Inkspiration for Stamping and Scrapbooking

Debossed Flowers

This vellum technique is called debossing.

It gives a raised image you can feel, and when you use vellum, you get white highlights as well. I saw a great card at the Spring Fling event using cardstock and the Bloomin' Beautiful set from the Occasions mini.

This is the hostess set From the Garden. I coloured on the stamp then stamped on the vellum. Then I cleaned the stamp and put the vellum back on it, lining it up. I used the tip of the dry embossing tool to trace in between the lines, over the spaces in the rubber. That's the debossing part!

Then on the right side up, I coloured in with markers and used a blender pen to move the colour around a little.

I did get this idea from SCS, but do not remember from whom. If it's your card, I'll gladly give you credit - just let me know!

Happy stampin' and blessings, Ann

Elegant Embrace

I really love this card.

I taught this vellum technique to my stamp club friends last week, and then made more of them to swap at the Spring Fling Stampin Up! event put on by Alycia Ryckman down in London.

Don't Elegant Eggplant and River Rock look great together?

The stamping is done with Elegant Eggplant ink and then I used the white gel pen to fill in the leaves.

The vellum flowers are stamped and embossed in gold, and then coloured on the back with markers.

I finished off the edge of the River Rock layer with a gold leaf pen.

Isn't it just so, well, elegant!

I'll be back with another vellum technique tomorrow, so come on back!

Blessings, and happy stampin'! - Ann

Dahlias on a Carousel

OK - so that title makes just about no sense, doesn't it? Or did it make you want to read more?

Here are the dahlias (the paper folding technique is called the dahlia fold) on the carousel (the Carousel Note Cards found in the Occasions mini):

I used the Soft Sky Prints paper and some Porcelain Prints scraps to make the dahlias. There are very good instructions on how to fold your paper here at SplitCoast. I loved the idea of the buds too, as well as the full blossom.

I used the Baroque Motifs flourish stamp to create a vine for the background. The Mother's Day greeting comes from All Holidays. The circles on the scalloped edge of the card are REALLY simple to do and evenly spaced if you use your 1/8 punch and the Petals Classy Brass Template. A Build a Brad finishes the dahlia centre.

If you cannot access the tutorial I linked to, please let me know and I'll be happy to show you all how to do this paper folding technique. And don't forget, there's a Carousel Notes class coming up, where we'll be making a fabulous purse-shaped mini album with the note cards and envelopes. Will I see you here? It's not too late to sign up.

Happy stampin' and blessings, Ann

All work and no play...

It feels like there's not been much time for stamping lately - I've got lots of writing to do for my other job.

But I wanted to take a minute and show you this. I had a team meeting last week and this was my swap card - our theme was to use a technique, so I chose the chalkboard technique. Isn't the Tart & Tangy set just darling for this technique?

It starts with a Real Red cardbase, onto which I layered Whisper White and stamped with a greeting from Enjoy Life in Staz-On Black. The patterned paper running up the left side is from the Summer Picnic pack. The Basic Black is stamped with the dotted lines stamp from Live Your Dream (Occasions mini). The apple is done by stamping in Whisper White craft ink and then using a sponge dauber to apply chalk over top while it is still wet. If some chalk clings to the black cardstock, use that eraser that comes with the Stampin' Pastels to remove it and clean it up.

This card will go to one of Sarah's teachers in June, I think. I really like how it came out, don't you?

I will be back tomorrow with another fun card that we did at my team meeting. Meantime, leave me a comment letting me know what fun techniques you've been playing with lately. I love hearing from you!

Quiet here...

Sorry it's been awhile since I last posted - as I indicated in my last post, my aunt was in hospital and very ill. She did pass away on Friday night, so things have been busy here, but not with things stamping. The funeral is this afternoon. I will be back tomorrow with projects to show you. Thank you to those of you who have emailed - we really appreciate knowing you are praying for us!

God bless, Ann

Simple Challenge, Simple Card

I had to miss Sharon's stampin' challenge last week - life was busy. Life's actually no less busy this week, but I just didn't want to miss two weeks in a row. The point of Sharon's challenges is to stamp simply - and it's great to step back and do that sometimes.

This week's theme is colour blocking. I thought it was a great chance to use of some scrap designer paper, so I started with the Ginger Blossom designer paper. I knew already that I wanted this card to evoke a peaceful feeling, so I used pieces with River Rock. Isn't River Rock lovely on Always Artichoke - it takes on a slightly greenish hue and flows quite nicely.

I used the Live Your Dream set because it's been a while. I used WWC on the stamp and slightly dampened it with the Aquapainter before stamping onto the Whisper White. The greeting is from Take Three and I used a Chocolate Chip marker to pull just the sentiment. The ribbon is some retired olive organdy that actually suits the Artichoke quite well. There's just a bit of glitter in the flower centres.

I am off to Hamilton now. My aunt, who is only about 6 years older than me, is in a coma there - she slipped into the coma Wednesday night after being admitted on the weekend with complications arising from her chemo treatments. Aunt Diane was a florist before she got sick and was extremely talented. I'll leave this card there with her that says we are praying for her, her husband and kids. If she should wake up from the coma, she'll know we're there for her. If she passes on, I hope her family finds some small comfort in knowing we love them and are praying for them.

I know this all sounds sad, but really, this is one of the reasons we make cards, isn't it. To share hope with others.

Happy stampin'  and Blessings,

Ann

Tart & Tangy class close up

The Tart & Tangy class was a LOT of fun!

I showed you a group picture of the cards earlier, and now you can see each one up close!

This is the faux postage card, which some of you may have seen before, as I posted it way back when I first announced this class.

Faux postage is really just another masking technique and it creates a really fun effect. We used markers to colour the cherries, and then used a sponge dauber to shade in the background.

This is the faux tile card. There are a few faux tile techniques out there; one involves scoring a grid-like pattern on your card, but I've also seen that called a grid card. This technique involves creating a tile like surface by stamping with classic ink, and then smooshing the cardstock in your Versamark pad and clear embossing.

I know there aren't blue apples, but I love this card, and here's why:

  My dining room is adorned with my Delft collection - yes, there's Dutch blood running through my veins and I love the blue hand-painted porcelain that typifies Dutch artwork - I'll never be able to afford a VanGogh or Rembrandt so these hand-painted beauties will do just nicely.

So I used my Delft  trivets as my inkspiration for the faux tile card.

This next card is a close copy of one in a recent Stampin' Success magazine. For those that don't know, Stampin' Success is the monthly magazine that SU! demonstrators receive free full of business and stampin' ideas.

This technique is called the loaded marker. I like the watercolour-y effect it creates. We loaded the side of a light-coloured brushtip marker with darker-coloured ink and coloured with that. The effect is somewhat subtle, but quite pretty.

This card is a very close copy of Sharon Johnston's card found here. She eventually incorporated her card into a kitchen collection gift set - so cute!

You've heard me talk about Sharon before - I love her simple, elegant style. She posts a stamp simply challenge every Friday, and if you want to play along, you'll find the challenges on her blog.

This card incorporates a template, more than a technique, but I loved it so much I included it in the class! There's a little flap on the inside cover that can hold a favourite cherry recipe that you'd like to share, or a gift card or gift certificate.

This card smells so good!

This is a scratch and sniff card. I mixed unsweetened KoolAid with clear and irridescent ice embossing powders and the whole orange slice is the one that produces that sweet happy smell when scratched.

The 3 slices are embossed with irridescent ice ep and look yummy enough to eat, don't you think? They remind me of candies I'd see at my grandparents - those sugary fruit candies. Anyone know what I mean?

This card is inspired by this  one I saw on SCS - only I eliminated the green - we have enough green cards already, and because I wanted the scratched image to be big enough to get lots of enjoyment out of, I went with the whole orange.

So that was our class - if you missed it, I hope you can make it to another class in the future.

Hope these inspire you to get your stamps out and play - there are so many things you can do with a single set. Next week, I'll show you another Tart & Tangy card I'm dreaming up for my team meeting swap card. Sorry, but you have to wait until they get theirs first.

Happy stampin' and blessings,

Ann

Has This Happened to You?

I had my stamp club friends here last week and I went to pass the glitter to one of them, only the lid wasn't on tight, and oops!

Glitter is so fine that it can leave a sparkle everywhere for days - it can be very hard to clean up.

So what can you do?

This is when a paint brush and your embossing buddy are your best friends!

Use the paint brush to sweep up as much of the glitter as possible. Try sweeping it into a coffee filter and then pouring it back into the container.

As you can see, the brush has gotten up the bulk of the mess. But there is still a thin coating of fine glitter clinging to my table...

... a swoosh of the embossing buddy moves that glitter off and onto the coffee filter to be used another day.

All clean and ready for more stampin' action!

Happy stampin' and blessings! - Ann