halloween in july

It does seem a bit early for Halloween. But I took a great class at my LSS last week using Memory Box's new Halloween stamps and papers. Neat techniques and a lot of fun! Here they are....

#1: Spooky Collage

This first card was the first and most complicated one we worked on. The owner of the store and the class teacher experimented that day to try and master the techniques for this card. They found a way to do it that came out really interesting. We started with copper/gold-like piece of cardstock that we rubbed with yellow acrylic. Then we applied Alcohol Inks in yellow, red and brown. I had never used them and LOVED them (but can't afford another new set of supplies)! Next was the fun part. We sprinkled a pile of clear embossing powder on the bottom, right corner of the inked (dry) cardstock. Then we heated it from below with a heat gun until we had a puddle of wet embossing powder. The stamp "Spooky Collage", was inked up (black ink) and ready to go and we stamped it onto the cardstock (and into the wet embossing powder). This was the result! A dimensional look. Really cool in person.

#2 Distressed Crows

This card is shades of black, orange and yellow (the photo gave it a bluish tint). This card was pretty simple - the stamp has so much visual interest on its own. We distressed the edges of a piece of Memory Box's paper with black ink and a sponge first. Then we stamped (in black ink) the "Distressed Crows". Added some black glitter to a few of the small crows with a glue pen. I have never used black glitter before and really like the effect. Obviously it has a Halloween-like appearance but I think it could be kind of elegant too. Finally we stamped & embossed the "Elemental Damask" stamp several times along the top of the card using a light orange ink and clear embossing powder. It mimics the slight damask pattern in the Memory Box paper we used. Finally we mounted the image with dimensional tape on top of a piece of black cardstock and the yellow card.

# 3 Old Fence

This was my first time using an embossing machine! We dry embossed a piece of black cardstock for the background with a spider web image. Very cool. Also used an iridescent white cream lustre on the embossed spider web - another product I had never used. The image "Old Fence" was stamped with black Stayz-On onto a shiny piece of white carstock. The edges were distressed with an edge distressor and black ink. The image was mounted onto bright green paper and mounted onto the other layers. A spider was cut with a die-cut machine (another first for me!) out of sparkly black paper and mounted with dimensional adhesive.

#4 Halloween Collage

Another simple card but I think this is my favorite of the stamps. These are nice stamps because they look like you have layered several stamps to get this appearance. But all the imagery is on one large stamp. We stamped the "Halloween Collage" stamp on a piece of inked, edge-distressed cardstock. The two spiders were colored in with a Copic marker and iridescent glitter was added with a glue pen. Finally we stamped the "Vintage Scroll" stamp across the top with light orange ink and embossed with clear powder. The imagery was mounted onto a piece of glittery cardstock with a strong adhesive.

#5 Night Cat

This last card was a little tricky but clever and a really nice effect. We started with two pieces of Memory Box patterned paper cut into the size we needed. Then on one piece we stamped the "Night Cat" image. We drew a line down from the light of the lantern down in a cone shape mimicking how the light would fall onto the cat. Using an xacto night we cut out that cone shaped portion of the paper (including the cat). We layered the second piece of patterned paper under the first (with the cut out portion and stamped image). Carefully we inked and stamped just the image of the cat into the place it needed to be (on the bottom layer of patterned paper). I'm sure my explanation is confusing but you can kind of see how it was put together if you look at the photo carefully.

So that's it! Fun cards and really nice stamps!

Happy Sunday!

splurging

Yesterday I took one of my old friends to my LSS. She had never been and we had a ball. I picked up this American Crafts stamp set. I've been eyeing it for a few weeks but always cringe when I buy a bigger stamp set at full price. It wasn't that bad....$10 but I feel guilty that I've been spending so much money on supplies lately. I need to start making cards for the craft fair in a few weeks and ease up on the shopping for supplies! I am looking forward to breaking these out today!

This week I have a few extra days off. One of my plans is to get some binders and page protectors and work on a new organization for my clear stamps. Right now they are in a drawer in my desk. But my stash is growing and I'm running out of room. Plus I can't see what I have. I use a binder system for all my alphas, stickers, journaling tags etc. And I have always liked that. Much easier to see what I have. So I'm going to try the same for my clear stamps. We'll see how it works.

Plus this weekend I am SO excited at how beautiful the weather is! Sunny, warm (50'), and did I mention sunny?

Happy Sunday!

content

Content. That is how I'm feeling. Last night I got home from work and a good workout. Sat and watched a a netflix movie (Season 5: Weeds), burned a candle and relaxed. It has been a long week and next week I have extra days off for Spring Break. I have the apartment to myself for a few days. Today the sun is out finally here in New England, I feel good and I'm going to take a friend to the nearest scrapbook store. She has never been and I'm really looking forward to it. But not before driving with the window open (I know almost 50' isn't warm by most standards but without winter so far...) and getting myself an iced mocha from my favorite small coffee shop. Content.

project red

Dream in Color Classy hand-dyed yarn in Lipstick Lava

Seems all my projects this weekend involve red. Not a color I usually choose first. But I'm liking it! The yarn above is beautiful....Lipstick lava. I bought it sight unseen - I had seen a similar version of it but it is a hand dyed so there was no telling what it would be like. I love it. It is for a Chic Knits knit-a-long at my LYS where I will be working on the Mondo Cable Cardi. This week I have to do a guage swatch after I buy the correct size needle...the knit-a-long starts Tuesday but I will be celebrating my Dad's birthday so will have a good reason for  late start!

