Thursday, January 31, 2019

Be Mine Valentine A Paper Pumpkin Thing Blog Hop


Hello and welcome to my blog!  Today, I am sharing a couple alternative projects for the January 2019 Paper Pumpkin kit entitled Be Mine Valentine.  This was a very nice kit and it coordinated with one of my favorite suites in the Annual Catalog.  It was a super fun kit to create alternative projects with and it was a great kit to create all types of alternative projects with.  I am super excited to share mine with you today.  

Paper Pumpkin, Be Mine Valentine, Animal Expedition Suite, Rick Adkins


This kit coordinates with the Animal Expedition Suite of products as I mentioned above and I couldn't have been more excited when I heard this.  Why you may have asked yourself?  Well, because it has some of the most fun images in the stamp set, and designer series paper not even to mention some of the other matching products.  Here's a look at this month's kit.  

image by Stampin' Up! 

Paper Pumpkin, Be Mine Valentine January Kit, Rick Adkins, Paper Pumpkin Alternative ProjectSee I told you that it was a super cute kit.  It didn't take me long to come up with a couple really cute alternative projects that I was really happy with.  For my card I created a Step Card.  It is actually a 3 dimensional card that folds flat and fits into an envelope.  It's slightly larger then a \A2 size card so I have to make an envelope to fit.  I haven't mad it yet but I plain to use the designer series paper from the Animal Expedition suite to create it.  I used a piece of Lemon Lime Twist cardstock for the card base and the simply score to create this card.  Step Cards work best with 12 x 12 cardstock, but I didn't happen to have a piece of 12 x 12 in Lemon Lime Twist so I had to improvise.  I cut my cardstock to 4 1/2 x 11 and and the added an additional piece that measured 1 1/4.  I scored on the long side of the cardstock every 1 1/2" on the simply score, and turned it on the short side and scored at 1 1/2 & 3.  Next I had to remove a few of the blocks before scoring.  On the top row I counted over two squares and cut off the third, fourth, and fifth ones.  One the second row I counted over three and took out the fourth square.  At this point I fold and burnished all the score lines, and added the extra strip of cardstock.  Once I had it all folded up and adhered it all together.  I cut apart two of the pillow boxes and used them for the little squares for the front and top of the step card.  I added a little additional cardstock to them to create little mats.  I added but stamped images that I cut out and colored and some from the kit itself.  
Paper Pumpkin, Paper Pumpkin Alternative Projects, Rick Adkins

For the back of the card I added another sentiment piece and a couple more images.  For the top of the steps I added a few flowers that I punched using the Bitty Bloom Punch Pack and scraps from the pillow boxes.  I also added a few leaves that I cut from the leaf ribbon and attached them using mini glue dots.  


 For my 3 dimensional item I took two of the pillow boxes and cut them down and added one additional score line.   I used some tear & tape to put it together.  I added one of the gusseted bags filled with some Strawberry hard candy and added a couple bows to it.
paper pumpkin, alternative paper pumpkin projects, rick adkins

I hope that you have enjoyed my little projects for this month's hop.  I hope that you take a few minutes of you day and hop the rest of the way through the hop.  I know that everyone have created some great projects for you.  

Next on the Blog Hop: 



You will find a full list of the supplies below in the Supply List.  If you need any of the supplies you can order them in my online store as well as sign up for Paper Pumpkin.  

Supply List: 

Price: $8.00

Happy Stampin'
 Rick

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

By the Bay Watercolor Window Card



Hello and welcome to my blog.  Today, I am going to share with you the card that I created during yesterdays YouTube Live.  I did a basic lesson on how to watercolor; and the By the Bay Stamp Set was the perfect stamp set to do this with.  Here's a look at the stamp set that inspired today's card.
Image by Stampin' Up! 


 Here's a look at my card.

By the Bay, Watercolor, Rick Adkins, Saleabration 2019

Tips & Tricks: 

By the Bay, Rick Adkins, Saleabration, Watercolor I started out this card by taking a piece of Pacific Point cardstock (cut at 4 x 5 1/4) and cut out a circle in the center top 1/3 of the card.  Next I used the Seaside Texture Impression Embossing Folder and sandwiched the two together and ran it through the Big Shot.  Each Big Shot is different and you may have to adjust how you ran it through.  My Big Shot and this embossing folder works best if I either use the original platform set on the embossing tab or if I spritz it with a little water before running it though with the embossing platform.  Next I used the largest and third largest circle framelits in the Layering Circle Framelits and cut out a Crumb Cake Circle frame.  

