New England Stamper

Club Member Cards

I want to share some more cards by my talented club members.  The Booglie Eyes card was made by Dawn P - don't you love the sponged clouds and grass?  I love this set - I wish it hadn't retired.

 

And here's another by Dawn made with two more sorely missed sets, Give Thanks and Weathered b/ground.  I love the the sponging on this card and the shading on the flower.

 

The next three cards are made by our mother/daughter tag team - Rhonda and Loretta.  These two ladies always make Stamp Club fun!  The first is by Loretta - I love how she partially punched out the square scallop shape.

   

The second was made by Rhonda.  I love this layout - I can't wait to try it myself with all my paper scraps.

   

And the final card is by Rhonda - those punched flowers look perfect with this Eastern Blossoms set.

 

Thanks for letting me share your work ladies!

Punched Sunflowers

Here's a card we made a stamp club last month.  I got the idea for this card from Leann Greff - thanks Leann!  The sunflowers are made with SU's round scallop punch, the 1 1/4" circle punch and the small oval punch for the leaves.  Small slits are cut between each of the scallops to make the sunflower petals and edges are rolled in choc chip ink for added definition.

 

Recipe:

• Stamps: Fundamental Phrases, Canvas b/ground
• Paper: baja blue, old olive, naturals ivory, more mustard, Ski Slope d/p
• Ink: chocolate chip, baja blue
• Accessories: earth elements brads
• Tools: round scallop punch, 1 1/4" circle punch, small oval punch

 Thanks for looking!

Holiday Card Class

I will be holding my only Holiday Card Class this Saturday, November 15 at the Clover Farm Market in West Groton, MA between 10am to 2pm.  Participants will make 12 cards - 3 each of 4 different designs for a cost of $28.  Here are the cards:

 

The first two use To You and Yours set, which is new to the catalog this year.  The first card is a glitter window, although it's hard to see in the photo.  The second has some bling too, but again it's hard to pick up in the photographs.

 

 

The final 2 cards are 3" x 6" cards which fit in the small open ended envelopes. The first uses the Punches Three hostess set and the second uses Season of Joy.

There are 5 spots left if you would like to attend or I can send you out a kit for a small fee to cover postage.  Just drop me a line at alimanning@charter.net

Thanks for stopping by!

Family Birthday Cards

Here are a couple of birthday cards that I sent to my brother and niece who live in Sweden.  The first has no stamping and the second card has loads and loads of stamping. This was the first time I used letter and numbers stickers on a card too.  I've been inspired by all the cards Kristina Werner makes with them. 

This card uses patterned paper and vinyl stickers from Scenic Route.  The card stock base is tempting turquoise and the ribbon is SU.  I like this card sketch (it is from the CTMH catalog) I will definitely use it again.

 

This second card was made for my niece Anabelle who turned 2 at the beginning of October and the monkey theme is quite appropriate, right Doc?

 

This card uses the retired SU set Monkey Business (thanks for the loan, Dawn).  The card base is whisper white, and the main panel is barely banana matted onto chocolate chip c/stock.  The stickers are American Crafts.  Ink colors are chocolate chip, garden green and summer sun.  This card made great use of my Stamp-a-ma-jig.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!  

Fun Flowers

My friend Christyann asked me to make some flowers to display at her Customer Appreciation Day in September.  This was a fun project!  I had scraps from the Pina Colada Simply Scrappin' Kit on my desk, so decided to use those.  The colors are so fun and vibrant.

Some of the flower heads were made with covered chipboard and others with punched card stock.  The centers were embellished with the self-adhesive die cuts from the kit, buttons, brads and felt flowers. 

 

 

I just updated the 3d Items photo album (see right), check it out if you're looking for a fun project to make for a gift or for your home.

Beate's Weekend Sketch

I can't believe that I managed to complete a challenge this weekend.  I don't stamp much on the weekends and I'm extra happy because I haven't done a challenge in ages. 

I followed Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge #64 and this is what I came up with.  This is the first card I've made with Snow Swirled and I think I'm going to love this set.  The christmas ornament was made using the faux metal technique - another first for me. 

