Stampin' Mama: A mama that stamps

True Friend gate fold card

I wanted to try something a little different today....

You're probably looking at this card and thinking, "What? The Bleach Wash again? The True Friend set again? How is this different?"

Well, what's different is that I made a gate fold card. You're still stuck with the Bleach Wash and the True Friend set. ;) (but they go together so well, so it's not ALL bad)

For this gate fold card, I cut my cardstock at 4 1/4 x 11 inches. I then scored down along the long edge at 2 3/4 and 8 1/4 inches.

I used Purely Pomegranate cardstock for the cardbase and embossed the small medallion all over the front of the closed gate. After the embossed images dried, I swiped bleach over the cardstock with a flat wide paint brush.

I usually use a small dixie cup (yes, my favorite Mickey Mouse ones), but I was being lazy today and didn't want to get up from my desk and go to cupboard to get one. I learned 4 valuable lessons today from this: 1) Don't pour bleach from a half full jug of bleach into a tiny little cap and think that you're not going to get any of it OUTSIDE of the cap. 2) Always keep paper towels close by when you spill bleach. Baby wipes just don't cut it. They make the situation worse. How in the world do you expect baby wipes to soak up bleach when they baby wipes are ALREADY wet with baby wipe solution (of course, it didn't help that it was one of the last in the bin and therefore SOAKED with baby wipe solution). 3) Keep some dixie cups at my craft desk. That way I won't have to get up and walk the 20-22 feet to the cupboard to get some. Or not walk the 20-22 feet to the cupboard. All depends on how you look at it. 4) Thank God that you didn't bleach any of the clothes you were wearing, especially your favorite pair of jeans.

After I learned my valuable lessons for the day, I got up and walked the 20-22 long and tiresome steps to my cupboard and got a dixie cup (okay, so I didn't QUITE learn one of the lessons as I didn't bring back more than one dixie cup to my craft desk). You can see some of the spilled bleach on the inside of the right hand gate fold. Personally, I think it adds character. At least that's how I'm justifying it to myself. And the true friend that I give this to won't mind because true friends don't mind. :) Or, at least they don't tell you if they do.

I added a piece of white cardstock to the inside of the card for the greeting. I stamped the image inside with Blue Bayou ink and did the direct-to-paper technique with the same ink.

The large medallion on the front of the card was done on Blue Bayou cardstock and bleach washed.

If you're wondering what Bleach Wash is, I created a tutorial here ----> Bleach Wash Tutorial. You can check out the directions there to do this awesome technique. I swiped around the edges of my cardstocks with my Whisper White craft ink pad for a little extra punch. It almost makes the cardstocks look white-washed.

If you look closely at the bleach wash, you can see that I wasn't entirely particular about making sure that every inch of cardstock was bleach washed and that there were darker and lighter areas all over the cardstock. I like to think it gives the cardstock a little more character and visual interest.

Speaking of visual interest, this card just didn't seem complete with just the bleach washing and the white ink around the edges. I felt like it was missing something.

The card felt perfect after I put a silver mini brad through the center of the large medallion.

I really like the gate fold format done the horizontal way. It's a nice twist from always being done vertically.
I'm thinking this might be in the forecast for a future "one Design - Multiple Cards"
post. The VERY near future. :)

Hope you all have a wonderful night!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Supplies:

Stamps: True Friend set (Stampin' UP); Cardstock; Whisper White, Purely Pomegranate, Blue Bayou; Ink: Versamark, Blue Bayou and Whisper White; bleach; wide flat paint brush; Crystal Clear Embossing powder; embossing gun; piercing tool from Crafters' Tool Kit; silver mini brad

Another GinaK sneak peek!

I promised you another sneak peek from GinaK's new fall collection so here it is!

