Carol Stamps

Challenge: Whatever the Weather, revisited

3/19/2019

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday has a challenge, dated March 13, 2019, called "Whatever the Weather".

Coupled with the fact that I was at "Create 2019" for four days, with a terrible cold/sinus infection, I never got around to it making something until today. What is more, since the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge for March 5 was on the same topic, I was struggling to come up with something new, so was actually considering skipping this challenge altogether.

Then I read todays' weather forecast on my iPad: Lightbulb moment!

I printed out the forecast images for today and tomorrow, matted it on silver mirror card and attached it to a white A2 notecard which I had colored with Distress Oxide Ink ("Stormy Sky"). I located an appropriate sentiment in my "Craft Stamper" magazine freebie file, heat embossed it with WOW! embossing powder ("Opaque British Summer" ... are you seeing the trend toward weather related product?) and die cut it with a stitched oval die. I embellished with some white pearl stickers and...

"Whatever the weather, have a lovely day!"

Products used in the making of this card were:

Stamps: cover freebie, maker unknown, from a back issue of "Craft Stamper" magazine
Inks: Versamark; Distress Oxide "Stormy Sky"
Embossing Powders: WOW! "Opaque British Summer Regular" (WK15R)
Papers: ParkLane Paperie A2 notecard base in "white"; scraps of white and silver mirror cardstock
Embellishments: Memory Box pearl stickers, "3mm white"
Adhesives: iCreate "Easy Tear tape"; GinaK "Connect" glue

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Challenge: Feminine/Girly

3/12/2019

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The Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge for March 11, 2019 is to make something feminine or girly.

To me that means lace and ribbon and either pink or purple. Given the number of my female friends who love purple in all its permutations, I decided to go with that color, even though my experience has been it is very hard to coordinate purples --- some go blue and other go pink when set side by side.

I made a card base from a light purple sheet of card stock. I decorated a panel of darker purple cardstock with a strip of lace and a length of what claimed to be blue-purple purple grosgrain ribbon (but as you can see, it is more on the red side of purple):

I cur an Idea-ology Photoshop strip photo to fit an Idea-ology Deco Frame (I chose the photo because it was of a very feminine little girl, which fit my theme) and attached it to the card. I embellished with a purple Prima flower and an Idea-ology Small Talk sticker that I had tinted with "Wilted Violet" Distress Oxide Ink:

Products used in the making of the card were:

Inks: Distress Oxide Ink "Wilted Purple"
Papers: Purple and light purple cardstock
Embellishments: lace; JoAn ScrapEssentials "Adhesive Ribbon - Blue Purple"; Idea-ology Adornment "DecoFrame" (TH93712); "Photo Booth" (TH73207), and ""Small Talk - Occasions" (TH93245); Prima Flowers (631222)
Adhesives: ScotchMatte Finish Magic Tape; iCreate "Easy Tear Tape"; GinaK "Connect Glue"; EK Tools 3D Foam Dots

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Challenge: March Color Palette/Photo

3/11/2019

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The color palette and photo inspiration for the Lindy's Gang March 2019 challenge is:

I decide to make a tag using colors from the palette (as close as I could with my current stash): Lindy's Magical "Polka Purple", Lindy's Flat Fabio Spray "I'm Late, I'm Late Slate" and Lindy's Embossing Powder "Spring Leaf Chartreuse".

I started by using the magical powder as a wash on a cut of Neena solar white card:

This was used to die-cut flowers.

Next, I sprayed an ivory tag multiple times, drying between each spray, with the Flat Fabio Spray and randomly stamped some "marks" in Archival ink to create a background:

The background needed some depth so I added some torn strips of scrap paper:

I die cut the flowers from the purple card and a set of stems/leaves from a scrap of Neena Solar White. I embossed the stems and ran the flower heads and the stems though my Xyron 250 sticker maker. I arranged the flowers and stems on the tag, and added some Idea-ology stickers (smeared with Distress Crayon) and a stained crinkle ribbon to complete the tag:

Products used in the making of this tag were:

Stamps: Stampers Anonymous “Mini Media Marks” (CMS364)
Dies: Sizzix Thinlits “Wildflower Stems #2" (664164)
Inks: Lindy’s Gang Magical “Polka Purple” and Flat Fabio Spray “I’m Late, I’m Late Slate”; Versamark; Archival “Watering Can”; Distress Crayon “Dusty Concord”
Embossing Powders: Lindy's Gang “Spring Leaf Chartreuse”,
Papers: scraps of Neena Solar White card and ProvoCraft 12x12 lavender paper; Graphic45 “Regular Ivory Tag Album” (4501221)
Embellishments: Idea-ology “Small Talk: Occasions” (TH93245); Crinkle ribbon freebie
Adhesives: Xyron 250 stoker maker; GInaK “Connect” glue

