This one doesn’t count as one of my stamps from my stash as I made the panel at a stamping forum back in November. I am including it in Stacy’s order. But it wasn’t my own stamps.
Using a Diffuser to block the embossing from going all the way through on the card stock is a great look and very soft. You can do this by layering several die cuts together made of chip board. Sponge the embossed panel and you have a gorgeous card.
Not a very clear picture because the vellum panel won’t lay flat. For this one I used embossing buddy all over the vellum and then stamped with white juicy ink. Color Box. Threw some embossing powder on it and heat set it. Then I flipped the vellum over and used SU markers to color on the back side of the vellum. I used a tiny print back ground stamp in grey on the card stock and then adhered the vellum panel onto it. Added the soft grey organdy bow and went right over the sentiment with it for a very soft look.
SUPPLIES:
Image: Stampin Up Sentiment: Mark’s Finest Papers ~The Wall-Stampin Up Back Ground stamp(retired long ago)
White Opaque Embossing Powder
Stampin Up Markers
I saw this done once with many different colors and completely sponged. I did this with a brayer on Recollections 110 lb card stock which is so smooth it takes the ink really well.
First I punched a circle and adhered it to the cardstock. Then brayered with rainbow pad in sunset colors. Then removed the mask and lightly sponged over the big white DOT sun. Using a silhouette stamp and stamping it twice I created a field of flowers. I added a bit of chocolate chip ink by sponging the bottom edges and sides. Stamped the sentiment and added some Pearls with my snazzy pearl pen. Entering into Simon Says Wed Challenge anything goes with Pearls.
SUPPLIES:
Image: Stampin Up Silhouette flowers
Viva Pearl Pen in Black
Brayer
Desert Heat Kaliedecolor Spectrum Rainbow Pad
Using Mark’s Finest Papers set called Pussy Willows 2011 I stamped this cute little guy and put it all together following MFTWSC165 Sketch. Notice the Vellum again. 
SUPPLIES:
Images: Mark’s Finest Papers ~Pussy Willows
Sentiment: same set
Dies: Spellbinders Ovals, MFT button
Embossing Folder: The Paper Studio ~ Doodle Frame
Black Extra Fine Embossing Powder
Trying mixed media again. It’s not something I’m real comfortable with but I do like to play. This was a disaster in the beginning. I loved the white bricks I made with embossing paste but then I decided to spray it with a clay color. Well that was fine but now what am I going to do with this large orangey looking piece of bricks. My original thought had been flowers on the wall (remember that song by the Stadler Brothers) I wanted to use the new butterfly stencil and thought a contrasting color would look good. First I used a dark green gelato and brushed that on but that looked horrible. Trust me, it DID! hmmm….now what. I don’t want to throw away these cool bricks. I sprayed over with a green smooch spray. that didn’t work, and you couldn’t even tell it made a difference except to make the butterflies a little darker. SIGH! Okay, I have to lighten these up. Good thing I had a white gelato stick. I colored it onto my craft mat and pounced away with a dauber. Still kind of dull. Now, the genius starts working. I found my little liquid smooch glitter paint on stuff in silver and that is just what it needed for a final touch. Now, I like the looks of the butterflies but how to turn it into a card. And just picking it up it seemed it needed those two corners rounded to give a bit of movement to the picture. It worked. A little brown mat sticking out looked good. It needs WHITE. I had these HUGE paper flowers and they were way to large for this image. They would work on a 12x12 scrapbooking page. I grabbed my MFT flower dies and cut them down without any qualms at all, then found the perfect layer in my scrap bag of browns and a pearlized candy for the center. Cue to placement, and I am working on Sympathy cards for an order and there you have it. I LOVE LOVE LOVE how it turned out. 
Thought Process: Use paste to enter into Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge. Stretch my style a bit. Also entering it into Dream Weavers Anything that flutters Stencil Challenge
SUPPLIES:
Stencil: MFT Brick Wall, Heidi Swapp butterflies
Dream Wearvers Stencil Paste in Matte
Paper Flowers Flora Studios Color me crazy
Flower insides DCWV Linen Closet Mat Stack
Candies, Pearls.
Spray is Tsukineko Fireworks Potter’s Clay
I love the look of stencils and I have a drawer full of them. I need to remember to pull them out more often. We have an elderly couple here having their 63rd anniversary. Thought they would enjoy this.
I was trying out some new pearlized paste. I heated it while it was still a bit damp and it bubbled all up 3-D like. I had spritzed the black bacground with a homemade glitter spritz and then the pearlized effect of the paste is WOW!! Pretty! For a bit of color I just touched up the water and one swan with chalks which stuck well to the paste even after it was completely dried. And now….I think I hear the house calling my name…clean me, clean me. I am entering this in Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge to use paste. Also entering into Dream Weavers anything that flutters. Swans have wings, they flutter, right?
SUPPLIES:
Dream Weaver Stencil
Dream Weaver Pearlized Embossing paste
Die: MFT Sentiment banner
Punch: SU Scallop
SU Chalks
Sentiment: Hero Arts Clear
I have been wanting to try the stamped die cuts look since I saw this on my friend Angies post. This is quite a simple card and has a lot of wow impact to it along the white on white lines. I wanted to make this just a bit softer for a young friends graduation this spring. (I think they will still graduate even if spring never appears, as it seems prone to do, or not do) Pretty self explanatory so I shall spare you all the wordy words this a. m. Inside I stamped the same sentiment and did a pink shadow stamp of a butterfly over the words.
TIP: I outlined the die cuts with a dark burgundy marker to set them off a bit. Just hold the marker straight up and run it aroundthe edges of the die cuts.
SUPPLIES:
Sentiments: GKD Inside and Outside
Ribbon: SU from a 100 years ago
Cuttelbug Embossing Folder
Dies: Simon Says Chrissy Butterfly and MFT fish tail banner stax
I love this flower but since it had no stem it hardly ever got used. I watched this video and wanted to try this technique but I KNEW better than to try it first on a detailed image. I went looking in my stash for something a bit more wide open and this flower jumped out at me. I painted three of them and cut them out fussy cut style. Simple but enough detail to work with the shading. I had fun coloring it using my Stampin Up Markers and a blender pen but not Dove. I thought I had some Doves hanging around. I found the invoice for them today, but can’t find the pens. Where did I put those things?
SUPPLIES:
Image: Stampin Up Sentiment: Partial Hero Arts inked up
Recollections: Home made paper
Dies: Sizzix Banner dies
Many of you know that I have been on a USE it UP and don’t buy more holding pattern for a couple of years now. That’s off and on again, of course. However I am being very judicious about the purchase I am making. It has to be really clearance priced, like thirty-nine to seventy-nine cents. And Cardstock and adhesives are allowed. That was at my most strict self, Which I did for an entire eighteen months. Now I am allowing myself 8x8 paper packs to be included and a few other embellishments if they are marked down.
Anyway, because of that I ended up using my vellum to create some sympathy cards and then WHAM!! I started seeing people pulling their vellum out again. I tell ya, I AM A TRENDSETTER. So here ya go, some vellum to fit in with the trend that no one knows I started. 
SUPPLIES:
Stamps: Sweet N Sassy
Music paper: The Paper Studio Pocket full of Posies
Candies
SU ribbon
Thought process: Use something from that stack of little square embossing folders that I have about six-eight of and they so very very very rarely get used. Why is that? I need to make myself play with them more and see what I can come up with. Fasten your seat belts when I get a hare brained idea.
Simon Says is sponsoring the LoveFest Challenge on SCS with Use a Die. I chose my labels die and embossed it with that little square folder. Then add the sponging with Broken China ink. Everything else came together and is from the kit with the exception of the large flower and button. And I used my own red ribbon. The border piece was a scrap from a previous kit project. There sits that little mini heart again. Kristina Werner who designs for Simon often does the little dash around the card technique and finds a way to use the little mini hearts and I have come to quite like that look.
