A Muse Art Stamps Classes

Linda Carnell, the owner of A Muse Art Stamps in Seattle, WA, was in Sacramento this past weekend. She taught a few classes at The Paper Garden Boutique located in Town & Country Village. This is the stamp store that I purchase a lot of my stamp supplies from and have taken several classes here too.


I signed up for two classes to be held on Saturday. There was an opening in the third class she was teaching so I decided to take it also. I've actually gotten the pictures out of order. The first group of pictures was actually the second class she taught entitled Linda's Favorites. I will say that the cards have a lot of mistakes on them. They are samples so I'm not too concerned about it. On this first card, the butterfly was punched out using a piece of vellum paper. Then we put the butterfly through a Xyron Adhesive machine so it was sticky on one side and then we dipped the butterfly in glitter. I think this machine is going to be my next toy. On this card, we stamped the leaves on the card base first. Then stamped them again on the white square and punched that out using a fancy square punch by Marvy. Then we stamped the flower and sprinkled Simple Stick liberally on the flower, took the powder off and heat set it from the back just until it started to turn. I used the heat gun just a second too long on the center of the flower. Then we dipped the flower in glitter and shook a little of the glitter off. When the card is turned sideways, it is glittery all over, looking at it right side up, the center looks like there is no glitter on it. We used a Fiskars border punch on the pink checked strip.

This card would have been so pretty if I had done it correctly. The huge flower was stamped first. Then using some sticky tape, we stamped just a part of the petals on the sticky tape. We were suppose to cut around the petals, put the tape over the flower and stamp the other three images. I forgot to cut my mask. :( Then we used a chalk pencil and colored in the petals a little, then using a finger tip, we pulled some of the chalk down over the rest of the petals. It depended on the amount of chalk used on the petals as to how light or dark the flower would be. These chalk pencils are rather expensive so I am going to check out Michael's and see if they carry them and then use a 40% coupon. The Paper Garden sells them for about $30 for a set of 12 pencils.

On this card, the whale was paper pieced. We stamped the wave first, stamped the whale on a separate piece of cardstock and then cut it out. The waves at the top were done with a Fiskars border punch. Then we used 2 different Copic markers to color in the wave.

On this card, we stamped the center first and punched out the flower with a Marvy flower punch. There are 2 flowers, punched a small hole in the middle and used a brad to join the 2 flowers together. The ends of the flower are curled up; we were instrusted to use the end of our scissors to curl the petals up. A bone folder could also be used. I did it by using my finger nails. The leaves were stamped first on the white.

The last card of this class was made with 3 different colors of cardstock and three different border punches. Two of them were by Fiskars and one was a Martha Stewart border punch. After we punched out the edges, we cut between the scallops and curled up the ends. We made 6 cards in this class.

This next group of pictures was actually the first class called Fabulous Folds. The first card is an easel card. The color scheme is a light lavender with green. Um, I thought I took a front view of this card. I probably forgot to upload it. :)

The next one is a tri-fold. The cardstock was scored at 3 inches for two panels with the third panel being 3 and a half inches. We used a tag punch to punch out the shape in the middle panel. The grass was stamped through the opening and then opened up to stamp the flowers. The little snail is one of the new A Muse stamps for spring. A Fiskars border punch was used on the bottom edge. This is not a very good picture, hopefully you get the idea.

And here's the card opened up.

On this card, there is a strip of pink checked card stock that we scored at 1/2 inch and 1 inch across the length of the strip. Then it was folded to form pleats, taped all together and used a pinking shears to finish off the edge. It would have been better to pink the edges before folding it and taping it together. The edge looks really rough. I tried to take a side view so you could see how it looks, however it didn't work real well.

This last card was a little difficult to do and in fact, Linda did some surgery on my card. We had 2 strips of cardstock 1 1/2 inches by 11 inches. We used a Fiskars border punch to punch the edges of both strips. Then we folded the strips between the scallops and taped the strips together. We had 2 orange circles. One orange circle was used on the back of the strips after they were gathered together to form a circle. Then the top orange circle and white circle were taped to the top of this circle. We had to use lots of score tape to hold everything together. Oh, we stamped a flower on the base first so we'd have a stem. This is a clever idea, don't know if I'd want to attempt doing this again.

