Blog Hop! Chirstmas Cards and Tags in 10 Minutes or Less

What a fun challenge this month! Most of my cards are pretty speedy anyway, so I knew this would be fun, except for not having any Christmas stamps. Time to place an order! I went with two very versatile sets that gave me the most bang for my buck: Vintage Santa and Flourish Trees of Hope. I just love all the trees and prases in Trees of Hope. I figure I will get more use of this set than just for Christmas. With Vintage Santa, all the Christmas greetings drew me to the set along with the snow flakes. I can leave them in a trio or cut them to have individual flakes. Finally, this is just one, cool Santa! For the blog hope, I've come up with five new projects, some cards and a gift tag.

VIntage Santa, Inspiration Avenue

First up, a very simple Christmas card. Some green Bazzill, a bit of Reece SWIC paper and a couple stamps. I added a hint of glitter to the tree with my stardust gelly.

Santa is pretty good on his own, so again a simply stamped card with a hint of color from Reece, a touch of sparkle to the snow flakes. I love doing cards that are not your typical folded half sheet.

I found myself using too much green, so the snow flakes drew me to blue. I really had a lot of fun mixing these two sets.

A fun gift card. I was inspired by a card from Laurie over at Soapbox Creations. I really liked the punched out santa here.

Finally, this card was a bit more complicated, but with a stamp positioner went very quickly. I used one of the trees to create my background pattern. (One of my first thoughts in seeing this set.) I cut out my kraft square, then took a pencil to quarter it off and find the center so I could position my stamp easier.

Please enjoy these other blogs for many more ideas and lots of great inspiration!
Laurie W

Teresa

Diane

Jen

Rita

Shirley

Julie

Kim

Laurie U

Kay

Melisa

Stacy

Halloween: All About the Treats!

Halloween has come and gone, but I wanted to share some of the treats I made this year. I had a lot of fun playing a various treat covers, my favorites though were the ghosts. This is a pretty old idea, but rather than using tissues or tissue paper, I find coffee filters to be oh so easy to use. They're already cut to size, inks don't tend to bleed very badly and they're cheap. I made about 150 of these little guys this year for hubby's classes. Their team has a cow theme so I had to make my little boos have a moo theme.

Next, I used one of the black and white digital papers and shrunk to just fit a mini candy. This worked great to still maintain the detail of the paper. I then had fun with the skulls, dressing them up with my Spica and Stardust gelly pen.

And what holiday isn't complete with popcorn? This is an easy gift wrap to do and oh so versatile. It makes for great teacher gifts.

Fall Blog Hop

Time for another blog hop! This one has a fall theme. I wanted to do something a little different with this and try to use some untraditional fall images for my first card. (Didn't really have a choice since I don't have any fall specific images and I wanted to take a break from Halloween and challenge myself.) Here, I used Miss Moxie papers and Hat's Off stamp set. I LOVE the colors in this paper kit and it's become a favorite.

Now back to Halloween, here are a couple fun ones, and again, a little untraditional. I've been having fun doing different sized cards and this first is a #10. When I first saw the spider in Spookalicious, I thought of Fun Flock. This is a great accessory and fun to use, especially when you have sticky embossing powder to use. It really helps keep the image neat and controled, as opposed to using a glue stick/wet glue. I used my stardust gelly for the web and colored the images with Prisma Pencils.

This final card has a boo of it's own and was inspired by some Tootsie Pop ghost treats that I'm making. I used a coffee filter and cotton balls to create the cute little ghostie and stamped the head of the skeleton from Spookalicious for the face.

Please enjoy these other Angles' blogs and their fall creations!

