Courage... Hope You Can Cling To

 Hey stamping friends,

This month I'm joining my fellow stampers at Splitcoaststampers for the Hope You Can Cling To card drive for cancer patients and their families/caregivers.  Every day this month a new challenge is posted and I'm trying my best to complete as many as I can.  Some of my creations will be posted here and some will be posted on my Fun Stampers Journey blog that you can find HERE.

Today's challenge comes from Paula and she suggested using an UNCOLORED image on your card.  I decided to pull an old favorite background image that I stamped onto plain white cardstock.  This image is one of my favorites from BLineDesigns and it works well when I want to make nautical or "destination" cards.  I paired this image with another favorite set from Sweet Stamp Shop.  It's no longer available but it's PERFECT for this theme and my background!

As you can see in the close-up, I opted to add a pop of color around the sentiment by adding starfish and the little sanddollar image.  I used a few Copic colors, some thread colored to match the starfish and some sparkle.  I also added some old drops from my stash.  

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you enjoy this card and I hope the recipient finds it inspiring and comfort to them.

Please stop back to see additional projects created for this AND other charity events for the month of October.  Please consider joining this great cause.  You'll be glad you did!

It's been OOOOOHHHHH LONG...

Hello stamping friends,

I'm here today to join the celebration as Mrs. Sweet launches her BRAND SPANKIN' NEW-UPDATED and FABULOUS Sweet Stamp Shop store!  WOO!!!

She gave me (and many other fans) the opportunity to work with a top-secret stamp set created especially for the new launch, and I am so excited to be able to share what I created with this fun set today!!!

A little Kawaii love for all you coffee/tea drinkers out there!  :) :)

The sentiment is FUN and PUNNY, just like so many of Nicole's new sets.  I'm just loving the giggles and smiles inspired by these sets.  

I drew and colored a little doodly heart then added some clear glaze to add a bit of shine against the sparkles.  :)

Such a fun little image to color and doodle over.  I added some tea in the cup by drawing a little line around the tea coloring.  

So there you have it!  something to make any coffee/tea lover smile!  

Products Used:  

Teal 5 1/2 x5 1/2 card base (from stash) with coordinating envie.

SSS Oolong image on white cardstock 

Graph paper

VersaMagic Sea Breeze ink for distressing

Dies:  Journey Rectangles (3 3/4 x 2 5/8 rectangle and the 3 3/4 x 2 5/8 stitched die)

Copics:  B0000;  BG0000, 01; G00; C00,0, 1, 2; V12,15; E81, 35; R46, Copic Multiliner pen .35

Crystal Stickles

Journey Glaze

Pop Dots

Natural Journey Twine

Gelli Gelli Gelli in the house...

Woo Hoo...

I got an 8x10 Gelli Plate a few days ago and pulled it out of the package to play today.  I hunted everywhere for my brayer but I couldn't seem to find it so I just fiddled anyway.  Experimenting with the use of my paint stash, assorted stamps, Stickles sparkles, Copic markers and everyday objects was the task...The challenge was to create a nice background paper that I could then incorporate into a card project or two.

YEEE HAW...It was so fun.  Not as messy as I thought it would be.  I used my paint brushes to spread the paint then figured out that using a simple piece of paper would do a better job at making sure the paint layers were just the right consistency.  I can tell that this Gelli plate is going to be well loved in my craft room.

After about an hour of playing, I ended up with a pretty painted piece of paper (Try saying that three times real fast!) I could use in a few projects... So I decided to do the "Use Your Stash" challenge at SSS.  I pulled some stamps (Sweet Stamp Shop Simple Sentiments and Color Wheel) and some ribbons and got to work...

Challenge Part 1:  Take a photo of your STASH:

Yummy 'eh?  As you can see from the bottom stack of paints...They have NOT been used in a LONG while, so I figured getting a Gelli plate will at least diminish this stash right??? HEE HEE

Anyway...After taking photos of said stash, I picked a few colors to work with:
Not in Picture:  Americana Primary Yellow
Top Section, second row:  Deco Art Crystal Craft Twinkles Glitter Paint
Top Section, bottom row: Delta Ceramcoat Caribbean Blue; Craft Smart Lime Green, Light Orange
I also grabbed some Orange Peel Stickles (just to test it out on the Gelli plate)

OH MY GOODNESS!  HEAVEN.  I'm in heaven...paint, stamps, stickles...WEEEOOOO!

I fiddled and fiddled with paints, glitters and stamps (and a cap from a squirt bottle) and ended up with a yummy piece of patterned paper that I used to create these cards (and a few more to come) that will be mailed to some special friends and family...

Card 1:  Notice the Color Wheel???

Deelish 'eh???

Sparkles!!!

