I sewed

Good morning. The challenge today for Gina's challenge a day was sewing (Sew-long 2008). Of course I had to participate. I haven't been quilting lately, so my sewing machine has been neglected.

I used two different sets on this card, both from Gina K Designs. I decided to put together some colors that I hadn't tried together before and I like the combo - blush blossom, cameo coral, tangerine tango, and chocolate chip. The flowers are stamped in tangerine on the coral, in chocolate on the tangerine, and in tangerine (stamped off twice) on the blush.

I have a top-stitch foot for my machine that I used to get nice straight stitching.

stamps: comfort & peace, botanical dreams (Gina K)
ink: tangerine tango, chocolate chip
paper: chocolate chip, tangerine tango, cameo coral, blush blossom
other: sewing machine and thread, prima flower, button, twill tape, foam tape

I have never been one to make new year resolutions or set goals, for that matter. But I thought this sentiment worked well for a new year wish.

'Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.' - Henry David Thoreau

Thanks for stopping by to visit. Happy New Year!

paper tole

I finally managed to make a card using the new set included with the Love You Much Bundle, which includes the Love You Much stamp set, Candy Lane Designer Paper and Heart to Heart punch, a retail value of $51.85, but only $41.48 (plus shipping and tax), a 20% savings when purchased as a bundle by January 31, 2009. See this link for details: Love You Much Bundle.

I made this card for the holiday challenge extravaganza - simple tole - on splitcoast today. The heart was stamped three times, colored and layered with dimensional tape between the layers. Piercing was done using an Onare piercing template and the flower is from a stem of silk flowers. I can't remember at which store I found it.

stamps: love you much
ink: jet black stazon, pink passion, pixie pink
paper: pink passion, pixie pink, very vanilla, basic black
other: onare piercing template, piercing tool, silk flower, white brad

Thanks for stopping by.

no color

Hello. I was able to stamp again today. I did another of Gina's challenge a day - this one: black and white. I love black and white cards, because they usually are very elegant and that was my goal with this one.

Since it was a Gina K challenge, I again used Botanical Dreams. I stamped the image with stazon and colored with black Koh-i-noor AND prismacolor colored pencils. I started with the Koh-i-noor black, but couldn't get the intensity of color that I wanted, so I switched to the prismacolor pencil. It felt kind of strange to be using this coloring technique, but without any color. Definitely a completely different result.

The tiny black and white flowers are a Michael's dollar bin punch. The sentiment is stamped using white lumiere paint and the piece of grungeboard is also painted with that. I do like how this turned out.

stamps: botanical dreams (Gina K)
ink: jet black stazon
paper: whisper white, basic black
other: tiny flower punch (Michaels), threading water punch (Fiskars), gamsol, Koh-i-noor & Prismacolor colored pencils, grungeboard, white lumiere paint

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Be blessed.

recycled anniversary

I was able to do another of Gina's challenges for her challenge a day - from one card to another. This one was to take a purchased card that you have received and make a new card using something from the old one. I actually had a hard time finding any cards to use. I guess I just don't hang onto the store bought cards. And then I had to find one that was usable.

I used my 5-petal flower punch to punch out 3 flowers and edged them with gold leafing pen. I also punched out centers from the card and brushed gold card stock. The foliage behind the flower is a stamp from botanical dreams (Gina K) and gold fern punches (Martha Stewart). Once I figured out what card to recycle, this went together fairly quickly. All the stamping is embossed in gold.

stamps: botanical dreams (Gina K), sentiment (My Sentiments Exactly)
ink: versamark
paper: elegant eggplant, brushed gold
other: gold ep, heat gun, gold brads, 5-petal flower punch, boho blossoms punch, piercing tool, fern punch (Martha Stewart), foam tape

Thanks for stopping by.

another double challenge

It feels so good to sit down and stamp a bit. This is the 2nd card today. And... like the first one, it's also a double challenge card. It fits Gina K's challenge a day off kilter challenge and the holiday challenge extravaganza altered embellishments. I could also add that for me it was also a challenge to use some designer paper.

The flower is stamped in black stazon and colored with Koh-i-noor colored pencils and gamsol. I sponged the edges with chocolate chip, layered on black and the corners are punched with my ticket corner punch. The off kilter challenge meant that some dp was to be at an angle. To alter the primas, I simply colored them a bit with a clear AtYouSpica glitter pen and attached them with brads. The main image panel is raised.

stamps: botanical dreams (Gina K)
ink: jet black stazon, chocolate chip
paper: basic black, very vanilla, dp (Basic Grey)
other: primas, black brads, ticket corner punch, 1/8" punch, black gingham ribbon, AtYouSpica clear glitter pen, foam tape, sponge

I'm so glad you stopped to visit. Be blessed.

squashed

Good Monday morning! It's bright and sunny this morning, although I'm sure that will change before the day is over. Also very windy. I think I'll stay inside and stay warm. I jumped right in and did the technique challenge today on splitcoast. I combined it with a Gina K challenge a day - double mat. The technique challenge was to make a squash card. The design is based on a squash book, which I've never done, but the card seems to me to be much easier.

I started with an 8-1/2" square of Basic Grey paper. You score at 4-1/4" in both directions. Then in only one direction, you score from corner to corner. The straight scores become valley folds and the diagonal becomes a mountain fold. On one of the smaller squares that result from the first 2 folds, you score diagonally in the same direction as the first diagonal fold (another mountain fold). The stamped design is glued to front half of the last fold.

I stamped a leaf image from Botanical Dreams (Gina K) in basic black craft ink and clear embossed. I tried to bleach the image, but apparently my bleach wasn't working, so I just scribble-colored it with markers. Then I die cut it with my new labels one nestabilities in my cuttlebug. I wanted this card to work for Gina's challenge, so I used three mats under the image. The top three are sponged with chocolate chip ink and the middle two are faux stitched. I added 3 leaf brads and yarn between two of the layers. I used foam tape where the yarn is and the rest of the layers are just glued.

For the inside I used the largest label die, sponged and faux stitched and stamped the sentiment from On Your Birthday (SU). Folded it up (squashed) and tied the yarn in a bow.

stamps: botanical dreams (Gina K), on your birthday (SU)
ink: basic black craft, chocolate chip, summer sun, old olive, really rust
paper: ruby red, old olive, very vanilla, chocolate chip, dp (Basic Grey)
other: cuttlebug, nestabilities labels one, yarn, sponge, piercing tool, brad, clear ep, heat gun, scor-pal

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

more butterflies

I've been trying to do the challenges on splitcoast for the holiday challenge extravaganza. I'm way behind, but hoping to do most of them. I was going to try to do them in order, but when I saw today's challenge, I knew I wanted to do it right away - an inspiration challenge with butterflies -- and you know how much I love butterflies. I got to use a new stamp that has been sitting here waiting to be inked. And I used one of my cuttlebug folders that I hadn't used yet.

I ran a piece of kraft card stock through my cuttlebug in the leafy branches folder. Then I colored all the embossed areas with a white prismacolor pencil. A bit tedious, but I like how it looks. The butterfly stamp from Inkadinkadoo was stamped in chocolate chip on pretty in pink card stock. Then I colored in the open butterflies with pink colored pencil.

The photo corner punch is a double punch and although I've had it for awhile, I didn't realize that you could layer the two pieces. I've just been using each side of the punch by itself.

stamps: butterflies (Inkadinkadoo)
ink: chocolate chip
paper: pretty in pink, chocolate chip, kraft
other: prismacolor pencils, fancy photo corner punch, button, crochet cotton, ribbon, cuttlebug, cb leafy branches embossing folder, foam tape

Thanks so much for stopping by. Be blessed.

inspiration

Hello. After all the snow and cold we've been having, today is raining and foggy and around 50 degrees. A LOT of the snow has melted. Although I don't go out much in the winter time, I love having four seasons. Each one is special in its own way.

For today's inspiration challenge on splitcoast, I pulled out an old loved set, Roses in Winter. I used rock 'n roll on the flower and on the background checkerboard, which was done with a handmade stamp. I added some extra details on the flower. The butterfly and sentiment are from a recent release by Cornish Heritage Farms called Vintage Butterflies.

stamps: roses in winter (SU), vintage butterflies (CHF), handmade stamp
ink: pink pirouette, regal rose, rose red, old olive, always artichoke, jet black stazon
paper: white, rose red, old olive, always artichoke
other: gold brads, Krylon gold leafing pen, foam tape, circle punches

Thanks for visiting today.

I stamped today!

Wow, it seems like forever since I've been able to sit down and stamp. I was hoping to get several cards done today, but so far -- only one. I started with the first challenge in the Holiday Challenge Extravaganza on splitcoast. Using the blue picture as my inspiration, but not wanting to do a winter card, I pulled out my new set Echoes of Kindness (preview from the new SU catalog available Jan. 19, 2009).

I stamped the tall flowers 3 times with black stazon on white card stock, colored them with ink pads and aqua painter, then trimmed around the right edge, removing some of the flowers as I cut. I layered this on pacific point and a white card base.

