Coffee Enhances Everything!

Due to a bunch of stuff, I almost missed "Word-Up Weekends" where we share projects created with Stampotique's many Words, Phrases, Letters, and Numbers.

Here's my card with "I'll Love You More After Coffee" from the  Phrase Cube 2 (Terri Richardson) and Baby Cakes (Jill Penney and Daniel Torrente).

Baby Cakes was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink (Imagine Crafts) and colored with Copic markers. The image panel was die-cut with one of the dies from the Long Rectangles Nestabilities die set (Spellbinders), then matted onto pink cardstock sized slightly larger than the image panel.

"I'll Love You More After Coffee" from the Phrase Cube 2  was also stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink, then die-cut with one of the dies from the Birthday Speech Bubbles die set (Die-namics). Dotty colors were added with Copic markers.

Patterned paper from a seriously old 6x6 pad was cut to size, then the edges were distressed. The patterned paper was adhered to a pink card. The image panel was adhered, then the sentiment was popped up a bit and adhered as shown.

Thanks for visiting today!

A Time Tag!

This week's challenge at Stampotique Designer's Challenges is "One Layer" (#272). Here's the blurb about the challenge!

"You can only have one layer on your projects this week."

If you'd like the chance to win your choice of $30 worth of Stampotique stamps, you should play along with this challenge. Visit Stampotique Designers Challenge blog and be sure to read the rules so that you'll have the chance to win that great prize!!! Remember to check to see the deadline for all of this month's Stampotique Designers Challenges!

Here's my tag with Goth Grandfather Clock (Arwen McCullen), Design Cube 2 (France Papillon), and "One Second, One Minute, One Hour, One Day" (Janet Klein).

The Goth Grandfather Clock was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink (Imagine Crafts) onto a tag die-cut from 140 lb. Mixed Media cardstock (Strathmore) with my trust Tag Alterations die (Sizzix). Goth Grandfather Clock was colored with Copic markers. The was also stamped onto Eclipse Tape (Judikins) then fussy-cut to be used as a mask.

The mask was placed over its counterpart on the tag, a Post-It Note was used to cover the top part of the cardstock and Copic markers were used to add the floor. The Post-It Note was moved to cover the floor and Tattered Rose, Milled Lavender, and Blueprint Sketch Distress inks (Ranger) were sponged over the tag, spritzed with water, then heat set. The same colors of Distress ink were sponged over the Gothic and the Clockwork Layering stencils (Stampers Anonymous), then spritzed, and heat set repeatedly to knock the patterns way back.

The crackle pattern from the Design Cube 2 was repeatedly stamped using the same colors of Distress ink. Again, the tag was spritzed with water and heat set. This process was repeated several times until I was happy.

Post-It Notes were used to cover the One Second, One Minute, One Hour, One Day" stamp, one phrase at a time was inked, the Post-It Notes were removed, and each phrase was stamped with Distress ink. When all four time phrases were stamped, the tag was once again spritzed with water and heat set to make the sentiments fade into the background.

The entire One Second, One Minute, One Hour, One Day" sentiment was stamped at the top, the mask was removed, and clear polka-dotted ribbon was added to finish the tag.

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this card into the following challenges:
• Dies R Us Challenges: Tags
• Stamping Sensations Challenges: Anything Goes

Seascape Tag!

I love the ocean and I love to sail, though I don't get to do so very frequently. I guess that's why sailboats, beach scenes, and ocean-life stamps always appeal to me. 

My tag features the sailboat, gulls, and the compass from the Always Time for Friendship Half Sheet (Stampinback), available at I Brake for Stamps. By the way, IBFS ships internationally!

I recently received my long awaited set of Distress Oxide inks and after playing around a tiny bit, decided to try to create a seascape tag using them.

First I die-cut a tag from my beloved 140 lb. Mixed Media cardstock (Strathmore) using a very old Accucut die. Starting at the bottom of the tag, I sponged Vintage Photo, Faded Jeans, and Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide inks (Ranger), spritzing the ink, then heat setting between each color. When I reached where I wanted the sun to be, I punched a circle from Eclipse Tape (Judikins), adhered it to the tag, then sponged Worn Lipstick and Broken China Distress Oxide inks, spritzing, and heat setting after the application of each color. When I was moderately happy with the colors of the tag, I lifted the circle, sponged Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide ink, spritzed it, and heat set that layer.