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Challnge: Create a Scene

3/8/2019

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Simon Says Stamp Wednesday wants us to "create a scene" for their challenge, March 6, 2019. Meanwhile, Simon Says Stamp Monday was us to "look to the skies" for their challenge, March 4, "Whatever the Weather". I decided to combine the two in one piece...

I started with a (new-to-me) set of stamps from Art Impressions and created a paper-pieced house stamped with Archival "Jet Black" on Neena Solar White and colored with Altenew artist markers and metallic gel pens. I used the coordinating dies to cut shutters, windows frames, and doors and, after assembly, fussy cut the house:

Because the doors open, I adhered some Tim Holtz Worn Walpaper" to the back of the house to mimic an interior view:

The house needs a setting, indicative of weather, so I decided on a summery sky-blue card base and heat embossed a summer sun on it:

I must have been half asleep because I thought I was using embossing powder when I reached for the little pot of Lindy's Magicals! Magicals don't emboss! So I heated the area a second time, added clear embossing powder and heated third time! It worked!

Now for assembly of the scene. I cut a rolling lawn out of scrap lime green card. I stamped, colored and die-cut some gardening implements from another Art Impressions set and added stepping stones (actually the panes from the window frames in the original set), Wellies, a watering can, a wheelbarrow and a shovel to the card front. The sentiment "Hello Summer" is my nod to "summer weather" being "gardening weather" (If you knew my husband and his hobby of dayliles and other perennials in our yard/garden, you'd know what I mean!)

Products used in the making of the card were:

Stamps: Art Impressions “Holiday Mansion” set (4926) and “HM Garden Set” (5096); Kelly Purkey “Hello Summer” (HL0613)
Inks: Archival “Jet Black”; Altenew Art Markers “Evergreen” (G554), “Dark Chocolate” (R056), “Arctic” (R902), “Forest Glades” (G715), “Ruby Red” (R318), “Jet Black” (S), and “Industrial Diamond” (TG05); Sanford Unibazl gel pen “silver”; Signo Uniball gel pen “white”; Pigma Micron fine tip marker “black”; Versamark; Lindy’s Magicals “Yellow Rose of Texas”
Embossing Powders: Ranger SuperFine Detail “clear”
Papers: Neena “Solar White”; light blue card base; scrap of lime green card stock; Idea-ology “worn Wallpaper” (TH93692)
Adhesive: GinaK “Connect” glue

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Challenge: #G45Album

3/6/2019

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The Graphic45 Challenge for March, 2019, is to create an album.

Now, as a rule, I don't do albums as I don't scrap. But I was thinking that, since we have two road trips and one cruise planned for this summer, a travel journal (where ephemera from the trips could be kept as well as notes and maybe even a photo or two) might qualify.

I started with a chipboard journal from Melissa Frances (Home and Hearth Collectibles, Inc.):

I began by covering the chipboard with G45 paper from the "Botanicabella Collection". I cut the paper to fit and applied it to the cover with Distress Collage Medium:

I added some cutaways from "Botanical Bella - Vintage Vignette"" and "Nature Sketchbook 8x8 "Beautiful World":

I added alpha-numeric stickers from "Botanicabella" and then coated the cover with Distress Collage medium:

Since I plan to carry this with me on all three trips, I decided that the cover needed to be clean-and-simple - no heavy or dimensional embellishments that would come off with continued handling.

Inside are ten pages, the first of which I created as an Itinerary page, using alphabet stickers and a matted cut-away from "Botanicabella":

I used ColorBox Decades for Graphic45 Ink ("Photogenic") and stamps from Hampton Art (cling rubber stamps made to accompany Graphic45's "Nature Stetchbook" stamp sets 1 and 2) to embellish the remaining 9 pages. I kept to my butterfly scheme and left the pages more-or-less empty (unencumbered with trims and the like) in anticipation of the ephemera to be gathered on my trips. A representative four are show below...

