October Stamping Challenge #1

Here's my first card for my October Stamping Challenge (see this post for the details).  I used a pre-done focal image that was a reject for a class sample at Heather's.  It's stamped on kraft with a leaf image from Sunshine Designs and painted with Twinkling H20s.  It's layered on kraft, and then on blue shimmer.  The card base was cut new, but the accent strip was from the pile next to the paper cutter, so counts as a scrap.  Should I confess to the three additional scraps I generated for this card by cutting and rejecting accent strips?  Probably not.  The new stamp I used was the background stamp - a lovely stamp from nature prints by Fred B. Mullett.  Sorry about the mustard coloured watermark on the card, and the terrible scan.  Boy, Sauron the Scanner has really started doing terrible things to my cards.  On my monitor it looks like I used my card to blot bacon.  In real life it is much less blotchy and not bad looking.  Unfortunately, it's bed time and I don't have time to figure out how to change the font colour on the watermark or threaten and/or cajole the scanner into submission.

This card did squeak in under 15 minutes, but I am going to have to be a lot more decisive or start cheating change the rules on future projects since I used the whole 15 minutes for the layout on this one considering the focal panel was completely done.  All I had to do there was doodle the border.

Hope you found some time to stamp today too! 

October Stamping Challenge - Play Along With Me!

Hello!  Three things have happened in quick succession for me.  First, my stamping friends asked me to blog more frequently.  Second, I have a number of new stamps that need inking.  Third, I cast my eye over my stamping area and it is a disaster!  I have tried to tidy it up but whenever I do, I can't bear to throw out this bit great paper, or that scrap of handmade background or this little treasure or that.   How do I fix all these things all at once?

I put on my thinking cap and decided set myself a stamping challenge for the rest of October - to make at least one quick project every day.  Here's my plan:

• Spend no more than 15 minutes on each project
• Make each project primarily out of scraps
• Use at least one as yet uninked stamp  

So what do you think?  Are you with me?  Do you have a scrap pile that needs denting?  This might be a great way to get a head start on Christmas cards, birthday cards, or just padding the stash of ready-made cards.  I will have some sort of prize draw at the end for people who play along with me.  I'll figure out the details and post them later. In the meantime, set your timer for 15 minutes and get inky!

"Wait!"  you say.  "I always use my stamps the minute I get them!   I am a tidy stamper that hoards no scraps.  Can I still play along?"  Absolutely.  If you are this kind of stamper, because you have my (somewhat skeptical) admiration, you can play along too.  Just stamp something every day.  If you have the time and inclination to spend more than 15 minutes a crack, that's fine too.  I just needed a manageable time frame for myself.  The only thing that has to happen is that you make a project every day from now until the end of October.

And because every post needs a picture, here you go!  It's a random picture from my stamping past.  If memory serves, this was a class I did for Heather's Stamping Haven using Sunshine Designs stamps.

Would you like a glass of wine?

Hello! Here's a birthday card I made recently.  The recipient has been taking a number of wine tasting courses in the past couple of years so we got her a gift certificate for some more classes (or some special vintages to enjoy).  I thought this would be a nice card to go with the gift.  The stamp image is by Stamps Happen and I coloured it using the Tombow marker watercolouring technique using the image on the stamp block as my colour guide.  Next, I spritzed it lightly with Goosebumps and when they were dry, I sponged lightly with Antique Linen distress ink.  The image is matted on black linen paper, then mounted on a burgundy card base with a mustard fleck accent strip.  The card base and accent strip are edged with Memories Art Print Brown.  Inside it says, "Hope this is your best 29th birthday yet!"  I love that stamp!  It's from Impress Rubber Stamps.  On the envelope, I stamped the glass ring marks and splatters from Stampers Anonymous (Tim Holtz) in burgundy.  Don't you love it when a theme comes together?

Happy stamping!

Class this Saturday

Hello!  Just a quick post before I head off to work.  I have a class at Heather's Stamping Haven (click here for link).  If you'd like to take it, give Heather a call at the store to register.

For a description of the class, time and other details, click here.  I love these fall colours!  The trees are just starting to change colour here.  I just love autumn!

Golden Anniversary 2

Hello!  Here's a second golden anniversary card because I wanted to make something a little different to give the person who asked for them some choice.  The main inspiration for this one was that the couple celebrating their 50 years of marriage really love music so I wanted to incorporate music somehow.  I got out my music-themed stamping things and was trying out various embossing powders when I came across this one - Gilded Gold (Ranger).  Not to exciting on light coloured paper, but when used on black, it is stunning!  It's hard to describe, but basically it's only just gold, but definitely gold.  Like second generation stamping with gold ink only shiny and raised and in embossed form.  I think I have a new favourite embossing powder!

