AWESOME

Here's a quick birthday card I made using Cas-ual Fridays Rad stamp set, Stampers Anonymous Bitty Grunge set and Impression Obsession Circle Swirls Cover-a-Card stamp. I stamped the sentiment using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. To create the sunburst, I inked the Bitty Grunge stamp with Memento Tangelo ink and then Lady Bug ink around the edges. Sparkle was added using a Sakura Gelly Roll pen. The swirl background was stamped using Tangelo ink.

I made this card for my Dad's birthday. While collecting links for the stamps used, I discovered the theme of this week's Cas-ual Fridays Challenge: Birthday Bash. CFC99 is all about creating a CAS birthday card. You have until May 1st to play along. Check it out. The design team has created some incredible inspiration for this challenge.

Thanks for visiting. I hope your day is AWESOME!

Something New

I love Donna Downey and her art. But who doesn't? Right? I've never met her but I can just tell she's the kind of person who gives freely of her knowledge. Her passion and enthusiasm for art are so contagious. When watching her videos, she makes you feel like you too could pick up a brush and create something wonderful.

Recently, I discovered that she offers a monthly online canvas class and decided to sign up. While waiting for some supplies to arrive, I practiced what I learned from the class video on these tiny 3-1/2" x 2-1/2" canvases.

I started by covering the canvases with a base coat of acrylic paint. It was then time to add texture. Donna recommended using very common scrapbooking supplies but when I grabbed mine, I discovered they were so old they couldn't be used. Nope, I'm not going to tell you the supply. Spend the $25. You'll be so glad you did. Sitting on my workspace was a bunch of Stampendous Essentials (Color Fragments, Mica and Crushed Glass Glitter). Essentials add delicious texture to projects and are available in a wide range of amazing colors. For this project, the color wasn't important as I just wanted the texture so I grabbed what was sitting there and embedded them into the paint. It was simple. I just brushed on Gel Matte Medium where I wanted the texture and while wet, sprinkled on the Essentials. It's important to let this dry completely. I then added more paint, covering the embedded fragments and glitter. Next, I grabbed a Martha Stewart Home Decor stencil (you can find these at Michaels but any stencil will do) and my Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens. I used the white Pitt Pen to get the basic design onto each canvas and added color after the white had dried.


Here are some closeups of the texture created by the Stampendous Essentials. I love the look and texture so much, I am going to give it a try on something bigger. Donna Downey has her own line of stencils. I'm thinking creating something with her Hollyhocks stencil would make me very happy so stay tuned.


I can't get over how creating these three little canvases made me feel. I encourage you to visit Donna's Blog and try an online class or two. The joy you feel is cleansing. Now onto the real class assignment.

Thanks for visiting. I am so thankful for your comments.

Chick Tower

Here's a quick card created with the Chick Tower image by Hambo Stamps. I just love this stamp. Actually, I love all Hambo stamps, great quality, cute designs. The paper is My Mind's Eye "Hip-Hooray"

Thanks for visiting. Have a great day!

Butterfly Lamp

Something new today (at least to me)...the Paper Fusion Creative Lamp kit. While at Dick Blick's, I came across these kits and had to try making one. These kits scream Stampendous Jumbo Cling stamps. I decided to use the Butterfly Trio.


I stamped the butterflies on the included panels, using Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black ink.


After coloring the butterflies with my Copic Markers, I stamped the Stampendous Music Score background in the whitespace. I used Tsukineko VersaMark Dazzle in Frost to give it a little sparkle and then spritzed the panels with Tsukineko Goosebumps.


I then inked the panels with Memento Summer Sky to bring out the Music Score image and the Goosebumps. I also stamped a flourish from the Stampendous Daisy Thanks set, also with the Summer Sky ink.


The lamp was easy to assemble. If I were to make another one, I would sand the frame and give it a gloss coat before putting it altogether but this was a fun project. Because these kits come in different sizes, I see a cluster of them on a side table, maybe with a different Stampendous Jumbo flower on each one.



Thanks for visiting!

Happy Pi Day!

It's my son's favorite holiday...well, OK, his third favorite after his birthday and Christmas. Today is Pi Day. He asked if I would make a card for his math teacher. How could I say no?

