February 29, 2008

Q and A session......

I love the dry embossed look on cards, but I would like to have a machine (like a Wizard, I guess) to do it with. What machine do you recommend for dry embossing large areas quickly.
The Wizard is a die cutting machine that works with almost all dies out there on the market. It is made by Spellbinder's, the same company that makes the great Nestabilities Die Templates. The Nestabilities enable you to cut and then emboss the cut shape with a second turn through the Wizard. You can also run other items through the Wizard with ease for other embossing....such as string, ribbons, rubber bands, paper clips and even pop bottle tops. The Wizard is made of all steel parts and is extremely durable. No broken plates,etc.

If you're talking about other dry embossing like with the metal templates you can purchase, you can try running those through a die cutting machine also. I have also done straight lines lately wher I emboss or de-emboss. This is achieved by simply using my bone folder and the groove in my paper trimmer.

Many of you have emailed me with such kind words about my blog. Thank you for always visiting my site and passing my blog address along to others. I so appreciate the feedback!! I thought I would paste some questions here and give responses so that you all can benefit. Hope this helps!

Wondering if you have found a replacement for cool caribbean and positvely pink ink? These are Stampin' Up! Classic Ink pad colors. For Cool Caribbean I use SU! Soft Sky now and have become fond of Nichole's new Palette ink colors at Papertrey Ink. Aqua Mist is a very close match to Soft Sky. As for the Positively Pink, I don't have a new color to refer you to. However, I do mostly use Palette Hybrid Inks and Versamagic Chalk inks these days.

What do you think would be a good basic starter set for nestabilities. Okay, this is a hard question for me because I use ALL of the shapes and sizes and there's more new shapes coming soon! Of all the shapes I probably use the circles and squares the most. I highly suggest getting the Classic Shapes along with Scallop Shapes so that you can layer them up. Then move on to the next shape. For example if you like the circles, I highly suggest purchasing the entire collection as you can see HERE. This way you'll have all the dies to layer with one another...and you won't end up wondering which size set you have. Ellen is the EXPERT at helping with the Nestabilities so feel free to email her over at her blog, she's SOOOOOO helpful with all your questions.

My favorite has been the inspiration station that you made......are you building one for easter??? Ohhh yes, I'm taking photos today as soon as I get it all set up. It will be my Spring Inspiration Station and I can't wait to dig into those goodies!! I'll be showing you projects all month long with products from my Inspiration Station.

Thank you for sharing your talent and family with all of us!.......Lori fromTexas Thanks Lori, I truly feel that the best things in life start and end with the family and friends. That's why so many of my posts involve little gifts for teachers, friends and family! I hope you're getting some good ideas along the way too!

Just getting into reading blogs and these markers seem to be the thing. What makes them different from SU pens? Ohh, my beloved Copic markers. Yes, I love them so and they are a very popular tool in the market right now. I do believe that they are THE BEST marker available for my needs right now. Start HERE at Ellen's blog and settle in for some nice reading. She gives a ton of information from what paper she uses, what inks she uses,etc. In short, Copic markers are fasy drying, double ended markers available in 322 colors. They are refillable, permanent, non-toxic and dry acid free. You can get new tips if they ever wear out. So one marker of that particular color is all you'll ever need. The price point is higher than SU! markers but the quality is the best you will find and you'll never have to purchase a second marker of that color. Ellen offers the Sketch style which has a chisel tip and a brush tip. This is my favorite type of marker because I use the brush tip for coloring and blending. The chisel tips fits into an airbrush system that gives fantastic results. Do I think the markers are worth the money? A thousand times YES! Aren't they pricey? Yes, but you definitely get what you pay for with Copics. You neeeeeeeeed these markers! LOL

I've been seriously considering investing in a set of Copic markers but I want to ask you about the paper you use Again, Ellen's blog is a great resource if you go back through her Copic posts. The paper and ink that you choose to use for your Copic creations will make all the difference. Do your research before you buy. For paper I use Ellen's Classic Neenah Cardstock or Nichole's Stamper's Select White from Papertrey Ink. Ellen's paper is a bit thinner than the Stamper's Select white, depending on what you prefer. For ink, I prefer Palette's Black Noir or Burnt Umber ink pads.

