Nature Silhouette

Here is a card that I made using a new technique from the Technique Junkies Newsletter called Pulled Glimmers. It is so difficult to show the shimmer on this.

The stamp is by Innovative Stamp Creations from the Nature Silhouette I set. I used the CPS card sketch #170. I probably should have trimmed down the top layer, but I just couldn't bare to trim it at all.

Stamps: Nature Silhouette I (ISC), Ink: Jet Black (Ranger); Paper: Lavender Lace, Basic Black Whisper White, So Saffron, Eggplant Envy; Accessories: Glimmer Mist; Scallop Punch.

Updated Stamp Storage

I wanted to do an update to this post to show how I am storing my unmounted stamps. I am not as thrilled with the Stamp Keeper as I was originally was. I am continuing to use my Stamps Keepers as there is some benefit to using them, but for the most part they are just not as easy or inexpensive as this system.

I start out by cutting the stamps and using a permanent marker to write the company name on the back. Learned the hard way! I will try to add the set name if there is room. (I am showing you my process using my recent order from ISC.) Here is a picture with the stamps cut and the name on the backs.


Next I adhere that sheet that comes with the uncut rubber to a piece of typing paper. I right the company name on top to make identifying the company easy.

I put a piece of chip board into the page protector then add the typing paper with all the images attached. (If for some reason I don't have an image sheet from the set I just stamp the images on the typing sheet after I have prepped the stamps.) Here is the finished page protector.


Next I use Alene's Tack It Over and Over onto the back of the cut stamps. It dries pretty quickly. As you may be able to tell, the first ones are clear by the time I reached the end and took this picture. (See all the extra uses for your Scor-Pal!) ;)

After the glue has "set" and is clear I just put the stamp onto the page protector. Voila! I'm finished! Using the page protectors like this gives me flexibility to move around my collection, to expend or organize as I please. Fairly inexpensive as well!

BTW, often with sentiments I will stick them to the side of their image so I can read the sentiment.

I hope this is helpful to those of you still looking for ways to organize and store your unmounted stamps!

ISC Harlequin

I have been working on this card all week-end! I used a sketch challenge, Copic challenge, TJ technique (I can't remember which one it is!), and a SCS tutorial that I saw on someone's blog that has been stuck in my brain for a month or so now! Whew!

I started with the Week-end Sketch challenge (WSC89) and decided to add the Copic Creations Challenge #8, which was to use botanicals with your Copics. I chose to use this stamp from ISC's Harlequin Flowers (I trimmed off the stem & grasses to fit better in my frame.) I colored on shimmery white (SU) cardstock. This close up shows some of the sparkle. I rolled the leaves before I attached it to the frame.

Here is the card:


I found this cardstock I'd used a TJ technique and squirreled away (several pieces actually) and decided to use it up. The sad thing is that I didn't write the name of the technique on the back and now (m-o-n-t-h-s) later I can't remember which one it is. Choosing this piece, then the designer paper (retired SU) pretty much picked my colors for me. :)

The last piece of the "puzzle" was the wooden frame. I used this SCS tutorial for Faux Wood to make this frame. I thought it would be interesting to mix the scallop octogon with the straight edge. I used Tempting Turquoise as the base for the frame. Hindsite: I would do this again, but I wouldn't use the octogon nesties! A square would have been much easier than putting this puzzle piece together! I didn't use brads as the tutorial suggests, I just used a marker to make faux nails. ;)

Stamps: Harlequin Flowers (ISC); Ink: Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Garden Green, Bashful Blue, Ballet Blue, Brillian Blue; Paper: Taken with Teal, Designer paper (SU - retired), Tempting Turgquiose, Shimmery White (SU), Whisper white; Accessories: Copics, Nestabilities: large scallop & octogon, sponges Tim Holtz ruler, hobby blade, blue adhesive backed ribbon (Darice).

