Stamp Review Crew: Little Twinkle

It's bonus hop time!! And it is not Halloween themed 😉 It is actually my daughter's birthday on Monday, and she is pregnant with her first child. Like, really pregnant, going to deliver in the next month or less! And when I saw the Little Twinkle stamp set, I immediately thought of the baby she was cooking up. So, what better time to feature this set than on my girl's birthday!

What is the Stamp Review Crew, you ask? We are an international group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators that gets together to do a blog hop on the first and third (and sometimes on a fifth) Monday of each month. For each hop we chose a single stamp set for us all to use, and then we let our creativity loose! We have a blog with all of the hops archived, so you can hop through any of the hops any time. Click here to go to the blog to see all of the hops! To go to the specific post for this hop, click here, or on the banner above.

Here is the stamp set we are featuring:

If you are following along in order, then you have just arrived from Mary Haugen's blog. Wow, right?!

We think my newest grandbaby will be a girl, so I went with some pinks and purples for this card. Believe it or not, this is Powder Pink, Highland Heather, and Rich Razzleberry with Copper embossing.

I love all the details on the Stitched Details diecut here. This card came to together super quick!

That is all I had time to create this time. Life has been quite challenging for several months, and I have not had the time to dedicate to my crafts as much as I would like. I won't go into to it here, because it is a long and rambling story with many side-stories, but I am very much looking forward to hanging with my stamping friends in Orlando for convention in just about a week!!

Next up is the fabulous Charlet Mallett!

Toil and Trouble Blog Hop

I have been invited to be a guest designer on my dear friend, Kelly Kent's, team blog hop! What an honor! Thank you, Kelly!

The theme is Toil and Trouble and Halloween. While I don't have the Toil and Trouble stamp set, I do have one of the other cute stamp sets: Trick or Tweet.

I created a bridge card, which is so easy, and so adaptable to what ever size you want it to be! Buffalo Check and Seasonal Tags framelits came out to play with this card also.

The critters are colored with Stampin' Blends and fussy cut. The leaves, spider webs, and bats are cut with the Seasonal Tags framelits.

That elephant just had to be sitting in a pile of leaves, don't you think? I also love the way the Gray Granite ink looks sponges and spattered with water on the bridge piece.

The fact that this card will stand up so easily makes it a perfect card to display all season long. I think I will bring it to work to sit on the registration desk!

Oh, and the black glimmer paper is retired. Sorry! It is in my stash, and was begging to be used!

Bonus with this card design, it folds flat for mailing!

All right, time to hop on over to the next blogger, Siobhan Fitzsimmons!

Stamp Review Crew: Dashing Deer

What is the Stamp Review Crew, you ask? We are an international group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators that gets together to do a blog hop on the first and third (and sometimes on a fifth) Monday of each month. For each hop we chose a single stamp set for us all to use, and then we let our creativity loose! We have a blog with all of the hops archived, so you can hop through any of the hops any time. Click here to go to the blog to see all of the hops! To go to the specific post for this hop, click here, or on the banner above.

If you are following along in order, then you have just arrived from Mary Haugen's blog. Wow, right?! This lady has style!

I was in a winter starry night mood, and I just got the Bokeh Dots set, so here is what I came up with!

I love the delicate dies included in this bundle. Those swirls of leaves and flowers add the perfect icy touch.

The Softly Falling embossing folder is a classic, and works perfectly with the feel of this card.

That vellum banner was created using a die from Bunch of Banners.

Next, I really wanted to play with a sweater themed card. I love sweaters. I am always on the look out for quality Nordic style sweaters. Someday I will own more than one! Since I live in northern Minnesota, sweater weather lasts for more than half of the year, lol!

My Stamparatus made creating this panel a breeze!

I used the Cable Knit embossing folder to enhance the sweater vibe.

A watercolor brush with a nice pointed tip was very useful to apply the Vegas Gold shimmer paint to the flower centers.

And those skinny sentiment strips? I used the straw die from Coffee Cups to cut those out. Slick, I tell you!

Last up, that garland was begging to be featured all by itself! With the help of the Stamparatus, this pattern was stamped in Mossy Meadow, Old Olive, and Pear Pizzazz.

Then the white cardstock was ink blended with Soft Sea Foam and Old Olive.

And another piece of white cardstock was inked with Poppy Parade and got a white heat embossed sentiment. A die from the Farmhouse framelits made a lovely banner.

