inked stamper design team november project: gorjuss presence

I am over the moon excited to share with you my first official post as an Inked Stamper Design Team member!  Courteney, our Design Team Coordinator, has prepared some very sweet items to motivate our creativity for our projects this month.  I fell in love with the kaisercraft paper, the pearl berries and gems and was inspired by olive (julie nutting doll), the angel wing and snow marker.  I started off with the idea of a gift-giving angel and after some deliberation it morphed into having my girl perched on top of a pile of finely wrapped presents.  The presents in my mind originally were designed as simply layered paper but when you have an envelope punch why wouldn't you actually build presents?   

And then I found the on top of the world (ototw for short)gorjuss urban stamp set at the Inked Stamper - what a perfect fit!  First off let me just say that I am obsessed with the gorjuss girls line from santoro.  Obsessed.  No, let me rephrase and set the record straight, I am obsessed with santoro.  Designing is a breeze when you have such incredible sweetness at the centre of your project.  Seriously.

Ototw was coloured in using permanent ink markers in black, blue and gold.  The silver bib and stocking lines were painted in using silks and as the name suggests, silks are very easy to apply.  If you have not yet played with silks I suggest you try a bottle.  They are lovely paints with a fabulous little shimmer.  I used 130lb white cardstock for both ototw and the base of the card and she took the silks paint very well.  The face and arms were coloured with coloured pencils and I highlighted the top of the bib and her hair with stickles glitter glue (rose gold and star dust).

I stamped snowflakes on the base of the card using my Versamark and clear embossed them to finish the base and pull the card together.

Each present was punch cut using the envelope punch, folded and affixed to the card base using a heat glue gun.  The main present was given a bit of snow using the snow marker and all were embellished with pull-offs bits and glitter ribbon.  You can decorate your presents with a whole host of odds and ends.  Can you imagine steampunking it up for a birthday version?  The mini tags were cut from the same papers as the presents: kaisercraft (north pole collection), bo bunny (woodland winter), pink paislee (peppermint patty), echo park paper (snowflake furry), gemstones (gem opal) and blue cardstock.

I had an amazing time designing and crafting this 3D card and I am already planning out the next project.  I think it is time to create a layout again.  It has been a really long time, hasn't it?  Stay tuned to see what our December inspiration is and what develops.  And if you are in the greater Edmonton area go on and check out ototw in person.  There are a few left on the shelf.

exciting news! joined the new inked stamper design team

I am very excited to announce that I have been selected to join the inked stamper design team!  Courteney, our Design Team Coordinator, will definitely keep the team on our creative toes so be sure to follow along.

Round #1 of the NEW Design Team!

Hello everyone; its Courteney here!  I’ll be posting a lot more now for my position as the Design Team Coordinator.  I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgivings. I have been really busy this last week going through design team applications and I have to say you really did NOT make this easy on me. Everyone who applied was seriously so talented. Thank you so much for taking your time to apply we truly appreciate it. We could only pick a small team this time and I know you will not be disappointed. So please help me in welcoming these very creative, very talent ladies! For the next few days will be introducing Inked Stamper Design Team.  (In no particular order, we love them all!)

 
Pam Klebanov


With a main focus on mixed media, I love using materials in ways they may not have been originally intended.  Sort of like a craft scientist, I am often creating and designing in some unconventional mind space, experimenting with materials and mediums, mixing, deconstructing and altering to create multifaceted projects.  Friends and family, particularly my little muse, Alex are my greatest inspirations. everythingshetouches originated from a desire to share with others some of the things that I enjoy: paper crafts (layouts, tags, cards), sketching, journaling, painting, making jewelry and photography. Born in Montréal, Québec, I now live in Edmonton, Alberta.








Kate Tymko


My name is Kaitlin, but I sometimes go by Kate and I have lived in St. Albert for twenty two years. For as long as I remember, I've always been creative and surrounded by art. In the last few years I dove into papercrafts and have loved every minute of it. My parents (who I'm forever in debt to for letting me transform their basement into a creative studio a couple years ago) and boyfriend, Terry, have given me unwavering support in all my crazy creative pursuits. Blogging came next and fit in naturally between work and school. I'm constantly trying new things and finding new projects to work on and can't wait to see what I create with the Inked Stamper Design Team.

See you back tomorrow with Round 2! We have a total of 4 Designers, 2 Guest Designers, plus myself and Dawn. 

Courteney

it is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness - lucius annaeus seneca

New Heights Stamp Set by Simply Gorjuss Urban Stamps was the inspiration for this birthday card for my mother-in-law.  We all know someone in our lives who pushes us to be better versions of ourselves.  My mother-in-law is one of those people, in my life, who pushes me to new heights.

From 130-lb white cardstock I cut out a triangle (math folks look away; it's not really a triangle.  Yes, I know triangles only have three sides.  I took creative liberty) quadrangle (is that really a word?) and layered on strips of washi tape.  I picked out the little ms. heights colours before I started my washi layering and selected my washi tape with those colours in mind, so that the card was pulled together and had continuity.  I also slipped in some tribute washi: music and Paris.  My mother-in-law loves music and traveling.

