Winter Birthday

I received a beautiful card in the mail for Thanksgiving holiday and I was inspired to try the die cut words using the negatives as the main portion.  the tedious part of this was to keep the little bitty pieces that make up the insides of the letters all in one place and oh so carefully glue them and place them.  Still, I like the effect and would do it again. 

I made this flower from home made paper and a die from MFT.  It’s there gardenia die that I think is on sale right now.  I used my home made glimmer spray on the main panel to give it some movement.  it looked tooooo white.  Cherry Lynn dies.

Technorati Tags: Cheery Lynn,MFT Gardenia,Happy Birthday,Script cutouts

Happy Cardinals Stamp #397

I have had this cardinal stamp for three years and for two of those I forgot about them.  I’m using up scraps of paper and thought this would take a few of those off my OCD list.
They are so cheerful.  Got ‘em at a rummage in the summer one year, no wonder I forgot about them. I am entering this into Simon's Wednesday Holiday Card Challenge.

Technorati Tags: Christmas,MFT,birds,Holiday

More Susan Louise images

I don’t know, at first it seemed like “cheating” to use pre-stamped and pre-colored images but they are so very cute and beautiful that I got over that.  I am enjoying finding ways to utilize these images and make the Holiday card making process go more smoothly and quicker.  For this one I sponged with Ranger Distress inks and then flicked some water on.  Since they are printed on Tim Holtz specialty paper the water reacts with the distress inks to look like snow and give some beautiful character. I love this very nice gold paper I picked up at Michaels. I stamped the sentiment from Mark’s Finest Papers onto the corner.  When using this paper, I found you have to be very careful and it would be best to use Staz-on. This was slippery and luckily only smeared a teeny bit or my image would have been ruined.  Thanks for looking. I am entering this into Simon's Wednesday Holiday Card Challenge

Technorati Tags: Susan Louise,Christmas,Birds,Holiday

Recreating MFT #396

I had to recreate this one, I just did not like the way the ink looked stamped directly on the circle layer.  I made the same card again, stamped it again just like the first one but this time I cut another layer out of white and stamped the sewing machine on that.  I like it ever so much better.  I made the pearls in graduated sizes also with my Viva Pearl pen.  Yep, I like it now.  I am entering this one into the MFT sketch challenge for Wednesday.  You can find that HERE.  Stamp # 396 is the measuring tape which completes using that sewing set from MFT

MFTWSC205

Stamps 393, 394, 395 GKD

I like playing in StampTV challenges because the prizes are so very worth it.  Gina gives away a mini card kit with ribbons, papers, stamps and embellishments.  What a great gift.  This week For Joyces challenge to use as much shiny and shimmery I chose all these images i received in one of those grab bags. Unfortunately, the camera didn't pick up the shimmer. I used gold foil for a bg layer, the L & R sides have Art Impressions glitter on the top panel, I used Wink of Stella on the snow man and his buttons. I added a tiny rhinestone bling to his hat over the button. Fun, but i wish it showed up better. The mistletoe and the berries are two different stamps.

Technorati Tags: GKD,Christmas,Winter

MFT color Palette challenge

Thought I would play along with this with a non-holiday card.  All items are MFT except the embossing folder.   You can find the challenge HERE.

Stampendous House Mouse Stamp # 392

I wanted to play along with another card in the Simon Says Wednesday Holiday card challenge but this time using the Stampendous products that they are featuring this week.  I chose the Candy Gram House Mouse with Maxwell and Amanda.  I have had my silver embossing paste sitting out because I wanted to use it this holiday season and for some reason it’s more difficult to use than I thought.  It doesn’t show up as well as gold does. I added a bit of Clear Star sparkle pen to the candy canes.     I used the outside the box technique with my MFT dies.  All these dies are from the MFT Blueprints 3.  I turned the bow over and ran a stylus around the pieces to give them a bit of height then used dimensionals to pop them up a bit.  Aren’t they so cute?

