Glimmer and Shimmer!

If you look closely, you can see the shimmer on the snowman's face. Can you guess what that is??? :-)

I've been playing with some new things today. I borrowed my mom's Radiant Rain and her Glimmer Mist sprays. Oh, these are LOTS of fun. Messy but fun!

I started out by stamping the Plank Fence Backgrounder (SL-3203WUM) from Cornish Heritage Farms with Colorbox Dark Brown Chalk ink onto SU Whisper White cardstock. I love this fence! THIS is the fence that I have been waiting for so long to have. It is the perfect size - it will cover your entire card if that is what you are looking for. I positioned it just below the top of the card, so the snowman wouldn't be dwarfed by the fence.

You can find the fence here:

www.CornishHeritageFarms.com

They have lots and lots of wonderful backgrounds at this store. Check em out!

After the ink for the fence dried, I watercolored with SU Close to Cocoa and Chocolate Chip reinkers. Then I sprayed Sky Blue Radiant Rain all over this white cardstock. I didn't want to leave it all splotchy, so I took a kleenex while the spray was still wet and rubbed it all around. It sort of gives the card a windy look. I then took a sponge dabbed in SU White craft ink and dabbed it all over the blue and the fence. It looks like a windy snowy day.

For the snowman, I stamped it (SU Cold Play) and cut out all three circles, then sprayed the circles with Snowflake Glimmer Mist. So much fun! His coals are stamped with Graphite Black Brilliance ink. I wanted him to have arms, so I stamped the arms on the background layer (on the fence), then attached the circles on top.

The sign is a small piece of Close to Cocoa cs that I ripped up, sponged SU white craft ink all around, and stamped "let it snow" with the same white craft ink. I let that dry, and then I went over it with Baby Blue Stickles. I used the same Stickles on the snow at the bottom (scrap pieces of white cs that I tore and glued down). The sign is attached to the fence with a "nail" - a brad from Making Memories. I sponged the edges of the Chocolate Chip cardstock before I glued down the fence layer to the card.

This card is so shimmery and sparkly! I wish you could see it in person - you can't really capture all the shimmer in a photograph.

Well, I'm off to have some supper with my hunny. Enjoy your weekend!

Christmassy card

My friend Chris challenged me to make a card with the following colors: Ruby Red, Wasabi, and Blue Bayou. I could use vanilla, brown, and/or black if I wanted. Then we used Beate's weekend sketch (WSC20) for this challenge. Here is what I came up with.

I only used one Stampin Up stamp set on this whole card - Season of Joy. This is such a great set! I wish I had some Wasabi or Bayou ribbon to put on this card, but I only had vanilla taffeta, so that's what I used. It would probably pop a bit more with a colored ribbon.

So why don't you create a card with Ruby Red, Wild Wasabi, and Blue Bayou? Let's see what you can come up with. It doesn't have to be a Christmas card - it could be anything. Go create a cute card and then leave a comment here with a link where I can see your card. I'd love to see it! :-)

Humongo Flower

I created this last night for Beate's weekend sketch challenge (WSC19). Mom had given me this huge Prima flower, and it sat on my table for a month before I finally saw a sketch that would accomodate it.

I started off using Pomegranate for the folded card part, and it was just too strong. I needed something a bit more muted, because I wanted the attention on the gorgeous flower and not on the cardstock.

I chose Night of Navy for the folded card, and I added a layer of Brocade Background designer paper (gorgeous paper!). From there, I had my colors for the rest of the card: Old Olive and River Rock. I used flowers from both Stem Silhouettes and Garden Silhouettes on the little stamped panel. To get that faded effect, I stamped the flower once with Olive ink, and without reinking, stamped again. It's a great way to give your artwork some depth.

I sponged some Night of Navy and some Old Olive inks onto twill tape so it would more closely coordinate with the colors in the card, and then I tied a piece of Artichoke grosgrain ribbon over the twill.

The scallop circle punch is just wonderful! I punched out River Rock with the scallop punch, and then used the 1 3/8" punch for the Olive circle layer. The saying (from Vases in Vogue) is stamped with Old Olive.

