Freedom

Although her divorce took place two years ago, my dear friend’s acrimonious Ex continues to misbehave in ways that have led to yet another tedious stint in court.  The outcome from this last appearance looks very hopeful for my friend but nonetheless, I thought she could use a little specialized birthday boost from this card . . .

 The technique comes from Tim’s fabulous Creative Chemistry online class and involves direct-to-stamp inking with a variety of Distress colors.  The butterfly images are small compared to the size of the ink pad and I was expecting a muddied mess.  NOT!  I’ll be having fun with this technique for years to come . . .

Cardstock:         Bazzill Santillo, Light Navy, Watercolor cardstock

Stamps:              Tim Holtz Papillon, Starving Artistamps ‘Fly’ and ‘Freedom’

Inks:                    Distress Rusty Hinge, Wild Honey, Dusty Concord, Chipped

                                Sapphire, Mustard Seed, Brushed Corduroy, Scattered Straw,

                           ColorBox Cream White

Emb Powder:     B’Muse Eggshell White

Dies/Punches:   Spellbinders Classic Scalloped Rectangle Short

Doo Dads:          Multicolored fibers tied around the fold, Antique Gold butterfly

                           charm

King

My husband’s birthday was last week and chess-themed cards are always a favorite item on the menu . . .

  . . . Despite some memory issues, Igor is still a demon chess player and he rarely loses a game.  So the King image is certainly appropriate here!  The background is a scrap from another project that was put through one of Quickutz’ newer embossing folders from a set called “Woven”.  I’ll be using this one a lot . . .

Cardstock:   Bazzill Jacaranda*, Beckett Iceberg

Stamps:       Art Impress King chess piece, Hero “Happy”

Inks:            Distress Faded Jeans, Stormy Sky, Weathered

                             Wood, ColorBox Frost White

Emb Powder: Vippies’ Transcendence, Judikins Opaque White

Emb Folder:   Quickutz Woven set

Dies/Punches: Wplus9 Banner Trio

Doo Dads:     Blue sparkle fibers

* Whoever named this cardstock color “Jacaranda” ought to have done a little  preliminary research first.  Jacaranda trees are actually a truly lovely shade of purple.

Amy & Ben

This card was commissioned by a dear Australian friend of mine for friends of hers getting married Down Under . . .

  . . . their color scheme of forest green, peach and cream was enjoyable to work with and the Asian touches were added to honor the year that the couple spent teaching in Japan – an opportunity they both loved.   It took a few days before everything clicked and the card took shape but it finally did . . . it was an honor to be asked to put this together and I do believe I’d enjoy doing this again!

Cardstock:   Bazzill Rain Forest, Light Rosey [sic], Beckett

                             Moonlight

Stamps:       100 Proof Press Asian Text, Lost Coast Asian Set

                              Bamboo,

Inks:             Stampin’ Up Sahara Sand, Always Artichoke, Jelly

                              Roll Clear Star Pen

Text:             Typed

Dies/Punches: Cheery Lynn Lace Corner Deco B, Spellbinders

                                Heart, DieNamics Sentiment Strip

Doo Dads:    Perfect Pearls Mist, crystals, pearls, cream tassel

Noel

No, September is definitely not too early to be thinking of Christmas cards.  One of my friends has hers almost done already.  I think I’d like to smack her . . .

     . . . this was our own Christmas card last year and it won 2^nd place in the Distressed category at the NJ State Fair last month.  As I make about 95 Christmas cards every year, I tend to strive for relatively unfussy designs to help the process along.  Of course, deciding to die cut 95 halos was probably not my best judgment call.  And counting up the number of steps it took to make each card from start to finish (36) was not an example of shining intelligence either, but what the hey:  it’s Christmas!

Cardstock:         Marco’s Paper Bag, Judikins corrugated paper, Beckett

                             Moonlight

Stamps:              Impression Obsession Music Background, FRL Design

                              Manger, Paper Salon ‘Noel’

Inks:                    Distress Frayed Burlap

Emb Powder:    B’Muse Gold

Dies/Punches:   Quickutz Halo, Memory Keepers Corner Rounder, Marvy

                              Rectangular Scallop

Doo Dads:          flower printed fabric ribbon, jute cord

Family

It’s hard to come up with more endearingly whimsical images than those produced by the fine folks at the Lockhart Stamp Company  . . .

