Rudolph Days and Introducing Half-Made Cards Stashbuster

 Hello!  If you are a regular visitor, you may know I have been trying to do Stashbuster challenges, the most recent was using up an old patterned paper pack.  Well, since I finished that, I am moving on to a pathetically large pile of half-finished cards.  I will explain this one below.

The snowflake background was already stamped.  The Santa was stamped and die cut.  The peg stamp piece was already cut and stamped.  Even that sentiment banner was stamped and fussy cut!  Basically all I had to do to finish this card was to color the image, layer them up and put them on a card base! Oy!  

There is plenty more cards to make from my pile, but it feels SO GOOD to finish even one!

I am linking this up to the May Rudolph Days challenge! Thank you for visiting!

Stashbuster Patterned Paper Challenge - The last bits & pieces!

 Okay, friends!  This is the end of that pack of patterned paper!  There really are no useable pieces left!  And the funny thing is, that I really like these cards made with scraps so much!  I did make an effort to have some that were masculine because I realized that many of what I made were more feminine.

 

Here are the stamp sets I used:

Technique Tuesdays Swanky Sentiments

Gina K Birthday Blessings

Gina K Whimsical Spring

Thanks so much for coming along with me to use up my patterned paper.  I ended up making 25 cards in total!  I think that wasn’t bad.  I already donated lots of them, but I also kept some for my stash and there are a lot of birthdays in my family in the next couple months!

I have some more of my stash I am going to bust next! And some new purchases to use!  Have a good day!

Stashbuster Patterned Paper Challenge - Part 5 - Nine more cards!

 Hello everyone!  I have NINE more cards to share from my Stashbuster challenge.  This is the 5th post in my series to finish up this OLD patterned paper pack.  

I would say one of the most rewarding things about this project is not just using up things, but also being able to choose old and new stamps from all throughout my stash to go with the papers.  It feels great to use lots of things!

Here is a list of the stamps I used:

Gina K Designs Stenciled Spring

Unity Stamps Butterfly Birthday Cake

Stampin Up Birds & Branches

Gina K Designs Birthday Go-Round

Gina K Designs Birthday Blessings

Unknown Altenew flower stamp?

Hero Arts Happy Stamp n Cut set

Tim Holtz Wildflower and Stems thinlets

Unity Unknown coneflower and circle frame stamp (got these in a grab bag once)

Gina K Designs Happy Birthday To You

I Brake for Stamps Hummingbird

Studio G Shirt Stamp

This brings me to 21 cards!  But I have one more post coming up to use up the bigger scraps.  There really isn’t much left.  Many of these will be donated so I am super happy to have made a lot of cards quickly!  They won’t go to waste!

Thanks for stopping by!  What is the next thing in your stash you want to use?

Patterned Paper Stashbuster Challenge - Part 4 - Bee Birthday Edition

 Hello!  More cards using up patterned paper!  The 4 cards in this post bring me to 12 cards from the remnants of OLD 6x6 patterned papers.  I do have more paper left, although the pile is much smaller, and more scraps.  At the end I can give you a sneak peek of how I am working with them!

I realized that there was this paper in the set that was too pretty to cut previously and would work well for a Bee theme!  So I went through my stamps and pulled out anything that would go with a Bee!

The yellow on my last two cards looks like plain cardstock but it is actually a watercolored background from my stash.  It does look more watery in real life!

Here is a list of the stamps used on my cards:

Our Daily Bread Designs Honeycomb Mini and Mini Bugs set (not sure if that is the real name)

Our Daily Bread Designs Rose Bouquet stamp set (Happy Birthday Sentiment)

Gina K Designs Happy Birthday to You stamp set

Gina K Designs Birthday Go-Round stamp set

Close to My Heart Cute as a Bug stamp set

I would like to enter the last two cards in the Inkspirational Challenge - Free or Gifted.  The bee and honeycomb stamp sets from Our Daily Bread were gifted to me from Cheryl Scrivens YEARS ago. I have made good use out of them as that bee is super cute (and there are some other bugs in the set as well).  

And here is a sneak peek of the setup for my next batch of cards using this same patterned paper.  Do you ever set things up like this? I don’t always stick with the plan, but I find this helps me pick and choose what papers will go together and also what stamps will fit in the space I have for a focal point, etc.  I’d love to know your process too!

Thanks for reading and commenting today!  Have a good day!

