One Stamp Three Ways

At Camp Scrap last week, May Flaum posted three cards using one stamp, each were slightly different. So, I decided to use some new Lawn Fawn stamps and give the technique a try. First up:

I stamped the bike and cut it out, mounting it to the chevron stamped panel (pretty neat set of stamps, those chevrons...). I added some small cloth flowers to the basket. The second card:

I embossed the bike using the Champagne Versa Mark pad and clear embossing powder on a white panel. I stamped flowers in the basket and applied Flower Soft. I matted the panel onto several players of card stock and patterned paper (Pink Paislee's London Market). The last card:

I stamped the bike in black and over stamped slightly in Stormy Sky Distress. I stamped, cut out and popped up the pinwheel. I used the bike stamp - actually just the wheel portion as a background on the main base of the card.  Patterned paper is from Authentique.
Now, it's your turn!

Tuesday's Tip

We are mid-way through the Christmas bustle. I am still working on Christmas cards, tags, wrapping, etc. I am not using any flocking or Flower Soft on cards and tags this year. It is a fun accent to use flocking for Santa's beard and trim. After applying the glue and a generous amount of flocking, place a piece of card stock, or part of a non-stick craft mat, over the top. Roll you brayer over the area a couple of times. Then, leave it to dry thoroughly. You should find that the flocking will stick better and provide better coverage. This will also work when using Flower Soft.

Little Houses

These were the last of the little houses. The one on the right has grass and flowers around it. The one on the left also has flowers. I used a combination of liquid pearls and flower soft. Some of the flower soft was dyed using a green re-inker. Re-inkers are great way to change the color of many embellishments!

Maisons des Artes

was the theme for this year's Scramp Camp. My co-hostesses and I decided to spend the fee on a guest instructor at a local community clubhouse rather than at a hotel conference room. Since we planned to rent KJ's "Ranch House", we wanted to spiff it up a bit and go with a house (maison) theme. Part of the decorations were these mini paper houses from Club Scrap. They came in several color combinations, although we used the Halloween kits. KJ and Mariana kept to the Halloween theme (for the most part).

We put battery operated mini candles inside. I kept these two fairly simple - adding flower soft flowers to the purple house.

These three were themed. The black house was celestial with stars stamped and glittered, with the addition of stamp brads. The middle...Halloween-ish with Alfred Hitchcock (stamped on shrink plastic and shrunk down). The purple is a royal house with crowns and fleur-de-lis.

I will show the remainder in my next post!

12 Tags of Christmas

It is that time of year again - Tim Holtz's Christmas tags. I have attempted to complete all of the tags each year. Unfortunately, I tend to quit half way through, for a number of reasons. Mostly, life gets in the way! So far, I have been able to keep up.
Part of the fun for me is to come up with a similar tag, even when I am not using Tim Holtz products. For the above, Day 1 tag, I actually used the Heritage Cricut cartridge to cut out the house and fence.  For the small wreath on the fence, I dyed white Flower Soft with a green dye based re-inker. I used card stock, as opposed to Grunge board. I do have the majority of Distress Inks, and I used a variety of rubber stamps. How many of you are playing along? It is a great way to refresh your Distress Ink skills - and helps you think a bit outside the box (as far as substitutions).

Tuesday's Tip

In my post on November 12th, I used Flower Soft as moss for the embossed tree (here). It comes in a variety of colors and color combinations. Did you know that you can change the color by adding dye re-inkers? I used an Autumn mix and added a drip or two of Olive Green re-inker. I liked that the different colors in the mix (yellow, orange, rust) absorbed the dye re-inker differently. Thus, there was an interesting variation to the Flower Soft. If you do not have the exact color you need, get out your re-inkers and make your own!

New Embossing Folder

Actually, this embossing folder is not all that new. However, this is the first time I had the opportunity to use it. I made this card for a monthly card swap of sorts. I really like the tree trunk folder and thought one of my bird/owl stamps would be fun.

After embossing the brown panel, I rubbed white ink and several Distress inks over the raised portions of the image. The color variations in the photo are as dramatic in the photo. I thought it would be fun to punch a hole in the bark and have a feathered friend peek out. I colored the owl with Copic markers, but left the eyes white to pop out at the recipient. I felt that the front needed a little something, but I did not want to ruin the tree texture by adding a sentiment. I used Flower Soft in spots to mimic moss/fungus on the trunk.
Do you use embossing folders? What is your favorite to use?

Some Scrapbook Pages...

Club Scrap's Pro Scrapbooking League competition has began anew. I have signed onto a scrapbooking team and card making team, once again. This week, the challenge is stamping. Not much of a challenge to me, as I started as a rubber stamper. In the above page, I used stamps for my title and embellishments. The center of the large "daisy" has flower soft added over the coloring.

Once again, I stamped my title block. It is easy to line up the letters if you have a lined acrylic mount (which I highly recommend if you use unmounteds)

More Mini Retreat projects...

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My friend, KJ, who arranged the Retreat at her development's club house, taught 2 card techniques.
For card on the left, we colored the image with colored pencils and apllied small dabs of glue to the flowers. We then added a relatively new paper product, Flower Soft. In real life, the flowers are slightly puffed, almost as if there are petals. I finished off the card by matting the image to cardstock and a foldover card and added ribbon. I added a "Thank You" sentiment and sent it off to my cousin!

The Halloween image was stamped in permanent ink onto acetate. We then dabbed glue to the reverse side in small areas and applied glitter. I had some trouble getting good coverage of glitter, but I perservered! Guess I'm just glitter impaired - although my craft apron looked fabulous..as did parts of my cheek...strands of my hair...you get the idea! I added matting and sent this card off to my mom for Halloween.