Waltzingmouse June Blog Party - Relax - It's the Summer Vacation!

 Today I'm joining the WMS Blog Party -  this month the theme is Summer Time Fun! 

 

So I have lots of pictures of my project to share with you today -  I'll try to keep the words to a minimum!   I started my project with a little metal 'lunch box' that came with Tootsie Rolls inside that I got at Target in the Dollar aisle a couple of years ago.  I bought it because it was so CUTE (I love miniature things!) and I thought I might use it someday for something -  well -  today is the day!

 

 The box measures approximately 4 1/4" x 2 3/4" x 1 1/2" (of course the Tootsie Rolls are LONG gone!)

  Here's the panel I made for the front - stamps from My Island and Free Spirit Boy.  I layered orange card stock over red - and sponged the edges with Ranger Distress Wild Honey Ink.

 

 Here's the back panel - stamps from My Island, Playful Pinwheels, Free Spirit Sentiments, Way Out West.  I adhered some orange twill around the sides using Scor Tape.

 And when you open it up -   there's a little brown bag of crayons - stamps from Playful Pinwheels

 

 AND under the crayons are tucked some little cards to color!

 I made some for boys and some for girls as samples - Stamps from Half Pint Heroes,

 stamps from Half Pint Heroes and Half Pint Heroines

 stamps from Heroines - Fairy Princess and Half Pint Heroines

How fun would this be to give to a child when they're going for a long car ride - or camping - or to give them when they come visit you?!   Cute huh??  And you can keep making cards for the box using these or other images!  The kids could use them as cards to give to friends and family after they colored them as well!

So - what's  your idea of Summertime Fun??  Come join the WMS blog party - see all the details and everyone's linked projects on Claire's blog here -  you have 24 hours to link your card over there!

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Heroines - Fairy Princess, Half Pint Heroines, Half Pint Heroes, Way Out West, Free Spirit Boy, Free Spirit Sentiments, Playful Pinwheels, My Island.
Paper:  White, Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise - PTI
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Ranger Distress Festive Berries, Wild Honey
Accessories:  Scor Tape, orange zest twill - PTI, small lunchbox - Target, corner rounder - Zutter, mini kraft bag - Canvas Home (Joanne's), Crayola crayons

Hello Sunshine!

I got to use several new things on my card today -

My cloud die, my small circle burst die and my hello die - whoo hoo!  I love when I use things I buy.....  Well, to be totally honest -  the clouds and circle burst have been sitting in my 'die box' for several months eagerly awaiting the day they would be brought into the light!  But the 'hello' die I just got today - and here it goes - popped onto a card on it's first day in my craft room!!

I made this card using this week's CAS(E) this Sketch .

And since there is a lot of yellow on this card -  I'm entering it in the Cas-ology challenge - cue card - Yellow!

Also slipping this into the Addicted to Cas challenge - code word Circles

I really should have a little birdy flying through the sky on this card don't you think?!  Gosh - it makes me happy just looking at this -  summer's coming!!

Paper:  white, Harvest Gold, Spring Rain - PTI
Accessories:  foam tape, hello die - PTI, clouds and small circle burst die - Memory Box.

James is Two

As promised -  today I'm posting the card I made for my grand nephew, James, for his 2nd birthday that we celebrated last weekend.  You might guess that the party theme was Elmo from Sesame Street.  James had the good fortune of actually 'meeting' Elmo at a traveling Sesame Street show that his parents took him to.  That is where they snapped this pic of him.  I printed the photo, cropped it and framed it inside a die cut photo frame.

I made the card as just a card front -  and I attached a die cut easel to the back so it can be displayed.  I stamped  James' actual birthday on a panel and adhered it to the back along with my written birthday message to him. (I was going to put the date on the front - but it just didn't fit anywhere!)

Here are a few pics of the wonderful gathering we had on Sunday to celebrate James turning 2.

  Mum Christie made these fun Elmo Cupcakes

 She also had these fun gift bags for the 7 or so toddlers at the party! (there were also several infants in attendance - such fun!)

 Elmo greeted guests as they arrived along with a pretty felt Happy Birthday banner.

 Grandma Llanor made these delicious Sesame Street character fruit bowls - how fun are these?!

 Here's James blowing out his #2 candle - they had to hold his hands because he tried to put it out with his fingers!

 Here he is with cousin Landon - future golfers of America??!

 Do you think James had a fun time at his birthday party??!

Are you going to join in on the Waltzingmouse Blog Party on June 17th?  The theme this month is Summertime Fun - check out all the details here - and please join us!!

Stamps:  Whoo's from QT Hooty Owl set - Pink Cat Studios, numbers from Free Spirit Sentiments set - Waltzingmouse, letters from Fresh Alphabet - PTI.
Paper:  Pure Poppy, white, Summer Sunrise - PTI.
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories:  foam tape, houndstooth embossing folder - Provo Craft, photo frame and word cloud dies - ajillianvancedesign, easel die - Tim Holtz Alterations.

Mahalo

Today I have a card using a wonderful cut file panel from Waltzingmouse Stamps.  They come in a downloadable set of 3 different panels called Art Deco Card Panels - this obviously is one of them!  I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut it -  and I have to say -  it does take a while to cut with all this detail and then there is a lot of poking out of the pieces! -  but it results in this beautiful panel! 

I layered the panel onto a black panel using a glue pen to adhere it. I tied the twine around the panel and layered it onto a black card base.   I stamped Mahalo (thank you) from the WMS set My Island, punched it with a keytag punch, punched a small hole in the end and looped the ends of the twine through the hole and tied the bow.

I'm entering my card in the Tuesday Trigger - Vintage Vagabond

and the CAS-ology Cue Card - Yellow challenge.

Thanks so much for coming by today!  Tomorrow I'll have a pic of the card I made for my grand nephew's 2nd birthday - as well as some pics of the fun party his parents had for him!

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - My Island

Paper:  True Black - PTI, mustard - Prismatics

Ink:  Ranger Distress Walnut Stain

Accessories:  Art Deco Card Panel Cut File - Waltzingmouse, Glue Pen, Twine - Waltzingmouse, Keytag punch - SU, 1/8" hole punch - Fiskars.

What We Made at The Heirloom Show

A weekend ago, my good stamping buddy, Anne Harmon (jdmommy on SCS) and I trekked out to Springfield, MA to the Heirloom Stamping show to work the Rubbernecker table with owner Dave.   We had a fun two days of demonstrating stamp sets - even though we were on our feet for 7 hours straight - we have such a blast doing it - not to mention it's a girls weekend away for us as well!!

So - on the 2nd day Lindsay, who has a great blog called the Frugal Crafter, stopped by the booth and asked if she could take videos of both Anne and I doing our little demos for her blog - how cool!!     You can check them out on her post here.   Mine is the 2nd video on the post  and Anne's is the 3rd - you'll see our names as well as 'Rubbernecker'

When I came home - I went into my craft room and immediately made cards like the ones Anne and I made during the show and on the video - and here they are!

This shows the stamp set (Create a Garden Set #1)and techniques (sponging with two colors and making your own multicolor ink pad) I was using. (The dots stamp is from Create A Garden Set #2 that includes clay pots instead of baskets)

Below is the homemade ink pad I created using Cut n Dry Stamp Pad Felt and Ranger Distress Reinkers - so I could stamp my flowers in multicolors. You can also see the negative mask I made to lay over my basket stamping so I could sponge the 2 colors of green on it (Bundled Sage and Peeled Paint).  First I sponged the lighter green over the whole basket - then I sponged the darker green along the top - around and down the right side - and across the bottom - leaving a crescent of the light green on the left side to look like a sun spot.

 I made the graph shown above my ink pad so that I would know what inks I used if I wanted to re-ink it.  I will store it in a ziploc bag and it should stay moist for quite some time. My pad is 3"x3" so each color is 1" square.  I just used the eyedropper in each reinker - using about 2 dropper fulls on each square.

I inked the flower stamp at the 4 corners of Worn Lipstick, Mustard Seed, Tumbled Glass and Wild Honey on the pad (top left).  For the grasses I inked around the Wild Honey, Brushed Olive and Bundled Sage area.

 And here is the card I made using one of the stamp sets Anne was using at the show -  Watercolor Poppies #719.  It's a two stamp set -  there is a solid stamp of the poppies and leaves, and an outline stamp. 

So first you color on the solid stamp using Ranger Distress Color Markers. (You could also use inks of course).  Next,  you mist the stamp with water using a Mini Mister and stamp it on the card.  Then you ink the outline stamp in black and stamp it over the colored stamping.

Two lovely cards that work up quite quickly and are sure to impress whomever you send them too!

Basket Card:
Stamps:  basket, flower, grass and stem from Create a Garden Set #1, dots stamp from Create a Garden Set #2,  Beautiful Wishes sentiment - Rubbernecker
Paper:  White, Aqua Mist - PTI
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black, Ranger Distress Bundled Sage and Peeled Paint on basket - colors from home made ink pad listed in post above.
Accessories:   Cut n Dry Stamp Pad Felt - Ranger.

Watercolor Poppies:
Stamps:  Watercolor Poppies 719, Beautiful Wishes Sentiment -   Rubbernecker
Paper:  White - PTI
Ink:  Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories:  Mini Mister - Ranger, Ranger Distress Markers -Spiced Marmalade, Brushed Corduroy, Barn Door, Victoran Velvet, Forest Moss and Shabby Shutters.

Two Wheels Move the Soul

Happy Sunday everyone!   It is a GORGEOUS summer day here in Massachusetts - and Kent and I are off to my grandnephews 2nd birthday party - I'm looking forward to a nice afternoon in my niece's yard with friends and family!  I'll post the card I made for James and pics of his party in a day or two!

I made this card for two challenges - The Cas-ology challenge - cue card - wheels and the SCS Featured Stamper challenge.

jodi r is our featured stamper today - and I chose to case her Fresh Apples for Sale card.  I changed the truck to a motorcycle and made it CAS with just the image layer over the card base.  I colored in some of the motorcycle with a blue Copic and a silver gel pen. I drew the frame with a black 01 micron pen.

Well -  gotta run -  don't want to be late for the party!  Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Also slipping this into the Less is More Challenge    Need for Speed!

Stamps: motorcycle and sentiment from Live to Ride set - ajilliandesign, color splashes from Water Color Wonder Set - PTI
Paper: white, Canyon Clay - PTI
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Ranger Distress Salty Ocean, Mowed Lawn and Rusty Hinge
Accessories: silver gell stick pen - Unibal, 01 micron pen - Sakura

WMS May Release Inspiration - USA 1776

Every Tuesday and Thursday in June some of the WMS design team will be posting using the new May Release Stamp sets - USA 1776 and Country Labels 4.  You can find out who's posting by checking Claire's WMS blog on Tuesday and Thursday each week in June!

Today it's Lynn and me!  I'm using the festive USA 1776 set for my projects -  It's time to get your party on!!  Wouldn't these look festive and fun on your celebratory party table??!!

I made these wonderful party favor table decorations using templates from Claire's WMS shop -   The Three King's Boxes template and the Tea Cracker cut file.  These are both FREE downloads!  Claire created these for Christmas -  but I've commandeered them for the USA 4th of July - and I bet you could figure out how to use these stamps for New Year's Eve, birthday, graduation or another celebration - using different colors and sentiments on these fun templates!

So - I took a few pics as I was making these so you could see just what I did.  I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut the Tea Cracker cut files.  Then I stamped them with one of the fireworks stamps in this set.

Rolled it up on my glue pen to get the curve going.

Added a strip of double sided tape to one edge - rolled 'em up and sealed the edge.

Then I pinched the area with the cut out diamonds together on each end

and just pushed the end towards the center a bit to get a good crease.

Here they are unadorned - 

I stamped Happy 4th punching it out with a small oval punch and adhered on the cracker with foam tape.

I tied red and blue wrinkled seam tape around the ends.  You could put M&M's, mints, a special note, any small treat inside these.  Mine measure approx 5 1/4" long 1" diameter.

And here are the straight and tall Three Kings - ready to hold lots of treats, a dried flower bouquet or even a taper candle (for looks only - NOT to be lit!)

Here's how I stamped the more decorated ones.  The blue diamonds and red line stamps along the bottom are from the previously released set Heirloom Patterns.

Score where noted, fold it up, tape the ends tie a grosgrain ribbon around the neck and add the stamped die cut star!

This one I stamped more simply with just the 'crown' stamping, the star and ribbon.  Look how different they look just by using a red or blue ribbon!

The star is stamped with a stars stamp and a stripes stamp in the set - they are so easy to line up - and when you've stamped 5 of them - they fit in the Spellbinders Star die!

So - one more look at how festive your next celebration could be!

Now let's waltz over to Lynn's blog to see what she has to inspire us with!  Be sure to check Claire's blog every Tuesday and Thursday in June to see who's posting - I'll be highlighting the Country Labels 4 set on June 27th!

Tea Crackers:
Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - USA 1776
Paper:  whiteMichaels and some PTI
Ink:  Ranger Distress Festive Berries and Salty Ocean
Accessories:  ScorTape, foam tape, small oval punch - SU, tea cracker cut file - WMS, wrinkled seam tape - Prairie Bird Boutique Etsy Shop

3 Kings Boxes:
Stamps: Waltzingmouse - USA 1776
Paper: white - Michaels and some PTI
Ink:  Memento Nautical Blue and Lady Bug
Accessories:  ScorTape, foam tape, 1" circle punch - EK Success, Star Nestabilities - Spellbinders, Enchanted Evening and Pure Poppy Grosgrain Ribbon - PTI, 3 Kings Boxes Template - WMS.