 . . . if you roll the curser over their stamp images, they come to life with suggested coloring.  This really helps you to see how good they’ll look when they leave your own hands. 

I can’t wait for somebody – anybody – to have a baby so that I can give them this card!  Cute is not normally my style, but when it comes to babies, all bets are off.  Hope the camera picks up the little glints of sparkle here and there . . .

Cardstock:         Bazzill Rainforest, Leapfrog, Sprout, generic Chocolate Brown, Marco’s Cougar

                             White

Stamps:              Stamp Camp ‘Family’ text, Lockhart Sweet Pea in a Pod, Stampin’ Up Itty Bitty

                                 Background

Inks:                    ColorBox Black, Archival Jet Black, Gelly Roll Clear Star, White pens

Emb Powder:    Judikins Detail Black

Colored Pencils: Prisma Apple Green, Kelly Green, Peach, Canary

Dies/Punches:   Quickutz Scroll Tree, Spellbinders Petite Scalloped Oval Small, Long Classic

                              Scalloped Rectangle

Doo Dads:          Distress Brushed Corduroy Stickles, Silver Floss

Pulling For You

A friend of mine was having a rough time battling cancer and my husband and I thought he could use a little encouragement.  We decided that this stamp set by Technique Tuesday really filled the bill . . .

 . . . happily my friend is doing much better.  Moreover, this card won first prize in its category at the NJ State Fair last month.  We’d love to think that the card carried some really good vibes along with all of the love and hope that went with it . . .   

Cardstock:         Bazzill Black, Marcos Jute, Beckett Moonlight

Stamps:              Hero Envelope Pattern; Technique Tuesday Pulling For You

Inks:                    Archival Black, Distress Antique Linen, Tombow Grey marker, Gelly Roll Clear

                                Star

Emb Powder:    Stampendous Ivory Pearl

Emb Folder:       Sizzix Woodgrain

Dies/Punches:   Spellbinders Tag

Doo Dads:          Decorative brads

Discover

Wonderful Weaving – last (sob) installment:  this one was probably the most involved of the three weavings, however, it still took only 10 minutes or so to complete, as I simply took the pre-cut strips from my stash and started in . . .

  . . . there’s just something about light brown, black and metallic that works so very well together – and when you throw texture into the mix?  Well, words fail me.

I thank Rubber Stamp Madness for allowing me the happy opportunity to write about a favorite technique of mine and actually share it with a huge audience throughout the country and beyond.  I hope you enjoy the read!  By the way, the lower arrow is NOT gold and the clock gear is NOT blue.

Bad camera - smack!

Cardstock:         Bazzill Light Chocolate, leftover scraps of black and cocoa cardstock cut into strips

Stamps:              100 Proof Diagrammed Head, Appaloosa ‘Discover’
Inks:                    Archival Jet Black
Emb Powder:    Judikins Detail Black
Dies/Punches:   Scalloped Rectangular punch
Doo Dads:          Clock gear, silver arrow charms, silver fibers

Garden Birds

This one started out with a desire to hop onto the current fabulous trend with hexagon shapes and have me some fun with it.  While I’ve got several hexagon stamps on order (won’t tell you how many), the only one I could lay hands on at the moment was this chicken wire fencing.  Close enough . . .

  . . . and that led to the logical choice of the chickens as my focal point, which ultimately led to the compatible text.  This little journey gives a new and cleaner meaning to the phrase, “leading me down the garden path.”  The Fair judges gave this one a blue ribbon in the Birthday category and I’m happy they did . . . I rather liked this one myself.

Cardstock:         Bazzill Simon, generic watercolor paper

Stamps:              Stampin’ Up Chickenwire Background, 100 Proof Press       

                            Two Chickens, So She Stamps “Garden” text

Inks:                    ColorBox Sunflower, Distress Pine Needles, Broken China,

                            Mustard Seed, Archival Jet Black, Gelly Roll Yellow Glaze

Emb Powder:    B’Muse Brilliant Lemon

Dies/Punches:   Lifestyle Hexagon, Papertrey Ink Angled Labels,

                             Generic Butterfly punch