Shaping Up for Easter

So, it's the final week of the Stampendous shaped-card challenge, and I, sort of, ran out of shapes, so I'm cheating...a bit. You have to admit, I created a cute shape ON the card. Once again I used the Dreamweaver Stencils' Open Egg as a template, but this time I used it to create a Spring basket, with sweet little eggs tucked inside. I stamped and embossed the Cling Egg Trio image from Stampendous using Bark EP, and cut them all out, plus a couple extra for my cracked-open chocolate egg. I played with some fun 7Gypsies papers along with the yummy aqua Bazzill cardstock, but the most fun was creating the woven "basket" from strips of ink-aged ivory cardstock. So, I think that I deserve props for at least creating a shaped, dimensional basket on my card!

The rest of the players this week are:

Stampendous Impressions

Pam Hornschu (me)

Wendy Jordan

Kristine Reynolds
Jennifer Ingle
Lea Kimmel
Taylor Usry 

Tenia Nelson 

You have until April 5th to play along with us and link your creation to the Stampendous Impressions' blog, and as an extra incentive for playing, one lucky person (drawn at random from all the entries) will receive this gorgeous Cling Jumbo Hollyhock Stamp Set:

Due to shipping restrictions, the winner must have a US address.  We hope you get a chance to play along with us - happy crafting!

'Tis the Season to Play in the Puddles

 A quickie post featuring more new images from Gourmet Rubber Stamps' April 2012 Diners' Club set, "Garden Tea Time". Perfect for the mother and/or gardener in your life. Using some fun papers from Cosmo Cricket, I stamped the galoshes, layered some papers, added the perfect sentiment, and to finish it off, I embossed the Dreamweaver Stencils' Umbrella and paper-pieced it to match my galoshes. And yes, I did add mini pompoms to the umbrella because...well, you know me and pompoms.

This set has been so much fun to play with. I suggest you head over to the GRS site and grab one for yourself!

 

How About a Spot of CAS?

Here we are at the final week of the Dreamweaver Stencils' March challenge...going CAS (clean and simple). What a great month we've had! It has truly been a challenge for most of our team, as CAS isn't "artsy-fartsy" enough for some of them. But, we've been so excited and inspired by the amount of players that we've had link up or email their own creations. Choosing the winners for this month will be really difficult (have fun with that, Lynell!).

My card for this week was inspired by the above teapot that my friend, Judith, who heads up Woodware UK, gave to Lynell and I while we were in the UK last month. She bought two teapots, one in the flower pattern, the other in the aqua, and we were to mix and match them up. Isn't it soooo cute?  I decided that I needed to create a thank you card to mail to her, and wanted to mimic (sort of) my cute little teapot. I machine embossed the teapot stencil on ivory cardstock. Then I masked off half and used the floral design from the Oval Doily stencil to create my flower pattern by stenciling Cyan Versacolor ink. Then I masked off the floral part, and used a big stencil brush to create the rest of the pot, adding shading for both portions. I vaguely stenciled the doily portion around the tea pot for added pattern. I covered the teapot in two coats of Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel for a more ceramic look very similar to the Faux Cloisonne technique you can learn about on one of the Dreamweaver Stencils' DVDs.

Visit the rest of the Dream Team, leaving some love as you go:

Dream It Up! blog
Pam Hornschu   

Laura Drahozal  

Louise Healy  

Wendy Jordan  

Terrece Siddoway 

Kristi Van Doren 

Georgia Sommers 

Lee Kellogg 

Liz Martin

 Cyndi Bundy 

Cherylynn Moser 

Jessie Hurley

 There are still two days left to play along and link your creation on the Dream It Up! blog. Two winners will be selected to win one of two sets of these stencils:

 LJ899-Lrg. Thinking of You

 LG742-Pointed Celtic Knot

Have a Cuppa with Gourmet Rubber Stamps!

The Gourmet Rubber Stamps team is playing with a brand new Diner's Club Set for the month of April, "Garden Tea Time". After spending two weeks in England last month, I'm all over this tea thing (in addition to my coffee thing). This card was so much fun to create. I used the Dreamweaver Stencils Tea Cup as a template, and used a paper stump to round it out for more dimension, with the pretty flower from the GRS set for decoration. Using sweet papers from the Cosmo Cricket "Early Bird" line, I created a tea bag wrap with a Nestie die cut, and stamped the ornate tea pot from the DC set with Bamboo Leaves Memento ink, and added a string and tag, also stamped with the tea label image. The card was finished with a Nestie die cut with the humorous (yet true!) sentiment from the set.

The entire team are previewing this new set on their blogs today, so make the rounds, leaving some love as you go. More inspiration will also be found on the Gourmet Rubber Stamps blog, the Gallery on the website...oh, and while you are there, throw the new Diner's Club Set into your shopping cart as well:

The Pampered Stamper Gets Punchy!

