Hey, Ewe!

Today's technique challenge on Splitcoast was to use paper tole, but not with flowers. So I decided to use this adorable sheep from Cornish Heritage Farms. I just love the facial expression.

I stamped the sheep 4 times with black stazon. Three of those were cut out in various parts. I cut out the entire sheep, the body without the legs, and just the head. All the images were colored with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. Then they are layered on top of each other with mounting tape in between the layers for dimension. I layered the vanilla panel on black and celery, which was cut and embossed with my nestabilties scalloped rectangle in my cuttlebug. This is the first time I've used the nesties for embossing and I like how it looks. I also added some metallic rub-ons around the embossed edge. I added some faux stitching in celery around the image panel.

For the background, I wanted some grass and sky, but didn't want to cover the whole card. So I just cut a couple of strips of dp and freehanded some wavy edges. After gluing down the blue strip, I stamped the little flowers from simply said in always artichoke. I colored a few of them with blue marker and then colored all of them with white gel pen. The blue bleeds through a little making them a pale blue. Then I glued the green strip on and added faux stitching on both pieces with white gel pen.

I punched a hole in the image panel with my crop-a-dile and added some ribbon. The image panel is popped up. The sentiment is hand-written.

Supplies:
stamps: simply said (SU), sheep (CHF)
ink: jet black stazon, always artichoke, certainly celery, brilliant blue
paper: river rock, certainly celery, basic black, very vanilla, dp (Michael's stack)
other: cuttlebug, nestabilities (Spellbinders), white gel pen, ribbon (Jacksonbelle Embellishments), mounting tape, metallic rub-ons (Craf-T Products, Inc.)

I'm so glad you stopped by. Have a wonderful week.

loot!

I didn't get to stamp yesterday. I went shopping! My sister and I spent the entire day at the Rubber Stamp Roundup in Milwaukee. Originally, I was going to demo in the Rubbernecker booth, but Dave had to cancel because of some family illness, so instead I asked my sister if she wanted to go with me, and she said YES! We had lots of fun, got very tired and probably spent too much, but it's all for a good cause, right?

I met Gina K briefly last fall at another stamp show, but yesterday, we actually had a chance to visit for a while. She is so bubbly and sweet.

Wanna see what I got? Here it is!

You may notice that there is some unmounted rubber there. I really do not like using unmounted stamps, so those will soon be wood mounted. I also bought some double-sided sticky foam sheets, but didn't put those in the pic.

The nesties are the petite scallop circles. I already have the classic ones.

To add to this, I went out to my mailbox and found three packages of more goodies that I had recently ordered on line.

And then... to top it all off... Fedex showed up with another package. Woohoo!

Would you believe... I'm a happy camper?! *BIG GRIN* Now, to just find some time to play!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful Sunday!

the new and the old

The limited supplies challenge today on splitcoast was to use some embellishments that you'd purchased long ago and never used. I pulled out some metal edge tags with cork in the center. The store where I purchased them has been out of business for over a year and this package had never been opened. I'm sure I had gotten them long before that, so it was definitely time to break open the package. Yesterday I got a new set of Lizzie Anne Design stamps that I had ordered from Jacksonbelle Embellishments, and I was itchin' to play with them. I decided to pull out some card stock colors that I don't use much as well, so I started with sahara sand as the base for my image and a card base of perfect plum.

I colored the flower with markers and spritzed it with water and then stamped it on the sahara sand. I repeated this three times, so I had a cluster of blooms instead of just one. Then I took my aqua painter and went over the image to soften it a bit. After sponging the edges with plum, I backed the piece with black and added the sentiment. The next layer is a piece of dp from a mat stack. I sanded the edges and backed that with black and put those all together.

For the base layer, I stamped a flower on a square of always artichoke and then cut it from corner to corner and layered those on black. I glued them on opposite sides of the card to reflect the lines of the cork square. About this time, I realized that the card base was too plain, but since I had already glued on the triangles, I couldn't use a background stamp, so I used the tiny stamps in the same set and stamped them all over the background. I don't really like how that part of the card turned out, but I really didn't want to take the time to re-do it. I attached the image panel with mounting tape.

The cork square didn't match the colors on the card very well, so I sponged perfect plum over the cork and used black stazon on the metal edge. I pierced a hole through the cork and added some primas (another item that I just had to have and never use), which had been sponged lightly as well. Then I attached the square with mounting tape.

