Friend of Mine!

Just a quick post from me today -  I made this card for the August Craft's Meow Sketch Challenge -  using the colors from this week's Split Coast Color Challenge.

I just love this Craft's Meow  sentiment stamp with the vines twined around it.  I added some Tiny Twinkles to the buds on the vines so there is a little shimmer on the card.

I can't believe we're in the last week of summer already -  where did the summer go??!!

Stamps: The Craft's Meow - Friend of Mine

Paper: Lucky Limeade - SU, Rustic Cream, Scarlet Jewel, Harvest Gold - PTI, DP Christy Tomlinsons She Art Paper Pack

Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Ranger Distress Mustard Seed

Accessories: foam tape, glue pen, wrinkled seam tape, Vintage Button - PTI, rectangle Nestabilities, rhinestone - Kaiser, Tiny Twinkles - Taylored Expressions

3 Cards and a Template Winner!

First - I'm happy to announce the winning comment on my Creations by AR blog post - Old McBarn

The winner of the template for either Old McBarn or Old McBarn Card is: Jill Norwood!

Jill Norwood said...

Incredible barn box and card! Wonderful templates and I love the distressing and the rooster! :)

Jill -  please e-mail Adela at  creationsbyar at sbcblobal dot net with your choice!

I have a rather sad weekend in store -  I will be attending 3 funerals of people from my church - with one bright spot - we are also having a baby shower for our minister and his wife in the midst of this!    I won't be getting much stamping done.  So I'm posting 3 cards today from challenges over on Split Coast last week.

I made this card for the My Favorite Things Sketch #86. I used stamps from 2 Pure Innocence sets - the girl with her wagon and the sentiment are from A Cart Full of Friends and the dog is from Tree Swing.

I paper pieced her dress and masked the wagon so the dog was sitting inside it.  My papers are from the Stella Rose Paper Pad by My Minds Eye. I used the MFT Die-namics Fresh Cut Grass die for the border along the bottom.  You'll find this MFT sketch challenge here in the SCS forums.

Here's my card for Judy's Technique Lovers challenge - No Stamps!

I saw this design in my 'just arrived' Oriental Trading Company catalog - they sell a kit to make 25 cards - theirs are 7 1/4 x 5 1/4 but I made mine 4 1/4" x 4 1/4".

The white 'fur' is a glittery white paper by DCWV.  I made the gold buckle out of a piece of gold cardboard that was on the bottom of the box of a little gourmet cake from Finales (A dessert restaurant in Boston). I cut a square and punched out the middle with a square punch.  The cute tag by Making Memories says 'Santa Claus is Coming' - I added a sticky gold pearl to the hole at the top and adhered it to the card with foam tape.

Here's my card for last week's Queen for the Day challenge - Mary Alice (ladybug91743) was our queen.

Pine trees are one of my favorite trees for winter woods scenes - so I was immediately inspired by her A Winter's Night card.  I used greens instead of blues, different trees and I added rhinestone ornaments to one tree instead of masking a moon.  The trees and sentiment are from Rubbernecker.

And now I have two more Christmas cards to add to my pile!

Well -  I hope you are doing something more fun than I am this weekend!

I'm Pulling for You!

Stamps: MFT - A Cart Full of Friends, Tree Swing

Paper: white, true black - PTI, tempting turquoise - SU, DP Stella Rose/My Minds Eye

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories: Copics: E00, E33, E37, E53, W6, RV29, R02, rhinestones - Kaiser, foam tape, Die-namics Fresh Cut Grass - MFT, flower die - PTI, circle punches. 

Santa's Coat

Stamps: none!

Paper: Pure Poppy, True Black - PTI, Solid Glitter White - DCWV, gold cardboard (recycled packaging)

Ink: none

Accessories: foam tape, ScorTape, Tag - Sweets, St. Nick - Making Memories, square punch - Creative Memories

Christmas Pines

Stamps: Rubbernecker - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, 3 tree Group Stamp Oasis,

Paper: White, Pinefeather - PTI

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Cottage Ivy, New Sprout & Bamboo Leaves, Ranger Distress Iced Spruce, Bundled Sage

Accessories: rhinestones - Kaiser

Waltzingmouse August Release Blog Waltz! A Tag and A Bag

We have finally arrived at the August Waltzingmouse New Release day!   All of the sets the Design Team has been showing you for the last 3 days are now available for purchase at the WMS Shop!

