Ophelia

It's been a while since I inked up Ophelia from the Stampsmith and after being inspired by Bev's blog and her use of the Tapestry Peg stamps, I decided it was time.
First I cut out an oval using my nestie on a post it. I centered it on my white CS and then got to work with the Wisteria Frame set from Rubber Stamp Tapestry and then sponges around it with purple dye ink. After I removed the mask, I stamped a few more inside the frame then Ophelia in Sepia Versafine ink.
The designer paper is some I've had for YEARS, literally. I used the back side of a scrap for the MS lace punch. I used the MS branch punch for under the flowers. It's layered on Brown CS and embellished with a Spellbinder die swirl.

Twinkling Rainbow - Scottish Borders

The stained glass look was easy to achieve. I just brayered Ranger Wildflower multicolored ink on cardstock then went over it with Twinkling H2O's in the same color family on top with an Aquabrush. (I don't remember where I saw this but it isn't my idea) I then stamped the Celtic cross from Scottish Borders Stamping on that piece and mounted it on black. This is a top fold regular A2 size card. I ran the base through the CB dots folder and layered on a scrap of black under a piece of turquoise ran through a CB script folder and added a few black eyelets. It really shimmers IRL and almost looks like stained glass.

Hot glue embellishment tutorial

It's been a dilemma for ages, how do I get an Asian coin for my cards? Here's how I did it:

First I inked up my Chinese coin stamp with Versamark in and then put a large dollop of hot glue on my heat resistant craft sheet.
Immediately stamp into the glue and let sit for a few seconds.
















Next I remove the stamp and have the clear image which I trimmed and covered in gold Rub and Buff, the one on the left is a before and right after. If you have gloves, wear them when you put it on or you will have gold fingers! I took a craft knife and cut the square hole and used it on the card above. One of the best parts is it's very lightweight.







Recipe:
Stamps - Horse OnyxXmpressions other's unknown
Ink- Versamark and red Brillance
Black embossing powder
Gold Spray webbing
White mulberry paper, black, white and red cardstock
gold thread

Block Collage - London

Here's a technique from Technique Junkies newsletter. Stamps are from Scottish Borders.

I stamped the bridge in black and colored with Prisma colored pencils. The rest are stamped in Rangers Slate Grey. The hinges are from a QuickKutz die and the circles are from a Spellbinder die. They are cut from some silver CS I had for years (I've been stamping a long time!)

Clear Dollar Stamps Challenge- PURPLE

Purple, it's not a hard color, I use purple a lot, heck I was wearing a purple wool sweater....until you HAVE to make a card using it! I decided to try the Clear Dollar stamps challenge thinking it would be pretty easy. I was wrong! Here is my entry for the challenge. Since I can't resist Charlie Horse or come to think of it, almost any horse stamp so I knew it would be one of those in my collection. Then what shade, what, if any designer paper.... I chose this paper from the DCWP Kids pack. I colored old Charlie with my copics the color of my horse Moose. I used a silver pen to get his shoes a shiny silver color. The star eyelets holes on the top are covered with purple rhinestones (had to keep that purple color going). I stamped the greeting in purple ink and it is mounted in a SU frame and stuck on with lime green grossgrain ribbon.
At this point, I am thinking this could end up being the graduation card for DD's college graduation in May.

Celebrating Buttons long life and Mourning our loss

The time came today, we had our wonderful dog Buttons put down. She was 14, ancient for a dog of her size. She could no longer get up by herself and was falling a lot so it was time, it didn't make it any easier.


We got Buttons a little over 14 years ago, my wonderful brother sent up a puppy for the kids to 'play' with. We didn't want a collie/retriever cross puppy, we weren't sure what breed but really weren't ready for a puppy quite yet. We had lost our other old dog a week after we moved to Bismarck, he had a heart attack. Thumper was enough at the time. But just as we were handing this little black puppy back to my little brother who had brought her up, our 9 year old daughter starting crying and said, "You can send her back if you want but she's the best friend I've ever had!" My husband and I looked at each other and took her back and handed her to our daughter. We never regretted it.