SUPPLIES:
Simon Says Card Kit May 2012
Dies: SSS mini hearts, Spellbinders Label
Large flower and button: SU
See what I mean, I can’t throw ANYTHING away that has to do with stamping. I have a 1 inch wide die from MFT that makes a wide ric-rac cut. I used it a while back for it’s intended purpose, a wide piece of ric-rac paper ribbon. but there was the negative side of it, see, and oh, it just begged to be cut into this this strip. And it’s been sitting on my desk for about three months now. Well, today was THE perfect creation to use it on. Doesn’t it look like the heart beat on a heart monitor? Perfect. Happy Sigh!
For this card I stamped the sentiment first on the panel, then again onto the die cut and lined them up for a finished look. Uhm, yeah it sounds simple to just read that, but it took a couple of practice attempts on scrap paper and and lots of good praise to my Stamp-a-ma-jig. Where would I be without that much used tool?
Entering this into Simon Says Wednesday Challenge Wedding or Anniversary
SUPPLIES:
All MFT
Dies: Hearts from Blueprint 1
Large ric rac
Textile label
Seems Sympathy cards are needed by so many. I have an order again for several. I really don’t mind making them as I feel so much when I am creating them that I hope the recipient will feel some of that caring when they open the card. I rarely do white on white but this one just flowed right out of my fingers.
I used my scor-buddy for the three lines on the bottom of the panel as a first step and then lined up the embossing folder with the top line and only partially embossed the panel. I then had to go back and deepen the scored lines.
The butterfly was stamped in gray and fussy cut before being mounted onto the labels die.
A very serene card was the end result.
TIP: I often cut my clear sentiments apart to be able to stack them instead of leaving them all horizontal.
SUPPLIES:
Image: GKD Spring Time Silhouette Kit~Sentiment – Hero Arts
Dies: MFT Textile Label & Spellbinders Fancy Tags
Scor Pal and Embossing folder~Swiss Dots
Used a Clear Star Giltter pen on the butterfly. Ribbon is from Cut Card Stock
So I won this wonderful stash of goodies over on the Stamp TV site and was also featured card for the week. That honor was for the Black and White Sympathy card I posted last week. I love winning new goodies cuz I have myself on a spending freeze for stamping stuff since I want to USE up what I have. and there’s lots, every once in a while I freeze myself for a couple of months. it’s a good practice.
This simple card just went together as easy as you please. Faux stitching of course, a bity of shabby chic look to use up the last of that paper. though it is so beautiful I really had to make myself use the last piece. always saving it for that SPECIAL card you want to make, you stampers know how it is. Funny thing, I must have been saving it for such reason a long time ago because it was hiding in a drawer and I didn’t even know I had it and had used a piece of it before, too! See, that’s what’s good about the spending freeze. I am entering this into Simon Says Stamp Wed Challenge-Make a Wedding or an Anniversary card.
SUPPLIES:
Image: GKD
Dies: Spellbinders
Punch: Lacy scallop Martha Stewert
Old Olive ink
and now….putting this card away it still seemed it needed a bit more. Aha! The pearls in the upper corner and on the heart just draw the eye where it needs to go and looks more complete. Just a little touch does oh so much.
yeah..I got an A in poetry in high school. what can I say?
Thought I would try out my water color pencils again. Using SU water color paper sure works better than trying to water color on regular card stock.
I’m always glad when a card goes together in thirty minutes or less. Including picking out the papers this was one of those.
Entering this into the MFTWSC164 Sketch Challenge. It also works for Simon’s Monday Challenge to make a cameo or a “cameo appearance” I don’t have any cameo stamps but this one has that look and the cameo appearance is those Staedler Water Color pencils. I don’t use them often enough since I found out about Copics but some images beg for the softer look. Also entered on SCS as part of SNSS color challenge for LOVEFEST
Image: Stampin Up
Colored with Staedler Water Color pencils and water brush on SU water color paper
Simon Says Mini Heart die
Candies
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug: flowered hearts
Soup! Soup’s On! I love Soup.
