Woohoo!! Play Time!!!

School is over, well at least this challenging and stressful  class is over. I handed in my final research paper last night.

To celebrate, I binged on the new online card class "Clean and Sheer". Kristina  and Jennifer and others were sharing tips and techniques for working with vellum or acetate.

Jennifer's videos on embossing with vellum and acetate was way cool, so that is what I tried my hand at.

 

I did many of the elements she shared with us, but on the inside I die cut and embossed the balloon with the same Cuttlebug happy birthday folder and attached it inside so it matched up with the outside. Jennifer showed us how to add color to the embossed vellum/acetate images, but I decided to color the embossed balloon and let it show through subtlety.

There were some very cool techniques other than these that you must check out.

 

The House of Cards- bokeh effect

The bokeh effect is the hottest trend these days in crafting. It looks like our vendors are jumping on board also. This month at Simon Says Stamp they are featuring bokeh stencils.  For most of us we have made our own bokeh stencils. 

This month at House of Cards we are challenging you to bokeh! Check out what the DT has come up with for inspiration.

I have tried a few different techniques and for todays card, I combined several techniques. It might not be the more "traditional" bokeh technique, like this one I did a few months back.

Life is all about diversity and there are no two ways to do things. So, While the blue card might be the more standard bokeh, the green bokeh card makes me happy. I like the texture of the clear and white embossed circles. Hey, that's why there is chocolate and vanilla!

Come play along with us at the House of Cards and show us how you bokeh!!

Candy cane ombre

It's looking a lot like Christmas! Wait!! I haven't even started my Halloween cards!! Yikes!

This week I am hosting the trend challenge at Just Us Girls. The trend is one of my favs- ombre.
You see it everywhere from fashion to hair color to furniture. No surprise it is everywhere in paper crafting too.

I had such fun! I created a series of candy cane ombre cards using Papertrey Ink's "ombre builder" stamp set. The ink pads I used were  Memento- angel pink, Distress ink- worn lipstick, Hero Arts- mid-tone pale tomato and Impress ink- poppy red. Remember it's not rocket science, take what ever inks you have and play with them until you get the graded tones you like.

Now on a sad note and with a heavy heart, I have stepped down as a designer for JUGs. As the saying goes "life just got in the way", what with a new FT nurse coordinator job and graduated school. I will be checking out what our designers are creating and hope to play along myself when time permits. It has been a great year and the JUG girls are an awesome group to work with!

Embracing trends

2014!!! Yikes that is so scary! Where did 2013 go? I mean here it is 2014 in just a few days and I am finally getting around to embracing the sequin trend. Sometimes it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks! 

I gotta tell you though, that the photo challenge this week at Just Us Girls just had sequins written all over it! 

Off to the store I went for a sequin fix. I tried not to go overboard, remembering the old adage that "less is more".

I hope you find my interpretation of the photo fun and will give the sequin trend a try if you haven't already.

See you all next year for another great JUG challenge.