Where did you get the purses from the Easter chick post? You guys like those, huh? Those are stationery boxes available at Papertrey Ink(scroll down the the creatively clear boxes). Nichole shows you how to make them HERE. That girl is SO clever and creative. I switched up the handles for mine to save on the amount of twill used at my Card Club.

Judy in Indiana said...
Beth says I have to ask you if Nicole is really her BFF. I have a suspicion she loves her from afar like I do. So, tell the truth now....
That Bethie. She is just jealous because I got a hand written note from Nichole on my packing slip and she didn't. And it was in blue ink, Bethie's favorite color. For the sake of not making MY BFF Becky Higgins upset, I will let Beth have Nichole for her BFF. That Bethie's a nice gal and all but you gotta watch that girl sometimes. Snort!!!

Okay, that was wayyyyy too much writing without any fun photos so I'm going to stop now!! I feel the need to go sit in my stamp room now. See ya soon!! Don't miss my earlier post today, there's actually photos of fun stuff!

Rubber Soul and Card Sketches

For today's creations, I drew inspiration from my beloved (and well sought after by Bethie) Idea Sketch Book. I used a fun set from Rubber Soul called Springtime Mom. It's a great clear set for spring like and Mother's Day cards. Patterened paper is from Bo Bunny, Twinkle Stickers are from AMuse (available at Ellen's store) I love all the yellow I'm seeing this season. Not the bright yellows but this lovely buttercup yellow. And polka dots too, what more could you ask for? This sketch great for dividing up images and sentiments, and you get to use an additional strip of patterned paper too. The three flowers could also be substituted with 3 buttons or other embellishments. The Bloom sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. I placed three red twinkle stickers on the curly parts of the word bloom.
This is my faux ribbon card. Simply use two strips of patterned paper and snip the ends to resembleribbons. I added some real red satin ribbon too. I love this stamp, doesn't every mom deserve a day off?
This layout also allows for two patterned papers. I love the little morslet of polka dot paper. (Yes, *morslet* is a word in my vocabulary!) The yellow ribbon hides the *seam* of the patterned paper and the main image. Love that! More red sequin stickers finish off the card.
And this is a smaller version of my Clam Shell Cards. This size is more suitable for a little gift tag or small thank you note. The Wizard cuts easily through two layers of cardstock. Spellbinder's circle dies used for all the layers.
Hope you enjoy today's cards. They are bright and cheery......and hey, it's supposed to be 65 degrees on Sunday!!! Do I see glimpses of Spring?? I sure hope so.

Coming soon to a blog near you: Spring Inspiration Station (I know, I know....you can't wait!) and a Theme Shopping idea to get you thinkin' about how and what you shop for. So come back soon. Have a great weekend! I have a sick kiddo at home today.....patiently waiting with a stack of games by her side. So off I go to play Barbie Uno!!

February 28, 2008

February Card Club Samples

These are the projects the girls did at last weekend's Card Club. All stamps and cardstock from Stampin' Up!

This first one was a general greeting card. The sentiments could be changed out for any occasion. This was the favorite project by far....a little Nichole plastic purse and matching notecard. I switched up the handle from what Nichole did so I could save on the twill. One of the gals made six of these sets to use as place settings for Easter dinner. Another gal made five sets to give out to coworkers for Easter. My Jordy loves these so now we have to plan one of our *special dinners* around this theme. Tip: If you use a Copic marker down the center of the twill tape (May Arts), it stiffens it so it will stand up better and not flop over on it's side.
The girls really liked this card too even though many have never sent St. Patrick's Day cards before. I suggested that they could send it to friends and family with March birthdays. I think the patterned paper I selected kind of toned down the card a bit. My favorite part is the polka dots stamped on that little blue strip.
Hope you enjoy!!!

February 26, 2008

Hanna Biker Chick

Here's my Hanna biker chick card. This set was just released....it's called Route 66. I think this card will be perfect for one of Josey's teachers. She rides her motorcycle to school when the weather is nice. I colored the image in with Copics then airbrushed a bunch of dust and dirt...Hanna's peeling out! Is that what you do with motorcycles...peel out? LOL!

