Tag Archives: Stamping

Can you sponge your Dino?

The new challenge of the month over at H2H is all about sponge techniques! This one was fun! Because, I don’t know about you, but I like to channel my inner Tim Holtz every now and again! I saw him do this technique years ago, on a video, that was probably years old! LOL!! Basically he used a Misti tool to make a rainbow of colors on a stamp, by sponging colors onto the stamp and overlapping them.

So, before you leave, I would love for you to leave me a note and let me know which is YOUR favorite card, and let me know if you have tried this technique!

Mine didn’t ALL overlap, but some of them did! I just think the whole thing turned out great!

I also channeled my inner Jennifer McGuire, and made TWO dinos when I was stamping, to make two cards. However, I couldn’t decide which background I wanted, so I just went ahead and did two!

Before I swap over to the other card, I wanted to show something. I managed to blow a fuze when I was making this card. (literally, had to go and flip the breaker!) So, one of my pieces didn’t cut all the way. So, I decided to do something fun with the inside, and use that piece that hadn’t cut all the way.

I tore it into a ‘sloped’ shape, and then distressed it, and glued it to the inside of the card. I think it turned out great!

Ok, let’s see the other card, shall we?

This is the other dino! Isn’t he cute, too? I created a background with one of the images on the Artbooking cartridge. Then I cut it four times, to give it some depth

It was fun to do two different cards! It would have been much faster if I had done two of the same, but that’s ok too!

Last week, you saw that I was inspired by a friend’s son, and this week is the same! Just, a different friend! (actually, both friends’ sons like dinos!)

Like I said earlier, I hope that you will let me know which card is YOUR favorite! Also, if you might want to try this whole sponging thing, join us over at H2H for some fun challenges, and put YOUR artwork into the hat!

Thanks so much for joining me!

SWAK isn’t what you think it means!

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We grew up thinking this was Sealed with a Kiss, right? Well, you could technically do that with what I have for you today, but today I have a different meaning for you!

Today we are STAMPING with a KISS! Have you heard about the Kiss Technique? Well, it is where you ink up one stamp, stamp it onto another stamp that has a design, and then stamp the remaining ink onto your project. Sounds pretty cool, right? Well, let’s see what I made to show you!

Isn’t this sentiment just so cute?? I bet you couldn’t guess which stamp I used to kiss the letters onto! Would you believe it was an ice cream cone stamp? Well, it was! I just thought the texture was so fun, and would work so well with the PML card that I used for the top of the card!

The ice cream cone is in the same set as the coffee card, and we already know that I love me some coffee cards! So, it just worked out so perfectly!

I know my friend Lynn loves that there can be more uses for dies than what they are specifically designed for, so hopefully this card will make her smile!

The white frame on this card is the Oval Frame Thin Cut! I paired it with the Circles Thin Cuts, and you wouldn’t know that it’s supposed to be an oval inside!

I just wanted to show off the gold embossing on the bottom of the letters! It just makes them pop! (well, that and a few layers of cardstock!)

I used no foam tape on this card, no coloring, I just wanted a nice ‘simple’ card! (ok, maybe not ‘simple’ . . . )

I hope that you like the card, and leave a message below letting me know your thoughts! If you try the Kiss technique, go and show off your project at the H2H blog! The would LOVE to see your craftiness, too!

CTMH Supplies Used:

The look of watercolor, the ease of stamping!

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Don’t you just love the look of watercoloring? I do love it, but sometimes am intimidated by it. So, when Heart 2 Heart announced the watercolor challenge, I thought it was a perfect chance to give you all an idea on how to do it, without having to feel intimidated by actually watercoloring!

I grabbed the Perfectly Imperfect Patterns stamp set, that has 6 different watercolor type stamps and 2 stamps that are splattered dots, and got started! I used the Wild Berry and Lemonade inks for my card, and just went for it!

The stamps are stamped a couple of times each, and I did overlap them, and got a light orange color in the middle. I used the splatter dots all over the card, in first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and even sixth generation stamping! I even added a few in Archival Black, to help tie in the banner and butterfly body.

I used the small butterfly outline and cut out of the vellum, and used the detailed small butterfly in Wild Berry to ‘pop’ off the card.

The banner and sentiment are both from the Thoughtful Critters Stamp and Thin Cut. I stamped the sentiment on some black cardstock, used white embossing powder, and then cut with the banner thin cut. (then trimmed off the hands with my scissors)

I used just a tiny scrap of Black cardstock to make the body. I cut with the thin cut, then trimmed the body out with my non stick scissors.

I hope you have liked my little project! I would love to see you participate with the H2H Challenge! You have until the end of the month to upload your creation! (you don’t have to be a consultant, the challenges are for anyone that likes to craft with CTMH goodies!)

I would really love it if you left a comment below! I love to hear what you all think about my creations!

Supplies Used:

Thanks for stopping by!

~Michelle

Did you know you can use embellishments in a different way?

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The new challenge is up over at Heart 2 Heart Challenges is up! This one is all about the embellishments! This could be taken so very many different ways! At first, I was going to do a shaker card, and then, as the card was coming together, it ended up being totally different! I love how it turned out, don’t you?

For this card, I started with the window thin cuts. Everything except the shutters have four layers of White Daisy Cardstock, the top and bottom have a layer of Charcoal Cardstock, and the shutters have a layer of Pewter Cardstock. I have a piece of acetate between two layers of the window, so that I could have some “glass” in my window frame!

I ended up stamping on a piece of the Wood Texture Paper (from the Wood Grain Paper Packet, and I love how much depth it gives it! I used two of the little sprigs from the Serenity Cardmaking Stamp & Thin Cuts. and put them on two 1″ x 1″ blocks. I used Sage, Clover, and Evergreen inks for the foliage.

I added red sequins from the Holiday Loose Sequins (that are still available online!) with the , then some of the tiny gold glitter gems on the garland. I decided it still needed a bit more, so I added a few lines with my black .05 journaling pen, then I added the larger gold gems to the end of those lines.

Of course, the outside of the house needed to have something on it, we couldn’t have it be just plain white! So, I grabbed a sheet of the brick texture paper from the textures paper pack. These bricks work perfectly!

I used Liquid Glass to adhere everything except the sequins, and for those I used Tombow Multi Bond Glue.

The card is a 5×7 card that I made from White Daisy Cardstock. Though not shown, the inside reads “For You With Love”, from the For All Occasions stamp set. I used a 2″ x 2″ block for that, and combined the two sentiments onto one block.

I would love to know what you think about this card! For every share of this blog post, and comment on this post, and comment on the Facebook post with this card, you will be entered into a drawing for me to send this card to you, for you to be able to use to send to someone! (or keep for yourself!) I will draw a winner on December 11th! And, if you have made it this far, if you put a penguin emoji in your comment (here or on facebook) you will receive 2 entries!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope that between myself and the other ladies, you have been inspired to join us over at Heart 2 Heart Challenges! You have until the end of the month to participate! I hope to see you over there!

~Michelle

The Perfect Match is LOVE

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Hello friends!

Welcome back to another week of the Card Challenge! Each week I will make a card, share a video with you on how to create it, share what challenges inspired me with the card, and ask for you to play along with me! Wow, that was kind of a really long sentence! LOL!! Anyway, it was a super fun and easy card to make, I hope you love it and are inspired to do the same!

I think these cards turned out absolutely adorable!!

Head over to my FB page to watch the video and get the measurements (really, there’s only one . . . ) and the blog that I found the challenge on! And make sure to share a photo of the card(s) that YOU are inspired to make!

CTMH Products Used:

Feature Friday: Stamp sets

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If you are following my blog, you probably know that I LOVE my CTMH stamp sets! I think I have shared the story before, but just in case I haven’t, let me share now.

10 years ago, I was a party of a monthly group that would get together to make a set of projects (usually cards) and place an order of product. I was getting my crafty time in with other ladies, and I was having a blast! I ordered a stamp set that I LOVED the concept of!

It was a “people” set. There were guys and gals and kids and baby heads, and bodies and each arm individually, and legs, and feet, and other items too. There were a LOT of stamps in that set!

I had hundreds of ideas on things to make with it! However, each of those pieces was on a square wood block. So, just in case you didn’t already know, most people can’t see through wood! (amazing, right?!?!) So, while I loved the set, I just could NOT get anything to line up, for the life of me! (And it looks really strange to have the head and neck floating above the neckline of the body below it!)

That being said, I was still excited, and was getting ready to sign up to be a representative of that company. I mentioned it to a friend that lived (and still does) across the US from me), and she asked “Have you heard of CTMH?” I responded with “I don’t even know what CTMH stands for, so, no? Probably not!”

Well, as you can probably guess, it stands for Close To My Heart, and I LOVE it!! She told me that the stamps were clear and the blocks were clear, and you could see through them. I was in love without ever having used them! My problem had been solved! They, of course, didn’t have that stamp set that I loved so much, but they had so many other things that I loved!

I signed up and was Tickled Pink! (that was the campaign that was happening then!)

So, let me show you some about these stamps!

1. They are clear. Every stamp set is clear. You can see through them to get your stamping aligned just how you want it!

2. You don’t have to store wood! This isn’t a big thing to everyone, however I have 4 kids and pets, so storage space is at a premium! If I don’t have extra stuff to store, then that means I can keep it in a smaller space (or, you know, get more things to fill the space that the wood would have taken up, right?) CTMH stamps use acrylic blocks to stamp with. Once you have a few, you are good to go!

3. They don’t take up much space! Each stamp set comes as a 6×6 sheet with a foam piece and care instructions, inside a plastic storage envelope. They are about 1/4 thick, and if the set has matching dies, they fit right inside the same envelope.

4. Stamping Surface Every stamp set includes a foam sheet to help you get a nice, crisp image. The old red rubber stamps have foam between the rubber and the wood to help give cushion to the stamping for a nice image. Removing the foam means that the stamp can continue to be clear and see through, so you know exactly where you are stamping.

5. Flexability One of the best things about these stamps is the ability to change them! You can take a straight line and use it straight, and then put a little (or a big) curve into it, and continue using it! So very many options!

This is just a small list of things that are awesome about the Close to my Heart stamps, I would love to know what else YOU love about them!

I figured I would share the card that came of the images above, because I thought it was pretty cute!

And, because I know you can’t see the shirt very well, I decided I needed to add a bit more to it, so, using masking, I created this MOM Hugs shirt! {I actually clapped when it worked PERFECTLY!}

I would love to send this fun MOM Hugs card out to someone! Share this post on social media, and leave a comment here stating that you did so. On Friday 8/16 I will draw a name from those comments and send this card out to you!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope I brighten your day just a bit!

See you tomorrow!