Inky Fingered Fun

Baroque Season's Greetings

I was spending some quality time with my new Rubber Stamper magazine, when I came across a card I wanted to CASE.  I immediately knew I wanted to recreate it with Stampin' Up! Purely Pomegranate Satin Ribbon and Baroque Motifs.  It took a little creative cutting with my Craft Knife to achieve the look I wanted, but here is what I came up with.

I wanted to add some Pomegranate bling to the swirls behind the sentiment, but nothing I had would match.  So I ended up punching 1/8" circles from Purely Pomegranate card stock, adhered them with 2-Way Glue and covered them with Star Dust Stickles.

Happy Stamping!

Stamps:  Baroque Motifs, Bronc Buster, Many Merry Messages

Card Stock:  Shimmery White, Brushed Silver, Purely Pomegranate

Ink:  Encore! Silver Pad

Accessories:  Silver Embossing Powder, Purely Pomegranate Satin Ribbon, Star Dust Stickles, 1/8" Circle Punch, Dimensionals

Happy Halloween

I've taken a break from creating Christmas cards and goodies to create a few last minute Halloween treats.! 

This card makes me smile as I imagine these three little guys heading out for a night of Trick-or-Treating!  I created some simple papers with background stamps, watercolored the images on Shimmery White card stock (I LOVE that stuff!), added a few brads and googlie eyes. I find that I can't use this stamp set without using googlie eyes!

Stamps:  Booglie Eyes, All Holidays, Aida Cloth, Print Pattern, Sanded, Weathered

Card Stock:  Only Orange, Lovely Lilac, Green Galore, Basic Gray, Shimmery White

Ink:  Black StazOn, Green Galore, Basic Gray, Only Orange, Lovely Lilac, Going Gray

Accessories:  Vintage Brads, Bold Basic Brads, Dimensionals

A short while ago, Jami had some of her stamping friends over for an afternoon of stamping, fun and laughter.  She had asked me to teach them how to make a Surprise Pop-Up card which led me to start a couple of cards for my nephews.  I figured I'd better get them finished before they became cards for NEXT Halloween! (Not that I've every had that happen before - and I'm sure none of you have had that happen either!)

The backgrounds of both cards are stamped with Versamark and embossed with iridescent ice embossing powder to give them lots of fun sparkle.  The main images are colored with Prisma pencils and gamsol.  The cauldron contents and stars were accented with Stickles and the froggy got googlie eyes.

Stamps:  Haunting Halloween, Booglie Eyes (bottom card only)

Card Stock:  Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Creepy Crawly DSP

Ink:  Basic Black, Versamark

Accessories:  Prisma Pencils, Gamsol, Iridescent Ice EP, White Organdy Ribbon, Googlie Eyes, Dimensionals, Black Grosgrain Ribbon, Halloween Eyelets, Round Tab Punch

For my other Surprise Pop-Up card I cut white organdy ribbon into narrow strips and wrapped them around the mummy to give him a gauzy wrapped look.  For the edges of the Pumpkin Pie pull out insert I used the Round Tab Punch to create a fancy corner.

 

I hope you all have a safe and fun Halloween!

Happy Haunted Stamping!

I'm Feeling Blue...

Well, not me, but this gorgeous reindeer is. I got this wonderful reindeer image, made by Flourishes, from my friend Leslie Miller when we were in Portland earlier this month.  I absolutely love what Leslie can do with this stamp set, but I was having a terrible time trying to come up with what I could do with him. 

I decided this image deserved this gorgeous embossed snowflake paper I got from Eclectic Paperie several months ago (yes, I am a paper hoarder) and it went really well with Soft Sky and Blue Bayou.  After I chose my colors, there was no way I was going to be able to color the reindeer in brown, so he became blue.

For the center Blue Bayou strip, I took a scrap piece of the snowflake paper and sponged Blue Bayou ink over it until I got the color coverage I wanted and wiped the ink off the embossed snowflakes.

This image required lots of elegant glitz so I accented his antlers and the edge of the focal image with lots of Silver Stickles.

Happy Stamping!

Stamps: 

Card Stock:  Soft Sky Textured, Blue Bayou, Whisper White, Snow Days - Glitter Flakes (Paper Salon)

Ink:  Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Black StazOn

Accessories:  Aquapainter, Silver Stickles, Silver Ribbon (I think it is retired SU!), Silver brads (retired SU!), Dimensionals

Another Peek A Boo Box

I LOVE these boxes!  Here's another one created using the adorable little penguin from Punch Pals.

I stamped the penguin on watercolor paper and colored him with Stampin' Write markers and an aquapainter.  The penguin looked like he needed something, so I created a wreath for him to hold complete with little Red Stickles holly berries.  I popped up the wreath on Dimensionals to give it some depth.

I Iike to stamp the acetate sheet with White StazOn just because I can't stand to have something not stamped - LOL!  I added a border or red Stickles to the acetate sheet for some bling.

Happy Stamping!

Stamps:  Punch Pals

Card Stock:  Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi, Real Red, Shimmery White, Watercolor Paper

Ink:  Basic Black, Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi, Real Red, Black & White StazOn

Accessories:  Acetate, Punches (Scallop Circle, 1-3/8" Circle, 1-1/4" Circle, 3/4" Circle), Aquapainters, Stampin' Write Markers, Stickles, Dimensionals

The Challenge of Colors

I'm finally getting caught up on last weeks challenges on Splitcoaststampers.  I definitely find that the challenges are helping me get my creative juices flowing.  I've spent the last few days in a stamping frenzy and created more cards than I have in a very long time!

The color combo challenge was to use Basic Gray, Soft Sky and Purely Pomegranate.  I LOVE these colors!  My finished card looked nothing like what I started out making, but I like where the creative process took me.

The glittery Basic Gray strip of card stock was created by applying Sticky Strip to the card stock and embossing with Iridescent Ice EP.  It doesn't really show up in the picture, but the fancy letters in the sentiment are traced with the Stardust Gelly Roll Pen to give them glimmer to match the rest of the glitter and glitz in the card.  I was originally going to put a focal image in the upper left corner, but nothing seemed right, so I decided to just add pearls to the centers of the snowflakes.

Happy Stamping!

Stamps:  The Snowflake Spot, All Holidays

Card Stock:  Soft Sky Textured, Purely Pomegranate, Basic Gray, Soft Sky DSP

Ink:  Basic Gray, Purely Pomegranate, Versamark

Accessories:  Iridescent Ice EP, Purely Pomegranate Satin Ribbon, 3/16" Corner Rounder Punch, Sticky Strip, Dimensionals, Decorative Pearls (Joy! Crafts), Sakura Stardust Gelly Roll Pen

Santa Challenge

My friend, Jami invited me to join a challenge with her and two wonderful ladies I spent time with a few weeks ago in Portland - Lori and Sharon.  The challenge was to make a card using a Rubber Stampede image called Santa Collage and a gorgeous, shimmery red card stock. 

I knew I wanted to stamp the image on watercolor paper and try coloring him with SU! markers and an aquapainter (since I don't have any Copics, yet) to try out the coloring technique I'd seen on this blog.  I was really impressed with how well this worked, but I still want Copics! 

I decided to use Stampin' Up! Basic Gray card stock for the card base and paired it with a sheet of designer paper by Basic Grey (Perhaps) that coordinated perfectly with the shimmery red card stock.  With how shimmery the red card stock was, I knew I wanted lots of glitz and glimmer on this card.  I applied strips of sticky strip to the edges of the gray cardstock and embossed with SU! Hologram Highlights embossing powder.  Now things were coming together!

I wanted to stamp the sentiment on vellum, but felt that it looked a little too bare all by itself.  The swirl from Season of Joy reminded me of the swirls in Santa's beard so I stamped it with Brilliance Platinum Planet ink and then stamped the sentiment over it.  I added embossed strips to the top and bottom edges of the vellum and attached it to the card front.

The focal image is mounted on dimensionals to give some added dimension to the card.  I added sparkle to the snowflakes with a Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust pen.  I added more bling to the sentiment and centers of the snowflakes with Amuse Creative Candy.

Be sure to check out what Jami, Sharon and Lori have come up with - I know I can't wait!

Happy Staming! 

Peek A Boo Box

I've decided to take part in some of the challenges on Splitcoaststampers for inspiration and to help stretch my creativity.  I was excited to see the technique challenge on Monday - Q-bee's Peek-a-boo Box.  I love to find ideas for bags and boxes to hold little treats or trinkets.  This box was so easy to make and it looks awesome.  Now all I have to do is find the perfect treat to go inside.  I'm thinking chocolate would be perfect!

