I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus!

Tags

Alcohol Marker, Close To My Heart, Copic, CTMH, eBosser, Glossy Accents, ShinHan, Sunsational Stamps, Tim Holtz

Jingle Bells and Ho, Ho, Ho to you!  One of my favorite “silly” Christmas songs is I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, my all time favorite rendition is by John Mellencamp.

According to the song, a child is peeking in on Mommy and believing that she was really kissing St. Nick.  So I made my card with a curtain pulled back to reveal the kiss.  🙂

Card using Mommy Kissing Santa Claus stamp set

Curtains drawn back to reveal the kiss.

Close up of Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

The background of brick was achieved by running my cardstock through my eBosser using my Tim Holtz Alterations brick embossing folder, and then I distressed it lightly with CTMH Slate ink, just to make the bricks pop a little.  I layered that on top of red and green dotted patterned paper and that was added on top of green Bazzill cardstock for the base.  I added a black rectangle with the top corners rounded to form the opening to the fireplace.  I colored the images with Copic and ShinHan alcohol markers and popped the image up with foam tape.  I added Glossy Accents to the berries in the mistletoe and “hung” it with some silver thread.  The final step was to pull back the curtains with brads and attach the curtains with Scor Tape.

Head on over the http://www.sunsationalstamps.com to get this (and hundreds more) great stamp sets.  We would love it if you would click the “Follow Me” button to follow the blog and Like us on Facebook so you don’t miss a thing.

Happy Scrappin’

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It’s Bloody Scary Out There!

Tags

Alcohol Marker, Black Soot, Close To My Heart, Distress Inks, Distress Stains, Doodlebug Designs, Ripe Persimmon, Stampin' UP!, Tim Holtz

Yikes!  It is almost Halloween and if you are like me you have a lot of little details to catch up on.  I had a party I attended over the weekend and I brought homemade Salted Caramel Cupcakes with cutesy Halloween picks in them and of course a hostess gift.  I chose a Bloody Mary mix 😉 one with a scary name to boot!

Halloween details

The Bloody Mary bottle tag was first stenciled with Fired Brick Distress Stain and Tim Holtz Speckles stencil that was gifted to me by one of my scrappy friends.  🙂  Thanks T!  Next I sponged a small area in the center with Ripe Persimmons Distress Ink so the Martini glass would pop.  The Bring On The Boos stamp is from the Holiday Spirits stamp set by Stampin’ UP!  I masked it off and stamped the sentiment directly on the “spattered” background and stamped the martini (with the eyeball olive) separately, colored it with alcohol markers and fussy cut it out, adhering it with foam tape.

The cupcake picks were stamped using Close To My Heart Frightfully Fun stamp set.  As you can see, I go for cutesy over scary…but I could not resist a little gore for the hostess gift.  The circles for the back base of the picks were punched out using Doodlebug’s latest Halloween collection October 31st.  Now how is that for cute?!

Bloody Mary Mix Bottle Tag

Cupcake Picks close up

I had SO MUCH fun coloring these adorable little characters.  I used my alcohol markers and distressed the edges with Black Soot Distress Ink.

I hope I have inspired some frightfully fun projects for you to try.  Please follow our blog by clicking on the Follow Us link and like us on Facebook so you don’t miss a trick…or treat.  Bwahaha!

Happy Scrappin’!

Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Tags

Distress Inks, Distress Stains, Road Trip, Stampers Anonymous, Tea Dye, Tim Holtz, Vintage

Howdy-do, today I have a couple of projects featuring automobiles.  My husband and future son-in-law both love old cars, they both enjoy restoring and showing off their vehicles, so for my husband’s birthday I created a mini album for my husband to be able to tell the story of one of his restoration projects.  He takes pictures of the entire process so it will be fun to see this filled with pictures and journaling.

 

Fold Out Flap Mini Album

I created the design for this and a friend of mine wrote up the instructions, I will probably have the instruction for sale for a nominal price soon.  If you are interested in purchasing the instructions, please feel free to contact me by leaving a comment below.

The second project was for my future son-in-law’s birthday card.  I used Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous Road Trip stamp set and created the following card.

Birthday card using TH Stampers Anonymous Road Trip stamp set

I stained the watercolor paper with various shades of Distress Stain that I rubbed onto a craft mat and then spritzed with water and smeared my paper in it until it was covered the way I liked it.  Then I stamped the vintage vehicle and the Route 66 sign in Memento Tuxedo Black ink, I created a mask for both images and then I stamped the tire track by first stamping it off and then applying it to the card, to create a lighter image.  I topped the tire track with the Road Trip stamp and then added the Journey sentiment over and below the Route 66 mask.  I trimmed the edges with my deckle edge blade and distressed it in Tea Dye in.  Then added it to a black mat and finally added that to a scrap of that fabulous automobile paper I had left from the mini album.  Voila!   I was happy with how these turned out since I struggle with masculine designs.

