Shrinky Dink Time!!!

I have a CTMH gathering tomorrow and I wanted to try something new…because I love new techniques and I like to use my stamps in all sorts of mediums! I decided to try my hand at Shrinky Dinks, which is plastic that shrinks and bakes in the oven. I bought the Ruff n’ Ready type of Shrink Plastic because one side is sanded so that you can use normal dye inks. The other brand is smooth on both sides and requires staz-on.

We will be using the shrinky dinks to make charms that they can add to jewelry, cards or scrapbook layouts. So, I used my SU! Scallop punch to punch a scalloped circle for my basic shape. Second, I punch a hole using my crop-a-dial. Then I used cocoa ink to stamp the birdie (which is from the CTMH set doodle) on the ruff side. I masked it off with a post-it and went over it with the polka-dot background stamp from CTMH spot-on backgrounds in watermelon. The finishing touch was coloring the birdie in with a white colored pencil. Then I put it in the oven for 2 minutes and voila!

I made a card-charm!!!!! I kept this 3×3 card simple so that the birdie could POP!

Those Country Birds…

I absolutely adore the papers and colors used for this card. All the cardstock is CTMH: desert sand (retired), barnyard red, black, and sarsaparilla background papers. I used a card sketch from splitcoaststampers, again. I just love looking up card sketches, it gets the artistic juices flowing! Oh, back to the card! The two panels are double matted and adhered onto the desert sand cardstock, which is sanded. The flower is made by stamping an outline flower image on two different colors of cardstock, breeze and barnyard red, and then crumpling the barnyard red flower for added dimension and layering it on top of it’s sister. The little flower in the center is on desert sand cardstock and heat embossed with white embossing powder. It is cut out and added as the third layer of the flower with a bitty black brad. The main image is from Crafty Secrets. They make a lot of vintage inspired stamps that are just amazing! I cut it out and adhered the bottom of the image on black cardstock and then carefully trimmed a small black shadow for added dimension. It is adhered to a sanded piece of textured barnyard red cardstock which is matted with black cardstock and two little corner pieces of the sarsaparilla background paper. I used the masking technique to stamp the setiment, a little note. Originally, the sentiment reads from top to bottom, not left to right. So I used a scrap piece of paper to mask off the sides of the card as a stamped each word individually. I really like how if turned out!

Some much needed girl time…

Well, I can’t wait for lunchtime! I feel like a girl again. I have that feeling like time can not move fast enough! I’ve been around my hubby and kids for 2 weeks now and can use a little break 😉 I’m going to scrapbook/make cards with Jess at lunchtime and I’ll post my results! Geez…I miss scrapbooking! I think with all the swaps I completed I felt a little scrapped-out? I have some pictures that need a home, but I’ll save those for another time… Blog ya soon!

Tall Coffee Please!!!

I love the SU! coffee set! I just wish it wasn’t wood mounted! For this card, I used another Splitcoaststampers sketch. I made my own background using adirondack alcohol inks on vellum. And, random stamped the coffee steam image along the sides with black archival ink. I used CTMH bamboo cardstock for the main part of the card, then layered on chocolate and black textured cardstocks. The textured cardstock is sanded and then ink distressed with bamboo ink so that the white isn’t as vivid. I added three black bitty brads in the right hand corner. The coffee cup, steam and coffee bean image is heat embossed with clear embossing powder and mounted onto a black textured and ink distressed scalloped circle (that’s a mouthful). I hope you like it!

Life’s a Journey Card

This card is for a very special Uncle of mine. After years of counseling children at risk, he went back to school and got his degree in social work. Now that he’s graduated (yay), he’s started job hunting. He’s been running into dead ends everywhere! I wanted to make him an encouraging card about how life’s a journey and we don’t always know where it’s headed…

Now, back to the card. It measures 8 x 3.5 and used CTMH vintage travel papers, barnyard red, bamboo and colonial cardstock. The vintage travel paper is torn at the bottom and ink distressed with cocoa. I also used the cocoa ink to spongedaub the entire perimeter of the card. I machine stitched around it as well. The main image is from catslife press in cocoa and the letters for the title “journey” are CTMH storybook in lowercase. The barnyard red corners are just take from a square cut diagonally. The bamboo brads are heat embossed with Ranger distressing embossing powders in vintage photo. This particular embossing powder does not have a raised texture after being heat set, instead it is made to look like rust or weathering. I LOVE THIS STUFF!!! I used it in several other places as well. I added hinges and a key from Tim Holtz mini grungeboard accents and used the distressing powder on that as well! The black brads holding the hinges in place are bitty brads from CTMH.

I sure hope my Uncle likes his card! I’m having a hard time parting with it!

double short 3 pump classic cold breve w/ whip latte please!

Here’s a card for another splitcoaststampers card sketch challenge. I really like the way this card turned out! It’s so me :). I used CTMH colonial white, textured bamboo and textured cocoa cardstocks. The background paper is Stampin Up!, I think La Jardin??? Correct me if I’m wrong please…. The stamp set is a retired one from Stampin Up and it’s so so so cute. I used crackle effects to make the brown image look like coffee and I used microbeads on the whipped cream. I wish I had the fluffy stuff to make the whipped cream look super real, but I don’t 😦 I used a stampin up pewter bigger brad top off with a ctmh adhesive crystal. the edges of the main image and the sentiment are sponge daubbed (if that’s even a word) with ctmh bamboo ink.

Two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl tag

This tag is totally outside my comfort zone. It’s looks very eastern, which isn’t my style at all! It’s also shimmery!!! I used my little alcohol inked goldfish image and mounted it to white cardstock and trimmed around. I used white so that the colors could be seen more vividly. Then I mounted it to ctmh black cardstock. I sprayed the black cardstock with tattered angels glimmer mist in olive vine and sapphire. I used my corner rounder on the corners and inked all the sides up with black ink. I didn’t want the white core to show. Then, I used the stampin up word window punch. I placed this on top of a rounded off piece of white cardstock that I sprayed with the olive vine glimmer mist. For the final touch, I stamped the sentiment “I miss you” from CTMH’s say it in style set with archival black ink. I like to use the archival black because it is a true black pigment ink.

Two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl…

Oh! I got to play last night!!!!! I LOVE MY NEW adirondack alcohol inks! I stamped my alcohol inks (gold, sapphire, lettuce, and butterscotch) on a piece of vellum. Then I stamped the two goldfish image from The Tigerlillyshop on Etsy.com in black archival ink. I just love how it turned out. I will be adding them to a tag I made for the mega tag swap I’m angeling for! I’ll post that later 🙂

For Once, I’m An Angel :)

The mega tag swap that I was involved in had a TON of flakers! So, in the spirit of giving I decided to angel 5 of the missing spots. I love making tags!!!! Here are 3 (33 altogether) that I made today!

The Dog Tag is very similar to a 3×3 card that I make for my Etsy shop. I used CTMH Caprice background paper and parchment cardstock. The main image is a catslife press stamp in CTMH chocolate ink. It is offset by a CTMH Stickease (which is just a fancy sticker). The chocolate ribbon is CTMH and the charm is created by using a safety pin and a dog tag charm from the LSS (Local Scrapbooking Store).

The baby girl one was kept simple. I used CTMH colonial white and sweat pea background paper. The main image is a Bella, from stampingbella.com, and is stamped in CTMH hollyhock ink. I used my coluzzle to cut the oval and then punched two large holes on each side with my crop-a-dial. I ran the ribbon under the image and then strung through the left hole and tied a bow. I saw this technique on Split Coast Stampers and had to try it on for size!

The baby one is upcycled from some babyshower invites that never quite made in the mail (sorry Noemi, life got crazy). I’ve never flaked on anything like that before, so I had to use them somehow! I used CTMH dutch blue and whisper white cardstocks. I made my own background paper using the Ritzy Ribbon stamp set in buttercup, sweetleaf and dutch blue inks. The onesie is made by cutting a rectangular shape then making cuts for the sleeves and using a circle punch for the leg holes. For the crumpled effect, I sprayed it with water and then crumpled it into a ball several times. I then laid it flat to dry. Then I sanded the blue background and with the fibers that were sanded off, I dipped my fingers in them and used it to distress the folds of the onesie. The onesie in then finished of with three small brads. The word “baby” is from the CTMH solo “B” set.

Some Monday Frills

My friends will tell you that my style is usually pretty no-frills, but I had to make this card once I received my order of Catslife Press Stamps 🙂 I wanted it to look as if she were peeking out from the flowers to tell a secret! I found this card sketch from splitcoaststampers.com.

I used the CTMH boom-di-ada creative basics paper, CTMH summer posies, CTMH buttercup, sweet pea textured and white daisy cardstocks, and the image is Catslife Press. The dotted background is dry embossed using a SU embossing template and then direct to paper distressed with CTMH watermelon ink. The brads are CTMH silver and bitty black brads.