The next step was to stamp the sailboat from the Always Time for Friendship Half Sheet onto the tag with Jet Black Archival ink (Ranger). I colored the image using Pitt Artist pens (Faber Castell) and Zig Photo-Twin markers (EK Success).

The gulls and the compass were stamped with with Jet Black Archival ink (Ranger). White Gelly Roll gel pen (Sakura) was used to add sea foam and white caps to the ocean.

Three colors of hemp twine were added to finish the tag.

I Brake for Stamps is where you'll find great selections of Stampinback stamps plus lots of other stamps from other stamp companies. Click on my badge below to be whisked over to I Brake for Stamps to check out all of the goodies! Best of all, if you buy something, you can get a 10% discount off of your purchase if you use this code: SAVE10KATHI!

If you have any questions about the techniques or products I used, feel free to ask!

Thanks for visiting today!

One of those Days!

Here's a card with Those Days rubber stamp set from the Curiosities Set Two by Carmen Medlin Designs, available at I Brake for Stamps.

The Those Days set includes a dazed looking creature and the sentiment "Ever have one of those days?". The creature from Those Days was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink (Imagine Crafts), colored with Copic markers, fussy-cut, edged with a dark marker, then set aside while I created a background for him.

Using the Picasso Shield/Stencil (Stampendous), clouds were stenciled onto 140 lb. Mixed Media cardstock with Watering Can, Shadow Grey, and Hydrangea Archival ink (Ranger). Leaf Green and Fern Green were sponged along the bottom of the page.

An ancient tree die-cut was sponged with Tree Branch Archival ink, then touched up with Copic markers. The tree was adhered to the sponged image panel using Matte Multi-Medium (Ranger), then the creature from Those Days was adhered at the base of the tree. His eyes were touched up with Clear Gelly Glaze pen (Sakura) to make them dimensional and shiny. He was so out of it that he didn't feel a thing! Some white drops were judiciously added with a White One4All paint marker (Molotow).

White cardstock was die-cut with a cardinal die, then colored with Copic markers to magically become bluejays, which were then adhered to the tree.

"Ever have one of those days?", from the Those Days set was stamped in the upper right hand corner using Jet Black StazOn ink (Imagine Crafts). The image panel was matted with black cardstock and adhered to a white card.

I Brake for Stamps has a huge and varied collection of rubber stamps that you ought to check out right now. Click on my badge below to be whisked over to I Brake for Stamps to check out all of the goodies! Best of all, if you buy something, you can get a 10% discount off of your purchase if you use this code: SAVE10KATHI!

Thanks for visiting today!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! I've created an Easter carad for Stampotique's Facebook Group's "Word-Up Weekends" where we share projects created with Stampotique's many Words, Phrases, Letters, and Numbers.

Here's the card featuring Bunny Boy (Kate Crane), "Happy, Happy" (Janet Klein), and Alpha Background (Arwen McCullen). 

Bunny Boy was stamped with Jet Black Archival ink (Ranger) onto 140 lb. Mixed Media cardstock (Strathmore) and onto Eclipse Tape (Judikins). The Eclipse Tape version was fussy-cut then set aside while its counterpart was colored using Zig Photo-Twin markers (EK Success). These markers are meant to be used to tint black and white photos, but I like to use them as watercolor markers. They're not as "juicy" as some and come in soft, subtle colors. These markers were used to add grass under Bunny Boy's feet.

The fussy-cut Eclipse Tape Bunny Boy was adhered over his brother on the image panel. Summer Sky and Angel Pink Memento inks were sponged over the Picasso Shield/Stencil (Stampendous) to create a cloudy sky.

I used one of the Zig Photo-Twin marker to color letters on the Alpha Background stamp, huffed on the stamp, and stamped the letters that I needed. The letters were punched with a small rectangle Paper Shaper punch (EK Success) and the color was touched up with the marker.

Patterned papers (Doodlebug) was layered as shown. Ancient Paper Frill borders were added over the seam between the patterned papers. Happy, Happy" was stamped onto the top border and the word "Easter" with the letters stamped with the Alpha Background stamp were added along the bottom. The image panel was adhered to the card front, which was then added to a white card.

Thanks for visiting today!

Antique Tea Set!

When I used the tea set last week, I thought to myself, "Self, wouldn't a teapot look cool if it had a crackled texture?" So I set about creating an antique tea set this gorgeous teapot and matching tea cups from a fabulous rubber stamp sheet (MS78) from Merry Stamper, available at I Brake for Stamps! The tea set has four tea gorgeous teapots with four matching tea cups, two sentiments, and a tiny steaming teapot.

Here it is!

The teapot and matching tea cups were stamped with Blueprint Sketch Distress ink (Ranger), colored with Copic markers, fussy-cut, then edged with a blue Sharpie marker. I used my index finger to coat the teapot and  tea cups with relatively thick layers of Distress Collage Crazing Medium (Ranger). They were left to dry for several hours. When completely dry, I had to place them under a stack of books for a few days to flatten them out.

Blue floral cardstock from the Daisy/Stripe Petite Prints 6x6 pad (Doodlebug Designs) was trimmed, then the edges were distressed. White cardstock was die-cut with the Fancy Floral Lace Border die (Cottage Cutz).

The border was adhered over the patterned paper, then the teapot and matching tea cups were adhered. The final step was to adhere card front was adhered to a blue card.

Here's a close-up view of the lovely crackling!

I Brake for Stamps has a huge and varied collection of rubber stamps that you ought to check out right now. Click on my badge below to be whisked over to I Brake for Stamps to check out all of the goodies! Best of all, if you buy something, you can get a 10% discount off of your purchase if you use this code: SAVE10KATHI!

Thanks for visiting today!

Bling It On!

This week's challenge at Stampotique Designer's Challenges is "Bling It On!" (#271). Here's the blurb about the challenge!

"Think shimmer, shine, or sparkle. Add something "blingy" to your project this week."

If you'd like the chance to win your choice of $30 worth of Stampotique stamps, you should play along with this challenge. Visit Stampotique Designers Challenge blog and be sure to read the rules so that you'll have the chance to win that great prize!!! Remember to check to see the deadline for all of this month's Stampotique Designers Challenges!

Here's my glittery, shimmery, shiny card using Patterned Circles (Arwen McCullen),  Alpha Background (Arwen McCullen), and Agatha's Parrot (Magda Polakow). 

Patterned Circles was stamped onto 140 lb. Mixed Media cardstock (Strathmore) using Onyx Black VersaFine ink (Imagine Crafts), then heat embossed with Clear Detail embossing powder (Ranger). Agatha's Parrot was then stamped with Onyx Black VersaFine ink using a stamp positioner to perch him on one of the center circles. He was then heat embossed with Clear Detail embossing powder. The Patterned Circles and Agatha's Parrot were colored using PrismaColor markers because I didn't want to risk ruining my beloved Copics.

When I was done coloring Patterned Circles and Agatha's Parrot, a VersaMarker pen (Imagine Crafts) was used to cover the images with embossing ink. Polysparkle embossing powder (Ranger) was heat set. This process was repeated three times to add shiny, dimensional, and glittery look to Patterned Circles and Agatha's Parrot. 

Sketch and Wash pencil (General) was used to add a horizon to the image panel, then the top part of the image was covered with Post-It Notes. Hickory Smoke Distress ink (Ranger) was sponged over the bottom part of the image panel, the sponged again over the stencil included with the NK Studio Urban Scribble Foam and Cling Stamp set (Stampendous).

The Post-It Notes were removed and placed over the bottom portion of the image panel. Squeezed Lemonade Distress ink was sponged over the top portion of the image, then over the Bubbles stencil (Stampers Anonymous). Apparently, I had forgotten to clean the stencil, so a bit of blue ink ended up in the mix. Fossilized Amber Distress ink was then sponged over the stencil to add a bit of contrast.

Since the challenge theme is Bling It On, Royal Peacock Fire Glitz Spray (Lindy's Stamp Gang), was sprayed over the entire image panel to add additional shimmer. I figured more glitter was needed, so Black Diamond Stickles glitter glue (Ranger) was added to the edges of the image panel. Then I was a good me and let it sit for several hours to dry.

While it was drying, Alpha Background  was stamped several times with Onyx Black VersaFine ink. I was thrilled to discover that my small rectangle Paper Shaper punch (EK Success) was (almost) the perfect fit for the letters in the Alpha Background . I punched out the letters I needed for my sentiment, touched them up with a grey Copic marker, then adhered them to the image panel.

The piece still needed more glitter, sparkle, shimmer, and shine, so I used glitter paper to mat the image panel, then adhered the matted image panel to a white card. A strand of rhinestone jewels was added to Agatha's Parrot's beak to finish the card.

Thanks for visiting today!

I shall enter this card into the following challenges:
• Moving Along with the Times Challenges: Birds or Feathers
• Addicted to Stamps and More: Make Your Mark
• Crafty Cardmakers Challenges: Things with Wings

Elemental Fire Woman

Here's a card with Fire from the Elements Collection  by Carmen Medlin Designs, available at I Brake for Stamps.

Fire was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink (Imagine Crafts) and colored with Copic markers. As per my Virgo nature, I googled Desert Hawks and decided that this hawk was a Harris Hawk and colored him accordingly.

The Fire image is so beautifully detailed that I decided to use a very clean design. I matted the image panel with dark brown cardstock to match my hawk, then adhered it to a piece of textured kraft cardstock that I found in my stash. The edges of the textured cardstock were sponged with Gathered Twigs Distress ink (Ranger), then the cardstock was adhered to a 5x7 card.

Dark bronze metallic cardstock was die-cut with the Ship's Compass die (Cherry Lynn Designs). The compass was adhered to the card, then the Fire image panel was added.

I Brake for Stamps has a huge and varied collection of rubber stamps that you ought to check out right now. Click on my badge below to be whisked over to I Brake for Stamps to check out all of the goodies! Best of all, if you buy something, you can get a 10% discount off of your purchase if you use this code: SAVE10KATHI!

Thanks for visiting today!

Word-Up Weekend/Text Challenge Combo!

Here I am multi-tasking by combining this week's challenge at Stampotique Designer's Challenges is Text (#270) with Stampotique's Facebook Group's "Word-Up Weekends" where we share projects created with Stampotique's many Words, Phrases, Letters, and Numbers.

If you'd like the chance to win your choice of $30 worth of Stampotique stamps, you should play along with this month's challenges. Visit Stampotique Designers Challenge blog and be sure to read the rules so that you'll have the chance to win that great prize!!! Remember to check to see the deadline for all of this month's Stampotique Designers Challenges!

Here's my rather large tag that uses the new Cooee (Karen Hayselden) stamp with "Make Magic Wherever You Go! (Amy Wilson-Wellenstein).

Cooee was stamped onto text paper from the Once Upon a Time stack (DCWV) with Tuxedo Black Memento ink (Imagine Crafts), then colored with Copic markers. Picket Fence Distress marker (Ranger) was used to color Cooee's eyes white. The image panel and another sheet from the same paper stack were die-cut with a die from the 5x7 Card Creator die set (Spellbinders). The edges were sponged with Shaded Lilac and Tea Dye Distress ink (Ranger), then adhered over a sheet with a castle on it. The edges of that sheet were also sponged with the same colors of Distress ink.

"Make Magic Wherever You Go! was stamped onto another scrap, then matted with a slightly larger scrap. Dimensional foam adhesive was used to adhere the sentiment to the tag panel.

I had found #10 Inkssentials Manila Tags  (Ranger) for dirt cheap. Shaded Lilac and Tea Dye Distress ink (Ranger) was sponged over the Flourish Layering stencil (Stampers Anonymous). Some hand-dyed seam binding was used to finish the tag.

Thanks for visiting today!

Live from New York, it's Caturday Night Live!

This week's challenge at Stampotique Designer's Challenges is Text (#270). Here's the blurb about the challenge!

"We are asking you to use some sort of text in your backgrounds this week. Weather it be newspaper, books, stamped words, something printed.. there possibilities are forever with this one."

