New from Crafter's Companion

Today is the day for a new release from Crafter's Companion.  It's a pretty new line from Christine Harworth called Faerie Poppets.   There are some gorgeous detailed images in the new line, but this beautiful floral image from the Radiant Beauty set really caught my eye.

The beautiful pattern paper is used is from My Mind's Eye & the lovely silk ribbon is from May Arts.  The  image is colored with my Spectrum Noir pens (CR1, CR5, DG2, DG4) ~ and I'm super excited to say that I am now an Accredited Colorist for Spectrum Noir ~ woohoo!

These beautiful new sets should be up on the Crafter's Companion website later this afternoon ~ take a peek!

Best Wishes Butterfly & a SAMJ Tutorial

Good Monday Morning!!!  Well I think Spring is finally on it's way and a weekend filled with sunshine sure helps!  Another thing that helps...stamping some fun spring images like this gorgeous butterfly from Gourmet Rubber Stamps.  This set is called Butterfly Trio and I adore it!

Here's how I made my card...First I stamped the solid butterfly and coral pigment ink from VersaMagic and then after it was dry, I stamped the music butterfly outline over the top.  {TIP: The best way to line up these rubber stamped images is to use a Stamp-a-ma-jig ~ see tutorial below. Then I added a few pearls to the butterfly body.   The pretty coral trim and twine that was added to the button, are both from May Arts & match the card beautifully.  Then the final touch, I stamped the Best Wishes sentiment from the Say It Big Appetizer set using Rich Cocoa Memento Ink.

Have you used a Stamp-A-Ma-Jig (SAMJ) before?  Here's a quick and easy tutorial on how to use this handy tool!

Step 1: Stamp your 1st image on your cardstock ~ mine is the blue solid butterfly.  Set image aside.

Step 2: Line up the plastic sheet to the corner of your SAMJ.  Note: I'm left-handed, so my SAMJ tool is on the right side.  If you are right-handed, it will be on the left.

Step 3: Put the 2nd image on your stamping block.  Make sure the plastic sheet is lined up to the corner of the SAMJ, and line up your acrylic stamping block tightly to the corner with your 2nd image (music butterfly).  Ink up your image & stamp it directly on the plastic sheet.

TIP: Don't use Staz-On (permanent ink) or pigment ink for this step.  If you will be using a product like Staz-On or pigment ink for your final project, use a waterbased dye ink just for this step and then use the desired ink for Step 6.

Step 4: Take your 1st image (blue butterfly) and lay the plastic sheet over the top.  Line it up how you want it to look when finished.

Step 5: Once you have the 2nd image on the plastic sheet lined up correctly, line up the SAMJ tool.

Step 6: Ink up your 2nd image (music butterfly) with the desired ink for your project and stamp your image so your acrylic stamping block is lined up tightly to the SAMJ tool.

Hope you have a great Monday! 

Thanks so much for buzzing by today!

Happy Place

Did you know that I met my husband when we were 14 years old and we started dating a year later?  We've been together ever since & next year (2014) is our 25th Wedding Anniversary!   Just a little tidbit for you today.

This page shows my hubby in "Vacation Mode" and I love it when he is in that particular mode.  He works super hard and travels a lot for the office and sometimes I'm surprised he still wants to travel with us just for fun.  But, as you can see by my many vacation blog posts, we love to travel as a family and our vacation of choice is usually a cruise.  The reason...there are no phones or internet to bug him!

For my page today, I used pattern papers from The Paper Loft collection called Everyday Life.   I used lots of the papers for the hearts and the background from both the 12x12 Patterned Paper Collection and The Distressed Cardstock Collection.   For the title, border and small journaling box, I trimmed them out from the Happy Accessory Sheet.  I stamped the key for the background paper and added a key charm to the title to finish off the page.

This was such a fun night!  We had a wonderful dinner at a beautiful restaurant in Rome.  I can still taste the delicious Carbonara ~ YUM!!!!

Gelatos & Embossing Folders...

Hi Everyone ~ I couldn't wait to share this fun tutorial with you using some great products and sets from The Rubber Cafe!

I'll start off by sharing my finished project.  I'm not really sure what this technique is called, so we'll just say it's Embossed Gelato.  It's a little messy looking, but honestly, that's what I was going for.  

The first step is to pick out a fun embossing folder from your stash. I picked out this fun Cuttlebug folder because it had lots of different things to color ~ flowers, leaves, swirls, hearts, etc.  Then I selected which Gelato colors I wanted to use.  I picked the new Tropical Designer Colors and then I just started coloring them right on the plastic embossing folder.

TIP: When using the Gelatos on the embossing folder, color with them straight up and down so you don't mess up the tips.  If you slant them in your hand, they tend to crumble.

Next ~ spritz the embossing folder with a little bit of water in a spray bottle to activate the brilliant colors.  Be careful not to spray too much water or you'll have a mess.   Add your cardstock to the folder and put it through your embossing machine.

Voilá ~ here's the pretty result!  If you want, you can even take a wet paintbrush and add more color to specific areas as desired.

To clean up your embossing folder, just use a sponge and warm soapy water ~ easy peasy!

Next, I stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment from the Fabulous Phrases stamp set using bright blue pigment ink and cut them out using Spellbinders dies.  The final touch is a stamped butterfly from the Large Trailing Butterflies image with pink ink on vellum cardstock.  I trimmed it with my scissors and then once it was dry, I added some sparkle with Zig Wink of Stella Brush - Clear.

Supplies:
Stamps ~ The Rubber Cafe: True Friend, Large Trailing Butterflies
Gelatos ~  Tropical Designer Colors
Glitter ~ Zig Wink of Stella Brush - Clear
Cardstock ~ Bazzill; Vellum
Ink ~ Clearsnap Pigment Ink; Memento
Ribbon ~ May Arts
Embossing Folder ~ Cuttlebug
Spellbinders Dies

Crafter's Companion Flower Challenge!

IT'S FRIDAY ~ WOOHOOO!  It's been a crazy week with lots of extra band practices & a sick child at home for several days.  I'm ready for the weekend, but it's gonna be a busy one!

My project today is a super simple card using some fun products from Crafter's Companion.  I stamped the big flower from the Flower Power set directly on hot pink cardstock with Tuxedo Black Memento Ink.  The sentiment is from the Dreamy Daisies set & I used Rose Bud Memento Ink.   I also used two Embossing Folders for my project ~ the Wood Grain Background & Petite Dot for the olive green banner.  I also swiped some white embossing ink over the top of my embossed polka-dots so they would really stand out.  A few pretty pink gems added to the flower center and some die cut leaves stamped with the leaves from the Flower Power set for texture, finish up my card.

Check back in tomorrow for a really cool new project
with a fun tutorial!

GRS Color Challenge & NEW PRIZES!!!

Hello Beautiful!  Today I'm excited to share my Gourmet Rubber Stamps Color Challenge project with you. I used the new Butterfly Trio Appetizer set along with the Script Happy Mother's Day single.

ETA: The pattern paper is from My Mind's Eye ~ Collectable Edition

Here's the inspiration piece...

Take a peek and see all the fun projects today & make sure to read below about how you can win some great new sets!

Deb Felts

Jeni Allen

Kelli Palmer

Kendra Wietstock

Stephanie Lee

Melissa Cash

Lori Barnett

Joy Stagg
Meridith Ethington

Are you ready to WIN a GREAT PRIZE?

Gourmet Rubber Stamps has a fun announcement that you are going to LOVE!  Today we are starting the "Chef's Choice Giveaway" for each of our monthly color and sketch challenges.  It's super easy to enter and I know you'll want to win the great prizes we have planned!  Here's how you can enter...

1) Just leave a comment on any of the Gourmet Rubber Stamps Facebook posts between April 25th-27th.

2) Visit each designers blog (listed above) & leave comments between April 25th-27th on their challenge post.  

3) If you want an extra chance to win,  play along on our challenge and post your lovely creation to our Facebook page.   We'll add your name for another entry to win.

On April 28th, we will select one of our designer's as our Chef's Choice Blog.  The winner will selected from the comments left on her blog and on her card posted to the GRS Facebook page.  The Chef's Choice winner will receive one of the recently released Appetizer sets & will be announced here on the GRS Blog & Facebook page.  You'll have one week to claim your prize.

Hambo Hoedown...Anything BUT A Card!

It's time to HOEDOWN!!!  I had a chance to play along on the Hambo Hoedown this week with my Hambo clear and rubber images.  The challenge this week is "Anything BUT a Card"...so I decided to make a fun little gift bag and matching tag.   The sweet little bee is from the Tree Hive clear set & the sentiment is called Buzzillion.  I colored the bees with my CT4 Spectrum Noir Pen and then added some bling to the wings with a Zig Wink of Stella Brush (Clear).

If you play along with the Hambo Hoedown & send in your card, you could win the digital image for next week!  Find out all the details on the Hambo Hoedown Challenge Blog.

We were here ---->

A big welcome back to you on a Tuesday morning.  Today I'm excited to share another layout featuring our trip to Rome last summer and these pretty papers from The Paper Loft.  The collection is called Everyday Life and I used lots of the papers & the alphabet stickers from the 12x12 Collection pack.   I also used some of the fun words on the Vacation Accessory Sheet and stamped images from Unity Stamp Co.

Here are a few close ups of my page...

Stamps are a great way to add details to your scrapbook pages. I stamped the map image on the kraft background for some subtle texture.  I also stamped the compass in a barn red ink and added the words from the Vacation Accessory Sheet to add some visual appeal.  To make them pop a bit, I used black ink along the edges and attached them with foam dots.

So the letter stickers would pop off the page, I traced around them with a fine tip black marker.  Then for each photo tab, I stamped the name of the place where the photo was taken.  I just love stamping on my scrapbook layouts!

I hope you enjoyed my page today!
See you tomorrow!

Watercolor Hello

CIAO!  

I hope it's a very good Monday for you!  

My card today uses a great new image from the latest Appetizer set called Say It Big by Gourmet Rubber Stamps.  It has been one of the favorites by the design team this month.

For the background, I used my new Gelato pigment colors ~ SO FUN & SUPER EASY!!!  Just color them on to the cardstock (I used watercolor paper) and then take a wet paint brush to smear it around.  Once it was dry, I stamped the image in black pigment ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  EASY PEASY!

Spring Break Vacation Pictures ... Part 2

Today I thought I'd share the second part of our Spring Break Trip.  We took a cruise to the Western Caribbean on the Navigator of the Seas (no worries...we were on Royal Caribbean Cruise Line ~ lol!).

The first stop... Cozumel, Mexico!
A fun day of shopping, lunch and walking around the city.

An amazing lunch at Agave ~ YUM! 

Meg and G-Pa 

Meg with Uncle Richard

Next stop... Grand Caymon!

Meg & Nicki 

Tim & Tom ~ twins!

A new friend along the way 

We rented a Zodiac boat and snorkeled with the stingrays
(well some of us did...some of us {me & Steph stayed on the boat}

Matt having fun!

A relaxing evening!

Jamaica ~ Climbing Dunn's River Falls
WHAT A BLAST!

A few silly shots of our crazy group...
Meg and Uncle Shawn 

Matt with his 127th Shirley Temple. 

Me and Matt on formal night #2 

Me and Steph ~ my new wine buddy 

Me and my sweetie 

our fabulous dining room waiter and assistant waiter

So that's our fun vacation...can't wait to go back!