Elephants on Parade!

Sometimes the best way to try new products and techniques is by making tags. These were fun and easy!

I started by playing with Hero Arts’ new liquid watercolors (check out the great video in the link) in Strawberry, Moss and Indigo (the only three colors I have, but see how nicely they mix and play together?) . These come in a dropper bottle and are highly pigmented.

I used the watercolors to create a large background sheet (which I cut into tags), but they are also great for coloring individual images. I dropped some watercolors into a paint tray, let them dry, and keep them handy on my desk. They re-activate with the touch of a damp or wet brush.

Once the paper was dry, I stamped and white embossed a portion of Hero Arts Bold Prints Floral Mandala background.

The larger pink elephant on the left is a punch from EK Success; the smaller elephant is a Hero Arts layering stamp (which has a matching die). The balloons on the large pink elephant is from Stampin’ Up!’s Balloon Builders set (if you can’t find it, there are several other great balloon stamps on the website!).

So much fun!

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

Hello Honey Bear!

These Wild Things animal tags from Stampin’ Up! (A Little Wild set) are not just stinkin’ cute … they are very versatile, too!

Using the stamps and matching dies, it’s easy to make the cutest tags (which I plan to use for party favors at an upcoming baby shower!). Check them out:

See how they fold over? And have a built-in hole for a string?

But, wait! There’s more! You can also cut them apart to use on cards:

The 4 7/8 x 7″ sized card was made using the Papertrey Ink die Noted: Scalloped A1 Die Collection and Stampin’ Up! card stock. I love this die set!

Don’t forget about the back side of the stamps!

And one last idea … a cute banner would bed cute, too.

Thanks for stopping by!

Eastern Beauties, Variations

I love the versatility of Stampin’ Up!’s Eastern Beauty stamp set and matching dies. I posted two cards here, but have many more to go because … say it with me … there are so many variations in this set!!!

Here’s a quick sample of the different looks you can get simply by changing the paper color and size:

For this card, and the one below, I used the dies to cut various shapes into a cover card. On the white card base, I dabbed on various Ranger Distress Inks (Victoran Velvet, Tumbled Glass, Seedless Preserves and Iced Spruce), then layered the die-cut piece on top. The dots are from the Robins Nest.

Using a black cover piece gives a dramatically different look:

(This card is a 4Bar (roughly 3 1/2 x 4 inches, smaller than the A2 size above).  I used the same technique, but using Faber-Castell Gelatos Highlighters in Starfruit, Dragon fruit, Clementine and Dry Ice. Nuvo Crystal Drops added some texture and a strip of glitter paper (Paper Source) added sparkle.

Here’s a detailed look:

Thanks for stopping by! I have one more set of cards using the same stamps and dies, coming soon!

Fabulous Finds Friday — Eastern Beauty

Who doesn’t love a stamp and die set with versatility? Not me! And that’s exactly what I love about the beautiful Eastern Beauty stamp set (and matching dies) from Stampin’ Up!

There are so many ways to use this release, which also has some lovely coordinating paper. The card above was created using a piece of the coordinating paper for a background. Then I used several dies to create the embellishment (trimming some pieces to create a design.) The sentiment is a die cut from Technique Tuesday.

Here’s another card that uses just the flower-like die and a stamped background using the images from the matching stamp set:

To create the above card, I stamped the rings from the Eastern Beauty set in various colors of ColorBox’s Stephanie Bernard inks. Two of the three flowers were cut from cardstock I had painted using Purple Flash and Aqua Flash from Plaid’s delightfully shimmery Folk Art® Color Shift™ paint. Love the subtle shimmer! And the leaves are from a Tim Holtz /Sizzix punch. Here’s a closer look:

Stay tuned for more ways to use this set!

 

No Piece of Foil Unused!

It’s no secret that I haven’t met a scrap I don’t like. In posts here and here on foiling, I created some cards using various foiling products from Therm O Web. And lo, and behold, I had scraps of foil leftover!

What’s a gal to do? Why use them, of course!

From this card:

(The card above uses the Gina K.™ Designs pre-made Foil-Mates™ toner designs. Love these because I don’t have to worry about finding a laser printer to create my own!)

I had the leftovers of that pretty swirly pattern, which I used here:

™

To create the card, I ran a piece of black cardstock through my Xryon adhesive machine, then put the foil piece (shiny side UP) on top. (I carefully rubbed the piece to make sure it was completely adhered.) I then trimmed the piece and layered it to a black card front. The tag and gold leaves were die cut from bonus pieces in two  Therm O Web™ Gina K. Designs™ die sets.

I still had a tiny scrap left, so I did basically the same thing to create this fast tag:

The sentiment (from Stampin’ Up! Here’s to Cheers set) was gold embossed, the flourishes (from same set) stamped in black.

Thanks for checking in!

Terrific Tags!

Oh, how I love making tags! Check out this new set from Stampin’ Up!

The stamp set is called That’s The Tag and the matching dies are called Timeless Tags Thinlets™ (by Sizzix). I highly suggest getting both sets! These tags are addicting … and a great way to use up scraps. Make them for any occasion!

Here are some close-ups:

You can do simple stamping and coloring ….

… easy layering …

… more layering  (there are several word choices)…

… and use up lots of scraps!

Thanks for stopping by.

Simple Stories … Cards

Almost a year ago I received some journaling stamps from Simple Stories. These papers sat … and they sat … and they sat some more. This week I decided enough is enough! Use these! Since I am a cardmaker at heart, that’s what I did. And I found these journaling cards  made quick, pretty backgrounds.

I trimmed some the papers to fit the front of my A2 card, then I looked around for images to adorn them. I looked first in my stash of pre-stamped images. Here are two using the Stampin’ Up! layered cupcake set:

(Gave it some bling with yellow Stickles.)

And another using Tim Holtz’s Crazy Bird set (watercolored and hit with some Wink of Stella clear sparkle.)

And one more, using two of the same journaling cards, just using the opposite sides:

These are so easy I’m going to make a few sets to give away as holiday gifts.

Thanks for stopping by!

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!

 

 

Sweet Swirly Bird Stamp Set

I’m having fun experimenting with Stampin’ Up’s new Swirly Bird stamp set (and the matching dies, of course!) This stamp set has so many possibilities!

As you know, the first thing I do with any new toy, er, work product, is play … randomly stamping images on scrap paper, trying different colors, etc. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t!

Here’s a group shot after play time:

Very simple cards! Here are more detailed looks:

First I stamped the solid round base in Ranger/Tim Holtz’ Distress Ink Spun Sugar, then topped it by stamping the swirl in Abandoned Coral. The smaller daisy, from the same set, was stamped in Imagine Crafts’ Kaleidacolor Bouquet, using the pink/orange colors. (Tip: Using the Kaleidacolor rainbow inkpads gave me easy access to several colors at once! I’m a long-time fan of these rainbow pads.)

The leaves were stamped first in Hero Arts Lime Green; my old (very old! Very, very old!) Marvy Matchable Bottle Green was used to stamp the veins. A dot of Ranger Stickles was added to the center of the daisies.

Simply changing the colors gave me a different look — a softer, pastel feel:

I used a very old gold inkpad to stamp the swirls (You can barely tell it’s gold!) and added the smaller flower using ColorBox Stephanie Barnard bubble gum pink. The base leaves were stamped in Hero Arts Pastel Mint and the stem in Hero Arts Lime Green.

And a matching envelope:

(I added a bold base for the pink swirls)

Switching it up, I went for blues: (starting with this discontinued bluebell card stock from Paper Source.)

I stamped the solid base in Hero Art’s Unicorn White pigment ink, then over-stamped used Stephanie Barnard’s Blueberry for the swirl and the smaller flowers. (I did a second generation stamping on a few of the smaller flowers to get a slightly lighter shade.)

The leaves were stamped in various greens, toped by that Bottle Green vein.

Fun, right?

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

More Topiary Frenzy

In my last post, I went crazy using Vertical Greetings, a nifty new topiary set from Stampin’ Up. I was all about the white embossing on blue.

But had to experiments a bit more, using mostly what was left on my desk.

Still playing with the white embossing:

And trying out two-tone embossing:

(embossed with Ranger’s Lime Green and Tea Rose powders.)

A little different, embossed in gold on vellum:

(Using TapeTastic tape to hide some boo-boos. Not my favorite, but hey, that’s what experimenting is all about!)

And my favorite use, tags:

I stamped the topiary and the sentiment in Ranger’s Wendy Vecchi Archival leaf green, then gold embossed a pot, cut it out and added it on top. This was fast and easy, especially since I had pre-embossed and cut a bunch of pots!

Thanks for sticking with me!