First, I stamped the actual number onto cardstock using Lawn Fawn's Quinn's 123s and Aquamarine Archival ink. I then stamped the birds and word bubbles from the Lawn Fawn A Birdie Told Me set. Lawn Fawn just released a coordinating bunch of dies called Lawn Cuts so it took no time at all to assemble my card. I used Harold's ABCs (another Lawn Fawn set) to stamp 'Happy' and 'Day'. As for the Pi symbol, I got lucky. There She Goes Clear Stamps has an adorable set called Cutie Pi. The sentiment actually said You're a cutie Pi but I trimmed off the words. I colored with my Copics and then added some texture to my symbol using the Lawn Fawn Belinda's Borders set. Voila, a Happy Pi Day card. I thinks this calls for pie.

Thanks for visiting.

Bunny

Here are two cards I created using the new Garden Critters release from Penny Black. I simply stamped the images, using Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto Copic X-Press It Blending Card. I adhered my Copic-colored panels to card bases and attached Easter grass for texture.


I'm entering these in the current CASology Challenge. Week 34s theme is BUNNY.

Thanks for visiting!

Sending Hugs

Here's a quick card using the new Lawn Fawn 'Lawn Cuts' dies and Daphne's Closet papers. I have always been a huge fan of Lawn Fawn. With the release of these dies, I am more in love with this company than ever! I can't believe how easy it was to line up the stamped image with the die. My only complaint is that I don't have a Lawn Cuts die for every one of my Lawn Fawn stamps. Believe me, these dies are so worth it.

My card uses Lawn Fawn Critters in the Forest (critters), A Birdie Told Me (stamp set & die for word bubble) and So Much to Say (sentiment) as well as patterned paper from the new Daphne's Closet petite paper pack and Lawn Trimmings natural hemp cord. My tiny heart was created from a tiny die included in the A Birdie Told Me Lawn Cuts set.

Thanks for visiting!

Poppies Everywhere

With all of my new found free time, I've noticed a few things. Poppies are everywhere. There are a ton of poppy images out there. You see poppies on cards, scrapbook pages and art journals. I'm not complaining. I love poppies. I've also noticed that it's trendy right now to use your old, favorite stamps. So Sunday night, everyone was doing their own thing and I was in my craft studio with the Oscars playing in the background. What a perfect time to pull out an oldie, my favorite poppy stamp.

I started by generously painting both pages with a mixture of dark and light magenta plus orange acrylic paint. After my pages dried, I covered them completely with gesso. Next I pulled out a Martha Stewart Home Decor stencil. While holding it in place, I carefully wiped the stencil openings with a baby wipe. This removed the gesso and gave the flowers a cool gradated look. Using Dove Gray StazOn ink, I randomly stamped the Cling Music Score and Cling Conservatory stamps, both from Stampendous.

Next came the teal paint. During my free time, I have also noticed that teal must be my favorite color. I've been cleaning my studio and I have found 16 various teal ink pads from Memento, Ranger Distress and Archival, ColorBox, and VersaMagic (to name a few). I even have two shades of teal inkpads that were made for a local scrapbook store. I found several tubes of teal paint in all forms - acrylic, foam, fabric, even glass. I've discovered every teal mist/spray that's available on the market, teal stickles and 3D paint and then there are the pencils and markers. Does any one person really need teal alcohol markers from Copic, Mepxy and Spectrum Noir? Did I mention my Martha Stewart stencil is teal-colored?... I digress.

I lightly spread teal paint over my pages using an embossing paste tool and then added some washi tape and rub ons. I stamped the poppies ( from a discontinued Stampendous set called Poppy Bottles) onto Neenah white cardstock, colored them with my Prismacolor Premier pencils, then trimmed and adhered them to my journal with Gel Matte Medium.

This is where it all went astray. Remember I said I was listening to the Oscars? The next thing I knew, I was adding the title of this old Barbara Streisand tune to my page. Seriously? Cheesy, huh? The dimensional flowers were created by cutting several sizes of circles out of satin and tulle and melting the edges over the heat of a candle.

There you have it. My adventure in poppies.
Lesson Learned - Never drink and use rub ons while listening to Barbara Streisand.



Thanks for visiting!

Life is Art

I recently stepped down from my Design Team spot with the Stampendous Graphics/Catalog Team and from my teaching position at my local scrapbook store. Life is changing. The funny thing is I just can't stay away from my messy little studio and my art. I thought I could walk away but I can't.

So I thought I would try my hand at mixed media journaling. Funny, but I can't walk away from my beloved Stampendous stamps either. This wonderful Life is Art sentiment is a relatively new Stampendous stamp. You can find it here. This is the first inking of the Stampendous Dragonfly Vine, wish I had inked it before now. It's definitely going in my "keep close" pile. The tiny ticket is from the Stampendous Carousel Circus Perfectly Clear set.