This butterfly card has pop and punch...several punches. The challenge for the Woodware UK team is, "Look What I Did With My...Punches". I took super ordinary punches, and tried to think outside of the square...or circle. The card base is bright white. I punched four black linen squares, scored them slightly off center diagonally, before embossing them in my Big Shot Pro with the Dreamweaver Cathedral Window stencil. Each square's fold was adhered with foam tape for more dimension. One large white scalloped square was punched and layered, with a punched black circle on top. The final pop piece, was a white scalloped circle with the Francoise's designed "Butterfly Frames" Peel Offs. The wonderful shiny black outline sticker is perfect for watercoloring as it contains the color in the specific areas. Francoise herself showed me how to watercolor with Sakura Glaze pens, and I love the effect. Bright, vibrant color that can still have shading and detail. For added visual texture, I added some pointilism dots from the pens and from the Clear Stardust Gelly Roll pen. In case you thought that the white square was actually a lace-edged scallop...nope! Those are the left-over black dots from the inside of the sticker outlines!

Be sure to take the time to visit the Woodware UK blog this week each day for the links to the rest of the team. The entire team will be "punchy" this week, and we'd love to have you play along!

For info on where you can purchase the Woodware UK line of products, visit the website and check for your local stores.

How is Your March Shaping Up?

Another shaped card for the Stampendous March challenge. This one features the Cling Lone Bird and the Cling Dream Forever sentiment...both stamped and embossed in Bark Embossing Powder (only available in the Scenic Selection). I chose some fun, bright papers from Cosmo Cricket which are perfect for Spring, the softness of the vellum overlay, and a luscious May Arts silk ribbon in a lime sherbert color. I created the card shape with my Spellbinders' Nestabilities Grand Labels One...one of my new faves, and works well with my new Big Shot Pro.


Here's a list of the team players for this week:

Stampendous Impressions

Pam Hornschu (me)

Susie Moore

Wendy Jordan

Janelle Stollfus

Kristine Reynolds
Jennifer Ingle

Tenia Nelson 
Wendy Price

You still have another week to play along with us, and link your own creation to the Inlinkz on the Stampendous Impressions' blog, or at the bottom of my post.

And as an extra incentive for playing, one lucky person (drawn at random from all the entries) will receive this gorgeous Cling Jumbo Hollyhock Stamp Set:

Due to shipping restrictions, the winner must have a US address.  We hope you get a chance to play along with us - happy crafting!

A New GRS Recipe for Spring!

My turn with the Gourmet Rubber Stamps' team to create the Weekly Recipe. Sketch #26 is seen at top. My version features the March Diner's Club set, "Prescription for Spring", and the "Everyday Sayings" set. I used the Bare Tree image over three punched and distressed pieced of Pink Paislee Hometown Summer paper layered over other coordinating papers. The half-circle at top highlights the sentiment. May Arts gingham ribbon plus baker's twine and a button finish off my cute ode to Spring. Not a bad recipe, eh?

Play along this week and post your own creation to the Gourmet Rubber Stamps Facebook page.

Are the cupboards getting bare? Do your one stop shopping for all of your crafting recipes at the Gourmet Rubber Stamps site!

A Plume Portrait Party with Paper Craft Magazine!

 All of us on the Stampendous teams are super excited today! Paper Crafts Magazine is featuring one of our favorite new images on their Facebook page. To celebrate this, we are all posting creations with the Cling Plume Portrait on our own blogs, on the Stampendous Impressions' blog, the Stampendous Facebook Page, and *squeal*...the Paper Crafts' Facebook Page. Think of this as an online blitz of Stampendous goodness. Even better, those who comment on the Paper Crafts' Facebook post have an opportunity to win one of three of the Plume Portrait, aaaaand...two opportunities to win on the Stampendous Impressions' blog. Join in on the Plume Portrait party!

My collaged plaque features the Plume Portrait, the Pensive Portrait, and the Cling Lone Songbird. My Fran'tage additions are the Powder Blue Color Fragments, Pearlized Mica Fragments, and Bronzed Mica Fragments.

Brrrrr...Seems Like Spring?

After having a weekend in the high desert of California with rain, wind, sleet, and snow flurries, it seemed a trifle bizarre to be posting a card for a Spring color challenge. This was the request of the Woodware UK team leader, Dorothy Adam. Of course, it's easy for her to say when she is having daffodils and crocus blooming under gorgeous trees amongst new Spring grass. Sigh. It makes me want to hop on the plane and go back to the UK.

Anyway...my Spring creation features this fun clear set of images called "Hippy Chick", designed by Jane Gill, one of the other talented Woodware UK team members. I love this set...it must be the latent hippy in me, and it was so fun to emboss in black and color with Sakura Glaze Pens. Wonderful, shiny, fun colors that leave an enameled finish. To highlight the bright colors,  I added strips of fun ribbons and trims from Woodware as well. To find these images and products at a store near you, check the Woodware UK website for stores in your area, as well as the Woodware UK blogsite for more Spring color inspiration.

Sharing Nibbles of Gourmet Rubber Stamps New Appetizers!

Gourmet Rubber Stamps is adding a new category to their fabulous menu...Appetizers! Yep. Little sets of fun that will retail for only $8.99. So far there are four new sets that you can find HERE.

I'm featuring the Spring Botanical Appetizer set for this first card. I added the new Chicken Wire Coverall background and a sentiment from the Lizzie Anne Designs Everyday Sayings set.

My second card features the new Mother Knows Best Appetizer set. The frame was embossed in white on vellum, with Mum stamped on the soft pink cardstock panel behind in Rich Cocoa Memento. A ribbon and some pearls finish the sweet feminine look of this card.

Be sure to see what the rest of the Gourmet Rubber Stamps' team has created with these new AppeTEAZERS!