Stampin' Mama: A mama that stamps

A quick card.....and a family picture

I love this little "grateful" stamp even though it's now retired (it was part of the Small Script set a couple years ago). It's simple yet profound.

I wanted to create a quick card today so I grabbed my current favorite pack of paper - the Apple Cider Double-Sided Designer Series paper. I'm making quick work of this paper and will need to get some more soon. I just can't get enough of it. The colors and the patterns are some of my favorites. You all know how much I adore earth tones.

The only stamping I did on this card was the little "grateful" stamp at the bottom. Everything else was simply paper from the paper pack, some coordinating cardstock, some grosgrain ribbon and a ribbon charm from the Pewter HodgePodge Hardware kit. 

I layered papers on cardstock and kept layering until I got the feel I wanted. This card literally took me about 7 minutes to put together. I just kept playing around with the patterns until I was happy with it. It didn't take long....this paper is great almost anyway you place it.

I wanted a little something extra on the card, but wanted more than just my stand-by....a double knotted ribbon. I pulled out my HodgePodge kit and knew the little ribbon charm would be just perfect. I ran my ribbon ends through the charm and did a double knot. I STILL got my double knot (which I will ALWAYS love), but it has just a little extra added to it to stand out and give that side of the card balance.....to balance it out with the greeting on the right hand side.

As I look at this card, I think of the things I'm grateful for and my family is always at the top of the list.

I realized today that you all haven't seen a family photo of us......so here you go.

This picture was taken back in May, when one of my bestest friends came to visit. She brought some of her photography equipment with her and did a photo shoot just for us. It's been ages since we've had a family picture done....and even though there was a lot of sun in our backyard and a lot of lens flare, along with this being a high contrast black & white picture, I still love it. To many professionals, this may have been a "bad photography day," but I still love, love, love it.

This was taken in our backyard in the late afternoon. Zach loves to squint, even if the light isn't in his eyes. ;)

When my friend sent me the gallery for our photos, I was in love. I have pictures that I will always treasure. My family is something I am eternally grateful for. I have two beautiful children that mean the world to me and more. I have a husband that cherishes each of us beyond more than I could have ever imagined. Sure, we have "our days" as a family, but regardless of what happens each day, I would suffocate without them.

No matter who we are, we each have family in one form or another. Never take them for granted. Friends may come and go through the years, but the constant that remains is our family.

One of my favorite quotes:

"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one."

    -Jane Howard

Whoever your family is.....enjoy them.

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Warm autumn tones and one of my precious photos

I have autumn colors on the brain. The temperature here is starting to turn a little cooler and on our hiking trip yesterday, we noticed some leaves turning their colors in higher elevations. Now that September is here and school is starting, my thoughts are turning to the colors of falling leaves. Browns, greens, rich reds and oranges.

Autumn is kind of bitter sweet for me. I love the not-so-hot days and I love the colors. But I know that it's the advent of the harsh winters of the northeast. It's almost as if God gave us autumn here as a peace offering for the cold winter that's soon to come.

Not long after I became a Stampin' Up demonstrator, I went to a big training event that one of my uplines held. It was in September, right after 9/11 happened. I remember getting a card swap from a demonstrator that was absolutely stunning. I don't remember what her name was or I would definitely give her credit. The card was done with More Mustard cardstock and it was stamped with the Filigree background (which is now retired). The Filigree was stamped with Ruby Red ink and the More Mustard cardstock was sponged around the edges with Ruby Red ink. Those two colors together were magic for me. They seemed made for each other.....so warm and soft. They reminded me of a toasty fire and a mug of hot apple cider. Since then, I've loved using these two colors together....but especially the sponged look of the Ruby Red on the More Mustard cardstock.

I used the new True Friend set from the brand new Holiday Mini Catalog, along with the new Apple Cider double-sided paper from the same catalog (it's the brown that I used on the chipboard). The designs in this set are some of my favorite designs since the Wonderful Wings set was retired a few years ago.

