Thankful

Here is a card I made with some of my favorite Hero Arts stamps, unfortunately they are all discontinued, but I still love them :) First I colored the stamps with markers, spritzed them with water and stamped, don't the colors look vibrant! This is then layered onto olive and orange panels and mounted to an olive card that has been stamped with a harlequin stamp using VersaMark ink. I added a chain sticker and butterfly by Stampendous then stamped "thankful" in black. This card has me looking forward to spring, which reminds me, I have two desert tortoises that we have had for about 19 years that have been hibernating, they might wake up with this warm weather we are having, I will have to check on them today and put out food just in case.

Recipe

Stamps- Hero Arts

Paper- misc in olive, white, orange

Inks- VersaMark, black VersaFine

Plus- Stickers by Stampendous, markers

Purses and Shoes

Here is another card using the chalk background technique, this time I used pink and orange chalks for the background. This is also sprayed with gold glitter spray and it is really to bad that it doesn't show up because it is so beautiful! The stamps are a clear stamp set by Stampendous and how true it is, you can never have to many shoes or purses! This set also has the word "stamps" but there isn't a stamp in the set :( The shoe on the card is stamped randomly with VersaMark ink, I love VersaMark, it makes great backgrounds. There is a purse challenge over at "No Time To Stamp" if you would like to go take a look at it.
Health update- I'm finally feeling better! Wow it has been three weeks, I've never been sick so long, who has time for that! Luckily this week will be hot here in Southern California, we are to have highs of about 78 on Tuesday and Wednesday. So I plan on opening all of the windows to let the sun and fresh air in to get rid of all these germs that I am sure are still lurking in my house!
So I'm feeling better just in time for the Girl Scout cookie sales that I am in charge of again this year. We have 16 cookie booths set up for the month of March, I'm hoping we will sell out so we can cancel some of those, I need time to stamp :)
Recipe
Stamps- Stampendous
Inks- black VersaFine, VersaMark
Paper- misc black white and terra cotta
Plus- chalk, gold glitter spray, stickers by Stampendous, ribbon, paper clip, foam squares

Chalk Background Card

I used a chalk background technique to make this card. I started off with white cardstock and took my chalks in yellow and two shades of green and scraped the sides with an exacto knife so the powder falls onto my white paper. After I have scraped all three colors, I rubbed diagonally using a cotton ball to completely cover my quarter sheet of paper. Set this aside and do the same with 2-3 different shades of pink. When done take the papers outside and spray with gold glitter spray and let dry. You can't see the sparkle on the scan, but the paper is beautiful. Then stamp the "thank you" by Stampendous with black VersaFine ink, heat set, cut out and layer onto black paper. Cut down the remaining green paper to fit onto a small black card and mount pieces as shown. The pink thank you is raised using foam squares.
This technique is great to use when you don't have the right colors of decorative papers, just make your own!
Recipe
Stamp- Stampendous
Ink- black VersaFine
Paper- black and white
Plus- chalk, gold glitter spray, flowers- Hero Arts, ribbon, foam squares, pearl- Hero Arts

Enjoy Life!

This was a fun and easy card to make. I stamped Fluffles on a cream panel and watercolored with pencils and added glitter to the yarn then layered it onto a blue panel (set aside). Stamp the circles on a kraft colored panel that is 1/4" smaller than your blue card with beige ink and stamp the flowers inside the solid lined circles. On a half panel of olive paper, stamp the flowers with white and punch a circle in the right side and stamp the dots over the punched area. Glue to the kraft panel and stamp the sentiment in beige then wrap with blue ribbon. Fold a olive green circle over the top of the panel and attach with a blue brad then glue to the card.
Recipe
Stamps-Circles & flowers stamped in white- Great Impressions, individual flower & Fluffles- Stampendous, sentiment & circle stamped in blue- My Sentiments Exactly
Inks-timber brown StazOn, white & beige Brilliance, denim Adirondack
Paper-misc
Plus- glitter glue, satin ribbon, circle punch, watercolor pencils, blue brad, foam squares

My Last Valentine's Day Card, I Promise

Okay, this is it, my last Valentine's Day card! I thought I would make an elegant card, I love using gold embossing powder and layering with gold paper. I stamped the image which is by Stampendous, with VersaMark ink and embossed with champagne embossing powder. The image is painted with Twinkling H2O's (and I just ordered the new set of twelve while at CHA), so the image is really shimmering but the scan doesn't show it. Then layered it onto plum and gold papers. The cream card is stamped with hearts by Great Impressions in a light pink, I can't remember the name and I don't want to run down stairs to check, yes I'm lazy, it's late. After glueing on a plum panel, I inked just one little heart from the Great Impressions stamp with VersaMark, stamped and embossed, then added a heart sticker. Added some beautiful green satin ribbon and I'm done!

