PaperFections

WSC55: JustRite Busy Angel

Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #55 is a long one: I really wanted to use this sweet new Lockhart Ornament Angel but needed my main panel to be a longer rectangle to fit the sketch. Then I spied the new Itty Bitty Ornaments . . . . . . and decided to put the two together, to make a busy little Angel (a Stamp-A-Ma-Jig is your best friend)! Angel and ornaments were stamped with Tsukineko Tuxedo Black Memento ink onto Poison Ivory shimmer cardstock and colored with these Copic markers and Copic Spica glitter pens: I used some Poinsettia Dew Drops to place onto three of the Angel's ornaments (sorry, I cut one off in this photo!): The Angel panel (5-1/2" x 1-7/8") is matted with Prism Blush Red Dark cardstock and mounted to beautiful Starry Night paper from Webster's Pages Winter Wonderland Collection. Card base is also Blush Red Dark, measuring 9" x 3-7/8" so the card will fit in a standard #10 business letter envelope. Now, on to the sentiment part of this sketch . . . I looked through my JustRite Stampers inventory, remembering a new Christmas Stamp Ensemble, and found this beautiful round "Season's Greetings" that I... Read more →

CPS79: Harvest Candle

Kids started school on Monday here and the week has flown by already! I started this card over the weekend and am just now finally getting it all finished . . . Fall is everywhere in the stores and it's my favorite season, so I was especially happy to see this beautiful new Lockhart Harvest Candle stamp and couldn't wait to color it! I stamped it in Tsukineko Memento Rich Cocoa ink onto Neenah Classic Cream cardstock and colored with these Copic markers: Yes, there are a LOT of markers here but remember, using varying shades of a color family helps you to achieve a nicely shaded image that looks realistic. Here's a little bit better close up: The "Thanks A Bunch" sentiment is one of my favorites by Karen Lockhart. I cut and matted the image with Spellbinders Labels Two die (available next month) and sponged the edges with Ranger Vintage Photo Distress ink. The image is mounted with dimensional foam tape to the card. I used CPS79 for the layout for this card, turned on its side. The 5.50" card base is Stampin' Up's Chocolate Chip. These beautiful papers are from MemoryBox's Grove collection. I distressed the edges... Read more →

New Family Addition

Meet the newest member of our family . . . Harley Maximus: Birthdate: 7.6.08 (7 wks); Weight: 7 Lbs; Height: 10" What you can't see in this photo (buried in the grass) are his huge paws . . . he'll be growing into them, as he's a Great Dane! And yes, we've had one before and know what to expect from them. They think they are lap dogs, will sit on the sofa just like a human and crawl up into bed with you when you are sound asleep! When taller (at about 1 year), they can drink from the kitchen or bathroom sink and also make a snack out of anything you might happen to leave out on the kitchen counter! But they are the friendliest buckets of love you'll ever find and amazingly, very gentle with children. Watch out for their bark -- most of the time, it's worse than their bite! The girls had been begging for a dog for a while and seriously, who could resist that face? A friend told me I had no backbone at all, LOL! So if I'm not here, I'll probably be training or walking the new puppy or buying more... Read more →

WSC54 - Witch Clothes

After a summer break, it felt great to get back into the routine of our Friday Weekend Sketch Challenges from Beate. I hope you'll join us, too, and try this sketch! Here's what I came up with . . . and used a brand new fall stamp by Karen Lockhart, Witch's Clothes: My black card base is 5.50" and the patterned papers are a specialty pad (glittered & flocked) by K&Company. I used Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Circles to cut & mat my circle element. The left vertical element was another pattern of striped paper from this pad that I zig-zag stitched. I cut out the flocked spider from another pattern of this paper and used him as my right vertical element; he's popped up on dimensional foam tape. Witch's Clothes were stamped with Tsukineko's Tuxedo Black Memento ink onto Neenah Natural White cardstock and colored with these Copic markers: I intentionally made the shadowing around the clothes a little darker, to make them seem gloomy. Another bit of zig-zag stitching finishes off this image. You can check out some more wonderful ladies' blogs to see their interpretation of the sketch . . . I'm sure they'll knock YOUR clothes off!... Read more →

Stamped Image Shading with Copics

I wanted to share a few details about a scrapbook page I've been getting some questions about that was shown in Ellen Hutson's emailed newsletter on August 15th. If you are not signed up to receive Ellen's newsletter, you can do so by going to her home page . . . scroll down to the bottom and enter your email address to join her mailing list. The schoolhouse from Kim Hughes' darling Making The Grade set (from Cornish Heritage Farms) was stamped with Ranger's Adirondack Red Pepper dye ink onto Neenah Classic Natural White cardstock and then shaded with Copic markers W3 under the roof eaves and T5 for the door and round window. And no, mixing the two inks will not cause either to bleed -- a very nice discovery with lots of possibilities! The bell was colored with silver Copic Spica glitter pen and the white parts accented with Ranger white opaque pen. The schoolhouse was cut out and popped up on dimensional foam tape above an area I sponged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I was also asked about that cute little book worm: He was colored with Copic R27 and then the 0-Blender pen was used... Read more →