I covered a piece of chipboard with one of the brown patterns of paper in the Apple Cider pack then added a strip of Old Olive cardstock that I had stamped with the greeting. Some Always Artichoke grosgrain ribbon finished the card off.

I wanted to share one of my most precious photos with you.

This picture was taken in August of 1985. I was 8 years old....right about the same age that my son is now. It wasn't long after this picture was taken that my family moved from our apartment underneath my Oma and Opa's house in Rhode Island to our "new" house in New Hampshire.

I'm standing here with my Opa (German for grandfather). His birthday was July 31st and we were celebrating his birthday. He was given this lounge chair as one of his gifts. My Opa would humor us kids and let us stand next to him while he opened his gifts....I actually have another picture of me standing next to him opening a massive salami that was given to him as a gift....but I'm having trouble finding that picture. It would fascinate me to see him open a gift with his favorite knife, oh so carefully, making sure not to rip the paper. The paper would be folded very carefully and put away in a box in his work room downstairs and at birthday times and Christmas times, the paper would re-emerge on one of our gifts.

My Opa passed away not long after I turned 13. I inherited my love of writing from my Opa. I would sit next to him while he wrote letters to his relatives in Germany and he would give me pointers on handwriting and how to best fold a letter so that it fit inside an envelope. He provided me with my first pen-pal.....my dad's cousin, Tanja, who lived in Germany. He thought it was very important for me to learn and write and I soaked as much of that in as I could.  He would tell stories of his time in the war and made sure that I knew how to properly sharpen a pencil. Who knew there was a special technique to this? His desk was always organized and neat and I knew right where his fancy letter opener was kept.

About a month after I got married, my Oma told me that I could have some of her furniture. My Opa's desk was the thing I wanted most. Davy and I took a trip to Rhode Island (we were living in PA at the time) and brought Opa's desk back with us. This was a time when I didn't own a computer so letter writing was something I did a lot of back then. I sat at this desk and wrote letters, cards and shopping lists. I scrapbooked our honeymoon and vacation pictures at this desk.

This desk now sits in our bedroom here in Vermont, as a side table next to our bed. It doesn't get used as much as it used to, but that's mostly because I didn't want it to become "craft central" like my craft desk has become. When we finally have a house of our own, I'd like for that desk to have a place in a nice little room that can be made into an office. Every once in a while, I like to jiggle the little handles on the desk, just to hear the sound the handles make as they clank against the metal plates they're anchored onto. It brings me back to my early childhood when I would sit next to my Opa and write letters with him.

Even though he passed away when I was only 13, he was a very special man to me. We were very close and I wish that he could have met my children. I wish that he were still here to tell me stories and tell my children those same stories. I wish that I would have had more time with him. But God is kind indeed and knows my wants and every once in a while, we get to visit together when I dream at night. It's like we can pick up right where we left off. Like nothing has changed. Like I'm still his little "schatzi" and we sit at the table grinding coffee beans in the wooden grinder with the little box drawer and eating limburger cheese. Thank God for good dreams.

And with that, I'm off to bed......and hope for sweet dreams. Yes, even of limburger cheese.

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Tuscan Rose....and Question and Answer time :)

It's been a while since I've shown a card where I've "swiped" my cardstock.

On my Groovy Give-Away post where I asked you to leave me questions, Vicky asked: What is your favorite technique?

One of my favorite techniques is what I call "swiping." And no, for those of you that have been subjected to the horrors of having to watch "Dora the Explorer," this has nothing to do with Swiper the fox. ;)

This is basically the "direct to paper" technique, but used in a swiping manner.

You simply take your ink pad and put it directly on the cardstock and then swipe it across the cardstock. Sometimes, I'll even put the pad fully on top of the cardstock and drag it across for full coverage of the cardstock, which is what I did on the card you see here.

