It's pumpkin season!!

Hi everyone, since it's pumpkin everything season I thought I'd join the band wagon, lol! But honestly, I don't like pumpkin anything...well, unless there's stamping involved ;)

How can I not like pumpkins when they're this darling?? I started out with a slightly larger than a standard A2 card base in chocolate cardstock and layered on the mustardish/orangish panel. Using a Pretty Pink Posh stitched border die I cut a piece of lime green and layered that on. I cut 3 tags (from Mama Elephant) and temporary adhered them to my work surface. I stamped polka dot background then stamped the pumpkin patch border in the center making sure it extended across all three tags then filled in the rest of the tag with a sentiment and images from the autumn and leaf accents petite four sets. After adding a little ribbon treatment to the tags, I popped them up on the card using foam tape/pop dots. I thought it still needed a little something more so I added some tiny 4mm clear sequins from Pretty Pink Posh.

I'll see ya later!! :)

Seasons Change....

You gals always bring a smile to my face even on a gloomy day! Your support and comments really mean a lot to me, thank you from the bottom of my heart!

This past weekend I sat down with my calendar to set dates for the classes I'm teaching at a little local rubber stamp store here in St. Louis and was shocked to see that the class I'm getting ready for will be at the end of August which means my next class will be at the end of September!! This means breaking out all the beautiful deep rich fall papers and autumn themed stamps! Am I ready for summer to be over, am I ready to put away the brightly colored papers and embellishments? I have such mixed feelings on this!! 

Well, weather I like it or not, time will not stand still so I rolled with the flow and pulled out some yummy autumn stamps and created my first card for fall...

I showed a little sneak peak of this card on Facebook yesterday. You may recognize the leaves on my focal panel being from the DeNami stamp set, Solid Leaves. Last fall I was introduced to a really fun medium called Goosebumps. You can do several things with it and one thing I learned was that I can stamp with it! I started out with a piece of cream cardstock then randomly stamped my leaves using the Goosebumps medium. It doesn't really show up when you stamp it on white or cream, but trust me, it's doing it's intended thing. I then used 3 colors of distress ink and distressed the whole piece...that's when my little leaves really popped out. The Goosebumps kind of as a resist and a little like a watermark all in one and it has just a snitch of dimension. After I was happy with my color blending I randomly stamped a little curly cue from the Leaf Accents set in a tan color. I finished off my stamping with one of my favorite sentiments, Hello Friend. I added some fall colors using a pretty patterned paper and some fall sequins I got last year from Lawn Fawn.

That's it for me today, I hope you like my first fall card of the season...see y'all on Friday! :) 

I like graaaapes....

(hehehehehehe) One of my favorite lines out of the Willy Wonka re-make! It's become a family joke, anytime you want to say you like something, we say....I like graaaapes!! I know, dumb and corney, but hey, we amuse ourselves (rather easily, lol) and that's all that matters, right???

I wasn't going to enter another challenge this week, but I sat down at my crafty desk to unwind a bit Tuesday night and I made this little card. I was pretty sure it fit the current The Shabby Tea Room challenge (and it did indeed fit) so I decided I'd make a quick post for today since I promised y'all a start to finish card video for Friday.

We are to use fruit or veggies and text

I changed up a little card that I had made when I guest posted on the DeNami blog back in June. I've been wanting to do this card ever since I made that floral card but just never got around to it...

I started by cutting the center out of my panel then stamping the resulting frame. After LOTS of coloring I popped it upon my card base with foam tape (previously added a length of ribbon).  This time around I used the elegant word plate for my sentiment...so much prettier! Wish it was available when I made the first card...I may go back and change it. When I was all done putting it together I decided it still needed a little sumthin-sumthin' so I added a little purple Chrystal Lacquer and cream Pearl Pen along with just a touch of glitter.

I just love the shadowed effect lifting the fame up on the foam tape gives...what fun dimension! That's all for me today, I will see you back here tomorrow with my latest start to finish card video! :)

Blogger note: Today is a big day over at Paper Sweeties Stamp Company! You know, the darling paper dolls that I dress up and use on my cards?? Well, they've been celebrating their 1st birthday with LOADS of fun and today they are releasing not only new images, but launching a new product!! I've been keeping a HUGE secret and today i finally get to spill the beans :)  The Paper Sweeties dolls now have coordinating metal dies to cut them out with called, Sweet Cuts!! The dies will work in all the machines like Big Shot, Cuttlebug, etc. I'm so very proud of my friend for all that she's accomplished in this past year and wish her continued success and inky fun!

Project Corner - candle wrap

Wow, it feels like it's been forever since I've done a tutorial! All of those theme weeks I did really kicked my tushie!! I just wish Mother's Day, Graduations, Weddings, Father's Day & Independence Day were a little further apart from each other!! ;) It's been a whirl wind for me behind the scenes, but ya'll are worth it!

A few years ago there was a crafty show on HGTV that I loved. A gal went around the US visiting crafters like you and I and filmed them doing what they do. One gal they showed used a medium called Paper Clay. This really intrigued me and I made a little mental note of it. Well, like most of my mental notes...I lost it, lol. I recently caught a re-run of the show and there it was...paper clay!! After a little research I found out that it is what it says it it. It's clay with paper fibers added. Now the strange part is, is that air dried paper clay is strong and if you fire it like traditional clay, it weakens. Weird hunh?? I also found out that paper clay is readily available at the big box craft stores and is fairly inexpensive. That's a win-win isn't it?? It cost me more for a little plastic rolling pin than it did for a package of clay....sigh.

