4/30/14

I love You

Hi everyone.  It's Wednesday and that means its time for a new challenge at Mark's Finest Papers and Stamps.  

This week's Simple Salutations Challenge #95 is to use a tag or two on your card.

I created a mini card and stamped a swan on the card.    The sentiment was added to a tag that was added to the card with foam adhesives for dimension.


I added some water under the swan with a Zig Markers.

Don't forget to enter  your card for a chance to win some stamps.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Steph

4/27/14

Birdhouse love

Hi everyone, I am so excited to be guest designing for Susan K. Weckesser today.   I love her collection of papers and stamps.  Check out my post on Susan's blog.






Hope you'll stop by and let me know what you think.

Steph

4/26/14

Surprise Thank you Card

Hi everyone. 

Just wanted to show you another creation with my Prima doll stamps.  I absolutely adore them.  When I first got them, I was a little alarmed at how big they were, but the more I played around, the more I realized that the possibilities of creating with them is endless.


If you are anything like me, you have tons of envelopes.  So I thought I'd play around with envelopes this morning.  I took a legal size envelope, sealed it, trimmed a 1/2" off the top edge and punched a half circle in the front portion.  The cut kraft paper to fit and also punched a half circle, slightly larger. 


 
 

 
  
The pattern paper is Authentique which I inked with Clearsnap Mix'd Media Ink before matting with brown cardstock.  The ribbon is from May Arts and is gorgeous!!!  So, layering this panel on the kraft paper, I also punched a slightly larger half circle.  Isn't she just the prettiest thing!!!!! 
 
 
 



Now, just for the surprise!   I added an interior pull out card and created a pocket to hold a gift card.  A simple Thank You was stamped on the pocket.






 
So, what are you waiting for - grab your envelopes and start using them.  I know I'm going to create some more projects with envelopes.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Steph




 


 

4/25/14

Wish

Check out my blog post today for Basically Bare

The canvas may be small, but it's packed full of lots of Basically Bare embellishments and Art Anthology paints. 





 
The background was created with a Crafter's Workshop stencil - Bricks - and some modeling paste.  Once it dried, I went to town will all kinds of fun products.
 

 
 
The sun is actually 2 Basically Bare Gear embellishments that I "modified", inked and embossed with Clearsnap products before adding twine and a brad.  The tree was painted in 2 colors of Art Anthology paint and the bird and leaves were stamped/die cut from a Stephanie Barnard/Sizzix Framelits set.  
 
I needed something to fill in the empty space so I dug through my stash and found these fun stickers.  One word says it all!
 
What mix'd media project are you working on today?
 
Thanks for popping by today.
 
Steph


4/23/14

Hello Tiger

Hi everyone.  It's Wednesday and that means its time for a new challenge at Mark's Finest Papers and Stamps.  

This week's Simple Salutations Challenge #94 is to use lace, twine or ribbon on your card.

 I created a mini card and stamped the tiger on the card.  The sentiment was added with foam adhesives for dimension and twine was tied to the left side of the card.



Don't forget to enter  your card for a chance to win some stamps.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Steph

4/22/14

A Special Friend

Good morning everyone, it's a new challenge at Cornish Heritage Farms and Kristine has asked us to create with the Thomas Kinkade stamps.

I've used Streams of Living Water  stamping it in black and adding spots of color with Tombow Markers.  I didn't want to color the entire image so I chose to frame the church.

I also scored several lines above and below the image and added the sentiment from Script Essential Expressions between the scored lines.  To make the scored lines stand out, I added brown in around the entire card.



Don't forget to stop by everyone's blog today for more inspiration.



Thanks for stopping by today.


Steph

4/20/14

Happy Easter Centerpiece

Happy Easter everyone.

I created a fun Easter centerpiece using stamps from Unity and inks from Clearsnap, all by the wonderful Ann Butler.  Details can be found on Ann Butler's blog.




