With 1 stamp ... part 3

Thanks so much for stopping in today ...

lookie what I made!!!

 okay, so this is where I cheated a bit and used 2 stamps .... I also love the En Francais background stamp ... i use it constantly.   This time, when I used the Pleasant Poppies stamp, I used just a small portion of the stamp.  I masked off a portion of the stamp so that it was not inked and that allowed me, to stamp this small little grouping of poppies.

Once again, I am using my favourite colour palette of Whisper white, crumb cake, tempting turquoise and calypso coral ... and of course my favourite ribbon ... but i promise, this is the last you will see of this colour pallet for a while  ;)

The Pleasant Poppies stamp comes in both the clear and wood mounted variety.  Which is best?  well I guess it depends on how you intend to use the stamp and personal preference.

When it comes to large background stamps, I prefer a wood stamp.  I feel that the unmounted clear stamp is a bit to heavy on the acrylic block and does not always stay firmly attached (you can see that mine slipped when I was making the turquoise card).  With the wood mounted stamp, you never have to worry about the stamp slipping or loosening from the acrylic block.

This stamp is fabulous both as it is, and masked off in this perfect little grouping of 3 flowers.  If you get the acrylic stamp, you have the option of cutting this little grouping away from the main stamp and ending up with 2 smaller stamps.  The acrylic stamp also allows for a better visual sense when placing the stamp... So again ... it's all about how you want to use the stamp and your personal preference ... both mounting options are perfect for certain uses.

I hope I have given you something to think about when looking at this stamp ... I will be back again tomorrow with one final example, only this time, a slightly different colour palette ;)

Peace love and paper!

With 1 stamp ... part 2

Hi there!

Back again with another couple of cards from using the Pleasant Poppies stamp ... and yes, i do love this stamp to bits!!!

Here's what I did today ...

Today, i am using most of the stamp ... i simply moved the stamp over and intentionally left about 1/3rd of my white space unstamped.  I just kind of love the unused space as a balance of a stamped image, especially when i am not matting the stamped image.  I used the same colour palette as yesterday, which is whisper white, crumb cake, calypso coral and tempting turquoise.  I used a bit of the old olive to paint the stems.

 I didn't paint the stems all of the way down, or the centres of the flowers ... i liked the whitespace there as well.  And yup, I am using the seam binding again ... this is truly my favourite ribbon from Stampin Up ... and it comes in several great colours ...

I hope you all get some time to dig into your stash of papers and inks and stamps and get a chance to play today ... its the perfect day to play ... just because!!!

peace, love and paper!

With 1 stamp ... part 1

That's right ...1 stamp! (okay, maybe 2) ...
I am absolutely mad about the Pleasant Poppies stamp from Stampin Up!  It is gorgeous, it is large and you can do so many different projects with it!  So everyday this week I am going to bring you a new project featuring this stamp ... I hope you enjoy this stamp as much as I do.

Todays Projects ....

This is a standard sized card ... I used the Pleasant Poppies stamp as my foreground ... stamping directly over First Edition Specialty paper.  I then used a water pen and "painted" the flowers with my ink pads.  So much fun and easy to do!  I then stacked a bit of ribbon, topped it with a pearl and added it to the card for a bit of texture.

This card is a little 4 x 4 card.  this time I used the stamp as a background stamp.  I inked the stamp then picked up ink from the stamp by randomly daubing it with paper towel to absorb some of the ink.  I took most of the ink off on the centre of the image and left more ink on the upper flowers.  I topped it off with a little double bow made of SU seam binding ribbon.

so ... background and foreground ... two uses for this one amazing stamp.  I will be back tomorrow with another example!

Peace, love and paper!

let's just say ...

that yesterday was a great day ....

after a fabulous walk with my constant companion in the warmth of a sunny day, I felt a burst of creativity

got my fingers nice and inky .... actually if you know me the inky mess kinda stopped at my elbow ...

 was totally inspired by the brilliant spring colours of the day

 and went on a creative binge ....

still a work in progress ... (i hate drying time) but so much fun was had !!!

Hope you are all getting some spring weather ... the cherry blossoms are out, but today the skies have turned back to their usual grey .... which isnt so bad, as long as we get the sun back....

peace love & paper

Jo

Something Simple ...

