The one that wasn't...

Well, at least it wasn't anything like I had imagined! It seems to me that most people stamp with a plan. Maybe it's a sketch, maybe a challenge or a special occasion. I usually stamp like a maniac - all over the place. :) You should see my table once I'm done, a truly stunning mess!

For this particular card I wanted to use the bird stamp - yup, that was my complete plan. I must have tried four different combinations of ink and paper (and ep) before I found one that kept the birds white. Really white! I finally hit on stamping with the VersaMark Dazzle (in Frost) on white paper then coating with clear ep. My experience is that embossing over VMD makes the 'dazzle' disappear, but there seemed to be a slight glimmer left this time? Go figure.

The flourish was stamped along the pale pink piece (which shimmers softly) in Distress Ink. Because the pink stuff is coated, the DI seemed to 'bubble' and sit on top of the paper - more EP to the rescue! I like the look it gave the finished piece - it matches the Basic Grey brown paper very well in color & texture. The flowers were sprayed with Glimmer Mist and allowed to dry before affixing hot melt pearls in their centers.

I had a hard time not putting ribbon on this card, but everything I tried just looked too... yucky. Yup, yucky is the right word! lol So, some more VMD on the base, a few more pearls and the sentiment stamp are all I added. Ta Da! Nothing like I thought I was working toward... :D

Thanks for dropping in!

You should always remember your first...

award, that is! Well, what did you think I was talking about? :D


The lovely Etha is the very first person to give me one of the ubiquitous blog awards. Made me squeal like a schoolgirl! Thank you Etha, I'm very flattered. Go check out her blog (I especially like the colors of the new pears post). Of course there are rules:


1. Post the award’s logo on your blog


2. Add the link to the person who nominated you


3. Nominate at least 6 others & post their links.


Well, that should be easy enough. Hmm, only 6 blogs.... I'm going to try to list blogs that I adore that maybe some people haven't experienced, let's see how well I do!


1. Mel who does some of the coolest things with gesso (and is my favorite stampire!)


2.Kristy who works some serious mojo with a paint brush


3.Lauren whose Monsta's and sense of humor send me rolling


4.Bea whose stamps are divine - plus she is one of most amazingly nice people!


5.Dana who did the most scientific study of black ink, evah!


6.and finally, Cakewrecks! While not a crafty/stamping/painting blog, it *is* one of the most hysterical things I've ever seen. I have no idea how she thought this up, but I LOVE it!


Here is the award:

which I think is quite pretty. The only problem is that it makes me want to (ahem) correct the grammar, or verb tense, or subject/verb agreement... Meh. Just one of those picky things about me (that you wish you didn't know)!

I'll be back in a moment with an actual card! :)

A different kind of stamping

Hello, hello!

I did a little bit of 'different' stamping & thought I'd share! :) Now, if you've been following me at all, you know that I don't generally do photo stamps. These little old ladies from River City Rubber Works just crack me up so much that I *had* to have them. I bought some great sentiments to pair up with them (also hysterical!) at the same time (excellent sale, I just couldn't resist). Sorry, the sentiment is on the inside where you can't see it - it says 'If you have nothing good to say about anyone, come and sit by me.'. Hah! I *love* it!

So, nitty gritty time. I masked the edges of a glossy white panel with some sticky notes because I wanted it to look like an old picture. Then I sponged TONS of different colors of Distress Ink (seriously, Tea Dye, Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Old Paper & Antique Linen) to give it an aged look. Then I stamped the women over that, and then (finally!) used a q tip to smudge in a little Broken China & Tattered Rose on their dresses. It certainly doesn't sound like much work, but it took days before I had something I liked. The lace pattern (from Clearly Inspired) was stamped all askew on purpose so that I had a reason to put the 'picture' down like it was laying on a table.

The other thing that took a lot of time was the flower. I got a wild hair (well, do you really want to know where?) and took a couple of days to make flowers. Flowers with buttons, flowers with the petals from silk flowers @ Michael's (on clearance some time ago - I love a bargain!), flowers with dimensional foam, flowers with Lumiere's and Distress Ink... you name it! lol I can't even tell you what possessed me, but it was fun! Here - have a little look at some of the beauties I assembled. That pink button was paired with petals from several different sizes of silk flowers (cut apart & glued to the back) which were (lightly) colored with Vintage Photo and Brass Lumiere paint. It seemed to go so well with the way the card was coming together that I just had to finish it! Even though I don't usually even *like* pink! :)

I hope you enjoyed this departure from my regular stamping personality!

And... as always, thanks for visiting!

Do you remember Mulberry paper??

Well, that's quite the question, isn't it? You don't really see much with mulberry paper anymore, everyone moved on to the 'new, fresh' thing. Not me (lol!) - mostly because I *still* have a huge stash of it. Yes, I have a paper problem... and no, I don't think I need help! :D

I was inspired by two things for this card. First was PSE. Yes, that's what I said. I'm still learning (*huge* learning curve) what to do and how to do it, but I've been seduced by all the amazing free brushes out there (soooo much worse than free fonts!). So I was playing with some brushes and got this idea for layered images - well, the same image but layered in similar colors on top of each other. Now, I know lots of people out there do this sort of thing but this was the first time I went 'A Ha!' - an epiphany if you will. :) The second thing that inspired me was a card using the Cappuchino Delight pad. I love the colors but rarely remember to use it. It just seemed perfect for this!

So, the background is done on watercolor paper with a brayer and then splattered with water & blotted with a paper towel. The flourishes (of course) are some of my gorgeous Katzelkraft stamps and the sentiment is from Club Stamp. Mulberry paper and dew drops finished it off.

I hope you like it as much as I do! Thanks for visiting!