New to stamping?

I read a great little post on Donna's blog (Butternut Sage Designs) today about going back to basics and where to start when you get into cardmaking. It's a great post, and if you're new(ish) to stamping, or just looking for a way to revitalize your crafting, check it out. She suggests using some of the weekly card challenge websites (and lordy, there are many!) to get design or color ideas. I've found that as you get a bit more comfortable with your tools (and um, accumulate more tools...) ideas flow a bit better, and it's easier to branch out. But in the beginning, looking at a piece of paper & some stamps can be kinda intimidating in a way.

ANYWAY. enough of my rambling. Thanks again to Donna for a great article - happy stamping!

tip for pesky solid images

(Angie, this one's for you!)

Ever try and figure out how to get the best coverage with a fairly solid stamped image? I have issues with solid images and dark ink, so when I was in the cave last night, I figured out how to 'fix' this. I stamped the image as normal (patting the stamp on the ink a few times to load up as best as possible), and then took a blender pen, dabbed it on the ink pad to get a bit of color, and colored over the stamped image to fill in the lighter spots. I love how the images has just a bit more depth to it, and looked more complete or something (IMO).

So here's the purty bird from p. 91 (everyone's fave bird!) all inked up with Pacific Point.

And here's the initial stamp onto white cardstock (non-SU, sorry). see those white spots? drive me (and some of my customers) nuts.

Now, here's the image after I took the blender pen and colored in the image with the same ink. Much better, no?

And now, here's the final birdy... Like the crown? It's the beak stamp, just tilted and stamped twice. FUN!

Got my crafty on!

I spent almost 2 hours in the Cave tonight, and got three cards done. I'm pretty excited with how they turned out, whaddya think? I love the new set "Scandinavian Season". It's such a fun set to color!! I stamped the image first in chocolate chip & Versamark, and embossed the image with clear powder so that I could color it in. I used blender pens & squished the ink pads onto their lids to lift the color from. I then stamped the tree again and colored & cut out the flower & added a sparkly brad for the middle. The scandinavian snowflake is also pretty - used that as a background on the chocolate chip & baja breeze layers. With, of course, an embossed snowflake and sentiment. Heee, love my embossing!!

The next card is a 'thinking of you' card for a friend. I couldn't think of a stamped image that fit with what I wanted, so I just cuttlebugged a piece of baja breeze paper, and colored in the birdies with my blender pens again. I added a piece of ribbon & some 'patina' stickles, and voila!

I had the most fun making the last card. I used the smoosh technique that Jessica from Craft-o-rama is so fond of, and it really popped out the words. Then, I covered the paper with irridescent ice embossing powder, and then colored the words with Versamark pen, and put white pearl powder on the words and re-embossed the layer. Then, I used the snowflake stamp from Best Wishes & More as a background, and some pink & clear stickles to bling up the snowflakes. Some pink ribbon & dimensionals, and I have a pink & red Christmas card. Wheeeeee! Just got to make one with Chocolate snowflakes now, and I'll be set.

A bunch of firsts...

Hey y'all, sorry it's been a while. First I was in the US shopping for a few days, and then we had company, and now I'm battling a wicked case of bronchitis. So, not a lot of crafty time, but I've made it into the cave a bit.

ANYWAY. Like the title says, I had a bunch of 'firsts' in the cave this weekend. My first first is that I actually used Beate's Weekend Sketch to do up a sympathy card for my BIL (his little cousin passed away late last week), and I'm going to enter it in the draw. Wheeee! The sketch posted is on the left, CC is modeling my attempt on the right. I feel like it needs some kind of embellishment (I mean, there's no ribbon or ANYTHING), but then again, it's a sympathy card, y'know? Any suggestions?

The other 'first' of the weekend is that I stamped my first card using one of the acrylic stamps I've picked up recently (Imaginisce's Chick. tee hee. CC was jealous :P). On top of that, I actually masked a spot, which I had never actually done before. It turned out I didn't need to, but still, I did, right? And then, I needed a bit of grass cover at the bottom of the card, so I used a technique shown on Heather's blog Friday and took some greenish ribbon and frayed it. This is the end result.. (ya, CC got into this shot too). I love that Chick stamp - I can see me getting a lot of use out of that. LOVE. IT. I also used a technique that Michelle Zindorf uses a lot, and set much of my stamping with clear embossing powder. Didn't work out so well with the flowers on the left, but eh. Can't win 'em all.

One last picture before I go - a quick shot of the crafty goodness I picked up when I was in the US at the end of last month. I got a ton of stuff at AC Moore on clearance (mostly $2-$2.50) that here in Canada is $7. Just a tad bit of a ripoff, eh? The cricut mats weren't on sale, nor was the Cuttlebug folder, but still - they were $9.99 & $4.99 - almost 50% of 'regular price' up here. The rest are mostly brads, eyelets and other pretties. I got a couple of small clear blocks for acrylic stamps for $1 each (score!) and a cute sheet of acrylic stamps for $7.99 (half price). I didn't even let myself look at ribbon or paper - god knows I have enough of all that!

So that's where things are. I need to make a birthday card for a good friend, so I might have another post soon. Later!!

Cutest card ever!!

Amy at Prairie Paper & Ink showcased the cutest card ever today. Isn't this awesome? It's a polar bear spinner card, and the whole thing is on layer upon layer of dimensionals, so that the polar bear goes right into the waves. HEE!! I heart it. I'd love to get my hands on that polar bear stamp too, bc my SIL would have a heart attack. She's a huge polar bear fan. I'll have to see what I can see when I'm in the US.

I've never attempted a spinner card though, but she links to a SCS tutorial... it can't be that hard. Can it?? :/

New technique

The card challenge on H! this week is called Thumping. I don't have any (decent) markers (yet?), but I tried it with a paint brush and some ink, and had fun regardless.

TADA! I thumped a card. Hahahhaha That sounds odd. I really like how it turned out. Yay for trying something new!

Oh no. I just realized I forgot to put CC in the pic. I think he was napping anyway ;) I'll put him in the next one :D