Supplies:
stamps: warm words (SU), in the meadow (Lizzie Anne Designs)
ink: perfect plum, always artichoke, elegant eggplant, jet black stazon
paper: perfect plum, always artichoke, sahara sand, basic black, dp (old world mat stack, DCWV)
other: sanding black, sponge, primas, brad, piercing tool, cork metal edge tag, mounting tape

I'm so glad you stopped by. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

spray it

Hello everyone. Hopefully one of these days, I'll have more time to stamp and then I'll post more here, too. Today, the ways to use it challenge on Splitcoast was to spray on your card. I actually used two different types of spray. I have been pushing myself to use more of my designer paper, so I started with that. I found a piece I wanted to work with that was light enough to stamp on. Then, using my cuttlebug and a butterfly die, I made a butterfly stencil. I used my color mister with a really rust marker to spritz color over the stencil. That tool works better for just a little misting. My hand got really tired - lol. Then leaving the stencil in place, I stamped the swirl from priceless in night of navy ink on the butterfly.

The flowers I used is a new stamp that I got from Cornish Heritage Farms called modern lily. I colored it with markers (brocade blue and always artichoke) and spritzed it with water before stamping. I did this three times. Then I used the sentiment from embrace life and stamped it a number of times randomly in night of navy. I distressed and sponged the edges of the dp, chocolate chip and really rust layers.

I then added the layered photo corner punches & brads, and word window punches with eyelets & natural hemp. The main panel is popped up with mounting tape.

Supplies:
stamps: priceless, embrace life (SU), modern lily (CHF)
ink: chocolate chip, really rust, brocade blue, always artichoke, night of navy
paper: chocolate chip, really rust, night of navy, dp (from a stack)
other: cuttlebug, cb butterfly die, color mister, water spritzer, photo corner punch, brads, piercing tool, word window punch, crop-a-dile, eyelets, natural hemp, distressing tool, sponge, mounting tape

I'm so glad you stopped by.

a class card

This next card is one I made for my Tuesday morning card class.

The card base is SU retired confetti tan. The lower left was stamped with one of the stamps from boho backgrounds in navy ink. A strip of navy card stock gives a nice backdrop for the ruby red flowers from one of a kind set, which were stamped with burgundy and cut out. The flower centers is also part of this set, stamped in brocade blue and punched with the boho blossoms punch. Black brads were added to the flower centers and the flowers are raised on mounting tape. With my photo corner punch, I punched both sizes, one in navy and one in ruby red. They are stacked and faux stitched. The sentiment is stamped in ruby red.

Supplies:
stamps: one of a kind, boho backgrounds (SU)
ink: night of navy, ruby red, bravo burgundy, brocade blue
paper, confetti tan, night of navy, ruby red, whisper white
other: boho blossoms punch, photo corner punch, mounting tape, piercing tool, black brads

I'm so glad you stopped by. I hope you have a wonderful Easter, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

pearls of blue

The calendar says it's spring, but yesterday we got lots and lots of snow. Almost all the snow had previously melted, but now everything is white again. I'm ready for green grass and flowers.

I'm so happy I was able to stamp a bit today. I made this card for the inspiration challenge on splitcoast. I took my inspiration mainly from the colors. I stamped the big flower from fabulous flowers with turquoise craft ink and double embossed it with clear embossing powder. For the smaller layers, I just eliminated some of the petals. Each layer is raised on mounting tape.

For the upper corners, I punched photo corners from turquoise card stock and silver vintage corners with a cuttlebug die. I interlocked the two and attached them to the caribbean card base with my new quickie glue pen.

On the lower part of the card, I trimmed brushed silver, white and turquoise card stock with my retired SU wave scissors. The sentiment from stem sayings was stamped in turquoise ink on the silver.

After everything was glued down, I added lots of dots of blue liquid pearls, representing the pearls on the inspiration bracelet. I had a hard time getting a good picture, because there is so much shimmer on the card.

Supplies:
stamps: fabulous flowers, stem sayings (SU)
ink: tempting turquoise classic and craft
paper: cool caribbean, tempting turquoise, brushed silver, whisper white
other: clear embossing powder, heat tool, cuttlebug, cb vintage corner die, photo corner punch, blue liquid pearls, wave scissors, mounting tape

I'm so glad you stopped by. I have another card I'll be posting in bit.

sparkly lily

I was able to stamp another card before I head to bed. This one is for the Rubbernecker Blogger Challenge, using turquoise, green and brown.

