Stamping Kissing!

Sounds like a perfect technique for a heart stamp, right?

I love the heart from the Happily Ever After set. It's just the right size. I inked it up with Cranberry ink (retiring 31 Jan!) and then "kissed" it...when I say "kissing" I just mean you ink up your solid stamp with pigment ink and then tap with another fine lined stamp or texture.

Above I used an elegant damask, a music score background, some texture stamps (do you recognize Rock Star in there?), florals (my favorite, Marvelous Marigolds!), and the thin lined on the bottom left is just from stamping once on peeled cardboard! The combination is endless!

I cut out some of the hearts and spread them out on a leftover piece of slate woodgrain paper from a•muse studio. I added a piece of onyx twine and stamped just a portion of my "with love" sentiment on a tiny sizzix oval tag.

Quick and super easy! :)

Don't miss out on this set or inks - after Jan 31 the retired items will no longer be available.

Heavily inspired by...

Jill, of the Inspired By blog! She did a video for Penny Black on using white gel pens here. After one white flower, my gel pens (I had two!) gave out. I ended up reaching for my white Prismacolored pencil and basically got the same effect (I hope!).

I used the Marvelous Marigolds stamp from a•muse studio and the music score is from Purple Onion Designs. Thinking of You is from the a•s Essential Sentiments set - lots of great sayings in a variety of fonts!

Speaking of a•muse studio don't forget the retiring list is only available for a little while longer - and I'm expecting to hear any day about retiring accessories. I'll be sending out a newsletter when that info is available. I do know the color Cranberry is retiring but have no fear - they are adding 4 new colors to redesign the summer, winter, spring and fall color palettes...I'm in love!

Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger

yup - from last Tuesday! I'm always late, late to a challenge - but eventually I make it! :)

The swirly orange and creamy colors in the parfait cup are the inspiration for my yellow and orange panel on this card. I don't have a lot of Halloween stamps but the cute little bat die from A Muse Studio was perfect for putting together this easy card. Below I'll show how easy this panel was to create - thanks to a video I saw from Julie Ebersole...



To make my watercolored panel I used an acrylic block, Tombow markers, water mister and watercolor paper.



First I scribbled the darkest orange on the upper portion of the block - it's not quite half of the block, but almost!



Next I added yellow Tombow marker to the lower portion of the block.



I filled in with green marker on the upper part next to the orange and then in the lower corner next to the yellow - there's no wrong or right amount, really!

Spritz across the block twice with your water mister.

Rock your block onto watercolor paper - allow for the ink to move a bit.

When you remove the block you may have puddling. You can dab it up with a paper towel or swipe it back and forth with your fingertip!



Done! Let it dry a bit and then die cut with your Nestabilities...



I hope you give it a try!

Other Challenges:

Crafty Cardmakers - anything goes

Cupcake Craft - Halloween

Make it Monday - anything goes

Paper Creations - Black and Orange

Stamps and Fun + Creativity - Halloween

Just a moment to play!

Thank you first of all to all the kind posts you left about our water troubles. The water came in more than I originally realized and yesterday we finally tore out all the carpeting and pads - there was no way it would dry out and the whole house was starting to stink! Yuck...all in all though it could've been much worse and I know there are many families who suffered much more.

My new Amuse starter kit arrived on Friday but all I had time to do was look at my new stamps and oogle at all the beautiful ink colors! I chose the $149 starter kit that is normally $225 and it's a great choice if you want to load up on inks...if not, the $99 kit (normally $175) is an amazing deal and you can then add on the things you really want at your own pace.




What I really *love* is that these stamps come in a DVD type case and are precut and indexed. The indexing is so perfect that stamp placement is a breeze.



This morning I took out 10 minutes for some "me" time once I got the kiddos and hubby packed up and out of the house. It's just a simple card but I love the results of stamping pigment ink on watercolor paper.



{A Muse Studio Stamps and Inks: grass, french roast}

Now back to going through two rooms worth of "stuff" (and most of it is my crafting supplies - do I really still need a light box or my paper making kit?!?!?) that is now crammed in the garage. Hope you have a great week, the sun is shining here!