TIPsy Tuesday - Two Stamps per Image

More and more I'm searching out outline stamps for my collection.  You can use them by themselves, color in the images or stamp them on designer paper and cut out.  You can also stamp another image on cardstock, stamp the line art stamp on the cardstock and then cut the design out.  This is how I got the woodgrain "CABIN" in this layout.

Here are the steps:

Stamp cardstock with background image.  I used Hero Arts woodgrain stamp and Close to Cocoa ink.

Then stamp over the background design with an outline stamp in a similar or contrasting color.   I used Chocolate Chip ink.

Then just cut out the image.  I left these kind of rough cut as that is part of the letter stamps - an alphabet stamp from Katie Pertiet for Autumn Leaves.


This layout commemorates our anniversary stay at a cabin in the NC Mountains near Valle Crucis which means Vale of the Cross.  It is about 15 minutes north of Boone, NC.  I have another layout planned for our hiking experiences but wanted to capture the lovely place we spent our anniversary this year.

Project Notes about frame:

The woodgrain background stamp was used again on this photo frame.  I started with a square chipboard element from Stampin' Up! and inked it with several colors of craft ink from Earth Elements.  Then I stamped the woodgrain in Soft Suede.  Then I went over the entire thing with Versamark and coated with clear embossing powder.  After heating, I got a stained wood look that matched the interior of the cabin. 

We did the versamark trick on chipboard in our last Stamp club and we got really neat effects depending on the ink used.  Jean, our demo, suggested going over an item with two coats of Versamark and embossing for an even more polished, yet antique finish. 


Thanks for visiting today!

Ingredients:  Stamps: Woodgrain by Hero Arts, Flourishes by Paper Studio
Cardstock:  Kraft
DSP and stickers:  Indian Summer collection from Basic Grey
Chipboard letters:  Wilma by Basic Grey
Rhinestone letters:  Kaiser

Fast Blocks

I should have my head examined.  I knew I really didn't have time for this.  Yet wanting to make a child's face light up often makes you take on foolish projects. 

When we saw Dillon and Nai Nai for a family wedding in April, I took along a quilt my grandmother had made for me to give to Dillon.  I'd been meaning to send it to him.  The entire front is one huge LeMoyne Star in red, white and denim blue.  I have no idea what my grandmother was thinking.  I know she meant well in wanting to get me a beautiful quilt.  The quilter did a great job but I would have much rather had a scrap quilt my grandmother made herself.  I've never used her gift; I didn't have any children and Lenny had daughters.  This always seemed like a boy's quilt.  Plus, Dillon's favorite color is red and the background of the quilt is bright red.  I thought he could put it on his bed, I knew it would match his room.  I certainly didn't think it would be a big deal for a little boy.

He loved it!  He slept under the quilt at the hotel and made a big fuss over how much he liked it.  Nai Nai didn't seem jealous at all that Dillon got a gift and she didn't.  But I felt bad.  They are too young to understand that I was just passing along something I didn't use.  So when we see them this summer, I wanted to have a quilt for Nai Nai.

And now the foolish moment arrives.  I decided a few weeks ago to make her one!  Now I know I don't have time to make a full size quilt.  I'm making a 60" x 80" in colors she will like - bright pink and purple.  Since I'm making it myself, I hope this balances out with Dillon's queen size quilt. 

The key is that I have to get it done!  The pattern is extremely simple.  I'm doing some squares within squares and some four patch.  Some of the blocks are just going to be solid - no piecing.  My only challenge is that I have to hand cut everything.  The rotary cutter kills my hand so it is measure and cut every piece.  Even large pieces are time consuming particularly with my other work.

Still I'm commited.  I made an 'investment' in mail order fabrics plus I have a sweet little face to light up.  Stay tuned.  Hopefully in a couple of weeks, you'll see a photo of a finished quilt.

New Catalog Review

Just had my first flip through of the Stampin' Up! 2010 - 2011 Idea Book and Catalog.   I like it.  I like it much, much more than last year's catalog which was disappointing in so many ways.  Some thoughts...

