Shana Gaff
(260)897-3911
stressfreestamping@gmail.com
Independent Stampin' Up! Demonstrator

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Spring Break!!!

Yikes, I have been so exhausted from going back to work full time that I haven't made a card in two weeks! :( That makes me so sad!  I did have scrap camp last night though, so at least I got some time to hang out with my crafting buddies.  Today we have a brand new challenge at ATCAS, brought to us by the lovely Loll.
We are joined once again by Birgit as Guest Designer. She has the cutest card to share with us this week! This one was kind of hard for me because I don't make many cards that I would consider cute!  I do have a few animal sets though, so I decided to take the little monkey for a balloon ride. 
Cutting that little guy out with my craft knife was kind of torturous but I thought it ended up kind of cute! :) The background is a Project Life card from the Sale-a-bration catalog.  You can earn a whole set of cards for free if you spend $50, but you only have a few more days until the end of the month! 

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope to get in some more crafting time this week because I am on SPRING BREAK! Woo hoo! 

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Back in the Dominican!

We're so excited to be in the Dominican on another missions trip! I had to schedule this post early since we have no internet while we're there. :) This week we have a new challenge for you at Addicted to CAS.
We are joined this month by Guest Designer Birgit. She does beautiful CAS cards and often uses wonderful linen-looking cardstock that I must check into because it makes every one of her cards look like they should be framed pieces of art!  Make sure to stop by her blog and give her some stampy love! 

I guess the most obvious way to go with this code word this time of year would be St. Patrick's Day. However, I have no stamps of that theme, nor a reason to ever send someone a St. Patrick's Day card! :)  So I decided to make a card using only my new go-to green, Mossy Meadow. It is so rich and beautiful! 
I used generation stamping with Old Olive ink for my leaf image and the sentiment is Mossy Meadow.  The ribbon started out white and I colored it with my (sadly now discontinued) Blendabilities.  I rounded the two bottom corners, added some pearls and called it a complete CAS card! :)  When I showed it to Brett he told me it was classy and one of his favorites that I have ever made so I will call that a success! lol 

Thanks for stopping by! Make sure to check out all of the creations by the entire design team over at ATCAS!

Sunday, March 1, 2015

The Stamp Review Crew: Sheltering Tree Edition

Welcome to another Stamp Crew Review Blog Hop!  We take a selected stamp set every first and third Monday of each month and show you our creations with it.  This time we are using one of my favorite tree sets EVER, Sheltering Tree. Seriously, this set even trumps LAAT for me, so it's a good one! It has great little accents and sentiments included with it, which is what I think makes it a true home run stamp set.

If you are hopping around in a circle, you have just come from Beth Beard's blog.  Beth has such a detailed style that I LOVE and have not quite mastered myself. lol I made a few projects this time, which is unusual for me, but I start working full time today so I wanted to get in as much crafty time as possible before work tied me down! :)  I wanted to do a few things that weren't obvious with this set and started with the lovely leaf image for a background.


I used three shades of pink for my background and wanted to keep the focus on the lovely background so I just went with the simply stamped sentiment and embossed frame to showcase it.

For my next card, I just HAD to use those adorable little bicycles.  I saw a mirror on Pinterest that looked exactly like this window frame, so that was my inspiration for the circle behind the frame. My frame is stamped with gold ink and the card base is Brushed Gold cardstock. You can see the shimmer a little bit in the upper left-hand corner.  I used my Blendabilities to color my ribbon and Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer paper.  I will never buy colored ribbon again! This ended up being my favorite card of the three I made. :) 


For my final card, I did an obvious scene with the tree and the bike but I tried a new technique for the background that I saw on Splitcoaststampers.  I watercolored my background on Shimmering White cardstock and then used my Circle Framelits to cut out a variety of circles in a window sheet. I then used white craft ink to color in those circles all of my background. It gives a kind of bokeh effect to the cardstock and looks pretty cool in real life!  I was able to stamp my tree and bicycle over the top after it dried with no issues!



Thanks for stopping by!  You can click on the links below to go on to the next stop, the creative Dawn Tidd. If you get lost on the hop you can find all of the links below.


Blog Roll:

  1. Beth Beard  http://www.mylittlecraftblog.com/2015/03/the-stamp-review-crew-sheltering-tree.html
  2. Shana Gaff  http://stressfreestamping.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-stamp-review-crew-sheltering-tree.html
  3. Dawn Tidd  http://tiddbitsfromdawn.typepad.com/2015/03/the-stamp-review-crew-sheltering-tree-edition.html
  4. Debra Currier  http://artfeltimpressions.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-stamp-review-crew-sheltering-tree.html
  5. Ann Schach  http://stampinchic.com/2015/03/the-stamp-review-crew-sheltering-tree-edition/
  6. Rochelle Blok  http://rochelleblok.blogspot.com/2015/03/stamp-review-crew-sheltering-tree.html
  7. Mike Funke  http://stampin-style.typepad.com/stampin-style/2015/03/stamp-review-crew-sheltering-tree.html
  8. Nancy Smith https://iguanastamp.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/stamp-review-crew-sheltering-tree
  9. Heidi Baks  http://runningwscissorsstamper.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-stamp-review-crew-sheltering-tree.html
  10. Yapha Mason  http://yaphamason.com/blog/2015/03/01/stamp-review-crew-sheltering-tree-edition/
  11. Lisa Young http://addinkandstamp.blogspot.com/2015/03/stamp-review-crew-sheltering-tree.html
  12. Wendy Weixler  http://wickedlywonderfulcreations.blogspot.com/2015/03/stamp-review-crew-sheltering-tree-edition.html
  13. Linda Callahan  http://stampinseasons.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-stamp-review-crew-sheltering-tree.html
  14. Betty Traciak  http://kittystamp.blogspot.com/2015/03/stamp-review-crew-sheltering-tree.html
  15. Tanya Boser  http://tinkerin-in-ink.blogspot.com/2015/03/stamp-review-crew-sheltering-tree.html
  16. Bronwyn Eastley  http://addinktivedesigns.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-stamp-review-crew-sheltering-tree.html
  17. Holly Krautkremer http://rubberredneck.typepad.com/rubber-redneck/2015/03/the-stamp-review-crew-sheltering-tree.html
  18. Martha Inchley  http://www.inchofcreativity.com/2015/03/stamp-review-crew-sheltering-tree.html