Ink Swipe Medallion

I pulled out an old stampset, the Medallion, so that I could play around with another watercolor trend in card making, the Ink-Swipe technique. Today's technique was given to me by my stamping, friend, Nan (Thanks, Nan!) at our last month's Stamp Club class. She shared how to ink up your craft sheet, give it a spritz of water and then use it as a stamp pad to ink up your image. I had better luck laying down my ink on the craft sheet like she suggested, but spritzing my stamp with water instead of the craft sheet, then placing it into the ink and proceeding to stamp on watercolor paper. Just my preference, as both ways turned out great.

One of the fun things about watercolor is you're always surprised. Ink and water never produce the same results twice. I love surprises!

So glad that you stopped by!

SUPPLIES:

INK: Strawberry Slush, Daffodil Delight, Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar

PAPER: 100 lb smooth watercolor paper, Whisper White, Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar

SS: Medallion (retired, but use any large stamp), Sweet Essentials (use your favorite sentiment)

PUNCHES: Petite Petals, Itty Bitty punch pack-Scallop

ACCESSORIES: Craft sheet, water spritzer, jewels-rhinestones

Visit my Stampin' Up! demonstrator, Amy Hooks, to order supplies

One-Layer Medallion

From Heidi...I am so glad that River Rock is back...and back as one of Stampin' Up's core colors, which means it's going to be around for quite awhile. I love this color! I also love the Medallion stamp set...it's so bold and BIG!!!
This is another one of the one-layer cards I created for our upcoming class at Tumbleweed Recreation Center next month. If you'd like to join us for our Creative Cards One-Layer class, it is scheduled for Tuesday, July 6. We offer this class twice. Once at 10 AM-Noon and again in the evening at 7 - 9 PM. You can register online through Tumbleweed's online registration. Once you set up an online account with them the registration process is simple. Maybe we'll see you there!

More Kraft!

From Heidi...I've been admiring all of the Lace Medallion cards out there, so I wanted to make one, too! Here's my take on this fun technique. I thought this would be a fun technique to add to April's newsletter, so I'll be working on a tutorial for next month. Thanks for looking!

The Thank You's Begin!

From Adriel:

My mom and I have been working on some thank you cards to put in our Etsy shop for after the holidays. I worked on this set on Christmas... it really didn't seem like work, I was having a nice time. =) It was a relaxing and enjoyable thing to do while everyone else was doing things that were enjoyable to them (namely playing on the Wii).

I made a smaller sized card for this set, at 3-1/2"W x 5"H. They are basically note card size. I used the fabulous Medallion stamp from Stampin' Up! in white craft ink on Kraft CS. Had to let it dry (unless you emboss it, it takes quite a while to dry). Since I was making a set, I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig to get the image in the same place on each card. Spritzed the whole card front using the Color Spritzer tool and a Chocolate Chip marker... very lightly spritzed... I did a couple at first that were too heavily done and it didn't look very good. Added an 1/8" Old Olive cardstock strip for a pop of color and interest and stamped the cute "thank you" from the All Occasions set in Chocolate Chip ink. Done!
These won't be going in our Etsy shop at the moment because they already sold, but I'm thinking about making another set... we'll see. ;-)

Hope you all had a nice Christmas! Enjoy your week and don't forget those thank you's! <------ reminder to myself more than anything! =) Thanks for stopping by!

All Cracked Up

From Heidi...
Creating time seems to be coming in bursts these days. Most of our classes take place towards the last half of the month, then we have the monthly newsletter to publish, so creating new items have to wait until we have another breather, usually the first part of the month. I'm glad to say that we had some "creating time" yesterday, which was fun. We have a class coming up in a few months at Tumbleweed Recreation Center using the Cracked Glass technique. I thought I'd share with you one of the cards I came up with for this class. I used the new "Medallion" stamp set as the focal point. Thanks for letting me share!

Stamp Set - Medallion (115223 - $17.95); Fundamental Phrases (114968 - $37.95)
Cardstock: Very Vanilla (101650 -$7.50); Basic Black (102851 - $7.50); Basic Gray (108692 - $7.50)
Punches: 1" Circle (109046 -$10.95); Designer Label (107590 - $15.95); Bojo Blossom (110711 - $15.95)
Ink: Basic Black (101179 - $5.95); Versamark (102283 - $7.50)
Accessories: Glassy Glaze Enamel (100477 - $4.95); Basic Gray Taffeta Ribbon (109064 - $6.95); Silver Brad (104336 - $6.95)

Too Busy to Create...

From Adriel:

Sadly, it's true! It's not that I wouldn't like to be creating. Sometimes there are just those seasons in life that aren't condusive to a "creative" outlet. But I must express and confess that I've been missing being creative.

My husband and I own a Tropical Smoothie Cafe restaurant in Tempe, AZ. (If you live nearby or visit the area, stop by and say "hi" sometime!) I have been helping out at the store more than in the past. Don't get me wrong, 1 or 2 days a week for a few hours isn't all that bad. The work there and interracting with the crew and keeping my feet wet in the operations can be enjoyable at times, even! Somehow, though, creating a smoothie or a wrap or sandwich just doesn't satisfy my creative side. The closest thrill I get in "creating" there is adding something different to a smoothie recipe, or putting a King Caesar on a flatbread. I must admit that it was quite exciting today when a lady called 10 to noon wondering if her catering order was on its way for a delivery at noon... we thought we were delivering it at 1pm! Talk about a major food fight as we feverishly assembled 40 sandwiches in as little time as possible. Exciting may not be quite the right word in that instance... stressful is a better description. =P I don't know exactly how this story fits in with what I'm trying to say, but I just had to share that! LOL!

I'm looking forward to some time coming up soon to create again. That being said, I wanted to share some fun ideas I've seen using the new Medallion stamp from Stampin' Up! We just recently got this stamp and have yet to play with it! Enjoy the ideas! =)

Medallion Christmas Card by Kris from Kween Bee Kreations:

Medallion Love Card by Anthonette of Chavez Designs:

Medallion Butterfly Card by Andrea from Supercraftygirl:

I'll be sharing some of my own creations with you soon! Have a great day! =)