More spoiling!

Happy Tuesdee, Bloggers!

Stop right here if you have no interest in more sneak peeks of the January Graffiti kit! 

As with nearly every collection, the birth of this kit took some interesting detours. We began with the intent of printing only black and white images on black and white papers, but we ended up adding a bit of color to several of the prints. Turns out that color is what makes graffiti art really work!

Mix of black, white, and color.

You'll notice three glorious textures of black and white papers including smooth, felt and coated. You can participate in the creation of the artwork by adding color to the black and white prints with the art medium of your choice. Fun stuff.

Color added to the White Print with Gelatos.

Color added to the White Print with oil pastels.

The Embellishment Pack (EP) contains a total of fifteen photo mattes, three each of five deeply saturated colors. Four of the five colors have an delightfully unique finish. (Hint: Tribal goodie and Castaway paper pack, for you veterans.) Kay's hubby works at the company where these papers are made. They are absolutely top of the line. The greetings to go pack also contains panels with these same fine papers.

The EP also contains the most spectacular ribbon. It's just plain yummy. Like, you'll want to spend extra time hanging out with it before you use it. Tip: if you want to flatten the rainbow-colored nylon ribbon, place it a few inches from your heat tool while smoothing it out.

Ribbon was "flattened" with a heat tool.

Another art component of the kit is the "chalkboard" look that has been trending of late. We love how it adds a little oomph to the black papers. You can subtly alter the color of the white ink on these prints by topping with the neon dabbers.

I had a blast creating the ALSB pages and Greetings to Go cards for this collection. The bright, bold colors are perfect for those of you who have been asking for themes more suited to the young fellows! Let's hear it for the boys! They are cool.

Blue/Yellow card combo. White pen provided!!!

Our team will be tucked in very early tonight as we prepare for tomorrow's big "New Year's Day Data Transfer Party." Deb has the kits assembled and ready to leave the building first thing on Thursday morning. We can't wait to liven up your new year with this beauty!

Tricia and the team.

Aspen Canvas Frame

Good Monday Morning everyone!

I was so disappointed to have missed out on completing my Aspen Blog Hop project because I became ill this past week. It certainly taught me a lesson about waiting until the last minute when beginning my project. I decided that I would share it with you today.

Here are the steps I took in making my project.

Step 1. Begin with an 8x10" blank canvas flipped to the back side.

Step 1.

Step 2. Create a frame using the wood veneer paper. Cut the paper at a 45 degree angle using the Club Scrap acrylic ruler creating perfect mitered corners.

Step 2.

Step 3. Attach these pieces to the back side of the canvas using ATG adhesive or Bookbinding Glue. Cut strips of the wood veneer paper to cover the inside edges of the wood frame of the canvas. This gives your piece a finished clean look.

Step 3.

Step 4. Wrap a piece of the large grosgrain ribbon around the frame and attach with your choice of adhesive. Attach leaves and quote using hot glue.

Step 4.

Step 5. Complete the project with a favorite photo matted with Aspen cardstocks.

Step 5.

Thanks so much for letting me share my project with you today. Have a fantastic week!

Julie

Aspen Blog Hop

I hope your holidays were wonderful! Today we're celebrating the December Aspen collection.

I just love the Wood Grain Embossing Folder included in the Aspen Lite kit. I knew my project had to incorporate it somehow. There are also a number of quotes on the Aspen rubber stamps that I really liked. So how could I put the two together? This is what I came up with:

UM stamped onto 8-1/2 x 11" Print

A fun little art piece that showcases the faux wood frame and one of my favorite UM quotes. Here's a close up of the faux wood frame:

Bridges Brown Plain embossed with Wood Grain Embossing Folder

Now let's see what our other bloggers have in store for us . . . enjoy!

Next up:

Inkstains with Roni

Deb at Liftbridge Cards and Crafts

Deb Duz Scrappin'

Jill P's Place

Tricia at The Efficient Crafter

Hetty at Craft Chaos

Kay's Keepsakes

Cathy at the Artful Gamut

Ann at Crzymom's Tidbits

Shona's Scraps

Debby at Masculine Inspirations

Dishing with Janet

Tiare at iClassy Girl

Lisa at Carpe Memoria

Marya at A Notebook Novel

Digital Musings by AnnetteD

Creatively yours,
Karen

Graffiti Spoiler!