Then I stamped the sentiment with pacific point on white and cut it with a labels 1 nestabilities die in my cuttlebug. I added faux stitching on the die cut and around the pacific point layer. Then I made three faux brads by punching 1/8" circles and coating them with crystal effects.

stamps: echoes of kindness
ink: pacific point, night of navy, not quite navy, jet black stazon
paper, whisper white, pacific point
other, cuttlebug, nestabilities die, 1/8" circle punch, crystal effects, white gel pen, aqua painter

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Be blessed.

a note for you

Christmas blessings to you all today.

card box

Well, I sure have been neglecting my blog lately. The truth is that I haven't been stamping! Today I did some baking and gift wrapping. I wasn't planning on stamping today either. But as I was wrapping gifts, I realized that I needed a box for a group of cards I'm giving as a gift. I knew I had some 'kits' left over from a class I taught some time ago, so I grabbed one of those. The box pattern was already traced on the cereal box chipboard and two sheets of coordinating patterned paper were in the kit. So I cut out the box bottom and top, scored, folded, taped the corners and glued on the paper and then decided to stamp something for the top of the box. I pulled out one of the new catalog preview sets called Echoes of Kindness and stamped one of the flowers on with black stazon, then colored them with markers. The sentiment is also part of the set and I stamped it in mellow moss, and then realized that the paper is sage shadow, but decided to leave it, since it's not that different. I added the photo corner punches and faux brads. Then decided that the image panel needed something to make it stand out more from the background paper, so I used a black marker and just drew around the card stock. At one point, my marker slipped and made a mark on the white card stock, so in order to hide it, I did some doodling around the edges.

stamps: echoes of kindness
ink: jet black stazon, mellow moss, lavender lace, almost amethyst
paper: sage shadow, whisper white, lavender lace, almost amethyst, dp (retired SU), cereal box chipboard
other: photo corner punches, white gel pen, mat pack

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you have a wonderful and blessed Christmas. We'll be getting together with some of DH's family on Christmas eve and some of my family on Christmas day.

Spellbinders Design Team Contest

If you are interested in being on the Spellbinders Design Team, check out this link for info:

Spellbinders Design Team Contest

Have a great day!

a starburst medallion

Hello everyone. I hope you're all keeping warm. We had single digits today and I think it's supposed to get colder and... more snow. I still need to address all my Christmas cards and get them in the mail, but needed to order some stamps from the post office. They should be here in a couple of days.

Today I felt like playing. So I checked the technique challenge on Splitcoast this morning and decided to play along. The challenge was to make one of these cool star/flower medallions using SU tag punches. I'd made one before, but never put it on a card. As I was punching out the tags, I found out that my larger punch wasn't working very well and I almost gave up. At the very bottom of the tag, the punch wasn't punching through the paper and then the tag would get caught in the punch. I had to cut the area around it with scissors to get it loose. As I continued, I realized that spot would get cut away later, so it wasn't going to matter if it was less than perfect.

The dotted paper I used is some that I bought locally at a stamp convention. I don't know who makes it. But I chose my card colors based on that paper. I love blue and turquoise together. I wanted to back the starburst with ballet blue, but liked the idea of setting the square on point, which meant cutting it down to fit on the card and then that made the star points extend beyond the square. I really liked how that looked. The centers are flower punches and a rhinestone brad, and I used my photo corner punch to fill in the corners of the white square. Some more rhinestones finished off the card.

stamps: warm words
ink: ballet blue
paper: cool caribbean, ballet blue, whisper white, vellum card stock, dp (unknown)
other: small and large tag punches, photo corner punch, boho blossoms punch, cornflower punch (Martha Stewart), rhinestone brad, rhinestones, foam tape

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

christmas card

I finally finished putting together our Christmas cards for this year. Ended up taking a lot longer than I had anticipated. But, I'm happy with how they turned out. I made about 60 with a couple of mavericks in there (you know the ones that you test something and it's not quite what you want, but still usable).

I started by stamping the music background in navy on ivory card stock. I wanted it to look old, so I stamped a part of sanded background, added a coffee stain, lots of speckles and sponged the edges. Then I added snowflakes in bashful blue. I used 5 different snowflake stamps, some stamped more than once. OK, background is done. Now for the rest.

The angel is stamped in night of navy craft ink and clear embossed. Then I embossed the saying on vellum. Did you know that because vellum is non-porous, you can use classic ink for embossing if you work quickly? I thought this would give me a cleaner image, so I pulled out a color I don't use much (so saffron), and since the gold embossing powder is opaque, any color under it doesn't show. I only wanted to use part of the stamp, so I took a piece of masking tape and stuck it on my clothes a few times to remove some of the stickiness and then put it over the part of the stamp I didn't want, inked the stamp, removed the tape and stamped. That's a lot easier than trying to just ink the part you want without getting any ink on the rest. Then the vellum was just wrapped around the ivory card stock and glued on back. The glittery snowflake is a Martha Stewart punch put through my xyron sticker maker and then smooshed in glitter and attached with a brad.

