Stampin' Mama: A mama that stamps

Scrapbook Page: Spread your wings and Fly....using Molly Stamps

 

I've had these pictures just WAITING to be scrapped since early 2007. Yes, I know that's  not that long of a time to be waiting to be scrapped. I know some of us have pictures that have been sitting for 20 years. My wedding pictures haven't been scrapped yet and that was almost 12 years ago......my excuse is that I'm still trying to develop my style. haha!

Anyway....I wanted to do something special with these photos....something with wings. I have another set of these photos that I started working on right after these photos were taken and I put butterfly sticker wings that I had cut apart from the original butterfly stickers they were a part of. I'm still going to use those and make a mini book out of them. But I also wanted a 12x12 scrapbook page to put in my album.

Along came Molly......Molly Stamps, to be exact.  When Russ showed us the Wings on Things sets (they come in either big or small....and there's plenty of uses for BOTH sets), I knew I had found the inspiration for my scrapbook page. 

 I used a pale pink cardstock for the base and painted a border around the edge using Gesso tinted with a dot of red acrylic ink. I used a sponge brush to go around the outside. I don't know why, but lately, that is one of my favorite things to do to my cardstock. It's understated, but just enough to set it off.

(Click on any of the pictures for a larger view)

I used the same pink paint to dab the center and outer points of the felt snowflakes (Stampin' Up Felt Flurries snowflakes....love those things!) and then dipped them in glitter while the paint was still wet.

I stamped the dragonfly wings on vellum with Riding Hood Red ink and sprinkled Irridescent Ice embossing powder on them while they were still wet (one of the advantages of stamping on vellum with dye based ink is that it stays wet for a little while, unlike on regular cardstock) and heat embossed them. I cut them out and then adhered them to my pictures. I used the small wings for the top four pictures and the large wings for the bottom picture. Because I used vellum, I could see through them to trace where I needed to cut them so they would fit around my daughter's coat (and her hand in one of the pictures on the top). I really like the effect that stamping the wings on vellum has. It gives the wings a translucent quality, just like real dragonfly wings. The sparkly embossing powder makes them shiny and glittery.

The large stamped letters were inked first with Versamark ink and then directly onto the Riding Hood Red pad so that the image would stay sticky for the Irridescent Ice embossing powder. They have a great shimmer when embossed. The black handwriting is my own and was done with a Slick Writer marker.

I stamped a second set of large wings to create the large dragonfly as my embellishment at the bottom of the page. I used little pink and blue Dew Drops (from the Hydrangea collection) with mini glue dots to form the body of the dragonfly.  

The more I use the Wings on Things sets with my photos, the more and more I find that I can do with them. I used them on my photos for this scrapbook page, but I also used them for my embellishment. What a great way to carry over the theme! And the best part about them is that because they are stamps, I can use them over and over again! 

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama 

Dream Big, Take Flight......(Molly Stamps)

 

Do you ever find yourself in the need for an uplifing and inspirational card for someone that is about to make a big decision.....or that needs a little bit of direction or focus in their life? Or perhaps you need your own inspirational kick in the butt. I've actually found myself there lately, as I've had some creative endeavors tooling around in my mind that I want to pursue but just need the extra motivation....not necessarily from any particular people, but mostly from myself.

I'm finding that working with the wings and sayings in the two Wings on Things (big and small sets) are just what I need when I'm trying to get past the thought process of my creative pursuits and putting them into reality.

I was playing around with the two Wings on Things sets and embossing powders and when I finished with this card, I wasn't actually going to post it. I wasn't sure what I thought of it but the more I looked at it on my desk, the more I liked it. It was kind of expermental when I started and definitely as I went on. I really like all the textures going on and the artsy look of it.

I used Not Quite Navy for the cardbase and Baja Breeze for the light blue layer. I swiped my White Craft pad around the edges of the Baja Breeze cardstock and then embsossed it with Ranger's Puffs powder. It gives it a cloud or snow-like appearance. I inked up the wings with Versamark ink first and then directly onto Baja Breeze ink so that it would be sticky. I embossed them with Irridescent Ice embossing powder and then cut them out.

I used some white Liquid Applque on the wings to give them a bit of a feathery appearance.

The words were inked up with Versamark ink and then Not Quite Navy ink amd embossed with Irridescent Ice powder.

I mounted the wings ont he card with pop-dots for extra dimension.

Speaking of motivation.....I just got home from watching a documentary on the needs of orphans in Uganda (I spent 2 months in Uganda when I was 14) and one of the things that stuck out to me was a line by a local woman that is making a huge difference in the lives of children in a small village. She said, "Find your passion, then act on it." I went because I was interested in seeing what she was doing in a country that I fell in love with 17 years ago and praying for inspiration. I definitely came home with some.

Anything is possible.

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Smiley Calendar Magnet (using Molly Stamps)

Yes, this little calendar says, "february 2009." Yes, there's a story behind that. And no, it didn't come that way. haha!

I was so thrilled at how this little calendar magnet turned out and after I'd taken the picture, I realized that the top had blown off in the wind and January 2009 was blown away.....no where to be found. (I usually take my photos outside in the natural light.)

