2014 - The House That Stamps Built

DCC1231 ~ Ring in the New Year!

Dec 312014

Happy New Year’s Eve, everyone! I hope you all have something fun and festive planned to ring in the new year. It’s business as usual here today, but tonight I’m looking forward to a heaping bowl of shrimp cocktail, a little bubbly, and curling up on the couch with the Mr. for a comedy movie marathon until it’s time for the ball to drop. A nice, relaxing way to send off 2014!

In the meantime, we’ll start our day with another great Designer’s Choice Challenge. This time RI Rock Star, Cheri Weston has challenged everyone to create cards with a “Ring in the New Year” theme. Perfect!! Check out this fabulously sweet card that Cheri created to get us all started.

“DCC1231” card created by Cheri Weston.

Visit Cheri’s blog

So a few days ago Cheri shared her card with her fellow Rock Stars and asked them to create their own cards with a “Ring in the New Year” theme. Check out all the fun cards they created this week!

“DCC1231” card created by Patti J. Gilliam.

Visit Patti’s blog

“DCC1231” card created by Deonna Bemish.

Visit Deonna’s blog

“DCC1231” card created by Geri Utterback.

Visit Geri’s blog

“DCC1231” card created by Joy Hadden.

Visit Joy’s blog

“DCC1231” card created by Melissa Cash.

Visit Melissa’s blog

“DCC1231” card created by Karen Hasheck.

Visit Karen’s blog

And now it’s your turn. Here are all the details…
1. Create a card with a “Ring in the New Year” theme. And remember, your creation does not have to be made with Repeat Impressions stamps, but if you would like to include our designs we would reeeally love to see them! 😀 Plus, there’s an added bonus… you will get an additional entry in our random.org drawing for using our stamps in your submissions!
2. Post your DCC creation on your blog or online gallery and be sure to reference Repeat Impressions DCC1231 ~ “Ring in the New Year”. Then link it here with the inlinkz widget below. (Please provide a direct link to your post, not the entire blog.)
3. Submissions will be accepted until Tuesday, January 13th at 5PM EST.
4. On January 14th we will introduce a new challenge to play along with and after all our January challenges wrap up we’ll announce our winner for the month. So please stay tuned for more details coming next week when we kick off the new year with a fun, new line up of challenges!

Don’t forget… we also have a great Sketch Challenge happening now too! There are still a few days left to get in on this one and an opportunity to win a $25 Repeat Impressions gift certificate! Please follow this link to my WHAT IF? Wednesday ~ Sketch Challenge D2414 post to see my sketch layout and all the wonderful cards the Rock Stars created to get you started.

And last, but certainly not least, today we bid farewell to Rock Star, Geri Utterback. Oh my, how we will miss this super sweet and talented lady. Her sense of design and coloring skills are off the charts! She is a true Rock Star and we are so fortunate to have had Geri on our design team… not once, but twice! We sure hope to keep in touch with her in blog land and maybe she’ll even join us in a challenge now and then. 🙂

Thanks so much for dropping by today. We hope you’ve found lots to inspire you and look forward to seeing your challenge card linked here soon. And please be sure to stop by again on Monday when Rock Star, Melissa Cash will be hosting and sharing her Project of the Week with us.

Until then… happy stamping!
And all the best to you for a very Happy, Healthy New Year!!

Wendy
Repeat Impressions

Project of the Week ~ Bokeh Effect with Brusho Backgrounds

Project of the Week

Dec 292014

Karen here and it is my turn to share a Project of the Week with everyone here at the Repeat Impressions’ blog and on mine. Isn’t this photo with Bokeh lights beautiful? I have seen some cards on Pinterest using this Bokeh effect and even tried making a few cards myself. But recently I found a tutorial here, and I tried her tips with a few adjustments and am really happy with the cards I was able to make.

First of all, what is Bokeh? I looked up the definition and it is “the visual quality of the out-of-focus areas of a photographic image.” It is pronounced bōˈkā.

To create a Bokeh background for cards, start with a piece of watercolor paper slightly larger than you want it on your card. Tape it down with low tack tape onto a craft sheet. Apply water to the watercolor paper with a water brush or paint brush. In the tutorial linked above, the instructor applied watercolor paints to her wet background. I do not have watercolor paints, so I decided to try my Brusho Crystal Colours. Here is a picture of what happened when I applied violet, orange and crimson Brushos to the wet watercolor paper.

Then I spritzed the colors with more water to smooth them out and this is what it looked like:

I soaked up the excess water and dried the piece with a heat gun. Next comes the Bokeh magic. I created a stencil out of a piece of acetate with various sizes of circle punches. Then I applied white pigment ink through the circle holes onto the Brusho colored piece. The key to success with this step is to make sure your white pigment ink pad is very moist with ink. The largest circles should be lighter and as the circles get smaller, they should be brighter. The circles should overlap in some areas. Let this piece dry completely or dry it with a heat gun. This is how my Bokeh Brusho piece looked after inking through the circle stencil:

Now it is time to make a card with the beautiful Bokeh Brusho background we have created. I layered the piece onto black and then onto a lavender card base. I stamped Repeat Impressions’ 9116-N Hot Air Balloon Cluster onto black cardstock and cut them out. I stamped RI’s perfect sentiment ribbon 9101-G Aim for the clouds and applied it with mounting tape to raise it for dimension.