Buttons was the alarm clock who got our son up; he hated to get out of bed. All I had to do is send her downstairs, she got him up. She pulled our daughter on her sled...backwards with the rope in her mouth. She went on long horse rides with us and lite up our lives wanting to play tug. When Thumper died unexpectedly at age 8, Buttons 3 at the time, cried while we buried her, she stood by the hole and kept wiping her eyes with her legs. She mourned with us, she would crawl up on the Lazy Boy with me and lay on me, her head on my shoulder. She weighed about 100 pounds. I think it was that point she befriended the cats and became their friend. All cats still love her and will miss her too.

3 years ago I knew her time was limited, she had slowed down. At that point we all tried to talk DH into getting a puppy for her to train in since we thought we wouldn't have her that long. Finally we rescued Doogan and she perked up and seemed to get better. We started taking long walks again (the puppy demanded it) and she got healthier. We were sure she would have to be put down last fall but kept going and at Christmas with the kids home she seemed happy as ever. I think that added a few months to her life.

But all good things come to an end. She gave us so much joy and it was time to say goodbye. We will miss her but have to remember the good times she gave us. Goodbye Buttons my friend, say hi to Thumper.




Drawing at top by Erica Vojnich

One last word of farewell, dear master and mistress. Whenever you visit my grave, say to yourselves with regret but also happiness in your hearts at the remembrance of my long happy life with you: "Here lies one who loves us and whom we loved." No matter how deep my sleep I shall hear you, and not all the power of death can keep my spirit from wagging a grateful tail.

Party Dogs

I just love the Whiff of Joy Party Animal stamps and since I love dogs too, had to get this one. This is for my other nephew. Not sure I like what I did for the twill but what I pictured in my mind didn't work so this is what happended. I think Connor will like it. I colored with Copics. The paper is from a DCWV Green pad, Martha Steward border punch, hinge is a Qwik Cutz die cut out of gold metalic paper. and Spellbinder die buckle. Greeting is an TAC stamp.

Dragon Birthday

While the weather here is still WINTER and my horse waterer was working on Saturday, I'm trying to get ahead on some Birthdays cards. This is one I made for one of my nephew's. Not sure which one is getting this but I LOVE this stamp from Scottish Borders Stamping.
After I picked the stamp I remembered I had the DP from the Ever After DCWV pad I bought to scrapbook our trip to England 3 years ago. I still have good intentions to do it but really hate to scrapbook, even though this trip was full of memories. I colored the dragon with Copics and had originally used lime green for his tummy and tail but it just wasn't going to work with the paper so I colored over it with the lilac one. I liked that much better. Before I cut him out, I put packing tape on the back to give the tail and neck extra strength. Since this card is going to be mailed, I try to keep layers and embellishments to a minimum, plus it's for an 8 or 10 year old who really won't care much about the card but what's inside. The saying on the stamp is, "A dragon is for life not just Christmas. I used my nestie to cut the small squares and using my stamp positioner and Eggplant ink, I stamped the saying on them and with the eggplant pen, wrote OR on one because on the inside I used the Just Rite kit with Brayton font to say BIRTHDAYS. I used Large Labels nestie (I think that's what it is) to cut the background of the dragon from a piece of the DP along with a scrap on the inside and a Martha Stewart punch for some branches sticking out. The corner embellishment is the corner from the DP I cut out. Then all I did was add a few brads and some gold cord.

King of the Jungle

Here's a simple one I made for my son....to send him money in! The Lion is from Clear Dollar Stamps Zoo Critters set. The crown is a Grunge board that I colored with a Krylon gold leafing pen...I love those things!
The rust border is a Martha Stewart punch and I used a Cutter Bee thing to make the piercings on the top. It's one of those things I bought while having a 40% off coupon burning a hole in my pocket. I really rarely use it and don't find it as neat as I thought. Oh well. The HELLO greeting was stamped using my JUST RITE Brayton Font stamps and then I just cut a slit down the piece almost to the bottom and glued it to the back of the nestie. The card measures 5 X 5. I have tons more to share but not much time to post. I hope I get more done soon so stop back.