Most of my cards start from a focal image and go from there, but due to my new pash for Gilded Gold, I started with the background on this one (music notes scrap block - Cornish Heritage Farms) and decided to build up a little collage of sorts. I rummaged in my scraps bin and found some button paper and a piece of textured metal from a class I took at Heather's Stamping Haven (this only encourages me not to throw anything out.ever.bad.very bad.).  I remembered I had some lovely Darkroom Door photo chips and sure enough, I had a whole sheet to choose from.  I selected this piano one, and enhanced it with some Antique Linen distress ink and a scroll stamp (Stampers Anonymous) in Delicata gold ink (heat set it or it will smudge). The final touch was a little message that says "Happily Ever After" (Stampin' Up - Fancy Flexible Phrases), punched out and beribboned with seam binding and a bit of gold cord.  I matted on a cream gold, then a darker gold and put the whole thing (approximately 4 lb by now) on a cream linen base, also edged in Delicata gold and sponged with Antique Linen.  A few drops of Liquid pearls in bisque were the final touch.  Though now that I look at it, I am debating adding two more drops at the top left of the collage for balance.  I might wait till after I've had coffee though (I am writing this first thing in the morning) because I don't want to spoil the card with a misjudged squeeze of Liquid Pearls.  On the inside of this card, I put the sentiment "Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life, life gives us a fairy tale" (Stampin' Up).  A nice message for an anniversary!

Thanks for stopping by!

Golden Anniversary

Hello!  I was asked to make a card recently for a golden wedding anniversary (50th) and here's what I came up with.  I was completely uninspired to make something traditional, so I rootled around in my stamps and found this one (The Stamp Barn by Frog's Whiskers Ink).  I thought there was plenty of scope for adding gold, and I liked the "two birds" element for the anniversary part.  The card base is a gold-fleck confetti (the ugly splotches have been added by Sauron the Scanner, aided and abetted by Paint Shop Pro - it doesn't show in my edited version, only when I load it here for your viewing pleasure).  I stamped the bird image and embossed it with gold, and used my Tombow markers to "watercolour" it.  I painted the ribbon with Solar Gold Twinkling H20s for extra oomph.  The sentiment (Stampin' Up) is also embossed in gold.  The panel behind the images is a soft gold, the sentiment is matted with a brighter gold and the bird image is matted on a brown gold.  This card has enough gold on it to qualify for the High Roller Discount on the Vegas Strip.  Go big or go home, I always say.

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you're enjoying your summer/winter (don't want to be hemispherically biased here!).  We sure are - lots of swimming and barbecues and generally enjoying the break in the weather.  (We had a terrible heat wave last week.)  I've been doing some jamming and some quilting and some stamping and some knitting and some crocheting.  Good times!

Happy Stamping!

Father's Day

 Hello!  Now that Father's Day cards have been distributed, I can blog about them here.  The top one was for my husband, and the bottom one was for my dad. 

The top card is done with a coloured panel that has a Hero Arts background stamped on watercolour paper and embossed in white and then coloured with Distress markers and blended with a brush and water.  I gave it a small accent strip on one side, from my treasured stash of iris cardstock, which is now discontinued (can you believe it?  I couldn't - it was the best almost purple-almost blue cardstock ever).  It was mounted to a blue linen card base (which Sauron the Scanner has auto-corrected into something very peculiar) and stamped with "Happy Father's Day" (A Muse).  I stamped it in Chipped Sapphire and accented it with a Sakura Glaze pen.  It turned out that it was a white Sakura Glaze pen, and this treatment rendered the stamping almost invisible so I traced over with the Chipped Sapphire Distress Marker and took the liberty of adding some kisses underneath.  My younger daughter felt strongly that there should also be "o's" with the "x's", but I wasn't really seeking design input at this point.   I added white opal liquid pearls to the dots at the circles' intersectins. 

The card for my dad was a fun one. We used this stamp (Impression Obsession) in Krista's classes recently, so I did a different take on it and stamped it in white on kraft cardstock and coloured it with Bryunzeel pencil crayons.  I put it on a Bordering Blue card base with some Stampin' Up paper that coordinates with these two papers.  Some mushroom adirondack dimensional pearls completed the look.  I asked hubby if it was too feminine and he said, "It's just feminine enough."  You would think I would know better by now than to ask him, but there you go.  I might just have learned my lesson. 

We've had a great Father's Day - a trip down to Brockville to see the tall ships, and a lovely dinner out. 

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you got some stamping in this weekend too.