Very Vintage!

Hi stampers! So vintage...I'll be the first to admit it's not really my style...well it wasn't...until now! Vintage is very "in" right now and I'm loving it. SU's Vintage Vogue set makes it so easy to create vintage inspired projects. Something super easy to add vintage appeal to a project is my hands down all time favorite technique...SPONGING (did I spell that right?)! It adds depth and dimension to your project as well as that perfect aged look. AND it's suuuupppper easy. Just take a sponge (I use SU' sponges and cute each one into 4 wedges, can you say value?) and dab it onto your ink pad then sponge your paper. You can do just the edges or rub or dab it over the whole image. Using the same ink color as paper will add a subtle touch or using a darker color (usually a brown tone) will add a deeper more antiqued look.

Check out this card which was inspired by our demo magazine we get. It was actually a scrapbook layout but I used it as inspiration for a card (can't wiat to use the layout for my old black and white photos from my grandma).



So, I sponged the Bermuda bay card base around the edges in the same color ink. I sponged the edges of the soft suede butterflies in matching ink as well and brushed the ink over the whole thing few times. I created my own designer paper in the center of the oval by stamping and stamping off various colors and stamps then I spnged soft suede over the whole thing and edged it in old olive. Sponged the oval frame as well AND swiped soft suede ink over the embossed background image. WOW, that was a LOT of sponging. BUT it was fast and super easy!

Here is another vintage card made with Vintage Vogue. It was inspired by a fellow stamper on SCS!



This time I've incorporated sponging onto designer series paper. It also uses a sentiment from Messages from Mom, which shows how versatile our stamp sets are. They can easily be mixed and matched! The one detail I will point out on this card is that I took the inkpad directly to the paper and "swiped it" on around the edges a few times, you can see the "smears". This is also a quick and easy way to add that vintage charm That's it for today! Hope you enjoyed today's projects and tips. Try one today! Time to think about working on my very first swaps! So excited!

Happy stamping!

Twice in one day?

Yes! I'm posting twice in one day. Why you ask? Well because I went over to one of my favorite stampers blogs and I found a challenge there and was totally inspired! You can check out Ilina's blog here

For this challenge I used the SAB set Good Neighbors. Her pillow inspired the colors and the layout! It uses Bashful blue, mambo melon, elegant eggplant and old olive. The roofs are popped on dimensionals as well as the image panel. I used the sanded background stamps for the "grass" to give it some depth. Hope you all like it and hope Ilina likes it! Go and play along!!!! It's fun!

Feeling Blue...

(I apologize in advance if the pics don't work, blogger seems to be wonky today and I have no idea what's up with it, so I'm going to cross my fingers and post away)

So with the crummy weather lately (anyone else been feeling like we are living in a Harry Potter movie with the Dementors????) my cards today have a theme....blue:-) Thank goodness the sun is out today even if there is some more white stuff on the ground! I have two cards to share today. One is a Valentine that doesn't use pink! The other could easily be reworked to become a Valentine since it uses hearts!

The loads of love card was fun! This is one of my most loved sets, it's the first one I ever got and can be used for SO MANY occasions. There is also a couple of accessory sets you can purchase to make it even MORE versatile! I used watercolor paper to color the truck, watercolor paper really does make your image better when using the aquapainter! It was easy peasy to stamp the hearts too, the trick is to stamp the truck and then I just put a sticky note right up to the line at the bed of the truck and then stamped the hearts on and peeled off the sticky! The little pennant was just cut out free hand, too easy! Inspiration for this card came from a stamper on Splitcoast...thank you! So here it is:



Stampin' Supplies: Ink - Rich Razzleberry, Bashful blue, Staz-on, old olive
Paper - watercolor, bashful blue, old olive, rich razzleberry
Stamps - Loads of Love, sanded (background stamp)
Accessories - Mat pack/paper peircer, brad, linen thread dimensionals

The next card is more turquoise than blue but still in the same color family I guess. It uses Hello Again, the cutest little set that you can get FREE during Sale-A-Bration with a $50.00 order...but more on that later. The card is UBER simple. The heart with hello was stamped once in the top corner then stamped again in the bottom WITHOUT re-inking so that it's a bit lighter. This is called "stamping off". The ribbon is simply folded in half and secured with a glue dot then adhered to the cardstock. It's a great way to use ribbon without adding bulk to your card (ensuring mail-ability) and without having to tie (the bane of my existence). Again, this card was inspired by someone on Splitcoast. Those women are so talented!




Stampin' Supplies: Bermeuda Bay, soft suede, whisper white, crushed curry
Ink: same
Stamps: Hello Again
Accessories: Ribbon, glue dots

Now, on to a little blurb about SAB. From now until March 31st every time you spend $50.00 before shipping and tax you can get a FREE stamp set! And for EVERY 50! There's NO LIMIT! It's a great time to order or have a workshop!

I'm also looking for stampers to fill a club. In a club we meet once a month or maybe once every other and you learn a new technique and get to stamp with friends. You have a minimum order each meeting and it's a great way to budget and build your stash. The best part is everyone in the club gets a turn at being the "hostess" which means you get the hostess benefits when it's your month! Let me know if you're interested. The more members, the cheaper it gets for you each month! And I'm going to teach you some really fabulous techniques! Try to stay warm and Happy Stamping!