June Class Projects - Part 3 of 5

It's time to share another class project!  I wanted to include a masculine card this month because I had some new people to my class who didn't get a chance to make the Sail Away card back in May. And for those that didn't need another Fathers Day Card, I had Teeny Tiny Wishes at the ready for them to swap in a different sentiment.

Before I talk about this card specifically, allow me to provide you with a bit of background.  About 3 months ago, I took the plunge and unmounted my wheels.  Don't get me wrong, wheels are simple enough to use, but after I unmounted one, I just couldn't stop myself ;-)  I find I can be much more spontaneous with them this way (no need to prepare a special ink pad or anything) and since I don't really do anything in a 12 x 12 size, having them unmounted works for me.

So, this card is stamped with a flattened version of the Music Notes wheel.  The background and focal panel of the card is Crumb Cake  stamped in Versamark, the accent color is Always Artichoke and the patterned paper is First Edition DSP.  After-the-fact, I thought it would have been neat to distress the edges of the focal panel using the distressing tool from my Cutter Kit, but that's a technique that will have to wait until another class =)

If you'd like some more information on how to unmount your wheels, please leave me a little note in the comments - if there's enough interest, I may do a tutorial on this, but before I can, I need to order myself another wheel ^.^

Thanks for taking a peek!
Michey

DETAILS - Products are available for purchase from me  at Stampin' Up

Stamps: Music Notes Stamping Wheel, Tiny Tags, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Crumb Cake, Always Artichoke, First Edition DSP
Ink: Versamark, Always Artichoke
Accessories: Jewelry Tag Punch, Bakers Twine, Decorative label Punch

June Class Projects - Part 2 of 5

Summer is usually a big season for weddings around here, so as I was planning my June classes, I thought it would be appropriate to give my girls an opportunity to make a wedding-ish card:

The ultimate and timeless color combination for weddings, in my opinion, is cream and black so that's how I rolled with this piece.  I love the combination of the Elizabeth A La Carte stamp and the Elegant Lines embossing folder - I think they work together really well and the embossing adds just a hint of texture that pulls the whole card together beautifully. Remember, stamp first, and THEN emboss =)

The sentiment panel was simple enough, just 2 of my favorite punches, a stamp from Teeny Tiny Wishes, and some bling (In true Michey fashion, i gave folks a chance to swap out the sentiment for something else, and a few of them did - this card would make a fabulous Anniversary or an elegant birthday or graduation card as well!).

After all was said and done, I really think this card is my favorite from my entire June lineup.  I can totally see myself mass-producing this in diferent colors to suit different occasions - what do you think?

Thanks for stopping by!

Michey

DETAILS - Products are available for purchase from me  at Stampin' Up

Stamps: Elizabeth, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Very Vanilla, Basic Black
Ink: Basic Black
Accessories: Scallop Oval Punch, Oval Punch, Basic Rhinestones, Elegant Lines Embossing Folder

Kicking It Up a Notch - An Old Favorite Revisited

You'll fondly recall this card I created back in May. I absolutely LOVE the way it turned out for the purposes of the classroom setting -- It was just a little bit techniquey with the watercoloring, and when all was said and done, it's probably one of my favorite class projects to date.

I really wanted to kick this up a notch to let my dad know that i'd go that extra mile for him, and so for fathers day this year, I dove deep into my stash of accessories and retired stamps looking for a few "upgrades".

I found what I was looking for in the form of my beloved Antique Crackle background stamp and my color spritzer.  The card base is Sahara Sand that's been Antique Crackled (I <3 <3 <3 this stamp, especially for masculine, grungy, and shabby cards), color spritzed, and sponged in Sahara Sand ink - LOVE the layered tone on tone effect this creates!

The Sail Away stamp is water-colored using Sahara Sand, Soft Suede and Bashful Blue, but its been color spritzed as well, again with Sahara Sand.  I chomped the corners and added my sentiment and Viola!  I did wrestle with trying to put some ribbon or twine on here, but I really don't think this card needs it.  I didn't want to cover up any of that gorgeous background anymore than I had to.

So, thanks for allowing me to revisit this old favorite!  I love repurposing and tweaking something I was totally happy with the first time around.  Maybe it's the perfectionist in me, but I feel there's always room for improvement, even if it's just a little touch. ;-)

Michey

DETAILS - Products are available for purchase from me  at Stampin' Up

Stamps: Sail Away, Hodgepodge Happiness, Antique Crackle (retired)
Paper: Sahara Sand, Not Quite Navy, Cherry Cobbler, Watercolor Paper
Ink: Staz-on Black, Sahara Sand, Bashful Blue, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler
Accessories: Decorative Label Punch, Blender Pen, Color Spritzer, paper Crimper

June Class Project - 1 of 5

*Tap tap* Is this thing still on? Yowza, the end-of-may/early June months have been CRRRRAZY busy for me, and unfortunately my spare time flew the coop >.< The good news is, I made sure to set aside some June class time, so here's the first post in a series of 5 showcasing those projects!

Summer always seems to kick off 2 things for me - weddings and expecting parents.  So, this months class syllabus featured a baby card, wedding card, and a masculine father's day'ish card, among others.

First up:

This card features the inlaid embossing technique to give it the feel of a Baby Quilt. Each student had a series of 9 pre-punched squares of Subtles DSP that they could arrange as they wanted to create a card fitting for either a baby boy, baby girl, or "unknown".

Once their quilt panel was taped down, it was run through the big shot using the Square Lattice embossing folder to texturize it and give it that "quilted" feel.  The baby carriage, from Fun and Fast Notes (which is retiring after this month), was blinged up with some Glitter.  And just in case someone had no use for a baby card, students were given the opportunity to swap in a different sentiment from the Swirls and Curls Verses hostess set and a different image from Fun and Fast Notes.  Rounding out this project is a cute little stamped tag from Tiny Tags and some Organza Ribbon.

