Thursday, July 12, 2012

I'm Still Stretchin' My Stamps!

Here I am again with another day of class. I can't believe I've actually stayed caught up and even blogged about it each day! :) But I must admit, day 4 was difficult. The lesson today was all about using graphic stamps, of which I have very few!



After viewing two amazing videos - one from Jennifer McGuire and the other from Julie Ebersole, I still didn't know what I was going to do. (Seriously, those two are so talented!) I LOVE their videos - they are so full of amazing creativity and fabulous tips!

I scrolled down further and saw a card from Cristina Kowalczyk, and finally figured out what I wanted to do. I grabbed a Hero Arts clear set called, Luscious Patterned Flowers and went to work. I used the smallest flower to create a fun frame for my sentiment, which is from the same set. I also added black dots to the center of each flower with Enamel Accents.



I'm excited for Friday's class because I'll have time in the morning to work on my "homework" instead of doing it late at night!

Happy weekend to you, and thanks so much for stopping by! :)

Day 3 - Stretch Your Stamps

Hi all!


I am still trying to keep my head afloat! Why is it, that in the middle of the summer, when I'd like to be enjoying all that this wonderful season has to offer, does my life get so hectic?! Maybe if I didn't feel like I HAVE TO keep up with this fabulous class, I'd get other things done more efficiently! I think the reason I feel that way is because creating is what I love the most! :)

So, day three of class was all about stretching your alphabet stamps. I only own one larger set of alphas, and it's a fun, Lawn Fawn set called, Quinn's ABC's, with open letters. I made two cards and admit I am not thrilled with either one. It was very late again last night when I was creating, so please ignore the smudges and other mistakes! I used the letter "O" to create a graphic background for this first card.




My second card uses the letter "X" for a splash of color. I added some Frosted Lace Stickles too.



Both cards are very simple, but it was fun to use the letters in a different way!

I'm headed out the door soon for work. I'm REALLY looking forward to the weekend off! I'm going to my 35th High School Reunion Friday night! (Now you all know just how old I am!) I can't WAIT to see everyone - always a blast! I really only needed the one day off, but decided I could use three in a row - maybe I'll be able to finally catch up on my life!

Have a great day and a fun weekend! :)

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Stretch Your Stamps - Day #2

Here I am, up late again, doing my homework - reminds me of my High School days!


There were lots of fun techniques shown for day 2 of Stretch Your Stamps class, and so many beautiful cards! The lesson for today was using collage stamps in different and unique ways. My first reaction was, "Uh, oh!" I only own one collage stamp, I guess because it's never been my style, and now I know why!

After three attempts and three tosses into the garbage, I was going to give up and just skip it for today. Then I started to feel guilty, and I certainly don't want a bad grade, so I ended up creating my own collage card, using a couple of the techniques from today's lesson.

Lisa Spangler shared a beautiful card using Tim Holtz's Papillon stamp set. She stamped the butterflies with VersaMark ink, then brushed them with Perfect Pearls. I remembered that technique from way back in the Thinking Inking classes by Jennifer McGuire, and loved it then!

I don't have that Papillon set, but I do have a similar set from Hero Arts, also called Papillon. I used the same technique on a very dark blue piece of card stock.


After brushing away the excess powder, I white embossed the script here and there, over the butterflies. And do you see the white splatters? That was done by "water embossing!" Yup, you read that correctly! I mixed up some Perfect Pearls and water on my kraft sheet, used a small paint brush to flick it onto the card, then added some white embossing powder and heated it up with a heat gun. So fun! :)

Kristina shared another very cool technique called, Watercolor Emboss Resist, that I can't wait to try! Sure wish there were more hours in the day!

Thanks for your visit! Hope everyone is having a great week! :)

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Stretch Your Stamps - Day #1

Hi there!

It's been a crazy couple of days! I can't seem to get my head above water lately - feels like I'm behind on everything right now, including visiting some of your blogs, and I apologize for that! I'm hoping to get caught up soon!

Tonight, I did finally manage to take a look at day 1 of the new online card class, Stretch Your Stamps. There is so much inspiration already! I loved the card from Dawn McVey, so I had to CASE it!

I also wanted to use the new Hero Arts Neon Inks, and tried stamping the Lattice Background with the orange neon, on a kraft tag.
It doesn't look as bright as it would on a white tag, but I like it anyway!


The other stamp is also Hero Arts. It's from a cling set called, Untitled Word Shadow. The two colored strips were white, and I smeared them with the pink and yellow neon inks.

Okay, it's very late and I need to get to bed. I'm really looking forward to day 2 of class - hope I can take a look at it tomorrow before 10:00pm!

Thanks so much for stopping by! :)