#TBT #ThrowbackThursday #StampinUp - Sharing my older SU Demo Cards - SU Lace Snowflakes & SU Love Always

Today is my birthday! And I'm still trying to find my mojo, so I'm throwing it back with a look through some older cards I made back in the day when I was a SU Demo.


1) This one was made by brayering the background with some snowflakes stamped in versamark for a resist, and then I added more snowflakes as I embossed each in different colors.

"Peace Joy Love Snowflakes" Card
Paper: SU Ballet Blue; SU Glossy Paper
Stamps: SU Lace Snowflakes; SU Peace Joy Love
Ink: SU Night of Navy; 
Embellishments: MM Metal Rimmed Tag; Fibres; SU White EP; SU Silver EP
Tools: Sizzix Tag Die
Size: 5.5" x 4.25" rectangular 

"Love, Be My Valentine" Card
Paper: SU Rose Red, SU Rose Romance; SU Pretty In Pink
Stamps: SU Love Always; SU Soft Swirl 
Ink: SU Rose Red; Versamark; SU Poppin' Pastels Chalk 
Embellishments: SU White EP; White Organza Ribbon 
Tools: Hole Punch; Decorative Edge Scissors 
Size: 4.25" x 5.25" rectangular 

#TBT #ThrowbackThursday #StampinUp - Sharing my older SU Demo Cards - SU Marvelous Morning Glory & SU DD Daisy

Back again trying to find my mojo thru my series of #tbt #throwbackthursday posts of newly found older SU Demo Cards I made back in the day.

1) I don't think I ever owned SU Definitely Decorative Morning Glory and borrowed this set from my friend Maylene at the time who is the one at fault for turning me onto SU in the first place.  

Here again, I had very few supplies so made do with what I had.  

I remember being so happy with myself because I successfully two stepped stamped using only Only Orange and pop dotted one of the flowers. I was on my way!  Even through in incorporating a wheel! In retrospect, I don't think I would have ever used or bought any of the wheels if one along with the handle wasn't already included in my Demo Start Up Kit.  

2) This next one I remembered just learning about the Shaving Cream method and I remember bringing an aluminum pan with me to hostess parties in people's homes to demo this technique.  This isn't the best looking card, but oh well. Sold a lot of bottles of reinkers at the time with this card and my previous Under the Water Sea Horse card. 

3) This next one was for a swap probably on 2 Peas in a Bucket. I loved these vintage papers (I cant' think of the manufacturer right now) and this first stamp from Anna Griffin that started appearing at Michaels.  What a hey day it was with using those coupons every week to amass my collection of Anna Griffin stamps.  The cards I sent out had a much lower scalloped edge border to show off more of the tulip flower.  This one I had held back because I had deemed it a reject for various reasons. Brings back good memories. 

Thanks for reminiscing with me!






"Marvelous Morning Glories Bouquet" Card
Paper: SU Mellow Moss; SU Only Orange; SU Craft CS 
Stamps: SU DD Morning Glory; SU Stampin' Around Checkered Wheel
Ink: SU Only Orange; SU Mellow Moss; SU Old Olive
Embellishments: Colored Raffia; 
Tools: Hold Punch; SU Stampin' Around Handle
Size: 5.5" x 4.25" rectangular 

"Hello, Hello, Hello" Card
Paper: SU Basic Black, SU Yo Yo Yellow; SU Smooth White CS
Stamps: SU DD Daisy; SU Vivid Greetings
Ink: SU Basic Black; SU Going Gray Reinker
Embellishments: SU Scalloped Corner Punch
Tools: Shaving Cream 
Size: 4.25" x 5.25" rectangular 

"Thank You ... with Gratitude" Card
Paper: Misc PP; Vellum
Stamps: Anna Griffin Tulip & Sentiment 
Ink: SU Basic Black; SU Poppin Pastels Chalk 
Embellishments: Grosgrain Ribbon
Tools: Decorative Scissor
Size: 4.25" x 5.25" rectangular 

#TBT #ThrowbackThursday #StampinUp - Sharing my older SU Demo Cards - SU Fantastic Foliage & SU Penguin Pals

I haven't been feeling crafty lately so therefore haven't been productive in creating anything new. But having just sorted through what I truly hope is the last bag of old SU Demo Only Swap card fronts recently, I did find a few of my older cards that I had made for either stamping hostess parties (gosh I remember doing 1-2 every weekend in my heyday) or swaps.