Pink Wedding Cards

Here are some simple layouts for wedding cards that I made for my stash basket. It's getting to be that season for weddings again soon. This first sample uses stamp images from Rubber Soul. Colored with Copic markers and circles cut with Spellbinder's Dies. Dew Drops are used for bling on the first two cards. These last cards all use Karen Lockhart's wonderful wedding cake and bride stamp images. Images are colored and airbrushed with Copic markers and cut with Spellbinder's Die Templates. Paper from Memory Box.
Supplies from Ellen's online store: Copic markers and Airbrush System, Memory Box paper, Karen Lockhart stamps, Spellbinder's Nestabilities Die Templates, Dew Drops.

February 25, 2008

Lockhart Garden Angel meets Cosmo Cricket

Today's card was inspired by my talented friend Anna Wight. Anna is SO talented, it's just CRAZY!! She is such a good artist and has her own line of stamps for Whipper Snapper. I'm especially fond of her lambies cuz my Jordy just loves anything lamb like. Be sure to check out her blog and whimsical stamps. It was THIS CARD from Anna's blog that inspired today's creations. Isn't her card adorable??

Now for my card, I drew my color inspirations from the Cosmo Cricket patterned paper. I can't wait to get my hands on some of their new designs released at CHA. I used Copic markers to color in Karen Lockhart's pretty Garden Angel image, which has been stamped with Palette Black Noir ink on Papertrey white cardstock. I love the blue and orange tones on this card. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink, I thought it was just the perfect one.

For the card layout, I loved how Anna used a solid strip under her main colored image. I used a textured Bazzill cardstock...dry embossed it with my bone folder, cut the scallop edge with Fiskars scissors and then added a polka dot line with my Faux Ribbon stamps from Papertrey. A strip of Martha Stewart twill tape finishes off the card. The main image layers are adhered to the card front with SU! dimensionals.


I LOOOOOOVE the polished look of this layout, so THANKS ANNA for the inspiration!!

February 21, 2008

Hanna Stamps Easter Clamshell Cards

Edited: There's a few of you with questions, you can email me at stamplady@satelephone.com. I will be subbing today, at BB games tonight and then to a BB tournament tomorrow. But I will try to get back to you as soon as I can. MM paper is from the Garden Party collection, SU! color is Pretty in Pink for the base card.

Tonight at midnight is a new release of Hanna Stamps. You can view the full sets being released HERE. The two sets are called Spring Time(Easter/Spring set) and Route 66 (the cute motorcycle set). The samples below are more of the clam shell scallop cards. You can view my previous post for instructions on how I create them.

The two images used are from the Spring Time set. Both are smaller accessory stamps but they stand alone wonderfully by themselves. The bunny reminds me of Bugs Bunny and the little lamb is just adorable. My daughter Jordan LOVES all things *lamby* so she'll love this Easter card this year. I cut out all the circle layers and the scallop card base with Spellbinder's Nestabilities Die Templates (from Ellen's store). Images are colored in with Copic markers and blended with a Copic blender pen. The dotted circle stamps are from Papertrey Ink. Ribbon from Stampin' Up!. Palette Black Noir ink for images. Paper from Making Memories....getting ready to do my Spring Inspiration Station so stay tuned for more of that paper! Here's a view of the opened card.
I can't wait to make more of these for Easter cards this year. Have you tried these yet? Now I'm off to search for some square, white envelopes....although they fit into a standard A2 size envelope just fine. Have I said I'm ready for Spring? I keep hoping that I'll see a red robin...some green grass......heck, I'd even settle for a with sunshine!! Hurrrrrrrryyyy Spring!

February 20, 2008

Clam Shell Scallop Cards-Hero Arts Owl

I am so excited for today's post. I'm gonna be late for work though if I don't make it a quick one. Have you noticed all the scallop edges and circle shaped cards lately? I have seen lots in stamping galleries and when I visited Archiver's last week there was an entire section of colored notecards that were in different shapes and sizes. But a little pricey, I must say. So I thought of how I could recreate the look at home with supplies I already own. Viola, the handy dandy Spellbinder's Scallop Nestabilities Die Templates immediately came to mind. SB will be coming out with some fantastic new Megabilities shapes soon that will just knock your socks off...larger die templates for you to make your own full size scallop cards. I can't wait!!

