Double Embossing - Patterned Occasions

ok ... I don't know what happened there ... I had to pull my blog up in Google Chrome to get the pics to upload.  WHY???  I've been blogging for a few years now and never had a problem!  I hate when the computer randomly changes things on me ... freaks me out!  Anyway ... here is the post I meant to load yesterday!


Happy Saturday!

Everyone still feeling the holiday cheer?  I'm not.  I'm ready to strangle my children with the stray piece of tinsle that the cat yacked up!  SERIOUSLY!!  HOW do we survive 8 weeks of summer holidays each year???!!!  I am counting down the minutes until the school bell rings Monday morning (36 hours and43 minutes ... or 2,203 minutes if you want to know!!!)

Sigh.  I love them dearly ... but I'm sooooo done!  I'd like to say I have only maintained my sanity by escaping to my craft room but I haven't SEEN my craft room in daaaaaays!  I've been busy doing I-don't-KNOW-what ... mainly wandering from room to room looking at the aftermath of Christmas ... and toys ... and fattening food ... and toys ... and laundry ... and toys ... I HAVE now officially managed to go through 95% of EVERY item in my household.  The upstairs is DONE!  I hauled bags and bags and bags of "stuff" out of the play room ... McDonald's toys, candy, brithday loot bag treats ... broken toys - I took BOXES of books, toys and clothes to Good Will ... I've gone through every drawer, closet and bucket - my label maker got a workout and I'm pretty sure my "buying for the sake of buying" days are over!  I've actually been VERY good at not bringing "stuff" into the house.  Even Santa was good with the stockings this year.  He normally brings lots of little toys and dollarstore things ... that just pile up.  This year he brought primarily candy ... which is now 90% gone ... so I don't have to sort through a pile of junk 9 months from now.  Well done Santa!

So!  I guess I HAVE been fairly busy the last 2 or 3 weeks ... and I DID spend a few hours in the craft room last week ... so I'll post what I made :)

I'm in the process of trying to come up with at least one sample for every item in the Sale-a-brations brochure (but so far I only have 1 out of 19 done *lol*) ... as well as quite a few samples with the products from the new Spring Catalogue ... again, 1 down ... LOTS to go!  I'm ALSO trying to come up with projects for my private classes and Technique Class this month.  I decided that the Technique this month will be Double Embossing ... and to kill 2 birds with 1 stone I decided to use new products for the card.  I'm happy to say I succeeded and have two very different looks using the same technique ... just by changing the paper, embossing folder and stamps.

First up is a great way to use the new SAB set "Patterned Occasions":

Cute!I used the Argyle embossing folder for the background and then the Designer Frames folder for the oval in the middle.  The stamp set is the Patterned Occasions from the SAB catty.  The ribbon is from the Spring Mini - Melon Mambo Striped Organdy Ribbon -page 30 - $13.50.  I used my Melon Mambo and Tempting Turquoise markers to color directly on the stamp.  I like it!

There are lots of tutorials on You Tube on how to do the Double Embossing technique and they do a much better job of explaining it than I do.  In fact, here is a link for a good tutorial by the fabulous Dawn Olchefske at www.dostamping.typepad.com ... it uses a simpler method than I used and saves a lot of time ...

I used a tutorial from Peg Coombes - a UK Demonstrator at  http://www.pegcraftalot.com/  (November 19th, 2012 entry).  Check it out ... and check out her cards too - amazing!!!  It's a more complicated technique than Dawns because you have to make your own window template ... but once you have it you have it for life ... so it's a good thing.  Invest 20 minutes into making the template and you're good to go.  I had a bit of trouble following Peg's tutorial mentally ... but if you just do what she tells you to do you'll manage ... or you can come to my Technique Class on Tuesday and I'll show you how *lol*.

I like the cupcake card but thought I'd try another one using the same technique but different stamps and folders.  Here's what I came up with:

I LOVE this one - a little more my style - the vintage feel and soft colors.  Check the cards out side by side:

    

Isn't it amazing just how different they look even though they are the exact same layout and technique?  For the butterfly card I used the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder (page 189 - $9.95) and the Designer Frame oval folder (page 188 - $10.95).  I used Very Vanilla and Crumb Cake paper, ink and Taffeta Ribbon (page 173 - $9.50).  I used the large butterfly punch (page184 - $21.95) and the ALL NEW Bitty Butterfly punch from the Spring Mini (page 13 - $21.95) for the little butterfly.  I added some pearls for the bodies ... I also added a pearl to the knot of the ribbon for a little continuity.  The sentiment is from a new Spring catty set called "Essentials" - page 22 - $8.95 (it's easy to overlook this little set - there are only 2 stamps in it - a Thank You and a Happy Birthday).  For one last little touch I sponged some Crumb Cake ink on the raised parts of the embossed image.  It really adds to the vintage look.

OK!  Right!  Now that I've spent about 2 hours on this post I need to get on with other things ... enjoy the rest of your weekend ... and have a stampy week!

Tam