Watercolouring with inkpad lids

My stamp club wanted to do a project using watercolouring techniques and this set is just the perfect one. I know it's a fall image, but I love this set so much! It's going to retire so I wanted to feature it before it's no longer available. This apple bucket is one of my all-time favourite images. It can be coloured in many ways and it's just so pretty.

For this card, I showed them how to use a blender pen and inkpad lids to get this look. We used a few different colours to layer up the colour, which also adds interest. The apple in front of the bucket is popped up.

Thanks for looking!

All supplies Stampin' Up: Ink: basic gray, ruby red, real red, wild wasabi, blue bayou, close to cocoa; Paper: watercolour, blue bayou, wild wasabi; Stamps: Give Thanks, Polka Dot background; Other: blender pen, earth elements brads.

Party hat birthday card

My package of Euphoria (new line from BasicGrey) came in the mail last week and I've been itching to use it. Here I paired it up with Aqua Mist cardstock (PTI) and Purely Pomegranate. The image is Sunshine Designs (from that birthday cube I can't seem to stop using) and coloured with Tombows and accented with stickles. I added a spritz of turquoise glimmer mist to the starburst paper, so it has some shimmer. The final embellishments were some pomegranate ribbon, faux stitching, and acrylic paint dots. I love that paper and the colour scheme for the card - so fresh and pretty.

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: Stamp: Sunshine Designs (The Stamp Barn); Ink: Palette black noir, Purely Pomegranate: Paper: watercolour, Purely Pomegranate, Aqua Mist (PTI), Euphoria (BasicGrey); Other: pomegranate ribbon (SU), acrylic paint (Stream - Adirondack), stickles, white gel pen, turquoise glimmer mist, slot punch (SU).

Groovy monochrome

Here's one of the projects from my stamp club. I thought I'd show them how to colour with an aquapainter and a re-inker. After a few elaborate card samples that I rejected as being too time-consuming, I came up with this design. I always like monochromatic cards, but I seldom think of making them. This didn't start out as being a monochromatic card, but a way to make a dent in my pile of groovy guava paper, which is about to retire. I also wanted to use up my hodgepodge hardware, and groovy guava ribbon. (Use-up cards are waaaayyyy more fun to make than Use-up Casserole, and waaaaayyy easier to impress the children with. DD1 really liked this card.)

Thanks for stopping by!

All supplies Stampin' Up: Stamps: Pick a Petal; Ink: stazon; Paper: shimmery white, bravo burgundy, groovy guava designer series prints, ginger blossom designer series prints, groovy guava; Other: aged copper hodgepodge hardware, groovy guava double-stitched ribbon, groovy guava reinker, aquapainter, 3/4" circle punch.

Butterfly birthday card

I got this stamp a while ago and have been waiting for a good time to use it. (That makes it sounds like there is ever a bad time to use a stamp!) I wanted to make a special birthday card for a very special person, and this butterfly stamp just leaped off the shelf into my hands. (And no, DH, that's metaphorically speaking, not a comment on my teetery piles of stamping gear...)

I stamped the butterflies in chocolate chip craft ink and embossed with Espresso embossing powder. It's a lovely soft brown. My new favourite ep! The image was painted with a variety of colours of twinkling H20's and accented with stickles. I did layered butterflies for depth. The image is mounted on a couple of colours of cardstock and the card base is textured Soft Sky, stamped with one of Heather's nice scroll stamps (in creamy brown chalk ink). I accented with some espresso acrylic paint in the corners, just to frame it. Inside the card it says, "May every part of your birthday have happy in it."

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: Stamps: The Artful Stamper, Heather's Stamping Haven; Ink: chocolate chip craft ink, creamy brown chalk ink - Colorbox; paper: watercolour, elegant eggplant, close to cocoa, textured soft sky; Other: twinkling H20's, stickles, espresso acrylic paint - Adirondack/Ranger.

Where are the buttons?

This is why I don't plan my cards. I have a bag full of buttons from my LSS that I wanted to use. (She had a bucket on the counter, $2 a scoop and I was in there with my DD and we went to twon with two whole scoops). All three Daley girls have been having fun playing with these buttons so I thought it was time to put them on paper. I had in mind some sort of flower card, with button centres. I got out my PTI flowers, which have such nice button-ready centres. But when the card was done, it really felt done without the buttons. I think the buttons would have been too much. This was my first time stamping (other than just looking at the colours) with my new Memento Inks. They work beautifully with these clear stamps. I'm very pleased. The only "embellishment" is two scored lines along the top and bottom of the card. I made a matching envelope. The card is 6 x 3 /4" and fits in SU's small open-ended envelope. I really like this size of card. It's a great shape to work with.

I think the Daley girls (jr., and sr., truth be told) will be happy that their stock is undepleted!

Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies: Stamps: Beautiful Blooms and Text Boxed (Papertrey Ink); Ink: Memento: Tangelo, Angel Pink, Lilac Posies, Rose Bud, Bamboo Leaves, New Sprout, Dandelion, Canteloupe. Other: Scor-It.

3x3 Notecards and Box

Here's what we're making at my next class at Heather's Stamping Haven. If you're interested, it's on Saturday from 10-1. We'll be making this origami box, and jazzing it up with Lumiere paint and fancy foam that you can mold into any texture. There are 4 notecards (3x3), all made with just two stamp cubes (the cute bug one and the sentiment one, both Sunshine Designs). I've coordinated the box by using the same Lumiere paint on the card and bringing it all together with the colour scheme. Have I whetted your appetite? If you'd like to join us, I'd love to see you there.

The exciting conclusion to the preceding post....

Last time I asked you which card you preferred. You unanimously chose the mobile one and I wound up going with the one that no one chose. Now this wasn't at all a display of blatant disregard for your opinion, it's just that I didn't have time to check my blog before I left for work and I needed to take the card with me that very day. Also, I decided that the one you chose wasn't too babyish for a first birthday card, which I also needed to send out asap. The pram was certainly too babyish. So although I agreed with you all that the mobile was nicer (and nicer even in person), the pram one got chosen. Thanks for reading this far - I realize that as exciting sequels go, this rivals Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, but there you go. At least you don't have to pay to read my blog ;-)

In other news, one of the reasons I haven't had time to post a lot lately, aside from being back to work full-time, is that we are moving. I know there are other bloggers out there who take this sort of thing in stride, but I am not one of them. I stamp when I can, and post when I can. Thanks for sticking with me :-) I'm hoping that I'll be able to post more when we're in the new place and the dust has settled a bit. (That's a turn of phrase, not a comment on my housekeeping, which due to the constant state of readiness for viewings, has had to rise a few notches.) We are downsizing and moving closer to work in an effort to reduce our footprint. Anyone need some junk from our basement???

Which little lavender moon to choose???

A friend of mine had a baby girl a few weeks ago and I'm going to visit them tomorrow so I wanted to bring a card. I'll have to check the present drawer too and see if there's anything good or if I'll have to swing into a Last-Minute-Lucy's for a baby gift.

I wanted to make a card that was very girly (this is daughter #3 for them) so I went with shades of plum. I stamped the mobile on shimmer white paper with Imperial Purple versafine (I tried the palette in lavender moon, but it didn't stamp well on the shimmer paper). Nothing beats versafine for a crisp, vibrant image every time. I shaded in the animals with a bit of lavender and a blender pen, just to liven them up a little. The image is mounted on perfect plum and the whole card is lavender moon. There's a lavender moon dotted ribbon too (what a dream to tie!). The background stamp (from Cornish Heritage Farms) is quite new to my collection, but it's a new favourite, and I accented it with a glitter pen dot in the middle of the "flowers". It adds a subtle touch of shimmer to echo the shimmer paper. The only other little embellishment is a dew drop on the mobile. Note this is not coloured with copics. I don't own copics. Not even one. And probably never will. So you see, DH, there is a stamping accessory that I (a) do not own and (b) do not want. Because they are so expensive, I figure this gives me approximately $500 to spend on other things since I am not buying copics. How's that for math! heeheehee....


Thanks for looking!



Supplies: Stamps: mobile - Magenta, bg - Cornish Heritage Farms, words - Stampin' Up; Ink: Versafine - Imperial Purple, Palette - Lavender Moon; Paper: shimmer white, Perfect Plum - SU, Lavender Moon - Papertrey Ink; Other: Lavender Moon ribbon - PTI, dew drop, Sakura glitter pen.


Okay, I have officially lost my mind. I went to upload the photo above, and lo and behold, there was a card in the folder marked for the same baby, just with a slightly different name. Hmmm. Strange. I didn't think I'd saved the file. Let's open it and see. Ahhh, whole different card for same baby made last week (card, that is, not baby). And to top it all off, it was made with (50 points to whomever guesses the stamps and colour scheme I used).... (drumroll please) lavender moon colour scheme (paper, ink and ribbon) and the CHF background. And dewdrops too. sigh. I have officially lost my mind. Hopefully I'll stumble across it in a card folder on my computer. That seems to be where I put things then immediately forget. I thought there was a sense of deja vu about this project, but I chalked it up to the fact that I've used this paper quite a bit lately and the last time I did a real hack job on it and took me three or four tries to get the card cut out.



So, which one do you like the best? The one with the carriage is painted with twinklings and the image is from a Sunshine Designs baby cube. I do need a first birthday card for my niece. Would the mobile one do for that do you think or is it too babyish? Help, dear reader, I need your advice! And no, this card is not meant to endorse parking your pram pointing downhill..... Why does crookedness always show up worse on a scan??? Couldn't crookedness disappear the way sparkly embellishments do? It's just not right.

Sometimes life's a circus

I thought I'd check out the Stamping Bella forum on splitcoast since I found out that's where they post the free shipping announcements, etc. When I was stalking there, I found a recent colour challenge. I wanted to do some stamping, but didn't know what I felt like doing. This was a real challenge (chocolate chip, only orange and soft sky) - I hate only orange and how on earth was I going to make something that didn't look like something in the wastepaper basket at the A&W ad campaign office???

I stamped the circus tent on shimmering white paper and found that my not-so-carefully scribbled-in-marker sky wouldn't blend. So I stamped it again on watercolour and coloured in with Tombows and it blended very nicely, if not a little too eagerly in spots (don't look too closely...) There's a very fine line between blending and bleeding, and that line is usually to be found on one of my cards :-)

I accented with some stickles and that was the tent. The sentiment is also Stamping Bella and I stamped it chocolate chip craft ink and embossed with iridescent ice.

I needed to work in some only orange, so I cuttlebugged a strip and mounted it on choc chip. The wide ribbon is supposed to be reminiscent of a pennant and the whole shebang is mounted on textured soft sky cardstock (5 1/4" square).

Thanks for looking! (Anyone craving a Teenburger now?) Ba dump ba dump ba dump ba dump dump. Da dump da dump da dump dump......

Supplies: Stamps: Stamping Bella; Ink: palette black noir, chocolate chip craft ink; Paper: watercolour, chocolate chip, only orange, textured soft sky; Other: Tombow markers, aged copper brads, wide chocolate chip grosgrain ribbon, stickles, iridescent ice ep, swirly c'bug folder.

PS Sorry the scan is a bit off. It's hard to correct the colours. I guess my scanner hates only orange too. lol

Happy birthday Annie

Happy birthday Canada! And happy birthday Annie! I needed a (very) belated birthday card for my niece. I wanted to use my new PTI lavender moon paper and matching ribbon, so I went with a personalized card.

I stamped the letters with Jumbo alphabet and used a Sunshine Designs candle for the "i". All were coloured with Tombow markers and accented with stickles. The balloon background is also Sunshine Designs, from the same cube. The tab is from Totally Tabs and the sentiment is from Amazing to Zany. (Get it soon - it's retiring! It's one of my go-to sets for sure.) The turquoise mat is shimmery thanks to a spritzing of glimmer mist (I am really enjoying using that stuff and I may need to expand my colour choices).

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: Stamps: Jumbo Alphabet, Totally Tabs, Amazing to Zany (SU), birthday cube - Sunshine Designs; Ink: Palette black noir, Palette lavender moon, SU taken with teal; Paper: watercolour, tempting turquoise, PTI lavender moon; Other: Tombow markers, stickles, round tab punch, turquoise glimmer mist.