So that means I'm going to revisit my series of #tbt #throwbackthursday posts again to hopefully get myself into the mood again and find my mojo.

1) First up is a very early card I made for a swap using Fantastic Foliage.  Unbelievably, I still have this set.  

I had very little supplies at the time, so I brayered a piece of Ultra SmoothWhite Cardstock with my SU Really Rust ink pad to create something matching to mat this card with.  From looking at this card, I believe I did the same with More Mustard for the focal piece before I scatted my leaf stamps all over. 

I was hanging out with my friend Maylene who ran an informal monthly stamp club at the time with some heavyweights: Ming who at the time was a major instructor for Denami Designs and Alma who would later own The Cat's Pajamas.  The gold cording was probably an influence of whatever the group was doing at the time.  

Haha, here's a shot of the Card Recipe I had gotten used to adhering to the back of all my cards I sent for swaps.  Yes, I used Avery Mailing Address Labels.  Those were so easy to just print en masse and slap on. 

2)  These Penguin Pals...ah I miss this set.  I distinctly remember demoing this ALOT and everyone ohhed and ahhed over a) paper tearing for the snow banks and b) learning how to make their tummy's fuzzy with Flocking Powder.  I sold a lot of these Penguin Pals sets along with 2 Way Glue Pen and the flocking powder.   And sadly, I distinctly remember selling this set off because I was so sick of it at the time.  I remember hesitating on that sale because I really do love these guys.  I definitely regret selling this set. 

Here's a close up of their fuzzy bellies. 

Here's a shot of the card recipe from the back before I adhered to a full card base.

I had to cut down the Bliss Blue Card Stock around all the edges, else it was definitely MUCH MORE BLUE, in order to adhere the card front onto a fully folding card to include in my recent Ronald McDonald House donation drop off.  

I loved this set. Maybe I'll look for it on ebay to rebuy, lol. 

Thanks for reminiscing with me.






"Blank Fantastic Foliage" Card
Paper: SU Ultra White CS
Stamps: SU Fantastic Foliage
Ink: SU More Mustard, SU Chocolate Chip, SU Really Rust; Encore Gold; Kaleidacolor Cappuccino Delight
Embellishments: Metallic Gold Embroidery Thread
Tools: Rubber Brayer, Pop Dots; Family Treasures Leaf Punch 
Size: 5.5" x 4.25" rectangular 

"Happy Holidays" Card
Paper: SU Ultra White CS; SU Bliss Blue CS
Stamps: SU Penguin Pals
Ink: SU Bliss Blue, SU Brocade Blue; Versamark; SU Marvelous Markers: Real Red & Only Orange
Embellishments: SU Black EP; SU Stampin' Pastels; SU Whisper White Stampin' Flock Powder
Tools: Heat Gun, SU Blending Pens; 2 Way Glue Pen
Size: 4.25" x 5.5" rectangular 

#TBT #ThrowbackThursday #StampinUp - Two Step Stampin' Daisy Perfect Friends

Never fails for me to keep coming across my older SU Demo and/or swap cards, lol.  I was going through envelopes and large ziplock bags of swap returns and I found this card that looked very familiar.  Yep, this was my 2nd or 3rd ever SU card that I created for home demo parties.  Sadly, I no longer have this stamp set.  I don't regret selling it off as my tastes have changed, but looking at these lovely daisies sure brings back TONS of really great memories.

Tee hee, looking at this card in trying to figure out the ink colors I used, I realized that I used this card to teach the 2nd generation inking and stamping technique with the Glorious Green in addition to the inherent two step stampin' design of the set.

Here's to Stampin' Up 2000!