I hope you enjoyed todays projects.  Please click on the “Follow Me” link to the left and like us on Facebook so you don’t miss a thing.

Happy Scrappin’!

Vintage Birthday Card with Mixed Media Bookmark

Tags

Authentique, Close To My Heart, CTMH, Distress Inks, Fiskars, Graphic 45, Memento Inks, Modge Podge, Peeled Paint, Stamp of the Month, Tea Dye, Teresa Collins, Tim Holtz, Vintage, Walnut Stain

Salutations one and all, today I will show you a mixed media technique that I used to make a vintage bookmark that was added to a birthday card for a gal that loves the colors gold and green, has a passion for books (not Kindles or Nooks) and all things vintage, so I came up with this.

Inside of card with bookmark tucked inside a vellum pocket

Front of Bookmark

Back of Bookmark…I thought this saying was appropriate for reading a good book.

• I created the tag using thin chipboard as my canvas.
• I then placed a Tim Holtz ‘burlap’ stencil over it.  I taped it down with some microspore tape (it is more easily removed than Washi or painters tape).
• Next I applied Distress ink in Peeled Paint.  I did this on both sides of the bookmark.
• Once the stencil was removed I then distressed both sides with Tea Dye Distress ink.
• In the next step I grabbed a paper cocktail napkin that has a vintage motif printed on it and tore around the edges to a size that fit on the front of the bookmark.
• I glued it down using Matte Modge Podge.  Once dried, I added a top coat on the napkin, making sure to ‘seal’ the edges down and let dry completely.
• I added a chipboard bird to the top front corner of the bookmark.
• On the backside, I stamped the days of the week in a border using Fiskars – Teresa Collins Calendar stamp set.  I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink.
• I then added word stickers from Authentique ( I am not sure what collection these were from, I have had them for a while).  I used the words WHAT.A.LOVELY.WAY.TO.SPEND.A.DAY.  I thought that sentiment was perfect for reading a good book.  I distressed the edges of the word stickers with the Tea Dye ink and put them in place.
• I used Walnut Stain Distress ink to distress the edges of the entire bookmark.
• I then painted on a final coat of Matte Modge Podge to both sides of the bookmark (making that two coats total for the front).  I set it aside to completely dry.
• I added a Graphic 45 key from their Staples.  I attached it to a bit of white ribbon using Close To My Heart Extra Thick Twine in Flax.  I just love the look of this twine.  It is more like miniature rope.

The remainder of the card was made using CTMH New England Ivy textured cardstock.  I cut it 9×7.  I scored the long end at 1″ and 5″.  I added a light green vellum pocket in the interior center, to hold the bookmark.  I then added another vellum panel on the right side of the interior of the card and stamped a sentiment from the CTMH Your Own Kind of Wonderful stamp set.  I used CTMH Topiary dye ink.

The belly band was made using American Crafts gold Washi tape wrapping a strip of cardstock.  I stamped the typewriter and Happy Birthday XOXOXO which came from April’s Stamp of the Month Typed Note from CTMH.  I used clear Distress Embossing ink and gold embossing powder.  Finally, I fussy cut that out and added to belly band with 3D foam squares.

Vintage style birthday card with mixed media book mark.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed today’s project.  Please click on the left to follow our blog and Like us on Facebook, so you don’t miss a thing!

Happy Scrappin’

Oodles and Oodles of Thanks

Tags

Alcohol Ink, Choose Happy, Close To My Heart, CTMH, Distress Inks, Evergreen Bough, Peeled Paint, Scattered Straw, ShinHan, Stamp of the Month, Stencil, Tim Holtz, Tumbled Glass

Oodles of Hellos to you!  I have been busy making cards…yes again, or should I say STILL.  🙂  I am looking forward to finishing up with all my recent card orders so I can concentrate on scrapbooking.  I haven’t been able to make page layouts in quite a while and I am missing it.

But I digress…  Today I have a couple of Thank You cards that I made using the CTMH Choose Happy Stamp of the Month set for March, and one of the cards is being entered into a stencil challenge.  I circle punched an index card with three size  circles and then laid a Tim Holtz circle stencil over the holes and randomly stenciled the tiny holes into the large punched holes to get this effect:

Stencil within a Stencil Technique

This was a lot of fun to do.  I then laid the punched out circles over the stenciled areas so I could add TH Distress Ink in Peeled Paint in the background.  The distress colors I used for the stenciled areas were; Evergreen Bough, Scattered Straw and Tumbled Glass.  The Thanks Oodles frame was colored with the ShinHan alcohol markers in the following colors; Peacock, Turquoise and Leaf Green.  These colors are so pretty together, and I just LOVE the frames in this stamp set, it is so whimsical.  The stamp set is only available through the end of March.