This sunny little smiley face is from the Today's Forecast set from Molly Stamps. I embossed it with black embossing powder on Apricot Appeal cardstock and then color it in with my Copic markers. I punched it out with the 1/4 inch circle punch, then layered it on top of a Bashful Blue circle punched with the 1 3/8 inch circle punch. I layered these on top of a Certainly Celery scalloped circle, which I colored around the edge with a light green Copic marker.   

The base of my calendar is a 4x4 inch coaster that I covered with a piece of patterned paper from the Pocketful of Posies paper stack (from Die Cuts with a View). This paper has little spots of glitter all over it and is super cute and sunny feeling.....especially when looking at a calendar and thinking of all the things you need to do each day. The calendar was mounted on top of a piece of Bashful Blue cardstock. I used a bit of Sticky Strip (aka: Red Line Tape, or Terrifically Tacky Tape) to adhere the calendar to the cardstock so that it's anchored securely.

I adhered a piece of ribbon (from a box that my friend, Jen, sent me) across the coaster and then mounted the smiley face on top of the ribbon with a pop-dot.

I hot-glued (is that a word???) a super strong magnet on the back of the coaster so that this sunny smiley guy can go on my fridge.

I have to put him on my fridge, otherwise, I'd have to give him to someone that didn't mind the January 2009 being gone. At least we have those big smiley teeth looking at us until February 1st even though we can't use the calendar until then. :)

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Scrapbook Page - Snow Angel (using Molly Stamps)

 

I've had these pictures hanging around for almost a year now, just waiting to be scrapped. When I took these pictures out the other day, I thought of one of the new stamp sets that were just recently released by Molly Stamps. The new  Wings on Things (Big) set. There's also a Wings on Things (Small), which comes with the same wings, but in a petite size, as well as more greeting images that are different than the ones in the Big set. And hey, at the price point they're at, you get a ton of bang for your buck, so you might as well get both! They're great for scrapbooking, but they're also great for card making.

I love using paint on my scrapbook pages. It's a lot of fun experimenting with it. I used some blue metallic acrylic paint that I mixed with a bit of white gesso paint to tone the color down a little. It still left a little bit of shimmer to the paint, but I got the color I wanted. I used a sponge brush (LOVE those things) to swipe paint around the edges of my cardstock. I also swiped some around the top picture. I mounted the top photo on a piece of white cardstock.

To do my title, I stamped the word, "snow," out with Night of Navy craft ink with the Quirky Alphabet set (from Molly Stamps) and embossed them with Iridescent Ice embossing powder to give it some sparkle. I then applied 2-way glue to the insides of the letters and sprinkled them with Dazzling Diamonds glitter. The letters are SO sparkly and glittery. Just like snow! I trimmed each of the letters out and then before I mounted the letters onto my cardstock, I painted some silver paint on my cardstock with a sponge brush and let it dry. I mounted the letters on top.

The word, "Angel," was painted free hand with the left over paint that I used on the edges. The wings were stamped on white cardstock with Night of Navy craft ink and then embossed the same way I did the letters. I filled in the inside of the wings with 2-way glue and Dazzling Diamonds glitter. I cut them out and mounted them on either side of the word, "Angel," with pop-dots for a little bit of dimension.

The little white snowflakes on the cardstock were hand drawn with a white Signo gel pen. I'm totally digging doodling things like this on my scrapbook pages lately. I couldn't find a snowflake image in my stamp collection that matched the theme of my page so doodling them myself worked well for me.

The journaling was also done with my white gel pen. It reads:

2 feet of snow

2 construction paper wings

1 hand drawn snowman paper mask

1 blonde girl-child

------------------------

= 1 Snow Angel

 

I used some of my Little Felt Flurries as embellishments on my page. These come as just felt, but I adore snowflakes and love it when they sparkle, so I covered them with 2-way glue (yes, that 2-way glue pen works for practically everything - I LOVE IT!) and then sprinkled them with Dazzling Diamonds glitter. These snowflakes come in different sizes in the package so I used some of each for variety.

Here in Vermont, we've already got snow on the ground. My little snow angel is getting anxious to play in it, but we need to get her some new snow pants and boots, as she's outgrown the pairs she wore last year. In the meantime, I cozy up in my craftroom with chai and cookies and create to my heart's content. I don't like the cold, but I love having the excuse to be inside all day in my studio. :)

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Design Team Call for Molly Stamps!

 Molly Stamps is looking for 2 new fun, quirky and energetic designers to add to their Design Team!

It's super easy and quick to apply and the cut off date is coming up soon, so if you're looking to join one of the zaniest Design Teams out there, make sure to get your submission in as soon as possible!

You can read how to submit by going directly to Molly's site:

Design Team Call submission information

Bake it, Make it & SEND it! Cookies for Soldiers with Molly Stamps!

Last month, my mom (Donna, from Spatulas, Corkscrews & Suitcases) posted that she was looking to recruit a team of people that would bake cookies for soldiers serving in the Middle East. I love to bake so it was a given that I would sign up for her Operation Baking Gals team.