"Perfect Friends" Card
Paper: SU Kraft CS; SU Real Red
Stamps: SU (Two Step Stampin' ) Daisy; SU Simple Sayings ("Perfect Friends")
Ink: SU Real Red; SU Yo Yo Yellow; SU Glorious Green
Embellishments: Red Raffia
Tools:  Horizontal Slot Handheld Hole Punch
Size: 4.25" x 6.5" rectangular 

#TBT #ThrowbackThursday #StampinUp - Sharing my older SU Demo Cards 9 of 9 - Honing in on my personal creative style

Finally coming to a close here with sharing of my old SU creations.

These next two were my contributions to a SU Demo Only swap that I probably hosted, which is how I amassed close to 1700 card fronts to eventually donate to From Our Hearts to forward to our troops overseas.

I so wish I had a better image file for this card.  It was so elegant in real life with the fold, addition of the jute twine that I finished off with a wooden button (not pictured here because this was a preliminary picture I took of my card), and the chalk pencils I used to color in the images of the children and dog.  SU had just introduced their set of chalk pencils at this time. This was light years before Copics burst onto the scene. I really loved the combination of More Mustard, Barely Banana with a hint of Real Red for a non traditional wintery theme.

This next card, which was also for another SU Demo Only Swap, was probably one of my last submissions as a participant because I was mainly hosting frequent Demo Only swaps in my hey day. It was hard, for me, to create large quantities of an original design, while creating and kitting for home demos and my monthly stamp camps at my 12 hour crops, hand trimming and mounting all sets for my customers, and keeping up with timely communication online with all my swap participants while holding down a full time job.  My current 42 old self is in disbelief of my early 30's energy!

Here I was heavy into the office emphemeral style as I begin to really settle into my preferred creative style that will show up in all of my future work, especially my layouts which you can see here at my scrapbook.com gallery. On SCS, I mainly share my cards.  I was soo eager to incorporate staples!! Oh soo edgy! Again, I used the chalk pencils to color in the apples and let the toile image of the Serenity background stamp as is for that vintage canning label effect.

Looking back on this card now, I think I'd rearrange the elements differently so that it's not so awkward looking with being top heavy.   I remember being so dissatisfied with it at the time but I had to run with it since I had a deadline and multiple projects looming.  I'll tackle this one in the next coming weeks to give it a much deserved face lift.

Thanks for going down my Stampin' Up! memory lane with me the past couple of Thursdays.  I just ordered some new SU upon the announcement of the new retiring list, so I'm anxious to get inky soon with new (to me) images.


  



"Snow is Falling" Card
Paper: SU Smooth White CS; SU Barely Banana; SU More Mustard; SU Real Red
Stamps: SU Winter is Calling
Ink: SU Black Ink 
Embellishments: Jute Twine
Tools: SU Chalk Pencils; 1/8" Handheld Hole Punch
Size: 4.25" x 5.25" rectangular 

"Apple of My Eye" Card
Paper: SU Kraft CS; SU Night of Navy; SU Really Rust
Stamps: SU Serenity; SU Farm Fresh
Ink: SU Night of Navy 
Embellishments: SU Chalk Pencils; Staples
Size: 4.25" x 5.25" rectangular 

#TBT #ThrowbackThursday #StampinUp - Soot Stamping and Modified Kissing Technique Heritage Card Tutorial

I wrote quite a few tutorials back in the day for my growing downlines since I found it challenging otherwise to continue all my own creative and administrative duties for my own Stampin Up business in addition to supporting my down lines properly with project ideas and technique demos.

I remember attending the SU Regionals Convention in Vegas in July 2003 with my downline Valerie when I saw a soot technique card available for swap!! I was so grateful to the SU Demo who swapped her card with me even though I'm sure my swap card was no where near as cool or innovative as her's.  I was DYING to try this when I got home, so I drove to my good friend, and downline, Eva's house so we could play together, which is how this tutorial with pictures was possible at the time.

{I apologize that this tutorial I'm about to share is textual.  Back in 2000-2005, capturing digital images alone and being able to resize them were about as technologically geeky as I got! I had just purchased a digital video camera was hoping to learn how to use it. Thank goodness for smartphones and video editing apps these days!}

Ok, on with the Soot Stamping with Modified Kissing Technique Tutorial!

