Stamps in the Mail

We just finished up our last round of Stamps in the Mail and I thought I would share the last three cards with you today.  All three of these cards are shaker cards.

I will be starting my winter session of Stamps in the Mail in October. Sign-up deadline is next Friday, September 20th.  If you have any questions or would like to sign up, shoot me an email at brettg12@aol.com. It's lots of fun and you get to keep all of the product that I send you to make your cards!

A Stressful Day

As usual, I waited to the LAST minute to write up my blog post for our challenge at ATSM this week, Make Your Mark.  Well, I got a call this afternoon that my husband had been taken to the hospital with numbness in his hands and heart pain so I didn't think I was going to get to my post in time today. However, he was released and they couldn't find anything. Our next step is to find him a specialist that can figure out what is wrong, because he has been suffering for quite some time now!  Anyway...I used the challenges at retro sketches and Fab Friday to get me started on my marker challenge.

I thought those were great masculine colors so I decided to make a card for my hubby. The funny thing is, my bestie Steph said "You better give me that card!" lol So I guess this one could go either way!

I had fun with this and tried to make it very different than what I usually do. I tried first to use my markers to color directly on the embossing folder. That didn't work. I didn't care for the results AT ALL. So then I tried to color with my markers onto the cardstock after I embossed it. NOPE! That was worse.  I finally decided to go with my good old stand-by technique...I colored on my biggest block with markers, spritzed the block, and pressed the embossed cardstock onto the block. PERFECT! Exactly the result I was hoping for. :) I also wanted to use the 'I Freakin' LOVE you' stamp, but it didn't fit on the framelit I wanted to use. My markers came in handy here because I could ink up just the part of the stamp that I needed and stamp it in the location that it needed to be. I did have a few stray ink spots but I was able to camouflage them with my trusty Gorgeous Grunge stamp set. :)

Stamp Sets: Gorgeous Grunge, Seriously (MPP), Yippee-Skippee
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky, Very Vanilla
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Sahara Sand, Soft Sky
Tools: Alphabet Press Embossing Folder, Chevron Embossing Folder, Labels Collection Framelits
Accessories: Early Espresso Baker's Twine, Hung Up Cute Clips, Rhinestones, Washi Tape

Halloween Happiness

I recently purchased what I believe is my first pumpkin stamp set!  Well, I had one before but when I sold it it had never even been mounted, so that doesn't count. :) I'm pathetic!  First no Santa sets, now no pumpkin sets!  I couldn't resist this one from the Holiday Catalog though, Halloween Happiness. I made a quick set of 4x4 note cards using washi tape for the challenge at The Friday Mashup!  I was also inspired by the sketch at Mojo Monday.  

The sketches at Mojo Monday are usually very complicated, so I was surprised to see this simple sketch!  I love it though. I turned it sideways to work with my stamp, which is kind of long.

Here is a close-up of each individual card:

Stamp Set: Halloween Happiness

Cardstock: Always Artichoke, Tangerine Tango, Very Vanilla

Ink: Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Tangerine Tango

Tools: Paper-Piercing Tool and template

Accessories: Washi Tape

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Birthday!

My cousin is having a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse birthday party for her daughter Sophie's 2nd birthday.  She LOVES that show. I babysit her and she will say "Toons? Toons? Mickey Moooouuuuse!"  She's so stinkin' adorable. :) Anyway, Mandy is having themed food and asked me to make up some place cards to set in front of the food.  Here is how they turned out.  I thought they were pretty cute!

I used black cardstock but the Chalk marker worked perfectly on it!  I was afraid it might soak in too much but it is SOOO much better than the white gel pen.  I like that it has a slightly thicker tip too.  I hope Sophie likes them!

Cardstock: Basic Black, Melon Mambo
Ink: Chalk Marker
Tools: Circles and Hearts Collections Framelits, 3/4" Circle Punch, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder
Accessories: Brights Collection Paper Stack

Cutting back on my Internet Time

I got an email two days ago that I had already exceeded my internet usage for the month, which ends on the 22nd. Then today I got an email that I had already used 90% of my first overage amount. What?!  I do believe that Pinterest has been eating up all of my data!  I'm so sad because I love it and have had fun trying out some new things lately. But I will have to cut back so I don't have a huge internet bill. That's probably not a bad thing though because I haven't gotten much done around the house lately, so now I will have some free time to clean.  Ha ha!

