady bug).

2.  Colored the image and balloons on the extra image with Prismacolor Pencils.  Cut out the 3 balloons on the extra image.

3.  Covered image and extra balloons with a Versamark pen and clear embossing powder (3 times to get a smooth finish).

4.  Die cut image with a nestability die and sponged Ranger Distress inks (Wild Honey and Spiced Marmalade) around the image for a background.

4.  Stamped over the image with an Impression Obsession background (Cover a Card Gradation) that I misted with water. 

5.  Took the die and traced around with a pencil on white cardstock.  Hand cut to make the layer.  Covered with Ranger Distress Peeled Paint ink for a green background.

6.  Lavendar cardstock sponged with Crushed Concord Distress ink and stamped an Impression Obsession Cover a Card birthday sentiment background with the same ink.  Misted with water.  Lightly.

7.  Added balloons and put the whole thing together, adding some twine and a clear heart rhinestone colored with a Copic.  Finished by putting it all on an A Muse Studio vanilla card.

MOOD WHEN DONE = Happy.   The image is so cute can't help but be smiley.

 

Restless and Looking for Ideas

in many aspects of my life (I think all except my marriage).  Maybe I'm in a mid life crisis.  At least I hope so!

Looking to change up some things and want to start with papercrafting/stamping (easier than quitting my job and moving).  Not sure where I am going with this but am interested if you have succeeded in shaking things up with this hobby of ours. 

I've sold off, purchased, organized, pinned, not pinned, taken off time, blogged, bought, not bought, taken classes, and still feel restless. 

Maybe restlessness is just meant to be and not resolved.  Any ideas?

EDITED TO ADD:

(after reading the first 4 comments) -- very helpful to read your thoughts, even if you just say you are going through the same thing.  We can all lean on and learn from each other.... Thanks!

Project 100: 40/100 - Big Block Letters

Title says it all!  (For those of you newish to the blog, Project 100 is my plan to send 100 cards to my son, who is away at college.)  Since he is in the middle of his 3rd year, I better step up the program!

Card Construction Details:  (inspired by a card made by Kristina Werner in the Clean and Simple card class)

 

1.  Die cut 4 layers of Daffodil cardstock by Stampin Up.  Used my Silhouette to cut the letters.

2.  Adhered the top layer of letters with temporary tape onto scratch paper, stamped with Onyx Versafine using the By Definition background by Stampin Up.  Embossed with clear powder.

3.  Removed embossed letters from scratch paper and adhered all 4 layers.  HINT:  when stacking layers, use liquid glue so you can move them around.

4.  Used Ranger Distress Inks to color each letter.  This soaked through the edges.  Went to bed and let the letters dry.

5.  Woke up.  Everything dry.

6.  Added stitching with a white gel pen to letters.

7.  A2 A Muse Studio Onyx card, rounded corners and added more stitching.  HINT:  Place paper on gridded paper and add one "stitch" per grid.

MOOD WHEN DONE = Awake and Colorful

 

Hello

Don't use too many people images, but fell in love with this Betsy Bluebell set from Penny Black.  Added a sentiment from Paper Smooches.

Card Construction Details:

1. Stamped image on white cardstock, extending the horizon line with a fine black pen.

2.  Colored with Prismacolor Pencils.  Covered image with Versamark Pen and embossed with clear powder.  Repeated.

3.  Die cut.

4.  Made mask for the ground and sponged various shades of blue Ranger Distress inks for the sky.  Repeated with green inks for the ground and edged the whole thing with Vintage Photo.

3.  Stamped sentiment and adhered panel to die cut oval scallop.

4.  Sponged a cream A2 card with Shabby Shutters Ranger Distress ink and adhered oval.

MOOD WHEN DONE = Cheery

Tone on Tone Dimension

One of the lessons in the Clean and Simple card class is "tone on tone."  Jennifer McGuire demonstrated a card made with multiple layers of a Memory Box die adhered together and then placed on a card.  Both the die cut and the card base were the same color.

So, inspired by that lesson I made this card --

Card Construction Detail (omitting all mistakes, false starts, and other headaches):

1.  Using the Silhouette digital die cutter, sized this flourish for the card and cut out 4 layers in inexpensive white cardstock from an office supply store. 

2.  Cut one more image out of A Muse Studio Winter Sky cardstock.  Adhered all layers together, which resulted in a pretty thick image.

3.  Placed on a Winter Sky card and stamped the sentiment (from Art Gone Wild) in Versamark and embossed with white embossing powder.

4. Colored over the sentiment with a white gel pen to fill in the bumpy gaps (you know what I mean).

 

5.  Adhered cut piece to card.  The white interior, white edges of the cut piece and white sentiment look lovely against the pale blue card. 

