Saturday, April 2, 2011

A La Card Monkey Nature Challenge

It has been a long time since I've done any challenges, and I think it's time for me to start getting those creative juices flowing again.  As a SU! demonstrator there is a website called Stampin' Connection that we can access.  While looking through that website last night I found a discussion about a new challenge blog, so I needed to check it out.  It's called A La Card Monkey, and they will be doing weekly challenges.  The theme for this week's challenge is nature:




It's just a simple card, but who says there is anything wrong with simple?  I don't have many nature sets...hmmm, maybe I better do some shopping. 

Supplies
Card Stock:  Not Quite Navy, Watercolor, Soft Suede
Designer Series Paper:  Paisly Petals
Stamp Sets:  Spring Song (retired)
Ink:  Not Quite Navy, Soft Suede, Baja Breeze, Basic Black Craft Ink
Punches:  2-3/8" Scallop Circle, 2-1/2" Circle, Decorative Label Punch, Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border Punch
Accessories:  Basic Black Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Embossing Buddy, Powder Pals, Basic Pearls, Paper Snips, SNAIL, Dimensionals, Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz, Color Catcher, Aqua Painter

Tips
  1. You can't see the effect of the Smooch Spritz in the picture, but it really adds some shimmer to the card.
  2. The color catcher is a great tool to have when using the Smooch Spritz.
  3. Never try to do watercoloring without paper towel close by.  I always seem to get too much water on the picture, and dabbing the area with paper towel always does the trick.
  4. I used watercolor paper so I could do watercoloring on the bird, so I also used watercolor paper for the greeting; just so it would have the same look as the bird. 

Products
I just learned (I know, the whole world has known how to do this forever...) how to do screen shots, so now I can show you some of the SU! products I used. 

The Pearlized Smooch Spritz is a spray that adds some shimmer to your cards.


And the Color Catcher is just a box that you can leave set up to catch the spray so you don't get anything on the furniture.


These things are all in the 2010-2011 Idea Book and Catalog, but the Designer Series Paper isn't.  SU! has given us a little sneak peek of the 2011-2012 Idea Book and Catalog.

Doesn't that look fun!!

Anyway, on my last post I told you I would show you how to layer the Decorative Label Punch.  This is not something I came up with, I seen it done on a video on The North Shore Stamper.

To start you want to punch out 2 of the Decorative Label shapes in whatever color you are going to use for the layering.



With your Paper Snips cut each one of the shapes in half, one lengthwise and the other shortwise (is that a word?).


Then you want to cut the corner tips of each one.  The cuts don't need to be straight because you won't see it, you just don't want those points showing in the layers.


With the tips cut off use SNAIL to put the first layer on, it doesn't matter which one you do first, just be sure to either do the top and bottom, or 2 sides; not a top and a side. 


Honestly you could stop here if you wanted, just the top and bottom layer looks good.


After the top and bottom, use your SNAIL to add the 2 sides, so the back looks like this.

And the final product looks like this.


As always, let me know if you have any questions, and I hope you enjoyed my post today.

8 comments:

Ange McKay, North Shore Stamper said...

I love your card:) Thanks for the link:) Your tutorials are awesome!

Terry said...

I love your blog title and your card is very cute. I love that fat little bird! You did a great job with photos explaining how to layer the decorative label punch. Thanks for taking on our challenge! We're happy to have you.

Terry
http://alacardmonkey.blogspot.com

Annie Lee said...

That bird is cute and gorgeous at the same time! This is a great card, very elegant.

Shari Winterstein said...

This is a great card. I've saved it for a future class. Like how you used the punches. AND thanks for the pictorial tutorial. It enhances Dale's description! Thanks for blessing my day. :)

LeAnne said...

LOL! I used the same technique for making a mat with the punch, but I love how you took it a step further with the second punchout! Genius! And I don't know how to do that screen shot thing for the SU products--it looks so professional! How do you do that? You can email me at leanne dot pugliese @ gmail dot com. THANKS!!! Oh, and your card is sweet--I love watercoloring, esp on watercolor paper. Just lovely!

SherriC. said...

love it Tammy!!!

Shirley Pumpkin said...

I just wanted to tell you that I posted a Picture of the Basket of Goodies for the winner of the A La Card Monkey Nature Challenge. Make sure you are sitting down when you look... it's a wower!!!

www.alacardmonkey.blogspot.com

Hugs
Shirley

Jessie Lubyk said...

Very pretty, love the blue:) Great site, tfs