Here's a closeup of that folded circle flower.

The last class Linda taught on Saturday was a class using the Copic markers. I wasn't going to take it, however she had a cancellation and decided to go ahead and do it. She had this little booklet all made up for us.

She had some general information included in the booklet.

Then a few pages of images to practice using the Copics. This first practice page was using a light color to highlight an image like the clouds and buildings. I do this on some of my cards.

This was using one color to do blending and shading. The green dress is close to what it should be using this application. You are suppose to figure out where the light source is coming from and the area away from the light source is darker. I didn't do very well with the rest of the images.

This is 2 color blending. The first birdhouse is a good example.

The next practice was using a blender pen which is filled with alcohol. If two or more classes were taken, we received a free blender pen. For those that had a blender pen already, they could pick out another color pen from the store. We took a dark color and made a large rectangle and then using the broad end of the blender pen, made bricks. The picture will have to be enlarged to see it. On the next one, we made circles and then held the blender pen in the middle of the circle. I don't have a good example; this method can be used for do rain drops. And the last one, we used two different colors, a blue and a green. One mermaid's tail was first colored with green and the other with blue. Then we used the blue over the green and the green over the blue. Then using the blender pen drew through the scales on her tail. It was suppose to change to different colors. I didn't see any difference and it bled out of the image.

This last practice was pretty cool. Using two different colors, 1 a dark and the other a light. Taking the tip of the dark, we held it over the broad tip of the light and color was transferred from the dark to the light. This method is a good way to make grass or fire from a camp fire or even rays from the sun. It just takes a little bit of ink to do this and it doesn't hurt either marker.

She then went over the different types of Copics of which I have all three. The first one is called Ciao, its round and is the least expensive of the three. The next one is a sketch marker, oval in shape and has the most colors, over 300. The third one is an Original, square in shape and is the only one of the 3 with a fine nib on one end. This one also has the most interchangeable nibs, 10 I think she said.

The original has a small nib on one side and a broad nib on the other with a point on one side of the nib.

The original and ciao markers have the same type of nibs on both ends.

This is the ciao.

And to compare the looks of the Copic markers, here is a Stampin' Up marker. They have a brush nib on one side and a really small nib on the other.

The Copic markers are alcohol based and the Stampin' Up markers are water based. I prefer the Copic markers over the Stampin' Up markers because when color is laid down on an image, it does not streak and the paper does not pill up. Not all inks will work with the Copic markers so if the correct ink is used, it won't bleed out of the lines of the image. It will bleed through the paper to the back of the image. That doesn't matter since it will be covered with another layer of cardstock. I will do another post tomorrow with a card that I used Stampin Up markers on showing that the results were not as good.

The Copic markers are expensive, the Ciao about $4.00 each and the Sketch and Original markers about $6 or $7. I look for them on sale on the internet.

I am finishing up this post on Tuesday, 4/27. I started it last night and was too tired to proof read and post.

Two A Muse Classes Today

Linda, the owner of A Muse Art Stamps in Seattle, WA is at The Paper Garden boutique this weekend teaching a few classes. I signed up for two of them today. The first one is at 10 am and the second one at 1 pm.

Her classes are always fun and she always has a wealth of information to share. So I am ready, packed up and ready to go. We have to take our own tool kits for classes which is no problem since we do the same for our Shoebox Card Swaps. I did get me a new tote to use. I'll take a picture of it later and show you. It is bigger and so much nicer than the actual tool box Gerry got me.

I will take pictures of the cards we make and post them later.

