Grid Technique Tutorial

Well, I’ve had quite a few people comment on my cards this week (which is wonderful!!!!)  They’ve also been asking questions about this grid technique that I’ve been talking about and wanting to know how to do it.  So I thought I would do a little tutorial on how I made my blue butterfly card.
Firstly, I must say that I got the original idea from the Splitcoaststampers resources section it is called Retiform Grid Technique, you can see the tutorial here. 
I liked the look of it but I wanted mine to have more of a collaged background look.  I also wasn’t that keen on the “angles” on the card and wanted mine to be more rectangular. I looked up the meaning of Retiform and it means: net-like in form; having criss-crossed lines.  Which I’m not sure mine is anymore.  There is also a tutorial on Splitcoast for Collage stamping see here.  I hadn’t looked at this one before I made my card, some people had commented that they liked my “collaged” background and so I had a look at this tutorial too to see if I had actually said the wrong technique.  Anyway mine is perhaps a combination of the two things?
I hope you find my little tutorial helpful.  I’ll continue to call it Grid technique but WHO KNOWS what it really is?  I’m confused myself.

Step 1


Firstly I get my sponge.  I thought I’d show you this in the photo too.  I buy the pack of 3 stampin up sponges and cut them into 4 pieces (therefore you’ve got 12 sponges) and I write the colour on the side using a sharpie permanent marker so that the colours don’t get all messed up. I sponge with the rounded part.
Cut very vanilla card to size. I used 2 post it notes (I used the long ones but you can use the smaller or just sheets of copy paper) to mask off a rectangle.  I line up the post its with the edge of the card too to keep the lines straight. 

Step 2

Rub the sponge on the baja blue pad and then rub along the edges of the post its. The sponging will be half on and half off the post its. I also sponged up into the rectangle very lightly.

Step 3

Stamp whatever you like onto this rectangle.  I used NQN, a darker shade of the sponging colour.  You could use the same colour though for a more subtle look or a different colour entirely.  I used the Friendly Words wheel.

Step 4

Remove the post its and this is what you have.

Step 5

Next you need to cover the area you just stamped with the post it. Then I used another post it to make a longer rectangle under the stamped one, aligning edges so the lines will be straight.

Step 6

Sponge the lines again as before.

Step 7

Stamp this rectangle. I used Elements of style.

Step 8

Remove post its and this is what you have.

Step 9

Cover this over and make another rectangle and sponge the edges again.

Step 10

I stamped Because I care in this one.

Step 11

Again cover this up and sponge again.

Step 12

Used the music notes wheel. And didn’t do a great job either, doesn’t matter though because I am tearing off the bottom section of this for my card.

Step 13

Tear edge and admire your work!

I hope that all made sense.  If not just email me, I’m happy to answer any questions.
Kathy

Pretty chocolate for you

I’ve had such a good week. Sleeping in, crafting, playing with the kids and I’ve also won 2 awards for my cards!  I was a top pick at Just Add Ink for my blue butterfly card and I was also a Cut Above winner at Paper Players for my Here for You card.  I was so excited to be chosen by these two great sites.
I have been making more cards using the grid technique to give to my daughters’ violin teacher.  I’ve made them all slightly differently, please leave me a comment and let me know which one you like best.
I found another challenge site this week too which looks fun.  It’s called Stampin’ Celebration and the challenge for this week is chocolate and flowers.  I decided to use the grid technique and use pip and choc chip and of course flowers.



This one has a more vintage feel to it than the other cards I think.  I used pip to sponge onto the vanilla and stamped in choc chip. This is similar to what I did with the other cards, but this time I also wheeled over the entire piece with the very vintage wheel using crumb cake.  It is subtle, but made the card more “vintagy” and lovelier I think.

Ingredients :
Stamps : Because I care, elements of style, friendly words wheel, very vintage wheel, all a flutter
Card : pink pirouette, very vanilla, crumb cake, shimmery white
Ink : pip, choc chip, crumb cake, stazon
Other : aquapainter, pip taffeta ribbon, mini glue dots, hodgepodge hardware, scallop trim border punch, sponges

Here for you

Well I’ve been wasting time this week, crafting and checking out my favourite blogs and finding lots of lovely new ones as well!  I found a challenge site called The Paper Players and they have a colour challenge this week. Their design team have created so many stunning cards, it inspired me to try these colours together too. 
 
I thought I would try the grid technique again but this time use 2 colours Baja Breeze and River Rock.  I also stamped the blossoms from Elements of Style onto watercolour paper, coloured them and cut out a couple to attach to the tag.



My daughter’s violin teacher had to go to hospital for knee surgery just before Christmas, she is back home now and we might go and visit her next week if she’s up to visitors.  I thought I might make a couple more cards using the grid technique and give them to her as a little gift from us.  The last time I gave her a few cards it made her so happy, she said they were so beautiful and hopefully she’ll really like these grid ones too.
Kathy

Ingredients :
Stamps : Elements of Style, music notes wheel, friendly words wheel, very vintage wheel, vintage vogue, friends 24-7
Card : very vanilla, baja breeze, naturals ivory, rose red, watercolour paper
Ink : baja breeze, river rock, rose red, stazon
Other :  pearl, embroidery thread, river rock ribbon (retired) mat pack, aquapainter, big shot, lots of tags, wide oval punch, sponges

Monochromatic Flutter

The challenge at Just Add Ink this week is Monochrome and I love monochromatic cards so just had to play along with this one.  Monochromatic means using tones of the one colour, but in card making I assume it means to use one plus a neutral.  I did cheat slightly though because I used black to stamp the butterflies and coloured their bodies with choc chip.  I’d still class it as a monochromatic card though – Hopefully they do too!  I decided to use my favourite Stampin Up colour, Baja Breeze and its darker shade Not Quite Navy with vanilla as my neutral.




I used the grid technique on the background piece using baja to sponge and NQN to stamp the images.  I stamped the butterfly in choc chip on the vanilla piece but also stamped them onto shimmery white with stazon and then watercoloured them only using Baja, NQN and a touch of choc for the bodies.  Then I cut them out and stuck them on top of the vanilla piece using mini glue dots.  I realised that you can really bend the shimmer white card and it gave the butterflies a lot of extra dimension.  Plus it gives them a pretty shimmer.
So as you can imagine after doing all that it was not a quick and easy card.  But the hardest part about it was tearing my background grid piece!  Stamping 411 have another wonderful sketch challenge this week and I decided to incorporate both of these challenges into the one card.  It meant that I had to tear my background though and it was hard for me to do it because I really liked how it was.  Anyway I am very happy with the end result I think it actually looks really nice torn now, thanks Stampin 411 for making me do it!  I just finished it off with a birthday sentiment which I stamped with NQN and clear embossed.

Ingredients :
Stamps : because i care, all a flutter, elements of style, music notes wheel, friendly words wheel, sincere salutations
Card : NQN, very vanilla, Baja breeze, naturals ivory, shimmery white
Ink :  baja breeze, NQN, stazon, choc chip, versamark
Other :  mini glue dots, aqua painter, sponge, clear embossing powder

I was having trouble rolling the wheels straight and evenly and I remembered a tip I’d read once and decided to give it a try.  Instead of holding the handle and pushing away or toward yourself, you put the handle down on the table and roll it back.  Amazingly I found it heaps easier and it worked really well for me.  Unfortunately I can’t remember who had this tip to give them credit, but next time your “wheeling” give it a try!
Kathy

Watercolour friend

 

Well, I haven’t posted anything for a while because I have been on holidays and just got home yesterday.  We went to 9 mile beach at Swansea and it was really beautiful.  We had absolutely awful weather (but I really can’t complain because a lot of people in Australia had it much worse than us last week that’s for sure!!!)

 

This is the girls enjoying the beach.  Can you imagine having a beautiful beach 9 miles long all to yourself?  That’s what we had right at our back door, it was wonderful.  We will have to go back again sometime soon and hope for some better weather.

The day we arrived was nice and the day we left.  In between it rained but luckily I had looked at the forecast before we went and knew it was meant to be awful, so I packed some stamping supplies for the girls and I to play with.  I took my Nicest Things set to do some watercolouring and when I got back I found a wonderful sketch challenge at Inkspirations that I thought would work well with the image.  Then I spent way too long making this card today rather than do the boring things that needed doing like cleaning, washing and unpacking!

 

Ingredients :

Stamps : The Nicest Things

Card : Choc chip, watercolour paper, very vanilla, baja blue, retired dsp

Ink : stazon, crumbcake, celery, baja, razzleberry, choc, pip, marina mist, blush blossom, neutrals crayons

Other : big shot, finial press, choc chip button, linen thread, aquapainter, scallop trim border punch

 

Praying that everyone affected by the floods has a friend, or makes a new one, to help them during this difficult time.

 

Kathy

Stamp Club

What’s a Stamp Club?
It’s a great way to learn new techniques, build up your supply of fabulous Stampin’ Up! products, and make something beautiful!
Plus you get a few hours to yourself to learn, create and have fun!

How it works -
* Once a month the club gets together at my house for a free lesson where we’ll learn a technique chosen by that month’s hostess. Everyone gets to make some great cards and projects.
* Club members commit to purchase a minimum of $50 in Stampin’ Up! product (plus shipping) each month for 6 months.  (We would actually run this club as meeting every second month over 12 months, so you actually have 2 months to save up that $50)
* Each month a different member of the club will act as hostess and receive the hostess benefits, which include:
-Free Stampin’ Up! idea book and catalogue plus mini catalogues.
-At least one Level 1 Hostess stamp set and $30 in free product of your choice.  (This is the minimum you would earn, often it’s more than this!)
- A free lesson and make and take project at each meeting.
* Everyone brings a small plate to share, we learn, chat, have fun, eat, chat some more and make something gorgeous to take home with us!

I have 2 very successful stamp clubs running at the moment and with my youngest daughter starting school full time this year (sob!), I have some time to run another one during the week.  It would be every other month on a Friday morning at my place in Lindisfarne.  I hope to start the last week of February.  If you’d love to be in a club but Fridays don’t suit, please let me know.
We need a minimum of 6 people for the club to start, so tell your friends!  If you live in the Hobart area and would like to join a club (or you’d like more information)  please email me  k.tanner@live.com.au

This is a photo taken last week, of me and my youngest (the one who’s leaving me to go to school full-time) at Fleurtys at Birch’s Bay.  We had some yummy waffles with blackberries and vanilla ice cream and then went on the beautiful scenic walk around the farm.  We had a gorgeous day!
Kathy

Faux turtle

  
I decided to enter the challenge at Stamping 411 again this week.  Their team have created lots of “beautiful and pretty” cards, but I decided to do something a little different!  Mine isn’t really beautiful is it, but it’s a good male card.
 
I decided to use my Nature’s Nest set again and I tried out a new technique on the old olive background piece.  I had seen a technique on Jackie Topa’s blog called Faux alligator, which looked very effective. Look here if you’d like to see how it’s done she is such a talented stamper. I used the same technique but did a kind of swirly pattern, trying to mimic the turtle shell.  So I did Faux turtle (or is it a tortoise?) technique instead.
I watercoloured the turtle and then used my versamarker pen over the top of that and clear embossed it, to give him a shiny shell.  (Although if he’s a tortoise he probably wouldn’t have a shiny shell would he?)  Then I cut him out and popped him up on dimensionals.
I used the Teeny tiny sentiments set again too.  The stamp actually says “i’m so sorry” but I used a choc chip marker and my stampamajig to add the extra “i’m” at the end.

It’s probably not a good sign that at the start of the year I’m making cards for when I don’t send someone a card on time is it!
Do you think that’s crazy?  Probably………

Ingredients :
Stamps : Nature’s nest, teeny tiny sentiments, sanded
Card :  Choc chip, early espresso, old olive, river rock, confetti white, watercolour paper
Ink : versamark, stazon, choc chip marker, choc chip
Other : word window punch, clear embossing powder, white pen, aquapainter, dimensionals, big shot, timeless type junior alpha, watercolour crayons