I stamped the brushed lily on vanilla card stock and colored it with watercolor crayons and a waterbrush. Then I punched it out as a circle using my cuttlebug and nestabilities dies. I matted it on chocolate chip, vanilla and a dp from the Old World Stack by DCWV. I added some turquoise stickles on the flowers and managed to get my fingers in the wet stickles twice. The image panel is raised on mounting tape. I added some dots with a marker and white gel pen.

Supplies:
stamps: brushed lily (Stamp Oasis)
ink: basic gray, chocolate chip marker
paper: tempting turquoise, chocolate chip, very vanilla
other: cuttlebug, circle nestabilties, turquoise stickles, white gel pen, watercolor crayons, waterbrush, mounting tape.

I'm so glad you stopped by.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Are you ready to see the end of winter? I am. And my card today reflects that. I made this for Lauren Meader's saturday sketch challenge on her blog.
The umbrella is made using a cuttlebug die that is a flower petal. I punched 5 and glued them together. Then I took my 1" circle punch and snipped off the bottom edge to form the scallops along the base of the unbrella. The pole is a skewer, which I colored lightly with a copic marker.

The bunny is all punches - circles and ovals. I sponged the edges before gluing them all together. A very simple card. Once the unbrella and bunny were put together, it only took a couple of minutes to complete the card.

Supplies:
stamps: season by season (SU)
ink: tempting turquoise, close to cocoa
paper: creamy caramel, basic black, cool caribbean, tempting turquoise, print pack, turquoise dp (local sale)
other: cuttlebug, build a flower die, skewer, small oval punch, 1/2", 1", & 1-3/8" circle punches, dimensionals

I'm so glad you stopped by.

western wear

Happy Saturday. When I looked at the inspiration challenge on Splitcoast last night, I knew this one was going to require some thought. I finally decided to use the boot as my starting point, but went instead with a western style boot. I wanted to make a boot shaped card, so I made a pattern from a card, but had to alter the size considerably so it would be a normal A-2 card. Several years ago, a friend gave me a gorgeous cream colored deer hide to use in my crafts. This was perfect for my boot.
I cut one piece the same as the card and another for the embellishment. On the decorative piece, I stamped the roses from both way blossoms with black stazon ink and colored them with Copic markers. Along the edges of that piece I made a row of dots and connnected them with black pigma pens for faux stitching. I glued this piece to the boot shape and added brads. I used my Japanese screw punch for the holes. For the sole and heel, I just colored with black Copic marker. Then I glued the whole thing to a kraft card stock base. I love this card.

Supplies:
stamps: both way blossoms (SU)
ink: jet black stazon, Copics - black, red, green, black pigma pens
paper: kraft
other: deer hide leather, Japanese screw punch, brads, tacky glue


I'm so glad you stopped. Have a great weekend.

what a hoot

I didn't get much time to stamp yesterday, but last night I was able to make a card. I received the images from my friend, Dawn Lusk. They are from Kim Hughes collection at Cornish Heritage Farms.

I colored the images with prismacolor pencils and gamsol. Then I added a bit of glitter gel pen on the eyelids. The branch and owl are both cut out. The leaves are punched from some velvet ribbon. The piercing is faux. The owl and sentiment are both raised on mounting tape.

Supplies:
stamps: U R A Hoot (Cornish Heritage Farms)
ink: chocolate chip, black
paper, really rust, soft sky, white, dp (SU retired outlaw)
other: gamsol, prismacolor pencils, velvet ribbon, leaft punch, chocolate grosgrain ribbon, sponge.

I'm so glad you stopped by. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

pretty paper

The ways to use it challenge today on Splitcoast was to use designer paper on your card - the entire card, except for the base had to be designer paper. This was actually a hard challenge for me, because I rarely use dp. I just have a hard time doing anything with it. Now, don't get me wrong. I love dp. I even collect it. I just don't USE it.

But I decided that this was a good challenge for me to get out of my comfort zone. I pulled three sheets from a mat stack and went to work. I knew I wanted to use the blush flower by Penny Black, which meant I had to search through almost all of my stamps to find it, because I hadn't seen it in awhile.

I colored the flower with not quite navy and bravo burgundy and the stem and leaves with always artichoke. Then I spritzed it with water and stamped right on the dp. I did this three times and really liked how it looked. Then I stamped the sentiment on a different piece of dp and punched it out with my key tag punch. I punched two more of the same punch from the darkest dp for layering. Then I sponged all the edges of the lighter papers and distressed everything. I added some natural hemp and brads. I adhered the main image panel and the sentiment to the card with mounting tape. I'm happy with the result. Maybe I should pull out my dp more often.

