Paper Amour

Cattail Birds

I run into stampers all the time who are looking for masculine stamps to make cards that are appropriate for men. I think it's hard to find stamps that are fun to create with and aren't always full of stereotypical masculine motifs like hunting and fishing paraphanalia.

Cattail Birds is the perfect stamp for this.

While it doesn't have to be used for a 'man card', it certainly works in this application.

I got to see Dave recently when he was in Spokane teaching a class at a local store. While I was visiting, I saw a beautiful card the women in class had made using the Cattail Bird stamp. They painted the background in graduated colors of Twinkling H2Os, creating a soft, watercolor background for the stamp.

I loved the look of it and wondered if I could duplicate it with inks applied directly to paper.

So I pulled out some textured paper, some Brilliance inks and started playing.

First, I used Pearlescent Sky Blue and Platinum Planet. I applied the ink directly to a precut rectangle sized to fit the Cattail Bird stamp. I went with about 2/3 Blue and 1/3 Platinum, hoping this would give the appearance of snow and sky.

Then I stamped the Cattail Birds directly on top of the inked background with Graphite Black Brilliance.

I matted the image after all the inks had dried and applied it to a Memory Box notecard.

I love the softness of the background - especially where the two inks met and overlapped.

Next, I wanted to try the same technique with three colors.

I started with Coffee Bean on the bottom, then Crimson Copper in the middle and Pearlescent Rust on the top.

I let more of the creamy background of the textured paper show through on this one. These colors didn't blend as well as the first two - but it sure inspired me to try lots of different color combinations to find my favorites!

Graphite Black for the stamp again, and some coordinating mats... another card - done!

I love how quick and versatile this technique is. And how great these cards will work for men or women.

If you don't have Cattail Birds, I can't recommend it enough. What a perfect stamp for really quick and beautiful cards!

Coming soon...

You might just want to be sure you've got some Memory Box Halloween stamps in your stash...

And if you don't, get yourself to a store where you can pick one up.

Because starting on October 1st - you'll have a chance to win a nice big Memory Box prize here on Paper Amour if you make something with one of our newest Halloween stamps...

I'm just sayin'.

Dewfrost Banner

Using the same dimensions I used for the Twilight Boo Banner, I made a banner out of Dewfrost papers... I substituted white felt for the second print, giving the banner a fluffy, snowy feel.

(as always, click on a photo to make it larger)

I used Biscotti Water for the circles and backed them with another layer of felt.

I'm so happy with how it turned out. It's soft and sweet and glittery, just like snow. Originally I thought I would use the word 'snow' on the banner, but ended up going with 'joy' instead because I like odd numbers for banners.

I'm on a banner kick... I think I'll try Spiceberry next! Hope you're all having a lovely weekend!

Embellished Boo Banner

Here's my banner made with the Twilight paper pack all embellished and ready to decorate my fireplace. I added Daffodils Pearls along the top of each pennant piece, glittered some chipboard letters for the "BOO" and hung it all together with some black brads and ribbons on the end.

I love it!

 Aren't those spiders creepy? I found them at Pier One with all their halloween decor. I just had to buy them!

 I'm going to make a "SNOW" banner next using the Dewfrost paper pack. Watch for it soon!

Twilight Boo Banner

I love making banners. I always have one hanging on my fireplace, regardless of the season. I have banners that say "HOME" and "SPRING" and "SNOW"... so I thought it would be fun to make a banner for Halloween using the wonderful Twilight paper pack - and this one would say "BOO". I began with the paper. I pulled one of each of the ten prints out and laid them out in a pattern I liked. When I make a banner, I like to have one pennant for each letter and then a blank one on either end to balance it out - so for the "BOO" banner, I needed a total of five pennants. Perfect - because the 6 x 6 paper packs come with ten different prints and I needed two prints for each pennant!

(click on any photo to make it larger)

To create the classic pennant shape, I took each of the five top papers and cut a one inch strip off one end. Then, from the remaining piece, I measured and marked the center (2.5") of one of the five inch sides. Then I drew lines from that mark to the corners on the other five inch side. This diagram probably explains it better than I can with words...

 

I cut all five of the 'top' pieces this way...

 

and set aside the 1" strips for later.

Next, I wanted to mat each triangle with some vintage dictionary paper. I get my old dictionaries at garage sales - but I've seen them often at thrift stores too. If you don't have one, pick one up! Their pages are SO fun to add to projects.

