Haunted House Card

I got out my new embossing powders and book board cut outs from Globecraft Piccolo.  I love their embossing powders, they are such a wonderful mix of blended colors.  I started with this adorable House Haunting Ornament.  I trimmed off the hanger on the top to just make it a frame.  I embossed the base with Vintage Black embossing powder.  I added a bit of Turquoise Lagoon embossing powder to the moon in the sky and to the base of the house. Next I glued the plastic dome down on the frame.  Using Starry Sky embossing powder, I covered the second frame which I then glued over the edge of the dome.  It is really hard to get a good pic of the beauty of the embossing powders and the frame.  I added a couple of Happy Pumpkin Accents, which I covered with Orange 3D Enamel Gel for a lovely shiny effect.  I did the same thing with the bats from the Halloween House Haunting Accents by adding Mars Black 3D Enamel Gel.

Now for my card construction, I started with a 5.75 inch square purple base.  I added a piece of patterned paper from the WeRMemory Keepers Spookville 6x6 paper pad.  Next I added a Cheery Lynn Designs Spider Web Mesh border and Ornamental Gate.    And that was about it!  Thanks for stopping by. 

Steampunk Gears Tag

I created a tag and embellished it with Globecraft Piccolo embossed book board and Cheery Lynn Designs flowers.  I started with this great Steampunk Gears Necklace and Vintage Gears set.  I embossed all the book board with Vintage Copper embossing enamel.  I love that this has a blue green patina base to it; just like copper that has been out in the weather too long.  You can get quite a few different aged looks by varying the amount of heat you apply or by adding additional layers of enamel.  I think this is my favorite of the enamels.  The key is also embossed with the same Vintage Copper.  Don't you just love the aged look?

I used the necklace bezel as a platform for the largest of the Cheery Lynn Designs Poinsettia Strip flowers.  I used two large, one medium and one small petal to make that flower.  I added some Vintage Photo Distress ink to the petals before creasing them upwards.  I added two small flowers created with one medium and one small petal and then another large flower but this one only has one large, one medium and one small petal.  To give the tag some interest, I embossed it with my Cheery Lynn Designs Do It Yourself embossing plate, adding some Vintage Photo distress ink to bring out the pattern.  This was such a fun project to make.

New owners @ Globecraft & Piccolo

Having decided to retire, founders Pat & Joanna Secrist recently sold Globecraft Memories & Piccolo Decor to another Michigan family company - SweetStamps.com.

New owners Jeff and Stacey Richardson are excited to add the fantastic products from Globecraft & Piccolo to their existing line of custom stamps, inks, EPs and dies for paper crafting.

SweetStamps.com will be carrying a large selection of G&P items in their booth at tradeshows throughout the country, and Stacey will demo with some favorites {Piccolo accents, Embossing Enamels and Instant UV Resin}!

Project tutorials and inspiration along with online shopping will still be available at www.globecraftmemories.com and www.piccolodecor.com.

We will be looking for new Design Team members soon, so stay posted and follow this blog to keep up-to-date!

Rose ribbon doll by Juliet Arrighi, guest designer

The Rose Surround is one of my first SweetStamps purchases - I love how it is perfectly designed to accent a curved focal area, and it is a great way to add a floral touch without bulky embellishments.  However, I was admiring a set of Dia de los Muertos dolls with floral garlands in their hair, and I wondered if the gentle arch of my Rose Surround would work that way.  I decided I wanted a fairy instead of a skeleton, though:

 I drew the patterns for the doll, dress, and hair myself.  If you think you can't draw, I will tell you a secret - even professional artists don't expect to get it right the first time.  They draw something over and over, with their erasers in their other hand, constantly tweaking until it looks the way they wish. also, you don't have to get the whole thing right - I drew the torso, head, and arms separately.  I went through a lot of sketches before I got the shape that I wanted.  once I had a pattern, I cut the parts from an old book page and glued it all together.

I started out coloring the roses with Tombow markers and a blender pen, but then I didn't have a pink cardstock to match for the dress, so I ended up painting the dress and then painting the roses to match.  I used a shimmery pearlized paint for shine.  The wings are actually from the Dot Butterfly, stamped on vellum and embossed with lavender tinsel embossing powder.  Along with the shimmery paint and ribbons, this fairy practically glows!

