Hello, My Friend!

My friends over at Winnie & Walter, are announcing their Second stamp and cut-files Release, March 15, 2014. This card was made from two stamp sets from their First Release, The Big, the Bold, and the Happy, and You've Got Love Mail. Their clear stamp sets are made in the USA, and are very good grade polymer.

Also, using a new die I recently ordered, "Howdy" from Die-Versions, I die cut along the folded edge of the card, so when the card was closed, the word Howdy pops up along the spine. When the card is open, it does not show.

By placing the sheet of orange card stock over the punching, I had room to add a strip of pink/brown dotted rick-rack along the edge of the card.  While the card was closed (pictured above) I stamped the heart line right below the flap.  I also stamped the words along the flap edge.  The dove was stamped with Tuxedo black Memento ink, masked, and then stamped the heart image in Love Letters Red Memento ink over the top.  When the mask was removed, it looks as if the dove is carrying the heart.  To bling up the card a little, I used my clear glitter pen to edge each of the letters in Howdy, and along the embossed edge of the front flap. I also outlined the dove and heart with the glitter pen.

Winnie & Walter's Second Release is all about Family, so go check out their blog to see the teasers, and register for their Big Giveaway! Happy Stampin' and have a great week!

Mindy

Spread Your Wings

Hello friends! Today's card was inspired by my good friend, Lisa, from A Mermaids Crafts. She does these beautiful layered cards using Spellbinders Dies in various shapes and sizes for cards that are awesome and unique!

I started by making my card base, a 4" square note/gift card, by punching the Nestabilities Leafy Squares die from white card stock with my Cuttlebug machine. I then cut another, with 1/2" folded under, before placing the die right on the edge of the folded card stock.  After cutting this piece, I removed it from the die and glued the little 1/2" flap to the top of the plain square piece, aligning the designs on both pieces.  This makes the card base with the fold on the top.

I then cut two printed paper squares 1/4" smaller than the solid square area, and adhered them to the card base.  Using my Faerie's Clear Stamp Set from Paper Wings Productions, I then stamped the fairy in the circle on white card stock, and colored her in with my Copic Markers. Using my Twinkle Gel Pens and Spica Glitter Pens, I added sparkle and shine to the Copic colored image.  I then used foam tape to adhere the circle to the card front, raising it up to give the card some dimension.  I also stamped the phrase included in the Faerie Stamp Set to the outside of the card, and remainder of the saying is stamped inside the card.

Of course, Lisa's cards are much more ornate than mine, but this was my first attempt at such a beautiful design, and I think it turned out pretty.  I will keep practicing this technique because I really love the way these cards look. Again, I want to thank Lisa for her inspiration. I hope you will check out her blog mentioned above to see more of her wonderful cards and creations. 

Have a great week, and I will visit with you again soon.

Just Buzzin' By. . . . .

Just Buzzin' by to say Hi, fellow stampers and Card Makers.

Today's card creation uses the Doodle Garden Sweet as Can Be stamp set from My Favorite Things. I started off using a black card stock base card and rounded off the corners with my 1/4" Corner Chomper, and then chomped the corners off my background paper, "Sunshine" from My Mind's Eye.  I then stamped the little bee girl and the sayings on white Blending card stock with Tuxedo Black ink from Memento before coloring in with my Copic markers.  After coloring the image and shading with my Copics, I used the matching Spica Glitter pen to add sparkle to her wings. Then I fussy cut around the image, and added foam tape to the back to make her pop off the card.
I used my ink applicator tool and Wild Honey Distress Ink to shade around the white background where the sayings were, and just barely touched the edges with Rusty Hinge to darken the edges. the "just buzzin' by" saying is part of the MFT stamp set, and the BZZZZZZ! is part of a different set. I can't remember right off who makes that set, but if you will drop me a line, I will look it up for you.

To assemble the card, I used double sided adhesive to adhere the dotted background to the base card, then adhered the sayings with double sided tape. Next, I had a scrap strip of the yellow dotted background paper that I attached just below the edge of the white square, and then attached my little "Bee" to that strip, along with a pretty yellow button.(also from MFT)
At the top left hand corner I attached a BZZZZ! phrase with foam tape also, to give dimension.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend, wherever you are. Stay safe and bee-happy and I will see you again soon.

Mindy

Happy Fiesta 2013!