One More Valentine

Yesterday David asked me to send a Vday card to his mother. (Yes, yesterday was Valentine's Day, yes he forgot to ask me earlier; oops!) So this is what I came up with:

I used the OCC Challenge for the sketch and SCS CC205 for the colors: Perfect Plum, Pretty in Pink & Old Olive. I sponged Old Olive around the base of Pretty in Pink to tone it down a bit. I'm not a pink kinda girl. :)

The large butterfly is from Provo Craft's Cuttlebug Butterflies. I've had this for awhile but just used it for this card. After the butterfly was die cut and embossed I brayered Perfect Plum over the top to highlight it more. The brayering added soft texture as well. I colored the antennae black. The Pretty in Pink layer is embossed and Old Olive lightly sponged over it to help it pop. The small butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch that is embossed with the Swiss Dots embossing folder and Perfect Plum sponged over the dots. I probably should have added some texture to the Perfect Plum scalloped edge to help it out too or perhaps that would have just been too much??

The flowers are from the Prima Eire Collection 2 that I colored with Celery Shimmerz (link to Shimmerz). The flowers started out olive and cream. The designer paper is from the Old World Stack (DCWV).

The only stamping on this entire card is the sentiment from ISC. I embossed the sentiment to help it stand out more.

Stamps: Flair of Summer (ISC); Ink: Perfect Plum, CRAFT Basic Black, Old Olive; Paper: Pretty in Pink, Perfect Plum, Old World Stack (DCWV); Accessories: Martha Stewart butterfly punch, CB, CB Butterflies, Swiss Dots & Textile folders; sponge daubers, Scallop Edge punch (SU), Pretty in Pink button (SU), Black hemp (SU), Black detail embossing powder (SU).

Child's Birthday and Son's Artwork

I've been super busy with my volunteer position, but had to take a break and make a card for a boy in my son's class, who's birthday party he was attending this week-end. So I was actually relieved to "have to" stamp this week-end! It is simple I know, but I let Troy pick out the stamps for me to use. He said his friend loves football and he picked the sentiment from my GinaK Make A Wish stamp set. He also said his friend's favorite color was red and Troy picked Ruby Red for the card.

Stamps: Good Sport (SU), Make A Wish (GinaK); Ink: Ruby Red, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip; Paper: Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip, Shimmery White; Accessories: Brads (pewter), sponge daubers, SAMJ.

Next up is Troy's artwork. (Humor me here, he doesn't want to stamp as much as he used to.) He was finally ready to make a card for his cousin that is living in S. Korea right now. My brother is active duty Army and his wife is an Army Civilian. They are both working in S. Korea for two years. Troy has a mind of his own so I must admit that I groaned a bit when I turned around and saw his "sunset". We had stamped the tree (ISC) and grass (A Muse). I CB these dinos and was trying to figure out what to do to "kick it up a notch" when I turned and saw that he had colored all this red to make a sunset. So we talked about sunsets and layering colors and how the sun is at the horizon when a sunset is happening. (He is only 5 and still learning all these little details! LOL!) So orange was added. Since we needed a horizon that was added with green marker (over the grass) then the blue beyond the sunset.

We put the dinos through my little Xyron and added Dazzling Diamonds, then Troy added them to his picture. The tall one is supposed to be eating leaves from the tree. I'll bet Betsy didn't envision that when she was designing this tree!

Stamps: Marvels of Nature (ISC), Hero Mail (A Muse, grass & Sentiment), Ink: Real Red, Green Galore, YoYo Yellow (Sun started out as a circle stamp from SU), Markers: Bashful Blue, Gable Green, Only Orange, Ruby Red, Chocolate Chip; Accessories: CB Dinos, Xyron, Dazzling Diamonds.

Thanks for your patience with my little guy. I'm a proud Mama!

Harlequin Thanks

I posted this card to the TJ yahoo group but forgot to post it here. I needed a thank you card to a luncheon I attended hosted by my Husband's senior rater. This gal is so very sweet so I wanted something nice AND I wanted to use my new Harlequin Flowers set.

I used an Alcohol Ink technique from Technique Junkies and came up with this. I liked it but I thought it needed something I just couldn't figure out what. BTW, I colored silver brads with a Copic marker to get the color.

After I sent out a distress call to the TJ group I went with the suggestion of adding a sentiment. The brads are holding a sheet of acetate in place and the "Tender Thoughts" is stamped on top.

Well, what do you think? Is it the right finishing touch?

Stamps: Harlequin Flowers, Natures Silhouette I (ISC), Ink: Staz-On Black, various alcohol inks (Ranger), Paper: Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black, Whisper White; Accessories: acetate, paint brush, brads, 1/16th hole punch, Copic marker to color brads.

