Craft's Meow September Challenge!

Sending Butterfly Kisses!
What a terrific way to celebrate saying goodbye to summer!

Cooler weather is on its' way!

 

Techniques abound over at Craft's Meow this week!

Check out all of the DT's great tips on how to ink up your projects!

 

I used the blending ink colors to mimic water colors and also used the metallic look for my background.

 

Using my favorite little stamp,

"Butterfly Kisses"

I heat embossed her over a misted green/blue background, and then highlighted her delightful little wings with some vibrant color!

The background is embossed with

Spellbinders'

M-Bossabilities, "Flora".

I inked it in Momento, Gold and Copper, and then rubbed on some
Copper metal Rub-n-Buff.

It really shines!

 

My little butterflies were stamped and fussy cut to pop off the card!

 

 

This card says so long Summer and welcome Fall !

Entered into the challenge at Craft's Meow (techniques)
and
Moxie Fab World, (All that Glitters)
Simon Says Monday Challenge Blog (Embossing)
Simon Wednesday Challenge Blog (Embossing)

Just BELIEVE...

The new "Crafty Christmas" paper stack

from

DCWV

has so many cool papers!

 

Some of which are these wonderful clear and light blue embossed

snowflake craft pages!

 

And so many cute embossed images papers!

Like these little ornaments that I cut out and dangled on the card with the tiny gold chain from

Blue Moon Beads!

 

I simply couldn't RESIST inking up that craft paper!

 

 I also felt it needed a bit of "snow" to show off those beauties...

 

This stack has so many possibilities! You could make dozens of cards without switching stacks at all!

 

 

 

HAVE FUN!

My Farewell to DYSU!



Market Street Stamps

*$25 Gift Certificate

 

First off, some sad news.
Due to my other commitments and scheduling,

I have decided to step down from the
Do You Stack Up? Design Team.

Let me say, though, that these gal's have been THE nicest, sweetest, most encouraging group I have ever worked with!
 

There comes a time when you realize, however,

that there are only so many hours in a day.
 

Wow, now that I've said it, it's really hit home. I will sincerely miss the friends I've made there.

All those times I fussed over the image I was assigned, now I see how they made me a better, more creative artist.
********************************************

I also just found out that I will be starting a new job in January!

Well, not a job really, and not even what I would call WORK, but

I will be caring for a 6 week old baby girl for a friends' friend!

Yep, the little guy's Mother I babysat for from the time he was 2 months old until 18 months, has a good friend who is expecting this next month! Another fellow teacher and a sweetheart of a gal!

I can't wait!

I'll still also be packing up 200+ class card kits a month for my good friend, Jennifer,

and keeping up with my other Design Team assignments as well!  Ugh! 

 *******************************

But, enough chit-chat...

Here are my cards for this week at DYSU!

 

I used the "Honeycomb" stamp from Market Street Stamps, and absolutely love it!

 

Yes, I went the "chicken wire" route!
I saw many folks are into the bees and honeycomb patterns, but I wanted to be different and chose to layer the "Honeycomb" embossed image over the
Recollection, "Rooster Provencial" stack pages.



These are huge glossy images printed on the 12 x 12 paper,
and made for the perfect 6 x 6 cards!
I find myself paying the extra more often to send out the bigger, thicker cards.
I love them, as do my friends and relatives!

 

The Market Street stamp is big, too!
It covered the entire upper 3/4 of my card!
And detailed the embossing so well!
I stamped in Momento, Rich Cocoa, and then sprinkled it with
detail gold embossing powder from Stampendous!

The heat-embossed stamp actually looks so much like metal!

 

I used brads to hold down my "nests" by stringing twine from one to the other and packing in the moss.
The addition of the dried corn was compliments of my little Goffin cockatoo.
Of course, he doesn't know he donated a portion of his mix for these projects!

These will be used a NOTE cards for whenever an occasion comes up where I have something to "crow" about or share a "Thank You!"  LOL!

A big THANK YOU to "Do You Stack Up?"!

I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to Alison, and everyone else at DYSU for welcoming me into their blog and always being there to support me.

 

Never fear though! I have promised to come back to take part in a large group DYSU hop in December!

