Saturday, May 7, 2011

Birthday Wishes Brought To You By the Letter P

The color challenge this week at Pals Paper Arts is all about the letter P:  peach, pear, and poppy.
Lovely colors aren't they?  I was puttering around my garden today doing some weeding and assessing things.  Trying to figure out what did not survive the brutal winter we had.  So I had flowers on my mind when I sat down to make a card.  I used the Stamping 411 sketch for a layout.


I used the Greenhouse Garden stamp set because I wanted to do a bit of two-step stamping.  I thought that it would look nice if I stamped the flower in Peach Parfait first, then stamped the detail stamp with Poppy Parade.  I like how it came out.  Then the small flower is just stamped in Poppy Parade.  I had to stamp off twice to get the color light enough so that the detail stamp would show up.

And last but not least, I tried my hand at a little crinkly seam binding ribbon.  I keep seeing this all over blogland and I really liked it, but for some reason nobody wanted to give up the secret to creating the look.  I thought I had read somewhere about heating it up with a heat gun, but I tried that and it didn't do anything except blow the ribbon around my stamp room.  So then I tried wetting it first, then I put the heat gun on it, and all I achieved was a wet ribbon blowing around my stamp room.  So then I posted a question on Splitcoast and got an answer pretty quickly.  And it's so simple:  wet, scrunch, dry.  Apparently, most people let it dry overnight.  You can use the heat gun to speed things up, but the heat tends to flatten out some of the crinkles.  But as luck would have it I accidentally discovered a quick way to do it.

I already had the little piece of ribbon that I wet first, then dried with the heat gun.  I crinkled it up in a very tight ball then carefully unravelled it.  I got a very nice soft, but crinkly ribbon.  Then I cut another small piece off the spool and crinkled it up.  I didn't like the look at all.  The crinkles were sort of sharp looking and the ribbon itself didn't have the soft look of the first one I did.  So I wet it, dried it with the heat gun, then crinkled it into a tight ball again.  When I unravelled it, it was just the softer look I was going for.  I think wetting it first sort of softens up the fibers of the ribbon so that it crinkles better.

Please excuse my ribbon ramble, but I'm so happy I figured this out.  I'm sure everybody else out there has known about this for ages and is wondering why I'm so late to the party!  But thanks for stopping by!

20 comments:

Kim O'Connell said...

Your ribbon ramblings had me giggling! All that effort was worth it! Beautiful card! Love how those pretty blooms pop off the green background!

Linda Callahan said...

Thanks for that ribbon info! It looks wonderful with your flowers - pretty card!

Pam~ said...

Darling birthday card! I love your ribbon ... awesome job! Thanks for the helpful hints on obtaining that wonderful look!

Judy said...

Good Morning I love your work. The design and colors are beautiful. I just became your latest follower I hope you stop by my blog and follow me as well.
Thank you,
Judy

Vicky Hayes said...

The Greenhouse Garden flowers look fabulous in these colours Jen. Thanks for sharing your ribbon tips!

gbarron56 said...

These flowers are beautiful -- they almost look real! Great job with the card and sketch. Thanks so much for playing along this week at Stamping 411! Blessings, Gretchen

Hi, I'm Lee Conrey! said...

Totally stunning. I love this set and what you've done with it.

Melanie C said...

Simple yet beautiful card. Thank you for playing along with Pals Paper Arts.

Margaret Moody said...

This is gorgeous, Jen! Love the paper, the flowers, the ribbon treatment! Love it all! Thanks for sharing!

Kerin said...

Thanks for sharing your ribbon experience for the rest of us that have not figured out the ribbon crinkling tricks yet! I did use the heat gun to crinkle the striped organdy ribbon, but I hadn't attempted it with any other types. Love your card and the beautiful colors!

Jen Timko said...

Thanks for breaking the code on this...now we'll all be crinkling our ribbon!! Fantastic card, as always!

Dale Morin said...

Beautiful card. I love this stamp set. Thanks for the ribbon explanation. I am going to give it a try. I am your newest follower.

Connie Babbert said...

This is so clean and lovely! Great job with the sketch!

Patti Chesky said...

Even though your ribbon gave you a bit of trouble, it was SO worth it! What an amazing look!!! I love the subtleness of the dsp against those awesome flowers. It's stunning!

Heartwarmers from Vicki said...

I really like the simplicity of this card. Very pretty!!!

Sunflower Stamper said...

Great card Jen!! Congrats on a top pick and 411!! and, thanks for sharing the ribbon details!! :)

Kris McIntosh said...

Gorgeous card. Congratulations on being in the Stamper's Showcase at Stamping 411 this week. Well deserved.

Julie B said...

Simple, but beautiful - I love it!! Congrats on the Showcase at Stamping 411 :)

Selene Kempton said...

Clean, simple and gorgeous! Thanks so much for playing with us over on Stamping 411. :D

Margaret said...

Love the peach & poppy together on the flower! Beautiful card!!