Virtual Stamp Night { Go 4 the Gold Continued }

 Good Morning, I hope you are staying warm and have some time for yourself this weekend. I decided to steal some for me in snatches yesterday and I did do a couple of simple cards for VSN that is going on now. And this morning when I came up the stairs this is what I seen. And I decided. that if I would like to do a few more of the challenges today I need to clear the decks.

 The view when I got to the top of the stairs.

 Where I actually stand to stamp. Yeah, the struggle is real and it looks like I lost.. haha. I won't put away everything you see here as I do create with what ever is in front of me and I "Know" that pad of printed paper that was used on the snowman card below just may have a forest scene print that will pull together a wall paper I seen for this weekends IC that Denise is hosting and LizBeths Icy VSN challenges... but, that will be later this morning maybe after the sun is up is the hope. 

 Kim is hosting a back to the basics challenge ( stamps, ink & paper only) and I had this drop piece of Bashful Blue card from my VSN sample I made for my challenge and I also have ( its hard to see but, on the first desk shot, I am making stamped sheets for pockets that I laminate for cling stamp storage and this sentiment is in one of those silly dog sets from Unity Stamps ( a new one I think ) and I knew it was over there so I stamped it on the bottom of this 3" square and then started looking for a face that would fit above it. ( This gal is one of the oldest stamps I have and I took her off the block a long time ago and my memory does not remember her name at the moment It is called Elegant Hat by Inkadinkado.) but, I did add a little bit of watercolor paint to this. ( very little water in the paint) and called it "good enough" 

 The next one I did finish is this long tall snowman for Vickkijo's made from snow challenge. I stamped it on some Arches cold press watercolor paper with Versafine morning mist and started adding DS watercolors to it, I also had stamped two of the twig arms on a scrap from when I cut around the body but, I was not able to successfully cut around those "fingers" so, the pivot was I decided about where he would stand on that Kaiser kraft music sheet print and then stamped one twig directly on the printed paper, glued him down, then waited for any paint on his body to be fully dry then stamped the cross body arm. There is watercolor on both of them and it was very little water so, the printed paper was fine with that. The base here is some Textured Bazzill and this one is A6 in real life. I did that sentiment tag a few weeks ago and I no longer remember the details. ( I might edit this if I find the packages as I am "cleaning" ) 

Those were the two I got done in the middle of the very early Saturday am night and then when we got home in the afternoon I stole some time from helping Hubs to do this one for Brenda's Mountains / Gold Mining challenge that had gone live when I went up stairs again.

The scene here is from the Stampin' Up! Beauty of Life set and its on some cold press Arches with a light first round of DS watercolor paints. ( My eyes seen a lack of shadows on this and I may add more paint to it later) This was cut with a large Spellbinders deckle die and the edges have some Scorched Timber DOX ink on it, its up on foam pop dots. That sentiment is from the Paper Artsy Sara Naumann set that I have not clue what the sets name is. maybe ESN40 ?I stamped some time around last Christmas and it was just sitting there waiting for me to diecut it, so I used a Spellbinders Perfect touch rectangle die on it to give it some interest on the edges and found this green in my ( I don't know what brands loose sheets hanging folder of green papers and made it A2.) And then I added some white gouache to the clouds and the water ripples because, that paper is not really a "bright" white and I wanted those highlights. That's about it from me at the moment. I am hoping to be back later with more progress. Thanks for stopping by. 

 

Inspired by {Callister's Christmas}

 This week Amy is sharing the Callister's Christmas site for the Inspiration challenge at SCS. They have Pinterest boards found here as well. I started looking at the Pinterest board and loved this pin with the snowy forest. As I was looking at that I knew I could you know duplicate that fairly easily and I probably have printed paper that looks just like that. But, at the time when I found that pin I was also still in play with all the postage rubber stamps mode so, Out came this old one from Hero Arts called Celebrate the Season #E2323 It's part of the boxed set from them from 2001 called Holiday Post De Luxe #LL712 if you are hunting old stamps. I stamped this twice on some Strathmore Mixed Media paper and twice on some Neenah Environmental cover sheet. 