Barb
Rita

Kim

Angela

Laurie

Shirley

Jen

Trudy

Teresa

Diane

Bridget

Suzanne

Stacy

Inspiration Avenue Swap

It's really been to be an active stamper again and although I haven't held any Funshops, to be active in the demo community as well. I recently did another swap, this one for the new images in Inspiration Avenue. I LOVE the new Halloween images, and even have them all now too--shame on me! So my cards for this swap were naturally going to be Halloween themed. I wanted to do something different and fun for my first card so created a little scene:

I used my Bazzilll mono cardstocks and punches for the base and circles. I cut out the coffin and stamped the cat on it with Memento black, then inked the edges with a duster. To fill in the image, I colored with a warm gray Copic and colored the eyes and nose with Souffle gel pens. I thought it still needed more and added the clouds and moon to the Versamark frost stamped star background. The moon was colored with my stardust gelly to give it some sparkle--Love that pen!

Stamp Sets: Spookalicious and Glitter Gobblins, hostess backgrounds

My second card was a little simpler.

Keeping with the Halloween colors and stamped the backgrounds with versamark. Since the verse stamp has a lot of solid space, I actually stamped this on the backside of the Bazzill to get a cleaner stamped image, then punched it with my scallop punch and mounted it with pop dots. I purchased some scrappers floss for the first time and used it too. It makes for a fun accent.

Stamp Sets: Spookalicious and Glitter Goblins

I can't wait for m swapped cards to get returned to me and see what all the other ladies have done. Should be fun! It also won't be long before the new Serendipity is out either, only a couple more months!

Halloween Smash!

I love Halloween. The colors, the characters. I have been busy these past few days really stamping up a storm with my two favorite new sets: Spookalicious and Glitter Goblins. Both these sets can be found in the new Fall Magalogue. I have also been playing with TAC's digital papers. These came out over the summer in black and white. And, while I like black and white, I've been having fun in Photoshop changing the colors. That was actually the first thing I did when downloaded these, was play with the colors. It's not that difficult and you can get so many different combinations and looks. I use the hue and saturation adjustment most of the time, but have also experimented with various gradients.

This was a simple card using the digital background colored in orange and adding a stamp from Glitter Goblins. I cut out the circle free-hand and mounted it to a punched scalloped circle.

Fun card using Spookalicious! As soon as I saw the spider, I knew I wanted to flock it. Fun Flock is a fuzz that has been around for many years now--I still have some jars that are probably close to 20 years old! It's still available though, and I added black to my collection through TAC. To get the flock just right, my favorite adhesivie is Sticky Embossing Powder. This is like regular embossing powder, but when melted, comes a glue. It's perfect for the detail that I just can't get with a regular glue. I made the web with my Stardust Gelly and colored the images with Prisma colored pencils.


I've been trying to get away from "normal" cards lately, experimenting with different sizes and shapes. This card and envelope set comes from a template I've had for years--with all this stamping lately, I've been digging up some real oldies of mine! The envelope was made with the black and white digital paper and stamped. Pumpkins have been colored with Copics. This card was inspired by a window card by Barb Foster.

A fairly simple card. I used the black and white digital paper for this too, but added a color gradiant to it in fun Halloween colors. The colors are very rich and I think this may need some more playing.

I had a lot of fun doing this card, which was inspired by a digital creation at Peppermint Creative. Now, I'm almost positive I've seen a card similiar to this in design too, but can't find it at the moment. I probably would have used the digital paper for this, but my printer was out of ink and I realized I could easily recreate the design using my scraps and 1" circle punch. To give it some "glitter" I outlined the circle and "ghosts" with my Stardust pen.

Happy World Card Day

I spent the day making a few cards. It's been awhile since I made some cards just to make some cards. I also went with some uncommon colors for me--pink. I am so not a pink person, but for some reason, I enjoy crafting with it. Here are a few of my creations from the day. For the Asian cards, I got out some of my Origami papers. Some of these papers, I've had for years, but was afraid to use them for fear to running out. Now that I live in the land of Origami paper, It's been nice to have no worries about ever running out of papers.

In searching the galleries looking for inspiration I came across a hybrid project that I immediately fell in love with, a pumpkin template from The Digichick. I haven't visited this site in many months, but what a pleasent surprise! It has had a facelift and had some fantastic project templates that I am anxious to try.


