Stamps, Paper, and Ink

Hurricanes and The Open Sea

 Well, that may seem like a funny title but it is what's on my mind this morning!

We live in NC and have experienced a hurricane hitting us before. (who remembers Fran?) I spent a good bit of time yesterday gathering some supplies, just in case. Seven cases of bottled water. Two jars of Peter Pan Peanut Butter.  THREE bags of chips (oh, you know that's basic survival food, right?) Hot dogs and mac and cheese from Kraft, not our own homemade. All of this was rather a pleasant surprise to my family since I usually bring home bags full of fruits and vegetables!!

Now that the storm seems to be heading east and may miss us I am relieved, and prayerful for those north. Truth be told I wish I could just hole up in my craft room to stamp until the food supplies run out. Say, 'til February!

I will begin as soon as I show you today's card. <G>

  

 I was inspired to try a pop up technique from the Workshop WOW DVD shared by Alison Solven. I took her ideas and designed my card using The Open Sea and Wordplay stamp sets. Have a look at the inside.

 

Do you see how the white panel forms a W, and some of the images pop out and the anchor in the middle pops in? Making this card was so much fun, I can't wait to work more with this technique. It basically involves visualizing where the vertical fold lines will be if you fold the panel in half and in half again, and centering your images over those lines.

I immediately gave this card to my dear dear husband. He was kind to put it on his dresser where every once in awhile I still have the fun of opening it.

Thanks so much for all your kind comments about my blog! I read and appreciate every one. I'm off to stamp something just for fun and I'll be back tomorrow to post the giveaway winner.

  All supplies by Stampin' Up!

Stamps:  The Open Sea, Wordplay, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Paper:  Night of Navy, Whisper White, Nautical Expeditions

Ink:  Night of Navy, Soft Suede, Sahara Sand

Accessories:  2-1/2" Circle punch, Baker's twine

Love life, Live life

Good morning! How's your day going?

I love to watercolor, and I was so pleased at the variety of images in the Zoo Review set that I've been itching to use it! I'm really glad I'm getting a chance to pull out some of my new sets. This one is sure to be a favorite!

I need a card for a special guy birthday coming up, and found this giraffe would be just right.

 

I used watercolor paper, inks, markers and blender pens to color in the giraffe. Lots of layers of color, actually more than I ever would have thought of using because I shifted the color scheme midway in order to match the Well Worn Designer Paper.  The strip along the bottom is denim ribbon - love it!

What do you think of today's card and the new set? I'd love to hear from you!

 

  All supplies by Stampin' Up!

Stamps:  Zoo Review, You're a Gem

Paper:  So Saffron, Not Quite Navy, Well Worn DSP, Watercolor paper

Ink:  Early Ezpresso, Soft Suede, Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Wild Wasabi

Accessories:  Designer Button, Linen Thread, Denim Ribbon, markers, Blender pens

 

Honor

Here's a card from my past creations for the Dirty Dozen to honor the true heroes~men and women who serve in our military. Many of you may not know that my husband is retired military and our home is near Ft. Bragg. I really enjoyed crafting a card on this theme.

I used the Hero Jumbo Wheel on the very vanilla panel and then embossed one of the words on the wheel to highlight for the sentiment.

Happy Memorial Day!

 

Stamps: Hero (Jumbo Wheel), Solid Stripes

Paper: Very Vanilla, Night of Navy, Bravo Burgundy, Sahara Sand, Whisper White

Ink: Sahara Sand, Night of Navy Craft, Versamark

Accessories: Star punch, silver cord, Brushed silver brads, piercing tool, machine stitching

 

MOJO goes Masculine

I hope you're not tired of nautical themed cards yet because I have another one to share! I really wanted to use my new set, The Open Sea and I combined it with the lovely MOJO Monday sketch.

I went for a collage stlye with muliple images and casual layering. I stamped several images on Very Vanilla card stock and then sponged to add distressng with Sahara Sand ink. The Baja Breeze layer was embossed with the Square Lattice die, then I lightly brayered just the raised portion with Soft Suede ink.

The sentiment is from the Word Play set, it's on sale this month and it a great deal! You can find out about this special at my online store HERE. I stamped it twice and popped up the arrow for a focal point.

The Baker's Twine wraps around the Postage punched DP embellished with a Build-A-Brad and a key. I love using the keys, and discovered that using a glue dot to adhere it worked so well because I could tuck it under the postage stamped piece and it lays flat.

Hope you enjoy my creation and have a great day!

