"Life in Pictures" - April's Stamp of the Month

It's almost GONE! Tomorrow is the LAST DAY that you will be able to order your "Life in Pictures" stamp set! This stamp set has been the most fun to play with - and there are so many card and scrapbook applications. Here are a few more cards that I created with "Life in Pictures":

This design was taken directly from a very dear CTMH Consultant friend of mine, Michelle Snyder (only she had used red for her accent color).

I don't know what it is, but I absolutely love circle cards! So I did two! This one I particularly like because the pattern of the "La Vie En Rose" paper matches the pattern on the camera exactly - and I only noticed it after I was done! How cool!

This card uses the other side of the piece of "La Vie En Rose" patterned paper that I cut off from the piece that I used in the first circle card (I just love the dual-sided patterned paper!). There is also a piece of patterned paper from the "Kaleidoscope" paper pack in the background.

For this fun card I created my own background paper with the cool stamps! My focal point is a "Picture My Life" card from the "Through the Year" set, backed with some Honey cardstock. A strip of patterned paper from the "Penelope" paper pack finishes this card off nicely.

Thought that "Picture My Life" Scrapbooking Program cards were just for scrapbooking? Well, think again! Here is another card using one of the PML cards from the "Through the Year" set backed with some Glacier cardstock and accented with a stamped image from "Life in Pictures"! The background paper is from the "Kaleidoscope" paper pack - the colors match perfectly!

Man, I have really enjoyed using this stamp set - it is very retro and vintage - which is very hip! Be sure to get yours before it's too late! You can ONLY get this set in APRIL - ONE MORE DAY! Go to http://funforyou.ctmh.com to order yours! Have fun!

Dry Embossing - Three Ways!

I have had so much fun playing with this month's Stamp of the Month from Close To My Heart, "Life in Pictures". You saw it in my last post about the embossing resist technique. This week, I am going to use it to show you three different ways to showcase your dry embossing - so let's get started!
First, you will gather your materials - a machine that you can crank your embossing folder(s) through, embossing folder(s), white-core cardstock, a piece of sandpaper or sanding block, and a coordinating ink pad.

I have gathered three different CTMH dry embossing folders for the three different techniques - Dot, Chevron, and Quatrefoil. Place a piece of your cardstock inside of one of the embossing folders, place the folder between the proper plates (according to your machine's recommendations), and crank/run it through.

How beautiful! (I love dry embossing.) Do this for each piece of cardstock.

Nice. Now we're going to kick it up a notch! First, let's use the sandpaper/sanding block. This is where it becomes really important to use cardstock with a white core, which is a special feature of CTMH cardstock! Simply rub the sandpaper across the top of the embossed piece:

Wow! That sure does make the design POP! A very simple way to really bring out the pattern of your embossing - much less subtle.

Speaking of less subtle, let's try a different way of accentuating that embossed pattern - ink. This direct-to-paper technique takes a very delicate hand and some trial and error, but with a soft touch, it can work really well for you. Otherwise, you will simple have a very shabby-chic looking piece - nothing wrong with that! Simply swipe your ink pad across the top of the dry embossing to transfer the ink to the raised portion of the design only (hence, the light touch needed):

I used Honey ink on Honey cardstock. This technique is not even or perfect, so don't expect it to be! What might be fun is inking sections of the design with different colors of ink...oh, I just might have to try that next.

So, now that I have three pieces of very different dry-embossed/sanded/inked cardstock - let's see what I did with them! Straight dry embossing first:

As I stated earlier, the stamps are from "Life in Pictures", April's Stamp of the Month, and there's just a hint of the "La Vie En Rose" paper pack snuck in there. Now the sanded piece:

Oh, how fun! I used the same pattern of paper from "La Vie En Rose" to match the Quatrefoil embossed pattern, along with a strip of Silver Shimmer Trim. And lastly - the inked piece:

What a great accent piece that makes! And did I mention how much I LOVED this stamp set?! I am about to do another post right after this one (unheard of!) that will simple showcase more cards that I created with the "Life in Pictures" stamp set - so stay tuned for it!!