I took a 2" x 2" square of brushed gold c/stock, covered it with Brilliance gold ink by pressing the c/stock into the ink pad and heat embossed with gold embossing powder.  I repeated this 3 times and on the third layer, when the embossing powder was still hot, I stamped the large snow flake which was coated with Versamark ink.  You have to press hard to make a good impression.  When I do this technique again, I will emboss 4 layers for extra definition.  For photo directions, check out the Splitcoast Faux Metal tutorial in the Resources section. (I can't add a link right now because the Splitcoast website isn't cooperating).

 

Recipe:

• Stamps: Snow Swirled, Bella Toile

• C/stock: old olive, chocolate chip, brushed gold, Ski Slope designer paper

• Ink: Versamark, Brilliance gold ink, gold pen

• Accessories: SU rub-ons, gold embossing powder, narrow choc chip grosgrain ribbon, gold elastic cord, gold brads

• Tools: scallop edge punch, word window punch, heat gun. circle punches

Club Members' Challenge

Some months I give my stamp club members a challenge, such as a few buttons or piece of ribbon to play with.  They always come up with great ways to use whatever it is I've given them.  Here are some cards they made using buttons from Button Bouquet:

  This cutie and the next one were made by Kerry - can you believe she's a new stamper? 

 

This next pop-up card was made by Sharon J - it's an absolute winner!

   

 

I'll feature more club member cards next week, but if you can't wait until then, I've set up a photo album that contains all of this month's cards.  Check it out.

Thanks for visiting.

Thanks for stopping by.

Are the juices flowing yet?

Well, it's been a long time since I posted.  I was going through an unmotivated phase and feeling a little burnt out.  I have stamped a little bit, but not a whole lot.  But now, it's time to get back in the saddle and start stamping and posting again. 

I've had a couple of things published in October, which has motivated me.  And I've done a little shopping (well a lot, actually) over the past few weeks, which always gets the creative juices flowing.  Plus I'm doing my part for the economy - honest!

I wanted to share with you the card that was in the October/November issue of Papercrafts Magazine.  But apparently I deleted it from my computer by accident and of course I didn't make a second card.  So instead I'll share the card that won one of Stampin' Up!'s monthly contest for demonstrators.  It's in this month's issue of Stampin' Success.

 

It's a shadow box card made with textured really rust c/stock at the back and naturals ivory c/stock on the front.  All images are from SU's Harvest Home and were watercolored with SU ink pads.  I stamped the main pumpkins/barn image on the ivory c/stock, cut out part of the oval with the Colluzzle and cut away the rest of the image with an Xacto knife.  I also used an Xacto knife for the falling leaves.  It was definitely time-consuming, but I love how it turned out.

Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for more stamping.......

Simple Monet Technique

Sometimes the simple techniques are the best.  I came across this "new to me" technique on Splitcoast a few months ago and had to give it a try.  I stamped the image from Embrace Life with Stazon onto watercolor paper and colored the image with regal rose, so saffron and old olive markers.  I misted a sponge dauber with water and pounced it once or twice on each flower bud so that the ink bled slightly.  To finish the card, I used the Color Spritzer Tool and a regal rose marker. 

 

Here's a close up of the image:

  

Recipe:

Stamps: Embrace Life, Best Yet (current Level 1 hostess

C/stock: very vanilla, pretty in pink, old olive, watercolor paper

Ink: Stazon, markers: regal rose, old olive, so saffron

Acessories: regal rose narrow grosgrain ribbon

Tools: sponge daubers, Color Spritzer

Countdown to Christmas Clipboard

Thursday is the last day to sign up for the Countdown to Christmas Clipboard class on October 23.  If you cannot make the class, but would still like to make the project you can purchase the kit to make at home or at Open Studio this month.  The kit includes the clipboard, pre-cut c/stock and designer paper, all embellishments (ribbon, felt snowflakes, pearls, brads etc) and pre-printed numbers.  The cost is $25 and I'm happy to ship kits and will charge actual mailing cost.

    

 

To sign up or ask questions, feel free to email me at alimanning@charter.net

Have a great day!