I did a clean and simple card today for the challenges at Dynamic Duos and clean&simple.

I used bubble wrap last week and I knew it would come in handy again so I saved it just in case. I decided to use it for my background on this card.

I used my markers to color on the bubble wrap and then pressed it onto my cardstock. So easy and a great way to do a simple background!  I wanted to use stars instead of flowers but we don't have any star punches. BOO!  What I would really love is some star Framelits!  Are you listening SU!? :)

Stamp Set: Another Thank You

Cardstock: Old Olive, Pacific Point, Whisper White

Ink: Old Olive, Pacific Point

Tools: Itty Bitty Punch, Cupcake Punch, Chevron Embossing Folder

First fall, now winter?

Well it doesn't feel like fall OR winter today, but I decided to make a Christmas card for the challenge at Merry Monday.  I'm not usually interested in making cards out of season lol but I really liked the idea of this challenge. You have to leave a comment on 3 of the other participants' cards, which I don't do too much since I do that on the three design teams that I'm on, so I thought it would be fun to look at some of the other entries. The challenge this week is a classic Christmas challenge that I paired with the challenges at Freshly Made Sketches and Stampin' Royalty, which is to add patterned paper.

I didn't realize until today how FEW Christmas stamp sets I have left!  The last catalog retirement really wiped me out!  I decided to use a new one that has yet to see ink from Tag It.  This was one of our Convention sets and I think I've mentioned before that I didn't care for it too much. Well, I think that is because I was trying to look at it as a SET, when in actuality all of the images are really stand-alone images for different occasions. Now that I have realized that, I actually do kind of like the set! lol Good thing, right?  Cuz I have it, so I might as well use it!

I kind of made my own DSP strip out of the Season of Style DSP stack. I cut some diagonal strips, adhered them to a scrap piece of cardstock and then cut the edges off.  The focal image is popped up on Dimensionals and looks much better in person when you can see the layers. Isn't Santa a cutie?!  This is the first Santa stamp I have EVER owned!  I used my markers to give him green eyes, black boots and a black belt buckle. I just love him!  OH, and I finally got to use my Petals-a-Plenty Embossing Folder for the first time this year. That is just one of those things that I can't seem to ever use on a card that isn't for Christmas. It is just TOO Christmasy for me to figure out how to like it on any other project. haha

Stamp Set: Tag It

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White

Ink: Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive

Tools: Petals-a-Plenty Embossing Folder, Ovals Collection Framelits, sponge

Accessories: Season of Style DSP pack, Dimensionals, Cherry Cobbler Baker's Twine

Goodbye Summer!

I know it was just last week that I was telling you how it FINALLY felt like summer around here.  It was in the 90s all week. Well that has certainly changed as it is in the lower 70s today! I don't know if it is supposed to stay this cool because my kids watch their morning cartoons during the news, but I am not liking it one bit!  The one thing I HAVE noticed though is that I have been in the mood to make fall cards. I can't get enough of the fall colors, THAT is for sure!  Today our challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More! is Anything Goes, so I was free to do whatever I wanted!  Yay! I decided to use the challenges from Mojo Monday and The Paper Players.

I wanted to use the scrumptious Sweater Weather DSP so I took my colors from that. 

I did some faux stitching around the outside of my DSP and the edge of my card. After I adhered the DSP I stamped it with some of the images from Gorgeous Grunge to give it some character. I haven't used Friendship Preserves in quite a while and thought it worked well with this sketch.  I did notice, however, that this is the only stamp that I have even punched out of the rubber to use. Oops!  Guess I will have to find something to do with the other stamps in the set!  I used my Blender Pen to color in the Thanks. The leaf was first stamped and then I covered it with my 2-Way Glue Pen and poured Orange and Gold Glitter over it to add some bling. 

