Stamps, Paper, and Ink

Spread the Love Blog Hop ~ a special card for Jaimie

Keeping this post at the top until Nov. 9. Please scroll down to see newest posts.

 

Welcome to the Spread the Love BLOG HOP! details below, read on...

I received a request to take part in a blog hop and card drive and as soon as I read it I felt grateful for an opportunity to use my blog to help spread the word and love for Jaimie Cates. I hope you will want to participate in this opportunity to bring hope and blessing to a precious 11 year old girl. Here's her story from those who are asking for our help... Please join us!

"On October 4^th, 4 teenagers armed with knives broke into a home in a small town in New Hampshire. Alone and sleeping inside were a mother and her 11 year old daughter. These 4 boys broke into this home with the intent to rob and kill anyone inside. They stabbed the mom, Kimberly Cates, to death and left her daughter, Jaimie, for dead in their driveway.  It was a completely random act, their home was chosen only due to its secluded surroundings."

Our hope is that everyone hopping around today will stop for a moment and think about Jaimie and her father and what life must be like for them now. One moment in time has changed their lives forever. We are asking that everyone reading this message please take a moment to make a card and send it off to Jaimie. You can make something very simple or much more involved, but please share some words of hope and love and let her know that people do care and want the best for her. Please send your card to the address below:

My card for Jaimie says, "Here's some love to keep you warm" and features cute and cuddly critters in cheerful colors. I hope you're inspired by her story to make your own to send to her. Come and see what many artists have created to encourage her. Can you imagine Jaimie receiving all these beautiful cards?

READY for the BLOG HOP?

If you have arrived at my blog from Lydia's blog, please continue on to see Kimmi's creation at Poppy Petal Designs. If you are just finding the blog hop, you will need to begin HERE.   For more information about Jaimie, THIS blog has been created.

Check back to my blog on Friday for supplies and info about today's card.

PHEW! That was all a mouthful. Thanks for letting me share this opportunity with you! Please leave a comment to say hello as you come by today. Thanks in advance for giving of yourself by making cards and lifting up prayers to our heavenly Father for dear Jaimie.

Cold & Cuddly Buddies

I promised I'd be back to share about these Cold & Cuddly best buds. This card is a Twice is Nice entry   (it's a category in my sidebar) because it uses the same layout as THIS card that so many of you liked! I love showing with this feature how different two cards can look even though they have an element or layout in common.

Here's a bit more to note~

• I cut the circle four times - once with sahara sand card stock and three times with whisper white. I tore the white pieces and layered them to look like snow drifts.
• a mix of chunky and fine glitter makes the snow sparkle!
• brads embellish the lines of the circle, followed by a heart to tie in the sentiment
• The ribbon treatment was done by overlapping the ribbon ends and securing with a glue dot. Then I wrapped it up with cord threaded through the button.

Keeping this short today, so I can be on my way! Hope you have a great weekend!

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up!
Stamps: Cold & Cuddly
Paper: Thoroughly Modern Designer Series Paper, whisper white, sahara sand, rose red, bermuda bay
and Ink: bermuda bay, soft suede, rose red

Accessories: Stampin' Write markers, Polka Dot ribbon, Rich Regals brads, Dazzling Diamonds and Chunky Essentials glitter, Lots of Tags die, silver cord, Fresh Favorites II buttons

Order from me online anytime HERE or e-mail me HERE with any questions you have! I'd love to help you with your crafting questions.

Serene Winter Post

One of my favorite things to do at this time of year is to pull out all the loved Christmas sets I've collected in the past 5 years that I've been with Stampin' Up! ( there's lots of them!) and design some special Christmas cards. Last night I pulled out the Winter Post set which I used and used some more last year. Lo and behold, it's a thrill to get it out this year again and do something entirely different with it. I LOVE stamping!

