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.

Twas the Night Before Christmas Eve . . . . .

Merry, Merry, stampin' friends!  It's Christmas Eve eve, and this will probably be the last Christmas card post of the year 2012.  I just wanted to take the opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday from my house to yours!

Little Miss Tilda is sitting on the Christmas Word Collage from Cricut, I purchased for myself for the holidays. The Cricut cartridge is titled "Word Collage" and has many groupings of related words you can cut out and use.  I am just getting around to figuring out all of the many ways to manipulate the items you can cut from the Cricut, I'm like a kid with a New toy.  I have had my Cricut for years, but  never really had the time or patience to sit down and actually play with it.

The paper at the top is from The Nutcracker Suite paper pad by Graphic 45, and of course the Vintage Tilda Stamp is from Magnolia Stamps.  To all my family and friends out there across the World Wide Web, may you have the merriest of Christmas' and the happiest New Year! And until we visit each other again, "To all a Good Night!"

Finally Finished: My Cards that is. . . . . .

Seasons Greetings fellow stampers! I finally finished my Christmas cards, now into the mail, and off they go. Hopefully they will get to their appointed locations before Christmas.

Luckily, I didn't have too many to make, and all the paper  piecing didn't take too long to assemble and to dry. The card was made from a template I got from the Stampington.com website. They have many templates there that have been used in previous issues of their magazines.  I got out my assortment of 8" X 8" Christmas paper pads and tore out several sheets that seemed to go together.  Then I started cutting out pieces of paper that would fit the various parts of the birdhouse template. I used a kraft colored base card trimmed to fit the template, and then glued the decorative papers to the base card. Then using an 11/2" hole punch, punched the hole in the house for the opening. I then punched a replacement hole using a dark colored stock to glue into the opening. Using Lawn Fawn's Christmas wreath stamp, I stamped out the wreath and colored it with my Copic markers, and then cut it out and glued it over the punched out replacement piece. That then held the punched out piece in.  I then die cut the small Memory Box bird out of brown felt and glued it to the front of the house and accented it with a half pearl eye. Inside I stamped "Merry Christmas" using the Christmas Greeting clear stamp set from Hot Off the Press.

I made each birdhouse different, using all the scraps from the few pages of paper I originally tore out.  Of course, they look really cute together in a group, but no one but you will see them this way once they get mailed out.

Here's hoping you all have a wonderful Christmas, and a Happy New Year!  Seasons Greetings and  Best Wishes for a Happy and Healthy 2013. Thank you for visiting, see you again soon.

Need a Little Pick-up?

Greetings Friends,
Christmas is just a little less than two weeks away, and who doesn't "need a little pick-up" at this time?  As I was rummaging through some of my stamps, I found this pick-up truck from Deadbeat Designs, and thought wouldn't that make a great card during all this Christmas frenzy.

I want to mention first of all, that this card is not finished!  It is still a work in progress.  I started out by making a trifold card from a sheet of heavy printed scrapbook paper. I stamped out the truck on white card stock, colored it with my copic markers and glitter pen, then fussy cut it out to adhere it to the front of the card, right on the edge. You can see the edge going down through the windshield. I left a little tab at the bottom for the phrase, also from Deadbeat Designs.
When you open the front flap of the card, you see the second page, where I have placed a Hero Arts  house, stamped on watercolor paper with StazOn ink and colored with my Inktense watercolor pencils. I then cut it out, and glued it to the far left of the card so it wouldn't show from the front. I also punched a cute little butterfly to put in the "sky" area.

Then as you open the last flap of the card, I added an area where I can stamp a sentiment, or hand write a personal message. Below this area, I added a flower and leaf cluster that I had in my copic coloring "goody box".  One of those items I was practicing coloring on, and when finished just stuck it in the envelope and never wrote down the stamp name or who it was from.   I need to add a little more detail to the front and second page of the card, maybe some trees or mountains, or maybe a cactus or two since I am in Texas.  If you have any suggestions, comment on this post and let me know what you think it needs.  I sit down and piddle with it while I am watching TV in the evenings, between Christmas chores and decorating.

I have also been working on my Christmas cards, and almost have them completed. I hope to complete them this weekend, so I can get them into the mail, and post the finished product on this blog.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and that you enjoy all of the happenings of the season. See you again, soon.

Coloring Stamped Images with Inktense Pencils

Fellow Stampers,
Today I am coloring stamped images with the Inktense colored pencils from Derwent.

In the previous post, I mentioned using them to color the snowman on kraft colored card stock. These are stamped on white tags, and the color is even more intense. Using water to blend the colors, seems easier to me than blending with just regular colored pencils. Of course, I like coloring some images with my Prismacolor pencils because of their creamy smooth texture, but these just seem easier to blend, plus you get the intense color without building the many, many layers of color.

