PaperFections

Thomas Kinkade Foxglove Cottage Plaque

Here's how this plaque started out -- a 5" square dollar store find from about a year ago! I liked the basics of it and knew I could cover it with a nice stamped image of my own. After stamping the cottage on vanilla cardstock with Palette Noir ink and taking quite a bit of time coloring with Prismacolor pencils, I knew I wanted to do more with this image than just place it on a greeting card. Searching thru my stash (and we all have a pretty good stash of crafting supplies, don't we?!!) I found this plaque that was the perfect width for this image, but I had already trimmed it too short to cover the whole plaque (adhered with ModPodge). Solution: stamp the sentiment on another piece of vanilla cardstock in Coffee Bean Brilliance ink and piece it at the bottom of the plaque, then cover the seam with cream grosgrain ribbon! The edges of the plaque were also inked in the Coffee Bean Brilliance ink and some Prima flowers with brads finish it all off. Design note: At first I was stumped with how to color these highly detailed images when a lot of the stamped... Read more →

Another Surprise!

Another announcement was made this morning -- check out Craft Critique to see! I'm honored to be included in the fantastic group and look forward to sharing some Crafty reports with you all! Read more →

Cornish Heritage Farms & Thomas Kinkade Stamps

I've been given the go ahead to let you all know that it was Thomas Kinkade's gorgeous paintings that have been made into rubber stamps by Cornish Heritage Farms -- how cool is that?!! I was awe-struck when contacted to be on this design team and then to find out who the artist was! It was a long & painstaking road for Richard & Liz at CHF, to transform such detailed paintings into rubber stamp images, but the end results are beautiful. I'd love to share my projects with you and give you a few design notes and tell you what I found to work well with these highly detailed images. First up -- I think my favorite of the first four designs I created was this prayer journal: I started off by stamping the Paisley backgrounder in chocolate pigment ink on copper cardstock and clear embossing it. This was mounted to two 4" chipboard coasters using glue stick. Then I cut filler paper for the inside of the journal and rounded the corners. All this was bound at the top with the Bind-It-All (from Eclectic Paperie) and black 3/8" coil. The chapel was stamped in StazOn on shimmer vanilla... Read more →

Rosey Long Note

I had to post one last sample of my favorite retiring Stampin' Up! set, Roses in Winter. This is another set that will be living permanently at my house! The card base is a saffron long note -- I tore the front right edge and folded it back, then pierced it and placed three small rose red buttons at the top edge, tied with gold cord. The Floral panel was stamped with rose red classic ink on coral cardstock, a window cut out of the center and the edges distressed. The rose panel was stamped on vanilla cardstock with saffron, regal rose & rose red classic inks in the Rock 'N Roll technique. I used the large leaf image as a rose bud on the far right. Sentiment (Flex Phrases) was stamped in rose red. This panel was adhered to the long note, then the Floral panel mounted over it. The long stem/leaf image was stamped in olive classic ink on celery cardstock, then cut out and tucked into the window and adhered with small glue dots. A photo corner of celery cardstock, stamped with the small flower from this set finishes off the front of this card. A celery... Read more →

Announcement!

So here's that announcement I mentioned earlier today (see post below). Lisa Strahl posted this on her blog this morning: "When they asked me to pull together a Design Team for this project, I knew I needed a group of stampers that could handle a new genre and figure out how best to showcase the images. I can't share the name of the artist just yet, but I do want to announce the talented group of women who have each put their own distinct spin on this new line: Design Team: Valerie Stangle Anna Wight Debbie Olson Sharon Harnist Ellen Hutson Linda Bullard Asela Hopkins Keri Sereika Over the past few months I have wanted to shout from the rooftops so many times how stinkin' talented these ladies truly are. (not to mention, a pleasure to work with) They have displayed patience and diligence and I almost get misty-eyed just thinking about how proud I am of each and every one." Isn't she sweet?!! Lisa has been an angel to work with, too! So be sure to watch the Cornish Heritage Farms site tomorrow (Thursday, June 28) at midnight CST to find out who this Internationally-acclaimed artist is and to... Read more →

Stamp It! Cards

A couple of weeks ago I finally received my comp copy of the 2007 Stamp It! Cards magazine by Paper Crafts (it is now out on newsstands). I was so excited to have this tag card in the Easter card section, so I thought I'd share it with you all, too. When I first saw this adorable Huggin' Bunny by Inky Antics, I fell in love with him -- who wouldn't, isn't he cute enough to squeeze?!! I started by stamping him on watercolor paper (Stampin' Up!) with Jet Black StazOn and then using dye ink pad reinkers (SU) to watercolor him. His tail, ears and parts of the carrot were highlighted with white gel pen. He was then cut into a tag shape, matted with apricot cardstock, and then mounted on a celery tag card base (hinged at the top). A couple of Prima flowers and green brads finishes off this 5.75" x 2.75" card. Stay tuned a little later today for some exciting news . . . have you seen this teaser banner yet on the Cornish Heritage Farms' site? :D Read more →

Gift Bird

I love this little bird from Natural Beauty and will surely miss him retiring this year (but he won't be leaving my home)! I used the branch from Artfully Asian to make him a tree to perch in (Timber Brown StazOn). After stamping the tree on watercolor paper, I lightly drew a box around the branches to the size I wanted for my cardfront. Then I carefully trimmed around some of the branches to leave them "outside of the box" . . . this technique is known as Out of the Box. After watercoloring the bird and branches (cranberry, rose, moss & artichoke) and stamping the sentiment, I inked the edges with cocoa dye ink and matted it with artichoke cardstock. Here's a closeup of Mr. Birdie and some of the out-of-the-box branches, so you can see them a little better: It is mounted with dimensionals to the Recollections designer paper, which has the edges distressed. All is mounted to another pattern in the Recollection series, on a 5.50" square artichoke card base. A swirl clip and rose grosgrain (stained with cranberry ink) finishes off this card. I hope you enjoy another retiring beauty! All supplies by Stampin Up! Read more →

Summer Dazzling Butterfly

A Touch of Nature (Stampin' Up!) is one of my favorite nature sets and I especially love this butterfly. I stamped it on shimmer white cardstock with Timber Brown StazOn and colored it with Stampin' Write Markers. The fern was stamped in sage dye ink and then the image cut into a circle. The image was then coated with Versamark and embossed with Iridescent Ice, for lots of sparkle (which, unfortunately probably isn't showing too well in the photo)! The chocolate scalloped mat was made using the small corner rounder punch, with the corner guard removed. I'm sorry I can't remember the exact dimensions, since I no longer have the card. I can remember that it did take a few tries to get the right dimensions, though! It is mounted with dimensionals to the card. The card base is amethyst, stamped with the small harlequin pattern from Looks Like Spring, also in amethyst dye ink. The edges were sponged with cocoa ink. The bottom strip is sage cardstock, with the leaf images stamped in sage, then lightly colored with a blender pen and dye ink pads. The edges were distressed and inked and mounted with dimensionals to the card base.... Read more →

Scrapbook Frame

How about some scrapbooking for the wall (or desk!) with a custom made frame! I adore this photo of my youngest daughter on the day we brought her home from the hospital. She was a tiny 5-pounder and even this preemie outfit swallowed her! I started with a bare frame from Michael's (7" x 9") and covered it with this Spring Flowers designer paper, using SU's Anywhere Glue Stick. Flowers from the coordinating stamp set, Looks Like Spring, were stamped in the upper right corner with craft ink. Brad prongs were cut off and adhered with glue dots to each corner of the frame. The exposed edges of the frame were inked directly with chocolate chip craft ink. A coordinating strip of paper was faux stitched and also adhered with glue stick. Name was stamped on some more coordinating designer paper and inserted in the Hodgepodge Hardware frame: The large flower from Looks Like Spring was stamped twice and both cut out and layered with a button in the middle, tied with Linen Thread. The BABY sentiment was stamped on a window sheet with StazOn and placed over the photo: Two pieces of apricot and moss grosgrain were tied to... Read more →

Pretty Princess

Here's a 12x12 page of my other princess. These photos were taken last school year when my oldest daughter was in Kindergarten and her Daisy Girl Scout troop went to a tea room for a tea party and to learn manners for one of their petal badges. They got to dress up in beautiful dresses, select their jewelry & tiaras, have their nails painted and just a little touch of makup. Then they had the tea party and were schooled on proper tea time etiquette -- it was darling to watch them all being such little ladies and listening so attentively when normally they are all running around, bouncing off the walls! I know this page looks a little bare in the upper left corner next to the title, but there is a Versamarked flower there that balances out the title, it's just not showing too well in the photo! The pretty in pink base had the edges colored directly with regal rose craft ink. The swirls were also stamped in rose craft ink, then highlighted with white gel pen. There's some more Versamarked flowers scattered on the background, too. This is a closeup of the title. "Beautiful" was stamped... Read more →