OK, that's all I have for you this round! Next up is Heidi Baks, and she is sure to have something amazing too!

Rainbow Plaid

So, I went a bit crazy with the Buffalo Check stamp when I got it. It is such a fantastic stamp!! This from a woman who owns no less than 5 flannel shirts, and actually wears them very frequently. Hey, they are very practical! Warm. Comfortable. Durable. Classic. Great for layering, and they keep the mosquitoes at bay in the evening in the summer! What's not to love?

I had to do a rainbow of plaid, and I only used 3 colors to achieve this rainbow!

I used Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, and Pool Party. The overlapping layers of color filled in the orange and green for me! I used the Stamparatus to stamp this, adding each color individually.

Sigh, I am in love with the Stamparatus! I don't even use my blocks very much any more. Not that I could live without the blocks, just that when I need to travel light, I can bring the Stamparatus and a single block and be good.

The main image is added to a die cut from Eastern Medallions framelits, and the sentiment in from Eastern Beauty. That is a forever keeper bundle, right along with Buffalo Check.

The sentiment is cut out with the Stitched Labels framelits, another must have. These are all things that I reach for frequently!

 Did you notice that Stampin' Up! has come out with accessories for the Stamparatus? I am thrilled to be able to get extra plates in particular! When I am in a creative frenzy, I could easily used 4 or 6 of those plates!

Now, dig out your flannel and have some fun!

Stamp Review Crew: Buffalo Check

October is here! And we are reveling in the season. What is better in autumn than a warm and cozy flannel? I think this may be the first time we feature a background stamp here, but this one goes with everything! So here we go with Buffalo Check!

For the newbies:
What is the Stamp Review Crew, you ask? We are an international group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators that gets together to do a blog hop on the first and third (and sometimes on a fifth) Monday of each month. For each hop we chose a single stamp set for us all to use, and then we let our creativity loose! We have a blog with all of the hops archived, so you can hop through any of the hops any time. Click here to go to the blog to see all of the hops! To go to the specific post for this hop, click here, or on the banner above.

If you are following along in order, then I am the first stop! If you started somewhere in the middle,  you have just arrived from Mickey Roberts blog. Go Mickey, you're so fine!!

Let's start with a nice autumn/masculine card.

The Corrugated embossed panel started as white cardstock, was sponged with Crumb Cake ink, spritzed with water, then dried with a heat tool. There are also spatters of watered down Champagne Gold shimmer paint.

The leaves started as white cardstock sponged with Mango Melody and Poppy parade (my new favorite combo for sunsets, autumn leaves, and fire!) And some in Granny Apple Green and Mango Melody. Spritz and spatter with Champagne Gold shimmer paint. Embossed and diecut with Rooted in Nature leaf dies. (The leaves were actually leftovers from a different project. Love it when things are all ready to go!)

The green panel is Shaded Spruce stamped with the Buffalo Check in the same color, then diecut with the largest square in Stitched Shapes.

The sentiment is from Rooted in Nature, Copper heat embossed on vellum, then fussy cut. I am loving this look lately!

How about a feminine card? This is Blushing Bride. And the Galvanized cardstock with Tin Tile embossing folder.

I adore all of this texture with the soft color palette!

And now we are on to a Christmas card. The snowflakes and the flannel are all the same piece of white cardstock. I started with a 4¼"x5½" panel of Thick Whisper White and diecut the snowflake border.

The snowflakes were masked off with blue painters tape and copy paper, then the Buffalo Check was stamped with the Stamparatus and Versamark ink 3 times (to make sure there was excellent ink coverage) and then Gold heat embossed.

Before the mask was removed, Poppy Parade ink was sponged over the embossing.

The sentiment is from Snowflake Sentiments and is Gold heat embossed, then diecut with an oval from Stitched Shapes.

I also cut the white panel (the whole thing) two more times. Then I glued all of them together for added depth.

And the snowflakes, they had to have some shimmer too! I watered down some Frost White shimmer pain and brushed it on with a paint brush. It looks fabulous in real life. Maybe you can see a touch of it here.

 In the past, embossing the inside of a card has been something I avoided. But I have found that if I heat the heat tool up for 30-45 seconds, at least, before embossing, then the paper warps less. And then if you let the paper rest and cool down for a couple hours, you will find that it goes right back to a nice flat paper. And then it looks lovely 😊

That is all I am sharing this time, but stay tuned for more projects with this amazing background stamp!

Next up is Ann Schach! She will blow us all away, I am sure!

Kindred Stamps Release: The Horror!

Hello Kindred friends!! It is release week, and I have the honor of featuring The Horror!, which showcases all kinds of scary characters and monsters. It also has loads of awesome, and versatile, sentiments. I had a hard time stopping once I got started 😀

That is quite a pile of projects, right?! Well, let's go into some detail.

The first project I finished was this creepy birthday card. Perfect for all of your horror fanatics! A small confession, I haven't seen any of the movie franchises featured here. I had to do an internet search to figure out how to color them! Too funny, right?!

I kept the background pretty simple, just a large polka dot embossing folder, and watered down Frost White shimmer paint spattered over the black and light gray cardstocks.

The detailed red trim is a die from a Spellbinders Small Die of the Month kit, and I thought it looked like drops of blood.

And here are the Copic colors I used to color the creepy clown:

• Face and Gloves: C01, 0
• Nose/Mouth: RV29, R37
• Hair: E35, E08, R59
• Balloon: RV29, R37, R59
• Collar: V01, V06
• Jacket: V06,B05
• Pants: Y11, Y15, Y17
• Shoes: V06, V09
• Buttons: YR23, YR04

For the teeth, I used Clear Wink of Stella.

The sentiment was stamped in Versafine Onyx Black on the card base, and on a scrap of cardstock laying in my scrapheap leftover from a card I made with Happy Haunting. I love it when I can use something I already put the time into!

Inside got spatters too, and the clown stamped tone-on-tone on the gray cardstock.

Then, I pulled a tag out of my stash, stamped it with a Hardwood background stamp and the sentiment in black ink. Then I added some leaves leftover from another project, and popped this scary dude on top!

Copic colors for him:

• Face: E11, E13
• Scars: E55
• Shirt: YG95, G94, RV29, R37
• Pants: E55, E13
• Hat/shoes: C05, C07
• Glove: E13, E17
• Eyes: C01

These are going to hang on a front door. Maybe mine, maybe my daughter-in-law's. They would be seen by a bunch of people at her house! She lives across the street from an elementary school!

I used the Ornamental die from Concord and 9th. Perfect size! And more spattering with the Frost White shimmer paint. I mean, I already had it out. 😄

Let's do close ups of each of them, shall we?

Our fanged friend is all ready to butter you up!

The bats are made out of black cardstock spritzed with a shimmer spray, then punched out with a bat punch from my stash.

Vampire Copic colors:

• Hair/Pants/Jacket: C05, C07, C09
• Skin: C01, 0
• Reds: RV29, R37, R59
• Purples: V01, V06

All of the sentiments are white heat embossed directly on the ornaments.

Masked Overalls dude Copic colors:

• Mask: W01, W02, W03
• Hair/Eyes: E47, E49
• Clothes: YG95, G94
• Knife: C01, C05, RV29
• Shoes: C05, C07
• Skin: E11, W01

Each ornament is backed with a different color cardstock that shows through the peek-through elements.

Copic colors for Hockey Mask dude"

• Mask: W01, 0, RV29, C05, C07
• Eyes: C01
• Skin: E11, W01
• Hair: E47, E49
• Knife: C01, C03, RV29
• Jacket: YG95, G94
• Shirt/Pants/Shoes: C03, C05, C07

The toppers for these ornaments are made with silver foil cardstock. I tried it with glitter paper first, but this looks better.

Copic colors for this mummy:

• Wraps: W01, W03
• Skin: E15, E17, E27

Black and gray bakers twine works well with all of these ornaments.

Green Grrr fellow Copic Colors:

• Hair/Clothes: C05, C07, C09
• Skin: YG95, G94
• Pegs: C01, C03

This is where I stopped. I still have a pile of colored and cut out characters to use on more projects real soon!

The entire Kindred Stamps September release will be available Friday, September 28 at 8am PST/11am EST. Be sure to check out the Kindred Stamps blog on Friday for the full product release as well as the complete line up of all the Kindred Stamps Design Team projects from release week! If you visit and comment on all of the designers' blogs this week, you could win $15 in Kindred Stamps shop credit! So join the Fan Club and release event, show the design team some love, and get ready to empty those wallets this Friday!