solid bakers twine

Love You More

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Smudges and all, I love this card.  Leave it to me to use a stamp set that is filled with two step fruit images to use the flowers instead.  Like I said, I love flowers.  The fruits are great though, and I do plan on making fun projects with them too.  I actually used an old kit from nearly a year ago.  I love putting old kits to use.

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The prior kit had patterned paper in these colors, but has been retired, so I thought I would make my own.  Making background images is so much fun to me.  It takes me back to the roots of my stamping, using quality tools for endless creativity.  This stamp set is made for just that thing.  You will be seeing it a lot I think.

The flowers were stamped first in calypso coral and then outlined with the coordinating stamp.  They match, but don’t have to be exact.  It goes with the artsy look it is designed with.  Works even better for me.  And the sentiment, how perfect is that.  I opted to center the flowers with large basic rhinestones instead of the stamped center.  Either would have been nice, but I wanted sparkle.  A finishing touch of solid bakers twine with a sweet bow. It actually came together pretty quick, it helps to have leftover kits to work with.  That makes me fuss less when I have last minute class cancellations because I know I will put the pre-cut kits to good use eventually.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Oh Happy Day

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

There is a certain someone getting close to having a baby girl and this just about sums it up. It is truly a happy day and I can’t wait.  And with the heat we have been having I am sure she is more than excited.

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The very fun and exciting playful palette designer series paper stack almost overwhelmed me. The colors and patterns are so busy, almost too busy for me.  I started out with the most subtle one in the stack.  I can’t imagine some of these patterns in a 12 x 12, good thing this is contained to a 6 x 6 stack.  There will be a lot of fun card and gift bag sets I think. Smaller than my regular by far, which makes it much more manageable.

I punched several balloons from plain card stock, but wanted a different look too.  With my aqua painter I covered a section of water color paper with wide light swipes of coordinating ink.  I did sponge all of them as well. The stamp set, Thoughtful Banners, has tons of sayings that fit inside the banner stamp.  There is a coordinating punch for the banners, so that makes me very happy.  I did my stamping, but trimmed it right to the stamp so I could punch another one from card stock and have a tiny border all the way around.

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The solid bakers twine really makes me happy.  I had longer strings attached to each balloon and trimmed them after they were squished into place with glue dots.  With the extra hanging off the card I tied one simple knot and used it as the embellishment for the gift card sized gift bag.  I do hate wasting product.  It turned out great!

Have a creative day!

Moana

Fear Not

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

This was something new for me.  I knew I wanted to have water colored bookmarks, but thought it would be smarter to make one large background piece and then trim it down to the sizes I needed.  Such a large piece of blank paper.  It was a bit overwhelming for some time.  Like the stamp says, fear not.

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After a while I felt a little more comfortable, but not all the way there.  Distressing such a large piece was kind of confusing.  I stuck with it, dried it and took it to the cutting board. When they were smaller I knew they would be wonderful.  The edges got a gentle sponging along with light stamping from the same set.

Then a quick layering on elegant eggplant cardstock, the main color I painted with, and some new solid bakers twine to coordinate and it was all done.  These will be wonderful to share with the young women I teach.  Love those girls.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

You Are Awesome

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

The other day my daughter was wearing a fun pair of pants that were so colorful and had a bunch of fun patterns.  Every time I looked at them I thought I should make a card.  So, I literally went digging through her laundry to find them and give it a go.  Inspiration comes from a lot of different places, but the laundry bin was a first for me.

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I went through my paper files pulling scraps of the different colors I wanted.  Most of the strips were fine, but some needed to be trimmed to give some diversity.  Once I had the color strips ready I cut a base from printer paper to adhere them too.  It was pretty easy to do because they were just stripes, nothing too tricky.

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I used one of the elements from the butterfly basics set to put a few black stripes down as well.  The piece was then trimmed to 4″ x 5 1/4″ and put through an embossing treatment.  I was able to slide the piece around a bit lining up the patterns inside the stripes and along borders.  I liked that part quite a bit.

The sentiments were stamped and layered with more basic black, but something still wasn’t quite right.  The stripes were too stark.  So, I got my trusty sponges out and went at the whole card front with smokey slate ink.  It hi-lighted the embossed areas more and gave a bit of a distressed look.  That is what I needed and I called it done.

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Have a creative day!

Moana

Hang In There

~ moanaj ~ Leave a comment

Sometimes I am just so this little frog.  Good intentions, high goals and all kinds of good things seem just out of reach.  So, push on and hang in there.

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I am absolutely in love with these jars.  The stamps and the framelits really are quite fun to create with.  I wish I had more time to sit and play, but the time I get is enough to keep me balanced.  I like stamping the jar in some blue tone, cutting it out and then cutting out another jar in velum to lay over the top.  It gives an opaque look and softens the stamping. I think I would like to use window sheets too, but for now I am all about the velum.

I painted this little frog with emerald envy and touched his eyes up with soft sky.  The fireflies were stamped in black stazon with the wings painted in soft sky and the body in gold wink of stella.  I love the sparkle.  You can’t see it, but trust me, it is so there. Adorable, just adorable.

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I stamped a little of the frog in emerald envy just inside the card insert.  Kind of like he was peeking out a bit.  So there you have it!

Have a creative day!

Moana