Wild Flower Birthday Wishes.

I have yet another card to share. This one is a one-layer card that was easy to mail -- if you don't count the pearls. Here it is:

To create this card, I cut cardstock to a standard size card and scored it at the top. Since I wanted to vary the colors of my flowers, I colored the stamp with markers and huffed on it right before stamping. I stamped the sentiment in black, distressed the edges of the card, rounded the corner, added the jewels and the card was done!

So, I seem to be favoring top-folds lately. Do other cardmakers out there gravitate to scoring cards in the same place or do you mix it up? Let me know in the comments.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Wintage Cream):

Stamp: Hero Arts (Wild Flower); Papertrey Ink (Think Big Favorites #&)

Ink: Stampin' Up markers (Rich Regals); Memento (Tuxedo Black): Tim Holtz Distress (Antique Linen);

Misc.: EK Success corner punch; ZVA pearl stickers.

Airmail Birthday Card

When I saw the JFK luggage tag stamp from Hero Arts for Studio Calico, I knew I had to have it. Not only do I live close enough to JFK airport to make this stamp a part of almost every vacation, but my brother-in-law used to work at JFK. Talk about the perfect stamp for those hard-to-make masculine cards! Here's my card:

Inspired by a sketch on the Hero Arts blog, I adhered a scrap of patterned paper that was loose in my scrap pile to my card base. The circles on that paper always reminded me of the globe in Pan Am's logo so I knew it would coordinate well with the travel theme I had in mind for this card. I added a stamped border to the top and bottom of the patterned paper using the Hero Arts Calico Borders set. I stamped the tag on a separate piece of card stock. After cutting it out, I attached it to a Maya Road chipboard airplane that was in my stash with some twine.

For the inside, I stamped the sentiment and added a trail of the cute planes from the Airmail set.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Neenah (Solar White);

Patterned Paper: Studio Calico;

Stamps: Hero Arts for Studio Calico (Airmail; Calico Borders);

Ink: Stampin; UP! (Crumb Cake; Soft Sky); Memento (Tuxedo Black):

Misc.: Maya Road chipboard plane; My Mind's Eye twine

Wild About Washi Tape!

So I broke out the washi tape I found in Target's office supply aisle and I am hooked! Thanks to the washi tape and the pop of color it gave, this card came together in 15 minutes! Here it is:

To create, I cut my cardstock to a standard size with the fold at the top. I cut patterned paper to measure 3 3/4" x 5" and black cardstock to measure 3 7/8" x 5 1/8. Next, I stamped my background image with VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with black embossing powder. After layering the image over the black cardstock, I added the washi tape, twine and chipboard letters. Since I was mailing the card I used regular adhesive to affix this panel to the card. Here's a closer look:

I originally wrapped the twine around the card three times and knotted it. When I cut off the ends, I felt that it needed a little something else so I took the tail and made an additional knot on each of the other two lines of twine.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink;

Patterned Paper: Lawn Fawn;

Stamp: Hero Arts (Formula Fun);

Ink: VersaMark;

Embossing Powder: Stamp 'n Stuff

Embellishments: Washi Tape (Target); Twine (Martha Stewart)

Playing Favorites!

When it comes to Hero Arts stamps, it's hard for me to pick a favorite! So, when the new blog called A Blog Named Hero challenged crafters to make a project using their favorite Hero Arts products, picking the stamps was, for me, the hardest part of this challenge. Since I needed a birthday card for a Sweet 16, this is what I came up with:

To make this card, I created my own patterned paper using my favorite cupcake stamp a little black ink. I layered that on top of some teal cardstock to make it pop. I used score tape to affix two rows of that perfectly matched ribbon to a one-inch strip of cardstock and trimmed with the teal scalloped cardstock. Next, I used Nestabilities to cut the two circles. I used my newest and most favorite Hero Arts background stamp plus Versamark ink and clear embossing powder to give the black circle a little more detail. (Did I tell you how much I LOVE the new Zig Zag stamp?) I adhered the circles to the card with foam adhesive and finished it off with Thickers. Here's a closer look:

I am really happy with the fresh, graphic feel of this card for a teenager.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Stamper's Select White); Stampin' UP! (Bermuda Bay);

Inks: Tsukinedo Memento (Tuxedo Black); Versa Mark;

Stamps: Hero Arts (Zig Zag; Cupcakes);

Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities (Circle Large; Classic Scallop); Fiskars border punch (Scallop Sentiment);

Embellishment: American Crafts (ribbon; Thickers).

Guest Designer at City Crafter

A while back, I asked to be the guest designer at the City Crafter Challenge Blog. My initial excitement turned into fear when I saw that the challenge was called "Seeing Double." The challenge was to use both the positive and negative of a die or punch. Now I most often use the positives of a die and I sometimes use the negative of the punch but I usually don't use them together. So I thought and I thought and I thought some more. Then, I saw this new patterned paper from My Mind's Eye 2012 CHA release:

I was drawn to the rows of butterflies and the paper quickly became my inspiration for my card. Here is my card:

Please note that Purple Cardstock + Glossy Accents + Cloudy Day =Major Photography Challenge!! I'm just saying!

To create the card, I stamped the background onto a piece of Rich Razzleberry cardstock using the same color ink. I added the sentiment in black ink. Next, I punched five butterflies from a scrap piece of paper and affixed them with removable adhesive to the cardstock. These served as positioning guides for me to punch the butterflies in a straight row. I backed the negative I created with a piece of patterned paper and added some coordinating paper strips to frame it. I used a 6x6 pad so that the scale was not too big. I adhered the punch butterflies to the card using Glossy Accents as my adhesive. I put rolled up glue dots under each wing to maintain the dimension. To make the butterfly wings stand out even more from the background, I coated each with Glossy Accents.

You can visit the City Crafter Challenge Blog to see what the other designers did and join in the fun. This week's prize is a Guest Design spot of your very own. If you do play a long, please link up to the comment section of my blog. I would love to see your project!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Stamper's Select White); Stampin' UP! (Rich Razzleberry)'

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Sweet Threads);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Envelope Pattern, Luscious Frames);

Inks: Memento (Tuxedo Black); Stampin' UP! (Rich Razzleberry)

Tools: Martha Stewart punch (Classic Butterfly); Fiskars border punch (Scallop Sentiment);

Misc.: Recollections rhinestones

CAS-ual Fridays -- Chip Off the Ol' Block Challenge

I decided to play along with the CAS-ual Fridays challenge this week by creating a clean and simple project using chipboard. Here's my card:

I cut white cardstock down to a standard sized card and scored it so that the fold would be at the top of the card. I seem to do this a lot! Next, I cut a piece of red cardstock to measure 4"x5.25" and a piece of kraft cardstock to measure 3.75"x5." I used distress ink to stamp the background and distress the edges. The sentiment was stamped with the same ink on a strip of white cards which I trimmed with two strips of scalloped patterned paper. I adhered this to the card using foam dimensionals and added some buttons and twine for good measure. I added the chipboard cupcake which I decorated with Stickles. After all, shouldn't all cupcakes be decorated!

Supplies

Cardstock: Papertray Ink (Stamper's Select White; Pure Poppy); Stampin' UP! (Kraft);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Happy Definition;Happiness Messages );

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Barn Door);

Patterned Paper/Chipboard: Basic Grey (Sugar Rush);

Embellishments: Buttons (Making Memories); Twine (Martha Stewart) Ranger Diamond Stickers.

Tuesday Trigger: Fall is in the Bag

I have been missing in action for the last few weeks. My mother (who is 80) fell and fractured her hip. She needed surgery and then spent some time in rehab. Frequent trips to the hospital left little time for blogging. Thankfully she is home now and doing really well. Unfortunately, she won't be able to drive for a while so I will be pitching in by taking her to physical therapy, grocery shopping and doctor's appointments. The doctor has assured us that she will be dancing in no time which may not be such a good thing since she broke her hip while doing the Electric Slide at the community center of her Senior apartment complex. I kid you not!

Anyway, it felt great to get the creative juices flowing again this week after not scrapping for almost a month. So, when I spotted this week's Tuesday Trigger photo just as I was finishing up a layout using Little Yellow Bicycle's "Hello Fall!" collection, I knew I had to play along. Instead of putting my scraps away, I decided to make a card or two for Thanksgiving. Here's the trigger photo:

And here are the two cards I made. First, the clean and simple design:

And next, one with a stamped background:

Both cards feature Papertrey Ink's Wreath for all Seasons and Technique Tuesday's Studio AE -- Give Thanks by Ali Edwards stamp sets. The background stamp on the second card was created with Hero Arts Large Plaid Pattern background stamp.

Let me know which design you like best!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Stampin' UP! (Very Vanilla); Papertrey Ink (Chocolate Brown);

Patterned Paper: Little Yellow Bicycle (Hello Fall!)

Stamps: Papertrey Ink (Wreath for All Season); Technique Tuesday (Studio AE -- Give Thanks by Ali Edwards); Hero Arts (Large Plaid Pattern);

Ink: Stampin' Up! (Dusty Durango; Tim Holtz Distress (Gathered Twigs);

Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities (Classic Circle; Classic Scalloped Circle Large); EK Success Corner Rounder.

CR84FN Challenge & A Winner

Hellooooo! Is anybody here? That's probably what you have been wondering. It has been a whirlwind this past month. Since I wrote my last blog post, I have experienced an earthquake (a rarity in New York); prepared for Hurricane Irene; spent hours on the phone (mostly on hold!) rearranging our travel plans because of said hurricane; went on a wonderful 7-day cruise to the Western Caribbean; had said cruise turn into a 9-day cruise because of Tropical Storm Lee; and missed the first day of school because 7-day cruise was now a 9-day cruise. You get the point. It seems like we jumped off the high board into the deep end of the pool this September. There was no time to gradually get back into the swing of things so blogging has taken a back seat. It's taken a month, though, but I think I can come up for air! So finally, I have a project to share.

Today's card uses the colors from the CR84FN38 challenge.

Here's my card:

My sister is a francophile and her home pays homage to her love of all things French. There are Eiffel Towers everywhere. (She even has a purse shaped like an Eiffel Tower!) She loves Paris as much as I love scrapbooking and if I tell her that I am going to Paris this weekend, she knows that I am scrapping! On a recent visit to her home, Melissa and my niece, Sarah, went from room to room and counted more than 75. It was their own version of Where's Waldo! So, you can understand why I hoard any papers or embellishments that picture the Eiffel Tower to use on her birthday card each year. The paper on this card was from Echo Park's 2010 Be Mine collection. (Yes, I've been saving the paper for that long!)

To create the card, I cut a piece of Papertrey Ink Smokey Shadow cardstock to a standard size. I cut the white cardstock 1/2-inch smaller on each side so that the finished card would have a 1/4-inch border. Next, I cut a piece of patterned paper 1/4-inch smaller and stamped a background image on it. For the focal point, I matted the journaling card onto a piece of Smokey Shadow cardstock. I used Distress Stickles to add some bling to the Eiffel Tower as well as the ornate trim along the top of the card. Finally, I stamped the "Happy Birthday" sentiment, added a row of pearls to the top of the mat, adhered it to the card using foam dimensional adhesive and added a ribbon from my stash. Here's a closer look:

Now for some unfinished business.... Last month, I participated in the August Sketch Blog Hop and I offered a little blog candy for those who left a comment and became followers. At last, I have a winner. Drum roll please! The winner is:

True Random Number

Generator

Min: Max:

Result:

12Powered by RANDOM.ORG\

That means the winner is photochic!

photochic said...

I LOVE the paper! So cute! Great layout.

Please e-mail me with your name and address so that I can get your prize to you. I will be putting in an extra goodie or two to thank you for your patience!

Supplies

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Stamper's Select White; Smokey Shadow);

Patterned Paper: Making Memories (Sabrina); Echo Park (Be Mine);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Classic Fabric Design); Papertrey Ink (Birthday Basics);

Ink: Stampin' UP! (Basic Grey); Ranger (Black);

Embelishments: Pearl Stickers (Recollection) Stickles (Diamond); Ribbon from stash.

On the Road Again!

I just got back from the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Valley Forge where I had a great time scrapping and shopping. Tomorrow, I am headed back to Pennsylvania with Melissa to visit my sister. Since I have been spending so much time in the car lately, it seems fitting to share the card I made for my brother-in-law's birthday last month. Here it is:

I was inspired to create this card after a recent family gathering where we were all talking about our talents. Sal gardens. Mark runs. Melissa dances. My sister, Diane, speaks French and Spanish fluently. My niece, Lisa, sings. And Frankie drives. Frankie is the type of guy who would drive 200 miles for an afternoon visit. He has logged hundreds of thousands of miles behind the wheel of the car so we tease him that driving is his talent!

Here's the inside of the card. I thought the sentiment was appropriate!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink;

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Wander);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Happiness Messages; Travel Journal);

Ink: Ranger (Black);

Tools: Cricut by Provo Craft (Graphically Speaking)

Pen: Uni-ball Signo Broad (White)

Layered Background Challenge

The Hero Arts challenge this month was to create a card with a layered background. I thought I would give it a try. Here's what I came up with:

.

To create this layered background, I first stamped the Happy Definition stamp using Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Next, I inked up an acrylic block with Antique Linen, Scattered Straw, Spiced Marmalade and Vintage Photo Distressed Inks, spritzed with water and "stamped" my cardstock. I repeated this step several times until the block was the color I wanted. (Be sure to start inking the block with the lighter colors first so as not to ruin your ink pads.) Once the color block had dried, I stamped the wildflowers with VersaMark ink, purposely letting the image go outside the inked mat for added impact. Finally I embossed the flowers with white Zing and distressed the edges. Here's a closer look:

The sentiment was also embossed. I used two different scallop edges to set it off.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Fine Linen);

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Romani);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Happy Definition; Wild Flowers; Everyday Greeting);

Inks: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Vintage Photo; Antique Linen; Scattered Straw; Spiced Marmalade); VersaMark;

Tools: Martha Stewart Edge Punch (Doily Lace); Fiskars Border Punch (Scallop Sentiment): Tim Holtz Paper Distresser;

Misc.: Recollection Adhesive Rhinestones; American Crafts Zing (white); twine from my stash

LOAD -- Day 9

Back in October 2009, Sal surprised me with tickets to see Brandi Carlile. Unfortunately, Sal's father was admitted to the ICU a few days before the concert. Needless to say, neither one of use was in the mindset to go to a concert. We tried giving the tickets away but to no avail so, as the saying goes, we ate them. Gulp! Well a year later, we tried it again and because date nights are so rare and this one was such a long time coming, I thought I should document it. Here's my layout:

:

The journaling reads: We originally had plans to see Brandi Carlile at the Beacon Theater in October 2009 but life got in the way and we didn't go. When you found out that she was opening for Sheryl Crow, you surprised me with tickets and we finally had our date night!

The inspiration for this layout came from the scrap of American Crafts music paper that I had in my stash. I thought it's peach tones matched the hues in the pictures, but I don't know what I was thinking when I bought some of the other papers in the collection because I didn't have enough complementary patterns and the ones that I did have totally clashed with the color of the ticket stub. Oh, what's a scrapper to do? The answer to that question is simple: create your own pattern paper. So that's exactly what I did. I used the Hero Arts Flourish Background stamp to create the yellow paper on the bottom of the layout. Not only was the pattern a good mix with the others, I thought that the yellow took some attention away from the color of the ticket. (If anyone from Ticketmaster is reading this, could you PLEASE find a more scrapper-friendly color for tickets? I'm just saying!

Anyway, the rest of the layout is pretty self-explanatory. I used a TRIPLE mat as the foundation for the layout. Then, after rounding the one corner, I added the pattern paper blocks. The strip across the middle is actually four papers. The line of hearts was fussy cut from a bigger pattern. For the title, I used my Cricut to cut the word "date" and stamped the letters for "night" on tickets that I created with a Papertrey Ink stamp and die. I added some more tickets and embellishments to the journaling area and sprinkled some hearts and rhinestones to create a visual triangle. Here's a closer look:

Supplies:

Cardstock: American Crafts;

Patterned Paper: American Crafts (Dear Lizzy); October Afternoon (Fly a Kite);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Flourish Background; Curly Alphabet); Papertrey Ink (Just the Ticket); Technique Tuesday (Today You By Ali Edwards):

Inks: Stampin' Up! (Crushed Curry); Ranger (Coffee);

Embellishments: American Crafts Flairs (Dear Lizzy); Basic Grey Bloomers (Oliver); Recollections (Adhesive Rhinestones);

Tools: Cricut by Provo Craft (Sweethearts cartridge); Fiskars border punch (Scallop Sentiment)

LOAD -- Day 8

Tonight I have another LOAD (Layout a Day) page to share. Finding time to scrap and blog everyday is really difficult. Add to this mix laundry, cooking and grocery shopping plus making cards for a busy month and, well, you can see why I took a little hiatus. I can also see why people plan for LOAD. Anyway, my LOAD hiatus is over and I am here to share another layout. This one was based on the sketch Jen Gallacher used for her February Stretch Your Sketch class over at Two Peas in A Bucket. I love Jen's sketches. They feel very authentic to me. While I may stretch them to fit my photos or page size, her sketches feel comfortable to me. Anyway, here's the sketch:

And here's my layout:

I felt it was so important to document the historic winter we had on Long Island both in words and photos. I knew the journaling would be long for this layout and Jen's sketch readily accommodated it. I typed the journaling out on the computer and then stamped a border. I think this is a layout we will keep coming back to for years on end whenever we say, "Remember that winter..." You can click on the photo below to read the journaling.

For the title, I used a mixture of Thickers and letters cut from my Cricut. Whenever I use my Cricut for a title, I stack multiple cuts to give my letters the look of chipboard. In this case, I cut the word "snow" three times from patterned paper and then I used the shadow cut on the black cardstock. Here's a closer look:

Basic Grey's Jovial collection had two identical snowflake patterns -- one black and one turquoise. To give the black paper a little pop of color, I cut out a few of the turquoise hexagons and placed them over the black. I really love the effect. One final detail to point out is the glitter snowflake embellishment. It's actually a gift wrap ornament that I picked up for $0.30 at Bath & Body Work's post-Christmas sale. It's amazing where you can find ideas for scrapbooking!

Supplies:

Cardstock: American Crafts (black); Papertrey Ink (Vintage Cream);

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Jovial; Basics); My Mind's Eye (Holly Jolly);

Stamp: Hero Arts (Dot Snowflake Border);

Ink: Technique Tuesday (Caribbean Sea);

Stickers: American Crafts Thickers (Sprinkles -- Chestnut);

Tools: Provo Craft Cricut (Winter Woodlands cartridge); Fiskars Border punch (Scallop Sentiment); Stampin' Up punch (Photo Corners);

Misc.: Little Yellow Bicycle Favorite Felt Stickers (Christmas Delight); Ribbon (Target); Glitter ornament (Bath & Body Works)

Labor of Love

That's what this card was. Melissa's 13th birthday was on Monday and since she is my biggest fan, I knew I had to make her an extra special card. Besides that, she kept asking for a really special card. The pressure was on! I knew I wanted to ink up a new stamp for maximum impact on the birthday girl, so I chose the Hero Arts Circle Design stamp. I kept playing with different designs and different colors and finally after close to 3 hours (which is about half of the time I was in labor with Melissa!) I came up with this:

To create this card, I cut the circle base and patterned paper mat with my Cricut. I made the lacy die cut with my Cuttlebug and the Spellbinders Lotus Pendants Nestabilities. Next, I stamped the Hero Arts Circle Design three times -- once on the kraft and two times on the patterned paper. After fussy cutting the leaves of one of the patterned paper images and adhering them to the kraft layer, I centered the medallion from the Nestabilities to the other image and ran it through my Cuttlebug. I adhered the top two layers with foam dimensional adhesive and finished off the card with some bling, faux stitching and a ribbon. Here's a closer look:

I am back to doing a Layout A Day (LOAD) and will start posting my layouts again next week.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Dark Chocolate); Stampin' Up! (Kraft);

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Perhaps);

Stamp: Hero Arts (Circle Design);

Ink: Ranger (Coffee); Signo Gel Pen (White)

Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities (Lotus Pendants); Cricut (Wild Card cartridge);

Misc.: Recollections rhinestones; ribbon from my stash

Invitation Inspiration, Make It Monday Challenge & Blog Candy Winner

When Melissa received this invitation in the mail...

... I immediately knew that I wanted to use Scor Tape to add glitter to a card. Lucky for me, this is the Make It Monday Challenge over at Papertrey Ink. Here's the card I created inspired by this invitation:

To create this card, I cut a standard sized card out of white cardstock and rounded the corners on the right side. This card has a lot of layers and I just started building from the left. First<>

I added the scallop layers to the top of the cardstock that was stamped with the background and used ribbon to hide the seam. Next, I added more layers (three to be exact) for the sentiment. For the inside of the card, I created a sentiment on my computer, die cut it to match the front and added the stamped border and leaf accent. Here's a look at the inside:

Now before I go any further with this post, I want to sing the praises of Fiskar's customer service. As I mentioned above, my border punch broke. I was very surprised when it did break because the paper I was punching was very thin and didn't put any pressure on the punch. Anyway, I contacted Fiskars, filled out a form on-line, sent them a picture of my punch and Voila! I had a new punch delivered to my door within the week!

Just so happens that the dress Melissa chose for this Bat Mitzvah also matched the invitation. LOL! Here's my beautiful daughter all dressed up and looking way too grown up for her father's taste:

Now, if you have read this far down, it's time to announce the winner of my Valentine's day Blog Hop Blog Candy.

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

3

Timestamp: 2011-02-22 03:58:09 UTC

This means the winning comment belongs to Briana!

Briana said...

What a great photo! And 22 years? That's awesome!
My favorite Valentine's Day was when DH made me a "fancy" dinner at home all by himself. It was a total surprise!

February 11, 2011 5:29 AM

Briana, you have until Sunday, February 27th to claim your prize. Please e-mail me your full name and mailing address.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink;

Patterned Paper: Making Memories;

Stamps: Hero Arts (Large Fabric Design); Papertrey Ink (Mat Stack 2 Collection; Mat Stack 1 Collection);

Ink: Ranger (Jet Black); Stampin' Up! (Pink Passion);

Tools: Fiskars Border Punch (Scallop Sentiment): Martha Stewart Border Punch (Modern Garland); Papertrey Ink Dies (Mat Stack 1; Limitless Labels); Scor Tape;

Embellishments: Martha Stewart glitter; Michael's ribbon.

Nifty at 50!

I have no recollection of my parents turning 50. No recollection at all! In fact, the first person I can remember turning 50 was a woman, Elaine, who sat at the next desk over at my first real job nearly 25 years ago. And, although 50 seemed "old" to me then, Elaine was in no way "old." What I do remember most vividly about Elaine turning 50 was that she purposefully stuttered every time she said ffffff-fifty. It became quite a joke around the office. Fast forward 24 years (and I do mean fast forward) and now I have a husband who is fffffffff-fifty! Yes, Sal celebrated his 50th birthday earlier this week and here's the card I made for him:

To make this card, I covered a standard size base with pattern paper. I cut the blue paper 1/4 inch smaller and stamped it with the new Hero Arts Happy Definition cling stamp. Next I inked up the Technique Tuesday tile and stamped that with the wood grain pattern. I distressed all of the edges in keeping with the 50 theme. LOL! I stamped a sentiment from a travel set on the red strip and finished off the edges with a postage stamp punch.

For the inside of the card, I cut a square mask. After inking the center of the square with blue, I stamped lightly with the Happy Definition stamp. I stamped the sentiment in Versamark and used clear embossing powder. Here's a look at the inside of the card.

