Monday, April 14, 2008

Still Stamping

Do you ever just get in the mood to stamp, and nothing else matters? I have tons of things I could be doing, but instead I have spent half of the day at my stamp table. In my defense, my first card(my last post) took almost two hours. It had a lot going on, and a lot of embellishments, which meant a lot of decisions. The two that I am getting ready to show you were a result of my obsessive need to participate in lots of challenges. The first on is for Jen Del Muro's Sketch For You To Try. Every Saturday Jen posts a fabulous sketch and I always love blurfing around and checking out all of the fabulous samples. She has a fabulous sketch team and they come up with some of the most gorgeous cards. I loved this sketch when I initially saw it, but was completely sold when I saw Amy Sheffer's version. It was so beautiful and elegant, yet simple, I knew I wanted to try it out. I started with my favorite paper right now(I wish SU would sell it by the sheet, I would buy a ton of them)from the Afternoon Tea pack from SU. I cut it into strips, layered it on Chocolate Chip and sponged the edges. Now, you all know that I have a little obsession with brads, so I put one at the top and bottom of every strip and popped them up on my Whisper White CS. I then stamped the bench from Time for You and used my markers and ink pads to color it in. I layered it on Soft Sky, Groovy Guava, and Chocolate Chip and sponged the edges with Chocolate Chip ink. I then stamped the sentiment from Small Script on WW with CC ink. I used my small oval punch to punch it out and some hardware from the stylized silver hardware from SU. As always, I thought it needed some ribbon, so I tied a bow around the card with chocolate taffeta.
stamps-Time for You and Small Script
paper-Groovy Guava, Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White, and Afternoon Tea DSP
ink-Black Stazon, Groovy Guava, Soft Sky and Chocolate Chip
tools-stylized silver hardware, chocolate taffeta, blender pen, aquapainter, SU markers
The second card was made using the My Favorite Things sketch posted in the member forum over on SCS. It is hosted each week by Cindy Haffner and she really does an excellent job of coming up with a wonderful sketch and always has a gorgeous sample. I used the Punch a Bunch stamp set from MFT for this one. I started out by stamping the stems in Gable Green and the flowers in Rose Red. I colored the flowers in with my Regal Rose marker and then used my scalloped Nestibilities to cut it and the layers out. Then I stamped the flowers again and colored them in the same way. My white gel pen was used to color in the center of the flowers(and make the dots on the scallops) and the flowers were cut out and popped up on dimensionals. The ribbon is from American Crafts and the brads I got from Paper Pretties. The sentiment is from SU's Warm Words, and punched out with the oval punches. For the second layer, I cut out a big oval punch and trimmed around it til I got the size I wanted. These colors are a bit out of my comfort zone, but I really enjoy them together. On another note, MFT is having a special until Friday, read this post for details, it is for a good cause!!
stamps-Punch a Bunch by MFT and Small Script
paper-Rose Red, Gable Green, Whisper White and Rose Red DSP
ink-Rose Red and Gable Green
tools-oval punches, white brads, ribbon, SU markers, photo corners punch and white gel pen

This last card I received in the mail today from Laura(Lov'n Life n Vegas). She sent it to me to congratulate me on winning the guest designer challenge for MFT. Isn't it fabulous!! I am so honored to have a card made by her, I love her work!!! Thanks for looking and have a great day!!!

Double Pocket Card

Today's technique lover's challenge was to make a card using this wonderful tutorial on Judy's(stampingqueenjar). It is really easy to follow, and the end result is fantastic. I started with a piece of double sided designer paper from the retired SU pack Enchante`. I followed the directions for the tutorial and assembled my card. I then stamped the flower from One of a Kind and colored it in with my markers. I stamped it twice and cut out part of it and popped it up on dimensionals. I added a build a brad into the center of the flower. I then stamped the three flower punch three times in each color and punched them out. Then I layered them all together and added a pewter brad to the center of them to hold them together. Down the left side(my left), I put 6 Lavender Lace brads, but didn't like how they looked, so I added pewter brads to all of those. The sentiment is from Warm Words and it was punched out with a small oval punch and I used an oval frame from my Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware. The tags are just DP right now until I can figure out who I am going to give this too. All I know is that I am going to have to hand it to them in person because this thing weighs a TON!!! Thanks for looking and have a great day!!! I have also included and RAK I got from Vicky Gould. Isn't it beautiful. It is so sparkly IRL and I love all the texture and popped out flowers, thanks Vicky!!
stamps-One of a Kind and Warm Words
paper- Lavender Lace, Very Vanilla, Sage Shadow and Enchante`DSP
ink-Black Stazon, Lavender Lace, and Sage Shadow
tools-cream taffeta, mellow moss gingham, pewter hardware, pewter bab, SU markers, three flower punch, oval punch, circle punch, lavender eyelets