Have a great weekend. Oh, I do have another card kit swap card to show you later too. :))

Tilda

I spend a lot of time at night looking at the blogs of different stampers, the galleries of card company websites and the gallery at Splitcoast Stampers. One night while cruising, I found this card and really liked it. I have this Tilda image by Magnolia Stamps. I had gotten a pad of black and white scrapbook paper at our last Nor-Cal Shoebox Card Swap with a container of yellow Prima flowers and thought the combination would be great. I went up to Joann's today to look for some eyelet lace trim to use on my cards and saw this pad of cardstock. It is cream and black and all the paper pads were 40% off. Some of the cardstock has flocking on it. So I got the pad.

And I got 3 yards of this ivory cotton eyelet lace. I also got a couple of spools of white eyelet lace. This particular one was sold by the yard.

And here's the card I put together this afternoon. It is not an exact CASE of the other card. I'm not sure if it really works. I used my Copic markers to color her and I'm not real thrilled with the way it turned out. I probably should have used some other colors. The cardstock I used has flocking on the images. I used a Fiskars border punch on the edge, however it is hard to see it. The eyelet lace was probably too heavy to use. The edges started to fray after I cut it so I folded a tiny piece on the ends and glued it down. I actually stamped 2 images and was going to pop up one of them, then decided not to. I don't do a good job in cutting images out, mainly because I can't see well enough to do it. I guess it looks alright. And on the rectangle, I used a Nestabilities and used my Cuttlebug to cut and emboss it.

Then I sponged the rectangle with VersaMagic Gingerbread ink to cover the white a little. The card base is black.

So what do you think?

Card Kit Swap

Last summer one of the card swaps that I participated in on Splitcoast Stampers was making up card kits. I received 5 kits in the swap and they've been laying around waiting for me to put them together. One of the instructions for the swap was to include a recipe for putting the kit together or a picture of a finished card using the items in the kit. Well, none of the kits I received did either.


I decided to play with this particular one yesterday and finished it up this afternoon. I loved the colors that were included in the kit. I wasn't too crazy about the image yet I thought I would see what I could come up with. So here's my finished card. The layout is not something I would normally do. I attempted to do some shading with the Copic markers I used. Not the greatest attempt, yet it looks okay. I am pleased with the finished card. I need to find some of the slider charms that was included with the ribbon. I like how that looks. Now I'll see what I can do with the other kits I have. Oh, I wanted to say, this layout is completely my own. I did not take it from any other source, Splitcoast Stampers included. That is usually what I do, look on Splitcoast, find something I like then try to change it a little so it is not an exact CASE (copying and sharing with eveyone). :))


I've been wanting to host a card swap on Splitcoast so yesterday I put up a new thread for a swap. It is called "Adorable and Cute Cards" Here's a link for it if you want to go look. My friend Candice is the only one that has signed up so far. http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=488359


So, if you are reading my blog and would like to join in, please do so. These swaps are a lot of fun and the cards are amazing. I'm back to my craft table to try and do another kit.

A Guy Card, Cards for SCS Card Swap

I've been busy at my craft table this week. I needed to make a guy birthday card. As a lot of stampers do, I struggle with trying to come up with an idea for a guy card. I remembered I had this sailing ship stamp. I think I've used it before for either my son-in-law or my grandson. :) So I inked it up with a grayish blue ink pad. I don't even remember which one I used. :) The card base is navy blue. I used a strip of pattern cardstock from a Memory Box paper pack. The ship is backed with a piece of gray and I used SU's ticket corner punch. It is not all that exciting. The card is for Dave Arnold whose birthday was Thursday, April 15th. Kazumi, the owner of the Japanese restaurant where I eat every week, wanted another card made with the same sentiment that I used on one of the cards she bought last week. And she wanted flowers. So I put this together. The card base is lavender. I think the border punch is one by Fiskars. I colored the daffodil with Copics and tried to do some shading. As you can see, I did not do a very good job. I've seen cards on other stampers' blogs where they've done shading and blending with the Copics and they are gorgeous. I'll take the card to her this next week and see if she likes it. I used some sheer, polka dot ribbon and purple crystal sticker to finish the card.