I used a piece of vellum to go over the big flourish, just to tone down the bright white I had showing with all of the flourishes. I also swiped the vellum, as well. My favorite color to swipe with is Creamy Caramel. It's not too dark, but not too light either. It's the perfect shade for adding a distressed and aged look to almost any cardstock. I used this color on ALL of the cardstocks I used for this card, including the vellum.

My love flourishes....and my favorite set to use for flourishes is the Flourishes set from Tuscan Rose. There are 13 stamps on this set and I love the little corner flourishes that come in this set. I really like to use these stamps with white ink on darker cardstocks.

Swiping is one of those easy but classic techniques that I go back to again and again. It'll never get old for me. It'll always be in style for me.

Have a wonderful Monday!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Supplies:

Stamps: Flourishes (Tuscan Rose) and Wonderful Words (Stampin' UP); Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Barely Banana, Purely Pomegranate, Vellum paper; Ink: Whisper White Craft ink, Basic Brown and Creamy Caramel Classic ink; 1/16" hole punch; brushed gold mini brads (Making Memories);

Another Make-a-Wish card.....GinaK Designs

I just can't seem to get away from the bright colors for this set. If you haven't yet seen this set....you're missing out on a GREAT thing!

These two images are from the Make-a-Wish set that GinaK designed to benefit the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Did you know that $7 from EACH set goes right to the Make-a-Wish Foundation?? It blows me away at how generous and kind Gina is. It's one of the biggest blessings I've had in my stamping years to work with Gina. She's an amazing woman and one of my stamping heroes!

Gina posted the totals the other day of what has been raised so far for this fantastic organization:

Total stamp sets sold: 336
Total Dollars raised for the Make A Wish Foundation- $2352.00!!

We're doing this! YOU'RE doing this! It never ceases to amaze me when I see stampers/scrappers/paper crafters come together to help others. No matter what it is.....if it touches you, you always reach out to touch others back. There's definitely a special "something" about this circle of crafting and I'm so blessed to be a part of it all.

I think part of the reason I can't stay away from the bright colors is because the Make-a-Wish Foundation makes me think of all the ways they brighten the lives of children with terminal illnesses. I think about wide, bright smiles. I think of sparkling eyes. I think of dreams come true. The bright colors and the stamp designs that Gina drew make me feel so bright and cheery.

And you all know how I can't stay away from glitter for too long. I stayed away from it for one day.....that was long enough. I had to get my glitter fix again. I just couldn't help myself. And this cake stamp was just SCREAMING for it!

It's been a while since I've used my watercolor pencils for just straight coloring. I tend to use them for watercoloring 98% of the time.  Now I want cake......in a very  bad way. I'll even eat it if it has glitter on it....that's how bad I want chocolate cake right now.

I used my trusty 2-Way Glue Pen to LIGHTLY dab on some glue over the stars, candles and frosting. I had to do it carefully because the glue wanted to start blending the color from the watercolor pencils. I made sure to clean the tip of my glue pen off with a napkin in between colors so that the color didn't transfer on the felt tip of the glue pen. Now...........if I had my wits about me at the time, I would have used my regular colored pencils so that I didn't have to worry about this. But it worked anyway, so it's all good. And I still want cake. ;)

A couple weeks ago, I received an envelope in the mail from Ginny Schierbeek (Hi, Ginny!)....she'd bought one of my Retired stamp sets and she had sent payment. Inside the envelope was a gift! She'd sent along about a yard each of Tempting Turquoise grosgrain ribbon and Wild Wasabi and Groovy Guava Double-stitched grosgrain ribbon! I didn't yet have any of those 3 ribbons, so it was a pleasant surprise! And yes, I'm kind of hoarding them. ;) (like I don't know where to get more of them....yeesh! It's an addiction, people!) I broke out the Tempting Turquoise ribbon for this card, though, so I'm learning to let go and fight the addiction. (*looks around sneakily while I stuff the rest of the Tempting Turquoise ribbon at the bottom of one of my stamp bins*)

