Low Sodium Diet

Hi there and happy Monday!  Hope you had a great weekend with family and friends.  I sure did!  You're probably wondering what a low sodium diet has to do with cards, huh?  Well, it involves the salt background technique.  Last week when our granddaughter spent the night, she made a container to hold salt.  (It's interesting how that 7 year old mind works!)  So not wanting to waste the salt, Grandma suggested trying the technique where salt is sprinkled onto watercolor paper that has been saturated with water, then drops of reinkers are added - Pink Pirouette and Rose Red used for this sample.  We let the backgrounds dry overnight.  A paper towel was used to brush off the excess salt before she stamped images onto the backgrounds.  The above card uses the flower from Stampin' Up!s Regarding Dahlia and the sentiment is from Happy Watercolor (now retired).

The next card uses Perfect Plum and Bermuda Bay reinkers.  The sentiment is from another retired set, Best of Greetings.  I'd say Granddaughter has an eye for color because she chose every color all by herself.  She also chose what she wanted to stamp on each card since she was making these cards for family members.  She loves to make things for people.

Here is her last card, which uses Strawberry Slush and Calypso Coral reinkers.  Not totally sure about the colors.  The sentiment is from Happy Watercolor.

That's all for now.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Try it Thursday!

Hi there!  Guess you could also call today Technique Thursday.  Have you ever wanted to make a card (or scrapbook page) but didn't have the "right" color of background paper?  Make your own in any color you want!  Here are a couple of possible solutions - and they're fun, too.  The sample above was made using images from Stampin' Up!s Happy Watercolor set, which is now retired.  (A similar look can be achieved with the Work of Art set found in the 2014-15 Annual Catalog.)  The colors are Gumball Green (retired) and Island Indigo.  The Smoky Slate dots were added last to fill in those "white" areas and for some additional depth.  
Another technique is by drawing lines of various widths and colors using the brush tip of markers onto watercolor paper, then spritzing with water.  You may have to hold the panel up to get the rivulets of color flowing.  Add more water, if necessary.  Have a paper towel handy just in case there's a lot of pooling.  Below is my finished background.  It reminds me of those canvas panels where crayons are glued to the top, then heated to melt the crayons so they run down the canvas.

The color combinations are endless.  Give these techniques a try and have fun!

That's all for now.  Thank you so much for visiting today!

 

Happy, Happy!

Hi there!  Can you believe tomorrow is May?  Wow, time is just flying!  Speaking of time flying, Monday night I attended Stampin' Up!s Live New Catalog Premiere at the Mills theatre in Hazelwood, MO.  That was the fastest 2-1/2 hours ever!  The whole experience was awesome!  A group of us met at Chevy's before the event, which is always fun.  You could feel the excitement in the atmosphere throughout the mall!  We lined up at the door at 5 pm and entered the movie theatre at 5:30, where we were given wrist bands at the registration table for Prize Patrol.  Unfortunately, our group didn't win a single prize!  (Enter sad face here.)  The Stampin' Up! staff presented live demonstrations (simulcast from California) with products from the new 2014-15 catalog that will go live in June.  We were given a copy of the new catalog AND a new stamp set on our way out of the theatre!  Woo hoo!  I'm really excited to share the catalog with you - and to use my new stamps!  One of the really cool things SU! did this year was to include a picture index in the back of the catalog of each greeting and alphabet set!  That will be so helpful when searching for a sentiment!  Another highlight of the evening was that I met Ann Schach in the theatre lobby!  (She's on my blog list.  You can check out her blog here.)  What a sweet lady - and very talented!  I could have talked to her much longer but her group was ready to head out for their four hour drive back to Iowa.  Well, I can go on and on but better get to today's card.  Inspiration for this card came from Annette Elliott.  See her card here, posted March 29th.
First I stamped the watermark image from the Happy Watercolor stamp set onto watercolor paper using Gumball Green and Island Indigo inks.  Two sets of flowers were stamped - one set was cut out and popped up on Dimensionals for a 3-D effect on an oval "frame" that was cut out with Framelits.  The focal piece was adhered to a panel of Gumball Green Core'dinations cardstock, which was embossed with the retired Vine embossing folder and sanded a bit.  Pearls, ribbon, and a couple of flags were the finishing touch.

Tomorrow I get to place a preorder for NEW products from the new catalog!!!!   (Just one more advantage of being a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator!)  The retired list is out and products are going FAST!   Don't miss out getting the items you want because once they sell out, they're gone!  Here is a link to my online store.  Check it out for any items you may want to order and shoot me an email or give me a call.  I'd be happy to help, if you don't already have a Demonstrator!  Thanks in advance!

Have a great day and thank you for stopping in today!