I have some process shots of this but, they also show what is coming for the December Dirty Dozen prompt for Dec. 1st and I decided to just show these tags. they are pretty straight forward. I did add some Daniel Smith watercolor paints to the trees along with some Windsor & Newton white gouache to the snow areas. I cut these all out with scissors and I was not that careful about it, I just wiggled my hand as I was running the paper through the scissors. I did ink all those edges of cardstock with DOX inks. Found some green and kraft tags and 3X3 card bases in the (already to go be finished container) and added some sentiments, ribbons, charms, You know the usual suspects and got these into the Happy Gift wrapping season packages going out at Thanksgiving. That's about if from me, If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 
 

Christmas Tags Continued

 It's that time of the year... Gift Wrapping Season right? :) I actually enjoy making tags and do them off and on all year so, that particular idea of a season for wrapping just makes me smile. Stamping Up has it as a stamp in the set called North Pole Mischief. 

 On this top box, its stamped and then diecut with a rectangle die and is on a Tag cut from the Ellen Hutson Modern Tags set of dies. 

 I wanted to find pretty paper covered boxes to contain them as Thanksgiving weekend gifts but, I used to find those boxes at Joann's Fabrics and when I went to Micheal's I did not see anything like that would work for me. ( they are still putting Christmas on the shelf at our local store so) I did find these plastic containers in the organize your stuff isle and thought OK this will work. 

I am debating if this one can work for a guy gift or not, I am thinking Maybe... The boot and sentiment "Life is short, buy the boots" is from Taylored Expressions Cute to Boot set. ( the dies came with the stamps) they had a sale last week and this was one of the things that came in the mail yesterday. The other boot really looks like Sunflowers to me and I think I will do it more girly. but, I did do this on one some Kraft cardstock and then used the kraft/red distressed color for the background thinking not only guy but, Christmas. There is some Daniel Smith watercolor paints on it and Stickles glitter glues. The edges of everything were inked with DOX Scorched Timber ink.

4 more mostly reds Tags The Gifts on this are printed paper as is that Santa. the little one in the lower right corner is a folding 3X3 gift card/tag. 

I might have flashed these while they were on the table under consideration. I did them close to the same time as the "guy tags". That Joy diecut has Stickles glitter glue on it and so do the stamped packages on the big tag. 

 Each of these the main Snowman here is from Inky Antics. 

 I had stamped off and started watercoloring a bunch of random Snowmen a while back and finally finished some of them into gift tags. This view shows off the Stickles glitter glue on these guys.

 This view may show the colors a little better, All of these snowmen are from Whipper Snapper Designs. 
I  have piles under construction but, some of the finished things will go live next week and the weeks after for challenge Samples and these are just some bonus things that I did for fun for me. and I have to tell you I enjoyed that. doing what I wanted. That's a hard thing to do some day's when you check a calendar for the next thing and so on as far as samples go. I try really hard to only make things that I like and or that interest me anymore but, some days that is the challenge part of being a maker I think. when the challenge is do you see something you can tweak into something you can use. I have also been cutting up some printed papers and putting those things in piles of things to work into tag ideas as well. I get so caught up in the whole you can make just about any theme that interests you anymore with the tools you have that I don't hardly touch the papers of the sitckers or anything that could make it easier as a process and I think. I need to make a dent in using up some of those things. And I tell my self its OK to do things in a time saving Easier way. that's why you have these things right? At any rate, I am getting ready to start wrapping and usually Do end up making more tags at the last minute to suit the gift or the person and I will probably have more to share soon. Thanks for stopping by. 

 

 

Little Christmas Notes

 This weekend Mspork was chosen as the featured stamper at SCS and I really liked this simple holly framed card she has here. And I thought I could find things already cut and being pushed around on the table to make something.

 So, these words were die cut from Scraps using the Newton's Nook Christmas word dies and the letters are scotched taped into those holes to embed them back in as a contrast. They also have foam pop dots under them. the printed collage paper is from a Simple Stories SimpleVintage 'tis the season pad and I had ripped it out of the pad to see how those Tim Holtz paper dolls would look with it, I like it I just never did anything with it but, I happened to get some happy mail with a bottle of that Dina Wakley glossy white acrylic spray to try and when I put this paper into the spray box I have and I did shake that bottle then bend over to spray all the paint came out of the side of the sprayer. ( where it connects to twist onto the bottle) so, it must have gotten banged around in shipping although it looked perfect when I cut the clear wrap off of the bottle) so, what I did was I used the end of the sprayer nozzle tube to drop some drips on it and then I used a paint brush to add some smaller ones. I did see this dry with a shimmer to it but, it dried flat for me. I had seen it on projects in the SCS gallery where it looked 3-D so, I am guessing I will have to play with that some more to see what else it will do. otherwise its just watery acrylic paint in a defective bottle for me. Its probably easier to just add water to your regular acrylic paint but, the idea of a spray of it was a cool thing in my head when I ordered it.

I don't remember who makes that holly die, I did poke through a couple of boxes of mine to find it but, it came out of an envelope of previously cut things and so all I did to this was add the red stickles glitter glue to it to catch the light and sparkle. I want to say its either Penny Black or Memory Box that's the kind of feel it has to me I guess. I am debating about adding some Holly to the one on the left later maybe a different die cut. 

And then I used up some of the other things I have chopped up recently and did 3 little 3X3 note cards. the larger ones above are just a tad under 4" square. 

 The wrapped sentiment is I want to say an Impression Obsession stamp, the merry little Christmas is from lili of the valley and the let it snow is an die cut from Poppy stamps, the mat part of it is vellum and the little snowflake diecut has some stickles glitter glue on it as does the packages and stuff on the merry Christmas panel.

That's about it from me, what I am finding is that since I stopped doing the booth making at this time of the year I am totally enjoying making these cards again but, in smaller batches with more intent rather than "the old shut up and glue process" to mass produce. I think I will bundle some of these things up and make little gift packs of them using that sentiment from one of those SU sets that reads "Happy Gift Wrap season" but, I have not found containers I want to use for the project yet so, that would you know give me an idea of how many to make each gift knowing what fits into the container.  I have no clue how it is already Monday again, but have a good one where ever the day takes you. & thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {Aspen & Arlo}

 This week Denise is sharing the Aspen & Arlo site that has some seriously ( I want) Wrapping papers. I sent my self emails with links to a half a dozen of them and then started looking at my printed papers. ( I have so many I need to start using these things) So, I settled on this white chapel paper thinking I had something similar and found these lanterns on an Carta Bella Christmas pad from a few years back.

I started chopping up prints that had the lanterns on them and then set the ones with trees to the side as I knew I had seen wrap with just trees printed on them as well.  

These "Lanterns" had the same feel to them to my eye as that Chapel print these are 3" X 3" square in real life on random scraps that had been cut and scored to that for little folding gift cards.

Same pad of paper and these are also 3"X3" in real life. I am really liking the simplicity of these and am eyeballing the clock to see if I have time to knock out a few more in this same size and or theme of Christmas gift cards this evening. If I do I will add them here and edit this post. That's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers. Thanks for stopping by. 

Merry Christmas

I had a few more Gift Tag ideas to share and I have not been that on the ball with posting this year so, I will probably be doing some catch up posts to clean out my to uploads folders by the end of the year ha ha. Not that it probably makes much difference but, I guess its a little tidier to post things made in one year in that year. So, today I decided on the rest of the gift tags that never made it online. 

The boot here is from Sizzix ( its an old red sized Originals die) the sole has some watercolor paint on it as does the stitching. The enjoy is an Impression Obsession word charm die done on watercolor paper and painted. The Just for you is an Impression Obsession stamp that was heat embossed with some distress powder ( probably barn red) and cut out with scissors. The base tag is a Memory Box Tag you're it die. That chocolate satin ribbon I think is Papertrey Ink. 

