Happy Hanukkah!!!

Happy Hanukkah (yes, there are different spellings … the CH spelling seems to be the old-fashioned way!) to those celebrating this festival of lights.

Love these quick and easy tags! Shimmer silver paper (Paper Source), circle die (Lifestyle Crafts), tag punch (Fiskars), sentiment and six-pointed star punched from silver glitter paper.

May the season be bright!

Altenew Cards

In my last post, I showed some of my practice pieces made using the Altenew Amazing You set.

Here are the results:

These cards are all 4Bar sized (4 5/8 x 3 1/2 folded)

The backgrounds are made using Papertrey Ink’s  Mix & Mat Flourishes set.

The hello die is by Simon Says Stamp.

So much fun to mix and match the backgrounds and the images!

Playing with Altenew’s Amazing You Set

Playing with Altenew set …..

I wasn’t sure which way to go to color these images, so I practiced. First, I colored them in using watercolor and inks:

Next, I used the solid images that came with the set:

Once I felt comfortable using the solid images, I stamped directly on a white panel:

I trimmed the panel, edged it with a gold marker, then layered it on a mint colored card.

I saved the other pieces for other projects.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cool Cats from Waffle Flower

Here are two quick, easy cards using stamps from Waffle Flower:

 

Just some simple stampin’ and colorin’ here! I stamped a bunch of the cats from the Flora Cat Play set, colored them and cut them out, so now I have a stash. All I had to do was stamp the Enveloper Little Birdie, color it in and add my cut out cat (using foam tape) and the sentiment. (Watch a Waffle Flower video here.)

A similar card:

The pretty dots are Dew Drops from the Robins Nest; the hello is a Simon Says Stamp die colored with black Wink of Stella.

Thanks for stopping by!

More Fabulous Finds from Creativation

Here’s another look at some of the Fabulous Finds found at the Creativation craft and hobby show in Phoenix last month:

 

(Layering stamps clockwise from top: large roses, Hampton Art; koi and rooster, Hero Arts; small vintage roses, Altenew)

Stamp layering (images you layer to create depths of color and design) is so pretty … and still oh-so popular, with more and more companies producing layering images. And ditto for stamps with coordinating dies. I became a huge fan of Altenew stamps, a company that elevated the stamp layering technique, when I first saw the company a few shows ago. They really ignited a trend.

Also fun, Hero Arts (love the koi and rooster and … a croissant? Whaaaat? So yummy); Waffle Flower  (marble, cross stitched cacti and roses, and more); Hampton Art, and more.

Here’s a cute layered/stitched cactus from Waffle Flower:

… and a nifty marbling stamp, also from Waffle Flower.

I also love the flower border stamps!

Thanks for stopping by!

Late Valentine for My Guy

Even though Valentine’s Day has come and gone, I wanted to share this masculine card I made for my special Valentine:

I just loved playing with the Hipster Animals stamps from Hero Arts! I stamped a bunch, cut out three of the dogs, accessorized them, colored them with Nuvo Aqua Flow watercolor markers and mounted them on an off white panel. (This would also make a good birthday card … there are so many varieties to choose from in this stamp set.)

The XOXO sentiment was made using my Brother P-touch label maker. (I’m loving this label maker, which offers different fonts, designs, etc. So much variety … you’ll be seeing more labels on my projects. Check it out here.)

Creativation Fabulous Finds

There was so much crafty goodness at the  Creativation (Craft and Hobby Association) trade show last month, it’s hard to know where to start. I’ve already highlighted a few fabulous finds on my blog, but here are some random finds and trends.

First, the trends: it’s all about texture and shimmer, stamp layering, stamp and die sets, and coloring options. Planners are still vital, and everyone, it seems, now has a stamp positioning tool. I’ll have more detailed reports, and samples, as I get to them!

Mixed media continues to grow in popularity, and everyone seems to have a paste, a spray or a paint. Ranger, naturally, has some exceptional coloring tools, including the wow-inducing Distress Oxide Inks, a dye/pigment fusion that creates an oxidized effect when sprayed with water, and Dina Wakley’s Media Scribble Sticks, water-soluble crayon-like pigments that can color over acrylic paint and other mediums. Head to the Ranger site or to Tim Holtz’s blog for the best info on these.

Ecstasy Crafts has lustrous and glittery pastes, embossing powders, glitter glues and more in its Cosmic Shimmer line. I am especially intrigued by the Metallic Gilding Polish. The sheen is beautiful, but what’s really cool is the built-in applicator right on top of the jar!

Tonic Studios also has a great selection of pastes, etc. I love NUVO products (especially the pretty packaging!) including beautiful glitter glue, dimensional crystal drops, glitter pastes and more.  (Tonic used to make my favorite tag and ticket punch. Each time I visit the booth, I beg them to bring it back!!)

Tonic also has some cool stencils — the stencils have little handle-like protrusions that make it easy to pick them up.

And there’s still more glorious shimmer from Lindy’s Stamp Gang:

Stay tuned for more …

Fabulous Finds Friday, Fresh from Creativation

Here are some fabulous finds from the recent *Craft and Hobby Association Creativation show. These finds played nicely together!

*(The Craft and Hobby Association recently changed its name to the Association for Creative Industries. More about that later.)

The first two cool things are Dina Wakley’s Media Scribble Sticks (more to come on these cool colorants) and Color Shift paint from Plaid…

… and I knew immediately I wanted to pair the Color Shift paint with a new Gems dies set from Spellbinders.

Let’s take a look at the Color Shift paint first. Although this glossy, metallic shimmer paint is designed for a variety of indoor and outdoor surfaces, I used it on plain ol’ watercolor paper. Once it had dried, I die cut the pieces from the Spellbinders’ gems die set and put together several cards.

Here, I cut the gems and the sentiment from the Color Shift-painted card stock then mounted the pieces on white card stock. (I cut three pieces of the sentiment and glued them together for extra depth.) Once the card was put together I added clear Wink of Stella inside the gems, for extra sparkle. A few sequins completed the picture.

Here’s a detailed look (sorry, the card looks so yellow in the photo … it’s really white.)

Next, (card below) I die cut the gemstone outline and the words from black toner paper from Therm O Web, then foiled them both with Deco Foil™ (the gem with gold, the sentiment with holographic silver). Once I glued down the gemstone, I filled it in using the leftover pieces from the previous card. I love the shimmer of the paint!The edges were embossed with Judikins’ Aegean Silver.

The third card is pretty much the same, but I used a purple shimmer paper from Wausau paper for the background layer, embossed with Wow! Pearl Gold Sparkle. The sentiment was cut from the Color Shift painted piece then heat embossed using Judikins’ Psychedelic powder.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Creativation! Here’s the Scoop!

All the signs led me last weekend to Creativation — the Craft and Hobby Association’s big show of all that’s crafty.

During the next few weeks I’ll be sharing what I found (in no particular order). There is much to share — including some trends — so let’s get started.

My first happy find is called Animated Clear Stamps from Uchi’s Designs. Yes, you can stamp cards with images that seem to move!

I think you can see in the above the photo how the stamped images seem to move when you pull on the plastic overlay. This is called lenticulated action.

Here’s another one:

Do check out the website www.uchisdesigns.com to see it in action!

 

Thanks for tuning in!

Fast and Easy Holiday Cards

I recently participated in the Caring Hearts Card Drive (making cards to send to seniors in nursing homes) and needed some quick ways to make cards.

Here’s one set that was surprisingly easy to do:

I set out my cards in an assembly-line manner, then simply stamped away! (The stamp set is an old one from Impression Obsession.)

Here’s another set of fast, easy cards.

The tree (an old one from Hero Arts) was gold embossed on purple card stock, cut out and mounted on poinsettia shimmer card stock (Paper Source.) The rest is easy to figure out!

Have a great week!