Have a lovely weekend.....hope it's a beautiful one for you! I might actually use some new paper this weekend, so make sure to check back. ;)

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Supplies:

Stamps: Make-a-Wish set (GinaK Designs); Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Pink Passion, Tempting Turquoise, Whisper White; Dots & Dashes Designer Series paper (Stampin' UP...now retired); Ink: Basic Black; watercolor pencils; 2-Way Glue pen; Dazzling Diamonds glitter; corner rounder punch; Tempting Turquoise grosgrain ribbon

My 300th post.....and some extra tidbits

Wow.....Time sure has gotten away from me today. I had planned to answer some of your questions and have part of that post finished, but it's not quite ready to put up yet. I have a few more things to add to it, so I apologize that you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see it.

Also, tomorrow is Friday.......and you know what that means! Another "Groovy Give-Away Friday" will be here! Have a mop handy because I think you just might pee your pants when you see what I have up for grabs! I was totally JAZZED when I realized what I could give away for this give-away! You're going to LOVE IT!

I just realized that this is my 300th post! WOW! (and I started this blog only 13 months ago.....I must talk a lot! heehee)

In the meantime, I wanted to post a couple of pictures of something I got in the mail last week! I was so excited to open the envelope and pull this out!

Remember the Gift Card Tutorial that I created for all of you? Well, Joyce Taylor from Ontario, Canada, sent me HER version of the gift card holder! She used the same color scheme, but just changed out the stamp set and a couple of the accessories. Isn't this adorable? I love how this looks with this stamp set!

Thank you, Joyce, for this wonderful surprise in my mail box!

If you're interested in making one of these Gift Card Holders, you can click on over to here ----> Gift Card Holder Tutorial and download the pdf file that I created with a full step-by-step, full color tutorial that will walk you through this project from start to finish and also includes a full supply list to create the project.

Make sure you come back in the morning for "Groovy Give-Away Friday!"

Have a wonderful night!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Another Chipboard creation......True Friend set

Thank you for all the nice compliments on the Chipboard Tutorial that I posted yesterday. I was so glad to hear that many of you will be using your hoarded chipboard pieces!

Remember that piece of chipboard that I covered in the beginning of the tutorial? Well, I used it today to make this card. I used a piece of vellum to stamp the greeting on and put it over the top.

I used the new True Friend set that will be coming out in the new Holiday Mini Catalog on Saturday, September 1st. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE that set???

I wanted to add some shine to these beautiful autumn colors, so I wrapped Gold wire around the Really Rust cardstock and around the edges of the chipboard. To tie the gold all together, I embossed around the edges of the Close to Cocoa cardfront, as well. It's barely there, but just enough that it really balanced the card out.

Part of the reason I used the wire on the chipboard was because I wanted to hold the edges of the vellum down and I didn't want any adhesive to show through. I DID use my SNAIL Adhesive underneath some of the large letters (the letters hide the adhesive) on the vellum just to help tack the vellum down, but I knew that it would show through on the unstamped vellum (I've yet to find a completely invisible vellum adhesive, so if any of you have suggestions, PLEASE let me know). The wire added some texture and shine and held down the edges. I used tape to hold down the wire on the back side of the chipboard. This keeps it from slipping around and shifting on the front.

I don't often use Garden Green, but it looks so perfect with the Apple Cider patterned paper (which is also coming out in the new Holiday Mini Catalog on Saturday). I really need to start using that color more. It is such a pretty shade of green.

Tomorrow, I plan on doing a question and answer post to start answering some of the AWESOME questions you all asked me on the last Groovy Give-Away Post. It'll be educational and informational, but I promise you that it'll be even more entertaining for sure! I DO have a wicked sense of humor that I don't often unleash in all of it's glory here....but I will tomorrow. ;)

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Supplies:

Stamps: True Friend set (Stampin' UP); Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Garden Green, Really Rust; Paper: Vellum, Apple Cider Double Sided Designer Series paper; Ink: Really Rust, Old Olive, Versamark; chipboard rectangle (Bazzill Chips); fine-grade sandpaper; Gold Glory embossing powder; embossing gun; gold wire; Pop-Up glue dots; bleach

Earth Elements....meet Soft Subtles....How do you do?