I hope you enjoyed learning new ways to ramp-up your dry embossing. If you want to have as much fun with this stamp set as I have, you'd better HURRY! There's only two more days to get your set - pay full-price of $17.95 OR pay only $5 with a $50 purchase! Go to http://funforyou.ctmh.com to order directly online. And if you have other fun dry embossing techniques that you've tried, please share!

Emboss Resist - A Second Look

I know that I have done a blog post before on the technique of Emboss Resist, but after getting my hands on the April Stamp of the Month, "Life in Pictures", I just couldn't "resist" doing it again! (See what I did there?) This incredibly fun stamp set lends itself to ir-resist-ible focal images, as well as diverse and retro-feel backgrounds.

I urge you to pick this one up! Here's what I did with it - just the first of many!

Emboss Resist:
Step 1 - Gather your materials.

You will need your stamp, a clear embossing ink (like VersaMark), clear embossing powder, your card, scrap paper to catch your excess powder on, as well as a heat tool and, later, sponge daubers, ink, and a paper towel or tissue.

Step 2 - Ink your stamp.

Step 3 - Stamp image onto front of card. I stamped the image multiple times down the left side.

Step 4 - Sprinkle/pour embossing powder over the stamped image(s). Make sure all stamped areas have been covered. (Tap excess powder off onto the scrap paper when all of the image has been covered, and pour powder back into original container.)

Step 5 - Emboss. Hold heat tool above image and slowly move back & forth until you see the powder start to melt and turn clear. Move the heat tool around the entire image, small areas at a time, until the entire image has melted and turned clear.

Step 6 & 7 - Apply Ink. Now comes the fun part. Now we are going to make the image "pop" from the page by adding color with ink. First, ink up a sponge dauber with your choice of ink. I chose "Slate" for my first color. You don't have to use more than one color, but for this example, I chose to use two.

Next, using a circular motion, apply the ink to the cardstock. As you do, the embossed image "magically" appears - and resists the ink that you are applying!

Repeat Steps 6 and 7 for any other colors you may be using. (My second color is Sapphire.)

Step 8 - Wipe off excess ink. You can really brighten up your image by wiping it with a paper towel or tissue after you have finished inking.

Step 9 - Complete your card!

I absolutely LOVE this stamp set - it brings me back "to the good ol' days"! I can't wait to use it some more...in fact, I think I will do that right now. Thank you for reading & have and ir-resist-ible evening!

****Purchase your "Life in Pictures" stamp set during the month of APRIL ONLY for $17.95 or ONLY $5.00 with a $50 purchase. Shop on my website at http://funforyou.ctmh.com.****

Say Goodbye to Studio J

This is a sad, sad month for me. Close To My Heart has announced that they will be discontinuing their Studio J® online scrapbooking program, which has been the only way I have scrapbooked for the last several years. I know that without it, I will not get nearly the amount of scrapbooking done that I have in the past - if any at all. They are ending the program for good on April 30th, or when their photo paper runs out...so it could be sooner!

Knowing this, I scrambled to get some layouts done last month. Our family traveled to Niagra Falls last summer, and late in the summer, I had a catastrophic hard-drive failure, causing me to lose months of photos that had not been backed up. I was, and still am, devastated, being that our Niagra trip was one of the sets of photos that I lost...or so I thought. Come to find out, months later, I discovered that all of the Niagra photos were still on my husband's camera! Alleluia! So, after backing them up in 3 different places, I wanted to make sure I got them scrapbooked as well. Studio J to the rescue! I thought I would share just a few of my favorite layouts:

I love the fact that I can now add photo wells and/or rotate existing photo wells to suit the orientations of my photos - you could never do that before!

I love everything about Studio J - I have had so much fun with it over the years, and am so sad to see it go. Hopefully I will get a chance to squeeze just a few more layouts into this month before their paper runs out!

Thank you, Studio J and CTMH, for giving me the tools to record my memories - I never would have done it without you!