Christmas card

Hi friends.  I think I may have figured out my Christmas card for this year... waaaaayyyyy early!

Sandy Allnock is doing a a free online class called 'go for the gold' -- a week of daily videos.  She has some great ideas.  Day 1 was a Christmas card with a detachable ornament.  I love the idea of a card with an attached gift.  Since I don't have many of the products Sandy is using, I opted to put my own spin on it.

I die cut my ornament twice from cereal box chipboard and twice from cardstock.  I glued the 2 chipboard ornaments together.  I then die cut a star in the cardstock pieces.

I wanted the star to be bright gold, so I pulled out some very, very old wrapping paper (that used to be my mom's), and die cut some ovals big enough to cover the area behind the star opening.  After gluing the ovals to the chipboard, I then glued on the cardstock ornaments.  A little turquoise sponged around the edges defined the edges a bit.

I punched a hole in the top and added string.

The card base is turquoise.  A mint green layer was stamped with a pine bough stamp (Rubbernecker).

I made a pocket from vellum cardstock, which I edge punched and stamped with the sentiment.  I could have used gold for the sentiment, but can't seem to find my gold ink pad.  The vellum is folded to the back and glued to create the pocket for the ornament.

Thanks so much for stopping by today.

masculine card

Hello friends.  The month of March seems to be flying by, and today I realized that I hadn't yet made anything for the zoo challenge for this month at OWSE Yahoo group.  We're supposed to use an animal seen at the zoo.  Well, my collection of stamps doesn't include many animals, and it's been a long time since I've visited a zoo, but I'm pretty sure you can see deer there.  So I pulled out my deer stamp from Biblical Impressions and made a masculine card.

I have boxes which become a catch-all for leftover paper scraps, images, etc., and often I'll just pull out some of those things to start a project.  That is exactly what I did for this card.  Everything on this card, with the exception of the stamps, ink, and brads, was found in one of those boxes.

I stamped the card base with a leaf stamp from Paper Inspirations with peeled paint.  Then I stamped flannel plaid (SU) over that with rusty hinge.

The deer and sentiment (unknown) was stamped with jet black archival ink.  I colored in the letters with a tea dye distress marker.

I used a corner chomper on the rust piece and added vintage photo on all the edges, as well as over the ridges of some torn corrugated cardboard.

I added some brads and tied a piece of red raffia around the cardboard.

Usually I struggle with masculine cards, but this one went together fairly quickly.

Thank you so much for stopping by. 

Grungy Monday #09

Happy Tuesday, my friends. We had a nice family day yesterday for Memorial Day. In the morning, I spread weed & feed on our lawn. I was so hot and tired by the time I finished. It felt really good to wash off my feet with the hose. Of course, I picked up a bit of sunburn at the same time. It doesn't take much for that to happen, so I really don't spend a lot of time out in the sun.

In the afternoon we got together with some of my husband's family, plus a few others that my FIL invited to share with us. I found out that one of the ladies I met is the sister to none other than Mrs. Rubbernecker (Patty, Dave's wife), and just as sweet. How fun is that! We had a great time chatting.

Today I have a card that I made for two challenges. One is Grungy Monday #09, celebrating the products and techniques of Tim Holtz. This challenge can be found each Monday on Linda Ledbetter's blog, Studio L3. This week's challenge can be found on Tim's blog here.

I started with a piece of black cardstock and embossed the image in clear ep. Then spread pool paint dabber and Apple ivory acrylic paint over it. I'm not sure what I was doing wrong, but for the life of me, I couldn't get the paint to wash off the embossed image, so I improvised and used a sanding block to sand it off instead. I thought the problem was because I mixed two types of paint, but I tried it with just one paint dabber and had no better results.

The second challenge this card is for is Inspiration Emporium Monthly Challenge (IEMC02) using packaging. I used some plastic packaging from a Spellbinders die. I did heated pearls technique on the plastic, which basically uses white glue, pearl ex and a heat gun. Instructions can be found here on Splitcoaststampers.com. Then I die cut the plastic with Tim's butterfly movers & shapers dies. I reheated the butterflies a bit, so I could shape them while they were warm. I really love how they turned out. I attached them to the card with mini glue dots.

One edge of the main image panel was die cut with Tim's on the edge scallops die.

For the sentiment, I stamped the word 'delight' from an old SU set, paint prints with black stazon ink. Then die cut it with a nestabilities petite oval die (Spellbinders). I added some black ink along the edges as well, and then covered the piece with versamark and clear UTEE (3 layers). I punched holes and added some brads. This is a takeoff of Shelly's tutorial here.  This piece was attached with dimensional foam tape.

I hand crocheted the edging.

GM08 wildflowers

Hello my friends. I really haven't been doing much stamping lately. Saturday, my sister and I went to the stamp expo in Milwaukee and managed to do our part in helping the economy. I got a few stamps, dies and embossing folders. Then on Sunday, the offspring came over for lunch and some games and then, by the time we finished the 2nd game, it was late enough for them to stay for the evening meal as well. It's always nice to spend some time with them.

