New England Stamper

Rustic Rooster

I finally found time to play with this new set - Rustic Rooster.  It's a Level 2 hostess set in the new Stampin' Up! catalog.  I love it - I wish SU made more stamps in this style. 

This is a 6" x 6" card and I used the sketch on today's SCS challenge for the layout.  The technique is called Faux Designer Paper and it appears in this month's issue of Technique Junkie Newsletter.

1. I stamped several images (those that appear white) with Versamark and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. 
2. I sponged various colors of dye ink onto vanilla c/stock and overs tamped more images in those same colors.  (The clear embossed areas resisted the ink). 
3. The clear embossing powder was removed by placing a piece of copy paper over the top and heating with an iron. 
4. Finally, the rooster was stamped on top with black Stazon and the edges sponged with more of the same colors.

Here's a closer look:

Recipe:

• Stamps: Rustic Rooster
• C/stock: close to cocoa & really rust textured, very vanilla, chocolate chip, patterned paper by My Mind's Eye.
• Ink: more mustard, riding hood red, chocolate chip, really rust, black Stazon, Versamark
• Accessories: vintage eyelets, twill tape, clear embossing powder
• Tools: heat gun, cropadile, photo corner punch, iron, sponge

Recipe Book

I've got another mini album to share with you today.  I made this album for my brother Pat and his partner Lou.  They both like to cook, so I figured they'd be able to use it.

The front and back covers (approx. 7" x 9") are made from mat board and covered with patterned paper from the Be Merry collection by My Mind's Eye.  The edges are sponged with old olive ink.  The 3 holes are reinforced with eyelets and it is all held together with 2" book rings.  

The little oven mitt is a paper pieced stamped image from Baked with Love by Kim Hughes. 

The page protectors and recipe cards are from Making Memories' Fa La La collection.  I included a few of my own favorite recipes to get them started.

 

An envelope is attached to the inside back cover for clipped recipes.

Recipe:

Stamps: Baked with Love by Kim Hughes (Cornish Heritage Farms)

Paper: Be Merry patterned paper (My Mind's Eye), recipe cards (Making Memories), whisper white c/stock, mat board

Ink: brown Stazon, chocolate chip marker, old olive

Accessories: brown chipboard letters (Heidi Swapp), real red, chocolate chip, baja breeze ribbon & Linen Thread, (SU), envelope (SU), 2" book rings, blue eyelets (unknown)

Tools: Cropadile, large oval punch, sponge

Have a great day!

Mini Albums

Here is a mini album I made for my brother Richard and sister-in-law Helene.

The chipboard covers measure 6" x 6" and the 12 card stock pages measure 5.75" x 5.75".  The edges of the covers are sponged with riding hood red ink and the hole re-inforcers are made from the same colored card stock.  The album is held together with 2" book rings, which are embellished with riding hood red and kiwi kiss ribbon plus some small silver bells, which I thought would amuse my niece.

The inside pages are decorated with riding hood photo corners and rhinestone embellished snowflakes stamped with Versamark.

Recipe:

Stamps: Holiday Collection (Stampin' Up!)

Paper: riding hood red, certainly celery c/stock.  I can't remember who made the patterned paper - it's driving me crazy!

Ink: riding hood red (SU), versamark

Accessories: riding hood red grosgrain ribbon (SU), kiwi kiss/very vanilla satin ribbon (SU), clear gemstones (Hero Arts), white chipboard letters (Heidi Swapp), bells, 2" book rings

Tools: Cropadile, sponge, sanding block

Thanks for looking!

 

Cuttlebugged Snow Swirl

Here's a card I made for a swap with one of my club's this month.  I'm glad I only had to make a few of them because it was pretty labor intensive.  It was based on this sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You. 

The Christmas tree from SU's Snow Swirled was stamped with brocade blue craft ink and heat embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder.  The full recipe is below:

 
 

Recipe:

Stamps: Snow Swirled (Stampin' Up!)

