Christmas Memories- in July

It's Christmas in July - or at least we're pretending it is! Yep, some of those ambitious folks out there (and you know who you are) get ready for this holiday early!! No, I'm not one of them, but this year I have at least an idea or two to share with those who are. lol Here's a quick and fun goody you can make and give to your friends or family - Christmas photo albums! All you have to do is pick up a little 4x6 album and use a craft knife to gently create a slit towards the inside top of the covers so you can slide out the pre-printed inserts. Then make your own inserts, put them in place, and seal the flaps with glue dots. Done! Here's my sample:

Now you or your friends can share your Christmas memories and you'll know exactly what's in the album just from looking at the front cover! YAY!

Have a wonderful day!

Sets: Baroque Motifs, Everyday Flexible Phrases, Expressive Flexible Favorites, Snow Flurries
Colors: Purely Pomegranite, Wild Wasabi
Other: Scalloped edge, 1 3/8"circle, scalloped flower punches, white grosgrain, silver cord, iridescent ice EP, dimensionals, glue dots

Busy Weekend!

I've been super busy since Thursday, and haven't even had time to stamp, but I didn't want you all to think I was blog-slackin'. SOOOO, since I don't have any projects to share today, I will put a challenge out to all of you - why not take a moment today to send a card out to someone for no reason other than to brighten their day? Random Acts of Kindness are a wonderful way to make the world a better place. If you're part of a RAK list, send a card to someone you don't know - because sometimes the kindness of strangers means that much more!

Now, put some good energy out in the universe today. It will come back to you!

Voila! - Bon Appetit!!

Today we have a 6x6 recipe card! Yep, I have a whole album going thanks to my MSN group members, because we swap every once in a while to exchange not only recipes, but ADORABLE 6x6 pages too! In fact, my recipe album is my most favorite cookbook in my cabinet. If you haven't started one of these, I highly recommend them!

Okay, so first you have to print out your recipe onto cardstock, which I did here. Sometimes you can design the page around the recipe, and sometimes you have to fit the recipe to the page. The method is up to you.

This page is done using my blender pen with reinkers to highlight the chef, and then special papers and punches and ribbons and some heat embossing finish this off. Here's the deets:

Sets: Voila!, Baroque Motifs (see swirl on recipe section), Totally Tabs (on tab)
Colors: Soft Sky DP, Apricot Appeal, Black
Other: Clear embossing powder, embossing pen, blender pen, tab punch, rhinestone brad (SU! fire collection), scallop edge punch (SU! - NEW!), black grosgrain, sticky strip (to hold the sky paper down for easy sliding of recipe card)

Ready to tackle a project like this and add fun to your cooking time? Then get some friends together and swap - you'll be glad you did!

Sneaky Peek, Monkey Style!

Okay, so I saw a challenge the other day (I think it was called a hannah challenge or something like that, saw it via someone's blog, can't remember who) which used a sketch and told you to make a Christmas in July card with it. Well, I liked the sketch, but didn't want to make a Christmas card for it because I got my new stamps from SU! and couldn't WAIT to use them!! SOOOO, I tweaked the sketch a bit, added my own touches and came up with this fun card:
I also LOVE watercoloring with my SU! markers!!! Just making a few lines with markers on watercolor paper and then blending with an aquapainter makes watercoloring so EASY and FUN! I may just have to play with this technique more soon.... Okay, here's the deets on the card:

Sets: Sock Monkey (coming soon!), Trimtastic (retiring soon)
Colors: Close to Cocoa, Cameo Coral, Creamy Caramel
Other: Aquapainter, Wide twill tape, dimensionals, flower punch (SU!), copper brads (non-SU!), 1/4"circle punch

Have a great day, my friends in stamping!

Faux...oops!

This is a quick card that was supposed to look like faux cloissone, but unfortunately I didn't read the fact that I needed a shiny paper to make that happen. SO, what we have here instead is designer paper that has been stamped and embossed in GOLD (photo looks like brown, not shiny gold, figures), but I don't believe in wasting anything whenever possible, so here is the card that didn't turn out too bad anyway:

Set: Time Well Spent
Colors: Brocade Blue, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery
Other: French Blue grosgrain, gold embossing powder, Versamark, dimensionals

WSCC3 - Window Smiles

It's a sneaky peek! The new catty is coming VERY soon, and this set is one that you'll see in the hostess section this year.

The card used a color combo from a color challenge I presented on my MSN group. Sahara Sand, Apricot Appeal, Cameo Coral and Certainly Celery. Here's the result of that challenge:
Set: Window Dressing
Colors: Sahara Sand, Apricot Appeal, Cameo Coral, Certainly Celery, DP Festive Finery (retired)
Other: Scallop Edge punch (new!), scalloped circle punch, 1 3/8" circle punch, corner rounder, SU Markers, 7/8" wide Celery organdy ribbon

Hey, if you out there in blogland care to participate, post a comment with a URL to your card that uses this challenge combo, and I'll be sure to visit yours to see what you did! So, you've now been "challenged..." what will you do??

It's Christmas in July

Well Happy Monday, everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Mine was relatively uneventful, but thankfully I have a new card to share today. It's a Christmas-in-July theme, and before you look, I'll explain just one part - the white background (two-tone) is done on glossy white cardstock and was brayered with Soft Sky on top and Creamy Caramel on the bottom. The Sky color didn't photograph very strongly and the little starfish background on the pomegranite layer is hard to see, but the dimension and color is always richer in person, right??

Sets: Do the Hula (palm tree), Crab & Company (everything else)
Colors: Purely Pomegranite, Wild Wasabi, Black, Soft Sky, Creamy Caramel, Blush Blossom (shell and clam)
Other: brayer, dimensionals, blender pens

Late 4th Card

So I had to make a late 4th of July card (I know, sounds strange), and there were stipulations - red,white, blue and glitter. This is what I came up with:
I highlighted the coat and hat using a blender pen and the Night of Navy inkpad, but the key here was to make the blender show a very light version of color. After adding color and glitter, I had to add some paper piercing and ribbon to complete the picture. Whadya think?

Sets: Voila, Voila to Go, Stars jumbo wheel

Colors: Purely Pomegranite, Night of Navy

Other: 2way glue pen, dazzling diamonds glitter, paper piercing tools, navy grosgrain, dimensionals

10 Years Together!

Today is my 10-year wedding anniversary! Yippee! So we've made it through good and bad times, and today we're not making a big "to-do" about the day, but I'm still happy. AND, it called for stamping. I had to make an anniversary card for him, and I wanted to make a card for the SC184 sketch challenge on SCS, so I decided to use the two ideas together. Here's the result:

Set: Baroque Motifs

Colors: Tempting Turquoise, Green Galore, Basic Black

The funny thing is, I saw the sketch and thought I'd be using a unique set choice by using Baroque Motifs, and then after I posted my card I saw that there were several cards using this set that used the same sketch! Great minds think alike, I guess! lol Well, my interpretation is also flipped a bit, which I also blame on the left-handedness and the fact that my brain is just a little bit "off" today. I hope you enjoy looking anyway. ; )

RGB Codes for NEW InColors

Have you ever tried to match your computer colors with SU! colors? Well, there are lists of those computer color codes (RGBs) for the Classic colors, but here's the latest codes for the new InColors coming soon:

Riding Hood Red: R-189 G-73 B-89
Tangerine Tango: R-235 G-110 B-82
Baja Breeze: R-150 G-201 B-201
Kiwi Kiss: R-190 G-182 B-83
Pacific Point: R-0 G-129 B-181
Pink Pirouette: R-253 G-213 B-222

Have fun, stampers!!

Memory Lane #7

Well, this should be the final Memory Lane card for a bit. I am REALLY hoping to get in some stamping time after this. I hope you have enjoyed taking this trip with me. Some of you may have seen these cards before (and you know who you are!) and some of you may be new to them, but either way, I hope you are inspired. Here's the last entry: This card is fun to do - it's just Crayon Resist.
HOW TO DO IT: Using glossy cardstock, I stamped the images in StazOn. Then I highlighted the flowers where I wanted with a white Crayola crayon. Then using sponge daubers, I dabbed color over the images. After the ink dried, I used a paper towel to buff the images clean of the waxy crayon. The crayon resists the ink and then you're left with white highlights! How fun!

