Christmas Week!

This past week I finally did something we all need to do but dread doing... cleaning and organizing files on the computer! Normally, I try to keep things cleaned up as I go, but as you know "good intentions" and all that!
Also, if you're like me (not like Jennifer McGuire!) keeping track of stamps you own and inks you own and which inks you need to purchase, etc. takes too much time and you'd rather be stamping. And how many of us purchase the same stamp set because we forgot we already own it?! (Ashamed to say, I've done it more than once!)
So while I was organizing I decided to make myself an "Ink Inventory Chart" so I could keep track of what I own and especially ink refills I need to buy. So, my gift to you is an Ink Inventory Chart that you can keep track of all your Distress inks, Distress Oxide inks, Stampin' Up inks with places for all the ink refills and markers. (Click on that link and if you have a problem, email me and I'll send you the file.) I hope this is helpful for someone besides me! You can download the PDF file and print it out on cardstock and as I did, I marked with the actual color the inks, refills, and markers I have and don't need to "repurchase!" There's a "key" at the top of the tables showing a symbol for each item and a box below that you can check off if you have it. Here's what mine looks like so far:

Lovely Lily Pad Background

It's been awhile since posting and I've been trying to get my right hand back in shape. As you can see in this video, I am wearing a brace on my right thumb, which makes using scissors very difficult. I actually cut the lily pad with my pointer and middle finger, so I am sure you can understand why I didn't repeat the process here!!
Anyway, we will be making this background (and card) at my January 2020 stamp camp and I thought I'd post a video on the technique. I realize the background does not look exactly like the double-sided paper I am showing, but it gives a good impression of a pond surface.
The "Lovely Lily Pad" set is one you can earn free for a $50 purchase from either the annual catalog or the Spring Occasions catalog. There is also a matching die set to go with it!
Before I forget, this stamp set is one of the sets that Stampin' Up is making that you are supposed to stamp the back of the stamp and the front of the stamp. Because this is not a symmetrical image, it is not supposed to "fill in" the outline image fully, and it will not match the outline. (I called demonstrator support on this to clarify!) So if you're expecting the solid image to "match" the outline when you flip over the stamp, it will not.
Also, you will notice that I have not included showing the ENTIRE process as I don't like to waste your time. You know how to emboss, stamp, color, die cut, so I have not shown that in this video, mainly how I did the background and also how I made the flowers. I hope you enjoy it, and if you have questions, please post them and I will answer them. If you'd like to watch it on Youtube, you can click here.

Lining Up Rubber Stamps in Stampin' Up's Stamparatus

Rubber stamps are more difficult to line up in a stamp positioning tool like Stampin' Up's Stamparatus, but there's a very simple technique for doing this. All you need is a clear sheet of acetate. Since I'm a retired teacher I have LOTS of old overhead transparencies, but you can use clear packaging sheets. You can still purchase a box of overhead transparencies from office supply stores and they come in handy. Often I cut them and use them for shaker cards, or use as a temporary palette for inks. They also can be used to make mirror images.
Here's a video that shows how to line up Stampin' Up's "Still Scenes" snow globe so that the globe sets onto the base perfectly, without having to reposition stamps over and over again.

After watching it I realized I forgot to tell you once you have it stamped on the acetate sheet and it is lined up, just remove the acetate without moving the cardstock and stamp it again!  Hope it helps!

Thanks for watching and if this was helpful, give it a thumbs up!! 

Snowy Chirstmas?

I've told you this before, but it bears repeating. All my cards do not turn out the way I plan them! Sometimes even the best stampers work several times on a card, so don't be discouraged! This post is about that trial and error and a final card that I am finally happy with. Many have requested that I design a Christmas card using the Paper Roses "Men on Fence" die. So here is my trial and error!

First the background and this is my 2 trials that did not work out. I did a background sky with some Distress Oxide inks like I usually do and stamped pine trees over-top with black ink. It was a dye ink and you can see that dye ink does not show up black. Also, I tried the Stampin' Up white puff paint on the branches, which I will tell you I am not happy with. The opening in the bottle is too large and large drops came out and also even after I shook it well, I still had a clear gel come out first. I think this would work if you wanted large amounts of snow, but for what I wanted, it wasn't detailed enough for that. Also on this photo you can see I used this as a test to see how another ink would work over the oxides. Still not black enough!

I also tried using a white brush to brush over the clear gel areas before I trashed this!

Next trial, somehow I forgot I was making a "winter scene" and wanted snow on the ground, and even though I was happy with the blending, it just didn't scream "winter!" Why? The white gel pen just didn't do the green ground any favors.

So tiral #2 is trashed:

 Finally, I changed the colors of blending a bit to make the scene more "wintery." Here's the final card and if you want directions for exactly how it was made, you can download the PDF file HERE.
I hope you enjoy it. 