JustRite 44 Birthday

It's time for another SplitcoastStampers.com design team & alumni challenge. This month, the "What's In A Number" challenge was to make a birthday card with numbers on it but the restriction was that we couldn't use the word "birthday". You know I love a challenge (I think it inspires creativity and promotes thinking outside your normal "box"), so I immediately thought of all the number stamp sets I have in my JustRite products. Here's the birthday card I came up with for my brother . . . you know, the one that was always mean & rotten to me when we were growing up? I'm sure you probably had a sibling the same way and can relate! He turns 44 next week and will see the humor in this, I'm sure (I hope!). When I was looking at this beautiful new JustRite Harmony Classic Oval II Ensemble (<= you can click on that link to see the 6 different borders and 6 centers you get in that set), this is what popped into my head when I saw the "Dream" stamp . . . "of being young again"! So I set out to put it all together on the one... Read more →

Inchie Magnet Board

Here's a fun way to display the Inchies you make or collect . . . an Inchie Arts Inchie Magnet Board! Here's how it starts out: A 5-inch black powder-coated metal square with organdy ribbon hanger. It's just fine to use like this to display your magnetized Inchies but of course, I wanted to customize mine to match my studio where it will be hanging: I easily adhered a section of this beautiful Webster's Pages patterned paper (Serendipity from the Sweet Charity collection) that has the same green in it as my walls! I thought it would be a perfect fit to display some floral Inchies that I'll gradually be adding to my collection and sharing with you over the next few months. Beacon Adhesives Zip Dry Paper glue worked very well to adhere the paper to the powder coated metal. I sanded the edges of the paper and inked them with ColorBox's Chestnut Roan fluid chalk ink. I found this little bit of bead trim in my stash but it was a yellow/golden color, so I changed it to match my project by airbrushing the beads with Copic marker E27! Some green organdy & satin May Arts ribbon matches... Read more →

JustRite Coupon Keeper

I printed off the instructions for this cool project almost a year ago but just recently re-found them and decided to try it this weekend. You can find full step-by-step instructions on Taylor's blog. Taylor made hers into a mini book/album. I was going to make mine into a stationery keeper but ended up with this idea instead . . . a grocery shopping list & coupon keeper! Thanks for the cute idea, Taylor! This is the keeper all folded up, it measures approximately 5" x 7-3/4". It's made out of a regular office supply manila folder. Even though Taylor shows you step-by-step folding instructions, I was a little confused (probably just a blonde thing!) until I actually started folding along with the instructions. So I thought I would show you how I folded mine (in just a bit), with the papers on it . . . maybe that will help with the visualization a little. On the tabs, I used the new JustRite Stamper Brayton font that will be available mid-September (you can preorder it now at the JustRite site), to spell out "Coupon Keeper" and "Shopping List" on my Harmony Rectangle Stamper -- this is a straight wood... Read more →

New Lockhart Stockings

I know it's a bit early to be thinking about Christmas but with school starting, before you know it Halloween will be here and then the holiday season will be upon us. So if that's not justification enough . . . I just got a new box of stamps yesterday and couldn't wait to share these with you! :) Plus, I LOVE the holidays! When I saw this week's CPS77, I knew these adorable new Lockhart stockings would be a perfect fit for the sketch (I turned it on its side). I stamped them onto Neenah Classic Natural White cardstock with Tsukineko's Memento Tuxedo Black ink, colored them with Copic markers in colors to match the BasicGrey Figgy paper, and cut them out. I used silver metallic gel pen for the seam bindings between each "patch" in the stockings and then aged the images a bit by lightly sponging them with Ranger's Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Here are some closeups, so you can see those tiny images on the stockings better and pick out your favorite(s): As shown in order on the card above - Left: Candy Cane Stocking . . . Middle: Christmas Tree Stocking . . . And... Read more →

JustRite Stampin' Champion Contest!

You could be the next JustRite Stampin' Champion. The rules are simple...the prizes are terrific. For the complete rules and all the details visit the JustRite blog. Good luck...you may enter as many times as you like and you can win multiple times by just sharing your talent and posting your projects using a JustRite Product in the Splitcoaststampers.com gallery, using the keyword "JustRite". For some fabulous JustRite inspiration, visit Kellie's blog, Polished to Perfection . . . she's been featuring some great holiday projects and is currently on the 4th day of Christmas. Will there be 12 days? Check it out to see! I hope to have another JustRite project right here for you sometime this weekend, too! Read more →