Let's be frugal

It's a tough economy that makes everyone try to be green and frugal (or thrifty or cheap!). So now is the time to use what you have and if you have to get something think about an alternative. I'll show you what I mean.
Here is a picture of some of my recent purchases at Hobby Lobby. I was armed with a 40% off coupon and they had embellishments and some jewelry 50% off. I used my coupon to get the Crop-a-Dile large copper eyelets (3/8 inch). I was also looking for something to embellish my brads for flower centers. I headed over to the jewelry department and on the way passed by the leatherwork area. Since my old hobby was leatherwork I stopped by to check it out. AH AH, they had silver 3/8 inch eyelets for $1.78, the copper crop-a-dile ones were over $5! They were a little longer but I thought they would still work (and they did!) so I grabbed them. The great thing about silver items, you can paint them per say with alcohol inks or a leafing pen. They also had some neat decorations that would push on (on paper in center) They were really cheap. After I headed onto the jewlery department and picked up some silver spacers (bottom of picture) for 50 cents, small brads fit in the center so it looks like a larger center for some flowers. Oh and they also had punches 50% off so I finally broke down and got a couple flower ones. (see previous post faux felt flowers)

So shop sales, look in non-obvious places and support your favorite stamp vendors.

Faux Felt flowers

I monitor a small message group that started a weekly challenge. This week it was "Use a stamp you haven't inked before using mellow moss, barely banana and eggplant." It was harder than I thought! Not that I don't have tons of stamps that haven't seen ink but it was hard to get things to go together as easily as I thought they would. Anyway I chose a Whiff of Joy Stamp I recently bought from the Party animal collection.
I colored the image with my copics and after I took the picture I put glassy glaze on the glass and bottle.

But the eggplant flower was made using Technique Junkies new technique of Faux Felt. It looks so much like the bought flowers after I curled it a little. I punched the flower first but next time I might try punching after. The DP paper is from the Spring package of DCWV paper I got at JoAnn's last week....I got a lot of new paper. I really didn't need it but, well you all will understand right? The border punch is Martha Stewart. If you want a better view of the picture, or any one on my blog, you can click on it to see a close up. After I took the picture and looked at it for a while I could see it needed something on the border. I did add some stick on pearls. I'm not sure I like them either but they might stay.



My inspiration for most of my stamping recently is Bev from Newcastle Upon Tyne in England. I love her blog, she has the most amazing cards on her blog. So thank Bev for all the inspiration and eye candy. I wouldn't dare do as much embellishments as you do since I couldn't afford the postage but I sure do admire your work.

Kilts

Anything can happen in a kilt....or so the stamp says! This stamp is from Scottish Borders Stamps and I just love it. 3 years ago our daughter did a study abroad for college at Stirling University in Scotland. We did get to visit her for a couple weeks and spent a week in Scotland, we loved it and can't wait to go back.

Recipe:
Stamp: Scottish Borders Stamps
Plaid DP is something I printed off the Internet years ago, I paper pieced the kilt and tie from this too but it's hard to see in the picture.

Nesties, cuttlebug folder, Copic markers, flowers from my stash and white fun flock to make the sporran on the kilt. Now you make ask what the sporran is from what I understand, like a purse for the kilt wearer...and according to DD, it holds the kilt down in the proper place. And in case you are going to ask, the answer is yes, nothing. :)

