Splitcoast Stampers Challenge

SCS has a challenge running based on Louis Armstrong's Wonderful World song, which I absolutely adore and is part of the reason why I purchased the Belle on a Bike set by Technique Tuesday.

I decided to use the Large Birch Trunks (CM-055P) by Third Coast Rubber Stamps again and make a watercolored scene with it.


I wanted to keep the focus on the scene, so I used the Basic Grey Basics Kraft for patterned papers. The sentiment (from the Belle on a Bike set is in a Spellbinders die cut.

Here are the lyrics!
I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom, for me and you
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world...

I see skies of blue, and clouds of white
Bright blessed days, dark sacred nights
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world...

The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces, of people going by
I see friends shaking hands, say, "How do you do?"
They're really sayin', "I love you."

I hear babies cryin', I watch them grow
They'll learn much more, than I'll ever know
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world

Yes, I think to myself
What a wonderful world!
*George David Weiss, George Douglas aka Bob Thiele*

I'll leave you with this!

Thanks for visiting today!

May is National Bike Month!

Did you know that? I didn't and I'm married to an avid cyclist who rode a "Century" (100 miles) last Sunday! I'm no cyclist and can barely manage five miles on a stationary bike. I get "blissed out" and spacey, so I'd likely have really bad results riding on a road.

Anyway, I created this card in honor of National Bike Month and to complete a challenge at Technique Tuesday's SCS forum. I started the card on time, but did not finish it in a timely fashion. I got sidetracked by other stuff.

Here it is!


I used my new Belle on a Bike set from Technique Tuesday. She was colored with Copic markers, as was the sentiment. I wanted the very old MAMBI patterned paper, but colored the blue spiral flowers to match her skirt. I used red polka dot paper by Color Bok in honor of the talented, sweet, and very kind Teri, who I saw last week. Teri loves polka dots and made me love them too.

BTW, the two-tone effect on the sentiment was intentional.

Plus, I used two shaped eyelets from my huge stash. Shocking I know. *grin* I'm so proud that I've been using older stuff from my stash. Yahoo. Go me.

In a Grungy Distressed Mood!

Actually, I'm in a good mood, but the All Aboard set by Technique Tuesday makes me want to create vintagey scenes and cards.

This is what I created:


I had seen a variation of this technique in Craft Stamper, an British magazine. Their version took a bunch of different papers, collaged them, stamped on them, then coated them with a layer of gesso.

I took the easy way out and used pre-collaged papers by 7 Gypsies. It's two sided and once side has a grayscale version, the reverse has a colored version. I used both sides.

I stamped the train, plane, and sentiment from the All Aboard set, which I placed into the frame from the Swanky Sentiments set. The images were"fussy cut". I positioned them where I wanted on the grayscale paper, then traced around them with a chalk pencil. Black Soot Distress ink was smudged around the outlines and the stamped images were pasted into position. I still had a place that "needed" something, so I used this flourish from the retired Crown Jewels set, stamped it, colored it, then used a circle punch. I added an Ideology spinner to make it into a quasi-compass.

I edged the piece with more Black Soot, matted it onto black, then onto the colored side of the 7 Gyspies paper, which was sponged with Wild Honey and Tattered Rose Distress ink to match the images a bit better.

When the card was done, I stuck it onto a file box and cleaned up. When I turned around, I noticed that the card was illuminated by a weird lambent light, so I photographed it in situ.

I can blather on, can't I?

Well, thanks for visiting today!

Efficiency: Challenges Galore!!!

This card is for Moxie Fab World's In My Beautiful Balloon Challenge, SCS "Free 4 All #59, Embedded Embossing" challenge, a Steampunk challenge over at Outlaw Women, and a challenge to myself to start using stuff I have but haven't used...

Here it is!


I stamped the hot air balloon from Technique Tuesday's All Aboard set onto white cardstock twice. I colored both balloons, masked them, then airbrushed the sky with my custom blended Copic marker (B21 & blending solution) and a RV11 on both balloons. I cut a wavy mask for the mountains on one sheet of white cardstock. When I was moderately pleased with the sky, I used the negative area of the mask to cover where the sky met the "mountains", and airbrushed using YG13 & YG17.

This was my first time using the Copic Airbrushing set that I got quite some time ago. I got over my fear and gave it a go! Yay me!

Airbrushing was big fun, though I didn't do the best job with it. I did manage to do a great job in airbrushing my hand green though. How very me!

Then I ran the stamped and airbrushed piece through my Big Shot inside a Cuttlebug gear/clock Embossing folder. I cut out the second hot air balloon and popped it up on dimensionals on top of the other hot air balloon. I had done this embedded embossing technique before and this reminded me how much I like the results!!!

I inked the same Cuttlebug folder with Black Soot Distress Ink, added a panel of Kraft cardstock, and ran it through the Big Shot.


The sentiment from the All Aboard set and the gears from Technique Tuesday Borderline Industry set were stamped with VersaFine ink.

Three rhinestones added the necessary "bling" to the project. So, did the description of my so-called creative process make sense???

Thanks for visiting today!

Master Procrastinator!

I had started this card for Moxie Fab World's Cityscapes are on the rise challenge. I had stamped, masked, and colored the scene, but then life intervened as it has a habit of doing.

I finally created a card with the colored scene. Alas, it was too late for the Moxie Fab World challenge as well as the SCS Technique Tuesday forum's "new stuff" challenge.

Here it is!


The ship from Technique Tuesday's All Aboard set was stamped, then masked. I positioned the cityscape, which is #10 from the Queen of Tarts collection by Character Constructions. Then I peeled off the masks and colored the scene with Copic markers. Then I put the whole thing aside for several weeks while I did other stuff (some creative, some not).

When I finally got the chance, I found a scrap of old map patterned paper by Rusty Pickle. I used hempy twine stuff and tied sailors knots. The "Sea You Soon" sentiment is from the Homeward Bound set by Bombshell Stamps. I diecut it, pounded an eyelet, and attached it with more hemp.

Thanks for visiting today!

Two more VSN challenge cards!

This challenge was to use a bird stamp. My only problem was choosing a bird stamp since I have a LOT of bird stamps, especially if you include my penguin collection. A LOT. Like flocks and clutches and murders of bird stamps. :D

Anyway, this is probably in the top five fastest cards I've ever made. Grab a piece of scrap patterned cardstock (Basic Grey). Stamp the image. Stamp the sentiment. Cut the piece to size. Edge with ink. Slap it onto a premade card. EASY. Gotta love easy. My husband did. That's why he married me. *snort* The stamp is one of the fantastic birds from Technique Tuesday's Aviary set, which is a "must have" if you have a bird stamp collection. Which I do.

Here it is!


This challenge was to emboss on vellum. You could dry emboss or heat emboss. Being an overachiever, I did both. :D The butterfly and the sentiment are from Technique Tuesday's Wingin' It Little Treasures set, which at $2.99 is a freakin' steal-of-a-deal. I embossed the butterfly with white ep and then colored on the reverse with chalk pencils. Copic markers and/or colored pencils will also work for this technique. I then layered the vellum over patterned paper and then framed it using a different piece of patterned paper (both by the Memory Box).

I used the Timeworks Cuttlebug folder to dry emboss vellum, which I put over a piece of patterned cardstock so that you could see the embossed gears as well as the translucence of the vellum.

And here it is!


Thanks for visiting today!

Congrats card for Tuesday with Technique Tuesday!

Anyone who knows me knows that I love puns. So when I saw the nail on the Borderline Industry set by Technique Tuesday, this card jumped into my mind. But then being a "me of little brain", I forgot it. Then I remembered. Ha!

Here it is!


"Congrats" was made with sparkly glitter stickers. You can't see the glitter in the photo, so you'll just have to believe me. "You nailed it" is Maya Road rubons. The patterned paper is Basic Grey.

I also love the other images in this set, which incidentally was a gift. Yay. Love stampy gifts, don't you?

BTW, I thought it was a relatively cool card, so I submitted it and it got rejected. Too bad, so sad. :(

Thanks for visiting today!

Case-ing Char/Willow Challenge!

Charlene, aka Willow, was a Splitcoast Stampers Featured Stamper. We were challenged to choose a card by her and case it.

Here's hers:


Here's mine:


I kept:
• the music theme.
• overstamped the butterfly from the Wingin' It set by Technique Tuesday.
• layered the same way she did.
• used a Nestabilities frame.

I changed:
• Used music patterned paper by 7 Gypsies, stamped the butterfly on it, then colored it.
• Used a butterfly stamp rather than a heart (see above - :D)
• Used gems to connect stamped image to the outside of the Nestabilities frame.
• Used a different sentiment from a different TT set.

I really loved the effect of stamping and coloring on patterned paper. I will most definitely do it again using the gazillion butterfly stamps I have. I think flowers and some other open line images would work as well.

Thanks for visiting today!

Another one for the Red & Pink Challenge!

Here's another one for the Red & Pink Challenge over at the Technique Tuesday Splitcoast Stampers' forum!



I stamped Technique Tuesday's The Cupcakery set cupcake, added a cherry, colored the cake and cherry parts with Copic markers then embossed with several layers of embossing powder. The last layer was Polysparkle to add a bit of bling. I stamped the cupcake wrapper onto BoBunny polka-dot green cardstock and paper pieced it to the cupcake.

The sentiment is composed from two Technique Tuesday sets: "Sweet" is from The Cupcakery set and "You are" is from Weather Report set.

I used Nestabilities dies, patterned paper from the 6x6 Nook & Pantry pad by Basic Grey for the background, patterned paper from October Afternoon for one of the die cut layers, and some red & white Baker's Twine that I made all matchy matchy by coloring with Copic markers.

I don't really understand why, but the photo made the pink very red and also cancelled the lovely shiny and dimensional look of the frosting. Bother. I guess I need to work on my mad photography skillz.

Thanks for visiting today!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's the card that I "cased"! I created the card in January for my guest dt gig with the Technique Tuesday Stamping Techs over at Splitcoast Stampers.



I used Technique Tuesday's It's a Date stamp together with a cute houndstooth bird from the Aviary set.

It's a Date stamp is indeed a little treasure! It's perfect for cards pinpointing birthdays, anniversaries, and date-specific holidays like Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, July 4th, Halloween, and Christmas In fact, I figure I'll be using it with the birds from the Aviary set to create cards for those holidays. All I need to do is change the date and color the bird for each holiday! Quick, easy, cute, and fun -- just like I used to be about 35 years ago! Ha!!!!!

The papers are from Making Memories. I used little pink rhinestones (star, heart, and a tiny round one) for the dates and the bird's eye.

Thanks for visiting today and have a lovely Valentine's Day!!!

CASE-ing for a challenge!

Teri, Technique Tuesday's lovely and talented Stamping Tech Coordinator, issued a challenge over at the Technique Tuesday Splitcoast Stampers forum. The challenge was to use red and pink in a card. Since it's almost Valentine's Day, I've been using loads of red and pink.

Here's a card for the challenge. I CASEd another card that I did for my Guest Stamper gig. I figure it's kosher to steal from yourself. I don't recall if I blogged that card yet yet. If I haven't, I'll get around to it on Monday!

Here in the pink & red challenge card!


I used Technique Tuesday's It's a Date stamp together with two birds from the Aviary set.

The calendar and birds were stamped in Espresso Adirondack ink. The birds were colored with Copic markers. The patterned papers are from the Bittersweet 6x6 pad by Basic Grey. I used raindot hearts and plain raindots to mark the date. The ribbon is very old and I'm not sure who made it. I figured the date, plus the heart were obvious enough to let the ribbon carry the sentiment.

Thanks for visiting today!

Technique Tuesday Stamping Tech Challenge!

Teri, the fabulous and talented boss of the Technique Tuesday Stamping Techs, issued a challenge to the Stamping Techs and I was invited to play along! The challenge was to create a card/project inspired by something in Technique Tuesday's gallery.

My card is a "mash-up of two cards from Technique Tuesday's gallery, You Teach Me by Teri and You Are Simply the Best by Charlene, aka Willow.

Here it is:


I stamped the vase, stems, and flowers from the Long Stemmed Sentiments set with Mementos, colored with Copics, then used a Nestabilities die to cut out the image. I embossed the rectangle with the Swiss Dot embossing folder.

The color scheme, embossed stamped/colored image, sentiment shape, and twine were inspired by Teri's card.

The layout, flower placement, and color scheme were inspired by Charlene's card.

Thanks for visiting today!

