Sunday, January 31, 2010

Michael Jackson stamped

I got a chance to watch "This Is It", the Michael Jackson remembrance movie. I think that put me in a mood to share this card I made for a recent swap. The theme was music, and Michael definitely was a music idol. Even at my age (yes, I remember him in the original Jackson Five), I love his music and admire his talent. When Estelle from Stampsmith came out with a sheet of Michael Jackson stamps, I had to have them. I think this image really represents Michael.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

KSS Crew Challenge # 21 -- A Stitch in Time 4

Who would have thought that I would have I would have done so much stitching (faux or real) this month. But here is another. This one is a post card which was actually stamped and mailed. Now that I know it was received safely, I can share it here. I used the new Kitchen Sink Stamps Winter Cardinals set. I fell in love with the set even before I saw the whole thing. There is something about a cardinal that grabs my heart, and this cardinal pair is very realistic.
Now for the layering and color details: Papa Cardinal -- layer 1-Watermelon (adirondack), layer 2-Lady Bug (memento), layer 3-crimson red (versafine), and layer 4-onyx (Club Scrap). Mama Cardinal -- layer 1-salmon (adirondack), layer 2 watermelon (adirondack), layer 3-crimson red (versafine), and layer 4-onyx (Club Scrap). Branches -- layer 2-bottle (adirondack), layer 1-bamboo leaves (memento), layer 3-potters clay (memento), and level 4-expresso (adirondack).

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

KSS Crew Challenge # 21 -- A Stitch in Time 3

It's funny how things happen. I was working on a blue flowers swap. The hydrangea set from Kitchen Sink Stamps was a perfect image. I wanted to add some faux stitching to the card, so while I was looking for the right cardstock to mount my completed image on, I found some rub-on stitches that I had forgotten I had. What an amazing find. I didn't have to use a marker; the stitches worked perfectly.

The flowers and urn are from the Hydrangea Set and the sentiment is from the Berries Set. For the flowers and leaves, I stamped in reverse order from step three to step one and then added step four. I found I that order to work best for me here. All inks used were Adirondack dye inks. For the Flowers I worked in this order--Layer 3-stonewashed, Layer 2-sail boat blue, Layer 1-cloudy blue, Layer 4-denim. For the leaves I used -- Layer 2-clover, Layer 1-juniper, and Layer 3-Bottle. The urn and butterfly were stamped  in order.
Urn--1 sandal, 2 caramel, 3 ginger, 4 rust. Butterfly--1 peach bellini, 2 caramel, 3 expresso.
I love the card base. The cardstock is from Club Scrap. I thought it gave a feeling of a stone wall behind the large hydrangea plant.

Friday, January 8, 2010

KSS Crew Challenge # 21 -- A Stitch in Time 2

I said in my previous post that sewing wasn't my thing. Well, there is one exception. I love making books and that often requires stitching to keep the signatures together. So yesterday I put together a book. I am a long time member of Club Scrap/Stamp, and this was a book kit included in one of the kits. It had an accordian fold spine holding the pages. The spine was stitched to bands holding the covers together.  To me, the cover paper was very rustic. There was some decorative (and functional) detail on the cover, but I wanted to add my own touch. The Kitchen Sink Giant Sunflower stamp was perfect. I used all Adirondack inks -- lemonade, sunshine yellow, butterscotch, rust, and expresso for the flower head and willow, clover, and bottle for the stems and leaves. I love it when a new stamp set, a project, and a challenge come together.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

KSS Crew Challenge # 21 -- A Stitch in Time


Happy New Year to everyone. This is my first post of 2010. Hopefully, now that the holidays are pretty much over, I'll get back to posting more frequently.

Another month means another new challenge from Kitchen Sink Stamps. This month the challenge is to include some kind of sewing on your art, either real or faux. This is a real challenge for me. However, it was amazing how everything fell into place. As I was working on a swap I had to do, I went through my stash of outline stickers and came across some outline embroidery stickers that I just had to have (about two years ago). I had never used any of them, so I decided that the KSS Crew Challenge was the perfect time to try them out. I chose the round frame with corners to frame a rose from my new Hearts and Roses set. It was a perfect match. Tos sew the stitches, I used a magenta colored metallic thread. To stamp the rose, I followed the suggestions of several other KSS users. I stamped the layers in reverse order. (4--fuschia [Club Scrap], 3--Raspberry [Adirondack], 2--Pink Sherbert [Adirondack], 1--Shell Pink [Adirondack]) I stamped the sentiment, from the same set, with Purple twilight [Adirondack] to coordinate with the stitching.
I'll divulge a little secret. Because of all the handling of the paper while sewing, I got a few finger smudges on the paper. Well, a little Versamark applied with a sea sponge hid the spots and created a more ornate background. Love those "oopses".