Stamp Carving and a Crawfish boil

A couple of months ago, my friend Carrie approached me about her upcoming crawfish boil. She really wanted to make the invitations and she needed help finding a stamp. I looked online and searched around but I had the same luck as her....none....So I offered to carve a stamp for her. I sent her some simple images to pick from and this is the one she selected...(I don't know where she found this....it wasn't one of my choices)......but she and her husband really wanted an authentic crawfish.

I started out by transferring the image, using transfer paper, onto linoleum. I could've used rubber or easycut, but the linoleum allowed me to keep quite a bit of detail. I actually transferred it twice, I didn't realize it until the end, but its claw was half off...so I had to re-do it....but I used this one for my photo because I forgot to take a picture of the second one.

After transferring the image, I carved away the outlines.

Then I cut off all the extra linoleum around the crawfish.

And then I glued it onto a wood block...I thought the rustic wood was quite fitting. I used wood glue and put a stack of books on it overnight so that it would be very secure. Just like a wood mounted rubber stamp.

I did a few practice stamps and made a few changes to make sure it looked right.

Here is the invitation Carrie came up with--so cute!! She used dark red paint instead of ink and used twine around the crawfish to make it look as if it had crawled out of the pan inside the card. Awesome idea!!

Saturday night was the crawfish boil...so much fun....I helped eat some of the 100 pounds of crawfish...it was so yummy along with the shrimp, potatoes, jambalaya, corn on the cob, and sausage--

"Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler'... "Let the good times roll!"

A Sweet Little card

With an owl. I found this super cute owl stamp in the dollar bin and I just had to have him. I made a simple card, just for fun using some paper with lots of pinks. Hope you are having a lovely Saturday. I will be sewing (hopefully) all day...I am making a Halloween apron~ I will post pics soon. Enjoy!

Just for Fun Cards

I went into Michaels the other day with my sis to get supplies for the baby shower invites (just envelopes, really) and I noticed that some Martha Stewart stamps were on clearence. Normally, I only buy acrylic stamps from Close to My Heart, because they are just the best, but there was one stamp set that I just had to have. The airplane and the sail boat are just darling. I have been making a lot of card sets lately...I can't seem to make just one....I was going to make these for a swap, but I think I will keep them for myself. Enjoy!!









Ink: Colorbox chalk ink, craft and teal card bases, Martha Stewart stamps, buttons, CTMH Classmate alphabet.

Stamping on Ceramic Tiles

Also on Monday I got in an order of ceramic tiles from Oriental Trading Co. I used black StazOn Ink, Close to My Heart Stamps and I stamped these great coasters for a gift exchange later this month. I intend to put cork on the bottom. I put them in the oven for 15-20 min. at 350 degrees to heat set them. If you want to know the stamp sets I used, just ask. I have a lot of stamp sets and tons of permanent markers I could've used to color on these tiles, but I love the black and white...it is so modern and I think these could potentially match anyone's decor.

CHRISTMAS CARDS 1

I am not very good at mass production...I am not really able to keep making the same cards over and over again....I generally make each card a little differently. I know this takes longer, but it just makes sense to me and it never gets boring that way. I am a huge fan of glitter and bling. The paper on these cards is from Basic Grey, I got it at the end of the season last year.....it is sort of a vintage Christmas...I love this paper! My cards feature a variety of Close to My Heart stamps. If you have any questions about individual cards, please feel free to ask. Some cards have flock, others have liquid applique and most have liquid glass. You might be able to see some metallic pens, gemstones, skittles beads, watercolor, and ribbon. I didn't really do any embossing, mostly just paper layering and simple stamping. This has been a great Thanksgiving break...I've been working on cards the whole time. Yesterday I watched some movies, one was Breakfast at Tiffany's, it is amazing how movies can influence your work. Enjoy!

Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge #5

OOOH!!!I am so excited for this one!! I have seen this movie, but I remember the beauty of the book much more vividly. A friend at school recommended the book, it was one of her top favorite books. When I read it, I remember the stunning Japanese imagery. I spent most of the day searching for a picture of my cousins last Halloween dressed as Geisha girls...I had a great layout in mind...but I couldn't find the picture anywhere!! So, I decided to combine most of my ideas on this card for Cinema Saturday Creative Challenge #5.



This card utilizes scraps and old stamps. The branch in the background is one of the very first wooden stamps I ever bought. The little fan is from Hobby Lobby..I never quite knew what to do with it. The flowers are from a big bag of scraps from Wal Mart....the gold paper is from my scrap box and the Japanese Characters are from a set I borrowed from my mentor teacher. I used couple of brads to hold the flowers in place. This was a fun card to make....It would be really fun to create a mini album in this style with some haiku poetry...hmmm...that is a project for another day....

National Stamping Month, A tribute

Saturday night, I had a whole group of friends and family over to celebrate National Stamping Month...I provided snacks, setting and supplies for this fun night. I took a few pics before it got started, but I totally forgot about my camera once everyone got here as I was busy being the hostess with the mostess.







I love stamping, scrapping, and card making. I want to get my friends involved and active....most of them do not do this on their own time, and they claim that they are not creative, but they do love to do the 'crafty' type stuff. Here are the cards that I created for the event. I pre-cut the supplies for each one and had everything they would need placed in a box. I also had a station for embossing and a scrap box in case anyone wanted to play around with my new supplies and Christmas stamp sets or learn something new. I had drawings for free giveaways throughout the night. All of the supplies used are from Close to My Heart.






In addition to the free drawings, I had a box with a stamp set, ribbon, paper and buttons. My guests were challenged to make a card using only the supplies in that box. The stamp set is Shining Star....Like I said, I forgot all about my camera so I did not get a shot of their attempts...but here is mine: