Stamps, Paper, and Ink

Polar Pal - Thinking of you!

Hello crafty friends, 

I hope today finds you well at the start of a new week! 

I've been grabbing moments when I can to color and today's card features the adorable grinning bear from the Polar Pals stamp set from My Favorite Things. This set has been on my favorites list for a long time. When I inked it up for the first time and colored with Copic markers I was grinning too. 

Just sitting here thinking of you. I love that sentiment!  And the expectant look on Mr Bear's face. I added Nuvo crystal dots in white to embellish, and in black to accent the eyes and nose. A dot from my white gel pen was added to the cheeks. 

I'm playing with the MFT Weekly Sketch Challenge 331 and was so inspired by all the cute entries. Especially admired the way Wanda used a double circle to add dimension to her focal point. I gave that a try and really like the result and the double rows of stitching. 

That's it for me today! Thanks to you for coming by! I've been loving your comments and friendly support. 

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

All supplies are from My Favorite Things stamps. 

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Spring Flowers Take Three!

Hi there, I hope you've enjoyed my focus on the Spring Flowers stamp set this week. Here is take three using this pretty set from Simon Says Stamp. I've really benefitted from making three cards with it and I hope you've liked the results too! If you missed those find them HERE and HERE. 

It's a special occasion today, it's Fab Friday! 

Again, I stamped the blooms, then colored them using Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers, and fussy cut them. It's amazing to me how the flowers from yesterday and today were colored exactly the same way, same intensity. But against the Kraft card stock the colors look so clean and crisp.

Using the markers I also colored the white card stock used for the banners. The sentiment is heat embossed in white onto vellum using the lovely SSS set called Blessed.

Assembling the elements on Kraft card stock, I was inspired by the beautiful sketch for the Fab Friday Challenge this week. 

I sure hope you will join us and play along! Also have a look at the blogs of the Design Team, and be inspired.

Mindy Backes
Heather Heroldt
Amy Koenders
Brian King
Justin Krieger
Amanda Mertz
Brenda Myers
Janine Tinklenberg
Wendy Weixler

Thanks so much for visiting today! I'd love to hear which of the three cards this week has been your favorite. Was it the Bold Bright floral, the Pastel Petals with the soft wash and the pop of black, or today's Classic Kraft card? I'm having trouble deciding.

 Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

 

Pastel Petals with Spring Flowers

Hello and welcome back! 

I'm sharing my second card with the Simon Says Stamp Spring Flowers set today. If you missed the first one using bright bold colors, you can find it HERE. 

I've decided I need to give some love to stamps that have been little used by creating a couple of cards at a time to explore their possibilities.  Today's card is soft with pastel colors, an inked background, and a POP of black accents.

I used Distress inks for the background, and Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers for coloring the images onto white card stock.

I've loved experimenting with those markers, and the amazing artist Nina-Marie Trapani has fabulous videos that have helped me. Here's the link to her video where she shares this coloring technique. You will want to try it, it's really not hard and gives a light airy look to the colors. 

The butterfly die (Bitty Butterflies Cover Plate)  and the sentiment (Banner Sentiments) are from Papertrey Ink. The sentiment was embossed in white on black card stock. Nuvo drops added small black accents to the focal point.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today!

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

 

Snowy Night - Getting an Early Start for Christmas

 In December of 2016 I felt swamped trying to get our Christmas cards made. A couple years ago when I was a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, I began posting  Christmas cards in September and continued through December. Then I loved pulling out my Christmas sets old and new, and made several cards a month. Since I like designing cards, I was happy at mailing time to have 40 to 50 cards that were each a different design. No mass producing.

Realizing that I needed to spread my Christmas card making throughout the year, I've joined THIS challenge at Splitcoaststampers and committed to making two cards a month. If you're unfamiliar with SCS, it's a great community of stampers and a fabulous place to learn and share. As for the challenge, it's a FUN group and we cheer each other along. Maybe you should give it a try!

At first I was stuck pondering what to make. When this happens to me, I follow ONE thought every time. It is:  LIMIT your supplies and narrow your choices. Once I'd decided to use the Snowy Night Stamp set from Hero Arts for both cards, I could get down to business. 