For the pumpkin, I changed the color of TAC's black and white digital papers to a nice orange and printed on HP Everyday Matte. After rough cutting, I ran the paper through the Xyron then mounted it on some thicker cardstock to give it some more support. Although I wasn't initially happy with the construction, I got it to fit together and finished it off with some ribbon and a tag.

Let's Get Ready to Make Some Cards!

Did you know? I didn't until last week. But, Saturday, October 3 is World Card Making Day! Who knew that this day has been celebrated the first Saturnday in October since 2007? I haven't anything planned as of yet, but think it'll be a great chance to take a day and get some stamping and crafting done. It's been awhile since I just sat down to make cards for the sake of making cards. (Maybe I'll even order some new stamps as part of the celebration.) It's been so nice to get my ink and paper out again. To cut those stamps out and be creative away from the computer. However, in doing so, I realize that there are some stamps I'm missing, away in storage until who knows when. Or if I only had that "one" image to complete a card. Have fun celebrating the day. Make a couple birthday cards, thank you cards or get a jump start on those holiday greetings.

The Copics are Coming!

There's a fantastic new TAC promotion starting October first. Double the fun has been extended and it's the perfect opportunity to start getting ready for the holidays!

Yes, you read that right, COPICS!!!!! I am so excited about this and really hoping that they will show up permanently in either the next issue of Serendipity or next year's base catalog. I am also hoping that this will mean more color-in images too. Copics are some of the best markers I've used and are a lot of fun and versatile. Also available with this promotion are two new ink pads, Memento Black and Chocolate. Stay tuned for more projects!

Been Awhile

Wow, I hadn't realized it's been so long. It's not that I haven't been stamping, more that I've had technical difficulties. I did some cards for a card swap not too long ago and was waiting to post when the cards had been sent in. Wouldn't you know it my computer crashed?! This was a scary week, not knowing if I had lost everything. I'm usually pretty good at backing up my files, I had gotten lazy though and hadn't in awhile. The people who fixed our computer, managed to save ALL our files and I spent the first day backing everything up. So, if you haven't done so in awhile, BACK UP THOSE FILES! I save to both an external hard drive and to DVD, better safe than sorry. Enough with the PSA. Here are the cards I did for the swap!

I really like this set, wishing happiness. It is new to the 2009 Inspiration Book and Catalog. I paired it with my new favorite verse set, bookoo blessings. Lots of good in this one! I wanted to use one of our new digital paper downloads, which lent itself to lots of color and coordinated beautifully with Miss Moxie cardstock. The ribbon is some from my stash.

For my second card, I went with a completely different color scheme, wanting to highlight the verdigris embossing powder I had and the Rustic Chic paper collection.

I joined another swap, for the release of the new supplement, Inspiration Avenue. Be on the look out for some Halloween inspiration. My order has been placed and is on its way. I have a lot of ideas and am looking forward to some quiet craft time now that the kids are all in school.

Replenish Your Card Stash!

Time for another blog hop. With the lazy days of summer upon us, what better time to get a jump on making some cards for those up-coming occasions. It never hurts to have some miscellaneous cards ready to go. The ladies of TAC are doing just that and have some new ideas to help inspire you.

For my first card, I went with an old technique that is really quite easy, but wows: Versamark Resist. You stamp your image on glossy cardstock with Versamark. For this sample, I used the new Frost Versamark! Next I used one of our Kaleidacolor, multi-color dye pads. Leaving the colors separated, I ran my brayer over it a few times, then brayered the glossy, overlapping the colors slightly to blend them together. I was going for a fall theme and used Autumn Leaves, one of my favorite color combinations. Stamp set: Want to Fly from Spring Serendipity.

This next card is another with a set from Serendipity, Fishy Friends. These guys are just too cute, and I knew I had to have them. Here is a very quick and simple card. I recently got some of the Palette Hybrid cubes. These are great! Love the smoothness of of the color coverage. I used some grey Bazzill from the mono packs and the blue is from Miss Moxie cardstock.

Finally, back to those cows! This is a fun set and that I paired with a greeting from Bookoo Blessings in the new base catalog. This is an older set, but very versatile. I love the variety of fonts that are used.

I hope you enjoy these cards and those from the TAC Demos. Have fun and enjoy hopping from blog to blog.

Laurie

Carol

Maria

Rita

Jen

Christina

Sheryl

Melisa

Kelly Rae

Shirley

Betty

Michelle

Diane

Trudy

Stacy

Happy Father's Day!

Another blog hop! This one is Father's Day themed. Hopefully you can get some ideas to complete for those last minute Father's Day gifts. Just another week away. My hubby teaches and I thought it would be fun to have a reminder of the kids while he works. So I went through my stash of stampables and found a blank mouse pad. You can get these at Ikea for next to nothing and they're fantastic!You want to use a permanent craft ink for these, so I used our Versa Craft. This is a permanent, crafting ink and great for things other than paper--you can check out the cork board below too. I heat set the ink and let dry for a few days too. I again went at it with my Copics. When coloring a fabric, you need a very light hand with the pens. Otherwise, your ink is going to spread where you don't want it. I'm really happy with how these colored up.
Stamps used:

alphagrunge

the kids have been discontinued, but is one of my favorite sets, they're so cute.

For more great Father's Day ideas check out these fellow TAC stampers!
Kelly Rae

Heather Scott

Rita K

Carol

Bridget

Christina

Maria

Seleise

Laurie

Ellie

Stacy

Blog Hop! Home Decor

Here I am with another blog hop. This month's theme is home decor, and was a real challenge for me. As it seems with a lot of the home items I do, I have these fantastic ideas in my head, but can never get them quite right. The same can be said for this project. I'm not as happy with it as I'd like to be, but perhaps it will inspire you. Allow you to take the idea and improve upon it.

When I first saw the theme, I knew what I wanted to do--stamp on cork and create a giftable cork board. Finding the cork was actually the easiest part of this. I do recommend a tight cork though, I think that was part of the problem. I could only find a loose cork and it didn't stamp up as well as I had hoped. You also want to stamp with Versacraft ink. This is a permanent, pigment ink that is great for stamping on those items that are not paper, wood for example. If you want to stamp and color right away, please heat-set the ink first. This will keep your image from smearing, and ruining your coloring medium.

Here I stamped my images, want to fly with the Versacraft and let them sit for several days. (I would have heat-set, but since I wasn't overly thrilled with how they stamped up, I had to sit on this for a few days.) When choosing stamps for this project, you really want one that is more bold than detailed. I colored my image lightly with Copic markers. Any permanent marker will work though, just be sure to test it first on the back, or some scrap to see how it colors.

To make the cork board a little more interesting, I added a post-it pad and ribbon to hang it up. I attached the ribbon with Wonder Tape. I used a wider strip and wrapped it over the edge of the cork for added security.

I hope you enjoy this project and do find some inspiration. It was fun to create and now that I know how my cork works, I think I will try this again with a different stamp set. Here are some other Home-Decor projects to enjoy!

Melisa

Barb
Ellie

Chris

Rita

Kim

Carol

Sneak Peak!

The Angel Company has made available a sneak peak from their new catalogue coming out in July! What cute robots. This set can be yours for the special price of $13.95 with a $30 purchase. I know I can't wait to get this new one.

Week in Review

I don't have any particular craft to share today, just some miscellaneous cards I have worked on this week. I've been waiting for a new order to come in with a couple stamp sets and some new papers from the Wing it Collection. These are such a great deal! 8x8 pads of decorative paper in a variety of themes and colors. I got Uptown Girl of all sets, which is primairly pink! I am SO not a pink person, but wanted to change it up a bit.

I haven't created anything with it yet, I guess that's the sad thing. I've been so busy this week, I haven't had much time to do anything. I do have two new cards to share though. This first, I used little cupcake and another wing it collection, a little bit of whimsy. This is a wonderfully, colorful paper collection.