The little butterfly and sign are both from this seven-piece set. Can you believe the level of cuteness?  I know most of you have gasped at the complete disconnect with my usual more intense style (I can be cute.  I own a smiling frog and a fox) but seriously how can you not love the Gorjuss series?  I plan on getting many many more (look away mr. everythingshetouches).  And if you live in the greater Edmonton area you too can find many of these darling stamp sets at The Inked Stamper.  

I embossed the sign with my wood embossing folder and distressed the raised image with vintage photo distress ink.  The butterfly was coloured using coloured pencils and highlighted with bronze stickles.

 

ms. heights was coloured using colour pencils.  I chose coloured pencils as the medium because I wanted to give her a bit of an airy feeling, to keep the card light and bright.  And I added a few pieces of sequence because, quite frankly, who doesn't love a bit of good sequence?

Little ms. heights will be one of my very first Etsy Shoppe posts next month.  She will come in a four card pack in different colours, made to order.  Check it out.

when a man retires and time is no longer a matter of urgent importance, his colleagues generally present him with a watch - r.c. sherriff

One of my work colleagues, ms. giraffe, retired this summer and in lieu of a card or photo album I created, with some assistance, a memory book.  What is the difference, you ask?   A memory book is a card and photo album rolled into one, including photos of ms. giraffe and colleagues through her years at the office, co-worker salutations and some brilliant work done by the graphic artists.  And all was supported by my bestest enabler/amazing friend.  Thank you, I could not have retained any sanity without you.

WARNING: There are several photos in this post of the eleven page memory book.  I suggest a coffee, tea or apple cider, sit back and review at your leisure.

Every page has at least one pocket to hold photos and/or colleague greetings and/or well wishes and signatures.

Cover:  I cut out the follow your dreams: transform your life quote and layered it on top of a self-made paper and photo collage.  One of our graphic artists at work took the photos of the boots and birdcages at Fort Edmonton Park which, if you recall, is one of my favourite Edmonton sites.  It never disappoints.  For photographer fans, it really is a great find.  The dress form and bike die cuts are from Memory Box.

Page One:

This little envelope was created with my envelope maker.  Thought it added a sweet touch especially with the hat pin as a faux closure.

Page two: Developed friendships

Page three: Group events

Using Dina Wakley techniques, I transformed this image of settlers into a playful moustachioed group.  I was inspired by the fun and playful photos of the group events included in the pocket of this page.

Page four: This is one of my favourite pages.  I love the colour combination, the little Memory Box clouds, the mini red clips and the wood chipboard birds which I distressed with vintage photo distress ink.

Page five:  This was a super fun page to create using tissue paper, Dina Wakley stencils and book pages.

Page six: Last page of photo memories.

Page seven:  I wanted to create a retirement book that included both memories as well as ms. giraffe's interests.  Pages seven to eleven reflect ms. giraffe's love for reading, traveling, camping, biking, gardening and giraffes starting with a tongue-in-cheek photo of our team.  All of the photos on pages seven through to eleven were created by the graphic artists.

I made a little comic book out of some internet images I found.

Page eight: 

Page nine:

Page ten:

Page eleven:  I love this page.  The artists did a remarkable job superimposing ms. giraffe's face onto a person hugging a giraffe.  I built three gift card-sized envelopes for memory tokens and the gift card.

Back cover:  Image taken by one of the artists at Fort Edmonton Park.

Finished book:

I had a great time putting this book together.  Are memory books something you would like to see in my Etsy Shoppe?  What is a reasonable price?

Next up:  Retirement book number two for mr. chemistry.

window hunting: father's day part two

My father-in-law loves hunting and looks forward to his hunting trip every year starting from the last day of being out in the field.  I focused on the anticipation of hunting for this Father's Day card (see geek is new sexy fathers day part one for my Father's-Day-in-August/September explanation), gazing out the window, watching the ducks swim by, dreaming of deer and moose ..

I stamped my Impression Obsession cover-a-card distressed brick stamp using antique linen distress ink and embossed it with clear powder.  I am obsessed with IO.  Seriously.  Quality stamps and fabulous images.

I cut the Memory Box grand madison french doors from white cardstock and clear distressed crackle painted (Ranger: clear rock candy) it to create a white-painted-wood texture.

I found the binocular embellishments at R&R Scrapbooking.  R&R is a phenomenon every crafter must experience.  If you're in the Edmonton area add this wonder to your list of things to see.  But be sure to save about 2 or 3 hours and a ton of spending money.  I'm not kidding.

So many exciting projects to come: two retirement memory books, a thank you gift for teachers, daycare staff or family, a Gorjuss birthday card, my take on a graffiti birthday card and a Halloween double-sided tag swap.