Stampendous Monday!

There are two packages that I am so excited to see on my front door. I don't care much the size or color of the packaging, but I sure will jump for joy when I open them up. I have a mass order of mono refills coming with a looming "In Transit" on it's tracker page. It's not good to be without tape for a crafter... not good at all.

The other is starting to show up in my dreams....! I'll be starting real soon on creations for the Stampendous BlogStar team and it is going to be FUN. I even went out and bought a sweet little set, just because I couldn't wait! Well, now my other crafts have gotten in the way of inking it up so I'll show you two other Stampendous cards that I made a couple weeks back. I've got some sweet ideas for my new set!

Stampendous! Petals Nouveau and Scrolled Seasons stamps
and Teddy Bear Tan Fun Flock (color discontinued...I think)

This holiday card was a fun technique to try out. Use a glue pad on the stamp and sprinkle down some fun flock on it, pressing it in a bit, and letting it dry while I stamp and distress the rest of the card!

Details: 
Stamps: Petals Nouveau, Scrolled Seasons
Paper: Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Wausau Chocolate
Ink: CTMH Chocolate Chip
Accessories: Glue pad, Inverted Square Nestabilities, Offray satin ribbon

Stampendous! Birthday Assortment and Ranunculus PC sets

This was a great simple card using three different Stampin' Up ink pads (Baroque Burgundy, Rose Red and Positively Pink) and the Ranunculus PC set. I laid down three of the flower blooms onto my large clear acrylic block and inked them up to give me two main clusters of blooms. I separated the blooms onto different blocks and inked in different colors and made a random layering of them. The sentiment is just sweetly tucked under all those airy flowers.


Details:
Stamps: Birthday Assortment, Ranunculus Perfectly Clear
Paper: Neenah White
Ink:  Stampin' Up! Baroque Burgundy, Rose Red, Positively Pink and Tsukineko Tuxedo Black
Accessories: NA

Gifts Galore!

Updated Monday 12/5/2011: I forgot to mention that I'm playing along in the December Verve Diva Dare: A Handmade Christmas! You can play along, too! Go to Day 1 on the Verve Stamps Blog and link up your handmade holiday goodness!

It has been a good week! It's now the weekend and I'm about to show you some of the projects I've been up to this past week. BEWARE... it's a long post with lots of pictures!!!!

In one week I'll be sitting at a booth selling some of my papercrafting and artsy projects to men! Well, only for one hour and then it's open game to all the women. I think I mentioned before that my church is getting all the ladies who own businesses or run them out of their homes, to set up shop for one morning. It happens to be right after the Men's Christmas breakfast. I think they have been encouraged to bring their wallets~ lol.

So here are a few different items I've been working on to sell. All handmade items and all paper crafted.

A gift card box:

Verve's sets: O Christmas Tree and  Winter Tree PJ with
Winter Fun Die Set

The belly band removed and an angled showcase for the
gift card based off of the Creations by AR gift card holder
I purchased and the pizza box template.

Tag Ornament: (my own design from this post)

Verve set Glad Tidings and the
Snowflake Tidings Die Set

Getting a closer look at the acetate window... doesn't show
very well in any of the pics I took, sorry.

Take out the "tag" and slip in a photo.
Then hang it on your tree next year!

Reflecting God Collage Ornament

Explanation? I've been keeping my old paper quarterly church devotionals called Reflecting God, and using them as text backgrounds. So when I was trying to think of something that might be unique to do for ornaments I had an A- ha! moment. It's my first try at collage ornament in triptych style, but oh well, it was a growth experience for me. And yeah, I made up that whole style name. It's not Google-ble, I tried.

Verve Frosty Flakes and
Frosty Snowflakes Die Set

Verve Believe, Blessed Christmas, Filigree Fantasy
and Frosty Flakes.
Frosty Snowflakes Die Set

Verve's Everlasting Life, Christmas in the Air,
O Christmas Tree (very faint tree) and Believe
(Frosty Flakes and Frosty Snowflakes Die Set too.)

