Saturday, September 3, 2016

September Leading Lady Carson Riutta | Take One

Carson_Riutta_september2016

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 bl
og, 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!  

May 2016 Carson Riutta Headshot

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.

Winnie and Walter Card Trio by Carson Riutta, September Leading Lady take 1

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.

Kindness blooms a Winnie and Walter card by Carson Riutta, September Leading Lady

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.

Adventure Winnie and Walter Card by Carson Riutta, September Leading Lady

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.

Family Fun Winnie and Walter Card by Carson Riutta, September Leading Lady

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


w&w-supplies

26 comments:

  1. WOW... they are gorgeous and sweet cards. Love those cactus!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. Thank 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!

      Delete
  2. Looking forward to checking out Carson's blog! Beautiful cards with wonderful color combos!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are so sweet Denise, and thank you for popping over to my blog!

      Delete
  3. What cute, bright and fun cards. I love all of them. TFS

    ReplyDelete
  4. WOW, 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 :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Diane, I love your cards too, you're a fantastic inspiration!

      Delete
  5. Replies
    1. I'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!

      Delete
  6. Fabulous cards! That set of cacti stamps are wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Deb! I totally agree about the stamps, so great and the sentiments are just gorgeous too.

      Delete
  7. Cute cards. I like the fun bright colors.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Such pretty creations in bright color with cute cactus!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Welcome Carson!!! Your cards are gorgeous!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I feel very welcome, thank you Arianna! Your enthusiasm is so lovely!

      Delete
  10. You'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!
    =] Michele

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 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!

      Delete
  11. Gorgeous cards! Love the bright colors and the lovely sentiments.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Welcome 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!

    ReplyDelete
  13. CONGRATULATIONS on becoming Leading Lady Carson!!!
    It 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!!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. 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

Your comments make Winnie's and Walter's tails wag in happiness. If you are commenting for a giveaway it is really helpful if you include your email address or that your Blogger or Google account includes a way to email you. :-)