 

To create the mat, I adhered each pennant to it's own page,

 

then trimmed around it, leaving an even mat on both diagonal edges. I left about an inch of dictionary page at the top of each triangle - this will give me something to adhere the top border pieces to later.

 

Next,I wanted to work with my 1" strips set aside from before. These will serve as the border pieces at the top of each pennant.

I began by adhering each strip to a dictionary page, leaving space between them to trim. I got out my trusty scalloped scissors and cut a scalloped edge along the bottom of each strip.

 

After trimming the scalloped side, I got my straight edged scissors and trimmed the other three sides even with the straight edges of the 1" strips.

 

Ahh, that's better!

Now it's time to put all the elements together.

First, I adhered each matted pennant to it's coordinating print. Making sure to adhere the sides and point well (I run a solid line of tape runner here - skimping on adhesive will make your banner less 'solid' and you may have edges coming up) I adhered each pennant so it's tip was centered on the bottom edge of the 6 x 6 square. 

Then, I adhered the 1" strip of my choice to the top of the pennant piece, making sure the scallops overlap the top edge of the 6" square I just added. (Again, be sure you're generous with your adhesive here. I run a solid line along both long edges just to be sure the strip is well adhered.)

 

I used straight edge scissors to trim off the excess dictionary page from the top edge and my scalloped edged scissors to trim the diagonal sides...

 

ending up with pennant pieces that looked like this!

 Come back in a couple of days to see how I embellished and finished the banner!

Wintry Owls - same stamp, totally different season!

Earlier this week I shared my Wintry Owls made fall-ish.

Today, I'm showing you my Wintry Owls staying wintry.

For this card I wanted to use Twinkling H2Os. I love the shimmery look of these paints. I pulled out an assortment of cool, winter colors and started painting.

Once the paint was dry, I colored in the owls with a Gelly Roll Stardust pen, giving them a shimmery, fine glitter sheen. So pretty.

Then I mounted my image on some Boysenberry Memory Box paper, placed that on a rectangle cut from a Dewfrost print, and placed it all on a Boysenberry Notecard.

I added some Azalea jewels as an accent - and ended up with a cool, wintry card that evokes feelings of looking outside my window onto a winter wonderland of freshly fallen snow. A perfect use for a stamp called "Wintry Owls"!

Wintry Owls - made fall-ish!

I wanted to play with the lovely Wintry Owls stamp the other day...

And call me a rebel, but I wanted to make them Fall Owls.

I had plans to do some wintry owls too, but today I'm showing you the fall owls in honor of the beginning of September!

I began by stamping a couple of images onto watercolor paper. I knew I wanted to do my wintry owls with Twinkling H2Os - hence my paper choice. In hindsight, I should have taken the time to stamp one onto smooth paper, since I ended up using Prismacolor colored pencils on my fall owls. Live and learn. I'm just a teensy bit lazy - so I made it work.

I pulled out an assortment of fall colors from my Prismacolor stash and got to coloring. Now, I've mentioned before that I do not consider myself an expert colorist. I'm at best a beginner. But I don't think that should stop any of us from playing - and from making beautiful cards from our work. We all have to start somewhere - and I've yet to hear anyone complain about receiving a handmade card that wasn't colored perfectly. We can't all be Dave Brethauer! =)

So here is my colored image. Yes - the texture of the watercolor paper was problematic. But I know, in the end, as part of a completed card, it's all going to work. I'm a 'go with the flow' sort of gal.

 I wanted to layer the owls with printed papers, so I stamped the image a couple times on some prints from the Twilight pack.

I wanted white faces on my owls so I stamped another white image as well.

Once everything was cut and layered on my card, I had my image complete!

I matted my image with some Memory Box Paprika and another Twilight print, then mounted it all to a Jack-o-Lantern card.

I used a fine tip black Zig marker to go over the tree trunk - it lost some of it's vivid-ness in the coloring process... then I added a ribbon and called it done!

Challenge yourself to practice your coloring techniques this week. And be forgiving of your work. Improving your skills takes practice. And a willingness to be less than perfect. I'm thrilled with my end result! If I shied away from colored pencils because I know I'm not as good as a lot of colorists, I'd be missing out on a wonderful technique and the opportunity to make lovely cards.

So pull out your colored pencils and make a card this week.

And come back soon to see my Twinkling H2O Wintry Owls!