Who doesn't love Cardinals? Well, at least their bright red colouring works so well with our Christmas palette! This is a design board from Northwoods Rubber Stamps.  When they told me the entire board was to be done with Cardinal designs, I couldn't imagine there would be this much variety.  All of Northwoods stamps are wood mounted and priced from $4.50 to $13.50. I still have a good selection of these in stock. These images would make great winter cards for birthdays etc. We all know winter lasts for ever here!!

Happy Stamping!

The sillicone sets from Viva Decor continue to impress me.  This set has six seperate images in a Vintage Christmas theme.  The red card in the top corner has the Ornament Postcard stamped in black in the background, and we have used the reindeer's antlers as a scroll on the brown craft card backing.  The top layer is white gloss distressed with Antique Linen ink.  We then stamp the girl/sled image in Archival black ink.   Final colouring was done with Tombow markers.

The card on the bottom right has the reindeer stamped in Sepia ink on Cream cardstock, cut with Labels 2 from Nestabilities.  The embossing plate underneath is from Sizzix (657066) Sugar and Starry Night set.  Brown coordinations paper was used so we could sand the surface after it was embossed.  These sets sell for $13.95 and there sure is a lot of product for the money.

Happy Stamping

Quite often as stampers, we tend to overlook the 12 x 12 paper packs, presuming that the designs will not translate well to card fronts. What a misconception! These beautiful papers from Hot Off The Press have some incredible visual effects. Love the Masculine(Steampunk) / Fall (Spicy) collections, and the Christmas (Vintage Roses). I find all of these collections to be very unique and love that they offer such a wonderful alternative . 



 Each pack contains 2 sheets of each design for a total of 12 pages, at $7.50.

Below is an example of overlapping using some of the Steampunk paper and Cheery-Lynn Leaf dies.
Just a little Hello is a Magenta cling stamp.

Happy Stamping.

The Bow Maker

Are you having difficulty making bows for cards? This handy little tool will help you to make ribbon bows in a snap.  As with all things, you just follow the steps. It's that easy. 

Step 1: With 2 pegs set at the total width of the finished bow, bring your ribbon from behind and place the right over left.

 Step 2:  Right ribbon will tuck under partially formed bow, between the posts. Then bring the same ribbon tail back toward you on top, and between the 2 posts. 

Step 3: With the top ribbon tail in your hand, create a square knot with the bottom ribbon and pull it taut. 

 Step 4: Slide the completed bow off the pegs. The kit comes with four pegs, if you want to try your hand at double bows. There are written and pictured instructions on the back of the package.  I change my bow a bit by using the top tail to tie the square knot.  

One advantage to this bow is that it is knotted and will not come undone on you as you adhere it to your card. Please note that heavier cotton ribbons like Grosgrain will not pull a tight center due to their weight.  At only $6.95, you'll wonder how you ever made do without it.
Happy Bow-making.

Delicate Dies Just Keep Happening

The Fanciful Flourish die below is from Cheery Lynn Designs (price $10.95).  I absolutely love the delicate scrolls and the fact that the leaf veins are cut for extra detail.   This die helps to create a very quick card.  The card below simply uses Inkadinkado's "Flower Oval Wood Set" (price $14.95).  The Pansy corner was stamped in two corners as well as on the raised label. 

The two kits used below are the Exotic Butterfly Mini (set of 3 @ $10.95), (size is approx 1 and one half inch wide, by approx 1 inch high) and the Mini Angel Wing (set of 3 @ $5.95).  These butterfly dies are incredibly detailed and even after running through your pressure machine, you will need to take a pin and pop out the cut-out segments.  The Mini Angel Wings are in the exact same shape as the lacy butterflies and each die in this kit is only one half of the butterfly,  so they need to be cut through on the fold of your cardstock in order to open as a complete Butterfly shape. This half image accounts for the much cheaper price on the Angel Wing set. 

These dies below are just the larger cousin of the mini butterflies.Pack of 3 designs @ $12.95 .  Approximate size is 2 inches square. Again, the Angel Wings set is a collection of 3 one half butterfly images designed in the exact shape of the lacy butterflies.Price is $6.95 for the set.

We're off to CHA in Chicago to see the new and wonderful!!! We'll try and post another blog soon.
Happy Stamping.

New Magenta Cling Stamps

This is a new stamp from Magenta, designed by Helene after she returned from a trip to Asia.  An easy way to show colour on dark cardstock is to emboss the image with white embossing powder, heat, and colour with chalks.  This is a card that Bev made.  The stamped layer was white embossed on black and coloured with chalks. She has lightly distressed the edges before she put it to a lavender layer. It was then added to a black gloss card.  This technique works well with fairly solid images.  If you try and use just an outline image, the thin lines really aren't enough to pick up good colour with chalk.