I was prepping a card for a workshop this past week and I wanted to use some warm autumn colors. I chose Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive. I wanted to choose a third color to go with these. When I pulled the packs of Old Olive and Pumpkin Pie cardstocks out, I didn't notice the third pack that came with them accidentally. Bashful Blue.

I was going to put the Bashful Blue back, but then realized that it was actually a nice complimentary color to the other two.

I was almost wary of putting the three colors together. It's like organizing a wedding and putting different families at the same table. You think they might get along, but you never really know until you put them together, introduce them and let what happens happen.

I imagine the coversation going something like this:

Me: "Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, meet Bashful Blue."

Pumpkin Pie: "Hello, Bashful Blue. Nice to meet you. How do you do?"

Bashful Blue: "Very well, thank you. Nice to meet you, too."

Old Olive: "A pleasure to meet you, Bashful Blue. I love what you're wearing. That color is perfect on you. It goes perfect with your eyes."

Bashful Blue: "Why, thank you, Old Olive. I think what you're wearing makes you look dashing. Very distinguished on you."

Me: *wipes brow* "Well, it seems that the three of you will get along splendidly. Stand next to each other and let me see how you all look together."

*gathers Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive and Bashful Blue together and gasps adoringly at how well they all suit each other*

*end twisted cardstock conversation in my head*

And wow.....these colors DO look very nice with each other. Especially when used with the Bud Basics set. Who would have thunk that these two warm Earth Elements colors would look so nice with such a cool Soft Subtles color? I need to start picking colors accidentally more often just to see what how they look together.

I added a little bit of punch to my card with a greeting done in Basic Black some black gingham ribbon stapled to my layers. Perfect!

 

Have a lovely week......play around with some "odd" color combinations and see what you come up with!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Supplies:

Stamps: Bud Basics, Wonderful Words; Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Very Vanilla; Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, Basic Black; Black gingham ribbon; stapler and staples 

Make a Wish card.....GinaK Designs

I get excited about cards that I make (mostly because I LOVE what I do), but I have to be honest with you and tell you that I haven't been THIS excited and THIS ecstatic about a card as I am about THIS card. I can't pinpoint why....but I just LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

Yes, it's another "bleach wash" card, but I've been having so much fun experimenting with colors and intensities of the bleach that I've had trouble putting the bleach away.

If you're looking to try this technique out for yourself, it's VERY easy and I did a tutorial here on my blog to show you how. Click here ----> "Bleach Washing" Tutorial

Speaking of bleach, someone asked a question about bleach on the Tutorial post:

I was wondering though, does the paper stinks afterwards or not?
I'm not a fan of the bleach smell, it irritates my lungs also...

Posted by: Bee | August 19, 2007 at 01:44 PM

The answer is:

No, the paper doesn't stink like bleach afterwards. The bleach and the smell burns off quite quickly.
If the smell bothers you while you're doing this technique, you could wear a dust mask or a bandanna over your over nose and mouth and make sure to do this in a well ventilated area. I actually did the Tutorial outside on my deck since I knew that I would be using quite a bit of it.

When I saw what the bleach did to the Pumpkin Pie cardstock the other day on the  Doodle This card, I got to thinking that it would be an awesome color to use with the  Make-a-Wish stamp set. I started out with that set and the Pumpkin Pie cardstock and had no clue where I was going with any of it, so I just let my muse guide me. :)

When I did the bleach wash on this card, I didn't want it to be uniform looking, so I let some of the bleach sit on the card in certain areas for longer periods of time before spreading it out. I let some of the bleach sit on my paint brush a while before putting it to the cardstock in some areas. This helped to burn off some of the strength of the bleach and created some light and some dark areas.

