out of the box – Page 18 – The Write Stuff

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Serendipity SSCB#44 – My Guy!

Posted on June 3, 2015 12:00 AM by Julie 5 Comments

Welcome to the June Challenge for Serendipity Stamps! This month the challenge is My Guy (masculine card)! The Design Team has the added challenge of using texture (embossing, fabric, etc.). You can get all the details over on the Serendipity Challenge Blog. We have something new…a “Stamp of the Month”. Each month a different image will be 50% off. This month- it’s the Grill. Be sure to check out the great deals on the Clearance Stamps, too. And as always, we have a have a gift certificate up for grabs to a random player.

My first thought at this time of year for a guy card, was of course, Father’s Day. I had the idea to use the train image, but then I realized I had forgotten to get a Father’s Day greeting. So I guess necessity IS the mother of invention, lol. I searched the word dies & made the DAD out of the Day die.

For the background frame & mountain part of the scene, I used Brusho water color crystals by sprinkling them onto damp water color paper, then blending them out with a wet paintbrush. I added a bit of shimmer by washing over it with some pearlescent water colors.

Here’s the picture of the background, showing how I die cut the large piece & made a frame out of it. From the center, I found the area I wanted for the mountains and die cut a circle around it. By masking, I stamped the background part of the scene & filled in with more of the trees. I added a woodgrain embossed white front & the cut out train. The envelope ties were also fussy cut and added behind the die cut oval w/ the greeting. The upper left corner element is just a leftover piece of the water color background and a Candi dot.

The finished card is 4.25 x 5.50 and these are the Copics I used on the train image.

Supplies:

Stamps: Serendipity Stamps – Train on Track, Envelope Tie, Love You (small)

Paper: Neenah white, water color

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Versafine onyx (scene on w/c paper)

Accessories: Serendipity Day die, Spellbinders A2 matting basics A & B, circles & petite ovals dies, Copic markers, Brusho water color crystals, water color shimmer paints, woodgrain embossing folder (Paper Studio), Candi dot

Please be sure to stop by and comment on all the DT blogs to increase your chances of winning! And we have a special guest this month… Tracey McNeely

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Little Peony

Posted on April 28, 2015 10:44 AM by Julie 1 Comment

For today’s Color Challenge on Splitcoast (CC528), we have soft colors..sky, pink & sand. I had some designer paper that had close to the same colors so I built my card around it. I’m not sure why the peony looks sort of orangey here..in real life, it’s a lot more pinky.

After I water colored the peony & background, I used the out of the box technique to die cut it. I added a white layer then put it back on top of the larger background I cut it from originally. Another white layer then it was added to the stitched layer along with the piece of dp.
Bday Peony dk 06164
The Happy was die cut 3 times & stacked together for more dimension, then a few sequins added for a little sparkle. The finished card is 4.25 x 5.50.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps: Serendipity Stamps –Peony, Happy Birthday

Paper: Neenah white, dp (MME), water color paper

Ink: Versafine onyx

Accessories: Serendipity Happy die, Spellbinders A2 matting basics A & B dies, Lil’ Inkers stitched rectangle dies, sequins, water colors

I’m also adding this to the Simon Says Monday Challenge ..anything goes!

This entry was posted in Birthday Serendipity Stamps Spellbinders Nestabilities Splitcoast Challenges Splitcoaststampers Weekly Favorite Watercolor and tagged Birthday flowers Lil' Inker out of the box Serendipity Stamps Spellbinders Splitcoast Splitcoast Weekly Favorite water color

Serendipity February Blog Hop!

Posted on February 13, 2015 12:00 AM by Julie 29 Comments

Welcome to the Serendipity February Blog Hop! We are showing off some beautiful new dies & images! If you arrived here from Jenny’s Blog , you are in the right place..if not, you may want to head over there first.

The Prize – One $20 gift code will go to one random commenter from the blogs. So be sure to visit all the blogs because you don’t know which one the winner will be drawn from.