This unmounted stamp sells for $11.95. I presently have a good number in stock.  If you are not able to get to the store, we can ship this item to you in Canada for an additional $2 plus tax.  Please email me at: sillystamper@hotmail.com. 

Happy Stamping

Quick Cards to the Rescue!!!

Although you won't see the metallic shine, this cardstock is embedded with incredible lustre.  It is from Kanban Crafts and a package runs for $2.75. In the package there is a 12 x 12 sheet, with another 4 x 12 strip in the opposite colour.

The card below is done with Bella Paisley - Chocolate cardstock backed with Champagne shimmer cardstock and a flower punched with the Pop-up Water Lily craft punch from Martha Stewart. It couldn't be any easier to put together.

In this card we used Bella Paisley - Mocha cardstock backed with the same Champagne shimmer cardstock.  The layer was made with Nellie's Multiframes in the Rectangle set and the flower is the same punch as above.  The sentiment is a woodmounted stamp from Inkadinkado. Again, it doesn't get much quicker than this.

Hope you have an opportunity to drop into the store and see these great foil masterpieces from Kanban. Here's hoping the weather continues to improve, Happy Stamping.

The Flowers are Here

As we impatiently wait for spring we'll have to make do with some beautiful new stamps from Stampendous.  Although these stamps appear to be quite large in size, it is easy to use portions of them on a standard sized card. 

The Dahlia card below (by Claudette), was white embossed on white card stock and coloured with Ranger Adirondack inks in shades of yellow and orange.  The Hydrangea card was embossed on white card and Shimmer sprays were used to colour it in. 

The Peony, below, works well white embossed, and cut out.  The card on the left (by Claudette), has been coloured with metallic H2O's. The card on the right has been white embossed as well and coloured with Teal Zircon Twinkling H20's.  We used the scroll from the set with Adirondack Pool Ink to create a soft background.  The verse stamp is from Impression Obsession.

We'll have to make do with these flowers until the real ones appear, Happy Stamping.

Hopefull Spring Wishes

There are a couple of elements we used to create this card.  Let's start with the Martha Stewart border punch called "Infinite Loop Trim".  We have layered this punched out trim on top of printed paper to draw from the colour combination for the card. 

We used a Magenta paper in shades of greens and pink underneath the punched out trim.  On the white card we've stamped just the leaf portion of the Hero Arts stamp, (pictured further down), in Peeled Paint Distress Ink (A wet paper towel will clean off any ink that strays to the flower head).
 

To create the scrolled edge of the card and white layer, we've traced the edge of the Hero Arts envelope template on both layers.  Below you will see the punched trim which will lay on top of the matching size printed paper.

Using Victorian Velvet Distressed ink, we've only inked the flower portion of the Hero Arts stamp below and stamped 3 or 4 times resting at the top of the grass designs.  The card was embellished with Glue Pen and Prisma Glitter towards the center of the flower head.

Don't forget that if your polymer stamp design is thin enough, you can force it into a curve onto the clear block.  We used the Kaiser Craft clear set below, and did just that with our verse.  As a finishing touch, don't forget to hide your smudge marks with a little bling. *L*

Maybe if we all think and stamp Spring it will come a little bit faster. Happy Stamping.

Belated Happy New Year / Early Valentines Day Wishes

I am slowly catching up after holidays and pneumonia.  I would like to say thank you to all those well wishers, my energy levels returning to normal and I'm finding some time to play.  The following card was made with Nellie's Heart dies.  After the large heart was cut out, I used a Tim Holtz embossing folder to add some more texture.  The pink heart is stamped with Impression Obsession's flourish C2040.  The edges of the smallest heart have been distressed with Adirondack Watermelon ink.  All the hearts have been raised with foam tape and adhered to shimmer card stock.  The "With Love" is from a clear kit from KaiserCraft.

Keep in mind that it's easy to turn any stamped image into a valentine by using the traditional heart shape to stamp on.  For all of you cat lovers, this clear set from Penny Black can cover lots of occasions. Priced at $16.95. Paper flowers and Bling have added the finishing touch.

There are so many Heart Shaped punches on the market.  You can always make a quick card by punching some out of printed paper or different colours of card and then adhering them in a 'tumbling' pattern across a card face.

I used an already distressed Labels #1 cutout from my scrap drawer. The small envelope punch gives the hearts a starting point to tumble out of.  The 'Be Mine Valentine' is from Impression Obsession, priced at $6.25.  Don't be afraid to use non-traditional colours as shown in Earthtones below.