Aargh, it be Pirate Hanna!

LOL Sorry for the corny title! The fourth set being released tonight at Hanna Stamps is Pirate Hanna. She is so fun! I stamped and colored my image. Then, I stamped the background paper using the map stamp. I matted everything and assembled the layers. This was a very fast and easy card to make.

Don't you just love that sentiment, "stamp or be stamped!"? The release party is over in the SCS forum tonight. Party starts at 9 EST. There is always lots of chatting, prizes and fun!

Recipe

Stamps: Pirate Hanna (Hanna Stamps)

Cardstock: white (Papertrey Ink), river rock, chocolate chip (SU!)

Ink: black (Momento)

Tools: copic markers, long rectangle nestability die (Spellbinders)

Christmas Wishes

I don't think I have mentioned here how much I love Christmas and Snowmen. Christmas is my favorite time of year. When I saw the snowmen and snowladies at High Hopes Stamps, I fell in love! They are the most adorable snow people stamps I've ever seen! I picked up Snowlady Surprise last time I ordered and the rest are going in with my next order!

I am also loving the sneak peeks I've been seeing of Katharina Frei's new line of stamps called Whiff of Joy. She's having a guest designer contest so I decided to throw my name in the hat. She provided a sketch and details here.

I stamped my snow lady and colored her with copic markers. Then, I cut all my mats and patterned papers and used an edge distressor to rough up the edges and sewed the pieces together. I added fun flock to the snow lady's hat, mittens, and coat. Then, I assembled my card.

Here's a close up of the snowlady. Can you see the fun flock on her coat, hat, and mittens? I love the fuzzy texture it adds.

Well, wish me luck and have a great day!

Recipe
Stamps: Snowlady Surprise (High Hopes Stamps), Believe (Papertrey Ink)
Cardstock: white (Papertrey Ink), Blush Red Dark, Herbal Garden Dark (Prism)
Patterned Paper: Figgy Pudding (Basic Grey)
Ink: graphite black (Brilliance), noir (Palette)
Accents: red grosgrain ribbon, pewter brads and eyelet, white fun flock
Tools: copic markers, edge distressor (CTMH), sewing machine, nestability rectangle and circle dies (Spellbinders), Sakura glue pen

Trick or Treat

I mentioned yesterday that Hanna Stamps is releasing four new sets on Friday. Two of the sets are mini sets. One of the mini sets is called Trick or Treat. It's such a great Halloween set. I love the scarecrow. I have two cards today using him.

I decided to make a late night, Halloween scene using the scarecrow, bat, and pumpkin. I started out by stamping my images. Then, I colored them with copic markers. Then, I used the air brush system with the copic markers to spray the sky, moon, and ground. To make the moon, I punched a circle out of a piece of scrap cardstock and used it as my mask for spraying the moon. As a finishing touch, I sprayed the entire piece with a dark grey to make it look like it was dark outside. When I was making my card, I also decided to random stamp some cardstock to make my own pattern paper using one of the bats included in the set. I cut a mat and my card base, sponged all the edges, and stitched everything together with black thread. So, what do you think? I think I came pretty close to what I envisioned. The air brush system is so nice with the copics. It just lets you add something extra.

My other card is a very simple card. One thing to note with the copics, after I colored both my scarecrows, I used the colorless blender to make the clothes looked faded.

Thank you so much to everyone who commented yesterday. It's great to hear from each and every one of you. I guess it just helps me get to know my readers a little better when you comment so that is why I love hearing from you even if you just want to say hi. I turned the word verification off for now. If I start getting spam, I will have to turn it back on. We'll see how it goes. Thanks so much for sharing your opinions!

Have a great day!


Recipe for first card
Stamps: Trick or Treat (Hanna Stamps)

Cardstock: white (Papertrey Ink), black, pumpkin pie (SU!)

Ink: graphite black (Brilliance), noir (Palette)

Tools: copic markers, copic airbrush system, sewing machine, circle punch, sponge dauber

Recipe for second card

Stamps: Trick or Treat (Hanna Stamps)

Cardstock: white (Papertrey Ink), blue bayou, pumpkin pie (SU!)

Ink: black (Momento)

Accents: blue bayou ribbon (SU!)

Tools: copic markers, nestability circle and rectangle dies (Spellbinders), cuttlebug embossing folder

Teacher Hanna Inspires

Hanna Stamps is releasing 4 new sets on Friday (Thursday at 9 PM if you're on the west coast like me). Teacher Hanna is one of the new sets. Isn't she cute?! I stamped my image, chose my patterned paper, and colored Hanna in coordinating colors using copic markers. Then, I made all my layers and sewed everything together. I added silver brads, ribbon, and a tag to finish it off.

We'll have our release party Thursday night at 9 PM Est. There's always lots of fun, so be sure to join us.

Off topic question for you: What makes you comment on a blog? I'm curious because some days I might get 400 hits and 4 comments. I'm not complaining, just curious.


Recipe
Stamps: Teacher Hanna (Hanna Stamps)
Cardstock: white (Papertrey Ink), goovy guava, wild wasabi (SU!)
Patterned Paper: Afternoon Tea (SU!)
Accents: wild wasabi stitched ribbon (SU!), silver brads, tag
Tools: copic markers, sewing machine, threading water punch (Fiskars)

Wissshing You A Ssspecial Day!

I finally got a chance to play in the featured stamper challenge again over on SCS. This is one of my favorite challenges. I wish it were on a weekday instead of Sundays, but that's the way it goes. This week's featured stamper is Julia AKA Artystamper. I chose this card to case. You have to change at least 2 things and I changed the following:
* colors
* stamps
* added layers
* added stitching

Isn't that snake cute? I would normally not think a snake is cute (at all!), but this one is and I love the sentiment. I'll be back tomorrow with Hanna sneak peeks!


Recipe
Stamps: Neil Diamondback, Ssspecial Day (High Hopes Rubber Stamps)
Cardstock: white (Papertrey Ink), soft sky, river rock (SU!), black
Patterned Paper: Boxer (Basic Grey)
Ink: graphite black (Brilliance)
Accents: soft sky stitched ribbon (SU!), black brads
Tools: copic markers, sewing machine, nestability rectangle die

Let's Monkey Around!

High Hopes stamps are quickly becoming a favorite for me. Crissy's images are just absolutely adorable (not to mention her amazing gallery!!). I had a chance to play again with the Monkey Mike and some of the accessory stamps this week. I started out by stamping and coloring my images. Then, I cut the leaves, bananas, and monkey. I used my air compressor to add light blue to the sky. Then, I decided to stamp the banana image on wild wasabi cardstock to create my patterned paper. I assembled all the pieces and sewed around the edges. Then, I add the ribbon, sentiment, and image panel. I added all the stamped images on dimensional adhesive to pop them up and give them more dimension.

Here's a close up of my jungle scene. You can click on the photo if you would like to see an even larger version. Isn't the monkey just the cutest thing?! My last order from High Hopes came yesterday! I can't wait to play with all those great images!

Have a great day!



Recipe
Stamps: Small Monkey Mike, Bunches of Bananas, Single Banana, Banana Tree, Jungle Leaf Corner (High Hopes Rubber Stamps)

Cardstock: white (Papertrey Ink), wild wasabi, blue bayou (SU!)

Other: copic markers, scissors, sewing machines, label trio die (Spellbinders), blue bayou stitched ribbon (SU!)

Papertrey Blog Hop: Vellum

Hi Everyone! It's time again for the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop. This month's challenge was to use vellum. I decided to do some dry embossing with vellum and a stamp set. I chose Lisa's Flower Garden set. I love how the embossed vellum looks over the Plum Pudding cardstock. I decided to make a card that could be used for any occasion and left the sentiment off the front. That way I can write or stamp any sentiment inside.

I can't wait to see everyone's creations with vellum! I have a tutorial below for how to do dry embossing with stamps and vellum.



Dry Embossing with Vellum and Stamps

The supplies you need are: vellum, a stamp of your choice, versamark ink, and an embossing stylus. I used versamark because it is a watermark ink that will not show up after you are done embossing. A very light ink would probably work as well, but I did not test it.

Random stamp your vellum with your image using versamark ink. (Sorry for the reflection. I took a bunch of photos and could not get rid of the reflection.)


Next, take you embossing stylus and trace the lines of your stamp. Don't push too hard or you will poke a hole through the vellum. I went over my images twice using light pressure.

ETA: I forgot to mention when embossing, put your vellum piece over a soft surface. I am using the underside of a cutting mat. I actually always have the mat turned over on my desk because it helps with stamp sometimes when you have a hard time getting a good image. Thanks, Char, for letting me know I forgot to mention my surface!


Flip you vellum over and you have pretty, custom embossed vellum. If you decide to make something using dry embossing and vellum, please share a link to your project.


Well, I'm off to see what everyone created. Thanks so much for visiting!

Have a great night!


Recipe
Stamps: Flower Garden (Papertrey Ink)
Cardstock: plum pudding, vintage cream (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: versamark
Accents: plum pudding satin ribbon (Papertrey Ink), dew drops (Robin's Nest)
Tools: sewing machine, embossing stylus

Sorry I'm so Behind!

This sentiment fits my life perfectly right now! lol Until yesterday, I had not had a chance to make a card for the past week. My grandma came to visit last weekend and I had some scrapbooks to return to her that I had borrowed to scan. They are old family heritage scrapbooks with photos of some of my ancestors back to the late 1800s. They are priceless! Well, I've had them for a year and hadn't gotten them all scanned yet so I spent last week scanning photos every chance I got. I finally got them all done and backed up the files on cds. Unless my one aunt knows who the people are in the photos, I'm the only one who knows who they are besides my grandma so it also took a little longer because I labeled all the photo files with the names of the people in the photos.

Anyway, now you know why I am so behind and why I didn't get the Magnetic Build-a-Owl tutorial up until Monday. Isn't that hippo so cute? She's from Melanie Muenchinger's Just So Hippy set (available through Gina K). The only thing that you might not notice in the photo is I sponged soft sky ink on the edges.

Have a great night!



Recipe
Stamps: Just So Hippy (Gina K Designs)
Cardstock: white (Papertrey Ink), soft sky (SU!)
Patterned Paper: SU!
Ink: black (Momento), soft sky (SU!), dark chocolate (Papertrey Ink)
Other: soft sky ribbon (SU!), rain dot eyelets, copic markers, sponge dauber