Carol Stamps - Carol Stamps

Cards for the holidays, 2021.

10/20/2021

I find it hard to believe that it's been a year since I posted on my stamping blog. It's not that I haven't been stamping... I have been doing mixed media in a closed series of on-line classes where sharing the pictures of my completions is problematic, and I have been registered in seven (! WHAT was I thinking?) online-virtual card-making weekends with lots of new accompanying stash but... You see, I simply am not set up to "craft-along" while watching streaming videos on FaceBook or YouTube. I don't have computer capability in the basement crafting corner and my iPads run their batteries down rapidly with streaming classes, so I sit, watch, swapping out devices as batteries run down, take the odd note, and put everything aside for a more convenient time. So far, that time has NOT raised its head out of the chaos that is my crafting space and so there are several kitted up parcels in mesh bags in a basket on my craft room floor, waiting.

But I have an exchange card to make and the urge to create hit me yesterday so I started making that card. I can't show it yet, because it is a Christmas exchange and I haven't mailed it yet, but, as a result of this urge, I made a second card today which I will show here:

Products used in the making of this card were:

Stamps: Stamper Anonymous "Winter Watercolor" (CMS443) and "Bold Tidings Mini" (CMS440)
Dies: GinaK "Tag Trio"
Inks: Distress Its: "Pine Needles", "Evergreen Bough", "Candied Apple", "Ffestive Berries", "Gathered Twigs" and "Vintage Photo"; Versamark
Embossing Powder: GinaK "Fine Detailed Gold"
Papers: Neena Solar white 110# yardstick; Bazzill green cardstock, two shades
Embellishments: red bow with pearl from my stash (source unknown)
Adhesives: GInaK "Connect" glue

~~~~~ Happy Mail! ~~~~~

In today's post, a card from the marvelous Jenifer McGuire! She was a participant in one of the steaming classes I had signed up for and made a promise to sent cards to every participant (as I understand, there were over 3000!). Want a wonderful way to, as she often says, "Share Homemade Kindness"!

Cards for the holidays...

12/4/2020

After sorting through all the purchased cards left over from last year (the two piles on the left), "charity" cards received in past years (the zip lock bag in the front right), and "charity" cards received in the mail this past year (the pile under the stickers in the back right)...

..., I guess it is time to update our mailing list and get started on addressing and signing this year's outgoing cards.

Meanwhile, I spent three hours mass producing some cards using tips and tricks I learned in a GinaK Stamp & Chat Video. All materials from my stash...

These cards aren't meant for incision in a gift box like in the video, but for an online swap with stitchery friends from facebook...

Products used in the making of these cards were:

Stamps: GInaK "Ornamental Snowflakes"
Dies: GInaK "Master Layout 1", "Master Layout 2" and "Master Layout 3"
Inks: GinaK Amalgam "Jet Black" (for my "signature" on the back of each card), "Fresh Asparagus" and Cherry Red"Paper: Neena Solar White 110 lb; cream pearlized card bases; scraps of red paper and yardstick; My ind's Eye "Oh What Fun!" paper pack (FNC189)
Adhesives: ScorTape 1/8"; GinaK "Connect" liquid glue

Challenge: Christmas

11/19/2020

The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge for November 18, 2020 was "Christmas".

I received a new set of Honey Bee Stamps stamp sets, dies and stencils on Tuesday and decided to try out a couple of them. I didn't have much more than a basic plan to stamp, color and die cut images and let the card evolve:

The stamps and dies were too large for an A2 card so I made a 5 x 7 card instead.

I stamped the truck image and license plate from one set and the tree, garland and packages from a second on white layering-weight card stock and die cut with the coordinating dies (I had done four packages but one went walk-about as I was combating a spill of water on my desk top...). I fussy cut the truck to remove the white halo. I also die-cut (and then altered to fit) a bumper, rear view mirrors and tires from silver and black cardstock scraps, respectively.

After coloring the truck, trees and packages with Altenew Artist Markers, I assembled the card. I cut a slit in the truck bed and inserted tree and packages in the slit; glued the bumper mirrors and ties on the truck and adhered the completed image to a kraft card base. I heat embossed the sentiment in white and added two crimson gem for taillights

Products used in the making of this card were:

Stamps: Honey Bee "Farmhouse Tree Builder" and "Big Pick-up Truck Tailgate"; Stampers Anonymous "Christmas time 2 (CMS389)
Dies: Honey Cuts "Farmhouse Tree Builder" (HBDS-290) and "Big Pick-up Truck Tailgate" (HBDS - 284)
Inks: GinaK Amalgam "Jet Black"; Ink on 3 Atelier "Goddess Green"; GinaK "Fresh Asparagus" and Cherry Red"; versa mark; Altenew Artist Markers "Ocean Waves" (B204), "Dusk" (B313), "Desert Night" (B227), "Bamboo" (G804), "Ruby Red" (R318), "Seaglass" (B 201) and "Colorless Blender" (0); Pigma Micron 05 "black" marker
Embossing Powders: GinaK "Fine Detail White"
Papers: The Paper Company "Neutral Color Sheets" (70034); The Paper Studio "kraft" card base (69720); scraps of silver mirror and matte black cardstock
Embellishments: Darice 7mm round rhinestones "crimson" (1811-26)
Adhesives: GInaK "Connect" glue

Challenge: Celebrate!

11/18/2020

The Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog has a challenge for November 11, 2020:

""Your challenge is to create a shabby chic or vintage project to celebrate someone or something special. Since celebrations are happy occasions, your project should be made with lots of happy, bright colours. Keep your dull or neutral colours to a minimum please because as winter approaches we will have lots of that naturally so your bright colours must be predominant."

I don't have a someone or something special to celebrate at this moment so I decided to make a generic card which can have an addition sentiment added when such an occasion arises.

I started with a cut of Neena Solar White 110lb car stock and blended a rainbow of Distress Oxide inks. I applied Distress Micro Glaze to stabilize the colors because I didn't want the glitter gel, that I applied next through a stencil, to absorb the color.I stamped the sentiment in Versamark on white card and heat embossed with gold embossing powder. I matted the sentiment with metallic gold cardstock and popped it up with foam tape. The panel was mounted on an A2 side-folding card:

I debated using a rainbow of gems or even gold baubles but decided that glittery stars were enough bling for this clean and simple card.

Products used in making this card were:

Stamps: Avery Elle “Sentimental” (ST-16-01)
Stencils: Stampers Anonymous “Falling Stars” (THS115)
Inks: Distress Oxides “Picked Raspberry”, “Ripe Persimmon”, “Wild Honey”, Twisted Citron”, “Cracked Pistachio” and “Salty Ocean”; Versamark
Embossing Powders: GinaK “Fine Detail Gold”
Media: GinaK Glitz Glitter Gel “white” (18131)
Papers: Neena Solar White 110 lb; Simon Says Stamp metallic gold card
Adhesives: ScorTape 1/8”; Scotch Foam Mpunting Tape 1/2”

Challenge: Happy Holidays

11/17/2020

The Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge for November 16 2020 was "Happy Holidays".

Another clean-and-simple card (with a little bling):

Products used in the making of this card were:

Stamps: Stampers Anonymous "Christmastime 2" (CMS389)
Inks: My Monthly Hero Reactive Ombre - "Winter Sky"; Versamark
Embossing Powders: GinaK "Fine Detail Silver"
Papers: Neena Solar White 110 lb; Tonic Studio Craft Perfect Luxury Embossed - "Silver Silk"
Embellishments: Tree House Studio sequins "retro Flower" (SUL1495000)
Adhesives: ScorTape 1/8"; Gina "connect" glue

Challenge: Thanks/Thanksgiving

11/17/2020

The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge for November 11, 2020 was "Thanks/Thanksgiving".

I opted for a clean-and-simple simple (with a bit of bling) thank you card:

Products used in the making of this card were:

Stamps: Avery Elle "Mod" (ST18-14)
Inks: Ink on 3 Atelier "Marigold Orange" and "Marilyn Red"; GinaK Amalgam "Jet Black"
Papers: Neena Solar White 110 lb; black; Die Cut With a View 5x5 card base in orange, trimmed to A2 size
Embellishments: Prima sequins (64782)
Adhesives: ScorTape 1/8"; GinaK "Connect" glue

Challenge: Thinking of You

11/10/2020

The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, November 4, 2020, was "Thinking of You"...

I started with some watercolor paper and Distress Oxide Inks. I smooshed the aper to create a background and stamped images and a sentiment on this background. I then die-cut the images and trimmed out the sentient, the latter of which was matted on a scrap of coordinating cardstock.

The images looked a little bland once die-cut, so I used the same Distress Oxide Inks to watercolor some of the detail in teh wings.

I then attached the images and sentiment to a pre-folded card base:

Products used in the making of this card were:

Stamps: Altenew "Bejeweled"
Dies: Altenew "Bejeweled"
Inks: GinaK Amalgam "Jet Black"; Versamark; Distress Oxides "Faded Jeans", "Shaded Lilac" and "Dusty Concord"
Embossing Powders: Ranger "black" (EP137392)
Papers: Ranger Watercolor Cardstock (TDA53927); maroon card base; deep purple scrap
Adhesives: ScorTape 1/8"; Gina "Connect" gut; Ranger foam adhesive "black" (IWT40507)

I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, November 9, 2020: Remebrance/Thinking of You

Challenge: 25 Days of Christmas Tags

11/5/2020

Simon Says stamp Monday Challenge is sponsoring a day in the "25 Days of Christmas Tags" event and have made a Christmas tag the object of their November 2, 2020 challenge.

I started with a green die-cut evergreen tree from a kit of unknown origin (precut trees in green, white and kraft as well as lights, snowflakes and a star and some baker's twine were in this kit) and adhered a song of silvery Christmas lights using GinaK "Connect" glue (my sticker had lost its "stick"). I colored in the bulbs using an Altenew Artist Marker, and completed the tree decorations by adding red confetti circles and a silver confetti star. Using green and white baker's twine from the kit, I strung a length through the hole at the top of the tree as well as the hole at the top of a white tag to create a loop, and glued the tree to the tag. I then stamped "to" and "from" in green ink to complete this gift tag:

Products used in creating this tag were:

Stamps: GinaK “Holiday Tapestry”
Inks: GinaK “Fresh Asparagus”; Altenew Artist Markers “Ruby Red” (R318)
Papers: The Paper Shop blank tag “white” (452904); die cut green tree tag, source unknown
Embellishments: Stampendous “String of Lights - Silver” (AC648HSS); star and circle confetti, source unknown; green/white Baker’s Twine, source unknown
Adhesives: GiaK "Connect" glue

Challenge: Movie Inspiration

10/31/2020

The Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge for October 26, 2020 was "Movie Inspiration".

I mulled this one over for a few days and decided that, as a long-time "trekker", there was one movie I just had to use as my inspiration: "Star Trek: The Motion Picture". (Note: this isn't my favorite film in the series - that would have to be "Star Trek: The Voyage Home". Also, it's not the "space-themed" movie I tend to watch over and over - that would be "Apollo 13". I couldn't see my way clear to a card using either of those as a theme, not with the stamp sets I have.)

I stated with a galaxy background and alcohol-marker colored planets and starship. After some trimming and fussy cutting, this is the card I ended up with:

Products used in the making of this card were:

Stamps: Kindred Stamps “Space Explorers” and “Outer Space”; Stampers Anonymous “Stamptember 2020)
Inks: Distress Oxide “Black Soot”, “Twisted Citron”, “Tumbled Glass”, “Mustard Seed” and “Abandoned Coral”; Versamark; GinaK “Amalgam Jet Black”; Altenew Art Markers “Y512, Y514, Y817, Y608, R318 and B204; Marcy Uchida Fine Line “Liquid Silver”
Embossing Powders “Fine Detail White” and “Fine Detail Silver”
Papers: Neena Solar White 110lb; Simon Says Stamp silver; Memory Box A2 card base “kraft”
Adhesives: ScorTape 1/8”; GinaK “Connect” glue; Scrapbook Adhesive foam squares
Tools: EK Tools 3/4” circle punch; Cutter Bee scissors

I'm also entering this in teh Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, October 28, 2020: "Anything Goes".

Challenge: Layer It Up

10/25/2020

The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge for October 21 was to "Layer It Up".

I took that to mean dimension so so chipboard and foam tape came immediately to mind.

I used a Dina Wakely chipboard shape, colored with five different colors of green inks; a green die-cut oval (source a bag of miscellaneous die cuts pieces, not designer given) with the edges blended with a dark green ink and popped up with foam tape; and an Idea-ology Small Talk sticker to create this top-folding notecard:

Products used in the making of the card were:

Inks: GInaK "Applemint", "Grass Green"; "Fresh Asparagus", "Dark Sage" and "Prickly Pear"
Papers: Lawn Fawn Fundamentals "notecards - Butternut" (LF764); die cut green oval
Embellishments: Dina Wakely "Chipboard Shapes - Botanicals" (MD35920); Idea-ology "Small Talk" (TH93193)
Adhesives: Ranger Foam Adhesive "black" (IWT40507); GInaK "Connect" glue

honored to be asked to be guest designer for Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge, September 2017

for my entry in the Frilly and Funkie November 22, 2017 Challenge: Give Thanks

for my entry in the Frilly and Funkie December 9, 2017 Challenge: Most Memorable Gift

for my entry in the Funkie Junkie Boutique Blog Challenge, August 14, 2019 "Let’s Do It Again"

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