The challenge was to use neutrals and a pop of color but here's the twist - the pop of color had to be with a stamped image or embellishment, NOT with card stock. Here's what I did~

 

The soft monochromatic colors add to the serenity of this scene. The very vanilla panel is embossed with the Petals A Plenty embossing folder. Believe me, I will be using this all year, not just for Christmas!

• I added a bit of depth by sponging around the oval
• grounded my skaters with a line of pastel in close to cocoa
• RED mistletoe berries are totally for artistic effect - I needed a POP of color, you see! I stamped the mistletoe branches on white card stock - purposefully adding one more neutral to the mix.
• A puffed layer of crystal effects covers the berries. This image is from the set, A Cardinal Christmas

I wrapped several layers of the ribbon and tied it up with a bow of gold cord. This wraps up my post for today! Thanks for coming by, hope you've been inspired to pull out your own long-time favorite today and stamp!

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted *
Stamps: Winter Post, A Cardinal Christmas, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: very vanilla, kraft
and Ink: real red, close to cocoa, certainly celery

Accessories: markers, crystal effects, Petals A Plenty embossing folder,  Mistletoe ribbon, Modern Label punch, rhinestone brads ( square), gold metallic cord, Nestabilities*

Order from me online anytime HERE or e-mail me HERE with any questions you have!

Circle Circus

Black, white and red always look good. With the Circle Circus set, it is sure to be a winning combination. I used the bold, large circles and repeated them down the right length of the card.

• My Stamp A ma Jig was the key to getting the images stamped in an evenly spaced line-up. Don't overlook the usefulness of this great tool!
• The flower on the button is a rub on, and has a 3/8" circle punched with the Crop-A- Dile on top.
• The 1" Polka-dotted grosgrain wraps it all up and is tied up with a bit of cotton thread.
• Die cutting letters with the Many Thanks Sizzlet made using text as the focal image easy!

Sometimes clean and simple is NOT simple! I went through a bunch of combinations until I found the bold look I wanted for this card. It was one of those days when there was smeared ink, torn letters, lots of interruptions, a couple phone calls, and pieces of botched card stock in the trash. Ever have stamping times like that?  < smile> The mess is still on the craft table, the card is on the piano. I'm pleased.

I made this for the Color Combos challenge to use neutrals plus a 'pop' of another color; and the Clean and Simple challenge which was this great sketch.

Happy stamping!

 

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up!
Stamps: Circle Circus
Paper: whisper white, black, real red textured
and Ink: basic black

Accessories: 1" Polka Dot ribbon, Big Shot, Many Thanks Sizzlet, slot punch, button and rub on (retired)

Need supplies to make this card?  E-mail me HERE with any questions you have, I'd be happy to place an order for you.

Inspired by purple...

Today's card is a fun mix of old and new. Clean and simple.

I was inspired to use purple - something I am usually reluctant to do - by Julia's Ways to Use It challenge at SCS.  Paper plates figured in there too - don't you sometimes just get SO inspired by plates and napkins? I even saved one of these so you could see it~

 
My card base is kraft card stock which I embossed with large dots.

• The fruit image is from one of my retired Stampin' Up! sets called Thanksgiving Blessings. I usually watercolor this image, but I love the effect of just stamping with Rich Razzleberry ink. The details are boldly visible.
• Did you notice that I machine stitched this card? I don't often want to bother, but what a difference it makes!
• For my bow treatment, I wrapped a length of ribbon around the card, overlapped it slightly, and secured it with a glue dot. Then I added the shorter ribbon piece on top, and put the button over both layers.

I love being stretched by challenges, hope you've been inspired today!

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up!
Stamps: Thanksgiving Blessings, Autumn Blessings ( both retired)
Paper: kraft, whisper white, Razzleberry Lemonade
and Ink: Rich Razzleberry

Accessories: Polka Dot Grosgrain ribbon, small oval punch, corduroy button, Texturz Backgrounds 1

Order your own stamps, paper and ink (plus so much more!) from my online store  HERE or e-mail me HERE with any questions you have!

Sweetest ever

I love the More the Merrier hostess set and wanted to make a card in these yummy colors of pumpkin pie, so saffron, tempting turquoise, and lavender lace. I stamped and embossed the cupcake images with white, and colored them in using reinkers and the aqua painter. Lined them up on a scallop circle where they are popped up and embellished with layered buttons.

I love this sentiment and featured it on a scalloped punch square, which I tucked under the designer paper layer.

Enjoy! Thanks for each of you who visit my blog and for those who comment - I appreciate each and every one. See you Monday.

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up!
Stamps: The More the Merrier
Paper: pumpkin pie, tempting turquoise, whisper white, Pawsitively Prints, so saffron
Ink: versamark, tempting turquoise, reinkers

Accessories:1-3/8" circle, scallop circle, trio flower and scallop square punches; white embossing powder, Fresh Favorites and clear buttons, Ribbon bundle (retired)

Order from me online anytime HERE or e-mail me HERE with any questions you have!

For all you do

Today's card is one I DID using the For All You DO set. But before I get to that, I get to tell you that MY pick of the last two cards I posted HERE and HERE is ( drumroll please...)

My fav is the UN traditional one!  Because it was JUST so fun to make and isn't that what stamping is all about? What made it more fun? Well, it was UNpredictable right from the start. Challenging myself to use the Day and Night paper gave the creative process an enjoyable twist too. Now with that said, I will make sure to send that card to someone who has an appreciation for artistic expression! After all, the newsprint pattern does have some words like "a plague upon this howling! incharitable dog! Hang, cur!" Did I read somewhere that those are quotes form Wuthering Heights? Yikes!

Thanks to all who chimed in on this question, I loved it!

Here's today's card, thanks for all you do! 

This was made for a color and sketch challenge awhile back, can't remember which ones! I love the colors of chocolate chip, apricot appeal and bermuda bay together. The butterfly, bracket and flower are all cut out and popped up on the squares. Hope you like it!

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up!
Stamps: For All You Do
Paper: Chocolate Chip, whisper white, apricot appeal, Thoroughly Modern DSP
and Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Apricot Appeal

Accessories: 1- 3/8" square and eyelet border punches, Polka-Dot grosgrain ribbon, Stampin' Write markers

I would love to be your Stampin' Up! demonstrator. Order from me online anytime HERE or e-mail me HERE with any questions you have!

You Pick

OK, another challenge (SCS sketch challenge), and a new card made just this morning!

Now YOU get to pick - yesterday's card was the whimsical one and today's is classic Christmas. Which do you like better?

HeHe, some of you may be wondering which one I like better! LOL I don't want to tell you which one is my favorite until I hear from you, but you can make a guess about that if you want to!I'll be back tomorrow to tell you,so check back.

Here's what I can tell you about~

• The red panels are textured card stock embossed with the Petals A Plenty folder. I could use this folder on everything, I like it so well!
• The Christmas Cocoa Specialty Paper is flocked, so this card is elegantly touchable.
• For the image,I used a window sheet and the Ornament punch to make a stencil, sponging inside with sahara sand ink. Then I stamped over it.
• Notice the wonderful shading effect you can get with the stencil technique.

I guess you can notice that my Pretties Kit is still something I love to use too. (Those of you who have visited me for a long while know how fond I am of the pretties, and look how long they have lasted! ) I like my Pretties Kit so well that it's got it's own category on my sidebar.

Thanks for commenting to tell me what you think - I think you're the best!

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up!
Stamps: Holiday Best, Christmas Cardinal (retired)
Paper: Christmas Cocoa Specialty Designer Paper, whisper white, always artichoke, sahara sand, real red textured
and Ink: always artichoke, sahara sand

Accessories: satin ribbon, Pretties Kit, marker, Petals A Plenty embossing folder, slot and ornament punches, window sheet, sponges.

If you'd like more information about how to make this beautiful card, or any other on my blog, feel free to contact me.