6.  Sigh, really love this one.

MOOD WHEN DONE = Happy

Birthday Rose

First up -- the rose.  Love this image -- from WPlus 9 Ever After set. 

Reminds me of my first date with Mike, when we saw Beaches with Bette Midler.   And that reminds me of her song The Rose.  Ok, enough with walking down memory lane --

Card Construction Details:

1. Stamped image on white cardstock with Memories waterproof dye ink.

2. Colored with Prismacolor Pencils (light pink, magenta and a tiny bit of dark blue near the edges for the flowers).

3.  Embossed with a Versamark Pen and clear embossing powder.

4.  Die cut with a Spellbinder die that I promptly lost/misplaced.  It must be somewhere...

5.  Sponged with various shades of blue Ranger Distress inks, with Peeled Paint (green) on the bottom and Wild Honey in the middle.  Misted some water in the air and ran panel through the air (gives speckled look).

6.  The Clean and Simple Class suggested different ways to use stamps and decided to repeatedly stamp a sentiment on the bottom.

7. Risky business.  Messed up a bit so covered it with iridiscent cord from May Arts. 

8.  Added rhinestone with Ranger Glossy Accents below the cord and below the rhinestone.  Put acrylic block on top of the rhinestone until the whole thing stuck.  Like glue.  Looks better to have the bow pressed down and not floating.

MOOD WHEN DONE = Colorful

 

 

Butterflies Flying Around and Making a Border

I'm taking this online course.  There is a new lesson every day, which is a bit too often for me, but the lessons are always available so I can catch up (I suspect I'll be behind by day 2!).  So far, I like the class (always a toss up on how to spend $25, but I need all the design help I can get.)

 

 

 The first lesson provided a few sketches and I decided to use one of them to make this 4.25" square card.  All stamps by WPlus9 Design.

Card Construction Details:

1.  Trimmed white cardstock to make a 4.25" square card and then masked the center. 

2.  Stamped 3 different butterflies, lifted the mask and colored with Prismacolor Pencils and went over the black lines with a Sakura Micron pen.  This created a nice border of butterflies.  Edged the inside square with dotted black lines (where are they???? -- you'll see in a minute what happened.)

3.  Stamped a sentiment in the inside of the lower left corner.  But it was too small and the large butterfly border didn't look right.  Unbalanced. OH NO!!

4.  Saved the card by trimming a white square, adding a sentiment and purple heart and popping it up on dimensionals.  So clever we stampers.

MOOD WHEN DONE = Happy.  Not sure about this card.  Just not sure, but I had fun making it and someone will like getting it (the definition of stamping)...

 

 

Coneflowers, Brads, Black

Thanks so much for all the lovely comments lately!

Next up -- brads (long neglected), black card base, and lots of colored pencils over a base colored with Ranger Distress Inks.

Card Construction Details:

1.  Stamped flowers (from StaceyStamps); colored with Prismacolor Pencils.  Cut out.

2.  Made background -- 5' x 3.75" white panel, colored with Ranger Distress Inks.

3.  Stamped background with this Impression Obsession background called Cover a Card gradation, misted with water.  These backgrounds are fabulous.  Large square with very interesting choices.  I wish I could have all of them!

4.  Went over black lines and dots with Micron pen, added white Ranger Glossy Accents. Didn't add accents to petals of second flower just to be different.

5.  Stamped flowers onto background and colored stems and leves with pencils.  Adhered flowers.

6.  Cut out tag (old Provocraft die); colored with Ranger Distress ink and adhered with black brads.

7.  Adhered panel with glue to A Muse Onyx card (the white interior softens the whole look).

MOOD WHEN DONE = HAPPY; just got back from a family wedding in Texas and had to get some stamping in before I head back into the office.  Wonderful to get away but also wonderful to return. 

EDITED TO ANSWER SOME QUESTIONS:

How did I make the background?

1. Took white cardstock and sponged 3 shades of blue Ranger Distress Inks, with the lighter in the center -- Tumbled Glass, Broken China, and Faded Jeans. 

2.  Sponged some Wild Honey in the center and along the edge.  This turned some of the blue to green.

3.  Sponged Brushed Corduroy along the very edges.

4. Took background stamp and misted it with water, being careful not to soak it.  The water acts like bleach on Distress inks and lifts off the color.  Because water runs, it also left some blotches.  I like that look sometimes, especially near flowers or foliage. 

Thanks for asking -- your comments warm my heart!

 

theyoungandthebreastless

My friend is having a bilateral mastectomy next week.  She is 40. Or 41.  I can't remember because when you are my age, there isnt' much difference... But...

She is also much more than that.

She is nice and funny and smart and a wife and mom and a friend and a lawyer and the best skit writer ever who recently decided to take a break and concentrate on her family full time.