I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig to position the stamp evenly around the cardstock 4 times to get the starburst look. That tool is awesome when you want to perfectly position stamps.

I just kept working with the card until I was happy with it. The stars needed a little bit of "pop" so I used my handy stand-by....Dazzling Diamonds Glitter. A little bit of 2-Way Glue and I was all set.

I used a piece of chipboard in the shape of a star and adhered it to a piece of Pumpkin Pie cardstock, then used my Hobby Blade to trim around the star. I covered the front of the star with 2-Way glue and then sprinkled it with Dazzling Diamonds glitter.

To keep going with the whole starburst idea, I twisted orange and yellow craft wire around the store curled the ends with the end of my stylus.

I covered a round piece of chipboard with a piece of Pumpkin Pie cardstock that I had bleached and then trimmed around it and sanded the edges. I sponged some Pumpkin Pie ink around the edge of the circle. I also cut a larger circle out of Summer Sun cardstock and lightly sponged some Pumpkin Pie ink  around that, as well.

I finished the card off by stamping the "Make a Wish" stamp that ended up being the bonus in the set (read Gina's post here ----> Oops! It's a great thing! to find out about this bonus stamp).

Have a wonderful Monday everyone!

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Supplies:

Stamps: Make-a-Wish set; Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Summer Sun; Ink: Versamark, Basic Black; bleach; wide flat paint brush; Crystal Clear embossing powder; embossing gun; 2-Way glue pen; Dazzling Diamonds glitter; chipboard star (Making Memories) and chipboard circle (Bazzill); mini glue dots; stamping sponge; orange and yellow craft wire; stylus (to curl my wires); Coluzzle cutting system (circle template)

Bleach Wash Tutorial

After I posted my last 3 cards using a "bleach wash," I got a lot of emails and some comments asking if I could explain this technique a little more.

Yesterday, I took pictures to create a tutorial to show you how easy this is.

First off, all cardstocks are going to turn SOME kind of color when you add bleach to it. You should do a small swatch test on your cardstock when designing a card to make sure that the colors your cardstock turn will work well together for a finished project.

Or......if you're like me, you can just experiment and hope it turns out to be something cool in the end. ;)

For this card here, I chose my colors and liked the way they looked together before I put bleach to them. I hadn't yet bleached any of these colors out before, so I took the chance that they would still work together. I really like how the finished product turned out.

The colors that I started with are the new Bayou Blue and Wild Wasabi, along with Pumpkin Pie. The only places on the cardstock that you can that still retained these original colors is where the images were stamped. At first I wasn't sure about the colors when I was doing each of the cardstocks, but when I put them all together, I thought they looked pretty cool. I wasn't sure if I was gonna love or hate it, but wow! I love it!

So........what you'll need for this technique is:

* stamps (I used the Doodle This set and the Wonderful Words set)
* colored cardstock
* Versmark ink
* clear embossing powder
* embossing gun
* wide flat paint brush
* bleach (NOT the bleach gel, but straight bleach)
* small paper cup (Dixie cups work well)

Step 1:

Stamp your image on your cardstock with Versamark ink.

I stamped the long doodle stamp on the Bayou Blue cardbase, the large flower on the Pumpkin Pie cardstock and the "friends" image on the Wild Wasabi cardstock.

I did all my stamping at once for this project and then went to the next step.

The Versamark ink is sticky, but it will soak into your cardstock if you let it sit too long and then it won't hold the embossing powder. I worked pretty quick so I didn't have to worry about that with this card.

Step 2:Sprinkle clear embossing powder on the images, shake off the excess and pour it back into the container.

 

Step 3:

Heat the images with your heat gun until the images turn to a shiny liquid and rise. Let the images cool.

Step 4:

Pour some bleach into a small cup. I like to use the little Dixie cups that you use in the bathroom because they're small and I throw them into the recycle bin after use.

Use a wide flat paint brush to pick up a generous amount of bleach from the cup.