Lesson Plan #1
Instructions by Ching Tan 
Level (1-5) - 4 High Intermediate Difficulty
Created on 7/28/03 by Ching Tan and Eva Dobilas

Materials List:

Stamps:

• SU Days Gone By
• SU French Script
• SU Autumn (“thanks” stamp)

Paper:

• SU Glossy White – One 4.25 x 5.5 sheet, and one 2.5 x 5.5 sheet
• SU Confetti White 
• SU Basic Black  - One 4.25 x 5.5 sheet, and one scored 8.5 x 5.5 sheet

Inks:

• SU Classic Basic Black
• SU Classic Creamy Caramel
• SU Classic Going Grey

Tools & Embellishments: 

• Candles
• Matches/Lighter
• SU Skeletal Leaves
• Tortoise Colored small buttons
• Krylon Clear Acrylic Sealer (we had moderate success with hairspray)
• Black heritage photo corners
• SU Sponges

Soot Stamping Technique Directions:

1.       Line your work surface with paper for protection

2.       Light candle and hold it completely horizontal so that the wax will drip down onto the scratch             paper rather than on your hand.

3.       Let the tip of the flame casually touch / burn the slick side of the glossy card stock. 

      Take care NOT to allow your glossy c/s

• to be lowered to the middle of the flame height, else you will begin to burn your glossy c/s.  (and if it does, don’t panic.  Quickly blow it out, and try to use that burned edge artistically.  LOL)
• to be lowered even further near the wick, else you will get wax on your glossy c/s.

See how I’m holding the candle and glossy paper here?

This is a picture of how NOT to hold the candle.  For one, you’ll get hot wax dripping on your hand (see my wrist? LOL).  Plus you’ll get wax melted onto your project which ruins your background.    So your glossy paper CANNOT be parallel to the candle, but it should be perpendicular at some sort of an angle.

4.       As the TIP of the flame touches your glossy cardstock, black soot will result and will stick to your cardstock.  Move the tip of the flame about your cardstock so that you don’t create black sooty patches on your cardstock. Instead you want swirly smoke from the soot to create your background on the glossy c/s. 

This is what the background is suppose to look like.  Its actually too light in this example, but you can see the swirly background.  You want it darker than this, but NOT completely black.

5.       I purposely cut the glossy paper bigger to allow for handling because the newly sooted glossy c/s can be smeared/smudged/removed by your fingerprints, knuckles, jewelry, etc if is not sealed.  

      ( In my particular card design, I purposely only sooted ¾ of the left side of the glossy cardstock to allow for handling on the untreated right side.  Else you can handle the treated c/s by holding it carefully by the edges much like you would handle a music CD.)

      Treat both sizes of the Glossy White ( 4.25 x 5.5 sheet and 2.5 x 5.5 sheet) using soot technique.  

6.       Seal your stamped and sooted background with Krylon Clear Acrylic Sealer.  I found that you have to spray directly onto the project paper rather than mist above it.  Else it will not set, and your creation will still smear.  Unfortunately, hairspray (we used Aquanet) didn't work. 

Modified Kissing Stamping Technique Directions:

1.       Take a clean un-inked French Script background stamp, and "stamp it" on your sooted glossy 

       cardstock.  This will remove the black soot and leave a white french script image.  (We figured 

         this out b/c our fingerprints would remove the soot…alas the modified kissing technique.)

Voila! We love how oopsies turn into something super cool!  Modified Kissing Stamping it is!

Card Assembly Directions:

1.       Stamp images from Days Gone By set (shoe, fleur de lis and tassle) in classic basic black on the larger sooty glossy cardstock. (We used both classic (dye) and craft (pigment) and found that the image was more crisp when using dye on glossy cardstock)

2.       Stamp woman portrait from Days Gone By Set in classic basic black ink on the smaller sooty glossy cardstock.

3.       Seal your stamped and sooted background with Krylon Clear Acrylic Sealer.  Remember to spray directly onto the project paper rather than mist above it.

