Friday, July 29, 2016

A Forest Sky

I miss the mountains of Wyoming and will be getting the opportunity in September to visit them and our kids, grand kids, great grand kids, and friends.  While I was at the retreat last weekend I got out my PanPastels and the Stay Wild  stamp and I created either a colorful sky scene.



First I colored my piece of Whip Cream card stock with the Mother Nature (for the brown ground) and Party Pop PanPastels (sky).  I had a roll of burlap in my stash and decided it would be great with this card so I cut a piece to fit my base layer. I used Cocoa Powder card stock for layering.


The birds are NOT part of the stamp but made when I got a bit of a "halo" from ink on the edge of the stamp.  Needless to say, I trimmed the stamp much closer to prevent this from happening again.  I do not like surprises when I've got a project in mind.  One lady at the retreat now wants a class on using the PanPastels so I guess I need to come up with more ideas!  An I may need to purchase more tools.

My hubby and I are on a mini-cation this weekend.  He's been putting in 6 day work weeks for the past couple months and he REALLY needs a break!  We are in Prescott, AZ so this post is pre-scheduled.  I do have my tablet with me to moderate/publish any comments or maybe they'll have to wait until I get home Sunday.  Who knows! 

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

My Desk is Going to the Fish

It's a gorgeous Wednesday as we're finally getting some rain!.  It's been so HOT and DRY and we've had lots of promise of rain with afternoon clouds, thunder, and lightening.   But one thing that delivers is today's Desker Hop!  Yeah, you get the opportunity to hop around a bunch of desks and see what's happening!  And all this is brought together by our head desker, Julia at the Stamping Ground.  She's recovered enough from her surgery to take back the reins last week and we're glad to have her back.  But we all LOVED Jan who filled in for a few weeks.

Today my desk is quiet.  Has been since last Wednesday as I was at a retreat over the weekend.  I got lots done, 2 sets of 4 cards for upcoming classes, played a bit with our PanPastels, and more.


I do have some stamps just to the left of the pile of scrap paper where I do my work.  I have a challenge card to make, a summer triple play card, and today I hope to get it done, or at least started.  I only have today and tomorrow as Friday we are taking a 3 day mini-cation to Prescott, AZ.

And I will show you one of the projects I got done last weekend as tonight I'll give it to a friend whose birthday is Saturday.


I somewhat cased this card from a fellow coach.  All products from Fun Stampers Journey.


I stamped and cut out a fish to make it pop and added our Glaze to it for some bling.  If you want to know what products I used please contact me.

Quicky question, has anyone been getting oodles of hits from Russia?  I've had over 1500 hits since last Wednesday from that country.  Sure messes up my stats and has my curiosity going crazy!

My post is done.  Yep, you've reached the end.  Please head over to Julia's for the links to other desks and, if you are interested, she has pages about WOYWW (What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday) should you be inclined to join in or just want more info.

Monday, July 25, 2016

PanPastels and a Butterfly

While I was at a scrapbooking/stamping retreat this past Friday and Saturday I wanted to play a bit more with our new PanPastels.  I had my template still from the card I posted last Friday so I decided to use it.


I adhered my piece of Whip Cream card stock to the die cut (using Artful Butterfly die set) with washi tape for easy removal.  I used the Party Pop set of pastels and carefully swiped the 3 colors using the sponge that is the size of your finger from the Sofft Tools.   I carefully removed my card stock from the template but unfortunately I had a bit of Pastel on a finger and smudged so I the smudged on purpose.  I kinda like that soft look!  I layered this on Candy Apple card stock.  The pattern paper is from the Party Pop Prints but I colored in a few flowers with a red colored pencil to pull the colors together a bit better.  The Scripture is from the Through the Storm stamp set and is stamped with Candy Apple ink.  I made a double bow with the Beach Breeze Thread and adhered.


I will probably try this again but I will make sure my fingers are clean.  Good lesson!

Don't forget there you have only until Sunday night at midnight to join this great company, Fun Stampers Journey, for the fabulous price of $149.99 (plus tax/shipping).  The starter kit is customizable  and even has some add on's for an even better deal!  Check it out on my FSJ Special page!  The click through the FSJ logo at the top of my sidebar to my website then click become a coach!  Very easy!  I gained a new coach yesterday and one of my coaches got 2 new coaches!  My F.B.I. (Fabulous Bloomin' Inkers) is growing!  If you're in the U.S. you can come along on the journey!

Friday, July 22, 2016

Butterfly on a Branch

I was looking at some of my pins on Pinterest the other day and seen a very cool card.  It got me thinking of what could I use to make one like it..