I haven't stamped in ages until this week-end, and that really because I had to. I've been bogged down with finishing a project for the volunteer position for my Officer Spouses' Club. I'm nearly finished so I hope to be back stamping soon. I will post the quick little projects I worked on this week-end, (one of which is my son's work.)

ISC Tag

ISCC16 is to alter a tag using a Tim Holtz technique. Tim is sooo incredible talented and creative that I am always a bit intimidated to try one of his techniques. David is out of town for a couple of days so I charged ahead to distract myself. I decided to use this technique. He doesn't name his techniques so he just labels it July Technique Challenge. I know I've seen versions of this technique around, it is basically a resist technique. It is the first time that I have used my craft iron and melted the embossing powder from my c/s. I also used some grunge board! Orginally, I used the Ranger Archival ink BUT I just don't care for how it turned out so I used my SAMJ and restamped in Onxy Black and embossed to help the writing to stand out more. Much better! Without further adu:
Stamps: Natures Sillhouette I, Friendship, Marvels of Nature (ISC); Ink: VersaMark, Onxy Black (VersaFine); Paper: Whisper White; Accessories: Black Detail EP, packing paper (to use to lift the heated EP), grunge board, crackle paint; Color Wash: Eggplant, Bottle, Cranberry.

I wanted to try MJ's TechnoStamper's card sketch #40 and decided that my tag would be a perfect fit. I did make this card larger than my usual A2 to fit my tag. For the embellishment I used my CB and cut a butterfly from acetate and used one of the butterfly folder to emboss the butterfly. Then I colored the acetate with alcohol inks to match the colorwash sprays I used on the tag. I used a mini black brad to attach it to the tag. This type of work is so outside of my comfort zone. Now the question is, who do I send this to? :)

Stamps: Natures Sillhouette I, Friendship, Marvels of Nature (ISC); Ink: VersaMark, Onxy Black (VersaFine); Paper: Handsome Hunter, Wild Asperagus DP, Whisper White; Accessories: Black Detail EP, packing paper (to use to lift the heated EP), grunge board, crackle paint; Color Wash: Eggplant, Bottle, Cranberry, CB Butterfly die & folder, acetate, alcohol ink: Stream, Bottle, Wild Plum, mini black brad.

ISCC14

I kept thinking about this challenge. Not real sure what to do with it. The ISC challenge was to use this card sketch. She when I'm not sure what to do I just start surfing.

I was checking out the other cards submitted and saw Melanie's gorgeous card using patterned paper, thinking about the pads of paper that I have hardly touched (and feeling a bit guilty) I decided to find some to use here. I also checked out Chris' card using a stamp from Majestic Women. She did a wonderful job! As I was trying to figure out what stamp was the right size for my squares I kept coming back to this Friendship stamp. Thank you Melanie and Chris for the inspiration. This is what I came up with.


I stamped the swirl from Flair of Summer I onto the patterned paper. The black scalloped squares were punched using my Marvy Giga Scalloped Square punch, then I just cut two 2" squares from Brocade Blue c/s. The sentiment was printed on my computer using Fine Hand font. The embellishment was taken from my stash.

Stamps: Flair of Summer I & Friendship (both ISC); Ink: Black Onyx (VersaFine); Paper: Basic Black, Wild Asparagus (MME), Brocade Blue; Accessories: Giga Scallop Square punch, Rock the Kasbah (Imaginisce), Pop Up Glue Dot.

Melanie Made Me Do It. . . . (ISCC13)

Yes, it is true. I wasn't planning on participating in ISC's ISCC13. The challenge was to make 2-4 ATCs using a resist technique. My first ever ATC was for ISC's What Size is Your Art challenge. I did it and it was a challenge, but I'm just not an ATC kinda gal. This is where Melanie from Smartie-Artie comes in. She pushed (challenged) me to do it. *sigh* We've both been answering the call of ISC challenges and admiring each others work. I guess I just needed a little encouragement. Well, here are the results.