It's Tuesday and love is in the air!

Here's another card that I did for my stint as Guest Stamping Tech, using Splitcoast Stamper's "Love is in the Air" Dirty Dozen/Fan Club theme.



Once again, I used Technique Tuesday's Aviary set. The heart is from the Infinite Wisdom set. I used a border from the Vintage Lace Borderlines set. The word "Love" is from an old TT word set and the "in the air" was computer generated.

The sky patterned paper is old Cosmo Cricket. The black/cream patterned paper is by 7 Gypsies. The only coloring done was on the heart, which was colored with Copic markers.

Thanks for visiting today!

Distressed mood!

I felt like getting a bit distressed and inky, plus I wanted to use these tickets that were sent to me over a year ago!

So, I gave into my mood and created this card!


Since I'm very honored to be one of two Guest Stamping Techs for Technique Tuesday over at Splitcoast this month, I've been on a roll with my TT stamps. This card uses the Aviary (bird), Weather Report (sentiment), Little Sentiments (border swirl), and Flea Market Finds (flourish) sets.

The patterned papers are from the Periphery 6x6 pad by Basic Grey. I used pink and blue Distress inks to add some sky-like colors to the griddy paper, then stamped the bird, sentiment, and small flourishes. The grid paper was layered onto a blue patterned paper. I sponged the same ink onto the Ideology tickets to blend with the grid paper. However, being a dweeb-like me, I cut before I measured, only to realize that I cut the layered stamped papers too narrow for the three tickets to go across. Since I didn't have another sheet of the grid paper, I took another piece of blue patterned paper, stamped the swirly border vertically along the edges (albeit wonkily), then layered again. I added the tickets, stapled on some lace, and called it done, though it's hardly perfect. Perfection is overrated anyway. Ha!!!

By the way, if you haven't commented below on the Technique Tuesday Blog Hop post, you might want to do so and then hop along, so you have a chance to win a fabulous set.

Thanks for visiting today!

Technique Tuesday Blog Hop!

Welcome to the first-ever Technique Tuesday blog hop!

I’m one of Technique Tuesday's Guest Stamping Techs this month, and I’m joining the Stamping Techs for the first-ever Technique Tuesday blog hop today. We are all sharing today some of our favorite projects made with with Technique Tuesday’s stamps.

The hop begins on Teri’s blog . She is linking to the next designer’s blog. And then that designer is linking to someone’s blog and so on. Teri has a list of all the hop’s players so please check out her blog if you get lost along the way.

With every comment you leave on the blog path, you’ll be entered to win A Pocket Full of Posies stamp set from Technique Tuesday.

Here's what you can win!


Teri will pick one person at random from all the comments made by midnight Eastern time on 1/24 to win the stamp set. So the more comments you make, the better chance you have to win! Be sure to check Teri’s blog on 1/25 to see if you are the lucky winner.

Here are my cards:




I had been itching to try the Black Magic technique where you stamp in white, heat set, then color over it with colored pencils. You're supposed to use white gel pens to accent your design, but I didn't feel like it. Click here to see the SCS Black Magic tutorial. **Please note: I did not create the technique or the tutorial. I just experimented. I like the technique and will definitely do it again.**

I decided to try this technique on black and gray cardstock to see how it would look. I got out my Va Va Bloom set which recently retired, though you still can find this great set at your local stamp store or online (I found some sets at Scrapbook.com).

The black card also uses a lovely lacey border from the Vintage Lace Borderlines set which I heat set with black sparkly embossing powder to go with the black glitter border around the flower. The scalloped layer is shimmery vellum, but as usual, you can't really see all the lovely glitter. Bummer!

The sentiment on the gray card is from the Little Sentiments set.

Thanks for visiting my blog and for joining our hop today. The next stop on this hop is the blog of the awesomely talented and very sweet Tiffany!

Another two-fer card!

This one uses the "Love is in the air" sketch over at Splitcoast Stampers and gray instead of black to fulfill Moxie Fab World's "Gray is the new black" challenge. I'm not thrilled with it, but done is done and done is good!

So here it is:


The birds and bitty heart are from Technique Tuesday's Aviary set. The birds were stamped in gray ink and then colored with warm gray Copic markers. The heart was also stamped with gray ink and the colored with markers. The patterned paper is from Basic Grey.