But for now I'm using the largest of the scallop circle die templates and large regular circle die templates. Isn't this card just the cutest little morslet of a thing? I found this adorable owl stamp from Hero Arts at Archiver's last week. I stamped the image , colored in with Copic markers and then stamped a polka dot circle image from Papertrey around the owl. I then cut that out with a circle SB die template then mounted it with dimensionals onto a circle cut piece of My Mind's Eye polka dot paper. Notice that I even lined the envelope with a scrap of the patterned paper. I found those square envies at my local scrapbook store. Sentiment is hand stamped from SU! mini alphabet stamps. Now for the scallop clam shell card base. It's opens at the top and has ribbon tied around it. I think it's just darling!To create the clamshell card, simply fold your cardstock in half and place it over the scallop die template. Make sure that a portion of the die template is hanging off the edge. This creates the fold of the card. I used SU! cardstock and the SB die templates cut through both pieces easily and left nice clean edges. I used my Wizard to do my cutting and it has LOT of pressure. Stay tuned for more clam shell scallop cards this week!!

Supplies: Spellbinder's supplies and Copics available at Ellen's online store.

February 19, 2008

Papertrey Sympathy Cards

I made these sympathy cards a few weeks back. Boy, I can tell I'm getting older because there are so many friends my age that are losing their elderly loved ones. I know that dying is part of life but it is still so hard to deal with. Sometimes the best thing you can do is send a card and just let that person know that you are thinking of them. So I needed a big stack of sympathy cards for myself and also for my stash basket. It seems lately that sympathy and get well cards are the best sellers, YKWIM?


But I do have to say that I loved the design of these cards. I literally made this batch in about 30-45 minutes. Two step stamping, where you layer lots of matching images, is about the quickest way to whip out cards in a short amount of time. Nichole's sets at Papertrey Ink are just perfect for this kind of stamping. She puts so much thought and detail into each set and the way that the images layer together makes it easy on us stampers. This set is called Beautiful Blossoms and the possibilities of *floral arranging* on your projects are endless. I also used a strip of My Mind's Eye patterned paper on each card. Just a little snippet was all that was needed because I wanted to keep the white base card clean and simple. The base is Papertrey's Stampers Select white cardstock. Sentiments are also from Papertrey. Ink is from Stampin' Up! I also had time to stamp some simple flowers on my envelopes. I am loving the white base cards if you've noticed lately. It's just a clean and simple look and really reminds me of nice stationery. To keep the look uncluttered but to add a little more detail, I used my bone folder and paper trimmer groove to create two lines of deep embossing under the patterned paper strips. Very subtle but still another design element added to the card. I love the little flower next to the sentiment also.
And for the flowers, I simply stamped the leaf image, added the orange flowers with brown outlines and then stamped the little tiny orange flowers along the stems. This reminded me of little buds that are about to bloom and you can see the color of the flowers just about to pop open.
And that's it. Simple. Clean. Easy peasy. I think I'll be making more of these types of cards soon.

February 16, 2008

Fruit Ensemble

These projects shoot me straight into Spring and Summer. Ohhhh how I wish it was warm and sunny here! I made this fruit ensemble for the Spellbinder's CHA booth. The entire collection uses Crate Paper, SU! Certainly Celery cardstock, Copic markers and airbrush system and Spellbinder's oval, circle and square Nestabilities and Lockhart rubber stamps.

I absolutely LOVE polka dots and have seen them everywhere this season. So I'm diggin' that little polka dot paper. I also love the white colandar against the bright, red cherries.
Here's a peachy little card. Mmmm, I can just taste a big, fat, juicy peach right now, can't you?
Yellow is also everywhere this season and I LOVE it! I thought these strawberries looked really cute against this striped paper with the yellow accents.
Here's a little recipe book made with 3 x 5 recipe cards and my Bind It All machine. Chipboard letters have been inked up. And check out the new longer ovals from Spellbinder's. These will be awesome with sentiments, titles, etc.
Here's a 4 x 6 recipe card that will fit great in the girls' Recipe Box. The stamps are from Stampin' Up!. I think recipe cards like this would be so fun to give out to those friends and neighbors that request recipes. Sooooo, are you cookin' up anything special this weekend? We're on a healthy eating kick so our menu is pretty strict right now. But I'm craving a dessert so I think I'll whip up my lowfat strawberry pie today. Have a GREAT Saturday! I'm heading out to Josey's basketball game and then to my friends house to scrapbook. I'm all packed and ready to go!! Only two small bags, I'm keeping a *minimalist* approach today.