I'll start with this one. I did this one today, and it isn't my favorite. Perhaps it is the colors I chose. I do however LOVE this technique, Shimmering Resist. I did it the first time here. I did it another time for a 1-on-1 swap and haven't shown that card yet. This is a technique from the Aug/Sep TJ newsletter. What you can't see very well are the two butterflies under the sentiment. I used Pixie Pink to stamp them but the stamp wasn't very juicy and they faded a bit especially after the shimmer was applied. This purple is Marvelous Magenta that I pulled out from my DS's stash (where I put my unwanted c/s.) This shade seemed to work well with the butterflies since they have Groovy Guava shimmering over them. ;D

Stamps: Marvels of Nature, Artsy Victorian, Friendship (all ISC); Ink: CRAFT White & Pixie Pink, Basic Gray; Paper: Marvelous Magenta, Whisper White; Accessories: CB Vintage Dies, Shimmery Spray.

This next ATC is actually my favorite. Can you tell I had recently visited Michelle's blog? No brayer, but I did sponge all the ATC. The colors were also inspired by Michelle as I would probably never use Sage Shadow without prompting.

I guess this technique is just a plain o' Embossing Resist. I stamped the tree from Marvels of Nature using craft ink and clear embossed it. Then I masked all but the bottom and sponged Handsome Hunter for the grass. I reversed the mask then punched a circle (1 1/4") to act as a mask for the sun and sponged Bashful Blue everywhere. I then used Ballet Blue around the edges, then Brilliant Blue around the edges "careful to not cover all the Ballet Blue" (Did I sound like Michelle? Hehe!) I removed the sun mask and used the reverse mask (post it note with the circle punched out) to sponge on So Saffron and some smudges of More Mustard (you really can't see the MM.) I left it at that last night. (I had already ruined a couple other ATC's trying to figure the best way to get the sentiment over the tree and background.) This moring I had the ephifany I needed! I stamped the sentiment using Staz-On onto acetate and attatched the acetate to the ATC using these mini brads.


Stamps: Marvels of Nature (ISC); Ink: Bashful Blue, Ballet Blue, Brilliant Blue, Handsome Hunter, So Saffron, More Mustard, Black Staz-On, CRAFT: Sage Shadow & Creamy Carmel (tree trunk); Paper: Sage Shadow, Whisper White; Accessories: acetate, post it notes, 1/16" hole punch, mini brads, clear detail embossing powder.

Thank you Betsy from ISC for the blog challenges and thank you Melanie for the push!

Heart to Heart Thanks

I'm pretty sure everyone that is into paper craft blogs as seen Cammie's blog candy. Wow! Truly an amazing blog candy at that, $1,000 worth of crafting goodies! I think what Cammie is doing to honor her grandmother is such an incredible testament to her love for her grandmother.

Ever have one of those cards where you think you are all finished but when you see the card on your screen to upload somewhere you notice just how it isn't quite finished? Well, that was this card for me. Just to show you, here is the first scan.


That long layer is just polished stone technique. I hadn't done it in so long that I thought I'd use it here. Also, this is MJ's Techno Stamper's Sketch #36 for this week. What a great sketch! I just bought that CB folder at Hobby Lobby a week ago and was dying to use it. So as you can see, it is just okay. Nothing jumps out at you about this card.

First I added another layer of Not Quite Navy under the main layer, that helped a good bit. But that Polished layer still needed something. So I started looking through my silhouette stamps and came upon this one from ISC's Nature's Silhouette I. Because of the glossy cardstock I didn't get a perfect image (some of the silver showed through and I didn't like it that way) I used my Copic black marker and colored it in. Without further adu:


Stamps: Nature's Silhouette (ISC) So Many Sayings (SU); Ink: Black Staz-On, Basic Black Marker (sentiment), Soft Sky, Blue Bayou, Encoure Silver Refills; Paper: Not Quite Navy, Soft Sky, Glossy; Accessories: Large Oval Punch (SU), Birds & Swirls CB Folder.

ISCC12 Sketch Challenge

ISC is back to their challenges and this week's is a sketch challenge. I just love my new Artsy Victorian stamp set. The images are so large!

I used my black Copic to color the edges of these pearl brads, but they took awhile to dry and I'm afraid that as careful as I was I still ended up with a couple of smudges (on the white areas of course!) I used my white gel pen to try to cover them up but fear I only made them worse. I think it scanned blurry because of the thickness of the brads.