But life has a way of changing our plans.  So Lisa is writing a blog.  If you knew Lisa and knew me and knew how many times Lisa teased me about my blog, you would know how bittersweet this is for me.  Lisa should be writing a blog but I wish it wasn't for this reason. 

So if you have a moment, I'd love if you stepped over to theyoungandthebreastless and gave Lisa some stamper support. 

Colored Pencil Walk Through

Got a few kind inquiries asking me about how I use pencils.  I use Prismacolor, which are a wax based pencil.   I used some free credits at Amazon over the holidays to order Faber Castell Polychromo pencils, which are oil based.  I'll post a review/comparison once the package gets here and I have time to try them out.  

In the meantime, to respond to the questions, here are some photos walking through how to get a nice blend with Prismacolor pencils.  Get three shades of a color -- light, medium and dark and color like you are back in kindergarten ... the light color acts as a blender.  Sharpen the pencils and keep sharpening as you use them.  This is simple, not artist quality, information from one casual cardmaker (me). 

1. Color your image with a light color.  If you press too hard, you will cover the paper and get a waxy build up. Don't do that!

2.  Take the medium shade and color a portion of the edge, going into the image, but not all the way. 

3.  Take your darkest shade and color right along part of the edge.  (By the way, see the purple flowers? I put down too much color and eventually removed some of it by using a prismacolor white eraser.)

4.  There are a variety of ways to blend colored pencils.  The easiest is to go back with the lightest pencil and, with a bit of pressure, color over the image, concentrating on the edges with the darker pencil.  A circular motion will help move the darker pencil from the edge to the middle of the image.

 5.  I was happy with this result, but decided to blend a bit more with a narrow bullet tip of a colorless Copic.

Then -- as usual -- wasn't sure what to do with the flowers and leaves.  Made essentially the same card I usually make:

MOOD WHEN DONE = Determined to mail this card, rather than have it collect dust. 

Dear Paperlicious: Revisiting 2011's New Year's Resolutions

Dear Paperlicious,

Last year you published your 2011 New Year Resolutions HERE.  Did you keep any of them?

Sincerely, Stalker Fan

Dear Striking Out Words on Posts is so 2011 Fan:

Good grief, you remember that stuff?  Ok, here's the recap of 2011's resolutions --

1.  My word for the year -- GREED.  Bye bye budget.
Sadly, I failed.  Pretty much kept to my craft budget.  "Pretty much" = "spent more than I budgeted but 1/2 of what I spent the year before."

2.  Copy and Steal -- some of the biggest names do it, see no reason to acknowledge sources of my work.
Got this down to a science in 2011.

 3.  Get published less -- SICK to death of fielding requests from publications for my work. Stop it already!
Total success!  Not giving away my copyrights to "the man."

 4.  Mo' Messy in 2011 -- that Scrapbox is sooo 2010.  May use it as a planter.
2011 was the year that the government finally got off my back.  In August, had a backyard wedding and married my Scrapbox.  Finally understand what "following your bliss" means.

5.  Use time better -- Less Reading, More Facebook, More Housewives of Atlanta.
Check, Check, Check

6.  Incorporate die cuts and felt into my legal work.
Paper cuts, yes; die cuts and felt, no.  However, a few pieces of glitter may have stuck to my memos.

7. Save money on postage stamps -- send no cards.
Nope, failed at this one too.

8.  Quit being controlled by Mike.
He's so cute. 

9.  Spend more time with my Mom.  Every day with her is like a mini mental health day.
Thought her move to the nursing home would mean less stress.  HA!!

10. Reduce stress. Cannot be a trendsetter any more.  You guys are on your own!
Think I've mastered this one!

Sincerely,
Dear Paperlicious

 

 

My Favorite Posts from 2011...

January:

February:

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:

This was a fun exercise -- not a piece of ribbon in sight!

Hope your New Year's Eve is safe and fun.  I'm recovering from a virus so I expect mine to be quiet!  Thanks so much for spending time with me this year. 

Substitute Stamping -- Card Set

When I saw this set of cards (again by Jill Foster), I knew that I wanted that heart stamp (and I have it on order...).  However, I also loved the cards themselves and decided to substitute another stamp and put my own twist on her beautiful set.  Here's what I came up with --

Almost the same.  I changed the layout slightly, substituted a Hero Arts image and Waltzingmouse sentiments, and added some white highlights (gel pen on the 3 pale cards and white pencil on the navy card) on the image. You can see them here --

And here's a shot of the navy card --

MOOD WHEN DONE = Happy. Even though I essentially copied Jill's cards, I enjoyed making this set. Ok, I'm very happy.  LOVE the set!