Which came first? The stamp set or the patterned paper?

I saw this Graphic 45 paper and had to buy it to go with the bird and the cherry from the Love & Luck set by Bombshell Stamps. Then it was sort of overwhelming all by its lonesome, so I added a strip of Cosmo Cricket stripe to break it up a bit in one is one of my favorite "go to" card layouts.



The bird was stamped on pale yellow cardstock and colored with Copic markers. The cherry was stamped with VersaFine Crimson Red & Olympia Green inks and then heat embossed, so the cherry would have a little shine. I tried to use Glossy Accents, but made a big old mess when I sneezed and the circle flew and landed gluey side down.

I used my newest Martha Stewart Lattice Border punch.

Thanks for visiting today.

Yahoo! Another Challenge!

There's a "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man O' Mine" challenge over at SCS. The card was for either a teen or adult male and could not use glitter or bling. Oh, the horror!

Anyways, here's the card that I made for the challenge.



I used the Striped by Me and the Speed Shop sets by Bombshell Stamps. The swashes and skulls were heat embossed with white ep, then I added some ep speckles because I felt like it.

The car was colored with Copic markers. The "chrome" was added with a Krylon Leafing pen. I wanted the car to look metallic and I just haven't figured out how to do that with my markers yet. So I wracked my brain (ouch!) and remembered these Craf-T rub-on colorants and used a green one. It really worked, though I don't know if the scan shows it. I suppose I ought to figure out how to photograph reflective things.

Thanks for looking!

Good news. Bad news.

Bad News
I didn't get a chance to do any card-making or crafting this weekend other than an anniversary card for my husband.

Good News
Bombshell Stamps has a great new forum that will be in addition to the existing one at Paper Craft Planet.

Really Good News
If you join the forum by Monday evening, August 24th, you can get a coupon for 20% off your order.

Click --->HERE<--- to zoom on over to sign up, get your coupon, and chat with us!

Registration for Stamping Around Philadelphia! is open!

Kim & Julie have finalized their plans and registration is now open for Stamping Around's Philadelphia retreat. It'll be held at a gorgeous B&B in the beautiful Lehigh Valley on November 6th and 7th.

I'm totally stoked because I'm going to be teaching a class!

Here's a link to more information.

I sure hope I see you there!

Spooky Blog Hop Revisited

Since I was such a dunderhead earlier and wasn't ready to post my card for the OBP Spooky Blog Hop, I over-compensated and created two Halloween cards.


I embossed Bat Gate using both Rust and Verdigris Antiquities Embossing powder to make it look old and creepy. I cut out the gate and mounted it on gray textured cardstock that had been chalked to look like a stone wall. Flying Al on Earth was an OBP Earth Day limited edition stamp and is one of my faves. He was colored with Copic markers. Flair Designs Rub-ons were used to create the sentiment.


Felines can be notoriously witchy and Priscilla is no exception. She's a true witch Diva. Halloween is her favorite holiday and she has a whole collection of witch hats, brooms, and other witchy accessories. Don't be fooled by that broom though. It's only used for flying, never cleaning, as can be seen by those icky cobwebs!

I used Priscilla Witchy Cat and Webby Border. Priscilla was colored with Copics. The patterned paper (orange) is by K&Company. I used a Skull/Flourish Cuttlebug folder on Core'Dinations cardstock to create the layer under the stamped image panel. After sanding the cardstock to reveal the orange core color, I swiped a Distress ink pad over it to heighten the orange. Gem stickers are in the corners.

Please visit the other OBP DT folks who participated in this Spooky Blog Hop! The blogroll is down there on the right!

Thanks for visiting today again and thank you for forgiving my ineptitude!

OBP DT Spooky Blog Hop!

Color me crimson with embarrassment. I misread the directions for the blog hop and thought I was supposed to post at 6 PM, not 6 AM. Oops. So I still haven't made my card. Bad me, procrastinating yet again.

Not only that, but I broke the link in the chain (cue Chain of Fools by Aretha).

So here's a wall hanging that I never posted that uses Priscilla Devilish Cat, Thorny Flourish, Solid Skull, and "Eek".

I will create another card, but meanwhile, hop along to Laura and spend some time there. Her stuff rocks!

Sorry! Oy.

Oh well! If at first you don't succeed...

I submitted this card to PaperCrafts using one of their two sketches. It wasn't picked up, but it's all good because I like it and because Thank You notes are always useful.

I used an image from the Butterfly Queen set from Bombshell stamps that I received from Kelli in an image swap that we did over at the Bombshell forum at Paper Craft Planet.

The butterfly was colored with Prismacolor markers. The patterned papers are Aerial by Memory Box, the border punch is Lattice by Martha Stewart/EK Success, the flowers are Primas that were colored with the same orange markers as the buttterfly, the flower center is a RainDot by Fiskar's, and the sentiment is a rub-on by Deja Views. I used Distress ink to all edges as a common element to tie the layers together.

Thanks for visiting today!

Another TCP Tuesday Two-Fer!

I've decided to get all my uninked or underinked stamps inky and build a stockpile of cards from them and my humongo stash of patterned paper. What better way to do that than with challenges!

This week's TCP Tuesday challenge is a sketch challenge hosted by Carole. I liked the sketch so much that I created two cards!

Cheers!


I flipped the sketch and used The Cat's Pajamas Relaxing stamp and "Cheers" from Odd Bird Planet with fun cocktail paper from Flair Designs and old Junkitz paper (distressed green)! The image panel was colored with Copic markers. I might go back and add some gemstones.

Reach for the Stars

This one uses a TCP Rocket ship that was stamped, colored with Copics, and then made sparkly with Twinkling H2Os. The scan shows the sparkliness (new word) of the Twinklings as streaks. Bummer! IRL, the space ship looks metallic and shiny/sparkly.

The sentiment was created (poorly) with rub-ons. I'm clearly rub-on impaired. The papers are from the now-defunct Inque Boutique. It's sad because it's a super-cute pad of spaceships, robots, stars, and aliens. Oh well. The cardstock is old Club Scrap cardstock that is a lovely grayish blue with glittery silver sparkly bits embedded in it, so it's perfect for a starry sky!

Thanks for visiting today!

Song Lyric Challenge!

Hey! There's a Song Lyric Challenge going on over at the Bombshell Stamps forum at Paper Crafts Planet. It's hosted by me. Basically, the challenge is to use song lyrics and Bombshell Stamps to create a project. There's no prize (yet) other than the joy of creating a wonderful card and sharing with your pals.

There's also a Nautical and/or Tropical Themed project challenge going on over there. That challenge is way better since there's a great prize involved! You can win some great Bombshell Stamps and a nice kit of cool stuff from Gauche Alchemy! You only have until August 15th to enter, so you'd better get busy creating!

Anyways, here's my card for the Song Lyric Challenge!



The first time I saw the caddy in the great new Speed Shop set from Bombshell Stamps, the song Pink Cadillac by the Boss immediately popped into my head. I found the song lyrics online, copied 'em to a PSE document, and layered the Pink Cadillac title over the lyrics. Then I added the caddy from the Speed Shop set, colored it with my Copics and a Krylon marker. The card still needed "something", so I added some swooshes from the Painted by Me Bombshell set and a smaller matching swoosh from the Lady Luck set in silver Brilliance ink. I wish I had embossed them to make 'em stand out a bit more, though I did add some twinkly pink stickers that don't show on the scan. Oh well, 20/20 hindsight and all of that. :D

Thanks for visiting today!

Yikes! Two blog posts in one day! SHOCKING!

This is my second two-fer -- I got motivated in the early hours this morning. Sometimes insomnia is a good thing... or maybe it was the coffee I had at 10:00 p.m.? Hmmm.

I used the same sketch from SplitCoast Stampers to create a second card for this week's TCP Tuesdays Challenge, "Let Them Eat Cake", hosted this week by Susan!