Stamp Sets: Friendship Preserves, Gently Falling, Gorgeous Grunge

Cardstock: Crushed Curry, Tangerine Tango, Very Vanilla

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Crushed Curry, Early Espresso, Tangerine Tango

Tools: Woodgrain Embossing Folder, Window Frames Framelits

Accessories: Orange and Gold Glitter, Dimensionals, Sweater Weather DSP

Faux Silk

It's my favorite time of the month...time for a new challenge at Technique Time Tuesday!  The challenge this month is one that I have heard of but not tried before, Faux Silk.  It is SUPER easy and looks much better in person than with my crappy picture-taking skills. lol There is a great video with directions on the TTT website but I will walk you through what I did for my card

The first step is to stamp your images on tissue paper. I didn't think I had any white tissue paper, but then I remembered there is a sheet in between each page of window sheets!  So I was able to put that to use and recycle it. :) I stamped my leaves using the Rock-n-Roll Technique, where you ink it in the lighter color and then roll the edges of the stamp in the darker color. This is a two-step stamp set so I then stamped each leaf outline in Early Espresso. Next you need to carefully wad up your beautiful creation, being careful not to tear it when you unfold it.  This gives it wonderful texture!  The next step is to glue the tissue paper to Whisper White cardstock. I stamped mine first with some of the splotches from Gorgeous Grunge, hoping they would show through a little bit. And they did!  I used a glue stick to glue my tissue paper to the WW cardstock and then die cut it with the Window Frames Framelit.  I then inked the edges with Early Espresso ink to really make it pop off the card.  Here is a close-up shot where you can kind of see the texture on the print:

As I mentioned before, it looks much better in person!

Stamp Sets: Gently Falling, Gorgeous Grunge, Spread the Joy
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Crushed Curry, Whisper White
Ink: Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler, Crushed Curry, Early Espresso
Tools: Window Frames Framelits, Paper-Piercing Tool
Accessories: Tissue Paper, Dimensionals

I Hear Music, Mighty Fine Music

Ha ha, that's the first thing that came to mind when I saw our challenge for Addicted to CAS this week.

We sang that song for something when I was in show choir back in high school. Wow, that was a LONG time ago!  It is hard to believe I have been out of high school 16 years!  How can that be possible?! Anyway...I combined our music challenge with the challenges at Create with Connie and Mary and Fab Friday.

I am really digging the fall colors today! This is the second post in a row that I've used Crush Curry and I only have one full sheet of cardstock left of it!  I tried my best to make a birthday card that I could give to anyone and I thought these colors helped me out with that.

Okay, okay, I may have added a little row of bling at the bottom of the...I just realized that I have no idea what that thing even is. lol Anyway, a little bling never hurt anyone and that...thing...needed something to dress it up, so bling it was!  

Stamp Set: Timeless Talk

Cardstock: Crushed Curry, Tangerine Tango, Very Vanilla

Ink: Crushed Curry, Early Espresso, Tangerine Tango

Accessories: Rhinestones, Dimensionals

Migraine, migraine, go away!

I woke up with a migraine at 3:00 this morning and took two migraine pills, aka caffeine pills. Bad idea!  I spent from 3:00-6:30 doing dishes, folding laundry, dusting, organizing...and then I had to get the kids up and ready for school and drop them off at the bus. By the time I got back to my house at 7:45 I was exhausted and ready for a nap. HOWEVER, I wanted to enter a few challenges today, so I instead decided to make a card. :) I made it for the challenges at The Friday Mashup and Freshly Made Sketches.

The mashup is to create a project using elements on your project that start with A, B and C, and to use a 1-2-3 recipe (1 embellishment, 2 stamp sets, 3 colors).  Here's what I used:

A-Acorn

B-Burlap

C-Crushed Curry

1 embellishment-Burlap ribbon

2 stamp sets-Truly Grateful, Wonderfall

3 colors-Crushed Curry, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze

It feels good to get back into using my fall stamp sets. My old sets are a little dusty! lol Funny that it is just now starting to feel like summer around here. Oh well, I am NOT complaining because you all know how I feel about winter and cold weather. ;)

Stamp Sets: Truly Grateful, Wonderfall

Cardstock: Crushed Curry, Very Vanilla, Cajun Craze

Ink: Crushed Curry, Cajun Craze, Early Espresso

Tools: Blender Pen

Accessories: Burlap Ribbon

Spring Cleaning

I know it's not even close to Spring around here, but I have been doing some cleaning lately!  Thanks to Pinterest, I have found all kinds of cleaning tips and solutions to make. And instead of JUST pinning them, like I usually do, I have actually been trying them out!  Cleaning takes a lot of time though so I haven't had much time to craft!  I want to keep my blog somewhat current though so I did something simple for today. :) I have used the challenges at Dynamic Duos and retro sketches for my card today.

