Warm Wishes! - Christmas Card Swap!

I made these cute cards for Sherri's "Make 5 Christmas Cards" each month for your stash. I made these using my new cuttlebug embossing folder and a sheet of Coredinations paper. The stamps are Holiday Clear Stamps. The simple layout and minimal embelishments made them easy to assemble. Looks like I'm off to a good start this year, Sherri! Thanks for hosting this fun (and useful) challenge.

Digi Stamp Thursday - Birthday Cards!

Hi Everyone! I have Birthday cards on the brain today. I joined a swap at the Stamp Shack~ make 5 Birthday cards each month for my "stash". Since we were snowed in here in Maine last night, I made cards. And, since it's Thursday, I used a couple of digi stamps from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff. The Bird is from her "Love Grows Here" set, and the cupcake is from the "Sweet Stuff" set. These were all quick and easy to put together! My kind of cards :)
Don't forget to check out Lindsay's Blog for her fabulous projects this week and to see what the rest of the Design Team has created. See you again soon...I'm in a Christmas Card swap too! LOL

Basic Grey, Babies and Bows!

It's Thursday and that means it's Digi Stamp Day with Lindsay's Stamp Stuff! Yesterday I went shopping with Cindi (one of our talented Design Team Members) and then we met Lindsay (of Lindsay's Stamp Stuff) for lunch at a local Thai restaurant. We all enjoyed delicious food and had a great time. While Cindi and I were shopping, I found (what I thought) was going to be a versatile embossing folder that I could use for birthdays, Christmas.... Turns out, when I got it home, it was for baby cards. If you look closely, you can see a baby bottle and booty in the embossing. So...I decided to keep it anyway and use it with the BABIES AND BOWS stamp set that Lindsay designed. I really like how this card turned out. It could be used for a baby shower or for a new baby. With a different sentiment, it could be used for a baby's first birthday as well. I wanted to use non-traditional colors instead of predictable pastels. To give the card a more "finished" look, I added faux stitching to the card stock panels and was able to meet a challenge at the Sunflowers and Dragonflies challenge blog.
This Thursday and Friday EVERYTHING at Lindsay's MyGrafico Shop is 25% off! They are having an anniversary sale - but hurry! The sale ends at Midnight on Friday. (GMT) By using her MyGrafico Shop you can not only save 25%, you also get to instantly download your stamp sets!
Be sure to check out the DT blogs and admire their fabulous creations. Happy Digi Stamping!!!


Supply List:
PrismaColor Markers-
Dark Brown
Sand
Spanish Orange
Terra Cotta
Violet Mist
Lilac
Staples Cream Card Stock Base
Bazzill Card Stock- Purple, Orange
Basic Grey patterned papers
making memories brads
Prima Flowers
Sizzix Embossing Folder
Stampin' Up Corner Punch
Distress Ink - spiced marmalade
Distress Stickles - Picket Fence
Black fine tip marker
Digi Stamps - Lindsay's Stamp Stuff

Recycled Cards - Child's Play?

I was helping a friend this week with ideas for her once a month craft group at a local nursing home and she told me that one of the ladies had "heckled" her several times saying that what they were doing was "child's play". After the third or fourth time of getting the business from this lady, she told the lady that she was starting to get a complex and then the lady changed her tone and made a joke of it, joined in on the craft time and has been having a wonderful time reconnecting with her "inner child"! So...
I thought since this was on my mind and Lindsay had challenged us this week to create a project using something recycled, I would make my card recycled AND child-like. If you remember (as I did) our first art projects were created using scraps, bits and pieces or something we had rescued from the recycle bin, etc.
I started with a purple Bazzil card stock base and a piece of an oatmeal box, and of course, since it's Thursday, a couple of digi stamps from Lindsay's Stamp Stuff. I used her EMBOSSED MATS set and this cute image from her new stamp set LOVE GROWS HERE. I used Print Shop to create a two colored background and layered the embossed mat and bird image on top of that. I painted the image with water colors and let the colors and ink smudge (think child-like here). Next, I used my corner rounder on the corners and my cool new Tim Holtz mini stapler to staple a loop of scrap ribbon to each side. As I was trying out my new border punch, I realized the scrolled scraps from that were very pretty and glued a couple in opposite corners of the panel. I found a couple of metal letter brads for the X and O in the lower corner. I ran the panel of my oatmeal box through a paper crimper, tore the front layer off, crumpled the edges a bit and adhered the digi panel to that, then attached that panel to the card stock. I border punched a scrap of vellum and used a rub on for the sentiment and glued that to the inside of the card. This was such a fun card to make. Thanks for the challenge, Lindsay!
To find out how you can enter her challenge, go to her blog, THE FRUGALCRAFTER'S WEBLOG - but hurry - today's the last day to enter, so get busy and see what treasures you can find in your recycle bin and enter her challenge! While you are there, don't forget to see what the rest of the Design Team has created this week. We all love to hear from you. Until next time, Happy Digi Stamping!

Printer Problems and Birthday Wishes...

Ok, so I was having MAJOR printer problems yesterday. Ggggrrrr...so, I was not able to print a Christmas image to make a Christmas card. But, I did have one of the pretty Cosmos images Lindsay designed already printed and die cut with Cindi's Nesties, so I had to make do and use that. I colored it with my bic mark its and added some Stickles to the flower center for a little sparkle. I stamped the sentiment with a studio g stamp and added a ribbon. I had to do a quickie since I had already spent so much time trying to print the Christmas images! (More of that ggggrrrr.) But, YOU can get Lindsay's Christmas images or any of her other original designs by clicking HERE to get to her Shop Handmade site. You can get a FREE set for every 2 sets you buy! What a great gift idea for a crafty friend!


I'm sure the rest of the Design Team has some great Christmas Creations for you this week! Hop on over to their blogs and leave them some love. We all really appreciate your comments- they mean so much. Start with Lindsay's Blog HERE and find the others there! Happy Digi Thursday!!!

Lindsay's Stamp Stuff Christmas Sale!

Yes, that's right by 2 stamp sets, get 1 free! Here's how it works: When you order your two stamp sets, Lindsay will email your order to you and at that time she will ask you what stamp set you want for free. Once you let her know, she will send it on to you, AND you will still get a free single stamp for every $5 you spend! Wow! What a deal! She has lots of great holiday sets, and a new calendar set that could also be used for scrapbooking! To go to Lindsay's Stamp Stuff Store, Click HERE.

This week, I chose to use tags and papers from the Winter Printable Papers, Tags and Cupcake Wrappers set. I used the blue snowflake card for my base along with the Happy Holidays tag from this set. I got this snowman tag in a swap I participated in at the Stamp Shack - it was too cute not to use on a card, and goes so well with Lindsay's paper. It is always fun to combine digi stamps with with rubber stamps. I punched the corners from an embossed scrap of coordinations paper - so easy!

Click HERE and check out what Lindsay and the other Design Team Members have created for you this week. I'm sure there's a freebie involved... Happy Holidays, and Happy Digi Stamping, Everyone!!

Best Friends

Happy Thursday! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I have finally awoken from my turkey induced coma and have a project for you using pieces from a couple of Lindsay's Stamp Stuff stamp sets. This week I made a project using a 5x5 canvas from Joanne Fabrics. It had a large dragonfly on it, but I painted over it with gesso, and then two colors of light green acrylic paints. Next, I cut some small pieces of coordinating CK Scrappin' Creations Power Pad and layered them over the painted canvas using matte gel medium. I added more layers of paint, Distress Inks, and paint colored with Alcohol Inks until I had a look that I liked. Actually, I think I got a little too much ink, but that's ok. You still want to be able to see some of the papers through the layers. Oh-and you need to let each layer dry before adding the next. I used my heat tool to speed things up - no patience, you know!

At this point, those of you (who are not me) would get out your graphite paper and trace the fabric flower stamp onto the canvas. If you are me, you cannot find your graphite paper and start to panic until you remember Lindsay's "trick". The trick is to color over the back side of the printed image with a pencil. Then lay the image on the canvas and trace over it with your pencil. This transfers the image, just like graphite paper! At this point (if you are me) you are thinking you may never look for that paper again! This part was too easy!

Once the image has been transferred to the canvas, paint it and let it dry. Add details with your prisma pencils to the leaves and outline the whole image with a charcoal pencil. Add a gemstone brad for the flower center. Print, cut out, and ink up the "If friends were flowers" stem and the heart and star from the "Patriotic Elements" set. Attach them with the gel medium and dry. Stamp "best friends" with Distress Ink, distress the edges and you are done.




You can get the Doodle Flowers Set and the Patriotic Elements set at Lindsay's Stamp Stuff or if you want instant gratification, you can download them at her MyGraficO! shop. Check out the cool projects the Design Team has for you to be inspired by this week! And don't forget - Lindsay always has awesome freebies on her blog, The Frugal Crafter, so start there and check it out! Happy Digi Stamping!!!