HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

SASSC #38 play along! 200th post!

Here is this week’s sketch challenge “SASSC38”. We warmly invite you to play along, feel free to use your favorite stamps and supplies. One lucky participant will win a Stamps and Smiles goodie bag.

When you play along with us, please remember to post your sample to your blog or gallery, and then include a link in the Mr. Linky form so we can all easily find each other. There is no time limit on our challenge, so please play along whenever you are able!! If you upload to SCS, please include “stampsandsmiles” in the keywords.

Stamps and Smiles stamps are not required for our challenges, grab some of your favorite stamps & supplies and have fun with our sketch each week!

Here's mine:

Can you believe that this is my 200th post! Thank you everyone.

Inspire Swap Chat... Blog Hop (with candy)!

Welcome all you ISC hoppers!

It's here, Inspire Swap Chat’s first official blog hop. Along this journey you will be introduced to some amazing Birthday Themed projects. Hopefully you just arrived here from http://stampingsara.blogspot.com/! If not, I'd like to guide you back to the beginning at Inspire Swap Chat so you can hop along, and enter to win an adorable birthday themed basket filled with goodies to make scrapbook pages or cards!

And along with the birthday celebration I am showcasing 2 different Birthday cards:

This little Gnome is Andrew Angel from Poppy Stamps

Isn't Anya cute! She is from The Greeting Farm Rubber Stamp Company

And some Blog Candy!

Please leave me a comment and become a follower and I will randomly draw a name to win the entire stash! PLEASE leave a comment and follow even if you are not part of the ISC blog hop! I like to know you visited.

COPICS!
stickers
ephemera package
ribbon bird
4 different rubber stamp sets
BASIC GREY paper pad
brads...
and MUCH MUCH MORE!

I will draw the name on November 1st.

Here's the order of the hop:

babyjsmom

austinmom

craftygirlfrommg (you're here)

Dokis!

rainbow71

teninkyfingers

back to Inspire Swap Chat

I hope you are enjoying the blog hop so far. The ISC members are so creative that I know you must be. But it is not over yet—you still have 3 more stops and then the final stop at Inspire Swap Chat! Now you're off to see Dokis! Believe me you will be happy you stopped by to see what she created. Enjoy the rest of the hop and don't forget you must hop in order to be eligible for the great prize package you will also need to leave a comment on each blog along with a final comment on the Inspire Swap Chat blog letting us know what your favorite project was.

New DIGI IMAGES at Stamps and Smiles!

Going digital entails a few rules please read below:

All of our images are protected by copyright law. The digital download is available as a png or jpeg, 300 dpi. These files can be printed with a graphics program such as Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Paint Shop Pro, or GIMP (free). You can change color, rotate, flip and scale the designs. These files can also be viewed with Windows Picture and Fax Viewer, and they can be printed from Microsoft Word.

Terms of Use: You may use our digital images for cards and/or craft items that you make by hand yourself. You may sell your items online and/or at local craft fairs and fundraisers provided you print or write this copyright info on the back (or on an attached tag): Images © stampsandsmilesstamps.com. In addition, when selling your items online, each item's description must also include the copyright info.

Blog, Gallery & Publication use: You may upload photos of your creations made with our images to your own blog and/or to suitable online galleries as long as you also include the credit line above, placed near each photo. You may submit items made with our images for publication in print magazines as long as your submission includes the copyright info written above.

Restrictions: You may not sell printed copies of our images by themselves; they must be incorporated into a card or other finished craft item that you are selling.

You may not make rubber stamps, clear stamps, stickers, kits, scrapbooking supplies, or other merchandise from our images.

You may not email or otherwise distribute our digital files in ZIP, PNG, JPG, PDF, or any other format. You may not offer our digital files for download on other websites or as part of any collection. You may not use our images in the creation of any digital files, other than for your own personal use.

Stamps and Smiles designs and images may not be used for other logos, trademarks, or layout design for other websites or blogs. Items created with our designs must not infringe on the intellectual property rights of any third parties.

A Productive Weekend!

I had a very productive weekend. Last week I told you I was going to unmount all of my Stampin' Up stamps, well I did it. After taking baby steps on those first few, I went all out. Just look at the room I am saving. I unmounted 25 sets. In the boxes, on wood they were 29" tall, in the CD cases only 10". I have 6 more sets I need to unmount, mostly alphabets.

I had a girlfriend over on Saturday to scrapbook with. She was working on a scrapbook for a gift. I worked on a box for my Secret Santa.

(Nichole working hard, she did such a great job on her scrapbook)

She brought over these super yummy cupcakes that she bought at Byerly's. They were oh so much better than Hostess. (and yes, they were as big as they look)

Here's my Secret Santa box all finished. It started out as one of these brown unfinished hard cardboard type boxes. My Secret Santa's favorite color is green. So I bought some scrapbook paper, and green accessories (that beautiful butterfly) at Michaels and used Mod Podge to glue everything. I found some awesome old tarnished tinsel garland I had, and added that to the top.

And then on Sunday I went to my friend Judiths for our monthly ATC group get-together.

Here's everyone, eating the most WONDERFUL Scones I've EVER had.

Just look at them! we had raspberry jam and Devonshire cream with them-Yummy!

The table was decorated so nicely with Halloween decorations.

And then we had a demonstration of using distress inks, glimmer mist with stencils and using the cuttle bug/big shot with spellbinders and other dies.

SASSC #37 play along!

We have 5 NEW stamp sets available at the Stamps and Smiles store - Save 15% if you buy the whole stamp bundle. This Saturday, you will be able to purchase the 5 NEW sets in digi format. Please visit the Stamps and Smiles page on Saturday for all of the fun details.

Here is this week’s sketch challenge “SASSC37”. We warmly invite you to play along, feel free to use your favorite stamps and supplies. One lucky participant will win a Stamps and Smiles goodie bag.

When you play along with us, please remember to post your sample to your blog or gallery, and then include a link in the Mr. Linky form so we can all easily find each other. There is no time limit on our challenge, so please play along whenever you are able!! If you upload to SCS, please include “stampsandsmiles” in the keywords.

Stamps and Smiles stamps are not required for our challenges, grab some of your favorite stamps & supplies and have fun with our sketch each week!

Here's mine:

Yep...I took the big step!

I decided to unmount my wood stamps. I watched a lot of tutorials on how to do it. Started with my small SU stamps. (felt like I needed to take baby steps). I only did 3 sets on Sunday, and look at the room I already saved. 3 sets = 2 CD cases and about 4" of gained space.


(Sorry about the glare.) Space comparison.

So as I unmount them I put them in a CD case and created a P-Touch label that I put next to the set that says the year, how many are in the set and the name of the set. I just started to label the spines of the CD cases in numerical order Stampin' Up 1, Stampin' Up 2...etc. Then what I decided I am going to do is stamp index cards of the sets in the CD cases. So Stampin' Up 1 will be on a index card, and so on and so fourth. Then keep them all on a ring. That way it will be easy to add to the sets, as well as see what I have. I actually might do this for all my stamps.

How do you guys organize your stamps?

(oh, side note: I microwaved the stamp for 10 seconds-rubber side up, and it just pealed off of the block. There is enough residue left that it stays sticky enough for an acrylic block.)

It's Pile It On week!

Our challenge this week was to "get ready for Halloween" we also had to use a Simple Doodle digital stamp image. I chose this really cute fairy witch. I colored her with the computer and Copics. I added Stickles to the wings, a star brad in her hair and glossy accents to her boots. I love that I had this great purple ribbon to use. Isn't it great! Can't you just tell that she is pretending to be so good. She holding her wand behind her back... and it is going a little crazy.

Challenges for Jennifer:
Pile It On!-Halloween
Digital Tuesday - Halloween
Stampin B's - Halloween
Creative Friday - Halloween
Stampartic - Halloween
Cute Card Thursday - Spook Fest!
IldiCo - "In Stitches"
If The Shoe Fits - Bling It Up
Stamp Something - Bling
Cupcake Craft-Button and Stitching
My Time to Craft-Quick and Cute
A Spoon Full of Sugar-Sketch
Paper Play-Favorite Embellishment (mine is ribbon)

Prickley Pear Day 4

The last card for the Prickley Pear October preview is the Sketch challenge, please participate today! Visit Prickley Pear's blog and play along! They are giving away a PRIZE of $50.00 of unmounted rubberstamps!