Happy Fiesta, San Antonio, 2013!

It is party-time here in San Antonio. Although many think we party everyday, our BIG party event started this weekend through next weekend. Fiesta consists of lots of food, family, and FUN throughout the city. There are carnival rides for the kids, parades and pageants for the adults, and lots of food and drink for all!

There are also lots of arts and crafts on display and for sale all over the city, especially in the venues where the special activities are being held.

My card today, is a celebrating Fiesta card, with the Pure Innocence girl from My Favorite Things stamps. The Serenity set has the cute little girl sitting in a yoga pose, but works well for a girl sitting outside with her sparkler fireworks, celebrating Fiesta!  The letters spelling out fiesta, are cut from the Folk Art Favorites cartridge from Cricut, and the fireworks are from Deadbeat Designs stamps with a piece of twine used for their stick handle. I  stamped the Serenity Girl with  Memento Tuxedo black ink on white card stock, and then colored her with my Copic Markers. The fireworks were stamped with white Color Box ink and then Stickled over with Diamonds and Starburst Stickles. The die cut letters were cut from various colors of card stock, glued on to the black card base, then outlined with a white gel pen and glitter gel pen to really make them sparkle.

The weekend is here again, and if you are out celebrating Fiesta, celebrate responsibly, and have a wonderful weekend!

Thank YOU!

A BIG thank you goes out to all the well wishers on this beautiful Christmas morning!

The weather is predicted to be a nasty and cold afternoon, after the cold front blows through, but right now it is simply beautiful! It is a little windy, but the sun is shining, so enjoy it while you can!

Today's card is my fashionista stamp, colored with copic markers, with the background stamped in the Hero Arts background stamp "Chevrons." I covered half of the card base in retro dot scrapbook paper, before attaching the fashionista and her dog with foam tape to pop out the figure. I then attached the "thanks" banner with a button, tied with Caribbean blue twine which matches the background.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful happy day, spending quality time with your family. Enjoy this time, and do a little crafting if you can. It's one of those moments you will treasure for a lifetime!  See you again soon.

More Tags on Thursday!

Hello everyone!
It must look like I am posting the same things over and over every day.  But I'm not! Here are three more tags for the Holiday Tree that I am helping to decorate.

I finally started playing
with my Christmas stamps, and hope to find a theme to use as my Christmas cards this year. Every year I play around with my stamps, weeks in advance, trying out different stamps and designs in effort to find something I can live with for the holidays on my cards.

I see so many different designs online from all the blogs I frequent, that I get so confused I don't know which ones I like the most.  This year since I will be making these tags in advance of the holidays, maybe I will find one grouping that I will love to send out as cards to my relatives and friends for the holidays. I have completed half of the tags needed from me, and hope I will be able to really buckle down this weekend to get the rest done, so I can deliver them early next week.

While looking through my millions of stamps today, I found many Christmas stamps I haven't stamped in ages, if ever!  You know they always say, ". . . the one with the most toys, wins!"  When it comes to stamps, "I WIN!"

Have a great day doing whatever your heart desires, and take time to stop and smell the Roses!

Holiday Tags

Hello fellow stampers,
It's already November, and I am trying to start a holiday decorating project with a friend.
We are decorating a holiday tree for a group of needy families in our area, and are using decorative hand-stamped tags as gift card holders to decorate the tree.

I wanted to share some of the tags with you that I have made. They are a small fun project that can be used for ornaments, place cards for Thanksgiving, tags for hand-delivered gifts, or regular old gift tags with presents.

I used 21/2" X 5" manila tags for these, and cut a heavy piece of scrapbook paper into 5" X 5" squares and scored them down the middle to make a gift card. Then when my tag was complete, I adhered it to the gift card to make it more sturdy. I will try to show several each day, I have 25 to make before Thanksgiving.

I hope you will all be able to try and design some tags of your own during this holiday season. They are just as much fun to make as cards are for me, and can be used for many different purposes.  Have a nice Veterans Day weekend, and thank a soldier for their service, it's the nicest thing you can do!

Two More Halloween Cards

Greetings, Cardmakers!
I have two more Halloween cards for you today, that I made yesterday for World Cardmaking Day, using Graphic 45 papers.