Technorati Tags: Stampendous,House Mouse,Christmas

Stamp 391-Door County Rubber Stamps

I bought this image at the stamping retreat and wanted to put it into action THIS holiday season.  So many times my holiday stamps get pushed off into the next year. I had fun using this in two different ways.  A simple way and then a bit more detail.  That little sheet music tag is also from Door County Rubber Stamps.  It made a great background for this sweet little boy.  I am entering this first card in the Simon Says Holiday Wednesday Challenge.

The second card I used an MFT stencil on.  I posted this card for the mixed media challenge but I just want to include it on here to show how different the same stamp can look when used in two different ways.  I love the golden oval that surrounds the image.

Mixed Media and a new stamp

I found this sweet little image at Door County Rubber Stamps.  It is one of their own original creations.  I purchased it at the stamping retreat along with the sentiment and was anxious to use it and I am just getting around to it now.  Still in time for the Holidays though.  At least it’s not AFTER the fact.
I found a new challenge blog, all about mixed media, thought I would dip my little toe in with a fairly simple card.  I have been wanting to use my Dream Weavers embossing paste not covering the entire card front.  I used a light hand with the paste and just in spots on the stencil and then touch it up with a tiny bit of distress ink.  Copics, Glitter and ovals finish it off.  The sentiment is embossed with SU fine detail white.  Thanks for stopping by.
I hope to learn a lot from this site.  I am also entering this into Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge to show our Holiday cards.

Prickley Pear Snow Bunnies

I was so excited to see this image.  It is so beautiful.  It called out for a different color than black.  I love how the red on the kraft colored card stock turned out.  This beautiful ribbon from the Ribbon Carousel was the perfect accent. It looks kind of like a snow drift doesn’t it?  The non-traditional color of turquoise adds a surprise element to this card.  The snowflakes look so frosty die cut in vellum with the beautiful die from Prickley Pear.  This was the most fun card to create.  When I got all that red rubber, this was the first card I stamped but I didn’t want to post it until closer to Christmas. 

SUPPLIES FROM PRICKLEY PEAR
Snow Bunnies – Red Rubber Stamp
Snow Flake Pendant Die Set
Sentiment is from  Scalloped Oval 3- Winter Clear Stamp Set

Doesn’t this just bring the feeling of Holiday joy out??  I hope you enjoy the fun spirit that this Holiday brings.
I made a special envelope with my envelope punch board to accommodate the snowflake hanging off the edge. 

Because I was so excited to receive my Prickley Pear goodies I was anxious to make this following card with the Hibiscus Die, that I had in mind,  as soon as I knew that I would be a Guest Designer. Isn’t it fun to take something and use it in an intentional way to create something new from it.  I wanted to turn that Hibiscus into a Poinsettia.  What do you think?  Mission accomplished?

My first step was to use a stencil and create a panel to represent snow.  Then using the Hibiscus die cuts that I punched out three times, I used  my Scor Buddy and bone folder to crease and bend the leaves for dimension.


After doing that, I stacked the three die cuts with glue dots to hold them.  Since this is such a fun matching stamps and die set, I stamped the hibiscus and then fussy cut the center out in pink.  I used the patterned leaf clear stamps to give some character to the die cut leaves.  After assembling the flower I added the enamel dot and some gold cord for a fun double bow.  The little berries are rain drops product.  The sweet teeny sentiment comes from the Snow Flake inserts set and it embossed nicely onto the red punched oval. Here’s a picture of the card from the side and you can see the dimension of it. 
Thanks for stopping by today and having a look.  Check out the Prickley Pear Blog for wonderful inspiration from my team mates. They have a Monday Inspiration day each and every week.
PRICKLEY PEAR SUPPLIES USED:
Hibiscus 2 Clear Stamp Set
Hibiscus Die Set
Snow Flake Inserts Clear Stamps

Prickley Pear is having a SALE

What better time to scoop up red rubber than a 30% off sale.  You will love the soft vintage look of Prickley Pear stamps.  I am not a vintage stamper but I love love love the look of the Prickley Pear.  They also have nice sentiments in red rubber.  The rubber is flat.  You need to adhere it to your own acrylic block.  They stamp beautifully.   Click on the picture to find your way to their site.  Happy Shopping.  the beauty, you have until the 15th to add items to your cart, or if you want Christmas stamps early, you can go for it right now! 