A view of the shape and hanger loop.

There are duplicates in different colors and styles of these plus a whole lot more, like plain ol' cards, I've got waiting for the booth. I've heard people spend their whole year creating for one event, I sure wish I had that in mind last winter, but this is a first for me and it will be a great learning experience!


Details? If anyone is curious how I made it, just send me an email. I'll be glad to get back to you as soon as I can. I turned to scraps of holiday looking paper that is too old to find links or it was a garage sale buy. The inks, embossing powders or folder, glitter glue or spray and dies are under these umbrellas; Verve, Spellbinders PaperArts, Stampin' Up, Close to my Heart, AC Zing, Copic AtYou, Ranger and Fiskar for the razor back scissors.

It's Thanksgiving week for our family and we are all home just hanging out. If our paths don't cross on my blog this week have a wonderful week and I for those of you cooking up a fantastic dinner on Thursday, Happy Thanksgiving!.

Today's card is a CAS card challenge from Splitcoast Stampers. I saw Lisa Lara's card about chocolate and that was the end of it. I had to go find my ONE stamp about chocolate and use it on this challenge. I guess I CASE'd Lisa's CAS!

Challenge 142: Ivory, Brown and Red

I've got some more creating to do for the Christmas Bazaar booth I've sign up to do. I hope I can moving quicker than a snail on some of these because I've got great ideas, but my time is going very slow


Details:
Stamps: HA designer woodgrain, Verve Love Flower
Paper:  Close to Cocoa, Ivory, Chocolate
Ink:  Chocolate Chip, Real Red
Accessories: Offray red ribbon, Labels 14 Nestabilities, Tween Lattice texture plate

News and Good News!

Good morning! Well it was mid-morning when I started this post, but I'm still here to give you all sorts of news today.

I've been working on some cards and tree ornaments this week to sell at an upcoming holiday shopping day. It's geared towards my church's men's ministry. They meet for breakfast once a month and so we are setting up shop next to their meeting room. After the breakfast is over they really just need to just shop as they walk out to their cars! LOL
This is the first time I've had a booth all to myself and seriously it will be sparse since I signed up only two weeks ago. I'll let you know how it went and show some sneak peeks as they get done in bulk!

Jen instructing me and my friend,
Jill McDonald owner of Urban Paper,
on the feathering technique... I think.

You know my October was turned upside down as my father passed away, but my first business-like adventure happened as well. I went to Portland, OR for a friday class to better understand how to use COPIIC Markers! You can see the back of my head in a tweet photo from CopicMarker. Our instructor was Jen Balcer, a lovely lady, who had plenty of tips and tricks that had this coloring veteran spinning! I had a learning high so much that I begged to be in the Intermediate class. Lucky for me, Imagination International (the US company that does these classes) just decided earlier in the week to run a trial process letting students register directly from their Standard classes. I got to be with the talented and hyper, Colleen Schaan and extraordinary Marianne Walker for that class the next day. So you can now call me certified to know how to use Copic markers when I create. It's time for me to set up some classes out of my home! I'm working on a few digital stamps that I can use for practice pieces, then its hype time.

Incredibly fun news is next! STAMPENDOUS! news!
I saw a tweet from Taylor Usry a couple weeks ago about the Stampendous BlogStars Design Team Call. I prayed and debated about it in my head and decided to submit. I used it as an excuse for a few new stamps and wouldn't you know I came home with three new sets to ink up and my back problems kicked in. It took me almost a week to be able to sit at my computer for more than an hour, so I wasn't sure I would be able to create cards AND get them sent in time. Thankfully I got them done and emailed in time to be considered. Whew! So now here's a card that I submitted that uses my new found Copic Marker knowledge AND my new Jumbo Cling Hydrangea stamp.