Hi, Holiday Bloggers!

Wishing you a wonderful December 26th! I'm still in holiday mode, however I can't help but be excited about what's in store for the January Graffiti collection! I'm not showing much of the kit, however I can tell you it contains fun, bright colors and bold designs. Jac has outdone herself yet again!

Rubber stamping with my own coloring.

12x12 with my own colors added.

Love this quote from the cutapart.

Fun 12x12 Graffiti Print.

I know it's a busy time of year, so I'll keep this short, sweet and bright! Enjoy your day and I hope you look forward what Club Scrap has in store for you in January!

Our final, Day 25, Giveaway random drawing winner was comment #61, Heidi Orndorff! Congratulations! Watch your inbox for more information about your prize!

Merry Christmas!

**********THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED**********

It's time for our final giveaway! Today's collection is very special. It is not a kit from the past, however, it is a collection that cannot be purchased . . . it can only be earned. One lucky person who comments on today's blog post will receive our new member referral gifts: the Weathered Florals paper collection AND the Weathered Florals Unmounted Rubber stamp sheet!

We thought you might like to see the ALSB pages from the collection, too! (Of course we'll send a copy of those instructions to our lucky winner.)

For your chance to win this awesome Weathered Florals gift, simply leave a comment on today's blog post. One comment will be chosen at random, and the blogger profile name of the winner will be announced here on the December 26th blog post, by 10am. Merry Christmas and good luck!

Yesterday's (Day 24) Giveaway random drawing winner was comment #21, suzvit! Congratulations! Watch your inbox for more information about your prize!

Use that Aspen Club Stamp 12-pack

Hi, and Merry Christmas!

Don't let your 12-pack of Aspen papers included in your Club Stamp kit languish for too long!

Here is a simple way to turn those twelve sheets of paper into thirteen beautiful, yet simple cards. The majority of the images stamped onto the cards came from the Collection UM sheet, also included in the Club Stamp kit.

Shall we begin with the cutting diagrams? Grab your trimmer, paper pack, and ScorePal, and let's get started.

Score one each of the 8.5x11 Green, Pale Blue and Almond Plains, and two 8.5x11 Aqua Plains vertically at 4.25". Trim each piece horizontally at 5.5".  Fold to make ten card bases.

Use a ruler's edge as a guide, and tear the Text Weight Prints into four sections, as indicated by the artwork.

Tear away all four edges from one 8.5x11 Mica Handmade. Tear in half vertically. Tear each 4x10.5 in half horizontally.

Trim one 8.5x11 Mica Handmade vertically at 8 and 4". Trim each 4x11 horizontally at 10.5 and 5.25". Cut the .5x11 horizontally at 5.5".

Trim one 8.5x11 Pale Blue horizontally at 10.5, 8.25 and 5.5". Trim the 2.75x8.5 horizontally at 6.75, 4.5 and 2.25". Cut the 2.25x8.5 horizontally at 7.5, 5 and 2.5". Tear the .5x8.5 in half. Score the 5.5x8.5 horizontally at 4.25" and fold to create a card base.

Trim one 8.5x11 Green horizontally at 10.5, 8 and 5.5". Trim one 2.5x8.5 horizontally at 8.25, 5.5 and 2.75". Trim the other 2.5x8.5 horizontally at 6.5, 4.5 and 2.5". Tear the .5x8.5 horizontally at 4.25". Score the 5.5x8.5 at 4.25" and fold.

Cut the 8.5x11 Almond horizontally at 10.25, 9, and 5.5". Trim the 3.5x8.5 horizontally at 6.25 and 4". Trim the 3.5x4 vertically at 2.75". Cut the 2.75x4 horizontally at 2.75". Trim the 1.25x8.5 at 6.5 and 3.25". (Phew . . . I saved the most difficult one for last!)

