Spotlight Technique

Good morning! This probably never happens to you, but I woke up with a card layout in my head and I had to seize the moment and make it. Do you like it?

It uses what's called the spotlight technique, and though my "spotlight" isn't round, I hope you get the effect. This technique works best with line art images, so that you can add a spot of color to highlight some aspect of the focal point of your card.

I still have my friend Darcie's Autumn Harvest on loan (thank you, friend!), and so I used this one. I stamped the layout in chocolate chip classic ink on my grid paper first, just to get an idea of where I wanted to place everything. This came in handy later. I was going to use a round spotlight, but it just didn't seem to fit the rectangular shape of the card. After I restamped the layout on the very vanilla card stock, I then used my 1 3/8" square punch to punch out the spotlight.

This is where the layout came in handy. I was able to position the spotlight piece where I wanted it on the grid paper layout and restamp the large and small pumpkins without risking damage to my card stock piece. I then used my aquapainter to color the pumkins using pumpkin pie and really rust and old olive ink. The chocolate chip blurred a bit, but that wouldn't happen if I had Stazon, a waterproof ink. But I don't have that, and I don't think it hurts things at all.

The eyelets were not part of the original layout, and neither was the ribbon. I like how things take shape when you give your mind freedom to be creative!

Tomorrow I'll have a card that was inspired by a book! Have a great day...enjoy autumn before it's gone.

Emboss Resist

This afternoon I spent some more time with SU!'s Autumn Harvest. Darcie was kind enough to leave it behind and I wanted to use it to make a card for Saturday's Stamp-A-Stack. I needed something that would be quick and easy, yet striking, and I really think this fits that description.

If you've never seen the emboss resist technique, it's really much simpler than it looks. Use Versamark ink to stamp your images and then emboss them with clear embossing powder. After that, use a brayer to transfer ink from any ink pad--I used Pumpkin Pie classic ink--to the paper and completely cover the image. The embossed images will resist the ink and contrast the ink. Cool and easy...perfect!

I'm liking my Crop-A-Dile more and more too. I didn't want to do much that would compete with the central image, so I added the strip of Old Olive to the Naturals Ivory base and secured it with shiny brass eyelets. The ribbon position is a nod to Charmaine, over at Oodabug Alley.

Tuesday's the last day to sign up to come to the SAS this Saturday. Don't delay! Leave me a comment or send me an email now!

In Search of a Fall Stamp Set

Hey, ya'll! I know I said I was going to post yesterday, but I ended up getting a burst of energy to cook instead of stamp, so you had to wait one more day! Fall always puts me in the mood for soup, so I made split pea, cheesy potato, and a stew sort of dish called calico beans. Froze a bunch and had some of the potato for dinner last night. Yes--I can cook a real meal even though I'm working! Okay, on to the card for the day.

I have a workshop coming up next Friday, and I want to make 2 kinds of cards--one that celebrates the spirit of autumn, my favorite season, and one that gets my guests thinking about sleigh bells (they're beginning to ring--are you listenin'?). I already have the Christmas card, but I do not own a distinctively fall set. I'm not sure why I didn't choose to buy one, but now that many are posting adorable cards featuring pumpkins, I'm yearning for one. Look here, here, and here to see what I mean!

I want to make full use what I have, and avoid spending money I don't, so I set out tonight to make my Doodle This set work for fall. How do you think I did? I really like sunflowers, and the main flower image was just begging to be pressed into service. (Thanks to Sharon Harnist at PaperFections for the inspiration.)

I inked the image using my Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write marker and stamped it on Whisper White. Then I re-inked it, eyeballed one petal between two others and stamped again. Voila!! I applied More Mustard with an Aquapainter and cut it out. Then I popped it up with Stampin' Dimensionals on Bashful Blue card stock to mimic the sky. Still, it needed something, so I added the Chocolate Chip mat. Lastly, I stamped the swirly stem-like image on Wild Wasabi, using the same ink.

Then came the dilemma: what to use as a base. I don't have any More Mustard card stock laying around, and it seemed wrong on Chocolate Chip or Bashful Blue--not autumnal enough. So I went with Whisper White. That looked too stark, so I streaked it with More Mustard by rubbing the pad surface lightly across the card stock numerous times. I'm not sure about this part of the card. What do you think? Should I streak it again with Chocolate Chip so I have a two-tone background? What else does this need? I'd love your feedback!