Stamp It! Cards

Have you seen the latest issue of Stamp It! Cards? These special issues are always my favorite. They are full of gorgeous cards and awesome techniques, every one of them featuring stamping! I was lucky enough to have six cards accepted in this issue, my first multiple acceptance.

Cath, of the fun and fabulous Moxie Fab World blog, invited me and nine other designers, to create a card for a special giveaway. Each card is signed by the designer that created it and they're being offered up as a prize for you today! Check out the post over at Moxie Fab World blog and leave a comment, you will be entered to win all ten signed cards. You have until Sunday, March 22 at midnight, MST to play along. And be sure to keep an eye on the Moxie blog all week because it's Stamp It! Cards Week and they've got all kinds of fun planned. Be sure to check out the Paper Crafts blog too!

Here's my card, I cannot get enough of Friends 'Til the End, so I created a little something with that set.

I stamped the flowers with Vintage Cream pigment ink onto the cardstock vellum, then I stamped a few flowers in Melon Berry, then added a sentiment and a few buttons. Inside the card is another piece of Vintage Cream cardstock, so when the card lays flat, you get that extra matted effect.

The other designers being featured today are:

Maren Benedict
Kim Kesti
Julia Stainton
Teri Anderson
Angie Hagist
Debbie Olson
Melissa Phillips
Dawn McVey
Jen del Muro

Hybrid Papercrafting

I've dabbled in digiscrapping (perhaps more than dabbled, I just checked my folder, it's apparently 10GB, perhaps it's time to do some purging). I've been stamping for five solid years now. Occasionally, I'll print out a sentiment for a card, but I rarely combine the digital elements with paper ones. So when I saw that Kristina Werner had released some digital papers and elements I decided to give it a try. I also like to support fellow crafters in their new ventures.

First, I went with a zero stamping card. I printed out smaller, card-sized amounts of the patterned papers. I also used the fancy frame brush and a sentiment and placed that onto another one of the patterns before printing it out. The colours when printed were a bit reminiscent of the Loves Me paper (a long retired favorite of mine), so since I still have some coordinating ribbon I added that. The kraft dots ended up printing a bit more caramel in tone, so instead of using a kraft card base, I went with creamy caramel.
Second, I went with a bit of stamping. I printed the frames in several sizes and found that this size held this happy birthday sentiment nicely. Next, I used some more of the stripes, added some more matching Loves Me ribbon and stamped a row of cupcakes. I also brought out the Cool Caribbean, since that coordinated nicely with the printed paper. It's such a good cool!
My verdict on hybrid crafting: I liked it. It's nice to just print out some basic design elements (like the sentiments and frames), as well as papers, and pair them with the other stuff in your stash. Now I may yet put some of that 10GB of digital stuff to work!

A bit of Whipper Snapper

I am so excited to be a featured designer for Anna's latest designs at Whipper Snapper. Some good news for you, there's a sale on Cling Mount (includes case & insert) - $19.99 each - Special through March 20th - $14.99!

I had a lot of fun with Little Critters. Anytime I see a set with different animals in it, I feel the need to stack them. I don't know why, it's just something that I think is cute with animal sets. I stamped the elephant, giraffe, and the bird and got to work colouring them in with Copics. I thought the Dream Big sentiment from Happy Thoughts seemed appropriate

For my next card, I was still on a Copics kick. I stamped and cut out 3 cupcakes, then got to work colouring those in. I added a couple layers of clear Spica on the cupcake tops and the cherries. It adds just the right amount of sparkle. I also stamped my own background paper using the Sending Happy Thoughts sentiment.


Be sure to check out the other March/April Featured Designers:
Bev Rousch
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/BevMom
Blog: http://bevithia.blogspot.com/

Danielle Kennedy
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/dpkennedy
Blog: http://wilddragonflydesigns.blogspot.com/

Lori Craig
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/stamp_momma
Blog: http://loricraig.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/

Shannan Teubner
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/steubner
Blog: http://withfeathersandsequins.blogspot.com/

and of course Anna Wight
SCS Gallery: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/sweetmissdaisy
Blog: http://sweetmissdaisy.typepad.com/

Supplies:

Card One: Stamps: Little Critters, Happy Thoughts

Ink: Tuxedo Black

Paper: Basic Grey, Pure Poppy, Spring Rain, White, Hawaii Papaya DSP

Accessories, etc.: Copics, pop dots

Card Two: Stamps: Happy Thoughts

Ink: Tuxedo Black, Close to Cocoa

Paper: Pink Pirouette, Pink Passion, Close to Cocoa, White

Accessories, etc.: Copics, pop dots, nestabilities.