Lots of other supplies were used: some leftover dyed cheesecloth from a Halloween card, a funky treble clef paperclip from Staples, washi tape, Tsukineko Goosebumps Texture Spray and way too much paint and ink. If you are new to mixed media, I buy all of my paints, inks, sprays and stencils at Ellen Hutson LLC. The service is amazing and even though my package has to travel across the country, I always get my goodies in a few days. The packing people at Ellen Hutson do an excellent job of wrapping and packing things so that your new product arrives in pristine shape at your front door.



Included on my page is one of my favorite photos, a picture of my mother and aunt, best guess, in high school. I've always wondered what piece they were playing and imagine it to be one of my grandfather's favorite melodies that he was always whistling. My mother went on to become a wonderful violinist and music teacher and my aunt, an extraordinary watercolor artist and teacher. Both of them were extremely instrumental in my love of the arts. I am grateful that I had such wonderful exposure to both music and the visual arts. There was always music in our house. Violinists came and went, there were orchestra concerts, and of course my music lessons. I'm thankful that my parents gave up so much to give me all of those years of piano and violin lessons, without it I would not be a piano teacher. I would not know the joy music can provide nor would I have the ability to lose myself in this form of expression. Even though I didn't see my aunt very often, her art was always present. Her paintings hung on our walls and her thrown pots lined our shelves. She frequently sent my sisters and I amazing presents like a hand painted brooch that I still have today to a tabletop loom, hand-formed and painted paper mache puppets she made in college, marionettes, rich waxy colored pencils... The thing I loved the most was this huge painted canvas that was propped in a corner of our basement. I wish I had that canvas to hang on my wall. It was so cool. As a child, I loved to look at its splatters of paint. I later came to learn there was something painted underneath that my aunt didn't like and she simply was covering it up with washes and layers.

Today, while adding layers of gesso and paint, I was reminded of that great canvas. Life is Art.

Thanks for visiting.

Ruff Day?

My dad has been feeling a little under the weather lately so I thought I'd send a card to let him know I'm thinking of him. This new Stampendous Cling Doctor Kiddo is perfect. I stamped the image onto Copic X-Press It Blending Card and colored it with my Copic markers. I created the sentiment on my computer. The background panels were made using My Mind's Eye Blink of an Eye patterned paper. A button, jute and some tulle and my card is done. You can check out all of the new Stampendous products here.


Thanks for visiting and for your kind comments!

My Heartfelt Wish

I've been very blessed to have met so many wonderful people through this crazy crafty world from my absolutely amazing students at Scrapbook Art to the extradordinary women that I have been fortunate to meet through design teams. Valentine's Day is winding down but I don't want it to end without letting you know that you've all been in my thoughts.

Here is a dish I made a couple of weeks ago using the new Stampendous Jumbo Daisy and Flower Path stamps. These are two of my favorites...LOVE them. The new Stampendous jumbos now come with a corresponding mask/template that you can use for mixed media projects...just another reason why Stampendous products are so great. You can check out all of the new Stampendous release here.

To create the dish, I started with an unglazed ceramic dish and prepped it by coating it with Mod Podge. I stamped both the daisy image and sentiment onto tissue paper using Tsukineko StazOn Jet Black Ink. I then colored the daisy with Prismacolor Colored Pencils. After trimming closely around both, I adhered them to the plate with Mod Podge. To give the plate a shiny, glazed look, I generously coated the top of the plate with Beacon's Fast Finish Decoupage. A heart is not a heart unless it is red so after the Fast Finish dried, I turned the plate over, painted the rim red and again applied Fast Finish. Acrylic paint worked perfectly for this.

The theme of this month's Stampendous Challenge is Love is in the Air, share a creation of love. I am definitely sharing this. I know the gals at Stampendous would love to see your creations as well. You can find all of the details here.


Thanks to all of you who have reached out to me this last week. It means a lot. So on Valentine's Day, my heatfelt wish to you all: May flowers always line your path and sunshine light your day!

Thanks for visiting.

Another New Stampendous Floral

Today, I'm sharing a card featuring this brand new Stampendous floral image, Seed Catalog. Here's a quick supply list and directions:

Stampendous CRR161 Seed Catalog
Bazzill Cardstock
Copic X-Press It Blending Card
Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Copic Markers
May Arts Ribbon

Create card base and panel.
Stamp Seed Catalog onto X-Press It Blending Card using Tuxedo Black ink; Color with Copics.
Adhere to panel and card base; Twist and attach ribbon.