4.       Let both pieces (the big and small) dry. 

5.       In the meantime, stamp the word “thanks” from the Autumn set in classic basic black ink on a   2” x 5.5" linen fabric.

6.      Then sponge the linen fabric with Going Grey and Creamy Caramel to simulate aged look. 

7.       Return to sprayed glossy cardstock pieces which are now dry. 

8.    Freehand cut around the small piece stamped with the woman portrait leaving a 1/16^th border.

9.    Mount this trimmed piece onto white confetti c/s and attach 4 black photo corners.

10.    Tear off about a quarter of the basic black cardstock on the left side so that the torn textured side  is on top.  Adhere this on top of the sooted, stamped, sealed glossy cardstock background. 

11.    Cut a large skeletel leaf in half, so that you can create the illusion of 2 leaves.  Arrange and  adhere them on to the middle of the black c/s so they will look artful.

12.    Adhere the woman portrait, that is matted with black photo corners on top of the arranged  skeletal leaves.  Eva likes tilting, so we tilted this.  LOL

13.    Adhere the strip of linen fabric that say’s “thanks” on the bottom of the card.  On the right side, I cut it so it flushed correctly with the straight edge.  On the left side, I tore it to match the torn basic black c/s underneath it. 

14.    Glue tortoise shell buttons randomly on the white confetti strip.  Silver/gold brads can be  substituted as well.  Else, hemp colored cross stitched “x’s” might be yet another alternative as  we did here. 

15.    Adhere the whole thing onto a folded basic black cardstock.  It should fit perfectly onto the top card front since I didn’t trim any of it.

Here is the picture of the completed project again.  This project was for my intermediate/advanced group.  I had a few beginners and they followed along fine.  This technique would look fantastic for any upcoming Halloween projects.

This last throwback card I'm sharing brings back another one of my strongest joyous memories of my SU Demo Days and of that incredibly fun afternoon of hanging out with my sweet friend Eva who's still my good friend to this day.  Paper crafting is how we met almost 15 years ago, and since then, we've experienced so much synchronicity in all that's happened to us, both good and bad. 

This card along with the original Soot card front I received at the long ago SU Regionals have been donated to our troops via For Our Hearts.



 

Heritage Days Gone By "Thanks" Soot Technique Card 
Paper: SU Glossy White CS; SU Confetti White; SU Basic Black CS
Stamps: SU Days Gone By; SU French Script; SU Autumn ("thanks")
Ink: Black SU Black, SU Creamy Caramel; SU Going Grey
Embellishments: SU Skeletal Leaves; Tortoise Colored  Small Buttons; Black Heritage Photo Corners; Linen Ribbon
Tools: Candles; Matches/Lighter; Krylon Clear Acrylic Sealer; SU Sponges
Size: 5.5" x 4.25" rectangular 

#TBT #ThrowbackThursday #StampinUp - Sharing my older SU Demo Cards 7 of 9 Watercoloring with Radiant Pearls and Retrigrade Technique

It's been amazing going down memory lane as I unearth all these old jpeg images from my old laptop to share here.

I distinctly remember this "stamp camp" at my monthly crop.   I'd been taking heavy classes from the esteemed Carolyn Holt and was mad in love with Radiant Pearls.   So I came up with these two cards to share my new found skills.

I was and madly still am in love with this Serengeti set from SU. This was about when I started developing my tastes and preferences for more vintage, collage and realistic images rather than the cutesy style with that quilting/sewn look that was prevalent at the time.   

In this card, we applied various sunset colored Radiant Pearls with brushes and then used my Niji Barrel brush pen filled with water to create a water color effect by blending the colors together to get rid of those definitive lines every time a new color was introduced.

I finished it off by matting in underneath, if you can call it that, a piece of Old Olive cardstock.  So that the diligently created scene could be appreciated, I had everyone tear in the center to create a rustic texture to add to the safari scene.  We then finished it off with some colored raffia to further the African safari theme. Yup, there was a time when we were collecting all sorts of colors of raffia! I probably still have my collection somewhere. Everyone was pretty pleased with themselves upon completion of this card in my technique demo. I'm sure I sold a lot of product too because I was certainly all about the add on tools/embellishments which this demo was chock full of.