A few Saturday creations

After tidying up my desk a bit and reorganizing a few things, I felt inspired. Amazing what a clean surface can do for creativity.

First up is a card featuring Damask Designs. I was happy with the Ocean Tides, Vintage Cream, and Dark Chocolate colour combination the other day, so I decided to do that again. I added in one extra colour- Sage Shadow. It works quite well with these colours. The card is pretty basic. I did however do one thing I don't normally do... scoring as a means of decorating the card. First I masked off the side, stamped the one repeated background image there, then I scored two lines beside that, leaving enough room for a thin strip of cardstock. I really like how it turned out, I'll have to try that again some time.

Second up is a card featuring Fifth Avenue Floral. One thing I really like about line art is you can use not only for making fun backgrounds, but you can also really bring it to life with some sort of colouring medium. I stamped this flower and stem on watercolour paper, got out a few reinkers and got to work. I added some grey to really contrast with the orange and green.

Supplies:

Card One: Stamps: Damask Designs (PTI)

Cardstock: Sage Shadow, Ocean Tides, Vintage Cream, Dark Chocolate

Ink: Dark Chocolate, Ocean Tides, Vintage Cream

Accessories, etc.: Scor-It, Ribbon

Card Two: Stamps: Sincere Salutations, Fifth Avenue Floral (SU!)

Cardstock: White, Basic Grey, Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss, Urban Oasis DSP

Ink: Timber Brown Stazon, Basic Grey, Kiwi Kiss, Summer Sun, Tangerine Tango

Accessories, etc.: Orange Brads, pop dots, white signo gel pen

#45

Time for another colour inspiration. This week, it's all about keeping things monochromatic with black, grey, and white.

I kept things pretty simple. I made some stamped patterned paper using black, white, and grey ink on grey cardstock. I adhered that to the card, added some 5/8'' black grosgrain and a simple knot. Next I added in my sentiment and stamped a few more flowers on the white base. Very quick, and any colours or sentiments could be used to fit any occasion.

Supplies:

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral, Damask Designs

Ink: True Black, Fresh Snow, Basic Grey

Cardstock: Basic Grey, White

Accessories, etc.: Black Grosgrain

Sketches

This week Starving Artistamps is a sponsor for 2 Sketches 4 You, so the design team played along with the sketch.
This sketch was pretty far from my personal style (clean and simple), but it was so much fun to go back to making something that had so many layers. When I started stamping, I was all about complex and loads of layers. These colours were inspired by the label on a body scrub I have. I really liked how bright and fun it was, so I decided a birthday card was most appropriate. I stamped the cupcake and went about colouring it (just a heads up for PTI fans, I found that Copic G14 Apple Green is a pretty good match for New Leaf). I coated the cupcake top with glue and sprinkled on the glitter. The rest of the card is pretty straight forward. I just kept adding in layers of black to really make the bright colours pop.

Supplies:
Stamps: Simple Birthday, Fairy Tale Sentiments, Dot Background
Ink: Tuxedo Black, Taken with Teal
Cardstock: White, Black, Taken with Teal, New Leaf, Summer Sunrise, Pure Poppy
Accessories, etc.: Various Nestabilities, Copics, black brads, glitter

A couple of one-layer cards

I decided to participate in the colour challenge at the last moment this week. I wanted something really quick, but striking. I decided to do a bit of masking and sponging. I liked the result, but I really wanted to a version with a Pink Pirouette, and I only have the reinker.

So here's card number one:, basic masking and sponging using Pretty in Pink. This version also features some nice double-faced satin ribbon.

For card number two, I started out with the same mask. I stamped the flowers first, in craft ink, then applied embossing powder. Then I sponged a very subtle shading of white. It pops out just a little. For this one, I didn't think the satin ribbon seemed right, so I grabbed this stitched pink and chocolate ribbon instead. It's kind of funny, in person, the pink one is more striking because of the subtle shading and the added texture of the embossing powder. But in photographs the white one pops out more.

Supplies:

Stamps: Friends 'Til the End (PTI), Birthday Basics

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White
Paper: White, Pink Pirouette

Accessories, etc.: Sponge, Embossing Powder, Ribbon

A couple of answers...