   

<p><span style="color: #00bf00;"><strong><span style="color: #111111;">Supplies</span></strong>~&nbsp; <em>all supplies by Stampin' Up!</em></span></p>

<p><span style="color: #00bf00;"><strong>Stamps: </strong></span><br /><span style="color: #00bf00;"><strong>Paper:</strong>&nbsp; </span><br /><span style="color: #00bf00;"><strong>and Ink:</strong> </span></p>

<p><span style="color: #c00000;"><span style="color: #00bf00;"><strong>Accessories:&nbsp;&nbsp; </strong></span><strong><br /></strong></span></p>

<p><span style="color: #111111;"

 

 

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: The Open Sea, Word Play
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla, Soft Suede, Baja Breeze, Nautical Expeditions DSP
and Ink: Sahara Sand, Soft Suede, Baja Breeze, Cerry Cobbler

Accessories:  Postage Punch, Top note, Square Lattice Die, Big Shot, Baker's Twine, Build A Brad, 1/2" circle punch, sponges

 

 

Masculine Cards Made Easy

Hi everybody! Welcome back to Monday. I had a super weekend, hope you did too. One of the things I did that you may not have noticed - how do you like my NEW header? I'm still excited about making it with MDS. This cheery feminine look is just my style.

But today's card went in a different direction...

As far as I'm concerned, my post title could be the subtitle under the name of the Plane and Simple stamp set! This set has been in the wings (if you'd please excuse the pun!) waiting to be inked up and I decided today is the day while it's still current. (Just in case you need a reminder, there are only a few days left to order from the Occasions Mini catalog.) I also had ordered the trinket keys and was inspired to use them with this set by my friend Kim (waving hello!)

See what I mean about an easy masculine card?  I was so happy to see that the DSP works not only with a nautical theme, but with an aeronautical one as well. The sketch is provided by the challenge at The Paper Players today. Keeping the sketch simple allowed me to use some distressing techniques -sponging around the circle, and the torn edges. The small brads from the Vintage trinkets highlight the word father.

Thanks for visiting today!

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Plane and Simple
Paper:  Confetti cream, Soft Suede Textured, Nautical Expeditions (available May 1)
and Ink: Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Not Quite Navy

Accessories:   Trinket Keys, Vintage Trinkets, Baker's Twine

Visit my online store  HERE if you need supplies or to see our specials

 

 

Sailing, Sailing Away

I know we are reveling in the arrival of spring, but could you handle a sneek peak from the sizzling Summer Mini that will be available next month?

The nautical themed sets caught my eye right away. Have a peek!

The image uses the Sail Away single stamp and the Nautical Expeditions DSP. These patterns combine so beautifully. Also new is the Baker's Twine (I LOVE this stuff!) and the Postage Stamp Punch. I used the great layout from the April Sketch for You to Try.

Imagine how easy it will be to create masculine cards with this theme.

I am writing this at the end of a busy day so I'll keep it short. I love hearing from you if you have time to leave a comment. Have a great day and happy stamping!

   

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Sail Away 

Paper:  Nautical Expeditions, Not Quite Navy, Confetti White
and Ink: Early Espresso

Accessories:    Baker's twine, Spiral Border and Postage Stamp Punch, Jumbo Brads

Visit my online store  HERE if you need supplies or to see our specials

Do you have any questions about our products, my projects/classes, or being a demonstrator? I am happy to answer them, just send me an e-mail, you'll find it HERE

 

 

simply....Stamps, Paper, and Ink!

 Here's my Design Team sample for the Clean and Simple Cards Challenge at SCS called The Great Outdoors.

I began with a simple color combo and the classic Lovely as a Tree set, have a look!

I made a one layer card using the masking technique. I inked the tree with markers and stamped it on the card base, then used my mask and stamped the stripes overtop. (Tip: when cutting the tree, cut a bit outside the line to create a border.) There is a row of piercing leading up to the sentiment on the left.

I'd like to point out that clean and simple stamping is NOT always easy! When you design with just a few elements each one really needs to count and be in perfect balance. There are 4 elements here, but lining them up with the card base and with each other was a trick and took me quite a few tries to get it exactly right. You know that if it can go wrong, it will... I wonder statistically how many variations there are of what could go wrong with just 4 elements, lol!

With one layer cards, it's all about having enough detail to make the image interesting. The Solid Stripe stamp makes the tree pop against the white card base.

I love the way this card really highlights what you can do with just Stamps, Paper, and Ink.

Happy stamping to you!

    

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Solid Stripe, Pendant Park
Paper:  Whisper White
and Ink: Baja Breeze, Early Espresso

Accessories:   Stampin' Write markers

Visit my online store  HERE if you need supplies or to see our specials

Do you have any questions about our products, my projects/classes, or being a demonstrator? I am happy to answer them, just send me an e-mail, you'll find it HERE

Simply a dream!

