Reasons to Stamp in June

Ever been Mojo-Challenged?  Happens to me all the time, LOL!!  That's why every month, Gingersnap Creations does a post of lots of holidays and inspirational reasons to stamp for that month.  You can check out the post for the month of June HERE.  The DT have come up with TONS of gorgeous cards and projects that'll get your creative juices flowing.

We are a baseball family in this household.... (at least, in the summer months... then we switch to hockey!).  I grew up with the sounds of New York Yankees games on the TV, and my dad played in the old-time town leagues.  My son is currently playing (he's 8, so he plays machine-pitch ball), so we are deep into schlepping to practices and games twice a week.  For my baseball-inspired card, I used an old baseball set from Mirkwood Designs.  I just love this plate.... the round text stamp is actually "Take Me Out to the Ballgame".  And of course, the dapper looking athlete is a Yankee!  I did a little embossing, a little distressing, lots of stamping, and a little Copic coloring.  A totally fun card to make (will probably go to our son's coach at the end of the season!).  Hope you all get time for a little sporting and crafting this weekend!

Vintage Fairy ATC

A little ATC project I've been working on... All of the stamped images (except the script) are Oxford Impressions - the fairy and the stars are from the Fairy Sweets set, and the flower swag (lovin' that little thing!!) is from The Fairest Flower set.  I just adore this little girl image.... colored her with Copics, as well as the Prima flower, and added a little glitteryness (hmmm.... computer says that's not a word - what does it know of crafting??).  The identification card and the air mail thingy are free ephemera images from Just Something I Made.

Hope you're all having a great Wednesday... my kids get out of school early on "Wacky Wednesdays" - so I'd better get crafting! ;)

52 Weeks of Tag Tuesday!

Congratulations are in order, and I'm squeaking them in just under the wire!!  Louise at Kard Krazy has been inspiring everyone with weekly Tag Tuesday challenges for an entire year.... 52 weeks of dedication and wonderful inspiration.  So fittingly, the challenge this week is to use the Number 52 in our tags.  This was a fun one... I used my brand new Glitz Vintage Love Calendar stamp, along with a bluebird image that I scanned from one of my Bluebird button cards.  A bit of lace, a cupcake foil, and the definition of "inspire" from a Stampin' Up set jazz it up a bit.  I've circled the Tuesdays in the calendar (US calendar, that is... I know the European calendar orders the weekend differently) and added a memo to remember Tag Tuesday.  Congratulations and Happy Tag Tuesday Birthday to you, Louise!  Thanks for the inspiration! 

Be sure to check out all of the other wonderful tags HERE.... good stuff, that!

Cornish Heritage Farms Peek and Enabling

A little sneak peek at "Emerging Shell," the new Sara England set being released by Cornish Heritage Farms on Tuesday, May 25th.  In the interest of "keeping it simple" as the sentiment suggests, the only papers I used for this card were Kraft and Simply Smooth Vanilla cardstock.  The base of the card is Kraft, and on top of that is another kraft panel that has been embossed using the Cuttlebug script embossing folder.  Next comes a layer of burlap, then the focal image, which is white embossing on a kraft panel.  I used a white gel pen for a little shabby outline detail.  A length of twine holds the sentiment tag.  Also debuting on Tuesday are "Emerging Starfish" and "Emerging Crab" - so your beach-themed scrapbook pages are covered, LOL!  These would also all work together beautifully for a set of seaside-themed cards.

So how 'bout some enabling?  There's more free stuff to be had at Cornish Heritage Farms.... just spend $25 or more at the store (after Club CHF discounts & before shipping) & Liz will put a FREE Mocha Chica set from the Kim Hughes Collection in your package! No need to add it to your cart (you'll end up paying for it if you do!) Offer is for online orders only & ends Thursday June 3rd, 2010. If you already ordered today & your order qualifies you will receive the stamp also :-)  Happy Stamping, and I hope you're all having a great weekend!

Lots of Quotes ... at Gingersnap Creations

It's Wednesday, so that means another inspiring and creativity-invoking challenge at Gingersnap Creations!  This week the challenge is to use a Quote on your project (you can click on the photo above to make it bigger, and easier to read the quote).  What a great excuse to get out all those fun phrase stamps.  My quote comes from the Life Scrapblock from Cornish Heritage Farms (you don't realize these little gems are tucked into this stamp at first, but if you start thinking about inking only one phrase, the stamp becomes even more versatile.)  I paired it with a photo of some dudes hanging out at the Paris Exposition.... certainly a marvel of what imagination and creativity were within the great minds of the time. :)  The image is from Artistic Outpost's Paris Exposition plate.  For the background, I got out the ol' box-o-scraps again, and punched a bunch of inchies from patterned paper and cast-off stamped images.  I distressed-inked them all and played with them until I liked the arrangement.

Now, here's a little jewel of a tool for aligning said inchies on a card.... it's a quilting rule, found in any fabric shop or some of the big box crafting-and-fabric stores.  Anything you need to line up... this little tool can make it easier (see below).  Just make sure your card or project is lying perfectly straight along the left and top ruler lines, and you can easily see the one-eighth-inch markings to guide your way.

Hope you can find time to play along with us.... with all of the graduations and weddings going on at this time of year, you can pass along a little wisdom (or perhaps humor!) using your favorite quote on a card or gift.  Have a great and crafty Wednesday!