February 14, 2008

Papertrey Teacher Valentines

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY to all my blogging friends!!! I hope your day is filled with love and happiness! Today, I rushed my girls to the bus with their Valentine's and teacher gifts. There's nothing better than a PARTY day at school. I'm busy making cupcakes today to take to school for the kids to decorate in Jordan's class. She came and jumped in my bed this morning and gave me a big ol' smacker right on the lips. Then she told me she was so glad that I was her mom because we make the coolest stuff and it's SO crafty and fun. I love that kid!

So onto today's creations. Jordan, my youngest, is my crafty girl. She just melts at the chance to help me with crafts so she jumped right in when I told her we could make teacher gifts. We used Papertrey Ink's Limitless Labels set to stamp up a bunch of return address labels in pink and red. Jordy wrapped all the Hershey almond nuggets and taped one to each of her classmate's Valentines. She was just SO proud of herself!
Then we stamped *for you teacher* with words from the same Limitless Labels set and made scallop flower accents for teacher candy bags. These were SO simple and came together EASY PEASY with Nichole's set. You can see at the bottom of the photo that we wrapped stamped address labels and pieces of patterned cardstock around more nuggets. We then placed four wrapped nuggets in flat cello bags and taped them shut on the back side using Scotch tape. The scallop flower accents were attached to front with a SU! dimensional.
Both of my girls made their teacher lists and we sorted their candies into little pink baskets. They took these this morning to pass out to the teachers, they were smiling ear to ear!

Now tell me....is there nothing better than doing special things with your kids.....and for them to think you're the coolest mom ever??? I wouldn't trade it for anything in the whole wide world! Happy happy day to all of you, my friends!!!! I LOVE that you come and visit me! I and LOVE it even more when you check in to say *HEY MISH*!! Now I'm off to bake those cupcakes!!

February 11, 2008

Rubber Soul Flowers/Papertrey Sentiments

Happy Monday everyone, new look to the blog AGAIN! I am SO ready for Spring that I can hardly wait. I want to clean out my flower beds to ready them for new plants. I want the sun to shine every day. I want this snow to melt. I want to be able to wear crop pants again and go barefoot in my house. But until Spring arrives I'll have to be patient. So I'll just stamp springy cards. Today's creations use some of my favorite papers from Cosmo Cricket. I paired the papers with SU! River Rock card bases and a Cotton Candy pink cardstock strip from Memory Box at the bottom of the cards. Images stamped on Papertrey White cardstock with Palette Black Noir ink. The flower images I used are from one of my favorite Rubber Soul sets called Everyday Whimsy. I colored them in with Copic markers and then used a negative oval shape from a Spellbinder's oval die template to do some airbrushing. I love the way that an airbrushed shape really ties the entire stamped *scene* together.
These four cards came together really quickly this morning becaused I used a tried and true card layout from my idea sketch book. I used 4" x 4" pieces of patterned paper and 1-1/4" x 4" pieces of the pink cardstock for the strip at the bottom. This fills your entire card front, leaving a 1/8" border of the base card showing. Love this layout!! The two pieces of cardstock on the front are *seamed* together with pretty ribbon. I wanted subtle ground line so that the flowers wouldn't be floating in space so I opted for two embossed lines which I created with a bone folder and my paper trimmer. What an easy way to create some texture as well. To finish off my cards, I used various Papertrey sentiments. I am constantly reaching for Nichole's sentiments because the fonts are just timeless, match with everything and they're clear stamps so I can place them right where I want. Nothing worse than making a great card then to stamp your sentiment crooked because you couldn't see what you were stamping!
These cards will go directly into my card stash basket if I don't use them up first! Seems like I need a LOT of get well cards this time of year, how 'bout you?