This first image was scanned when I was just learning how to capture digital images. I had no idea how to edit at the time. So here's a more recent and clearer snapshot I took of my friend Eva's version with my phone as I was getting ready to package this to donate to From Our Hearts to forward to our troops. (Both her's and mine were donated several years apart.)  I added a quick sentiment from my Verve basket that was sitting in front of me to meet their criteria for the themes they were seeking.

Next up, was another time intensive technique that required everyone's attention.  I can't believe I demo'd this card in the same day crop. Thankfully, my crops were 12 hours long and my friends were eager as sponges to learn whatever I could share with them. And I love them for that. Did I tell you we had an amazing collective creative thirst or what?

The retrigrade technique was the hot thing at the time and SU was releasing the Toile style of stamps at this time.  I guess I decided to combine them all for a lush effect by introducing the use of sponging and masking with 3 x 5 post it notes.  I remember cutting up a good number of full round sponges into quarters so that everyone could work at the same time at my round table reserved for my demos.  We had soo much fun!

This card had a lot going on with two large background stamps along with yet a 3rd stamp set, tons of sponges and lots of colors.  I remember asking everyone to be mindful of following the same colors as my sample so as to not contaminate my dye ink pads.

Sorry some of my image sizes are so small.  I blame it on my early lack of knowledge with photoshop.  I'm just grateful to even have these images to reminisce on those wonderful monthly crop memories.

This "stamp camp" demo day was definitely a satisfying day for both me and my attendees.

All of these cards have been donated to our troops via From Our Hearts. :)


 

"Serengeti" Radiant Pearls Blending Technique Card 
Paper: SU Smooth White CS; SU Old Olive CS
Stamps: SU Serengeti
Ink: Black Stazon; Various Radiant Pearls 
Embellishments: Raffia
Tools: Niji Brush Pen; Water
Size: 5.5" x 4.25" rectangular 


"Happy Mother's Day" Retrigrade Technique Card 
Paper: SU Smooth White CS; SU Brilliant Blue CS; SU Old Olive CS
Stamps: SU Serenity; SU French Script; SU Wreath of Roses ("Happy Mother's Day")
Ink: SU Old Olive, SU More Mustard; SU Brilliant Blue; SU Black 
Tools: 3x5 Post It Notes; Sponges
Size: 4.25" x 5.5" rectangular 

#TBT #ThrowbackThursday #StampinUp - Sharing my older SU Demo Cards 6 of 9 The AHA! Moment with Crystal Effects / Diamond Glaze

I skipped last week since I was concentrating on preparing as many full cards and to make them box ready for the Mother's Day shipment for From Our Hearts to send to our troops.

As I share with you this old creation of mine, I distinctly remember my glee as this card was coming together.  To this day, I still love this card!

I "think" I learned this technique by watching the Judikins stamp booth demonstration at my local stamping convention in my area that's put on by the owners of A Stamp in the Hand, who's stamps I also grew to love.  BUT, since I was a SU Demo at the time, again, I came home to apply what I just witnessed using only SU products.  When I shared my card in one of the scrapping forums many of my monthly crop attendees also frequented, I was so pleased with their delight and eagerness in participating in this technique demo.

1) I started with the large celestial image by stamping that on a piece of clear acetate with a Stazon Black ink pad since it had to be water proof and smudge proof.

2) Then, I squeezed on some Diamond Glaze (I had purchased a bottle from Judikins as it's their product I believe, but SU called their version Crystal Effects.  I still refer to it as Diamond Glaze to this day. Gotta give credit where credit is due. Judikins is where I learned how to use this stuff as an accent rather than just a super duper strong and permanent liquid adhesive.)

3) I added a 2-3 small droplets of Summer Sun Reinker and a few pinches of gold glitter. Used a Q-Tip to swish around the mixture.

4) Then I placed the white semi opaque back tissue of the acetate on top of the mixture to create a permanent sandwich that would dry due to the Diamond Glaze. It's important to somewhat crinkle that tissue sheet in order to get the grooves to allow the liquid and thus color to collect while it dries. This will then create those wonderful depth of glittery golden swirls of colors when viewing from the acetate front side of the completed image.