Strutting Rooster

This rooster is certainly strutting his stuff and I thought it would make a good congratulatory card to send when something special happens in someone's life. Karen Lockhart's Rooster was stamped onto Neenah Natural White cardstock and colored with Copic markers. The background was still a little too white for me, so added Vintage Photo Distress ink with Ranger's Blending Tool. I also distressed the edges of the image and matted it with black cardstock. The yellow layer is MemoryBox Sweet Corn stamped with Cornish Heritage Farms' Pretty Pattern backgrounder in Ranger Adirondack Butterscotch dye ink. Vintage Photo Distress ink was also added to this layer . . . Do you see a pattern here? I was in a distressing mood today, LOL! The card base is a MemoryBox Paprika notecard stamped with Cornish Heritage Farms' Victorian Floral backgrounder in Adirondack Red Pepper dye ink. The red and yellow layers were all sponged with black ink. Now for that pretty black strip -- that's Spellbinders' new Victorian Pierceabilities (available next month) cut & embossed from MemoryBox Licorice cardstock. The nice thing about MemoryBox cardstock is that one side is colored and the other side is white. I used that to... Read more →

Ribbon Organization

It seems I'm constantly organizing things in my studio, trying to find the best/better storage solutions. I recently reorganized all my ribbon and promised friends some photos, so here you go . . . I love these Embellishment Centers by Making Memories (I've never ordered from the site linked above, it's just the first site I found when I Googled these. For some reason, Making Memories doesn't have them listed on their site). This is the larger one that measures 24" wide x 31.5" tall. It hangs on the wall in front of my desk (the ink pads in the lower right of this photo are sitting on my desk). It has cubbies to hold jars of ribbon and also Crop In Style's Ribbon Spool Stackers (again, I have no affiliation with this site -- I just wanted to find a better photo for you). I've found my ribbon stackers at Michael's or Hobby Lobby and the Embellishment Center at Michael's -- use your coupon! I've tried to organize by color: reds, oranges, yellows and white/cream are in this center. The jars usually contain the same type variety -- wide satin, polka dot, swirls, velvet, etc. that I've gotten from... Read more →

Divine Design-August

(Edited to add piercing template below) . . . Philippians 4:13 -- My Divine Design project this month. If you've missed the others over the past several months, you can click on "Divine Design" at the bottom of this post or in the Category list over in my right sidebar. You can read all about this challenge over on SplitcoastStampers.com here -- anyone is welcome to play along. In last month's post, I showed you my intent for these pages -- to make matching 6-inch scrapbook pages of my daughters and give the full album to my Mom at the end of the year . . . I think she'll like that! This scripture is from the set I've been primarily using for this challenge, Papertrey Ink's Everyday Blessings. It is stamped with Adirondack Pitch Black onto these yummy Bohemia papers by My Mind's Eye that my friend, Eli, sent me -- I'm not certain if the pattern is still available. The flourish around the verse is Karen Lockhart's Vine Millinery Embellishment, stamped in Adirondack Cloudy Blue, then clear Copic Spica glitter pen outlines it. The verse was cut with Spellbinders Nestabilities Classic Circles and matted with Classic Scalloped Circle... Read more →

JustRite August Calendar

Here's my August calendar, finally. I was in a shabby-chic mood, so that's where the browns & distressing came in. I loved the soft green & blue in this beautiful Webster's Pages paper (Pear Blossom from the Classical Garden collection). My friend Cindy at StarLitStudio will be carrying these papers in a few weeks, so watch for it! The fabulous distressed copper brads I used here are also from her store: After distressing the edges, I mounted the paper to a 6-inch square piece of Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip cardstock that I cut the left edge with Spellbinders' new Victorian Pierceabilities die (available in September). The blue lined paper is the reverse side of this pattern -- I ran a strip of it under my calendar page and used it to cut that cute tiny butterfly. She's from the Flying Beauties Spellbinders die set. The circle sentiment I created myself with my JustRite Classic Wood Stamper (large 1-5/8"). "Classic" just means it's the round wood block instead of the Self Inking Stamper. Originally I intended to ink the round border in a different color than the letters, so that's why I chose the wood block. Obviously, along the way I... Read more →

Merrie Bird Holiday Card

Another holiday card I made for the Spellbinders CHA booth, using the new Nested Birds (S4-160) die set that will be available in September. I know you're probably getting tired of holiday cards, but just thinking about December & winter makes this 100-degree plus Texas heat a little more bearable! Plus, if you get a head start now, you'll be ready for the holidays! Paper and jolly crown are from Fancy Pants' Holly Jolly collection and when I saw that crown, I knew immediately this sweet bird needed it for her holiday parties, LOL! :-) It's popped up on dimensional foam tape. The holly leaves are also a Spellbinders die, from the Ornament & Holly set. It was cut from the same background paper and then burgundy metallic cream rubbed on the top -- much prettier in person, it's looking pretty dark here. The edges of the background paper were distressed and then machine stitched to a Prism Razzleberry Dark card base. This makes a pretty simple & easy card that goes together quickly for your holiday sending. I'm still working on that August calendar page and hope to have it for you tomorrow! Read more →