Stamps, Paper, and Ink

Autumn Prints

Ahaa!  I GOT it!

Whenever I get a few minutes to blog, I feel as if I have captured something really special. Especially if I've missed it because of a couple of busy days. Our home is a pretty active place, and sometimes I feel like there's a revolving door as in grand central station! After all the morning hustle and bustle, when the dishes are done and Josie is tired from her walk -  I love having a few quiet minutes to sip my tea and write to you.

I made a card last night, prompted by the color challenge at SCS to use More Mustard, Always Artichoke, and Bravo Burgundy which are perfect for the fall theme at The Paper Players. Time for a great layout from the Sweet Sunday Sketch challenge. That's a lot of challenges!

I knew that I wanted to use the French Foliage set while we're still in the fall season. It lends itself so well to a collage look and plenty of stamping. I stamped off the large oak leaf, and inked the other leaf in artichoke and then in Bravo Burgundy ink, using the Rock and Roll technique. I had the most fun with the Spritzer Tool and my Burgundy marker to add tiny sprays of color. The Very Vanilla panel was then sponged around the edges with More Mustard, and mounted onto another piece of Very Vanilla card stock.

A strip of Paisley Petals DP and quilted ribbon and Mini Brads complete the accents. I hadn't used the tiny brads yet, but they were just right for this card, crisp and clean.

  All supplies by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: French Foliage

Paper: More Mustard, Always Artichoke, Paisley Petals DSP, Very Vanilla

Ink: More Mustard, Always Artichoke, Bravo Burgundy, Soft Suede

Accessories: Cherry Cobbler Quilted ribbon, Mini Brads, markers, Color Spritzer Tool

Kaleidoscope of Color

Weekend before last I was able to travel to NJ to visit my Mom, and I enjoyed so much just spending time with her. She has a real gift of living in the present and enjoying each moment to the fullest with a grateful heart. We were able to take a drive to a nearby park on a beautiful fall day, and I loved the kaleidoscope of color in the foliage. Perfect inspirations for a fall card.

I actually made this card to show off the new colors of embossing powders to my club stampers. My card is a CASE of THIS lovely center step card, but I stepped it up and enhanced the images with heat embossing. Starting with Tangerine Tango card stock for the main panel, I randomly stamped leaves with Versamark and sprinkled them with Tangerine Tango Embossing Powder. I love the tone on tone effect and was surprised that the embossed images are just a tad lighter than the card stock. It gives them an almost opaque effect, so pretty IRL!

For the focal image, I stamped the leaf in More Mustard, then stamped the outline over it with Versamark, and added Pewter Embossing Powder, then heated it. Next I added highlights to the leaf with my versamarker, and heat embossed with Tangerine Tango EP. It's fun seeing the details take shape during the embossing process. Definitely my kind of playing with a WOW! result. 

  All supplies by Stampin' Up!

Stamps:  Gently Falling, Hand-Penned Holidays

Paper:  More Mustard, Soft Suede, Spice Cake DSP, Very Vanilla

Ink:  More Mustard, Soft Suede, VersaMark

Accessories:  Versamarker, Lace trim, Glitter brad, Pewter and Tangerine Tango EP

 

Hello, my friends!

If you've been wondering where I've been, I am here to tell you all about it today! I've been in a whirlwind of traveling, and I just got in late last night from my second trip this month. Except for 3 days to regroup, I've been gone since July 12th!

This time my husband and I went together to attend the beautiful wedding of my nephew and his sweet bride. He is such a great guy - I wish we didn't live so far away. The celebration was lovely and I'm so glad I was able to be there to spend wonderful times visiting with my family. We were in such a gorgeous setting, surrounded by the beauties of nature on every side. Here are a few pics and I'm sure by the end you will guess the location!

Rocks, hills, and woodlands...

water on every side,

rocky beaches, boats everywhere! We sailed on a schooner almost out to the open sea!

Mount Desert Island, Maine is one of the prettiest places I've ever been!  Now you know what I've been up to. If you can take one more non-card related photo, can I say how happy my family was to have us back?  And look who's not wanted to leave my side....

JOSIE!

As promised, I do have a card for you in keeping with a natural beauty theme.

This card was inspired by the GROW theme at Convention, and the beautiful stage set up. It changed colors and when I saw this calming combo, I got the idea for this card using the My Friend set. The silhouette was stamped and embossed in white. I preferred keeping the layers simple so that this card could be made in minutes! Hope you'll give it a try.

Hope you've enjoyed this little glimpse of my summer. Thanks so much for spending a few minutes here today, I love being able to share with you!

 

  All supplies by Stampin' Up!

Stamps:  My Friend

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Versamark

Accessories:  White EP, Jumbo brad, Decorative Label and Corner Rounder punches

 

Domestic Goddess on Display at Convention

I had a wonderful day at convention meeting up with friends and wandering the display areas. I couldn't help but think of so many of you who wrote and commented on THIS card using the Domestic Goddess papers who said you were in love with the products in this suite! Others of you were now convinced that you need it. This post is for you and anyone else who loves fabulous project ideas.

