Category: Stamp Nation

Life Is Good

This week’s challenge at Stamp Nation is HOME. There are so many different directions you can go with the theme. I decided to create a card based on a fantasy of mine to live in a lighthouse (I’d settle for living on the beach)!

LawnFawnLifeIsGood

I stamped and heat embossed the lighthouse and sand pail from Lawn Fawn’s “Life Is Good” set. I colored the images with Distress Markers scribbled onto an acrylic stamp block, from which I picked up the color with a wet brush. Once dry, I die cut the lighthouse and pail with their matching Lawn Cuts. The sand dunes were stamped, heat embossed and watercolored.  The sand color is a combination of Brushed Corduroy and Dried Marigold. Once dry, I fussy cut the dunes. The background was watercolored with Salty Ocean.

This scene makes me happy – the sun and the ocean beckons!

Supplies:

Stamp Nation Sketch Challenge

There’s a new challenge at Stamp Nation to create a card with a sketch from Stamp Nation Design Team member Maureen Merritt. The DT provided fabulous inspiration using the sketch. My take closely follows the sketch, although I used stars rather than hearts as shown in the sketch.

I’ve been wanting to combine this fun Lawn Cuts set with the Lucky Stars sentiment set. I heat-embossed the sentiment and covered the heart in the sentiment with a die-cut, for a bit of contrast.

It’s fun seeing the various interpretations to the Stamp Nation challenges from other  members. In addition to the inspiration, this friendly and supportive community of cardmakers offers lots of positive feedback, as well as advice on cardmaking products and techniques.

Supplies:

One Layer Card

There’s a brand-new challenge over at Stamp Nation – to create a one-layer card. It’s been a while since I’ve done any masking, so it was fun to get back at it! I’ve created a card using one of my favorite Mama Elephant stamp sets.

MEBalloonsTo mask the hot air balloon, I stamped the balloon a couple of times on a large sticky note and fussy cut it. The teal balloon is stamped with VersaMagic. The VersaMagic has a bit better coverage than the VersaColor, which was used for the orange balloon. I have an assortment of both in Dew Drop pads that I pull out occasionally. Ideally I’d have an entire set of pigment inks!

Have a fabulous weekend, and may it be one full of sunshine!

Supplies: VersaColor Orange, Blue, VersaMagic Teal inks

Ahoy!: Cards for Him

As a counterpoint to the watercoloring I’ve been doing, I’ve been creating masculine cards using inspiration from Catherine Pooler’s Creativity Grows Here Cards for Him Online Class

I really like to make variations when I’m putting ideas into practice, so starting with inspiration from the Nautical section of the class and adding a CAS lesson from Maureen Merritt, who’s part of the Stamp Nation Design Team, I created three cards!

AhoyCFH

GoodLuckCFH

With three men in my life (my husband and two sons), I’m often in need of masculine cards. I’ve always had a thing for anything nautical, starting with my first trip to the Pacific Ocean. I guess we didn’t pack a suitcase for me, so we went to May & Co. in San Diego and bought a nautical switsuit. I still remember it quite vividly, including its anchor belt! And I always like anything red, white and blue, especially this time of year.

Supplies:
WPlus9 Design Dockside, Dockside Background
Wplus9 Design Tag Die
Impression Obsession Thin Line Background
My Favorite Things Wood Plank Background
Sizzix embossing folders

Penny Black at Stamp Nation

Penny Black is sponsoring the latest challenge at StampNation and I’m playing along. The Stamp Nation DT and Penny Black DT shared gorgeous creations based on the challenge’s photo inspiration!

PennyBlackChallenge

I stamped a floral image and a sentiment from the Friendship Flowers set [#30-223] in Archival ink on Strathmore watercolor paper. I colored the poppies with Distress Markers as my “paint” using a size #1 paint brush. The card base, SU’s baked brown sugar, was stamped in VersaMark ink with the Star Ivy [#40-310] stamp. I finished the card with a strip of SU’s Gumball Green cardstock and some May Arts twine.