Stamping on Fabric Blog Hop

Starting today, The Angel Company is hosting another great technique Blog Hop - and you are invited to play along!! It's a fun one...stamping on fabric!

I stayed with my old tried and true method...palette inks and muslin. In the past I've really enjoyed making baby onsies or kitchen towels with this technique. Here I made a mini collage (which my daughter told me was boring) and went from there.



I had a fun clear button which I glued (used Glossy Accents) to some of the green DP in our Catalynne paper collection.



Card Materials: all stamps from The Angel Company
Stamps: Hope Perches, Theo's Joy, Fanciful Vintage, Vintage Backgrounds
Accessories: Catalynne Paper Collection (TAC), Kraft (recollections), muslin, lace, button, twine, Flourishes Impressionabilities Die (TAC), Sizzix tag die, Versamark ink, Burnt Sienna, Landscape and Reflection Blue pallette inks

I hope you'll play along and be sure to visit all of these creative ideas!

Tune in Tuesdays - Black/White & a splash of Color!

I made this card a while back and had thought of sending it for a magazine call or card contest. But, I liked it so much I couldn't bare to part with it and now the main image is retiring so if you like it, you can buy it on sale!

I used stamps from both the Vintage Backgrounds and Fanciful Vintage to achieve my collage on the back panel - and the tulip is from the Flower Collage Trio set. I used Tombow markers to color it in and I hope you like it!!



And now for my blog candy winner...

Random Sequence Generator

Here is your sequence:
11

So that means Heidi O. won my Hope Perches set. Congratulations!! I'm going to dig around for your address but if you see this post Heidi, just shoot me an email!

Finally...Going Green!

This month the theme over at The Angel Company is "Going Green"! That means your project can focus on recyling, reusing, St Patty's Day or just plain green! My card today features green as it's main focus but I am also bringing out some of my retired stamps to "renew" them...and I used a piece of ledger sheet from a package my Mom gave me years ago.

I spotted a candle from a Pier 1 Imports catalog that I thought was beautiful:

That inspired a card for my Birthday Card Class for my Meet Up group...we met on Monday and have one more session tomorrow. It's so much fun! Wouldn't you know, Juliet grabbed my sanding paper for my gamsol stumps and used it to distress her cardstock. It has a white core and I loved the results...I'd forgotten that technique - I call her the Distressing Queen. So that card was the base point for this one...

My butterfly is colored with Copics and then I just cut it out and layered it on top. I love collages and it's a good way to use a variety of your stamps in a new way.

Card Materials: All stamps from The Angel Company (So Girly and Fern: retired)

Vintage Backgrounds, Fanciful Vintage, Give Praise to Him, Ribbon, Kraft cardstock, green DCVW, Copics, Palette inks: Haystack, Landscape, Burnt Umber

Don't forget about this month's specials! Stamps with our four legged friends and a flower are all on sale this month. All of the information is in my sidebar, just a click away!

Cross Your Fingers...

and your toes! Yesterday I mentioned that I was one of 20 Guest Designers for the month of February...I can just feel the excitement building for this big event! In addition to that, The Angel Company is having a Guest Designer Dream Team call for it's current Angels and I've decided to apply. Here are my three cards and project...I hope you'll enjoy them!

This first card features Little Cupcake (R-2038) and Catelynne (V-851). I was tickled to find that the ribbon from the Penelope package (B-226) matched perfectly and this image colored up beautifully with my copics and White Caboodles cardstock (V-293). For an extra treat on this yummy cupcake, I touched it off with some Glossy Accents (F-610).

My second card - you can click on these photos for a larger view! I love how soft looking this came out. Of course you can never go wrong by pairing More Mimi (V-855) and Kraft (V-244) together. If you have ever hestitated to buy paper from The Angel Company, then you have been missing out on a beautiful thing! :)

Other supplies here are Ordinary Greetings (T-2881) and Give Praise to Him (T-3338). I used copics to color my moth and cut out the frame with Labels 1 (K-300). PS. That snippet of doily is the leftover from the top card which I picked up in the baking department of a local store.

