Stamp Review Crew: Painted Petals

Welcome to the latest Stamp Review Crew blog hop!  Our stamp set this session is the dreamy Painted Petals set.   Watercolor images are one of my very favorite styles.  In fact, two of my first stamp purchases were SU!'s Roses in Winter and Watercolor Mini's.  

Painted Petals has that same lovely "old-fashioned" watercolor feel.  I chose to keep my card and bookmark set very simple to focus on that.

This is a one layer card stamped on Naturals White cardstock.  There were two advantages to using the Naturals White compared to Whisper White cardstock in this instance.  It is a heavier weight making a nice card base and it is not quite as smooth as Whisper White.  That tiny bit of roughness adds to the softness of the stamped watercolor effect.

To add depth to the flowers I first inked the stamp with Strawberry Slush ink and then added highlights with a Rose Red marker directly to the stamp.   A Stamp-a-ma-jig was essential in getting the perfect alignment.  I love my Stamp-a-ma-jig!  It sounds a bit paradoxical but I find it relaxing to stamp with a Stamp-a-ma-jig so I can view and precisely place images in the exact spot to get a pleasing and balanced placement.  I have to admit I used to be hesitant to reach for my SAMJ thinking the extra step was a nuisance,  but I find I have far fewer "mistakes" and am much happier with the end result when using this wonderful tool!

Thanks so much for joining us for our Blog Hop.  Now please click on the links below to continue on your way to see more wonderful projects with the Painted Petals stamp set.  Click "Next Blog"  to see the talented Mike Funke's creation or "Previous Blog" to view Nancy Smith's lovely projects.   Our next hop will be two weeks from now when the Crew will return to review another stamp set!

  

  

Supplies:  Stamps: Painted Petals, Paper: Naturals White Cardstock, Ink: Strawberry Slush Classic Ink, Rose Red Stampin Write Marker, Wild Wasabi Classic Ink, Blackberry Bliss Classic Ink,  Tools:  Stamp-a-ma-jig.

Mini Cadbury Egg Basket

Need a really quick Easter gift?  This little basket of a dozen candy eggs is super simple!

I designed this to fit these Mini Cadbury Creme Eggs.

Here is how to make one:

1. Cut a 4-1/2" by 9" piece of DSP or card stock.  

2. Score at 1 inch on each side.  

3. Trim on the score lines to form tabs and adhere with strong adhesive such as Sticky Strip or Fast Fuse. 

4.  Add a 1" by 11" handle.

5.  Decorate as desired 

 

Supplies:  Simply Wonderful Stamp Set, Costal Cabana Classic Ink, Best Year Ever Accessory Pack, Best Year Ever Designer Series Paper, Costal Cabana Cardstock, Costal Cabana Thick Bakers Twine, Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack, Basic Rhinestones

Stamp Review Crew: Sheltering Tree

Welcome to the Sheltering Tree edition of the Stamp Review Crew's bi-weekly blog hop.

I have not participated in the hops (or even stamped) in quite a while as I was caring for my mom through her journey with end stage cancer. The sentiment from the Sheltering Tree stamp set is particularly meaningful as we were blessed with so many wonderful friends and family who surrounded us with love.

It was therapeutic to create this framed artwork remembering the many, many acts of kindness bestowed upon us.

I used the Chalkboard Banner Kit and added just a few other embellishments.  The background is made with layered DSP banners that come with the kit and the tree is embossed on one of the chalkboard pieces.

Thank you for stopping by.  Please click on the links below to see all the other beautiful creations our crew has prepared with this lovely stamp set.

  

  

Supplies:  Chalkboard Banner Kit, Bermuda Bay Sequin Trim,  Bermuda Bay and Melon Mambo 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon, Gold and Melon Mambo Embossing Powder, 6" X 8" frame (Non-SU!)

Status Update

I have been absent from blogging for quite a while.  My mom was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and my life quickly became consumed in caring for her and my dad.   Days were filled with tests,  procedures, hospitalizations, setting up my house to take care her, in home nursing visits, coordinating family members and finally caring for her in an inpatient hospice setting.  We had moments of sadness and tears and moments of sweet joy as we spent precious time together.  My mom is now in her new heavenly home.  We all miss her so.