Since I had the set out, I used The Cats' Pajamas Smells Like Cake set to create this card too. The image was colored with Copics and accented with Spica glitter pens because I gotta have some bling on all projects to appease my inner glittery girl. I used patterned papers from Basic Grey's 6x6 Cupcake pad and then edged 'em with some distress ink. It ended up looking a bit busy, so I'm not sure I love it.

Thanks for visiting twice in one day!

Another Day, Another Challenge!

This is a two-fer -- such fun being efficient. I used a (flipped) sketch from SplitCoast Stampers to create a card for this week's TCP Tuesdays Challenge, "Let Them Eat Cake", hosted this week by Susan!

I used The Cats' Pajamas Smells Like Cake set to create this card. The image was colored with Copics. I used Liquid Pearls on the cupcake's frosting and Spica glitter pens to add a bit of bling to the star, the presents, and the party hats. The patterned papers are from Doodlebug!

Thanks for visiting today!

Challenges!

This card fits several challenges, but I actually created it because I wanted to use the skull from the wonderful new Bombshell Stamps' Speed Shop set to make a background that looked like a checkered flag. I used my computer to generate a 1" grid, cut it to size, stamped the skulls in different orientations, and then colored them.

I colored the Hot Rod from that set with Copic Markers and Krylon pen (chrome), cut it out, and added flames cut from a scrap of Junkitz paper from a previous card. That's the only bit of patterned paper that I used! Shocking! BTW, the yellow cardstock is Bazzill Bling and shimmery, though my scan doesn't show that. :(

This card fits several challenges, which makes me feel ultra-efficient! The challenges are a "Create a background" at Bombshell's forum at PCP, a "Charm" challenge at SCS, a "Get Your Motor Running" challenge at SCS, and a "Take a Ride" challenge at Wednesday Stamper!

Thanks for visiting.

Matchbook Card Tutorial -- 21st Birthday!

Here's a Matchbook Card Tutorial based on a card that I demoed for FiberMark at CHA 2007. I figure if I can't case myself, who can I case? I'll try to make this brief!

Outside:

Inside:

Supplies:
Stamps
Man's Ruin set by Bombshell Stamps

Paper:
Party Candles from the Carnival Ride Collection by G•C•D Studios
Raven Black Cardstock by Bazzill Basics
Solar White Cardstock by Neenah
strip of very old red patterned paper from Making Memories

Ink:
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink by Tsukineko

Colorants:
Copic Markers
Spica Glitter Pens

Other:
Stickles Glitter Glue
Brick Red Distressed Embossing Powder by Ranger Industries
Computer Generated "Match Sticks"
Staples
Perfect Medium Pen

Punches/Dies:
Circle Punch by Creative Memories
Belt Buckle Die by QuicKutz

1. Cut black cardstock to 4.25" w x 12" long. Score at 5.75" down from top and .5" up from bottom. Fold.

2. Cut patterned paper to 4" x 5 5/8". Mount on card's front so that there is 1/8" border at the top and each side. The patterned paper should be flush with the edge of the bottom of the flap of the card.

3. Stamp your image and color as desired. Trim to 3 1/8" w x 4.25" long. Mount on card front.

4. Punch a circle from black cardstock, add stickers for 21, mount so that the Pin-Up's finger is pointing to the circle, and trim to make a semi circle.

5. Computer generate your sentiments. Mine are: "Happy 21st Birthday!", "You're legal!", "Celebrate", "You're an *Adult* now!", and "Drink Up". Cut the sentiments into matchsticks that are 3/8" wide x 4.5". Use a chalk pencil and mark 1/2" down from the top of each matchstick. Color the 1/2" area with a Perfect Medium or VersaMark pen, add Brick Red Distress Embossing Powder, shake off excess, heat til the powder melts, let it cool, and rub. Cool!

6. Position and adhere the matchsticks to the bottom of the fold taking care to only use adhesive on the base of the card. Fold up the flap and staple to form the bottom flap of the matchbook. Cover the staples with ribbon or a strip of paper if you choose.

7. Tuck the matchbook card's front bottom edge into the flap. *Note: You will probably need to trim a little off the bottom edge to make it fit flush. Go for it.

Voila! A fun matchbook card and my shortest tutorial to date. :D