I wanted the back layer dark, but didn't want to add another layer, so I made a cheater layer. I just took my navy marker brush tip and ran the side of it along the edges of my card base - instant layer. It didn't even have to be real neat, since only 1/8" was going to show.

what's in it?
stamps: Christ is born, snow swirled, sanded (SU), music background (Judikins), coffee stain, angel (Inkadinkadoo), snowflakes (Cornish Heritage farms)

ink: night of navy (classic & craft), chocolate chip, bashful blue, close to cocoa, so saffron

paper: Wausau Exact Index ivory, vellum

other: Martha Stewart snowflake punch, Art Institute glitter, antiqu gold brad, clear and gold embossing powder

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Be blessed.

faux cloissone

Oh how time slips away! This is such a busy time of year. I don't know how some people get so much done. Oh, well. I don't have time to stress over it. I just do what I can do.

I really haven't been stamping very much lately. My stamp room is a mess and my mojo seems to be missing. You know... you sit down determined to make a card, and just nothing works! It's a good thing I have a few weeks free without any stamp classes. Maybe the Christmas fairy will bring me some mojo. Or maybe I should clean up my stamp room - lol.

I do have a couple of cards to show you that I made last week. I wanted to teach my class how to do faux cloissone, so I played around with that a bit. This technique can be a lot of fun. And you never really know what the end results will be.

On this first card I used the SU set Flower Fancy. All the stamping is done with versamark and embossed in gold. The flowers were stamped on a roasted turkey! Too fun! The flower centers were coffee beans and the leaves were hair. When I first looked at the turkey, I thought I would get some nice orangey flowers, but after I cut them out, they looked more rust, so I decided to make the leaves brown and keep that color scheme. Did some chocolate sponging around the edge of the vanilla card stock, layered the panel on chocolate chip and added some brads. I went with rust card stock base. The 'ribbons' are just strips of card stock with faux stitching. I used foam tape to pop up the center panel.

Since I knew that there was a lot of cutting involved, I decided that because the flower had an extra piece for the center, I'd use a different flower for my class. So I pulled out Embrace Life, but used the same leaves. I kept the card stock neutral, so the ladies could use any color for their flowers and the cards would still look great. I stamped Bella Toile background in chocolate chip on the card base. The flowers were stamped on some blue oval pills and the leaves on various greenery from a seed catalog. The ladies had so much fun and really loved this technique.

Basic instructions for this technique can be found here. If you try this technique, be sure to leave a link here in the comments. I would love to see your creations.

I eliminated the step of stamping on the base card stock first, simply because with a large class sharing materials, that cut down on the time involved.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Be blessed.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Good morning! Yes, it's cold out, 10 degrees! And we got snow Sunday night and yesterday. I have class this morning, so I hope the cold doesn't keep the ladies snug at home.

Did you miss me? I have just been crazy busy and haven't even been stamping, so unfortunately my blog gets neglected.

I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving. I spent time with family at my sister's. Everyone contributes to the meal, making it easier for everyone.

It seems like it's been ages since I've done a challenge on splitcoast (actually 2 weeks, which for me is ages since I usually do most of them). Yesterday I checked the technique challenge and it looked like fun, so I decided to try it. I didn't have Simple Green, but did have Clorox Green Works, which I figured was probably similar, so I used that instead.

I started by braying my glossy card stock with blue breeze kaleidacolor ink, then sprayed it with the green works. What a fun background that makes. I backed it with cool caribbean card stock. I needed to keep my card pretty simple, because I was still in the process of designing my class cards for today and... shoveling about 8" of snow off the driveway. My son did part of it before leaving for school, but I ended up shoveling about 2/3 of the driveway. Today my arms are really sore.

OK, I deviate... back to my card. I used a piece of cereal box chipboard (free and not too thick) and smooshed it with bliss blue craft ink, then dried it with my heat gun. Then I pulled out my cuttlebug and a snowflake die and ran the chipboard through. My top plate is pretty chewed up from cutting, so I usually have to roll chipboard back and forth a couple of times for it to cut through. I should just pull out a new plate. Then I smeared tacky glue all over the snowflake with my finger and coated it with glitter - the snowflake - not my finger. I think the glitter is transparent blue from Art Institute, but I'm not sure. I let the glue dry and then glued the snowflake to the card, added a jewel (JoAnn's) in the center and stamped the greeting (Paper Inspirations) in night of navy ink. I wrapped a piece of blue organdy ribbon (retired SU) around, tied a knot and I'm done.

Now I need to go get ready to leave for my class. Thanks so much for stopping by. Be blessed today.