How To Wednesday with Featured Artist - Carrie Gaskin!

Hello stampers! It's Wednesday here at the 411 and that means another "How To" feature just for you! This week we are honored to host Carrie Gaskin as our Featured Artist! Many of you may know Carrie from her frequent postings to the sketch challenges here - and frequent appearances in the Friday Showcase :)

What you may not know about Carrie is that she was one of Stampin' Up!'s Artisan Awards Finalists last year - and with good reason! Just visit her blog, Artistic Avenger, and you will be wowed by her talent and fabulous style!

This week Carrie has designed these GORGEOUS cards using Vellum - a difficult medium for many of us to incorporate into our creations - but she has obviously mastered it's use and so generously shares these ideas with us here. Please read on in Carrie's own words how these creations came to be:

"I love the Flower Fancy stamp set and I love vellum. What better crafting marriage than that? Plus, with Flower Fancy on special this month, what could be better?

This first card I created uses the Faux Dry Embossing technique. What I did was stamp the small flowers in Jet Black Staz On onto a piece of Vellum Cardstock. I then flipped it over and placed it face down onto a piercing mat. I rubbed my finger over the areas I wanted to emboss and used my stylus and rubbed in the lines of the image. When you are done, it not only sticks out but becomes white. I continued this for the entire piece of vellum and then I stamped a small image from Tiny Tags in Whisper White craft ink between them and added small centres to the flowers using Pretty in Pink and Rose Red cardstock. I then adhered the vellum piece to a piece of Certainly Celery cardstock, that way the flowers stand out more.

To complete the card, I just added a small strip of Old Olive behind the embossed piece and at a right angle, a piece of Whisper White cardstock. I used my Certainly Celery and Old Olive Stampin’ Write markers to get a 2-toned “thanks”.

The second card uses vellum as Faux Stained Glass.

As you can see, the layout of the card is quite simple and I did it that way as to show off the cool image work. I used my Embossing Buddy on the vellum ( a must!) and then stamped the stem and flower image in Versamark. I then sprinkled it with silver embossing powder and embossed. I flipped it over and on the back used my Stamin’ Write markers to colour in the flower. On the large flower and on the leaves, I used two colours of markers and my blender pen to blend them together. Once this is done, you can adhere with a Whisper White piece behind (I used silver brads in each corner).

I finished off with an Old Olive piece punched with the Eyelet border punch and a tie of 5/8” Certainly Celery grosgrain.

For the next card, I decided to use Flower Fancy for it’s intended use, 2-Step Stamping. I just love this technique, it is so fast and so easy.

On a card base of Whisper White, I stamped the outline images in Jet Black Staz On and then the inside images in Pretty In Pink, Rose Red and Old Olive. By placing a layer of Vellum cardstock over the base, the colours are muted.

The vellum layer is attached by the tie of Whisper White taffeta ribbon along the top but I wanted a little something extra so I added a little embellishment in the bottom right corner using my 1 ¼”, 1 3/8” circle punches and a cut out flower. I also stamped a saying from Thank You Kindly and punched it out with my Modern Label Punch. Behind the large circle is a dimensional to assist in keeping the card together.

For my last card, I decided to use the stamp set with some Designer Series Paper to show how an outline image can be used with this great product. By doing this, you give the vellum and opportunity to be an accent in the centre or by layering.

I used Old Olive and Thoroughly Modern Designer Series paper, stamped the large flower and cut it out. I then stamped the large and small flower a few times on some Vellum cardstock – again, I cut them out. I ran the small flowers through the Sizzix with the Perfect Polka dots embossing folder and then took my Bone Folder to them – very much like you would with ribbon if you were wrapping a present. This gives the vellum flowers a bit of movement and dimension. I then added some Clear Rhinestone Brads in the centres and layered them onto the card. I also stamped and cut out a few of the outline leaves and adhered them behind the flowers.

The Rose Red layer was run through the Sizzix with the floral embossing folder and again I used Thank you Kindly for the sentiment.

Making more than one card is easy when you have a colour theme and products chosen ahead of time. I hope you’ve enjoyed these cards!"

Well, I can tell you Carrie that we LOVE these cards and your fabulous ideas for using vellum in our stamping. I'll bet you all can't wait to run to your stamp room, grab your vellum and PLAY! Thanks so much for the inspiration Carrie - we are so glad you shared with us today!
Please be sure to leave some comment love for Carrie and go visit her at her blog too!