Stamp Club Project

I have been working on my stamp club projects, and I normally don't post them ahead of time, but I am trying out something new (to me) called Windows Live Writer. I saw on Jackie's blog here how neat and orderly her pictures and text were. I emailed her and she said she uses Windows Live Writer. So I installed it and this is my first try--what do you think?

The first card is a double pocket card shown on Joy's blog here. It uses Groovy Guava Prints DP and GG cardstock as the base. I chose to cut down the DP by 1/2" on each side so it could be mounted on a base. I felt that gave it a little more stability. I used a Fire Rhinestone brad on the bookmark and some Hershey's candy as a little "gift"! The butterfly is from Touch of Nature and uses the Faux Diamond Dust technique. It is stamped in Stazon, then colored with a marker & GG ink with a blender pen. The whole image is pressed into a Versamark pad, then covered with Iridescent Ice EP and heat embossed. It is beautiful IRL! You can also see a tutorial for this technique here.

The next card is a gift card holder from Debbie Olsen, shown here. I used Crab & Co as my stamp set. All the images are stamped on shimmery white cardstock with Stazon and colored with ink and an aquapainter. This card uses Summer Picnic DP, which is such a great, versatile set of papers!

Fun Purse

For today's SCS challenge, we had to make a purse from a 12x12 piece of DP. I had seen this done at Regionals last year, and it is a fun, cute project. I used my last piece of Porcelain Prints along with Blue Bayou, River Rock & Confetti Cream. I did mine a tiny little bit different than the tutorial: I put the folded-down contrast on the outside, and I made the fold at the bottom a little wider so it would stand up a bit better. The image is from Touch of Nature, stamped in Stazon and colored with Blue Bayou and Not Quite Navy with my aquapainter. I stamped around the butterfly with the fern stamp in River Rock; the band is also stamped with the fern in Blue Bayou. I added glitter to the wings and purse handles in Stitched Blue Bayou ribbon. Click on the photo for a closer view! TFL!!

Are You Ready For........

Santa?!! I got some new goodies in the mail on Friday! I had been wanting the Vintage Christmas set from Crafty Secrets for a long time, and finally broke down and ordered them from Eclectic Paperie. I only had a minute or two to play, so I stamped this Santa image in Rose Red. The image is so detailed, it really can hold its own without being colored in. Now that most of the busy weekend stuff is over, I cleaned up my MESSY stamp area and decided to take that image and make it into a card using this sample from dawnsing's gallery for today's SCS Featured Stamper Challenge. I will need to start thinking "Christmas" soon in preparation for my Christmas card classes! TFL!
Stamps: Vintage Christmas by Crafty Secrets
Paper: Mellow Moss, Very Vanilla, Rose Red, Dashing DP (retired)
Ink: Rose Red, Mellow Moss
Acc: Brads, Jelly Roll Pen, Slot Punch, Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals

Card Positioning System Challenge

I noticed that CPS has a challenge where they are giving away a Scor-Pal!! I do not have one of these but my friend Kim assures me I need one!! LOL! So why not head over there and submit your entry? Maybe you'll win!! (I never do!) Anyway, I needed a card for the hostess packet I carry with me when I do workshops....you need to be prepared if someone wants to book a party! It has a wish list, invites, info about SU, etc. as well as a card, so this is the card I made since I have a workshop tonight. I apologize for the poor photo--it is dreary, dark & rainy here in SE Pennsylvania today! I have a busy day, so this is short & sweet! TFL & have a great weekend!
Stamps: Enjoy Every Moment, Spunky Spots Jumbo Wheel, Little Pieces, Short & Sweet
Paper: Summer Picnic DP, Bashful Blue, WW
Ink: Bashful Blue, Cert Celery, Stazon Black
Acc: Pretties, Gingham Ribbon, Brad, Dimensional, Coluzzle, Corner Rounder