Those are pearl dew drop knock-offs next to the sentiment. I used my tag punch (SU) to cut the sides on the sentiment layer. Sorry, I don't remember whose blog I saw that on. I like how it is almost like an arrow pointing to the sentiment.

Stamps: Artsy Victorian, Flair of Summer (sentiment) both from ISC; Ink: Wild Wasabi, Lovely Lilac, Onyx Black (VersaFine); Paper: Wild Wasabi, Baic Black, Shimmery White; Accessories: pearl dew drops, Petite Pearls (Bazzill)

Purple Tapestry

I have a friend that agreed to be our OSC president. She is such a wonderful person to take on this huge task. She choose a purple butterfly for our symbol this year. I found a purple butterfly at the Garden Depot over the week-end and have been meaning to make a card to attach the butterfly to and give it to her.

I also wanted to take my tapestry stamp for a test drive. What a gorgeous stamp! It is huge! I had to trim some off the sides to fit on this card. I stamped it on vellum then attached the (mostly) trimmed vellum to the black layer. I used my paper piercer, foam sheet and my WONDERFUL Tim Holtz ruler to punch the holes for the brads. After I had the vellum attached I trimmed off the edges so it was layered perfectly.

It is difficult to read the sentiment. It is a stamp from SU! that reads, "It is extraordinary how extraordinary the ordinary person is. ~George Will" I thought it was appropriate for my extraordinary friend. For the sentiment I used purple Perfect Pearls. I used anti-static powder on the black layer and it left a little bit of residual that the scanner picked up on.

The black brads are Spare Parts by the Paper Studio and the "purple" brads are SU! silver Vintage brads that I colored with my V17 COPIC marker. I just love using those Copic markers to color my brads! BTW, I added those purple brads to help hold down the bottom portion of the vellum since it was curling up along the bottom edge. I liked it better before I added them, but I don't have any adhesive that I thought would stay invisible to hold the bottom down. I probably should have added some in the bottom corners, but I just didn't. I don't think she'll mind. :)

Stamps: Artsy Victorian (ISC), Quotes to Live By (SU!); Ink: Purple Twilight (Pigment, Ranger); Paper: Lavender Lace, Basic Black, vellum paper; Accessories: Perfect Pearls, brads, Tim Holtz ruler; anti-static powder, paper snips (SU!)

Another ISC Challenge

Have you ever had a secret place that you loved? A place you wanted to keep to yourself?? Well, for me ISC blog is that place!  They have such wonderful challenges, they draw me in even when I should be doing something else! Like getting ready for our Officers Spouses' Club Welcome Tea on Wednesday! (I'm the Membership Chairperson; yikes, what was I thinking?!) ;) Anyway, I won some blog candy and got to go spend $25!! Okay I added one stamp set over that, but you should see what I got!!!

Tim Holtz Design Ruler (I haven't been able to find one of these locally!)
Batik Flower Background
Artsy Victorian (Wow! You should see the size of these stamps!)
And I added:
Marvels of Nature

 Thank you so much Betsy!  It was like being a child in a candy store for sure! There is still so much that I want from ISC! So I'd better keep up with these challenges right?! ;)

Well, here is my submission for ISCC10, What Size is Your Art?  Please keep in mind that I have NEVER done an ATC, Moo or Inchie before!

I like the idea of having these and using them on a card.  I started with Whisper White and stamped the Batik Flower background using River Rock, then I sprayed Glimmer Mist in Sunflower.  After they dried I stamped the bush silhouette from Flair of Summer in Old Olive.   I stamped "Enjoy" in Basic Gray.  Sponged the edges with Pumpkin Pie then just touched the edges with Creamy Caramel.  I loved how the Pumpkin kind of glowed.  I just added the olive ribbon and the pumpkin buttons.  Done! Now to use them on a card! LOL! 

Stamps: All stamps from ISC: Batik Flower b/g, Flair of Summer; Ink: River Rock, Old Olive, Basic Gray, Pumpkin Pie, Creamy Caramel; Paper: Whisper White; Accessories: sponge daubers, Olive ribbon, buttons, Mini dots.