Supplies:
stamps: blush (Penny Black), sentiment (Stampendous)
ink: not quite navy, bravo burgundy, always artichoke, chocolate chip
paper: chocolate chip, dp (old world stack - DCWV)
other: sponge, distressing tool, brads, 1/16" punch, natural hemp, mounting tape, key tag punch

I'm so glad you stopped by. Have a wonderful evening.

pearls of joy

Hi there. I've actually been able to do some stamping this week for fun. Today I have card for another Splitcoast mini vsn challenge. This challenge was to use pearls of some sort on your card. I used the heated pearls technique and also added some liquid pearls. The first time I did heated pearls, I didn't have any pearl ex, so I substituted chalks, which worked ok, but the pearl ex is so more more shimmery and pretty. I'm not sure what colors of pearl ex I used, because my jars aren't labeled, but I'm guessing a copper and medium blue or turquoise (at least those are the card stock colors that matched). The background (done on both the black and turquoise) is pretty petals embossed in copper. The heated pearls was done on glossy white card stock and then I punched out butterflies with my cuttlebug and butterfly die. They are attached with mini glue dots with pop dots under the wings to add some dimension. The letters are punched with a sizzix block party alphabet and my cuttlebug. The small butterflies are punched with a Martha Stewart butterfly punch. I sponged the edges with black ink and added the bodies with black marker. These butterflies are raised on mounting tape.

Supplies:
stamps: pretty petals (SU)
ink: versamark
paper: glossy white, basic black, tempting turquoise
other: copper ep, pearl ex, heat tool, cuttlebug, sizzix & cuttlebug dies, butterfly punch (Martha Stewart), liquid pearls (Ranger)

I'm so glad you stopped by. Have a great day.

silky friends

I have another Splitcoast VSN mini challenge card for you today. This challenge was to use faux silk. I decided to pull out a set I got recently and had not yet inked, pretty peony. I stamped the flowers on tissue paper in regal rose and rose red and the leaves in garden green, stamping off once on the first step of the leaves. Then I crumbled up the tissue and flattened it back out, but left some of the wrinkles. I glued it to a piece of vanilla card stock with antique decoupage glue. After letting it dry, I turned the edges over to the back and glued them. Then I sponged the edges with rose red ink, applied the ribbon and adhered this piece to the black card base.

For the sentiment, I stamped friends from a hostess set called make it count. I punched it out with my key tag punch and added to black large oval punches behind it for an accent. I sponged the two ends with rose red ink and attached this to the card with mounting tape.

Supplies:
stamps: pretty peony, make it count (SU)
ink: regal rose, rose red, garden green, basic black
paper: basic black, very vanilla, tissue paper
other: sponge, antique decoupage glue, ribbon, key tag punch, large oval punch

I'm so glad you stopped by. Have a wonderful evening.

Chocolate from the garden

Happy Tuesday. I have been such a bad blogger, letting so many days go by without a post. Here is a card I made yesterday for the mini VSN challenge on splitcoast. The challenge was to use the split negative technique. Instead of using the typical black and white, I chose chocolate and vanilla.

This hostess stamp is the first one I ordered from the current SU catalog and I hadn't used it yet. I inked it up with versamark and stamped the image on pieces of chocolate chip and vanilla that were lying side by side. The I put ivory embossing powder on the chocolate piece and brown ep on the vanilla and heated them. I glued them to a piece of cheap card stock, making sure that the two sides matched up. Then I trimmed it down to fit the card and matted on close to cocoa and a vanilla card base.

Because this stamp is so large, it doesn't leave much room on the card for anything else, so the only other thing I added is the double photo corner with caramel eyelets. All in all, a pretty simple card.

Supplies:
stamps: from the garden (SU)
ink: versamark
paper: very vanilla, chocolate chip, close to cocoa
other: ivory and brown embossing powder, heat tool, photo corner punch, crop-a-dile, caramel eyelets

I'm so glad you stopped by.

Love this flower

Happy Friday! It's been a busy week for me, so I'm happy that I was able to get another card done yesterday. I had a workshop last night and by the time I got home, it was 10:30. I had started this card earlier, but didn't finish it until late last night and I was just too tired to post it. I made this one for the ways to use it challenge on Splitcoast. The challenge was to use your computer for something on your card. I used mine to print the verse.

