Stars and Stamps sketch #10

I so loved this sketch by Ali Manning that I asked her permission for us to use it as a sketch challenge at the Stars and Stamps blog. She graciously agreed and here it is.

Today I made another card from the sketch. The beautiful gold trim was a gift from Teresa, AKA Time for T. I love the romantic look of it with this paper and the great dresses on a clothesline stamp from Serendipity Stamps. The sentiment is from Purple Onion Designs.

If you get a chance check out Ali's blog for her beautiful work! http://www.alimanning.com/ Thanks a million Ali!

Did I love this sketch or what?

This sketch by Cathy is the challenge on Mo's Challenge blog.

http://mosdigitalchallenge.blogspot.com/ I adore this image of the bear hug! It is really called "Missed You" and is a Mo Manning digital stamp. It is so perfect for an Operation Write Home card. No kid who got a card with this image could miss knowing they were loved and missed. I also fullfilled the current challenge at
http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org/ in which we were to use 4 legged animals. For sure we had 4 to a bear :-)

Whenever I look at this little girl with her doll I want to hug them both. Another perfect image for an OWH card. This digital stamp is called "I Love It aag". And I do. It is also a Mo Manning digital stamp.

I indulged myself with the set of 4 Mo Manning digital images with the theme of balloons. This one is "Cody's Balloon". I got the giggles while coloring this little guy when I realized his diaper shows in the gap between sweater and overalls. What a hoot!

Ok, this last card doesn't use ANY Mo Manning images, LOL. I just wanted to play with the sketch one more time. The images are from Dover Publishing. I hand colored it just as I colored all the cards with Prismacolor pencils and oil on stubs.

Stars and Stamps sketch #9

This is such a nice clean and simple sketch by Seongsook! Today was the day I needed to get my box of cards into the mail for OWH to catch the Mother's Day shipping. While poking around in my printed papers I came across the little collage image that had Mother's Day written all over it. And what was even better it would go perfectly with the sketch for this week. Don't you love it when that kind of thing happens?

All the papers are bits and pieces from my stash. The sentiment is one of a set of Mona Lisa Moments from Cornish Heritage Farms.

Stars and Stamps Sketch #8

Here is this week's sketch from the Stars and Stamps blog. Shirley gave us this clean and simple sketch which I love. Thank you Shirley! It is super easy to make doubles of each card which I did. I just didn't photograph them all.

One of my favorite font designers is Kevin King of Kingsthings.
http://www.kingthingsfonts.co.uk/ I used his font Willow for the sentiment on the King of the Grill card. I used dies and punches as well.

I played with text art on this one too. Text in the round is something I love to use. The canoe paper and the center compass embellishment are from Debbie Mum. The other colored paper is made using Distress inks. The smooth circle and the spikey one are die cuts using Nestabilities dies.

All the cards I made with this sketch are going to OWH for the Father's Day card mailings.

The Cheshire Grin

Shirley's 2 Girls (S2G) sell a wonderful line of digital stamps. All original images with lots of attitude! With the release of Alice in Wonderland the stamp world, digital and otherwise, has gone wild for Alice and company. S2G designed a wonderful line of digital stamps In a fresh, Tim Burton kind of style. They kindly offered the Cheshire Cat as a freebie for their Twisted Thursday blog challenge. They had the cat, a sketch and a twist- using stripes on the card.

Of course I was so excited to work with their stamp I totally forgot the sketch and the twist on my first card. When it was time to upload it I had an Oops! moment. That was ok. I loved getting to color and make up another card for the sketch. It was fun! http://s2gpapercraftingcontest.blogspot.com/

As most of my cards go to OWH I keep my eye open for stamps that can go to boys as well and girls. This handsome feline fits the bill. Thanks S2G!
http://shirleys2girls.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=31

More Michael Strong Stamps cards

I love how paisleys seem to typify a number of unrelated cultures. So perfect for cowboys. I used the Michael Strong Paisley set to stamp the frame. It was cut using Nestability dies. The background was colored and embossed using a Sizzix embossing plate. I inked the embossing plate, lay the manila cardstock on it and embossed as usual. It makes for a cool, rugged look.

On this monochrome card I stamped the flowers and lavender cardstock. The shape of paisleys moves the eye, following the curves.

Another monochrome card, this one was a lot of fun. I hadn't done any mirror stamping in ages. It allows you to reverse the stamp. I wanted a paisley heart and that is how I managed to make in. One stamped and embossed forward, one stamped onto the mirror stamp before stamping onto cardstock and embossed. Now that Distress inks are on the market getting a good reverse stamp is a lot easier. Dye inks wanted to dry before you could stamp the second time using the mirror stamp face. The background panel was painted using Distress ink. I love them!

The red heart behind the paisley heart is two layers, a red cardstock and a clear piece of acrylic. They are adhered together under the paisley heart so you can't see the tape. The scalloped heart die and the ribbon runner are both from Spellbinders. The embossing plate I used on the base is a Cuttlebug folder. The sentiment is from Purple Onion Designs.

Michael Strong stamps

I've been wanting to share some cards I made with a new set of Michael Strong Stamps. It is a set of 4 stamps, 3 sizes of a paisley and 1 large panel of layered paisleys. On this card I used the panel to do the Joseph's Coat technique. You brayer a rainbow of colors on glossy cardstock. When dry you stamp with Versamark or other clear embossing powder and heat emboss with clear EP. Last you ink over the entire panel with a darker ink and buff it off the embossed areas.

I also used a Hero Arts stamp, the heart, an Autimn Leaves flourish stamp for the background, and the Anna Griffin sentiment stamp.

On this card I stamped one of the paisley's repeatedly. I colored them then cut out the layers. After putting small pieces of adhesive foam on the backs I layered them back together. You can see it better in the last photo. The background is a paper napkin ironed to the shiny side of Freezer Wrap from Reynolds. Then it can be adhered to the card front. The gold spikey circle is wrapping paper glued to cardstock which is then cut using a Nestabilities die.

I have more cards made with this set I hope to get up tomorrow. Thank you Michael Strong! http://strongstamps.blogspot.com/

Stars and Stamps sketch #7

Erika kindly shared her sketch with us at the Stars and Stamps blog. I confess I took liberties with it. I've been working on Father's Day cards for OWH and this sketch plus the sentiment stamp felt like a good match.

I pulled out some earth tone scraps to see if I could use some on these cards. I also added some sections of color from printed ads. The stamp was from Michaels dollar bin last year. It came out too late for OWH cards so I got to use it fresh this week.

The border punch from EK Success echoed the pattern on the sentiment stamp. Had to use them together don't you know! There is dry embossing on the center section which I didn't manage to catch with the photo. More cards finished for our troops to send home. I love that.

Fred's Tulips

Tracey-Lynn Miller, owner of Fred, She Said, allowed the cardmakers at Stars and Stamps blog to use her tulip digital stamp to practice out coloring while making cards for Operation Write Home. So fun! I used Prismacolor pencils, paper stubs and oil to color mine. The printed paper is from Rubber Soul, the red is wrapping paper. Sentiment stamp is a G Studio clear stamp.

Thanks to Tracey-Lynn Miller for the digital stamp and Darsie Bruno for the wonderful tutorial! http://fred-she-said-store.blogspot.com/

Mojo Monday sketch challenge

This layout is the current sketch from the Mojo Monday blog. http://mojomonday.blogspot.com/2010/03/mojo-monday-128-contest.html The sentiment is stamped using Anna Griffin clear stamps. They seem to go so well with her paper, in this case the green. On this one the circles are about 1 3/8" diameter. I like this size for embellishing a card with more going on. The center of the flower is a button with the shank cut off.

Dahlia fold cards

I love Dahlia fold flowers so I was really glad to see the tutorial on the Stars and Stamps blog. I'd done some in the past but had forgotten how they were done. The refresher video was great!

http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org/2010/03/cardmaking-301-dahlia-fold.html This first one is a really big flower but it worked on this simple layout. The flower is made from 2 pieces of wrapping paper glued back to back and then cut with a scalloped circle die from Nestabilities. The gold backing circle is a larger size die by far. The center embellishment is made from the foil (not plastic) from the top of a wine bottle. It is adhered to chipboard and die cut in a circle. After dry embossing it in a Cuttlebug folder I added some Sharpie ink to the background. I really like how it came out! The Dahlia fold is great for making cards you can mail at first class rates. They fold flat but pop up when taken out of the envelope.

Stars and Stamps Color Challenge #2

Caro took this yummy photo at the Pikes Place Market in Seattle. Isn't it beautiful? One look and I knew just what I wanted to use for the background paper on my card. It is a Canson paper napkin. Ironed onto the shiny side of Freezer Paper from Reynolds it has enough body to adhere to cardstock.

The sentiment is done on the computer, then cut with a Nestabilities die and layered on another circle cut with a scalloped Nestie die. The hearts are cut with a Sizzix die. Flower is a Prima. The colors feel so fresh and warm. May they touch a child's heart.

Stars and Stamps Sketch #6

Velda's sketch came at just the right time for me. I'd purchased these wonderful dollar stamps by Inkadinkado and hadn't inked them up yet. The focal square on the sketch is the perfect use for them.

When I bought this stamp I knew I wanted to use it with this paper but didn't have an idea how. This layout is so easy to use and lets the patterned paper show so well. The image was stamped on the cream and the kraft papers which were cut and layered. The flower was colored using Prismacolor pencils.

I love the look of sunlight on the sea. On this one I also stamped on 2 papers, a light blue and white. It was colored with Prismacolor pencils, cut and popped on foam before layering. The silver corner pieces are die cut using a Cuttlebug die.