Edith asked me for my version of the Cabbage Soup Recipe the other day. I found it and copied it for her (in color) cuz it’s so much prettier that way. Thought I would be seeing her today but weather is keeping us both home. Decided to just stick it an envie so she gets some happy mail and I can’t send a bare naked anything. I quickly crafted this card to tuck in and got it all into the mail box already. (Edith is 96 years old and still cooks for herself in a big ol’ farm house)
SUPPLIES:
Image: The Cat’s Pajamas –GKD Flourish
BG Designer Paper ~ DCWV Far East Mat Stack
For The Cat's Pajamas Love Fest inspiration challenge.
I used Asian style paper for the umbrella and shaded it. Figured he would look nice on a piece of deep sea colored paper. Then added the gate-a negative of a fence die-and the wrought iron corner piece. The cloud in the sky fits the perfect sentiment.
Image: The Cat’s Pajamas ~Beach Party
Dies: MFT Western Fence, Sizzix Corner, MFT Clouds
Copics
The challenge on StampTV using GKD stamps is Shabby Chic.
Shabby Chic is not something i really do very much of but i love how this turned out. Then I almost forgot about the matching envelope part.
I distressed the edges of that gorgeous CS, added rough faux stitching, distressed the shimmery doily and added strips of ribbon that i frayed the edges of. used the tiny attacher for more shabby look. I'm in love with stamping. :) Especially with GKD stamps. This is for my niece and nephew who are having a 25th anniversary gathering this Saturday. SHE is really into Shabby Chic and this will be perfect for them. Also some of her favorite colors.
I am going to post this as I first had it, before I made the envie and then after I made the envie. Cuz I just added a tiny bit of bling and what a difference it makes. I was thinking pearls but they didn’t give enough pizzazz.
SUPPLIES:
Image: Gina K Designs~Spring Time Silhouette Kit
Ribbon: Gina K Designs ~Sentiments: Gina K Designs
Dies: Top Dog Dies~ Madison Doily, Simon Says Christi Butterfly
BG paper unknown
So I have a cyber friend that likes green!! This will likely be a bit late arriving as Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. But she inspired me with a posting she did of hand lettered candy hearts.
I thought she would get a kick out of this one as she calls her self Princess. I had to really dig in that candy bag to find one that said Princess.
I really didn’t know I had so many Valentine stamps. It doesn’t look like very many but I haven’t made it through them all for this year.
Trying this technique, using the punched negative popped up. About a year ago I posted a card similar onto a forum….OMW did I start a TREND??? No one is giving me credit for it but yah, I think it was me…the great trend setter.
SUPPLIES:
Images: Inkadinkadoo
DP: My Minds Eye~The Sweetest Things
Punch: SU Scallop~ I love how this thing punches every time.
I needed a Congratulatory card for my niece and hubby who just bought their first home. This piece of hounds tooth scrap already scalloped was lying in my “too good to not use it up pile” on the side of my desk. Since Gina’s Challenge is to use a double border on a card I wanted to incorporate this scrap and that is what I picked up and started with. I didn’t even KNOW I was going to make this kind of card. Just picked up the two scraps and started. Glued them together and went digging in my GKD stash of stamps to find an image that might go with that hounds tooth pattern.
On finding the couch I knew I had the right image and the type of card was born. I looked in my yellow scraps and found this chevron pattern in just the right size for this image and now I have a beautiful couch. The rest just kind of fell together. For some reason the fringed twill looks crooked on the picture but in real life it is as straight as can be. don’t really know what to do about that on the pic.
SUPPLIES:
Image and Sentiments: Gina K Designs
Dies: MFT BluePrints
Scraps of unknown sources.
Made for the LoveFest Challenge over on SplitCoastStampers. We were to use a cute critter. The theme is Puppy Love.
