Author: stampcatwg

Well hello there!! Today I'm posting my first Halloween project! I'm also continuing with the vintage theme. The Shabby Tea Room Challenge #30 this week is Vintage Halloween! I knew I had to make something. I happen to really love old Halloween stuff! I busted out all the black and orange and all the stamps and just sat there…overwhelmed… It was hard to get started. So, I decided to put the challenge inspiration image up on my computer screen (see below) and just let it speak to me! Voila! Chandelier pattern paper! and Spiderwebs! That got the creative juices kicked in. Hope you likey. Are you ready for the spooky holiday?

 Here is the Shabby Tea Room challenge inspiration image – so fun!

I decided to use the fun black and orange chandeliers to make my own background paper! Luckily I had a small-ish size chandelier clear stamp (Martha Stewart) so it was easy-peasy to alternate the black and orange!

The inspiration image also has spooky cobwebs so I thought I would add some! The final touch, that I think makes the background paper seem vintage, was to sponge black ink all around the edges.  I think it turned out kinda cool, if I do say so myself.

This card ended up with tons of different elements on it. The large focal image is a stamp I've had forever from Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers. Do you remember them?  After I stamped the image in black I distressed it with walnut ink stain and a sponge. Then I added this neat glitter glue that is black with flecks of green in it.  The other two stamps are also from Martha Stewart collections. I think the ribbon is too. That girl Martha loves her some Halloween goods!!!

While I was making this card I had the internal dialogue (again) about hoarding craft supplies… Some of the stuff on this card I have had for years! I threw caution to the wind…and used it all up! Know what? Nothing bad happened! I think I'll survive! I don't know why I do that. Oh well, just rambling. Hope you are having a great weekend!  

Inspiration can come from anywhere… Sometimes I pick out a stamp first. Sometimes it's a piece of patterned paper…or a die-cut…or a color scheme. Could be just about anything. Today's cards were inspired by a package of thick cardboard stickers from Debbie Mumm that I've had in my stash for a long time. I liked the images, and the colors, and decided to build my cards around them…and they also fit perfectly for the Curtain Call #50 at Stacey's Stamping Stage Challenge!

Here is Stacey's pretty inspiration image and color scheme:  

This pretty leaf border is one of those giant EK Success flat punches… Instead of making a border on the paper it makes a strip of cut-outs! The plaid paper is from a 12 x 12 paper pack I got last year at Michael's and is from K & Company.

Hey! It's October! I went to Target last night and I witnessed the Halloween-o-rama first hand! We are in full-on Fall mode now peeps! Yay! Now, if the weather would just realize it.

I just have a cute and simple card to share today. Sometimes you don't need to use everything in the craft room to make a card. Hee hee.  Sometimes, less is more. The images are super adorable Amuse stamps – what else? Hope you like it! The hubs and I are celebrating our wedding anniversary this weekend – nine years - on Sunday. Looking forward to spending some quality time with that guy! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

I want to share an idea I got from Julie over at her blog – Paper Trufflez. Holla Julie! She did some pumpkins on her card and I just loved the technique. I stamped my Amuse pumpkin in a nice pure orange dye ink. Then I got out my dark orange prismacolor pencil and colored over the image to shade it! Isn't that cool?

I didn't want my card to seem like a Halloween card, but rather just a hello for Fall. If you use orange and black, automatically is says "Halloween." By adding a pop of green (Stampin' Up Kiwi Kiss) you don't get that effect.

Hey! How is everyone today? I am back to Fall cards! Today's card is made with beautiful stamps from Waltzingmouse Rubber Stamps. I got out the Copics and started coloring away to make some pretty shiny red apples to share. 

I'm also super excited to report that I was selected as a Top Crop again for last week's challenge over at Taylored Expressions! Thanks, Taylor, for being so kind to me! This was a great sketch that I know I will use over and over again. It is the perfect sketch for a large square image as your focal point. Check it out!

As you can see, I'm back in the groove with my dark red, olive green and brown color scheme! This is the Cherry Cobbler and Soft Suede paper from Stampin' Up and some pretty patterned paper from Amuse. I used some new vintage brads from Stampin' Up also.

Here is a close up of the focal image. I used some clear glaze on the apples after coloring them in. I wanted them to be super shiny and appealing. Also, one trick I've picked up from other stampers is to shade all around the image in a very light grey. For some reason this makes the image seem more crisp. Try it!

Here is my Copic color pallette:

Brown is very hard to shade and blend. Use your darkest color sparingly at first – you can always use more. Start light and just keep working with it until you get the effect you want.

Hi peeps! Happy Friday! WOO HOO! This was a much better week than last and I'm feeling back in my crafty flow now. Tonight I am going to a double birthday celebration for two of my long time stamping gal pals. So, I needed to make some handmade cards for them. I just bought this new stamp from Penny Black called 'Sweet Thing'! It was soooo dang cute I couldn't resist! I had to ink it up and make a syrupy sweet, pink and brown confection out of it!

Okay, I think I used every shade of pink in my Copic aresenal! She is sooo adorable – I really love this stamp already and know I will use it again. I added some touches of glitter on her bow, the cherry and her little angel wings. I also used my white gel pen to add some accents.

I pulled out the gingham paper and used the brown/white version. I also used my new Nestabilities with the open lacy scallop edge.  The "hey cupcake" phrase is from Amuse and the "Happy Birthday" is from Endless Creations stamps. The brown ribbon is just a scrap I had in the ribbon bin. I put a piece of foam tape under the center of the happy birthday banner to pop it up. The ends are taped down flat.

 
 What are you doing this weekend?  

Autumn Greetings Friends! Today is the first official day of Fall!!! As you know, I have already been celebrating for weeks! Hahaha. LOVE it. The nights have been getting cooler and the days shorter…the leaves in the backyard are coming down softly. I can feel it!

Today I have a card to enter in the WPlus9 Design Blog – Color Cue Challenge #8! Click Here to see their great blog! I have entered this blog's challenge before and this time I love the colors just as much!

Here is the color challenge image:

Could you just die over this cute apple paper?? ACK!! It's from Imaginisce and is new for this Fall. The little apples are all the colors of the color challenge – Golden yellow, green and bright scarlet red.

Not too much stamping on this card. The Autumn Greetings sentiment is from a clear stamp set I have -but I don't know what company it is. The birdie and leaves are rub ons from the same Imaginisce collection. I used some pretty gingham ribbon, a gold buckle and gold brads to brighten it up.

Hi peeps!!! DId you miss me? I sure missed you! I have missed crafting and photographing and blogging and sharing with you! It has been a crazy week and an even crazier weekend. Things seem to be back to "normal" now and I spent some time in the craft room today. Yay! I laid out all my fall stuff on the extra table: stamps, paper, punches, doo dads, ribbon, etc. I made a few projects to share in the next few days. It seems my color pallette went towards brown, cranberry red, olivey yellow green and cream. I love it!

Today's cards are entries for Taylored Expressions Sketch Challenge #128 – click here to see!  I made two cards using the same stamp set from PTI. It's such a great stamp set – brand new this year too! The sentiment stamp is from Amuse stamps. The red paper is the new Cherry Cobbler from Stampin' Up. I am seriously in love with this color!

Here is Taylor's sketch image – fab as usual!

My color pallette I was talking about earlier! The brown is Soft Suede from Stampin' Up.
 

 Card #1:

I made my own background paper using the itty bitty apple stamp in dark red ink on the dark red paper.

Card #2

I'm back in Fall mode! I haven't stamped in at least a week! So busy running all around like a chicken with my head cut off! Last night I sat down and made a Fall card and relaxed by coloring this pretty image from Hero Arts! This time of year I find that there are so many activities and fun things to do and it feels rushed…even though I want the season to last forever…

I used some patterned papers from my Basic Grey stash and did the main image on cream PTI cardstock. Layers of chocolate brown and mustard yellow frame the focal point. The leaves are punched out of Kiwi Kiss paper from Stampin' Up. Of course, you know that border punch is from Martha!!

Here is a close-up of my coloring. I used my Prismacolor pencils in orange, olive and mustard - my three favorite fall colors.

Have a great day everyone!

Hey! Hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend! I know I did! The hubs and I took a little getaway "bay-cation" to the South Bay. Had us some fun! We went to a concert and shopping and out to dinner with a friend and sleeping in…my idea of perfection! It was hard to come home and back to reality at 5:15am today when the alarm went off.

