thankful

Hey! 

A month or so ago I needed some thank yous (see how far behind I am?) anyway, I made a neat card.  Well, I think its neat.

What do you think?

Fabulous Phrases set.  Whisper white cardstock.  Bermuda bay, crushed curry, crisp cantaloupe and black Stazon inks.  White bakers twine, big shot and expressions thinlits.

The finished size is 6 1/4 x 2 3/4.  Take a closer look:

Crisp Cantaloupe. 

Crushed Curry.

Bermuda Bay. 

If you can tell, the color is behind the white panel. 

Can you see it now? 

Instead of taking each teeny tiny little piece and placing it just so, I came up with an easier idea.  Lookee:

Here are the measurements for this particular card.

Take the 5 3/4 x 2 1/2" piece and using an aquapainter and ink, paint the cardstock.  Set aside to dry.

Add a little extra water in the lid and put in the baker's twine.  Let it soak up the ink and set aside to dry. 

Here is the sandwich I use:  Platform, cutting pad, cardstock, parchment paper (or wax paper) die and cutting pad. 

Run it through the machine.

Keep the whole thing together and turn upside down on the table.

Okay, its all still together.  You haven't taken it apart yet.

Take your Tombow Mulit Glue and put glue on all the pieces except the actual word. 

Take your dry painted piece and lay it upside down on top of the die.

Now press on the cardstock making sure you're really getting all the little pieces stuck onto the painted piece.

Now flip it over again and take the die and the parchment paper off.

This is what you're left with.  Neat eh?  I originally wanted to do an hombre sort of effect but it just came out watercolored looking.  I still like it. 

Now your string is dry and you can assemble the card.  

I thought it was kinda nifty and an easy way to use the relief part of the die without needing tweezers to place little pieces. 

Okie dokie thats all for today. 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Enjoy your weekend!

Blessings, b.

love......western style

Howdy there!  We are having glorious weather today.  I hope you are too.  So why am I inside?  Well, I just came in from watering the garden.  The aphids have left and the zuccs and pumpkins are trying to make a comeback.  Hey, if they are willing then so am I.  

Anyway, I was thinking about you and I've been meaning to post something.  So I was trolling through my pics looking to see what I haven't shown you yet and I got alot.  So I'm getting on it. 

Over summer we were invited to a wedding that we couldn't go to.  It was a western theme and I know I would have loved it.  I tried to make their card western looking.  What do you think?

From my Heart set.  Whisper white and Crumb cake inks, versamark pen.  Basic black and crumb cake cardstock.  Big shot, woodgrain embossing folder, pearls, label framelits, white embossing powder, expressions thinlits, burlap ribbon, natural trim and white gel pen.

This is 4 1/4" square card.    I used the Versamark pen to ink up just the frame part of one of the stamps in the From my Heart set, stamped and embossed.  It looks kinda sketchy but I figured it just makes is look........... older, I guess you would say.  Maybe "worn" is a better word.  Yep, I think I like "worn" better. 

It was a slighty thicker card but it wasn't overly bumpy.  I didn't use extra postage. 

When using the Expressions Thinlits, make sure you put a piece of wax paper or parchment paper between the die and your cardstock.  It makes it much easier to remove the word from the die.  I'm going to have a tutorial coming up with how to do that. 

A few pearls........it was for a wedding after all. 


Alrighty then.  I still need to get pics of the cards we did at my Holiday Card Class.  I want to get that thinlit tutorial out first.  I'll get right on that. 


Thanks so much for stopping by and checking in.  I love when you do that.

Blessings, b.

coming around

I'm trying to find a new rhythm.  Ever since school/work started again I haven't been able to get a new routine down.  Something is always coming up. 

But things are settling down and so I hope I'm coming around. 

I have lots of pics to show you.  August was an incredibly busy month, and not just for stamping.   So lets catch up a little shall we?


I had my regular club meeting.  This is one of the cards we did.

Giggle Greetings and Dictionary sets.  Crumb cake, choc. chip and watercolor paper.  Crushed curry, crisp cantaloupe, sahara sand and black Stazon inks.  Dotted scallop ribbon punch, summer starfruit ribbon, neutrals buttons, aquapainter and Sweater Weather DSP. 


I just love this card!  I copied the design from a card on page 82 in the main catalog.  My base measures 5 1/2" x 3 3/4".  The banner extends to 4 1/4" so it still fits in a regular envelope.

I used the lids of my inkpads and my aquapainter to color in the kitty.  I know Summer Starfruit isn't one of the colors in the Sweater Weather DSP but I didn't have Crushed Curry ribbon and well heck, I really didn't think anyone would notice.  Did you? 


Lets see, what else happened......

We had an archeological expedition in my backyard. 


Just kidding.  We finally trenched for sprinklers.  I'm surprised you didn't hear me whooping it up in the next few states.  I've wanted grass so llllooooonnnnnnggggggg.

(The tent was mine and Grace's reading cave this summer.  I got her to read the first 3 Harry Potter books.  Yes, I hooked her!)

Then this happened.  Again, I'm surprised you didn't hear me jumping for joy. 

Then this one went back to school. 

Then we had to take this one back to school.  I miss her already. 

Then this one became a TEENAGER!  Holy Moly!

Headline numbers (retired), Dictionary and This and That rotary stamp.  Bermuda bay, versamark, smokey slate and whisper white cardstock.  Bermuda bay, basic gray and whisper white inks.  This and That washi tape, clear embossing powder, big shot, Alphabet press embossing folder, rhinestones, bermuda bay ribbon, chalk talk die and white gel pen. 

This is Grace's birthday card.  She really liked it.

I embossed the numbers with clear embossing powder.  I first stamped the number in versamark, then in bermuda bay and stamped.  Then sprinkled the embossing powder and heat.  Simple!

The white spots are me squishing the lid of my white ink pad and taking a really wet aquapainter, picking up some ink and then flicking it onto the cardstock. 

To get the smokey slate mat, I just freehand cut around the tag. 

This is my last harvest.  I ended up with 8 pumpkins this year.  The garden just didn't do so well this year.  My tomatoes have been limping along.  Those yellow pear ones are from a volunteer plant from last year.  I think I only got 6 zuccs all summer and no bell peppers.  The aphids tried to kill the watermelon but it is now coming back.  A little late though.  I think I'll empty the dirt in my boxes and start fresh.  I'll be planting onions and carrots in November. 

Alrighty then, I still have lots more stampy projects to show you.  I'll be getting right on that. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and hanging out.

Blessings, b.

uploaded

Wow!  Life has been happening around here.  I hadn't realized that I had gone so long since uploading the pics from my camera and my phone.  There were ALOT of pics on there! 

No, I'm not going to show you all of them........yet........just some. 

You're welcome!

I still have to go through them so today, I'll just show you a quick little bag tag I made for my stamp girls. 

Teeny Tiny Wishes.  Basic black and old olive cardstock.  Whisper white craft ink.  Big shot, chalk talk die cut, 1 1/4" circle punch, polka dot parade DSP (brights), little leaves die, witches brew washi tape.

I don't have any Halloween stamps so I had to get creative.

I did buy the Witches Brew Washi tape from the Holiday Catalog because I really liked the orange zig zags and I really like washi tape.  So thats what I went with. 

I dig on these cute little pumpkins.  Here is how you make them:

I punched 4 circles.  You can do more for a fuller pumpkin.

Fold them in half with the pattern you want showing on the inside.

Smear a little Tombow on there. 

Put 2 together.  Then smear more glue.  Put another one on there.  Smear more glue.  Put another one on there and there you have it.........4 folded circles glued together.  TaDa!

Now glue this onto the tag.  Whats neat about this is you can put this on a card and it will fold flat for mailing and then poof back out when the person opens the envelope.  Neat, right?

I stamped the words first and then added the washi tape.  I also cut up a Little Leaves die for the stem.  I think they're pretty cute.

Alrighty then, thats it for me today.  I discovered I have lots of other projects to show you so things should be a little more interesting on the blog-o..........for awhile anyway. 

Thanks so much for hanging out, hanging around, checking in, stopping by....................just thanks. 

Blessings, b.