Outside the Box Hibiscus

At least, I think this is a hibiscus! I stamped the flower on white cardstock, masked it, and stamped two more flowers around it. I then placed my oval cutting template (Creative Memories) on the paper and cut the oval, stopping short of the flower petals. I hand-cut around the flowers that were hanging off the edge of the oval. I colored the flowers with copics. The entire oval layer is popped up with dimensionals, as is the sentiment tab. Supplies: (SU except where noted) stamps - Embrace Life paper - black, ww, ruby red, river rock dsp ink - Palette black acc - copics, oval cutter (CM), black gingham, large oval punch, dimensionals

Tips: Out of the Box

Today's tip is something that brings a fun twist to any regular layout. It's just that little extra something different. When I use the term out of the box, I don't mean coming up with different ideas for your stamp images (although that's always a good idea!). I mean the technique where you have your image emerging from the image panel. It goes beyond the typical borders. I made 2 cards featuring this technique. It really doesn't matter where you choose to have the image emerge. One the one card I had the cupcake spill over on the right side. On the other card, I had the bow coming out over the top of the panel. I find there are 3 tools you need to help make this technique a success. You need a pencil, a clear ruler, and a decent pair of scissors. I start by stamping my image on a larger than necessary panel. Then I take my clear ruler and go over the image on each side, seeing which way would look best. Next I draw a faint line, excluding the image. I cut out along the pencil line, then go around the image. An easier way of doing this technique is to stamp your image partially on one panel, then cut out the part that will be emerging over the edge and adhere it over top with a pop dot.

CAS Friendly Techniques

Once again, it's time to bring out the glossy paper and a brayer. It's time for spectrum backgrounds. These don't have to be monochromatic. They can be very effective that way, but really, any group of colours that can be arranged in a spectral fashion work well for this! I made my background using Certainly Celery, Cool Caribbean and Lavender Lace. I had originally tried it out on ultrasmooth white, it just absorbs too fast and you don't get as nice of a blend. The glossy white paper definitely provides a forgiveness of sorts. Next, I attached my spectrum panel to a card front, softened it up a bit with some white organdy ribbon. I added a sentiment with Stazon, then stamped and cut out a few flowers and leaves in matching colours! This one ended up being about a 12 minute card. Supplies: Stamps: Bodacious Bouquet, Heartfelt Phrases Ink: Celery, Caribbean, Lavender, Black Stazon Paper: Glossy White, White, Caribbean Accessories, etc.: Organdy Ribbon, pop dots, brayer

Fall To Colours

I used SC183, the SCS sketch for this week, for this card. I used bashful blue, taken with teal and tempting turquoise. To add some texture I used the swiss dots embossing folder on the bashful blue panel and I stamped a flower in Versamark on the turquoise panel. I also added brads and some bling to the main image and mounted it on pop dots for more interest. Supplies: Stamps - SU!, Hero Arts; Paper - Papertrey Stampers Select, MME; Ink - Versafine Black Onyx, Versamark, SU! Markers; Misc - brads, Amuse Twinkler Micro Dots, Hero Arts bling, pop dots

Fall-To Colours

In keeping with the monochromatic theme this week, this colour combination comes from the same hue family- Taken with Teal, Cool Caribbean, and Soft Sky. These three colours work really nicely together. The lighter blues really help to mute the loudness sometimes associated with the bright teal colour. I used some older designer paper that had the teal and Caribbean tones in it. The ribbon is by American Crafts. The card measures 5x5, however, I cut an inch off the front and adhered the patterned paper inside the card. Supplies: Stamps: DoodleFactory Animal-Percy, Verve Visual Fluttering By Paper: White, Teal, Soft Sky, Loves Me DP Ink: Black, Taken with teal Accessories, etc.: aquabrush, ribbon, pop dots