I love this little daisy stamp. This stamp is actually only half showing on this card. The entire stamp has a flower pot on the bottom with the flowers coming out of it in a bouquet of 3 flowers. I wanted to make the flowers look like they were all growing next to each other and in a garden....so that I could use a GinaK greeting stamp I've had for a while. :)

Just like the Sunflower card I shared on Monday, I used my ink pads to watercolor the flowers on this card. I used pretty much the same layout on this card that I used with the sunflower card. The only thing I didn't carry over with this card was the ribbon accents.

I started watercoloring the sky above the flowers and stopped above the flowers. I didn't go any further. I realized that I liked it just the way it was. The flowers seemed to pop out a little more from their white background on the watercolor paper with the blue sky just hovering above.

I wanted to go with a card that was very simple but stood out and so I took out my favorite accessory.....yes, you guessed it....the Dazzling Diamonds glitter.

It would seem that some of you blame me for getting you hooked on this glitter. To that I say.....well, if I'm gonna go down the road of Dazzling Diamond addiction, I might as well take as many I can with me. The more, the merrier. I have a vision of one day seeing every paper crafter using Dazzling Diamonds glitter as their make-up. It should be in every purse and/or cosmetic bag of every stamper.

Dazzling Diamonds Glitter.....it's NOT just for stamping anymore!

I'd like to tell you that I'm kidding, but I can at least tell you I'm only HALF kidding!

Seriously, if Stampin' UP could get this stuff made in a cosmetic grade, we stampers could start a whole new fashion fad outside the realm of us crazy paper crafters! I could totally see cover models going down the run-way wearing this stuff! I could totally be Stampin' Up's spokeswoman....I think it would work. Considering that they'd gotten a girl who doesn't use make up AT ALL to use Dazzling Diamonds exclusively!

And here's a "funny" for you.....I was teaching a stamping class on Tuesday night and we were using Dazzling Diamonds (See? It even SOUNDS like it should be a product in the fashion world.....Dazzling Diamonds.....a girl's NEW best friend! It's cheaper and it's also a more versatile accessory!) on one of our projects (surprise, surprise) and I ended up wearing some of it. I don't even TRY to wear this stuff.....it just happens! I'm a "Dazzling Diamonds glitter magnet." I often wonder what some of the husbands think when their wives come home covered in glitter......"You were WHERE for a party? What kind of party was that anyway? A workshop, you say? I don't believe you! Where WERE you, really? And tell me the truth!" *wink*

Anyway...............one of the women at the class said to me, "Did you get your nose pierced or is that glitter on your nose?" I said, "Nope, I didn't get my nose pierced, it's definitely glitter." So, apparently Dazzling Diamonds can also pass as a nose stud. ;)

Wow.....I got off track BIG time, didn't I? Where was I?

Oh, I was saying that I wanted to make a simple card but make it stand out, so I used Dazzling Diamonds glitter. I touched up the centers of the flowers with my 2-Way Glue Pen and then sprinkled them with Dazzling Diamonds glitter. A little bit goes a long way in really making a simple card stand out.

Now.....you all know that I have a Groovy Give-Away every Friday. Guess what???

GinaK sent duplicates of some of her fall collection stamps and said that we could use them however we wished......so tomorrow's Groovy Give-Away will be some of those awesome STAMPS! Just in time for GinaK's release of her stamps tomorrow! Make sure you check back over the weekend to take part in the Groovy Give-Away for a chance at some free rubber!!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Supplies:

Stamps: GinaK Designs; Cardstock: Purely Pomegranate, Groovy Guava, Old Olive, Watercolor paper; Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Groovy Guava, Old Olive, Basic Black, Bashful Blue, Marigold Morning; 2-Way Glue Pen; Dazzling Diamonds glitter

A new set for me to play with! "Eat Cake"

I got a package from UPS yesterday with items for and upcoming event  and in that box was a new set for me to play with! It's not new to the catalog but it's new to me. I had my  once-a-month class last night and we broke this set in by inking it up for one of our projects.....and I'm in love.

This set is all "retro".....gotta love that! For those that are wondering, it's the Eat Cake set. It's a set of 11 stamps and it's also a 2-Step Stampin' Set, which makes things even MORE fun!