Regarding the previous post...
1) The watercolours used here are Twinkling H2Os, they are a solid, and they come if small tubs. They are a shimmery type of paint. I rarely work with watercolour crayons, just haven't been as happy with the results.
2) Flocking glue tips: Use a glue pen. I have both the quickie glue pen (great for fine detailing) as well as the glue that came in the Martha Stewart glitter trios (small tip and opening, easy to control and "draw" with). Work in small sections, glue a bit, sprinkle the flocking powder on liberally, grab a scrap piece of cardstock and press pretty hard on the flock with the paper. This helps to really press the powder into the glue.

Hope that helps!

Flocked Damask and Shimmery Flowers

I was in the mood to do a bit of watercolouring. I've been meaning to do something with a glow type style of painting. Since I received my PTI order today, I figured, might as well give it a go. I actually started with the glow (just a bit excited to get that done), then painted in the rest of the flower. I didn't want to take away from the watercolouring, so I just added a sentiment and a mat and put that on a Raspberry card base.

As soon as I saw the Damask Designs, I knew I wanted to try giving them some texture with flocking powder. I stamped these two images in Melon Berry, then got to work with my glue pen and powder. I thought I'd add a cute little button and a nice sentiment. Again, I didn't want to take away from all that work (and that would not have looked good anyway), so I matted the image and put that on a Melon card base.

Supplies:

Stamps: Friends 'Til the End, Damask Designs

Ink: Stazon Timber Brown, Melon Berry

Cardstock: Dark Chocolate, Raspberry Fizz, Melon Berry, Watercolour Paper, White

Accessories, etc.: Twinkling H2Os, Vintage Buttons, White Flock

Making Cupcakes

This card came together tonight because this stamp set happened to still be on my desk. Considering how often I have a list of "to-do's" or a sketch or colour combination to refer to, I end up making cards pretty randomly. Here's how this one came together...

1) Saw the stamp set: Big Bold Birthday, thought "I haven't used that in a while"

2) I like the cardstock colour lemon tart, there happens to be a piece right here, I'll use that for the base.

3) I want to add dots of colour to the top, so I need two colours that are appropriate for cupcakes and go well together- Sweet Blush and Berry Sorbet it is.

4) A circle card would be fun.

5) I have a friend who's turning 25 this Sunday, this could be her birthday card
6) Maybe I should cover the numbers with glitter and stick them on the cupcake, since it seems a bit plain right now.

Yeah, that's pretty much how it came together. It's kind of nice when the creative process just happens. I didn't set out to make a birthday card for a specific person, but it just seemed to fit

Supplies:

Stamps: Big Bold Birthday, Birthday Basics

Cardstock: Sweet Blush, Berry Sorbet, Lemon Tart, White

Ink: Lemon Tart, Sweet Blush, Berry Sorbet

Accessories, etc.: Quickutz Alphabet, stickles, glitter, pop dots, nestabilities

Blog Hop Time

I don't always get the chance to participate in these, but when I do, I certainly enjoy them! The theme this time was all things spring. And with the 5-15 cm (maybe more?) of snow we received yesterday, I am beyond ready for spring!

This card took WAY too long. I kept fiddling with the little details. I wanted the ribbon, buttons, scallops and the rabbit on there, and getting it all to fit was a bit more complicated than I had anticipated. I also realized that I don't have many Easter or Spring sentiments. Perhaps I never realized a lack in this area since this is probably only the second Spring/Easter card I have ever made? It's just not something I usually do. I don't send Easter cards to people. And spring, well, it's one of those funny things, more often than not, there's not much of a transition between winter and summer. All of a sudden it's hot and the snow is finally all melted.

Supplies: Stamps: Mixed Messages, Bitty Baby Blessings

Ink: Dark Chocolate

Cardstock: White, Sweet Blush, Lemon Tart, Dark Chocolate

Accessories, etc.: buttons (from Walmart years ago), dental floss, Sweet Blush Stitched Grosgrain, pop dots, scalloped nestabilities

CPS sketch

I saw that PTI was sponsoring CPS this week, so I thought I'd play along. I was completely inspired by the colours in Nichole Heady's card. I simplified it a bit- taking out the New Leaf (don't have that colour yet) and the Kraft. I grabbed a set I received fairly recently, Women of Life, but have yet to use to its full potential. I really enjoyed this layout because it wasn't overly complex. It was different from something I usually do, but it still allowed me to keep things pretty clean and simple.