We are celebrating the release with our traditional WMS Design Team Blog Waltz.  And as always - you can win a stamp set of choice from this release - see details at the end of my post.

The waltz begins at Claire's blog . If you came here from Sandie's blog - you are in the right place!

I have two projects to share with you today.  Lots of pics so I tried to keep the chatter to a minimum!!

First I made a  tag using stamps from the full size stamp set Vintage Seed Packet.  I used the tag to dress up my plain Ball Mason jar full of flowers to give a friend.  I stamped the label, colored it with Copics, cut it out and layered it to purple and then black card stock panels.  I punched a hole in the top of the black piece and tied it around the neck of the jar with wrinkled seam tape.  I also stamped the little trowel from this set, colored it with Copics, cut it out and layered it over the tag -  isn't it cute?!

I filled the jar with some flowers from my garden -  Buddleia (Butterfly Bush), Red Sedum (that just has a tinge of red on it right now) and a single daisy!  How pretty is this??!!

 I also decorated a little heart shaped bag from Pouch Mart.

I stamped the opera tag on white, cut it with one of the WMS opera tag dies and sponged the edges before taking it out of the die.  I stamped a lantern, candle and flame from Little Lanterns and a sentiment from Light of the World Sentiments.

I tied the tag to the bag using a large eye needle and wrinkled seam tape -I poked the needle right through the bag - brought the seam tape down into the bag in one spot and up out of the bag in another  -  tying the ribbon through the curves in the top of the opera tag. I also added a few pieces of ScorTape to the back of the tag.  This will hold the tag on securely.  Below you can see the heart shape of this pretty bag when it's open (with the seam tape threaded through it). The threads in the bag are golden as you can see in the above pic.

I also made 3 tags/bookmarks to go inside my bag, again using stamps from Little Lanterns and Light of the World.  I made this little gift set to give to a friend who is going through some difficult times and will appreciate reading these encouraging verses.  She could use them as bookmarks or just prop them up on a shelf or counter to read whenever she passes by them.

The tags are a Scalloped Tag die from Spellbinders.  I stamped the lanterns in London Fog Ink so they didn't obstruct the verses.  I just love the variety of lamp shapes, candle, flame and glow sizes included in this set!

We hope you have enjoyed and been inspired by our previews the past 3 days - and our Blog Waltz today!

There will be a prize of a stamp set of choice from the new release.  There will be a random drawing of the winner from comments left on all of the Design Team blogs on the Waltz today.

You have until August 26th  6:59 AM Eastern to leave comments. The winner will be posted on Claire’s blog on Tuesday August 28th.

I am the last person on the Waltz -  we're so happy you danced with us today!  If you missed anyone - you will find the complete list here!  And you can now purchase all the new stamps at the WMS Shop!

Vase Tag:
Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Vintage Seed Packet

Paper:  White, True Black, Royal Velvet - PTI

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories:  Rhinestones - Kaiser, Ball Mason Jar - grocery or hardware store, Copics: G40, E35, Y13, V04, BG10, T2, wrinkled seam tape - Prairie Bird Boutique Etsy Shop, Cropadile.
 Heart Bag and Bookmarks:
Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Opera Tags, Light of the World Sentiments, Little Lanterns
Paper:  White, Lemon Tart - PTI
Ink:  Memento - Sweet Plum, Tuxedo Black, London Fog, Teal Zeal,  Ranger Distress - Scattered Straw, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmelade.
Accessories:  heart shaped organza bag - Pouch Mart.com,  Opera Tag Die - WMS/Spellbinders, Scalloped Tag Die - Spellbinders, ScorTape, large eye needle, wrinkled seam tape - Prairie Bird Boutique Etsy Shop, rhinestones - Bazzill Basics.
 

Old McBarn & McBarn Card - 2 brandy new templates by Creations by AR!

 If you are looking for my WMS preview post - please scroll down one post!

I'm so excited to share two wonderful new templates Adela is releasing today over at Creations by AR. 

OLD McBARN: and  OLD McBARN CARD!     How cute are these!  These templates come in PDF, DXF and SVG formats. (PDF you can print and cut - DXF and SVG you can use with cutting machines)

On the left is Old McBarn Card (that fits in a regular A2 envelope!) and on the right is Old McBarn - a little box where the roof comes off!   I decided to make old barns like the kind I've seen sitting in fields on abandoned farms in New Hampshire or Maine.  I used the PDF files - printed them on kraft card stock and cut them out.

To make them look old -  I first painted the barn wall pieces with Picket Fence Ranger Crackle paint and the roof, doors and windows with Frayed Burlap Crackle Paint.

After the pieces dried,  I rubbed my Ranger Distress Antique Linen ink pad over the white pieces.  Then I rubbed  my Vintage Photo Distress ink pad over both the white pieces and the roof and window pieces.  This gives a great aged/distress look - just what I was hoping to achieve! 

Then I added die cut tissue paper grass inked with Photo Distress and pretty die cut flowers and punched ferns around all sides.  I added a brass brad door knob and a stamped rooster ready to wake everybody up with his cock-a-doodle do!  I adhered everything with ScorTape to be sure it held with the crackle paint and inked surface.

Here's a close up of the roof where you can see the crackle of the paint. And below is the box opened up. The box measures 3" long x 2 1/4" wide x 4" high

And here is my coordinating Old McBarn card -again I started with the template printed on Kraft card stock, using the same crackle paint and inking techniques for the distressed look.

Adela designed this card so there is a little 3D piece on the front -  you can open the barn doors and see inside. This card folds flat to mail.   I have a little rooster and the sentiment 'Good Morning' in my barn!

 And here is the inside of my card.  I carried the distressing onto all the surfaces. If I want to stamp or write something here to the recipient - I'll adhere a square of plain card stock.

And once again, a shot of the two template projects! (Please note:  the doors on the card do actually meet in the center - but they are still opened a bit after folding them to take the pic with them open!)  

Now the fun part!

You can win your choice of one of these new templates!

How?  Just leave a comment on each blog linked below - there will be ONE random winner chosen from EACH of our blogs - so you have 8 chances to win!.

I will post the winner from my blog right back here on Saturday.

Please check out the rest of the Design Teams inspiring barn creations!  and don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win!

Adela Rossol:   http://cbyar.blogspot.com
Amy Park:   http://tethered2home.com

Julia Aston: you are here!  http://www.createwithjulia.blogspot.com

Lisa Somerville:   http://www.lisasomerville.com

Lyn Bernatovich: http://lynspaperpetunia.blogspot.com

Magdalena Cortez:   http://axesdesigns.blogspot.com

Patti J. Gilliam: http://www.cherisheachpreciousday.blogspot.com

Sue Kment:   http://suesstampingstuff.blogspot.com

Stamps:   Roosters & Good Morning sentiment from French Country set by Waltzingmouse

Paper:  Kraft, Rustic Cream, Harvest Gold, White, Simply Chartreuse - Papertrey Ink

Ink:  Ranger Distress - Antique Linen, Vintage Photo.

Accessories:  Fern and leaf punches - Martha Stewart, Primula Blooms Die - Memory Box, Punch a Bunch flower punch,  Ranger Distress Crackle Paint - Picket Fence, Frayed Burlap.  ScorTape, brad - Bazzill Basics/Imaginisce, Scotch Quick Dry adhesive., grass die - My Favorite Things.

WMS August Preview Day 3 - Lanterns & Light!

What exciting sets we have to show you today for Day 3 of the WMS August Release Previews!  Claire has designed 2 beautiful  mini sets with lanterns, posts, candles and holly adornments - Little Lanterns and Bright Seasons.  There's also a lovely sentiment set called Light of the World  - perfect to use with these lantern sets or alone!

Although your first thought might be to grab the lantern sets for Christmas/Winter cards -  I decided to use this lovely large lantern from Bright Seasons to create a spooky Halloween card!

This beautiful lantern, the candle, flame and glow are from Bright Seasons.  The owl is from Halloween Party,  the ravens, fence and Happy Haunting are from Hocus Pocus.   I stamped the images and sentiment on white card stock and then punched a circle to mask for the moon. I sponged around the edges with Dusty Concord and Spiced Marmalade distress inks and removed the mask to reveal my spooky full moon!

