Stampin' Dreams Blog Hop - Love

Welcome to the monthly Stampin' Dreams Blog Hop.  You are currently visiting Stephanie Fischer (The Crafty Thinker) from Australia.  Please remember to click on the next person in the line up at the end of my post to continue enjoying all the wonderful projects in the hop.  

Our theme this month is Love: Anniversaries, Valentines, Weddings

This is my slightly unorthodox Valentines card for my much-loved husband!  He has never owned a pair of cowboy boots  - but I'm sure he won't mind the artistic licence!  Inside I will write "Thank you for choosing to put your boots under my bed!"

Perhaps slightly unorthodox colours for a Valentine card but, I hope, masculine!

The base card is Basic Gray, followed by a layer of Lemon Lime Twist.  I embossed a 2" strip of Lemon Lime Twist card with one of the Petal Pair Embossing Folders and then swiped my Basic Gray ink pad across it.  I also sponged the edges with Basic Gray ink.

The image from the Country Livin' stamp set is stamped with Basic Black ink onto Whisper White cardstock and coloured with Stampin' Blends alcohol markers.  I also added a small layer of Basic Gray cardstock.

Stampin' Dimensionals provide depth on this masculine Valentine Card

The hearts are cut with the Sweet & Sassy Framelits in Basic Gray and Smoky Slate card.  The smaller set of hearts is embellished with a Real Red Enamel Shape.  The greeting on the Whisper White heart is from the Graceful Garden stamp set and the tiny Real Red heart is cut with one of the dies in the Umbrella Weather set of Framelits.  The heart is edged with Real Red ink.

Thank you for visiting.  I hope you enjoyed this card.  You are currently visiting Stephanie Fischer - please see the list below and click on the next person on the list to hop through all of the people to see all of our projects.  You don't want to miss any!

'Til next time!

Stephanie

Product List -  Click on an image below to shop in my online store (Australian Residents only)

Country Livin' Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$26.00

Petal Pair Textured Impressions Embossing Folders

$16.00

Sweet & Sassy Framelits Dies

$58.00

Graceful Garden Clear-Mount Stamp Set

$33.00

Old Olive Light Stampin' Blends Marker

$7.75

Stampin' Blends Color Lifter

$7.75

Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack

$15.50

Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad

$12.25

Basic Gray Archival Stampin’ Pad

$12.25

Ink it! Stamp it! Blog Hop #3: Technique - Retiform

 

Welcome to the Ink It! Stamp It! Design Team Blog Hop - we hop every month so be sure to pop back and visit us again!  Today our theme is Technique and I have chosen the Retiform technique to make a feminine and a masculine card.

You are currently at my page - Stephanie Fischer, The Crafty Thinker.  At the end of my post there is a full line of team members, please click on the name after mine in the list to continue the hop.

Feminine version of a Retiform card featuring Beautiful You , Flourishing Phrases, Daisy Delight and Butterfly Basics

Retiform is one of those techniques that I love but seem to rarely use - in fact I think my last retiform card predated my blogging!  It's so easy and effective though that it seemed a good time to drag it out of the archives!

Method:  It's basically just masking and sponging!

1. You may want to plan ahead of time the pattern you want to create with your sponging.
2. Hold a piece of clean paper (I just use printer paper) in the position required. 
3. Lightly sponge your chosen colour from the masking paper onto the cardstock. (ie place your inky sponge down onto the masking paper and gently slide the sponge onto the project)
4. Remove the masking paper and place it back onto the project, lining it up on the crisp edge of ink you've just created.
5. Repeat step 3
6. Move the masking paper to the next position you want to create a line and hold in place.
7. Repeat step 3
8. Repeat step 4

When you have finished creating your pattern of lines, it's time to add some stamped images.

Tips: 
- This technique works really well with images that are larger than the space available so that they  look cropped.
- I'm a big fan of the monochrome so I like to use only one ink pad but this is not necessary.

1. Choose the area where you plan to stamp.
2. Protect all the adjacent areas of your project by carefully placing masking paper along relevant lines that you've created.
3. Stamp your chosen image.
4. Repeat steps 1 to 3

Using Soft Suede ink produces a lovely sepia effect in this Retiform card

For this masculine version, I basically repeated the same steps except that I started off by using a circular mask.  In order to sponge inside the circle and also to stamp inside the circle, I used the paper from which I had cut the circle to mask the rest of my project.

I used the same colour ink (Soft Suede) to watercolour the central image.  Whilst I combined several stamp sets, the overall theme is transport. The grass in the central image is from the High Tide stamp set.

I hope you've enjoyed this this technique and these cards and I welcome your comments. 

Thank you so much for joining us today. We hope you'll join us again next month for our 3D projects! I'm Stephanie Fischer and to keep hopping around see the list below to see who is up next with another great technique.

Thanks for visiting
'Til next time
Stephanie

Product List

Butterfly Basics Photopolymer Stamp Set

[137154]

Beautiful You Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[143637]

Country Livin' Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[141925]

One Wild Ride Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[141724]

Guy Greetings Wood Stamp Set

[138825]

Daisy Delight Photopolymer Stamp Set

[143669]

Country Livin' Truck

I can't say I've ever seen a truck like this but I just love this image.  Unfortunately this particular vehicle seems to have been abandoned and the grass is growing long around it.  It's not too forlorn though - there are some wild flowers for company and, despite the clouds, it seems to be a nice day!

The truck is watercoloured while the sky and foreground are sponged.

Country Livin' is such a great stamp set for anyone who, like me, enjoys colouring!
I masked the truck (with the windows cut out) before sponging the sky but I removed the mask before adding the grass, for which I used two of the images from In The Meadow, some sponging and some random strokes with markers. 

The greeting is from the Hostess stamp set Time Of Year and is cut with the matching die from the Bunch of Banners framelits.

I think this makes a good "masculine card"!

Thank you for visiting
'Til next time
Stephanie

Product List - To shop in my online store - click on a product image below (Australian Residents only)

Country Livin' Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[141925]

In The Meadow Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[140754]

Time Of Year Photopolymer Stamp Set

[141790]

Bunch Of Banners Framelits Dies

[141488]

Soft Sky Classic Stampin' Pad

[131181]

Marina Mist Classic Stampin' Pad

[126962]

Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad

[126949]

Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad

[126966]

Smoky Slate Classic Stampin' Pad

[131179]

Basic Gray Archival Stampin’ Pad

[140932]

Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad

[140931]

Many Marvelous Markers

[131264]

Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad

[131180]

Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad

[126953]

Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad

[126973]

Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad

[126975]

Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad

[126978]

Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock

[121681]

Old Olive A4 Card Stock

[106576]

Whisper White A4 Card Stock

[106549]

Country Livin' Guitar

My sister-in-law teaches guitar, so I knew I had to buy this stamp set!  This will be her birthday card.

I haven't played for years but while watercolouring, I tried to remember what my guitar used to look like!

I cut some Basic Black cardstock to 11" x 5.5" and folded it in half to form a 5.5" square card.  I layered this with Mint Macaron and more Basic Black cardstock.  I then added a 2" strip of Mint Macaron paper from the 2015-2017 In Colour DSP Stack and a 3.5" x 3" piece of Delightful Dijon cardstock.  My painted panel is layered onto a piece of Soft Suede cardstock before adhering it to the front of the card with Dimensionals.    The last step was to add the banner.

I stamped the banner from Number of Years in Basic Black onto Whisper White cardstock and added the greeting from Birthday Banners before cutting it out with the matching die from the Large Numbers Framelits.  I inked the edges first with Crushed Curry ink and then Delightful Dijon.

For the painted panel: I first stamped the guitar from Country Livin' in Basic Black onto Whisper White cardstock and covered it with a mask that I had prepared. 

I then used Mint Macaron Ink (stamped off) to stamp the stripes from the Hostest set Basket For You.  I added a light coat of Mint Macaron sponging over the stripes before I removed the mask.

I then watercoloured the guitar and foreground with Crumb Cake, Soft Suede Tip Top Taupe and Crushed Curry ink.

Click on this image to link to the original challenge

The layout for this card was inspired byMary Fish's version of a Pals Paper Arts Sketch Challenge for May (PPA300).

Thank you for visiting
'Til next time

Stephanie

Product List - To shop in my online store - click on a product image below (Australian Residents only)

Country Livin' Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[141925]

Basket For You Photopolymer Stamp Set

[141812]

Birthday Banners Photopolymer Stamp Set

[141506]

Number Of Years Photopolymer Stamp Set

[140653]

Large Numbers Framelits Dies

[140622]

2015-2017 In Color Designer Series Paper Stack

[138432]

Basic Black A4 Card Stock

[121688]

Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock

[138344]

Delightful Dijon A4 Cardstock

[138345]

Whisper White A4 Card Stock

[106549]

Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad

[140931]

Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad

[138326]

Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad

[131173]

Tip Top Taupe Classic Stampin' Pad

[138325]

Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad

[126975]

Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad

[126978]

Delightful Dijon Classic Stampin' Pad

[138327]