Paper: whisper white, baja blue, riding hood red

Ink: brocade blue craft ink

Accessories: baja blue striped grosgrain ribbon, silver elastic cord, iridescent ice ep, rhinestone brads

Tools: small star punch, heat gun, Cuttlebug

Thanks for stopping by.

I can't stand it...

I just came across this unbelievably cute pocket advent calendar - I can hardly sit still in my chair - I had to share it with you.  Follow this link to My Little Mochi and enjoy!

Kinkade Christmas

I've wanted to try one of the Thomas Kinkade stamps for a while and I finally broke down and bought one a month ago.  I'm not as excited as I thought I'd be.  It is a tough stamp to use - it is almost too detailed.  I really wanted to watercolor the image, but I just couldn't get a good enough impression.  I used 5 different types of ink and several different types of watercolor papers but had no success.  So I wound up making a monochromatic card instead and sent it to my grandma in England.   I hope she likes it.

Recipe:
Stamps: Skater's Pond - Thomas Kinkade Series from Cornish Heritage Farms
Paper: shimmery white, not quite navy
Ink: Faded jeans Distress ink
Accessories: wide satin ribbon by May Arts, dazzling diamonds & glue pen
Tools: Cuttlebug embossing folder, coluzzl cutting system

Journal Your Christmas Pages

As promised, here are a few of the pages from my Christmas scrapbook.  I will probably add bits and pieces to each page during the month as the mood takes me, but it's good to get something down everyday.

The patterned paper on this page is from this year's Country Living Kit from Stampin' Up!.  The tag was made from whisper white c/stock, a tag corner punch and the Lined Paper stamp from Cornish Heritage.

The snowflake on the left page was made with SU's Ski Slope paper and the Sizzix die Snowflake #2 with my friend's Big Shot. The layered felt snowflakes are called Holiday House Felt Winter by American Crafts.  The tag on the right side on the red envelope is from Making Memories and the tags are the same as above.

Thanks for stopping by.

Journal Your Christmas

I started my Christmas journal yesterday.  I'm taking part in the Journal Your Christmas class organized by Shimmelle Laine.

The idea is to prepare your journal or scrapbook ahead of time so that making entries every day or every few days is less work and you are more likely to finish it.  Of course, I never have unfinished projects :)

The album measures 6" x 6" and the front and back covers are acrylic and they are attached with 2 huge 2" book rings.  I chose big ones because I know it's going to be a thick book by the time I'm done.  The patterned paper behind the acrylic panels (not attached to them) is a flocked paper from Making Memories and the chipboard letters on the front are Heidi Swapp.

 

I made 25 inside pages from several different materials.  I alternated between kraft c/stock, patterned paper attached to c/stock, envelopes and transparencies.  Each  page was numbered ahead of time with a variety of materials - old playing cards, tickets, chipboard numbers, stamps etc.  It's quite an eclectic mix, but I like it.  Here are a few of the empty pages.  I'll share some decorated pages later this week.

 

 

 

Have a great day!

Scrapbook in a Tin

Stampin' Up! has made the skinny silver tins available again for just $1.95 each (code #108333).   I'm a sucker for tins of any kind, so I had to get one.  Here's what I did with it - a scrapbook in a tin just waiting for my Christmas 2008 photos.  I made a vellum pocket in the lid and put pre-stamped and punched words to use as accents in the finished album.  The card stock pages fold out accordion style with enough space for 6 pictures.  The recipe can be found at the end of the post.

 

Recipe: all products by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Fundamental Phrases, Simple Serif Letters & Numbers

Paper: Ski Slope designer paper, riding hood red, baja blue, vellum & whisper white c/stock

Ink: riding hood red

Accessories:  Little Felt Flurries, rhinestone brad, wide grosgrain choc chip ribbon

Tools: corner rounder, oval punches, scallop edge punch, white gel pen, sanding blocks