Bella Carta at Art 'n Soul

A few of us met at Art 'n Soul to make birthday cards for Ruth Johnson who turns 102! on December 27. She is Nancy Bishop's mom and loves to receive cards.

by Dianne Johnson
On the top, Dianne embossed the lavender velvet paper and loved how it turned out.
Very easy to do and makes a very impressive card.

by Debbie Gaetz
Paper Parachute background stamp; Versamark
Ranger Queen's Gold Embossing Powder; Sakura Glaze Pens;
Magenta Peel-Offs; So Silk Blue Cardstock

I can't remember if I posted Deb K.'s Magenta chipboard cat on the blog; I thought I had but I cannot find it and I want to make sure you see it! And if you in fact did see it earlier, please forgive and enjoy the view again.

by Deb Kuttel

My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Christmas paper;
Elizabeth Craft Designs peel-offs (black vines and glitter dots);
Glitter Ritz! glitter

Did you see how well the vines make the cat's ears, whiskers and paws?
VERY CLEVER!

From Dreamweaver's DREAM it UP! blog . . .

Thursday's Dream Schemes/Silver & Turquoise Colorway Challenge

"Well at first glance this creation may not impress you as being silver and turquoise. However once you read this you will understand why I thought it would qualify. For those of you who enjoy the metallic leafing technique done on embossing paste here is the gist of where I am headed. There are basically four types of variegated metallic leafing that Dreamweaver sells. They are called variegated green, red, blue and black. The blue and the green are fairly similar and have a golden undertone so when I do the prep work with a metallic paste I usually use the Dreamweaver Gold Embossing Paste (DGP) and the red has a definite orange metallic undertone that "says" to me, "I'm copper", so of course I basecoat with the Dreamweaver Copper Metallic Embossing Paste (DCP). But the black has always been a bit of a misnomer to me. It has a bit of golden tone to it and yet the variegation is more silvery to me, so why they call it "black" I am not sure....hmmm, but because I perceive it as silver I usually basecoat with the Metallic Silver Embossing Paste (DSP). And that is what I did with the new ornate Christmas tree (LX7003).

For the second part of this colorway challenge I would also like to draw attention to the turquoise cardstock that I've used. This beautiful cardstock is imported from Japan and is offered by Hanko Designs owned by Kathy Yoshida. You will find that on her site it is referred to as Tsumugi Turqoise. These lightweight cardstocks absorb the embossing paste beautifully.

Once the paste was dry I repositioned the stencil with removable tape and daubed the Stamp & Stick Glue onto the swirly areas of the design and the star at the top. I removed that stencil and heated it with a heat gun for 15 - 30 seconds until these glued areas became tacky and then applied the black variegated leafing and burnished it with a firm clean stencil brush. I then repositioned the stencil again and daubed on the same glue and stenciled these glued areas with a small stencil brush and the mica powders sold by Dreamweaver called Metallic F/X...the colors I used? Poinsettia: Plum Royal, Holly Leaves: Ivy Garden, Pears: Goldfinch, Partridges, Sapphire.

The pin was colorized with the new Artist Grade Alcohol ink Color Solution: Color- Iceberg. It is really fun to colorize the white or ivory pins with any of the new Color Solution inks."

Special note: Bella Carta at Art 'n Soul stocks the Tsumugi papers from Hanko.

CASE-ing...The Ultimate Compliment

"Yep, it's Pam again! Lynell is off teaching classes this week.
Ever heard of the expression to "CASE" someone else's design work? This acronym means to "Copy and Say Everything"...in other words, being inspired by someone's creation to the point of copying it (with slight changes) and being proud to admit that you did not come up with the original idea, but someone else did. If you have ever been on Split Coast Stampers web site, you will see a lot of CASE-ing. As Lynell has said frequently, nothing in art is immaculately conceived. Everyone is inspired by someone else into taking the thought one step further. The cards in this post are the perfect example of this. The card at the top was created by me for the latest release at CHA Summer in July. I kept it very simple, and went with just the pink and white retro theme. I embossed the Christmas Tree on the white cardstock panel with my Big Shot machine, embossed the Christmas Tree again on Mercart Aluminum and Core'dinations cardstock (both of which were sanded to reveal their underlying color), I added a bright pompom and a sticker sentiment. Done.
The second card was created by Rebekka Behunin, a long time friend, helper, and wonderful teacher of Dreamweaver Stencils products and techniques. Obviously, Rebekka took my card to the next level. Her version uses all Mercart Colored Aluminum in various colors, run through the embossing machine, sanded, and in addition...a machine-embossed sentiment and yummy Creative Impressions' bow and Dreamweaver Stencils 3" pin for extra bling.
The third card by Elaine Benedict, sales rep and teacher for Dreamweaver Stencils, falls sort of in between the first and second card...one main color (red), part Mercart colored aluminum and part Core'dinations cardstock, both sanded as before. Elaine also added the embossed sentiment with a ribbon, plus a star brad on top, and rhinestone accents. When you look at all three cards, you can see the progression. All three cards have their own unique look, and I'm sure like me, the other two artists were pleased to create their own version, and I was complimented by being their inspiration. Somewhere along the line, the tables will be turned, and it will be me being inspired by their work to "CASE" it, in honor of their creativity as well."

We received a very nice card from the Thurston County Food Bank, thanking us for the filled barrel of non-perishable food donations. We're still collecting items for the barrel and we want to thank you, again, for your generosity.