Clear Envelop Mini-Book

By now you must realize that a) I like a challenge and b) I really like Innovative Stamp Creations Blog Challenges. :)

Their latest challenge (ISCC10) is to create a mini-book. I think Betsy must have been visiting here because I really needed to do this. Well, actually I need two. Now I have been motivated to make this easy Clear Envie mini-book. I have really been wanting to make one of these since I saw it on someone's blog several months ago.

This mini-book will go (once I pick-up some glossy photo paper and print some photos) to my Dad. His health continues to deteriorate and he is on oxygen constantly. Here is a picture of him and Troy during our visit recently.

I decided to use the new (and easy) Bandanna Technique from my TJ newsletter. I love this technique, it is so easy and really quite relaxing. Perhaps a little time consuming but not bad really. The stamp set is Nature's Silhouette I.

I also was able to use my NEW Scallop Edge Punch!! (Along the right edge.) I placed an order my last day as a demonstrator and ordered this punch along with a few stamp sets that I've really been wanting. :D

Here is a glimpse of the inside made of clear envelops. I recently found this tutorial on Dawn's blog. Mine is slightly different in that my back cover is about an inch or or so longer and folds over the front to make that brown flap that the top cover slides behind. (Make sense?) I only put 4 envies inside since I figured I could put photos front and back.

Thanks Bestsy and crew for the push and motivation to get this done for my Dad!

Stamps: Natures Silhouette I (ISC); Ink: Distress Ink: Fired Brick, Pine Needles, Faded Jeans; Staz-On Black; Paper: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip; Accessories: Clear Envies, Nestabilites, Scallop Edge Punch (SU).

ISCC8

Well, I have been itching to get back in the saddle again, so this is as good of a time as any. :) I have "tried" to come up with a card for ISC's Challenge #8, which is to use one of Tim Holtz's techniques. Well, I tried to use his March technique but I don't think Tim has to fear me! Ha! It really didn't turn out anything close to as good as his, but I really do like how it turned out. Lots of shimmer. I used SCSS185 for the card sketch.


It may be difficult to tell, but those side pearls are some cheap knock-offs I bought from my LSS. I used Dusty Concord refill with one of my Perfect Pearls to mix in the spritzer. Yes, I need more spritzers now. *sigh* Tim was right. I used Snow white paint dauber to stamp the small flower from Summer Flair but you really can't see it. My jet black archival ink didn't show up well over the spritz background so I used my Versafine Onyx Black instead and it shows the fine lines of this flower much better.

As I was trying to determine what embellishments to use I got some ink on my ds paper. The only way I could think to cover it was to ink the edges and distress. Here I am using distress inks and hadn't even thought to distress any part of the card! *eyeroll* So each layer except the strip is inked and two layers are distressed using my SU distresser. Add a bit of paper piercing and "wahla" (as my DS would say!)

Stamps: Summer Flair (ISC); Ink: Dusty Concord Distress Ink, Onyx Black (Versafine), Platinum Planet (Brilliance: Flourish on bottom layer), Snow White paint dauber; Paper: Lavender Lace, Pallet O'Prints, Very Vanilla (top layer) and Vintage Violet (SU: Strip); Accessories: Perfect Pearls, spritzer, sponge, SU distresser, pearls, micro dots adhesive.

ISCC6

Well, I am back from my vacation (yes, I did finally get packed) and life is good. My MIL arrived today and I'm getting ready for Troy's birthday party on Saturday. (Baked the McQueen cake tonight.)

I am attending a farewell tomorrow for a wonderful new friend. Her husband was supposed to retire, but the Air Force decided they needed him still so now they are off to new adventures. Here is the card I have made for her. She is a crafter so I really hope she enjoys this card!

This utilizes ISC' card sketch#6 and the colors for tomorrow's farewell (black, white and yellow for a queen bee.) Well, I don't have any ISC bees so these flowers will have to do for this card. (Hey Betsy, can you help me out with my lack of bee stamps? ;D )

I did CASE this from Lisa on ISC's blog, just scroll down a bit and you'll see her awesome card. Thank you Lisa for the inspiration!

The white layers are all shimmery white, which helps to add some pizazz. I did add a bit of dimension by using one pop dot under the bottom flower and two (one on top of the other) under the second to give a little more dimension. I may add some stickles but I'm not sure where. We'll see what it looks like in the morning. ;)


Stamps: Friendship & Nature Silhouettes I (ISC); Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine); Paper: Shimmery White & Basic Black (SU); Accessories: Nestabilities, Cuttlebug, paper snips (SU).