Wishing you a grateful Thanksgiving

It is so much fun to work with these quality images from Prickley Pear.  No wonder I fell in love with them long ago.  But I just had a couple.  It’s nice to have the variety and all of their images evoke a nostalgic feeling in me.  I’m grateful for them.
Wishing you a grateful Thanksgiving from our home to yours.  Isn't this just a wonderful time to think of all the things that bring us so much joy? Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  All that family fun with laughter and “remember whens”. 
I was inspired by this  red rubber windmill image and the hope of harvest to create this earthy card.  I stamped my image in an olive green color and then used two little playing card size card stock pieces to layer it with.  I used my corner chomper to round the corners on all my pieces.   After distressing my paper with some distress inks in Pumice Stone, Tea Dye and China blue, I used a tooth brush to spatter some green ink around the wind mill image.
Next I took the circle image from  the Fall Circle Set and stamped it twice.  Once in a soft wheat color and then again in the same olive green as the wind mill.  I used the Prickley Pear circle die to cut it out and then fussy cut the inside of the circle out with small scissors to make a wreath like circle.
What I love about the Prickley Pear clear stamps is you can cut the sentiments and straighten them out for an entirely different look.  They are so versatile when you do this.  (it only hurts the first couple of times that you do this) then you get over it and see how much more it gives you.   I’ll show you a picture of what I did for this.  I got two sayings by stretching out the sentiment and using a marker to color the words I wanted.  They are such high quality stamps that they spring right back to their original shape and you can use them that way, also.
Then I used the grateful sentiment with it’s sweet font and embossed it in white on a little tag and added a white brad to it.  I pulled some ribbon through my card and put some dimensionals on the  tag and layered it over the ribbon.

See how easy this is?

Here’s a list of the Prickley Pear Products that I used.
Scallop Circle  Nesting Dies
Circles Set – Fall- Clear Stamp Set  (I got so much use out of this one little set this fall.  It amazed me.)

Thanksgiving

It’s almost here.  Whatever you do, I wish for you, a safe journey to your day.  Enjoy your time with family and friends.  Enjoy the laughter and tears.  Things can change so quickly.  Thanksgiving was my younger brother’s favorite holiday.  We don’t always go South for Thanksgiving but nine years ago we did, and had such a great time.  Then….the following Thanksgiving, he was no longer with us.  He died three weeks before his favorite holiday.  Things don’t always stay the same.  Enjoy the moments.  I am entering this into the Simon Says Challenge for Wednesday.  It’s a wobble card. The pumpkin wobbles.  I used a Crafters Work Shop stencil and sponged lightly.  The Everything else is Gina K Papers.  The die is from Prickley Pear. Thanks for stopping by.  I am grateful for you.

The Prickley Pear Rose

Isn’t this just the prettiest little rose?  This is one of the red rubber images from Prickley Pear.  They stamp so clear, so beautiful.  I had this piece of cardstock left over from a previous project with the bricks on it and thought it would make a great back ground for this pretty rose.
This was pretty straight forward stamping so I only have the one picture.  Wish I would have taken pictures at the time I was using that pretty translucent embossing paste.  I just added a bit of black ink from a distress marker to give it a bit of brick color look.  Since it was a scrap the bricks are only on part of the piece I used which gives it a really nice look, I think.
I colored the image with colored pencils and let the Dove blender pen soften the colored lines.  Then using a punch I made a little frame for the image.  What I learned about corner punches is you need to cut your layering piece (the layer you are going to punch) 1/2 in larger than the piece you are going to put in the frame.  So if you have a two inch square image piece you need to cut your frame piece to  two and half inches and then it will fit perfectly.