5) While that dried, I grabbed a piece of Night of Navy and stamped an accompanying celestial border stamp in Encore Metallic Gold ink. I didn't heat emboss it since there was a lot of work involved with the main tissue and acetate center piece already.

6) I felt it was too dark to leave as is, so I torn off the lower right hand corner to create space for a sentiment which came from the All Year Cheer 1 set.  I stamped the Summer Sun which I ended up matting the whole thing on in both Night as Navy and Summer Sun dye inks using the 2nd or 3rd impressions using 2 and 3 step stamping methods.

7) I trimmed all my pieces of cardstock for all matting and called it done.

A decade plus later, I ended up donating this prized card to our troops overseas via From Our Hearts. I figured I can't keep things forever, and I'll always have this image to come back to enjoy when I want to remember and cherish it.

Looking back now, I was and am so grateful to the ladies that attended my monthly stamp camp/crops regularly.  Their enthusiasm and support really helped encouraged me to keep on learning to share with them new to us techniques. And in demoing what I had just learned, it certainly helped to reinforce my understanding. To this day, I still remember how to do all of this that I'm sharing with you in my throwback postings.

This card certainly fills my heart with pride but it's the memories of that time in my life when my friends and I could share in that joyful electricity of shared creativity that I cherish the most!



  

"Merry & Bright Celestial" Tissue Acetate Technique Card 
Paper: SU Smooth White; SU Night as Navy CS: SU Summer Sun CS
Stamps: SU Sun Moon & Stars; SU All Year Cheer 1 ("merry & bright")
Ink: Black Stazon; Summer Sun Reinker; Gold Metallic Ink; SU Summer Sun; SU Night as Navy
Embellishments: Diamond Glaze/Crystal Effects; Gold Glitter
Tools: Clear Acetate Sheet 
Size: 5.25" x 4.25" rectangular 

#TBT #ThrowbackThursday #StampinUp - Sharing my older SU Demo Cards 5 of 9 Playing with Radiant Pearls, Bleach and Shaving Cream

When I signed up to demo for SU, I hit the stamping convention circuits big time. I was a sponge watching all the major companies demonstrate card creations featuring all sorts of products and techniques.  I'd then go back home to apply what I had just seen with my limited SU supplies at the time to whip up make and takes that I would then treat my monthly crop attendees to.  They were a big hit and I loved sharing my new found knowledge! 

This was my first try at Radiant Pearls back in January 2002 after taking a class or two at my local stamp store, which sadly closed long ago.  This very red monochromatic card was created for one of my very first SU Demo only swaps I had participated in. Stamps are SU, now retired. 

I stamped the angel in bronze, heat embossed it, then used my Niji barrel brush pen filled with straight bleach to bleach out the red color cardstock in the body of the angel. Then I painted the body with flesh and other angelic colors of RP's, cut it out to glue dot it on the card for some dimension. I tried to do the sweeping running ribbons a la Denami style and secured it all with glue dots. (This brings back memories of being invited to my CM Consultant's, who turned into a really good friend, monthly stamp club meeting that was attended by a major instructor for Denami at the time.  I remember being awestruck and just feeling completed intimidated by the group's skills and card creations.)  Then I remember experimenting by brushing some bronze metallic rub ons with my index finger on the lower panel to try to differentiate it from the upper panel.  

I sold a lot of this stamp set back when it was available based on this sample at home parties. Now that I look back on this card, I'd have introduced more light to this card, because there's not enough color contrast so its hard to see/appreciate all the detail.  As it is, it's just an onslaught of Real Read and Metallic Bronze CS!

Ugh, how I agonized over this card back in the day! 

Here's a picture of the card recipe I had adhered to the back:

This next card also featured bleach as a technique and I had begun to play with the shaving cream technique to create the background that the seahorses, from the SU set called Definitely Decorative Shells, are matted on. Looking at the fibre used on this card, it brings back memories of all those massive fibre swaps online and at my monthly crops.  At least I got to use some of it before my interests and tastes waned.   