Why Am I Stamping Instead of Packing?

Yes, you read that right! My DS and I fly in the morning and I haven't finished packing yet! BUT. . . . today I received my FREE Innovative Stamp Creations stamp that I won on their blog and I looked at it longingly, thinking I wouldn't be able to play until I returned. Well, I HAD to have a Father's Day Card to take with me since we will be with DH all next week, vacationing in the beautiful State of Virginia (okay, its a commonweath, whatever that means! LOL!). That led me to stamping instead of packing.

I remembered the Techno Stamper's Sketch Challenge #21 and decided to use it to make DH's card. I also remembered ISC's color challenge AND I had two stamp sets I wanted to use. One from Artistic Outpost, My Knight and the other my brand spanking new Nature's Silhouette I from ISC. So, TWO cards were born!

First is DH's card using the knight.

This is just a quick card with no real embellishments. I did use my brand new Nestabilities rectangles that I bought at the Gateway Rubber Stamp Getaway this past week-end. Since this is going to a man and I know his appreciation level of hand made cards I didn't feel pressure to dress it up any more than I did.

Stamps: My Knight (Artistic Outpost); Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine), Basic Black Marker (SU), VersaMarker; Paper: Wild Wasabi, Real Red, Basic Black and Cool Caribbean; Accessories: Nestabilities Large Rectangle, Cuttlebug, Stamp-A-Ma-Jig.

Now for my next card using the Nature's Silhouette I I used the same sketch just changed up the stamps and used a larger Nestabilities rectangle, added some pearls (bought at Archivers) and distressed some of the edges. I did increase the size of the middle layers slightly, which allowed me to use the larger rectangle.


Stamps: Natures Silhouette I (ISC); Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine), Basic Black Marker (SU); Paper: Wild Wasabi, Real Red, Basic Black and Cool Caribbean; Accessories: Nestabilities Large Rectangle, Cuttlebug, Stamp-A-Ma-Jig, distresser (SU), Pearls.

Now off to pack I go!

Friendship Box with Insert Tutorial

I tried out the box at ISC for their ISCC4 and filled it and gave it to Troy's soccer coach last night. Big rush (no surprise there!) so no picture, but I only used designer paper and stamped some soccer stamps I have from SU. It was simple, but nice! I did have some problems with where to score so I had been pondering this box.

Then late last night I came up with an idea. What if you used acetate for the box, then you could stamp an insert. You could actually make up a couple of these boxes and have the inserts already trimmed to size then just stamp when you needed them! Okay, probably not a new idea, but hey, I was excited! So today I started work on my idea to see if it was feasible.

First I made the acetate Friendship Box. It is acetate, so it is a bit difficult to take a good photo of when it is empty. Also, I am using my new portable lighting studio that I bought a couple of weeks ago from Radio Shack; (it was on sale for $19.99!) I'm still learning how to best use it. :D

I did use mini glue dots (from SU) to adhere the acetate together. I just love those little dots! Now the obvious question is can you see the dots? Yes, but since they are only located on the sides of the box you don't really notice them.

The next thing I did was figure out my size and score lines for the insert. Now I had a bit of a problem with scoring my box and had to cut off 1/2" from the "bottom" (that becomes the front of the box without the lid) so my calculations may differ if your box uses that 1/2". :)

Insert size: 8.5" x 4.75"
Score: ETA: .5" along both long sides then score along short side .5", (move forward) 3.75", (move forward again) .5".
You will not have any insert for the front portion of the flap.

I actually messed this up when I scored this insert and did the last 1/2" at the end of the insert instead of after the front fold so I had to fix it when I figured it out. (So ignore the faint score line at the bottom of the insert here.) ;)

Then I cut the bottom half of the sides since I didn't need it to overlap. Here is my insert (upside down.) I hadn't realized that my last 1/2" score was in the wrong spot yet. The score lines are pretty obvious here. I also trimmed out the extra corners for the lid and cut slits for the bottom. (This was when I finally realized my mistake.)