If you'd like the chance to win your choice of $30 worth of Stampotique stamps, you should play along with this challenge. Visit Stampotique Designers Challenge blog and be sure to read the rules so that you'll have the chance to win that great prize!!! Remember to check to see the deadline for all of this month's Stampotique Designers Challenges!

Here's my card with TV (Daniel Torrente) and Kitty Squad (Kira Nichols).

TV, one of Stampotique's new April stamps, was stamped with Jet Black Archival ink (Ranger). The edges of the TV were covered with Post-It Notes. The other three cats on the Kitty Squad stamp were covered with Post-It Notes, the remaining cat was inked, then stamped into the TV screen.

First the Cat and the TV were slightly shaded with Copic markers. The Cat's body was colored with Oktoberfest Orange Magical Shaker. His ears were colored with Oom Pah Pah Pink Magical Shaker. His eyes were colored with the Freaky Frankenlime Magical Powder from the Haunted Halloween set of Magical Powders.

The exterior of the  TV was colored with Black Forest Black Magical Shaker (Lindy's Stamp Gang). The TV screen was colored with Tainted Love Teal Magical Powder from the Haunted Halloween set of Magical Powders. The TV logo was colored with Yodeling Yellow Magical Shaker and the table was colored with Bratwurst Brown Magical Shaker. The background of the image panel was coloreded with Bavarian Blue Magical Shaker.

The image panel and black metallic cardstsock were die-cut with two of the dies from the 5x7 Card Creator Nestabilities die set (Spellbinders). The image panel was matted with the black metallic cardstock and the sentiment was added with Simply Sweet rub-ons (Doodlebug Designs).

A newspaper television listing was scanned, then printed onto cardstock. It was colored with Black Forest Black Magical Shaker, heat set, and placed under heavy books to flatten. When completely dry, it was trimmed to 4.75" x 6.75".

Metallic black was die-cut three times with the Cityscape die (Memory Box). Yellow cardstock was die-cut three times with the Cityscape Silhouette die (Memory Box). Silver cardstock was die-cut with the Sturdy Bridge die (Memory Box).

The matted Cat and the TV image panel was adhered to the colored television listing, then the various cityscape and bridge dies were layered over the base of the image panel. The image panel was adhered to a 5x7 card.

Thanks for visiting today.

Beautiful Tea Pot

It's time for tea with this gorgeous teapot from a fabulous rubber stamp sheet (MS78) from Merry Stamper, available at I Brake for Stamps! The tea set has four tea gorgeous teapots with four matching tea cups, two sentiments, and a tiny little teapot, which will be perfect for making backgrounds!

The Teapot was stamped with London Fog Memento ink (Imagine Crafts) onto cardstock and onto mask paper. The mask paper version was fussy-cut. The cardstock version of the teapot was colored with Copic markers in mostly grey scale with a bit of light blue and aqua here and there. The color palette was chosen to match old patterned paper from a 6x6 pad.

The Teapot image panel was die-cut with one of the dies from the Sunray Venus Layering Basics die set (Tonic Studios) and kept in the die. The fussy-cut mask was adhered over the teapot image and Copic markers were airbrushed over the die and the mask.

Grey cardstock was die-cut with one of the bead chain dies from the Chains die set (Elizabeth Craft Designs) and a corner die (SCACD).

The patterned paper was layered, the chain die was adhered over the seam of the papers and the teapot image die-cut was adhered to the card front. The edges of the card front were sponged with London Fog Memento ink, then adhered to a grey card. The corner dies were added to finish the card.

I Brake for Stamps has a huge and varied collection of rubber stamps that you ought to check out right now. Click on my badge below to be whisked over to I Brake for Stamps to check out all of the goodies! Best of all, if you buy something, you can get a 10% discount off of your purchase if you use this code: SAVE10KATHI!

Thanks for visiting today!

Stampotique Stamps & Lindy's Stamp Gang: Color Challenge!

April is such an exciting month. Not only is Stampotique releasing new stamps, but the Stampotique Design Team is doing a collaboration with Lindy's Stamp Gang's Design Team! Lindy's Stamp Gang sent some of their wonderful products to us for use on our Stampotique projects this month. They also will send a prize pack to one of the participants at Stampotique Designers Challenges! The winner will be drawn at the end of April.

Here's a link to see Lindy's wonderful product line of colorful sprays, Magical Powders, embossing powders, and tools. We're kicking off our collaboration by participating in Lindy's Stamp Gang's Design Team's monthly color challenge!

Here's a link to the Stampotique's April stamps!

Here's the color palette:

Here's the first card that I created with Cupcake Girl (Tera Callihan), which is one of April's new stamps. It also uses Skull Balloons (Arwen McMullen) and "Happy Birthday" (Janet Klein).

Cupcake Girl and Skull Balloons were stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink (Imagine Crafts), colored with Copic markers, fussy-cut, and edged with black marker. They were set aside while I worked on a background for them.

Media Modeling Paste (DecoArt) was scraped over the Chequered Dots stencil (Ranger), the Dinky Arrows stencil (That's Crafty), and Dinky Circles stencil (That's Crafty) onto 140 lb. Mixed Media cardstock (Strathmore) then allowed to dry.

When dry, Royal Peacock Fire Glitz Spray, Royal Emerald Fire Glitz Spray, Blue Hawaiian Blue Starburst Spray, and a tiny bit of Raspberry Lemonade Flat Fabio Spray was repeatedly sprayed and spritzed over the textured background until I was happy with the way it looked. The background was allowed to air dry, then heat set as well.

Cupcake Girl and Skull Balloons were adhered to the background. A thin black Sharpie pen was used to draw in the strings to the Skull Balloons. The image panel was matted with black cardstock, then adhered to a blue card. A scrap of the blue cardstock was die-cut with a nameplate die and "Happy Birthday" was stamped on it. The sentiment tag was adhered to finish this card.

Here's my second card with Cupcake (Terri Richardson), Plushy (Arwen McCullen),  Hand (Josie Cirincione), and Ta-dah with Words on the Side (Kate Crane).

Cupcake and Plushy were both stamped twice. Hand was stamped once. All images were fussy-cut, though the Cupcake and the Cupcake's frosting were fussy-cut separately.

The Cupcake paper wrapper was sprayed with Royal Emerald Fire Glitz Spray and Royal Peacock Fire Spray then allowed to dry. The Cupcake's frosting was sprayed with Raspberry Lemonade Flat Fabio Spray. The spray was allowed to dry. The frosting still looked a bit flat to me, so Sidewalk Chalk Magical Powder was mixed with Raspberry Lemonade Flat Fabio Spray on a palette. The resulting color was applied with my finger and/or a sponge dauber. The Cupcake liner and frosting were set aside to dry.

The Plushies and the Hand were colored with Copic markers and edged with a black marker. The  Plushies ' eyes were coated with several layers of Clear Gelly Glaze pen (Sakura) to make them shiny and dimensional. Gold gel pen was used to trace the Plushies ' earrings. The Plushies  and the Hand both joined the Cupcake while I created a background for them.

140 lb. Mixed Media cardstock was die-cut with one of the dies from the Rectangle Frames die set (Die-namics). It was sprayed with Rusty Lantern Lime Stardust Spray.

Another piece of 140 lb. Mixed Media cardstock was Royal Peacock Fire Glitz Spray and heat set. Then Royal Peacock Fire Glitz Spray, Blue Hawaiian Starburst Spray, and Raspberry Lemonade  Flat Fabio Spray were sprayed over a Bubbles stencil (Ranger). This was repeated until I was happy with the coverage. The sprayed stenciled cardstock was heat set and trimmed to size. 

A scrap of the sprayed cardstock was die-cut with a label die (Spellbinders) and the Ta-dah sentiment was stamped onto the die-cut.

Washi tape was added to the base of the stencilled sprayed cardstock panel. The Hand was adhered to the upper right of the panel The frame was adhered over it, then the Cupcake parts were pieced back together, and adhered to image panel. The Plushies were adhered as shown, and the Ta-dah sentiment was added to the frame and enhanced with a fuschia rhinestone flower. The card front was mounted onto a plain white card to finish the project!

Thanks for visiting today!