HOP with Unity: For the Birds

Happy Friday!  I'm hoping to spend at least some time stamping this weekend.  I've seen so many sneak peeks from companies exhibiting at CHA that have me inspired!  Have you seen anything that you just HAVE to have?
    

   
In August, there was a call for cards with birds from The Stampers' Sampler.  This Unity card of mine was one chosen for publication, and it appears on page 70 of the Jan/Feb/Mar 2016 issue that's on stands now.
    
I was largely inspired by the patterned paper from Memory Box.  It looked like some of the petals of the pink flowers were in flight.  I added the bird stamp and quick double-knotted waxy floss across the front.  It's great when cards are flat enough to mail in a regular envelope!
  
Thanks for joining the HOP with Unity today!  Happy Stamping!

FWF: You Are So Kind

It's Friday once again, which means the weekend is right around the corner!
  
This particular card that I'm sharing today features my most favorite bird rubber stamp.  I'm enchanted by it. I love it so much, I bought a back-up.  (It's the only stamp I've ever purchased a back-up for on purpose. I do admit to buying other duplicates by mistake!! I hope I'm not the only one who does that.)
    

      
This card was an easy CAS (clean-and-simple) card. The patterned paper is from Memory Box.  The stamp and sentiment are from Unity Stamp Company. The edge of the paper was inked in Chestnut Roan chalk ink from Clearsnap, and the stamps were stamped in Seedless Preserves, a purple dye ink from the Tim Holtz distress collection from Ranger.
  
I thought of adding all sorts of embellishments...  a gem for the eye, a ribbon across the top, etc. In the end, though, I don't think they were really necessary. Do you prefer lots of layers and embellishments?   Or do you tend to keep it simple?
  
Happy Stamping!

Thank You Card Challenge

It's a new week and time for a new challenge at Cuttin' and Stampin'!   This week's challenge:  Thank You Card.   It's a great reminder that it's always good to have a few thank you cards on hand.  You never know when you're going to need one.   

I have a few cards on display at Cuttin' and Stampin', but I wanted to feature this one here.  I've been lucky to have several terrific teachers in my life, and I'm so grateful for them.

This card features a tree from Unity Stamp Company, the sentiment from the Kim Hughes (designer at Paper Smooches) collection from Cornish Heritage Farms, and red brads for apples.

So whether they're ultra-feminine, juvenile, masculine, minimalist or super-fancy, silly or serious, show off your Thank You Cards!  We'd love for you to link up and join our challenge, so click here to enter your creations.

Happy Stamping!

Prayers Sent

Hubby & I are so lucky to have so many friends and family sending prayers and happy thoughts our way.  He unexpectedly got "the call" a few weeks ago, and we rushed to Salt Lake City for his kidney transplant.  We were out of town for weeks and are now driving back & forth to SLC for checkups on his new organ.  He's doing well so far.  As thrilled as we are for him, we're also thinking of a very sad family somewhere whose relative gave the gift of life.  We're so thankful.

This card features stamps from my favorite designer, Kim Hughes @ Paper Smooches.  Her style is so fun & whimsical, but it can also be used with softer patterns for more somber projects.  The soft patterned paper is from Memory Box.

I'm especially glad to have met a new stamping friend in the SLC area.  I grabbed a few of my supplies on the way out the door, and I even got to stamp with her one day while we were there.  She was so nice and even spent time with me at the hospital while hubby was in surgery.  I'm sure we'll be friends for life.

Happy Stamping!

WCMD - I Made Cards!

Saturday was World Card Making Day, and did I ever make cards!   It was great!   I wrote down several of the challenges from around the Web and had fun making cards to fit challenges.  They ranged from colors to sketches to unusual things like "make a card with five words on it."

So, for a card with five words on it:

These stamps are from Unity Stamp Company.   The patterned paper is from Memory Box.   It's pretty busy, but I like how the tree and sentiment complement it.  Challenge HYCCT1203.

I completed six cards during my marathon WCMD session and saw lots & lots of my friends throughout the day.  I even found some great stamping stuff at a yard sale on my way to stamp!  And delicious Chinese food.  And (if you can believe such a thing) a chocolate-dipped brownie.  It was a perfect day for me.  Thanks to everyone who helped make it so great!

Happy Stamping!  :)

Happy Fall!

It's September, but the Boise area is still hot -- today's high is in the 90's.  Tomorrow things are supposed to cool down, which means beautiful Autumn leaves are just around the corner.  I kept cool indoors yesterday making cards in the company of good friends.   The cards each represent different seasons.  Since fall is on its way, let's start there.

This is a CAS (clean-and-simple) card.  These stamps are from Unity Stamp Company.  The string is a rustic brown burlap string from May Arts.  The technique was easy!  I just inked the leaves with the gold ink all over, then overlaid the brown ink on top before stamping it on the paper.

Next up is Christmas!   This is a collage made with authentic vintage Christmas-themed postage stamps.   The "Par Avion", triangle post, and Roma postmark stamps are from Oxford Impressions' Travel Journal set.  The other reindeer and other postmark-style stamps are from Darkroom Door's Christmas Reindeer set.  There's not much of it visible, but the holly & berries patterned paper is from Echo Park.

 

And lastly, a Springtime card.  The butterfly and plants stamps are from Unity Stamp Company,   the sentiment is from Hero Arts, and the patterned office-style paper is from Memory Box.