This scalloped round base tag is from Mama Elephant the round tag wishes dies, the letter J is from Ellen Hutson and cut from cardstock that was previously sprayed with red inks. That stitched snowflake die is from Lawn Fawn cut on some sparkle cardstock. That ribbon is wired, and very soft in real life. I liked the contrast between that softness and the crunchy snowflake. 

Way back when these charm dies arrived from IO I did cut a few with scrap watercolor papers and add some paints to them. 

Which lead to cutting other word dies and giving them the same treatment. This die is from Simon Says Stamp.

This one with first layers of paints on it, it took a few as I used I am thinking now the cheaper paper. the paint looks pooled up on it. 

The base tags here are Memory Box Tag You're it dies. and they cut a frame and a mat piece so, I have on the back sides of these taped that together and then used a stitched square die to cover up the whole back of it and make it a little more stable if that makes sense. there is some stickles glitter glue added to the laves and berries on these. This is Cheery Lynn designs sentiment. 

What they looked like finished. the gingerbread charm is something I found on Amazon, There are heart brads and jingle bells tied on with the hemp string and that ribbon is really old it is one Martha Stewart used to make and sell at Micheals years ago when our little store first opened. 

The round base tag here is from Papertrey Ink called Tag Sale 4 die, The stitched letter B is an My Favorite Things die and that heart frame is from shoot I want to say cuttlebug but, it may be a really old Sizzix originals die. ( I have envelopes of previously die cut scraps, some are just all hearts and some are just one mfg and those are labeled) Same thing with those bitty poinsettias they probably are Spellbinders from one of the Christmas frame style dies where there is a busy frame with bits and pieces to layer on it. The with love is an lili of the Valley tag stamp and cut with scissors. The little metal made with love charm I have some that came from Joanns and some from Amazon ( bulk) so, I don't know on that one anymore. 

At one point I continued with that whole idea of Happy Gift wrapping season and did some of the scraps as little 3" Square folding cards and this was the first 3 one day 

And these were the second 3. I chopped up some printed papers for those Santa's and the girl. The sparkle 3-d Santa hat is a sticker. I have not actually done the "happy gift wrapping season gifts yet" I think that it may be more fun to gift them early in the fall for the all year long shoppers and I want to have a big stash built up first to do that. 

Some time last summer oh last August one of the Inspiration Challenges I found some Gingerbread Napkins that made me think of doing this, shiny metal looking tag bases for Gingerbread cookies on them. And so for me I was not sure what I wanted to do scale wise and I played with these bits and pieces, and most of them are in an envelope.

But one did end up finished here. The small gingerbread is an Impression Obsession die cut from watercolor paper and painted with Daniel Smith watercolors, the Sheet is an My Creative Time Cookie Sheet tag die and the Enjoy is a word charm die from Impression Obsession. 

 Also around that same time in August there was a free for all challenge to do something Fall, and I had this bird stamp out so, I painted one and then looked for fall colored printed paper to use with him as I thought he turned out kind of fall colored. The bird was cut out with the My Creative time cookie sheet (insert part) of the tag die. The base tag is a Mama Elephant Tags a lot die. 

This one the base tag is oh shoot, something that is not labeled a "tag die" in the files I have started in my computer. Its searchable but, only if you name the photo as a tag die ha ha. This has stitches I can see that but, I am not sure. The noel I do know its a Vintage BigZ die from Tim Holtz. That Primitive star is one of the Impression Obsession ones and looks to be cut from some sprayed red card. The metal little B charm is a Tim Holtz one as is that metal pin it is on. And that has caught me up with the gift tags I had not shared as of yet. Merry Christmas & thanks for stopping by.

 

Inspired by {European Splendor}

 I came across this Christmas tree collar inside the European Splendor site that Denise has chosen for this weeks Inspiration place. And I knew I had this Unity Stamps Farm Fresh girl. I also have an older Papertrey ink set that has a similar type theme sign stamp in it but, its larger than the sentiments in the Unity set.

