Christmas card class

Good morning. Just a quick post to show you the cards we're making in tomorrow's stamp a stack. This is pretty much the reason I haven't posted anything lately. I've been designing and cutting card stock. To give credit where due, the card on the right is almost a direct CASE of a card by Michelle Wooderson - just changed the stamps. Enjoy.

Song Sung Blue

Hello. It's been awhile. I really haven't stamped much this past week. But today I spent most of the day creating one card. Here it is. I made this for today's inspiration challenge on SCS, as well as this month's central theme for the fan club challenges. I just spent about a half hour writing a lengthy and detailed explanation of what went into this card, so rather than repeat myself, I'm just going to link you to the card in my SCS gallery. I hope you don't mind. Thanks for stopping by. Be blessed.

late night stamping

I should really be in bed. I have to get up in about 5 hours, but I was on a roll and really wanted to get this card done. This is another for the CLASSroom challenges.

I first stamped the sentiment in pacific point on soft sky card stock. Then I randomly stamped the sprig, stamping off once first. I added faux stitching with a not quite navy marker. Then I cut two strips of creamy caramel and faux stitched those to use as faux ribbon.

I then stamped the flower in pacific point on vanilla, faux stitched the edge, layered it on night of navy and added a jewel brad in the center of the flower. The ribbon is just tied around the layered panel and then the panel is raised on foam tape. Another easy card.

supplies
stamps: true friend
ink: pacific point, not quite navy
paper: night of navy, soft sky, very vanilla, creamy caramel
other: jewel brad, crop-a-dile, turquoise and navy grosgrain ribbon, foam tape

Thanks for stopping by. Be blessed.

live with passion

Hi there. This is another card for the CLASSroom world card making day challenges, this one a single layer card. Sort of takes me back to my early stamping days. Although over the years, so much has been added to the craft of rubber stamping, even with a single layer, there is really no comparison to the early days.

This is my favorite set from SU's current catalog -- Inspired by Nature. I'm sure I've said before that I don't like the fact that it's supposed to be double mounted, so my BIL was kind enough to make me an extra block, although I haven't had a chance to sand it, so the grass stamp is still unmounted. Kind of interesting to stamp with an unmounted stamp, but I did it. After stamping the grass in olive, I then colored the flowers with markers - olive, not quite navy and chocolate chip, misted the stamp and stamped right over the grass. I didn't get real good coverage on the bolder parts, but I still like the look. I stamped the sentiment in chocolate chip and then went over just the flowers with my clear Atyou Spica glitter pen. Besides adding shimmer, as an added bonus, it helped to blend the color a bit more, so the flowers really stand out.

I added some ribbon from Michaels and was done. A super easy and fast card.

supplies
stamps: inspired by nature
ink: old olive, not quite navy, chocolate chip
paper: gable green
other: Atyou Spica clear glitter pen, ribbon

Thanks for stopping by today. Be blessed.

Texturize

Hello everyone. This card I have to show you was really fun to make. It's for a world card making day challenge over at the CLASSroom and it's all about texture, which makes this a fun, feely card.

First I stamped a bunch of stems with a stem stamp from SU's hostess set, Happiness Always. Then I cut some felt circles and attached them with white brads and added some stamped leaves.

For the big flower, I made a nested circle flower, which was one of the challenges for world card making day on splitcoast. I used fabric circles and a button. This became the final flower. I attached this layer to night of navy and a tempting turquoise card base.

I stamped a sentiment from One of a Kind and punched out the words only with my 1-1/4" circle punch. For the layer behind it and the photo corner, I attached some drywall tape to night of navy card stock and punched it. Both pieces are raised on foam tape.

To finish off the card, I tore a narrow strip of fabric and wrapped it around the front of the card and tied a knot.

supplies:
stamps: happiness always, one of a kind
ink: always artichoke, night of navy
paper, tempting turquoise, night of navy, very vanilla
other: fabric, button, felt, white brads, drywall tape, photo corner punch, 1-1/4" & 1-3/8" circle punches, foam tape.

Thank you for stopping by. Be blessed.

Some class cards

These are the cards we did in my Tuesday morning class today. As we have done in the past, during the month of October, each week we do one Christmas card. This is actually the first Christmas card that I've done this year. I'm usually not this far behind, but time seems to have just slipped on by me this year.

I used a new SU set from the holiday mini catalog called Scandinavian Season. I stamped the snowflake randomly in white craft ink on the card base and then heat set it to dry the ink. I then added a strip of handsome hunter across the bottom. The sentiment was stamped in black on white and punched out with my key tag punch. I added some faux stitching to set it off a bit.

The mitten was stamped in black on red twice and cut out. I did faux stitching around the white rectangle and layered it on handsome hunter. To attach the red string (crochet cotton), I pierced a hole and put the brad in loosely, then wrapped the string around the brad and tightened the brad by pressing it down with the back of a stamp. Then I stretched out the string and glued down the ends where I wanted the mittens to hang. And then I attached the mittens with foam tape.

As a final touch I added two snowflakes that were punched out with a Martha Stewart snowflake punch.

supplies:
stamps: Scandinavian Season, Hugs & Wishes
ink: basic black, white craft
paper: real red, handsome hunter, whisper white
other: red crochet cotton, gold brad, key tag punch, snowflake punch (Martha Stewart), foam tape

I just love all the stamps I've seen recently that have flourishes built right into the image (birds, trees, flowers, etc.), so for my second card, I thought I would see if I could do something similar without buying a stamp.

I used the cross from Refuge and Strength (which I bought months ago and had not previously used) and stamped it on vanilla with one of SU's new in colors, pacific point. Ooooo, do I love this color. So far, I only have the ink pad, but the card stock will surely be on my next order. I teamed it up with night of navy, which I thought worked quite well. I used both flourishes from Priceless, stamping the larger one toward the base of the cross and the smaller one in the opposite direction, both stamped in night of navy. Then I added some small flowers randomly around the flourish.

I punched off two corners with a tag corner punch and did the same on the navy layer behind the stamped image. Then I added silver brads in those same corners.

For the vanilla card base, I inked up my so swirly jumbo wheel in pacific point and rolled it just once along the fold side of the card stock. The sentiment from fundamental phrases was stamped in navy and the image panel is raised on foam tape.

supplies:
stamps: refuge and strength, priceless, fundamental phrases, so swirly jumbo wheel
ink: pacific point, night of navy
paper: very vanilla, night of navy
other: 1/16" punch, silver brads, foam tape, tag corner punch

I'm so glad you stopped by today. Be blessed.

I stamped and I stamped

Good morning. This is the 2nd day in a row we have frost on the ground. I may have to turn on the heat. Of course, that means my offspring will need to close their bedroom windows.

Yesterday was World Card Making Day and SCS had special challenges throughout the day. I did all but the last one and plan to get to that one today. I also managed to fit in 3 challenge cards for the Gina K release party and a card for the inspiration challenge on SCS. I'm just going to share a few of them, since they are all posted in my SCS gallery.

When I saw the inspiration challenge, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I loved the black tee shirt with the blue flowers in the sample. I thought a tee-shaped card would be fun, but how would I get the blue to show up on the black. Then I remembered the black magic technique. *grin*

I used some scrap paper and played around with it until I had a tee shape that I liked and then traced it on the back of folded black card stock and cut it out, leaving the fold at the shoulders. Then I stamped all the flowers in white craft ink, heat set them to dry and colored over them with prismacolor pencils. I added some rhinestones in the flower centers and was done. It's just a single layer card and I love the way it turned out.

supplies:
stamps: island blossoms, fabulous flowers
ink: white craft
paper: black
other: prismacolor pencils, rhinestones, heat gun


For my WCMD cards, here's a sketch challenge. The background is embossed with my Swiss Dots cuttlebug folder and each of the pieces of dp are embossed with one of my new embossing sets (sorry I don't remember the name). The bigger flowers are punched with my SU trio flower punch and attached with flower brads.

supplies
stamps: eastern blooms
ink: elegant eggplant
paper: elegant eggplant, very vanilla, dp (?)
other: cuttlebug, cb embossing folders, flower brads, bluebird grosgrain ribbon, foam tape



For the inspiration challenge, I tried to make mine as close as possible to the original. I used Rubbernecker's pine bough and stamped it repeatedly in versamark and then embossed in copper. The leaves are inked with markers, spritzed with water and stamped on yoyo yellow card stock, then cut out. I sponged some wild wasabi on two of them. I think it's fun to see how closely you can duplicate a photograph with stamps and ink. Even the dew drops are there in the form of crystal effects, although they don't show up much in the photo.

The verse stamp has the author on it, but I didn't want to cover the leaves, so I left it off. I stamped the verse on vanilla, but it was way too bright, so I sponged over it with ruby red ink.

For the final touch, I added faux brads with black marker and white gel pen.

supplies:
stamps: autumn leaf prints (SU), pine bough (Rubbernecker), sentiment (Verses Rubber Stamps)
ink: versamark, summer sun, ruby red, old olive, chocolate chip, wild wasabi, basic black
paper: ruby red, basic black, yoyo yellow, very vanilla
other: copper ep, heat gun, crystal effects, white gel pen, mat pack, sponge, foam tape

My last card is using a technique that is new to me - nested flowers. There is a tutorial posted with the challenge that tells how to make these. They can be made from a number of materials, including fabric, designer paper, ribbon, etc., but I only used fabric on mine. Since I am a quilter, I have lots of fabric -- really LOTS. This would actually have been much harder for me, because I have a difficult time making decisions and I could have spent an hour deciding which fabrics to use. But since I didn't want that to happen, I just grabbed some scraps that were laying around and made myself use them. I pressed them first with an iron, although the wrinkles would have simply added character to the flowers. Since I have a number of graduated circles cut from cereal box chipboard, it was easy to grab those and trace around them on the back of the fabric. To simplify, I traced one, layered a second fabric underneath and cut out two at once. When I had used each fabric at least once, I decided it was good enough. I used my sewing machine to tack the layers together and added a button in the center of each.

For the rest of the card, I made faux stitching lines for the stems, punched ovals for the leaves and added vein lines and stamped bloom between the stems.

Although these are a bit large for a card, I can see lots of possibilities for this type of flower embellishment. It's been awhile since I've played with fabric, and now with the weather turning chilly, I may need to dig into my stash.

supplies:
stamps: bloomin' beautiful
ink: basic black
paper: chocolate chip, certainly celery, old olive
other: fabric, buttons, black crochet cotton, small oval punch, distressing tool

Thanks for stopping by today. Be blessed.

the Lord is great

Hello. It's been a while since I've stamped other than for my weekly class, but yesterday I spent some time with my sister and was determined to get something done. I started this card at her house and finished it today. It was very easy to use a Bible verse and make this for the ways to use it challenge on SCS. It's really a very simple card. The flowers are stamped in really rust and the verse in chocolate chip. Sponging and faux stitching are also chocolate. I changed the color of the lace with a copic marker.

supplies:
stamps: upsy daisy (SU), verse (Biblical Impressions)
ink: really rust, chocolate chip
paper: really rust, chocolate chip, very vanilla, not quite navy
other: button, crochet cotton, crochet hook, foam tape, copic marker

Thanks for stopping by.