They are both collaged, using bits and pieces from the 8" X 8" Halloween paper pad from Graphic 45, plus foam tape, and adhesive gemstones along with a few flower petals and buttons.  I didn't do any stamping for these cards, just cut out the bits, arranged them on the blank cards, them glued and taped down the layers to give them some interest.  I also added a little bling here and there to give a little sparkle, and the cards were done.

I also didn't participate in a group card making for World Cardmaking Day, just worked on them at home, while staying in touch with a couple of groups that were holding hops and card making sessions on their blogs. I got about 5 cards done, these three Halloween and two birthday cards that I will feature tomorrow!

The weather here was so nice today. Our first "breath of fall" or what little fall we get here in south Texas.   It was down in the fifties this morning, and mid-sixties this afternoon, just right for opening the doors and windows to let a little fresh air in.  I hope you all had a great day, until tomorrow!

Steampunk Luc at Halloween!

Hello friends,

Halloween is about a month away, and I love decorating and dressing up for the holiday. I have been lucky, the 30+ years I have been working, the other employees and I have always worn costumes for Halloween. I have worked retail sales, and every Halloween we would dress in costume, and customers would come in just to see our costumes.  Of course, by the time I got off work and headed home, I was ready to rip off the costume and wipe off the make-up. After my bath it was into my jammies and off to read or watch TV.  Especially in my later years, there were no trick-or-treaters in my neighborhood to hand out candy to.

This card was made with papers from the Graphic 45 Halloween collection, bits and pieces of ribbon, and the Luc stamp from Paper Wings Productions.  I also found a breastplate "costume" for Luc in the Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutant paper collection that fit him just fine.   I also stamped three pumpkins on a tag, colored them in with Copics, and made one to look like a carved Halloween pumpkin.  Then the embellishments were just adhered to the card in different layers with foam tape, some popped up, and others not, so it wouldn't be so flat. Then glitter and gemstones made it sparkly and blingy to boot!  I have a few more Halloween type cards started, and will post in a few days if I get them done this weekend.

The weather is predicted to "cool off" this weekend, with a cold front on Sunday.  I wish it would cool off some, I am ready for me some winter!  Not slushy, snowy winter, just temperatures a lot cooler than 90 degrees!  See you again soon.

Pretty as a Peacock

Hi there stampers! Today's card is a peacock stamp I forgot I had. Several months ago when I was out shopping, I found this wonderful peacock feather ribbon. Of course I didn't know what I was going to use it for, but it was just so pretty, I knew I had to have it.  After months of looking for a peacock rubber stamp, I found this one in one of my stamp binders. It is by Inkadinkado, cling mounted, and it fit perfectly along the feather ribbon.

It was a little too tall for an A2 (quarter fold) card, so I checked my stash and found this 6" square card. I glued down the feather ribbon first, and then the strip of patterned paper across the bottom. Next, I stamped the peacock on white card stock and colored in the feathers on the bird with my Distressed markers. I added the branch stamped directly on the card base, two one inch circles of dark blue card stock and the title phrase before cutting out and adhearing the peacock. After the bird was glued on with foam tape, I used some Stickles and glitter pen to add a little bling to the peacock.

I think this made a really nice friendship card and I intend to send it to a dear friend that loves peacocks. Have a great weekend, and stay cool where ever you are.





Leaf Background

Hello fellow stampers,
Today I am showing a leaf background I recently did for a card. Stamping on a piece of heavy watercolor paper, I stamped the Hero Arts Maple Leaf stamp in four colors of Memento Ink. I started with the Grape, then Potters Clay, Pear Tart, and finally London Fog. I tried to stamp the images in a random pattern, with the darker colors near the center and the lighter colors near the outside edge. When the card was filled with the maple leaf stamp, I took my stipple brush and the Potters Clay Memento Ink.

The stipple brush is a round shaped brush with all of its bristles flat that will touch the surface of the paper. To "stipple" take the brush in your hand like a pen, and tap the bristles into the stamp pad gently. The more times you tap, the more ink you will pick up on the brush.  Then gently tap in the vacant areas between the leaf stampings to get the "stippled effect."  Of course, you may do many layers of stippling to increase the color intensity if needed, but I usually go by the rule, "less is more!"

To finish this background, I used a colored Spica glitter pen matching each color of leaf, and put just a hint of sparkle on each leaf. You can then add a sentiment to your background if using it to make a card.
Stay cool, and have a happy day. Keep Stampin'!