February 10, 2008

Valentine's Cupcake Kit

Valentine's Day will be here before you know it. Do you have all of your treats and treasures ready for your loved ones? If you recall, I made some Christmas Cupcake Kits during the holiday season. Once again, I've found the Pillsbury cake mix and matching frosting with sprinkles for Valentine's Day. So I'll be giving to this cute kit to my girls a few days early so that they can make their cupcakes for our special Valentine's Day dinner that we do every year. I used the adorable cupcake stamp from Lizzie Anne to make the outside tag, along with an AMuse sentiment too. The kit has the cake mix and some cupcake sticks inside and is tied up with ribbon and tulle on the outside. Here's a close up of the cupcake sticks. I colored them in with Copic markers and a silver Copic Spica glitter pen for the cupcake liners. The scallop circles are taped to lollipop sticks that can be found at Michael's or any cake and candy decorating store.
Here's a close up of the fancy tulle netting and heart ribbon. I used a Spellbinder's embossed circle and scallop cut circle for the big outside tag.
Here's a link to my friend Kendra's cupcake kit that she did HERE. I think hers are so adorable too!!!

February 8, 2008

Lockhart Warm Socks.....in floral

Today I have my Josey girl home sick with the flu, poor thing! As a mom, I really hate that helpless feeling of not being able to make my child feel better. So today, I'm hangin' with my girl, bringing her crackers and 7 Up, fluffing her pillow and just keeping her company. So when she's dozing, I catch up on some stamping....which brings me to today's creations......Get Well Soon cards. How appropriate right? These cards are a continuation of my last post where I showed you this same Lockhart Warm Socks stamp and the CHF Open Plaid Backgrounder. All patterned paper is from K and Company. The *Get Well Soon* sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. All images are colored in with Copic markers. Also for the cards today, I drew in little flowers and polka dots on the socks, an idea that was inspired by my friend Debbie Olson. This first card below is just a simple card featuring an ol' reliable layout that I use often. I love the Karen Lockhart's sentiment on the top of the card.
For this next card, I used a snippet of that background paper I had left over from a previous card..but I added in some tiny rust colored flowers to match the socks and floral patterned paper. The teeny little flower is from a Papertrey Ink stamp set. And notice the *get well soon* sentiment. I stamped it on a scrap of grid patterned paper and just tucked it under the ribbon, love that! I did the same thing for the card above and the next card coming up.
For the card below, I used the last little morslet of that Open Plaid Backgrounder design but colored in the wide lines with a mustard marker and added those same teeny Papertrey Ink flowers but in a yellow ink.
When I was done with all my cards, I thought they need just a little something else. I thought. Thought some more. And then I got out some AMuse scallop clear stickers and by golly that did the trick! So scroll back up and look closely at the stamped images. They're all shiny. If you go to my first photo, you can see the stickers really well.

Tip of the day: Okay, let's talk about *white space*. No, it's not the surface of my winter white body begging for some Spring time sunshine!! LOL! White space is what I refer to as areas in your cards left blank...left alone.......to let the eye have a little rest and to allow your images a little breathing room. If you take a look at the first two cards, you'll notice that the stamped sock images have very little white space around them. I wanted to keep the focus on the main image and also allow as much of the patterned to show through in the background. Now look at the last card above. There is LOTS of white space around the stamped image. Do you notice the different *feel* to the cards. The first two cards allow your eye to go back and forth from the main focal image, then to the patterned paper and so forth. This last card keeps the focus on the main image pretty much because it takes front and center in that big white space. The image *breaths* a little better, the card looks *lighter* with all that white space. The sentiment and background plaid paper become secondary accents without overwhelming the card.

So my actual tip for the day is this: When stamping your images onto your white cardstock, always leave a bunch of white space around the image. Then when you actually get around to using that colored image, you'll have the choice of leaving that white space there or cropping your image to where it has very little white space. It's a good thing!

Supplies: Backgrounder stamp, Warm Socks, Get Cozy sentiment, and Copic markers all available from Ellen's online store.

February 6, 2008

Plaid Gridpaper/Lockhart Socks

Edited: Hey everyone, I posted TWICE today so be sure to scroll down to the next post for some calendar stuff!

