The Son of Man

Most of the time, I enjoy being asked to do custom work because when someone wants something custom, it means they can't find it anywhere else. It also means that I have to sometimes work out of my comfort zone and do something I wouldn't normally create otherwise.

Well, I was asked to create a custom birthday card based on the painting The Son of Man by René Magritte. You might have seen it in a gallery, or in the 1999 film, The Thomas Crown Affair (good movie, by-the-way!). In case you still don't know what I'm talking about, here's my card:

Paper: Well Worn DSP, Chocolate Chip, Sahara Sand, Whisper White, Blush Blossom
Ink/Markers: Sahara Sand, Basic Black, Poppy Parade, Blush Blossom
Stamps: Papaya Collage, Happiest Birthday Wishes
Tools/Techniques: Heat Gun, Gold Embossing Powder, Sponges

Do you recognize the painting now?! :)

When I was deciding what to do, I thought "How cool would it be to use the fancy frame from Papaya Collage and re-create the painting inside of it?!" So, that's what I did! I used gold embossing powder on Chocolate Chip card stock and heated it, then I fussy-cut it all out. I sponged a piece of Whisper White card stock with Bashful Blue and Sahara Sand ink to try and re-create the background of the painting. The man was put together with five separate pieces - the jacket, shirt/tie, face/neck, bowler hat & apple. I hand drew and cut out all the pieces and then used my markers to add shadows and dimension.

I think it turned out pretty cool!

What do you think?

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

The Olympics Are Coming!

I don't know about you, but when the Olympics are on, I'm pretty much glued to the TV. Perhaps a little more in the winter than in the summer, but I do enjoy watching the events. This week over at The Friday Mashup!, they've got an Olympic-inspired sketch. Here are the details:

So here is the "Mashup" Challenge :

1. Make a project with "The Olympic Colour Combination of Marina Mist, Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Wild Wasabi & Real Red."
2. Or Make a Project using "Multiple Circles."
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project with the "Olympic Color Combo and Multiple Circles."

I usually tend to "Mash it Up" because I find it more challenging that way. This week was no exception! Here's what I came up with:

Stamps: Papaya Collage
Ink: StazOn Black, Marina Mist, Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Wild Wasabi
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black
Embellies: Jewels
Tools: Big Shot, Framed Tulips Embossing Folder, 1-3/8" Circle Punch

I just love Papaya Collage! It's such a versatile set - a flower, leaves, a bird, frames, a party hat and a butterfly. You wouldn't think they all go together, but they work! I choose this set because I just adore the rosette and knew it would work well in a punched out circle.

I first stamped the frame in black (isn't it gorgeous?!) and then I masked it so that I could stamp the leaves without stamping over the frame. I stamped and punched the rosettes and popped them up with Dimensionals. I also embossed a frame around the entire card using the Framed Tulips Embossing Folder and added some jewels around the inner frame for a little bling.

I like to pretty-up the inside of my cards to coordinate with the outside, so I stamped some leaves and then fussy-cut 2 rosettes. I popped the Real Red one with Dimensionals to give it all a bit of depth.

What do you think?

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Swaps

On the weekend, I attended a Demonstrator Event. It was a ton of fun. Part of that event (as I'm told happens with all SU! events), is that there was an optional swap. It was my first one and although it was daunting at first, I can tell you that I'll be participating in them again! So much fun and you get so many great ideas from the cards you receive.

The hard part for me was finding items to use that I had enough of... but after participating in this swap, I found out it's not necessary to have them all the same. Good to know for the future!

So on to my swap card. I really didn't do much stamping with this one, but instead created a fun "locking" card. I used mostly cardstock and fabric.

What do you think?

 

I just love the Labels Framelits collection. So versatile and easy to use. The Big Shot was definitely my friend on this card. At the last minute, I decided I wanted to also do a little stamping... so I used some stamps from the Papaya Collage and Memorable Moments stamp sets. The latter actually has a nice outline stamp that coordinates with the Labels Framelits. How perfect! I also hand-drew some faux stitching on the front label to mimic the inside stamp... did you catch that? :)

Until next time, stay crafty!

Steph

The Bashful Blues

A while back I designed a few wedding invitations for some clients. They really liked Bashful Blue with white. They fell in love with one design in particular and before I knew it, I was making 170 of them! Here is what the final result looked like:

 

There was lots of embossing and cutting to be done! This invite was very time consuming... I don't know what I was thinking when I designed them, but I'm sure you can agree that they came out beautifully with lots of WOW factor. :) Unfortunately, aside from the Bashful Blue & Whisper White, not much else is SU! The client fell in love with the embossing folder used on the front of the invite (also used behind the invitation itself) and SU! doesn't have any fancy decorative embossing borders that would work with this invitation.


Now that you have a little background information on the wedding invitations, you'll understand my theme for the 100 thank you cards I just completed for the couple. I really couldn't commit to doing the same card 100 times, so I made several different designs. I also added in some neutral colour tones to the colour scheme and here are the finished cards:

 Stamps: Baroque Motifs (retiring May 31st), Sincere Salutations (retiring May 31st)

Stamps: Baroque Motifs (retiring May 31st), Perfect Punches

Stamps: Sincere Salutations (retiring May 31st)

Stamps: Papaya Collage (NEW for 12/13!), Tiny Tags

Stamps: Sincere Salutations (retiring May 31st), One of a Kind (RETIRED)

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes

Stamps: Baroque Motifs (retiring May 31st), Elizabeth (retiring May 31st), Perfect Punches

 

 Stamps: Sincere Salutations (retiring May 31st), Faith in Nature, Hostess Set (retiring May 31st)

The majority of materials used for these cards was SU! However, I did manage to get rid of some non SU! ribbon I had kicking around (slowly I'm switching over to all SU! product because it's far superior to other brands!) and also some retired SU! product I had too.

What do you think?

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph