Carol Stamps

Challenge: Back to School

8/20/2018

"Back to School" is the challenge on BOTH the Simon Says Stamp Monday (August 20, 2018) and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (August 15, 2018) Challenge Blogs.The design team on the Wednesday Challenge says:

"The stores are full of back to school stationary but a notebook, diary or even a bookmark is so much nicer when it is handmade with love! Why not make a little card to pop into a child’s lunchbox too."

and is featuring Penny Black stamps. The design team on the Monday Challenge jus wants us "to make something school/study related".

Now I don't have any children returning to school nor do I know anyone with children of school age. SO I have o reason to make notebooks, bookmarks to other school supplies. Also, I have no-one's lunch box to place a card in. So the card I made would possible suit an encouragement card for a teacher (in the event I knew of a teacher, that is!). Certainly, teachers these days need all the support they can get.

I have one stamp set that has back-to-school stamps. One of the stamps is a sentiment, which I stamped and colored in on cream colored card to which I added lines so it resembled the lined paper from the Indian Chief notebooks we had for schoolbook in my childhood. Another stamp from the set reminded me of the lines teachers used to chalk on blackboards (REAL blackboards, not green boards or white boards) to teach writing and (later) penmanship.

Basically, my card is one of nostalgia:

I'm not at a sure that Indian Chief lined paper pads even still exist and I'm pretty sure that the use of chalked lines on blackboards to teach penmanship no longer happens (they MAY teach printing that way, but so many schools have discontinued teaching cursive, a crime in my opinion because how will these someday-adults be able to read the letters and documents of the 18th and 19th centuries without that skill?)

Products used in the making of tis card were:

Stamps: WeCraft Designer Series Artful Maven "Holiday Collection - August" (AM07-172)
Inks: Versamark; Archival "Jet Black": InkTense Pencils "Cherry" (0510), "Ink Black" (2200), "Baked Earth" (1800) and "Sea Blue" (1200); Pigma Micron 05 pen "black"
Embossing Powders: Stampendous "Detail White" (47788)
Papers: Paper Studio Notecard "white" (225359); scraps of black and cream card
Adhesives: RedLine 1/8" Embossing Tape

1 Comment

Challenge: August 2018 Color Palette

8/16/2018

0 Comments

The Altenew Card Blog has issued their August 2018 Color Inspiration Challenge color palette:

I started with a background by watercoloring with three Altenew Crisp Dye Inks in the color ranges suggested by the palette:

I stamped, repeatedly, with two stamps from teh Altenew "Never Give UP!" stamp set, using Archival its in two shades of grey. I then stamped the sentiment (same stamp set) and a small bird (also same stamp set) in Archival Inks:

I hose the Archival Ink colors as they, more than the Crisp Dye Inks I own, most closely approximate the intensity of blue and green of the suggested color palette.

Products used in the making of this card were:

Stamps: Altenew “Never Give Up” (ALT1997)
Inks: Altenew Crisp Dye Inks “Honey Drizzle”, “Olive” and “Tide Blue”; Archival “Leaf Green”, “Fern Green”, “Jet Black” and “Cobalt”
Papers: Paper Studio notecard “shite” (225359)

0 Comments

Yet another unboxing!

8/16/2018

0 Comments

Ranger has been issuing mystery box offers on a monthly basis and, if you know me, a mystery box is something I fid hard to resist. Here is my August 2018 Mystery Box:

Contents?

Black cardstock, 2 Dianne Really Dylusions stamp/stencil sets (one halloween and one Christmas): 2 glitters; 2 Distress metallic stains; 3 small and two large bottles of Stickles; Perfect Pearls sprays and pearlized "ink"; and a bottle of fabric medium!

Only a few of these are items I already have in stash and they (cardstock, Distress Stains) are consumables so always welcome. The rest are either new colors or new products for me. A good haul, in my opinion!

