JoyOfStamping

Can you please that Valentine’s Day seems to be just around the corner?  I thought this tag would be a perfect fit to include in some of the Inspiration Emporium orders!  And you know me… I love these mini #5 Tags!

I absolutely love the new Tim Holtz Alteration dies and texture fades that just started shipping.  This one is the Valentine’s Background and borders.   I inked up the tag with my walnut stain distress pad and ink blending tool.  What a difference one ink pad can make!

And since I love “XO”, I wanted it to POP more…. so, I used some Liquid Pearls.  I just love the texture and accent it added to the XO.

I love to use the Kraft Resist Paper when creating rosettes.  I used the medium size rosette for this tag.  I have my Kraft Resist papers cut into 2″ strips.  So, you can get 6 rosettes out of one paper.  I also love Tim Holtz’s video on how to create the rosettes.  So much easier with that hot glue gun!

After making the rosette, I sprayed it with Red Pepper Color Wash.  I just love that the paper resists some of the ink.

I used the smaller/fatter heart from Tim’s Mini Hearts Movers and Shapers set.  I used my Glue and Seal to add some glitter to the heart. And I couldn’t leave it just red… had to dirty it up a bit with my walnut stain!

For the ticket, I used the Love Struck set.  I love that when you stamp with Distress Ink, you have a little more “wet” time, allowing you to add some embossing powder to your image.

Pop that ticket on with foam squares.  Then I took Fired Brick distress stain to alter the color of the trimmings.

Thanks for stopping by….

How does time fly by so fast?!!!!  I was looking forward to some “relaxing” time after the hustle and bustle of Tim Holtz’s 12 Tags…. but I can’t believe that the relaxing time is coming to a close and another year is behind us.

But, I did enjoy the time that I did get to spend with friends and family!

A couple of weeks ago, tim, MJ, Joe, and Mario III came out to spend a few days at Disney.

It was nice to spend time with MJ’s family…. (who wouldn’t want to spend time with these handsome men?)

But, I always love it when the boyz can spend time with my family, too!  (Here is MJ with my nephew Brandon. Aren’t they just so cute?)

After their short visit to The Park, we all hopped on a plane where we met up with our dear friend Monica and headed off to our Winter Wonderland….

Monica and I had hoped for snow… we did get a little bit, but not like we had hoped.  But, it was still absolutely beautiful there!

We shopped….

We crafted…..

We bleached trees…. dyed them, glittered them (glittered the whole studio thanks to my Auntie Tink)

It was so good to eat, LAUGH, drink, LAUGH, relax, LAUGH…. good times…..

After heading home, it wasn’t much time until we had to get ready for our annual M.A.D. Christmas party at the house…. mama started getting ready for it right away…. (with her new platter from dear friends)

I didn’t take many pix that night because I was just enjoying everyone’s company…..

Oh Christmas Day…..

How lucky am I to be able to spend Christmas with my parents, aunt and all 3 of my grandparents?!!!?!?!

My mama likes to buy matching PJs for her loved ones.

It was awesome to spend the day them lounging around in PJs…. eating, talking, sharing stories….

I cherish the time I can spend with friends and family…..

I’m a lucky girl….

I think I am addicted to these smaller tags… #5.  And I also have another new obsession….. Picket Fence Distress Stain…..

More bulk creating going on to include in some of Inspiration Emporium orders.

This is actually my first time playing with the Picket Fence Distress Stain.  We couldn’t keep them in stock for a while…. So I was happy to get one on the cruise and found a little time to play with it.  OMG! I love it!   Gives a whole new look and FEEL to the project.  The first tag above has been inked with Iced Spruce with the blending tool.  The second one has the Picket Fence stained over it.  But, I couldn’t leave it that clean now could I?   So, I added some walnut stain and ran my ink blending tool over it again with Iced Spruce.  I think that all three tags are pretty in their various stages.

(Sorry for the glare in this photo)

I am also sooooooo in love with the Vintage Lace Decorative Strip.  Three awesome trims!  I love the redness of Festive Berries, so I inked up the various trims with my blending tool.  I love how you can make these trims any color by the power of ink!   Then, for the Ribbon (trimmings), I took the stamp pad, smooshed it on my craft sheet and then spritzed the ink with the mini mister and swooshed the ribbon around in the ink.  Now I have red ribbon, too!