Isn't that hydrangea make you swoon? I'm partial to that plant even though I can't grow them AT all so now I have one that will last a very long time! LOL

I stamped the flower cluster with Going Grey ink, a new learned technique, after stamping the butterfly in Memento Tuxedo Black and masking it off with a post-it note.

I used Copic markers to color it all in and then I pulled out my new absolute favorite black pen, Copic Multiliner 0.08mm size and squiggled a line along side a see-thru ruler that measured 1/8-inch away from the edge of the card.

The sentiment is from another Stampendous set called Birthday Assortment. It's got quite a few ways to say exactly the right thing on a birthday.

Details:
Stamps: Jumbo Cling Hydrangea, Birthday Assortment
Paper: Neenah Classic White
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Going Grey, Copic markers and black multiliner
Accessories: Omnigrid ruler

Stitched Birthday Blessing

 This card was something I did back in October for the Viva La Verve sketch challenge week 5 from Diva Andrea, but didn't have time to post about them all. A nice simple card with only one thing stamped!

The paper is from the Double Deck set by Cosmo Cricket using the Material Girl set. I hand cut the rulers off one page and just "wrapped" them around the middle of the card. I used the red ruler as a two tail banner from the sketch layout. The sentiment is stamped in Brown Bag ink onto about 7 layers of old sketch paper that was die cut with a nestabilities scallop circle die.  Then I pulled out my plastic canvas circle and pierced around the edges for my stitched DMC embroidered border. I sponge distressed around the scallops to make it pop off the background a bit, but also added three-dimensional tape to finish it off. The button is a DIY chipboard made with three thin chipboard circles glued together after the button holes were punched with a Crop-a-dile. I used black craft paint to color the button after a failed attempt to heat emboss it. I don't know how some of you pull that off, but I'm not any good at that. I've tried on several different projects and it's just not in me.

The sketch had a three panel background that wasn't showing up as nicely as I wanted so I drew by hand some stitches above and below the focal point. Not the best, but I think it works with the style of sewing and stitching.

Have a splendid Wednesday!

Details:
Stamps: Love Deepens
Paper: Material Girl, vintage graph paper
Ink: CTMH Brown Bag, Ranger Tea Dye
Accessories: Paper button and embroidery thread, scallop circle nestabilities die

We are celebrating Veteran's Day in the US today. Thanks to all who have served and are serving our country. Our family is grateful for your service!

I've been on hold with a lot of projects this whole week. I woke up Monday morning with a stiff neck and upper back. It's usual for me to have these episodes, but I can usually tag it on to some outrageous feat I've accomplished. This time it just happened. I must be getting old. Oh-hum.

Well anyway, last week I managed to create three cards in one night and then I had no time or strength to blog about them.

Here's one of the cards made for the October Viva La Verve Challenges on Splitcoast Stampers forum. It's the week 4 sketch by Charmaine Ikach. There are already two sketches for November. I'd better get crackin'!

I had fun tearing these pattern papers from My Mind's Eye Bohemia pack. I glued them to a precut sheet of copy paper sized 4 x 5 1/4 inches. When I was done, I tore away the copy paper from the pattern paper where it might have shown around the edges. I left some pieces going off the edges for a spontaneous card base.

The sentiment is from Verve's Always on my Mind set. I stamped it on heavy watercolor paper with Memento Tuxedo Black. I used a Nestabilities oval die to cut a larger shape around it and then wet the embossed edge the die makes with an aqua pen. I tore the edges and the paper stopped at the embossed edge. Nice effect, I think.

The scribbles was a overflow of creativity from all of the tearing I did on this card. I just wanted a free form edge and my new favorite pen (Copic Mulitliner 0.08mm). I believe that pen is going to give me many more creative edges in the future.

I'll be posting about the other cards as I have time and upper body strength to sit at the computer. Until next time,



Details:

Stamps: Always on My Mind (Verve)
Paper: Bohemia pack (MME), watercolor paper
Ink: Copic Multiliner pen, Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Moss Rhinestones, oval die cut (Spellbinders PaperArts)