Card 2:  HELLO YOU!  A little goes a long way!  (Cut mosaic squares too!)

A perfect little cheerful hello.  

 MMMM there's that sparkle again!!!

So, there you have it.  My first few pieces from the first piece of Gelli fabulousness coming outta my craft room!!!  Using up my paints, one bottle at a time!  WOO!

Use what you have...

In an effort to de-clutter my stampspace and use up long-loved stamper's merchandise, I'm once again resorting to challenging myself (and seeking other challenges) to use what I already have.  I have SO much and it'll take me to the far reaches of eternity to use up all this stuff sooo...this is one small dent, albeit miniscule.

I noticed a card posted on fb the other day with a challenge attached- the Sweet Stamp Shop Challenge #9 to "USE WHAT YOU HAVE"...ok...got it...so here it is:

So here's what I did:

1.  Take a picture of the stash...Um...That's embarrassing so I'll tighten up that photo a bit...

2.  Use the items in the stash to create a project.***Narrow it down to a few items that inspire a creation...or two...
*** Insert personal rule here...DONT GET DISTRACTED BY SHINY THINGS AND DIVERGE FROM THE TASK!!!
3.  Take pictures of said creations and blog about the adventure.

4.  Post a link to the creation on the SSS blog post.

So here goes:  

Stash Picture:

Narrow it down:

Hmmm...wonder if that means anything..Things are looking UP!  hee hee hee!
Finished products:

Started out with 12 little bag envies...I needed to get rid of those bags...I've had them for more than 5 years!!!  (Stamp set is Baby Love from Sweet Stamp Shop)

Now if I'm really going to get rid of stuff, I have to give (or sell) them away right?  Well, I needed a card for that so I made a coordinating card to go with it...

 Oh YES!  I'm SOOO PROUD of myself...1 project down..don't see the dent in my stash yet...

Link is set!

Now...Ready, Set, Go...I challenge you to do the same!!!

belated posts...

So I was digging through my pictures and happened upon two cards I forgot all about posting.  You see, I was preoccupied with getting my new pup that I completely forgot to share them.  At least I remembered to take pictures of these cards before I gave them away...

Both of these cards were made on May 10 for my sister's birthday and Mother's day...both cards explored the use of WASHI tape...I only have two rolls, sigh.

Love the "chalkboard" effect I was seeing all over stampingland so I decided to pull out my Sweet Stamp Shop set that works really well with this theme (Chalkboard Sign).  After stamping, embossing and distressing, I mounted the image and placed some washi tape on the corners.  Then it was time to attach it to a card base.  I thought the blue paper made the image just pop.  After doing that, I added some Melissa Frances crepe paper, some black velvet ribbon, decked that out with a strip of pink bling, a flat sparkly bauble and there you have it...a fun little card.  

Bling!  Love that bling!!!

Then on to my sister's birthday card.  I was still trying to figure out ways to incorporate the new washi tape I purchased a few days before. 

Again, using my newest Sweet Stamp Shop images was important.  I wanted to use that distressed chevron backrgound I had been drooling over for weeks.  I wanted this card to be really bright and happy so I chose an orange yellow palette.  I think the scrap of paper used was some old Sassafrass Lass, but not sure.  Stuck the sentiment (Simple Sentiments) onto the card using the washi tape, but not sure it's as effective on this design as it seems to fade into the background.  Added some flowers (Lil' sweet peps) to give the card a bit more depth and lessen the "hodge-podge" effect it left me.  I thought oh well, I'll just put a bottle of wine in the coordinating bag and she'll be happy!! HEE HEE...

I added a strip of blue paper along the back edge of the card and trimmed the front in a little meandering way.  Attaching some more washi tape to this back edge gave it fun feel.  

Thanks for stopping by...back later with some more projects!

Sweets...

Hello everyone!

I'm so excited to be here to share a new little project created using some of the NEWEST Sweet Stamp Shop sets available in the store now.  As you know, last month there were several new sets released and I have had the honor of playing with a few of them and have enjoyed joining the Guest Design Team in sharing some creative possibilities with you.  I've had so much fun playing with two particular sets (Nesting Dolls and Gears Backgrounder).

If you didn't have a chance to stop by to check out my earlier posts, you can hop back over to my entries during the reveal days.  You can check out some of my SWEET creations here:  Sweet Release Day 1, Sweet Release Day 2.

Today, I get to share an additional project with you and my fellow Sweet Stamp Shop blog readers!

This week is a very special week for my school.  We're continuing to celebrate Dr. Seuss' Birthday (March 1) and we're carrying the Read Across America celebrations into this week too.  ALL WEEK LONG my school is holding special reading-related events.  Today is "Fox in Socks" day and I get to wear some of my wackiest socks.  I decided that I would give my students some fun little bookmarks to mark the pages of their books.