Thanks for visiting!

Another Stampendous Challenge Card, Another New Kiddo

I just love catalog release time! The new Stampendous products are fantastic! Here is a little itty bitty card that uses the new Kiddo Birthday stamp set. This set has both a cute boy and girl kiddo and lots of little extras like the banner, table, cake and presents I used in my card. Stampendous also just released micro glitter in the most delicious colors. I coated brads in Glossy Accents and dipped them in the new Lime Micro Glitter. Look for these cool new Stampendous products in a store near you. They should be showing up any day now. Here are the details:

Noteworthy Supplies and Directions:
Stampendous SSC1164 Kiddo Birthday
Stampendous MG08 Lime Micro Glitter
Little Yellow Bicycle Patterned Paper
Bazzill Cardstock
Copic X-Press It Blending Card
Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Copic Markers
Spellbinders Lacy Squares Dies
Ranger Glossy Accents
Brads

Stamp boy and banner on X-Press It Blending Card; Color with Copics; Fussy-cut.
Stamp table with cake and presents on patterned paper panel; Color with Copics.
Create card base by die cutting two Lacy Squares; Adhere together.
Coat two brads with Glossy Accents; Dip in Lime Micro Glitter; Seal with more Glossy Accents.
Create mat for patterned paper panel; Adhere to panel; Punch holes and add glittered brads.
Attach colored images.
Adhere everything to card base.

There are a few more days to play in the Stampendous Kiddos Challenge. I'm going to be adding this one. Check out all of the details here.

Thanks for visiting!

More New Stampendous...This One's for My Mum

No one does flowers like Stampendous! I first fell in love with this company because of their beautiful flower stamps. They offer something for everyone with their Cling Jumbos and their Perfectly Clear Flower images, all of which are fun to stamp, color and/or emboss. New Stampendous florals will be arriving in stores in the next few weeks and I promise, you are going to love them.

Today's card uses the new Cling Sweet Pea stamp. You'll be seeing me use this one a lot. I love sweet peas. My grandma grew sweet peas from seeds that she collected from her relatives. My mum was smart and saved some of these very seeds and grows beautiful sweet peas every year. I don't know who loves them more - my mum or me? I do know sweet peas make me happy. This one's for you, Mum xoxo.

Noteworthy Supplies and Directions:

Stampendous CRP189 Cling Sweet Pea
Bazzill Cardstock
Copic X-Press It Blending Card
Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Copic Markers
May Arts Ribbon
May Arts Twine
Button

Create card base and panels.
Stamp Sweet Pea onto X-Press It Blending Card; Color with Copics.
Wrap ribbon around larger panels; Adhere to card base.
Add tulle; Adhere remaining panels.
Finish by threading button with twine; Attach to card base.

Thank you so much for visiting!

New Kiddos at Stampendous

There's still time to enter this month's Stampendous Challenge which is all about Kiddos. If you're new to Kiddos, it's an adorable line of stamps showcasing really cute kid images doing all kinds of fun activities (bike riding, fishing, skate boarding, dancing, celebrating birthdays...). Kiddos are so much fun to stamp and color.

Have I peeked your curiosity? Want to play along? Stamp your favorite Stampendous Kiddos on any type of project and link it to the linky tool below for your chance to win a Kiddo of your own! You can use other cute kid stamps you already own, but Stampendous Kiddos on your project make it count twice. Please note: to be eligible to win, you need a U.S. Mailing address. You can read all our official rules here on our Challenge Rules Page.

Today's card uses the new Stampendous Boots Kiddo. Yes, that's right, it's brand new. All this week, design team members are showcasing the newest and coolest, soon to be released products and this cutie is one of them.

Noteworthy Supplies and Directions:

Stampendous CRM292 Cling Boots Kiddo
Stampendous SSC1164 Kiddo Birthday
Stampendous CRR105 Dream Text
Bazzill Cardstock
Neenah Desert Storm Cardstock
Patterned Paper
Copic X-Press It Blending Card
Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Tsukineko VersaMark WaterMark Ink
Clearsnap Colorbox Frost White Ink
Copic Markers
Twine

Create card base and corresponding panels from various colors of cardstock; Swipe panel edges with Frost White ink.
Create decorative edge on top panel by punching small holes with a paper piercer.
Stamp Dream Text onto top panel using VersaMark ink.
Adhere panels together; Wrap twine around panels; Adhere to card base.
Punch several circles varying in size from cardstock and patterned paper; Swipe edges with Frost White ink;
Cut slits in circles to create frills.
Stamp sentiment onto one circle using Tuxedo Black ink.
Layer circles; Adhere to card base.
Stamp Boots Kiddo onto X-Press It Blending Card using Tuxedo Black ink; Color with Copics.
Create decorative edge around image.
Adhere colored image panel to mat and then card base.