Stamps:  The Snowflake Spot, Circle of Friendship

Card Stock:  Soft Sky, Whisper White, Rose Red and Soft Sky Prints Designer Series Papers

Ink:  Soft Sky, Rose Red, Versamark, White StazOn

Accessories:  1-3/8" circle punch, 1-1/4" circle punch, 1" circle punch, 1/2" circle punch, 1/16" circle punch, 1-1/4" square punch, scallop circle punch, Purely Pomegranate Double-Stitched ribbon, rhinestone brad from Pretties Kit, Iridescent Ice embossing powder, white embossing powder, white uniball pen, acetate sheet, dimensional

Happy Stamping!

Exciting New Change in Angel Policy

Stampin' Up! has just announced an exciting new change in their angel policy which will soon change how we can sell our hand-stamped projects.  You can check out this article for more details.

Happy Birthday Baby!

Yesterday was my boyfriend, Konrad's birthday and I found myself in a crunch because I've had such a busy, hectic week that I forgot all about making his card until the last minute!  YIKES!  Luckily, he had left the house for some time with a friend while I had my Technique Class, which gave me time to create his birthday card.  I have such a hard time creating masculine cards because, no matter how hard I try, I almost always feel like a card is not finished until it has SPARKLE and BLING! 

For this card I started by pulling out my package of Outlaw Designer Series Paper, Wanted stamp set and Vintage Brads. I figured this was a good "masculine" start.  I happened to have a scrap of Apple Cider Designer Series Paper on my craft table which I thought would make nice accent strip that I could add brads to.  From there I chose my card stock colors - Really Rust for card base, Bordering Blue and Close to Cocoa.  I stamped stars on the Bordering Blue card stock with Bordering Blue ink that I had stamped off first, adhered the designer paper strip to the bottom edge and sponged Close to Cocoa ink around the edges to give it a more rustic feel.  I layered this onto the Really Rust card base and decided to sponge Close to Cocoa ink around the edges of the card front also.  I layered the Apple Cider paper strip with brads onto a Close to Cocoa strip and adhered this to the card front.  Now I had to decide on the focal image.  I stamped the horse on Sahara Sand card stock with Close to Cocoa ink three times without reinking in between to give the illusion of movement, distressed the edges with the distressing tool from the Cutter Kit and layered it on Bordering Blue.  I lightly sponged the edges with Close to Cocoa ink to "dirty" it up a little, then layered this onto piece of designer paper from the Outlaw Designer Series Paper and attached to the card front with dimensionals.  The sentiment came from Fundamental Phrases and was stamped with Close to Cocoa ink.

Until next time, Happy Stamping!

Think Pink for the Holidays

While looking through one of the many rubber stamping magazines I love, I found a fabulous card layout that I knew I wanted to use to create a card.  I figured this layout would be perfect for the stamp sets I had out on my craft table - Snowfall and Supersize Snowflake.  I also knew I wanted to use Stampin' Up!'s new textured card stock, but I didn't want to use what I think of as traditional snowflake colors - some shade of blue or white.  So, I decided to use Regal Rose and I paired it with Pretty in Pink.   

I used the jumbo Bold Snowflakes wheel to stamp the narrow strips of Pretty in Pink card stock, but since I didn't have a Regal Rose jumbo ink cartridge, I inked the wheel by rolling it on my Regal Rose classic ink pad.  I wanted to achieve the look of depth with the wheel, so I rolled it across the card stock twice - kind of like stamping off, but with a wheel.

I love glitz and glitter, especially on holiday cards, so I decided to use Regal Rose craft ink and Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder for the Supersize Snowflakes stamped on the Regal Rose textured card stock and the snowflake stamped on Pretty in Pink card stock.

After folding the textured card stock, I adhered the narrow strips of Pretty in Pink to the top and bottom edges of the card - right across the opening.  After cutting out the main snowflake image, I adhered it to the card front - also right across the opening.  Next I inserted the setting mat from the Mat Pack inside the card and used a ruler and Hobby Blade to cut through the card stock I had adhered over the card opening.  I punched 2 small holes through the main snowflake image and threaded them with silver elastic cord so I could tie the card closed.  I stamped the sentiment in two sections on scraps of Pretty in Pink card stock with Regal Rose craft ink, let them dry and punched them out with the Word Window punch.  To add some additional bling, I attached 2 pink Circle Rhinestones to the "Happy" portion of the sentiment. 

Happy Stamping!