Since it has now been a few days I'm not even sure which Splashes I used!  I did start with die cutting a butterfly from the Artful Butterfly die set out of a piece of card stock and gently taping my Whip Cream card stock over the opening and trying to center it.  I got out 2 Splashes, Cool Pool and Shimmer Silver.  I sprayed the Cool Pool and heat set it then sprayed the Silver and carefully heat set it. I removed the card stock piece and let it dry completely.  I stamped the Branch with Black Licorice ink trying to center it.
I layered this on a piece of Beach Ball card stock which was then pop dotted (foam squares) to the card base.  I stamped the Scripture from the Hello Amazing stamp set with Beach Ball ink.



I tried to angle this picture to give you a glimpse of the shimmer.  This butterfly just pops with it!

Do you Pinterest?  One can find SO much inspiration there! Today and tomorrow I'll be at a mini retreat sponsored by the AZ Scrapbooking store in Green Valley, AZ.  The store is open only on Wednesdays as it sells out the inventory. It will be completely closed by September 1.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

There's a Flamingo on my Desk

Happy Hump Wednesday!  And Happy WOYWW!  Yep, you have the wonderful opportunity to view, not only my desk, but many others today!  This fun little blog tour of desks is brought about by Julia of the Stamping Ground!  We are so glad to have her back and recovering from a surgery.  And thanks oodles to Lunch Lady Jan for filling in for a while as Julia was healing.

My desk is so not busy.  I've actually been busy going through some drawers again and pulling stuff to sell at a 2 day retreat Friday and Saturday.  Thursday I'll start getting my crafting stuff together and car packed.  But I decided to show you what I've pulled so far.


I have my Grand Calibur with a set of large and small plates, lots of different coloring mediums from 5 packs of Pebbles Chalks to lots of little dew drop inks and a box of 21 full sized ink pads to 3 Pearl Ex Palettes to oil pastels, Pastel Chalk Pencils, & Lyra Skin Tone pencils to stamps.  Now that I'm with Fun Stampers Journey I've been purging items from the company I was with until 2011.  And I may yet find more goodies.


I did play a bit with using our PanPastels and this fun "Tickled Pink" stamp set.  I think I prefer to use the PanPastels more as a background (see previous post for the sunset I did) than to actually color an image.  But maybe I just need to play more with them.

This post is rather short and I know that's what's preferred.  So please head over to Julia's to get to the links of those of us willing to share.

Monday, July 18, 2016

White Sails in the Sunset

I remember years ago my mom had some 78 speed LPs (long playing vinyl records) and I liked this particular song.  This card I made recalled that memory.


I was playing with various PanPastels to color the background.  I realized later after finishing the card that I should have added some yellow to the sun.  Kinda looks more like the moon.  I also used a stamp set from our Summer catalog (not available at this time) Anchor Me.   We have 4 packages of PanPastels:  Confectionary DaysMother Nature, Party Pop,  and Rich Sorbets.   I even used the Colorless Blender to work the colors together a bit better and a plain pink eraser to add the reflections in the water and throughout the sky.   I really  REALLY like how this turned out!



I wanted stars in the sky and started out with our Special Celebrations (silver) sequins but they just didn't look right so I stamped the star from the So Pretty stamp set with our Clear Pigment Ink and some White Embossing Powder.   I did add some Blue Skies sequins around the text.  I used Whip Cream, Candy Apple, and Beach Ball card stocks and Black Licorice ink.  The boat was colored with Copic markers.  I also used my Journey Circles dies to make the sun mask.

The PanPastels are pretty amazing.  The colors are much more vibrant than chalks and NO dust!  In certain situations they may need to be fixed with a good spray fixative but I haven't gotten that far yet in playing.

Saturday, July 16, 2016

Christmas In July Blog Hop


Welcome to my blog and our Christmas In July Blog Hop!  This hop involves a few Fun Stampers Journey coaches and this month we're celebrating Christmas.  Next week I'm actually involved in a retreat with the same theme!

If you arrived here from Wilma's blog  then you are right on track, if not just keep hopping until you come full circle.


I was planning on using some new to our catalog Christmas sets but then these stamps just took over my mojo.  Has that ever happened to you?  You plan on one thing and something totally different happens.  Oh well.  This card probably took me less than 10 minutes to make.  It just took over and I love how it turned out.


I used the following products:
Stamps:  Snow Burst
Card Stock:  Whip Cream
Inks: Clear Pigment and Candy Apple
Embossing Folder: Yummy Dots
Other: PearlsWhite Embossing Powder

Can you see that I scored the stamped layer to frame the phrase?

This next card has NO stamping!  Oh my gosh!! NO STAMPING!  My designs are all from dies!


This card came together very quickly, too.  I've had the die set with the tree for some time but this is the first time I used it.