And because I love to bake AND papercraft, I knew this would be a perfect opportunity for a Bake it, Make it & Take it post. Rather than "taking it," though, I SENT it! My package just went out in yesterday's mail (a little later than the rest of them when out because we were in PA last weekend for my Soulology Project retreat) and it's on its way to a bunch of hungry soldiers looking for some "lovin' from the oven" back home.

I used my mom's Peanut Butter Cookie recipe for one of my batches of cookies. I used super-chunk peanut butter because I LOVE those big chunks of peanuts in my cookies (I made a double batch so we had extra for here at home, too). These cookies turn out SO moist and with a couple of apple peels between the layers of cookies (to keep them fresh) in these plastic containers, they're going to be just as moist when they find their way into the hands of those soldiers.

You know me.....I can't just bake something to give away without it being packaged somehow. My love of baking follows closely behind my love of papercrafts. Because I needed to make sure that these cookies and goodies were packaged so that they wouldn't break or be all over the box by the time they got to Iraq, I couldn't really put them in cello bags with a belly band around them or something similarly as cute. But.....I thought of a way to decorate the sturdy plastic containers we were encouraged to send them in.

I cut a piece of Riding Hood Red cardstock as the base and then cut a piece of patterned paper from the Urban Garden Designer Series Paper pack (Stampin' UP). I chose the paper with the Baja Breeze color theme.

I used the Quirky Alphabet set (from Molly Stamps) to stamp out my letters using Versamark ink. I sprinkled them with black embossing powder and heated them to melt the powder. For the word, "you," I stamped and embossed on a scrap of Kiwi Kiss patterned paper from the Urban Garden pack.  I love how these stamps show the patterned paper through the main part of the letter.

I cut the Kiwi Kiss letters out and popped them up on the lid using some pop-dots. Just a little extra dimension for fun. I added some red, green and blue star stickers that I've had sitting in my sticker album for YEARS and this was the perfect reason to use them. They went really well with the colors of the cardstock and patterned papers.

Cookies weren't the only things I put in my care package. I also tucked in a ziploc bag of 10 stamped cards (because I have SO many of them!) so that the soldiers would have something to use to send home to their own families.

Of course, I can't possibly post about making cookies and now show you a pictures of the cookie-goodness that was inside the package. Here's a picture of the Peanut Butter Cookies I sent off. I love rolling the balls of dough in sugar before baking them.

In the next couple of weeks, I'll be posting about a team that I'm hoping to put together for my own Operation Baking Gals Team for sending "cookies and cards" to a group of soldiers. This is a great time for doing it since we're all getting into holiday mode and baking up a storm over the next few months.

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Let's get together.....Molly Stamps

One of these days soon, I'm planning to have an informal scrapbooking day at my house. When that happens, I am SO using the Let's Get Together stamp set from Molly Stamps. This is such an awesome set for scrapbooking and stamping get-together invitations.

If you're putting together a girl's night or even a full day of crafting, what's better than a zany and fun invitation with a crazy scrap and stamp-a-holic like Molly to liven it up! And the greetings in this set go perfectly for invitations of this sort.

I used some of the glittered patterned paper from the Pocket Full of Posies Stack from DCWV. It's busy but fun, just like Molly. I adhered that to a Regal Rose cardbase and added some silver mini brads in the corners.

I stamped the Molly image on Whisper White and colored her in with my watercolor pencils (using them like regular colored pencils). I carefully cut the image out with my Paper Snips (best EVER precision tip scissors....gets in all those tight spaces without making a mess of the image) and adhered it on top of a piece of Soft Sky cardstock with pop-dots.

I kinda got ahead of myself there a little...I first cut the Soft Sky out with my Coluzzle Oval template and mounted that on top of an oval that I cut out of Regal Rose and trimmed with my scalloped edged scissors (which I also mounted on the card with pop-dots......you know I LOVE dimension!). Molly just seems to jump right off the card.

I stamped out the words on Whisper White cardstock and then cut them out and adhered them to the card in a scattered sort of way. I love this effect!

So.....who wants to come to a scrapping day at my house??? *wink*

Oh....and right now, this set is on sale! Make sure you check out the other images that come in this set. You can find it here:
Molly Stamps

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Molly Stamps......fun and quirky!!!

Have you heard the news? There's a new stamp company in town!

Molly Stamps has come on the stamp scene with fun and quirky designs and there's more to come!

I totally have a soft spot for Molly. I fell in love with Molly when I first saw a YouTube video with a short preview of the "mockumentary": Inside Scrapbooking

Since that time, a great friendship has been built with Russ, over at MockUTV and we partnered together back in the fall of last year to help the cause of Autism Awareness.

I was so excited when Russ told me that Molly would have her own stamp line and website and even more excited to be a part of the new Design Team. I'm working alongside Susanna Boyd (from Card of the Week) and we'll be adding a few new team members as time goes on

Molly's first set is out and there's two coupons that you can use (and don't want to miss out on!) by going directly to the front page of the site: Molly Stamps

There's already a small gallery up and we'll be adding more cards and ideas soon! Make sure you check them out.....I was blown away by the awesome cards and projects that Susanna created! What a talented girl she is!

Be sure to keep checking back because Molly is out to take over the stamping world!