Supplies: Stamps: Women of Life, Polka Dot Basics Ink: Ocean Tides, Aqua Mist, Summer Sunrise, Ripe Avocado Cardstock: White, Avocado, Ocean Tides Accessories, etc.: Corner Rounder

Colour Inspiration

I made this card on Thursday for Kristina's colour challenge, but I totally forgot to upload, so here it is now. The colours to use were Really Rust, More Mustard, Kiwi Kiss, and Whisper White.
I had quite a bit of fun making a scenic card. I just got these trees on Tuesday evening so I had to use them. Expect to see more of them over the next little while.

Supplies:
Stamps: Trendy Trees
Ink: Really Rust, Kiwi Kiss
Paper: Kiwi Kiss, More Mustard, Really Rust
Accessories, etc.: Scalloped nestabilities, pop dots

Flocked Birthday Wishes

The other day I saw this stunning card by Alli Miles. Loved the idea and thought I'd make my own version. Although the one layer looks marvelous, I wanted to change it up, make it a bit more mine. I had picked up some double-face satin earlier in the weekend. They match Spring Rain and Dark Chocolate almost perfectly, so I was wanting to use at least one of those.
So the ribbon dictated my colour scheme. I used brown for the branch and did the dots in blue. I thought it had a slight resemblance to pussywillows. I thought it'd be cute to make them fuzzy, so I got out the white flocking and added it over each dot. It really adds a fun texture to the card. On a side note, I've tried several sticking methods, my tried and true are white glue with a fine application tip or the quickie glue pen. I just haven't been thrilled with heat and stick powder or the glue pad. Other people are raved over them, so maybe I'm doing something wrong? Anyway, the regular white glue works, so that's what I use.

Supplies:
Stamps: Polka Dot Basics, Out on a Limb
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Spring Rain
Paper: White, Chocolate, Spring Rain
Accessories, etc.: Double hole punch, ribbon, white flock

Colour Challenge

It's funny, when I was checking out the sneak peaks for Damask Designs, several of the colour combinations popped out at me. I was planning on making a card with this particular combination (Aqua, Chocolate and Lemon) before I even saw the challenge. The challenge just ensured that I actually followed through, instead of filing it onto my to-do list.

So here's my card, I went way back...to the first PTI set ever released. I did bring in Polka Dot Basics. I thought about leaving the Lemon background as is, but the dots seemed like a nice unifying theme (to go with the dotted flower centers). A tip, that isn't exactly earth shattering, but it's something I hadn't thought of before. Instead of constantly switching between the different stem length stamps, use the longest one, but place a post-it note at the base. You can then stamp the exact length you want, and you'll always have a crisp edge. For the card, I stamped the sentiment first, then placed the stems around it.

Supplies:

Stamps: Paper Tray, Polka Dot Basics

Ink: Lemon Tart, Dark Chocolate, Aqua Mist

Paper: White, Dark Chocolate, Lemon Tart, Aqua Mist

Accessories, etc.: 3/8'' Brown Grosgrain, Rectangle Scalloped Nestabilities, pop dots

Grey & Yellow

This colour combination is one of the few that I find a bit repulsive. There's so much of it everywhere, and I'm really not a fan. However, there was a challenge on the Moxie Fab blog, so I thought, why not give it a shot. Now, even though I am pretty pleased with my card, I have still not been won over by this colour combo! I suppose with the right grey and the right yellow it's alright... There are several different hues and tones though that just aren't right. At least I tried something I wasn't sure of, it's always good to stretch outside of your comfort zone sometimes.

Supplies:
Stamps: Linograph, Garden of Life, Father Knows Best
Ink: Lemon Tart, Basic Grey, Fresh Snow
Paper: White, Lemon Tart, Basic Grey
Accessories, etc.: white grosgrain, lemon satin, corner rounder

CPS Card

Starving Artistamps is one of the sponsors on CPS this week. Here's my take on the sketch. I was going with a "Fern Gully, the Last Rainforest" vibe. Anybody remember that movie??

Card features Boaz the Bat and Jungle Backdrop. Thanks for stopping by.

Uh Oh!

Somebody stop me... I finally sat down and actually figured out just how easy my vector drawing program is (Macromedia Freehand)! I started out the same way I was taught in cartography. Find something and digitize it (I did that to make my own maps, basically you take something and trace over it digitally. This can be applied to items that are already digital or something you scan in). First I took a stab at the gorgeous roses from Stampin' Up!'s Fifth Avenue Floral. Next, I've been a bit too obsessed with the flower from a yet to be released PTI set, so that became my next target/practice. Finally, after feeling confident enough about my digi-drawing skills, I went about making my own designs, which I then had to feature in a new blog header and watermark.

