Books + stamps

I love stamping and I love reading! So I couldn't resist joining the team putting on the next round of VSN, where the theme is VSN Book Club! The coordinators challenged us hostesses to make cards inspired by the cover of a favorite book. I'm a big fan of "Snowflower and the Secret Fan," by Lisa See, so I had to use it as the inspiration for my card. I found some Basic Grey Phoebe paper that mimics the mottled background of the book, used my paper crimper to mimic the fan folds, and pulled out Artfully Asian for the flowers.
If you want to use books as inspiration for your stamping, join us for the first of several mini VSN "book signings" this Friday! You can find more information HERE!
Supplies:
Stamps: Artfully asian, embrace life
Ink: Memories black, copic markers
Paper: vanilla, chocolate chip, Basic Grey phoebe
Accessories: ribbon, coin, crimper

Shoebox swapping

This morning I attended a small shoebox swap with some stampers I've met through SoCal StampMania. There were eight of us there, plus a "virtual" stamper who couldn't attend but sent a project along. We made several cards and other fun projects. I will share some of them later - I'm saving a couple to send as a surprise to someone. Anyway, this was the card I designed. It's a matchbook fold - I used 12x12 paper, cutting a quarter inch off the length, then scored it at one inch and at 6.5 inches.
Supplies:
Stamps: Embrace life
Ink: stazon black, almost amethyst and lovely lilac markers
Paper: lovely lilac, almost amethyst, basic black, neenah classic crest solar white
Accessories: self-adhesive pearls, ribbon, hole punch
This was the door prize I made; it's a small clear acrylic paint can which I lined with a piece of berry bliss paper. I filled it with some small rolls of ribbon, primas, chipboard and other goodies like that. The door prize I received was also super cool - it was a package of PaperTrey's clear card boxes. Since I like to make card sets for gifts, I know I will get some use out of those.
Supplies:
Stamps: one of a kind
Ink: pretty in pink, chocolate chip
Paper: berry bliss, chocolate chip, pretty in pink, whisper white, pomegranate
Accessories: ribbons, blossom punch, CM circle cutters, prima

Skyline inspiration

This card was inspired by a photo of a downtown city skyline at sunset. The photo was this month's inspiration piece for the monthly Dirty Dozen Fan Club challenges at Splitcoast. I love being a fan club member - it's a great way to give back to a site that gives me so much, and the monthly Dirty Dozen galleries and challenges are so fun. The brayered background on the card uses an ancient Serenade spectrum ink pad by Tsukineko. Eight or nine years ago (aack! I can't believe it's been that long!) I was living in Indiana and there was a small scrapbooking/stamping store near the Hobby Lobby I frequented. One day the store had all these spectrum pads on sale for like $3 each and I thought they were a steal. I still have them all - I think I got six in a rainbow of colors. They are great for brayering backgrounds like this.
Supplies:
Stamps: Spring floral collection by inkadinkado
Ink: Memories black, Serenade purple
Paper: Basic black, lovely lilac, orchid, Neenah classic crest white
Accessories: CB, brads, brayer

Color challenge

This week's color combination was soft sky, blue bayou and certainly celery. When I saw it, I immediately thought of the My Mind's Eye paper slab I got at Costco a couple of years ago. That thing has last FOREVER! The paper is also a good match for One of a Kind and the matching punch. This card didn't quite come out how I envisioned - I kept fiddling with the layout before finally just saying enough!

Stamps: one of a kind, for a friend

Paper: bayou blue, celery, soft sky, neenah classic crest ivory, MME patterned paper

Ink: stazon brown, soft sky, blue bayou, certainly celery

Accessories: eyelets, flower punch, watercolor brush, brads

Scrappy case

Today's featured stamper on SCS was Dawnsing. For the challenge, you're supposed to find a card in that stamper's gallery and use it for inspiration. I loved this card of Dawn's - so simple, fun and useful for putting those scraps to use. I changed the card up by changing the orientation, using different colors and adding the ribbon. This card will go in the mail as a pick-me-up for someone later in the week! Hope you all had a great weekend.
Supplies:
Stamps: AYC
Ink: rose red
Paper: Neenah classic crest solar white, amethyst, prints DP scraps
Accessories: slot punch, ribbon

Simple inspiration

The inspiration piece for this week's Inspiration Challenge on SCS was a set of candles from Papyrus. I chose the amethyst/black candle and used my new Inkadinkado stamps for this simple and elegant card. I think I am going to use a version of this for my card for an upcoming shoebox swap I'm attending. The card base is black, but I added a white panel inside so I could write on it.
Supplies:
Stamps: Inkadinkado
Ink: Memories black
Paper: amethyst, basic black, Neenah classic crest white
Accessories: ribbon, dew drops

Friday sketchers #2

I'm really enjoying the new Friday Sketchers sketch challenge blog - thanks to all of you who stopped by and commented on my card last week. I love to stamp on Friday nights when I come home from work, and I couldn't wait to try this week's sketch when I got home tonight. I stamped the image and sentiment the other night with a different type of card in mind, but a friend called and after our lengthy chat, that card wouldn't come together. So I made a few adjustments and additions and this is what I came up with!
I love these new Inkadinkado stamps; I just visited a new (to me) stamp store the next town over from my new home and they had these stamps on special by two get one free. I also picked up the silver buckle and the butterfly that day - it was a great visit and a fun little shopping spree!
Supplies:
Stamps: Inkadinkado
Ink: Basic gray, real red (SU), craft white (to highlight the CB stripes)
Paper: basic gray, real red, Neenah classic crest solar white
Accessories: ticket punch, slot punch, felt flower, butterfly, CB, buckle, ribbon