I remember how nervous I was with using bleach at my monthly crops when I demonstrated these cards because the bleach had to be fresh for it to be an effective "stamping" tool.  The ladies were all thankfully very cautious and mostly excited with what I was about to show them. I'd have been mortified if anyone's clothing or the hotel tables had been bleached accidentally. Not sure I'd attempt it now in retrospect because there were a lot of moving parts/people!! 

That must be the difference between a just turned 30 year old mentality vs a 42 year old mentality. 




"Wings of Love" Card
Paper: SU Real Red CS, Metallic Bronze CS
Stamps: SU Wings of Love, SU French Script
Ink: Bronze Metallic Ink; Radiant Pearls; 
Embellishments: Bronze EP; Michael's Sheer Bronze Ribbon; Metallic Rub Ons
Tools: Niji Brush Pen; Bleach; 
Size: 4.25" x 5.25" rectangular 

"Seahorse" Card
Paper: SU Taken With Teal CS, SU Not Quite Navy CS, SU Smooth White CS
Stamps: SU DD Shells
Ink: SU Taken with Teal Dye Ink & Reinker
Embellishments: Fibre
Tools: Niji Brush Pen; Bleach; Shaving Cream 
Size: 4.25" x 5.25" rectangular 

#TBT #ThrowbackThursday #StampinUp - Sharing my older SU Demo Cards 4 of 9 featuring Stampin' Around Rollograph Wheels and a Sweet Condensed Milk Stipple Butterfly

Let's dive in with more throwback thursday cards from my active Stampin Up demo days.

1) This adorable pink cute card was really SUPER simple and quick to make.  In fact, I was sitting at an outdoor booth at a local festival sharing table space with my CM Consultant friend Maylene, who was super supportive of my SU business.  Due to a walk up customer request, I made up this baby card on the spot for her along with a coordinating stamped paper gift bag for her using a few stamps from the Cuddles and Tickles set and then whipping out the Sweet Feet Stampin' Around Wheel all in coordinating Pretty in Pink ink and cardstock. My scanned picture is a bit saturated portraying the pink to be much more vibrant than it really is.

2) The next card was an attempt to try recreating a card and technique featured on the cover of the Rubber Stamper magazine from the April/May 2003 issue.  My issue, hopefully if I didn't lose it, is packed away in storage but I was able to find an image in a finished ebay listing.  I can't even contemplate selling off my beloved Rubber Stamper, Stampers Samplers, etc., stamping magazines right now almost 15 years later!

The magazine was the April/May 2003 issue of The Rubber Stamper

I apparently made 15 +1 of these for a SU Demo Only card swap back on April 6, 2003. This was such a hit at my "stamp camps" at my monthly 12 hour crops and was requested as a demo when I previewed my card in our online forum. I tweaked my card a bit by adding ribbon instead of exactly copying the magazine cover card because mine didn't have room for the sentiment a la the cover feathered card.  This one remains one of my most favorite stamping experiences.  

I tried experimenting several times to change up the caramelized effect of the condensed milk.  Both of these cards pictured were most likely donated to the troops via From Our Hearts.

This has been super fun going down memory lane! 

  


"Baby Girl" Card
Paper: SU Smooth White; SU Pretty in Pink CS
Stamps: SU Cuddles and Tickles; Stampin Around Sweet Feet Wheel
Ink: SU Pretty in Pink 
Embellishments: Michael's Pink Satin Ribbon 
Size: 4.25" x 5.25" rectangular 

"Sweet Condensed Milk Stipple Butterfly" Card CASED from Rubber Stamper April/May 2003 Issue
Paper: SU Kraft CS; SU Smooth White; SU Barely Banana CS: White Vellum
Stamps: SU Stipple Butterfly; SU Beyond the Basics
Ink: Versamark; SU Creamy Caramel 
Embellishments: Michael's Gold Sheer Ribbon; White EP; 
Tools: Condensed Milk, Foam Paint Brush; Heat Gun 
Size: 4.25" x 5.25" rectangular