I found this wood basket and thought it would make a great Easter centerpiece, so I first painted the basket yellow, then pulled out  my stamps and inks and got to work.  Alternating stamps and colors around the basket, I created a fun and bright centerpiece.  The Unity 1″ Stripes. Dots.Hearts stamps and the 1″ Doily stamps were stamped on the rails in alternating colors – Tangelo, Limelight, and Berry.  The 1″ Rail Fence stamp from Kellycraft was stamped on the side panels in Limelight.




Several Easter eggs were stamped with 1″ Stripes.Dots.Hearts stamps and 1″ Doily stamps using Limelight, Sunshine and Berry.  Happy Easter was die cut and then stamped with EZ-Des 2″ Checkered Woven Hearts in Limelight.


All items were die cut using my Cricut Expression.  The chick was inked with Sunshine and Tangelo.  Additional eggs were stamped.  All items were attached to picks and then inserted  into Styrofoam. 

Robin’s Nest Dew Drops were added as finishing touches to the eggs and the eyes of the chick and rabbit.

This was such a fun project to create and  looked  lovely on the Easter table

 
 
Thanks for stopping by today.
 
Steph
 

4/16/14

Enjoy Today

Hi everyone.  It's Wednesday and that means its time for a new challenge at Mark's Finest Papers and Stamps.  

This week's Simple Salutations Challenge #93 is to create an Easter card.  I used the Friends stamp set.


The background paper is from the Robin's Nest.  The flower was colored with Copic Markers and then fussy cut and added to the card with foam adhesives for dimension.




Don't forget to enter your card here for a chance to win some stamps.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Steph

4/15/14

Sweet Cards with the Robin's Nest

This month, the Robin's Nest team is working with the fabulous Robin's Nest Special Delivery collection.  This collection has papers you can use for boys and girls.  We are also working with Ecstasy Crafts, the maker of some wonderful embossing folders.

I created 2 very different cards using the Special Delivery collection. 

This Friendship card uses an Ecstasy Crafts embossing folder, inking over the raised flowers and adding Robin's Nest Dew Drops.


 



This Sweet Girl card using Robin's Nest stickers.  I die cut "Sweet Girl" from its base, matted it with white cardstock, then placed it back on the base.  Additionally, the little girl on the tag was die cut from the large tag sticker and tied to some ribbon wrapped around the card.


I also used another Ecstasy Crafts embossing folder and added a few Robin's Nest Dew Drops.

Check out the blog for details.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Steph

4/14/14

May Arts Challenge Winner

May Art's challenge this month was to create with their new retro color selection.  I was lucky enough to be selected to participate in this challenge and these are my creations:

In Grandma's Trunk - I found this little wood box and knew it be a wonderful starting point for something!!!

So I pulled out some lovely Art Anthology paints and created Grandma's Trunk.  I used an older Sizzix die to create the dress form, dressed her with a pink dress and added tulle for the base of the dress which was tied with May Arts ribbon.

The doily was spritzed with Art Anthology Patience Spray which allowed it to become stronger so it could be manipulated without tearing.  The pink PomPom ribbon from May Arts was adhered around the box with ScraPerfect Adhesive.  A string of "pearls" and some flowers finished my project.



My second project was a mini gift card and candy bar wrapper.  I think the ribbon colors were perfect with this SEI pattern paper.  The stamps are Hampton Arts and ColorBox Mini stamps and wee inked with ColorBox Ink.  And who wouldn't love to pull a candy bar out of this wrapper? 



Thanks for stopping by today.

Grandma's Trunk fits Eclectic Paperie's  Wood challenge this month.


Steph

4/12/14

Enjoy the little things with ColorBox and Ann Butler

Hey everyone, I am in love with the new ColorBox Crafter's Ink.  They work on so many different surfaces from wood to acrylic to paper and more.  

I wanted to show you a fun way to use Ann Butler's Crafter's Ink from Clearsnap on two different surfaces - a canvas panel and a card.  These crafter's inks are very wet and come in an array of beautiful colors.


Using the same supplies, but different surfaces, this is what I came up with.

Canvas Panel                                                                   Card

 
 
I used the inks as watercolor paints by placing the inks on a craft mat and spritzing them with water creating a liquid consistency.   Then I used a paint brush to paint the colors on the canvas and the card.  I wanted to see how both surfaces would react using the same technique.




I painted Aquamarine on the top half of both pieces and Limelight on the bottom half, blending them in the center with a paint brush.

 

 
 
The sun from Unity stamps was stamped in the corner using ColorBox Kettle Dye Ink.  Using Ann Butler's quilt stamps from Unity stamps - 1" Leaves all Over,  I stamped the stripes in Kettle Dye Ink  along the bottom to mimic fence posts.  Once dry, I stamped the leaves with Limelight Ink over and around the fence.
 
 
 
 


 
The houses were colored with Copic Markers, fussy cut then added to both surfaces with foam adhesives.  The sun was inked with Sunshine Ink with an Art Dauber and a simple sentiment was stamped in ColorBox Kettle Dye Ink to finish off the canvas and card.

So, as you can see, these inks are wonderful on a variety of surfaces.  Why not give them a try today.


Thanks for stopping by today.

Steph

 

 

4/9/14

Song


Hi everyone.  It's Wednesday and that means its time for a new challenge at Mark's Finest Papers and Stamps.  

This week's Simple Salutations Challenge #92  is to create a card using  red, pink, and gray.


 
I used Birds of the Orient stamp set.
 
Don't forget to enter your card here for a chance to win some stamps.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Steph
 
 

4/8/14

Easter Bunny Joy

Hi everyone.  It's a new challenge at Cornish Heritage farms and Frances has asked us to create an Easter themed project.

I used the Two Bunnies digital image coloring them lightly with Zig Markers.  I paired them with a sentiment from Script Essential Expressions.




Thanks for stopping by today.

Don't forget to stop by everyone's blog today for more inspiration.




Steph

4/7/14

I've been published!

I'm so excited to say I have 31 cards in the newest edition of Just Cards! Volume 33.  That's a record for me.  Usually I have 3 or 4.  So I am tickled pink!



Thanks for stopping by today.

Steph

4/3/14

Sweet babies

Hi everyone, it's a new month at the Robin's Nest and the design team is working with the fun Special Delivery collection this month.  While  you naturally think "baby", if you look close enough, you will see these papers work for other themes too!  It 's very versatile.

I used the Special Delivery cardstock and Baby Girl stickers here.  I also added in a touch of Spring Stripe Glitter cardstock.  The Baby Girl stickers were the perfect accent for this card.  I chose to use 3 of the stickers as elements to hang from the ribbon wrapped around the card.




This baby boy card is just as sweet with the Special Delivery Boy Cardstock and Baby Boy Stickers.



This card is 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" and the Baby Boy Stickers added some fun dimension for this card.

Thanks for stopping by today.  And don't forget to head over to the Robin's Nest blog for all the details and more great projects.
 
Steph
 

4/2/14

Welcome Little One

Hi everyone.  It's Wednesday and that means its time for a new challenge at Mark's Finest Papers and Stamps.  

This week's Simple Salutations challenge #91 is to create a welcome card.



I used  the Bundle of Joy stamp set to create a new baby card.



Don't forget to enter your card here for a chance to win some stamps.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Steph

4/1/14

You're some kind of Wonderful

Scor-pal's newest challenge is now posted and it's a monochromatic theme.   Just be sure to use at least 2 score lines on your project.





This card is super simple.
Cut cardstock 6 1/2" x 10" and score in half creating a 6 1/2" x 5" card.
To create the flap, score from the fold line diagonally approximately 2".



Decorate as desired. 
I added a brad to hold the flap in place.

Thanks for stopping by today and don't forget to check out the challenge here.

Supplies: 
Scor-Pal
TheStampDoctor stamps
Clearsnap Ink
SEI pattern paper
Bazzill cardstock


Steph

Happy Father's Day

Hi everyone.

I can't believe it's April 1st already - how fast time is going.  I believe it's never too early to get special cards ready for the important people in our lives.  So it's time to create a Father's Day card.  I used the Lighthouse 3 digital image from  Cornish Heritage Farms, adding color with Zig Markers.





The image was die cut with Spellbinders dies before adding to the card.

 
Thanks for stopping by today.
 
Steph