My August

August always seems like one of the shortest months of the year for me.  It’s usually packed with lots of summer activities and occasionally a fun roadtrip.  This year however, I didn’t do any traveling but the days still went by so quickly.  I have to give a special shout-out to my family and friends (I didn’t get around to doing it right after my birthday) for making the day (well actually the week) so AMAZING!! The best thing about birthdays for me is that I always get to see/ hear from my favorite people throughout the day .. .  and their love is what keeps me going.  So from the bottom of my heart- THANK YOU!  I tried to get a bunch of pictures from August together and what I realized really surprised me- I don’t have that many pictures!!! This means that many happy memories went undocumented :(  This is a situation I will definitely try to remedy in September!  So for now, enjoy pictures that are kind of spread out over the last few months . . .  you don’t mind, right? ;) 

 

Hope your Monday was a happy one!

New Adventures in Inking

I think I mentioned a few posts back that I am REALLY new to stamping.  Up until about a month and a half ago I thought stamps only came on big wooden blocks and you got one ink color of choice to stamp it in. hee . . . actually this reminds me of one year during Christmas when we bought an inkpad from colorbox that had 3 different color strips- red, green, and gold. . .  that was the fanciest Santa we had ever inked on a card :)  

But anyways, back up to date . . . I'm still learning about the uses for all the different inks- distress, chalk . . . and can I just say how much fun embossing powder looks like??!!  Okay, before I get carried away and none of this makes sense anymore (unless it's already reached that point) let me just say that I have taken matters into my own hands.  I found these wonderful online tutorials (9 weeks of 3 part videos) all about inking!! YESSSS! And the instructor is BRILLIANT!  If you are new to stamping, I wish you the best of luck!  I will be updating you on my journey as I try to learn as much as possible.  Also, if you are interested in the online tutorial, you can visit http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/ and watch Jennifer McGuire's Thinking Inking classes :) 

Happy Sunday everyone.  I hope you all have a beautiful and blessed day!  The card above is my newest attempt with blending.  Materials are listed below:

Materials:

"Thinking of You" greeting stamp from TPC studio

Heidi Grace flower stamp from Cheerful Bee collection.

Inks:  Memories dye in chestnet; Colorbox fluid chalk in burnt sienna, yellow cadmium (both from Cat's Eye set) and deep green

Offray brown ribbon from Michaels.

Polka dot Pink Thank You

Yesterday I decided to try a new technique (to me)- stamping on vellum.  Yes, I know some papercrafters use this technique often, but what they don't tell you is how messy it can be! It's difficult getting a clear image, and if you are actually successful in doing so, it's even more difficult keeping it clear.  The paper is subject to LOTS OF smudging!! Now, if you are patient (a quality that I rarely possess) you might have no trouble waiting (for what feels like a couple of hours) for the ink to dry.  But if you ARE like me, who found myself acting like a little 6-year-old asking "is it dry yet? is it dry yet? is it dry yet?!" haha then you might need to come up with some crafty solutions to make it work :)  But anyways, here it is.  And yes, I will most definitely use this technique again . ..  I really do like how it turned out!

I'm off to get some pictures developed :) . . .have a beautiful Saturday everyone!

Materials: Black and Pink cardstock; letter stamps from inkadinkado (love that name!!!); polkadot border stamp from TPC studio on vellum; pink polyester ribbon from Michaels.

And a few more for tonight . . .

Just wanted to share a few more cards I made throughout the week. Enjoy and have a beautiful weekend!

Just a Note

Oh my goodness . . . this was my very first attempt at stamping (except for that time I made Christmas cards when I was about 8 ;)  Anywho, I decided to try out a blender pen while I was at it . . . and though the colors didn't turn out as "blended" as I would have liked, I'm still pretty happy with it-  I'm having so much fun with acrylic stamps!

"Just a Note" MaTeRiAlS:

"Just a Note" stamp from TPC Studio

Character stamps from Basicgrey (these stamps are so cute!!)

A Few Cards :)

mAtErIaLs:

"Thank You" Card

~ Citrus Stack cardstock from DCWV

~ Ribbon: Sugar 'n Spice from Michaels

~ Stamp from TPC Studio

~ Yellow Prima flower

"Thanks!" Card

~ Citrus Stack cardstock from DCWV

~ mylittleshoebox paper

~ Stamp from TPC Studio

"Smile" Card

~ Citrus Stack cardstock from DCWV

~Stamp from TPC Studio

~ sheer ribbon from Michaels

Art Nouveau inspired mini book

A couple of weekends ago I was inspired to do this vintage looking mini book.  I had passed by some Graphic45 paper weeks before and nothing caught my eye.  Usually the vibrant colors and unique textures get most of my attention.  Then, all of a sudden, about a week later- I was passing by the paper, and I had this idea for a mini book.  If there's one thing I've learned about artistic instinct it's  . .. just GO WITH IT!  I'm not quite sure it's finished yet . . . I feel like I might want to add some pages in the future, but since I haven't added anything on for about a week, I thought I should share what I have for now.  Still no ideas about what pictures I will add . . . hmmm . . .

MaTeRiAlS aNd DeTaIlS:

paper: Graphic45, and designer paper from ancestry.com (found at Michaels :)

size: 9"x6"

(pages made from Illustration board)

Small Adventures Mini Book

Hi Everyone and Happy Saturday! Yesterday I was going through some of my more recent pictures and found so many miscellaneous ones from short trips I have taken over the past few months with my family and friends.  I found pictures of trips I took with friends to Los Angeles from when we visited the Getty Museum http://www.getty.edu/ (I love this museum and would recommend it to anyone!) and pictures of family adventures to Solvang, and the flower fields in Carlsbad, CA.  There were so many pictures!!! I decided to make a mini scrapbook (4 ½” X 4 ½” to be exact) and scrap all the memories together.  The paper was soooo cute!  I was horrible about keeping track of the materials I used because I got so into the project, but most of the paper was from mylittleshoebox (http://www.mylittleshoebox.com/).  I’m going to have so much fun filling this little book up with all my photos and sharing it with my fellow adventurers :)  While I try to decide how I’m going to arrange them, enjoy the book (Yikes! Pics are out of order again) . . .  Hope you all have a beautiful and blessed weekend :)