Gretchen Barron

Today's Featured Designer Series Paper -- Rockabilly (continued)

As I said yesterday, I am in LOVE with this new Designer Series Specialty Paper. Rockabilly is one of the new Specialty papers because some of the designs have a printed gloss finish (kind of like heat embossing). It is GORGEOUS!!! Another great thing about Rockabilly DSP is it's versatility -- it can be fun and playful (even downright funky) or bold and elegant, depending on which designs you choose.

My first card today uses the new Eyelet Border Punch to make this delightful medallion and a perfect frame for the "love" stamp from Dreams du Jour! I've included a couple Tutorial photos here so you can see how I did this. Just click on the photos to view a larger image. Begin with a 2 3/4" square of cardstock and center the square in the Eyelet Border Punch. Punch each of the 4 sides. Don't continue the punching to the edges unless you don't want the square "frame" around the piece (of course, you could snip the corners that are holding the frame together and get an entirely different look). I applied my 5/8" Double Striped Kiwi Kiss Ribbon to the back of the punched-out frame and then threaded the ribbon through to the front before adhering the piece to my card front with SNAIL adhesive. I tied a Faux Bow onto the ribbon. The lovely Rockabilly Specialty paper makes your work easy on this card -- the scallop border is already done for you. I simply mounted in on a layer of Basic Black and then on the Kiwi Kiss card base. The Love-floral image was stamped with Black Stazon Ink onto Whisper White cardstock and colored with a Blender Pen and Kiwi Kiss ink. I rounded the corners before adhering it down. The butterfly was stamped with Black Stazon onto Kiwi Kiss cardstock and adhered using Stampin' Dimensionals!

My second card today was so much fun to create! It begins with a base of Kiwi Kiss and layers of Basic Black and Real Red. Another 2" strip of Rockabilly Specialty DSP was attached and a narrow strip of the Cherry print from the DSP pack was punched with the Eyelet Border Punch and applied with SNAIL. 1/4" Black Grosgrain ribbon hides the seam and a Faux Bow was tied on. The sentiment from Smarty Pants was stamped using Black Stazon Ink. The cherry image from Tart N' Tangy was stamped after color was applied directly to the stamp with Markers. This was punched out with 1 1/4" Circle punch and layered on a 1 3/8" circle of Real Red and a Scallop Circle of Basic Black. White Dots were applied using a White Signo Gel Pen. The circle was adhered to the card using Stampin' Dimensionals.

If you're in love with the new Designer Series Papers, you may want to check out my samplers. I'm currently taking orders for these until February 1st. You get a BIG 6x12" sheet of each of the DSP papers in each sampler, enough to make dozens of cards and scrapbook pages, without the expense of purchasing entire packs of each collection. You can check out all my DSP samplers here or by clicking on my Online Store Window in the left side-bar.

I do hope you'll stop back again soon. I promise more inspiration and later this week will be featuring another Designer Series Paper Collection.

Until then, Blessings -- Gretchen

Today's Featured Designer Series Paper -- Rockabilly!

Oh my gosh, I can't tell you how much I LOVE this new Designer Series Specialty Paper. Rockabilly is one of the new Specialty papers because some of the designs have a printed gloss finish (kind of like heat embossing). It is GORGEOUS!!! Another great thing about Rockabilly DSP is it's versatility -- it can be fun and playful (even downright funky) or bold and elegant, depending on which designs you use. I'll try to show you a bit of both in the projects I've created today!

This first card is on the elegant side, if I do say so myself. I love how this turned out -- so rich and romantic! The bottom stripe piece is some of the glossy finish paper -- a beautiful, rich, black-on-black. I punched the bottom edge with the new Eyelet Border Punch (a MUST have), and tied a length of 1/4" Black Grosgrain ribbon across. The card base is Basic Black and Real Red cardstock forms the 2nd layer. The hearts from the Always Stamp Set are stamped with Black Craft Ink and embossed with Clear Embossing Powder and the Heat Tool. After cutting them out, I attached them using Stampin' Dimensionals. The "bow" was made using the Frayed Ribbon Technique which you can read more about here. When you use this technique, make sure you don't skimp on the ribbon. I cut a long piece to make the bow (probably about 8" (twice what I would normally use for a bow), and then left about 1" of it unfrayed while I passed the strands under the ribbon strip already attached to the card and tied it (see the photo for a close-up of this process). Once it was tied, I trimmed the ends, cutting off the piece that had not yet been fringed! I think the Fringed Ribbon adds a perfect touch of something special to this beautiful card. To finish it off, I added a layer of Whisper White Cardstock to the inside of the card, stamped the bird image from Always, again with Black Craft Ink and embossed it for a glossy element on the inside of the card as well!

Well, from elegant to downright fun, I created this next card by CASEing one that I saw on Taylor VanBruggen's website here. The card base is Basic Black and the second layer is Summer Sun. I used one of the new Stampin' Up! Backgrounds Texturz Plates for the dotted swiss texture. I also followed someone's advise about lightly misting your cardstock with rubbing alcohol before running it through the Big Shot to apply the texture. IT WORKS! It really does create a much more defined texture in the cardstock (you could also mist with water but the alcohol will dry faster). The large dot DSP is from Rockabilly. The stamp set is Just Buzzin' By. I added some Dazzling Diamonds Glitter on the little bee wings! The corners were punched with the Ticket Corner Punch. I made Faux Brads by punching out 1/4" circles of Summer Sun, gluing them on with 2-way glue and then "dropping" a few drops of Crystal Effects on each one for a raised effect. This photo shows you a little more of the dimension from both the Texturz Plate and the Crystal Effects. Make sure you allow plenty of time for the Crystal Effects to dry. I attached the image layer to the card using Stampin' Dimensionals! and added some Black Gingham ribbon. And of course, I needed to decorate the inside of the card as well with a little bee and flower! Too cute, don't you think?

I've got some more great projects featuring Rockabilly Specialty Designer Series Paper that will be revealed tomorrow on this blog, so be sure and stop by again! Did I mention that I LOVE this paper???

One of my DSP Sampler Kits features Rockabilly as well as the other 3 Specialty Papers. By ordering a sampler, you get a BIG 6x12" sheet of each of the 24 Specialty DSP papers, enough to make dozens of cards and scrapbook pages, without the expense of purchasing entire packs of each collection. You can check out all my DSP samplers here or by clicking on my Online Store Window in the left side-bar.

Remember to stop by tomorrow for more great projects from the Rockabilly Specialty Designer Series Paper!

I hope to see you then! Blessings, Gretchen