While out in town, I couldn't pass up this sheet of washi paper from the art store I frequent, sometimes a little too frequently. They sell all kinds of supplies including pencils, gel pens, Copics and papers.

Finally, this has nothing to do with stamping. I also knit and have recently started meeting weekly with a group of ladies who are very experienced knitters. They are so helpful and so inspiring. I finished my first child's hat this week. I don't have a child young enough to model it so needed to improvise. But I am very happy with the results.

Travel Journal

I saw this project at Thinking Inking and had to do it! It is a template from Paper Trey Ink and my first visit there. I was so excited to see that these templates are pdf files, so when you purchase them, it's instant gratification. This template was very easy to follow and comes with multiple ideas and suggestions for modifying the project. I decided to go with a travel journal. Something you could take on a short trip and organize your memorabilia and keep a few notes.

Natural Cardstock

Juliette SWIC V-839

goabroad T-2950

sailaway T-2663 (this set is soon to be discontinued and is on sale)

Making Memories Flourish stamps

"Dream" stamp is TAC, but discontinued

generic office stamp set--this is a very handy stamp set to have

Red, brown, tan ink

Scor-Pal F-358

dusters

ribbon

scalloped circle punch D-704

Mini File Tab Punch D-881

circle punch

versamark frost

Bind-it-all F-506

Digital Download Challenge!

The Angel Company has started releasing digital downloads each month. You have no idea how excited I am about this and I hope it's a sign of things to come. Although I have been a paper crafter forever, the last few years I have been nearly 100% digital. My scrapbook pages, cards, crafts, I was doing it all on the computer.

The flexibility that comes through digital art is probably the biggest plus to the craft, not to mention there's no mess--you don't want to see my stamp table right now. Most computers have basic photo editing software, but I happen to really like Photoshop. Photoshop Elements is very reasonable in price and quite a powerful program too. It comes with a lot of different computer hardware too, so you may even have it already. If not, Adobe does offer a free, 30 day trial.

With the current downloads, I completed three completely different projects: a card, candy wrapper and a scrapbook page.

Celebrate

For this card, I used the digital paper as is. I printed on HP Everyday Matte Photopaper. This is my crafting paper of choice when printing digital papers. It's not as thick as traditional photo paper, but not as thin as typing paper. It takes color beautifully too.

Little Cupcake R-2038

Black, White and Red cardstock

Ribbon

Black ink

Black & White Paper Download

Love

Here, I took my paper and recolored it in Photoshop using a gradient map. I then resized and cropped it to 12x12, my usual scrapping size. I also downloaded the newest Angelee™ & Natalee™ Coordinating Tags, "cut" one out in Photoshop and again recolored using the same blue as the paper. This project was a bit more challenging in that I used a double layer of the background paper, using one as my base and the second above my photo. I then erased that which was on my photo except for the swirls, which I wanted to look like had been "stamped" on my picture. To finish off the page, I used some digital staples to adhere my tag.

Sweets for My SweetThis final project was very easy. I opened my file in Photoshop and recolored the paper to orange and printed. I measured my paper to fit my candy bar, cut, folded and sealed. I then added my sentiment.

Little Cupcake

Black and White Cardstock

Black and Orange ink

Versamark

Happy Holidays

This one was fun! I used the darkest green from the Bazzill monochromatics. I wanted my digital paper to match, so I went to the Bazzill site and saved a swatch copy of the same green. Opened it in Photoshop to take a color sample from, then colored the paper with the gradient. I also printed the paper smaller than original, getting it as close to 4.25" as I could. I used my tag punch to cut the tag, then cut it smaller and stamped it with Tag Tidbits.

For those who have never tried digital it can be a bit scary, but I think once you try, you'll become just as addicted to the computer as you are to your stamps and paper! I would like to challenge you to try some hybrid projects with TAC's digital downloads. Link me up in your comments and have fun!