I'm back with a card, just couldn't resist posting my fun snow day creation. I just got some new Cornish Heritage Farm Backgrounders from Ellen. One of my favorites is the Open Plaid Backgrounder. And if you've noticed, I love grid patterned paper. So I'm calling my creation plaid gridpaper. How cool would that be to have an entire notepad of plaid gridpaper to color in? Well the next best thing is this backgrounder stamp!

I have all my basic supplies layed out for you to see. I first chose the patterned paper I wanted to use which is from K and Company. Then I colored in my image to match. I did this some time ago but had the image and the paper ready to go.

Oh, and guess what? This image called Warm Socks is available at Ellen's store and is the Stamp of the Month. That means Ellen has a wonderful card kit available with a darling sample. She got her patterned sock idea from Debbie Olson, and so did I. Debbie did a wonderful project (I think Ellen links to it in her post) where she drew a pattern on the socks. So I just had to try it. Who knew socks could be SO much fun!!? But I love this stamp because you can do get well, feel better, stay warm......or *that stinks* type of cards. It's just something different than the usual bouquet of flowers. A very good stamp to add to your collection.

Soooo back to the plaid gridpaper. Using color inspirations from the patterned paper, I stamped the background with Burnt Umber Palette Ink onto cream colored cardstock. Then I chose three colors of Copic markers and colored in some lines over the Open Plaid Backgrounder. My lines aren't perfectly straight, I wanted them to be somewhat squiggly and casual. What I love about this backgrounder so much is that you can stamp it in just one color, but you can also color in the lines like I did or even stamp in little images in the square spaces. Another great background to add to your collection. Here's my finished card below. I used Wild Wasabi cardstock and ribbon and So Saffron cardstock to complete my project. I only ended up using a small portion of my plaid gridpaper because I wanted it to compliment but not compete with the grid design on the stamped image. But don't think I threw those scraps away, I've got more cards to make with them!! I finished the card off with the get well sentiment from Papertrey Faux Ribbon. And I also imitated the plaid look by stamping three different colored lines from the Papertrey Faux Ribbon set along the envelope edge then added the special delivery sentiment from that same set. I love, love, love to have my envelopes coordinate with the card. Who doesn't love to see a fun envelope peeking out in the mail......instead of BILLS!!??
Enjoy girls!! Do you own any CHF Backgrounders? If so, tell me which ones you have or what your favorites are. You can view the entire collection of Backgrounders HERE, Ellen's got 'em all!

Cosmo Cricket Calendar/Notebook/Clipboard

We have a snow day today so I'm hanging out with my girls today. Actually, they're going over to Grandma's house soon so they are cleaning their rooms for now. I'm going to stamp later and hopefully I'll post a card today too. But first I wanted to show you a little ensemble I made using Cosmo Cricket paper. I have to say it's one of my favorite paper lines right now. And if you haven't been following their fun blog postings counting down to CHA, you have to go check it out HERE. Jon the warehouse guy is a total crack up!! And you can see their new paper lines and products that they'll be releasing at CHA this week too. And did you see the QVC Creating Keepsakes special on Feb. 4th? I got a 9,000 piece Special of the Day Cosmo Cricket scrapbook kit, so awesome!!!

So on to today's creations. I always carry a small pocket calendar to school when I sub so that I can fill in new sub days when the secretary asks me if I'm available. So this Mish Mash piece below is just one of those $1 store calendars that I altered with Cosmo Cricket paper, some stickers that came with the kit and a Prima flower and brad in the center. The clipboard is from Stampin' Up!. I painted it and added another coordinating piece of patterned paper and Prima flower. The small journal is one of those junior notepads that I cut in half to make a skinny little notebook. I'll show you how to make those in a future post soon on theme shopping. To me, you can never have too many notepads and stuff like that. I love to give them as gifts and I love to have them for myself too. Do you have a snow day today? It would be the PERFECT day to make a little ensemble like this for yourself. Come back again today for a snow day creation!!!

February 4, 2008

Papertrey Cake and Spellbinder Masking

Good morning everyone! How 'bout that Superbowl? I'm not really into watching sports on television (I'd much rather be at my girl's basketball games).....so the best part for me was the Southwestern Crescent Rolls I made for snacks, LOL!! Well, have you seen all of the new announcements over at Nichole's blog? I am just giddy with all the events happening this month! And one of my dear friends, Pine (Heather Nichols), will be having her own line of stamp sets!! Congratulations Piney (and the other new designers), I am just jumping up and down in my seat for you!!!!!!!!