Mother's Day

This is a simple but fun card I made for my mom for Mother's Day. She loves this shade of pink and she loves the beach and collecting shells, so I married the two in her card. I layered pixie pink, white, a strip of DCWV DP (you can can hardly see it, but it has spots on it.) and the embossed piece. I used orchid Colorbox ink to highlight the embossed parts. I added stardust Stickles around the shell for a little sparkle. I finished it off with a tag and a ribbon, and some more Stickles on the sentiment. Happy Mother's Day, Mom!
Supplies:
Stamps: All holidays
Ink: Colorbox orchid
Paper: Pixie pink, whisper white, DCWV
Accessories: ribbon, CB shell collage folder, slot punch, stardust Stickles

Weekend sketches

I spent some time stamping this weekend; I'm trying to get back into my stamping routine and build up my stash again! I have a list of cards to make for thank yous and for upcoming birthdays and other events. And then there are those things you need a card for at the last minute! Anyway, I tried a couple of sketch challenges this weekend, just to get me going. The first card is for Taylored Expressions' weekly sketch challenge. I inked the image in pretty in pink, then rolled it heavily in pomegranate, and rolled it again, just on the edges, in chocolate chip.
Supplies:
Stamps: One of a Kind
Paper: pomegranate, pretty in pink, whisper white, Berry bliss DP
Ink: pomegranate, pink, chocolate chip
Accessories: HP hardware, dew drops, chocolate satin ribbon
The second card is for Beate's weekend sketch challenge. This was a fun sketch - I love the oval piece! I decided to try using up scraps of DP for this one, and pulled out this Crate Paper from the birdie collection. I love the colors in that one.
Supplies:
Stamps: All holidays
Ink: cool carribean
Paper: cool carribean, certainly celery, whisper white, non SU coral, Crate DP
Accessories: CM Oval cutter, primas, brad, ribbon

Featured stamper: Jennifer

Jennifer, aka lovetostamp6 on SCS, was the featured stamper this weekend on SCS. She has a lovely gallery, full of beautiful cards. I found and fell in love with this CARD in her gallery and used it as my inspiration. I cuttle-bugged the chocolate chip piece, then sanded the stripes and lightly brushed some white craft ink over them. Also, I made a new watermark using my new PSE6 software. I may play around with it some more, but I think it looks pretty cute.
Supplies:
Stamps: CTMH free spirit, SU All holidays
Ink: soft sky, chocolate chip, old olive, craft white
Paper: chocolate chip, old olive, soft sky, watercolor, Crate DP
Accessories: word window punch, brads, CB

New sketch challenge

I stumbled on a new sketch challenge during my blog-hopping the other day. It's called Friday Sketchers and you can read all about it HERE! I guess I was in a sketchy mood, I've done a lot of sketch challenges lately. I'm also still using up scraps of Berry Bliss DP. Hope you're not getting tired of it yet! I colored the image with markers, then filled the center with dew drops. The card measures 4.25 inches square. Thanks for a fun challenge, ladies!
Supplies:
Stamps: One of a Kind
Paper: pretty in pink, close to cocoa, whisper white, Berry Bliss
Ink: pretty in pink, chocolate chip, basic brown (sentiment)
Accessories: chocolate satin ribbon, dew drops, ticket corner punch

Copic practice

I won some Copic markers during the SCSM event, and then ordered a few more afterward so I could get a feel for them. I have 14 total, including a colorless blender. I definitely need more colors, especially earth and neutral tones and greens! But I have enough to now to at least get some practice using them. I was having some trouble with my black ink bleeding; I've purchased two different black ink pads now, so hopefully I can find one that works. I also think I need to get some 110 lb. weight paper. These are a couple of my practice pieces that I decided were worthy enough for cards! Both card are 3.5 by 5 inch notecards.
Supplies:
Stamp: Olivia Owl stamp from Stampendous
Ink: Memories black
Paper: soft sky, pomegranate, unknown white
Accessories: Copics, ribbon, dew drops, ticket corner punch
This is my favorite so far, and I think it really shows what you can do with Copic markers. I used three shades of blue and just kept going over them until they blended together! So pretty. This is a great image for coloring with Copics.
Supplies:
Stamps: Embrace life, sentiment by A muse
Ink: Brilliance graphite black, soft sky
Paper: soft sky, unknown white, basic black, brilliance blue
Supplies: ribbon, CM circle cutter, Copics

I actually stamped!

For the first time in months, I actually stamped a Splitcoast challenge card tonight! Now I know I'm finally settling in here at my new place. You forget how much there really is to do to get adjusted to a new job and moved into a new place and a new community. It has taken a lot of time, and I still have much to do. But at least I'm stamping again! This week's inspiration piece was an oval suncatcher. I was inspired by the shape and colors, as well as by the bold black lines of some of the images. And I had to throw in a Heidi Swapp ghost flower to capture the "see-through" aspect of the suncatcher. I have a long list of cards to make - mostly thank yous, but a few others as well, so this one will quickly get used, I'm sure! I hope to get back in the swing of stamping, and posting, more regularly now!
Supplies:
Stamps: All Holidays (SU)
Ink: Stazon black
Paper: orchid opulence, certainly celery, basic black, BG Phoebe
Accessories: HS ghost flower, Prima jewel, MM brad, CB folder, CM oval cutter