Digging out some old ProvoCraft Stamps this just went together so cute. The BG paper looks like dog tags but you can’t see that now that I covered it all up. Oh well it made a good starting point
SUPPLIES:
Images: ProvoCraft, Mark’s Finest Papers-Bones
Designer Paper: Me & My Big Ideas Traveler Pack
Ribbon: Michaels
Die: MFT Blueprints 5 – Branch and Leaves~Simon Says Mini hearts on pooch
Sentiment: SU
Color Medium: SU Markers
Tiny Attacher
Stamps 134-135 Entering this into the MFT Color Challenge. This image is actually two different stamps by Judith. There is a skirt bottom and also a boys bottom and then the newspaper with the hands is a separate stamp. I stamped the newspaper image and cut it out to give a bit more layer to the ovals.
SUPPLIES:
Images: Stamps by Judith
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug Medium Dots
Punch: Martha Stewart
Dies: My Favorite Things~Oval Stax2 and Mini Scallop Edge
Ric Rac: my stash
Copics
Inside and out. Love how this turned out. 
I used a couple of things on here I haven’t used much. The heart Stamp from SU, my glue pad, and Puffy embossing powder.
I stamped the heart in the glue pad and then sprinkled with the puffy embossing powder. I got that at a rummage and have never used it. Is actually quite interesting as it looks like fiber when it beads up. I think I need more colors besides red. 
I then took a Recollections stamp from Michaels (again, a memory with sweet friend Angie, we just bought that at Michaels when I was visiting her in GA) inked it up and laid the cut out heart on the stamp and lightly pressed the inside part of the heart. It worked great.
Inside, those yucky tasting candy hearts. I cannot believe they are still around.
SUPPLIES;
Images: SU, Recollections, Dollar Store
Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug flowered hearts
Paper Strip: My Minds Eye The Sweetest Things collection
Dies: Simon Says Mini hearts
Embossing Powder: Ranger Puff in red
We have an older friend who has some challenges and he is able to work as a bus boy at a restaurant we will be having lunch at today. I made this card for him to leave with his tip. He is such a friendly guy and he loves cars and all things with motors. Entering into Simon Says Wednesday to use KRAFT
SUPPLIES:
Images: SU Antique Cars
Dies: Spellbinders and Simon Says Mini hearts
Ink: Bravo Burgundy SU
Embossing Folder: Sizzix-Ranger Brick Wall
As I was cleaning my stamping area, because it looked like someone threw a grenade in there, I found two pieces of “I just can’t throw away these perfectly good” pieces. One in Kraft and one in black. They even fit one on top of the other. I have always admired the white embossing those crafty designers use on their cards, only I don’t use a lot of Kraft so I kind of forget about it. But this, this piece just begged to be used and not thrown into the garbage can. My hand was already going in that direction. I decided to fish tail cut them into little banners and stamp that sentiment in white. Layered ‘em up……and now what? It needs a flower. Grabbed a small piece of scrap lying there and MFT BP3 and voila’ I have a flower. I used my stylus on it to soften it and made the inside from the same set. For the middle I covered it with glue and sparkly embossing powder and heat set it. ooh yeah, I like that. pop it on those flower petals with a dimensional. The other thing I have been admiring but too lazy to paper punch all the layers, is those scalloped layers all over the cards in rainbow colors. I found the perfect paper in that My Mind’s Eye Pack. I might get through that pack yet.