0 Comments

Challenge: Sprinkles and Splatters

8/13/2018

2 Comments

"Sprinkles and Splatters" is the August 13, 2018 challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday.

I started by making a background using Distress Ink and an image of a coffee mug on a white notecard:

I die-cut some "splats" from three colors of brown cardstock scraps and stamped a sentiment in black on one of them:

I layered the splat die-cuts over the background:

added some stenciled "droplets":

and a Distress Marker border:

Products used in the making of this card were:

Stamps: Ink Road “Mug Life” (INKR036)
Dies: Sizzix Thinlits “Scribbles & Splat” (660222)
Stencils: Stampers Anonyut Layering Stencil “Splatters” (THS009)
Inks: Versamark; Distress Ink “Antique Linen”; Distress Oxide “Ground Espresso”; Distress Marker “Ground Espresso”
Embossing Powders: JoAnn CraftEssentails “black”
Papers: The Paper Studio notecard pack “white” (225359); scraps of brown in three shades
Adhesives: Xyron 250 sticker maker

2 Comments

Challenge: Distress It

8/12/2018

1 Comment

While the challenge on the Simon Says Stamp Monday blog for August 8 was to "distress it", and featured Tim Holtz products, I took the challenge to mean use Distress products rather than create a distressed card. Therefore, my end result was bright and colorful, far from "distressed" in appearance.

I started with an embossed resist background. I stamped an "Ornate Trim" down the sides of my card front in Versamark adn heat embossed with white embossing powder (the card, the ink and the embossing powder were NON-Tim products!). I then used a blending tool and created a rainbow over the embossing with Distress Inks and wiped the embossing with a soft cloth to reveal the white lacy edges:

I chose the "doily" layering stencil and Distress Ink Picket Fence to add some texture to the colored background (It didn't come out as bold as I had hoped but if you look closely, you can see some of what I had hoped would be a lace effect.).

I selected a black-and-white image from the Idea-ology "botanical layer" set and tinted it with Distress Crayons. I glued (another NON-Tim product) it to the front of the card and finished off with an Idea-ology "clippings sticker":

Products used in the making of this card were:

Stamps: Stampers Anonymous “Ornate Trims” (CMS324)
Stencils: Stampers Anonymous Layering Stencil “Doily” (THS018)
Inks: Versamark; Distress Inks “Abandoned Coral”, “Carved Pumpkin”, “Fossilized Amber”, “Cracked Pistachio”, Mermaid Lagoon”, “Wilted Violet” and “Picket Fence”; Distress Crayons “Mustard Seed” and “Twisted Citron”
Embossing Powders “Top Boss “white”
Papers” The Paper Studio notecard pack “white” (225359)
Embellishments: Idea-ology “Layers - Botanical” (TH93554) and “Clippings Stickers” (TH93583)
Adhesives: Wendy Vecchi’s “Perfect Card Adhesive” (62134)

1 Comment

Challenge: Color Inspiration

8/12/2018

0 Comments

The Lindy's Stamp Gang color palette for August 2018 is pastel...

VERY pastel and the items I had in the suggested color range were REALLY pastel! Not really my cuppa! Still, I tried.

I started by making a background on a card blank using a spray of Flat Fabio "Chateau Rose”. I then applied Starburst “Blue Hawaiian Blue” through a "striped" stencil and, when the card face was dry, I applied opaque matte texture paste through another stencil:

As you can see, there is some shimmer and the paste added some texture.

