CIC23 and a chalked landscape tutorial!

So, it is time again for another Cupcake Inspiration Challenge with Hope Stamps Eternal, and what a great inspiration photo. I dont know whether to drink that cupcake or eat it. Either way it looks DELISH!

Okay so my brain latched onto a few key elements from the photo:
1) textured pink and white background
2) pink, red, cream color scheme
3) focal inside of a circle

I interpreted that into a card by using 1) velevet patterned paper, 2) red, pink and cream colors and 3) stamping my focal designs onto an oval. I wanted to go circular but decided against it, I didnt want extra white space above and beneath my bunnies. By the way, these images were all individual stamps that I grouped to form a larger image.

Now I am sure you are wondering how I did that background behind the bunnies, so I took a series of pictures to show you exactly what I did. First off here is my supplies:
1) Martha Stewart picket fence punch
2) my oval that I will be stamping onto (I did my stamping and coloring BEFORE chalking, but I wanted to first get you started with how to do the chalking before worrying about the stamping part)
3) a scalloped circle punched from scrap paper
4) a section of scrap paper punched with the picket fence section
5) cotton balls or little craft pom poms
6) chalk pastels. I use the cheapie craft store variety, my set of chalks was under $3 at Michaels. Just look in the art supply section with the starter art supplies.



So to get started, lay your scalloped circle on top of your oval. With your cotton ball or pom pom, rub it against your chalk quite briskly and then in a circular motion rub a portion of the edge of the scalloped circle, make sure you rub OVER the edge and onto your oval, but dont go all the way around the oval. Pick up your scallop and move it around and tilt it in different directions, the way clouds look in the sky.

Only take your cloud section down about 1/2 way on your oval. Next lay your picket fence piece over that, make sure you have about a half inch of white space between your fence and your clouds. Repeat the same chalking process, you will need to rub with a little more pressure and smaller circles to get into the little sections of the fence. And keep in mind, it doesnt need to be perfectly filled in. This is only the background after all.

Now you can remove your picket fence mask and check out what you have going. At this point you can either stamp grass and flowers or you can just chalk the ground. Whichever you choose will look great. I chose to chalk.

I went with a crisp spring green, same procedure. Only this time there is no mask in place, just swirl the color on and fill in as much or as little of the remaining space as you need to. But dont cover up your cute little fence! I left about a quarter inch of room between the green and the fence.

Thanks for stopping by for my challenge card, and my surprise tutorial! Now go buy some chalks, or dig yours out again and re-discover how fun they really are!!

Dont forget to check out what the rest of the HSE sweeties have got up their sleeves this week!!

Bonnie ~ Carolina ~ Colleen ~ Jessica ~ Michelle ~ Natalie ~ Tammy

Supplies for the challenge card:

Papers - SEI chickadee flocked paper, Imaginisce diamond patterned paper,

Hardware - Recollections super mini brads, prima hydrangea flowers, ribbon, Imaginisce glitter brads, ZVA mini crystals

Stamps - Penny Black Fresh New Day set

Coloring mediums - Prismacolor Pencils and Odorless paint thinner, chalk pastels

Shabby Chic style antique brad tutorial!!

It's here! It's here! Finally after waiting three long days, my shabby chic brad tutorial is here! So here's the finished card using these brads. They really do lend themselves well to the distressed style in paper crafting. Make sure you click on the image if you want to get a close up view of the brads, they look so neat with the worn edges and slight staining from the ink!


So let's get to it then, shall we? First gather your supplies, you'll need white brads, a brown ink pad, and a nail file. If you are worried about your nails then grab yourself a pair of tweezers to hold the brad while you are distressing it. For the sake of the photos I am using a pair of black cutterbee tweezers because they pinch shut when you release your grip rather than you having to squeeze them during use. very convenient! I also use these for heat embossing to hold my paper with!


Step one, grab your mini brad, here's a close up of my brad before I've started. If you're using tweezers, pinch it as close to the head of the brad as you can for stability.

Next rub it very very gently with your nail file. You only want to scuff the brad you dont want to completely remove all of the white paint. For this photo it took maybe four or five swipes with the file, just make sure you check it frequently until you get the level of distressing that you want.

After getting the desired level of scuffage on your brad, lightly tap it onto a brown ink pad, I've used an inexpensive pigment ink pad here. By the way, I personally always buy the cheapie ink pads for things like inking edges and distressing. I am really hard on my ink pads and they get pretty chewed up from paper corners...

so yeah, after inking the brad wipe off any excess ink with a tissue or your finger. You really only need a hint of ink on your brad for this.

And voila! Instant shabby brad!

If you love this tutorial and want to share your creations with me, I am also going to be publishing this tutorial in the card challenges forum over at the All Moments Remembered Message Board where I host a weekly card challenge. It's super fun over there by the way. I know I talk about it a lot, but that's only because it's like home to me.

Flower Pot Card Tutorial!!

Okay okay, I know, my photo is not the greatest, but I was in a hurry to get these posted so I skipped the editing...lol. Anyway, join me in the fun tutorial for this flower pot card tutorial! Oh and as a bonus, the flowers are on jumbo paperclips and double as cute bookmarks!

So gather these supplies:
brownish red cardstock
three or four patterned papers in the same color family
ribbon
ink
your favorite stamp set
large flower punches or cricut cart. with flowers
paper trimmer
super jumbo paper clips (i found mine at walmart)
glue dots
foam adhesive
inks
mini brads
border punch (i used the fiskars threading water)

I hope I got it all...now lets begin!! Start with a standard A2 card base and along the bottom edge make two hash marks 1/2 inch in from each side as shown below.

Next along the long edges measure down two inches from the top on each side. I have shown one side below, but you'll need both sides marked.

Next, line up two hash marks on your cutting guide as shown below and trim away. This will leave the card fold only connected at the top two inches of the card and make it shaped more like a flower pot.

Next you will need a 2 inch wide strip of cardstock the same color as the card base, make it about 5 inches long, and punch the entire strip with your favorite border punch. After you get it punched you can line it up on your card base and figure out where you want to trim it to, this will ensure that you can even up the punch design so it looks nice on your card.

At this point, distress your card base and punched strip with a red based ink. I used colorbox Que ink Terra Cotta. After the ink has dried, tie a bow around the punched strip as shown below and adhere it to the top of the card base using foam mounting adhesive. This will help your beautiful border punch stand out!

For the inside of the card, cut a 3inch by 5 inch piece of cardstock and stamp a nice sentiment inside, I've use the new Studio G mothers day stamps here, aren't they cute?!

I wanted to show a close up of the patterned papers I've chosen to use here, for this next step the patterns that will work best are the more mottled patterns in simlar colorings. These are all Basic Grey papers.

Next up, punch an assortment of flower shapes in sizes ranging from 1 inch to 2 1/2 inches in size. I used the George cartridge and my cricut machine for all of these flowers. And at this point just start playing around with different layerings. Once you've decided on your flowers, select 3 groupings to make three flowers. Ink your layers in contrasting inks to help them stand out. For my flowers with the green tones I used green ink, and the pink tone flowers I used a mauve colored ink. The white layers I left alone.

Secure the flower groupings with large brads, I have used pearl brads here, but dont flatten the prongs fully yet!!

At this point, grab your jumbo paper clips and slide the closed end of the clip under the prongs of the brads and then flatten the prongs around the paper clip as show below.

To secure the flowers even more, use large thin glue dots and an extra punched/die cut flower over that, as shown below.

After completing the three paper clip bookmarks, clip them on the top edge of the inside of the card base, open and close the card a few times to figure out if you like where you have the flowers.

Now the card is nearing the end. You can choose to leave it as is, or you can further embellish your card. I chose to keep going....of course...lol

For my final embellishment, I used a diecut heart again from the George cartridge and stamped a studio g mothers day sentiment on the heart, and secure a spare flower diecut to the bottom edge of the heart. OH and I inked the edges of these layers too with the same inks I used for the flowers! And VOILA! Aint it purrrrrty??

I have a technique video to share!

For a lot of people, the biggest mystery of stamping and card making is figuring out HOW to color their images! Well, over the next several weeks I am going to be exploring different coloring mediums and sharing techniques over on All Moments Remembered. The first technique I am sharing is coloring with prismacolor pencils and blending with odorless paint thinner (mineral spirits). Here's a close up of the finished image as well as the finished card. Followed up by the tutorial video for working with this medium.

And without further delay, the video!! Leave comments and questions and I'll do my best to answer them for you all!

If you are having trouble viewing the youtube video, I have also uploaded it to vimeo. HERE's the Link!

Handmade Felt Flower Tutorial

Alright alright, a tutorial already! For this flower you will need a strong needle, embroidery floss and a coordinating button, felt (I use a softer, by the yard, felt as it's easier to work with and not as stiff as the small craft store sheets of felt) and scissors.

First you will need to cut 5 "U" shaped petals, they need to be fairly large since you will be folding them at bases to sew them together.

Next, I like to add a cute running stitch around the outside of the petals, there's no need to tie little knots if you just wrap the first stitch around the edge. This running stitch is purely decorative and not structural so that's why I don't bother to knot it at the ends.

Picking up the first petal fold it in half lengthwise and grab the base of it.

Pinching the base of the petal at the fold, wrap the two edges back around so that it is folded yet again and hold on tight.

Poke the needle through all four layers of the fold and pull tight. For this stitch I do have a knot on the end for structure. To maintain the tight base of the petal I wrap the stitch around the end of the petal and pull tight again.

Here's a close up of the petal with the stitch wrapped around the edge of the petal. I know it's hard to see but it's there.

Without knotting or snipping the threads, repeat the process for the next petals, pulling them tight next to the previous petal and repeat the wrapped stitch. In this pic I left the stitch loose so you can see how it wraps around the edge of the petal base. I have these tight enough so that if you lift them up they almost seem like they are one piece rather than two.

Here's what it looks like when you've added all 5 of the petals. As you continue with the petals and pulling them tight they will naturally start to form the flower shape because the outer curves of the petals will push away from the others.

Next, without knotting or snipping the threads wrap a stitch around and through the first petal that you stitched tight. I try to tuck the threads behind the petal before I pull it tight so that it remains hidden on the back of the flower. Pull tight so that the flower center is not loose. You want it tight enough so that a button will easily cover the bases of the petals.

Here's what it should look like once you've "closed" the flower and pulled your final wrapped stitch tight. Do not trim your threads yet, and do not snip that long thread to the needle, just get your button!

To sew on the button, start from the back of the flower and each time you poke through the button make sure that you are sewing through a different part of different petals. This will help secure the button and flower center and will add extra "pucker" to the final flower. Finish your flower by sewing a knot to the back of your flower and trimming any visible thread ends. You really should have many visible at this point.

And VOILA! Cute handmade flower! These are super cute on cards, scrapbook pages, sewn to your favorite tote, a cute addition to a child's sweatshirt or hat. The possibilities are endless!! And they are totally washable!

Baby Card Start to Finish!!

Okay, so I am SUPER obsessed with watching people's home videos of cardmaking and scrapbooking. I lurk youtube and vlogs (video blogs) constantly...so no surprise that I thought it would be fun to make my own!

So here it is in all its amateur glory....LOL. My first ever VIDEO!!

Start to Finish: Rubber Tapestry Floral Stamping

Okay, lets start from the beginning...I was poking around online (when am I not?...lol) and was directed to these Rubber Tapestry Stamps that really caught my eye...so I thought "I must have these!" and now I do!! You too can have them, if you go to http://www.allmomentsremembered.com/ and head to the store for some shopping fun! Now on to the good stuff...see this card here? THIS is all brought to you by the magic of these awesome peg stamps! These stamps are seriously FOOL PROOF! This card was literally the first thing I ever made with these stamps, this is fresh out of the packaging!


First things first, lets gather the supplies:

-white cardstock for stamping on
-Rubber Tapestry peg stamps (any set of your choosing)
-wonderful yummy ink colors (For this I am using VersaColor Pigment ink cubes in Peony, Paprika, Evergreen, Bamboo and Split Pea)
-glitter glue, additional sentiment stamps, little bug stickers or a stamp if you choose to add a little extra


For this demonstration I chose not to follow the example as provided on the guide that came with the stamps, that one is pretty self explanatory if you purchase the sets. I decided to instead stamp a floral edge. So first step, I stamped the "mini sprig" in Bamboo VersaColor leaving a few spaces here and there. (Sorry my pictures aren't as sharp as they usually are, I didn't realise until I was adding the watermark that I forgot to double check the photos before moving on. I'll have another Rubber Tapestry demonstration this week with much better photos! I promise!)

Step two in this, I stamped in between the mini sprigs using the "mini flower cluster" and Peony VersaColor. Here's a tip, you can hold the peg stamps just like a pencil and then you wont get your fingers in the ink!



The third stamp in the lineup is the "Tiny Leaf" stamp. I stamped it angling out of the flower clusters (stamping once or twice per cluster) using the Split Pea VersaColor.

And the fourth and final stamp in this particular set is the "Itsy Berries" which I stamped all around, focusing them more toward the centers of the tiny leaf stamps and toward the edges of the mini sprigs. I stamped the itsy berries first in Evergreen and again in Paprika VersaColor inks.


Now comes the fun part...you can add tons of wow by using Stickles glitter glue around the edges of the mini flowers, it gives them a nice shine and sparkle! For my finished card I used stickles Cotton Candy color. (click that link and scroll down the page a tiny bit and you will find a lovely assortment of Stickles.) I also dotted the flower centers with acrylic paint in a golden yellow. Oh and I added a cute little bee stamp to the cluster near the sentiment. You really can personalize these flower sets by adding your own little extras.

My chosen sentiment for the final card is by Inkadinkado (click for direct link to where you can purchase it) and the little bee is also Inkadinkado from a value pack I purchased ages ago, I dont remember where I found it though.

If you made it this far, thank you! You can see a few more of the sets here at the AMR Blog, and make sure to leave a comment so Stacey knows you stopped by!!