At this point I set the card front aside and worked on the watercoloring.  I stamped the bay image on a piece of watercolor cardstock(cut at 4 x 2 3/4) I actually ended up cutting the watercolor cardstock down after I finished to fit behind the circle cut out.  

My top tips for watercolors are start light and work your way to the darker shades.  Don't squeeze the Aqua painter that adds more water to the ink or paint on the brush and waters down the color.  The lighter things are the farther away they are, and the darker something is the closer it is.  

Video Tutorial: 


In order to get the watercolor piece placed just right I had to lay down my card front where I wanted it to be and trace the inside of the circle with a pencil.  I then added the watercolor piece to that area with a little multipurpose liquid glue.  To create a the window and make it stand up I added a lot of Stampin' Dimensionals behind the card front.  

By the Bay Stamp Set, Watercolor, Rick Adkins, Saleabration

For the inside of the card I simply stamped the sentiment that read "May all your paths lead to Happiness" and stamped the seagulls at the bottom of the 4 x 5 1/4 Whisper White Cardstock.  

By the Bay Stamp Set, Rick Adkins, Watercolor, Saleabration
If you notice on the cards I did the embossing on the card front with the same embossing folder.  But, on one of the cards I used the embossed side and on the other one I used the debossed side.  Which one do you like better?  Leave me a comment letting me know which one you like best.  

By the Bay Stamp Set, Watercolor, Rick Adkins, Saleabration
Debossed Card front 

By the Bay Stamp Set, Watercolor, Rick Adkins, Saleabration
Embossed side
If you would like to get your own By the Bay Stamp Set it's super easy.  All you have to do is place a $50 order in my online store and pick it as you free Saleabration item.  You will find a full list of the supplies that I used on my cards today under the Product List below. 

Happy Stampin'
Rick

Supply List:  

Price: $110.00


Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Saturday Simple Stamping Episode 9: featuring Sweetest Thing

Hello and welcome to my blog and YouTube channel.  Today, I am going to share with you Saturday's Simple Stamping Episode #9 featuring the Sweetest Thing stamp set.  This is a very fun birthday set that was one of my favorites from the Occasions catalog.  But, I am not using it as a birthday card today, I created a Valentine Card using this set.  Here's a look at my card.


Simple Stamping involves just stamps ink and paper.   All demonstrators were challenged at our convention that we had back in November in Orlando called OnStage to share cards that used just stamps ink and paper monthly.  For January we where challenged to use the simple stamping method but could also use a punch with it; to create a Valentine Card.  

Tips & Tricks:  

I designed my card so that you could move the sentiment around the card where you needed it.  Depending on where you put the sentiment you can get a different look from the card.  

This was my first go with this card design.  I put all the small stamps in the stamp set onto one block to create a background stamp.  I used a Clear Block size D and arranged all these wonderful sweet stamps on.  I then inked up the all the stamps at one time; which was easy since we put them on just the single block.

 I inked up the stamps in Coastal Cabana Classic Ink to start with and stamped them going down the left hand side.  Next I used Granny Apple Green and stamped the images down the center.  I finished off the stamping with Gorgeous Grape down the right hand side.

I then stamped the sentiment on a piece of whisper white and used the same three colors I punched the main image with a 2 1/4" circle punch and stamped the Sweets for You sentiment twice on scrap whisper white in Granny Apple Green and Gorgeous Grape inks.  Next I took my paper snips and cut the sentiments apart and trimmed off the s at the end of sweets.  I then arranged the words to read for you sweet, and added a heart that I drew using a granny apple green stampin' write marker.  I added a 2 1/2" circle punched from granny apple green cardstock.  I layered both circles together and popped it up using stampin' dimensionals.

For the second card I repeated the same process but changed up the order of the colors, and changed the placement of the sentiment.  

Video Tutorial: 


I hope that you give #simplestamping a try and if you do make sure you share it online with the #simplestamping.  You will find a list of all the supplies I used in the product list below.  

Happy Stampin'
Rick


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