For a second chance to win – like us on Facebook and share the ad about the hop. One person who does both will be selected to win a second $20 gift certificate. If you already like us on FB all you have to do is share the ad with a friend. Click on the “share” link under the photo.

Visitors can leave comments through Feb 16 and the winner will be announced on Mary’s blog on Feb 17.

My first card features the gorgeous new Daisy Garden die & Daisy Border die along with the wonderful Easter die. I paired them with the sweet little Three Ducks image. Recently, Mary (Serendipity Stamps owner) and I had a little discussion about marbled paper. I have quite a stash of paper I hand marbled a long time ago and since every piece is one of a kind, I made color copies to use and I came across one of my favorite pieces so I used it for this card. Here’s a look at the copy before I cut it and used it. I thought the colors would be wonderful for an Easter card.

In order to die cut the ducks, I had to do a little out of the box technique (tutorial HERE). The top part was a little trickier…when I die cut the Daisy Garden die, I lined up the die to determine where to cut the pierced rectangle out of the remainder. I did it this way because I wanted the marbled paper to show through the Daisy Garden die and I didn’t want to have to hand cut it. I did the same with the turquoise layer. Worked perfectly! I paper pieced the little Easter eggs on the image out of some more of the marbled paper. Here are the Copics I used.

And on the inside, I used a little of the left over marbled paper and the leftover negative of the die cut Easter.

Supplies:

Stamps: Serendipity Stamps – Three Ducks, Happy Christmas (Happy on inside)

Paper: X-Press It white, turquoise, copy of hand marbled paper

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Colorbox sea crystal chalk ink (inside)

Accessories: Serendipity Daisy Garden die, Daisy Border die & Easter die, Spellbinders pierced rectangle, radiant rectangle (pieced long oval), & mega oval dies, Copic markers

My second & third cards, I actually started for challenges on Splitcoast but didn’t finish right away so here they are! Promise, I wasn’t trying to be an overachiever!

I love this cute little Sick Puppy image. After stamping and coloring him, I had an idea to cut him out and have him perched in a window opening. I die cut the white panel w/ a rectangle die then cut the pierced circle and placed the puppy on the edge and added the greeting below him.

A Daisy Garden die was added, half on, half under the top. The background is a mono print background I made a while back (tutorials HERE and HERE). These are the Copics I used.

Supplies:

Stamps: Serendipity Stamps – Sick Puppy, Heard You’re One Sick Puppy

Paper: X-Press It white, mono print background

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Versafine onyx (greeting)

Accessories: Serendipity Daisy Garden die, Spellbinders A2 matting basics A & B, pieced circle dies, Copic markers

For the last card, I had to stick it on the end because I made it for my hubby for Valentine’s Day. He has a feed that shows the beginning of my blog posts on his home page, so if it’s on top, he’ll see it before I want him to.

I had the hardest time with this one..I love the dies, but I couldn’t figure out what to put with them. Then on Monday, there was a challenge to use your embossing folders to “stamp” an image. I had this Queen of Hearts embossing folder so I inked it and “stamped” it onto white. No embossing, just used it to stamp.

I added the layered Poker Chips die cuts, the Lucky die, and I cut apart the S from the Sweet die and a trimmed “a” from the Imagine die to make my So word. Here’s a look at the inside.

I used the IN also from the Imagine die combined with the Love die, more poker chips and Happy Valentine’s Day.

Supplies:

Stamps: Serendipity Stamps – Happy Valentine’s Day II

Paper: X-Press It white, red linen, black, dp (Glitz- Black & White)

Ink: Memento tuxedo black, Distress ink barn door, worn lipstick (to ink the embossing folder)

Accessories: Serendipity Poker Chips die, Lucky die, Sweet die, Imagine die, Love die, Spellbinders A2 matting basics A & B, black grosgrain ribbon, Cuttlebug Queen of Hearts embossing folder (Love is in the Air set)

Thanks so much for stopping by! Now, you’ll need to hop on over to Karen’s Blog. Please be sure to visit and comment on all the team blogs to increase your chances to win! Here’s the order in case you get lost.

Thanks so much for stopping by!