Step 5:

Apply a generous amount of bleach directly to the cardstock in small areas. Pick up some more bleach and apply again. Keep doing this until you have all of the cardstock covered.

The key to doing the bleach wash is to keep dipping into the bleach and keep applying. Bleach burns off quickly, so you'll find that if you try to use the same "dip" from the cup to cover a large area after more than 5 or 6 seconds, it won't have the same strength as it would if you applied it directly from the cup.

Here's a view of the finished "bleach washed" cardstock. Some of my bleach "pooled" in areas and those spots bleached out even lighter than the others. Because the stamped images were sealed with clear embossing powder, the original color of the cardstock was retained and pops through the bleached areas around it.

If you want some of the areas to bleach out a little lighter, you can also dry it with your embossing gun. If you want, you can even go over some areas with a little more bleach after the first application has dried and then dry it with an embossing gun. You'll get even more of a contrast.

You can see here on the close-up of the greeting that I applied a little more bleach to the cardstock and dried it with the embossing gun to create some more contrast and visual interest.

When I adhered the bleached pieces to another piece of cardstock (to have them matted), I realized that they really didn't look quite right because the color was just so bold. So, I picked up some bleach with my paint brush, but I knocked as much off as I could and then swiped it across the outside edges of the cardstock (Wild Wasabi was what I used for the mat behind the flower and Pumpkin Pie was what I used for the mat behind the greeting). By doing this, I only touched random areas of the cardstock, so some of the color remained, but some of it was bleached out. This brought in some of the color from the embossed images, but also some of the bleached look from the embossed pieces.

Here's a quick shot, again, of the finished card (so that you don't have to scroll all the way back up again.

I added a piece of black gingham ribbon around the greeting in a double knot as the finishing touch. It was a nice bold touch to give a bit of contrast to the bleach wash.

And here are the links to the other "bleach wash" cards I created:

* True Friend card
* Be happy card 
* Thank U card

Hope you all enjoyed this and learned something new. It's a lot of fun to experiment with different colors and see how they all mix and match.

Let me know if you have any questions about it.

Have a lovely weekend!

Happy Creating

-Stampin' Mama

Okay....one more card using this new set......

Okay, more card using this new set and then I promise the next post will have a card using something completely different.

I've just been having so much fun with it, along with the bleach that I've been using (I'm wondering if I've been inhaling too much of the bleach fumes). I can't stop thinking of great ways to use this set, but like I told my friend, Jen, on the phone tonight (happy birthday again, Jen!), I really should start using some of the other stamps in this set. ;) It's just that the 1 1/4 inch circle punch and this particular medallion stamp has SO many possibilities that I can't stop using them.

I was so incredibly happy when I finished this card that I actually wanted to kiss it! haha! I love the way the bleach transformed all the cardstock colors. Some of them even turned out a bit more bleached out than the other ones.

I wanted to give the card a little more dimension than just adhering all of the circles down flat on the card like I had first intended to, so I used pop-dots under the Not Quite Navy circles and the greeting to add some 3-dimensional effects.

I got some extra use out of some of the circles by adhering them to the edges of the card and cutting them, then turning them a little to fit on another edge of the card. You can see that I did this with one of the Not Quite Navy circles. I got an even balance of color on my card and got two splashes of that color with one circle.

I've had some people asking how I've been applying and using the bleach, so I'll be putting together a little mini tutorial to show you how easy and versatile this is. Be on the lookout for that probably on Thursday or Friday. :)

Happy Creating!

-Stampin' Mama

Supplies:

Stamps: True Friend set (from upcoming Holiday Mini Catalog, available Sept 1st); Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Really Rust, Old Olive, Not Quite Navy; Ink: Versamark; 1 1/4 inch circle punch; Always Artichoke grosgrain ribbon; Crystal Clear embossing powder; embossing gun; Stampin' Dimensionals (aka: Pop-dots); bleach; wide paint brush