Stamped Backgrounds

Hello everyone and thanks again for visiting my blog. I wanted to share a couple of cards with you that I created using some of the background papers made with stamps from the stamp swap.  I'd made two thank you cards, but had sealed one in the envelope without thinking to photograph it first. Here is my take on this birthday card I made for one of my friends.

The branch was hand drawn and cut and I used a Fiskars texture plate to get the etching. I then used the TH Vintage Photo Distress Inks to give it some shading. The frogs are a Fiskars squeeze punch. I did the shading on them and punched the eyes from black and white paper. I did not have any google eyes on hand (or that I could find). Wasn't sure about the ribbon but stuck it on at the last minute.

This next one is card my son wrote a thank you inside for a gift he received. I did a black, white and yellow theme on this one.

I love having these on hand as they make card making quick and super easy. Since I stamped lots of different colors and patterns, I think I might just make up a bunch to have for just about any occassion. I trimmed about 1/2 from both sides of the white card base so that it would fit on a 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 inch card with a slight border.

Of course for both I could not help thinking and inking in the name of love.

Until then.

Simply the Best

My Yahoo group, Scrappin Friendz, is Simply the Best. If you were at Scrapfest you might have glimpsed them. They were all wearing these super cute credit card pouches created by Heather at The Paper Castle.

The outpouring of love and concern from a group of women whom I have yet to meet is overwhelming. I am thankful for everyone of them.

This past summer was very trying and traumatic for me. I traveled to Alabama in July when my Mother had a stroke. That was when I made the Travelin Scrap Kit Vee-dio. All was well with her and we were planning for her to return home from re-hab.

In mid-August the nurse went in the day before her release and noticed that she was unresponsive. From there she went to the hospital and then to Hospice where she spent her last days. This happened about a week before the start of school. I felt a piece of me leave with my mother. She was my best friend.

As I was grieving the loss of my mom, my grandmother (my mom's mother) passed less than three weeks later. 

I returned to Virginia both times wiped out and exhausted. It has basically been non-stop since I returned. My body is in dire need of a rest.

Well Monday, September 27th,  when I walked into my leased space at school (a corner in one of the teacher's class), I was bowled over to see a treasure of goodies waiting for me.

When I asked my son who delivered these, he replied, "They are from your scrapbooking friends." I wanted to cry on the spot. Since I  had bus duty, I had to scamper to kiss and ride.

Once I returned to my desk, I forgot about doing anything else as I started unwraping and opening these gifts from angels.

 

 

There were several cards that came to my house and I must admit that I did not have the courage to open them, and could only handle one or two at a time. 

I have finally had a chance to read all of them.

Although my heart has been ripped from my chest twice, little pieces of it are being returned when I open a card or read a special message from my Scrappin Friendz.

 

I know a lot of naysayers look down on Cyber groups and friends, but let me tell you that without my groups' prayers and thoughts, I don't know what I would have done.

 

Their love and friendship has made this difficult part of my journey much easier to travel.

Thank you from my family to yours. If your card did not appear in my photo please let me know so that I can post it. I tried to get them all in.

 

I will leave everyone with one of my favorite Psalms.

Psalm 121

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.
The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.

The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

Until then.

Fancy Pants Spooky Halloween Layout

Crop Chocolate and Halloween!!! One of my all time favorite holidays for which to go all out. Christmas is the FIRST. I guess I like the late summer early autumn days because they signal the end of summer and the beginning of Fall. Life renewing itself by going into a restful state. I told my son that if I don't get out soon with my camera, we will miss the changing of the leaves. Everything seems to be happening much faster. I am a Chocolatier and wanted to share with you the project I posted to Sweet Talk using the Fancy Pants Trick or Treat Paper Kit.

This picture did not come out as bright as I wanted, but I was also trying to avoid having light reflect from the pictures. The background paper is the Skulls sheet. I used the stars on the reverse.

I started out by creating the tree for the project. I drew this freehand and then used a Fiskars texture plate, Black Distress Ink and some of the Pebbles pearlescent chalks to bring it to life.

I cut the tree larger than I needed it to be so that it could be trimmed. Next time I think I will leave a bit more trunk width.

I used foam dots to lift the branches. The moon was stamped with a Foam Stamp from Martha Stewart. I used the Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed Distress Inks and clear embossing powder.

Again, blogger will not allow me to turn the photo.

I cut the frames using Spellbinder dies. Instead of using paper to mat the photos, I thought I would create a frame to go over the top. The sign was cut from one piece, I used the reverse solid side of the Candy Corn on which to stamp.

I will most likely incorporate the leftover pieces into a card or a companion layout.




Now on to the title. I cut one of the strips from the Trick or Treat Strips sheet. EEKS! was perfect.

 

I achieved this look by using Ranger's Glossy Accents and a variety of Martha Stewart Beads. They really make the page shimmer.

The border strip was created in sections using the Martha Stewart Pumpkin punch and emboss.

After stamping them, I used ink to bring out the embossing and glued them together. The hats and the black cat are from Spellbinders. The fall leaves are from a swap.

The bats are from a Making Memories Foam Stamp Set. I stamped onto the back of some American Crafts glossy paper, cut them out and used the scoreboard to create bones for the bat's wings.

The remaining embellishements were either from a swap or my stash. I used rhinestones on the spider's eyes and the cat's to make them just a wee bit spookier.

Hope you have a lot of fun getting ready for Halloween, for those who celebrate. I love driving by the homes and seeing what people have done. Did you know that Halloween is the most celebrated holiday and really brings in the big bucks? Kidding, I made that up. Seriously, it is true.

As you decorate and prepare, think of what might look a little more frightening with a bit of glitter, sparkle or even ink.

Until then.

Buddy Page Swap

Hello everyone. It is finally here; the completed Buddy Page. This was a lot of fun and gave me the opportunity to use up all of those pictures taken by a professional studio. Vee-dios embedded below.

This challenged me in several ways: creating a page for some one else, designing in such a limited format (6x6) and finally being able to use some flowers on a layout. I was so giddy with excitement, that I did not know to handle it.

Buddy Page Swap part 1

I had wanted to keep the journaling hidden by placing it under another decorative piece of paper but was not able to add that element.

Buddy Page Swap Page 2

Hope you enjoy the layout and can find some inspiration from it.

Keep thinking and inking in the name of love.
Until then

Back to School

Well, whether we are for or against; it is that time again. Back to school for all of the kiddies in my neighborhood. We have all gone to a common schedule so traffic should be much worse than usual. Gee, can you tell how excited I am?

To help improve my sour mood I decided to make some welcome to second grade treat bags for my son's class. This was a last minute decision but turned out well, I think.

 The idea came from a video I saw on YouTube. When I find it, I will post it. The plastic bags are the make a mold treat bags size 3.75 x6. When I cut my topper paper I used letter size and just trimmed off a bit on the side and then cut it in half.

Then I trimmed each piece to 4 1/2 scored on the mid line and inked the edges.

The 2nd grade was cut at 2" from the Locker Talk cartridge on page 73. I used the shift and layers key to get the phrase. No matter how many ways I resized and rotated this picture it still would not come out landscape. That is one of the features I miss about the old blogger. You could turn pics once inserting them. Maybe I should move over to Wordpress.

Then I repeated but used the shift and blackout to get the base piece which I inked with Distress Ink.

I used the Quickie glue pen to adhere all of the pieces to the base which I inked. Then wrote Welcome to and signed from my family on the reverse side. My son separated all of the candies and put them into the baggies. 

What became of those leftover pieces? Well they will be used on a layout for this school year as a base piece.

Waste not want not is my motto.

Here is to wishing you and the children in your life a wonderful start to the beginning of a new school year. Keep to your schedule and provide a supportive role to your child and the teacher. When you get a moment to sneak away and craft, try adding a bit of ink. It will make a world of difference.

Until then. 

August Challenge: Beach Theme

Wow, where has the summer gone? It seems like school just ended last month! Can I honestly say that I am not excited for school to start again? Yes, I can. During the summer months I feel a bit like a retiree. Only difference is I go back to work, they continue to pursue their pleasures. My Yahoogroup has been doing a series of challenges since May. This month's challenge is to create a card, layout, tag, altered item that has a beach theme. This is my entry.

The peeloffs are from an Ecstacy crafts kit that I ordered from HSN about a year ago. The entire kit is on a nautical theme and is called Maritime Outline Stickers. The company is located in Holland. 

Once I remembered that I had them, I pulled them out and created this card based on a sample from the book. I know you are thinking why the purple card. Well...July's challenge was for a shape card and I never got my card finished and decided to use the base for this challenge. Waste not want not.

I used the Spellbinders Labels 10 for the card base and the Classic Ovals to cut my acetate and the ring for adhering the shells. Yes, that is flower soft as my sand, rocks, etc. I do realize that I put in way too much. I only used about a teaspoon. That stuff really fluffs out.

The sentiment I used is a clear epoxy one from Heidi Swapp. I achieved the effect behind the shells by using different colored pieces of card stock. Prior to affixing the peeloff, I sponged ink onto each piece for a bit of dimension. After cutting out the shell, I used my Marvy markers and a small paint brush to add more color and shading. I used my Sakura glitter pens on a few of them.

This project came together very quickly. The most difficult part was selecting which elements to use. I so love the easel cards. Just don't do what I did on this one and put adhesive on the top part of the card. I salvaged it by using some baby powder to remove the stickiness. lol. This is my prototype anyway. If I did that and was sending it to someone, I would probably cut another piece of paper to stick onto the back of the top.

You probably cannot tell from the photo, but I did spray the card and the base with Glacier Glimmer Mist so there is a nice oceany sparkle to the card. Oceany--did I just add a word to Webster's?

Thanks for stopping in to see what I have been up to during these wanning summer days. I so want them to linger. It is time to start thinking of fall and the unique beauty that it brings.

This is the card taken from a different angle and with the flash. Seems a bit over-exposed to me or maybe how it would look with the sun smiling down on it.

Remember to add a bit of ink to all of your creations. Why? Because it does make a difference. Just ask any of the Copics users.

Through the power of technology you can watch the Vee-dio on this page.

Until then.

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

It is so hard to believe that another year has passed. I look down and before I can look up again, time has marched forward. I am thankful to celebrate another year and share it with all of you.

There have been a number of well wishes sent my way and I want to say a huge thank you to everyone. One of my Yahoogroup friends, NJ Debbie, sent this adorable card to me.

A little known secret is that I love Outline  Rubber Stamps and I can only imagine the time it took for Debbie to put this beauty together. I could not keep this treasure to myself and she did give me permission to share. 

Each layer is cut out and layered onto another layer. The second and third levels are raised on foam. I am honored that Debbie took the time to make this for me. The colors are gorgeous.  My picture taking does not do it justice. Everything has been embossed and has a nice textural look to it.

The entire ensemble is just breathtakingly stunning. I think the jewels are the icing on the cake.

Speaking of cake, I have to go and cut the one my son and I made together. It has been an awesome birthday for me. If you get a chance, check out my Youtube Vee-dio that I will post on my birthday scrapping HAUL...thought I would need a U-Haul to get out of there. lol.

As always use color to help bring a bit of joy to your lives. If it is inked in love, it is sure to be a winner just as my Birthday Card is from Debbie.
Until then.