"Who Are You and What Have You Done with Susan?"

"Can it be?"

"Would she really?"

"Oh my gosh...colored card stock!?!?"

YES!!!

It looks strange, doesn't it? Totally unexpected.

But as I was clearing out my ribbon stash, tossing a bunch that will never get used into my "get rid of" box, I found just enough of this delightful blue satin for a single card and decided to use it.

The raised panel looked weird on a white base. Oh, yes. I tried. But the card needed more color than just the ribbon to unify it. Now, the colors are more balanced, and that fabulous sentiment (Clearly Besotted, I think) shines.

Just because I don't use colored card stock often doesn't mean I don't use it at all.

And that ribbon is GONE. It felt good to use something up.

Not to mention a half sheet of bashful blue card stock.

Go, me!

Are you using stuff up? Have you stepped outside your comfort zone this year yet? If not, give it a try!

Supplies
stamps: Clearly Besotted
ink: Memento Luxe tuxedo black
paper: SU bashful blue, PTI white
accessories: Fiskars border punch, SU dimensionals, satin ribbon

A Winner, a Cork Board, and a Pear

Laura Whitaker is the randomly-chosen winner of the Limited Edition You Rock die by Julie Ebersole! YAY! Laura likes dies, and I know this one is going to a good home. Laura, please email me your snail mail address at susanraihala at roadrunner dot com, and I'll mail your prize out as soon as I can!

Now for the cork board. I have a couple of cork boards on the wall in my craft area where I keep a bunch of cards, mostly ones that y'all have sent me. Before Christmas, here's what the board looked like:

Then, I cleared it all off, except for Annie's picture, because I love how Annie's looking up at the board as if to say, "Dang, girl, you have some awesomely talented friends!" BTW, Annie is the furry daughter of my friend Lisa over at Flat Fish Paper Arts. You will see more pictures of Annie over there.

Then, I took all the holiday cards I received and put them up for Annie and me to admire.

If you click on the picture, you will see it larger. What gorgeous cards! Many thanks to all who took the time to make and/or send me cards. It's so sweet of you to do that, and I really do appreciate your kindness.

And now for the pear, as promised.

Borders and Washi Tape

An incredibly easy and effective use of washi tape is to create borders on layers. Like this.

This particular heart tape doesn't line up quite right, so it overlaps slightly and annoys me. But still. I wanted to go with a "lots of love" idea, and the black Staz-on does a better job than any other ink I've used on washi tape. Even so, you can see it's ever so slightly beaded up. (Click the pic to enlarge if needed.)

The second card is more satisfying to me, just because those little obsessive issues with the first aren't an issue. The angled stripes and graphic hearts give a nice sense of movement to the static design, don't you think?

Of all the uses of washi tape, I think this one is my favorite. It's easy. It's clean. It lets you spotlight cool sentiments. For this use alone, I consider my washi tape useful.

Using my Hoard
Washi tape is definitely a keeper, and I'm marking it as such on my list.

Have you been using your hoard? Have you eliminated anything or decided to keep something? How is the challenge going for you?

Supplies
stamps: various, including Wet Paint by Papertrey
ink: SU real red, Memento black, Staz-on black
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: washi tape, dimensionals

Washi in Negative Space and a Funny Give-Away

Filling in negative space is nothing new, but it's fun nevertheless.

You can use all sorts of different things to fill in negative space for almost any shape...washi tape, designer paper, stamping, embossing, vellum, etc. You can even make a shaker card using a transparency and a whole lot of dimensional tape. Negative shapes are fun!

And another reason for me to keep the washi tape in my stash.

The heart on my card was cut using a Fiskar's ShapeCutter system like the one shown below:

In fact, it was cut with precisely the ShapeCutter shown. This is because I am epically uncool and don't have a die-cut system.

Which reminds me of a funny story.

Over the holidays, I placed a large-ish order at Ellen Hutson's shop. If you've ordered from her, you know she includes a little thank-you card with your order. The holiday thank-you card was...wait for it...a partridge with A PEAR IN ITS MOUTH. Of course. It's now on my cork board.

Pictures will be forthcoming.

Anyway, when I pulled my order slip out of the box, I noticed that someone had written "You Rock!" on it.

Isn't that sweet?!?!? I wondered--because sometimes my head gets too big for my britches--if someone at Ellen's warehouse was a fan of Simplicity. I felt all warm and popular.

As I unpacked my goodies from the box, however, I found a Limited Edition You Rock die by Julie Ebersole.

Of course. The notation on my order slip just indicated my freebie for such a large-ish order. Because a fan would know that I'm epically uncool and without a die-cut machine, right?

My head fits back in my britches...or something like that.

And I've got a really cute die to give away!

If you want to be considered for the give-away, leave a comment about my epic uncoolness and use the words "I like Dies." If you don't want the die, please still leave a comment but don't type "I like dies."

Comment by midnight EST Friday, January 9, 2015. I'll randomly select a winner and announce the lucky person's name this weekend. 

Supplies
stamps: none
ink: none
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: washi tape, Fiskar's ShapeCutter heart template and cutter, dimensionals

Love Is in the Air...Washi Style

Have I said how much I enjoy Using My Hoard? Well, I am.

Having the list of all my inventory is useful, too, for giving me direction when I'm feeling overwhelmed and not sure what to work on next. For instance, the other day, I felt lost, looked at the list, saw washi tape on it, went to my bowl of washi tape,...

...sorted through, and found a lot of red and pink and love-themed rolls. So for the next few days, I'll show why I'm keeping my washi tape. Well, maybe not all of it, but a lot of it.

Today's two cards were a bit hard to photograph, but they look so cool in real life. First up, a heart popped up perfectly positioned over a strip of washi, with the pattern smoothly continued on the heart.

To get the tape perfectly lined up, just center the tape on the card first, using a line between the stacked Loves for reference. Then, center the tape on the heart in the same way. When you layer the heart onto the card, you can easily align everything!

The second card was slightly more difficult to align because I didn't really have a reference for overlapping the patterned tape, but eyeballing worked this time!

Washi took a while to grow on me, but if you put "washi" into the search box on the sidebar of Simplicity, you'll find lots of posts with a variety of ideas for using it. It definitely fits into my CAS style, and while some of the colors and patterns I've purchased might not be fabulous for me, the product itself is definitely a keeper for my hoard.

Storing it in the bowl, however, might not be the best option for me, as much as I love that bowl. I'm toying with the idea of putting the washi in my embellishment drawers by color...I might use it more often, and it will be easier to see which colors and designs I actually use and need to keep.

Alternatives to Washi Tape
If you don't have washi tape in your hoard, consider what you already have that might work similarly. Cutting designer paper or vellum into strips is the most obvious choice, but you could also substitute ribbon for washi in designs you're inspired by.

Strips of fabric would work, too, if you have a big hoard of fabric! Just back the fabric with fusible webbing, and iron it onto copy paper as a backing before cutting it. Then you can glue it without worrying about show-through.

But none of these alternatives will be as easy as washi, given that the adhesive is already on the back and it comes up off most card stock (if you're careful) for repositioning or removal if you change your mind.

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey
ink: Hero Arts
paper: Papertrey
accessories: washi tape, heart punch, Fiskar's shapecutter heart template and cutting tool, craft knife to trim washi to shapes, dimensionals

Amazing Friend

Feeling swamped tonight, so no chatter. Just a simple card made with Papertrey's Note Niblets, which is proving harder to work with than expected.

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Note Niblets; Hero Arts sentiment
ink: Hero Arts, Memento
paper: Papertrey
accessories: MS butterfly punch, rhinestones

The Stipple Brush Difference

The way I used a stipple brush in the last post didn't result in significant differences from standard--and less expensive--sponging. But today's cards do reveal a difference...subtle, but interesting.

Proper Use of a Stipple Brush
In using the stipple brush on today's cards, I pounced the brush straight up and down on the card through the same mask as the previous card, using very little ink and aiming for a largely even coverage rather than gradation. This was not only much easier than trying for the dense coverage and gradation of the previous card, it took less time and far less ink. Of course you could still create gradations using this technique, but I didn't bother. I think this technique shines with simplicity!

First, a close-up of a birdie card. Notice that the colored background is stippled in a pretty, even way. I love how easy this was...I can never get sponging to look this even and clean. With the stipple brush, this effect took almost no time and very little ink.

Here's the full card. I just love the stylized rectangle of sky and the curves of the bird silhouette, and the straight lines inside the bird. It just all works so well together!

Note: I did chop a half-inch off the bottom of this card. The rectangle looked too small positioned at the top of the card...which was weird since it doesn't look too small at the bottom of the card.

The second card...a masculine card intended for Operation Write Home...shows how natural and interesting brown stippling looks. I did vary the shading a bit, so you can see the effect.

To get this effect, do your stippling first, then stamp your words (you could create any theme of card using this idea!). It would also be fun to remove the mask and stamp a few of the words so they overlap into the white space.

The color scheme comes from my Pinterest page called Color My World. Several of the color schemes there combine teals and olives, so I decided to give it a try. The result here is satisfyingly masculine yet colorful, too.

Using my Hoard Results
This stipple effect is worth keeping the brushes within reach, and I should use them more often because I really do love this soft and subtle effect. I'm adding notations to my list on the Use Your Hoard page to keep track of my challenge and encourage you to do the same with your list!

If you're on the fence about buying some, however, consider whether you'll really need the stipply effect. Does it fit your style? Do you enjoy sponging? Is it worth roughly $10-20 of quality stipple (a.k.a. stencil) brushes and the drawer space to keep them?

Food for thought.

Supplies
stamps: top card (Happy Trails from Papertrey); bottom card (Keep It Simple Thinking of You and Thank You)
ink: various Hero Arts and VersaMagic
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: copy paper and temporary adhesive (mask), stipple brushes