New Stamps

I got some new stamps off Ebay. I look on there all the time, but very rarely actually bid on anything. I am SO happy with this purchase. I got a set of 239 stamps for $32. I think that is a pretty good deal!

All the stamps used in this card are from the new stash. I love the monochromatic look and the placements on here. Used the ink to match the Eggplant cardstock on all stamping. Then used a paler color for framing the two stamped pieces. Added a Vanilla sheer ribbon and was done.

Collar

I know what you're thinking....."That's not exactly trendy!" What you may not know is that it is a prop for my clowning costume. I decided to really make my clown costume better for wearing this Halloween and am hoping to do some clowning around town after Halloween. I was thinking of visiting a children's home, nursing home, etc.

I took a piece of red fabric and doubled it over then doubled it over again, a little longer to make a two-tiered gathered piece. Then I sewed it and gathered it and sewed again at the right length. then took piece and sewed it over the collar to make it finished on the top. I'm not a great seamstress, but think this will add a big punch to the clown costume! Now if I could just find a shirt I like to go under it!!

Ornament Trio Card

I got the inspiration for this card here. http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/photo/1078313?cat=all&what=keywords&si=CCC08

It's supposed to be three ornaments. Sometimes they just do not look as good in real life as they do in my head! I stamped the three ornaments on ivory paper in burgundy ink. Then I colored them in with pencils. I punched out the three circles wiith the only size circle punch I had (I think it looks much better in the example with different sizes). I stamped on the burgundy bow and used a ruler and marker for the hangers. Then stamped the grey cardstock with the linen background and Versa Mark Ink and a sentiment. I put the ornaments in place and then glued down the grey piece to a burgundy card. Ta da!

Sweet Little Card

I was inspired by a cute little card my sister gave me, made with the same set-up but different stamps/colors than this. I wanted to do a baby card with this plaid paper and this is what I came up with. I stamped the baby 3 times, colored her in different colors from the plaid background. I used a deckle edge for the patterned paper and the pink cardstock. I stamped the sentiment on the green that matched, framed it in white, and added the button. The button really makes the card in this case. I was really not liking it at all until I put the button on.

New Stamps

My Mom brought these stamps to my 3 year old daughter. I told her I'd have a hard time leaving them in her craft closet and not using them myself. I had the girlfriends over last night and created a couple cards with them.

Both were fairly simple. I stamped the fashion themed one with brown ink and used chalks and a blender pen to color them in. Then stamped the sentiments in brown onto the red cardstock. I like it, but think it's super simple. The ladies said it looked finished, but I feel like it needs more....

On the cat one, I stamped stars in the background with red, then the cat was stamped in brown as well and colored with aqua chalk. Working with the gals inspires me to put together fun color combos. Stamped the same sentiment with brown onto red. Fun!

New Cards

I worked on some cards this week. I am not going to explain them all....they're not difficult to do. If you have any specific questions about technique/stamp set, let me know. I had a set of stamps that I'd hardly ever used with these small sayings on them. I was trying different ways to incorporate them into my cards. The set is Cute Converse. It's on the last three of the cards.

Quilled Invitation

Here's my friend Tiffany's wedding gift! I've not mailed it yet....so I hope she doesn't check this site! I did some quilling on her invitation, matching the blue on the invitation and adding a creamy base color for the swirls and framed it! I hope she likes it!

I've never done that bow on top before, and it posed a little challenge, but I like it and think I'll do it again!

New Gaucho Pants

I saw the idea and instructions on craftster.org (http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=99090.0) for these gaucho pants made from tee shirts. The instructions were easy, because all you do is cut the shirt sleeves off and cut it down the middle. Then you re-arrange the pieces, sew up the sleeve areas to be the crotch and sew down the sides for the legs. They were too low riding for me, so I took a second tee and made the waistband, sewing a button hole in before closing it up and then inserted a drawstring. Tee-shirts are very stretchy and my hips/bottom wouldn't hold the pants up! Man, are they comfortable! I plan to make more of these! And you can buy/use shirts in any color to make them different....to match bathing suits, shirts, anything! How fun!

Jewelery Party

I went to a jewelery party last night with my friend, Laura. A couple ladies from our church make jewelery and wanted to sell some for some extra money. This is my loot. Cool, huh?! And the kicker is that I got it ALL for $20! Amazing! It was a very fun, relaxing, girls night out. We even went out for ice cream at Marble Slab afterwards! I feel inspired to get into making some more jewelery now! Ahhh...if only I had the time and money to do all the crafts I wanted to....