Baby cards are particularly challenging for me, mostly because I just don't have a lot of baby-themed supplies.  Given that limitation, I think this card turned out great!  Whaddya think?

Thanks for taking a peek!
Michey

DETAILS - Products are available for purchase from me  at Stampin' Up

Stamps: Fun and Fast Notes, Swirls and Curls Verses, Tiny Tags
Paper: So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White
Ink: Pear Pizzazz
Accessories: Scallop Trim Border Punch, Organza Ribbon, 2 3/8" Scallop Circle punch, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter. Jewelry Tag Punch

Hooray, Blogger is back! (and Part 5/5 of May Class Projects)

Some of you may have noticed that Blogger went through a rough patch towards the end of last week.  This totally threw a kink in my plans to post this last project, but it's finally here!

This little card took FOREVA to design.  I knew I wanted it to be masculine so my ladies could have a card ready to rock for Father's Day in June, but up until the day before my class, I couldn't come up with anything to do this stamp justice.

So in a fit of panic and desperation, I started coloring, sponging and crimping and this is what I ended up with.  The stamped image is sponged and colored with Bashful Blue, Crumb Cake, and Sahara Sand.  Since creating this card, i've received my Color Spritzer tool, and if I could do it all again, i'd spritz up the card base to add interest to the background, but that's going to be a technique for another class =)

The "Ah-Ha!" moment on this card was when I realized I had no room for a sentiment on the front and I tucked the little "Just 4 you" from Hodgepodge Happiness on the side.  At that moment, this card lunged ahead to my favorite for the month, both because I thought it was kinda clever, and also because I always feel accomplished when I finish a "boy card" =)

You've now seen all my class projects for the month... which one is your favorite?

Thanks for stopping by!
Michey

DETAILS - Products are available for purchase from me  at Stampin' Up

Stamps: Sail Away, Hodgepodge Happiness
Paper: Sahara Sand, Not Quite Navy, Cherry Cobbler, Watercolor Paper
Ink: Staz-on Black, Watercoloring with Sahara Sand, Bashful Blue, Crumb Cake
Accessories: Decorative Label Punch, Bakers Twine, Blender Pen

May Class Projects - Part 4 of 5

Here's another card I'm teaching to my girls in our class this month.

Now, this one was actually a special request from one of my students who saw the Build-a-Blossom stamp and Blossom Petals punch in the now-retired occasions mini catalog and really wanted to see how a project with it came together.

Stampin Up has already announced that the punch for this set will be carrying over, and I hope beyond hope that the coordinating stamp set will return as well, but despite it's current unavailability, I wanted to show my friend what all the fuss was about with this particular punch =)

In demonstrating this card, I provided an assortment of petal stamps from the Build-a-Blossom set pre-arranged on an acrylic block, and provided a few tips on how to easily position the stamps on the block so you know it will match up with the punch.  Then, I turned the ink and paper over to the girls and away they went! I encouraged them to use an assortment of petals in their projects, and they came up with some stunning combinations!  I LOVE when they personalize their projects and make them their own!

The leaves were also a fun little touch.  After punching them out, they were folded  in half along the length, and ran through the crimper to give them a variegated look.  that got quite a few squeals of delight from my attendees =)  Another neat trick uses the Framed Tulips Embossing folder, but instead of using it the "normal way", I turned it on its side so that it didn't frame out the full card front.  Instead, it provided a nice little top and bottom border effect for our 3d flower.

So, you've now seen 4 out of 5 cards for this month's class... what do you think so far?

Thanks for stopping by!
Michey

DETAILS - Products are available for purchase from me  at Stampin' Up

Stamps: Build-a-Blossom, Hello You
Paper: River Rock, Whisper White, Always Artichoke
Ink: peach parfait, Always Artichoke
Accessories: Build-a-blossom punch, Glimmer Brads, Framed Tulips Embossing Folder

May Class Projects - Part 3/5

Here's a look at another card my students are making as part of my May class.  You've already seen the butterfly friendship card I made using a set that is 30% of for the rest of this month, and you've also hopefully taken a look at the birthday card using Love Letter DSP.  Well, next up is.....

This was my first serious foray into 2 step stamping and HOLY COW, it couldnt have been easier! The stamping part of this card was a cinch - seriously!  We didn't even need to mess with a stamp-a-ma-jig to get the different layers lined up, it was just kinda eyeballed and voila, near perfect placement every time!

First, I stamped the main flower image repeatedly using So Saffron ink, then with the detail stamp, I inked it up using Rose Red ink, tilted the stamp 45 degrees-ish, lined up the edge of the rubber with the edge of the saffron stamped image, and just stamped. Perfect placement!

The rest of this card took a bit of work to design... I created this beautiful 2 step focal panel, but didn't leave a whole lot of room for "other stuff" so it took a bit of finagling to get "just right".    I find I do this alot, I spend a ton of time trying to figure out "what goes where" and it's honestly the most time consuming part of designing a card.  Am I the only person that obsesses about details like this? >.<

In the end, i'm happy with the way this turned out, and the 2-step stamping technique got alot of wows from my stampers (and from me!).

So, that's 3 cards down, 2 to go!
Thanks for taking a peek!
Michey

DETAILS - Products are available for purchase from me  at Stampin' Up

Stamps: Greenhouse Garden, Three Little Words (sentiment)
Paper: Whisper White, So Saffron, Rose Red, Subtles patterned paper pack
Ink: So Saffron, Rose Red
Accessories: Scallop Oval Punch, Oval Punch, Square Lattice Embossing Folder,  5/8" Organza Ribbon