Products used in the making of the album were:

Stamps: Hampton Arts Graphic45 "Nature Sketchbook #1" (ICO374) and "Nature Sketchbook #2" (ICO375)
Inks: ColorBox Graphic45 Decades "Photogenic"
Papers: Melissa Frances "Open Up Album" (GN118); Graphic 45 "Botanicabella Collection" (4501166) and "Nature Sketchbook - Beautiful World" 8x8 paper (4501489); scrap of ochre card stock
Adhesives: Distress Collage Medium; iCreate "Easy Tear Tape"

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February Organization (2018 Organization Resolution Continues!)

3/1/2019

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Back at the end of December, 2017, I blogged about the mess my craft space was in, and how I hoped that, in 2018, I would make some progress in getting it all put back together and neatened up. I posted my January progress here. My February progress report on that organization is here. My March organization efforts can be found here. My April report is here. The May report is here, the June report is here; and the August report is here. I did a little tweaking in September and October but not enough to show in photos. My November report is here. My December report is here where I said I hoped I would continue/maintain in 2019.

Well, in February, I finally caved and bought another cart and a number of different storage containers. The result is this cart with all my 12 x 12 papers up off the floor where they have been since February 2018. I also corralled all the stencils I have from various sources and organized them by size and, when possible, by maker:

The clutter situation isn't totally resolved but I'm slowly making progress, while keeping up (pretty much --- there are some embossing powders and reinkers that need to be put away...) on the solutions I implemented in the past year.

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Playing with New Product

3/1/2019

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Several months ago, I ordered the new Ranger Mixed Media Powders but since their arrival, they've been languishing, unopened, on my craft surface. I decided to get them out, use them and see how they behaved. I'm not sure I totally mastered them (how does one get the lager black bits to stick?), but here is what an A2 cut of Neena Solar White looks like after applying direct-to-paper Versamark and five different colors of the powder (OK, I admit it, I had been watching Laura Basson rainbow tutorial...)

It kind of reminded me oaf the first steps in a galaxy background, but in embossing powder and without the black.. Perhaps a sunset? So I die cut some building silhouettes and placed them on the panel. Yes, it looks very sun-setty but... it needed some dark at the top. So I blended some Distress Oxide "Black Soot" over the top left corner and buffed the panel with a paper towel to darken the sky:

Now it needed some stars so I watered down some gesso and splattered that top left corner (I masked off the lower right to keep the splatters for getting on the buildings but I noticed two stray specks on the tall building on the right -ooops!):

I trimmed the panel down, added it to a top-folding black card base and attached an ideology sentiment that seemed appropriate:

Products used in the making of this card were:

Dies: Sizzix Thinlits “Cityscapre” Metropolis” (661804)
Inks: Versamark; Liquitext Acrylic Gesso (diluted): Distress Oxide “Black Soot”
Embossing Powders: Ranger Mixed Media Powders “Fire”, “Scarlet”, “Punch”, “Lilac”, and “Sea”;
Papers: Neena Solar white; scraps of black card
Embellishments: Idea-ology “Small Talk” (TH93193)
Adhesives: Xyron 500 sticker maker; iCrete “Easy Tear Tape”,

I'm entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, February 27, 2019: Anything Goes

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Challenge: Artist Trading Coins

3/1/2019

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The Frilly and Funky Challenge for February 27, 2019 was to create an Artist Trading Coin.

Artist Trading Coins are a variant of Artist Trading Cards (ATCs): they are small and meant for trading with other makers or for embellishing other projects. The consist of decorating 2.5" circles. I had never made artist trading coins before although I have been intrigued by the possibilities. I just hadn't felt like putting together the gold to cut out 2.5" circles before. But this challenge pushed me into the task.. and I found it addicting! In fact, I made three different coins, none of which had anything in common with the others EXCEPT for their circular nature and their size! And, if dinner hadn't been calling me, I probably would have made more!

~~~~~
Coin # 1

I started with three circles: a 2.5" pink, a 2" white (which I embellished with blended Distress Oxide "Tattered Rose" around the edges and and a stripe of Idea-ology Design Tape, and a 1 3/8" circle cut from an ephemera postcard:

The circle with the Design Tape looked a little pale so I added a length of "Rainbow Tape" in green and matted the circle on a fussy cut piece of pale green card:

Using foam dots, I layered the three circles and then glue on a small pink/red tatted rose cluster:

Products used in making this Artist Trading Coin were:

Inks: Distress Oxide “Tattered Rose”
Papers: Neena Solar white; crap of pink and pale green
Embellishments: freebie ephemera and tatted flower from a purchase packet; Idea-ology Design Tape “Rose” (TH93354); Rainbow Tape
Adhesives: eK Tools 3-D Fam dots; Gina K “Connect” glue
Tools: Stamping’ Up! Paper Shaper 1 3/8”