Here are the assembled cards:

Notice the use of the small scraps as anchor strips. Small leaves stamped with Spruce ink.

Tear the text weight panel into two sections. Stamp the quote with White Pigment ink.

Stamp the skis onto the printed panel. Looks nifty!

Anchor with small, torn scraps. To fill the leaf, stamp off onto a separate sheet of paper before stamping over the leaf.

I was happy with how nice the Mica Handmade paper stamped with India Black ink.

Use an extra 4x5.25" Mica Handmade panel to line the Green card.

Fake a card panel by masking the stamped image. Use blended watercolors to create a sunset. 

You can use other Club Stamp paper collections with this formula, however keep in mind that the Pale Blue, Green and Almond sheets were cut to sizes to accommodate the stamps in this collection.

I hope you give it a try!
Tricia

***********THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED**********

I can't believe today is the eve of our last kit giveaway! Today's vintage kit is the July 2005 Wings Club Scrap kit. This kit has some of the most amazing raised printed papers we have ever done. It includes both 8-1/2 x 11" and 12x12" premium papers, two wood-mounted stamps, a template stencil, rub-ons and much, much more.

For your chance to win this great kit for free, please leave a comment below. We'll select one comment at random and post the profile name of the winner on the December 25th blog post by 10am Central. Good luck!

AND YOU WON'T WANT TO MISS THE DAY 25 GIVEAWAY, so be sure to visit the blog tomorrow for a very special collection to be given away as our final gift!

Yesterday's (Day 23) Giveaway random drawing winner was comment #1, tsurowiec! Congratulations! Watch your inbox for more information about your prize!

Kay's Bokeh Technique Cards

Good Monday Morning, everyone!

I recently came across a tutorial at Split Coast Stampers which detailed a very unique technique, called Bokeh, which is defined as the visual quality of the out-of-focus areas of a photographic image, esp. as rendered by a particular lens.

Here is an example.

Image source

Kay created an amazing card using this technique and her Aspen Club Stamp kit.

Step 1. Stamp the quote from the Aspen UM Collection onto a piece of the almond cardstock.

Step 2. Use Pistachio Gelato to add color directly to your leaf stamp from the same UM collection.

Step 3. Use a water brush to blend and lift a bit of the Gelato color onto the brush.

Step 4. Stamp the leaf image at an angle next to the quote on the almond cardstock.

Step 5. Use the water brush that has been loaded with color from Step 3, and create a halo affect around the stamped leaf image.

Step 6. Use an eraser from a pencil as a stamp and CS® Lagoon Hybrid Ink, to add dots randomly around the leaf image, overlapping the image and the quote, to create the Bokeh background.

Step 7. On a scrap piece of almond cardstock, stamp another leaf image with CS® Black India Ink. Color in the image using the Big Brush marker in May Green.

Step 8. Cut out the image of just the leaf and add shading to the leaf using the water brush and Gelato.

Step 9. Use your bone folder to create added dimension to your leaf.

Step 10. Attach your leaf to the card panel on top of the Gelato stamped image using pop dots and a line of CS® Bookbinding glue.

Step 11. Use a black fine tip marker to draw the stem onto your panel to finish the leaf.

Step 12. Nest the panel onto a black matte and then attach both to the Pale blue cardstock base.

Thanks to Kay for bringing this technique to life using the Aspen Kit. Hope you all have a wonderful week and thanks so much for stopping by.

Julie

**********THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED**********

Today's vintage kit  is the Club Scrap Lite (formerly known as Junior) Bridges kit from February 2008. This kit includes 12x12 papers, a stencil, wood mounted stamp, stickers and more!

To qualify for the drawing, simply leave us a comment on today's blog post. We'll choose one comment at random and announce the winner on the Tuesday, December 24th blog post by 10am Central. Good luck!

Yesterday's (Day 22) Giveaway random drawing winner was comment #33, cal8007! Congratulations! Please email Karen at karen@clubscrap.com with your contact information so we can arrange to send you your prize!