September 2011 – Véronique L.

Véronique L.
“Tag & Gate Card”

How long have you been stamping?

I started stamping in 2001 but stopped when I had my son and it became too difficult to juggle work and family chores. I just started again last year. It’s still difficult to find time. I would like to think that the cards I send out get reused by others.

What is your favorite technique?

Probably reverse embossing, especially with Asian stamps, it reminds me of patterns you can find on bowls. I also like tissues on acetate mixed with pearl-ex.

Favorite stamp company?

Penny Black jumps to mind, they have a good balance of simple/funny and more elaborate stamps, and their images are easy to use for a variety of cards. But there are others like Fred Mullet and then there are the more Asian ones.

Favorite Asian stamps?

Mmm, this is tricky, I like “About Art Accents”, “Stonehouse stamps” and “Stampmagick”. I like their unmounted stamps which are easier to order for me.

Favorite stamping accessory?

My stamp positioner and my scorer, I like things to be neat.

Favorite colors?

Probably red, but it goes with the mood and sometimes I challenge myself to use a piece of card I really don’t like or use a colour I wouldn’t use such as pink, light blues or lavenders .

Your favorite embellishment to finish a card?

I like simple layouts, so it would probably be eyelets and studs.

What is the one tool you couldn’t live without?

Sorry, I have 2, my steel ruler and my craft knife

Any helpful tips for the group?

I essentially have unmounted stamps so I use a soft padding under the paper and the image I’m stamping.
I also try to keep my area as clean as possible, wash stamps quickly, keep lids on embossing powders and stamps pads, clutter is a recipe for disaster in my small stamping area.

As a member of OSA why do you like stamping in the Oriental theme?

I find the images more peaceful and I love the papers.

Is there any one place or city you’d like to visit to find rubber stamps?

Hawaii, I’d like to visit “Mari and Me” they have all these little characters that are good for kids’ cards.

What other stamping lists or local clubs do you belong to?

Just OSA, unfortunately I don’t have time to do more. Then again, I once belonged to a club and there was a lot of bickering.

What favorite stamping magazines would you recommend?

“Stamping and Papercraft” but it’s only published in Australia.

Published in any magazines?

Yes, ”Stamping and Papercraft” and another one which I forgot the name (that was in 2004).

Any other hobbies, talents or craft interests?

I’m a very good knitter by todays’ standards (thanks to my grandmother and aunts!), I like to paint, draw anything a bit arty but…. That’s when I have time…

What inspires you to be creative?

The need to have time for myself.

Art background?

Well, my dad is very creative and also very messy. So I copied him with less messiness… though my mum would probably not agree.

Have you used any unusual item in your stamping that wasn’t necessarily meant for stamping?

Fuses for embellishment and apple seeds.

Any favorite websites you would recommend for inspiration?

OSA, I like the group dynamics. It’s nice to exchange something with someone. Websites are dangerous, if you spend time looking at them, then you have no time to stamp.

Do you have a day job when you’re not stamping?

Yes, 5 days working for an energy company which focuses on Clean Coal. My background is water chemistry and I’m a technical specialist in underground remediation. It’s a new area so it can be very challenging. I like that.

Tell us about your family and where you live.

I’m an old young mum (like Anne), I have a 4 yo son Jonathan. I’m married to Greg who works in aviation and likes jumping from planes. I like old 40s, 50s, 60s movies and westerns. I’m originally from France but lived in Australia and Indonesia as a kid. I came back to Australia in 1997 with 2 bags, now I have more mess including all my stamping mess. I live in Brisbane, which is in South East Queensland on the east coast. I love to watch the parrots in the morning and I have no doubt that I live in the most beautiful country in the world.

Véronique L.
“Tag & Gate Card”

I wanted my card to have an abstract feel to it, so I decided to go for “writing” rather than flowers or geishas. The card is very simple, it is basically a gate card that I made using a half (lengthwise) A4 piece of white card. I covered the side of the gates with the blue washi paper.

Inside I made some pockets using old pieces of cardboard that I covered one with the red washi paper, one with a piece of fibrous gold and red paper (that one looked better on a darker background). I stuck the pockets to the middle part using double sided sticky tape. I hesitated longly on the size of the pockets as i wanted the patterns from the paper to appear neatly.

I then made a lot of different size tags, the big ones I made myself them (including cutting them out of remnants) and the small ones come mainly from Stampmagick. The idea was that no one tag should be the same and I also wanted to have a lot of different characters. I stamped the characters in the middle of the tag, then I masked them and stamped over various types of writing and poems. The characters I used meant: family, wisdom, happiness, love (positive feelings). I used different coloured inks, but all were used in the papers, white, blue, red, black, gold….

I added a couple of eyelets, 5 gold ones on one side and one white on the other (colours that were also used in the paper) …. et voilà !