Here's Mine:

Supplies:
PP:DCWV
Solid Paper: Kraft-Papertrey Ink, Brown-Archivers
Ink: Tim Holtz Distress Ink,-Vintage Photo
Copics and Cotton String

Instructions:
Card size is A4, I placed a piece of PP to the left of center. Added a brown paper border edged with the Fiskars border punch, Stamped a great PPRS stamp in Distress ink on the brown. Stamped the stacked pumpkins on a distressed yellow paper, colored with Copics and cut out. Cut squares out of the same distressed yellow paper, and edged them in distress ink. Stamped the saying in the largest square. Glued the smaller squares down on the edged of the PP. Stamped the saying on the large square, added a pop-dot and placed it in between the smaller squares. Added pop-dots to the stacked pumpkins and added them to the left side of the PP. Drew a thin brown line around the top of the card, added some distress ink and then glued a knotted cotton string, knotting it to the ends of the border and at the corners.

You can purchase the Stacked Pumpkins stamp here and bottom border stamp (Aspen Flourish) here and the Happy Fall saying stamp here.

Prickley Pear Day 3

Girl ATC

Supplies:
Paper Solid: White-Neenah
Ribbon:Offrey
Tools: Copics, black threaded sewing machine, BoBunny Sticker, Vintage music paper, vintage button, cotton string, VersaMark pinecone #171 ink, Crop-a-dile eyelets, tiny attacher by Tim Hotlz, EK Success floral border punch and American Crafts rub-ons

Instructions:
I used the Transparency with the little girl playing with jewelry, colored the backside (negative side) with Copics. Flipped it to the right side and sewed it to the white cardstock using a straight stitch and black thread in the sewing machine. I only sewed 3 sides, so it would make a pocket. In that pocket I put 3 strips of vintage sheet music that I glued to a piece of cardstock, and tore. I edged the 3 strips in VersaColor pinecone #171, to give it a little age. I punched a hole with the crop-a-dile and inserted a eyelet. I tied a pink ribbon to the top as well as stapled a tiny staple to add a little hardness to it. i used a floral punch to the bottom of the 3 pieces for a added little touch. I put a American Crafts rub-on on 2 of the small strips and to the last one I added a BoBunny memories sticker. To finish it all off I tied a vintage button with cotton string and glued it to the front corner.

You can purchase the Transparencies here. They have a lot of really great transparencies in the collection.

Prickley Pear Day 2

(right now this card is being featured on the PPRS blog)

Grim Reaper Card

Supplies:
Paper Solid: Black- DCWV, Grey-ColorMates, Red-Papertrey Ink, White-Neenah
Paper Patterned: GCD Studios
Ribbon:Offrey
Tools: Copics (R29, W1, BV23 and blender), Pearl White Smooch, EK Success Chalks, Perfect Layers rulers, Memories ink, Dove Grey StazOn, Pop-dots, VersaMark, Hero Arts White Embossing powder and black threaded sewing machine

Instructions:
I cut down the grey paper to make a 6x6 card. I also cut down the pattern paper to 5x12 long enough so it wraps around to the back of the card, I glued and sewed that paper to the grey card. I stamped the reaper in Memories ink on white paper and colored him with the Copics. I also stamped the "coffee ring stamp" in Dove grey on the white (and made it look like a moon). I mounted the stamped image to a piece of red paper and then all of it on a piece of black paper (using my Perfect Layers rules to get the border perfect). I used the chalks to rub on the stamped paper and make it look like there are clouds. After the clouds were done, I cut apart a halloween spooky tree ATC PP Transparency and glued that onto the card (cutting around the stamped image). I took a pencil eraser and erased the very edge of the white portion of the card to add a little white border.

