Sara Jane's Studio

A Year of Collage - May 2010

Happy May Day! 

This month's calendar is based on a tried-and-true layout:  the Grid.  If ever in doubt, you can base a design on a grid pattern, and you can almost never go wrong. 

 My inspiration was the design in the upper left corner- it's a transparency with a printed brocade image that I adhered to white cardstock with Crystal Effects.  To that, I decided to add brown and green, and a variety of patterns and textures of paper.  Each square is 1-1/8" on a side, with a scant 1/4 inch in-between each one.  The lower six squares are adhered directly to the Chocolate Chip cardstock base, and the top six squares are adhered with Stampin' Dimensonals.  I used a variety of embellishments: a brass charm, ribbons, a small Prima flower, and beads in coordinating colors.

The dates of the month were printed on Whisper White carstock on my computer, and I highlighted the edges with one of my favorites:  a Krylon Gold Leaf Pen.  It was then adhered with Stampin' Dimensionals.

And there we have the lovely month of May!  Click on the Year of Collage link to see the other months I've created.

The Last of Summer

While I was at Croptopia, the last week of August, I had a little time on my hands to play with the new Stampin' Up! 2010 InColors, and one of my favorite stamp sets, "Great Friend". 

And since I had all of my toys with me, I also played with the "Texturz Plates", made to create beautifully embossed and textured paper and cardstock using the Big Shot die cut machine.

This card is made with Bermuda Bay cardstock, one of the 2010 InColors.  I cut a piece 6-1/2" square, and folded to make a rectangular card that will fit in the small open-ended envelope from Stampin' Up!After folding, I embossed it with the exclusive "Flourish" Texturz Plate, part of the "Backgrounds 1" set.  The reason for folding it first?  The 6-1/2" lenght will not fit through the Big Shot!!  It actually works out just fine- you get some embossing on the back side, just not as deep as the front.

The butterfly image from "Great Friend" was stamped using another new InColor, Melon Mambo, and the image was cut out close to the edge.  The frame and "for you" were stamped in Old Olive ink on a piece of Old Olive cardstock, cut 2-1/8" wide  X 2-3/8" tall. 

The white circle is one of the Jumbo Grommets.  No special tools are needed for this- just set the prongs with your bone folder on the back side.  It's finished off with a little piece of white grosgrain ribbon tied around the grommet.

A sweet card, isn't it?  And great for any "great friend"!!

Adventures with Flower Soft - Chapter 4

I'm not going to call this the last chapter of my adventures with Flower Soft, because there are more tricks I want to try.  But this will be it for a while.

This card uses the same "Open Window" image from Impression Obsession that I used in the last post.  In this case, the image was stamped in Chocolate Chip on Whisper White cardstock, and the curtain and window shade highlighted with colored pencils.  I used "Summer" Flower Soft for the flowers in the pot.

The image was trimmed close to the edge, and mounted on Rose Red cardstock (Stampin' Up!).  It was then mounted on designer paper (Raspberry Tart, retired) and finally on an Always Artichoke 5" square card.  The sentiment was stamped in "Pure Poppy" Palette ink  using "Spiral Bouquet" from Papertrey Ink.  I trimmed close to the edges, mounted on Always Artichoke, and trimmed close, again.

 

Above is a side-by-side comparison of the two cards that used the same "Open WIndow" image.  The only difference is the color of Flower Soft and the background colors.  Do you have a favorite?  Let me know- I'd love to get your thoughts!

Adventures with Flower Soft - Chapter 3

Continuing my adventures with Flower Soft, I used the stamp image called "Open Window" from Impression Obsession.  Again, I stamped the image using Chocolate Chip on both Whisper White and Sahara Sand.  (And I still can't decide which color I like best for the background!)

This is a close-up of the stamped image on Sahara Sand, with white colored pencil used to highlight the woodwork. 

And this shows the entire image.  I colored the curtain and the flower pot with colored pencils, and used "Sweet Pea" Flower Soft for the flowers

Below is the final card.  I trimmed the image close to the edge, then mounted on Old Olive and Pink Pirouette (retired).  The card base is Chocolate Chip, and I used a corner rounder on all of the mats as well as the card.

The sentiment is from a new Stampin' Up! hostess set, "Kind and Caring Thoughts".

One of my friends liked this card the best of all of them. What do you think? 

Adventures with Flower Soft - Chapter 2

This little adventure uses the same "Closed Window" image from Impression Obsession that I used in my previous card, as well as Flower Soft in "Fuschia" and "sweet Pea".  This image was stamped with Chocolate Chip on Sahara Sand cardstock, and then the shutters and window frame were highlighted with white colored pencil.  The flower pots were also colored with pencil.

To make the card from this image, I trimmed close to the edges, and then mounted on Whisper White, and trimmed close again.  The image was mounted on designer paper from Stampin Up (Raspberry Tart; retired), and then on Rose Red using Stampin' Dimensionals. 

The card itself is Elegant Eggplant.  The sentiment is from "Endless Creations", stamped in Elegant Eggplant on Naturals White cardstock, and then mounted on Rose Red and Cameo Coral using Stampin' Dimensionals.

Another cheery card for a special person on any occasion!

 

Side-by-side comparison of the two cards, stamped on different cardstock.  Which one do you like better??

 

Adventures with Flower Soft

WAY back in early June (seems like eons ago!) I attended the Heirloom Rubber Stamp Festival in Springfield, MA.  One of the too many things I purchased included Flower Soft, whcih I've been curious about for a long time.

The manufacturers call it an "amazing pot of coloured sprinkles".  I don't know about "amazing" yet, but it is fun to play with!  The photo on the left shows the size of the little sprinkles- it's from the "Summer" mix.  I can't quite tell what it's made of, but it's some kind of paper fiber or other fiber.

Flower Soft comes in 30 ml jars of solid colors or mixes of colors (like the one at left).  I have a feeling this pot is going to last a LONG time, because it is really packed with the sprinkles.

At the same time I picked up the Flower Soft, I got a couple of stamp images perfect to use with it.  The images are from Impression Obsession- and the one below is called "Closed Window".  I stamped it using Chocolate Chip ink (Stampin' Up!) on Sahara Sand cardstock and on Whisper White cardstock- I wanted to see which version I liked better.

Then I took my white colored pencil and highlighted the parts of the window that would be reflecting light.  And I colored in the flower pots with colored pencils as well.

On this image, on Whisper White cardstock, I started with "Sunshine Yellow" Flower Soft.  I used plain white PVA glue to attach the sprinkles where I wanted them.  I filled in the rest of the flower images with "Fuschia" and "Sweet Pea". 

This is a close-up after adding all of the colors, letting them dry, and then shaking off the excess- much like you would do with glitter or embossing powder.

This is the finished card.  I cut out the window close to the edge of the image, and mounted it first on some yellow designer paper, then Cameo Coral.  The card itself is an odd size- it's from the now-retired Kiwi Kiss.

The sentiment is a stamp from Verses Rubber Stamps, stamped in Old Olive on Whisper White, then mounted on Old Olive cardstock.  

I added some little touches of Flower Soft to the sentiment, too.

Then, because it is oversized, I used some of the same designer paper to make an envelope, using a Coluzzle template.  And voila, a special card/gift for a special person!

A Little Shadow Box

More fun with the "Aviary Postcards" from Meyer Imports!!  And, I used a small chipboard shadow box from C&T Publishing too!  (Numerous Craft Critique reporters are going to review various products from C&T Publishing.  Check them out by clicking here.)

This adorable little thing started as a white chipboard box with an acetate window in the cover.  The box is only 3-1/4" square, and 1-3/4" deep.  I covered the top and the bottom in coordinating Designer Paper from the Walk in the Park line from Stampin' Up!.  I liked the blue color, and the small print was the right scale for this project.  I covered the inside bottom with Not Quite Navy cardstock, and used three layers of dimensional adhesive to attach it.  Similarly I used a triple layer of dimensional adhesive to attach the Aviary Postcard.  I added a small piece of 1/8" wide gold "German scrap" at the top and the bottom of the Not Quite Navy background, for a little surprise in case anyone looked closely.

This was the easy part. . .  It then took me at least an hour (maybe two?!?)  to pull together all of the rest of the elements to my satisfaction.  What finally got me on the right path was finding the textured pink glass button in my stash.

I threaded the button with a multi-colored silk ribbon that has iridescent edges, and wrapped the ribbon twice around the top of the shadow box.  I tucked a large turquoise bangle/sequin behind the button before attaching it securely with Omni-Stick glue.

I found the rectangluar gold charm in my stash, and added another piece of German Scrap to the left side (only) of the window on the cover.

Along the bottom front I attached a piece of decorative trim left over from some curtains that I took apart.  It seemed too plain, so I added five little, silver, oval sequins, and along the center added a fuzzy piece of fiber that has just a hint of warm color peeking out here and there.

I thought a little more pink and gold in the lower right corner would help to balance the whole design, and I found the pink flat backed embellishment and a gold colored Dew Drop, and then added one tiny gold flower that matches the border of the window.

All was finished by adding a Stampin' Up! rub-on sentiment (from a retired set) to the window in the lower right corner.  If you look too critically you will see where I almost completely ruined it by trying to finish adhering the rub-on without having anything between the rub-on and the applicator.  DOH!!!!

Side view.

And that was it!  As I've said before, I love small things, and I love doing collage and assemblage.  This project was a real pleasure!!

Keep creating!

Vintage Flowers

While I was playing with the Vintage German Scrapfrom Meyers Imports, and after I finished my Easter Eggs using the same images, I re-discovered my stash of chipboard microscope slide mailers and played with one of those.

If you are not familiar with these, they are actually used to ship tissue specimens that are already mounted onto microscope slides. 

Being that they are made from chipboard, and they are a great size (3" X 3-3/4" when closed), they have been in the crafter's stash for altering for years.

I started by painting my mailer with Jacquard Lumiere acrylic paint: inside with Olive Green and outside with Citrine.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE Lumiere paints- they have a beautiful metallic sheen, come in rich colors, and go on like buttercream frosting.  I found a piece of open-weave mesh in my stash of specialty papers and used that for the base.  The flower image was from the Meyers Imports "Flower Basket" panel of Vintage German Scrap.  It's from the same set of images that I used for the Easter Eggs.  I adhered the flower basket on top of the mesh using Golden Heavy Gel.  (I probably could have used any white PVA glue- the Golden Gel happened to be handy from my other project!). 

I stamped "Je t'aime" in Chocolate Chip ink, and then framed it with an antiqued copper frame.  I did not want the brads to show through the back side of the mailer, so I put them through the frame, but not the chipboard.  I trimmed the ends of the wire brads with a wire snipper so they would not show, and then mounted the whole using Omni-Stick adhesive (which I've found to be the best adhesive for heavy embellishemnts).

  Front of slide mailer.

On the inside, I used a stamp "Pour Vous", stamped in Timber Brown StazOn ink, and I used colored dye inks to watercolor the image with greens and red for the ribbon.  When it was dry, I punched it out using the Wide Oval punch from Stampin' Up!.  I used a Spellbinders oval "Nestability" die to cut out a larger oval from Handsome Hunter cardstock (Stampin' Up!), and I edged it with my favorite Krylon Gold Leafing Pen before adhering to the slide mailer using PVA glue.

Inside of slide mailer. 

For the two slots on the right, I printed out the sentiment in a dark green and a font called "High Society".  I cut them to fit the spaces, and then edged them with the gold leafing pen before adhering them with PVA glue.  I found the gold colored charms in my stash, and finished everything off with some tiny red jewels.

This will be a fun gift for someone special!

(PS If you want to read my review of the products themselves- head on over to Craft Critique by clicking here.)

An Easter Egg - Really?

This was fun!!  And I was able to use one of the plastic Easter eggs without feeling badly about it.

 

I started with a green egg, and using Omni-Stick adhesive, attached a piece of 1/4" velvet olive green ribbon around the center seam of the egg.  Then I adhered tiny Prima flowers all over the top half.  I finished each flower by added a similar colored Dew Drop to the center of each, again using Omni-Stick glue.

 

For the finishing touch, I added a little miniature ladybug from Martin Meyer Imports.

Is it just me, or is this really CUTE?!?!

Other Ways to Play with Dominoes

Remember this domino?  I made it during one of my domino "frenzies", and at the time, had not decided what to do with it.

Because it uses a friendship theme, the logical thing to do was to use it on something for my dearest friend's birthday.   Eventually I decided to use it to embellish a small wooden box.

I started with a plain unfinished box, about 2-1/2" X 2-1/2" X 7/8".  (In total the box it is taller than 7/8" due to the height of the lid.  But the walls of the box are only 7/8" tall.)  I gave it a coat of sealer, and then decided to use the domino as the source of colors for the box.  Recall that in addition to the pale blue background, I used my silver Krylon Leafing Pen on the edges (which you can't see in this shot), and as you can see, I added a narrow black frame around the top of the domino.

The first layer was a coat of Jacquard's Lumiere Acrylic paint in "Pewter".  (You can find Lumiere at many brick and mortar hobby stores, and at numerous sites online.)

Then I stippled on additional color, using "indigo" and "Pearlescent White".  I also added back more "Pewter" until I got just the finish that I wanted.  The black frame on the domino was echoed buy painting the rim of the box lid in black craft paint. 

When the paint was completely dried, I added a coat of Satin finish "DuraClear" interior/exterior varnish (by DecoArt).

On the inside, I painted everything "Indigo", but decided that this was not going to be good enough.

 

SO, I stamped the same image ("Parasol" by River City Rubber Works), which in its entirety includes two little girls with parasols.  I used StazOn, on Whisper White cardstock, and colored in the images with colore pencils.  I added a saying from a "Hero Arts" stamp at the bottom of the image, and I used this to line the bottom of the box.  I protected it by adding a coat of varnish.

I signed the bottom (well, with a fancy letter "S" rubber stamp), and gifted my friend with pride!!

    

Oh- and I almost forgot to add:  on the sides of the domino I stamped the phrase "A friend loveth at all times."  Because we do!!

So now my dear friend has a little box that she can use to store something special.  Or not.  And, of course, a lasting memory of my love and appreciation for her friendship!!

Keep creating- it's fun!!