Have fun looking at all of the team's projects!

And, I'm not going anywhere!
You'll still find me right here!



A Bevy of Butterflies!

In recognition of

Breast Cancer Awareness Month,

I made this layout using the prettiest butterfly stamp ever

and one of my favorite quotes!

 

Crafter's Companion

 has many different styles of stamp images...

funny, cute, sincere, and insightful.

I loved these butterflies from

"Flying Colors"

(part of the Sheena Douglas collection)

the very first time I saw them!

 

 

The proverb was taken from the internet.

I think it speaks volumes when it comes to the brave women who

face breast cancer every day!

"There, but by the grace of God, ..."

 

 

A side view showing the dimension I added to each butterfly.

 

I colored them with my alcohol markers.

Then, with the antenna and the Glossy Accents added, they really came to life!

 

 

This is definitely one of my all-time favorite layouts.

No personal photos, or even experiences journaled, but it simply reflects how I feel about the trials that one must be faced with when battling a horrible disease.

 

If you look closely, you will also see how I implemented a new embossing folder from Die'Sire!  More of that at Crafter's Companion later this week!

 I made the background layer more vintage by cutting and distressing the edges and inking it to appear more aged.

Paper:  Graphic45, "Botanicabella" 
Cardstock:  Bazzill

Thanks for sharing in this special project with me
and Crafter's Companion!



Three's no crowd here...

This week, JustRite has terrific a new challenge!

"Three's company", meaning you must use three or more coordinating patterns

on your project.

 

This one I simply couldn't resist.

 

That and the fact that I have a very limited number of JustRite Stamps, and would love to win some!  They have some of the sweetest stamp sets ever!

The ones I love the most are those that coordinate with my Spellbinder dies!

Could a person ask for more?

 

I am trying to get some Christmas mojo, which is pretty difficult when the temperatures are still over 100 here in Arizona.
 

 

I used an OLD Christmas stack from DCWV that isn't from last year,

but the year before!

Talk about pulling out your old stash.

I actually like all the patterns in this stack and have no idea why I still have any of it left.  But there it is...

 

I wanted to give this "postal card" image from "Greetings from Paris" a holiday feel, and decided to go simple.

Just like a card would have been posted years ago.

Things were simpler then..sorry.  I regress.

 

The sentiment is from JustRite's

 "Christmas Nested Sentiments", another stash from the past.
(This one I couldn't even find on the store site)

  

I started out thinking I would layer several elements, and really pile it on,

but then chose to stop while it still looked like a holiday card we would have

received back in the 40's-50's. (No, I wasn't born until the later fifties

so I wouldn't actually remember!)

 

Hope you enjoyed today's trip down memory lane,

even if they were all someone else's memories.

 

 



Christmas Wishes from Stampendous!

I love to emboss!

And when I find stamps that lend themselves well to heat embossing, I go nuts!

The Stampendous stamps are SO clear and detailed that they stamp and the image holds the powder perfectly every time! And the "Detail Clear" Embossing Powder seeks out every tiny little detail and provides a clear, sharp image!

Don't you love new stamps?  I know I do!

For this card, I kept it simple by stamping and clear embossing the

     Jumbo "Pinecone Boughs" several times off the left edge of my paper.

I then stamped the Cling "Poinsettia Background" in dark red onto white cardstock, and punched out several sized "ornaments".  (1", 1 1/2", and 2" in this case)
The gorgeous sentiment is from the clear set, "Tis the Season".

Notice that the sentiment mat is wrapped with ribbon like a gift, and finished off with a cute little bow on top!

With a bit of inking on all of the edges, popping up the ornaments, and dangling them from the silver bling, I've made a fairly simple,

but pretty, holiday greeting!

I love to make a few simple cards every year that I can later make in multiples should I decide to send out duplicate cards to family or friends.

Time to start making those Christmas cards!

Skipping Stones Designs Challenge!

 

My entry for the Skipping Stones Design sketch challenge this week:

 

 

 

Supplies:
Paper; DCWV, Bouquet de Fleur
Stamps; SSD, "Always Here" and "Beautiful Botanicals"
Ribbon;  Maya Road

More delicious embossing....