It's Monday and that means it's time for another Clean and Simple post. My time on the Design Team at Clean and Simple Cards Challenge on Splitcoaststampers has ended today, and it has been a dream! There is nothing like making a certain type of card on a regular basis to hone down or improve those skills. I've had a blast on the team and I've learned to really enjoy simple cards. Hope you have too.

This week the challenge is The Great Outdoors.

I began with a color combo that was a fav of mine for a long time. For my bridal shower gift  my MIL was going to buy us a bedspread and she asked about colors. Mind you, I was young and there was NO SUCH thing as bridal registry when everything is planned out, lol! I said these exact words. "I'd like it to be green for the  trees, blue for the sky, and white for clouds." I admit, that yes, I was naive in my tastes and idealistic but you know what? She found me a bedspread with not only those colors, but those images in a large pattern. I knew then she was an amazing woman. She is.

OK, back to the card - these colors mean outdoors to me. I inked up the tree with markers, stamped and cut it out, and popped it up on patterned paper. The clouds were punched out using the muffin top of the Cupcake Punch. Couldn't be easier.

I will continue to make cards for this challenge, so you can bet you'll see them! As a matter of fact, tomorrow's card will be my other sample for this theme, and my favorite of my CAS designs EVER! You won't want to miss it.

I'm going to get out in the wild outdoors myself today. Hope you have a happy day, thanks for visiting!

   

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Razzle Dazzle (sentiment)
Paper:  Wild Wasabi, Bold Brights Designer Series Pack, Whisper White, Basic Black
and Ink: Basic Black

Accessories:    Stampin' Write markers,Word window, modern label and cupcake punches, Designer Buttons - Neutrals

Visit my online store  HERE if you need supplies or to see our specials

Do you have any questions about our products, my projects/classes, or being a demonstrator? I am happy to answer them, just send me an e-mail, you'll find it HERE

Rockin' Razzleberry

It's Monday, and that means I've got a clean and simple card for you! This weeks challenge at the Clean and Simple Cards Challenge at SCS is a theme challenge: rock and roll.  I have to say that for me, this was also a very limited supply challenge as I had NO stamps to go with this theme.

I even made a very cute card with the "Rockin' Robin" theme but it turned out to be not so clean or simple! I broke down and bought a stamp at my LCS.  Here's my card!

 

 The sentiment from Word Play takes center stage on this card with bold colors and bold lines. I did emboss the sentiment for emphasis and colored my silver brads with a black sharpie. Necessity is the mother of invention, ha! 

The guitar image is cut out and popped up, and the whole panel is also on foam dots for added dimension.

I don't send too many teenage-type cards but this is a card I think would work for a birthday, congratulations, or even a graduation.

Hope your week is getting off to a great start, thanks for stopping by!

 

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up! except noted*

Stamps: Word Play, guitar from Stampabilities*
Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Black, Rich Razzleberry Versamark, RIch Razzleberry
and Ink: Versamark, Rich Razzleberry   

Accessories:  Black EP, silver brads

Visit my online store  HERE if you need supplies or to see our specials

Do you have any questions about our products, my projects/classes, or being a demonstrator? I am happy to answer them, just send me an e-mail, you'll find it HERE

Layer upon layer, line upon line....

It's a bit of a dreary afternoon here, but I'm glad to have a few minutes to sit down at the computer and gather my thoughts. I looked through my picture files and found some cards I've made with the Clearly for You stamp set from the Occasions Mini.

This set has fabulous images and so much potential, but you may have noticed that the images are small in size. My answer for working with that in this card is layer upon layer of designer paper for a unique shabby chic card.

Have a look!

The Botannical Gazzette Designer Series Paper is so much fun to work with, I love the possibilities! This card came together step by step as I explored the patterns and how I wanted to mix them for this layout. "For you" was stamped on Very Vanilla card stock and cut out. A Beveled Windowpane highlights the stamped image of the birds.

Thanks so much for stopping by, your comments are so warm and welcome and they make me smile every time. I am grateful!

 

This card measures 4-1/4" square.

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up!

Stamps:  Clearly for You
Paper:  Bashful Blue, Very Vanilla, Botannical Gazzette Designer Series Paper
and Ink: Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Beveled Windowpane, Marina Mist taffeta ribbon      

 

Need supplies? Order from me at my online store  HERE

Do you have questions about my projects, Stampin' Up! products, or becoming a demonstrator? I am happy to answer them, just send me an e-mail, you'll find it HERE