I have tried several different brands of watercolor pencils in my day, and I really believe these Inktense style, by Derwent, are the fastest and easiest to use when coloring stamped images. They are also said to give vivid color on fabric surfaces, but I haven't tried this medium yet. I have a canvas envelope  that I plan on stamping today, so I may have a sample using them on fabric for you tomorrow.

Just like Copic markers are faster and easier to blend then other brands of markers, Inktense pencils are easier than other colored pencils. Of course, this is my opinion, try them out for yourself and see what you think before purchasing.  Many small Mom & Pop owned art stores will let you try many products before you buy, whereas the larger chain stores will not. Even attending a class or a crop will expose you to new products that you can "try, before you buy." So while out shopping this holiday season, try "Shopping Small" with local merchants. You will learn more than you thought humanly possible, and even get a great deal to boot!  You may even make a good friend in the process. Help support small business!

Christmas Possibilities!

Hello fellow stampers! I have been working on samples for my Christmas cards, putting bits and pieces together to try and finally find an arrangement I like for my holiday cards.

This one takes awhile to make, so if I don't hurry along and decide soon, I won't get any cards done at all. I stamped the image of the Jolly Snowman from Stampabilities on kraft card stock with StazOn black ink. I am using watercolor pencils to color the image, so I didn't want the outline ink to bleed. I used the new Inktense colored pencils from Derwent, and they are a watercolor like pencil, but has very intense colored pigment.  You can see how intense the color is on kraft stock, so you can imagine how bold it is on white stock.  You can color the image with the pencils directly, and then use a brush with water applied over it to blend the colors together. Or, you can use a water brush (paintbrush that holds water in it) to just drag over the point of the pencil to pick up color, and then paint directly on the paper.  It doesn't take a lot of water to blend out the colors of these Inktense pencils, so you can use them on any type of papers, watercolor to cardstock. It says they can even be used on canvas and fabric!  I haven't tried it on those surfaces yet.

After coloring the image, I matted it on polka dot printed paper, and wrapped some Peppermint colored twine around and knotted it. Then I mounted it on the gray snowflake paper, and then the kraft colored card base.  The sentiment and peppermint twine are from Lawn Fawn, the sentiment from the Bows & Holly set. For the final step, I inked around the entire card with navy blue chalk ink to distress it a bit.

Well, off to try my hand at a few more designs. Stick around and see what I come up with, I will share them as I go.  Have a wonderful day, and Happy Holidays!

Thank You's are Important, Too

Thank you's are important, too!

During the holidays, there are two little words that mean so much, and are sometimes forgotten. "Thank You!" Thank you for the lovely dinner, thank you for inviting me, thank you for the wonderful gift, thank you for thinking of me. Sometimes we get so tied up in the moment, we forget to say these words out loud. That is when a beautiful card can really come in handy.  So while you are creating beautiful handmade cards to send to family and friends, be sure to also make several thank you cards, to keep on hand for the thank you's that are frequently forgotten.

The card I made today is an A2 size card that is very simple, yet beautiful. I started with the background pool colored layering paper from Hero Arts and added a printed scrap across the bottom, about halfway across. I then adheared a ribbon across and glued it to the back. I then shadow stamped a leaf design on the solid top with a gray Marvy marker inked directly onto the stamp. This technique is so vibrant on glossy surfaces, yet a soft matte finish on non-glossy papers. I also used this technique to stamp a thank you stamp on a precut chipboard label. It's finish was fairly glossy, so it turned out vibrant and strong. I just take the Marvy marker (light blue for example) and mark directly on the word thank on my rubber stamp.(Always use the lighter color first) Then with my grape colored purple marker, I rubbed it on the word "you" and across the bottom of the word "thank". It automatically blended the two colors where they overlapped. You can then "huff" or breathe heavily on your stamp and stamp it onto the smooth surface.  Your breath will re-moisten the inks just enough so they will stamp easily. Use foam dots to pop the label on the front of your card, and then adhear the front panel to the card front, and you are done!

Here are the last four tags from the Holiday Tag project I completed. This project was one of the most rewarding projects I have seen to fruition, so I guess that is why it means so much to me.  I hope you all enjoyed seeing the tags as much as I enjoyed making them. Several of you left me comments on the post, and I really appreciate your responses.

I hope you consider making a few tags this year for attaching to special gifts, or even attaching to the front of a greeting card.  They are fun and can be quick to make and they will be treasured by those receiving them. Have a grand week, and I will see you again soon.