I've signed up for more card swaps on Splitcoast Stampers. The first one is due May 6th and the cards are "Ladybugs, Butterflies and Dragonflies". I signed up for Butterflies. The card base is SU's Handsome Hunter, then a black layer and the white is SU Ultrasmooth White. I used Cuttlebug's embossing folder called Leaves on the white layer. I inked up the EF with a dark green ink and ran the card stock through the Cuttlebug. I didn't like the results so I just did it plain. I had the hardest time getting the EF clean again. LOL! I used card stock from two Basic Gray pads called Infuse and Blush for the butterflies. The large butterfly was cut with Cuttlebug's Butterfly Die Cut and Embossing Folder. There are 4 EF's in the set and the one I used is the Swiss Dots. Each butterfly looks a little different depending on what part of the cardstock I used. I used the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots EF for the small butterflies and used Martha Stewarts butterfly punch. The pearl stickers were part of my prize package I got at our Nor Cal Card Swap a couple of weeks ago.

Since I finished my butterfly cards, I decided to sign up for a spot doing a dragonfly card. I CASED a layout on SCS for this card. The SCS card used butterflies and a similar color for the card base. I used SU's Cool Carribean for the card base, Mellow Moss for the next layer and a new Martha Stewart border punch I just got at "Tuesday Morning" for $4.00. The white is Neenah Solar White that I stamped a flourish stamp on with Colorbox Chalk ink in Blue Lagoon. I think the flourish stamp is a Hero Arts stamp. I'm not sure because I got it in a set that was on clearance at The Paper Garden. The dragonflies were punched out with a Marvy punch using a piece from Basic Gray's Perhaps paper pad. Ribbon from A Muse, crystal stickers from Hero Arts and sentiment from A Muse finish off the card.

I will put these in the mail the first of next week. The other swaps are "Palm Trees & Pina Colada's" due June 1st, "All Kinds of Pocket Cards" due June 18th and "Wedding and Anniversary Cards" due July 6th. I'm thinking about hosting a swap on SCS. Its not hard, just have to think of a theme, post it on SCS and wait for stampers to sign up. The requirements are pretty simple: no vendor required, either 4 cards or 6 cards to make, and at least 2 layers and 1 or 2 embellishments, and good quality cardstock.

A stamping friend who lives in Oroville is hosting an all day stamp and scrap workday. The cost is $55 which includes lunch, dinner, snacks and soft drinks. There will be make 'n takes during the day, demonstrations of different techniques and stamping or scrapbooking all day. I am thinking of going with my other stamping friend, Candice. It will be a great time to work on swaps.

Next week Saturday I am taking two classes at The Paper Garden with Linda, who is the owner of A Muse Art Stamps in Seattle, WA. I have taken classes from her before when she's come to town so am looking forward to seeing her next Saturday.

Cards & Other Goodies From Card Swap Today

Our card swap group had another swap today. Karen hosted this swap at her home in Folsom. In attendance were Candice, Linda, Joyce, Bonnie and myself. Karen was an excellent hostess. These items are the favors she had for each one of us, an assortment of CHOCOLATE, a stamp, a post-it note holder and some "S" curve clips. There were 4 gold ones and 4 silver ones. I've seen these at different places, however have not known how to use them. I'll have to play with them and see what I can do.Oops, I didn't mean to post a second picture. :)

She also made each of us this easel calendar. At our last swap Candice made an easel St. Patrick's Day card and Karen used the same dimensions to make this calendar. So super cute. That is a small post it note pad on the right hand corner.

Instead of voting on each other's card, she got prizes for each of us. She and Bonnie drew names. This is what I got. A container of different size yellow Prima flowers, a package of pearl and crystal twinkle stickers, a package of decorative paper clips, a small roll of black ribbon with white dots, a clear stamp and package of scrapbook decorative paper. The theme of the package I picked was black and white. Even the gift bag was black and white.

This is the pad of scrapbook decorative paper.

Each of us except for Joyce made up two card samples. This is Joyce's card sample. All of the cards were simple yet so very nice. Joyce used watercolor pencils and an aqua painter brush to color her images. I believe she said she used a Stampin' Up stamp. So very nice!!

This is one of Candice's cards. It is the size of a gift enclosure card. The color combination was great. This is all Stampin' Up products.

Candice's second card. Again, beautiful color combination. She brushed ink on the top of the card and I forgot to do that. I'll fix it later.One of Linda's cards. The grape vine stamp is an older Stampin' Up set that has been retired for a long time. She used the SU crackle background stamp. I don't know if it is noticeable or not, on the white layer that has "Birthday Wishes" on, we crumbled the cardstock and then smoothed it out before layering it to the black layer. It is a very nice effect. Love this card, could be used as a guy card.

Linda's first card sample. I used dimensionals for the stars so they are raised. I can't remember if she did that on her sample. Great card!!

One of Bonnie's card samples. Another great color combination. So cute!!

Bonnie's first card sample. This is a new SU stamp set. Cute card! We were glad Bonnie had a chance to join us today. Her husband is in the hospital, he had surgery a couple of weeks ago and is having some serious issues. So, remember she and her husband in prayer. She told us today that the prayers of a lot of people have been so very much appreciated and felt.

Karen's first card. I had my mouth hanging open when she showed us her sample. This card is so super fantastic. I don't know if you can see the gold piece sticking out from under the black layer. She used a Fiskar's border punch to do that. It is actually a Greek key punch yet it looks so Asian. I have the stamps she used for this card. Just need to find the border punch and I will be casing this card. So beautiful!!

Karen participated in another swap a couple of weeks ago and this is the card sample she did for that swap. I was taking a picture of it and she told me I could have the card. I had a turkey stamp she wanted to borrow so she said this card was for letting her use my stamp. I am so grateful for having the card. She used a clear acetate card and stamped the bamboo on the acetate with Stazon black ink which is a permanent ink. It takes a long time to dry. The small red card is on the inside and to cover the glue on the back of the red piece, she glued a black piece on the back of the card. The red and black circles are glued to the front of the card, then a gold piece is glued on the inside, again to hide the glue. She strung some beads on gold thread, punched a hole on the top left corner and adhered the beads there. I am definitely going to CASE this card. I absolutely love it!

Here's a closer view of the beads.

This is Karen's second card, definitely a guy card for Father's Day. The card itself is white. She cut the white cardstock on the top so a collar could be formed. The ends were folded down and some glue put on the inside to hold it down, then brads at each point. The striped piece is scrapbook paper which was glued to the white to form the shirt body, the tie and pocket are separate pieces. The tie tack is a brad. The card opens up at the bottom and Happy Father's Day is stamped inside. This is so clever!!

Here are my card samples. The white card on the left is one that I did in a Fabulous Folds class that Julie Ebersole from A Muse Art Stamps in Seattle, WA taught last summer. She has been coming to The Paper Garden the last two years in July during Amuseapalooza. This is A Muse's promotion for their new winter stamps. Julie will be here again this year in July and I will be taking her classes again.

I was going to do my sample just like the class card and had everything already cut out. Then I thought about using scrapbook paper and doing a completely different color combination. So I came up with this. I believe Julie called this a ladder card. The top piece of designer cardstock is scored and folded at different places. When folded you have 4 pockets. I cut out a tag using Julie's example, stamped it with a flower, added a twinkle sticker in the center of the flower and added the ribbon. I really like how it turned out. My husband even commented that he really liked the card. So a big Mondo thank you and hug to Julie. Your cards, Julie, are the greatest! See you soon!!

This is my second card. I pulled this sample out of my card stash. I love the color combination and by using this card, I didn't have to come up with another design. :) Using my Cuttlebug and the Swiss Dot embossing folder, I embossed a strip at the top and botton and then scored two lines. You will probably have to enlarge the picture to see the embossing and score lines. In the past, I've made this card and added punched out butterflies as embellishments. Twinkle stickers would look good too.

Our next swap is in June. I am looking forward to that one and more great cards!!