Friday 25 October 2013

As You See It Challenge #008

Another week has flown on by!!  I had three classes within 7 days so I'm beat!! I remembered to do my weekly DT (design team) card though so I'm glad I have something to share with you.

Here's the sketch:
 

 

And here's my spin on it:

The photo colour is a little off. I used Pistachio Pudding even though it looks more like Old Olive. 

A couple snippets of Venetian Romance Designer Series paper creates two cute little pennants.  A simple strand of Whisper White Baker's Twine forms a bow.

And I used MORE basic pearls!! I'm proud of myself for not hoarding so I hope you'll give it a try as well! Of course the paper doilies provided me with the scallop circle shape. I toyed around with trimming the doily to make a smaller one to fit inside and after spending too much time fussy cutting, I just used the other half of the first one I'd cut. It layered well into the first one.  A simple strip of Crisp Cantaloupe punched with the scallop dots border punch and I was pretty much done. Other than that cute Thank You (which is from Lots of Thanks), I didn't do much else. 

I hope you will play along with us this week at As You See It Challenge

Have a super great weekend!! And be sure to check out the 25 stamp sets that are on sale 25% off!! It's Amaze-ZING! Shop in my online store HERE

 ~Tamara

Friday 18 October 2013

AYSI Challenge #007 - A Little Vintage..




I love vintage style cards, but I find them overwhelming at times. This week's AYSI Challenge sketch really helped me to break it down.   

Here's the sketch:
Here's what I've designed:

I hope I've captured a vintage look. These little images are from a hostess set and I love how fancy they are. The chair with it's ornate legs, the old style hot air balloon, and especially the parasol. Cute and vintage.  I punched them out with the Postage Stamp punch and then lightly sponged the edges with Early Espresso ink. I also dabbed the sponge on the panel to distress it a little. I found the Very Vanilla was just too stark without it.

The pretty DSP is from Soho Subway designer series paper.  I also sponged these edges with Early Espresso classic ink.  

I'm really loving the shape of the Artisan punch. It's feminine and a little flirty.  I thought the pearls added a bit of whimsy. I also tend to be pretty stingy with my pearl usage so I kind of broke out of that with this card and used a few extra more that I've ever used before! It was fun! It doesn't hurt that Basic Pearls are one of the Weekly Deals this week! Check out the daily deals here

Here's one last look so you don't have to scroll back up! (Thoughtful, aren't I?)
 Enjoy your weekend and don't forget to play along with us at As You See It Challenge!

~Tamara

Friday 11 October 2013

AYSI Challenge #006 - Antiquified

Really? Already? Another week has flown by (possibly because I've been sick with a nasty head cold for most of it) and it's time for another As You See It Challenge!

This week is another sketch! I made this card back in August (yes, us DT members are given a few weeks sketches in advance ;) so I've been waiting to share! 

First up, the sketch:


At Stampin' Up! Convention this past July, Pam Morgan, a SU employee, shared something pretty neat that I'd never thought of before. I'd seen it done in DIY but not in stamping. What am I talking about? Gilding of course! To be fair, this is a bit more than gilding ('cuz I think that's mainly when you just dip or do the edges) this is more like half submersion gilding.  I guess it would help if I showed you my card ;)

Here she be:


I had planned to give this card to my sister-in-law for her birthday back in September, but Melon Mambo (hot pink)  just isn't her. I could really use some purple embossing powder!

I really love everything about this card. It came together really quick, which is always a plus! The DSP is from Modern Medley...a must have. This paper is so versatile with it's feminine and masculine and plain stripe/dot prints. *word to the wise (unwise?). When I ordered this paper, I thought it was black and white. Turns out it's black and vanilla-now we're all wised up.)

Mmm mmm! Nothing says, "hello" like hello in Melon Mambo embossing powder! How fun is that?!? Even one friend who came to class who admittedly does not like this stamp, liked it after embossing it! It also ties in nicely with those....


 butterflies! I used both the Bitty Butterfly and the Elegant Butterfly punches and stuck on a few rhinestones. The largest b-fly is a black one first, then a Melon Mambo one on top with the wings gently folded to make it look like it's flying (or stuck to the card and trying to fly away).  

Let's talk about the doily.  It's a Stampin' Up! paper doily. I have a few packages of doilies. They are all "white" but one package is somewhere between white and vanilla. Remember above where we all got our wisdom on about the Modern Medley DSP being basic black and very vanilla? Well, the doily isn't quite very vanilla, but it's definitely NOT Whisper White! It's white anitiquified (is that a word?). It's not really a big deal as we embossed most of it anyways. To achieve this look:

1. Make sure you have just one doily (they like to stick together)
2. Apply versamark over half of the doily. Try not to have the straight edges of the pad. Blend a little.
3. Pour your embossing powder on in your choice of colour (I used silver here). 
4. Dump off excess (preferably back into the container to save the sacred powder and avoid it from getting blown away in step 5).
5. Heat set.
6. Admire your handiwork and give yourself a pat on the back. You just gilded something.

Here's one last look at today's creation:


 Hope you enjoyed today's card and easy peasy tutorial! Be sure to check back in often and PLAY WITH US at As You See It Challenge!

That's all for now!

Tamara

Stampin' Supplies:
Card Stock: Basic Black, Melon Mambo, Modern Medley DSP
Stamp Set: Four You
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: Melon Mambo EP, Basic Rhinestones, Paper Doily, Silver EP
Tools: Bitty Butterfly Punch, Elegant Butterfly punch, Heat Tool
 


 




 

Friday 4 October 2013

As You See It Challenge #005 - COLOUR CHALLENGE! (and a story)

It's week 5 at As You See It Challenge and I'm loving how motivated I am each week! This week we're switching things up with a Colour Challenge! Always fun and exciting...except when working with orange. I have to say, orange, or Pumpkin Pie, is not my favourite Stampin' Up! colour. I'm more into the beachy tones like blues and greens, even some pinks, but orange...not so much.  So this week it was a REAL challenge for me!

