Stamps Ahead

I wanted to share with you some cards I have designed recently for a card class I lead each Friday for a local community group. These two cards were made using handmade paper, distress inks (run across a clear block and then spritzed and applied to the paper) and a mixture of stamps I found in my stash.  I love them - the way that the distress ink reacted with the paper is 'magic'. This card uses a Darkroom Door stamp of the lady. Other embellishments were from my stash. This reminds of the old Ladies Home Journals that my mother, a dressmaker/tailor,  collected - they contained pattern paper of some of the clothes in the magazine.  I remember as a child being mesmerized by the images of film stars and their stories, the clothes.  Background paper was old pattern paper that I have collected over the years. In a recent post I share how I made a scrapbook layout using the technique of what I am calling faux watercolouring - I just new it would work on a ca...

This card is inspired by a card created by Kerry Crocker (not sure if Kerry reads my blog or if she has a blog I can link this to).  It uses non-traditional stamps, in this case Betsy's Blossoms by Stampin' Up!(r) and retired SU inks.  The WOW factor in this card is the clear embossing and sponging over the embossed images and surrounds - the photograph captures the embossing magnificently.  Why not consider using non-traditional Christmas stamps on your next project?   This was created for a class I taught recently at a local community centre and the ladies had the option to put another greeting and several put Happy Birthday. Christmas card using non-traditional Christmas Stamps During last week I played around with Gelato crayons and using patterned paper from my stash, I rubbed crayons on the top of the paper, spritzed with water and allowed it to drip by holding paper up for a short time.  I then applied salt whilst still dry and the salt absorbs the m...

Thank you for coming to my blog, do I say that enough?  This is a rather lengthy entry as I have had painters in for the past week and my house looks like an episode of "Hoarders", they have gone now and I am trying to catch up with all that needs to be done to get back into order. Once again, over at Scrapbook Challenges there was a Progressive Scrapbooking challenge for September. Here are the steps published each week: Week 1 Choose one 4" x 6" photo (hold on to it) Choose and adhere a pattern paper (pp) background (no cardstock allowed) Choose  and adhere another piece of pp to match and cut to any size you like Week 2 Choose and adhere one piece of pp and cut a 2" wide strip Choose and adhere another co-ordinating pp and cut to about 8" x 8" or 9" x 9" Week 3 Place your photo on layout add journal spot and subtitle(s) Week 4 Add title , journaling and embellishments!. Here are my finished layouts. Yes, I di...