I made a second card with blue, yellow and green Brusho Crystal Colours and white pigment ink applied through my “holey” stencil. After it was dry, I attached the piece with pop dots to a blue top folding card base. I stamped Repeat Impressions’ 4115-H To hug and to hold sentiment on vellum and attached. I created side flags out of vellum and attached them under the top piece. I stamped the sweet 1607-I Baby on cream cardstock and paper pieced his polka-dotted pjs. He was also raised on pop dots when attached, and I added some sequins to complete the baby boy Bokeh Brusho background card. Try saying that three times fast. Or better yet, try this fun background technique and see if you love it as much as I do.

A Message from Wendy and Repeat Impressions: Watch for Brusho Crystal Colours coming to the Repeat Impressions online store soon! Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter in the sidebar link here so that you don’t miss out on this exciting product availability announcement.

WHAT IF? Wednesday ~ Sketch Challenge D2414

Sketch Challenges

Dec 242014

Greetings from Maine and warm wishes for a very Merry Christmas! I hope you are all enjoying a happy holiday season so far. This is my first posting from home after being away on vacation for three weeks… so let’s just say that I am not quite up to speed yet. Yes, there’s nothing like shopping on Christmas Eve to get you back to reality in a hurry! 😉

It’s also challenge day here again and I’ve got a new sketch to share with you. Check it out and all the wonderful inspiration cards created by the RI Rock Stars… then play along for your chance to win a Repeat Impressions‘ gift certificate!

Repeat Impressions Sketch D2414

“D2414 Sketch” card created by Cheri Weston.

Visit Cheri’s blog

“D2414 Sketch” card created by Karen Hasheck.

Visit Karen’s blog

“D2414 Sketch” card created by Patti J. Gilliam.

Visit Patti’s blog

“D2414 Sketch” card created by Joy Hadden.

Visit Joy’s blog

“D2414 Sketch” card created by Deonna Bemish.

Visit Deonna’s blog

“D2414 Sketch” card created by Melissa Cash.

Visit Melissa’s blog

“D2414 Sketch” card created by Geri Utterback.

Visit Geri’s blog

And now it’s your turn! The rules are really simple… Your card doesn’t even have to be made with Repeat Impressions stamps, but if you would like to include our designs we would really love to see them! 😀 Plus you will get an additional entry in our random.org drawing for using our stamps in your submissions! Simply create a card based on my sketch, upload your card to your blog or Splitcoast gallery, then link your card here to this post by clicking on the little blue button below.

We will be accepting submissions to this D2414 Sketch Challenge until 5pm EST on January 6th. All participants will be automatically entered into our random drawing. On January 7th we’ll announce our winner for December. One lucky person will win a $25 Repeat Impressions Gift Certificate!

So what are you waiting for?! Why not play along with us and start stamping up a card now. We can’t wait to see your creations! When you are ready to share your card, please add the direct link to your entry using the link button below. And please be sure to provide a link back here and reference Repeat Impressions Sketch D2414 in your blog or gallery posting.

Don’t forget… we also have a great Designer’s Choice Challenge going on now too! Our Rock Star hostess, Melissa Cash has a fun theme challenge for you this time. Please visit my DCC1217 ~ Think Snow post for all the details and fantastic inspiration from the Rock Stars.

Thanks so much for taking time out from your holiday festivities to visit with us today. We hope you’ve found lots to inspire you and look forward to seeing your sketch card linked here soon.

Until the next time… happy stamping and Merry Christmas!!!

Wendy
Repeat Impressions

Project of the Week ~ Two for One Cards

Project of the Week

Dec 222014

Good morning! It’s my turn to show a Project of the Week for Repeat Impressions. I call this Two for One — when I can make 2 cards at one time, I feel like I make the most of my card making time.

I die cut a circle into a piece of kraft cardstock. The kraft colored cut out will be placed on a piece of white cardstock and the kraft negative will be used as a card — two for one. Here is what it looks like:

Then I stamped a couple of images called #1222-G Love Stencil and #2628-H Comfy Chair. The chair was quickly colored with copics. One chair and two hearts were cut out leaving a small white edge.

The white circle was shaded with an ink.
Kraft card was stamped with the sentiment called #3905-I Where we love.
The white card was stamped with the sentiments called #9717-C Happy Hello and #9711-E I Love You Bunches (the “bunches” word was masked)
Twine was tied at top and pen was used to make fake stitches around the circles.