When I was putting away all of my class materials this morning, I kept this set out to play with because I had so much fun with it last night. I used the same colors I used last night, but made a completely different card (I made a "pocket card" last night for the class).

I used Blue Bayou for the cardbase and covered it with the little confetti stamp in the set (in Blue Bayou ink). It's amazing how a small stamp can turn into a great background stamp when used repeatedly. I touched up the background a bit by adding some 2-Way Glue here and then and sprinkled it with Dazzling Diamonds glitter. (you all know how much I love my glitter)

The cake and pedestal are actually one stamp. To get the two different colors, I used the brush tip of my Stampin' Write Markers. I used Old Olive for the cake and Perfect Plum for the cake pedestal (even though the picture makes it look like the old Eggplant Envy we used to carry....for some reason, the other colors photographed and corrected fine except for the Perfect Plum).

After I stamped the cake, I thought, "Ew, who would want to eat a green cake, especially if it was made with something called 'Old Olive?'" But......in my warped and twisted alternative reality world of stamping, a cake made of Old Olive is luscious indeed because the colors all look nice together. Really, in stamping, it's not the taste of the cake that matters but that all the colors match, right?

The squiggly stamp is meant to be the string of the balloon in this set, but I like to use it on the cake to make it look like funky frosting detail. And of course, it couldn't be uber-funky without the glitter. And yes, in my warped and twisted alternative reality world of stamping, Dazzling Diamonds glitter is totally edible. (DO NOT TRY EATING IT AT HOME IN THE REAL WORLD.....it's hard to brush out of your teeth)

The candles are a totally separate stamp and I love candles that have glitter on the flames. And OUTSIDE of my warped and twisted alternative reality world of stamping, you CAN find candles that sparkle (and you can even put sparklers on your cake if you're feeling particularly patriotic or particularly insane and want to risk singeing the birthday person's eyelashes while they blow out the candles). But in my warped and twisted alternative reality world of stamping, ALL candles sparkle with glitter. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my 2-Way Glue pen and Dazzling Diamonds glitter....they are this Stampin' Mama's favorite stamping accessories (okay, my husband would also argue that Dazzling Diamonds glitter also doubles as my make-up).

I wrapped some Always Artichoke grosgrain ribbon around the card, above and below the Old Olive strip of cardstock, and finished them off with some really closely trimmed double knots. (I actually thought of putting glitter on the ribbons, too, but found some self control under the wrapper of my Reese's Fast Break candy bar.....THAT'S where it went when I needed it while eating that candy bar!)

I mounted the cake focal point on the card with Pop-dots to give it a little dimension. I had a lot of fun with this set and I've got some really great ideas to use with the balloon stamp. :)

I'll have another sneak peek tomorrow from GinaK's new line, so make sure you stop back!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Supplies:

Stamps: Eat Cake (Stampin' UP); Cardstock: Blue Bayou, Old Olive, Perfect Plum, Whisper White; Ink: Blue Bayou, Always Artichoke, Perfect Plum Classic Pads; Old Olive and Perfect Plum Stampin' Write markers; 2-way glue pen; Dazzling Diamonds glitter; Pop-dots; Corner rounder punch; Always Artichoke grosgrain ribbon

Sneak Peek of NEW GinaK Designs!

I got a package in today's mail from GinaK with her collection of Fall and Winter designs. They are brandy-spankin' new and will be released in her online store (Stamping Freak) on Friday.

Gina told us we could give a little bit of a sneak peek before they debut on Friday, so here you go!

During the week, you can also check out some sneak peeks on her blog, as well as on the blogs of the other designers on the GinaK Design Team.

When I saw the sunflower stamp that Gina sent, I thought about the sunflowers that I have growing right off the edge of my deck. For the past few years, we've grown sunflowers there and it creates a bit of a "tunnel" to the deck of our house. This year, we have our biggest sunflowers ever! One of them is almost 10 feet tall!