I finagled the red snowflake paper so that a snowflake was directly under the star at the top of the tree.
Card Stocks & Paper:  Tis The Season Prints, Kiwi Slice, and Whip Cream
Dies: Journey OvalsSnapshot Frames, and Holiday Box Window Plates
Other: Pearls, Journey Sequins Holiday Elements

I hope you enjoyed my Christmas cards and after making these I realized I need to get on the ball making more for Christmas.  I have a few Christmas sets now and am waiting on a couple die sets that go with some of those sets.  Who knows, maybe next weekend I'll get some done at the retreat.

Here's a list of us involved today:
Betsye Rose Cimino Erazo
Wilma Payne
Carol ===> that's me!
Martha Jackson
Susan Berg
Ruth Cooper
Kim Lamos

So now please head over to  Martha's blog to continue the Hop!  And Merry Christmas in July!

Friday, July 15, 2016

Stenciled, Pasted, and Die Cut


Last week I took part in a challenge from a fellow coach to use stencils on a project.  I had a vision for this but it took a bit of playing to get my layout to work the way I liked.


I used our Bubble Bubble stencil 2 ways.  First I sponged Sweet Berry ink over my Whip Cream layer.  I then mixed just a bit of Sweet Berry paint with our Modeling Paste to get the pink color.  I carefully offset the stencil just a bit then, using my Spatula, I added the paste over a bit more than half of the design on the paper. I like how the inked layer looks like a shadow for the paste layer. As I let the paste dry I cleaned my stencil to remove all the paste and as much ink as I could. I then splattered a bit of Cranberry Bliss Silk over the top of the stenciled layer and let dry.  I adhered the stenciled layer to a layer of Sweet Berry card stock then adhered to my Whip Cream folded card base.   I used the Journey Circles dies to make the Bubble Gum circle and sponged some Sweet Berry ink on the edge. I stamped the single flower from the Full Bloom set with Black Licorice ink  on Whip Cream card stock and colored with Copic markers and cut out.   I die cut Bubble Gum and Sweet Berry card stocks with the Bloom Cluster die, cut it into 4 pieces and carefully layered and adhered as shown.  I used foam squares to adhere the circle over the ends and to attach the flower.   A few Special Celebration sequins and the card is complete.



I used our Gold Marker to color the stamens of the flower.

My next card only used paper from elsewhere but the stamp, dies, and ink are all FSJ.  I needed to make a card for our daughter as she had to put one of our grandpuppies, Ruby, to sleep last week.  Ruby was a beautiful dog but developed cancer.


I used the Journey Ovals and Heart-felt dies to make the paw design.  I seen this on a card I pinned.  They are pop dotted on the layer that is from the back side of the dog bone pattern. 


(This photo is way off in color due to the close up and the lighting.)  I stamped the sentiment from the Sentimental Prints set with Cocoa Powder ink.

Did you like how I described making the flower card?  Would you make one similar?  I'm hoping it encourages you to play with our Mixed Media products or, if you have some, to just play!  It's way easier than you think!

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

A Shooting Star and a Desk

Today I have a class to teach and have 5 "students".  I also get the opportunity to showcase the products of the company I represent, Fun Stampers Journey.  I have been so busy since Saturday getting kits  and a display board made, prepping catalogs, and more.  But today, instead of my desk which is fairly empty, I'm showing you part of my pile for the class.  And I'm taking part in the 371st week of What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, a fun weekly blog tour of desks that Julia of the Stamping Ground started.  But she is still in recovery from a surgery but will take this blog tour back next week.  She did take part in the tour last week showing us her desk.  My prayers are with her as Jan, from Lunch Lady Jan's Fabric Frenzy, has stepped up to take over until Julia feels capable again.


In the bottom rolling tote I have my Platinum die cut machine and plates, catalogs, paper, adhesive runner, and flyers.  In the middle clear plastic bin are the kits, the step-out boards (12" sq. card stocks with the directions for each card), and a few supplies needed.  In the top craft tote are my sponges, embellishments, punch cartridges and handle, glue & pop dots, scissors, and lots more.  I did not take a pic of the display board or my little tote with my catalog.


I'm involved in a monthly ATC swap and this is the one I made and mailed last week.  All supplies are FSJ.


Except for the Silks (liquid inks) that's been flicked over the ATC I pretty much went monochromatic. And I added some Sparkle Dust (a fine glitter) to the star.  I love that I have a coordinating die for the star!  Makes cutting it out a breeze!

Well, I'm done.  I hope to get visiting this afternoon as I won't be done with my class until noon, then lunch, then home.  I will be visiting the next couple of days, also.  So please head over to Lunch Lady Jan's blog and continue on.  Thanks, Jan, for your taking this over while Julie recovers!  And I hope you have a fab day!

Monday, July 11, 2016

I have 2 more Inspirational cards to share.  This first one was a set of 4 for Penny.  She gave me a great compliment on all the cards I made for her.


I decided to make these 4 a bit more masculine.


