Stars and Stamps Masculine card challenge

Success! Wee Henry is camping out on my computer. He is a Hambo digital stamp that we were able to use for our mid-week card challenge at Stars & Stamps. He actually looks like someone I know...but I'll never say who, lol. Wee Henry and the sentiment were printed out using the computer and then colored with Prismacolor pencils.
Thanks to Sandy for helping with the digital download and to Tim and Monica Hunter of Hambo stamps! http://www.hambostamps.com/index.htm

Stars and Stamps sketch #5

Here is the sketch Caryl shared with us on the Stars and Stamps blog. I had fun playing with it. Not being a texter I had to look up ones to use with the Paul Texting image! Thank goodness for Google and the internet.

I'm in love with Mo Manning's digital images. She is a wonderful illustrator and we cardmakers are so lucky to get to use her work! If you haven't been before may I recommend going to her blog- http://digitalpenciltoo.blogspot.com/ I printed the image and sentiment with the computer. He was colored with Prismacolor pencils. The printed papers are from DCWV's Rock Star pad.

This little super hero and the sentiment were printed with the computer. He was colored with Prismacolor pencils. The blue patterned paper is an envelope liner.

Making cards for Operation Write Home I often wish I had more images for boy's cards. Mo has some great images of toddlers, boys and teen boys. They are such a pleasure to use. This little super hero is one image from a 4 image set. I'm already working on cards for the other 3 little heroes.

Reverse stenciling with color sprays

Reverse stencils can be as simple as leaves resting on a sheet of paper over which you spray with color or done using masks. I die cut Reynolds Freezer paper using my Sizzix to create masks. It was easy to iron the mask onto the paper but don't use too hot an iron or it won't come off. (Ask me how I know!) Tim Holtz has some very cool commercially produced masks which can be used this way.

These freezer paper masks were applied after I had done waxpaper resist on white cardstock before adding color sprays. The wax paper was run through the Big Shot using a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The wax paper is placed between 2 sheets of cardstock and ironed until the wax melts. The wax then resists the spray ink creating an interesting pattern.

Any color sprays can be used. I made my own using Posh Impressions Inkabilities and small travel size spray bottles from Target. You need to add the inks to water until it reaches the strength you like. Trial and error on this one.

The bunnies made a cute background for an Easter card. I used The Cat's Pajamas stamps for the grass and sentiment. The egg is actually a small playing card I've had for some time.

Stars and Stamps sketch #4

Kathy R provided Stars and Stamps with this fresh sketch. It was fun to work with! This chick on an Easter egg came to me as part of an Easter image swap. The 2 pattern papers come from a DCWV stack as do the papers in the next card. The little buttons are from my extensive stash. I printed the silly sentiment with the computer.

This little chick is a dollar stamp from Michaels. And the ribbon was one of the dollar ribbons from Michaels. Could I shop there too often? No, I didn't think so.

Stars and Stamps Sketch 3

This card was made using the Stars and Stamps Sketch #3.This is the most Pink card I have ever made, lol. I'm sure that one of our soldiers has a little girl who is into pink. She will get a kick out of getting it for her birthday. The sentiment is done using Purple Onions Designs. This set of sentiments gets the most use of any set I have so it was very worth the money spent on it. The circles are Nestability die cut, the crown is Cuttlebug die cut, the border punch is Martha Stewart, the word window is a SU! punch, the hearts are a Magill punch. I also used gel pen for the dots and clear gems for the bling on the crown.

A few more Valentines

I love the look of Mary Engelbreit's graphic style. It was fun to find a set of stickers of her art. Combined with a little border & square punching, die cute hearts and gel pen you have a Valentine. The floral heart and sentiment were early stamp purchases from Stampa Rosa. I still use them and love them. The corner flourish and the floral embossing folder framing the stamps seem just right together. Gold heat embossing still excites me.

Outlines Stamps has some to my eye very modern images which are so much fun to color. I used Twinkling H2Os on this heart along with Distress inked and dotted edging. Imagine, I made a Valentine with no flowers on it!

Valentines

I went shopping. You can imagine all the good stuff I found. The ribbon which matches a Cuttlebug embossing folder and a Martha Stewart border punch which has Valentine written all over it. The background stamp is an old dollar stamp from Michaels. The corrugated paper is packaging for a light bulb. The hearts are cut using Nestability scalloped hearts. There are some little Stampendous heart stickers and red Stickles embellishing the embossed heart. I had a great longing to make the sort of Valentine which wouldn't hold up in the mail. While looking in Susan Pickering Rothamel's book, The Encyclopedia of Greeting Card Tools and Techniques, I was inspired by one of the cards to pull out my netting and play with it on a card. The book is wonderful by the way! The heart stamp is one from Stampers Anonymous. The sentiment is a dollar stamp from Michaels. I got into my bead stash which was very fun. The flourishes and flowers are die cut with a Cuttlebug die.

My stamping friend Ann RAK'd me some Co'ordinations cardstock! Talk about yummy! After embossing it using a Cuttlebug folder I sanded it lightly so the purple core shows through. The purple heart is embossed, or really debossed with the same folder. It was highlighted with a Brilliance pad. The flower and ribbon were both RAKs too. Am I lucky or what? The little heart button in the flower's center had the shank clipped off and was colored with permanent markers.

Happily I will be hand delivering these Valentines on Sunday to my girl friends when we gather for our annual Valentine making party. Such fun!

Stars and Stamps sketch 2

Here is the fun new sketch from the OWH Stars and Stamps blog. Way to go Karen! I went vintage for my sketch cards. This one says "Letters are always welcome". Think our soldiers might find that a handy sentiment. ;-)

Another perfect poem for our troops:

"When time hangs heavy on my hands

And everything seems blue

There's nothing quite as welcome

As a nice long letter from you"

And this one says:

"When of me you sometimes think

Go right for the pen and ink

There is nothing suits us better

Than to get a newsy letter."

All these wonderful vintage postcard images are available for free at the Clearly Vintage blog in their Saturday Image Bonus. The ones I used are WWI vintage postcard images.

I used images the first two links http://clearlyvintage.blogspot.com/2009/05/memorial-day-bonus-4.html http://clearlyvintage.blogspot.com/2009/05/memorial-day-bonus-5.htmlhttp://clearlyvintage.blogspot.com/2009/05/memorial-day-bonus-2.htmlhttp://clearlyvintage.blogspot.com/2009/05/memorial-day-bonus-day-1.html
4th of July vintage postcard images http://clearlyvintage.blogspot.com/2009/07/saturday-image-bonus-90.html

If you have questions leave them in the comments and I will do my best to answer!

A Case of CASE-ing!

A recent challenge at the Stars and Stamps blog was to CASE one of the bloggers on their blog roll. I went a little nuts for Stephanie's Seashell card from SR Cards blog and CASE'd it and CASE'd it! You can see her card here- http://srcards.blogspot.com/2010/01/seashells.htmlThese two are also for the children's Thinking of You challenge at Operation Write Home. The 3D embellishments are by Crayola. The sentiment is from Hero Arts. I was asked about the line of red around the cards. I used a ruler and drew it with red gel pen. The cards below have a gold line also drawn with gel pen using a ruler. Thanks for asking!

Here are a couple of romantic cards. Good for anniversaries and just to say I love you. These 3D embellishments were a RAK. The sentiment was printed using the computer.

Another S and S sketch #1 card

This adorable little doll is from Hero Arts. It is hard not to smile back at her. The little flowers are clear stamps that are just tiny. They made a good frame for the Asian Doll. I liked the simplified version of the Stars & Stamps sketch. The printed paper is from a DCWV stack.