Since I was so late with my July calendar, I wanted to get a head start on August's since I'll be at the Craft & Hobby Association (CHA) show all next week. I can't believe July is almost over -- the summer is just flying by! I decided to take up Gina K's challenge to use a technique from one of her Stamp TV videos and make something with it. Since I've had some Spellbinders Impressabilities templates for a while but still haven't used them yet, I chose to follow Gina's Letterpress with Impressabilities tutorial -- she made it look so easy! So here's my project:
I used the Sea Scape Impressabilities on kraft cardstock and inked the template with Sahara VersaMagic Chalk Ink before embossing it -- I love how it turned out! I cut the shell paper to fit a 4"x4" chipboard coaster (left) and used the remainder on the bottom of the right page of my calendar.
Of course, I also colored the beautiful hibiscus flower images (from Theresa Momber's Aloha stamp set by Gina K Designs). You can see one of Gina's Stamp TV videos on how she colored some Lilies with Copics here. I stamped the flower with Memento Rich Cocoa ink onto Gina K's Pure Luxury Heavy Base Weight cardstock-Ivory. I hadn't tried this ivory cardstock before and when it arrived in my recent order, I was absolutely thrilled with it! For as much Copic ink that I kept layering onto this cardstock, it barely soaked through to the back of the paper (wish I had taken a photo before I adhered it down!). I'm in love and this cardstock will always be in my stamp room now!
This is how I colored my flowers -- using the flick feathering technique I've shown you before:
Basically, you use one color (YR21) and flick it up from the center of the flower and then another color (R81) to flick down from the outer edge of the flower. Where the two blend together in the center of the petals, a new orange color is created! My camera doesn't seem to be handling the color variations very well -- the colors really do blend together nicely and prettier in person! After using these two colors, I used the darker Copic colors shown in the photo below to do some additional shading:
I adored this saying in this set "Go barefoot and sink your toes into the sand..." and knew I would use it on our recent vacation photos! This is one of my favorite photos of my youngest daughter walking in the sand and surf on St. John:
The cutie turns 8 tomorrow, so I wanted a reminder in my 2010 scrappy calendar of her summer birthday fun! I cut the photo with Spellbinders Labels Four Nestabilities die and the sentiment with a Ribbon Tags Trio die. A smaller flower from this set was stamped with Versamark ink on the turquoise cardstock and also onto Gina K's Ivory cardstock, colored, cut out, and used for accents on the calendar:
I love the look of the Letterpress Impressabilities -- they make a great background paper! The calendar itself is my 2010 3-inch downloadable calendar that can be found on my download page HERE. After I printed and die cut it, I added the month with some tiny letter stickers. Thanks for stopping by today -- I hope you are enjoying your weekend!
Stamps: Theresa Momber's Aloha by Gina K Designs
Paper: Gina K Designs Pure Luxury Heavy Base Weight cardstock-Ivory; Memory Box-Kraft cardstock; turquoise cardstock
Ink: Tsukineko VersaMagic Chalk Ink-Sahara Sand, Versamark & Memento-Rich Cocoa; Ranger Adirondack-Pool dye ink & Antique Linen Distress Ink
Accessories: Spellbinders Impressabilities-Sea Scape, Labels Four Nestabilities & Ribbon Tag Trio dies; Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type letter stickers, turquoise ribbon, twine, foam tape, 4-inch chipboard coasters, downloadable 2010 3-inch calendar
