Fun with rubber

A post on GW got me reminiscing... How many of you have ever been to a RS convention, and gotten giddy over one of these piles? That, my friends, is stamp heaven. Haven't seen one in awhile, though. The picture above was from April, 2002, and the pile was courtesy of Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers.

Golden Leaves

Our temps were definitely feeling more fall-like last night, so I thought I'd share these two cards featuring the Leaves #1 Set from smARTworks (seen here). I started out with a fairly large piece of white glossy cardstock and stamped the leaves with gold brilliance ink. Next, I overstamped them with burgundy ink, and then sponged on burgundy and rust. The photos don't really do it justice, but I promise it's quite lovely.

This first card also uses the Blessings set (here). I first stamped the sentiment with the gold ink, but it didn't show up well enough. The handy, dandy stamp-a-ma-jig to the rescue! I lined it up just slightly to the left, then stamped again in black. Great effect! I also edged the main panel with a sliver of gold paper (taken from a wedding invitation envelope I had saved).

After I made the first card, I had a decent sized piece of the leaf print left, so I decided to make this second card. This time, I used Psalm 31:14-15 (here) It got a bit murky when I resized the photo, but it says, "But I have trusted in thee O Lord; I said, Thou art my God. My times are in thine hand." I layered the leaf square onto a piece of black. I punched the corners (retired SU southwest punch), then wrapped it with gold cord to frame it out. It's also popped up on foam dots for added dimension. In my recent sorting spree, I discovered some black foam dots that I had forgotten about, which worked beautifully for this project. White foam can be very distracting when layered between two dark colors...

Hope you all have a great day!!

Happy Day!

I thought I'd shake things up a bit with glitter and bright, happy colors!! The papers are all from DCWV Glitter Stack, and I arranged three patterns for the blocked background. I stamped the little bird (Studio G - the original stamp also includes the word "merci"), then added the words (PaperTrey). I added just a bit of color with my prismacolor pencils, then punched it out with a scallop oval. I then punched a larger scalloped oval from another one of the patterned papers, and it's all set! These glittery papers really are fun - lots of sparkle on the paper, but none in my eyebrows. Shiny, happy bliss!

Phew!!

Well, I've officially made it through the craft sale. Turns out there weren't many other sellers, so it sort of felt like the Trish show :) I had a number of people ask me if I was giving up stamping, and it was a bit embarassing to say that no, I had even more still at home! The funniest part of the day was when I was chatting with someone who had recently moved to the area from Jersey, and happened to see the notice for the sale in the newspaper. She was talking about how she hadn't been able to find other stampers in the area. Well, I asked where she lived and my jaw dropped when she named the next street over from us. How crazy that I drove 25 minutes to meet someone who lives around the corner! We'll definitely be getting together again!!

I ended up with three tables worth of stuff: I loaded the vast majority of it into a friend's minivan on Friday night and did initial set-up. I then came back home and sorted through even more, loaded it up into my station wagon, and then left the house at 6:30 Saturday morning to go finish setting up. I made several hundred dollars, and the remaining stuff all fit into our wagon (with the seats down, though!) I was hoping to clear more out space-wise, but it's a start! Several of the people wanted to buy even more, and have promised to give me a call in a few months. We'll see what happens...

So all in all, it was a good day. Tiring, but well worth the effort!! Would love to see this turn into an annual event...

Ooh, silk...

Thought I'd share another little goodie I uncovered in my quest for an organized stamp space. I had purchased these silk scarves for a class a couple years ago, but for various reasons it never actually happened. I stamped this one with Versamagic inks and the beautiful leaf images from smARTworks (heat set afterward). This is good quality silk, and it took the images beautifully. Obviously I could wear it, but I'm planning to use it on the back of my piano. I think it will be a nice seasonal touch!




In other news, the big sale is tomorrow! And this is what my back room looks like right now. Just need to finish pricing some of those stamp sets...

Live - Laugh - Love

As I've been sorting through my vast accumulation of supplies, I've uncovered a few "treasures." This clip frame was originally available from the Post Office, showcasing their dinosaur stamps for a rather pricey $9.95. Well, I stumbled upon it in the dollar aisle of our grocery store, and snapped up several. I've decided I truly don't need them all, but wanted to make at least 1 sample (just so prospective buyers see the potential!). I took it apart, and decided I'd reuse as much of the existing materials as possible. I flipped the front mat over, and covered it with black versamagic ink. I heat set, and then ran it through my Big Shot with the tiny mosaic cuttlebug texture folder. I had to run it through twice becuase of the size, but I think this particular pattern matched up pretty well. Now on to the actual images - I computer generated the text, then accented them images from Artifacts and Antique Collectibles. The hardest part was actually getting the spacing right on the words! It's simple, but I do really like the final result. Hmmm.... maybe I should keep all those frames after all :)

Orange Girls

Well, our computer is up and running again and those adorable little girls are back, too! I started out with the background piece (scraped oil technique with orange, yellow and light green) and was planning to layer it with stamped acetate. I played around with it, but just didn't care for the results so decided to pull out the dreaded orange (dried marigold distress ink - love how it looks just a teensy bit mottled). I then used a corner punch on the base piece, and then layered it onto a card base made from Bazzill (love that corduroy texture!) I stamped the sentiment, then used a pin to attach it. Finally, I added a bit of narrow ribbon on the spine and tied it off to make a tassel of sorts. Definitely unusual colors for me, but it was quite fun to do! (One Smile and Blessings, smARTworks)

In other news, I'm still sifting through my mountain of supplies, determining what to sell at the scrampers sale this weekend. Yesterday afternoon I sat on the back patio, flipping through books and magazines while the kids played. I jotted down some layout ideas, and added most of them to the sell pile. It feels really good to let go of this stuff - now here's hoping that someone else actually is willing to buy it!! :)