I added the greeting from the Hibiscus set, trimmed out a banner for it and added a tiny piece of braided thread I snipped off a clothing tag.  A few spatters of “paint” with a brush and mounting the frame piece with dimensionals made this a really simple card with lots of elegance.  As I looked at it though, if felt it needed a touch of stickles glitter and that just finished it off.  This was a wonderfully simple card to make.
Prickley Pear Products that I used:
Rose Bunch –Red Rubber Stamp
Hibiscus 2 Clear Stamp Set

Sometimes things need to be simple

Do you ever feel rushed when making a card or project?  When you do,  it is time to pull out something like these beautiful images from Penny Pierick called Susan Louise images.  You may want to take the time to click HERE to see the gorgeous hand drawn images that Penny does.  These are printed on Tim Holtz specialty paper and when you use distress inks with them they will be very reactive when water is spritzed or splattered on them and have cool effects. 

I didn’t use water for mine.  All I did was die cut the image with a Spellbinders oval.  Leaving the die in place, I sponged lightly with Pumice Stone distress ink in the middles fading to the outside edge and then sponged Tea Dye from the outside edges in, leaving it lightest in the middle. I used a Spellbinders shapeabilities tag to add a sentiment from Stampin Up.

I found a piece of Paper Studio DP to match the holly on the sled and used that as a thin border.  I knew I wanted to use this very elegant red velvet like paper that I picked up at Michaels and it made the perfect back drop for this beautiful sled.  A piece of Gold ribbon and that’s how simple it was.  Thanks for looking, you will do yourself a favor to check out the Susan Louise Arts images.   They are so beautiful and something in lots of different venues.

#390 Season’s Greetings

I have had this stamp set for about four years.  It was given to me by a friend that didn’t want to stamp anymore.  Every year I forget about using this cute sentiment stamp.  I have some more of those “givens” to me stamps that need using also.  but for now, let’s go with this one.

And this paper, isn’t it adorable.  I think I got that a couple of years ago too.  I had this one sheet left.  The stamp is from an old Stampin Up set.

MFT 5 Blueprints Scallop die

Ribbon from Hobby Lobby

The image is stamped on a Prickley Pear Scalloped circle die.

a fun card for simon

Simons Wednesday challenge is all about Stars.  This is a sweet Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps image and I used a star designed embossing folder.  It’s never been used before and I like the look of it.  Thanks Simon for all the fun challenges that help me use my “schtuffs”   

Technorati Tags: PPRS,Simon Wednesday Challenge

PPRS Stamp #379 & 380

isn’t it just so fun when you begin and you have no clue what you are going to end up with?  I had this left over piece of die cut from a previous project and it was just too perfect not to use.  I stamped it with the snow flake stamp in Peacock Feather distress ink,  It looked so plain I decided to give it a spritz of spray adhesive and then sprinkled lightly with Art Impressions crystal glitter.  Then I inked up the snowflake and stamped again over the first impression.

Next step, stamp that beautiful little ornament at various heights.  I had drew the cords they are hanging from and then colored them with copics and added a bit of silver to the cords and Wink of Stella to the inner parts of the ornaments.   Added a bit of spritzing via a stamp and it turned into a beautifully soft vintage card.  I am entering this into Simon’s Monday Challenge to use an ornament.

Technorati Tags: PPRS,Christmas

Stamp 378 Sweet N Sassy

I loved this sentiment from Sweet N Sassy stamps.  They have leaves and dies to go with the leaves.  Another of my favorite companies to purchase form.  For this I did that masking technique again.  I made a mask by cutting this shape out of a piece of paper.  Then I used two inch Frog Tape and taped all around the hole. Now I have a reusable mask.  I lay that on the card stock and use distress inks to sponge with.  Add a stamped image and sentiment and there you have a card that takes about seven minutes to make including cutting the card stock and folding it.  It gives a beautifully soft look for sympathy cards.

Clean Up Time

It’s that time….can’t stand the little pile of left overs anymore.  Let’s make something or toss them, WHAT??? Toss Them?? I can’t do that.  Let’s make something!!

 

 

 

Okay now that was a job well done and I had so much fun cleaning that pile up.  It was even more fun because ohmypaper (SCS name) Angie Bode and I did Face Time and we stamped together but each of us in our own stamping rooms.  She lives in Georgia.  Check out her blog HERE for some really spectacular inspiration.  I shake my head in awe at her work.