Want to buy this project? Stamp out cancer Auction (secret box canvas)

So I have an evil plan, for a good cause:

breast cancer fundraising.



I'm going to try and entice you guys to buy this thinger

by adding elements to it bit by bit,

and by customizing it to your taste as much as I can.

Today is day 3 of Skipping Stones Design's

second annual Blogs 4 Boobies fundraiser

And it's a series of auctions!



my piece up for auction looks like a card in this photo...







...but it's actually a canvas on wood

(renewable resource archival-quality wooden canvas)







It measures 6 inches by 6 inches

and is decorated with:

• Gesso,
• Watercolour paper,
• Heat-embossed vellum
• Canvas,
• Hand stitching
• and heat-embossed pieces on all 4 sides.

I made little wee embossed flowers for it

(from the Stampin' Up Birds & Blooms die).

They have paint-distressed snaps in the centers...







...but left it customizable,

so what would YOU

like to see on this?:







I'll be making a couple different flower options and

sending them to the winner...

....so if that's you, then

you can choose which flowers you like best

and keep the rest to switch out for a new look to the canvas,

or use however you like.



If you don't like flowers, then

you can put whatever you'd like on it. :o)







If you'd like this wooden canvas

to come live at your house,

You can bid on it in the comments

-just say how much you'd like to donate, and be sure to

leave your email (or send it to me at melstampz@gmail.com)

pretty please.



The bidding ends on the 23rd, so until then

I'll keep adding details to this project to try to entice you. :o)



&



Please check out all of the great

projects for auction on Day 1 & 2

(linked up here)! (You can read the "rules" there as well)



Please visit these talented ladies

who are also auctioning cards off today:



Skipping Stones Design blog (all 3 days' designers are there)

You can bid on all 3 days worth of projects until Aug. 23rd!

• Rae Ann Barthel
• Karen Baker
• Pam Hornschu
• Jennifer Ingle
• Ria Johnson
• Stephanie Mino
• Kandi Phillips
• Wendy Price
• Julia Stainton
• Taylor Usry

Don't forget you can help just by shopping, too.



This project uses these two of my ultra fave stamp sets

from Skipping Stones Design:



Timeless Textures and Grunge sets:









I know my family is far from being the only one to be

fighting cancer in its different forms,

so thank you in advance for helping however you can!

Please spread the word & please remember

to get screening for early detection,

P.S. This wooden canvas has a secret box compartment hidden

in the back too. (I'll reveal photos of that soon.) :o)

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Ribbon Challenge!

Whoopsy! My applogies to those subscribers who got

a lot of coded gobbledy-gook in the last newsletter.

(It was an html fiasco, but it was for a very good cause.)

Do you love a good sketch challenge?

I haven't done one in ages,

and this sketch by Danielle was SO fun

Here's my take on it:

You're the Perfect Package:

Digital set from Amber Ink

(Didn't realize how much I'd like

layering the different digi stamps

to make this scene. Loads!)

(get more bang for your digital paper dollar)



You can alter coloured digi papers

then print them on coloured cardstock:







This was

ipaper Perfect Package Wrap



Pink: Tiny



It was altered this way:



1) Desaturate it & make it lighter (PS how to here).

2) Print it on dark grey cardstock



(You don't have to stick to grey, of course.

You can print on any colour,

but if your digi paper imagery is light gray it will

give you a monochromatic look on almost any hue.)









The challenge is to use the sketch

and add ribbon.



I added a teensy bit of real ribbon

& some quilled-paper faux ribbon rolls:







Making little mini rolls of ribbon out of paper a hoot & easy!

(I have a tutorial in the works for them, in case you're curious).



Hope you can add your card to the challenge,

or just check out the gorgeous examples here:



(The challenge goes until Aug 22/2011)

Here's hoping your day is shaping up

to be a beautiful one!

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Turning a line art image into a silhouette (digital or stamped image)

Today a whack of pictures with the teeny details

of these 2 Amber Ink Hostess with the Mostest cards...

&

...a general how-to for turning line art

(digital or stamped) into silhouettes.



Card #1...

(for this one, I hand cut the silhouette & adhered it to watercolour paper)

& Card #2...

(for this one I just printed the silhouette & cut with an oval cutter)



The silhouettes are an Amber Ink line art image that

I filled in PhotoShop to get a silhouette:







They're embellished with mini things like this

teeny tiny dinner invitation with a folded mini envelope

(made with paper, thread & printed text bits).

Here are the insides of the 2 cards:

The square card says "What's Cookin' Good Lookin?" inside.



The tall card has this little salad bowl in it

(which is also part of the Hostess with the Mostest set):

(It got the same silhouette treatment as the hostess.)

They both have matching envelopes:



One paper envelope:



(how to line any envelope quickly here).



And one upcycled organza bag:





(It used to have silk undies in it! *giggle*)



I stuck a mini tea towel & recipe card on the

organza envelope to hide the company logo:







The tea towel was made by printing a small section of

this ipaper onto Sticky Back Canvas and

wrapping it around a bit of cardstock & fraying the ends



The recipe card was made by printing a part of a recipe

sized to a 2 point font & cutting it out to measure

just under 1" x 3/4"

1... details: DIY mini card embellishments

2... the image Hostest with the Mostest from Amber Ink

3... how to make a line art image into a silhouettes (plain & patterned)

-1-

Some mini things made of paper:

To make the mini pencil out of paper,

I rolled it like a paper bead.

Here's how:

1. Cut a wee scrap of patterned paper about 1 inch by 1/2 an inch.
2. Stick a teeny bit of double-sided tape on one side of it.
3. Roll the paper on a needle (adhering the paper to itself).
4. Slide the paper off of the needle.
5. Then cut the tip of the rolled paper with scissors to shape it into a point like a lead.
6. Draw on details (the pencil lead & the eraser) on with black and silver pens.

The recipe card is identiacl to the one on the

organza envelope above (again, 2 point font).

To make the book, I cut & folded some tiny little pieces of paper

(patterned and copy paper) and doodled on them.

...then stitched the pages together & wrapped some turquoise thread

around the cover and pasted on a tiny printed label.

-2-

(in digital or stamps)

This Amber Ink set is called

Hostess with the Mostest:



I used the digital version:

...but they also have

Do you prefer stamping?



You can find the stamps here.





I also used these 2 digi papers:



ipaper Schoolgirl Plaid





& Swiss Dots Sunny Yellow tiny





My printer a Canon MP240 prints colours funnily,

so I added green to these papers (+100 green)

before printing.



-3-



...create silhouettes from line art images:



DIGITAL SILHOUETTE:



Open the silhouette in Photoshop

(or other digital software that is

capable of filling images with solid colour.)



Fill all the areas of the line art image

Then print it & use your image:







This digital fill is how I did the ones I used on the cards above

(but not with a deep black. I like using black at 80% to get a silhouette

that reads as dark, but still shows some of the line art of the image.)



You can even get a funky patterned silhouette:







Simply fill the image with a pattern

(Please see this tutorial post if you'd like

to see how pattern filling works).



STAMPED SILHOUETTE:



Stamp the image & then simply colour it in:







To create a patterned stamped silhouette:







Stamp the line art image, then stamp & heat emboss a pattern over it

(with clear embossing powder) then colour it in.



...and here are the cards again:





measurements:

square card: 4 1/2" wide x 5" tall

tall card: 3 1/2" wide x 6 3/8" tall

Thanks for having a look.

Hope you & yours are doing well,

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