Ink Pad Thumping and a Fancy Fold

 Hello everyone! Happy Friday! It is actually a little rainy here today, but the temperature seems nice.  I had my zoom meeting this week with the Artsy Inker craft group and April taught us Gina K’s technique called Ink Pad Thumping. It is basically Marker Thumping, but you use your small ink cubes instead of markers.  We stamped on glossy cardstock, which always gives a pretty look!

I did several images, but the one I liked the best is this floral from Just for Fun (JFF since closed down and I don’t know the name of the image).  The chevron Tweed Background was also made with the technique.    I made two cards.  April also had this idea for an easy Fancy Fold. I think you can see in the photos how it works.  

Here are the stamps I used:

Just for Fun Unknown Floral

Hero Arts Tweed Background

Close to My Heart It’s Your Day to Sparkle (Sentiment and banner)

Gina K Designs Birthday Blessings (butterfly)

Stampendous Birthday Wish (Inside sentiment)

I would like to enter in the Retro Rubber Challenge -  Flower Power.  All of my stamps here are much older than two years old!  

I would also like to participate in Word Art Wednesday -Anything Goes!

Thanks so much for visiting and have a great weekend!

Patterned Paper Stashbuster Challenge - Post Two - Birthday cards

 Hello everyone. I am continuing to make good headway using up a pack of patterned paper.  

Let me back up a second.  I have a lot of 6x6 paper pads.  I had three that were similar colors, but all nearly used up so I had been keeping them together in one quart size ziplock bag.  So I basically took all of these and cut A2 cardfronts from any full pieces, and kept all the scraps, as well.  I am working on using up the entire thing as quickly as I can.  (If I ever figure out what the names of these pads are, I will add the info.  Two were from My Mind’s eye and one was Crate Paper??)

Why?  Just as a motivator as I love buying new paper, so it is good to clear some out.  The other thing I noticed is that I often keep the pieces I like best (because they are too pretty to cut up) and that is just silly!  

I am especially trying to rebuilt my birthday card stash!  When I have enough, I will be donating many to a local nursing home.  

This first card is pure silliness on my end. I had the images totally stamped and colored, even that strip of patterned paper was already attached. I just needed to add the sentiment and finish up the card.  

The second and third cards are fairly simple.  I went through my stamps and pulled out ones that I thought might possibly look nice with the paper.  It was a fun way to give new life to stamps I might not have used yet or hadn’t seen love in a long time!

I have more cards coming!  I bet I can make at least 15 cards from this paper.  With the two Mother’s Day cards I recently posted, and these, that makes 5 so far!  What are you working on lately? 

Here is a list of stamps I used:

I Brake for Stamps Mostly Mice (as always you can use my affiliate code BPMHeidi to save 15%)

Gina K Designs Birthday GoRound

Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Birthday set (THMB012)

Unity Stamps Life’s Short Eat Cake! set

Thank you for visiting and have a good day!

Sympathy Cards

 Hello!  It is a lovely Sunday morning here, a bit chilly, but I kind of like it that way! I created a couple Sympathy cards with my glossy cardstock backgrounds.  

I kept them Clean and Simple, and I like how both turned out.  

Supplies: Gina K Painted Autumn and Wild Flowers stamp sets, Unity Life Touches stamp set, Tim Holtz die cuts. 

I would love to enter Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge.

Have a great day!

A Card is a Paper Hug

I have seen it said that a card is like a paper hug.  Since we can’t hug anyone outside our households, I thought this “Hugs” sentiment would be perfect.  Let’s all send cards to people we temporarily cannot see.  

I am continuing to use bits and pieces from my half-done box.  This background was stamped with Hero Arts Leafy Vines background stamp on patterned paper. I clearly already had the idea to cut it up, as it was cut into 3 equal pieces.  So I mounted this on kraft.  

I also had this butterfly, cut and colored, from Gina K’s Whimsical Spring set (one of my oldest stamp sets, I am sure it must be retired) so I went to that stamp set to find my sentiment.  I used a scrap of Applemint green cardstock for the die cut, but it was too bright, so I used some Vintage Photo distress ink and sponged over it to tone it down.  

I would love to enter Hero Arts Stay Crafty Challenge - Encouragement, WordArtWednesday’s Anything Gos Challenge and Pixie’s Crafty Workshop’s Snippet Challenge.

Thank you for visiting today!  Stay well and keep on stamping!