Here's the official challenge: 
 



I started thinking about Fall as we're now in the throes of Autumn.  It's a bittersweet time as the leaves change and the trees begin to fall asleep. The fruit is almost all picked (we live on an orchard/vineyard and there is a LOT of fruit to be picked) and we're getting ready to hunker down for the winter. I am definitely a summer girl, loving warmth, sunshine, beach days, and water, but since marrying a farmer (or agriculturalist as he calls himself), I've come to not like summer quite so much. So, I look forward to Thanksgiving (in Canada it's usually the 2nd Sunday of October) and within a few weeks, harvest is complete! Today's card features the farmer's best bud...the Tractor.

Gently Falling is a beautiful set of leaves and other fall-ish elements. It's a two step stamping set with a border lined image and the inside image. I chose to only use the inside image in order to soften it a bit. I inked the stamp in Crushed Curry then stamped off once and then rolled the edges in Pumpkin Pie. I love the look of maple leaves in Autumn.  

The tractors on our farm are actually blue Fords, but since Gumball Green was the colour of choice for the challenge, I went with John Deere.

I had really wanted to incorporate the basket of apples with the pumpkins below on the card somehow, but it was taking away from the background and tractor so I simply left it as is. 

  
Cute little faux bow using Pumpkin Pie 1/8" tafetta ribbon. 
 
We plant the seed, but God makes it grow.  Here's a personal tidbit (in case the above tirade about Fall wasn't enough).  Just before harvest started, there was an intense hail storm. We lost 60% of all of our crop within 10 minutes. Another chunk was severely damaged but somewhat salvageable.  It was devastating to say the least. I see my husband and father-in-law and uncle-in-law work incrediby hard all year long and to have the crop decimated in so little time was disheartening.  A wonderful group of volunteers from our church and my in-law's church came and helped to pick all of the grapes. They weren't quite ready, but the vines had been damaged by the hail so in order to let the vines focus on repairing themselves, the fruit had to come off. To say it was hard to see tons and tons (literally) of fruit be picked and dumped in a big hole would be putting it lightly. The good news is that we were able to pick what would normally take upwards of two weeks in 4 days. Pretty amazing! A HUGE Thank You to all those who came for an hour or days!

Harvest continued and we were able to work through the destruction and salvage half of our usual pear haul.  Then my husband's Grandma, or Granny as we affectionately call her, suffered 3 strokes.  She wound up in hospital and that's when the rain came. I figured God was giving us time with her. Time we normally wouldn't have during the busyness of harvest...unless it rained. We can't pick when it's raining or the fruit will get moldy. So it rained. More rain in September than I can remember. Granny was in hospital for a week and then a decision was made to move her to hospice.

Granny turned 90 last December and had lived a very full life.
She worked hard to provide a comfortable home and good meals for her family. 
She was generous and kind. 
She had been without her beloved "Gus" for 13 years.
She was ready to go. 

Granny stayed in hospice for a week where she was surrounded by family. My husband went most nights to spend at least a little time with her, although she was on fairly high doses of pain medication so she wasn't always "with us", we know she was aware. I went one evening, a Thursday, and her room was so quiet. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I noticed a few others were there as well. Then I saw a few more sitting on the floor. Others in the corners. There were 14 people in her room just.being.there.  What a testimony to your life when all of your family - children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces and nephews, all gather around your bedside.  

Granny passed away peacefully on September 16th. Her daughter and granddaughter were there with her. I had said to my husband in the middle of the night early on the 16th that I thought Granny would be leaving us that day. There was a violent thunder storm that night and it just seemed like it would happen. I was at work and then picking up Mason from school and then to the doctor. When I got up to my in laws to pick up my daughter, Lucia, there was a note on the door that my mom-in-law had taken Lucia to the hospice to be with Granny. I knew. I got to the hospice house and met my sister-in-law as she was leaving. She told me Gran had already passed. I went inside and most of our family was there. It was good to be with family.  We all went to Granny's later that night. The Big House. So many memories.  We had dinner together and then fired up the player piano. It's an old, old piano from 1906. A real player piano with the rolls and pedals.  My kids danced while their Papa John played. It brought back so many memories for the family. Some cried while others reminisced and laughed. Good. 
 
The funeral was this past Friday. It was a dreary day, as I figured it would be. We lost our Matriarch and heart of the Casorso Family.  We all know she is in a much better place, in the arms of our Saviour. Her suffering has ended. She lived a faithful and good life.  Later that day we went back up the Big House. We watched a movie our eldest cousin, August, had made of Gran's life using still photos and video footage. Then we looked at family slides. That was really good. Good to be with family. Just to be together.

My father-in-law said something quite profound. I had known God sent us the rain in order to give us those last two weeks with Granny. John said that the hail was God's provision as well. Without the hail, there would have been too much fruit for us to handle. In God's provision, the hail destroyed over half of our crop enabling us to be there with Granny, plan a beautiful service, and enjoy time with our extended family.  

We may not always understand the hardships that come our way, but I know that God knows and cares so much. Why else would He send His only Son to die for us? That doesn't look like a "good" thing, but the result of that is amazing. Restored relationship with Him. Life with Him. He provides in ways that don't always look like providing, but in hindsight, it comes to light. 



The earth has yielded its fruits; and God has blessed us. Psalms 67:6

Thanks for reading! I promise next time won't be so heavy!

Blessings,

Tamara