Christmas in August

Normally you hear "Christmas in July," but I'm a little later this year due to a "construction project" in the back yard! Anyway, I have owned some dies for a LONG time that I've been dying to use and finally got them out of the package today, and looked up some ideas for how others have used this die. Since I did add blue to this it will work for Simon Says Stamp Monday "Midsummer Blues" challenge.

I am using Memory Box's Holiday Lamp Post Frame die. I didn't find too many cards using this but I did find a neat video on the Memory Box website that explains how I made this. I changed some things, layering the 2nd cut right on top of the first cut and it cut beautifully.

 I really like Memory Box dies - one of my favs! I also used the "Christmas Wishes" stamp from Stampin' Up's Ornamental Pine set (discontinued), embossed in white. The grey paper is Stampin' Up's "basic grey." I used Distress Oxide inks to blend the colors before cutting the pieces out. (Scattered Straw, Tumbled Glass, Peeled Paint, Hickory Smoke) I also used Dr. Ph Martin's bleed proof white ink to add the snow splatters and a little snow on the pine boughs. Hope you like it!

Your Light Birthday

This card was inspired by Bibi Cameron and she free-hand drew a whale tale and had the images behind it. She also used other dies to cut out openings for the nautical items to show through. I needed a 65th birthday card for my brother-in-law and thought this would be the perfect one. I did not think I had time to make the perfect whale shape so I used a Hero Arts die instead. This is the outside die of the Koi fish. I used Simon Says Stamp's Your Light stamp set. I am entering it in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.
After cutting out two of the Koi fish from a piece of white cardstock, I lightly traced them onto another piece of white cardstock so I could see where the images would show through. Then I stamped images from the stamp set with Momento tuxedo black ink as I was coloring them with Copic markers. I masked all the images and started blending with Distress Oxide inks starting in the center with Tumbled Glass, then Mermaid Lagoon, and finally with Chipped Sapphire.
Since the piece with the fish cut out was open on one side and very thin on the opposite side, I think I got it on the card a little crooked! I raised it up with some craft foam to give it dimension and then adhered it to a piece of black cardstock and then onto the front of a top-folding card base.
Thanks for looking!

Soft Spring & Color Blending

Have you tried to blend different colors together and ended up with a gray mess? Well it happens! To avoid this I try to stay with some colors that are either in the same (kind of) family. For example, red tones or blue/greens as I did on these two cards.

To make these two cards I first cut a circle out of some Eclipse masking paper and placed it on the white cardstock.

On the shades of reds I used Distress inks (not the Oxides, although they blend beautifully) starting with the lightest shade (Tattered Rose), then the medium (Abandoned Coral) and finally the darkest (Picked Raspberry).

On what I call the "blue/green" blends I used Twisted Citron for the lightest, Salty Ocean and Chipped Sapphire, again working from lightest to darkest.

After removing the masks I stamped the images from Stampin' Up's Soft Spring, which is a new Hostess set that is available this coming June (Yay!). I stamped the images in Versafine ink as I wanted it to be very black and Momento just doesn't get this black.

After cutting the rectangles out with a stitched rectangle die I mounted them onto the front of the cards with a piece of craft foam and finally added some Nuvo Crystal Gems.

What I love about this type of card is that you can very easily make a single layer card with a design like this. I didn't because I already had a couple pieces of white cardstock I wanted to use and I didn't want to fuss with finding the exact center to put the mask on. Hope you like them!
 

L O N G Year!!

So first of all I have to apologize for not being active on my blog for a very long time. Life happens, as you all know, and this past school year we have hosted a lovely young lady from South Korea who is finishing out her senior year at our school. Needless to say, my husband and I are not used to having a teenager in the house again!! She has been very active in school activities and graduates on June 15th and returns to Korea on the 21st of June. Being involved in someone else's life like this is rewarding in its own way but it also takes time. That time I've spent with her and at work have taken away from my time to make videos and post card creations.

I've still made cards... mostly when needed or when I just needed to sit and create! You know that feeling!! Anyway, recently Kelly Letevola posted a video using Picket Fence Studio's "Jungle Babies" stamp set and I was inspired. We have a dear friend who is having a baby this week and she is decorating her nursery with elephants, so this card just had to be made. So, I purchased the stamp set, ordered the matching dies, and what usually happens when a video like this is posted, the dies were out of stock! Ugh! So, not to worry, I can still do this.... so I created masks with masking paper, and since our friend is having a boy, of course the little "diaper" on the baby elephant had to be changed to blue. I also forgot to put the little bows on the parent's heads, and didn't have all the colors Kelly used (and I don't "Copic" as dark or as well) as she does. Anyway, here's the card: