More Random Cards

Two more leftover pieces that finally found homes:

 

Fast and simple!

And this one:

 

The backgrounds on the stamped pieces were brayered and the larger background is the same as in the last post.  The images (Stampendous!) were black embossed.

Now these can go off to someone’s mailbox!

 

Clean Desk, Random Cards

Yup, it’s that’s time again. Cleaning off my desk and going through my piles of scraps.

Pawing through the leftovers, it’s fun to see what cards I can make…

Found this fun background, made using an old (maybe 2004?) Stampin’ Up! set called What’s Your Type? I apologize for using a set that I think is discontinued, but the background was such fun, I couldn’t resist. And you can substitute other stamps. I’m showing it because these are great backgrounds to have around for quick card making.

You can also create some fun letters using this set! The OMG sentiment is from Hampton Art’s Studio G (and has a subtle Wink of Stella sparkle!)

I know it’s not fair, but here is another “retired” stamp — Lovely Lily — from Technique Tuesday. But again, the idea is that you can take a very simple image and create a fast, easy and eye-catching card.

I hope you use these ideas to spark your own creativity! I promise to get back to current stamps soon!

Happy Independence Day!

 

 

From the Vault — Thanksgiving Cards

Ahhhh, it’s Throwback Thursday, so I thought I’d look into the vault and see what’s hangin’ around. And hello … I found these Thanksgiving cards.

This was part of a series I made using Rit Dye and a Batik resist. I sponged Batik-EZ Resist Medium from Crafter’s Pick onto my stamp (Hero Arts), then stamped onto watercolor paper. I let the resist dry, then used a foam brush to paint on various shades of liquid Rit Dye. (You can find dying instructions on the Rit website. Here is a direct link to another card I made for Rit. The process is the same. Here’s another card. I also have some scrapbook pages on the site.)

This is VERY old! (Remember when eyelets were so hot?) I used mini gold and silver ink pads (you can see the small size in the imprint!) to stamp directly on the paper. The leaves image (Stampendous!) was black embossed then colored in with some shimmer paints.

And one more, using some Gelli Arts paper I made as a background:

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Upcycled Greeting Cards

I love re-purposing paper items (okay, let’s be real… I love repurposing almost anything…) so having some gorgeous Cavalleni calendars as well as some Cavalleni wrapping paper to play with was absolutely thrilling.

Using old calendars and some discontinued purple card stock I bought on sale at the Paper Source, I made several gift sets. Here’s a batch:

I cut my card stock to a folded 3 1/2 x 4 7/8 inch card (4 Bar size) because I felt the smaller size fit the “mail art” look I was going for. Plus I could use just bits and pieces of the images. (The envelopes are also from Paper Source.)

To make the cards (and matching envelopes) I cut out images from the papers and calendars and glued them to my cards and envelopes. (Cutting out images is a great activity to do while watching TV or talking on the phone). I put the cut out images in a box and then rummaged through this “stash” when I was ready to create.

I also made some envelopes and/or envelope liners using Paper Source templates. If you love making your own stationery sets, these templates are great tools.  (OK, the purple is not quite my cup of tea, but I got it on clearance!)

I also made a cute little portfolio (using a pattern created by the manager of the Las Vegas Paper Source store! Thanks Melissa!).

I now have a nice stash of stationery to use myself or to give as gifts at the holidays. (Or maybe to bring as a hostess gift instead of a box of candy???)

Here’s a set made from a piece of wrapping paper:

(The tiny teapots are made using a punch and are the perfect addition to the envelope front.)

What have you recycled today?

Thanks for coming by!

From the Vault: Stampscapes

Sometimes it pays to clean out old boxes …. especially when you find old cards.

Often, when I look at these old cards, made when I first started stamping back in the Neanderthal era, I think, “my, these are so simple… and unsophisticated….” But sometimes I also re-discover some favorite stamps that haven’t touched ink in a long time.

Like these Stampscapes images. I had forgotten how much I loved the designs from Kevin Nakagawa, the king of scene-building images. I have several of his scene-making stamps, but I also have these more stylistic images from the Symmetry Sheet 2 collection:

Oh, so simple! This was way before texture embossing folders were out. So check out the old-school scoring lines for simple texture! The image was stamped on a linen-textured cardstock, so the streaky lines are my fault, no fault of the stamp!

This was stamped on a glossy cardstock and it came out much better. (All the other stamps I show here are from Hero Arts and also among my earliest stamp buys.)

Two more versions of the sun:

(Before I had a large stash of patterned paper or background stamps, I used the inside of envelopes!)

Now I need to dig these out and see what I can do to update the look! If you love making a scene, do check out the Stampscapes Web site.

Thanks for stopping by.

From the Vault … This Card Scores

Every so often I find some old cards I made.

Before there were embossing folders galore, I used a scoring tool to create texture on cards. For this card, I first scored one way, then the other. On the top part of the card, I scored in both directions (you can barely see the bottom cross-score, which shows up better on the bottom third of the card).

The sentiment is from Hero Arts; I’m not sure who makes the elephant, as it was stamped a long time ago at a friend’s house.

Thanks for popping over!

From the Vault — Old School Ink Pads

I recently inherited three containers of stamps and accessories from a friend. Check out these old-school ink pads:

And guess what? They still work!
Check this out:

Here are some of the old stamps, too:

Check out the old school stamper:

What a treasure-trove of images! (Thank you to Jennifer for all the goodies!)

Do you have any old ink pads or “vintage” stamps? Do they still work?

Thanks for stopping by.

Throwback Thursday — Cards from the Vault

I’m been loving the old photos friends are sharing on Facebook for Throwback Thursdays. Thought I’d share some cards made loooooong ago when I first started stamping. I found these cards while cleaning out my mother’s desk. I had apparently given her a stack of handmade cards years ago — guess she couldn’t stand to part with them!

Remember your first discovery of vellum? Here’s mine:

Although this card looks so unsophisticated and … well, not very good, I do remember how excited I was to discover this technique. I stamped and embossed in white, then colored the birdhouses on the back, using markers. The image is from Hero Arts. And I still love it (although I haven’t used it in years).

This flowery heart was one of the first stamps I ever bought! Very simple — stamp, emboss, color. I don’t even know where that stamp is now. It may have been an old PSX stamp. Anyone remember that company?

This next one doesn’t seem all that long ago. It was a popular technique introduced by Hero Arts — Shadow Stamping:

So easy — stamp the block, over-stamp it with an image.

Thanks for joining me for this trip down memory lane. I like to think I’ve evolved from those early days!

From the Vault

While cleaning out my closet recently I came across some cards I made when I first started stamping.

This was one of my first background stamps (from Hero Arts). I didn’t keep track of what I used back then, but it looks like I stamped in purple and used a holographic powder for the lines. The jester is from Judikins. I think I acquired the jester at one of the first stamp shows I attended — the Original Rubber Stamp Convention in Carson, Calif. I also bought a matching stamp, a ballerina. I embossed the jester in black, then colored him in using gel pens (which I borrowed from my daughter. I had much fewer supplies back then!!).

Here’s a close-up:

And simpler still:

My sad first embossing attempts. Sigh.

A Trip Down Memory Lane….

Amazing what we find hidden deep in our closets…

A friend recently gave me a box of her old … and we’re talking practically prehistoric … stamping supplies. Check out these ancient ink pads:

Here’s the amazing part: some of these pads are still inky!

Anyone old enough to remember when we had to use office ink pads? And colors were pretty much limited to black and red. Ugh. Here’s a pad I once used to stamp cute images on envelopes and to stamp my return address:

We didn’t have the internet back in the day, so we relied on little booklets like these for inspiration:

And check out this old time stamper:

Ah…. memories….