Little Peek

I received the nicest email last week asking if I would make a couple of cards using a digital scrap kit for an article on Stamping @ Craft Gossip. The papers were beautiful, of course I said yes!! :)

You can see my cards (including a short basic tutorial) at Stamping @ Craft Gossip. Thanks so much for inviting me Maggie!


P.S. The stamps used here for this little peek are Kitchen Sink Stamps 3 Step Turkey Trot.

Hydrangeas Everywhere!

I was able to finish another card with the new 3 Step Hydrangea set this morning (before the day went crazy!) and I've had a few questions about what ink I used and how to layer up these gorgeous hydrangeas. So, I snapped a few pics of the steps so you can see how easy it is!

First, my card. This is pretty much a no layer card (unless you count the one smaller hydrangea that is cut out and popped up). I just did a tiny bit of masking here - and really it's not as bad as you may think! I just stamp the Step 1 stamp on my Eclipse Tape and cut it out - very easy! As you can see I also used one of the butterflies from the set. What a pretty and so life-like image!!! I also used the other new set Whole Family which has 50 stamps in it!! Everything you will ever need regarding families - love it!!

Ok, here is how I did these flowers (and I started by using a recipe Maria used on this card and altered it slightly):

Step 1 - River Rock, which was stamped off 1 time.









Step 2 - Certainly Celery









Step 3 - Old Olive

Step 4 - Vintage Violet. I know!! Violet?? When I saw Maria's recipe with this color I couldn't believe it - but it totally works and is so beautiful!! Amazing, isn't she?! :)

Now, for the flowers in the card from this morning I stamped Step 1 as above, River Rock stamped off 1 time. For Step 2 I used the new Sweet Blush by Papertrey Ink.

Step 3 is Certainly Celery









Step 4 is Always Artichoke



I hope this was helpful for you to see. I found that these flowers were really easy to line up and it is really fun to play with different color combination! Be sure to check out all the beautiful cards and projects by my fellow Crew Members (links on the right sidebar) - there are lots of amazing hydrangeas!! :) Have a great day!

Cardstock: Papertrey Stamper's Select, Stamps: 3 Step Hydrangea, Whole Family, Inks: River Rock, Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Vintage Violet, Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black, Accessories: Dimensionals, Spring Moss satin ribbon (PTI)

Chipboard Blossoms 1

Good morning! Thanks for all the well wishes for baby Aaron, he does seem to be improving. He had his 10 month check-up yesterday and weighed 22 pounds!! Guess he's not starving huh? LOL!!

Last week I promised a tutorial using the Maya Road Chipboard Blossoms (I can't link them today as they've been moved - but I'll let you know where they are soon!!). Instead of doing 1 huge tutorial I would take a few days and show a few different ideas of how to use them. None of this is new, but sometime it's good to review tried and true methods. My project today is making a glittery Blossoms. There are a couple different ways you can go about this . . .you could use a glue pad or something like a 2 way glue pen but my preferred method is to use Heat & Stick powder (from SU!). I think it really holds the glitter on the best.

These pictures are from a blossom that I used on this card a couple of weeks ago and you can click on them to make them bigger. First you need your blossom and glitter - here I was using Martha Stewarts Carrera Marble. I used my Craft White ink pad to "paint" the blossom white so that there would be no darker spots showing through the glitter. But since the Craft ink takes longer to dry I was also able to sprinkle it with Heat & Stick Powder.

If you haven't used Heat & Stick before, you simple cover the surface with the powder and then use your heat tool to heat it - just like embossing. You will see the powder melt and turn clear. Working quickly you then press the flower into the glitter and use your heat tool again to set the glitter.

Easy, right?! Here's a close-up of the flower that I used on today's project. I found that a Bella Bauble fits perfectly inside the holes of these blossoms and adds a nice little detail.

I've seen so many adorable projects in blogland using tins - altoid tins, paint tins, heart tins, etc. For today I wanted to make a cute little Easter treat container but didn't think I had anything - wait . . . what about that tin of General Foods International Coffee I just finished up? Perfect!! It was so easy to cut a strip of dp (more fabulous Imaginisce For Peep's Sake - this one is Pretty New Dress) and glue it to the tin. I then added a bit of ribbon and my Flutter By image which had been cut out with Nestabilities. The glittery flower was the final touch!

Oh and check out Flutter By's hand . . . see anything different? Since this was an Easter treat I masked off the butterfly and added some little Easter eggs from an SU! Easter set I have. Fun!! Now I find myself looking at all my stamps to see what would fit and look cute in Sophia's outstretched hand! :)

I'm sure I know a few little girls (even big girls!) would would love to receive this little treat tin! Check back soon for more fun with these Chipboard

Blossoms - and let me know if you have questions or suggestions with them, I'd love to hear what you think!! Have a great day everyone!