I wanted to create some simple bookmarks that were not lumpy and bumpy so they could be placed inside a book without fear of bending or warping the pages.  The GEARS Backgrounder was the PERFECT set for this theme.

I also decided to add a little handwritten sentiment to continue the theme during our classroom reading time (READING IS THINKING).  I created several different color themes for these bookmarks.  Colorbox Chalk ink works so well with photopolymer stamps like these and since I have almost every color of the rainbow, it was easy to duplicate the bookmark design in a multitude of colors.

I hope you're inspired by this cute little project, remember....READ READ READ...Get your wheel's a turnin'.

PS... I'm smack-dab in the middle of a very sweet video-share project using the nesting dolls set so make sure to stop by soon to check it out!  In the meantime, head over to the Sweet Stamp Shop blog to check out get your sweet tooth fix... You won't regret it!

Sweets in the Shop!!!

Hey all!  The Sweet Stamp Shop is OPEN!  Head over there to pick up the NEWEST stamp sets! 

FRESH, SWEET and DEELISH!  

Sweets...Reveal Day 2

Hello stamping friends! I'm back to help announce the second group of sweet sets arriving in the Sweet Stamp Shop.  The design team (and guest designers) have prepared some delicious morsels to tempt your sweet tooth...and your stamping muse!

Introducing:  

View Finder, Gears Backdrop, Warm Notes, Let's Chat

 

I'm happy to share a few little projects I created using the Gears Backdrop.  It was fun incorporating the Valentine theme/Date Theme...

What a fun little collage.  It all started with the red backdrop...Then I decided I wanted to incorporate some handcut gears.  After that, I just put a fun collage together, popped it up onto the red layer, stitched and poof...  There it was!  

I added the gears stamping to the hand drawn heart too.  The little red fan shape is actually half of a candy/cupcake wrapper glitzed up with some stickles!  

I added some little silver pearls to mimic the circles punched in the watercolor paper.  

And for another fun card created with this fabulous Gears set, I'm sharing this little collage:  

Now actually, this is a combination of two sets.  Nesting and Gears.  I stamped the gears onto craft cardstock using Ranger clear resist ink.  I stamped the frame only (framed sentiment in the nesting set) and incorporated some of the nesting doll faces into the "frames".  I really like incorporating paper and graph paper and it works so well with the gears set, don't you think?!

Handwriting the little "smile" sentiment just finished the card off.  I really like to have my sentiments on the front of my cards.  

Staples are a great touch on a card with graph paper!  LOL

And yes...Yet one more card.  This time I'm using some old, some new...Gears Backdrop, God Bless America ($7.95) and the really cute die set called Snapshot Fun ($5.95)!  What fun!

 

I stamped the gears background with colorbox chalk ink then stamped the sentiment and heart using Versafine Onyx ink.  After coloring the heart with Copic markers, I attached the Polaroid diecut onto the gears.  



 A closer peek at the card base and you'll notice that I repeatedly stamped the "Thank you for protecting our freedom!" sentiment using Ranger distress ink.  The twine, bling and clothespin were the final touches in assembling this "on the fly" card. 

This card is on on the way to the military base near my home.  I had thought about sending it to OWH but because of the paper clip and the "bumpy" nature of this card, I felt a hand delivery was more appropriate. 
 

I hope you are inspired by my creations and hope you'll stop back again.  Before you do, head over to the Sweet Stamp Shop blog to get more sweet temptations from designers like me.  

PS...Leave a comment, I'd love to find out what you think of the newest sets!  Return tomorrow, because all EIGHT sets will in the Sweet Stamp Shop... Now accpeting PAYPAL!!!  YAHOO!

Sweet Stamp Shop New Release....

Sweet Stamp Shop is excited to announce its newest treats released today!  I'm thrilled to have been asked to join the party with the design team.  They're unwrapping some delicious morsels of inky goodness and WOO HOO...I get to play!!!

Introducing:  Color Wheel, Distressed Chevron, Nesting and 

Baby Love!   

 

You can find new release sneaks, projects AND Guest DT links on the SSS blog today so make sure to head over there to see all the good stuff!

Here's a sweet little girl card I created using the Nesting set.  I stamped the little flowers with some Memento pink ink then added some Platinum Liquid Pearls to give them a little pop.   

Here's a closer peek to show a bit of distressing.  I sanded the DCWV cardstock to soften the edges a bit and help coordinate with the crinkle of the ribbon.

Zooming in even closer to take a peek at the the adorable little face!!!  

I'll be back tomorrow to help reveal EVEN MORE NEW SETS!  In the meantime, please head over to the Sweet Stamp Shop blog to see MORE tasty treats!