On my card today, I used the adorable image from

Crafter's Companion's

Christine Haworth

called

"In Trouble Again"

 

I think you'll agree that this little guy is just too cute for words.

 

The challenge at Crafter's Companion this month is

Stripes and/or Dots,

so this is how I put a vintage twist on my entry.

 

 

I loved the background on the image enough that I grabbed a piece of the tan cardstock that I used as a card base, and altered it to serve as a

background "brick mat" on my card.

If you want to see how this was done, I will be Guest Designing this month  at

Crafter's Companion (yippee!) and they, and I, will be posting another card and tutorial on this technique on September 17th!

 

 

 

 

Here you can see the shimmer on the "wall" and the way it entirely changes

the look of the plain cardstock paper.

It also gives it the feel of vinyl.  Cool, eh?

 

 

And with an image that adorable,

I needed an extra special sentiment for the inside.



Crafter's Companion shows "Friendship"!

My challenge entry this week at

Crafter's Companion

is this adorable little S.w.a.l.k gal

and a sweet sentiment from Henry Thoreau.

 

 

 

This particular stamp set is called "With Sympathy", but I look at her and she just appears to be deeply sincere whatever her message and can be used for

 many occasions.

And I love to color these with my markers!

 

Inside of card reads...

 

 

and is a combination of sentiment from MFT,

and silhouette image by Unity Stamps.

 

I hope to win a gift certificate from Crafter's Companion so I can get more of these adorable stamps!



A Peek Through Poe's Window...

Perhaps it's just the dark side of me, but I love Edgar Allen Poe's works.

I have since I was a young reader.  I remember sneaking a flashlight into bed to lay under the covers and read until late into the night.

With the release of this new Stampendous stamp,
I was thrilled!

Presenting: 

 "Nevermore"

The heat embossing brings out every tiny detail in this image.

Fortunately, Stampendous makes the BEST Detail Black Embossing Powder!

Once I stamped, embossed, burned the edges, and matted this image, it just looked so much as though I were peering through a window...

Poe's window perhaps...

And with the addition of the "lace curtains", it becomes even more so.

What sends a "Halloween" message better than that?

This is one of those cards I may have to keep for myself.

Just sayin'.

We're in the fourth day of  showing off new products from Stampendous! I hope you have enjoyed what you have seen so far!
Not only do some of the team members have their own blog candy, Stampendous will again be drawing a winner for this great prize pack.

How do you win it? It's easy! One of the featured bloggers today will be choosing a random commenter from her blog, and that lucky person will be announced on the Stampendous blog tomorrow. The more places you leave a comment, the better your chances are to win! Below is the list of team members who are sharing inspiration today:

Stampendous Impressions
Jennifer Ingle
Kristine Reynolds
Jennifer Dove 
Lynn Mercurio
Taylor Usry (has additional blog candy)
Jan Garber
Susie Moore
Lea Kimmel
Wendy Price
Janelle Stollfus

Suzanne Czosek 
Tenia Nelson

Leave a comment!

You never knwo who the featured Design Tem member will be for today!

A Poem for the Fall...

This is such a cool new image from
Stampendous!

I love the look of this skeleton when he is heat embossed!

I simply trimmed and burned the edges to look like old parchment and then inked it all in Momento Rich Cocoa.

The tulle flower adds some softness, and the little owl?

Well, who doesn't love a tiny little charm?!

Here's a closeup of the way the embossing looks!

Isn't it amazing!

Supplies:

Stampendous, "Clear Bark" Embossing Powder

Stampendous, "Skeleton Poem" Cling Stamp

My Mind's Eye, "Spider's Web" papers

There are a lot more new and wonderful,  everyday and holiday stamps waiting over at
STAMPENDOUS!

You can go see more new products from Stampendous as well! Not only do is there blog candy along the way, Stampendous will be drawing a winner for this great prize pack today.

How do you win it? It's easy! One of the featured bloggers today will be choosing a random commenter from her blog, and that lucky person will be announced on the Stampendous blog tomorrow. The more places you leave a comment, the better your chances are to win! Below is the list of team members who are sharing inspiration today:

Stampendous Impressions

Cyndi Bundy

Lea Kimmel

Wendy Price

Pam Hornschu

Melinda Gleissner

Wendy Jordan
Jennifer Dove

Skipping Stones Inspiration Challenge!