And once I had her stamped on some Hot Press Arches watercolor paper I knew that it was going to introduce more colors into the design than the simple colors of the store ad. This is first layers of Daniel Smith watercolors with some White gouache. 

I did stamp both sentiments from the set on a drop piece of the same watercolor paper so the colors would still work and then the Tree sign part I did run through this Memory Box arched die twice so I could trim it closer to the sentiment. 

I cut the largest pinpoint tag die with some grey woodgrain print and a second in plain white cardstock for the backside of the tag. I diecut the gal with an Impression Obsession Deckled frame die ( the largest one in the set) and the sign is up on foam pop dots here so that it had room for me to tape the vintage lace to the backside of it. The gal and the top tag have some Vintage Photo Distress Oxide ink along those edges. I never did get around to adding more paint over that first layer but, I did add a slight amount of stardust gelly roll pen to bits in the tree, her hat and sweater band. I don't know anymore who made that rustic brown heart brad, but the Merry Christmas was cut with the same Poppy stamps mainstreet pinpoint tag in the smallest size as the base tag. I kept thinking maybe this would have been closer to just do the sign with some white, wood and greenery and did these little 3"X3" cards from scraps after the fact.

The sentiments were die cut with the smallest blanket stitched die in the Pinkfresh set and the woodgrain on the white one was cut with a deckle square from the set from Honeybee stamps. the bitty black brads are really old from Micheals. the outside frame of the white one was cut from the Stamp Market's shaker card dies (for 3X3 cards)  That's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by { Daily Paintworks}

 This week Amy has shared the Daily Paintworks pinterest boards and site for Inspiration and I happened across this painting of Oreo cookies and started to laugh out loud as I have some vintage stamps of them and I also know my friend at work's hubs loves them so... this was done very simply.

The base is 3" square just some Neenah solar white and I stamped the RubberStampede Oreo with some Versafine Fallen Leaves ink. I did do a second one on a scrap of Arches cold press, added a bit of Daniel Smith watercolors to that one, cut it out and popped it up on a foam dot. The sentiment here is from Impression Obsession Cookie sayings set. I probably should have swiped on a shadow for them but, wanting to add the sentiment I decided to leave it clean instead. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by.

Dirty Dozen January 2024 Christmas

 Every Year the dirty dozen at Splitcoaststampers has a theme for the prompt of making a Christmas card each month all year long to have a little stash by the time you need to mail them in December. That being said I was invited to play along with the team again this year and so for January's prompt I chose this tiny little Rubber Stampede Piglet stamp that I had not inked before today.

The white base is some Neenah solar white cut to 3" square and I had inked the entire stamp with some versafine Morning Mist then dabed the corner of the black pad over what I hoped was the lettering. And again on a scrap of old green-ish Basic grey printed paper. I did give the eye ball and a few of the letters in Christmas some black micron pen after. And used the fineliner pens on the printed paper and the Zig brush markers on the cardfront. One thing about being a person who has been trying to paint with real brushes the last how ever long its been? a couple of years now? when I pick up these markers with brush tips I really do not like them much. It's like the bristles are stiff and they split at the tip so, you never know where its going to go coloring. 

I did piece this into the design slightly offset to the lower right to allow that grey ink to peek behind like a shadow, but it did not really look how I thought so, I ended up using the Zig grey brush to make additional shadows under the pot and scarf. There is also a tiny bit of stardust pen on the scarf, tree and star here also. That's about it from me, I hope you all are doing well & Have a Happy New Years!  thanks for stopping by.

Dare to get Dirty day 6

 Today I happened to play along with trying out Brenda's DTGD challenge seen here.

  During the holidays I need simple little cards to tuck gift cards into for work. So, I started with a sheet of very old SU very vanilla which is not quite 12" square. knowing that, I tend to chop it up as I like to make large square cards. Okay, all the sizes of square cards.  