Found a great new Scrapbook store in San Jose that I had never been to before – Scrapbook Island. Awesomeness. And a return trip to Cranberry Hill Mercantile in Sunnyvale…more awesomeness. I got a new handbag and a necklace at the mall. I was on cloud nine.

The best part was going to the Green Day concert at Shoreline with hubs. We had a fabulous time, the show was great, the weather was perfect, and I even got to drink a margarita out of a guitar glass. Heehee. What more could a girl want?

Here's a Fall card I made last year and saved. I finally photographed it and would like to share it today. Also, you can meet Mr. Chipmunk! A recent acquisition…pretty funny!

The background was embossed with my Cuttlebug on orange paper with a white core. I then took a sanding block and barely sanded the pumpkin images. The stamp is all one large stamp from Printworks that I got a few years ago.

I colored this with my Copics…and I can see that I would color it differently now, one year later, after practicing more with my pens. I think it feels kind of rustic, though, and that's okay.  You can barely see it, but I added some brown speckles at the end with my blo-pen.

Mr. Chipmunk! He makes me smile! Does anyone else crack up at those Carmax commercials with the chipmunk and the funny music? Or is it just me? Don't answer that.

The band! I took 125 pictures, but I will spare you. Here's a good one of the three main dudes…

I'm nuts about you! Love this cute stamp and sentiment from Memory Box! Isn't that little squirrel funny? I love him! He's perfect for Fall! I don't know where I got this patterned paper from, but I think it is Debbie Mumm from way back.

I colored the image with my Prismacolor pencils and I didn't blend the colors completely so it would (maybe?) look like he was furry. I used about five shades of brown and gold and sienna to color it. Just left the rest of the card kind of simple.

 

 
 How is your weekend going? Thanks for stopping by!

I'm ready to go with my Fall projects! This card for today is one of my favorite cards! It incorporates a lot of techniques and I just really like the feel of it. I adore this patterned paper combination! We have a fun place to visit near our house called Apple Hill, and that's what this card reminds me of.

I started with a red card base and then smudged white craft/acrylic paint around the edges to make it kinda shabby chic. I sewed the patterned paper panels onto the main red card…and then tore some of the paper to make it look weathered and worn. I used ribbon without a bow, to make a border.

This is a pretty new candle I just got at Bath and Body Works…mmmmm…
 

This week I made red velvet cupcakes to bring to work for my friend Lisa's birthday. I had never made them before! They turned out pretty tasty. I also used cream cheese frosting…which is always yummy. I am trying to perfect my frosting technique. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't…

These cute little party birdies came in a package with some cupcake liners and I got them at my friend's store Paper Garden! They are made by Mara Mi. So funny!
 

 
It's Labor Day weekend! WooHooo! Three day weekend lays ahead for us all. We are going to the big Green Day concert tomorrow night in the bay area. CANNOT wait! This is our favorite band and this will be the third time we've seen them in a year. Always a fantastic show. Tomorrow also starts COLLEGE FOOTBALL season! YAY! GO BEARS!

I hope you all have a great weekend with your friends and families. Stamp On!

Okay, kids, this is it! The last post of Summmmmmer! I probably won't have time to post tomorrow and then Wednesday we're switching the old bloggy blog over to Fall. I made these cute cards last week and am finally getting around to posting them. it all started when dear, sweet Teadub gave me this uber cute surfer girl stamp from Elzybels! Then…three hours of coloring…then some FUN tropical paper…and here they are…surfer girl beauties!

Here is my coloring process. Remember I just took the colored pencils class with Dave B from Memory Box? Well, I was all excited to try out my new techniques! These are all colored with my Prismacolor pencils. I used a bit of gamsol and some q-tip thingees to slightly soften the color after application. I never would have imagined you could achieve this effect with pencils! They are so vivid in person. It just takes time and patience, and layering of color.

I made one with blond hair, one with brunette hair and one with black hair! I used basically the same color pallette for all three, just mixed the colors around.

In this picture you can see I was coloring the sand at the bottom of the image, after cutting it into a scallop oval. If you look at my mat…you'll see the outline of brown with the "bumps." This gave me the idea for the clouds!

I masked the surfer girls and then cut out another scallop oval. Then I carefully stenciled on the clouds with light blue ink and an small sponge! I think it adds a nice touch! These were my final paper choices for each girl. The patterned papers and the neat flower embellies are from an old paper pack I got at Target. Remember when Target used to have cool scrapbooking stuff?

The completed cards! I added some cool waves using my Fiskars edger punch, some pretty scallops,  and a cute saying from Amuse stamps:

Hope your Summer was a great one! Thank you for blogging with me this season… Please join me again on Wednesday night for some Fall fun, a new blog banner and a card for Taylored Expressions' Challenge!

Greetings and Salutations! I am already anticipating my favorite season…FALL! I got out the Halloween stamps this week and started the old wheels turning towards new color schemes and new ideas. But, I have a few cards left to post for Summer time!

This card for today is all about Summer gardening… I am really in love with these Pure Innocence images lately. They are so fun to color and you can change the entire feel of the project just be using different papers and embellies. (you may remember I recently posted this image in pinks and greens)This card has made it's way all the way to the Netherlands to my sweet pen pal Holly! So now I can post it!

I have no idea where I got this cute little watering can embellie! It's been in my stash for a long time and I thought it was perfect for this card! For the bow, to add a little thickness, I put an extra snippet of ribbon under the knot. Can you see the little faces on the veggies? ACK!

The image was colored with my Copics in colors to match the patterned paper (which is from Cosmo Cricket). I could not find a sentiment that fit on the front in the circle so I handwrote one! I don't usually do that but I think it adds a nice personal touch. I used my Nestabilities for the cut out.

My Copic color pallette:

Here is the inside of the card:

The message is true…I wish you all a day filled with good things!

Like a box filled with cat!

Am I in trouble?

Hey! How's it going for you this week? It's hotter than you-know-what in Sac-town and we're in the dark trying to stay cool tonight! As I was surfing around earlier in the week looking for some fun challenges I came across not one, but two…using the exact same color scheme! Must be something in the air! I love these colors together and will definitely use them again. 

I started with one card, and then I made another one…and then I made another one! Three cards in all today – with the same colors. Very different designs but I sure had fun.

The two challenges are from WPlus9 Design Studio and Stacey's Stamping Stage Curtain Call. Click on the links to check out their cool blogs! Better yet…enter your own card and play along!

I think this card was my favorite of the bunch! The stamp is just too cute. The saying is actually part of the stamp image but I cut it off the bottom of the paper and used it as a separate element. I made the red/yellow flowers from a tiny punch and some brads.Can you see that tiny pearl in her hair? That is a white pearl that I colored yellow with a Copic marker to make it match! Y19 to be exact! I put some glitter on the butterfly and the net and the brad centers.

After I finished the card…I started thinking…what if her shirt was gingham? So I paper pieced a cute little shirt for her!   Renee…if you're reading this…it reminds me of your cute red and white shirt!

Here is a close up of my coloring and shading. I wanted her pants to look faded on the knees so I used a lighter color. The hair is three/four different shades and the top is R27 with a little R22.

Here is my color pallette of Copics:

This was my first card for the challenges…Lots of red and just a bit of turquoise. Don't you love that birdie paper? There is no stamping on this card…all paper, stickers and rub-ons!

Did you notice the pretty paper lanterns in the Curtain Call inspiration image? That is what inspired this version of the challenge! This card also has no stamping! The lanterns are from K & Company. The rub-ons with an Asian flair are from Basic Grey.

So very pretty!

Last night on the way home from work I stopped at Michael's…and there it was…the Martha Stewart 2010 Halloween collection! ACK! EEK! So dang fun! Gotta love Martha at Halloween. Girlfriend goes all out for this fun day! There are red, shiny, glittery blood stickers…and cool stamp sets and fun glitter colors. TOO much!  I AM READY for Fall!

Hi gang! Today's card is the last of my challenge cards that I've made in the past week! It has been really fun to create based on some great inspiration images. This last one is supah cute! The challenge is from Embellishmagazine.com and combines a color challenge (cream, peach, seafoam and kraft) with a style challenge (quirky, cutesy, and clean). Dang!

I tried and tried to think of an idea first…but nothing came to me. So, I went into my paper stash and pulled out a sheet of paper in each of those four colors and let them speak to me… Know what they said? OCEAN! Then you know what they said? AMUSE OCEAN! Yay! An idea was born…

Here is my quirky-cutesy-clean-kraft-cream-peach-seafoam creation! FUN!

The supply list…

The inspiration image:

This one is just cuz I like to take pictures of stuff…