~~~~~
Coin #2

I had a plan, in the beginning, to make a set of coins with flowers. I changed over to butterflies for my second but there was still a flower in the center so my floral theme was working.... The technique used was the same although I didn't use foam dots:

Products used in the making of this artist trading coins were:

Sizzix Thinlits “Stitched Circles” (662229)
Papers: floss white, orange sherbet and rust scraps
Embellishments: Idea-ology “Layers - Botanical” (TH93554); washiest (unknown maker); Rainbow Tape; freebie from a purchase packet
Tools: EK 2” Punch and Stamping’ Up! Paper Shaper 1 3/8”

~~~~~
Coin #3

I went totally off-script for the theme of my third card, using milk bottle caps from Idea-ology as my inspiration:

Products used in the making of this artist trading coin were:

Sizzix Thinlits “Stitched Circles” (662229)
Papers: dark brown and kraft cardstock scraps
Embellishments: Idea-ology Milk Caps” (TH93684); Rainbow Tape
Tools EK 2” Punch

I'm also entering these coins in Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, February 27, 2019: Anything Goes

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Challenge: Vintage/Past Times

3/1/2019

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The challenge for February 25, 2019 over at Simon Says Stamp Monday is "Vintage/Past Times". I decided to go with a vintage look, showcasing travel in "past times".

To start with, vintage to me usually means items that are "browned" with age, so I looked for items in my stash that were predominantly brown or tan in color..

I started with a kraft card, layering ephemera related to (sea) travel and a paper doll lady who looked like she was dressed for a voyage. A few tatted flowers in coordinating colors and a blue-and-white button (to continue the blues in the tag and the cabin class sticker ) with a sailing theme were added:

It needed a sentiment so I used a textured brown card scrap, backed with adhesive, and die cut the word "expedition":

The lady is now ready for an ocean voyage to exotic locales on the far side of the globe!

Products used in the making of this card were:

Dies: Sizzix Thinlits “adventure” (660224)
Paper: The Paper Studio A2 Kraft notecard (697227); scrap of textured brown cardstock
Embellishments: Idea-ology “Ephemera - Expedition” (TH93115) and “Paper Does” (TH93555); freebie button and tatted flowers from a purchase from Funkie Junkie
Adhesives: iCreate “Easy Tear Tape”; Gina K “Connect” glue; Xyron 500 sticker maker

I'm also entering this card in the Simon says stamp Wednesday Challenge for February 27, 2019: Anything Goes.

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Mini-Challenge: Luck

2/23/2019

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The More Than Words mini-challenge for February 2019 is to create a card, tag, postcard or ATC which displays the word "Luck".

I layered green card on a gold ATC black, heat embossed the words "Good Luck" with gold embossing powder (and embellished with gold gel pen) and added Celtic stickers around the border (I was thinking St. Patrick's Day without shamrocks!):

Products used in the making of this ATC were:

Stamps: WeCraft “Holiday Collection - March” (AM07059)
Inks: Versa mark; Sanford Uniball gell pen “gold”
Embossing Powders: Lindy’s Gang “Summer Salmon Gold”
Papers: Marco’s Paper Artist Trading Card color Assortment pack; scrap of green card
Embellishments: Hot Off The Press “Dazzles “Celtic Design” (HOTP2031)
Adhesives: iCreate “Easy Tear Tape”

I'm also entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday Challenge for February 2019: Green & Gold.

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Author

Born in New Jersey, I grew up in Southeastern Ohio. Attended university at Bowling Green State University (B.Sci in biological science, 1964), University of Southern California (M. Sci in biological science, 1967) and University of Florida (Ph. D in zoology, 1971).
Worked in environmental consulting for a little more than a decade and then seven years as an instructor in biological science at various community colleges in California and Texas. Moved to London in 1992, then Beijing (1996) and Saudi Arabia (1998), before returning to NW Ohio in 2002. I am currently living in NW Ohio with my husband and three Bombay cats. I love to read (mystery, science fiction, history) and stitch (have done crewel, currently experimenting with free embroidery and needlepoint but blackwork and cross stitch are my main genres); have been known to knit; and now I'm heavily into papercrafting!
Retired upon the return to the US so lots of time for our hobbies...