So I know you're waiting for some more calendar talk this week and I haven't forgotten. But I just had to head to my stamp room during the football game last night. With all of the new Papertrey stamp sets that will be coming out, I thought I better get my fingers a little inky with Papertrey sets so I can justify all of the new stamp sets that I am CERTAIN will be finding their way into my stamp room each month! LOL!

But to tie in with my calendar theme this week, I thought I would share my system for making and sending out birthday cards each month. I have a master birthday list in my calendar that I refer to each month. At the end of each month, I take a sticky note and write down all the birthdays, anniversaries, etc for the following month. That way, I know exactly how many cards I'll need for that month. I will then pick out the cards from my stash basket or a lot of the time, I'll stamp new cards just to have a fresh, new design. Cards that are needed unexpectedly, such as get well and sympathy are usually pulled from my stash basket as needed.

So this month, I needed to make some new birthday cards because my stash basket was running low. So I chose to use the Papertrey set called Piece of Cake. Oh my, is it a wonderful set. It focuses on this layered piece of cake but there are SOOO many fun sentiments to mix and match. The possibilities are endless!
Before I get to the overall design of the card, I wanted to show you a fun way to create a plate for the piece of cake to sit on. Debbie Olson did this on one of her cake cards and it was simply adorable. First, stamp all of the images of the cake and sentiment to make your main focal image.
Next, stamp the two layers of the cake onto Eclipse Tape. This tape is a slightly tacky tape that comes on a roll. It is VERY thin which means your images that you stamp over the mask will not have that halo line around them. The cut out mask is very thin so the ink covers over it nicely. An entire roll will probably last you a life time. Next place your cake mask over the stamped cake image.
Then cut an oval *plate* from a Spellbinder's Oval Die Template. This shape is from a new set of thinner ovals now available at Ellen's online store. I LOVE this new shape of the ovals because it's longer and skinnier and will accomodate sentiments and more narrow stamped images. Awesome!
Next, place the negative shape of the oval over the masked cake. Hold down with your fingers or use removable adhesive to keep it in place. Lightly mist the are with a Copic marker and Copic Airbrush System. The mist from the airbrush is so fine and evenly sprayed on that there is no comparison to sponging or chalks. I just love to use the airbrush for this technique.
Remove the Eclipse mask and there you have it....a fun, little, scallop plate for the piece of cake to sit on.
Here are my finished card designs below. They all have different layouts, yet have many similar components. I used Papertrey white cardstock for the card bases. You know how I've been loving the crisp, clean look of the white card base. This cardstock is really thick and makes a wonderful base. All of the patterned paper is from October Afternoon and is 4" x 4" in size, just placed differently for each card. Each main image was stamped a little differently using different flowers and sentiments from the Piece of Cake stamp set. I also used some of the long border images from the Faux Border Papertrey set. I always like for there to be some element that ties the patterned paper line into the solid cardstock line. Usually I use a length of ribbon but since I just did little loops of ribbon on the main image, I opted for the border stamps.
Each card also has brads attached to the main image. Now I know that brads have been around a long time but I have found THE BEST brads ever. My friend Cindy Lyles has discovered these little gems and has them available from her store Star Lit Studio. The brads have this perfectly round shape with no part of the metal *legs* showing on the sides of the brad. The colored finish is nicely rounded so that it looks like a big drop of enamel paint was dropped onto the brad surface. And there are lots of trendy colors to choose from. Who knew that brads could get me so excited. Well, there is Brad Pitt but Cindy didn't include him in my order, dang it!
And to finish off my cards, I stamped coordinating envelopes for each card. There are plenty of sentiments to use on the inside of the card and the envelope so I was able to use a different sentiment for each part of my card. There's even a hand stamped sentiment for the back of the card so I did that too!

Well, if you stuck with me through this long post, Thank You!! I really do appreciate all of the kind comments you leave on my blog. It just makes my day to see that you took the time to leave a comment. {hugs from Mish}
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