My last card ... I love to mix pigment inks when I am embossing! Sadly, this is the first time this lovely flamingo (from Exotic Bird Colleges VT-3110) has seen ink - but it won't be the last! I wanted to stay away from pink and the colors in Winchester (V-835) guided my color choices: Jumbo Java and Ocean Depth Versamagic inks. I also inked up various stamps from Vintage Backgrounds (T-3224) and Fanicful Vintage (T-3232) in Versamark ink. When that didn't feel bold enough, I just quickly embossed it with clear embossing powder and bam! Lastly, my center panel just felt too dark. I tried different variations but I liked this best...luckily I remembered some burlap I had tucked away. I startled the art teacher at school when I asked her if I could cut some of her burlap in the stock room ... I knew it would come in handy though!

Phew. I hope you aren't too bored yet! I still needed a "wow" project for my DT application. I searched the Scor Pal (F-358) blog for some ideas and came up with this cute little coffee cup designed by Valerie. More Mimi (V-855) is just one of three of our double sided papers and was perfect for this project!

I used the stamp set Sending a Latte (T-3182) for the gift tag and topped it off with a damask image stamped in Burnt Umber Palette ink from the Damask Backgrounder (T-3276) set. I filled my cup with Coffee Nip candies and tied it off with a ribbon from the More Mimi ribbon collection (B-211).

So that wraps up my post! There is a lot of stiff competition and some wonderfully talented Angels out there - good luck to everyone!

And don't forget to visit Mischelle's Savvy Projects Blog for a daily post featuring a new stamp per day! Also, if you have never participated in a blog hop - you should! There is one coming up Feb 5 and there will be a prize for one Angel and one non-Angel so pull out your favorite stamps from The Angel Company and get busy! One of my friends won last month (it's a random drawing!) and I was blown away by her prize package...

Last of the "Masterpieces"...

Yikes...if you get this blog update by email - I'm sorry for the accidently post. I was typing my title and my pinky finger must have stretched too far because the next thing I knew, it said my post was successful. sigh...rush, rush, all the time.

Anyways, thank you so much for hanging in there with me this entire year! I hope my posts have been inspiring...it's discouraging when folks drop off but I know time is limited, tastes change and that's just life! But as a way of thanking you for sticking it out with me I will be having a week of give aways here on my blog - so come back and check it out!!

Now for my card. I loved this stamp set the minute I saw it but it takes a bit of work figuring out what works color wise. It's well worth it! I did try the harness with a green and red and didn't like the contrast with the brown at all...in the end, I used yellow and red and then touched over the yellows with a yellow gel pen and it makes it look almost golden in real life.

The ruffle? It is the coolest thing EVER...and I saw the idea on Andrea Walford's blog...she used a lunch bag! It's great because you can ink it up and crinkle it without adding a lot of bulk to your card. I hope you like it!

Card Materials: all stamps and papers from The Angel Company

Stamps: With His Glory, Vintage Backgrounds

Accessories: Reece Soar with It Collection and cardstock, scarlet & kraft cardstock (you will love the weight on these if you've never tried them and the colors are so very, very rich!), punch, button, twine, nestabilities, fiskars woodgrain embossing plate, Versamark, gel pen, Tombow markers

Hope today is a great start for a blessed week!

Masterpiece...tag!

During my Masterpiece card class ... I also offered some tags to make and they were inspired by several talented ladies who posted tags for the Waltzingmouse Tag challenge.

Here's my take on one of them using the new reindeer from With His Glory...I've colored this reindeer several times finding just the "right" color scheme. The close up seems to magnify his flaws but all together it came out nicely, I think! I also used the polka dots from Background Soup and the vintage text comes from the Vintage Backgrounds set.

I hope you like it!

All stamps are from The Angel Company.

Here's a sneak peek of one of the cards we made...I can't wait to show you all of it!

Deep Cleaning

I know most people get to a good house cleaning in the Spring - but I tend to work backwards, or at least when my mood strikes! This weekend we did a little remodeling project in our family room and it made me take a good look at the sad condition things had become. I had stored and stockpiled things in many corners. This house is sadly lacking in closet space and there is no attic to hide things in...worse yet, without having a military move every four years, I haven't been forced to do my routine purge. I now have the den, playroom (aka huge dump pile), the kids' bedrooms and the office all torn apart as I desperately get rid of things and find new storage places for things I want to keep!