 

 I did cut this at 5" and then was left with a strip from the middle as a drop piece and I used that to stamp the little gingers and water colored them cutting them with scissors.
I did pop them up on foam pop dots.

 

The tiny tags with the sentiment were done on a scrap of watercolor paper. (and I spent hours searching for which set that sentiment may have came out of the rubber is purple) So I have 8 finished 3X3 cards and one extra ginger colored and cut out. That's about it from me, I hope you are enjoying the challenges this week and playing along. If you want more information on how to join the fan club you can find that here. Thanks for stopping by.

 

Watercoloring Simple Valentines

 This week the watercoloring challenge is following along with one of Emma Lefebvre's tutorials for hearts and lines as simple Valentine cards seen here on Youtube. 

The one on the right was the first panel done on some Strathmore 400 series wc paper and the one on the left was the second one done on some Arches 100% cotton paper. both of these were taped to the what is the back panel of empty Strathmore pads that is use for painting boards when I do tape something down and it cracked me up that the Arches paper is the one that decided to warp off the tape. That panel I also ended up add-libbing some heart outlines to the mix of the color flow hearts. I never got around to doing the stripe versions. 

The one on the left was cut from the first panel that uses a square from the Paper Rose lots of squares die set and the outside of the frame with all the hearts embossed into it ( that die does that cuts and embosses that frame) is up on foam pop dots for interest. The one on the right, is from the second panel and I used a couple of the dies in the Waffle Flower Lacy Layers A7 rectangle set and then taped them back together on the back side of the cuts. I don't remember which tag die that is but, the button is a craft one tied onto the sheer ribbon with some May Arts burlap string. and that card finished out at A6 in real life. That's about it from me, you can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers to play along with us. Thanks for stopping by.

A few more 3by3 notes

 

Colored with Daniel Smith watercolors and each of them have some clear stickles glitter glue on them too.

these were done on Wednesday.

it was faster to shoot them like this every time the table started getting crowded but, they really do not look so good to me as cell phone shots here. 

and that concludes Wednesdays batches of notes.

with a few more from after work on thursday before we headed down to the school to set things up.

A catch-up Post

 There will be a Shepherd's Market fund raiser sale at the former Hosanna Christian School next Friday and Saturday. and knowing that I have the booth in the center of the Gym I have been making a few tags and tiny cards the last couple of weeks. 

This batch was jump started when Dagmar was the featured stamper in Oct. I came across these of hers with those trees and remembered I had picked up this PTI set this year.  

 

 So, I made 6 of them and while I had the stamps out I did the trees below and could not figure out a good way to work them in cut like that as rectangles So, they sat around waiting for an idea.

 And then the Fallidays challenges went live and Lori had one to do 4 matching Christmas tags...

 

These were done just because, I have been also getting out the previously made and saved things from other years of the booth sale at the school and realized I do not have much as a from Santa type tag at the moment and I have not played with this Club Scrap one before. I did add some of the glittery stickers June gave me for my birthday to these.

And then Lisa threw down her Falliday's challenge to use up scraps. So, these 6 little 3X3 cards were done.

And one thing led to another and this 7 and the 7 below were done in the mornings before work earlier in the week. The puffy cup and layered Santa faces are stickers June gave me this year for my birthday.

 

I make a lot of square cards and when that happens if they are 5 1/2" square you end up with a 3" wide strip so, I cut those at 6" score in half and fill up a little container of them all year waiting for this time of year to use them up. Same thing with tiny images I stamp them on scraps and color them at odd moments. the little bird in this group is one of those doodle watercolor ones from a few months ago.

I will try to keep up with the photos but, there are more of them then there is daylight to create so, the thing is since I seem to move slower than I did 10 /12 years ago. I just shoot the shots and don't steal the time to blog them. There will be more catch up posts soon. but, I also know a Coffee lovers blog hop opened today and I'd like to play along with that somewhere soon too. Stay safe out there & thanks for stopping by.