This was fun to make. I was watching Iron Chef while trying to put this together, and I was chatting with 3 ladies online all at the same time. They accused me of ignoring them! Hee hee!!

M&M tree!!

Who wouldn't want to have an M&M tree???? Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm........... Sounds like heaven to me. :-)


I purposely propped the card up on the stamp so you could see what was stamped inside. Mom would agree with me that every day should be Chocolate Day. Hahaha.


This is another fun kickstand card. I left the Chocolate Chip cardstock plain so the focus would be on the tree and M&M's. The tree stamp is from Judith, and the m-circle and sayings are from deadbeat designs. I bought these from Stamp Salado and I just love these stamps!


I can use the tree for anything, any season. I don't have to just put leaves on it. I could stamp frogs, candy, Christmas ornaments, flowers, whatever strikes my fancy onto this bare tree.


I used red gingham ribbon to give the card a country-ish feel, and on the inside I have some punched out M's glued to the edge. This card is going in the mail to someone who has had a rough week and weekend. I hope this puts a smile on her face when she receives it. :-)

Kickstand Berry Card

Can you guess what I was doing on Friday night? Probably not..... Hee hee!

Mom and I stayed up late to wait for the unveiling of the new Holiday stamps at PaperTreyink. I made this cute strawberry card while I was waiting for midnight (their time) to roll around. This is a kickstand card. Basically it's just a regular card with about an inch of the front part of the card cut off. The scallop circle is the "kickstand" to keep the card the right length so it doesn't fall over.

I used Real Red, Garden Green, and Basic Black inks and cardstocks for this card. The stamps are all from PaperTreyink, the scallop circle is from Stampin Up, and the cute scalloped black edge was made with some decorative scissors. Red and black ginham ribbons finish off the card for a cute country look.

Turquoise Skunky

I made this card last month after thinking about it for several hours. It all just kind of came together in my head, and I sat down to stamp it. I hadn't planned on the Prima flowers nor the sparkly brads, but they just seemed to work.

I knew I wanted to use my Skunky (my pet name for this little guy), and a turquoise scallop circle. No, I don't have this punch, but I'm going to need to buy one. I'm getting low on my little stash of scallop circles and ovals that I got from a couple of wonderful ladies.

I found the cute Flower saying (Hero Arts) sitting on my shelf and it was just perfect for this card. Both Skunky (from Stampin Up's Stinkin Cute set) and the Flower saying are stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink. I stamped the Dots and Daisies background (Stampin Up) with Tempting Turquoise ink. The black polka dot ribbon is Offray, the turquoise flowers are Primas, and the sparkly white pearl brads are from Making Memories. Cardstock colors are Tempting Turquoise and Whisper White.

Wiper card for VSN

One more challenge for VSN - a wiper card. What is that?? I thought it had something to do with baby wipes. Nope - it's a card that acts like windshield wipers when you "open" it.

It doesn't open like a traditional card. You have to pull on each side and a little card will pop up in the middle. It's really cute, and the One and Only Fabulous JanTink created this concept. She has graciously provided her template here.

So, armed with my printed copy of her template, I set about trying to decode all the numbers and lines and dashes and arrows. I finally got it all figured out, and decided to make a Halloween wiper card where the BOO and the black bat would pop up and scare the person opening the card. (Yeah right....)

I have used this Carved & Candlelit set so much since I finally broke down and bought it. I just love this set, and if you saw my rubber and the blocks, you would see it is definitely well loved. :-)

I'm thinking about doing this wiper card as my demo for the potluck stamping day on October 6. Would you like to learn how to make this? Don't forget to email me with your RSVP if you are coming on October 6. Each person will be bringing their own card/project for all of us to stamp, so it will truly be a World Card Making Day. I'm looking forward to it!

Stamp Two-Step Challenge

You guessed it - another challenge for VSN. I had such a blast this weekend! I actually stamped with a couple of my good friends, Chrissy and Danita. We would chat and stamp and laugh and stamp some more. We briefly stopped to have some supper, and then got right back into it last night.