Just having some fun tonight with a challenge at

Skipping Stones Design!

I couldn't resist when I saw this photo...

Then the reality came to me that I have only the "girlfriend" themed SSD stamps

and really have no flowery ones!

My creativity went into overdrive (or was it the Ambien?) LOL!

I decided that one of the purses from "Birthday Purses" looked a lot like a flower pot.

Hey, it does if you squint..

So, this is what inspired me to make this little "Thank You" note card.

A bit of elegance, with a touch of whimsy.

The sentiment is also from that same set, "Birthday Purses". 

The background is stamped and silver heat embossed with an OLD stamp I have from Cornish Heritage Farms onto silver/gray Bazzil cardstock.

I figure if originality counts, I should get credit for this one!

Stampendous July Citrus Challenge!

What wonderful colors for SUMMER!

Lime Green, Lemon Yellow, and Orange!

The challenge for the month of July here at
"Stampendous Impressions"
 is to use the refreshing colors of

CITRUS!

That's what I have done in this Garden Journal

made for my friend who lives in Iowa!

I am originally from the St. Louis area, and 15 years ago I relocated to Arizona.  A friend I went to high school with, also moved. But she went north to Des Moines. She still enjoys the Spring and Summer flowers in her backyard garden, while I sit indoors and watch the cactus out my window!  (LOL!) I DO get to have a chuckle in the winter, however, when she texts to say she's shoveling two feet of snow from her driveway! :)

It is my hope that she fills this journal with tons of photos and memories! 

I started with a blank 6 x 6 canvas mini album cover and back.

I began by covering the back canvas piece with pattern paper, being careful to fold it over the edges and glue securely.  I cut a piece of "solid" paper to cover the inside and the cut edges of the pattern paper. Next, I punched the holes for the 1" bookrings.

I decided that I wanted to make dividers for the Spring, Summer, and Fall seasons.

So I cut 3 acrylic pieces from recycled packaging and again punched the holes for the bookrings. It wasn't until I had all of the insert sheets cut to size that I rounded all of the corners.

Please excuse the reflection in the sheets.

The day was overcast and cloudy

and I HAD to get my photos taken before continuing!

I then stamped a Jumbo Cling Rubber flower

onto the front of each of the clear dividers!

(Jumbo Rose, Jumbo Orchid, and Jumbo Iris)

Next, I carefully considered what information my friend would want to include.

I printed these on my computer, then cut to size, rounded the corners, and punched the holes.  This should enable her to keep a nice record of what needs to be purchased or done at the beginning of each season.  I included two each of the

"Growing in my garden:" sheets for each section,

knowing that she has soooo very many gorgeous plants and flowers in her yard!

(I also printed lots of extras for her to use in the coming years!

I made three of these pocketed inserts to be used behind the acrylic pages as background for the stamped see-through flower images.  Any additional infomation can be kept here, such as receipts for plants or idea photos.

   

CD pocket for a "Virtual Tour" of the garden!

NOW TO MAKE THE COVER!

I stamped the Jumbo Tiger Lily onto the canvas front in brown Momento and heat embossed with "Clear Bark" Stampendous embossing powder. 
The look was amazing! It really popped right off the canvas!
 (Of course, I forgot in my excitement to color it, to first take a photo!)

This is what the finished Copics colored image looks like! Can you completely blend on the textured canvas? No, not really, but I drew my markers across the image carefully, pulling the color to the inside from the outer edge, and it turned out surprisingly well!

To add some soft color around the image, I air brushed in green and yellow.

NOW, to put it all together!

Topping off the prettiness (is that a word?), I sprinkled Color Fragments
and Glass Glitter in several hues.
A tiny, sheer butterfly has found a wonderful place to land, and the soft ribbons and lace make for the finishing touch!

I can't wait to see this album in a year and see what
gorgeous memories she has stored there!
And I can relive the gardens I miss, too!

Thanks for joining me for this fun project!