 

While the paper clay can be made into just about anything you can imagine, I decided on a little fancy dressing for some dollar store candles....

Needed items:

1. paper clay
2. roller
3. copy paper (1 sheet)
4. waxed paper
5. knife
6. paper cutter
7. straw
8. ink pads
9. q-tips
10. ruler
11. rubber stamps (leaf accent set, elegant floral set, single pansy, pansy border, pansy sprig

Measure your candle and cut a piece of copy paper to the desired size making sure it's at least one inch shorter than your candles circumference (you don't want it meeting end to end). Stamping out your design on this template will give you a good idea as to how it will look on the candle.

 

Roll out some paper clay to your desired thickness and then using your template & knife, cut out the candle wrap

  

Using your template as your pattern, stamp your design into the paper clay. I found a medium pressure gave me the perfect impression depth. (The clay is very forgiving and can be re-rolled out if you make a mistake)

Using the straw, "punch" a hole in each end of the candle wrap for adding ribbon later. Using the q-tips and your ink pads, dab color on your pattern as desired.

Carefully pick up your finished clay and wrap around the candle for drying. (I learned by trial and error that as the clay dries it will slide down the candle, so it's safer to just place it at the bottom)

After drying for approximately 3 days you can remove it from the candle and add your ribbon.

 

By dabbing the ink on with the q-tips I achieved a soft / shadowed look that I was going for.

I've also made a little candle wrap using 2 alternate ways of coloring it...
 



For this one, after stamping my design I simply sponged on Tim Holts distressed Tea Dye ink (stamp: Solid Decorative Crest)

I just love how vibrant this one turned out!! After I stamped it I left it uncolored to dry. After it was fully dry (3 days) I simply colored it in using my normal markers. This cutie is totally my fave by far!! (Stamps: Small Daisy, Elegant Floral set, Garden Accent set, Mini Butterfly)

I hope you give this a try, it was fun and would make an awesome personalized gift....can't you picture a little frame with a monogram in it?? I can see the frame colored gold with black lettering or maybe just done in a classic black & white motif...Cute, cute cute!! And don't forget about your dry embossing folders...they could be easily pressed into the clay for some yummy teatures...ADORABLE! Hmmm, thinking I'm going to try these ideas out right away! Like I said, the possibilities are endless :)

Well that's it for me today. What a long post, thanks so much for sticking with me through all of that!! ;)

Fancy pumpkins

I still have quite a few fall time cards to show ya'll so you are just going to have to put up with me doing daily posts up through Thanksgiving. I know...the torture ;)   (hehehe)

I just loved playing with this wonderful brushed pumpkin stamp. It's great to make patterns on or to cut out of patterned papers. You certainly can't beat a versatile stamp, that's for sure!

I just can't resist adding glitter to those yummy chevrons! I pulled a leaf from the leaf accent set to add a touch of greenery.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Just a little reminder...

Hi everyone! I know it's only Thursday and I normally don't post on Thursdays, but I wanted to pop in and give ya'll a little reminder about our current challenge right here on DeNami Addict. I've picked a yummy color palette for you and hope to see that you do with it. You still have a couple of days to get your entry in...it ends Saturday evening.

And how about a little bonus sneak peek at the challenge that starts Monday??? I've made a little sample card for you, can you guess what the challenge element is?

I just couldn't wait to break out those pansies I picked up recently! The little double leaf from the Elegant Floral stamp set and the little curly-que from the Leaf Accents stamp set work perfect with the pansies just like they do with so many of the other DeNami stamps.

 

I have to run now, but I hope to see you over at my little challenge soon!

 

Chickie Ornament

Isn't everything cuter when you add chickies???

I just loved making this little card...I heart me some chickies! You cant tell because of the bow, but I used the stitched border stamp and the curly cue from the leaf accent set to make the hanger.


Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think....good or bad....or even better - what would you have done differently??...crafty minds wanna know!

hanging ornaments

I have gotten several stamps that I haven't had a chance to play with yet...It's been killing me!! And since I seriously needed a break from making shower invites I thought it was the perfect time to break out a few. This ornament is just too fun isn't it? Endless possiabilities for designs...even perfect for paper piecing!

Need a closer look...they are all three cut out, but only the one in the middle is popped up on foam tape.

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think....good or bad....or even better - what would you have done differently??...crafty minds wanna know!

Me and Wendy are truly what she calls "Twinkies"

*insert Twilight Zone music* They say that everyone has a twin somewhere in the world. Yup, Wendy & I have found ours! We're like a pair of twins that were separated at birth but still like and do the same things...just makes ya wonder don't it?

I mean, heck, we even have the SAME kitty!! Check out her Squeaker and my Tabby...

  Tabby (on the right) came to us as a stray kitten about 13 years ago and Squeaker is just a young'in that showed up one day looking for a kind heart.

This isn't the first time we've caught ourselves being on the same wave length...our love for all things DeNami & there's that little flamingo issue and just a couple of weeks ago we figured out that we are using the exact same personalized sticky note design....Hmmm, that could be bad on her part, thinking like me and all ;)

So anyway, I was writing a couple of posts and decided to take a sneeky peek at what my buddy had been up to....I saw a little card that she just did a post on that was way similar to this one that was drying on my desk...

Hers turned out much cuter, but wow, still coming up with such similar cards at the same time...SPOOKY!

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think....good or bad....or even better - what would you have done differently??...crafty minds wanna know!