Resist(ance) is Futile

Today was our monthly Stamp Club meeting. These ladies come to my Stampin' Garage on a monthly basis to PLAY!

They've become friends through stamping, which I think is awesome!

I generally try to teach them a technique each month, and then encourage them to take the technique and turn it into a full card. They have access to all my stamps, inks, and papers the the Stampin' Garage.

The technique I taught this month is called Emboss Resist.

Pretty simple technique to do.

Basically: Stamp w/Versamark, emboss with clear embossing powder.



And then use a sponge to rub ink OVER the embossed image.



The ink will stick where there is no embossing, and the embossed portion will continue to show the original card stock color through it. I used Real Red to sponge this version of the "Love" stamp.

Darker colors tend to show off the embossed image better.

This one was made by embossing the Medallion stamp, sponging it with Rich Razzleberry Ink.

Then I dug around and found some old DSP that matched it pretty well, and added a 1/4" Rich Razzleberry taffeta ribbon to cover where the two papers meet.

I stamped the "Just for You" from the Level 1 Hostess set from the big catalog, "Afterthoughts" .

There's actually more on the "just for you" stamp, but I chose to just use those words for this card. The rest says "...so you don't have to share".

Oh - and did you see them? Those awesome pearls - AGAIN?!!?

Go ahead, scroll back up and try to find them. I'll wait...

This technique works best with more solid images, but I also played around with one of the background stamps:

This one is Bella Toile, sponged with Pacific Point.

And here's my version of the card that let me down this emboss resist path this week. I copied it from Kimberly van Diepen's blog (thanks, Kimberly! Love your style).


Lots of soft colors here. I used Baja Breeze and Ivory CS, and sponged with both Baja Breeze and Soft Suede.

And of course, added the Crumb Cake seam binding.

I gotta tell ya - I just LOVE that seam binding - it's so thin, soft, and pliable and doesn't create huge knots when you use it on a card. And now we carry it in 7 different colors!

Hope you had a beautiful day! It certainly was here - like 75 degrees with lots of sun. It felt great to open up the house and air it all out!

Thanks for stopping by. Come back!

Good to see friends again

It was another Sunday of sharing here in Sam's Garage - cards, techniques, pizza, chocolate, and lots of ideas and conversation.

Our monthly Get-together - just a group of SU demonstrators - some in my downline, some not... Just a great group of very talented ladies!

Teresa brought the CUTEST card (actually two versions) to share with us today - all made with punches!














Aren't they cute!!!?? Teresa punched out all the pieces for each of us to make one of these for our very own! She KNEW I'd love it!

Here are some of the cards that ended up in the garage (and my sample baskets!) today. I'm sure you'll enjoy them, as will I!

Veronica's card. Lovely, as always. She used the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder and Rich Razzleberry CS and dotted grosgrain ribbon. Her greeting is from the Wonderful Favorites set.








Teresa's card. She used the Medallion stamp inked in Whisper White on Old Olive CS and Rich Razzleberry CS as her main color for the card. She also used a Square Fire "bling" and silver cording to dress it up.








Susan's card. She used the Top Note die "leftover" as a stencil and daubered the color on to the ivory CS. She also used the Champagne Mist paints, which don't show up very well, but do add a lovely touch when seen in person.

Her CS is Elegant Eggplant, layered with Dusty Durango. She used dark purple grosgrain ribbon for her "bowless bow". She also used the ticket corner punch on several layers.


Del's contribution for today. She cleverly used aluminum foil to create her mirror!

Then she stamped the house from the House of Haunts set on the foil, using Black Staz-on ink.

The background papers are the Night & Day specialty papers. She used the scallop oval punch to create the mirror. I also like her take on how the card will fold to be mailed. Don't think I've ever seen this particular one before, but it's quite striking, don't you think?


Sam's card.

I used the Lattice Big Shot die, cut it in Ivory CS and layered it on to Real Red CS. Then I cut an oval out of Black CS using the Ovals die, and finally layered a stamped image from the Sweet Season set.











This card is a candidate for my upcoming Christmas card Stamp A Stack that I'll be holding here in my Stampin' Garage on October 24th & 25th. There will be 4 different designs, and attendees will make 3 of each of them for a total of 12 cards. Fee for the class is $25.

Call or email me if you'd like to sign up for this class. Final sign-ups must be to me by Friday, October 16th, so that I can order the materials and be sure they'll be here.

And last, but certainly not least, your cat photo of the day.

It's gotten chillier lately, so Velvet's taken to sleeping snuggled up to my reading pillow. Image my surprise when I found Smedley sleeping there too, the other day!

And look at that guilty look on his face! Guess he thought he was doing something wrong...




Happy Stampin'!