 My supplies included the Pool to Navy Ombre Pad also from Hero Arts, and Soft Pool Ink. These colors were used to stamp the snowy background, no blending required. I was inspired by these fabulous cards designed by Yana Smakula who is an uber-talented artist that I admire. When I saw her cards I immediately ordered the sets, dies and ombre pad. 

 For the first card, I die cut the scene and layered it onto a white card base. I stamped the sentiment directly onto the scene, and embellished using silver elastic twine and a snowflake. 

With the second card, I stamped the scene on a 4" x 5-1/4" piece of white card stock and layered it onto the card base. Stamping the sentiment along the bottom, I filled out the scene with die cuts and glittered snowflakes. I added Wink of Stella to the night sky on this card. 

I could point out that when placing accents on a card a triangle helps the design flow. In this case, the snowflake under the buck is where I decided to begin the triangle and cover up a smear of ink in the process. Now you know it all, lol!

Looking at both cards side by side, I am pleased to note how the different card stocks used bring out different hues of the backgrounds. Which do you like best?

I know this post has gotten a bit long, but if you'd like see another of my cards using the Snowy Scene set, you'll find one HERE and another one HERE. 

As always, I am so glad that you took time to visit my blog today and for the kind comments you leave behind. 

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

SUPPLIES FOR THINKING OF YOU

Stamps: Snowy Scene, Winter Wonderland and dies by Hero Arts, sentiment by SU (retired)

Paper: SU - Whisper White, Dapper Denim

Ink: Hero Arts - Pool to Navy Ombre Pad; SU - Dapper Denim

Accessories: Silver Twine, SSS - Kate Snowflake die, MFT Die-namics Stitched Rounded Rectangles Stax. SU - Falling Snow EF

SUPPLIES FOR MERRY CHRISTMAS

Stamps:  Snowy Scene, Winter Wonderland and dies by Hero Arts, sentiment by SU (retired)

Paper: SU - Whisper White, Pool Party

Ink: Pool to Navy Ombre Pad, Soft Pool - Hero Arts

Accessories: SU - glitter paper, Snowflake die from Hang Your Stockings; Wink of Stella 

  

 

 

It's Your Birthday

 One of my favorite times of the month comes after the release of new products at Papertrey Ink when we have a chance to CASE a card we've been inspired by from one of their amazing designers. 

 The hardest part of playing along is choosing which of the fabulous projects to case! After thinking about it all week, I'd like to share my entry to the Create Along With Us Challenge.

I am always inspired by the gorgeous designs of Danielle Flanders, and I chose her darling party ensemble for my inspiration. I LOVE the bold gingham contrasting the soft pastels. 

I kept the birthday theme, but instead of balloons I used the lovely images from the Floral Sketches set. 

I stamped the sentiment in black from the Birthday Cheer set, and used several layers of the die cuts for the large Birthday sentiment. I loved the bold gingham and the sweet vellum bow that Danielle used. When I played with my own layout, I added the gingham circle and a vellum circle to the focal point. Might as well just put it smack dab in the sweet spot, right? 

I hope you've enjoyed my card for this week.

Sorry the posts slowed down again, but I'm needing to keep a balance with the holidays coming. Yesterday we did some boating on the lake - I never want to miss that! Probably our last time for the season this year. 

Hope you have a wonderful day today! Whenever I start to write my posts, two things cross my mind - I hope you will be inspired to create something beautiful, and I hope you leave with a smile.

 Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

One Cup for TEA

I'm writing this in the early morning and I'm ready for my morning brew - tea! The blacker the better for waking me up! There were so many perky cards featuring coffee on the web last week, that I just had to add a card featuring my fave. 

 I had fun assembling layered dies for the focal point and using Copics to color. The whimsical One Cup stamp set from Verve has the cutest sentiments and matching dies. I added a bit of a watermark distressing to my sentiment panel. Reminding me of a teabag I stapled a bit of twine at the top. 

That's it for me today! We've been busy replacing the items damaged from our recent lightening strike and today looks like a good one to settle in and do some catch up. Thanks so much for coming by. 