Now comes the fun; you get to stamp your insert. I tried Michelle Zindorf's technique of embossing stamped images and then brayering over them. My colors came from SCS's SCSCC167 of Sky Blue, Certainly Celery and Night of Navy. TIP: When you are stamping this remember that part of your insert will be upside down so you need to figure this out BEFORE stamping! Fortunately, I realized this before I stamped.

After I finished stamping and embossing I then used my foam brayer (to have a softer Night of Navy) to brayer color on the insert. I gently wiped away the ink from the embossed images.

I folded on the scored lines and placed the insert into my Friendship box!

Oh, I did round the corners of the lid to allow it to insert into the box a bit easier. I think that because I used acetate it was a bit stiffer than cardstock.

Please let me know what you think of my "bright idea"! Thanks!

Stamps: Friendship & Summer Flair (ISC); Ink: VersaMark, Sky Blue, Certainly Celery, Night of Navy; Paper: Whisper White; Accessories: Clear Emboss Powder; heat gun, mini glue dots, brayer with foam attachment, acetate.

Mosaic Friend

I love challenges! (I guess that is pretty obvious!) But I especially love a challenge where I can win FREE stamps! Well, ISC has kicked into high gear and has been issuing challenges and offering some free stamps. Well, here is the ISC challenge #3. It is a sketch challenge and this is what I came up with:

I used the TJ technique Mosaic Magic (must be a member to access this link.) I have done this technique before, but it was over a year ago. The technique was in the August 2006 issue.

I used one of SCS color challenges (SCSCC61) which is to use Cameo Coral, Certainly Celery, Basic Black and the option of Apricot Appeal. Those are the colors used for the mosaic, however when I embossed that layer it darkened the cardstock colors. You can see this in comparing the green layer under the mosaic, which is Wild Wasabi, it looks like the Certainly Celery in the mosaic.

Stamps: Friendship & Flair of Summer (sentiment) (ISC); Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, VersaMark; Paper: Basic Black, Certainly Celery, Wild Wasabi, Apricot Appeal, Cameo Coral; Accessories: Xyron, pewter HPH, Silver Pearl Ex, Clear EP, Ribbon (SU).

Challenge X2

I do seem to get motivated by challenges. This card was born from the drive to complete two challenges. The first is Allison's Clear Challenge and the second is ISC's color challenge.

Allson, of Stampin' When I Can, has been posting some challenges for a while, but this will be my first attempt to participate. Here challenge is to be "clear or mostly clear." So I used a TJ technique called Floating Sentiments, which uses acetate. I sure hope that qualifies for her "clear" requirement! :)

The second challenge was ISC' second card challenge, this one is a color challenge. So, from this:

I came up with this:

I have tried to take on Michelle's unique stamping style of using her VersaMarker pen and brayer before and, well, I didn't even try to make a card with it. (My DS did love it and asked for it before I threw it away! What a darling he is!!)

I randomly stamped the ISC images using StazOn Timber Brown, then used my Aquapen with SU ink pads to color the images. I did have some smearing when coloring and then some more when I used the VersaMark to emboss. As you can see, I need some more (okay, a lot more) practice! After I colored then embossed all the images I used my brayer to put a layer of color over then entire piece. It definitely shows where I over-wrote with the VersaMarker.

I placed the acetate layer over the top and added the silver brads, then added this to a brown folded layer. Ta-da!

Stamps: Friendship, Flair of Summer (ISC); Ink: StazOn Timber Brown & Olive Green, So Saffron, Bordering Blue, Certainly Celery, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa; Paper: Chocolate Chip, Whisper White; Accessories: acetate, Snow White Paint Dauber, AquaPainter, 1/16th hole punch, silver brads, brayer, VersaMarker, Clear Emboss powder.

This next card is literaly a 15 minute card. Every time I start to think about selling my Dreams & Dragons stamp set I seem to need a young girl card and use it. I used shimmery white and stamped in StazOn Black. I used some stickles to add even more shine and colored with SU markers. Truly a quicky card! Thank goodness she is just turning 4 and won't look at it critically!

Stamps: Dreams & Dragons; Ink: StazOn Black, Ballet Blue, various SU Markers; Paper: Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, Shimmery White; Accessories: Crop-a-dile, SU eyelets, Stickles.