For the mini reindeer, I inked him around the edges with Walnut Stain.  Then, I used the definition stamp in the “Love Struck” stamp set.  (This is one of my go to stamps)   I cut the trimming in ½ to tie around the little reindeer’s neck.

For the tree, I inked the top portion with evergreen bough and the trunk of the tree with walnut stain.  I used the same definition stamp to stamp over the tree.  For the snow effect, I used Glue n Seal to tap over portions of the tree with the built in brush (I love that it has a built in brush) and applied some sparkly fluff.

I used the Glue n Seal again to apply the glitter…. Did I mention how much I love that brush is included in the jar?  Makes life so easy.

Thanks for stopping by!  I’m ready to get inspired by Tim Holtz’s 12 Tags!!!!

Ranger Non-stick Craft Sheet	Manila Craft Tags – #5	Snow Flurries Texture Fade	Ink Blending Tool
Tim Holtz Seasonal Distress Pads – Winter	Picket Fence – Distress Stain	Walnut Stain Distress Pad	Vintage Lace Decorative Strip
Inkssentials Mini Mister	Trimmings	Mini Reindeer and 25	Tim Holtz Stamps – CMS082 – Love Struck
Mini Pine Tree and Holly	Glue n’ Seal – Matte 1 oz	Sugar Sparkly Fluff	Vagabond
Glossy Accents – Mini

Although its bulk creating, at least I am still creating!    At Inspiration Emporium, we like to include handmade items when we can.  This was my contribution!

As soon as I saw the Mini Sewing Room Die, I knew I had to use it!  I fell in love with the original Sewing Room. I used it so much for so many projects and tags. Since this one is a “mover and shaper”, I used my Base Tray in my Vagabond Machine to die cut.

This would be the PERFECT size die for the #5 Tags.  I used the Wild Honey Distress Stain over it.  For the background, I used my Vagabond Machine and Tim’s Texture Fade called Springtime Backgrounds and Borders.  It’s my second favorite texture fade.  After I embossed the images with the texture fade, I sponged it with Walnut Stain Distress Ink using my Ink Blending Tool.

I took some Canyon Brown Cardstock to cut the form and the spool.  I also took some yummy Tim Holtz Kraft Resist paper and cut out the bodice of the dress form. (this is the same paper I used for the little border strip towards the bottom of the tag)  I used the Broken China Distress Stain over the Kraft Resist and then sponged it with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  I then added Perfect Pearl Mist – Perfect Pearl to the Bodice before attaching it with to the Brown Dress Form.

The paper strip is the Kraft Resist Paper sponged with Walnut Stain and then distressed with one of my favorite tools… the paper distresser.  Then I attached it to the tag with the Tiny Attacher (another favorite tool).

For the ribbon, I toolk the Broken China Distress Stain and went over the trimmings.  And then added the hanger clips with the multi-medium.

Thanks for stopping by!

I can’t believe that another cruise has come and gone.  Prepping for so long and then POOF!  The cruise is over.  This year’s cruise was awesome!  Had a blast!  How can you not when you get to spend time with an awesome crew, awesome crafters and awesome accomodations?

One week ago, we flew into Orlando to spend a couple of days at Disneyworld.  As much as I love Disney and go to DisneyLAND often, I had never been to Disneyworld.  It was so fun to spend those days with good friends.  I will have to say…. I missed the SoCal weather.  I was not use to the humidity.  But, between friends getting me wet towels to cool off or brining me a fan, this disney princess was well taken care of.  LOL!

After the fun of Disney, it was time to get on the ship and get to work.  The cruise ship was similar to last year’s ship.  Thank goodness!   It was time to get to those boxes and get set up for the classroom.  Here are some pix of our boxes, MJ making sure the boxes are all accounted for, and getting some direction from our “boss”.

We took a quick break to get to the welcome party and then it was back to work!   We were able to stop at the ports and do a little shopping.

But, I really enjoyed the class time with all of the crafters.  I got to make some great friends along the way!!  So awesome to see some beautiful smiling faces every day.



We even got a little play time ourselves….

And, we even got to sneak in a few naps!   (well, we would be up until 2 and then getting up at 6… this princess needs her sleep.  LOL!)

So much fun!!!!  For a cool video and tim’s recap, check out tim’s blog.  For more of my photos of the trip, check out my facebook album.

