StampersPad

Vintage Nature Walks

Here are two vintage cards created using the new Stamp set "Nature Walks"!  I love this set and apprecitate how well it suits the vintage look.  What do you think?

 

Created by Trina St. Michael, this gorgeous card makes use of a new, lighter weight, double-sided designer paper called, First Edition (#121878), also a strip of Botanical Garden Designer Paper (121783), Baja Breeze Glass Glitter (#121883),  Framed Tulips embossing folder and crumb cake 1/2" seam binding (122332) All from our new Ocassions Mini catalogue. 

 

My photo doesn't do justice to this beautiful card by Kim Assaly which is stamped in classic so saffron, early esspresso and wild wabassi.  Some sponging in all three colours adds to the vintage feel.  The couple of extras on this card the tiny tag and lace are all that's needed to complete the vintage look.

Hope you enjoyed these cards created by my friends.  Thanks for popping by,

Linda

Cold Play

This month, while going though my old photo albums, I realized I have very few pictures of us enjoying the winter months.  Why, when we had so much fun in the snow?  Duh!  How easy it is to forget that would require someone to stay out of the fun and record it.  Quite tricky when you think of it.   With all the equipment and stuff to carry, needing two hands to dress, adjust and hold the wee ones and.... how does one hold the camera?  Thankfully, I do have some fabulous memories of my children and cold play.  AND... luckily lately I've had a chance to photograph my wonderful and great-neice and nephew in their winter play. 

 
This layout just sparkles in real life.  Check it out below. 

 

To give these snowflakes their total glitter look I used dazzling diamonds, the Big Shot, Northern Frost Decorative Strip and Big Shot Multipupose Adhesive Sheets!  These adhesive sheets make adding the glitter as simple as punch, peel and dip! 

Supplies Needed To Make this layout:

12x12" Baja Breeze cardstock #119972
8.5 x 11" Blue Bayou cardstock (retired)
Scraps of Not Quite Navy cardstock (for the title) #101722
8.5 x 11" Cameo Coral cardstock (retired)
Serene Snowflakes stamp set #115438 - wood
whisper White craft ink #101731
Blue Bayou classic ink (retired)
Dazzling Diamonds glitter #102023
Big Shot Die Cutting Machine #113439
Northern Frost Decorative Strip #120901
Multipurpose Adhesive Sheets #120805
Pinking Hearts Border Punch #117649

Click to order items now.

I hope this page inspires you to grab a friend to photograph your family winter play.  Let's face it, In the Northern Hemisphere we do have 3 months (or more) of ice and snow and who wants to miss the outdoor fun or the opportunity to photograph it all?

Thanks for dropping by,

Linda

 

4 Gifts of Christmas

4 Cards - Product Comparison

A unique and beautiful handmade card is what most of us want to send to our friends and family at Christmas time.  So for a Christmas swap I played with a set that is just so elegant, Gifts of Christmas  #115372.  Beginning with my simplest sample I'll show you my creative process while I played with some glitzy smooch and shimmer paint with the hopes of giving you a comparison of these products.

I love the layout of this card and it's simply pretty without fussing too much.  The addition of hand painted Smooch Pearlized Accent ink "illuminate Top Coat" #121084 adds an understated elegance and glitter to the soft suede and very vanilla combination.

 
  I thought I'd try a version that had a bit more texture and came up with this arrangement below.

I added a mounting layer of my current favourite colour, Cherry Cobbler, and textured the very vanilla with the Square Lattice embossing folder. (mounted on a crumb cake layer)  For futher glam I stamped the image in versa mark and embossed it in gold embossing powder #109129.  I then painted the dove and textured background with Frost White Shimmer Paint #116854.  This one may be my favourite combination but took a fair bit of time to create.

Below you'll see my attempt to create a vintage feeling with this same layout.

Stamped and sponged in soft suede on very vanilla cardstock this card has the gorgeous addition of Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz  #118772 to make it Christmas worthy.  The stunning vanilla dove was masked before sponging and unmasked for the smooch spritz.  (I just LOVE the shimmer of this product!) The cherry cobbler flower centers were punched (eyes of Owl punch) from cardstock, covered with a dot of Crystal Effects #101055, and left to air dry.  Though I was pleased with the results this was a bit time consuming as well. 