I do love simple cards ... well i love making just about any card, but sometimes clean and simple is just best.  

Sometimes when i sit down to create I get a little overwhelmed with my stash ... so here's my secret ... I pick two pieces of paper that work together, one accent colour and then i sit myself down to create.

In this case i choose Early Espresso and Crumb Cake card stock.  I also knew that my accent colour would be some form of blue.  This trio of colours always works ... so it's my favourite "go to" colour palette.

For each card, i ran the card front through the honey comb embossing die.  I then place a doily on each card front and worked from there.

I stamped a couple of hummingbirds on this doily as well as a sentiment. I wrapped the card front in bakers twine, tied on a bow and a fabulous clock charm ... and done!  Two cards in very little time, and i did it without hauling out my entire stash ...

So give it a try, limit yourself to three colours and see what you can come up with in 20 minutes or less.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and hope you all had a fabulous Easter!

peace, love & paper
Jo

and now for something completely new ...

Well, my dear friend finally convinced me to join the Stampin Up! family as a demonstrator ... and I have absolutely no regrets!!!  Stampin Up! is a fabulous company that creates some beautiful paper crafting products ... and every thing coordinates!!!

Right now I am smitten with creating cards that have that "chalkboard" feel ... so I have done a whole series of them ... these are so easy to make, and so much fun!  They really dont require too much embellishment as they are supposed to resemble chalkboard art!

Here's what I came up with.

 "your amazing" was stamped with versamark.  I covered the lower portion of the word amazing with pool party embossing powder and the the rest was covered with white embossing powder.  The edges were inked with white craft ink ... such fun and so easy!  Stamp set used:  You're Amazing

"thank you" and the rest of the cards all use the same technique as above ... just stamp, heat emboss and ink edges.  on this card i added a little bottle cap that was flattened out with the my "bigshot" and i put a tiny fish in the center!  Stamp sets used:  By the Tide and You're Amazing.

"celebrate" ... so easy .... and i ran the blue background through and embossing plate.

"oh hello" ... i actually smudged off some of the embossing powder before I heated it.  I also inked a bit of the centre of the card ... just to make it extra smudgy! Stamp sets used: Oh Hello, Feel Goods and Established Elegance.

Thanks so much for joining me here!  If you have any questions about Stampin Up! or want to check out the catalogues, just click on the button on the right side bar.

Winter Whites swap at Vintage Dragonfly

I did a fab swap over at Vintage Dragonfly recently.  Our lovely swap hostess JoAnne challenged us to create a large matchbox, while thinking of all things winter white such as snowflakes and winter scenes and all things vintagy ...

So off to my studio to create ... This is what I sent my swap partner suzeeez2

I just had to share some of my favourite goodies ... new and vintage!

I hand stamped a little cotton bag and added some bling, buttons and a dancing bear button!

Added some feather soft angel wings.

got most of the bits into a matchbox

decorated the outside with painted Tim Holtz metals, all corners were metal ... and i remade the box top so it opened on the side.

made a little vintage style lollipop flower and decorated the top

safely wrapped it all in tissue

and added a few little extras to the packaging.



This is what Suzeeez2 sent me in return ...

omg, those tart tins are the cutest things ever!  I have been looking all over for them and Sue sent me 2!!!

 her package contained one large box and 3 little containers and loads of goodies.  I love this tinsely twine held together with a vintage clip.  behind it is a tiny altered tin filled with white pearl pins... and the little heart shaped box is just so sweet .. it was filled with little flowers!

 and the third little box has that gorgeous little stitched flower on top of an itty bitty doily.  and look at the vintage bling in the tart tins ... gorgeous ...

 and the lace on a vintage bobin, and look at the larger doily!

 I havent mentioned all of the goodies but there were many and i loved them all ... i mean look at the box, it is so well made, and this little teddy, little articulated arms and legs, i am in love with it ... oh and some vintage lace seam binding still in packs.

And everything was wrapped in sewing tissue ... This really was a wonderful swap!

gotta say, I am not a fan of Canada Post ... why on earth does it take them so long to deliver items to us .... I know they have to go through Customs, but geez, the mailing time is huge ... whereas my packages to the states just seem to zip right along.  Canada Post aside, this was my favourite swap so far.

Thanks so much for reading ... i really appreciate your visits and comments!!!