Category Archives: Stamping

Camper Crazy Valentine

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make it monday-pink logoIt is Make It Monday blog hop! If you are stopping by from Connie Hanks at Clicky Chick Creates, you’re in the right spot. Our theme this week is Valentines. She had some great ideas for cupid, kisses, and heart banners!

Sometimes you just want to try something different. Why not take a more traditional valentine/love themed paper, with hearts and flowers, and combine it with a not so traditional set of images — like campers!

The Camper Crazy stamp set from Close to My Heart is adorable, and yet I still had not ever used it. These little campers would be easy to create if you would like to draw them. So if you like this idea, get started!

The campers were stamped on white card stock and colored with alcohol markers.

camper images

Since I was away from home this weekend, I had limited supplies. I totally forgot a lot of my embellishments! Oh, no! I had some shimmer trim in several colors, but nothing I wanted to use on my project. Then I remembered I could color the the silver shimmer trim almost any color with the alcohol markers!  I decided to create a heart, but I wanted it wider than my trim. I just stuck down three rows of the trim on a piece of plain card stock.

shimmer trim strips on card stock

Shimmer trim strips adhered to card stock.

Next I colored it red with an alcohol marker.

shimmer trim tinted with alcohol markers

Alcohol markers used to tint the shimmer trim.

Finally, I just cut a heart out of my colored trim!

Cut heart out of tinted shimmer trim.

Cut heart out of tinted shimmer trim.

CTMH Camper Crazy Valentine card, using Heartstrings paper pack

Here are “ingredients” for this card:

  • Heartstrings paper pack, using Lagoon and Whisper card stock
  • White card stock
  • Camper Crazy stamp set
  • Silver Shimmer Trim
  • Touch Twin Markers:  Peacock Green, Turquoise Blue, Carmine, Golden Yellow, Warm Gray-WG4, and the Colorless Blender
  • Ink pads: Lagoon, Whisper, Archival Black
  • Adhesive tape runner, foam dimensional dots, glue dots

Now, your next stop on the Make It Monday adventure is over with Jen Wright, to check out the Valentine collage she has for you!

Cheers to YOUR Artful Adventures,

KS

 

Easy Birthday Card with a Scrap of Patterned Paper

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A card inspired by a scrap of paper from the Chalk It Up paper pack.

A card inspired by a scrap of paper from the Chalk It Up paper pack.

Often we’d like to make a birthday card, but really don’t have a lot of time. This birthday card went together rather quickly! The whole idea came from a scrap of paper! I knew the recipient liked orange and I saw this scrap of paper on my desk and thought it was close enough to orange. It is from the Chalk It Up Close to My Heart paper pack. I liked it because it already had some other colors and it would make my color choices fast and easy. The color along the left side is the decorative “zip strip” I told you about the other day. It is the extra 1/2 inch on one side of a patterned 12×12″ paper, which is a bonus decorative strip that coordinates with the paper pack.

Since I was in a hurry (and maybe a bit lazy), my plan was to just use this scrap and try to get as much mileage from it as possible. So I cut it into strips and then arranged them across the width of the card, and adhered them.

One thing I like about using clear acrylic stamps is the fact that you can pull them off the backing sheets and arrange them before you ever stamp them. If you don’t like the look you can move them around until you are happy, or entirely swap out the stamps. When you begin to accumulate stamp sets, it’s fun to mix and match. I decided to use the cupcake and candle from the Birthday set from the CTMH Cricut Artiste collection, and the Happy Birthday sentiment is from the Build A Cake set.

D1618 Build a Cake

CTMH – Build a Cake, # D1618

CTMH D1529 Birthday_Artiste

CTMH, Birthday – Cricut Artiste Collection

I stamped the “Happy Birthday” on white card stock, in Lagoon ink to match the color at the left side. This helped pull the Lagoon color across the entire card. The white card stock was matted with at piece of Sorbet card stock to coordinate with the color from the scrap of paper I started with. The cupcake and candle stamp were stamped in `black and were colored with the Touch Twin alcohol markers in Peacock Green, Barely Beige, and Golden Yellow. Then I added some glue to the cupcake to and sprinkled with glitter to make the icing look like it had been dusted with sugar.

Glitter was added for a little sparkle

Glitter was added for a little sparkle!

I was happy with the way it turned out, and extra happy that it didn’t take too long! Isn’t it funny how inspiration comes in many ways? This was simply because I only wanted to use one scrap of paper I found on my desk! What inspiration will you find today? Come over and share it with us on our Facebook Group! Cheers to YOUR Artful Adventures! KS       If you are in the US, please feel free to shop in my online Close To My Heart store. Here are handy links for the products in this featured project.

Halloween Tag – CTMH Halloween Greetings Stamp Set

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As soon as I saw the Halloween Greetings stamp set for Close to My Heart, I knew I had to use it. I had a tag swap to make some tags for, so I decided it was the perfect time to use it.
Kristie Sloan Halloween-Tag-Ride-It

Halloween Greetings Stamp Set

Halloween Greetings Stamp Set

I decided to layer a cream color over a black piece of card stock, rounding the corners, and used black ink to stamp with. I knew I was going to color in the image with the Touch Twin alcohol markers, so I made sure I used an ink that would be suitable. You do NOT want to use StazOn ink when combining with alcohol based markers. StazOn is a solvent based ink, which is why it is suitable to use on so many surfaces. However, alcohol with dissolve the solvent and you can end up ruining your makers!

A zip strip from one of the patterned papers in the Scaredy Cat paper pack was going to be a great addition to the tag. Instead of leaving it as it was, I colored it with an orange Touch Twin marker to coordinate with the color I’d already applied. A zip strip is the extra half inch that is added to on side of the patterned paper in the paper pack. One side has a extra decorative element that will coordinate with the paper pack, and the other side has product information, including the paper and ink colors that coordinate with the pack. I think it is genius to add a little sumpin-sumpin, for us to use on a piece that would normally be tossed!

Broom straws were made by using a couple of small lengths of hemp twine, and knotting it near one end. Separate the fibers and you’ve got a great look for the broom! I used the open tip of scissors to help separate the fibers. Then a dab of Liquid Glass clear lacquer adhesive was used to make sure the knot stayed put, and it was added above and below the knot, flipped over and adhered to the tag.

The stars got a bad of glue and glitter, to help them sparkle. Then a bit of ribbon was secured with a tiny attacher, and I declared the tags to be complete!

Halloween Greetings tag

Shop Close to My Heart Products: kristiesloan.ctmh.com

Cheers to YOUR Artful Adventures!

KS

 

 

Watercolor Background Effect Using Ink

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make it monday kristie sloan artful adventuresWelcome to another Make It Monday blog hop project! You can check out the list of participants later in this post.

In today’s project, we’ll learn how to create a watercolor background using water soluble dye based ink pads that you may have on hand for stamping. Creating this effect uses very few items.

All we need are:

  • Ink colors
  • Acrylic stamp block
  • Tiny mister for water
  • Card stock or other paper
watercolor ink background tools

Very few items are needed for this technique.

A quick and easy way to apply the ink to your block is to just rub the corner of your ink pad onto the center of the block.

Rub ink into the center of the acrylic block.

Rub ink into the center of the acrylic block.

Mist the ink with your sprayer and let it mingle for a moment before applying it to your paper. I just used a piece of card stock for this project, but you could certainly use watercolor or a mixed media paper. If using card stock, make sure to not over saturate your paper with water. Wipe the block off between colors, or even between applications. Baby wipes are a great item to have in your craft room! Continue to randomly stamp the colors until you are happy with the results. Don’t worry about leaving white spaces, they can work well into your finished piece.

Stamp the ink from the acrylic block randomly on the paper, changing colors as desired

Stamp the ink from the acrylic block randomly on the paper, changing colors as desired.

Now you have a background piece to use as you wish. I cut a piece to use as a card front, however you can use this technique in selected spots on a scrapbook page background for a nice artsy feel. Since the background has so much going on, I wanted to just create a simple card by only using black to stamp any designs or greetings. Here is the finished card, using a black card base (with white liner), backed  with a piece of CTMH Thistle card stock.

Design and greeting stamped in black

Design and greeting stamped in black.

For a finishing touch, I added a rhinestone for the head of the butterfly on the right.

I’m happy with the way the card turned out, and I have enough paper to use for another card. These are not colors I would normally use, but I’m glad I gave them a try!

Be sure to visit the next stop on the Make It Monday hop, Jen Wright. She’s got some ideas for a scrapbook template and a challenge. Here is the whole list this week:

Connie Hanks: Layers on scrapbook layouts

      You’re Here — Kristie Sloan: Watercolor Effects Using Ink

Jen Wright: Scrapbook template ideas and challenge

Alice Boll: Capture the beauty of fall on a ‘WonderFALL’ scrapbook layout

Gina Zee: Make a school themed tag from a cereal box

 

Until our next Artful Adventure,

KS

 

 

Here are some handy links to some of the products in this project. When you use these links to purchase these items, I receive a commission. Yes, shameless promotion!


Picture My Life Scrapbooking Cards on a Mini Album Page

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Mini albums can be just the thing when you want a quick photo album about a certain event, for a gift, or any number of reasons!

The last time I was at my mom’s she was saying something about an photo album I had made, and I didn’t remember what it was until I saw it. It was an 8×8 album and was filled with 6×6 digital layouts centered on each page. I had completely forgotten about them! They was such a variety of the whole family and I since I barely remembered them, I was afraid I had no idea where they were, so I could print more. However I did remember that I had created 4 layouts on a 12×12 sheet, and cut them apart. I still haven’t found them, and if I ever want more, I may have to scan hers!

Chantilly PMLAnyway, it reminded me how 6″ x 6″ layouts can be quick and easy, and make nice little albums. I decided to break out my new Chantilly Picture My Life pocket scrapbooking cards to make extra quick work of a little page of my granddaughter while she was having photos taken for her near ball team. I found one 4×6 card, and one 3×4 to use, and cut out a 6×6 piece of Hollyhock card stock for the background.

Chantilly Picture My Life mini album

6″x6″ piece of card stock, 4″x6″ card, 3″x4″ card

I used the decorative card as part of the background. The journaling card was cut into two pieces to tuck behind the photo. The top, which says, “The Best Thing About Today,” was tucked in at the top and the bottom of the card to use for a bit of journaling space.

Then I simply stamped Way Cute from the True to Life stamp set in Hollyhock ink; punched it out with a 1″ circle punch and applied it with a foam dimensional. Done!

PML-6x6-mini-album-page

6″ x 6″ mini album page using Chantilly Picture My Life set.

Pocket scrapbooking cards can be used in a variety of ways. I hope you’ll try using them on a traditional layout!

CTMH 2014 July SOTM

Circus Alphabet Stamp Set

 

 

Don’t forget, the Close To My Heart Stamp of the Month is an alphabet stamp which you can receive for $5 with a $50 order! Watch the video below to see some of the fun things you can do with an alphabet stamp set!


Be sure to share your creations over in our Facebook group!

KS