• By now, I'm sure you have heard that Stampin' Up! has reorganized the color families, bringing back several favorite In Colors and adding just a few other new colors.  I'm pleased to have River Rock and Baja Breeze back especially.  I like the new colors, but will know more when I get the real cardstock in my hands.  I'm still disappointed that there is no lavendar or medium purple at all.  Also there is really no true medium blue.  I do think trimming down the number of colors has made sense.
• They are offering some make-up packs of things like watercolor crayons and markers to get the new colors without having to buy complete sets that include colors you already have.  What I don't get is the pricing.  The 17 new watercolor crayons are $40 whereas a set of 10 (one of the color families) is only $16.  This makes no sense.
• Speaking of pricing, cardstock went up quite a lot.  However, as far as I can tell that is the only thing that increased in price.  I think that is remarkable so I won't complain about the cost of paper. 
• Stamp sets are always a matter of preference.  I found a few I wanted, not loads, but some.  There are quite a few of the past and current mini catalog sets in this annual catalog. I'm glad to see one I wnated from the mini available all year.  Gives me a lot more time since I'll be spending money initially on new inks and papers.
• All the new sets are available in wood and unmounted.  I had hoped they would go back and make at least some of the more expensive wood sets available in unmounted to but so far they haven't.
• LOVE all the Level 1 hostess sets!!!  I hated all of them last year so I'm delighted to have so many to choose from when it is my turn to be club hostess.
• The catalog has a lot of organizational and reference changes that add great value.  There are markings around stamps that have a coordinating punch, plus the punches are listed with the set.  There's a table about what adhesives work with what type of media.  You can see what ribbons and accessories come with a color just like you can the inks and paper.
• The tone-on-tone designer paper is now in packs by color family and has a couple of new patterns but far fewer patterns total.  Not sure how I feel about this yet.  Really like the patterns in the hostess Level 1 paper pad which is In Colors this year. 
• If a color comes in ribbon, it comes in all the ribbons.  But this still leaves a ton of colors that have no coordinating ribbon.  For example, in the Regals, only Night of Navy has ribbon.
• Lots of great embellishment options - you can buy pearls and rhinestones separately as well as flowers.  That is nice.  And I love, love those new Antique brads.  Those will be at the top of my list for July order.  The designer buttons have more buttons per pack and coordinate by color family.

I'm pretty pleased and look forward to July when we can order. 

Very green thank you

I wanted to send a thank you note to some folks who live in our beautiful blue ridge mountains which are actually very green right now particularly with all the snow and rain eariler in the year.  Lovely as a Tree was my first Stampin' Up! set.  Apparently it has been around for ages and it is easy to see why.  You can do so many things with this set. This stamp in particular is my favorite.

Project Notes:

• For the background, I colored watercolor paper with watercolor crayons in various shades of greens and blues to look slightly like an outline of a mountain range.  I overlapped the colors a lot; then I went over the entire thing with a blender pen.
• The image is stamped twice to get the entire area covered.  Then I stamped off for trees in the background. 

• I went over a few trees with the blender pen dipped in old olive watercolor crayon.
• The left edge has a slight bite out of it using a hole punch to keep the twine from sliding off.

This card makes me feel cool - a nice thing on yet another 90+ degree day here in the foothills.  Hope you find a cool spot wherever you are.

Ingredients all by Stampin' Up!:  Stamps:  Lovely as a Tree, Kind and Caring Thoughts
Ink:  Old Olive, various watercolor crayons, Not Quite Navy craft
DSP:  Old Olive and Not Quite Navy
Grommet:  Brass

Reader Color Inspiration

Just about out of time... Here's my card for the latest Reader Color Inspiration at KWernerdesign.com  There are lots of bright colors from the photo.  I used my latest Cricut cartridge, Storybook, that I snagged for a very low closeout price at Walmart this weekend so this one was a bit of an experiment in using just cardstock and some new images for me.

Better post.  Thanks for stopping by!

Summer Reading

When I was a teenager, I would read long novels very slowly over long summer days.  I liked to get to know my characters.  I got quite an education as an adolescent reading Judy Blume and even more of one later on reading Judith Krantz - although I'm not sure it was the education my Mother was expecting when she hauled me to the library.

I still love to savor the enjoyment of engaging with charcters a little at a time over a few days.  This is why I much prefer to read or watch a drama than watch a movie.  Also, I want the details.  My work and hobbies are all about the details so why not my entertainment, too.  You get out of something what you put into it. 

My husband has gotten into the classics.  Try as I might, I just can't read classic literature.  I want to read about today's people.  I read to learn, to escape, to enjoy.  I like romance but with an edge.  Like my chocolate, I don't want it too sweet.  Neither do I want my adventure too gory.  High body counts turn me off.

My Shelfari list is updated and here are a few of my all time favorite summer authors with a few specific books:

Mary Kay Andrews - anything and everything she has written is fun, good Southern writing.  Hissy Fit is my favorite.

David Baldacci - I like the Camel Club series and a recent novel True Blue I just finished.  But his best work is still his first - Absolute Power.  The Lottery Winner is another pick.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips - the best in beach reads - funny, smart, romantic.  Best to start with her earlier books as she often connects the characters from earlier novels into more recent ones.

Katie Fforde - This is a new author to me but apparently a prolific one. I just want to crawl into her novels and live in these current English settings.

Jude Devereaux - books set in the present day.  I'm not into historical stuff especially time travel thing - although the Summerhouse was pretty good.

Sandra Brown - I prefer her thrillers to her romance novels - Envy, Charade.  The only one I really hated was Smoke Screen.

Jane Green - all of her books have been very enjoyable reads - particularly Jemima J.  If you've ever felt the need to lose weight to fit in, it is a must read.

Jennifer Chiaverini - I'm reading the Aloha Quilt now.  She is a must read for quilters and anyone else who wants a good clean family story.  Start with her first novel.

Fannie Flagg - one of my favs of all time is "Can't Wait to Get to Heaven."  I read it twice and and tempted to read it again that is really rare for me.

Sidney Sheldon - He has passed away now but what a great storyteller.   His books were some of those I read when I was a teenager.

Sophie Kinsella - Twenties Girl and Undomestic Goddess are very funny and engaging.  I can't get into the shopaholic stuff.

Sarah Strohmeyer (I think I'm spelling that right)  - Cinderalla Pact, Sleeping Beauty Proposal. 

Judith Krantz - will probably always be my favorite author.  I've read Scruples at least three times plus everything else she has ever written including her autobiograpy.

What do you like to read?

TIPsy Tuesday - Photo Collages

So often I hear people say they want to scrapbook but they don't have time, don't know where to start, etc.  One of the best ways to corral your photos is a photo collage.  A lot of photos don't need to be printed at a full 4" x 6" to tell the story. 

You can crop and arrange already printed photos on a piece of cardstock.  Or, you can create and print your own photo collage.  I do this a lot.  I'd just completed the layout above when I saw an article about photo collages in this month's BH&G Scrapbooks Etc. magazine.  Check out the Digifusion article in the August issue for more info.

Here is my method for creating a photo collage.  Typically I make them with photos all the same size but of course you could vary the sizes (more on that in the magazine article.)

1. Using the Organizer in Photoshop Elements, I select the photos I want to collage and right click on them.  Choose Go to Full Edit.
2. In the Editor, create a blank file (Ctrl + N) resolution 200.  Size the same as the paper to be printed on.  For the one above I chose 8 1/2 x 11 because that was my paper size even though my collage was smaller.
3. Go to the first photo to be cropped.  Choose the Crop tool.  Specify a resolution of 200 and then specify the width and height of the desired image.  The images above were cropped to 2 3/4" x 2 3/4."
4. Crop all the photos.  Your specifications for the crop tool will stay in place until you change them.
5. Drag each photo on the blank file.
6. Arrange as desired. Usually I leave a little space in between the photos.  Sometimes I leave it blank so the space will end up white.  Sometimes I draw in a rectangle behind the photo collage and color it black or whatever color I want to border the photos.  For the one above, I created a beige rectangle so I didn't have that stark white background.
7. Then just print the collage.  Usually, I do not save the cropped photos as separate files.

Once the collage is printed, you only need a title, journaling and a few embellishments.  It is a great way to keep the focus on the photos + get it done!

Project Notes:

When I was flipping through the BH&G Scrapbooks Etc a few days ago, I did get this great idea for embellishment.   Trace around a plain chipboard element with a pen or marker.  I also added some stamped images and a brad.

The flower is cut with Accent Essentials Cricut cartridge.  I used just a couple of the layers and backed it with some Close to Cocoa cardstock.


Ingredients:  Stamps:  Cherry Hill by October Afternoon
Ink:  Warm Red, Chesnut Roan fluid chalk ink
Marker:  Zig Chocolate
DSP:  Farm Fresh by October Afternoon
Cardstock: Certainly Celery for background, Close to Cocoa by SU!

A Storybook Deal

Every since I got my Cricut last October, I've had my eye on the Cricut Storybook cartridge.  I've watched countless E-bay auctions and it always went a little too high for me.  Although a font cartridge, Storybook has a ton of great image designs for cards and scrapbooking.  Yesterday, I lucked out at Wal-mart finding this great cartridge for $23!  I'd read on one of the discussion boards a couple weeks back that some Wal-mart stores were closing out their craft departments.  I don't know if this is true but there were a lot of things marked down.  Initially I stopped by for my favorite adhesive and it was already cleared out.  I hope they are just changing some of their stock and not closing out craftts altogether.  It is 15 miles from my house the the nearest craft store otherwise.

The new cartridge didn't gather any dust in my craft room.  I'd already started this card before I went to town and I used Storybook to cut the scallop circle design from Stampin' Up! designer paper.

The card is for the Finally Friday challenge at Two Peas in a Bucket to use black, white and one other color for punch.

One project note:  The main part of of the card is attached with foam adhesive.  I tucked the ribbon under the edges of the raised are with glue dots to create the folds.

Thanks for visiting!

Ingredients:  Stamps:  Cherry hill by October Afternoon; Polka Dot Basics by PTI; Flourishes by Paper Studio
Ink:  Versamark
Cardstock:  Black and Whisper White by SU!
Embossing Powder:  White by SU!
Ribbon and DSP:  Melon Mambo by SU!