Now it’s time to adhere the tag to the card. Oops, I am out of adhesive on my ATG gun. No problem I have extra. As I load it so smoothly I am so proud of myself. I finally got this thing down. Now, where’s that tag. Fifteen minutes later, WHERE is that tag. I have looked in the waste basket, on the paper cutter, under my chair, in my pocket, on my clothes. Pick up everything on my desk. WHERE is that tag, it can’t have walked off. Finally, I give up and make another, but it’s not the same feeling, cuz I really felt like I was rescuing those other pieces and now I have to go and dig in my already saved scraps. boo-hoo I pick up my ATG gun and there it is, my little tag stuck to the underside of the thing. SMILING NOW. I can fulfill the destiny of those original scraps. So here it is. This one HAD to be entered into the Pixies Playground and because it has Kraft on it I am also entering it into Simons Wednesday Challenge
SUPPLIES:
DP: My Mind’s Eye~The Sweetest Thing Collection
Sentiment: Oscar’s Door County Rubber Stamps
Dies: MFT Blueprint 3 for flower
Come on over and have a cuppa cappuccino with me. I love using my Tassimo. I always feel like I’m in a fancy coffee shop saving myself eight bucks. 
Today so far, I have made four Valentine cards and mailed two of them and also a sympathy card. Now I need to get back in there and make more sympathy cards. My stash is gone again.
Here’s one of the cards I put in the mail today.
Cheat Techniques: my strip of pink scallop didn’t fit all the way across and I cut it apart and made two pieces with a space between them. The pink flower is covering a smudge. I put that down first and then added the green and sometimes when you’re fixing a mistake good things happen. It fits the sentiment perfectly; and the tag, uhm yeah, I dropped the stamp on it’s way down to the card base. Cover up works well. 
SUPPLIES:
BG Stamp: Recollections
Sentiment: GKD
DP: My Mind’s Eye~The Sweetest Thing
Heart Bling: ~Recollections
SU Ribbon
Flowers~Unknown
Well this was about the easiest card EVER. I love that stack of My Mind’s Eye Paper and cutting the 8 x 8 to size just made the perfect background for this. I layered it 1/16th with a piece of Kraft and then stamped the three Valentine stamps into the appropriate space. Colored them with a pink marker and added the embellishments. Since this is for our daughter who is all of those things listed, I added the LARGE Tim Holtz button and twine on top of that bright ribbon. And just for added Glitz, cuz she likes bling, I tucked the little heart paper clip behind the top layer. oops I almost cut it off in the photo. She will be coming home tomorrow for an overnight stay so this will get hand delivered. Card for hubby will post tomorrow.
Entering this into SIMON”S MONDAY CHALLENGE We love Stamps
SUPPLIES:
Images: Dollar Store and Inkadinkadoo
Marker: SU Pixie Pink
Twine: Michaels
Button: Tim Holtz
Ribbon: SU
The MFT sketch came out and it was perfect to scale down into a teeny little Valentine for a two year old in our Sunday meeting. The card measures 4-1/4 x 3-7/8 inches. I flipped the sketch and made this in about fifteen minutes just out of scrap pieces for all of it. Love it when that happens.
SUPPLIES:
Image: The Dollar Store
Cuttlebug Embossing Folders-Argyle and Border
Amuse Paper
Scrap of red fence
Tea Dye Distress ink by Ranger
Candi’s
Sanded Coredinations BG card stock
You’re so square, baby! But I love squares!! A little 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 card makes the perfect Valentine when it has this much love built into it.
I made it to the Valentine and Love container hidden under the spare bed in the stamping room. I have a few days to use them but I’m thinking I better start to get some of these love babies into the mail box soon.
Made this whole thing with scraps. It’s got a white backing on the other side so makes for a perfect quick card. I stamped that heart three times and fussy cut them out of a narrow scrap. Perfect color for the background paper I used. by placing the embossed strip across right at that point, it looks like another strip of darker going across the top but, hey, fooled you!
The little flourish in the corner is the perfect add on to give some oomph to the bottom of this. The swiss dots on the top heart tie in with the dots in the paper and the same goes for the randomness of the stamped hearts. kind of mimics the paper. That’s it for today and I think it is time to start thinking about that bed with it’s wonderful mattress. Later taters.
SUPPLIES:
Images: Retired Stamping Up-I don’t know the name of the sets
BG Paper-Amuse
Die: Kwik Kuts Flourish
Embossing Folder: Cuttle Bug Edges –sanded to bring out the white