 Don't you think this paper is trendy and fun? It can be definitely used for projects with a domestic theme. Check out this  recipe journal, (click on any photo to enlarge)

and this adorable favor box. Wouldn't they make terrific and unique gifts?

Below are some great projects in a variety of themes. Here's one using the Fruits and Flowers set,

a 3x3 wedding card,

and a thank you.

I love the checkered pot filled with paper blossoms!

Here's a close up of the supercute card. Notice how they used the mini clothepsin!

I'll sign off now. I'm not begging for comments tonight. You see, I found SOME MAIL at convention! Even though it was all addressed to santa it made me smile. I love mail and I'd love to hear from you!

 

  All supplies by Stampin' Up!

Everybody needs a Snowbuddy!

 It's time for a new challenge at The Paper Players!

I just love these fabulous fresh sunny colors, a combo perfect for springtime, flowers or ....

a snowman!

 

 Snowbuddies, to be exact! This is a preview of the Snow Much Fun set coming in the new catalog. Aren't these the cutest pair?

I do really enjoy using warm colors for snowmen, it adds a bit of surprise and fun! I used blender pens and ink to color and shade the images on white card stock. Because it's not as thick as water color paper, you have to be careful to use light pressure and not too much moisture, but I love being able to keep my white for brightness and a squeaky clean look.

I added glitter for snow, first with a two-way glue pen. Next, I added liitle mounds of Tombo Mono Multi Liquid glue and sprinkled glitter atop and left it to dry (for a LONG time!). Love the dimension this gives. As a matter of fact, there's glitter across the length of my ribbon too!  A rhinestone jewel on the heart adds the final touch of bling.

As I'm writing this post, it is also rather amusing   ironic that our temps are in the high 90's and I'm sweating buckets since our air conditioner quit working yesterday. Hope you are staying cool!

Make sure to check out the beautiful entries at The Paper Players, won't you play along?  

   All supplies by Stampin' Up!

Stamps:  Snow Much Fun, Hello Again

Paper:  Whisper White, Wild Wasabi, DSP - Too Much Cake, Cheerful Treat

Ink: Black StazOn, Melon Mambo, Wild Wasabi, Daffodil Delight

Accessories:  Top Note Die, 1/8" Daffodil ribbon, Basic Rhinestones, Blender Pen, Dazzling Diamonds glitter

 

Do you have crazy relatives?

HA! I knew that would get your attention!

I made today's card for a Clean and Simple Cards Challenge with a Crazy Relatives theme. With only one requirement, designing a card should be fairly simple, right? We needed to use the title of a relative - Mom, sister, aunt, etc - on our card. Somewhere.

Now, I don't have ANY crazy relatives but I have long said with a laugh that everybody knows I am crazy and if they don't know already, I'll be sure to tell them!  I'll let you decide if you truly believe me or not on that one, *wink*.

Have a look!

I decided whimsical seemed right for this theme, and found my Friends Fur-ever set came to the rescue. What do you think?

Just pausing to say thanks to you, my dear readers and friends who stop by to see my creations and put up with my slaphappy (or other) moods.  You're the best and I appreciate you! It is my hope that you will leave here inspired and most importantly, with a smile.

 

 

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Friends Fur-ever, Alphabet set (retired)
Paper: whisper white, tangerine tango, Brights and Subtles Designer Paper Packs
and Ink: Black Staz-On, Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake and Marina Mist for watercolor

Accessories: brads, Aqua Painter, piercing tool, cotton thread

JUST A REMINDER: there are only a few days left to take advantage of the Half Off Sign Up Special. If you have any questions, I am happy to answer them, just send me an e-mail, you'll find it HERE.

French Foliage is a Classic

French Foliage is a classic set and can be more versatile than you think! So says an article I read in our Stamping Success magazine that suggests that by changing the colors according to season, or using the French or spatter images with other themes, this is a set that can be used year round. I believe I will be able to use this set often and it has a timelessness that makes it truly a classic.

I was inspired by some of the great projects to create a collage type card. To me, it looks a bit vintage but it's clean too! What do you think?

 

The Sketch Challenge #129 at Taylored Expressions was my layout. I've definitely been on a roll with sketches. (Can't remember if I ever told you about being one of Taylor's Top Picks with THIS card? What a smile that brought to my face!) How can you go wrong when you start out with a fab sketch, right?

Having a hard time figuring out how to use the Newsprint Designer Paper?

Maybe you're like me and you LOVE the patterns but don't know quite how to fit them on a card. Here's my tip: use just a little bit of a couple of patterns, the way I used the layered strips on my card. These are meant to be an accent so I think of them as a neutral to add to other colors. 

That's it for me today!

 

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: French Foliage, Thankful For
Paper: Confetti White, Old Olive, Soft Suede (textured) , Newsprint DSP, Basic Bloack
and Ink:   Basic Black, Old Olive, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake

Accessories:Antique brads, Linen thread, sponges

Need supplies? Order from me at my online store  HERE

Got questions? I am happy to answer them, just send me an e-mail, you'll find it HERE