Stamp colored with Leaf Green, Turquoise Blue and Peacock Green ShinHan Markers

Gift Tag to attach to a Close to My Heart product order.

The colors used on the gift tag were; Tender Pink, Cherry Pink, Peony Purple and Lavender.  These colors pack a lot of punch!

I hope you enjoyed today’s featured stamp and techniques.  Please click on the button to the left to follow our blog and like us on Facebook, so you don’t miss a thing!

Happy Scrappin’

Cry. Laugh. Remember.

Tags

Close To My Heart, Color Shine, Distress Inks, Distress Stains, Heidi Swapp, Memento Inks, Milled Lavender, Squeezed Lemonade, Tim Holtz, Weathered Wood

Greetings friends.  Today’s post is a bit more serious.  I have had to make quite a few sympathy cards lately, and I am sure I am not the only one that feels these are by far the most difficult to create.  Never-the-less it must be done.  I have a go-to set of items  for just this occasion, and those are; a Tim Holtz stamp set (Stampers Anonymous – Nature’s Moments), Close To My Heart – Big Hug and Distress stains or markers.

Ingredients for the sympathy cards.

I applied the stain a little differently this time.  I took the Squeezed Lemonade and rolled it directly onto the watercolor paper.  I randomly covered about 75% of the paper.  Next I applied the Milled Lavender to the paper, covering about half randomly, some overlapping the yellow, some on bare paper.  The last stain I added was Weathered Wood and I randomly added this to half the paper, filling in any bare spots and overlapping both the yellow and the lavender in a few spots.  Finally I took a small paint brush and dipped it into my Heidi Swapp Chartreuse Color Shine (it has some metallic properties to it that give it a bit of a shimmer).  I flicked the paint brush to create a random splatter of tiny drops.  I have to confess, all my Color Shines are clogged and won’t spritz directly from the container anymore 😦 so my next project is to research how to get these babies working again!

Once the stain and paints dry I added the seeding dandelion stamp using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and stamping it twice per inking to get the faded plants that look like they are in the background.

Sympathy Cards

Cry. Laugh. Remember.

Peace in your memories

Finally, I mounted them on black card stock, added a length of twine and topped them off with the mounted sentiment that is embossed and popped up with foam squares.  Unfortunately, the embossing doesn’t show up in the pictures.

These are simple and this style can be adapted to any occasion, just by switching up the colors and stamps.

Thank you for stopping by and please click the button on the left to follow our blog and Like us on Facebook, so you don’t miss a thing.

Happy Scrapping!

Life is Good…

Tags

Art Philosophy, Artfully Sent, Close To My Heart, CTMH, Distress Inks, eBosser, K&Co., Peeled Paint, Scattered Straw, Teresa Collins, Tim Holtz, Wild Honey

Happy Harvest to you! I don’t need to remind anyone that Thanksgiving is just around the corner, but there is still plenty of time to put together some cards for those special people in your life that you are grateful for.

I have been busy making many different designs because I have a very sweet collection of autumn stamps and stamp sets that include saying of gratitude.

Bits & pieces for the makings of an assortment of Thanksgiving cards

The tree card was stamped with Close To My Heart – Always Grateful, as well as the inside of that card.  The sign on the wood grain embossed card was also stamped with a sentiment in this set.

CTMH Always Grateful stamp set used for this card.

I colored the tree and grass with a small sponge dauber and Tim Holtz Distress Inks.  I used Scattered Straw, Wild Honey & Peeled Paint.  I mounted the picture onto golden-yellow card stock.  I wrapped a K&Co. gold ribbon around a piece of patterned paper cut 1/8 inch smaller than the card base and assembled as shown above.  I stamped the inside with Cocoa Brown Memento ink using a sentiment from the stamp set.

Wood grain Embossed Card

This card was made using the Teresa Collins eBosser and Tim Holtz wood grain embossing folder.  I cut out leaves from various patterned paper using the Close To My Heart Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge.  This same leaf and acorn are in the CTMH stamp set Fall Harvest and I stamped the acorn and then colored it with my ShinHan alcohol markers.  I used that stamp set with the leaf and acorn cut outs for the next card seen below.

Life is Good and Fall Harvest Stamp Sets Used

Using my Cricut I cut out the leaves at 2 inches and stamped them with CTMH pigment inks (Topiary, Sunset & Cranberry).  I just love how vibrant the colors are.  I stamped the wreath and “Life is Good” with the CTMH Remarkable Wreath (retired) stamp set.  The wreath was stamped in 3 layers.  First I used Sunset pigment ink with the leaf half circle and of course stamped it twice to make a circle.  Then I used the Cocoa Brown Memento ink to stamp the wreath over the leaves.  Last, I stamped the berries in Cranberry pigment ink as the top layer.  The inside was stamped with the Curlicues Alpha set that came with the Close To My Heart Artfully Sent Cricut bundle.