I will continue to be busy in the weeks/months ahead helping my dad and family with many things.  I am not sure just when I will return to regular crafting.  I hope to have time to post here and there but I am trying to keep my expectations low as we get back on track.

Stampin' Addicts Winter Holiday Blog Hop

Several weeks ago the demonstrators from Stampin' Addicts hosted a blog hop featuring the fall items from the 2014 Stampin' Up Holiday catalog.  The catalog has so many wonderful things we could not fit them all in one hop so this weekend we have Part Two of the hop showing off the winter products.

I am using the Gift Card Envelope & Trims Framelits Die.  Of course this die can be used to make a little envelope just the right size for a gift card.  And you can use it as a pocket on cards or scrapbook pages.  Here are two more ideas:

Join four diecuts end to end and then into a circle.  Fold the flaps down.   Add a square of cardstock to the bottom and you have a super cute, super quick box.

Cut away three of the tabs and you have a either a barn shape or a silo shape depending on which tabs you remove.

I created a framed snowy farm scene with the pieces.  I used the Festival of Trees stamp set and coordinating punch as well.  The straw in the haymow is frayed bits of Hello Honey Satin Ribbon. 

Here is a visual for creating the barn and silo shapes:

In this orientation, remove the side and bottom tabs to make a barn.

For a silo, orient the diecut in this direction and remove the side and bottom tabs.

Now it is time to see what other wonderful winter wonders our members have created.  Please click on the buttons below to continue.   The Next button will take you to Mary's Blog and her happy Holiday Home goodies and the Previous button will take you to Kim's cute Curvy Keepsakes projects.

    

  

Stamp Review Crew: Work of Art

The "Crew" is reviewing the very popular stamp set Work of Art for this edition.  In fact this set is so popular I had to really stretch my creative muscles to come up with a unique idea.   I had several things that ended up in the trash before I hit upon the idea of using one of the "color swishes" to create a camouflage pattern to pair with the For Your Country stamp set.  

I have some guys near and dear to my heart I will be sending these to.

Tips for creating the camo background pattern:

• The card base and background are Very Vanilla cardstock.
• It is easiest to stamp a larger section of the background camouflage pattern,  then trim to size for stamping.
• Use the larger "swish" image and stamp repeatedly.  
• 
• Start with the darkest color of ink.  (Soft Suede).  Stamp off once before stamping on the cardstock.
• Rotate the stamp to vary the pattern.
• Fill in with the medium (Crumb Cake) and light colors (Sahara Sand) also stamped off once leaving a bit of Very Vanilla showing through.  
• Stamp the images from the For Your Country with Soft Suede (do not stamp off).

Now please click on the buttons below to continue on the hop.  You will be delighted with the loads of creativity!

  

  

Stamps:  Work of Art, For Your Country, Itty Bitty Banners, Just Sayin'
Paper: Very Vanilla
Ink: Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, Sahara Sand
Accessories:  Linen Thread

Cadbury Egg Caddy Tutorial

Oh am I excited!!  I am a guest tutorial author on Splitcoaststampers this week.    This has been in the works for almost a year and today is the day it is posted!

The tutorial is for Cadbury Egg Mummies in a custom caddy.

These little guys are just SO cute!  Nothing scary here. The eggs are wrapped in gauze and are nestled together in a box with an insert to keep them secure.   The box front has piece of acetate so they can peek out of their little hiding spot.

I made one similar to this last year with different stamps which you can see on this past post.  The new version uses the Holiday Home and Mingle All the Way stamp sets from the Stampin' Up 2014 Holiday catalog.  The Holiday Home stamp set is photopolymer (clear) making it great to do scenic landscapes and two step stamping.

The directions work equally well for Easter.  There were no current stamps with Easter images so I used digital stamps from My Digital Studio.   For the box I omitted the acetate and added grass cut with Fringe Scissors.

Guest designers for Splitcoaststampers are encouraged to make their own video to go with the tutorial.  I had been thinking it would be fun to start filming tutorials but had just not gotten around to researching how to do it.   Well this gave me the nudge I needed to "get 'er done"!



Click HERE to see the full tutorial on Splitcoaststampers!