Are you having fun and want to see more? Please visit my fellow design team members' blogs. You can find links along my sidebar. Thanks for visiting!

Stampendous Sneak Peeks From All of Us

All this week, the Stampendous Design team is sharing projects using new CHA-showcased, Stampendous products. That's right, coming to a store near you, new stamps, color fragments, mica fragments and micro glitter. Look for the new products in the next few weeks.

My card uses the new On the Farm stamp set and new Hot Lime color fragments along with a sentiment from the Stampendous Birthday Assortment set and my favorite Sage and Leaf Green color fragments.

Noteworthy Supplies and Directions:

Stampendous SSC1162 On The Farm
Stampendous SSC1115 Birthday Assortment
Stampendous FRC20 Hot Lime Color Fragments
Stampendous FRC02 Sage Green Color Fragments
Stampendous FRC13 Leaf Green Color Fragments
Bazzill Cardstock
Neenah Desert Storm
Copic X-Press It Blending Card
Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Copic Markers
May Arts Twine
Button

Create scene by stamping and masking various images from the On The Farm set onto X-Press It Blending Card using Tuxedo Black ink; Color with Copic Markers.
Adhere to green mat and card base.
Stamp sentiment from Birthday Assortment set onto white cardstock; Mat and adhere to card base.
Mix together small amounts of Hot Lime, Sage and Leaf Color Fragments.
Add liquid glue to random grassy areas; sprinkle with Color Fragments.
Thread button with twine; Adhere to card.

Please visit my teammates' blogs to see their amazing creations. You can find all of their links on the right side of my blog. Thanks for visiting!

Got Worms?

I had a few minutes today so I thought I'd play along with this month's Stampendous Challenge. The theme is Sweet Kiddos. For all of the challenge details, please check out the new Challenge Page on the Stampendous Impressions blog. It would be great if you played along too.

I used the Stampendous Fishing Kiddo stamp, colored with Copic Markers. After coloring, I added some more texture to the image by crunching some Stampendous Color Fragments and adhering them to the grassy areas. My sentiment was stamped with the Stampendous Small Typewriter Alphabet. Some patterned paper (We R Memory Keepers & Echo Park), a wooden bead for a bobber and netting from some fresh produce and the card is done.

Thanks for visiting!





Noteworthy Supplies:

A New Year, A New Stampendous Challenge

It's a new year and a new month so that means a new Stampendous challenge. You're going to love this one. The theme is Sweet Kiddos. Stampendous has the most adorable collection of kid stamps, called kiddos. They are so much fun to color and are perfect for so many different occasions.

My card today features these very cute Kissin' Kiddos. Valentine's Day will be here before you know it. This stamp would be perfect for school valentine's parties.

Supplies:

Stampendous Kissin Kiddos
Stampendous Small Typewriter Alphabet
Stampendous Stardust Embossing Powder
Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black Ink
Copic Markers
Copic X-Press It Blending Card
American Crafts Love, Can’t Help Falling patterned paper
Canvas Corp Red & Ivory Mini Dot Reverse patterned paper
May Arts Jute
Button
Cricut Doodlecharms Cartridge
EK Success Tag Punch

Directions:

Create card base and mat from patterned paper.
Stamp image on X-Press It Blending Card; Color with Copics.
Apply Stampendous Stardust embossing powder to flowers, polka dots and hair band; Heat set.
Cut one heart and one scalloped heart using Cricut and X-Press It Blending Card; Color with Copics.
Stamp sentiment on X-Press It Blending Card; Create tag using punch.
String button with jute.
Assemble card.

Let’s see what you can do with them! Stamp your favorite Stampendous Kiddos on any type of project and link it to the following linky tool for your chance to win a Kiddo of your own! (yes...you can use other cute kid stamps you already own, but Stampendous Kiddos on your project make it count twice!)(and yes, winners still need a U.S. Mailing address.

Thanks for visiting!