Pick Your Colors

Saturday is here! I'm on the home stretch to staycation. I don't know about you all but I'm getting ready for some presents under the tree. At the Stollfus house, no present is present until Christmas Eve. I think it's because my hubby doesn't trust I won't peak! Not really, I'll tell you the real reason when it gets closer to present time.

So while we are waiting, like we all don't have a million things left on our to-do list, let's have some fun on a little blog hop for this month's Stampendous blog color challenge. Use any of these colors on a project, CREAM, PINK, BROWN, and/or GOLD, and submit it on the linky below before January 5th, midnight ET.

Remember there's a romantic prize that will be randomly drawn? It's not a cruise for two, sorry, but take a look at this post for the stamp set that could be yours. All you need to do is link up any new project(s) at the end of any design teams post that has one (I do)!

My card for the challenge today has a couple of techniques that I've been tinkering around with to create dimension on my projects. Tissue pillow pockets. For now all I'm doing is stacking some wrapping tissue 4-6 layers and stamp on the top and cut it out with my Martha Stewart large circle cutter measured at 4 1/4-inch diameter. I stitched around the edge at 1/4-inch. A quicker method would be to staple it (oooo, that's a good idea!!!!). I wet the raw edges a bit and distressed it. This technique is on the gorgeous jumbo medallion from the Stampendous Cling Jumbo Think of You set. I used the Shabby Pink Embossing Powder because it fits the challenge, wink-wink, on the medallion. I sponge distressed with CTMH Brown Bag ink and direct distressed (ink pad directly on the tissue paper) the raw edges with StazOn Timber Brown.

The frame is from Perfectly Clear Cherub Wishes. I used this Paper Craft Connections Stamp It! technique to get the solid embossed frame shape before stamping the fine detail of the frame with Saddle Brown StazOn ink. I cut out the center and outer edge of the frame using the embossed shape as my guide then sponge distressed around the edges. This gave me a great shadowy piece of brown sponged cardstock that I used later for the shadow box effect. (Keep reading...)

The clear acetate sentiment is stamped with Saddle Brown, then again with Timber Brown. That was just a preference, you don't have to stamp in two colors. Let it dry and turn it over to scratch the back with a sand block. This helped the CTMH Colonial White ink I rubbed on with a cotton swab have something to grab on and stay put. That is then glued to the frame with Beacon's glue. I put a foam tape border around the acetate just at the frames edge and place some Silver mica flakes into the acetate area before I added that shadowy shape to the tape. I cut around that so it wouldn't show from the front.

My background paper is pale pink cardstock embossed with a Sissix embossing folder then sponge distressed around the edges. I had some more distressing fun running a scissor blade around the edges and flatly on the raised embossing. I picked up a sponge to distress it some more and it was from another project, so it's a lot darker, maybe Ranger Walnut Stain.  After I glued it down to the sponged card base I sponged some glue from my Essential Glue Pad at the corners and sprinkled Cotton Ball White Fun Flock on it. I pressed it in and then shook off the excess (I'm not patient enough to wait until the glue dries to take off the excess.).

I finished off with some pink rhinestone glitz on the frame and along the left edge of the card.

More inspiration is waiting for you on the design team's blog below.

Stampendous Impressions 

Taylor Usry  

Pam Hornschu  

Melinda Gleissner 

Suzanne Czosek    

Kristine Reynolds

Janelle Stollfus

Jennifer Ingle

Wendy Price

Thanks for sticking around to the end! Oh and those techniques for dimension? Tissue pillow pockets (as I'm naming them) and clear acetate stamped on the top side and distressed or painted on the other than glued directly to the backing or foam tape glued.

Details:
Stamps: Jumbo Cling Think of You, Perfectly Clear Cherub Wishes,
Paper: Wausau Cream, LSS Pale Pink, White tissue paper, clear acetate
Ink: Versamark, CTMH Brown Bag and Colonial White, StazOn Saddle Brown and Timber Brown
Accessories: Shabby Pink Embossing Powder, Cotton Ball Fun Flock, sewing machine and white thread, KaiserCrafts pink rhinestones, Sissix embossing folder