There is no sentiment yet. I haven't whether to use it for Valentine's Day, for an anniversary card, or a thank you card. When I do decide, the sentiment will go underneath the birdies in the gray area. So just pretend. OK? ;D

Thanks for visiting today!

Polka Dotty Dot & Sketch Challenge!

Teri, the fabulously sweet and talented hostess of the Technique Tuesday forum over at Splitcoast Stampers, issued a Polka-Dotty Dot challenge, which I combined with SCS's Sketch #315.

Here's my take on the challenges.



In my quest to use or toss old papers, I updated this very old Basic Grey paper with the circles from Technique Tuesday's Infinite Wisdom set. The hearts within the circles are also from that set. Bitty hearts from the Aviary set were used on the raised circles created with a Cuttlebug folder on pink patterned cardstock. The vase, stems, and flowers are from the Long Stemmed Sentiments set and were colored with Copic markers. "Thanks and "My Friend" are also from the Long Stemmed Sentiments set. The flourish is from The Weather Report set.

Thanks for visiting today!

Mojo and Energy -- MIA!

Hi all,
I've been MIA lately, due to a rotten upper respiratory thing (thanks offspring) that has left me zonked. Plus, my mojo has been MIA too, though I still get lots of ideas, just no energy. *sigh*

However, there is good news that has me stoked. I am one of this month's Guest Stamping Techs for Technique Tuesday over at Splitcoast Stampers. I've been collecting Technique Tuesday's stamps for several years since I discovered their Wayfarer's alphabet set. Sadly, it's retired, but I still love that font!

Anyways, here are two cards that I submitted (but weren't accepted) to Paper Crafts using one of their sketches with Technique Tuesday's The Cupcakery and Message in a Banner sets. Both sets from the aptly named, Little Treasures collection and are small but mighty.




Copic markers were used to color the images. Glaze pen was used on the cherries. A mix of patterned papers were used as well.

Thanks for visiting today!

Glittery Glam Season's Greetings card!

Here's another card that qualifies for the Glitter is Glam challenge over at Moxie Fab World.



Here's a close-up that might show more of the glittery aspect. I so need to figure out how to photograph glittery cards! **OK. I tried again and oddly enough, the only photo that shows the glitter was shot from a few feet away and were out of focus. However, you can see that the tree and background are really glittery! If anyone has any hints for me, please share. Keep in mind that it's too freakin' cold to shoot outside!


I already had the tree circle stamped, embossed, and sponged with Distress Ink but it was looking too autumnal. Since we still have snow from our 30" blizzard, I added some "snowy sparkle" to the tree with the Quickie Glue Pen and glitter. By the way, the tree is from the Fall on Me set by Technique Tuesday. This set is retiring, so it's on sale right now. I love the set and am bummed out that it's retiring, but just because it's retired, doesn't mean that I won't use it!!!

A while back I was looking at my embossing folders and wondering whether debossing the design and then using Stickles in the indentations would look okay. However, when I decided to put this card together, I didn't feel like waiting forever for Stickles to dry. :D So, I used my Sakura Quickie Glue Pen in the indentations of the debossed shimmery black metallic cardstock by Recollections. I dumped on Pigma Glitter onto the entire diecut and pressed the glitter into the debossed areas and let it dry. Then I added more glue, more glitter, and let it dry some more. I added some "snowy sparkle" to the tree with the Quickie Glue Pen and glitter.

I used white metallic paper and embossed it the "correct" way. I computer generated the sentiment onto the metallic white paper and then smudged some black ink over it after I die cut it. There are greyish gemstones on the black metallic diecut and in the corners. They're not showing up in the photo. I'm just glad that the glitter is sort of visible, though it's way, Way, WAY glittier (new word) irl.

Thanks for visiting today!

Here's the third and last card (for today) using the Santa's Sleigh image from the Holly Jolly Christmas set by Technique Tuesday.



This time, I used stamp set #10 from the Queen of Tarts collection by Character Constructions. I colored the city and the sky with Copic markers and then stamped and heat embossed Santa and his sleigh in the sky.

The sentiment is from the Holiday Accessory set by Bombshell Stamps.

I have no idea who makes the patterned paper.

Thanks for visiting!