Set: Both Way Blossoms

Colors: Orchid Opulence, Gable Green

Other: Sponge Daubers, white crayon, paper piercing tool, black journaling pen, paper towel

Memory Lane #5

This one was fun fun fun.... and there's lots of little pieces all popped up, but it's sorta hard to tell on this old scan. I hope this card makes you smile the way it did to me while I made it.

Set: Treat Yourself
Colors: Black, Real Red, YoYo Yellow
Other: Red Staples, dimensionals

Memory Lane #4

I love Faux Silk! This technique is easy and turns out great if you do it right. This was one of the first cards I ever made with this technique, a few years ago. I can't even remember the set the background images is from. The front piece is Kanji, but the other one is an Asian theme set whose name still escapes me. Maybe I'll look through my archived sets and edit this post later with the name, if you are interested. This card even uses the Baroque Burgundy SU! retired a while back.... bummer. That was a good one.

HOW TO DO IT: Stamp and color images as desired on background. Then paint a very thin layer of white school glue on the entire piece, and while it's still wet, take a piece of wrapping tissue larger than the size of your cs, ball it up, then GENTLY open it (DO NOT SMOOTH OUT) and lay it on top of cardstock. Gently pat it down to make contact with glue, leaving wrinkles. Let dry. Then trim the edges and layer as desired. That's it! I learned this from a friend and loved it. Maybe I need to pull this stuff out again, eh?

Anyway, I hope you like this trip down my memory lane!

Memory Lane #3

Ahh, Rubber Cement. This technique is one I enjoyed but haven't used enough. I really loved making this card. HOW TO DO IT: First I painted rubber cement on glossy white cardstock in wavy stripes, then brayered color over it. Then I painted rubber cement over the color where I wanted to keep it, and then brayered over it all with the second color. TIP: always use lightest color first.

Set: In Full Bloom
Colors: Blush Blossom, Sahara Sand
Other: Rubber Brayer, Rubber Cement, dimensionals

Memory Lane #2

This card was so much fun - I first used my brayer and a Kalidecolor pad with blues to create a smooth background color. Then I stamped the coral in chalk hybrid inks and embossed it with clear embossing powder. The mermaid was FUN....coloring her in with blender pen/inkpads and then I just glittered her all over the place. Popped her up on some dimensionals and that was that!

Set: Fintastic
Colors: Tempting Turquoise, Green Galore
Other: 2way glue pen, dazzling diamonds glitter, dimensionals, heat gun

Memory Lane #1

Since I'm going to be pretty busy for a few days (you know, the holiday and all) and I'm not planning on getting in any stamping time, I decided to keep you all entertained and keep my posts going by sharing with you some MORE stuff from my archives. I hope you enjoy taking a trip down memory lane with me! Here's the first entry:
I made this with Backyard Barbecue, a set from SU! that retired a few years ago... and I made this card when it was still current! lol I also think this was one of the few times I used my Perfect Layers tool. This is a fun 4th of July or any summer barbecue invite that I thought stood the test of time... what do you think? And yes, I colored in each and every hamburger myself. Blender pen and inkpads - easy!

Happy 4th of July tomorrow, my fellow Americans! Happy barbecuing everyone else!! Love you all!!

From my archives - bleach!

I decided that since I haven't stamped in a couple of days, I'd pull out one of my favorites from my archives. This card was done with the bleach technique. I remember how amazed I was at how easy this technique really is. All you have to do to achieve this effect is to stamp and emboss on dark cardstock, then using a paintbrush or aquapainter filled with ordinary chlorine bleach, paint in areas where you want to remove color. The more bleach you use, the lighter the color. Notice how there are subtle differences in the lightened areas? I also painted the edge of the torn cardstock to add an extra layered look to this card. I hope you enjoy it as much as I always have.

Set: Artfully Asian (get it before it retires!!)
Colors: Eggplant Envy, confetti white
Other: Slit punch, aged copper brad, black embossing powder, Versamark