Cardstock: Papertrey Stamper's Select White, Imaginisce For Peep's Sake dp, Stamps: Flutter By, Ink: Pearlescent Black, Accessories: Maya Road Chipboard Blossoms I, Martha Stewart Glitter, Bella Bauble, Nestabilities, Stickles, Ribbon (Target), Copic markers

Kitchen Sink Project of the Month Tutorial

I'm so excited to share this project with you!! When I saw the new Kitchen Sink Stamp set for February, Love & Luck I knew they would be perfect for a project I had wanted to try for a while. . . stemware charms! I have this beautiful antique crystal stemware that was my grandmothers. I LOVE how these charms look on them! The charms are easy to make, and lots of fun too. They would make wonderful gifts and you can make them in practically any color at all!

Ok, here are the details (I haven't done many tutorials so please be kind! lol!). Here's what you'll need:

• PolyShrink (I found sample packs on ebay that include 2 sheets each of clear, transluscent, white & black)
• Stamps - I used Love & Luck - the large hearts were the perfect size for this!
• Ink - I used VersaCraft which are available in the KSS store. I did try using several different inks and the VersaCraft really was superior - it didn't "puddle up" (like Brilliance did) or get to thick (like chalk inks). It worked so well I had to order a second pad to have more colors! LOL!
• Sponge Daubers - also available from KSS. Since the VersaCraft pads look like color checkerboards you need the daubers to get the color you want.
• Sanding block
• Wire - I used Memory Wire (Silver Ring 1 oz) which I bought from Artbeads.com. Think Slinky . . .
• Beads - again, I bought mine from Artbead.com. They have a HUGE variety and the size is pretty well organized. I bought all Swarovski Bicone beads, Style 5301 in 3 and 4 mm sizes. I also bought Sterling Silver beads in 3mm and 4mm sizes.
• Jump rings - from Artbead.com. You could make these yourself, and I actually ended up making some too because I found it really looked better with 2.
• Jewelry making tools - mostly I used the round nosed pliers.

Step 1 - Cut a piece of PolyShrink to work with. I used strips about 1.5" inches wide to make them easier to handle. I used mostly the translucent color for the charms (but I'll show you a couple variations at the end). Before you stamp you need to sand the PolyShrink in both directions - across & up and down.

Step 2 - Stamp. Here's where you use the Sponge Daubers - which make it so simple!! The VersaCraft ink is wonderful for this project (it also says it can be used for leather, fabric, wood and other materials) - the color is nice and even! After you stamp out your images you need to let the ink dry for a bit - this is very hard for me as I'm an impatient stamper! But if you don't wait - the ink will smear!

Step 3 - Cut out the images carefully and punch holes in the tops. Remember that the holes will shrink too! I used my 1/8" hole punch and it was perfect! One thing I did find is that you need to make your hole a bit lower than you think in the heart. If you make the whole too high it will open when you shrink it.

Step 4 - Shrink. This is so much fun!! The package says that you can shrink in the oven or with a heat tool. I used my heat tool. It was so neat to watch the shape twist and curl and change until it shrinks into a perfect little heart. You know it's done shrinking when the shape becomes mostly flat and the image is not warpped. (If you don't shrink it all the way the image may be slightly out of proportion). I kept an acrylic block handy to flatten the charms while they were still warm.

Aren't they cute? I absolutely LOVE this Love & Luck set - you could come up with so many different combinations and colors. Stamping with clear stamp is so easy! I love being able to have perfect placement every time! Ok, now to make the charm holders! And here I should mention that Artbeads.com has a short tutorial on their site about making glass charms, it was a great resource for me!

Step 5 - Cut a piece of the Memory Wire a bit bigger than the finished ring and make a loop on one end. If you've done any jewelry making this will be easy for you, but just use your round nose pliers and form a loop around them with the wire. I did find that the Memory Wire is quite a bit stiffer than most jewelry wire I've worked with - it did take some muscle to make the loop! At this time you can make your jump ring for the charm using a piece of wire. I made the ring the same way as the loop in the Memory Wire, only now I added the charm to it and another premade jump ring.

Step 6 - Add the beads and charms to your wire. Here you can really have fun using different sizes, colors and patterns! I found that ones with fewer beads sometimes looked better but it was sure fun to use lots of pretty beads too! Basically I just put one side on first, then the charm and then repeated the pattern in reverse.

Once you've finished with the beads, make a loop in the other end of the Memory Wire the same as in Step 5 so that the beads stay one.

Here are a few more pictures. I'll post even more picture of some of the different colors I used a bit later along with some details on some fun Jules Jewels - would you like to try these yourself??? Be sure to check out the next post!