Thanks everyone for another great adventure!  thanks tim and mj for letting me be a part of your journey!  Loved the team!

This is a card we made last month during one of my card classes.  I just love Taylored Expressions stamps.  Her stamps are almost as cute as she is!!!!  After we made this card, it made me realize how much I miss seeing Taylor.  It’s crazy to me to think that I won’t be able to see her cute and preggers!  But, it does remind me that I have made some great friends from stamping and I will cherish each of them!!!!

Can’t tell from the picture, but we put glossy accents on the telephone to give it some dimension and shine.  And the Alphabet Soup paper from My Mind’s Eye was just too perfect for her stamp.

Hmmm….. I may actually mail this card.  LOL!

As I was flipping through my pictures, I found this card that we had made for one of my card classes a few months back.  It’s a simple card, but we enjoyed making it in class.  This is from one of my favorite Our Craft Lounge sets called Pins & Needles.  I used some paper from one of the My Mind’s Eye Grab Bags and some lace that I had purchased when I was in New Jersey a couple of years back during Ranger U.  We used Distress Inks to stamp the images and to blend in on the edges.

Simple!

Till next time……

A dear sweet friend of mine is celebrating her birthday today!   Lori Craig is such a kind, sweet gal.  I enjoy any time I can spend with her (which is not often enough)!  This is the card I made for her birthday.

This is using Our Craft Lounge’s Vintage Valentine Set.  I just loooooove this set.  I colored it with Copic Markers and then used my Ink Blending Tool to apply some distress ink to the edges.  I then put the image on Tim Holtz’s Paper Rosette.  I also used Tim’s Regal Flourishes Texture Fade to give it some texture.  The patterned paper is from an older collection from My Mind’s Eye.  The “Happy  Birthday” was from a Hostess Set from Stampin’ Up!  I just stamped it with Coffee Archival ink on the back of the MME patterned paper and cut it to look like a banner.  I also took the Tim Holtz Paper Distresser to the edges of the patterned paper.

Here is a close up:

I hope Lori likes the card…. it will be a little late to her, but I’m sure she will understand!

Lori, if you are reading this, I hope you have a great birthday!!!!!  Hope you enjoy the birthday party Jami put together for you! xoxo!

We’re helping Taylor spread the word… she’s expecting a sweet little bundle of GIRL in September! So I decided to make this card in a girly theme.

I love Taylor’s new set called “Welcome Baby“.  And coupling it with this nestie, I felt like it was screaming towel or blanket.   So, what better embellishment than Tim Holtz’s new Hanger Clips?

And no project could go without some Sparkly Fluff (I used Appletini) and Glossy Accents.  The rolled flower is my new addiction….  I could do it all day!

You’ll also want to hop around to the rest of the blogs linked below as Taylor will be giving away one stamp set of your choice from the May release to a lucky commenter on one of the blogs! You have through Sunday, May 8th to leave your comments and the winner will be announced on Taylor’s blog on Monday!

Again, I can’t express how happy I am for Tay-or (as my nephew called her)!  Hope she and baby girl can visit Auntie Joy here soon!

This past CHA, Our Craft Lounge released some new stamps sets and “The Pond” was one of my favorites.  Look how cute it is!

So, this week, I decided to make something from it.  Can you believe I actually stamped?  Well, actually, I HAD TO…. I was having my monthly stamp night…..  But, this was the card we created:

I thought it would make a cute tag.  So, after stamp night, since I still had the bug in me to stamp, I created this tag:

 I thought it would be fun to “dirty” it up a bit and add a little extra.  I took the #5 Tag and used Swirls Texture Fade to give it that gorgeous texture.  Then, I took the Broken China Distress Stain to quickly give it some color.  (have I told you how much I LOVE these stains!)  I used my ink blending tool around the tag and the image with Vintage Photo.

I colored 2 images with my copics.  On one of them, I just colored the wing and then covered it with Sparkly Fluff and cut it out.  I gave it some dimension by applying glossy accents to the 2nd image.  I waited about a minute to let the glossy accents get tacky and then I placed the wing on the duck.  I then applied glossy accents to the water to give it a shiney wet look.  Here is a close up:

It was so much fun to stamp again.  I forget how much I love it.  Hopefully I’ll get some time to stamp this weekend!

Have a great weekend…..