I hope you will stop by again tomorrow for the August Release Blog Waltz - you'll have a chance to win your choice of a stamp set from the new release!  Make a list of your fav sets  - they will all be available for purchase tomorrow!

Off we go to see all the wonderful Lantern projects the Design Team has created today!

Anya Schrier
Becca Feeken
Belinda Chang Langner
Bonnie Sharp
Clare Buswell
Julia Aston You are here!
 Jennifer Holmes
Kelly Schirmer
 Laurie Schmidlin
 Lynn Mercurio
Mona Pendleton
Sandie Dunne
Tosha Leyendekker
Claire Brennan (Owner)
 

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Bright Season ( available on 8/24), Halloween Party, Hocus Pocus.

Paper:  White, Royal Velvet - PTI

Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Memento Cantaloupe, Grape Jelly, London Fog, Tuxedo Black, Ranger Distress Spiced Marmelade and Dusty Concord.

Accessories:  1 3/4" circle punch, rhinestones - Kaiser, Eclipse Tape, Tiny Twinkles - Taylored Expressions, wrinkled seam tape - Prairie Bird Boutique Etsy Shop.

WMS August Preview Day 2 - Camellia & Opera Tags

Wow -  did you just LOVE all the Vintage Garden inspiration yesterday?  And thank you for all your lovely comments left!

Today the Waltzingmouse Design Team is previewing a lovely full size flower set called Camellia and a mini label set called Opera Tags.  There are also dies available created just for the WMS Opera set by Spellbinders - how cool is that?

I used stamps from both sets on this card -  stamping one of the opera tags, cutting it out by hand (didn't get the dies yet!), putting a large eyelet through the top, threading ribbon and eyelash yarn through the eyelet and layering it on the card base with thick foam dots.  I stamped the 'with Thanks' directly on the card - don't you LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the font on this?!!  There's a little shadow around the Thanks part....

 I stamped the Camellia and the leaves on white card stock.  Then I colored them with Ranger Distress stains (Worn Lipstick on the flower, Forest Green and Weathered Wood on the leaves).  After the stain dried - I spritzed the flower and leaves with gold Perfect Pearls mixed with water in a Mini Mister.  It adds a shimmer that doesn't quite show up in my pics (you might see it a bit below on the green part of the leaf).  I curved the leaves over my finger a bit and layered the flower and leaves over the opera tag again using thick foam dots so they really pop off the card.  My card is 4 1/4" x 4 1/4".

For my next project - I wanted to show that if you're not into coloring - these Camillias look lovely just stamped in a color on white!

I stamped the flower in red and the leaves in green and cut them out.  I stamped one of the sentiments from the Vintage Seed Packet set we showed yesterday and cut it with a banner die. I layered the leaves and sentiment to the back of the flower with foam tape.  I adhered all three to the front of this pretty polka dot organza bag from Pouch Mart using thick glue dots.

I used to have this 'thing' about soaps - I bought them or picked them up everywhere I went - the one in the green wrapper is a Bayberry Soap I bought at Colonial Williamsburg and inside the bag is a Comfrey Clarifying Bar from a stay at an Omni Hotel when we attended a wedding in Philadelphia  - it's packaged in crimped soft cardboard with a green belly band around it - so pretty and wonderful smelling!!  - anyway -  packaged soap is a wonderful gift idea to put in a little bag 'For My Friend' - and with my collection of soap - I can make quite a few of these!!! This bag is 4" x 6".

Here are links to the rest of the Design Team -  let's go see what creations they made today!  Hope to see you back tomorrow for Day 3 of the previews!

Anya Schrier
 Becca Feeken
Bonnie Sharp
 Belinda Chang Langner
Clare Buswell
Julia Aston  You are here!
Jennifer Holmes
 Kelly Schirmer
 Laurie Schmidlin
 Lynn Mercurio
 Mona Pendleton
Sandie Dunne
Tosha Leyendekker
Claire Brennan (Owner)

With Thanks
Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Opera Tags, Camellia (available 8/24)

Paper:  White - PTI

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black

Accessories:  Ranger Distress Stains - Worn Lipstick, Weathered Wood, Forest Moss, jumbo eyelet - SU, thick foam dots, mini mister and Gold Perfect Pearls - Ranger,, Cropadile, wrinkled seam tape - Prairie Bird Boutique Etsy Shop, glitter eyelash yarn - Martha Stewart
For My Friend
Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Camellia, Vintage Seed Packet (available 8/24)
Paper:  White - PTI
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Love Letter, Bamboo Leaves
Accessories:  thick glue dots, foam tape, rhinestones - Kaiser & Michaels, Banner from Nested Lacey Pennants, packaged soaps, polka dot organza bag - Pouch Mart.

WMS August Release Preview Day 1 - Vintage Gardens

Welcome Stamping Friends!  For the next three days I, and my fellow WMS Design Team Members, will be previewing all of the wonderful new stamps sets Claire has created for the Waltzingmouse August Release that will be available on Friday August 24th.

Today the Design Team is working with wonderful Vintage Garden sets -  There are 3 mini sets -  Vintage Garden Produce, Vintage Garden Flowers,  Vintage Garden Appleblossom Seeds and a full size set, Vintage Seed Garden.

For my first project, I made a card using the vintage carrot image from Vintage Garden Produce, inking it with orange and green and stamping it on a panel of Rustic Cream card stock.  I stamped the word 'carrot' right over the image.  I layered the stamped panel over the Rustic Cream card using foam tape and sponged the edges of the card with Antique Linen.  Very clean and simple focusing on the lovely detail of the image!  This makes a lovely note card.

 Next, I made a tag using this pretty hyacinth and the Latin name of the flower stamp from the mini set Vintage Garden Flowers. I just love the smell of hyacinths when they bloom in my garden around Easter time each spring! This would make a lovely bookmark for a friend who gardens or who just loves flowers!

I used a shipping tag, coloring it by running my Victorian Velvet Distress ink pad across my non-stick craft mat, spritzing it with water and dragging the tag through it. I dried it with my hot gun and stamped the hyacinth and Latin name with black ink.  I colored the plant using Cut-n-Dry pen nibs and distress inks.  I stamped the background using a stamp from the Chicken Wire set and the dotted background from Off Beat Backgrounds.  Then I sponged the edges of the tag with Scattered Straw and Tumbled Glass Distress Inks.  I layered the tag to a piece of purple card stock, added 3 rhinestones and looped two colored seam tapes and a shimmer cord through the hole.

For my last project today - I made a card using the stamp sold singly called Vintage Garden Appleblossom Seeds.  The sentiment is from a set we'll be previewing tomorrow and the background panel is from Pic-Nic Patterns. 

 I colored the seed pack image with Copics, cut it out and layered it on the white card with foam tape. I made this card for the Featured  Stamper Challenge on Split Coast and I CASED this card of Maureens changing images but using her basic sketch and garden theme.

Now let's go and see what the following  Design Team Members have created today!  Please stop by tomorrow for Preview Day #2!

Anya Schrier
 Becca Feeken
 Bonnie Sharp
Belinda Chang Langner
Julia Aston  You are here!
Jennifer Holmes
Kelly Schirmer
Laurie Schmidlin
Lynn Mercurio
Tosha Leyendekker
Claire Brennan (Owner)

Carrot Card:

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Vintage Garden Produce (to be released 8/24)

Paper:  Rustic Cream - PTI

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Bamboo Leaves, Tangelo, Ranger Distress Antique Linen.

Accessories:  Foam tape.

Hyacinth Tag:

Stamps: Waltzingmouse -  Vintage Garden Flowers (to be released 8/24), Chicken Wire, Off Beat Backgrounds.

Paper:  Royal Velvet - PTI, Avery shipping tag 4 1/4" x 2 3/8" - Staples

Ink:  Ranger Distress - Black Soot, Scattered straw, frayed burlap, tumbled glass, dusty concord, peeled paint, Victorian Velvet.

Accessories:  shimmer cord and wrinkled seam tape - Prairie Bird Boutique Etsy Shop, Mini Mister, Non Stick Craft Mat and Cut-n-Dry Pen Nibs - Ranger, rhinestones - Kaiser

Seeded Thanks: 

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Pic Nic Patterns, with Thanks from Camellia (available 8/24), Vintage Garden Appleblossom Seeds (available 8/24)

Paper: white - PTI

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Bamboo Leaves

Accessories: Copics - G82, E53, E37, BG10, Y38, ROO, Peabod Twine - The Twinery, foam tape, glue dots.