When I plant sunflowers, I plant all different kinds.....oranges, reds, yellows, dwarf sunflowers, tall ones, medium sized ones.....I love seeing all the different colors and heights emerge. I also enjoy watching the yellow finches hanging upside down from the heads of the big flowers while they eat the seeds. Sometimes when I go out to get the mail, I see seed shells all over the walkway from the birds. That makes me smile.

Here's a little information about the "girl behind the blog"..... The colors for my wedding were black and yellow. Now, while that sounds bizarre, I picked those colors because I wanted the guys in black tuxes and the girls in sunflower patterned dresses with a black backdrop. Each of the girls carried a single sunflower and the guys had mini sunflowers as their boutonnieres. I loved that contrast of color. I even had sunflowers on the wreath I wore on my head (which you can see in my Anniversary Post).

So many people think that sunflowers just come in yellow.....but there's so many more gorgeous kinds of sunflowers out there. I wanted to do something that reminded me of my garden right off my deck.

I watercolored the sunflowers and then added a little extra to them by doing some dark watercolored lines in the leaves and the flower petals, as well as little brown dots inside the flower centers. I also watercolored the background with a light wash of Bashful Blue ink.

To do my watercoloring, I pressed the lids of my ink pads against the pads themselves, opened the pads and pooled a little water on the lids with a paint brush. If I needed more color, I simply closed the ink pads, squished them together again and opened them back up, adding a little water again to dilute the ink.

I used the same sunflower stamp (which is actually two flowers next to each other in 2 different heights) to stamp the borders at the top and bottom of the card with Bashful Blue ink.

The greeting on this card is also one of GinaK's new designs debuting on Friday.

I stapled some black gingham ribbon to the card to add a finishing touch (and I love using up my tiny ribbon scraps.....yes, I even save those....you never know where you can use them!).

Have a fantastic week! We have lovely weather all this week in the high 70's, so I'm going to enjoy the last hurrah of summer.

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Supplies:

Stamps: GinaK Designs; Cardstock: Watercolor paper, Bashful Blue, Old Olive; Ink: Palette Hybrid Black, Old Olive, Marigold Morning, Ruby Red, Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue and Close to Cocoa Classic Inks; Black gingham ribbon, stapler and staples; paint brushes and water

Just good old fashioned stamping....

I did a workshop today and created this card as one of the projects. Actually, a couple of the elements that I chose for the workshop were a little different and when I got home, I wanted to try a new approach with it.

For this card, I used the True Friend set from the Holiday Mini Collection catalog. It has fast become one of my favorite sets ever.

There were no special techniques used on this card.....just good old fashioned color stamping.

The card that I for the workshop didn't have any black ink on it. I stamped the greeting with Purely Pomegranate ink....but when I got home, I wanted to see what the card would look like if I gave it a little "pop." That's where the black greeting came in.

Once I put the black ink on the card, the Always Artichoke grosgrain ribbon didn't quite look like it did enough to complement the black. Black gingham ribbon is always a winner, so I dug into my ribbon box and stapled some onto my card. It was perfect with the black inked greeting!

I find that the easiest way to do these cute little ribbon accents is to put a little bit of adhesive in the middle of the ribbon, then folding it into a "V." This helps to hold it together during th next steps.

I apply a little bit of adhesive where I want to mount the ribbons and this keeps them in place when I bring out the stapler. Having the ribbons adhered in a "V" and adhered to the cardstock really helps when I actually staple them down. They don't shift or come undone. I don't do any trimming of the ribbons until they're actually stapled and secure.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.....here's to an even great week!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Supplies:

Stamps: True Friend set (Stampin' UP); Cardstock: Purely Pomegranate, Old Olive, Very Vanilla; Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Old Olive, Basic Black; Black gingham ribbon; stapler and staples

Going Victorian and Shabby Shic....

