A Hope-You're-Feeling-Better Card

I seem to only have Sunday afternoons and late, late at nights once in a while to stamp lately, but I was very motivated to make a card for an 80-something friend who got in a car accident and is now hospitalized recovering. I'm also determined to use what I have around and keep it simple but beautiful :o)

Click photo for more detail

Card measures 5 1/2" x 4 1/4"

ooh - look how artistic I'm getting with my photos! Maybe some day a fancy backdrop LOL

I had the opportunity to go to a used stamp sale Satruday (Hi Laurie, hi Cheryl!) and purchased this beautiful sunflower stamp. It was sitting on my desk when I decided I "needed" to make a card and it called out to me! I knew I wanted subdued colors so I decided to use Distress inks to match a background I had in my Technique Junkies folders of past techniques I've tried and not used yet.

The background is a form of the Watercolor Distress technique from the Feb 07 Technique Junkie newsletter. I used Distress Weathered Wood. I pressed the pad onto a waterproof sheet in an area a little bigger than my cardstock, sprayed fine mist water over, and laid the cs on it.

I stamped the Sunflowers (Art Impressions) on white cs using Staz-On Timber Brown, then colored it in with Stampin' Up! blender pens and Distress Inks (Scattered Straw, Peeled Paint, Tea Dye and Weathered Wood). I used a waterbrush and Tea Dye around the vase for some dimension. I inked up the Stampin' Up! Canvas bkgd stamp in Antique Linen, stamped it off once on scrap paper, and used the second generation impression over the whole sunflower panel. (Thanks to Michelle Z. for this!) I used a Tim Holtz distressing tool on the edges, and then sponged more Antique Linen around the edges. I mounted this panel to a slightly larger green panel.

I made a little tag and stamped the greeting (Hero Arts, I believe - it's not marked anything) in the Peeled Paint ink, then sponged some Antique Linen around the edges. I crumpled up a scrap of the green cs, flattened it out, and then sponged Antique Linen over the creases and along the edges. I tied a piece of twine onto the white tag and wrapped it around this. I tacked it down over a woven ribbon I purchased at JoAnn's. The main panel is pop-dotted over this, and the whole panel is adhered to a SU Bordering Blue piece of cs. After I finished up I felt like I wanted to add Dimensional glue to the vase and brown Fun Flock to the flower centers - oh, and white gel pen to some petals. But I've ruined untold numbers of finished cards by adding "just one more thing" so I'm saving all my bright ideas for the next one LOL

And that's it! An arty little everyday card that will hopefully brighten some one's day :o)

Win free stamps!!!!!!

Thanks for checking in! Go check out Pat's blog for a chance to win a sheet of your own Animal stamps (as shown on the sidebar) this week PLUS a beautiful handmade by Pat card featuring Technique Junkie techniques! If you're curious about how the whole deal came about go to this page ...

Black & White ATCs

I'm on a great online group called StampersCorner and every month there is a card and an atc lottery. The winner from the last month gets to pick a theme, anyone who wants to makes one and uploads it to the Photos section. Then at the end of the month a winner is drawn, everyone sends them their work, and it starts over again.

The card theme is Beaches and the atc one is Black & White. I haven't had any time for making cards lately, but I couldn't resist the temptation of a small format and no color choices to make! LOL

Only one is necessary but I started and couldn't stop!

All these atcs measure 3 1/2" x 2 1/2" and although some of the elements scanned blue, these are all only shades of black, and white.

Click any of the photos below for more detail

stamp credits:

face - Limited Edition

dandelion - Just For Fun

vine - Printworks

watercolor blossom - Paper Inspirations

daisy - Hero Arts

Dream - PSX

The corners are ticket punched, and the gems are clear. Edges of white were sponged with black.

stamp credits:
dog, ball - Rare Image Rubber Stamps (see sidebar)
alphabet - unknown
crosshatch - Magenta

Dots are Versafine black applied to bubble wrap. Black strips are black cs pierced with a needle, which were then "connected" with a white gel pen (Sakura). The ends have a silver brad. My atc isn't crooked but the scan sure was!

stamp credits:

flourish - Autumn Leaves

marbling - Paper Inspirations

solid shadow - Hero Arts

punches:

spiral - Stampin' Up!

flowers - EK Success

I stamped the flourish in black, and then the marbling in second generation black. It's hard to see, but I inked up the shadow stamp with black Versafine and then stamped the uninked flourish in it to remove some of the black ink. I highlighted the flourish lines with a Sakura sparkly gell pen, and the white punched flower with a Micron .005 black marker. The center is an adhesive-backed pearl I bought at Archiver's.

stamp credits:
canvas - Stampin' Up!
travel collage - Just For Fun
suitcase - unmarked
travel word - PSX
border - Stamper's Anonymous

punch:
tab - Stampin' Up!

This atc opens from a fold on the lefthand side. I stamped the canvas in second generation black ink before stamping the word collage and edging. The dots on the tab are a Sakura white gel pen.




stamp credits:
cat - Rare Image Rubber Stamps (see sidebar)
alphabet, text - Hero Arts
dots - Stampin' Up!

scissors:
wave - Stampin' Up!

Note to self - stamping white craft ink on black without embossing turns a bluish tint!





stamp credits:

verse - Stubby Stampers

plant - Hero Arts

Swiped some acrylic white over textured black cs and let it dry before stamping in black Staz-On. Would try gesso next time to avoid the bluish tint, but sometimes ink stamped over it look strange...

Thanks for looking!

Technique Junkies sale!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi all! Here's some info below on the awesome Technique Junkies BOGO Half Off Sale... This is the pricing for US addresses. Email Pat Huntoon for foreign pricing. A list of what is in each newsletter and CD is here. If you're not familiar with the Technique Junkies and want to know what all the hubbub is for, email me!!

Pricing for the Paper Issues:

Buy any two years: $27.00 (normally $36.00)

Buy any 4 years: $54.00 (normally: $72.00)

Buy all back issues from 10-02 to 12-07: 70.00 (normally $96.00)

Pricing for the CDs:

Buy any Two: $22.40 (regularly $27.95 for subscribers)

Buy Four: $44.80 (regularly $54.00 for subscribers)

If you wanted all 5: $55.75 (normally $66.00)

Hi Manna :o) The quote on the card is from a Stampin' Up! set titled Quotes to Live By dated 2005. Sorry to all I inadvertantly persuaded to buy the tree stamp, but it IS a really awesome image and I actually purchased the Thanksgiving phrase that fits inside it so I'm just as sick as the rest of you! LOL But you have to love Eureka for offering us all such an unbeatable deal on rubber, right?!

*tip*

As long as we're talking SU, I wanted to share a little brainstorm I had the other day. I find their blender pens to work the best for what I do, without the fumes of solvents, for blending. The easiest quickest way is to gently squeeze an ink pad in the closed position, transferring some of the ink to the lid, which you can dip your blender pen into. Anyhow, back to my idea - I took a Sharpie in each of the primary and secondary colors and colored each one on the white dots (that denote the three languages) on the double-ended pens as shown (blue and purple, yellow and green, and red and orange). Now I will use only the corresponding ink color that is on the dot at the end of the blender pen and will be able to avoid contaminating my work accidentally PLUS I don't have to worry about running all the ink out of the tip every time. I'm sure someone else has done this too, but I was thrilled that it occurred to me :o)

Hi Kathy, is this the tree you were wondering about? It's by Eureka Stamps, and I think it's in the Fall/Thanksgiving section.... AND, I believe they are currently running a sale - woohoo! ;o)

Thank you...

...for all the wonderful comments on my Family Pets stamp sheet, and to those who purchased, big hugs!!

Feel free to send photos to me (see "email me" link on sidebar) of any project you use one or more of these image on and I'll set up a special slide show here. I'll pick a random name after about a month and that person will get a FREE sheet of my upcoming rubber (it's in the works!)

Thanks for your interest in purchasing more - I'm reordering today and will have them up for sale as soon as they arrive. At this time they are being sold as Buy It Now items on ebay, but if you'd like to ensure you get one as soon as I have more, just hit the "email me" button on the sidebar and let me know you'd like one.

They are 8" x 10" sheets of thick red rubber (unmounted and untrimmed), pressed by Della at I Brake For Stamps , so you know they are high quality :o) They come in an acid-free clear envelope with an index sheet. Cost per sheet is $19.95 and shipping is $3.50 in a bubble envelope, sent via USPS First Class mail. I can ship to Canada for $1 more, but other out-of-the-US locations need to email me for a shipping quote. You can pay with a check, or Paypal.

If you buy a sheet I'd be happy to send you the four sample cards shown below as an email attachment so you can print them out for future reference, so just let me know if you're interested in that.

THANKS!