For the saying I cut a piece of black paper the width of the reaper image and stamped the saying with VersaMark and embossed it using white embossing powder. I mounted that using pop-dots to the very edge of the reaper image.

Before I glued down the stamped image I cut a small slit in the top of the card to feed the ribbon though it. Tied the ribbon in a knot at the bottom of the card.

I used pop-dots in all 4 corners of the layered grimm reaper image, and stuck that whole panel down to the top center of the card. To finish it off I edged the whole grey card in memories black ink.

You can purchase the Grim Reaper here, the Transparencies here and the coffee stain/moon here.

Now Showing in the RVF Theatre..... Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps

At the beginning of September I announced that I made the PPRS Design Team. Well, since then I have been playing with the stamps they sent me to make samples with. I just got gone with my first set of samples and sent them off to Nicole, so she can use them in the PPRS booth.

Here is my favorite one so far:

The one hard part of being on this DT is that I can't keep the cards, I have to make myself a sample if I want to keep them. I also have to tell how I make the cards. This is a step that is hard for me to do. I just make it, I really don't think about how I do it. Maybe this will force me to be more diligent on taking notes n how I create each piece. I also tend to get a little wordy when I describe the process.... as you'll find out now..

Deer Card

Supplies:

Paper Solid: Cream- Archivers, Blue-Stampin' up

Paper Patterned: Making Memories "Just Chill in"

Ribbon: May Arts Tools: Prisma Colored Pencils, E57 Copic, Cricut-Accent Essentials Cartridge, Fiskars border punch, Brown StazOn and VersaColor Pinecone #171

Instructions:

I cut down the blue paper to A2 size. I cut down the plaid paper to be slightly smaller than the A2 card so when Its mounted to the blue paper you can see just a little of the blue border. I used the Cricut to make the plaque that is mounted behind the deer, using the Accent Essentials Cartridge Acct#48 at 4". I used my Copic to edge the plaque before I glued it down (I did not want to see the white of the paper). I also edged the small border that is on top of the sentiment block with the Copic. I printed the "Happy Birthday Dad" on my computer, the font is called Haettenschweiler. I edged this block in the VersaColor just to add some depth. I glued the border tot he edge of the sentiment block, added pop-dots and mounted it on the card under the deer. Added the woodgrain ribbon tied in a knot to the spine of the card.

Here's how I did the Deer:

He is stamped 6 times on cream paper using brown Stazon. I colored all 6 of them using Prisma Colored Pencils. Next you need to cut out all 6 deer, making sure you cut them out the same. You need to analyze the deer and figure out which part would stick out the most and work backwards. I first cut out his nose, then the next layer is the nose, eyes and jawline. And so on and so forth, using up all 6 stamped images.

I used SU Dimensionals to put between the layers so they would "pop" off of each other. I then mounted that entire deer onto the woodgrain plaque on the card.

You can purchase the Deer/Buck Rubber Stamp here.

CAS Christmas cards

I received my new set of Papertrey Ink Stamps in the mail the other day and decided to do a set of CAS (clean and simple) cards. I used the Stocking Prints Set and came up with these:

I paper pieced the stocking and added white fun flock to the tops. I also added a small strip of wood patterned paper to the background, to make a mantel.

Mounting your unmounted rubberstamps and getting an image on the cling side

You need to purchase the EZ Mount stamping foam cushion material. This should be available at your local stamping store.

After you trim you stamp, add a little adhesive to the back.

Now stick it to the PRINTED side of the EZ-mount

Trim the EZ-mount the same as the stamp

Now take them apart

Turn the EZ-mount over to the unprinted side

Take off the paper (this will be cling side of the EZ-mount)

Now take your stamp that still has a little adhesive on it and using a acrylic block mount the stamp (not a lot of adhesive is required)

Using Staz-On

Stamp onto the cling side of the EZ-mount

Take your rubberstamp off of the acrylic block

Take the paper off of the sticky side of the EZ-mount

Now carefully mount your rubberstamp onto the EZ-mount

Wall-a! Now you have a cling mounted stamps that has the image on it.

This chess piece is from Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps.