PaperFections

Fall Hatched!

Fall just hatched over at the CLASSroom! Come on over for a visit to see this project I have to share with you today! Image credit: Lockhart Acorn & Leaves. Read more →

Lockhart Scarecrow

I adore Fall . . . can you tell by my posts lately?! The rich, rustic colors are just so appealing to me! When I was looking thru my fall stamp images, I found this older sweet Lockhart Scarecrow and stamped him onto Neenah Natural White cardstock and colored him with these Copic markers and Spica glitter pens: I was able to get two Inchies out of the one stamped image but only got one made into a card, so I'm sure I'll be back with something to show you later in the week with the other Inchie! After coloring, I glued the scarecrow to an Inchie Arts White Inchie Square that I colored a border with E13 Copic. Then I decided to use this week's CPS#84 sketch to put him on. My Mind's Eye Out & About Card Pack (Michael's) came to the rescue with this orange floral card base and another coordinating pattern (brown dotted) from the pack was used to make the faux envelope element of the sketch. I used Petite Scalloped Circle Nestabilities to cut the flap for my envelope -- the flap does actually lift up to reveal a magnet that holds the Inchie. The... Read more →

Give Thanks Tree

Here's another card made from Anna Wight's newest release of Fall stamp sets for Whipper Snapper. I used her Give Thanks cling set. I began by stamping the tree with Tsukineko Memento Rich Cocoa ink onto Neenah Natural White cardstock. Then I cut the image with Spellbinders new Labels 2 die (due to begin shipping next month). While the image was still in the die, I airbrushed it with Copic G24 Sketch marker. I didn't want to worry with trying to make a mask and cutting out all those little leaves, so I used Copic Colorless Blender marker to remove any green airbrushing that got onto any leaves and then colored them back in with the markers and glitter pens shown below: I cut a mat of BasicGrey Mellow paper, sanded the edges and layered it behind the tree image. It is popped up on dimensional foam tape on a card base of My Mind's Eye Out & About Card Pack (Michael's, also sanded the edges). Then I had fun with stamping a sentiment from the same Give Thanks set with Black StazOn onto natural twill (Stampin' Up). The twill was tied up with a Making Memores aged copper brad.... Read more →

WSC59: Ho Ho JustRite Snowflake

Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge was very easy to work with this week and loads of fun . . . I hope you'll play along this weekend. If you do, please let me know so I can check it out! I thought the circle element would be perfect for a JustRite sentiment, so here's what I came up with: When searching thru my paper stash, I came across these coordinating prints by Kelly Panacci for Sandylion (they are at least a year, maybe 2, old so I have no idea if they are still current). I adore this sage/burgundy color combo, so I figured it was time for a holiday card! The strip of tree paper is BasicGrey's Figgy Pudding. All the patterned strips were machine stitched to sage mats and popped up with dimensional foam tape. I used the JustRite C30 Small Monogram Stamper Kit that's usually geared towards one monogram initial in the center . . . BUT JustRite's Small Letter Set will fit in there, too! So will the smallest 25-pt. letters from JustRite's other font sets (at least the Brayton I tried), but I was only able to get "Ho Ho" in the center with them! I... Read more →

Copic Direct to Rubber

Earlier this year, Gina K posted on her blog that she tried (with success) using Copic markers to color directly on rubber stamps and then spritzing the stamp with rubbing alcohol so that the ink would "reactivate" and stay wet long enough to stamp with it. Normally the Copic ink dries very quickly, so by the time you are finished coloring on the rubber, the ink is dry and you can't stamp with it! I'd been meaning to try that technique for a while and finally did. Here are the results: I did discover a few other things, so I wanted to point those out. I was very pleased with the shading I achieved on this beauitufl Leaf & Acorn stamp by Cornish Heritage Farms (<=it's the current stamp of the month at CHF, so scoop it up while you can!). Here's how I went about doing it: First, I used the YR04 to color the center of the leaf, then E09 to color the outer edges of the leaf. E47 was used on the lower part of the acrorns and E79 was used for the acorn tops and swirls. Then I used E15 to draw in the veins of... Read more →

Thankful Fridge Photo Frame

I have a post over at the CLASSroom today, showing you how to make this seasonal functional keepsake. I hope you'll check it out! Stamp image credits: Cornish Heritage Farms Kim Hughes stamp sets Making the Grade & Fall Silhouettes. Read more →

Two for Tea

I thought this card might be a good one to send a friend who needs comforting or is ill -- somehow the tea theme seem comforting to me. Since I already had this Cornish Heritage Farms Victorian Pattern backgrounder stamped and laying on my desk, that's where the black and white inspiration came from! I used this week's CPS#83 sketch for the layout. The Lockhart Teapot image was stamped onto Cryogen White shimmer cardstock and in keeping with my black/grayscale color theme, colored with various neutral Copic markers: T3, T5, C1, C3, W1. I mounted the image onto a black mat cut with Scalloped Rectangle Nestabilities, so it would fit the sketch better. Mini Foof-a-la pearl buttons where added. The Lockhart Teabag was stamped onto more Cryogen White shimmer cardstock, trimmed and mounted to an Inchie Arts Black Inchie Square. Then I used my paper piercing tool to punch a hole thru the Inchie Square and tie a bit of string from a real teabag thru it. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to pierce thru this sturdy Inchie matboard! If you are looking for some more Inchie inspiration -- Lisa Lee, the owner owner of Inchie... Read more →

Creative Explosion!

I think my creative muse took a vacation this weekend and I couldn't get anything done. But today she returned and exploded on my desk! I'll be back tomorrow (Wed) and each day the rest of this week with some new project details! Read more →

500K Giveaway Winner!

Announcing our winner of the JustRite Brayton Font & Harmony Rectangle Stamper set: Random Integer Generator Here are your random numbers: 146 Timestamp: 2008-09-22 14:26:53 UTC Which belongs to: "Sharon, Thanks for the chance to win some candy. I think my favorite thing about Fall is that it is cool enough to cook stews and bake bread, and fill the house with their aroma (I know, I could do that in the Summer, but it just isn't as good). Have a great week! Posted by: Diana | September 17, 2008 at 10:03 AM " Diana, I've emailed you to get your mailing address. If you don't see that email, please check your spam folder or email me at the link right under my photo. Congratulations!! And many thanks once again to JustRite Stampers for so generously donating this awesome prize! I hope to be back within the next few days with some artwork! Read more →

Another big blog giveaway for World Alzheimer's Day

If you haven't heard or read about what Carolyn King is doing over in her corner of cyberspace, you really need to check it out. She's gathered a bunch of wonderful products from fabulous companies you all know and love and is giving away the whole bundle at the end of this week. If you enter to win, you'll be helping to raise the spirits of some dedicated people who care for Alzheimer's patients. You can read all about it on Cammie's Blog. Have a wonderful Sunday and remember that you only have until 12pm EST today to enter to win my giveaway here! I'll be back to announce the winner tomorrow morning! Read more →

WSC58: October Calendar

I think most of you know that I love making my monthly desk calendars . . . I've been sharing them for the past year now (see the 'Calendar photo album' in my blog's right sidebar). So you can imagine my excitement Monday when I read about a wonderful project A Muse Artstamps put together to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. You can read all about their fundraiser on the A Muse blog here. I'm always happy to help out a good cause, so I immediately downloaded a couple of the calendars and hope to share them with you over the next few months. I'm going to try and work ahead a little and make a 2009 calendar for a Christmas gift for my Mom, so hopefully I'll be able to share that with you as I complete each month. In addition to the monthly calendar in the A Muse downloads, there's also a perpetual calendar included and I thought this would also make a great gift for grandparents, to help them remember everyone's birthdays. I'll let you know how that project goes as well! For my first 6" x 6" October calendar, I used Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge,... Read more →