I added a ribbon on the top of the head for hanging, but I found that a glue dot worked fine for mounting the doll on a door.

I have a friend who will just love her - and she will  fit flat into an envelope to send!

It has been so much fun sharing the ways I use SweetStamps with you this month.  I hope I have inspired you to try something new!

Roses Challenge by Guest Designer Michelle McClure

The Project

Hello sweet friends! For this week's challenge, I wanted to alter a frame for my grandmother's 92nd birthday. 

Since the theme is roses and I didn't have a rose stamp, I rolled and twisted a strand of ribbon into a rose. It was very easy, if you'd like further directions, see this tutorial.  I then paired the roses with my Bold Medium Butterfly stamp, and it was a perfect combination. 

The Process

I started by stamping my butterfly stamp onto vellum using white embossing ink and white embossing powder. 

After heating it, I cut out the butterflies and wrapped them with floral wire stamen. 

Using craft paint, I painted in some wispy lines onto my frame. I coated the lines with Mod Podge. I adhered the butterflies and roses with some clear craft glue. I also added some smaller butterflies that are from a punch. I finished with a few pearls. 

I took three of my leftover butterflies and made a matching monochromatic card. I hand wrote the sentiment in Chinese with a white pen. 

If you have a project that you would like to link to this week's roses challenge, please see this post. 

This is my last project as a guest designer this month. It was a pleasure to work with you all!

Thanks for your support,

Michelle McClure

Challenge #136 Roses

Hello and Happy Tuesday! It's challenge time again at SweetStamps.com and this week's theme is...

Roses

Looking for rose stamps or dies? There are a lot of flower images in our store, especially roses! Check them out here. 

Don't forget to check back on the blog to see the great projects from our monthly Guest Designers!

And here is some fabulous inspiration from our talented DT Sweeties:

Annette Andersson

*Calypso Bastian*

Carolyn LaBille

DeNetra Bates

Denise Paxton


Erika Selander

Irena Kowalczyk

Irit Shalom

*Jacqueline Hill*

*Kendra Sand*

Lisa Lahiff

Monica Edwards

Roxie Glaza

*Shelly Schmidt*

*Tamara Morton*

We'd love to see your rose creation, {remember: altered art, ATCs, cards, mixed media, scrapbooks, etc. are welcome} so come and join the fun! You could win a $20 shopping spree for goodies at SweetStamps.com's online store by playing along in our challenge! Click here for our complete Challenge Rules.

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Remember, our Monthly Technique Challenge {Paper Piecing} runs through October 14th. Check out all the monthly challenges here.

Next week our theme is Borders. Happy Stamping! Have a super sweet week!

 

Western Challenge Winner

The winner of SweetStamps.com's Challenge #135 Western is...

Bonnie

Congratulations!

Please contact me for your winning prize of a $20 shopping spree at shop.SweetStamps.com.

Thank you to everyone who joined in on the challenge, we hope you had fun and will join us again — we have a NEW technique challenge every month, along with a weekly challenge each Tuesday!

Happy stamping!

Paper Piecing by Juliet Arrighi, Guest Designer

I love doing snow scenes on my winter holiday cards, but the problem with snow on a card is that it is white.  You either have to spend forever coloring a background, or you have to paper piece.  I do a lot of paper piecing.

You might think that I used a stamp positioner to get the sentiment just right on the blue paper and the white paper, but I used a much easier technique - I used a larger piece of white than I needed, and once I lined the words up, I cut off the excess.The sentiment is embossed in white on the blue, and in denim blue on the white, so it looks really crisp.  I love the selection of vertical sentiments at SweetStamps - you really can't find them like this anywhere else.

I have a lot of snowman stamps, but I had to have this Stitched Button Snowman because of his country craft look and because it is an easy shape to cut out.  Take a closer look at the holly berries - they are made with the same buttons that are on the snowman!  They fit perfectly in a quarter inch punch.  I put Diamond Glaze on all the buttons for a little extra shine and dimension. This was so much fun to make!