Once the paste had died, I applied Versamark randomly and applied three colors of Lindy's embossing powders (“Pop Rock Purple”, “Madonna Robe Blue Gold”, and “Oom Pah Pah Pink) one at a time, heating between applications:

Now I was stumped. I wasn't really fond of t effect I got but I thought I might be able to salvage it with some posies and a sentiment:

Products used in the making of this card were:

Stencils: The Crafter’s workshop” Mini And so on…” (TCW3835
Inks: Lindy’s Flat Fabio Spray “"Chateau Rose”; Lindy’s Starburst Spray “Blue Hawaiian Blue”; Versamark; Snowman Gold extra-fin tip marker
Embossing Powders: Lindy’s “Pop Rock Purple”, “Madonna Robe Blue Gold”, and “Oom Pah Pah Pink”
Papers: The Paper Studio notecard pack “white” (225359)
Media: Ranger Texture Paste Opaque Matte (INK44444)
Embellishments: Little Birdie “Beaded Mini Floretts” (CR47788); Idea-ology “Chit Chat” (TH92998)
Adhesives: Wendy Vecchi’s Perfect Card Adhesive” (62134)

0 Comments

Challenge: Tape It Up

8/6/2018

2 Comments

The August 6, 2018 Challenge over at Simon Says Stamp Monday is "Tape It Up" - add some tape to whatever we make.

Based on the design tea examples, I assume that this means design tape or washi tape or the like and I have to say I am not a fan of any of these... I did buy a number of sets back when the washi tape (and paper) craze began and have acquired numerous roles of Idea-ology/Tim Holtz "design tape" since (I live in hope) but I find that, no matter the maker, many of these tapes simply do not work for me. Either they will not come off the roll in anything but tatters, if at all (I have discarded several of the Idea-ology rolls for that reason) or when they do come off the rolls, they don't stick (in today's make, I discarded three rolls randomly picked from my unknown maker stash because they lacked any sticking ability whatsoever!). In fact, I tried using Muti Medium matte and Collage Medium to two of the tapes I tried, to no avail. All it resulted in was a sticky and smeared discarded card base...

Still, the challenge requires tape and I'm pretty sure it didn't mean cellophane tape* or masking tape or embossing tape or... So...

I started by applying the four tapes I did find that did stick to the paper without using glue. My next step was to stencil an image over the tape but found that the inks wouldn't dry properly and smeared. Discard one ruined card base and start over.

This time, I stenciled the image first! Then I applied the tapes:

not a fan of the fact that two of these tapes were transparent, allowing the image to show through. That was NOT my plan, but since stamping over the tape was a failure...and I had already discarded two card bases... Maybe next time (if there is a next time, I will mask the stenciling or stamping first, allowing white space, image free, for the tape.

Couldn't think what to do now --- there was a potential background but it didn't lend itself readily to any particular purpose. I struggled for a while until settling o some Idea-ology Quit Chips:

Products used in the making of this card were:

Stencil: The Crafters Workshop “Mini And so on…” (TCW3835)
Inks: distress Oxide “Salty Ocean
Papers: Paper Studio notecard “shite” (225359)
Embellishments: Washi Tape red-orange (maker(s) unkown); Idea-oloy Design Tape “Rose” (TH93354) and “French” (TH93355); Idea-ology “Quote Chips” (TH93563)
Adhesives: RedLine 1/8” Embossing Tape

Also entered in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, August 1, 2018: Make Your Own Background

*It occurred to me as I was composing this blog post that my adhesive stash has two packages of glitter and metallic tapes that might have worked in this challenge. Perhaps I should never have assumed "washi"...

2 Comments

Challenge: Make Your Own Background

8/5/2018

1 Comment

The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, August 1, 2018, is to make our ow backgrounds, or as teh design team says:

"...create your own backgrounds, from textured embossing and simple splattering of inks to multi layered stencilling and gelli plate printing."

I decided to resurrect an experiment with Ken Oliver Color Bursts, using a tutorial by Isha Gupta in Cardmaker Magazine, Vol 13, #3, that I made a year ago (almost to the day!):

I used a stencil from a My Monthly Hero kit for May 2017 and Archival inks in two shades of blue to dd some texture to this piece:

I then stamped a sentiment on the background, using one of teh stamps from the My Monthly hero kit adn white embossing powder:

I stamped a mermaid from the kit in Archival "Jet Black", die cut it with the coordinating die set and colored it with Distress Oxide Inks and a water brush:

sorry for the bad focus)

I trimmed the background to fit a 4.25 x 5.5" notecard, and layered the mermaid and some die-cut seaweed on the front:

Products used in the making of this card were:

Stamps, Dies and Stencils: Hero Arts "My Monthly Hero kit, May 2017"
Inks: Ken Oliver Color Burst "Ultramarine Blue"; Archival "Forget-me-not", "Cobalt" and "Jet Black"; Distress Oxide "Mowed Lawn", "Mermaid Lagoon", "Peacock Feathers", "Fossilized Amber", "Salty Ocean" and "Tattered Rose"; Versamark
Embossing Powders: Top Boss "white"
Papers: Ranger Water-color paper; Paper Studio notecards "white";scraps of white, olive and grey-green card
Adhesives: RedLine 1/8" Embossing Tape; Wendy vecchi "Perfect Card Adhesive" (62134)

1 Comment

Challenge: August

8/5/2018

2 Comments

The Frilly & Funky Challenge for August 1, 2018 is "August". But not the month. here is what the design team said:

"... it is inspired by the month of August. In doing a little online research I learned that the month of August was re-named for Augustus Caesar. He was the first Roman Emperor and was very proud of the influence he had on the architecture of the country. For this challenge I am asking you to be inspired by marble, arches or columns. You will need to create a vintage or shabby chic project using some type of marble effect, arches or columns."

Well, there are stamps and stencils of columns, but I don't own any (and wasn't about to order any, since the stamps were all wood-mounted that I found and the LAST thing I need is more wood-mounted stamps!) And a marble pattern (whether in a stamp or in patterned paper) isn't exactly plentiful in my stash either... but I did find some handmade paper in my stash that resembles marble (too darned lazy to make my own marble pattern). That left arches... which it looks like everyone on the design team has also found! Oh well, I am NOT deliberately copying...

I started with a base card using Bazzill purple cardstock; that marbleized handmade paper, an embossed background I had made previously, and a white notecard. I applied various of the Stacked Arches dies to these to get different sized apertures and frames. I stamped a silhouette image in Archival Black on the white notecard and layered my die-cut pieces:

Now, to embellish the card.

Firs off, stamped flowers on a metallic purple paper, purple sequins and a few white seed beads:

Next a banner with a rub-on sentiment:

Last, some doodling on the purple frame and the stamped flowers with white gel pen to set the purple apart:

One issue I have always had with fabric, and also, it would appear, with paper, is determining value... I can match the color but all too often, my values are too similar and the quilt, or card, goes flat...For example, in this card, the stamped flowers were purple on purple --- not enough contact. And the purple frame, over the embossed "mat" - again, not enough contrast. Hence the final "doodles"

Products used in the making of this card were:

Stamps: Sizzix Alterations "Framed Silhouettes" (659732)
Dies: Sizzix Thinlits "Stacked Archway" (662692)
Embossing Folders: Sizzix 3D "Botanical" (662716)
Inks/Pigments: Distress Ins "Seedless Preserves" and "Picket fence"; Perfect Pearls "Forever Violet"; Archival "Majestic Violet and "Jet Black"; Signo Unibazl "white" gel pen
Papers: The Paper Company "Jewel Metallic "Amethyst" (10109-101; Paper Studio notecards "white" (225359); Bazzill 12 x 12 purple; Paper Palette recycled handmade paper "purples" (891812)
Embellishments: Idea-ology Remnant Rubs "Words" (TH93055); Studio Katia Misc. Sequins (SK2890); Bead Treasure Czech Glass Beads "Opaque white lustre"
Adhesives: RedLine 1/8" Embossing Tape; Wendy Vecchi "Perfect Card Adhesive" (62134)

2 Comments

My July Progress in my 2018 Organization Resolution

7/31/2018

0 Comments

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. And my May report is here, and my June report is here.