After sponging 30 of these cards (This is the one I decided to create for my Christmas card swap) I wished I had thought to brayer the background but didn't want to take my 30 cards apart to do it.  So... I had to try it just once.

 

 

 

Back to a two cololour card with the dove painted this time with Moonlight Smooch Pearlied Accent Ink #119969.  This lovely product comes with a terrific applicator and is mess free.  I do like how clean and crisp this brayered and texturized background is.  Don't you?

I hope I've given you a good comparison of the shimmery paint products found on page 195 of our current catalogue and idea book and some inspiration with this elegant Christmas stamp set "Gifts of Christmas" found on page 43.

After next week's Thanksgiving celebrations are over it will be time to start thinking of what you want to create for your Christmas card this year.  I'll be sharing some inspiring swap cards after our family Thanksgiving so don't forget to pop back and check it out.

Have a terrific Tuesday and thanks for stopping by,

Linda

Yeah! It's Raining...guess what I'm doing!

Stamping of course!  I am taking a couple of extra minutes to redo the quick card I designed earlier this week.   I really think Mother's Day is when you can take out all the stoppers on your glitter and bling and was disappointed in this card that I posted here .  (Scroll down to the bottom to see it.)

Here's my retake with a bit more bling.  I also moved the ribbon and night of Navy strip up to the flower height.  I prefer the flower finished off with a crystal brad and the words done in our new glitter but I'm not sure I like this arrangement any better.  What do you think?

I'm leaving it the way it is for now and I'm off to finish some other stamping projects which have piled up in my studio.

Cheers!

Linda

Valentine Day Glitters

I feel so lucky in my husband and life partner, my beautiful girls and my grandson, not to mention my Mother, brothers, sister, in-laws, and many, many nieces and nephews!  We are a tight-knit bunch and celebrate each other on Valentines Day!  My friends are treasures and I count them among my blessings on this day too!

Here are my valentines for my "wee family" today.

This one is for my husband, who really does Float My Boat!
Stamp Set: Boatloads of Love
Card Stock: Tempting Turquoise, More Mustard, Close to Cocoa, Watercolour paper
I stamped the image on the watercolour paper with  Stazon ink and used the Watercolour Wonder Crayons and an aquapainter to paint the image.  I stamped the saying on the Twill ribbon using black stazon.  I like the way this turned out.
Other: 3 brass large brads, 4 small brads (sand colour) real name escapes me now.

This glittery Valentine is for my Sparkling daughter Kayla!  I love these NEW glitter colours! This shot doesn't do them justice.
Maybe tomorrow, I'll try to take the shot again.
Stamp Set:  Forever in my Heart and French Flair Background stamp
I stamped the bright turquoise heart on Cardstock vellum, using Versa and sprinkled it with Heat and Stick, after, I poured on the glitter.  WOW does this ever pop!
The purple hearts are done in a similar fashion on Almost Amethyst card stock.
The large heart is stamped in versa on Blue Bayou card stock and then embossed with clear EP.
The heart is outlined in glitter using the two way glue pen and then cut out and popped up on the card front.
The Card front is Soft Sky and stamped in Soft Sky with French Flair.

This diaphanous one is for Robin and her baby, Chase.

This card is similar to the last one but is all stamped on Cardstock Vellum.  The techniques are the same. Embossed large Blue Bayou heart, the versa mark hearts, coated with Heat and Stick and then sprinkled with glitter.  (The other card sparkles just as much but the picture wasn't as good.)
The card front is lined with a Soft Sky inner card, and stamped with the message, "Always on my mind, forever in my heart".  I used our retired ribbon to tie it together.  Very soft look...I think.

These are for my Mom to hand out to her friends.  They are Regal Rose CS each with a Hershy Nugget wrapped in a stamped label.  The set used for theses was "Happy Hearts Day".  The tags were stamped in basic black and highlighted with marker. (either Real Red or Regal Rose)  Topped off with a snippet of ribbon and stapled together.  Let me know if you want the dimensions for these little treats.

These treats for Mom's friends is what really makes her happy so that's my real Valentine to Mom.  That and we're all heading out right now to dinner and a play.

Hope you enjoyed these cards.  Don't you just love the glitter?  Which card is your favourite?