CAS technique for Open Stamping this weekend

This card was the result of one of those amazing serendipity accidents!  I had been working on a card with a trio of feathers on the front - like the one posted here.  I was testing stamps (sometimes brand new ones don't take the ink up properly because of a slight oily residue on them) and had stamped the image off onto a post-it note.  Then, with the sentiment - same thing - testing to see that it would stamp clearly and completely and so I just stamped the sentiment right over the previously stamped feather.  Then, the magic happened!  Right before my eyes, I saw the most beautiful idea for a card!!  Clean and Simple (CAS)!  Yeah Baby!!

So, this will be our technique this coming Sunday.  We'll make this card, but I hope people will play around with other images and sentiments, too.  I know I'm planning a Mother's Day card with a pretty flower in the background, and it would make a nice Easter card with a sweet bunny something.  The possibilities are endless!  Maybe I'm the last person to realize that you can actually stamp the sentiment right over your focal image.  I dunno.  *wink*

Everything here is Close-to-My-Heart.  The feather stamps, the sentiment is from the set called Fabulous You, the papers are Ariana, the ink colors are Creme Brulee and Cocoa.  The cardstocks are Kraft and Colonial White.  

Sorry for the short post - busy week!  Hope things are good in your neck of the woods!  Hugs!!

Honey Bee-hive cards

I love this honey beehive image - it's an o.l.d. stamp (wood mounted!) from Close-to-My-Heart and it might be old enough to harken back to when they were called D.O.T.S. (perhaps?!).  I enjoy sitting and coloring this image in.  I "found" it recently when I was cleaning!  *wink*

I made two versions of this card.  The first one was the Gypsy purple format - which is still my favorite one.  The second one needed to be green as it was a Thank You note to some dear friends who hosted the most wonderful party for St. Patrick's Day!   Both of the images were done with water brush and dye inks on watercolor paper.  There was a little bit of the Starlight gel pen added at the last . . .

Work has been crazy-busy!  It is very fulfilling to knock things off the to-do list and the days are passing very quickly.  Time spent in the studio is precious and helps me to hang onto my sanity!  This weekend I plan to pack up some things to ship to my home up North.  Hope you're getting a little crafty time, also! 

Retirement!

I have a dear friend at church that just retired and I HAD to make a special card for her!  This is a PTI stamp set - complete with dies to cut out the bicycle, wheels, flowers for the basket, etc... it makes creating something like this more of a construction project than I'm used to but it was entertaining!  The sky was done by inking the cloud embossing folder with CTMH Sky blue.  I'm enjoying inking up those folders!  

Life is good!  I must confess that I'm a little terrified of retirement (52 days, but who's counting!).  I'm not worried about what comes next, more of what I'm leaving behind.  But isn't life about making change?  I felt the same way when Steve swept me off my feet and I went from being decidedly single to being a partner - and that certainly worked out wonderfully!  So, my mantra these days is to "have courage" and keep focused on what is ahead.  

Hugs!!
 

Top of the morning to ya, are you enjoying a wee wonderful weekend?!

This card was what my friends made for Open Stamping at my house end of February.  The technique I was highlighting was using embossing folders with ink to create not only embossed design but with color!  We put the paper in a diagonal striped folder one direction, inked with Topiary (CTMH - green) then cleaned the folder off, turned it 90 degrees and put the paper in again and embossed again with Sorbet (CTMH - deep coral).  The resulting "plaid" literally pops from the paper since it stands out because of the dry embossing.  The rest of this card is straight forward. 

I've got a "to-do" list a mile long for today so I'll keep this post short!  It's only 59 days until my "retirement".  I am taking Mr. Bilbo Baggins to the vet today for a wellness exam - we need to think about what to do to prepare him for flying.  I'm thinking kitty-valium might be in order!  

Enjoy your weekend!

Wonderful, Fabulous, Tags!

At the end of this month I will be celebrating 10 years of employment at Mayo Clinic.  I have a tradition of thanking my colleagues at work for "putting up with me" all year!  I bake brownies, and purchase Girl Scout cookies to give with a hand-made tag each year.  It's really delightful to visit some people later and still see the tags on their bulletin boards.

This was one stamp set called Wonderful You - - I absolutely love this sentiment.  There are two different bird images and both make a beautiful card quickly and easily.  

The diamond pattern is so easy to use (it's a double row but matches up easily so you could cover a much larger paper) and I used Sweet Leaf for that design element.  The bird was colored with the new CTMH alcohol markers. The sentiment is stamped in Momento Truffle (like the CTMH cocoa ink).  I like the Momento inks when I'm going to be coloring more (with water brush or alcohol) because it doesn't bleed.

I started these during Open Stamping and made great progress that day.  After work this week when Steve was away I finished up 24 tags.  That's enough for work and to put some on the packages that just arrived for my friends!  

We're looking forward to some rain here . . . hope your weekend will be wonderful and fabulous!   

Happy Birthday!

 

I can always use more birthday cards in my stash!  This was a case of a card by Barbara Anders here.  I guess I held onto this longer than I realized because I had the devil of a time finding the original post! I used stamps I had on hand - The music, sentiment, chicken wire and butterflies are all Close-to-My-Heart although some are retired.  The stripe was from somewhere else, a cling mount - could have been Hero Arts?  Not sure.  

I've had a busy week and my knee is getting stronger daily.  My last sutures fell out last night from my oral surgery so my mouth feels better now, too!  Finally - the end of the tunnel is ahead!  

My Love led a quiet day of meditation at our church today and it was just amazing.  I treasured the time to "hang out with God".   I hope your Saturday was good - what have you been up to anyway?!

Birthday - vintage CTMH

These stamps and papers are retired, but I'm having so much fun re-discovering the "old" stamps with the "new" tools!  I used alcohol markers to color this - it went so fast and is so easy!!  I added a little sparkle by way of Spica gel pen (stardust?).  Do you recognize the "base" of this card?  Last year about this time I held a workshop fund-raiser at church and we made valentines.  There were a few leftovers and I pulled out the bag while cleaning the studio the other day.  Here was the original card. 

Tonight Steve has invited the neighborhood to dinner!  No, I'm not kidding!  (You just gotta love this man!)  We think there might be 16.  The menu is low key and fun (grilled hot dogs / brats and sloppy joes). Some of our neighbors we don't know at all except to wave "hello".  I'm excited to get to know them better and thankful that my darling husband is such a generous and gracious host.  Hope your weekend is starting out as wonderful as mine is!

Hugs!!