Tone on tone stamping

Inspired by another crafter's use of tone on tone stamping I created a fun summery card to send a friend of mine:

From top to bottom I blended Pickled Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade & Dried Marigold Distress Ink onto cold-press watercolor paper & then lightly spritz it with water to create droplets.  Then randomly stamped tiny butterflies (by Hero Arts) in the same colors across the full panel.  The trellis I cut from an Alterations die, colored with Brushed Pewter Distress Stain & Hickory Smoke Distress Crayon.  Scribbled Pickled Raspberry & Spiced Marmalade Distress Crayons on my craft sheet, spritzed with water & picked it up with splatter brush for a little texture.  Layered on a simple banner edged in Hickory Smoke before mounting the entire panel on a A2 grey cardstock base, finished it off with an orange twine bow.

**Entered in Simon Says Stamp Wednesday "Things with Wings" Challenge** 

Teacher Gifts

One of my favorite crafts to do is gifts for my kids' teachers!  I have so much respect for the teaching profession - in large because I know I couldn't do it! - education is truly a calling  & I love how the right teacher can make all the difference in a child's life.  This year was particularly special because it was Dillon's 1st year (PK) and Erin had an AMAZING teacher this year after an extremely frustrating last year.

Erin's teacher had a wilderness theme to her classroom with the slogan Children Actively Making Progress (C.A.M.P) and a moose named Maggie as the mascot.  So I made her a wooden "Welcome to C.A.M.P" sign with a moose sitting outside a tent & a card to match - unfortunately I didn't have time to take pictures so you'll just have to take my word that it was cute :-P.

For Dillon's teacher I made a plantar box with some metal pails that could be used for plants or school supplies.  All year I had the phrase "Bloom where you planted" running through my head because Erin had the same teacher but at a different school so while they didn't get the same PK experience it was still a good school career start.  It was even more appropriate because this teacher happens to love flowers and gardening as a hobby.


Again I wish I had time to get nicely staged pictures so you can see all the details!  My husband built the box out of basic poplar (can't see the embellished pails :-( ) and then I did several layers of white washing with dry brush streaks of Hickory Smoke,Vintage Photo & Walnut Stain distress paint.  In between each layer of paint I sanded some paint away & the edges/ corner so that in the end it looked like it was well-worn. I then stenciled wildflowers around the sides with Tarnished Brass & went over it with a wipe to make it look faded.  Finally I hand lettered the phrase on one side in acrylic paint before coating the whole piece in polyurethane for durability.  The pails I got from the dollar spot @ Target, painted chalkboard rectangles on each one, embellished each one with wildflowers (in chalk paint) & labeled them "Love" "Patience" "Time".  All in all this was one of those projects that seems so simple in your head but ends up taking WAY longer then you thought!  So thankfully she loved it lol, said it was going on her kitchen counter as a reminder to herself & her kids :-D.
** Entered to Simon Says Stamp Monday "Summer Garden" Challenge

Bonus:  The pails I made the teachers for Valentine's Day but didn't have a chance to share; both were the same with an embellished heart "You're a hoot!", a Starbucks gift card in holder & a bag of M & Ms :-)


Hope everyone has a great Saturday!

A wish...

"A wish is a dream your heart makes"

This quote/song is one of my all-time favorites and came to my mind when I saw this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge "Make A Wish".  Immediately the idea for a heart shaped dream catcher for my daughters' room came to my mind...but it's already Sunday & I only have a few child-free hours to get teacher gift(s) done so it'll have to be tabled for another time ;-).

Instead I'd like to share the Happy Birthday (wish) card I sent to my Grandma.


I finally got my hands on Tim Holtz's new Distress Crayons & *swoon*  I think I have a new favorite medium.  On this card I used Distress Crayons to color in my Crazy Bird & also for the edging.  I went for an ombre effect through stencil on the background (done with Distress Ink).  I wanted a little bit texture so spread colored texture paste through another stencil & finished off with a hand-lettered "Happy Birthday" musical score.

Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day & remembers those who have given all ;-)

Special blessings...

It seems that the entire world does the "I'm thankful for..." in the lead up to Thanksgiving but for me the time to reflect & count my blessings is Advent. This week, my husband is going to see some friends of ours & I wanted to make a card to tell them how special they are since I can't be there myself.

I love this stamp set, I was able to buy it during Simon Says Stamp Stamptember event this year & have already used it several times!  Our friends, my husband & myself are all band geeks so this set couldn't have been more perfect for them.  I blended Worn Lipstick, Spun Sugar & Antique Linen Distress Ink through a damask stencil (Hero Arts I think) on watercolor paper & then lightly sprayed Perfect Pearl for a soft look.  The marchers are stamped in Jet Black Archival Ink on specialty stamping paper, cut out with Cameo, then colored in with Copic & Distress Markers & embellished with Stickles on the instruments & hats.  The ribbon is Tim Holtz crinkle ribbon colored with Distress Markers (as shown by Tammy Tutterow here) & topped off with a gemstone colored with Butterscotch & Gold alcohol ink.

**Entered in Simon Says Stamp Wednesday "Anything Goes" Challenge

Dillon's 3rd Birthday

Back again to share a layout made for Dillon's 3rd birthday (ya know since he's almost 5 lol).  The lucky boy got to have his birthday meal a few days early @ The Crystal Palace in Walt Disney World with the entire 100 Hundred Acre Gang.  I documented the character greets in our (as yet unfinished) WDW 2013 album but saved these photos for his own album.  These beautiful topiaries of the gang were just begging to be photographed so of course I had to oblige ;-).

Unfortunately it's been storming most of the day so my usual natural light photo spot is dark so I had to settle for a desk shot :-/.

For me at least, The Crystal Palace - especially with these flowers - would usually call for soft, almost feminine paper & embellishments but because this layout is for his own album I decided to go for a bolder design.  My Mind's Eye Boy Crazy is one of my all-time favorite collections, especially for my robot-loving boy :-).  Since I horde every scrap of this collection, this sketch was perfect because I didn't have to use any full 12 x 12 sheets.  Instead I pieced together smaller pieces to make my 12 x 12 layout.  All the sides of each piece are lightly edged with Hickory Smoke  Distress Ink for that more rough-n-tumble boy look.  I also sanded the yellow "h" & colored the sides with Hickory Smoke Distress Marker to help it stand out better on the yellow background.

This layout uses ScrapbookSteal's Mid-Week Mojo Lilac #5 sketch & also entered to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday "Anything Goes" Challenge.

When is a stamp not a stamp?

I've been experimenting with using tools or other things lying around differently then how they were designed.  Most recently I've realized that the mini blending tool makes the perfect polka dot stamp!  So I utilized this to make (yet another) birthday card ready to send out this fall.

Super-saturated my blending foam(s) with distress ink (Abandoned Coral, Cracked Pistachio, Mermaid Lagoon & Squeezed Lemonade and stamped them on smooth watercolor paper & sprinkled with water for a softer effect.  Layered that on top of a piece of vellum & attached it to a cardstock card base.  For the cupcake, I stamped & die-cut it from specialty stamping paper and then embellished the icing with clear glitter & the candle with texture gems.  The sentiment is stamped on a scrap piece of watercolor paper cut into a banner.

Entered into Simon Says Stamp Monday "No Ordinary Paper" Challenge :-)

Sparkle and Shine

As a kid, I wasn't much of a glitter or sparkle kind of girl but I've come to enjoy using both in my crafts after having my glitter loving daughter ;-).   So I decided to embrace this week's Wednesday Challenge over on Simon Says Stamp to use "sparkle & shine" on what else - more cards for the autumn!

I was playing with watered-down Gelatos on watercolor paper and really liked the sploshy look, so built the rest of this card around it.  Die-cut the butterflies out of Tim Holtz's Melange tissue paper, sprayed them with Perfect Pearls & some leftover watery Gelato and then made the thoraxs with gold Faber-Castell Texture Gems.  Attached the butterflies with a spot of glossy accents on the thorax so it looks like they're flying off the card.  Finished it off with a stamped Hero Arts sentiment in Jet Black Archival Ink.

Making cards for all the autumn birthdays in our family made me realize that Halloween is just around the corner as well!  On the first card I started with the zig-zag paer from My Mind's Eye Halloween Basics collection, then distressed & inked the edges to make the card base.  Then inked up a piece of kraft paper from MME Haunted with multiple orange & purple distress inks.  With my Cameo cut out the pumpkin, made the faux-stitched borders and cut out the bat (then coated it with Distress Stickles).  Outlined the pumpkin with foam tape & filled it with American Crafts sequins.  Finished it off with a second generation stamping of Tim Holtz's Halloween stamp.

On the second card I wanted to play with texture & dimension, so I cut out several different pumpkins (on Cameo) from various MME orange patterned papers.  Some of the papers had pre-embossed designs so to help the other ones stand out I coated them Distress Stickles.  Stacked & layered them on a piece of green cardstock and adhered it to the card base.  The card base is the same kraft paper from the other card, inked with brown & green Distress inks.  To keep with the rustic feel, I cut down a piece of burlap & stamped it with the same Halloween stamp - but the ink barely showed up on the burlap.  So I coated the stamp with Distress Paint (Black Soot) and stamped it over the inked image which worked much better (except for the spiderweb for some reason).  Finished it off with a piece of twine.