Trena's Creative Space

What to do with all those images I colored while waiting for a Card...

Many times I'm in a coloring mode, just want to color and color, and color.   So, I have lots of images that I have colored and cut out. They are waiting for a card to be placed upon. I used to keep them in a little plastic bin. I would get frustrated looking for that one image I colored just that way. 

This idea hit me when I was organizing my stickers. I bought a package of clear page inserts for stickers (I didn't get the album, just the inserts).  The package  included different layouts of pages to accommodate different size stickers.  I thought I could also use this for my images!

 

      

Happy Thanksgiving

 

Happy Thanksgiving! Peace be with you and God Bless you!

Watercolored Roses

           

I am really enjoying my A Year in Flowers set designed by Melanie Muechinger (Gina K designs). I have so many ideas in my head for how to use the beautiful images... I finally got one into a card!! Two cards!! :o) I was inspired to use my Tombow markers when I visited Jerri Jimenez's blog. I'm not sure how I found her - I was just clicking away one day and landed on her site. I'm so glad I did. 

I had this idea to emboss the rose image from the set and then water color - as you can see from my last few posts, I've really been into water coloring. :o)  After visiting Jerri's site, I wanted to get out my Tombow markers and try the technique she shares on her blog.  I'm learning how to blend and highlight.  I tried using two different blender pens to see if I liked one better than the other... I'm going to practice some more....lots more... :o)
 

1. First, I stamped my images onto water color paper (pink roses) and vellum card stock (yellow roses) with the gold ink and embossed them.  NOTE: Be careful with your embossed images. The embossing will break away from the paper/vellum.
2. Using Jerri's technique, I dotted and blended using the Tombow markers. I colored all my leaves first and then cut them out.  being extra careful trying not to crack the embossed pieces. Some pieces did break off. l will explain later what I did to fix les boo boos.
3. Next, I colored the roses and cut them out.
4. On the first card (pink roses), I wanted the roses to really stick out, and I found a way to make the them literally stick out - I used a Vertical Inspirations Foldover Card and let the roses hang out over the right edge.  
   
5. I ran the leaves through my Xyron to make sure to get adhesive completely on the cut out image. I adhered the leaves first. For the roses, I had to be careful not to put adhesive on the part that extended over the edge. I decided to put adhesive on the front of the card next to each leaf, and then lay the rose onto of the adhesive.
6. For the rose inside the card,  I lined it up with the bottom one by opening up the card and placing the (inside) rose on top of the adhered rose, so they were matched up. I then put the adhesive on the back of inside rose and closed the card.   When the card is closed, the inside rose sits behind the front card rose (I hope that made sense).
7. For the yellow roses, I ran the roses and leaves through the Xyron. I knew I was going to place them completely on the card.

Now, let's talk about lessons learned and boo boos. I learned how to fix broken embossed pieces with a Sailor Gold Rolling Ball pen. You can really see it on the leaves of the pink rose card. I made one leaf edge to think, so I thickened all the the leaves on the top edge. :o)  I also used it around some of the roses.

I found out that the Xyron adhesive does not stick over embossed images. For the pink rose card, this was not a problem - it just gave the card a little more dimension. For the yellow rose card, this was a problem. Vellum CS tends to curl a bit after heat is applied. So, in the areas where the the vellum rose was over a leaf, it stuck up. The way I resolved this is using Crystal Lacquer. Marge had told me a long time ago that in addition to providing a nice glassy effect,  it works as an adhesive that dries clear.  Also, another big boo .... I was messing with my yellow bottom rose too much and really knocked off a lot of embossing, so I took my fourth colored rose and placed it right on top, using the Crystal Lacquer as the adhesive. That's why the bottom rose is darker than the other two.


Supplies:

   

STAMPS: Gina K  PAPER: Strathmore cold pres 140lb, Stampin' Up! Velleum Card Stock, Sunday International Vertical Inspirations Foldover Card INK:  Encore Ultimate Metallic Gold  ACCESSORIES: Crystal Lacquer,  Stampin' UP! gold detail embossing powder and blender pen, Sailor gold pen, Tombow markers 055, 993,725, 847, 173, 249, 296, N00

Take care and STAY POSITIVE!

Cards from My Stampin' Sisters

Last week I celebrated my birthday and received two lovely cards from two of my lovely stampin' sisters. This first card is from Marge, my dear friend who introduced me to stamping. Don't you just love the embossing?! I included a close up too. To see more of Marge's kool designs, you can visit her splitcoast gallery.

The second card comes from a dear friend I introduced to stamping, Gail. She designed this card card using a really kool folding technique. Gail owns her own business providing Personal Consulting:

- Facilitate use of time management techniques
- Streamline records management systems
- Event planning. 

She is the most organized person I know! Even the junk drawer in her kitchen is neat - AND, all the pens write.  If you live in the Chicagoland area and need assistance with organizing yourself, your home, craft room, office, etc..., you can call Gail. She'll get you organized! See her site at: ORGETNIZED.  You can also see her card designs here.

OOBO

Out Of Blog Office.  I'll be on vacation the first week of November, and traveling on business (for my day job) the second week of November. Please come back and visit the third week of November for new posts!

Until then.....Take care and STAY POSITIVE!!