I was digging in the mess on my desk and came across this stamped coneflower from Cornish Heritage Farms, so I decided to use it on my card. I pulled out my twinkling H2O's to play. I just love the shimmer they give on your image. I don't have very many, so I'm somewhat limited on colors, but coral is one of my favorite colors, so that's what I decided to use. I use my aqua painter to wet the paints and apply the color (love that waterbrush). I highlighted the details of the flower center with my eggplant marker. The colors on this card are not really this vivid IRL.

The background of the card is my new favorite background from SU, pretty petals, stamped in purely pomegranate.

For the sentiment, I pulled up a Bible (King James) website and searched for 'flowers'. When this verse from the Song of Solomon came up, I knew I wanted to use it. I only used part of the verse, because it was quite long. I arranged it so that it would fit in a partial circle and then printed it on card stock. The black mat is cut with my fiskars scalloped scissors. I also put faux stitching on both vanilla pieces and added brads. The coral brads were more the color of pale plum, so I sanded them lightly, dipped them in cameo coral craft ink and clear embossing powder and heated them. I love being able to change brad colors like that.

Supplies:
stamps: pretty petals (SU), single coneflower (CHF)
ink: purely pomegranate, cameo coral craft, jet black stazon, black marker, eggplant marker
paper: cameo coral, purely pomegranate, basic black, very vanilla
other: brayer, twinkling h2o's, aqua painter, piercing tool, brads, clear ep, heat tool, scalloped scissors (Fiskars), computer generated Bible verse

I'm so glad you stopped by. Have a fabulous weekend.

embrace de boss

Just kidding. Monday's technique challenge on SCS was debossing or dry embossing. Since this is a busy week for me, and I still had preparation to do for my class tomorrow, I went with a very simple card.

I chose an image from embrace life, which I stamped three times on vellum card stock with basic black ink. I also stamped the sentiment just below the flowers. I then turned the paper over, rubbed it with waxed paper and laid it on top of a mouse pad. Using a stylus, I rubbed gently in a circular motion in the open areas of the image. When you turn the paper back over, those areas are raised slightly above the rest of the image. I folded the long sides of the vellum over the edges of the coral card stock which is behind the vellum, and just glued it to the back.

I added a couple of brads in the upper corners and attached this to the card with mounting tape. Since I haven't used my rub ons much, I thought this would be a good card to use them on. The white strip across the bottom is from Eastern Elegance rub ons.

Supplies:
stamps: Embrace Life (SU)
ink: basic black
paper: rose red, cameo coral, vellum card stock
other: stylus, mouse pad, black brads, piercing tool, mat pack, Eastern Elegance rub ons, mounting tape

I'm so glad you stopped by.

a splash of red

Good morning. In between getting ready for a couple of workshops and classes this coming week, I haven't had much time to do the challenges on SCS, but last night the inspiration challenge was posted early, so I got right on it and made a card. The bedroom inspiration piece was mostly blue and white, but what really jumped out at me were the little bits of bright red here and there. I knew right away that I wanted some red on my blue and white card. So here's what I came up with.

I stamped the flower from Bloomin' Beautiful (a brand new set in the SU Occasions Mini that takes effect today) in black stazon ink on whisper white card stock. I then colored it with real red and garden green markers. I went over the red more than once, so that it was really bright. Then I used the scoring blade on my Fiskars cutter to add a scored frame around the flower to somewhat mimic the door. I know that doesn't show well in the photo. I double matted the image on ballet blue and white. I popped a white supaclip on the side and tied a piece of light blue gingham ribbon onto it. (*Side note: a supaclip looks similar to a tiny binder clip, but without the 'handles'. You need a dispenser to use them, and they are reusable. The dispenser comes with about 8 clips in it and then you can buy more clips. I purchased mine at Office Depot.)

For the background, I pulled out Flannel Plaid to represent the quilt on the bed, and inked it up with white craft ink and stamped it on the ballet blue card base. I dried that with my heat tool.

The sentiment is from Think Happy Thoughts and is stamped in ballet blue. The little blue flower is part of that set. I punched that out with a 1-1/4" circle punch and matted it with a scalloped circled punched from ballet blue.

The image and sentiment are both popped up on mounting tape.

Supplies:
stamps: Bloomin' Beautiful, Think Happy Thoughts (SU)
ink: jet black stazon, ballet blue, white craft, real red & garden green markers
paper: ballet blue, whisper white
other: scoring tool, supaclip, light blue gingham ribbon, heat tool, 1-1/4" & scalloped circle punches, mounting tape

I'm so glad you stoppped by. Have a wonderful weekend.