Moroccan Medly

Maybe it’s the summer heat, maybe it’s just hearing about my friends’ vacations … whatever it is, I have the travel bug. I’m craving adventure in exotic lands. Maybe that’s why I was drawn to the Mosaic Madness set from Stampin’ Up! It makes me think of Morocco (no, I’ve never been there. But I love the food! And the architecture.)

We all know how impatient I am, so as soon as the stamps arrived I immediately began randomly stamping images using yummy new pigment inks from Colorbox and embossing them in clear powder.

But here’s the BEST part — I didn’t have to cut them out individually! I used the matching punch! So cool. So easy. So fast.

I had so much fun just stamping, embossing and punching, but I finally put together a card:

(sentiment from Inkadinkado.)

Then I heard my neon inks (all Hero Arts) screaming out, “stamp me! stamp me!” So I did.

Now I need to go back and do more thoughtful stamping using these images.

What are your travel plans?

More Painterly Brights

In my last post, I started playing with the new Stamp Your Story sets from Hero Arts.

Here are more:

This was such fun! And so fast and easy! All the stamps are Hero Arts and I used all Hero Arts neon inks. The coffee ring and splat are new from the Texture and Shape set LP283. The rest, including the sentiment, are from old sets. The darling bird is from another new set, Friendly Birds, LP 285.

Tried something a little different here:

Still used the Texture and shape set but this time used them with Tsukineko’s Kaleidacolor Tomato Vine rainbow pad, plus a little Hero Arts Cup O’ Joe. Yum. Sentiment from Inkadinkado. Fast and easy!

The last one I almost tossed out. Just didn’t come out the way I had envisioned (as so often happens.)

But once I added the Robin’s Nest Dew Drops, I liked it a little more. All images Hero Arts (bird from Friendly Birds LP285; patterns from a couple of clear sets.

Thanks for stopping by!

Bright, Bold and Painterly

These cards should have been part of a Fabulous Finds Friday because I love these new stamps from Hero Arts.

This fabulous stamp looks just like dripping paint — such a fun image! I inked the stamp first with Ranger’s Milled Lavender Distress Stains and stamped it. But it was too light and too boring. So without cleaning the stamp, I added streaks of Broken China, misted it and stamped it over the first stamping. Much better! The sentiment is from Inkadinkado. (Another fave!) I trimmed the piece, edged it with a black marker, then ran it through my Xyron Creative Station so it would really stick to my card front.

Here’s another version of that stamp:

Wasn’t as fond of this one, which used darker blues and a spot of Distress gold metallic. Sentiment is an old Hero Arts stamp.

Went crazy with the neons here:

The brush stroke is from Hero Arts Texture and Shape set LP283. The little color spots are Dew Drops from the Robin’s Nest, attached with mini Glue Dots . Inks are Hero Arts neon ink pads (except the purple, which is a neon dauber.)

I’ll post three more cards tomorrow. Such a fun set! Thanks for stopping by.

Hanukkah, the Fesitval of Lights

Hanukkah is so early this year (the first candle is lit Friday night, Dec. 8), it almost took me by surprise!

I made some fun cards to send (more on those later in the week), but I was sidetracked by the Keen-on-Neon challenge on the Moxie Fab blog. The challenge is to make neon holiday cards. What could be brighter for Hanukkah?!

Here’s a quick card I made using neon ink pads from Hero Arts:

(Hmmm…. looks a tad dark in this photo. But trust me, it’s bright!) The deidel is from American Art Stamp. I stamped it repeatedly on the white cardstock using those yummy neons. The sentiment (an OLD stamp from Stampendous!) was heat embossed using grapefruit pink Zing powder from American Crafts. The corners of the green scrap were cut using my Tonic tag-and-ticket punch (LOVE this punch!) The eye-popping green paper is from the Smooth and Silky collection from Die Cuts With a View.

I had to trim the deidel panel and had a perfectly good scrap left over. So I made a tag from a piece of yellow paper from the same DCWV pack:

I edged the piece in black to make it pop a bit more. The sentiment is an old one from Hero Arts.

Come back during the week for more Hanukkah cards — and stop by the Moxie Fab blog for great neon ideas! Thanks for stopping by.

Fabulous Finds Friday — Dies, Neons and More!

I have some Fabulous Finds for crafters!

First, I’m really excited about these new dies from Spellbinders. Called Die D-Lites, these 20 new dies are small and intricate, with shapes running from a beautifully detailed cattail scene to medallions and a darling window. You have to see them.  Check out this helpful tutorial from the Spellbinders blog:

http://spellbinderspaperarts.com/Community/Blog/Post/12-10-25/Introducing_Die_D-Lites.aspx

The tute gives some great tips, such as: 1) use wax paper to make it easier to pop out the delicate pieces; 2) try placing dies at the edges of your base plate on the  Grand Calibur (instead of in the middle) for optimum pressure on these intricate dies. These were award winners at the Craft & Hobby Show in July.

I can’t wait to get my hands on some! (I’m crazy about the tree one!) Sorry I don’t have one to show you in a crafty way, but I do have this Spellbinders Botanical Swirls die:

Isn’t that lovely? Be patient with me here… This is my first time using such a delicate die. After cutting it out, I ran it through my Xyron Creative Station to get it nice and sticky. As you can see, I didn’t burnish it well enough and some of the adhesive leaked through. I decided to sprinkle on some clear embossing powder, thinking it would give the piece some interesting highlights (and take care of the excessive adhesive). Not sure I succeeded…. Ah, well, the card needs some finishing touches … like a focal point, sentiment, embellishments, etc. But I love the die!

Last week I showed some embossed flowers using Zing! neon powders from American Crafts. Check out these colors:

Can you say yummy?

The last of my Fabulous Finds for this Friday are new stamps from Rubber Stamp Plantation. This Hawai’i-based company has wonderful Hawaiian and Asian-themed images, decals and other exotic crafty toys. Here’s a tease:

Being the Impatient Stamper, I couldn’t wait to stamp these!  These wonderful background scraps were piled on my desk, just begging to be used. So I did some random stamping. Next week we’ll see what I do with them!

Thanks for coming by to see what’s fabulous!