The challenge was put to me by my creative "muse" to recreate something similar to this card here ---> Victorian Shabby Chic Butterflies

But Jen wanted something soft, cameo and more Victorian. This was the result.

I used some coral colored patterned cardstock from the Old World Stack (from Die Cuts with a View), but noticed that it wasn't going to match any of the Stampin' Up cardstock colors that I had. To tone down my Groova Guava cardstock, I swiped it all over with my Creamy Caramel ink pad first, then let the ink dry and then swiped it with the Whisper White craft pad.

If you ever looked at my Creamy Caramel ink pad, you'd notice that the edges of the pad are pretty smooth and worn....because this is the ink pad I used the most when I "swipe." I'm thinking I might have to buy another pad soon to use for inking up stamps and keep the "worn" ink pad specifically for swiping. I find that it's my favorite color for swiping and aging cardstock. I swiped the Creamy Caramel cardstock that I used on this card, as well. I used the Close to Cocoa ink to swipe around the outside edges of the cardfront just to give a little bit of rough aging to the card.

I distressed the edges of the patterned cardstock and the Creamy Caramel cardstock using the distressing tool from the Cutter Kit to give it a bit more of a shabby look.

The butterflies were embossed on Very Vanilla cardstock with Clear embossing powder and then sponged over with Groovy Guava and Creamy Caramel ink.

I sponged a little bit of Creamy Caramel ink on the Groovy Guava butterflies and vice versa with the Creamy Caramel butterfly. They didn't look shabby enough without it. Yes, I'm all about Emboss Resist lately. :) Like I said yesterday, and oldie but goody.

It's hard to tell from the photos but there is glitter on the edges of the butterflies' wings (you can see the glitter effect a bit better on the photo below). It just felt like I needed to add a little something extra. Sometimes glitter can go way beyond, but other times, it can be used sparingly and give that little something extra that you're looking for.

The butterflies were mounted with a thin sliver of pop-dot squares. I folded their wings up so they looked like they were flying. I adore this effect......it doesn't lend itself well to mailing a card like this, but it's great if you're going to attach the card to a gift and not necessarily in an envelope.

The ribbon charms were a great touch of Victorian Charm (ha....no pun intended). The brushed pewter look fits the theme so well.

And yes, I cut each of those butterflies out, but it wasn't as tedious as one might think. Now........if I had embossed 30 or 40 of them, it might have seemed tedious. ;)

So......I satisfied my creative "muse's" challenge to me....but she still has another challenge for me that I hope to work on this weekend.

Now, I'm off to cuddle up on the couch with the hubby and watch a movie together. Have a wonderful evening and a fantastic weekend!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Supplies:

Stamps: Touch of Nature set and Much Appreciated set (both Stampin' UP); Cardstock: Groovy Guava, Very Vanilla, Creamy Caramel, Old World patterned cardstock; Ink: Creamy Caramel, Basic Brown, Close to Cocoa, Groovy Guava Classic pads, Versamark, Whisper White Craft ink; clear embossing powder; embossing gun; pop-dots; ribbon charms (Making Memories); 2-way glue pen; Dazzling Diamonds glitter; narrow ivory organdy ribbon; stamping sponges; distressing tool from Cutter Kit

Cheers......thinking about icy blues and snowflakes

Oh, LOOK! I didn't use fall colors today! :) Instead, I'm reminding myself that right after the fall season comes our long Vermont winter season. But with the cold winter also comes every excuse to spend more time indoors at my craft desk. I can see the snow falling down from the window above my desk and it's always nicer to be inside and enjoying it from the warmth of the house....usually with a cup of chai by my side.

This card was actually inspired by my friend, Jen. We talk often throughout the week and even though she's a professional portrait photographer and I'm a stamper, we're always bouncing ideas off of each other. There are a lot of similarities in our art forms....as different as they may seem. We both work with colors, layouts, composition, etc.

Just yesterday, Jen showed me a beautiful Christmas card that she had created digitally with some gorgeous portraits she had taken. I loved the icy blue tones and snowflakes in the card. That Christmas card was what inspired me to play around with a snowflake set today.

I joke with Jen that she's my creative card-making "muse" even though she'll insist that she's not a stamper or a card-maker herself. She inspires me more than she realizes. ;)

I can't seem to break away from the Emboss Resist technique lately. It's an oldie but goody when it comes to techniques. It's been around for a while and was one of the first techniques that I learned when I started stamping. I go through phases when it comes to techniques. I latch on to a technique and ride it as long and hard as I can. Then I find another that I fall in love with. Later on, I come full circle and come back to those oldie but goodies and come up with different ways and colors to use them with.

This card is all about the basics when it comes to the Emboss Resist technique. Simple stamping of the snowflakes on Whisper White cardstock, embossed with clear embossing powder and then sponged over with 2 different shades of blue. Really simple, but always a winner.

I embossed the "cheers" greeting at the bottom of the card with white embossing powder to carry over the embossed look.

You all know how much I love to hoard things.....paper, embellishments, ribbon, etc. It's a disease, I tell ya!

Well, today, I decided that I wanted something extra on this card and so I dug out a metal snowflake charm that I've been hoarding for *GASP*COUGH*4YEARS*COUGH*GASP* The saddest thing about the items that I hoard is that I know exactly where they are. I don't have to go searching......my hands could find them even if I had my eyes closed.

I used some silver cord to wrap around the cardstock and held it in place on the back of the cardstock with some scotch tape (to hold the position of the cord). I used a small piece of silver cord to tie the snowflake charm to where the silver cord crossed.

Because I had a little bit of bulk on the back of the cardstock with the silver cord and the tape, I used Pop-dots to adhere the embossed and Soft Sky cardstock on top of the Brushed Silver cardstock.

Speaking of my creative card-making "muse"..........she has a challenge out to me and the deadline is tomorrow. You'll see that project up here on my blog, I'm sure.

And speaking of tomorrow......you'll also see a new Groovy Give-Away up! Fun stuff!

Also, I just updated the "Stampin' Mama Tutorial Program" Page with more information and pictures of all the back issues. Check out all the great stuff over there. :)

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Supplies:

Stamps: The Snowflake Spot (Stampin' UP); Cardstock: Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Brushed Silver, Whisper White; Ink: Blue Bayou, Soft Sky, Versamark; clear and white embossing powders; embossing gun; stamping sponges; silver cord; pop-dots; metal snowflake charm (Making Memories); scotch tape

Bleach Wash, Fall colors and True Friend....oh my!

I promise that this will be the last card with fall colors for at least a few days. ;) The colors here in northern Vermont are changing and I can see some of them from my window above my craft desk, so it has me in the mood for using colors like rust, mustard and olive.

Even though you see mustard on this card, I didn't actually use any mustard cardstock.

The look of the mustard color came from using a bleach wash on this card. I really am in love with this technique and I especially love it with the True Friend set in the Holiday Mini Collection catalog. The fall colors just complete it. To be honest, I wasn't going for a fall look....it's just that the colors and designs work together so well to give it a bohemian look. I just can't get over how much these colors and designs remind me of Moroccan and Turkish henna designs.

The bleach wash technique is really easy to do and you'll never get the same results twice. I created a Tutorial not that long ago to show you how to do it. You can see that tutorial by clicking here ---> Bleach Wash Tutorial  There's some links at the bottom of the tutorial to show you some of the other cards that I've done using this technique.

I popped up the greeting with pop-dots for some extra dimension. For some added texture, I used my distressing tool from the Cutter kit on the Old Olive cardstock and the patterned paper (the Apple Cider pack of Designer Series paper).

Tomorrow, I promise to have a card using a different color scheme and a different set. ;) But I just might STILL play with this set anyway and save the card I make for a later date.