Hope you enjoyed this STAMPtember post!   I have more stamping planned in the near future, along with a trip out-of-state.   Who knows?   Maybe I'll find some fun new stamping stores to visit!

Happy Stamping!

Dave, Lila, Susie & Tiffany

Had yet another delightful stamping roadtrip with Lila this past weekend. It rocked!

We decided to spend the night in Twin Falls before heading up to Hailey for our class, and we made good use of our time there.  Unfortunately, we wrapped up our visit after 7:00 p.m. and were unable to visit Scrappin' Girlfriends. {See you next time, Michelle!} We had a sumptuous dinner and then headed to the hotel room where we stamped and colored.

Saturday morning, we were up comfortably early (without the use of an alarm because we were so excited!) and made it to Hailey by 10:30. We were glad to get to Susie Paperie early so we could choose our seats, get our supplies settled, and (most importantly) shop. There was even time to grab divine rosemary chicken salad sandwiches at the Big Belly Deli right around the corner. BBD supplied ginger snap and peanut butter cookies for the class and they were awesome, too.

Susie Paperie was a delight! So much fun stuff packed into the store, but it felt completely open and airy. Owner Adrienne was wonderful about everyone's needs and was nothing but helpful and gracious all day. I'll probably be ordering from her soon... she offers Copics and Memento inks and stamps galore! SP is a great place to shop or take a class. She has a whole wall that's covered with chalkboard paint, and she's got her class schedule written there. Love that!

After lunch but before our two fantastic classes with Dave Brethauer from Memory Box, we got a chance to meet Dave and talk to him a little. He was impressed that we drove 6 hours round-trip to take his class. He even blogged about us!

Our first class had to do with color blending and shading with Prismacolor pencils. I was baffled initially as to how we were going to get our butterflies to look as etherial and well-blended as Dave's sample, but he made it so easy! Most amazing is that he can color upside-down! He was very conscious of the whole room and came to each table to demonstrate each technique. It was very helpful. Here's one of my blended butterflies on cream paper.

Next came the watercolor class, and this is where I learned the most. I have watercolor pencils, water-based paints, and even watercolor paper... but I wasn't using any of these to their full potential. Even the most basic thing was new to me: the paper has to be wet! (Who knew?) In addition to coloring in stamped images, we also colored swaths of paper and stamped on top. Here are two examples of the latter, using Twinkling H2O's:


If you are lucky enough to live within a reasonable distance of one of Dave's classes, I highly recommend it. He'll be in Colorado Springs next at a store I got to visit in Jan '07 called Simple Pleasures and then after that in the Northeast.

Another great weekend with a great friend! And, Lila, "Your hands are full!".

Happy Stamping!

Trifecta of Tidbits

I'm having a terrific stamping day today, and I didn't even stamp yet. It's nearly 11pm here, though, so squeezing in a little stampin' time before the clock strikes twelve is unlikely. Here's what made the day so great...

(1) Right at the crack of 10am, I was on the phone to the nicest lady at Susie Paperie in Hailey, Idaho. On my short list of stamper-stars to meet is Dave Brethauer from Memory Box. His coloring techniques are amazing, as are his card constructions. Very simple, tight, and impactful. Love them. So I got an autographed copy of his book, Card Design, when in Spokane and have devoured it with fervor. Long story short, he's coming to Idaho and my BFF and I are in seats #1 and #2. Can. Not. Wait.

Then the next two happened just within the last 15 minutes or so while I was blurfing.

(2) Kim Hughes {I *singsong* love her stuff!} posted on her blog the names of the winners for her Memorial Day challenge. And whose name is on the top? Mine. She's sending me America the Beautiful, one of her rockin' stamp sets. Now I just need to take some anxiety medication and try to figure out how to make a thank-you card for her. Seriously, it's like making a painting for Michelangelo.

(3) CHF is having a Kim Hughes Blitz and it's kicking off on Wednesday night, June 5th. Oooh, and in conjunction with the blitz is the release of more of her stamps. Maybe more than I can handle.

Happy Stamping! Hope your day rocked!

Fancy Floral Candle

It took some time to get things back to normal Saturday after I scrambled around the house Friday night for the moustache layout. In the mayhem Friday night, several sheets of patterned paper were run over by my chair wheels and a bag of cherry tomatoes ended up all over the floor. I'm messy even on a good day, but this was off the charts! (Sorry, honey!)


After I got the whole thing cleaned up and finished dinner, I decided to get some of my toys out into the dining room again (because my craft room is... you guessed it... too messy!) for some crafting therapy. I got this pretty light blue candle earlier in the week and I thought a pretty floral wrapper would fit the bill nicely.

The band around the candle is two layers of Homespun Collection paper from Memory Box and a nice thick blue grosgrain ribbon from May Arts. The flower was crafted from the same patterned papers and the Fancy Florals set from Verve Visual. The first two flower layers were stamped on the BACK and cut out. The back layer is stamped on the front with Bisque chalk ink from Clearsnap. A ribbon-tied button finished it off. I tried a number of different angles for the flower, and this one seemed to flatter it best. Hope you all like it, too!

Supply List:
- Stamps: Fancy Florals (Verve Visual)
- Ink: Bisque chalk ink (Clearsnap)
- Paper: Homespun Collection (Memory Box)
- Accessories: Ribbon (May Arts); Button (unknown)

Happy Stamping!