I hope you enjoyed todays cards and techniques.  Thank you for stopping by and remember to click on the left panel to follow our blog so you don’t miss a thing.  Like us on Facebook and stop by our online shop for more inspiration!

Happy Scrapping!

Proof Positive That Albert Einstein Was No Crafter!

Tags

Close To My Heart, CTMH, Distress Inks, Distress Stains, Salty Ocean, Spun Sugar, Squeezed Lemonade, Tim Holtz, Vintage

Hi Tweety!  Today’s project is a card I made recently for someone who was somewhat forced into retirement and I thought the sentiment was sweet and appropriate.  It is Nature’s Moments by Tim Holtz-Stampers Anonymous.

Stampers Anonymous – Nature’s Moments

The background was created on watercolor paper with Distress Stains.  I used Spun Sugar, Salty Ocean and Squeezed Lemonade.  For this technique I use a small piece of plexiglass as my “palette” and I roll the stains in a haphazard pattern onto the plexiglass.  I then spritz with a bit of water and press the watercolor paper down onto the pooled water.  I have used this technique in a previous post, but that one had a more antique look.

Play around with various colors and you will see the different effects each combination has.  One of the other great things about this technique is every outcome is different. Which dispels Einstein’s popular and funny theory, “Insanity:  Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”  He may have been a mathematical genius but he was no crafter!  HA!

This stamp set is so versatile, I have used it for many different cards and the stained watercolor technique can be used in endless ways.  I hope you try this technique soon!

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Happy Scrappin’ 🙂

 

 

 

Oh Baby!

Tags

Authentique, Bazzill, Doodlebug Designs, Graphic 45, Laura Denison, Little Darlings, Quick Quotes, Tim Holtz, YouTube

Oh baby this was a fun project to do!  I love creating mini albums and this was my first attempt at a Z fold album.  My inspiration was Laura Denison with Following the Paper Trail, she has some very good YouTube tutorials on many different albums, but this one seemed to be just what I was looking for.  There is a lot of room for pictures and journaling, so much so, that some of the more embellished detailed patterns could be left blank.  Now on to the nuts and bolts of it.

First off the best instructions to follow is watching Laura’s YouTube, I will add the link at the bottom of this post.  I used Graphic 45, Little Darlings paper line.  This paper has been discontinued however they do have comparable lines currently out that could be used for a baby album or obviously any paper line would work, just make sure you have a full paper pad or close to it of whatever coordinating papers you want, this is a deceivingly large album.  I was somewhat freaked out by the fact that the half pad of 12×12 papers were irreplaceable, so with that said this album was less therapeutic than most projects can be.  😉

The cover was distressed with Tim Holtz Tea Stain.  I made the banner with Epiphany’s banner epoxy which spelled out the baby’s first and middle name.  All the alpha stickers used in this were Authentique and all the alpha rub-ons were Doodlebug.  Doodlebug makes the best rub-ons I have ever used.

I embossed all the fold-out photo mats.  I used three different designs and alternated them.  This added interest to an otherwise blank (if only temporary) piece of paper.  I made the larger photo mats of patterned paper, so no extra steps were needed with these.

The tags were done with Bazzill paper and I used a Kraft and a swiss dot Baby Blue, these were cut at 4×6 and I made a template to give the top a traditional tag appearance.  On I added either Graphic 45 Little Darlings or Botanical Tea to the tags…I was running out of my Little Darlings paper because I had to use a lot of it to fussy cut out all the adorable pictures.  I found Botanical Tea had a couple of designs with birds and nests that fit the baby theme and the colors matched perfectly.  WIN!!!  On the flip side of the tags added some headings to encourage the mommy to journal.

Quick Quotes makes some wonderful products and I have a nice collection of their vellum poems and saying.  I used a few quotes regarding parenting and babies.  There was a beautiful poem about adoption that fit the bill perfectly.  I embossed a couple of the vellum quotes to add interest.

Here is the link for the Z-fold mini YouTube, and I hope you enjoy the pictures of a few of the pages.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgGL_fo0RZs

Cover using Graphic 45 Little Darlings paper and Epiphany Crafts banner

Inside front cover and embossed vellum Quick Quotes

Example of the beautiful illustrations that were fussy cut and layered.

Little Darling paper and vellum photo mats

Quick Quotes on Z-fold flap

More Little Darlings used as mini tags.

Little Darlings and embossed photo mat

Large tags (this album has a total of 12) inserted within the Z-fold

Adoption poem from Quick Quotes.

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