Pining

Well, this morning I was just wishing for a chance to create just for the fun of it. When I saw the SCS Color Challenge I decided to take a breather from the 'to do' list and here's the result, hot off my inky fingers! From me to you. <big smile>  First time to use my Patterned with Pines stamp set too, isn't it cute?

Now you know why I had to make this today - Melon Mambo!  I had something else ready to post too, but it so much fun doing and posting a challenge on the DAY OF, KWIM?

I love melon mambo all the time, but paired with kraft and black - that's the best! Hope you like my un-traditional Christmas card. I think this would also work well for just a winter note to a friend.Since I took the picture I've played with adding a thing or two to tweak it. Tell me I am NOT the only one who finishes a card and then just wants to add one more thing...do you do this too?

Have a great day!

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up!
Stamps: Patterned Pines, Short & Sweet
Paper: kraft, melon mambo, whisper white, Night & Day specialty paper
and Ink: melon mambo, basic black

Accessories: dotted grosgrain, tag and small tag punches, markers, Button Latte, hemp twine, piercing tool and mat

Order from me online anytime HERE or e-mail me HERE with any questions you have!

Flamingo?

I loved creating this card for a challenge a couple of weeks ago. It was a sketch challenge, but because this is the first time that I've been able to post it - I no longer remember which one! I'm glad to finally be able to share it with you.

Imagine my delight in finding that the pattern in the Pink Flamingo DSP mirrors the cascades of the peacock's tail! Here are a few things to notice -

• the regal peacock image comes from the Very thankful stamp set
• using the Scallop Edge punch repeats the cascading element. Sometimes I do this on purpose to unify a card. This time it happened completely by accident! I just felt there needed to be a softer edge to all the angles...
• the card base is made with Tempting Turquoise card stock
• I used the thumping technique on the peacock image by inking up the stamp in Tempting Turquoise and adding Taken with Teal highlights by 'thumping' my marker in various places.
•  the corduroy button is layered over a white jumbo grommet.

Thank you for stopping by! Please don't leave without saying hello in my comment box!

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up!
Stamps: Very Thankful
Paper: tempting turquoise, Pink Flamingo DSP, basic black
and Ink: tempting turquoise

Accessories: jumbo grommet, Scallop Edge punch, Stampin' Write marker, corduroy button, white thread

Order from me online anytime HERE or e-mail me HERE with any questions you have!

Jumping in!

Here I am back after my break from blogging, jumping in! Getting back to the rhythm and mood of creating and blogging, and I can't wait! I have a few posts ready to go in a roll now, so for those of you who keep coming up empty when you check for me in your readers and your searches, don't be afraid to check every day or so, you'll find something. I'm back!

Fall is my favorite season, and such a time of refreshing for me. My husband and I were able to take a wonderful escape to the mountains and I'd love to share a glimpse with you using my first pages done with My Digital Studio. While I was away, I had a few quiet moments to try my hand with this new software from Stampin' Up!, and let me tell you, I love it! I found it a wonderful advantage 
that I didn't have to wait until I got home to scrap all the photos that I took. Biggest plus to me too, was that it was so effortless to involve my husband in this creative process. I didn't think that I would be so excited about digi-scrapping. I was wrong!  It was wonderful to be able to quickly prepare what will become treasured mementos of our trip and recover the hobby that I could never find time for.

Here's my title page and two of the pages, which will be sent to print for my sample album.

 

Isn't it wonderful to think of featuring an entire photo for a page? Isn't this gorgeous? I was able to adjust the opacity of the the text to have just the look I wanted.

This page was done using a layout provided. Decide on colors, designer paper and text, add a stamped embellishment, and it's done!

 

Click on any of the photos above to see details. And please send me a 'glad you're back' hello!

Speaking of embellishments, I have to tell you about the special deals of the week from Stampin' Up! Highlight your projects with any of these cute metal accents, at discounted prices.

Order from my online store HERE or e-mail me HERE with any questions you have!

See you Monday!