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

Stamps: Verve - One Cup

Paper: DSP is from MFT

INK

Accessories: Verve - One Cup dies; PTI - square dies from the Don't Forget to Write Kit

 

 

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Create Along With Us August 2016

I've been so enjoying summer that I didn't even want to think about fall and back-to-school or Thanksgiving projects yet. But the new release at Papertrey Ink recently changed all that! After seeing so many beautiful products and inspiring projects each day of the release, I couldn't miss out on the opportunity to participate in the chance to create with those talented artists! So I'm adding this to their Create Along with Us: August 2016 challenge.

I made the card below using the Inspired: Lord Mini Stamp Set and die and one of my favorites, the Quilted: Autumn Stamp Set and dies. 

As daunting as it was, I decided to CASE this card from one of the very best, designer Melissa Phillips! I hardly changed a thing, I just used a different stamp set and sentiments, and kept it simple. Her idea of repeating the colors with a text and border under the tag is genius!

I know I didn't come close to doing her gorgeous card justice but it felt so fun to play with this style again. I absolutely loved the homespun feel, the colors and especially the layered ribbons of her card. I had to search my stash of designer papers for one in red that worked. When I moved I seriously gave away my DSP!  Missing them now....especially the reds which are always the first ones I use up.

Thanks for visiting my blog, I hope you'll come again! 

 Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

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Spruce and Sprigs for Christmas

Hello friends! I hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving and weekend. Did you get some shopping done too? I got the Christmas decorations up at my house and had a little time to craft today.

I need to add to my Christmas Cards stash and I'm having fun lining up some new sets to use for them. I love this set from PTI called Spruce & Sprigs featuring lovely and large holly, berries and greens to arrange.

Of course the matching dies make it easy! Here's an organization tip for you. 

I store my stamps using an envelope system, with the stamps in front and the dies in the back of each envelope. My faves for the month are kept in a box on my desk.

To help me keep track of the dies, I make a photocopy of them before I take them apart. Here's the paper copy. 

On the paper, I write the number in pencil. On the actual die, I write the number on the piece with a Sharpie. 

These are the actual dies. That way, if one goes missing or one "turns up" I can be sure to identify where it goes. To keep from losing any, I pull out this tiny dish to place on my desk to hold the dies I've used until they all get counted and put away.

Maybe this seems like overkill to you, but if you've ever lost one like I have, this tip may be of help. 

My card was inspired by the sketch at the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge. I love the sketches and the samples they have every week.

Thanks for coming by my blog to visit today! 

Tomorrow I will tell you what made today such a special day at our house. Hugs~

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

Stamps: Papertrey Ink - Spruce & Sprigs and dies, SU - Ornamental Pine (sentiment)

Accessories: Gold thread, enamel dots from Doodlebugs Sprinkles

 

Dashing by with Pure Innocence

Just popping in on this Saturday with one of my favorite winter sets! Sledding as a girl is one of my most fun memories. I will always love making snowmen. 

And you know I love coloring, so pulling out the Copics for this card makes me happy.  

This is my second take on the sketch from Mojo Monday, you can find the first card with this layout HERE.  Linking this also to my Twice is Nice category on the sidebar where I show two cards using the same layout. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

Stamps: MFT - Pure Innocence Dashing By, Avery Elle - Let it Snow

Paper: SU - Home for the Holidays DSP

Ink: Black, Versamark

 

Dreaming of Snow for Sweet Sunday

Hi friends!

I'm just popping in to share the card I made last night for the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge. They had a great sketch that I missed last week, so I'm jumping in early on this one. I thought the circle was the perfect place to use my new Snowy Scene stamp from Hero Arts. 

 It stamps so beautifully with the Hero Arts Ombre ink pad. I added a vellum circle behind it, and did some embossing on the white panel. I'm having trouble with my photo but decided to go with it anyway. The embossing is hard to see, but see that wavy line along the bottom left? This folder reminds me of snowdrifts. It is subtle, but there's enough depth that you want to run your finger along it.

Well, enough dreaming, I need to get on with my day. Hope you have some crafty fun of your own today! Thanks so much for starting your week with a visit to my blog. Hugs~

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

Stamps: Hero Arts - Winter Scene, Snowy Scene

Paper: SU - white, Silver Glimmer, vellum, Marina Mist

Ink: Hero Arts - Ombre Tide Pool/Navy, Versamark

Accessories: White EP, corner rounder, We R Memory Keepers Next Level Folders - Wave, SSS - Circles Dies