Taylored Expressions Frightful Night Fall Tree

I love the versatility of Taylored Expressions' new stamp set, Frightful Night. The house, tree, sun/moon & stars can be used for any number of occasions besides Halloween. When I first saw this bare tree, I thought it would be fun to put seasonal colors of leaves on it. It can even be a Spring tree with pretty pink & white blossoms on it! But since Fall is upon us and it's one of my favorite seasons, here's what I came up with today: I stamped the tree with Memento Rich Cocoa ink onto Neenah Classic Cream cardstock and then used the brush tip of Copic Sketch markers YR04, G24 & E25 to add leaves to the tree and on the ground by just gently touching the marker to the cardstock: The edges of the tree panel were sponged with Vintage Photo Distress ink and then scraped with an edge distresser. I used this week's SplitcoastStampers Sketch Challenge as my layout -- I liked that it could use a few different pieces of patterned paper that I had already matched up: My Mind's Eye Night Light Dotted Corn, Imaginisce Hallowhimsy Pixie Sticks and Creative Imaginations Jack-O-Lantern. The A2 card base... Read more →

500K Hits Giveaway!

I wanted to thank you all for taking the time to stop by my blog and leave me comments over the past year and a half. I want you to know that I always read every comment and appreciate them greatly! To help thank you, JustRite Stampers is generously donating some giveaway items and I wanted to show you a project that uses them: I created this custom tag/card to give some new neighbors, to go with a freshly baked loaf of Pumpkin Spice bread -- one of my favorite things about Fall! The Lockhart Acorn & Fall Leaves was stamped onto a tag I made from Neenah Classic Cream cardstock and Spellbinders Standard Tags die, then colored with Copic markers. Swirls from Cornish Heritage Farms' The Rummage Bin's Beatuiful set were stamped around the edges of the tag. I mounted the tag with dimensional foam tape to a rectangle of Memory Box Studio patterned cardstock. A mat of chocolate cardstock was cut with Spellbinders Nestabilities Mega Scalloped Rectangles. All supplies used (except noted below) are available from Ellen Hutson LLC. The fabulous copper brads at the bottom of the card are from StarLitStudio -- Cindy has a brand new,... Read more →

Masking

I've written a few articles in the past few days on some fun Masking techniques. To view the instructions on some general masking I did on the card above, please see this Masking article over at the CLASSroom. The card above shows a Reverse Masking technique I wrote about in Ellen Hutson's In Touch Newsletter that should have arrived in your inbox yesterday (15th). The card below was also included, showing you how to Mask to Omit. To view the article, please see this post. To make sure you receive Ellen's future newsletters, you can sign up to join her mailing list at the bottom of her home page here. There's usually a discount code included for your shopping enjoyment and this newsletter was no exception ! Image credits: Cornish Heritage Farms. I'll be back tomorrow with that 500k hits blog giveaway! Read more →

Whipper Snapper Release: Harvest Blessings

I'm very excited to be a Whipper Snapper Featured Designer for the next two months, especially since I'll be using a sweet friend's and (albeit transplanted!) fellow Texan's wonderful illustrations. Anna Wight's whimsical fall drawings have been transformed into rubber for you to enjoy in two new cling-mount rubber stamp sets, Harvest Blessings & Give Thanks. A third set is also being released this month . . . Crazy for Chickens. If you know Anna and follow her blog at all, you know she IS crazy for chickens and shares some of her own farm chicken tales with you on her blog, SweetMissDaisy/Sassy & Sweet Notes. You can view the contents of all three sets over at Anna's blog today and you can visit Whipper Snapper to pick them up. Anna signs the first 100 stamp sets of each release, so you'll want to be among the first to purchase them! I adored the sweet scarecrow girl in the Harvest Blessings set, so that's what I chose to work with first. If you know Anna, she's infamous for her fabulous watercoloring and her images are perfectly designed for it. So I dusted off my reinkers & watercolor brush, watercolor paper... Read more →