Scrapnextras

Technique Tuesday; Monograms

Each month I choose a Stampin' Up! product as my Feature Product.  This month I will be featuring Alphabet Stamps!  All Stampin' Up! alphabet and number sets purchased through me, are on special this month.  My Technique Tuesday feature during the month of May will feature Alphabets.  As well, throughout the month of May, you can expect to see lots of projects on my blog featuring Alphabets, and I will be demonstrating with them during all my May workshops.   

Here is the special for May:

• 10% off any Stampin' Up! Alphabet sets including Define Your Life
• My May hostesses will receive 20% Off!

If you wish to place an order, you may contact me via email.  I accept all major credit cards.  Canadian orders only please. Sorry, them's the rules!

Technique Tuesday: Monograms

Monograms have become so popular, and a gorgeous monogrammed card can be so simple to create!  I love monogram cards for sending quick notes, or to give as a gift set.  Here's just one way to create an elegant monogram.

You will need:  Background stamp

Alphabet set

Craft ink

Clear embossing powder

For this project I used the Letterpress Alphabet and Pretty Petals.

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Ink up your letter with the craft ink in your choice of colour.  I chose to work with this week's SCS colour challenge; Sage Shadow, Chocolate Chip and Very Vanilla!

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Since I was working with Craft Ink I can emboss with clear embossing powder. 

However, if you don't have Craft ink you can stamp in Versamark and emboss in colour. 

Gold or silver are great choices as well to create an elegant monogram.

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Next, you want to ink up your background stamp in a lighter colour than the monogram...in my case, Sage Shadow.

Most backgrounds will work for this technique.  Sanded or Print Pattern work well for a more masculine look.

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Leave your background stamp facing up and place your embossed letter face down.

Then take a piece of scrap copy paper and gently run your hand over the paper to ensure even coverage.

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Here is the finished monogram. 

Because the letter was embossed, it resists any ink. 

An alternative to create this effect would be to stamp the letter and mask it, or cut out a letter from a scrap of paper and adhere it to the paper.

Here is the final card:

The base is Chocolate Chip, and the upper portion is Sage Shadow.  The lower piece is Very Vanilla with the Pretty Petals background stamp in Chocolate Chip.  I pierced all around the perimeter then tied some Chocolate Chip satin ribbon around the seam.

The monogram section is pierced as well and layered on Sage Shadow then Chocolate chip.  It is adhered to the card with dimensionals.  The finishing touch is a Martha Stewart butterfly punch which is adhered to the corner of the monogram to cover up an unauthorized ink splotch!!

Very simple, very elegant!  I hope you like it.

Life around here has been a little crazy but we are all fine.  I appreciate your concern and kind words.  I hope you have a wonderful day!  Thanks so much for dropping by...I always love it when you do!

Technique Tuesday: Designer Alphabets

Each month I choose a Stampin' Up! product as my Feature Product.  This month I will be featuring Alphabet Stamps!  All Stampin' Up! alphabet and number sets purchased through me, are on special this month.  My Technique Tuesday feature during the month of May will feature Alphabets.  As well, throughout the month of May, you can expect to see lots of projects on my blog featuring Alphabets, and I will be demonstrating with them during all my May workshops.   

Here is the special for May:

• 10% off any Stampin' Up! Alphabet sets including Define Your Life
• My May hostesses will receive 20% Off!

If you wish to place an order, you may contact me via email.  I accept all major credit cards.  Canadian orders only please. Sorry, them's the rules!

Technique Tuesday: Designer Alphabets

I love my alphabet stamps because I can have them in virtually any design I want!  You do have to be willing to cut them out, but beyond that, the sky's the limit as to which design you can work with.

Here's what you need to get started:

• Large alphabet stamps like the Headline or Letterpress alphabet (I know they are retired, but I'll never give them up!) 
• Versamark
• Clear embossing powder
• your choice of designer paper
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Stamp the letter in Versamark on the designer paper.

If you choose a print with a fairly random design, it doesn't matter where you stamp.

If your print has a definite pattern, such as stripes you may want to line the letters up  appropriately.

Next, you will heat emboss with clear embossing powder and cut them out.  Really very simple, I didn't think you needed another picture!

 

Here's what I came up with. Keeping it very simple, I stamped with the Headline Alphabet, (since it's so easy to cut out!) on the retired Dashing designer paper.  Old Olive is crimped and layered on Real Red before adhering it to the Very Vanilla card base.  The word Christmas is from the Many Merry Messages set, and is coloured using a Real Red marker.  I added a couple rows of piercing surrounding the word and added some satiny ribbon from the Theatre Ribbon originals package. 

There you have it.  I will also share a scrapbook page that I did several years ago using the same technique for the title.  The picture is not the greatest, because it was scanned. I still love it though!  Both of my girls in their pretty sundresses; my little one soooo little, and sweet treats from the ice cream truck.  Summer just doesn't get any sweeter!

I am posting this from Windows Live.  I want to give a big Thanks to LeAnne who suggested it.  Although it took most of my morning to get this up and going, I do like having the alternative, even when my Typepad issues get resolved.

I hope you are having a wonderful day!  Stay tuned for a Little Paper Shop sneak peak today!  There are some fabulous sets being released, and I have had so much fun playing with them!

Thanks so much for bearing with me....I'm so glad when you stop by.

Technique Tuesday; Spell it Out!

Each month I choose a Stampin' Up! product as my Feature Product.  This month I will be featuring Alphabet Stamps!  All Stampin' Up! alphabet and number sets purchased through me, are on special this month.  My Technique Tuesday feature during the month of May will feature Alphabets.  As well, throughout the month of May, you can expect to see lots of projects on my blog featuring Alphabets, and I will be demonstrating with them during all my May workshops.   

Here is the special for April:

• 10% off any Stampin' Up! Alphabet sets including Define Your Life
• My May hostesses will receive 20% Off!

If you wish to place an order, you may contact me via email.  I accept all major credit cards.  Canadian orders only please. Sorry, them's the rules!

Technique Tuesday:  Spell it Out and Dress Up Your Alphabets

When I started this whole crazed paper crafting thing, it was all about scrapbooking.  Before I was introduced to stamping, I had an obsession with alphabets and purchased every variety of sticker, punch, chipboard, die-cut, stencil....you name it I have it.  When I learned about stamping, I was thrilled.  Finally a way to ensure I never run out of "Y"s and always have the perfect colour.  Yes, I love my alphabets.  Even though I don't do as much scrapbooking as I used to, I still love my alphabets, and still get a lot of use out of them.  This month I will be featuring Alphabets, how to get the most out of them...I love anything that I can make versatile!  I will explore some different techniques and uses and I promise some scrapbooking in addition to the cards!

Today, I wanted to just Dress Up the alphabets.  You can get a lot of mileage and create tons of different looks from just one alphabet set just by adding a few personal touches!  So this is not a tutorial really, instead just touching on some of the ways you can dress up your alphabets with markers and pens.

Here is a quick sampler that I made up, and really this is just the tip of the iceberg.

I did some faux stitching, circles, and a scarecrow double line stitching.

Here are some other ideas that you can try, and I will try to put into action over the course of the month:

• stripes
• plaids
• polka dots
• outline; outline with dots
• X's & O's
• your turn....

Here's a card I made Spelling out my sentiment and dressing up my alphabet with a white gel pen.

I happened to pop in on Amber's blog, The Stamping Scrapbooker, this morning, and she posted her colour challenge card for her design team challenge, with an invitation to play along!  That narrowed down the colour choices for today's card; pink (Pretty in Pink), Green (Certainly Celery) and Grey (Basic Grey) so I played.

The card base is Basic Grey and the white has the Swiss Dot embossed on it!  Thanks to my elf Dawn, (Stampinscotsgirl) who replenished my supply of Cuttlebug embossed papers (really I had only used 1!!!)  I worked with the Big Deal alphabet, stamping the word "Love" in Basic Grey classic ink on scraps of designer papers.  I also stamped "u" in Certainly Celery ink on Whisper White card stock.  I took my white gel pen and added dots to each letter, just to dress them up, and give them a whole new look!

The "LOVE" letters were punched out with the 1 3/8" square punch, then layered on white, then grey.  A large heart brad (Making Memories) was placed in the centre of the "O" just for fun, before attaching the section to the card!

I cut the "U" out after adding the dots.  I punched a scalloped circle from Basic Grey and added white dots to each of the scallops.  A circle of Pretty in Pink and Whisper White are layered on top, and the "U" is popped up with foam tape.  A small heart brad (MM) was added to the "U" as well...just because I can!  I tied Pretty in Pink gingham ribbon around the lower portion, adding a slip of Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon for a splash of colour.  The scallop circle is adhered to the card with dimensionals.

There you go. Now it's your turn to dress up your alphabets!  I know the variations are endless, and whether you come up with your own, or use one of my suggestions is up to you.  ***If you want to play, make a card or scrapbook page, then link it up through the comments section here, so we can all come back and see it.  If you upload to SCS use the keyword "xtras2".***  I would also love to hear some words, phrases or sentiments that you can use your alphabets for as well..so bring 'em on!  U-ROCK!

Happy Tuesday to you all!  Hope you are having a fabulous day!

For Mother's Day

Mother's Day is on Sunday, so I thought I would share a few Mother's Day Cards this week, just in case you need some extra inspiration for that last minute card.  I created this card for the February Stampin' Up! contest call for Mother's Day cards.  Guess what?  I won!

This card was a modified version of the Valentine card I created for my daughter.  You can see it here.  I could just see how wonderful it would be for a Mother's Day card, and since I was creating it for a Stampin' Up! contest, I needed to make a few changes to make sure it was Stampin' Up! only(SUO) to comply with contest rules.

The card is Whisper White, 6 1/2" square, and scored at 3 1/4".  The DP is from Bali Breeze.  I used the Jumbo Outline Alphabet and stamped the letters on Rose Red, Regal Rose and Pretty in Pink card stock using Whisper White Craft ink.  They were embossed with White embossing powder, and punched out with the 1 3/8" square punch, and layered on Whisper White card stock.  The Whisper White was then layered on Rose Red, and that panel was popped up on dimensionals. 

The right hand border is pierced from top to bottom, and the left hand side has half backed pearls accenting the top and bottom of the DP.

The large flower is from the Pretties kit and is coloured with the Pretty in Pink marker, then a smaller white flower from the Pretties kit is layered on that, followed by a Rose Red Felt Fusion flower.  Another half back pearl is adhered to the centre.  The hat pin from the Pretties kit is threaded with several pearls and spacers and is inserted into a jumbo pop up glue dot, which attaches the flower to the card. 

I wish I hadn't had to send the actual card off, so I could give it to my Mom.  I know I could make another, but if you know anything about me, I am not fond of re-creating something, or doing multiple cards of the same design.  I need to move on to the next idea that is just crying to get onto paper!

Well, Happy Monday!  It's spring, it's sunny and I get to stamp today!  Life doesn't get much better than that.  I hope your day is looking just as bright.  Thanks for dropping by...I always love it when you do!