Better Latte Than Never! - Coffee Cards

Hello!  Hope you have had a nice week.  I, unfortunately continue to have some dental problems.  My first crown didn’t fit right, and they couldn’t adjust it because 3 shots of the numbing stuff didn’t work.  So they sent it out again. So the moral of the story is, brush and floss and do everything you can to avoid having dental work!  Lol.

I do have another card for the Coffee Blog hop.  

Supplies: Gina K Designs Coffee Therapy, Just for Fun Rubber Stamps coffee ring and sentiment, Versafine Black ink, Gina K Tranquil Teal and Tangerine inks, Gina K Tranquil Teal cardstock, Avery Elle Wonky Stitched Rectangle Die, Copper Nuvo drops

Thanks for visiting!  If you are a new visitor on the Hop, please leave a comment to let me know you were here. I would also LOVE it if you would choose to subscribe to my blog.  I always do my best to visit your blog, as long as I can find you.  

Happy Stamping!

Pinned It? Try It! Week 8: One-Sheet Wonder

Hello and Happy Tuesday!  I have missed the timing for some of my Pinned It? Try It! Series, but since it is a self-imposed challenge, I feel liberated in doing it on which day I can!

Lucky for me, in my online cardmaking group, one of the challenges was to use a particular 6x6 One Sheet Wonder layout.  This was one I have already pinned. This makes 4 cards, although for the challenge we only had to complete 3.  The basic layouts were easy, but figuring out the focal points took quite a while. I was happy to bring out some stamp sets I hadn’t used in a while.

My one sheet is the sweet brown foliage paper.  It is from an older Love Nicole 6x6 paper pad that I got a AC Moore a while back and really haven’t used as much as I should.  

I also added accents of this very pretty champagne/gold metallic cardstock that I got on clearance at Staples.  It really doesn’t show how pretty it is in the photos.  

Supplies: Gina K Designs Painted Autumn and Birthday Blessings Stamp/Die sets, Close to My Heart Just Treats stamp set, Gina Marie Wonky Stitched Ovals and Stitched tag dies, Love Nicole Autumn Splendor 6x6 paper pad, EK Success Postage edge punch, Astrobrights Gold Pearl Linen cardstock, other items from my stash.

I’d love to enter these in the Cupcake Inspirations Fall Challenge and the ModSquad’s Sentiment says it All challenge.

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Thank you for stopping in today!  How have you been spending your crafty time lately?  

Pinned It? Try It! Week 2: Perfect Pearl Galaxy Background

Hello everyone! Hope you are enjoying your weekend.  We are enjoying lovely weather today after a hot and humid week, then rain.  But today, I need to get outside soon!  I probably should weed my flower garden, but we shall see...

Here is the 2nd edition of Pinned It? Try It!  Here is a link to the Pin I am trying.  This pin is one of those frustrating ones that does not link back to someone’s blog, so if you happen to know the source of this technique, I would love to give them direct credit for it.  

The process is to use Perfect Pearls with a touch of water, using a stipple brush to apply it to your black cardstock.  

I made two.  I did not get the exact results as in the photo.  I probably could have lifted my brush more exactly straight up.  It also may be that my brush is just a little different.  I may have also used a touch too much water and should have first done my first brushing on scrap paper to dry the brush a bit.  All that being said, I think they turned out great!

The first background I made into this fun Halloween card!  I was inspired by my kittens who seem to stalk the funniest things.  

The second card I made into a Back To School encouragement card.  I used this layout to cover up a part of the background I didn’t like as well.  For this background, I did splatter on some white ink, and then added white gel pen, as well.  

Supplies:  Stampers Anonymous Crazy Cat stamps, Inkadinkado Creepy Lane stamp set, Our Daily Bread Designs (now Divinity Designs Shine On stamp set, Gina K Designs Inspiration Mosaic Stamp set, Versafine Onyx Black ink, Hero Arts Pool ink, Memento Black ink, Frantic Stamper Stitched Scene Builder Edgers dies, Gina Marie Designs X Stitched Circles dies, Perfect Pearls various colors, Spectrum Noir alcohol markers, Tombow Water Based markers, other items from my stash.

Thanks for visiting again today!  If you are new here, I hope you will consider subscribing.  For all my Pinned It? Try It posts, click here.

Christmas in July

Hello All!  Well, it is July now and I haven’t done my usual number of cards per month for the last (at least) 2 months.  So I am going to try to get in the spirit of “Christmas in July” to make up for it!