Western Accordion Card by Juliet Arrighi, Guest Designer

I love the details of the western style - gingham and calico, leather and demin, silver conchos and turquoise jewelry.  I tried to put a number of those elements in this western style card.

By embossing the Horse Silhouette Oval with silver embossing powder on silver metallic cardstock, I was able to simulate the look of a concho.  The sentiment is embossed on the "belly band" that holds the card flat.  I wanted a bit of bandanna technique paper to show, but I couldn't find a white gel pen that was still working (what is it with those white gel pens?), so I reversed the technique, stamping (Wedding Roses Silhoutte) in white and highlighting in black.  You can see a corner of the writing panel on the inside.

Thanks for looking!

Paper Piecing and Western Challenges by Michelle McClure, Guest Designer

Hello sweet peeps! I have two cards that I'm excited to share with you today.

Monthly Challenge - Paper Piecing Card
When I think about paper piecing, I usually get a bit daunted by the amount of detailed work involved and then proceed to the next technique. By after browsing the stamps and seeing the Bee Happy Duo set, I thought this was totally doable!

I stamped the bee twice, once on yellow and once on a light blue piece of patterned paper. I cut out the eyes and wings from the blue and popped it up on the yellow. I was quite quick and easy, yet really adds a special touch to the card.

I wanted the bee on a slate board so I rounded the edges of my card and used some chalkboard patterned paper. If you don't have chalkboard paper, you can dab a wet cloth with white chalk ink and gently rub a piece of black paper for the same effect. I stamped the sentiment in white and added a Word Frame Duo for the speech bubble, which fit perfectly. To continue the slate board theme, I cut pieces of white cardstock to make chalk. The bee is holding a piece to look like he wrote the sentiment on the board. I also made a little cup the hold the extra pieces of chalk. The background stars, letters and numbers are rub-ons. As a teacher, I would have loved to receive something like this at the beginning of the school year.

Weekly Challenge - Western Card
For my Western themed card, I really wanted to make a shaker card. I'm always a little hesitant because of the complications and mess involved, especially if precise measurements with an X-Acto knife is involved. I had read about a washi tape technique and decided now was the time to give it a try.

First I stamped some horses using 2 Horse Silhouette stamp and punched out the profiles with a .5" circle punch. I wanted the horses to be inside the shaker card.

Next I took a piece of acetate (transparency film) and cut it to the same size as my photo. I placed the acetate on top of my photo and taped three edges closed using washi tape. Initially I placed the punched circles inside but they didn't shake very well so I took them out and placed glitter inside. Then I taped up the fourth edge and popped the photo onto my card base. 

I stilled wanted to use my circles so I glued them around the photo as a scalloped frame. 

Here is a view of the card in action. This was a lot easier and less messy than my usual shaker methods. 

If you would like to enter the monthly challenge using a paper piecing technique, please see this post. If you would like to enter this week's Western themed challenge, please see this post.

So glad you moseyed on by,
Michelle McClure

Challenge #135 Western

Howdy! It's a cool autumn Tuesday here in Michigan, and time for another SweetStamps.com challenge! This week's theme is ...

Western

Take a look at the western themed inspiration from our DT Sweeties:

Annette Andersson

*Calypso Bastian*

Carolyn LaBille

DeNetra Bates

Denise Paxton

Erika Selander

Irena Kowalczyk

Irit Shalom

*Jacqueline Hill*

*Kendra Sand*

Lisa Lahiff

Monica Edwards

Roxie Glaza

*Shelly Schmidt*

*Tamara Morton*

We'd love to see your western creation, {remember: altered art, ATCs, cards, mixed media, scrapbooks, etc. are welcome} so come and join the fun! You could win a $20 shopping spree for goodies at SweetStamps.com's online store by playing along in our challenge! Click here for our complete Challenge Rules.

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Our Monthly Technique Challenge {Paper Piecing} runs through October 14th. Check out all the monthly challenges here.

Next week our theme is Anything Goes and our DT Sweeties will be showcasing some of our newest images. Happy Stamping! Have a super sweet week!