Finally, here's a picture of the birthday boy with 51 (fffff-fifty plus one for good luck!) candles all aglow!

Happy birthday, Sal!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (White);

Patterned Paper: Cosmo Cricket (Cogsmo);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Happy Definition, Designer Woodgrain, Travel Journal;

Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Weathered Wood, Pumice Stone, Vintage Photo); Ranger (Coffee); Versamark;

Chipboard: Technique Tuesday Technique Tiles (Postage Frames); American Crafts Thickers (Jewelry Box);

Tools: EK Success border punch (Postage Stamp);

Misc.: Twine from my stash

The Positive (and Negative) Thing About Masking!

This week, I created a card using the masking technique and for the first time ever, I used both the positive and negative masks. After finishing this card, all I can say is, I'm hooked on this technique! I love the rich textures and colors achieved by stamping and inking with the negative mask in place. Here's my card:

The colors for this card were inspired by the Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger:

You can read more about the Tuesday Trigger and see the other projects it inspired at Moxie Fab World.

Now, here are some step-by step instructions for making this card. The first thing I did was create a positive and negative mask by stamping the flower on a piece of computer paper and cutting it out using an craft knife. (I found that the negative mask I first created with cardstock was a little too thick to stamp a pattern on the flower.) For the card, I stamped the background with Hero Arts' Dots and Flowers and then I stamped the large flower. With the negative mask in place, I stamped the flower with Old Letter Writing and colored it in with distress inks. I started with the lighter ink and added the darker inks as I went along until I got the color I wanted. I switched the negative mask for the positve and added the leaves. Once again, I used the negative leaf mask that I had created to color the leaves in. Here is a closer look at the flower:

You can see a full video tutorial of this technique at Hero Arts.

I mailed this card to my niece, Jennifer, for her birthday and it was only a day late. My One Little Word is really starting to kick in!

Supplies

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (White, Chocolate); Stampin' Up! (Crushed Curry)

Stamps: Hero Arts (Dots and Flowers, Engraved Flower, Old Letter Writing, Big and Small Flowers, Scroll Frames & Messages);

Ink: Ranger (Coffee); Stampin' Up! (Crushed Curry); Tim Holtz Distress Inks (Spiced Marmalade, Scattered Straw, Vintage Photo, Shabby Shutters);

Embellishments: Queen & Company bling;

Tools: Fiskars Border Punch (Scallop Sentiment).

Finding a New Use for Christmas Shopping Bags

Did you happen to notice all of the great shopping bags this holiday season? From Starbucks and Trader Joe's to Whole Foods and Bath & Body Works, it seemed that graphic artists had their mojo on this year when creating these beautiful bags. As I was cleaning up after Christmas I took another look at these bags and decided I couldn't part with any of them. Instead, I decided to create with them. First up, Bath & Body Works. Here's the bag:

Here's the card I made with it:

I die cut that cute little house border using a Spellbinder's Nestabilities. Next, I used Glossy Accents to adhere some Martha Stewart snow glitter to the image. I'm not usually a fan of glitter but the Glossy Accents seems to keep it all in place. I added a little more shine with Perfect Pearls. Here's a closer look:

After mounting the image with pop dots, I set it aside and stamped and embossed the snowflake background. To further the economies of this card, I used ribbon from a 5-pack that I picked up at Target today for 75% off the original price!

I'll have another card to share using the Starbucks bag in a few days. I think I will save the others for next year! In the meantime, I better go shopping to see what bags I can add to my stash!

Happy New Year!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Stampin' UP! (kraft); Papertrey Ink (white); American Crafts (red);

Stamps: Hero Arts (Snowflakes; Merry Christmas Trees):

Ink: Ranger (Jet Black); VersaMark;

Ribbon: Target;

Tools: Spellbinders Nestabilities (Classic Rectangles Large; Classic Scalloped Rectangles Large) Fiskars border punch (Scallop Sentiment);

Misc: Zing embossing powder (white); Perfect Pearls (white); Bath & Body Works shopping bag