My first card is done as a CASE of a card at the ModSquad challenge.  I did was change the flowers into snowflakes, but otherwise it is really along the same lines.  The background is patterned paper (easy peasy) and the snowman was simply colored with markers with a little glitter pen added.

I’d also like to enter this in Cute Card Thursday’s Anything Goes challenge.

Supplies: Gina K Christmas Magic stamp and die set, Bo Bunny Altitude 6x6 patterned paper pad, Gina Marie X Stitched circle dies, Sentiment from Hero Arts CL887 Layering Tree stamp set, Memento and Versafine Black inks, Close to My Heart gems.

So wish me luck in making a dent in the Christmas cards this month!  I know some of you like to make them early, but plenty would prefer to wait till late fall.  

Thanks for your visit today!

Alcohol Ink Background - 2 Different Cards

Hello!  I am back with two new cards today. I had some trouble getting back into the swing of things, but I think I will be posting regularly again.  

I made this alcohol ink background a couple months ago, but like so many backgrounds, I often have trouble using it right away!  Especially when I am happy with the result!  So, yesterday, I was determined to make some cards with it.  

This background was made with green alcohol inks, silver mixitive over Yupo paper (which is really a thin sheet of smooth plastic.)  I also added some silver foil to the parts that were still sticky enough to transfer the foil. I cut my background in two and decided to make two very different cards.

This one is simple, I just stamped and colored some butterflies and folded their wings up to add dimension. This card I would like to add the ModSquadChallenge Three’s Company Challenge.

This second card I wanted to be for Christmas. I added birch tree and cardinal die cuts and embossed the red background with a Christmas Poinsettia folder.



Supplies: 
Card 1: Gina K Designs Whimsical Spring stamps set, Purple Onion Designs Sentiment, Memento and Versafine Black inks, Avery Elle Wonky Stitched Rectangles dies, Spectrum Noir alcohol markers.
Card 2: Impression Obsession Birch tree die set, Purple Onion sentiment, Versafine Onyx Black ink, Sizzix Poinsettia embossing folder, Spellbinders Fancy Edge Rectangle dies

Thanks for stopping by today! 

Flower of the Month - December Card

Hello stamping friends!  Welcome to my last card for my Flower of the Month series for 2018.  I have had a lot of fun rummaging through my stamps to see what I could use for these cards.  

There are two “flowers” listed for December.  The first is narcissus, which I think is a nod to the paperwhites that people plant inside in December.  Well, I didn’t have any of these in my stash.  The other is a little odd, it is Holly!  Well, Holly isn’t really a flower, is it?  I looked it up and these bushes DO flower, but definitely not in December.

I used an old stamp from Gina K for this card, this would be from one of my first online stamp purchases many years ago.  I colored it with alcohol markers and added gel pens to accent certain parts of the image.  I had this cute sentiment in a cut-a-part page in a patterned paper pack!  

Supplies: Gina K Designs Holiday Cheer stamp set, Memento Black ink, Spectrum Noir alcohol markers, Spellbinders Oval and Label dies, American Crafts Let it Snow 6x6 paper pad, Cuttlebug embossing folder, other items from my stash

I’d love to enter this card In SimonSaysStamp’s Christmas Card Day challenge, Tuesday Throwdown’s Anything Goes challenge and Kay Scrappiness’s Blog Hop for The Coffee Oasis.

Now that my personal challenge for making cards using stamps that go with that’s months birth flower is over, I will have to think about what to do next year.  Any suggestions?  Will you challenge yourself next year?

Thanks for your visit and kind comments.  I always make an effort to visit your blogs too if you leave me a way to find you!  Have a great day!

Fall Sunflower Card

Hello and Happy Friday!  I’m glad you are here for a visit!  I have a fall-inspired card to share today.

I first used a gold texture paste and put that through a stencil onto orange cardstock.  After that dried, I die cut the panel.  I colored my sunflower image, then carefully fussy cut it out. I popped it up over the stenciling and added Nuvo drops to add texture.

Supplies: Gina K Designs Thankful for You, Painted Autumn stamp sets, Memento and Versafine black inks, Heidi Swapp Gold Texture paste, Recollections stencil, Avery Elle Wonky Stitched rectangles dies, Gina K Tomato Soup cardstock, Nuvo Blizzard glitter drops.

I would love to enter Word Art Wednesday’s Anything Goes Challenge and Cute Card Thursday’s Autumn Challenge. 

Thanks so much for your visit!  I invite you to leave a comment to let me know you were here, and also consider following my blog.  Have a crafty day!