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Supplies:

Stamps: True Friend and Sincere Salutations (both Stampin' UP); Cardstock: Old Olive, Really Rust; Apple Cider patterned paper; Versamark ink; Clear embossing powder; embossing gun; bleach; flat wide paint brush; distressing tool from the Cutter Kit; pop-dots; Always Artichoke grosgrain ribbon

I have a new set to play with!

A box arrived on my doorstep yesterday with supplies for more Paper Bag Album To-Go kits (which, I extended the deadline on, so if you've been thinking about them, there's still time!). But also in that box was a new stamp set to play with! Oooooh, new rubber (I'm taking the chance that you all know that I'm being totally kosher when I use that word)!

When I was picking something to use my hostess credit on, I wanted to go for something that was a bit more on the nature side and could also be used for masculine projects. I picked out the With Gratitude set. It couldn't be more perfect with the fall season coming right around the corner. Also.....I live in the land of gorgeous foliage, so it really IS perfect for me.

While it looks like I used 3 different colors of cardstock for this card, I actually only used two: More Mustard and Old Olive. The secret to this card is the Emboss resist technique. While most people do the emboss resist technique either on white, vanilla or glossy cardstock, there's SO many cool effects that you can get when you use a colored cardstock as your base. That's what I did here.

I used Versamark to stamp the large leaf images on my More Mustard cardstock, then embossed them with clear embossing powder. The clear embossing powder preserved the More Mustard cardstock under the images. I then sponged Really Rust ink over the entire piece of More Mustard cardstock.

The key to getting your embossed image to really "pop" on colored cardstock is to ink HEAVILY over the images. The more ink you sponge on, the more your image will show up from underneath the embossed finish.

Another tip to remember is to wipe off the excess ink on top of the embossed images when you're done sponging. I've been playing with this technique for YEARS and I'm always amazed to see my images "pop" when I wipe of the excess ink.

I stamped some of the smaller leaf images on top and made sure to wipe off excess ink after I stamped those, as well.

For the greeting, I again did the emboss resist technique on More Mustard cardstock, then sponged over the top with Really Rust ink. I also softened up the edges of the More Mustard cardstock that I used for one of the layers by sponging Really Rust ink along the edges. It was just enough to still have that extra color in there, but tone it down just a little.

In the end, you get the look of 3 different colors of cardstock: Really Rust, More Mustard and Old Olive. I followed through with layering the colors of the greeting in the same way that I layered the colors of the main card.

I sponged some 3/4 inch Twill Tape with a little bit of Really Rust ink and wrapped it around the cardstock layers and embellished it with brushed gold mini brads. For some reason, I just LOVE a little bit of gold with fall colors and leaves. I think part of the reason is that when I was younger, I remember someone once showing me a real gold coated leaf skeleton. I thought it was one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen.....so fragile yet so beautiful.

I gave the greeting a little bit of dimension with some Pop-dots.

Hard to believe, but there's already a few leaves turning color here. I have to keep reminding myself that in less than a week, summer will officially be over.

Have a lovely and colorful Tuesday!

 

PS> I just updated my list of "Retired Stampin' Up Sets for Sale" ....there are 6 more sets on the list....oldies, but definitely goodies. :)

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Supplies:

Stamps: With Gratitude set (Stampin' Up); Cardstock: More Mustard, Old Olive; Ink: Versamark, Really Rust, Always Artichoke; stamping sponge; Clear embossing powder; embossing gun; Twill Tape; gold brushed mini brads (Making Memories); 1/16 inch hole punch; pop-dots

Lovely as a Tree card and some questions answered...

Can you believe that I've had the Lovely as a Tree for about 4 years now and have NEVER used this oak tree stamp?

I got the set with some hostess credit years ago because I loved the line of naked trees that comes in this set. For the last 4 years, it's been all about that one stamp for me.

I've seen beautiful cards done with this oak tree and thought, "Oh, isn't that gorgeous." But I could never wrap my head around being able to use the stamp myself.