I created this card for the Stamp Two-Step challenge. For this one, you were supposed to pick ONE image and use it for both the background and the main image. You could not use any other stamps except for a sentiment. That was it.

I chose this image from Toile Blossoms, stamped it with Cameo Coral ink onto Cameo Coral cardstock. After I cleaned off the Coral ink, I used Timber Brown Stazon ink to stamp the focal image onto Naturals Ivory cardstock. The watercolor crayons came out again (yup, I LOVE my crayons!!), then I sponged Close to Cocoa ink all around the edges.

I used the same sponge and ink to sponge all around both Cameo Coral layers, as well as the Garden Green card layer (the very bottom one - the actual card part). "Smile" is stamped with Close to Cocoa ink. The taupe grosgrain ribbon is just knotted and taped on the back. I was running out of time (watercoloring and sponging took up most of the 45 minute limit), and I wasn't able to do what I wanted to do. I was going to try distressing some of the layers, and I wanted to emboss the "Smile" - but I am happy with this.

What stamp would you pick to use for both a background AND a focal image on a card? I'd love to hear some of your ideas. Leave a comment and tell me what you think. I might even make a few more cards based on what image you tell me would look good.

Stamping with Real Leaves

Another challenge for VSN was to find a real leaf, ink it up, and stamp with it. That was WAY too fun!!!

My hubby walked outside with me, and helped me pull some leaves off some of the trees. I used a leaf from the rose bush on this card. It's actually easier than I thought I would be - just ink up the leaf with Old Olive ink, turn it over onto the Olive cardstock, press it down with my fingers, and take the leaf off. Voila!

I colored the pumpkin with watercolor crayons and my Aquapainter, and mounted it on Chocolate Chip cardstock. I stamped the "happy Autumn" with Chocolate Chip ink, and then used a sponge dipped in Pumpkin Pie ink to sponge the edges of the tag. The Pumpkin Pie DS paper is actually a leftover scrap from another card I had made, and it worked perfectly here. The crazy brown fibers are from a roll that I picked up at Tuesday Morning about a year ago.

Why don't you make a card using a real leaf to stamp your background? Walk outside right now and pick a leaf. Go on! Make your card and leave a comment here where I can see your card. I'd love to see what you create!

Footprints Card and VSN

I haven't updated my blog in the past couple days because I have been participating in some of the challenges at SCS for their Virtual Stamping Nights. It began Friday evening and ended Saturday night.

I had a blast doing some of these challenges. We had to follow some rules - one of which is that you must complete your card in 45 minutes or less. Do you know how hard that is??? LOL

Having that time limit means that the cards I did were pretty simple. No special stuff, no embossing, no elaborate watercoloring, and LOTS of praying that I got everything stamped right the first time.

This Footprints card was for a challenge that had to do with leaving, missing someone, or a sympathy card. I didn't have any idea what I would do for this challenge until I saw this Inkadinkadoo stamp and the word "leave" in it. Hmmmmmm... that would probably work.....

I stamped it with Jet Black Stazon ink onto glossy white paper. In order to make it dry faster (because of my time limit), I hit it with the heat gun. While it cooled off, I looked thru my Twinkling H2O's drawer, and pulled out the newest toy - Pearl Ex Watercolor CD. It is a cute little CD case with 12 colors of Pearl Ex cakes. They work just like the H2O's - get em a little wet and start painting.

You can't see the sparkle on the card, but trust me, it's there. When you watercolor on glossy paper, however, it doesn't look like a regular watercolored image. It looks more like some sort of Impressionistic painting, which I thought worked nicely with this particular image. It gives the water, sky and sand a feeling of movement.

To complete the card, I stuck with the beach theme and used Copper Magic Mesh for a "fish net" and a strand of twine with tiny shells on it. I just happened to find this twine in a clearance bin at Walmart last year - the price was 75 cents. What a bargain! :-)

Tent Topper card

My good friends, Chris and Danita, and I took a challenge last night to create a tent topper card. I looked around my stamp collection, and decided I wanted to use this Believe stamp. I have had it for maybe 6 months, and I still hadn't inked it up.

