Wild Rose Stamper

Wild Pink Roses

This post continues my ode to retiring Stampin' UP! stamp sets.  I have featured here, Wild Rose and Weathered background. I also used a sentiment from the retired hostess set, Vases in Vogue.  Oh yeah, and the retiring Pewter Hodgepode Hardware!  

I used a technique Stampin' UP calls "Poppin' Pastels."  I stamped each image in Versamark, a clear sticky ink, then dusted on pastels (chalk) with a sponge dauber.  This technique works well for Wild Rose, as I can shade each petal with multiple colors to give a more realistic and 3-dimensional look.  I filled in the highlighted areas of the images with my white Signo gel pen.

The pink layer is stamped with a leaf image in Regal Rose and over stamped with Canvas, also in Regal Rose.  This card measures 5.5 x5.5 inches square.

Materials:

Stamps: Wild Rose, Canvas, Weathered, Vases in Vogue

Paper: Old Olive, Regal Rose, Naturals Ivory

Ink: Versamark, Close to Cocoa, So Saffron

Accessories: SU! Pastels, sponge dauber, Pewter Hodgepodge Hardware, Fiskars scallop punch.   

Crafty Secrets Challenge

My blogging friend, Vicki Chrisman of This Art That Makes Me Happy, sent out 20 card kits to 20 people with the challenge of making a project with the kit's contents.  Each kit included a page from Crafty Secrets new Image and Journal Notes.  I chose to decorate a composition book.

My image was those cute little girls and the two designer papers layered under the picture are from Crafty Secrets.  The pin stamp in the upper left corner is from the Card Sentiments stamp set and the scallop at the bottom is from the Baby Girl stamp set.  I added some designer paper from my own collection as well as the rhinestone embellishments.  Everything else was in the kit. 

One Christmas present down, who knows how many to go!

Happy Independence Day!

God Bless America!  Thank you to all those men and women serving our country in the armed forces, at home and abroad.  And thank you to their families who support them and have to sacrifice their own time with their loved ones who are in the service.

These two characters are from a Penny Black clear stamp set.  And you may recognize the two backgrounds as the scraps from my Father's Day card a few weeks back.   The sentiment is a rub-on from the Sell-a-bration pack.

The dog is colored with Copic markers with Skin White, Yellowish Shade, Brick Beige, C-1, and Blush.  I'm still working on my blending and where to leave highlights, which is not easy for me!  I think I need to sign out a book on coloring from the library.  If you use Copic markers, make sure to check out Marianne Walker's blog, I like markers.  She works for the Copic company and is very generous in sharing her knowledge.  I pore over her blog trying to soak up as much info as I can!

Materials:
Stamps: Polka Dot, Paisley, Penny Black clear stamp set
Paper: Kraft card stock, Neenah Classic Crest
Ink: Real Red, Not Quite Navy, Adirondack Pitch Black
Accessories: wide red striped grosgrain (SU), Copic markers,  square classic large and small Nestabilities, Sakura clear glitter pen

In Everything Give Thanks

In everything give thanks [to God].  That's a pretty tall order, and it really got me to thinking.   I can certainly count my blessings, and thank God for them, and it gives me much peace and grace.  But I remember reading a true story by Corrie ten Boom, called The Hiding Place, in which Corrie and her sister were sent to a Nazi concentration camp because they were hiding Jews during WW2.  Corrie's sister, Betsie, prayed every day and insisted that this verse, 1 Thessalonians 5:18, meant they were to thank God for everything, as the Bible instructs.  She even thanked God for the fleas!  Well, that was too much for Corrie.  Yet, later in their imprisonment, they discovered that the fleas had kept the cruel guards away from their room which had given them more freedom.  

Thank God for everything?  Thank Him for my illness; thank Him for my suffering?  I'm not a Bible scholar, so I'm not sure if that is quite what the verse means. But, although I can identify more with Corrie, I want to become more like Betsie, who trusted and gave thanks to the Lord in the worst of circumstances, in spite of her suffering.  We just never know how God is using things in our lives for the good. 

Materials:

Stamps: Happy Harmony, Bird Notes by Crafty Secrets

Paper: River Rock, Whisper White, designer paper by Wild Asparagus pack from Costco, vintage sheet music

Ink: Palette Noir

Accessories: Marvy Circle scalloped punch, tracing wheel, distressing tool, button, twine, River Rock double stitched ribbon, pewter frame from Hodgepodge Hardware, lace, pearl head pin, SU markers

Artfully Asian, meet Scor-pal

I'm a little sad that Artfully Asian is retiring, and although I can certainly use it after it goes, I know I'll get distracted by the shiny new stamps that are coming out in the new Stampin' UP! catalog.  So I'm making good use of it now.

When I first started this card, it was a plain folded card with just the punched out images arranged on the front.  It was simple and looked nice, but was lacking that wow factor.  I didn't want to stamp on the background because it might detract attention from the main images.  Then, I remembered this scoring technique which I saw done on one of Debbie Olson's card and had to try it.  I used my Scor-pal so it only took a few minutes.  The lines are every half inch and the opposite corners of the card front were lined up on the same score line, if that makes any sense.

I'm patting myself on the back for this card because I used so many accessories: stitched grosgrain, large oval punch, Scor-pal, Giga scalloped oval punch, and SU markers!  That's just a little goal of mine from now on, to actually use all the cool stuff in my stamp room.  I'm a stamper, not a collector, right?  OK, I'm mostly a stamper and a little bit a collector.  All right, fine, I'm a collector, but I'm using my collection (so that I can rationalize collecting more stuff!)  :)

Materials:

Stamps: Artfully Asian, All Holidays

Paper: Soft Sky, white

Ink: Palette Noir

Accessories: Soft Sky stitched grosgrain ribbon, Large Oval punch, SU Markers, Marvy Giga scalloped oval punch, Scor-pal

 

A Patriotic Father's Day card

With this card, I combined two celebrations: Father's Day and Flag Day, which is June 14th.  My dad is very patriotic and loves this country, although he is a British national.  He received his American citizenship in 1980 and, in my opinion, loves this country more than a lot of native-born Americans!  He knows how good we have it here, free from the Socialist constraints of England...so far, anyway.  

I challenged myself to use background stamps instead of designer paper and to use my new Stampin' UP! red striped grosgrain ribbon.  I have a tendency to pick my papers and stamps first, then try to match the accessories to it, which can be very difficult.  Because of this, a lot of my colorful patterned ribbons go unused.  Not good!

I colored with my markers directly on the sentiment stamp, then huffed on it to keep it moist just before I stamped it.  The stars were cut out by hand.

****Side grumble note: Is anyone else frustrated with the new Typepad "improvements"?  It's so slow now when I'm typing and every time I try to backspace a paragraph, the font size goes back to the default size.  This little post has taken forever!  :oP

Materials:

Stamps: Polka Dot, Paisley, All Holidays; star stamp by PSX (now discontinued)

Paper: Real Red, Neenah Solar White Classic Crest (from Simpledreams.com)

Ink: Not Quite Navy, Real Red

Accessories: Not Quite Navy and Real Red markers, red striped grosgrain

Two Red Roses

As you probably know, the rose is the flower for the month of June.  I actually made these back around Valentine's Day but never blogged them, and I figured these cards work for June, as well.  Not to mention it's the month for weddings and showers, so these would make an elegant shower card. 

I like the impact of the single red rose against a white background.  I hope you can see in the first card that the background is stamped with SU's retired Wild Hearts background, in red. 

Materials:

Stamps: retired SU hostess set, All Holidays, Wild Hearts

Paper: Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White

Ink: Palette Noir, Real Red

Accessories: SU markers Certainly Celery and Real Red, Gemstones from Michaels' dollar bin, square Nestabilities, Crystal Stickles glitter glue, lace

Roses in my thoughts

 



This was my first experience with Kitchensinkstamps!  I have to say, there is a bit of a learning curve with these roses.  OK, with me, there was a huge learning curve and I'm still not sure if I got the layers in the right places.  But in the end, I'm happy with what I ended up with.  Although, I had a hard time cutting down this panel to size because of all the time I put into all that stamping and masking! 

The faux stitching was all done with a white gel pen from Stampin' UP!  I'm in love with SU's new taffeta ribbon.  It ties nicely and has a real silky feel, very luxurious.

I'm sorry I have no idea which inks I used for this card.  I was just experimenting and don't know where I wrote this combo down, but I can safely say they were all SU inks.  One of those colors could be Marigold Morning (last year's In Color.)

Materials:

Stamps: Kitchensinkstamps
Paper: Mellow Moss, Barely Banana, Whisper White
Ink: SU yellows and rust (?), Palette Noir
Accessories: corner punch for making scalloped border, white gel pen, Mellow Moss taffeta ribbon

Nest under glass

I made this card for my mom for Mother's Day.  Along with the card I gave her some real glass cloches to display her collections on our bookcases.  (I'm so clever...)  The stamps are designed by Alesa Baker, whose stamps are sold through Impression-Obsession.  There are actually two stamps here.  I got the unmounted set which includes three stamps: glass cloche, nest of eggs, and a sentiment.  I'd like to find more stamps that will fit under the glass, but it's so hard to tell online.  Surely I already have some in my collection that would fit.  (You'd think so anyway.)

This designer paper has been retired (can't remember the name), but the pattern is still available in a different color in the Spring Silhouettes paper pack, sold by SU.

It's hard to tell with the copyright signature there, but I punched the bottom with the new Threading Water border punch by Marvy Uchida.

I got the glass cloches and the metal easel from Tender Heart Treasures.  Both actually come in sets of three, but I'm not sure I'd recommend the easels as they are very cheaply made, which is probably why they are cheap!

Thanks for visiting!


Materials:
Stamps: Alesa Baker for Impression-Obsession
Paper: Mellow Moss, River Rock, Blush Blossom, white watercolor
Accessories: Double stitched River Rock grosgrain ribbon, Ticket corner punch, Threading Water border punch, brads by Making Memories, lace trim

Watercolored Hummingbird

I've been holding my breath the whole time I've been editing these pictures, and now writing this post.  My computer has been on the fritz this week, and apparently needs more RAM.  Do I want to buy $400 of RDRAM or just buy a new computer?  Raj, the Dell tech guy in India (?) seems to think I should buy the memory.  I'm still not sure what to think. 


I made this card for my grandmother for Mother's Day.  The top picture better shows the watercolor detail, while in the bottom picture, you can see more of the glitter.  I used my SU markers to do the watercoloring and the "celebrate" is a SU rub-on from the SAB rub-on set.  I am in LOVE with these rub-ons, just from using this one word.  It went on SO easy and clean.

Thank you for your responses to last week's post regarding Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.  It helps so much just to know that people are aware of this disease that robs so many people of a normal life.  And I'm so thankful for the internet, as for me, it is a way to participate in a community at my own pace, without having to leave my house.  It's just one way in which God has been faithful in providing for me.  I can't imagine going through this disease without knowing Jesus as my savior.  No matter what happens, I know He will bring beautiful things out of my suffering, and some day I'll be in heaven with Him, where there will be no disease, no suffering, and no pain!

Materials:

Stamps: Spring Song, Polka Dot, Paisley

Paper: Glorious Green, Rose Red, white, 140 lb cold-press watercolor paper

Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Palette Noir

Accessories: SU markers, Purely Pomegranate double-stitched ribbon, SAB rub-on, Stampendous Diamond Dots, Hero Arts gems, Sakura clear glitter pen, Nestabilities dies