I set a challenge for myself yesterday and told myself to not only make a "Guy card," but to also use a stamp in my collection that I either haven't used in a long time, or that I've never used at all. This was kind of hard for me as I don't really have a lot of stamps in my collection that haven't been kissed with ink.

This oak tree stamp stared at me and taunted me. I told myself, "Oh, heck with it, Erika. Suck it up and use the darn thing. It's not THAT scary of a stamp. IT HAS NO POWER OVER YOU!" And so here you go.

So many of you have asked how my creative process works. To be honest with you, it's all over the place. Some things that work for one card may not work for another card. Sometimes I have the card already envisioned in my head when I start and I nail it just like I saw it in my head. Other times, I have something envisioned and when the card is finished, it's completely different than what I saw in my mind. There are times that I start a card and have something in mind for it and only half of it comes out the way I saw it in my mind and I tweak things as I go along....add a new color, change a greeting out, turn things a different way, etc.

There are two things that always stay constant for me in my creative process. One is that I always start with the stamps first and then work the rest of my design around the stamp images. The other is that I try to stay FAR away from magazines, websites and books when I'm in the middle of creating. I get quite a few magazines and LOVE to look at them and get ideas, but I find that I'm easily overwhelmed if I look at them WHEN I'm in the midst of the creative process. For some people, it helps. For me, it overwhelms.

Some of you have asked what I do when I have a "creative block." When I have a creative block, I usually walk away from the desk, put on a Putamayo CD (these are a collection of cultural music CDs and run the gamut from Turkish to Greek, from Reggae to Celtic, from Gypsy to African.....they cover the globe in music) and come back a little while later. Sometimes a bowl of creamed corn helps, too. Now......I'm not guaranteeing that if you eat a bowl of creamed corn and dance around your craft desk to the tunes of Bob Marley that you're going to be hit with creative inspiration, but it does work for me most of the time. :) If you DO try it, though, definitely let me know if it worked because I just might be on to something. ;) The point is.....I find that if I walk away from the project for just a little while and redirect my thoughts somewhere else, I usually come back with a fresh perspective or a new idea that I didn't think about before.

For this card, I knew that I wanted to watercolor the tree image, but that was about it.

When I watercolor, I like to use either my Watercolor Wonder Crayons or pick up my  color directly from the lids of my ink pads. I used the lid of my ink pads for this card. I went over it first with Old Olive ink and then touched it up with some Always Artichoke ink. Same thing for the ground and the tree "shadows" under the tree. I used Creamy Caramel and Close to Cocoa for the tree trunk. I used a wide flat brush and did a wash of Bashful Blue ink for the sky.

I used my handy-dandy little distressing tool on my Cutter Kit to rough up the edges of the cardstock layers before I mounted it to my card. It just seemed so appropriate for a natural looking card.

You all know how much I LOVE to swipe my cardstock for added texture so I did that with the Creamy Caramel layer under the tree and also on the Close to Cocoa card. I used Close to Cocoa ink to swipe around the outside edges of the card for more definition. The Creamy Caramel ink on the cardstock surfaces give it such a nice rough-velvet look. (Click on THIS POST to read more about the "swiping" technique)

I'm not sure yet who I'm going to send this card to. Maybe I'll slip it into the husband's lunch box next week as a surprise.

I'm so excited that it's Friday. There's just something about them that makes them so enticing to me.....maybe it has to do with the fact that it's payday for the hubby. ;) Or maybe it's the fact that I can spend the whole weekend with him....okay, maybe it's both. ;) ha!

Have a lovely weekend.....I plan on FINALLY putting together a scrapbook page that I've been thinking about for a while. And yes, you'll get to see it sometime soon.

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Supplies:

Stamps: Lovely as a Tree & Sincere Salutations stamp sets (both Stampin' UP); Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Old Olive, Creamy Caramel, Confetti White; Ink: Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Creamy Caramel, Close to Cocoa, Basic Brown, Jet Black Staz-on; distressing tool from the Cutter Kit; fine and wide flat paintbrushes and water