On July 10, I set about eliminating the zip-lock bag storage system I was using for my Idea-ology metal ephemera. I used an ArtBin storage box like the one i used to store paper ephemera and layered all the packets in it:

Over the July 14 weekend, a "mystery" package of Stitches Glitter glues arrived from Ranger. After packing, it was clear that they would NOT fit in the drawer with my other "Stickles" bottles:

so I pulled out one of my spare "Alcohol Ink" storage tins and it was perfect!

Some don't have color names on them and one doesn't even have a label at all but I did arrange them in a more-or-less rainbow order. Labeling not necessary (IMO) because it's pretty clear what colors they are from above...

On July 26, I decided to do something about my punches. I keep them in a bin in the bottom of a cabinet and if I want to find a particular punch (usually circle punches or corner rounders), I have to pull out that bin, and then go through the tangled mess of punches before I find the one I want. Here is what it looked like before I tackled the mess:

On the left, the bin with the majority of my punches... the black "Go-bag" to the right holds a number of smaller punches I have rarely, if ever used, and being as they are in that bag, they are out of sight, out of mind. The box behind the bag is a border punch set, never used...

I decided to sort punches by "style" (that is, circles, squares, corners, borders, patterns, etc.) and put them in some Totally Tiffany Punch and Stamp Sets. (I ordered two sets and what came wasn't as described.. Instead, I got two 1.5" and one 2" bags in the set instead of one each 1", 1.5" and 2". OK, I guess, as I didn't have all that many small punches and they worked in the 1.5" bags. Sure wish they had some deeper ones, though, because there simply was no way to get those mega punches in those bags).

I sorted and bagged...

Corner punches

The Totally Tiffany suggestion is to "xerox" the layout in each bag so that, one one punch is removed, it is clear where it fit in the jog-saw puzzle of a full bag.I decided to put that off for the time being. Instead, I continued to sort and bag until I had five bags in total:

I had NO idea I had so many circle punches!

The mega punches and some Fiskars order punches, however, remain in the bin, but at least they are only one layer deep...

The bin went back in the cabinet; the bags are still on my cutting table awaiting a place where they can be stashed; and the go-bag for punches is now living with my cropper hopper go-bag...

On July 27, I decided to start tackling the disaster next to my chair. Behold, a tangled pile of assorted paper types' all piled on one another in front of my 8.5 x 11 baer files. Every time I need solid paper, I have to move all of this first.

And if I want anything like 12x12 or 8x8 Tim Holtz or Graphic45 pads, or 6x6 patterned paper pads, I have to dig.

I I pulled out all the Totally Tiffany paper storage items I had and got to work, sorting. Now, all the patterned 6x6 (except the Graphic 45 pads) are in Totally Tiffany 6x6 paper handlers (there is one more on order), and all my 12x12 collections are in five file boxes that hold 12 x 12 paper, also from Totally Tiffany.

Piled loosely on top of the rest as are the odd bags of paper shapes, specialty 4.25 x.5.5 papers, matching card/envelope sets, etc. Packs of grunge board and chip board are still stacked by the 12 x 12 collections.

I had 8x8 paper handlers on order and these arrived on July 28...so the 8x8 Graphic45 pads are now neatly contained:

Still a hot mess, but at least getting to the 8.5 x 11 solids is a little easier. The 12 x 12's no longer slip and slide and fall over when I sort through them and I have a pretty good idea what is in each file. I will alphabetize, consolidate and tab these files in th coming weeks. And, eventually, all these files will have a home of their own (I HOPE).

Next up, that cardboard box full of blending tools, pens and watercolors... which means I need to tackle the cabinet where I keep markers, paints and pencils first... Aaargh! Organization always seems to result in chaos before it gets resolved and I seem to be in mid-chaos right now!

But I digress. Financial records are calling my name (I'm six months behind! EEEEW!).]

And, as of August 1,I had all my records up to date, and receipts filed! Woo Hoo!

0 Comments

<<Previous

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...