Thank you to everyone for the well wishes on getting over my cold, I'm all better now but my hubby is really sick, he came home early from work and will be home tomorrow. He so rarely gets sick, that having this cold is killing him. So it looks like another week before my house is germ free :(

Valentine's Day Card

My whole family has been sick this month. All of the hand washing we do didn't keep us safe. It all started with my son getting a cold, then I got it and was sick all last week and on Thursday I completely lost my voice. Luckily I was well enough yesterday so I could go to CHA in Anaheim, California (I would have gone if I had to crawl!). Wow what a great time I had! I'll post more about it later, but back to my sick family. Then my daughter caught it, but she wasn't to bad, and yesterday while I was having a great time at CHA, my huband came down with it!
Needless to say while I was sick, the cleaning fairy did not clean the house, so that is what I will be doing today ...sigh :( Well enough of my complaining and onto my card.

Just a few more days until Valentine's day, so I'm busy fininshing up the last few cards I need.
1. I stamped the heart three times on vellum with VersaMark ink and emobossed it with a white glitter embossing powder and colored the center of the hearts with a pink marker from the back.
2. The hearts are mounted to a black strip of paper using vellum tap. Then layered onto a strip of white paper covered in glitter.
3. Decorative paper is glued to a black panel, then tie with white satin ribbon.
4. Stamp "love" in black at the bottom.
5. Mount to a white card.
6. Place a heart sticker in the center of the middle heart.
Recipe
Stamps- Stampendous clear stamp set
Inks-VersaMark, black VersaFine
Paper-vellum, decorative paper-The Slab, black and white cardstock
Plus-white glitter embossing powder, heart stickers by Stamendous, ribbon

Tile Coaster Class

I had a "Tile Coaster" class last night and promised the ladies the directions on my blog, so here they are.

1. Stamp an unpolished tile with a harlequin stamp with lavender Brilliance.
2. Stamp daisy with violet Brilliance and the stamp with gamma green Brilliance.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes and let cool completely.
4. Color with sharpie markers. These markers can easly be blended with different shades. The petals were colored with light pink, then I drew one line of bright pink along one side of the petal. Then I blended the two colors together using the light pink marker. (To clean the marker tip, just dab on a paper towel). The leaves were colored in the center with yellow, then I went over it with mint green.
5. These tiles don't need to be sealed after you color them as long as you follow the above directions. These tiles will also absorb moister as long as they are not sealed.

1. Stipple ivy, copper and crimson Brilliance onto a light colored tile.

2. Over stamp agapanthas with brown StazOn.

3. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes and let cool completely.

4. Color the open lined flowers with pink and yellow chalk.

5. Spray a very light coat of matte sealer and let dry. If you spray to much sealer the first time, the StazOn ink will run. Let dry.

6. Spray with two more coats of matte sealer, letting dry inbetween coats.

Recipe

Stamp-Stampendous

Ink-ivy, copper, crimson Brilliance, brown StazOn

Plus-light color tile, matte sealer, stipple brushes

1. Stamp dragonfly on a light color tile with mediterranean blue Brilliance.

2. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes and let cool competely.

3. Color with Sharpie markers.

4. Stamp words with blue StazOn.

5. Spray a very light coat of "matte" spray fixative, let dry. Make sure you spray a very light coat the first time or the StazOn ink will bleed.

6. Spray a light coat of gold glitter spray and let dry.

7. Finish with a final coat of "matte" sealer and let dry.

Recipe

Stamps-Stampendous

Ink-mediterenean blue Brilliance (for the dragonfly), blue StazOn (for the words)

Plus-matte sealer (any brand, I got mine from Michael's), gold spray glitter (any brand, also from Michael's),

tile (from Lowes)

1. Stamp a darker tile with script using copper Brilliance

2. Over stamp leaf using ivy Brilliance

3. Bake in over for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

4. Let cool and you are done, isn't that easy!

Recipe

Stamps- script-Hero Arts, Leaf-Stampendous

Inks- copper and ivy Brilliance

Plus-tile from Lowes

Love To You

I had a Valentine's Day card class last week and this is one of the cards we made. Hearts are randomly stamped on the card with red, the script was stamped in black and then over stamped with the lips in red and layered on to black cs. Wrap the top corner with ribbon and glue to the card. Stamp lips with VersaMark ink and emboss with white embossing powder that has multi glitter in it and emboss, glue to card as shown and add two circle stickers the the right corners. I die cut the hearts with my Sizzix die and ran it through my Cuttlebug. After stamping the words on the white hearts and heat setting the ink, I tapped a Versamark pad on the top (don't rub it or it will smear), sprinkle with clearembossing powder that has been mixed with ultrafine multi glitter and embossed. Glue the white hearts to the colored ones and mount as shown.
Now it's time for me to go have some chicken soup, it seems as though I have caught a cold. I was hoping to stay healthy this winter by washing my hands frequently. Oh well guess that didn't work :(
My husbands birthday is tomorrow so I need to be better by then, I have a lasgne and a turtle cake to make, I'll be busy. Hope all of you in the blogging world are doing well :)
Recipe
Stamps- Hero Arts, Stampendous
Inks- VeraMark, black VersaFine, red VersaFine
Paper-black, white, red cardstock
Plus-ribbon, circle stickers