I really liked Crisp Cantaloupe when it was first revealed as a new In Color, but I haven't really used it so this was somewhat of a challenge for me!  

As you can see, I've done some more stamping with my blocks!  This time I started with stamping full strength at the bottom in Calypso Coral and then continued stamping off three more times. Then I started there in the center with Crisp Cantaloupe and stamped it off three more times as well. This is a SUPER easy way to make a color blocked background!  My flower is just three sizes of circle punches that are snipped and layered. I wanted a little bit of dimension to it since my card was so simple.

Stamp Set: Yippee Skippee

Cardstock: Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe, Whisper White

Ink: Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe

Tools: 1", 1 3/8", 1 3/4" Circle Punches, Apothecary Art Framelits

Accessories: Vintage Button, Dimensionals

Live the Life you've Imagined

I just love that sentiment that is in the Really Good Greetings set and thought it would be perfect when paired with the bicycle image from Timeless Talk.  Together they worked great for our photo inspiration challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More!

I fell in love with the colors in this photo instantly and used that for the inspiration for my card.  I also liked how there was one main image, so I did the same on my card.

I'm bummed that my lighting is so off in my stamping studio because it is really supposed to be red but it looks pink in the photo. Grrrr!!!  I started with my new favorite technique, inking, stamping and spritzing my big block and then rubbing the cardstock onto it. I then die cut the window and turned it into a shaker frame by putting a Window Sheet behind it and securing the sides with strips of Dimensionals. The inside is filled with silver glitter.  My kids have had a blast shaking all that glitter around. They think it's so funny to cover the image completely with the glitter and say "Oh no, it's ruined!" lol So, apparently the glitter shaker card is a success, at least in their eyes. :) 

Stamp Sets: Gorgeous Grunge, Off the Grid, Really Good Greetings, Timeless Talk

Cardstock: Basic Gray, Real Red, Smoky Slate, Whisper White

Ink: Basic Gray, Real Red, Smoky Slate

Tools: Circle Framelits, Large Block, Spritzer with water

Accessories: Silver Glitter, Window Sheets, Dimensionals

It's gonna be a hot one!

Well the kids are now back in school and it's finally starting to look like summer around here! lol It's supposed to get up around 90 degrees, so it is a great day to go to the Splash Pad with Easton, my cousin, Mandy, and her little girl, Sophie.  That means it was a Clean and Simple kind of card day so we can play for the rest of the afternoon!

I found this cute little sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch and paired it with the color challenge at colourQ since it worked perfectly with the stamp I had already chosen to use.

I was quite bummed to see that Tag It was one of our stamp sets to receive at Convention, as it was one of my least favorite stamp sets in the catalog. I have made up for it with Gorgeous Grunge though, another one that we got that you have seen me using a ton! lol Anyway, I wanted to make a birthday card for Easton, who will be turning 5 in a few weeks, and I knew he would love that little birthday lizard.

He is pretty cute, so I'm sure I will be using it again.  I thought the Argyle Embossing Folder looked kind of like lizard skin, so that's why I chose that one. I might have to find a googly eye to put on there for Easton. He would love that. No time to search today though...it's off to the Splash Pad we go on this hot summer day!

Stamp Set: Tag It

Cardstock: Bermuda Bay, Whisper White

Ink: Bermuda Bay, Calypso Coral, Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive

Tools: Ovals Collection Framelits, Argyle Embossing Folder

Another Thank You

As soon as I saw  Stampin' Up!'s latest Photopolymer stamp set, Another Thank You, I put my order in for it immediately!  I instantly fell in love with that big 'thank you' that you can see in the center here.



It was featured on the front of our demonstrator magazine, Stampin' Success, in a card that looked like the background had been watercolored. I loved the look and decided to do something similar.