Life is Good Moose

Perhaps you have seen the LIFE IS GOOD T-shirts and mugs and such around. Usually they are accompanied by a cartoon image of someone rock climbing or skiing or something. I found a t-shirt at TJ Max with a life is good Horse so DH bought it for me. Well, it had this chipboard style circle tag on it and I knew it was going on a card for DD since she's the one that first showed me the Life is Good stuff. Besides, that coral color isn't fit for a guy! LOL
I had pulled out the skiing Riley for this but remembered DD still hasn't been able to ski this year because of her knee problems so decided that wasn't a good choice BUT, she has had some time to knit and finished the knitting the Dale of Norway sweater she's knitting for herself (I'll post a picture of it when I get one). She is still working on sewing it up. It's a little strange in that you knit this tube, then knit the sleeves and then have to use a sewing machine to sew down the body and CUT IT! Then you sew the sleeves on by hand. She was on the phone with me a lot when she was trying to get her machine set up (first time) so she could do that and get the guts to cut her sweater. She finally did it, has the sleeves on but had to give up and work on homework and then she got sick so it's NOT quite done yet, the crewneck has to be knit on. I did this card for her,colored it with Copics and used my JustRite block to stamp Congratulations on Finishing your Sweater inside. There aren't enough vowels to do it all! That was a bummer. She's been knitting on this sweater off an on for over 2 years (she lost the pattern for 5 months when she moved) so she's happy it's almost done. Next she's on to a Fisherman knit cable sweater for her DH. At least that's on size 7 needles and not 2 & 3!

Recipe:
Riley stamp by Hanna Stamps
DP from SU
Hero Arts Zig Zag Stamp on coral paper in center
Decorative brads by Spare Parts

Celtic Rose

I had the worst weekend I've had in a long time! ND weather has been COLD and winter WAY to long. Saturday, DH was out of town working so I thought I could stamp the day away. Well, I noticed my horses eating snow, not a good sign. I went out and sure enough the electric waterer for them was froze up solid. I then had to haul out 40 gallons of water (10 gallons at a time) from the house since our outside hydrants are froze up. Then to even figure out why it was froze up, I had to chip away 6 inches of ice from around the cover we have on it to help insulate the stupid thing. TWO hours later I was able to get the 50 pound box off and find the outlet had shorted out and started on fire. To make a long story short....it took all day to get it unthawed (thanks to help from my trusty old embossing heat gun and a trip to town to buy a new heater for the tank) and working off an extention cord. Did I mention the temps were around ZERO F?
Needless to say I was exhausted so never got anything I wanted done, like enter a card for Clear Dollar Stamps guest designer. :( Oh well, I guess it was for the best, looks like I'll be busy keeping track of that waterer since it was leaking underneath which froze and shorted the outlet out. It means we need a new waterer. Oh, they are only about $400 too.


So, here is a card I had in my stash I made a week or so ago. I love this color combo of white and tan.

I wish this showed up a little better. IRL it's so elegant and a very simple card to do.

Recipe:
Celtic Rose - http://www.scottishbordersstamping.com/sbs_039.htm

Cuttlebug folder
DP from Hobby Lobby
Distress inks
Martha Steward border punch on ivory CS
Ribbon from my stash

Happy Hour Moose

It's been a while since I've used my Riley Moose stamps from Hanna Stamps and since I'm SO SICK OF WINTER, this one screamed for ink.

I colored him with Copics and stamped the drink, masked the glass and stamped the umbrella (stamps by Firecracker Designs by Pamela) and colored them too. Then my trick of putting packing tape on the back to make it sturdier when I cut out, morphed to put in on the front so it looked more like a glass. It worked!
The yellow flower was a Tim Holtz one that was an ivory color, I smooshed it into a yellow Brilliance pad to change the color. The red one was a white one off a group of silk flowers I bought that I sprayed with colorwash red. I don't remember who did the background stamp but that is stamped in lime Brilliance ink. Then it's just twill I had. I am going to send it to DD so used Firecracker stamps and stamped Happy Hour and a flower in the inside. I colored the flower with copics. I used 110 pound CS for the base but it still leaked through just a little. I think I'll throw some cash in this card to DD so she can have a Happy Hour. She's working hard this semester and I think will need it. It's pretty simple but she'll like it....especially the money! LOL