I finally pulled out some stamping supplies today and made a card for Grungy Monday, challenges celebrating the techniques and products of Tim Holtz. Each Monday, Linda Ledbetter shares a new challenge on her blog, Studio L3. This week's challenge technique can be found here on Tim's blog.

I used floral images from Hero Arts and Paper Inspirations, a butterfly from CHF, and the sentiment is from Penny Black. Paper is rose red (SU) and watercolor paper. Since the number of Adirondack ink pads that I own is limited, I combined Ranger distress inks, SU classic inks and Adirondack inks on my card.

The letters on the sentiment are so fine and delicate, I needed to write over them with a black marker so they would stand out a bit better. I also added some doodling along the edges and a ribbon from my stash.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Have a great week.

a challenge for spring

Hello my friends. There is a new challenge for this month over at Splitcoaststampers. It's called Spotted Canary Spring Challenge. It lasts all month long. You can enter as many projects as you want and there will be a random drawing for a $500 prize package of EK Success products. How cool is that.

Today, I made two cards for this challenge.

The first one uses some digital images from Squigglefly called fancy flowers. I colored them with copic markers and then sponged the edges just a bit with vintage photo distress ink. Layered behind the flowers are circles (spellbinders) in mustard and black and a floral doily motif (spellbinders) cut from celery cardstock. I wanted the celery to match the leaves better, so I just used a copic marker to color over it and changed the color.

For the card base, I tried a lot of different colors before deciding on the one I used (somewhere between green and yellow). It's from a pack of cardstock that I purchased at a local stamp convention.

The sentiment is from SU. And the brads are just punched out black cardstock.

The image on the second card is from Paper Inspirations. I colored it with old olive and tangerine tango markers and then huffed on the stamp to remoisten the ink and stamped on white cardstock. I added a little bit of black in the centers of the flowers.

The card base is kraft stamped with lattice background (cornish heritage farms) in white craft ink. The remaining layers are black, dusty durango and groovy guava. Some faux stitching completes the card.

Thank you so much for stopping in today.

red bird

Happy Saturday, my friends. Tonight I checked the inspiration challenge on SCS and saw that one of the samples was a cardinal.

I knew right away that I could use this digital image which I had already colored with copics and then embossed with iridescent ice embossing powder, so it shimmers and sparkles. I die cut a scalloped square nestabilities die in red to use as a backing for my image.

Since I was also using this for a challenge on Stamp TV, I needed to have at least twleve embellishments on this card, so I added a dozen rhinestones for some more sparkle. I attached the image panel with dimensional tape and stamped the sentiment (Paper Inspirations) in black.

The digital image was a freebie, but I don't remember where I got it.

Thank you so much for visiting today. Have a wonder-filled weekend.

A lot of vintage books

Ooo, bad blogger! I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since I posted. I have been busy with classes. My weekly seniors class started up this week, plus last week Thurs. & this week Thurs. I had classes in my home as well. And SCS challenges have been pretty much ignored while I've been making samples and cutting cardstock for classes. But last night when I saw today's inspiration challenge, a couple of the samples really called my name and I knew I had to play. And play I did -- all morning -- just to get one card done. Of course, I had to take a short break to feed the family.

I started with this inspiration piece. I love the old book pages and music incorporated into the background and knew that's what I wanted to do with mine. And of course, the blue birds were singing sweetly to me... haha.

Now, the process. I started by tearing some pages from an old book, an old encyclopedia, and old music. I decided to use Mod Podge to adhere them to my card, but... I was impatient... After gluing them all down, I didn't wait long enough for the stuff to dry thoroughly and when I stamped on it, some of the paper came off on my stamp... grrrrr! So I started over using a glue stick instead. BIG IMPROVEMENT! I stamped the flower from Paper Inspirations several times at different heights along the bottom. (Of course, looking at the finished card now, I realize that the card would have been much better without those stamped flowers. They seem to add more clutter than anything. I may have to make another one.)

I did a lot of sponging along the edges as well as dragging the sponge across the card, completely changing the color which I like a lot. I also stamped my favorite stamp from Itty Bitty Backgrounds, adding some more 'dirt'. Then I pulled out my Kind Thoughts Brocade stencil and sponged a part of that on.

I recently came across a cool video by Donna Salazar showing how to make these wonderful flowers. She makes them from old dictionary pages die cut with a scalloped circle. Since I don't have an old dictionary to cut up, I pulled out an old volume from a set of encyclopedias. I'm pretty sure the pages are similar to a dictionary. Donna's flowers are quite large, but since I was working on a card, I wanted to make mine mini, so I used my scallop circle punch from SU. Since you manipulate the paper, you can control the size you make each layer, so I was able to make my flowers small enough for my card, The largest one is 1-1/4" across. I made each flower from 4 punched circles. You mist the paper with shimmery color when you are working it, but I chose to just use plain water and add color after, so when they were dry, I used sponge daubers to add brilliant blue and tempting turquoise ink. I used my crop-a-dile to punch a hole in the center of each flower. For the flower centers, I then took gold paper fasteners, heated them, and dipped them in brown embossing powder and heated again. I think I managed to poke a fingernail in at least 2 of the 3 when I attached them to the flowers, but I guess that just adds to the vintage look. I cut flower stems and leaves freehand from black cardstock and then attached the flowers with glue dots.

The bird is cut with a Sizzix die called bird with swirls. I sponged the edges, added a black dot for an eye and attached it with dimensional tape. I do like how this turned out.

What's in it?
stamps: itty bitty backgrounds (SU), watercolor pressed flowers (Paper Inspirations)
ink: brilliant blue, tempting turquoise (SU), vintage photo & tea dye distress inks (Ranger), jet black stazon
paper: chocolate chip, ballet blue, cream, old music, old novel, old encyclopedia
other: sponge daubers, sponge, paper fasteners, stencil (SU), crop-a-dile, bon bon brown EP, heat gun, cuttlebug, bird with swirls die (Sizzix), foam tape

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Have a wonder-filled day.

And another butterfly

Here I am again. This is my card for the third challenge for Gina K's April stamp release. This challenge was called yummy recipe, which meant that there were certain items that needed to be on the card.

I started by stamping the butterfly (Gina K) with black stazon ink on vanilla card stock, coloring it with colored pencils and gamsol, and cutting it out. Since the butterfly was cut out and none of the card stock color showed through the color, it didn't matter that I ended up pairing this with white card stock on my card.

One of the elements needed on the card was one piece of designer paper, so I looked into my supply for a piece of blue that would match the butterfly. This is a piece from a very old stack (I'm not sure who it's made by or where I bought it).

I like this layout with the partial circle, so I decided to use it on this card. My original plan was to place the butterfly on the circle, but I didn't like how that looked, so I had to come up with plan B. What do I put with a butterfly? Well, flowers, of course. None of the flower sets that I have from Gina seemed to work, so I chose these coneflowers from Paper Inspirations. Rather than do some elaborate coloring, I decided to just leave them blue and go for a monochromatic card.

Another element in the challenge was three eyelets. OK, that was easy. The third element was to use two different ribbons or fibers. This was the hardest part of the challenge for me. I liked the grosgrain ribbon along the edge, but the 2nd one was the kicker. I tried several ideas before coming up with using the yarn as the butterfly body and antennae. I've seen others use ribbon for this, so why not yarn? I attached the butterfly with dimensional tape under the wings.

What's in it?
stamps: take flight (Gina K), brushed coneflowers (Paper Inspirations)
ink: jet black stazon, brilliant blue
paper: ballet blue, brilliant blue, white, dp (stack ?)
other: colored pencils, gamsol, blue eyelets, crop-a-dile, cuttlebug, Bigz scallop circle and clear circle dies (Sizzix), royal blue grosgrain ribbon, blue yarn, foam tape

Thanks so much for stopping by. Be blessed.

butterfly delight

Hello. Saturday's inspiration challenge on splitcoast had so many great pictures to choose from, it took me all day just to decide. When I finally sat down to stamp, just making the background took what seemed like forever, but I really think it turned out great and really imitates the inspiration piece that I chose.

I used a lot of different stamps on the background. Most were inked, then spritzed with water before stamping, because I wanted a somewhat blurred image. I added a lot of sponging and then used a sponge dauber with chocolate chip ink around the edges to get a bit of outlined definition without adding a layer of card stock.

The butterfly is from wonderful wings and I colored it with color pencils and gamsol. The wings are popped up.

stamps: wondeful wings, paint prints, french script, linen, itty bitty backgrounds (SU); other stamps from judith, inkadinkadoo, penny black, and paper inspirations
ink: jet black stazon, creamy caramel, chocolate chip, mellow moss, always artichoke, perfect plum
paper, mellow moss, very vanilla
other: brayer, piercing tool, mat pack, brads, sponge, sponge dauber, koh-i-noor color pencils, gamsol, foam tape

Thanks for stopping by. 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.

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.

Twinkling H2O's

Since I didn't show you a card this morning, I thought I'd give you a little eye candy now. This is another Dirty Dare challenge card, a different size and it had to have a clear element on it. I painted twinkling H2O's on the stamp and then misted before stamping. What a fun, shimmery effect and it washes off the stamp pretty easily. The rest of the card really doesn't need any explanation.

supplies
stamps: brushed coneflower (Paper Inspirations), sentiment (Lizze Anne)
ink: jet black stazon
paper: groovy guava, always artichoke, purely pomegranate, sahara sand, dp (old world mat stack - dcwv)
other: fun yarn, copper brads, clear baubles, dimensional foam tape, twinkling H2O's, waterbrush

Thanks for visiting.