I also worked on some Valentine's this week. I have not made any for years...except I usually make one for my guy each year. While on vacation I bought some patterned papers from Little Yellow Bicycle and Basic Grey and some Hero Arts stamps and finally got a chance to play around with them this weekend. I also used a bunch of other Valentin-y stuff I had in my stash...

At my LSS I bought a pack of Hero Arts cards and envelopes...they are great! I usually buy cards and envelopes in bulk from Clear bags...they are a great company and I am loyal to them. But I did enjoy using the colored cardstock of Hero Arts cards and I like the fact that the insides are white so they are easy to write messages on. And the envelopes are cute...the flap has a flourish shape to it. Nice detail.

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"Be My Valentine" - This one is for my guy...I had fun working on it and it was the first one I made. I used an idea from Kristina Werner to make a "banner" using cardstock and pop dots to make it looks as though it is waving...

Supplies: Hero Arts Card & Envelope,2 Hearts cut out of Patterned paper (Little Yellow Bicycle - Sweet Love), background patterned paper (Basic Grey - Sugar Rush), XOXO and "Be My Valentine" clear stamps (Hero Arts), Checked Heart stamp(Impression Obsession), pink cardstock,Basic Grey rhinestone, red chalk

ink, clear embossing powder, Sepia Archival ink, pop dots.

*****

"Your Friendship" - This one I made for a friend of mine I have had since high school. Recently she decided to go back to a professional program to make a very brave career change. She is working all the time and interning so we never get to see each other. I miss her and wanted to make her this! I don't usually make Valentine's for friends (at least not since grade school!) but was thinking of her...I kept it very simple with stamps and white embossing powders...

Supplies: Card & Envelope (Hero Arts),Owl stamp (Basic Grey), "Your Friendship..." clear stamp (Hero Arts), Heart clear stamp in background (Hero Arts), Versamark watermark ink, white embossing powder, edge punch (EK Success).

*****

"Happy Valentine's Day" - I think this one will be for my parents. The patterned paper is fun. The hearts have a silver foil effect that you can't really see in this picture. I played around with clear embossing powder and a heart stamp I have had for awhile. I bought it on sale awhile back and like how it came out. When I finished it I thought it was missing something so I added the flourish in a pink chalk in...

Supplies: Card & Envelope (Hero Arts), Patterned paper (Little Yellow Bicycle - Sweet Love), "Happy Valentine's Day (Hero Arts), small heart stamp (Hero Arts), Large heart stamp (Heidi Swapp), flourish stamp (unknown source), Versamark watermark ink, clear embossing ink, black Archivers ink, pink cardstock, pink chalk.

*****

"Polka Dot Valentine" - I'm not sure who will get this card. I played around with white embossing powder and one of my favorite new-to-me stamps - the Hero Arts polka dot background stamp. I also used the Heidi Swapp heart stamp again with clear embossing powder but this time did it on pink cardstock and cut it out. Layered some cardstock and patterned papers along the center...

Supplies: Polka dot background stamp (Hero Arts), Large Heart stamp (Heidi Swapp), "Happy Valentine's Day clear stamp (Hero Arts), strip of Patterned paper (Basic Grey- Sugar Rush), Versamark watermark ink, clear embossing powder, white embossing powder, red chalk ink, edge punch (EK Success), pink cardstock.

*****

Unfinished - This last one is a work in progress. I was experimenting. With one of my recent Cocoa Daisy kits of the month I got this beautiful ornate frame clear stamp. I have been trying it out with various inks and effects recently. This time I wanted to try white embossing powder on the red card. I love it! But am not sure what else I will do with it yet...

*****

Today I also took a class at my LSS - Great Impressions. Had so much fun! Made 6 cards...some I like better than others but mainly I liked getting out of the apartment, being around others who share my hobby and learning a few new techniques. Of course I left my LSS with more "stuff!" I really have to work to sticking to a budget from here on forward. I have not been doing well with that.

But as part of the class we got to take home the background stamp we used a Damask Background

...and I bought another stamp we used at a 25% off discount...a chandelier stamp.

I will take photos and post tomorrow!

Well I'm hoping to do some knitting and relaxing. Tomorrow I have off but have to print out my syllabii and stuff for classes that start on Friday! Bring on Spring semester...

Happy Sunday!

off to my LSS

I'm off to my LSS to help with their inventory. I get paid in store credit and they said there might be other incentives. Yeah! I was there yesterday and spend the $20 coupon I earned there over Thanksgiving. They were selling everything 25% off to get ready for inventory. I just got a little box organizer, some paper, a white gel pen, a blue Distress ink and some glossy accents. Little things I have been needing. I got home and reorganized my desk. Consolidated some stuff so I could put my stamps into two drawers. Originally I was going to buy 2 more storage cubes (one for paper and one with drawers) but I really am trying to not spend.

Yesterday I also bought some storage totes for the closets. Little organizing things that have been bugging me. Also got a few things at Target I needed. Boring stuff. But it was a productive day. Last night played on the computer for awhile with Cary and then crashed.

Well...gotta finish my coffee and be off!

Have a nice Sunday