My Last Day of Homework for the Summer Card Class II!!

I am very sad that this card class is ending. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. I also dug out supplies and used products that I had but hadn't pulled out in YEARS. It was good to get the creative juices flowing again, too. The only difficulty I had with the whole class was getting the homework in on time. I would have gotten a zero on most days if I was getting a grade!!!

For the last card we were supposed to use one of the additional color schemes that were posted. Once again the artists showed us some awesome techniques and made really cool cards. 

I chose to use the brighter color scheme of white, 2 shades of green/blue, a red and an orange-yellow color create my card for this homework. I also decided to use a stamp I bought and had NEVER used, (very common for me to do, too, unfortunately) a layering technique I have seen but had never tried and Jennifer McGuire's technique of masking on sentiments to make them more then one color. I used a sketch I had made from a card I had seen somewhere else a long time ago for the actual design, so it is not original. This card was actually FUN for me after the struggle I had this week.

The first thing I did was die cut the window out of the polka dot paper using a PTI die and inked the edges and placed a strip of Washi tape on the bottom. I then stamped the frame in the orange-yellow color on a white piece of paper and trimmed it. I then used foam tape around the die cut window on the wrong side of the patterned paper and adhered the frame UNDER the paper. 

Next I die cut another frame out of white paper and stamped the stitches in red and the sentiment in aqua mist and yellow. I die cut a heart and banner out of red. I then adhered the banner under the white, stamped piece and used foam adhesive to adhere it over the yellow frame. The little heart was then glued to the front of the sentiment window and I used Stickles to give it a little shine.

I then added some red and white sequins as a finishing touch. 

Things I learned from this whole class:

• Color schemes really have a play in creating cards for me. I especially like bright, happy colors. I have more difficulty designing when the colors are muted.
• Learning new techniques if fun. I will be browsing blogs and You-Tube for more!!!
• Masking sentiments is my new "thing." I love the results!!
• I still dislike the mess of heat embossing but like some of the fun things you can do with it. I need to get some new powders, though, because my old ones just don't seem to be up to par with the newer brands that are out today.
• Watercoloring on cards is FUN!!! Using paint daubers, not so much.
• The part of the class I LIKED BEST, after viewing the days artists and new techniques, was seeing the creations of the class participants. I loved being linked to everyone's blogs and galleries. It was so much fun to see how everyone interpreted each days homework.

Well, I won't bore you with anymore. Thank you for stopping by!! Have a great rest of the weekend!!

Nora

Supplies:

Post #2 for the Summer Card Class II-Week 3, Day 4 Homework

By day 4 of this week, I was wrung out. I could not create anything even though the artists showed us really fun techniques. I am not sure if it was the colors that were hard or having my brain come up with one more new idea.

I kind of went easy with myself on day four's homework. The instructions were to use a technique you had never used before. While I did not exactly use JJ Bolton's exact technique, I used the spirit behind it. If you knew me, I am NOT a metallic person. I like sparkles and shine but silver and gold-not my thing on a card or a scrapbook page. (With jewelry-that is a WHOLE different ball of wax, but I digress.) So in the spirit of JJ Bolton, I used gold on my card instead of the Kraft color.

One reason that I did not use her technique was the lack of small die cut letter dies. I don't own any. I also didn't have any more gold paper. I was going to make my own but alas, my gold pigment inks had DRIED UP. (They were probably about 8 years old so I didn't really expect much from them anyway.) Due to the lack of supplies, I had to improvise. I decided to cheat and stamp the word in brown first and then stamp it again with Versamark ink and emboss with gold. For the most part, I really like how it came out.

I did want to clarify that I stamped the medallions in the different colors BEFORE I stamped the sentiment. Masking glitter embossing powder is difficult. How would I know-remember I told you about mistakes? That is what you get  from trying to be LAZY!!

After all my stamping was complete, I still thought it needed something so I decided to add the gold gems. They were not exactly the same gold as the sentiment but I thought it was close enough. So what do you think?

Thank you for looking!!

Nora

Supplies:

Dark Purple Ink-Stampin Up!

Summer Card Class II, Week 3, Day 3 Card

I have 3 days worth of homework from the Summer Card Class II to put up in separate posts so I am going to make this quick today.

Even though this was Day 3's homework, I created the card last night. I had a REALLY difficult time with this weeks color schemes. I also threw out about 6 cards-some half completed, some all the way completed-because I did not like how they came out. That is really rare for me!! I usually can make a card work but not this week!!

For the first card, I used the sketch #2, this weeks colors and took some elements that I liked from Shari Carrol's post and some from Melissa Phillip's card.

From Sherri's post, I decided to color in my flower, which I die cut out of an old book. I did not use Copic's like she used but instead used a combination of brown mist spray on the whole flower and then inked just the edges in dark purple ink. I also liked Sherri's trick of not winding the twine around the card when using it like this. It really does save on how much you use!!

I created the patterned background paper on this card myself. I stamped and embossed the leaves and then used an ink dauber for the blue and Kraft ink. I really like how it came out. I still am not a huge fan of embossing because of the mess but the results can be spectacular. The purple leaf element under the flower is also stamped in clear ink and embossed so that the purple color would stand out a bit more.

The idea that I took from Melissa's card was adding the Washi tape to the middle of the card, under the twine. I could not fix the color but that Washi tape is really more of a Kraft color then how it is showing up on screen. It was the perfect added touch to the card.

Things I learned from today's guest artists:

• I am terrible at using paint daubers. My first card I created for this was complete but I threw it away. I tried Lisa Spangler's dauber technique across the front of my card (at the end of course) and I blew it. It looked awful. Since it was one of the last things I did, I had to throw it out. That will teach me!!
• I really like die cutting and using fun things to color them in besides the actual stamp!!
• Making patterned paper is FUN!!!

So that is my homework for day 3. Thank you for looking!!!

Nora

Supplies:

Dark Purple Ink-Stampin Up!