Spring fever

I've been slacking lately- we got back from our trip mid-March, then my husband went to his mom's for a three-week visit. Last week of his trip, I got a horrible cold and it's still hanging on. I managed to do some creating while he was away, but didn't get it uploaded until today. Typical- he'll be home in about an hour, and I am doing stuff last minute.

While we were on our cruise, my third niece was born- Emily Catherine- I was trying to decide what to do for her, and came across this cute little stamp at Michaels in the 1.50 bin. I haven't really done a square card before, but it worked well for this one.

The paper is a lightly textured stripe, layered on a darker pink. The sentiment was an experiment- I had the perfect pink for it, but it was a copic marker. I coloured the stamped, huffed some breath on it and stamped it quickly. I was amazed that it worked. Now, to find something to send her and pop it in the mail.

Flourishes challenge

I stumbled upon a new challenge at splitcoaststampers.com. The challenge is to use four of something on your card, and you had to use Flourishes stamps. I have only one set of Christmas stamps, and several non-Christmas. I love, love, love this set, and have used it many times.

I stamped the image in Momento black ink, coloured it all over with N0 Copic, coloured the image with Copics and used Spica gold on his glasses. Then, I added Tea Dye distress ink all over the front of the card, cut it to size and layered it on dark green and red cardstock. The background piece is also coloured with the distress ink. My four of a kind were the brads.

Long time, no blog

It's been a while since my last post- husband retired from the military last month, and to celebrate, we went on a Caribbean cruise. It was heavenly, and I would go back in a heartbeat. 

I made these cards a while ago. It was a technique I saw somewhere (can't remember where now) and really liked it. I got some patterned paper on sale, and the vellum overlay really toned it down. 

The stamp sentiment is Tim Holtz.

 For this one, I ran the vellum through the cuttlebug and the through the zyron to make it stick to the card face.

 This one was run through the zyron as well. The ribbon added a little detail.

 This one is probably my favourite. I used alcohol ink on glossy paper and then stamped the butterfly with black in and embossed it before cutting it out.

I have some new toys that I'll be playing with later this week. So many toys, so little time.

Flowers feed the soul

It's another challenge at Less is More. The challenge this week is three squares.
I looked at the blog on Saturday, but had a busy weekend, so only got to my crafting space tonight after work.
My last stamp order included some beautiful Flourishes stamps, and this challenge was calling their name. I had an idea of what I wanted to do as soon as I saw the challenge.

This card came together in less than 20 minutes. 

I stamped three of the tulips and coloured them with copics. I then attached to the green background (the white squares are 1.5x1.5 and the green is 1.75x1.75). I then pressed the stacks into versamark and coated with clear embossing powder The squares are layered onto a confetti paper from Recollections (Michaels) and then layered onto the green card. The sentiment is also from Flourishes. 

Tomorrow is March 1, and this card gives me hope that spring is right around the corner. I hope!

More mouse

These cards have been sitting on my stamping table for a bit. I kept meaning to take photos, but the time always seems to get away from me.

This is my entry for the Splitcoaststampers Christmas card challenge for March.

I cut the circles on my Cricut and stamped the image. I coloured with Copics and added extra shine to the image by coating it with glitter paint.
The red striped paper is from a stack I've had for a while and I overlaid it on top of the black to give it a little more pop. The sentiment is from House Mouse as well, and was printed on plain white card which was then punched with my snowflake punch.

It came together rather quickly- the longest part was waiting for the paint to dry.

Spring has sprun...

Well, not quite, but it has over at Less is more. The week three challenge is spring. 

I didn't post last week because I was way too busy getting ready for a major event at work, which was held Feb 19. It was a huge hit, and thankfully, Monday was a holiday. I took advantage of it and retreated to my crafty area, and made several cards. 

I got a couple of new Tim Holtz stamps in the mail last week, and couldn't wait to play with them. 

This one is probably my favourite. 

The colour really jumped out at me when I was deciding the colours to use.

It took no time to do, but it was a multi-step process.

First, I stamped the background in black ink and clear embossed it.

Then, I wet the paper, and smooshed distress inks all over it, wet it and crumpled the paper. I then wet it again, added some more ink, blotted the paper with a paper towel and gently (VERY gently) rolled it between my hands like I was making a play dough worm. As a result, the paper is rather leathery. I then dried it a little with my heat tool, and ironed it to smooth it out a bit. 

As it was embossed, I ironed it face-down on a piece of cardstock and very carefully lifted it off. 

Here's a close-up of the stamp- it shows the paper off a little better.

I then cut out around the stamp, ran it through my xyron and added a black mat behind. The three brads on the top give it a bit more dimension. 

The paper, I think is Stampin' up, but I don't have the package any more, so can't be sure. I think the greens in the background go well with the card. I usually do a white card, but decided to make it all green. 

I have several other cards to share, and will do that in the next little bit. 

New toys!

I ordered several Flourishes stamps from One Crazy Stamper, and they arrived on my day off. I was deciding how I wanted to start with them, and came across a blog challenge at Less is More. Their style is clean and simple, and their challenges reflect that. 

The challenge for this week is to make a single layer card (not something I usually do), and to use a flower or tree stamp. This was the perfect time to try my gerbera daisy stamp. 

The flowers were stamped using Memento ink and then coloured with Copic markers.The stems were coloured with pencil, as I didn't have the right colour Copics. The sentiment is from the $1.50 bin at Michaels and was stamped in a coordinating colour. I think this is  a style I'll be experimenting with more- I like the simplicity of it, and it's nice not having to worry about coordinating paper colours or ribbon.