LMac's Catered Crops

Sneak Peak - Pool Side

Shew - In the past two weeks I've hopped from hotel to hotel, partly for work and partly for our family reunion/vacation. Like my Dad used to say, we're like cows heading for the barn. One more night in Dallas visiting our daughter, Caitlin, and then I get to sleep in my own comfy bed. 

This is a card I made a couple of weeks ago, but just haven't been able to get it posted. After all our travels these past weeks, it seemed appropriate to shoot it in front of the pool.

This is a revival of this card, and a CASE of this card at Crafty Girl Designs. I'm freakin' loving this new Razzleberry Lemonade Designer Series paper and the new colors. Since all these colors are new, I don't have buttons to match them, yet. No problem - I made my own button. 

1. Cut out a 1" x 1" square of the designer paper.
2. Dab some Crystal Effects on the square paper.  
3. Lay one of our Clear Buttons on top of the paper. 
4. After the Crystal Effects dries a little, use a large needle or paper piercing tool to make the button holes. 
5. Thread our linen thread through the button holes to tie the button to the ribbon. 

Oooo, and if you haven't heard, I have VERY exciting news for you. Our new catalog will have a package of markers in the new in-colors. So, to stamp the sentiment, I was able to use the markers to color right onto the stamp. 

Here's the rest of the recipe.

Stamp Sets: Scene in a Garden (113246) and Smarty Pants (115070)
Paper: Razzleberry Lemonade designer paper, Melon Mambo and Crushed Curry cardstock available July 1; Whisper White (100730) cardstock
Ink: Soft Suede and Melon Mambo Stampin' Write Markers
Etc.: Clear Buttons (115447), Linen Tread (104199), Soft Suede Polka Dot 1/2" Grosgrain Ribbon (111372), Stamp-a-ma-jig (101149), and Crystal Effects (101055).

Our clear buttons come in a package of 3 each of 3 sizes: 3/4" circle, 1" circle, and 1" square. You can dress them up by applying Rub-On images, stamping on them with craft ink or, like I did, by attaching a cut-out shape to the button.

Don't Look Ethel! - Sneak Peak

Once again, your action news reporter in the booth at the gym,
covering the disturbance at the basketball playoff.
Pardon me, sir, did you see what happened?

(Witness): Yeah, I did. Half time,

I's just goin' down thar to get Ethel a snow cone.

And here he come, right out of the cheap seats,

dribbling, right down the middle of the court.

Didn't have on nothing but his PF's.

Made a hook shot and got out through the concessions stand.

I hollered up at Ethel, I said, "Don't look, Ethel!"

But it was too late. She'd already got a free shot.

Grandstandin', right there in front of the home team.

Hee Hee, for those of you old enough to remember, that's Ray Steven's, The Streak. My Dad loved that song. If someone was walking around with too much skin showing, he'd yell - Don't Look Ethel! Still makes me giggle.

If you don't want to see some of the newest products in the Stampin' Up! catalog, you may want to shield your eyes. Don't look! For everyone else, I caution you . . . this card uses a paper and the new in-colors you can't buy until July 1 if you're not a Stampin' Up! demonstrator. This may be more of a tease than that streaker!

When I saw the first sneak peek of this new designer paper, Raspberry Lemonade, I wasn't sure I'd like these color combinations. But, oh dear, I'm loving these jewel tones and that distressed Basic Grey style.

My new sneak-peak stamps are still being shipped, so I combined this paper with my still-favorite mini catalog set, Scene in a Garden. Unfortunately, this set didn't make it into the new catalog, so it will go away at the end of this month. The rest of the recipe includes two of the newest colors, Crushed Curry and Melon Mambo - as yummy as the names sound!

Stamp Set: Scene from a Garden (113246) and Sanded (109294)
Paper: Raspberry Lemonade, Crushed Curry and Melon Mambo cardstock, available 7/1/09.

Ink: Staz-on, Chocolate Chip marker (using aqua painters to apply)
Etc.: Basic Jumbo Grommets (114348), Build a Brad, non-Stampin-up Flower Soft.

Home Again from our Blog Tour

Shew - Mailey Dog and Pillow Pup are exhausted from all that traveling yesterday. (Honestly, I did not pose these dogs this way - we just found them lying back to back - how adorable is that?!)

 

Wow. The response from our Blog Tour was overwhelming. It was a little bit of a scary undertaking, but I know I had a LOT of fun watching your sweet comments float in all day.

Being the working stiff that I am, I'll have to count up all the comments and let random.org pick us a winner when I get home from work sometime tonight (Tuesday night). The general consensus among the tour bus drivers was that we will leave the links up so you can continue to visit all the tour stops. [Edited to add - Oops - the Blog Tour coordinators (would that be the control tower?) decided we should remove the links afterall. But, that's okay, more Blog Tours are coming this summer. Stay tuned.]

Meanwhile, with the hectic pace of the blog tour over, here's some details about the cards I shared.

 

I love the way this card came out and it's so, so easy.

For my focal point, I just stamped the potted plant image from the Scene in a Garden set, water colored the vase with Close to Cocoa Classic Ink, added some shading with the Chocolate Chip marker, and blended the shading into the Close to Cocoa with an aqua painter. Then I used a toothpick to dab very small pieces of glue onto the branches and sprinkled Flower Soft over it, just like you would if it was glitter. You can purchase Flower Soft at Ellen Hutson's on-line store, here.

Here's a fun tip for this card. Did you know you could run sand paper over the Jumbo Grommets to distress them a little? Since this was a white grommet on a white background, I ran some sandpaper over the edges to give it more distinction. Cool, huh.

Everything else on this card is of course available online, 24/7 by clicking here.

Stamp Set: Scene from a Garden (113246)
Paper: Sweet Always, Chocolate Chip and Whisper White
Etc.: Basic Jumbo Grommets (114348), Build a Brad, Chocolate Taffeta Ribbon 

Scene in a Garden - 3D

 

I had so much fun playing with this set, Scene in a Garden, because it's such a great set to experiment with shading. I tried a new technique, watercoloring with the Stampin' Write Markers, and I'm so amazed with the results. Its going to change my whole approach to coloring outline-style stamp sets like this one.

There's a great tutorial on watercoloring with markers at Julie Buhler's Paper Pleasing Ideas. For you visual learners, here's Julie Buhler's video.

I started by watercoloring the bench with Creamy Caramel classic ink and then I used a Close to Cocoa marker along the edges and where the natural shadow would appear. I used the aqua painter again to blend the two colors together and then to remove some color and create highlights.  

 

The shading is really dramatic when you use coordinating colors.

• Close to Cocoa creates great shading for Creamy Caramel;
• Not Quite Navy and Baha Breeze worked for the Daddy boots, bird and bird house;
• Always Artichoke and Mellow Moss made cute baby boots;
• More Mustard, Really Rust and Summer Sun created great clay pots.

You can find more color combinations with our Color Coach (105796).

When I showed this card to my husband (I have him very well trained to always respond with Ooh, Ahhhh), he said, Ooh, 3D. With all the shading, curled paper and popped-up images, it really does have a lot of dimensions.

You can order any of the items I used any time by clicking here.

And, guess what - with the new "Get Connected" promotion, for each $40 you spend on Occasions mini catalog products, you can order any one "Under $10" product (see page 208 in the Spring-Summer Idea Book & Catalog) absolutely free.

• Stamp Set: Scene in a Garden (113246), Congrats (Sale-a-bration).
• Paper: Taste of Textiles (113991), Manchester (112464), Always Artichoke textured cardstock (108696), Baha Breeze textured cardstock (111345), Watercolor (105019)
• Classic Ink: Baha Breeze (111833), Creamy Caramel  (103220), Mellow Moss (102774), Robin Hood Red (111836), Staz-on Jet Black (101406)
• Stampin' Write Markers: Close to Cocoa  (100072), Not Quite Navy (100059), Always Artichoke (105113), Really Rust (100073), Summer Sun (100077), and More Mustard (100076).
• Accessories: Kraft Corduroy Button (114340), Kraft Taffeta Ribbon (109068), Mellow Moss Taffeta Ribbon (109069), Natural Hemp Twine (100982).
• Tools: Crafters Tool Kit (104310), Cutter Kit (106958), Stamp-a-ma Jig (101049), Color Spritzer Tool (107066)