For my card, I colored directly on my biggest acrylic block with Pool Party and Tempting Turquoise markers. I then stamped Off the Grid and some of the splotches from Gorgeous Grunge on it in Bermuda Bay. After it was all inked up I spritzed it with some water and put a piece of Whisper White on top of the block, rubbing the color onto it with my hand.  I dried it a bit with my heat tool before stamping the big 'thank you' in VersaMark and embossing it with black embossing powder.  The stitches on the side are faux stitches. I just poked the holes with my paper piercing tool and then connected them with my Bermuda Bay marker.  This was such a simple card but I absolutely love it!  You will be seeing that background technique a lot from me, I'm sure. It's one of my favorites!

Stamp Sets: Another Thank You, Off the Grid, Gorgeous Grunge
Cardstock: Bermuda Bay, Whisper White
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Tempting Turquoise, Pool Party, VersaMark
Tools: Paper Piercing Tool, Essentials Paper-Piercing Pack, water in spritzer, Heat Tool
Accessories: Black Embossing Powder

Recycled Cardmaking

Black Tie Fridays is back in business!  Yay!  It was one of my favorite challenge websites and they took some time off because the designers had a lot going on.  But they are back with a fabulous challenge that I couldn't wait to try!

This was the perfect challenge for me because I am one of those crafters that sees things that would just be perfect for a card, and I keep them.  Needless to say, a lot more sits unused than used. :)   For my card, I started with the sketch at Create with Connie and Mary.

 

If you are getting the My Paper Pumpkin, you know that each kit comes lovely wrapped in beautiful Pool Party tissue paper. So that HAD to make an appearance on my card. :)  I also just received something that was wrapped in some nice little bubble wrap so I wanted to use that too.

I used the tissue paper to make a flower using this tutorial from splitcoaststampers. They actually used facial tissue instead of tissue paper, but I just cut my tissue paper to the size they suggested and it worked just fine. My tissue paper was kind of tore up from my excitement of opening my My Paper Pumpkin, so my flower is very...distressed we will call it. lol I colored the edges with a Bermuda Bay marker and added a pretty vintage brad in the center.  For my background, I colored on the bubble wrap with Pool Party, Summer Starfruit and Bermuda Bay markers, then pressed it onto Whisper White cardstock.  I love how it turned out!  My sweet little Easton wanted to pop the bubbles when I was done and I was like "Back AWAY from the bubble wrap!"  I may need it in the future! :) 

Stamp Set: Perfectly Penned

Cardstock: Bermuda Bay, Summer Starfruit, Whisper White

Ink: Bermuda Bay, Pool Party, Summer Starfruit

Tools: Bubble Wrap (is that a tool? lol)

Accessories: Vintage Brad, Tissue paper

Stamp Camp Tonight!

This is one of my favorite nights of the month because it is time for Stamp Camp!  I hold my monthly card and scrap camps together, as I don't have that many customers. I would LOVE to have more though. We have so much fun and lots of laughs.  Here is another one of the cards that I have planned for tonight. This one came together really fast because I had already made the background when I demonstrated the Smackin' Acetate Technique at my Mini Convention last month.

Now that I've started using Spread the Joy, I just can't stop!  I wanted to keep this card simple so it doesn't distract from the beautiful background and stamp. I hope the ladies enjoy this one as much as I do!  I'll be back to share another Stamp Camp card tomorrow. I have a few that I made yesterday with some new supplies that I just got in, including the Label Card Thinlits, Envelope Punch Board to make a cute coordinating envelope, and  Another Thank You Photopolymer stamp set!

August My Paper Pumpkin

Are you receiving My Paper Pumpkin? If not, this month it the perfect time to join!  Use the promotion code PUMPKINDEAL to join before August 31st and pay only $10 a month for the first two months, plus tax where applicable.  Shipping is included!  Go to www.mypaperpumpkin.com to sign up today!  No matter when you sign up, your first month you will receive this Welcome Kit:

Then the following month you will receive the kit of that month.  This month's kit is called Pedal Praise and I just love it!  Here is one alteration that I did with mine:

Isn't that bicycle adorable?!  They are very popular in the crafting world right now.  I added some punches, cardstock and bling to mine but they are cute just the way they arrive for you to assemble too!  At this great introductory price, they also make great gifts for the beginning crafters in your life. Do you have children, grandchildren, neighbor kids, etc that like to craft with you?  Then this would be a great birthday present for them!  Don't forget to sign up by August 31st with the promo code PUMPKINDEAL to take advantage of this special offer!