Boy Birthday

I made this card for a 3 year old's birthday Saturday. My husband started laughing at the bird riding the back of the alligator....It was an idea from theStampin' Up! Idea book....

I stamped the animals from Wild About You set with Versa Mark on the card to give it some background. I stamped the sentiments in blue on white cardstock, and used green and more white to give the tag some extra dimension, and cut the top to go in by hand, then I put it onto the card with a blue brad. The bird I stamped in blue and then brown and cut out the feet of the brown bird and attached it to the bottom of the blue bird. The paterned paper is the inside of another envelope! Love the animal print with this stamp set!

Thanks

OK, so I have needed some alone time this week and I've been motivated to get in the craft closet! I used a tag stamp to stamp the sentiment, and stamped it in Chocolate Chip, More Mustard and Cranberry Crisp. I cut out the flowers of the Mustard & Cranberry ones and adhered them to the Chocolate one, then matted it with a piece of Chocolate cardstock. Then I took a strip of Chocolate cardstock and dry embossed polka-dots in a line and put a white dot in the center of each. I Got a piece of Mustard cardstock and Versamark stamped polka-dots to it, and cut it with a fancy edge. I adhered the two together and put a ribbon across them and tied it. I got out a piece of Cranberry cardstock that had these leaves Versamarked all over it and put them on. Ah. At least I remembered to have a jazzy background on this one!

Birthday From the Heart

I was in the mood to try another spring-y yellow card, and I liked the look of the torn coffee filter from my last card, but I wanted it to be a little more fun! So I added the bright pink to the card. I stamped the gift in black ink onto glossy white cardstock, then I used a yellow crayon to color in the polka-dots and the ribbon. I then took a cotton ball and rubbed into the pink chalk and onto the gift box to color it in pink. Then you can rub harder over the yellow crayon, and all the pink chalk comes off those areas. It's a neat way to get two colors onto one stamped image easily. Then I matted it with matching pink paper, and put it onto a rectangle of torn coffee filter (see previous post for instructions). I added a scrap of ribbon to a strip of pink and put it across the card with the gift on top. Then I stamped the sentiments in pink and then in black to give it the shadowed look. I thought the second one needed a little something to fill the empty space above the "f" so I added a pink heart eyelet.

I often finish a card and wish I'd put something on the background cardstock. This is one of those projects. It always looks nicer with something stamped onto the background....If only I could remember that before I start attaching things!

Wedding Card

I made this for a friend who's getting married. Her wedding is in December, but she chose yellow for her color! Daring and untraditional, but it is my favorite color, so I love it!

I stamped the background of the yellow card with hearts and Versamark ink. Then tore a coffee filter to put behind the stamped image. (I folded it across a ruler, wet it along the tear mark, then pulled it along the ruler to tear it in a straight line) I stamped the image from Year After Year in black ink, colored in the areas with a yellow colored pencil, and then added Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the areas I wanted to highlight. Then I stamped the 'always' with Versamark and heat embossed it with white powder. I matted that piece with white, and then put a black piece across the horizontal area of the card with a ribbon around it and called it a night! I like the contrast of the soft yellow and the black.

Happy Birthday Laura

I made this card last weekend for a friend. She loves bright colors and I couldn't pass up these pink and green flowers! It is simple, but I thought it was girly and fun.

Stamped a little starburst from a non-stampin' up set in the green and pink on some vanilla cardstock. Then I stamped the starburst and flower from Stippled Celebrations in the colors, as shown. I stamped a few extra to cut out and mount (popped-up) on the center flower. Then I stamped Happy Birthday....or at least I meant to stamp it on the inside of the card. It occurred to me moments ago that I might not have done that!!! OOps! Sorry Laura!

Thanks, Dad

I know, I know. It's been a long time....but we've been so busy with the building of a new room onto our house and getting our vegetables into the ground that I have been able to do little else than that and caring for my kid-o's.

Anyways, I made this card for my dad, who has helped us tremendously on our addition to the house. It was an idea from a card making magazine I got in the mail last month. In retrospect, it should have been a hammer, not a neck tie! Oh well! That's the thing about retrospect....you can't change what you've already done!

The dots on the funky tie are stamped with black ink and a background from Beyond the Basics. The 'Thanks' is from the word "Thanksgiving" on a stamp. I markered only the first six letters to get it to say thanks instead, then stamped it. The DAD is from my alphabet stamps. Other than that, no stamps on this card. It is not like any of my typical cards, which is why I wanted to challenge myself with it. I liked the end result.