I looked around my studio for some color inspiration, and I saw these retired SU papers. Hmmmm....... yeah, why not? From there, I started pulling out cardstock and papers and arranging them to see how it would look.

I stamped the Believe with Chocolate Chip ink onto Vanilla cardstock, then sponged some more Chocolate Chip very lightly onto the edges. It softens up the image and gives it that wonderful aged look.

Instead of using ribbon on this card, I decided to try some piercing, and I put brads into every other hole. All in all, this card took me about 45 minutes to make. I am looking forward to our next challenge! Thanks for playing with me last night, girls!

Want a good laugh? Ok here we go. At 7am, I am brushing my teeth, and Emmy really REALLY needs to go out to pee. I'm trying to get Queenie to get her lazy bum up, but I can't talk cuz of toothpaste and the brush in my mouth. So I tap John and motion to him to talk to Queenie to go pee pee. She finally gets up, I open the back door (in our bedroom) and they run out to pee.

I see something moving. ACK! I turn on the porch light. I tap John again - motion to him that something is moving. So he crawls outta bed verrrrrrry reluctantly, and we go outside. There is a FROG on the door sill! I nudge it away from the open door with my foot (I have socks and shoes on, thank god!!). I see more movement.

There were at least FOUR frogs on the porch!!!!!!!!! Good grief. We had to watch the girls to make sure they didn't investigate the frogs. I think FINALLY our Miss Emmy has learned to leave those things alone. Ya know what happens? Dogs froth and froth and froth at the mouth if they lick or attempt to bite or pick up a frog. Bleck. It's awful.

And how was YOUR morning? :-)

My First Post!

Hello, everyone! This is my first foray into the blogging world. You're probably wondering about my blog name - Glitter, Stamps, and Ink (Oh My...). Hee hee. Yes, I'm a rubber stamper, and I love glitter and sparkle and shine. I own a ton of Radiant Pearls, Twinkling H2O's, Art Institute Glitter, Pearl Ex, SU Dazzling Diamonds (the best glitter!), and my latest obsession - Stickles!!! What more can a girl ask for?

I have to say, though, that I do not use glitter on ALL of my cards. It's a 50/50 shot whether there will be some sort of sparkle or shine on my cards. This card that I made yesterday is my newest experiment with chipboard.

I used the large purple flower from the Accents and Elements Build a Flower tin, and stuck it onto a circle chipboard coaster that a dear friend gave to me (thanks again, Bev!!!). I then used scissors to cut around the flower, taking off the excess chipboard. There were a few rough spots here and there, so I sanded all around the edges of the flower.

Once I sat and thought about it, the rest of the flower kind of fell into place. I decided to keep everything in shades of Lovely Lilac and Almost Amethyst and White, so I built the card around these colors. I punched out a scallop circle from a scrap piece of Amethyst, punched out a white circle to put on top of that, and then took a smaller sticker from the same tin of stickers to put on top of the white circle.

I didn't like how much white space there was between the sticker and the scallop, so I started out doodling some kind of Lilac scallop-y border on the white circle. Well.... my pen had a mind of its own, and it kept on doodling, around and around. When I stopped, this is what it looked like. I think it's kinda neat - breaks up the monotony of the circles and polka dots.

I used another sticker from that Build a Flower tin, found a saying that would fit into that sticker (from a retired SU set called Love Matters), and stamped. It's a little higher than I would like, but there's no do-over with this. There's only one purple sticker this size in the tin, so I left it as is.

Then I had to decide how to ground the flower. I didn't want green (the obvious choice), so I thought hmmmmmm...... ribbon? But no Lilac nor Lavender ribbon on hand....... hmmmmm..... Oh!!! White!!!!!!! Duh!!!!!!!! So I laid it out to see how it would look, and did a little wiggle dance. Ya know? When you are excited about some fantastically cool idea that you came up with all by yourself, no casing, no copying, no one telling ya what to do? I just sorta wiggled in my chair, all happy and ready to cut some ribbon to finish this card. Hee hee hee. Yup, I'm a little nutty - but hey, what stamper isn't??

So there's my first blog post. Hope you like what you see and come on back. :-)