So here's a card I made a few weeks back. I was having WAY too much fun with glitter. First I stamped the butterfly on acetate, then I coated the backside with crystal effects and dumped the glitter on. I let that dry then attached it to some cardstock with brads. For the side glitter panel, I took a piece of Stamper's Magic tape, lined the interior of the card and dumped glitter on it. Finally, I added some gelly gems ('cause there just wasn't enough sparkle yet) and called it a day.

Supplies:

Stamps:Butterflies Are Free by gel-a-tins

Ink: Black Stazon

Paper: White, Black, Turquoise

Accessories, etc.: Acetate, blue glitter, gelly gems, black ribbon, Stamper's Magic tape

Hop!

Thanks for stopping by my blog! Check out Heidi's blog for the next stop in our blog hop. You're going to want to visit all the other blogs because one of us has some great blog candy to give away! Here is the complete list in case you just started hopping from here: Juliana Swanson http://stampinwinkyfingers.blogspot.com/ Lisa Somerville http://www.lisasomerville.com/ Donna Baker http://stampamaniac.blogspot.com/ Donna Duquette http://www.deesstudio.blogspot.com/ Kathy Daume' http://www.kathy-prettyinink.blogspot.com/ Lori Tecler http://www.inkingaloud.blogspot.com/ Lydia Fiedler http://www.understandblue.blogspot.com/ Andrea Cloutier http://andreasscraps.com/ Natasha http://palmtreesandpogosticks.blogspot.com/ Heidi Kingery http://www.sweetheidijo.blogspot.com/ Leigh O'Brien http://sunflowerstudio.typepad.com/sunflower_studio/ Irene Silva http://doodlefactory.blogspot.com/ To the new releases: http://www.starvingartistamps.com/

Here's my first card. It uses the amazing Urban background. I LOVE this background and I had way too much fun with this card. It's got 4 layers of dimension. I started with a cityscape colour appropriate card base and built up from there. It was all coloured with Copics.

For my second card I wanted to do something a bit softer, especially since it was the countryside landscape. I went with pencil crayons and mineral spirits. I thought the little version of Basel the sheep was so perfect, especially with that sentiment. The nice thing about the miniature versions of the DoodleFactory Animals and Creatures is that they fit so nicely in this landscape! I love it!

Next up is a bit of a jungle scene. I knew that if I coloured this with markers or pencil crayons it would look similar (i.e. a LOT of green) to a brayered effect, so I took the less time consuming route on this one. Note that getting brayered backgrounds just right isn't necessarily easier than colouring!I added a bit of shading and other highlighting to the background then added in the monkeys. I thought it'd be cute it have the greeting on a little flag!

Finally is a card featuring the tropics background. I knew I had to do a sunset sky theme here. So I got out the glossy cardstock and started sponging. I cut out the background and adhered it over top. I really wanted a sparkly ocean, so I got out the stickles. I was having issues with it (I thought that stuff was non-settling!), so I squeezed onto a scrap piece of paper until enough finally came out. Then I took a paint brush and painted over the blue. I am quite happy with the effect- no globs and an even coverage! To the left is an up close and personal look at the glittering, glistening ocean. Paradise found seemed like the perfect greeting.

Here's the completed card. Other than the background, which was made using various dye inks, the entire card was coloured with Copics.

Be sure to check out everyone else on the blog hop. I cannot wait to see what everyone else did with the background images. I had even more fun than I expected with them!

Hippity Hop...

Save the date!
We would like to invite you to visit with us on February 7th for our first ever DoodleFactory new release blog hop!

What's this all about?
Irene thought it would be fun to put the design team to work creating some super cool brand new projects with our brand new release! And since this release is a whole lot different than what we have done in the past we thought we should do something special to mark its arrival into the stamp world! We are so excited to see what you think of it and we really CAN'T WAIT to show it to you.
So what you need to do is stop back here on February 7th (after 11am EST) and you will find a list of our designers blogs. Start at the first name on the list and visit her blog to see her fun new release project(s) she will give you the link to the next designer's blog and you can pop in over there to see the next great project and so on and so forth down the list it will go!
You are going to want to visit all the blogs because one of them will be giving you some information on some delicious blog candy.
What is it? Well... you will just have to wait and see! So mark your calendar, save the date, stick up a post it, or write it on your hand but do whatever you have to do to be here on February 7th for our first new release BLOG HOP!!