Thursday, May 14, 2009

Welcome to the May 15th & 16th Blog Tour ~ Tour #5, Stop #20

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Welcome to my blog!! My name is Selene Kempton and I'm so excited about the blog tour today and to share this fun project with you! I decided to share another box today. This time, it's a box to house 7 cards for a girlfriend. I started with my basic box (listed about a week ago on my blog with directions), and changed the dimensions a bit to create this card holder.
I started with the box itself and quickly scored it at 3" and 9" and flipped it and scored it again at 5" and 8" a few cuts and adjustments and I had a quick box. I layered some designer series paper on the front of the box and labeled it "cards", but it still needed a little something. I had a leftover birdy from a package of chipboard. I grabbed a sponge dauber and my tempting turquoise craft pad. I added ink to the front of the chicky, then heat set it with my embossing gun.
I let that cool off, and then I took the smallest flower from my featured stamp set ~ Garden Greetings ~ and inked it up in versamark. I stamped my flower right on the birdy. Next, I took some iridescent ice embossing powder and poured it on top.
Quick tip: whenever you're embossing something, in addition to using an embossing buddy, it's good to have a paintbrush near by. I used my paintbrush to clean up my birdy **before** I heated the embossing powder to melt it on. The word "cards" on the front of the box was also stamped in tempting turquoise craft ink, and is pretty sparkly in real life from the iridescent ice EP.
I knew this project was going to take me a bit, because I wanted to fill my box with a bunch of cards, so next I took an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of very vanilla paper, and made my own background paper. I simply stamped the entire piece of paper with the flowers. It's important to start with the largest flower first. I picked the lightest color for that one, and then I went to the medium image and so on. If you start with the smallest flower first, you may not have enough room for the bigger images. :)
On to my main card element. For many of the cards, I decided to use Kelly Purkey's paperpin technique. You use mod podge to stick 3 layers of paper together, stamp on them, then paint each layer with crystal effects to seal it. The way I learned this technique, I was "supposed" to use stazon and here's why... The regular classic inks are water based and crystal effects is water soluble, so if you don't do it properly, your ink could run and you could end up with a mess! The trick is to paint a thin layer of crystal effects on your stamped image with a paint brush and let it dry, before using a big thick layer on top. This helps seal your image and makes it so your water based ink doesn't move! Shown here is the layered image on my cardfront. I used dimensionals to attach my pin, but in reality, if I were making this into a pin you could wear on your jacket, you just need one of those pin backs and you can use crystal effects to adhere it to the back of your pin. If you are going to do that, make sure you seal the entire paper (including the back) with crystal effects so that water wont be able to get to it. Once the crystal effects is completely dry, a little rain water shouldn't bother it.
Next, I want to highlight another cool product I used while creating this set of cards. I just love the flower brads with this stamp set. The brad, fits perfectly with the smallest flower image and for all three flower images in this set! I couldn't leave the brads plain! I mixed a little crystal effects with some dazzling diamonds and WOO HOO!!! It's sparkly!!
Now that I have shared with you some of my favorite highlights of this card set, I'll tell you the cards went together so very quickly. I used very generic and simple layouts and added the fancy flowers to many of the cards as the "wow" element. I really had fun with this set!
Finally, I'd like to share a small image of each of the 7 cards in the set. If you're looking to see it in a larger photo, just click on the thumbnails below. Please note, some of the cards are still wet! I really laid the crystal effects on thick. That will just protect those gorgeous pin embellishments. (you can see other projects made with this technique a little further down on my blog). I think these are wonderful, quick, cards that are easy to reproduce. I had an extra piece of stamped cardstock that I didn't use in this set. I'll be posting a page in the next day or two, I hope you come back and visit soon.
I hope you enjoy all the other bloggers. There is some beautiful work out there! And I hope you have time to stamp something FUN today!






























Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to book mark my site because the links will disappear at midnight on May 16th. Also, please leave me a comment to let me know how you liked my blog! If you want my updates right in your inbox when I post, go to the top right hand side of my blog and enter your email address. Thanks again!

34 comments:

Lucia Kaiser said...

Selene: These are all really beautiful. Wonderful job. Thanks for contributing so much to the blog tour. ~ Lucia

Aloha Jan said...

Oooooh, great work!!!

Virginia Killmore said...

hey Selene nice to be your neighbor!
Have you noticed blog nineteen does not have a link to 20? or am I missing something go to run!

Family Fun said...

Love these cards and I like the idea of making a box of cards for a gift.

Teri said...

Very nice job. I like your blog.

Krista said...

Selene, your box and cards are really amazing ! Great job !
Have a great weekend !!

TABray said...

Cool project idea!

Lorita said...

Selene,
Love the projects. You did a wonderful job!! I don't have this set so it looks like I might have to get it now!!
Lorita

Sherrill Graff owner said...

I loved the 3 d flower and card so much I had to clip it for my blog contest! Thanks for all the inspiration today, this is a great tour. Sherrill Graff istmpnv@aol.com

Hetty said...

Oh this is just to cute! Thanks for sharing your beautiful cards.

Sharon Field / Inky A*Muse-ment said...

Love the CE... need to get that off the shelf.. you've inspired me. can't wait to see what you do tomorrow for our blog tours.

Liz said...

So very cute!!!

Sarah said...

You have done beautiful work. TFS

Sandi MacIver said...

love the colors and how you layered the flowers, they are stunning

Ret said...

Selene, these are beautiful! I love all of them! Thanks for sharing!

Pam said...

Wow! Great ideas! I'll be back to look again!

Barbara said...

What a fabulous gift set....love each and every one of the cards for the set. What a wonderful post!

tammy said...

Your blog is amazing! Thanks for your excellent directions, projects, etc. You're going into my favs! Thanks! tammy @ cross timbers

ThreadCatcher said...

Great tips on making the pin, your own background paper and sparkly flower brad. jmniffer

carolm said...

very cute selene. switch it to purple and send it to me. ;) haha.

xoxoxo

Dawn Dickinson said...

Selene,

Great job I think your projects are really great!

Nicole Tugrul said...

Amazing work! Now I want to buy this stamp set!!

Twila said...

Love your blog and your creative ideas!

Unknown said...

WOW Selene, this are fabulous! Just beautiful work. TSF
Diane

Barbara K said...

Wow - you are something else. They sparkle! Always fun to try something new.

Julie said...

Selene I love your cards - especially the paper pin technique on the flower! Beautiful!

Margaret R said...

Wonderful cards and box, Selene! Love the layered flower embellies with Crystal Effects...fabulous!

Heather Wright-Porto said...

Love the pin technique!
thanks for sharing!
Heather
www.handstampedbyheather.com

Diana said...

FABULOUS SAMPLES. TFS

KellyRae said...

Love the flowers and the colors are so bright and cheery. Thanks for sharing on the blog tour.

Laura said...

Again, LOVE this set, and you use it so well! Great idea to do the pin tech. with this set, now I will have to try it ;)

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