New RARE IMAGE RUBBER STAMPS sheet out now with FREE SHIPPING!

 STAMPS:  girl - Rare Image Rubber Stamps, solid circle - Hero Arts, flower - Savvy, the rest - unknown

TECHNIQUES:  Technique Junkies Paper Piecing, Embellished Circles

STAMPS:  child - Rare Image Rubber Stamps, scenery - Sarasota Stamps, words - (partial) Embossing Arts, seagulls - Just for Fun

TECHNIQUES:  Spotlight, colored pencils

These are just two of the little cuties featured on my newest 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of rubber called CHILDHOOD - featuring 16 adorable vintage child images in a pen-and-ink sketched style.  You can access the RARE IMAGE RUBBER STAMPS ordering and info page by clicking on the logo in the sidebar to the right.

Thanks for stopping by!

Some Sparkle Flowers

Click photos for more detail

Cards measure from 4 3/4" x 5 1/2" to 5 1/4" x 6 1/2"

I had a coupon for Archiver's that I was compelled to use the other day :o) so I picked up The Essential Glue Pad by Tsukineko. I'd been wanting to try it ever since I found my jar of Heat n' Stick had turned from powder to unbreakable chunks in it's jar!

This set of Clear Stamps by Heidi Grace for Fiskars (at Joann's) has 2 flower heads and 2 flower centers in graduated sizes, and then a small flower head on a stem, and a spare larger leaf. So I stamped the large flower head once and the smaller one twice, as shown. Then I stamped just the stem part with leaf repeatedly and a few times inking just the stem, without the leaf, to elongate the stems I'd already stamped. The leaf is on the right side of the stem so I used the larger spare leave to fill in where needed.

The background on the pink and green cards is Brayered Spots from the TechniqueJunkies Dec '07 newsletter and on the purple ones it's a modified TJ Madras technique. Inks on the pink ones are from a pack of 15 mini pads called Creative Beginnings Suedes Soft Matte Dye Ink Collection (purchased hanging on pegboard in Joann's or Michael's a year or two ago). The inks on the purple cards are Stampin' Up!'s Old Olive and Eggplant Envy. The sentiment (Northwoods Rubber Stamps) on all of the cards was stamped in SU Always Artichoke. Glitter is The Art Glittering System Transparent #98 Amethyst and #99 Juicy Fruit.

I found the Glue Pad to work really well for glitter. The gal at the store recommended not letting too much time pass between stamping the glue onto the paper and sprinkling the fine glitter on it, and then pressing down on the glitter with a piece of paper over it to make sure it sticks. I found I got better results on these when I didn't press down or two much glitter stuck to the delicate flower center image. The same goes for pressing down into the glue pad and then the stamp onto the paper - I found a lighter touch works better.

The sheer ribbon is attached by punching a small hole on each edge as shown, threading the ribbon thru and tying a simple knot. The corner points on the purple one were made by cutting two squares of the madras paper scraps, then cutting these on the diagonal. I think that's about it!

Thanks for looking!!