It took me two days to make this card

It took me two days to make this card because my sewing machine broke. My faithful sewing machine which helped to make five large quilts, four sets of curtains, a handful of summer dresses, and countless cards. It was my first sewing machine that my dear husband gave to me for my birthday, eleven years ago. So, I replaced it with a Brother computerized machine. I was tempted to spend big bucks on a Bernina or some sort of fancy schmancy machine, but I don't have to the money to do that, right now. The new machine is pretty neat, but it takes some getting used to. This card uses stamps by Magnolia (Tilda and wooden fence) and High Hopes (flower border). The polka dot paper is by Bo Bunny Press. Thanks for stopping by!

Various backgrounds for ATC's

I'll be teaching another class in May on how to create interesting backgrounds for ATC's (and also, for cards). I'm going to teach the shaving cream background, alcohol inks, direct-to-paper, bubble background, webbing spray, and I'm going to demo the new Ranger Dauber Acrylic paint (in copper.) Thanks for stopping by!

Cards for class

I'll be teaching a beginner's stamping class in May. I wanted to teach folks how to heat-emboss, stamp an image, color an image, use pop-dots, and how to add embellishments like eyelets and brads to their cards. I'll be teaching this class at the David M. Mangelsen's Craft Store in Omaha. So, if you live in my area, and would like to learn basic stamping and coloring, you should come to my class!!

The first card is a wedding card. I cannot, for the life of me, remember who makes the bird stamp. I've lost the paper that was inside the packaging for this stamp set. The flourish stamp is by Inkadinkado

For this second card, I added pop-dots beneath Tilda (Magnolia stamp). The ribbon stamp is by Hero Arts.

The third card I made uses a combination of rubber stamp (Marilyn stamp by Stampinback) and acrylic stamp (Make a Wish by Heidi Grace) I want to show folks how easy it is to place an acrylic image on the card front because you can see-through the stamp. This is a little trickier with a rubber stamp, if your eye is not trained to align the stamp with the edges of your cardfront.

The last project I made is a stamped candle. This always gets 'oohhhs' and 'aaahhhs' at beginner's classes. I don't have a photograph to show you (sorry). But, I will be teaching this as an 'altered art' project for our newbies.

A little coloring today

I thought I'd use some of my new rubber stamps and color a little. This first card is made with a stamp by Stamp Oasis. Unfortunately, you can't see the Ice Stickles that I added to her dress and to the red "suns" in the background. It much more vibrant IRL. I didn't really want to use embellishments on these cards. I wanted the images to stand alone. I colored this image with COPIC sketch markers.

I am really bad at watercoloring. But, you can't get better at something without practice. So, I pulled out my Stampin Up markers and water-brush and tried my hand at it, again. I find that if I lay my color on a non-pourous surface (my acrylic block), I am able to pick up the color well and then place it on my stamped image.

This last card is simple paper-piecing. The image is by Rubbernecker stamps. I fell in love with her as soon as I saw her. The background is embossed using the Swiss Dots embossing folder by Cuttlebug.

I was a Guest Designer on Alphastamps and I didn't know it!

Back in February, I was asked by Alphastamps to create four projects for them using a "school theme." They sent me collage sheets, acrylic and rubber stamps. I came up with a desk calendar, library tote, water bottle tag, and an altered paint can filled with goodies for a teacher. You can see additional views of the projects by visiting the Alphastamps blog. I thought Alphastamps was going to wait until August to show my projects, so I was surprised when I discovered that they already had them up on their blog. A nice surprise, nevertheless.

Think Spring!

This is my entry for this week's theme on "Think Monday - Think ATC. Tag stamp is by Invoke Arts, fern stamp and sentiment are by Hero Arts.