Little Chipboard Album

I guess I am at that age where SOMETIMES I cannot sleep.....so I just get up and stamp! Last night I thought I would make a little chipboard album as a gift for my upcoming workshop hostess. I wanted to put a little chipboard embellishment on it (May's special) and add some cool Stylized Silver HPH and Summer Picnic DP (Mini Catalog)! I used some coasters I purchased from my sideline, sorry I can't tell you where!!! I don't know if my hostess has girls or boys, so I thought I couldn't go wrong with a mini brag book in a patriotic theme! The inside piece is a piece of textured Ballet Blue, 12" x 3 1/2", scored every 3". The outside of the chipboard is covered front & back with the same cardstock, stamped with the star from A to Z Accents--a great set, by the way! The inside is covered with the red dot from Summer Picnic and embellished with the same stars, as well as the star from Holiday Blitz, punched & popped up. The sentiment on the front is stamped with Rough Edges Alphabet on Confetti White. The chipboard circle is actually inked with Encore Silver ink; hard to see in the photo, but it looks cool with the HPH! I wrapped it all up loosely with Real Red grosgrain ribbon that can easily slide on and off and can be adjusted when the pix are added. TFL!

Get Your Magnifying Glass Out!!!

I was excited about doing today's SCS Challenge--to use "inchies". Inchies are just small images an inch square. Well, I had an idea in my head, but when I actually got the stamp out, the image and the border were a little larger than an inch. Oh well, I still think it's cute, and it is from my favorite retired set, Garden Pleasures. Actually, I don't think I ever inked this stamp up, and bees and beehives are one of my favorite things!!! Not when they sting, but I love to watch them in my garden. This also qualifies for Sketch #44 from Sketches by Tamara.



This tiny little image is stamped on watercolor paper and colored with markers, blender pen and aquapainter. I also added a little shadow around the image itself. It is mounted on a Nestabilities diecut rectangle. The DP is Basic Grey Lily Kate; the design was actually white on brown, and I used a dauber tp add So Saffron to the whole piece of paper to warm up the brown and alter the white to more of a gold color. Since SU is retiring the Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware (grrrrr) I decided I'd better stop hoarding it! So I used it and some twill to add my little sentiment from PTI's Mixed Messages. To get a really good look, click on the photo. I wish my photos were a bit clearer, this looks so much better IRL! Thanks for stopping by!
Stamps: Garden Pleasures, Mixed Messages (PTI)
Paper: So Saffron, Watercolor, Always Artichoke, BG LilyKate
Ink: Stazon, Sahara Sand, Earth Elements, So Saffron
Acc: Earth Elements markers, Aquapainter, Blender Pen, HPH, Twill, Word Window Punch, Nesties, Dauber

A Challenge--Finally

I finally got some time to stamp today, and tried to edit my photos using a free trial download of Photoshop Elements. Not a good idea. I was extremely frustrated and wasted a lot of time. I went back to my old program and was done in five minutes. I have tried the Picasa from Google and there are things I like about it but I can't add my signature, so......back to the drawing board. Anyway, this first post is for today's Sketch Challenge. It is a birthday card for my pastor and I know he likes clean, modern calligraphy style script. This isn't it. I don't have anything like that (Wordsworth would be good!) So I just took my new Kitchen Sink stamps and did some leaves around a retired SU sentiment. The backgrounder is Leaves from Cornish Heritage Farms, and the other panel is Tres Chic, also by SU. The birthday sentiment is PTI's Mixed Messages. Colors used are Mellow Moss, River Rock, Sahara Sand, Confetti White & Always Artichoke. The single leaf is on a dimensional. I hope he likes it!





This is a card I stamped quite a while ago, but never posted. I needed a get-well card for someone in my small group. I love these coffee images from Crafty Secrets, but I wanted the little coffee bean to be facing the paper-pieced percolator. So I stamped her on a window sheet in Black Stazon, cut the sheet in a circle with my CB and flipped the image over and mounted it on a WW circle. The twill is from Taylored Expressions; paper is Prints in Almost Amethyst.
TFL!!!