I did do a nice clean up of my craft/laundry room a few months ago so thankfully things are still looking good there! This cleaning up frenzy did remind me of a mini album project I taught last month and I have 4 kits left - if anyone is interested. This kit features the Sydney Circle album, has four main pages, runs $5 and includes shipping to you...you just get to decorate it the way you see fit.

All supplies from The Angel Company

Drop me a line if you are interested. This mini album is easy to make and will be easy to reproduce...and now back to more organizing my home!

Oh, and don't forget to take advantage of the grab bag specials this month if you are interested! I hear the $5 stamp bags are flying off the shelf and I can't wait to see what comes in my $10 accessory grab bag. I love surprises - good surprises, that is!!

Feeling Vintage

That title could be a metaphor for my life as well as my card today. Can you believe I slid down the stairs this week and bruised myself up? And, if you visit my blog directly or my TAC website, you'll see I updated my photo (the last one was probably 2-3 years old!)...this one had the "least" amount of wrinkles but when I smile, all you see is crows feet! yikes.

I have some new stamps on order so it was hard to focus on the stacks I already have...but I think I must have always loved the vintage style because these hats are from when I signed up years ago with The Angel Company. I used Tombow markers to watercolor the image and paired it up with some scraps from the More Mimi collection. I stamped the music score with Versamark Dazzle and then rubbed some chalk over it to make it show just a bit more. The little flowers were something I had picked up on clearance from Michaels...they helped fill the awkward space between the knot and the image.

Card Materials: all stamps and papers from The Angel Company

Stamps: Vintage Hats, Vintage Backgrounds

Accessories: More Mimi Soar with it Collection and cardstock, kraft paper, ribbon, lace, flowers, Tombow markers and aquabrush, chalks, Versamagic Dazzle, Memento black, Transcendence Powder

This was my first time using Memento black ink and I loved the crisp image I got even on watercolor paper. Very nice! The Angel Company started carrying this ink family now to go along with the COPIC markers. I also just noticed that we are now carrying Scor Tape...if you haven't tried it it's wonderfully strong and perfect for tacking down ribbon, and making pleated ribbons that are all the rage right now.

Speaking of the catalog (and if you don't get my newsletter) – here are some reasons why I love it!

1. This catalog is ORGANIZED! No more flipping from one section to another (unless you want to of course!) looking for a particular stamp or paper or anything. This one makes sense!

2. STOMs are marked in the catalog for the next 6 months – talk about planning your stamping budget!

3. Prices slashed on 90% of the paper lines. Wow!! Now is the time to try them if you never have.

4. Do you love bling? Check out our new selection of gems, mini blossoms and brads.

5. More Spellbinders and Impressionablilities - and stamps sets that work with these too!

6. Lots of great new stamps – 87 in fact!

7. Hey, I can hostess a workshop party and earn an ATG gun at half price! Yup, we carry these now and it’s really my favorite, go-to-all-the-time tool.

8. And lastly, have you heard about our new color Caboodles? We’ve partnered with COPIC and Bazzill to create natural blending groups and color families. Pst...these can also be a half priced item at a workshop!

More collage goodness...

can you handle it?!? I hope so!

This weekend Debbie Olson was featured on The CLASSroom blog and she was showing how to make ATCs into cards. Her ATC images were one stamp featuring a round cut out circle in the middle, but I thought, "hey, I can do that with what I've got!"




I stamped my circle first from the retiring (and on sale!) Circle Sampler set and then stamped it again on a sticky note so that I could mask it off. I then proceeded to use Gerbera Daisy (also on sale and retiring!), Vintage Backgrounds and Fanciful Vintage to create a collage around the masked circle. I cut out the inside of the circle and I used the Judikins Color Dusters we carry (you can find them here) to add a little color to the white cardstock. Later I dusted Violette Palette ink over the text sheet and dragonfly image and mounted that underneath the opening.

Card Materials: all stamps and papers from The Angel Company