What is the simplest, yet most complicated looking stamping trick? Check this out!

What is the simplest, yet most complicated looking stamping trick? Pull out your rubber stamps and Marvy brush markers to create a masterpiece in seconds! I used stamps by The Local King and Impression Obsession. Isn't it gorgeous?

To achieve this look I used glossy cardstock, colored directly on the rubber stamp with 2 shades of each color (light then dark), huffed and stamped. That's it!! It looks like I took great time and detail to make the look but it was a 60 second deal....if that! Then with a very light color, I stamped the branches background stamp over the image of the bird and flowers.  Pink and blue is one of my favorite color combos for cards.

The base card is from Stampin' Up! and the layer is from my stash. The card's focal point is accented with burlap ribbon from The Paper Studio, Cuttlebug embossing inked with Hero Arts neon ink and pearls from Recollections. The sentiment is an encouraging one from Dylusions.

Please let me know if you have tried this technique or will in the future. 

Thanks for stopping by!

La-Vie


Challenges:

• Kitty Bee Designs - favorite color combo
• Sister Act Card Challenge - Always anything goes
• Stamp sun challenges - Anything goes - stamped and colored image as focal

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Masculine Get Well Card

When I heard one of my online crafty friends DH was hospitalized and in need of some cheering up, I offered to send a handmade card. Get Well cards for men (or any card for men) is not my strong point. So I decided to take the pressure off and create something my style and just to have fun with it.  Here's what I came up with.

The A2 woodgrain base is from The Olde Town Market box of cards by The Paper Studio. I then layered scraps of cardstock from my stash. The script one is by Prima Marketing and the other... I don't remember!

My almost 10-year-old daughter helped me choose the gear stamps. I kept chanting... "I need something....MANLY!" In my best, deep, loud superhero voice and she kept me on track.

I tried to use Pinterest for inspiration but I have not pinned many masculine crafts yet and they all seem to have unrelated images with sayings. Why is that? I kept thinking I need something manly but not cutesy and it SO hard to do both with the right sentiment.

Normally I would use an umbrella image with this sentiment but I didn't feel it was manly enough. I'll be working on getting the manly cards right this year.

Supplies:

• The Olde Town Market box of cards - The Paper Studio
• Script cardstock - Prima Marketing
• Yellow cardstock - stash (DCWV?)
• We R Memory Keepers - Sweetheart inkers - black
• Inside sentiment - "On the mend" The Stamps of Life
• Gear, clock and screw stamps - "Get it in Gear" Technique Tuesday
• External sentiment - "Umbrella4You" The Stamps of Life
• Tim Holtz Distress ink - frayed burlap
• Tsukineko - Versafine: Onxy Black
• Scotch ATG
• Ranger Multi-matte medium
• Woodgrain sequins - studio calico

Inquiring minds want to know! How easy/hard it is for you to make manly cards. I'm also looking for tips/advice on how to keep my cards MANLY!! Hit me with your best tip/trick please? Inquiring minds want to know!

Please share my posts on social media. Thanks!

La-Vie

Wedding Card Collabo Featuring Our Daily Bread Designs, Gelatos and Color Me

Hello everyone! Prep for my post today started a couple of months ago when I was teaching my 9-year-old daughter craft techniques using Gelatos on Color Me card toppers by Hot off the Press. She loves art and painting so I figured Gelatos would be a great tool for her. I gave her the guidelines, a card topper, the gelatos and a baby wipe and off she went coloring and blending. What she came back with was stunning. So I promised that one day I would make a card with her creation.

Fast forward to the present. I came across the card topper my daughter colored this past weekend at the precise moment I was scrambling to find a starting point for a unique card for a young couple who's wedding I was about to attend. So I remembered my promise and got to work. Here's what I cam up with.

The card topper was rectangular in the beginning but I asked my daughter to cut out the bottom edge along the design to bring more drama to the card front. The topper almost fit the 5x7 card but I needed to trim a bit off the right edge.

Now what I thought? Some questions arose... could I heat emboss over the Gelatos? I knew I wanted to use this darling stamp from Our Daily Bread Designs and one from Recollections.  With not a second to spare I swiped the topper with my embossing buddy, stamped with Versamark and embossed the happily ever after sentiment in detailed embossing powder by Ranger. Using the 9" Xyron I attached the topper to the card base and moved to the inside of the card.

Next I embossed the Marriage Recipe on the inside of the card and voila! the card was complete. I will definitely do another collaboration with my daughter soon. It definitely helps when they want to help in the craft room (but in certain cases that's not possible or practical).

Supplies:

• American Crafts - green 5x7 card base and envelope
• Hot off the Press - Ebony Color Me Floral Card Toppers
• Recollections - Just married stamp set - Happily Ever After sentiment
• Our Daily Bread Designs - Happy Marriage Recipe
• Ranger Super Fine Detail embossing powder - black
• Tsukineko - Versamark
• Impression Obsession - Mini Mount
• Tim Holtz - Grid Blox
• Xyron - 9" Creative Station 
• Stampin' Up! - Embossing buddy

Thanks for stopping by! If you have tales of you and your kids crafting, please share your story and links in the comments below and I'll check it out!

La-Vie

Give Thanks Birthday Card

A friend ordered a birthday card for the stylish first lady of her church and this is what I came up with!

I decided to create an elegant card using one of the new Anna Griffin embossing folders and DCWV metallic cardstock - the perfect combination! I love shades of pink. This time I decided to also emboss the flap of the envelope. It was very easy to emboss the top three-quarters of the envelope flap and line it up to emboss the rest without an interruption. An unheard of situation in the past with Cuttlebug. I am really enjoying the finer details and design of the Anna Griffin folders.

The stamping came out a little light in areas (especially the word LORD) because the card is textured and my ink pad is worn. I colored in the missing spots with my Zig writer marker using both the broad and fine tips.

If you follow me, you know I do not truly finish the interior of my cards. But I had a master plan today!! Ha ha!! Once my friend described the recipient as stylish I immediately thought of Forever Young. I repeated the embossing and color scheme from the front of the card and created this stylish lady. I even had a little fashion show trying on several patterns of dresses on her before deciding on Provo Craft scrapbook paper. 

It's quite a surprise when you open this card. I usually place major images like this on the outside of a card rather than the inside. I love the stamp sets I used from Stampin' up! They went together like a hand and glove! The finishing touch was adding the bling in shades of green. This is definitely a style I will create again. Love it!

Supplies:

• American Crafts 5 x 7" pink card, white envelope
• DCWV metallic cardstock (gold and plum)
• Green mosaic scrapbook paper - Provo Craft
• Cricut Cartridge Forever young p. 28 
• Ribbon from Michaels
• Bazzill teal cardstock (at dress neckline)
• Stamps - Stampabilities: Give Thanks; Stampin' Up: "Each one..." Trust God, "Happy Birthday:" Well Scripted
• Cuttlebug and Anna Griffin folder: Elaborate Quatrefoil
• Recollections bling - in shades of green
• Xyron 1" and 2.5"
• Creative Memories corner rounder
• Ranger Archival ink - black
• Zig writer - black

Please let me know how you like this creation by leaving a comment. Better yet, please share this post for me on social media. I am on vacation so I really need your help to get the word out! Thanks!!!

La-Vie

Decorated Halloween Envelope

I know, I know... summer is not over yet, but I am gearing up to make Halloween cards for Operation Write Home, a challenge I organized for my favorite Facebook group Kraftie Kre8ations (KK8)! When lo and behold, a timed challenge was introduced... we had to decorate an envelope and post it within 2 hours. So I decided to create a Halloween themed envelope. I love how it came out in only 30 mins!!

It's funny how a timed challenges gets the creative juices going! We have all kinds of fun events, swaps, games, and I have just been awarded a spot on their DT, so you'll hear a lot more about me and KK8 in the future. I help administrate the group, so leave me a message below if you'd like to join! We'd love to have you.

I started out with a neon orange envelope from Staples. It measures 6.5" x 4.75" so it's larger than an A2. I used Jolee's dimensional stickers (pumpkins, spooky), washi tape from Recollections, Copic multiliner to draw the return address lines and a single stamp from Stamps of Life - Postage2Stamp and several from the Fiskars set called Halloween Night. Using the masking technique I was able to stamp the cat behind the area for the postage stamp. I love the sticky all over Post-it notes for this technique. It was easy to cut all the grooves with my Elizabeth Crafts fussy cut scissors as well. But by farm the star of the show was Martha Stewart's glow in the dark glitter. Yes folks, this envelope GLOWS IN THE DARK.

Now for the flap, I decided to use 2 more stamps from the Fiskars set and some more washi tape. I stamped all images in Ranger Archival ink in black. Coloring for the candy corn was done with Copics (100 and YR07). I don't usually decorate my envelopes...but I will from now on!!! Thanks for stopping by!

Challenges
DL.Art - ATG



La-Vie

Gratitude is an action word

Here's another card from the ones I created especially for Amare Hair Salon, a local spa. The card base was cut from my stash with the Cricut Cartridge Sophie. I love how the cut outs reveal a complimentary solid color underneath. The green layer is Bazzill. I inked it with ranger distresed ink - Forest moss - to set it apart from the printed cardstock. The sentiment is from Inkadinkado thankful for everything clear stamp set stamped in black Archival Ink.

Inside the stamp is from My Pink Stamper everyday sentiments - a fav go to for my thank you cards. When a card is busy on the outside I like it to be nice and calm on the inside. This really is a great example of that craft style.


La-Vie

Hello Kitty Heart card

We needed yet another birthday card for one of my son's classmates who had a party last weekend. Since my son is too little to assist, my daughter made the card for him. The Cricut cart Hello Kitty Greetings is full of shaped cards. In order to have the card a different color inside, we cut the card in green and then assembled the Hello Kitty as usual on a black background. Then I added adhesive and lined up the card front and the Hello Kitty to create a seamless marriage between the two. We cut this card at 5" and stamped using Ranger Archival ink in black and TPC Studio: Celebration stamps. My daughter expertly assembled the Hello Kitty, did the stamping and wrote his name in the card. She also added some doodles to personalize it.

La-Vie

Good Teachers are Never Forgotten

This week is national appreciation week. After I prepared gifts for the teachers at both of my kids' schools,  I found out that my daughter's school PTA served breakfast and lunch to the teachers two weeks ago. I still believe in showing appreciation for teachers and other staff during this week so I am going forward as planned. I could not do their job. I respect their abilities and patience. So I got to creating a special card to express our thanks.

I designed a card, envelope and gift bag for the occasion using school-themed scrapbook papers, Cricut cuts and my favorite teacher-themed stamps. I used different papers on the outside and inside of the card. Stamping my children's names is a time saver.

Using cuts in varying sizes creates a coordinated look. Envelopes and gift bags are often forgotten so I decided to coordinate everything using stamps and dimensional stickers.

Card base - Jo Ann Essentials white value pack cards and envelopes
Solid color layer - SEI Poppy Stack, DCWV adhesive mat stack (neutral)
Patterned paper - Over the Moon Press by EK Success - Classroom ABC
and Back to School border, Colorbok ABCs
Ribbon - American Crafts Premium Ribbon
Stamps - Teacher stamp set by Clear and Simple Stamps, Heart - Something Sweet stamp set by Stampin' Up!, fonts - Impression Obsession
Dimensional stickers - pencils, chalkboard by Punch studio and crayons Karen Foster Designs
Cricut cuts - Apple print and cut from Cricut Imagine cart Kate's Kitchen 3" inside card and 5.5" on gift bag, banner on the card, envelope and gift bag print and cut from Best Friends at 1.5" and 2"
Ink - sweetheart inkers in blue and brown, Colorbok burnt sienna chalk ink, ranger archival ink in jet black

I thought a softer font would be better for my daughter's cards. I decided not to link the letters (even though they are cursive) for a unique look. 

Here I am in my craft room making 15 cards and gift sets. Teachers will receive either Tastefully Simple or Fruit flavored loose tea from Teavana.

La-Vie