The pattern paper is retired.  I have so much of it!  But we have some GREAT papers that would work wonderfully with this layout.
Stamp Set:  Through the Storm
Card stocks: Lemon Grass, Pool Play, and Whip Cream
Dies: Border Details
Banner is hand cut as is the little border at its top.
Ink: Black Licorice

This card is one I REALLY like!  It turned out exactly as I had pictured in my mind.


The Text is from my stock.  I thought it was perfect for  the light houses. I've had it for years and it may be by Stampendous.


The light houses are from the set Anchor Me which was in the Summer Mini and is NOT in the catalog or website.  Darn.  It's a fabulous set! The pattern paper is also from the Summer Mini and not available.
I used some jute from my stash, Vellum paper, some mini light blue eyelets, Candy Apple & Whip Cream card stocks.   Guess this card is 1/2 FSJ and 1/2 other....  

I have a bunch of Scripture and "religious" stamps that I love going back to use and have had them for many years.  So many of the companies that made them have gone by the wayside which is so sad.  I remember when I started stamping about 20 years ago the stamps were all wood mounted.  Then came the Hook & Loop with acrylic blocks that had grooves that had the Loop.  Next it was unmounted on red rubber that we painted with Aleene's Tack It Over and Over.  Now it's cling.  Stamps have come a LONG way.  I have to admit that I do not like the clear stamps and have not had the best stamping with them.  What do you use? I love our American made red rubber with the cling!

Friday, July 8, 2016

More Inspirational Cards

I showed one of the 4 sets of cards I made for an order.  Today I'll show a couple more.


I have to admit that the text is NOT from FSJ.  Penny, who ordered the cards, wanted some specific Scriptures and this was one of them.  It's a stamp I've had for YEARS and was made by Sweet Impressions which is long gone.  The gorgeous flowers were colored with Copics.


I stamped the flowers once on my main card then the blooms on another.  After coloring I fussy cut then shaped with a large stylus before carefully adhering with Foam squares.
Card stocks used:  Whip CreamLemon Drop
Stamps: Lovely Day
Ink: Black Licorice
Thread: Lemon Grass and Whip Cream
Foam Squares


I was having a fun time making this card.  It is kinda based on a similar card we made at convention. I used a variety of products.


I was trying to show you the fabulous shimmer on the colors on this card.  It just glows!
Card stocks and Paper used:  Color Splash Sheets, Cool Pool
Stamps: Delightful Light & God Is Light
Ink: Black Licorice
Splashes:  Cool Pool & Shimmer Gold
Other: Whip Cream Thread

These light bulbs are soooo cool!  I did have to trim the "glow" lines as I kept getting ugly halos of ink.  If you get this set you must oh so carefully ink the glow lines.

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

My Desk and an Inspirational Card

Monday, Monday.... oh, no!  I'm way off!  Having a long weekend has kinda got my internal calendar messed up.  When I'm waking in the morning I lay there and think of what day it is.  And I have to repeat it a few times once I have the right day figured out.  I hope that's not a sign of growing old.  Oh well.  But I digress.  This is WEDNESDAY!  It's DESKER Wednesday!  Yeah!!  You get the opportunity to see, not only my desk, but many others, should you decide to accept the mission.  Oh wait, this isn't Mission Impossible!  This is a very fun "mission" and I'll be heading over to view desks soon.  But first, if you haven't done this before and want to know more, click here.  Julia, our wonderful hostess, is taking some time off to recover from a surgery so please say a little prayer for her speedy and total healing.  But wonderful Jan is so gracious to fill in so head on over when you're done here.  So here's my desk... eek!


I have been busy putting my company catalog in a large binder.  That's 316+ pages!  That sucker is big and heavy!  Plus I've added special flyers, the Holiday mini catalog and some other important stuff (to me).  I'm thinking  I need a 2 1/2" binder as this 2" one is full.  So, far left going right... Red Cricut toward the back, a box of waxed paper (for die cutting) a pile of cards as I prepare for an August class, my catalog, the ATG adhesive runner, and the edge of my Platinum machine with some odds and ends on it.  Even with the Cricut is my stamp cleaner towel, a card I need to send to our granddaughter for her to give to her father-in-law, my OTT light, and a pile of stuff.


I got an order for 16 inspirational cards and here's one of them.  I was using my husband's camera to take the picture and that's where the streaks are from.  It's a Bell & Howell Splash and it's much more complicated than my Canon Powershot.  I even tried with my phone but I'm not overly pleased with it, either.  All products, dies, etc. on the card is from Fun Stampers Journey.


The gal how ordered all the cards was very pleased.  I still have 3 more to show.  I made 4 of each design.

Ok, please head over to Lunch Lady Jan's Fabric Frenzy to get to the links to the other desks.  Have fun!!