Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Spotlight On...Diane Jaquay!

spotlight-diane-jaquay

We are proud to bring you our next Spotlight On...Diane Jaquay!  Diane caught our attention immediately with her use of crisp color, dynamic pattern and clever use of stamps and dies.  In fact she was just named Gossip Queen with this stunning CARD

Wait until you see what she's made today...you will see Diane shine!       


>>>ABOUT DIANE<<<



Hello everyone!  My name is Diane Jaquay, and I live in a small farming town in beautiful Lancaster County, PA with my husband, David, and our two amazing kids, Connor and Ali.  Over the years I've tried my hand at many crafts, including quilting, cross stitch, needlepoint, embroidery, knitting, crocheting, painting, scrapbooking, mixed media, stamping, and card making (whew, that's quite a list and I'm sure I've forgotten a few things!)  For the past 18 years I've focused mostly on paper crafts, which all started when I was pregnant with my first child.  A group of my friends got together for my baby shower and presented me with a big bag stuffed with Creative Memory scrapbook supplies.  I still remember that being my absolute FAVORITE gift I received at my baby shower :)  Over the years I've completed about 20 albums chronicling my families memories, and my kids (now teens), love looking through them, which really warms my heart and makes all the hours I happily spent making them worthwhile!  About 8 years ago I started making cards, and that's been my main crafty focus ever since.  I've also dabbled a bit in mixed media canvases and art journaling, and hope to be able to do more of that.  In addition to all of my crafty pursuits I enjoy music, reading, hiking, biking, watching movies, and my guilty pleasure, reality TV (shhhh, don't tell anyone ;)

>>>DIANE's PROJECTS<<<

I'm SO thrilled to have the "spotlight" shone on me this month at Winnie & Walter!!  I've been a huge Winnie & Walter fan since Julie and Shay started their company, and it's always a pleasure to work with their wonderful products!  The theme this month is Bold + Bright.  For those who are familiar with my work you know that theme is right up my alley, I adore bold designs and bright colors and tend to use them a lot in my card making.  For today's post I'm focusing on getting the most out of your dies.  Winnie & Walter makes some fabulous dies and I wanted to give you some ideas for using them to their fullest potential.

Let's start with Cover Model: Multifaceted Cutaway.  Of course you can use the entire die cut piece in many ways, but I wanted to explore using just parts of it.  For my first card I used just the bottom 2/3 of the die cut to make a bold statement:




I cut the white die cut outline piece in the shape I wanted and adhered it to my card base.  I love citrus colors, so I decided to use some for this card (PTI Lemon Tart, Limeade Ice, and Orange Zest card stock).  I die cut the word "hugs" (In a Word: Hugs Cutaway), several times from white card stock, and once from polka dot vellum for the top, and adhered them all together to add more dimension to the card.  The various hearts were cut with Essentials: Audrey Cutaways.  The word "sending", which I stamped with Versa Mark ink on black card stock and embossed in white, is from The Big, the Bold and Comfort, and the words "to you" are from The Party.  I love mixing and matching sentiments from various stamp sets in this way! 

On to my next card, I wanted to use just the corners of Cover Model: Multifaceted Cutaway to "frame" one of Winnie & Walter's beautiful floral stamps:




I used wood grain patterned paper this time to die cut, and snipped off a couple of corners and adhered them to this 3 3/4" X 5 1/2" card base.  I stamped the flower and leaves from In Bloom: Addie's Garden with brown ink on patterned papers, then cut and paper pieced several layers for dimension.  I added some brown gems to the center of the flower.  The sentiment (from This Awesome House) is stamped on the banner die from The Big, the Bold and Extras Cutaway.  I curved the sentiment a bit when I stamped it to add some movement.  Another example of stretching your dies is using just part of the die the way I did here with the banner.  I added some ink splatters to add a little interest to the background, and rounded the top right corner with my corner rounder.  I like the mixture of sharp edges and soft curves on this card.

Next we're moving on to Essentials: Audrey Cutaways!  Oh how I love this VERSATILE die set!  Today I'm focusing on the scallop edge dies in the set.  I've made a couple of cards that you might traditionally use straight edge dies for, but I subbed the scalloped edge instead.




This card is 5 X 7, which it needed to be to make this design work.  First I cut 4 of the small scalloped die frames from watercolor paper.  I stamped various images from The Party and Scenery: Big Bang Confetti using Versa Mark ink and then I embossed them with white embossing powder.  Next I did the watercolor smooshing technique on the panels with Distress Inks (Picked Raspberry, Spun Sugar, Orange Marmalade, Squeezed Lemonade, Cracked Pistachio and Tumbled Glass).  For the sentiment panel I used The Big, the Bold, and the Happy.  To assemble this card, first I placed the 2 center pieces on an angle on a white piece of card stock and trimmed off the edges.  Next I placed the top 2 panels on (staggering the alignment) and trimmed.  I was able to use the leftover trimmed pieces to place the 2 bottom pieces on my card and trimmed those.  Then I placed the assembled piece on a 5 X 7 card base, and finished the card with some gems and sequins.  I hope that makes sense, it was really easy to do.  I originally saw this layout used with straight lines, but I think the scalloped edge adds such a FUN element to any card!

And now for my last card, again I used Essentials, Audrey Cutaways, this time using the large scalloped border die:




Angled panels on cards have been quite popular for awhile now, and I love the extra little something something that using the scalloped edge die adds.  I used the stamp set In Bloom: Lola's Bouquet with Joni Andaya here, and I cannot say enough wonderful things about this stamp set!  Seriously folks, if you don't own this one, what are you waiting for?  This card was my first time using the set, and I felt like a pro stamper right out of the gate!  When my husband saw the card he thought I'd used patterned paper, a high compliment indeed.  And I give 90% of the credit for that to Joni's fabulously designed stamp set.  I don't have a lot of experience stamping backgrounds like this one, but this set made it a breeze.  Of course I used some of my favorite "bold and bright" colors here (all PTI inks except for the little pink roses, for those I used Wplus9's Little Piggy).  I'm sure there are tutorials on the internet on how to stamp a background such as this one, but basically you start out with your largest image and stamp it in a triangular pattern (see the largest blue flower), then add in the 2nd largest image (see the dark pink, and orange/yellow flowers), and continue from there filling in blank areas around your card until you get down to the tiniest little dots.  SO fun, and I can't wait to make more backgrounds using this stamp set.  I also used In a Word: Hello Cutaway for this card, with the bonus being I now have the die cut word "hello" in the beautiful floral pattern to use on another card :)

That's all for now, although I have many more ideas for using dies, I didn't want to make this post too long and keep you here all day lol!  I want to offer my heartfelt thanks to Julie and Shay for letting me share my love of their wonderful products with all of you today!  I've had a blast!

19 comments:

  1. So happy to see these darling cards, Diane! You do have a way with bright and bold colors... which totally scares me, so thank you for sharing!
    =] Michele

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  2. Congratulations on being Spotlighted, Diane! What a selection of fantastic cards ... brilliant colour combining and such fabulous design ideas ... my fave is the zesty graphic first one ... it's positively mouthwatering! Anita :)

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  3. Diane, seeing your cards here, as well as your winning card at The Gossip Column, makes abundantly clear why the Spotlight is shining on you! Incredible, versatile creativity, paired with style and flair in using W&W products in unique ways: magic created! Bold, bright and beautiful! In awe! Thank you for sharing; and thank you, Julie and Shay, for bringing you to us!
    ~c

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  4. Lovely cards !! The one with collage is my favorite :)

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  5. A happy accident....going to W&W blog today...nice to meet you. All four of your cards are wonderful. Bright and cheery. I'm now going to your blog to start following you.

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  6. Congrats on your spotlight feature, Diane! All wonderful designs, but my fave is the last one with all those florals mixed with the stripes!

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  7. Your cards are really awesome, Diane! Love your clever use of the dies and all the bright colors! Great designs and a well deserved spotlight!

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  8. Wonderful cards Diane! I especially love the first one with the mutifaceted cutaway.

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  9. Thank you EVERYONE for your kind comments, they mean the world to me!!

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  10. Wow!! Diane your cards are all absolutely amazing!! What stunning work you have done! Congratulations on your guest spot!! I enjoyed reading all about you too! :)

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  11. Big congrats on your guest designer spot! Your cards are absolutely amazing--love every one! The designs are all so wonderful and I love your use of colors!

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  12. What incredible cards and love that they are all so different and dynamic. So many wonderful ideas and inspiration for everyone. Congrats on the 'spotlight'!!

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  13. WOW wow WOW

    CONGRATULATIONS on being in the SPOTLIGHT Diane, great getting to know you too!!!

    I can see why Julie & Shay LOVE your work - your cards are ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!!!
    LOVE your STYLE and feel INSPIRED, especially with using partial panels of from designs like Faceted ... which is IMPATIENTLY waiting on my wishlist ... it is SO FRUSTRATING that the Aussie dollar seems determined to hit record lows against the US dollar. I'm getting close to just grabbing my credit card and going for it anyway :)

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  14. Thank you all for your lovely comments, they really mean so much to me!

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  15. Amazing cards! I love how you used the die on the first card!

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  16. I am gasping in awe and delight over each one of these beautiful and fancy cards!! Love the style and talent that Diane has!!

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