Big Bloom Girl

I love these Big Blooms from the current Stampin' Up Spring mini catalog that runs until June 30th. I thought they'd be cute with this photo of my youngest daughter. She had been playing around with this funny, fuzzy orange hat all day, so I snapped a few pictures of her. The blooms were stamped with craft ink and embossed with clear detail powder, to make them shiny. Then I just cut apart and reassembled parts of the flowers, so the colors were all mixed up. The largest bloom has designer paper for a center. All the flowers are popped up. Their stems are strips of grosgrain ribbon, as are their leaves. I trimmed the black background cardstock with a small corner rounder punch with the corner guard removed. It is matted with pixie pink cardstock. This is an 11" x 8.5" page. The journaling was printed from my computer onto pixie cardstock that had been stamped with the Memo/lines stamp from Office Accoutrement (also in the current Spring mini). "Happy" is from Happy Everything set. The top of the journaling block was punched with the Spiral punch. Here's a closeup of the flower and scalloped edge detail (and those... Read more →

Giggle Girls

Happy Friday, everone! I made this scrapbook page a few months back and am just now able to share it. It has some of my favorite photos on it of my girls: It was very difficult this day to get a good photo of all three of us, as they were being very giggly & goofy! So my husband just kept shooting pictures and I grouped several of my favorites on this 12x12 page. It uses that yummy Au Chocolat designer paper from the Stampin' Up Spring mini catalog (available until June 30) that I adore. I printed my photos in sepia tone, to better coordinate with the paper. The 12-inch base is chocolate chip. The photos are matted with naturals ivory cardstock and trimmed with chocolate stitched ribbon. Flower embellishments were punched with chocolate and naturals ivory cardstock. The journaling was printed on vellum, which was attached to the cardstock with glue dots, concealed by the designer papers: All supplies by Stampin' Up! Check back over the next several days, as I'll be sharing several more of these projects that had been under wraps for a few months. Read more →

Organization

Seems like every crafter struggles with where to put all their goodies and keep it all organized. If you need some fresh ideas about craft organization, head on over to Craft Critique. They are having an Organization Carnival this week and posting links to LOTS of bloggers & websites that may help you out. And you might see a few names along the way that you recognize, too! ;) Read more →

Ladybug Flip Flops!

I told you I love this sweet PaperTrey ladybug set . . . having two girls, I'm getting a LOT of use from it! I stumbled across these plain white flip-flops at JoAnn's yesterday (storefront for $1.39!) and thought ladybugs would be cute stamped all over them! Unfortunately, they probably don't have the best surface to be stamping on -- they have ridges running all across them. I know I've seen smoother ones in the past (similar to the sides of these) -- I was able to get a better impression from the stamps on the sides: But I think the ridges gave the ladies cute added texture. I stamped them & the flowers in Blazing Red StazOn (which actually turns out bright pink when stamped on the white), followed by Jet Black StazOn for the dots, head & antennae. I used a black Sharpie to dot the flower centers and touch up/color in the lines in the heads so they'd be more solid. Pink & black ribbon was wound around the tops. I guess I might need to stamp a matching shirt now . . . what do you think? :D Here's a closer view, too: Enjoy your Thursday... Read more →

Birthday Ensemble

I decided to get a little ahead of the game and make this packaging and birthday card for my youngest daughter's 5th birthday next month. These darling ladybugs from PaperTrey Ink were just perfect for the job! Starting with the card . . . it is 4.25" square base of gable green, with a top fold. The designer paper on the lower part is DCWV Nana's Kids print-Lady Bug Stripe w/Glitter. The white stripe & flowers were already glitterized (that's my word for it anyway!) and the sparkle is just gorgeous! I'm sorry, once again, that I probably didn't capture in a photo all the glitter this project has. I added more glitter to the flower centers with Stickles Lime Green. The top and bottom edges were trimmed with scalloped scissors, to match the scalloped circles and rick-rack. The "tent topper" (named by stamping goddess, Michelle Wooderson!) ladybug Giga scalloped circle is mounted on the top part of the card with dimensionals, so the overall height of the card still equals that of a regular A2-sized card, 5.5". The ladybugs from PaperTrey's Little Lady set were stamped in Brilliance Pearlescent Coral and SU Pink Passion. The tiny flowers were also... Read more →