Tracey Stamps

He Approves

I got the hubby seal of approval on this one!  It's funny how as soon as I finish, I run into our living room and interupt his game (tonight Transformers 2) to show him my newest creation.  It's just more fun to share the things you stamp, even if its your sometimes unappreciative husband.  ~;-)

This was a fun little card to make.  I was talking with a friend the other day about embossing powder... it just stuck in my head and I had to use some!  I really wanted to try something new, so I decided to try my hand at making landscapes à la Michelle Zindorf.  She creates marvelous art using layers made by stamping and embossing and brayering and sponging and... she uses a lot of steps to come out with some beautiful cards.  Check out her blog. She posts nearly every day and includes step by step instructions on how she made that day's card.  It will get your brain going!

For this card, I began by stamping the flowers using Basic Black Craft ink and then embossing with clear.  I colored the flowers using markers, used my Versamarker to cover them and embossed.  The I stamped the wheelbarrow in Basic Black Craft and embossed (note to self - masking the flowers would have been a great idea... saving a little mess on my fingers from wiping away the excess oh-so-carefully).  I colored the wheelbarrow, coated it with the Versamarker and embossed.  Then I tore a sheet of notebook paper, masked of the bottom half of the panel and brayered on the Bashful Blue.  I then masked the top half and brayered the Old Olive, moving the mask down once to create a forground.  With that, I was pretty much finished!

This was a lot of fun and stretched me out of my normal cardmaking box a bit.  I encourage you to try something new the next time you stamp.  Even if you have horrible results, you will have learned something new!

Oh!  I almost forgot.  With all that went into this card, can you guess what my dearest liked the most?  He thought the clip was "a nice touch".  Hehe... I guess that just shows that when I finally make some masculine cards, I need to load up on the hardware!

Sets: Blooming with Love, Sanded  Ink: Basic Black Craft, Bashful Blue, Old Olive, Versamark  Paper: Bashful Blue, Barely Banana, Whisper White  Accessories: Clips Assortment, Top Note Bigz Die

Not Quite There Yet

What can I say... I am extremely happy with the bottom half of this card.  That sentiment?  Not so much.  I didn't really plan on using a sentiment, but the white space at the top was a little much.  Probably should have made this a square card.  Anyway, I stamped the sentiment in Riding Hood Red... it just didn't work.  So, after thinking on it overnight, I got up this morning and stamped over it with versamark and embossed it in black (like I did the cupcake).  It's definitely better, but still not great.  Hmmm... if I added a layer over it would it be better?

Anyhow, this is my submission for CPS 121.  Make sure to check out Card Positioning Systems and try your hand at one of the sketches!

Sets: Crazy for Cupcakes, Full of Life  Paper: Candy Lane DSP, Riding Hood Red, Very Vanilla, Pink Pirouette  Ink: Riding Hood Red, Close to Cocoa, Pink Pirouette, So Saffron, Pumpkin Pie, Versamark  Accessories: black embossing powder

"I've seen a lot of cards."

My husband was not properly impressed with this card the night I made it.

"But this is truly fabulous!" I said incredulously.

"I've seen a lot of cards," he returned.

Bah!  That's okay.  I know someone out there in the internet world will see the work that went into this and at least give it a nod of appreciation. ~;-)

This card is a combo of things you won't see very often - this year's In Colors and next year's stamps set. Circle Circus is here (free, thanks to Stampin' Up! and a great Sale-A-Bration) and I am oh-so-happy!  I love this new set.  Yes it is just patterned circles, but think of all the possibilities!

I made the patterned piece of cardstock here by drawing guidelines in a grid for stamp placement.  This large circle needed the lines spaced 1 1/8" apart for this pattern.  Then I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to place the stamp just so.  And, voila!  Cute little card!

Also, this card is based on CPS 120 from the Card Positioning Systems blog.  If you haven't visited this blog, be sure to check it out!  Each week they have a featured sketch... it's a great way to get your wheels turning.  It's also fun to see all the different "takes" on one simple sketch.  Have a great week!

Sets: Circle Circus, Thank You Kindly  Paper: Very Vanilla, Kraft, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss  Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze  Accessories: clear button, Very Vanilla 1/4" grosgrain ribbon

Simplicity in Circles

Anyone else living in New England?  What is with the weather?  I was so happy yesterday when it stayed in the 70s a good portion of the day.  Of course I know there are some of you dealing with temps near 100, so I guess it could be worse!  But... it would be nice to take the kiddos out without jackets. ~:-)

Yet more easing into card making happening with this card... more DSP and simple layouts.  I saw a card similar to this in the past month while browsing my extensive list of blogs.  No clue which blog... there are so many!  I remember that I loved how striking the circles were on the straight up cardstock base.  I did not sponge the edges of the circles (shocking, I know) but used dimentionals to create the depth I wanted.  I did however sponge the edge of the card base very lightly with Pink Pirouette.

So thanks for looking!  The upside of chilly raining weather is that we're stuck inside... meaning more stamp time!  Have a great day.

Sets: Thank You Kindly  Paper: Candy Lane DSP, Very Vanilla  Ink: Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette

Featuring DSP!

Thanks to the urging of a kind friend, I'm back up and at it!  I decided I would start off slow... this is a not-so-one-of-kind card.  I CASEd the basic idea from a gift bag seen on the front of PaperCrafts July/August edition.  I wanted to use some of the fabulous designer paper I always seem to hoard and this seemed like a good simple layout to showcase the paper.  It's pretty much a cut and paste card, but I did sponge the edges of every peice of paper.  It just adds soooo much depth with so little effort!  Enjoy!

Stamps: One of a Kind  Paper: Raspberry Tart DSP, Cameo Coral, Rose Red  Ink: Rose Red, Cameo Coral, Kiwi Kiss  Accessories: Clip Assortment, Whisper White 1/4" grosgrain ribbon