Today we are thrilled to introduce our September Leading Lady, Carson Riutta. Carson is an incredible artist whose work I have followed for years. Her bold use of color and pattern, skills at memory keeping along with card making and ability to use a single product in a myriad of ways is so inspiring.
Over the next few Saturdays in Carson will be leading us on a journey of her own design and imagining. Make sure to visit her blog, Pine & Plum, to see more from her and for a chance to win a giveaway!
Please give Carson a big round of applause to welcome her as she steps onto the stage for her first performance as our September Leading Lady!
Over the next few Saturdays in Carson will be leading us on a journey of her own design and imagining. Make sure to visit her blog, Pine & Plum, to see more from her and for a chance to win a giveaway!
Please give Carson a big round of applause to welcome her as she steps onto the stage for her first performance as our September Leading Lady!
Hello! My name is Carson and I am so thrilled to be your Winnie & Walter, Leading Lady for
the month of September! I have been an admirer of the Winnie
& Walter products for years now, but I've never had the opportunity to
use them and now that I have, well let's just say, I've been wowed!
I'll be gushing soon about the products, but first let me
tell you a bit about myself. I'm an Environmental Scientist turned stay
at home mom, who discovered paper crafts as a way to stay sane and
creative between diaper changes and afternoon naps. I started with cards
and branched out into all kinds of paper crafts, including scrapbooking,
project life, and art journaling, but cards still remain
the favorite of all my creative endeavors. I'm a bit of a color
addict and usually create with bright, bold colors and lots of contrast.
Stitching and paint splatter are my signature finishing touches and I
like to get a little messy. Since discovering the joys of paper, my family and
I have moved from Northern California to Washington State and then across the
country to our new home in North Carolina. With all that change, this
hobby has been a beautiful constant in my life and a way to make friends, like
you, all over the world who are a part of this wonderful online community.
You can learn more about me and my work by visiting my blog at pineandplum.com.
Let's get to the cards, shall we? Today, I want to talk to
you about how I create when I get my hands on new products and try to persuade
you to do the same. When I sit down with new products, I always pick
a main image to work with, I choose a color scheme for my inks and then
I decide on a neutral for my sentiments and papers. Once those
elements are chosen I try to make a trio of cards. I keep those three
elements constant, but work with different techniques and mix in coordinating
supplies here and there. I love that I can make three very different
cards, stretch a new central image by using it in three different ways, and yet
the whole process goes rather quickly as I don't have to make nearly as many
decisions as I go. Let me show you how these cards came together as an
example.
I started the process by choosing the cactus images to work with
from the Kindness
set designed by Evelin T. I loved that there were two sizes of cacti
to work with and that they went well with the interesting sentiment you
see above. I then decided to go with my first instinct and create a
desert scene with an intense sun to really highlight the "harsh climate"
phrase. So naturally I picked my ink colors from there, bright reds,
oranges, yellows and greens. The bright colors needed a strong
contrasting sentiment so I went with black on white. The pink
blooms are actually stamped with the same red ink from the sun, but
look pink as I used a blender pen to color them in. Those blooms are from
the super versatile In
Bloom: Lola's Bouquet by Joni Andaya stamp set, a coordinating set I
brought in to spice things up a bit. I'm infatuated with ink blending at
the moment and I've found that this idea of a series of cards allows me to work
with my favorite go to technique for the first card, but then I'm forced to
think outside the box for the following two cards in order to make them look
different.
For my second card, I decided to stamp the smaller cactus
and create a patterned paper. I loved the look of coloring in
the cacti with the blender pen so I repeated that process. I used fewer
colors and a different bloom image for this card, but kept my inks and
sentiments in the same scheme and so even though the card is very different,
the two go together well. I die-cut the Adventure sentiment from The
Big, the Bold and Fun Cutaways and stamped the phrase "have
an" with black ink onto vellum from the
matching stamp set. To add a little texture I finished it up by
sewing straight across the sentiment and leaving the thread ends out.
For my next and last card in the series I wanted to bring back
those intense reds and oranges and create a landscape in a different way than I
had with the first card. The
Scenery: Stripes stamp set was absolutely perfect for this and made
this card so quick and easy. All in all I was able to put these three
cards together within an hour, which for me, is very fast. Three complete
stand alone cards would take me at least an hour each. I hope the next
time some new products cross your desk and excite your muse that you'll try
this technique of making a coordinated card trio. It's a lovely way
to really work your new products and stretch your creative muscles while
getting the most out of your precious crafting time.
I'll be back every Saturday this month sharing more cards and
fun techniques with you. I hope you've enjoyed the first installment and
I would love to know if you are planning to give this a try or if you've
crafted this way before. I'm hosting a giveaway over on my blog, Pine & Plum, all month where one
lucky commenter will win a $30 Winnie
& Walter gift card. I'll randomly pick a winner at the end
of the month from all the comments left on my Saturday posts over there,
so please come visit and
let me know what you think!
Happy Crafting Friends, see you next week!
Carson
WOW... they are gorgeous and sweet cards. Love those cactus!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThank you so much Helen! I'm in love with those cactus too and it's taking a whole lot of will power not to use them for the next post!
DeleteLooking forward to checking out Carson's blog! Beautiful cards with wonderful color combos!
ReplyDeleteYou are so sweet Denise, and thank you for popping over to my blog!
DeleteWhat cute, bright and fun cards. I love all of them. TFS
ReplyDeleteThank you HJ, you're lovely to say so!
DeleteWOW, love all of these, a lot!!! I'm not familiar with Carson's work so I look forward to getting to know her better this month :)
ReplyDeleteDiane, I love your cards too, you're a fantastic inspiration!
DeleteLove these bold, bright colors!
ReplyDeleteI'm addicted to the bold and the bright, whenever I tone it down now, I feel like something is missing, so glad you like them too!
DeleteFabulous cards! That set of cacti stamps are wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThank you Deb! I totally agree about the stamps, so great and the sentiments are just gorgeous too.
DeleteCute cards. I like the fun bright colors.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Sue!
DeleteSuch pretty creations in bright color with cute cactus!
ReplyDeleteThank you Vinita!
DeleteWelcome Carson!!! Your cards are gorgeous!!!
ReplyDeleteI feel very welcome, thank you Arianna! Your enthusiasm is so lovely!
DeleteYou've made me want to pull out that set again, Carson! What gorgeous 'desert' scenes you've created for those sweet cacti! You will do wonders with these wonderful products! Congratulations!
ReplyDelete=] Michele
Yay, I hope you do play with the cacti again. It's such a sweet set and so versatile! And thank you for your lovely comment!
DeleteGorgeous cards! Love the bright colors and the lovely sentiments.
ReplyDeleteThank you Nandini!
DeleteWelcome Carson! I remember the amazing projects she created for Studio Calico... I'll be checking every post here at Winnie & Walter, because I know it will be good. The cards for today are HOT, love the intensity of color and the gorgeous cactus... just love it!
ReplyDeleteCONGRATULATIONS on becoming Leading Lady Carson!!!
ReplyDeleteIt has been great getting to know you ... I can see why you caught Shay's attention, your colours and designs are EXCITING!!!
THANK YOU for sharing your CREATIVE INSPIRATION, it was FASCINATING to learn about your process and see your trio of VIBRANT cards - WOW!!!
What a fabulous set of cards, Carson! Such creativity is inspiring. Love to challenge myself with the same principle of using supplies in different ways. It allows me to justify my "acquisitions":). Very intrigued by blending techniques, have tried them a bit, albeit I am a novice. Your card trio has inspired me to set-up my next creative challenge. Cheers!
ReplyDelete