Sweet Grass Stamps

Sweet Grass stamps sponsored a Designer's Challenge at Stampers Quest. These two designs will not appear on Stampers Quest.



The black and white design on the left is very very basic.
The band of black and white down the left side of the card is a piece from a background stamp that was stamped on plain white card stock and embossed with fine line black.



The phrase from Sweet Grass Stamps has been embossed using fine line black embossing powder and cut out with a Spellbinders die. The edge were then sponged in black.

I believe the card base for this card is from a DCWV stack called Luxury. It has a pearlie sheen to it that is lovely.

The die cut is by Quickutz. It is an extended cut die, this means if is close to 12 inches long. I like the bold, yet elegant statement that it makes.

The Sweet Grass phrase is stamped with VersaMark and embossed with fine line gold powder. After rounding the corners it was placed on the same cardstock as the die cut, rounding the corners on this layer as well.

Faux Snakeskin Closeup

This is as good a picture as I could get. While that sheen is lovely in person, it is a real pain to try and get a decent photo of.

I have seen some cowboy boots that had this patterning on them. They are gorgeous. (and expensive)

Faux Snakeskin

Not long ago there was an article in Stamper's Quest by Kittie Caracciolo. This very talented lady did a card called "Faux Everything". I was totally intrigued and of course printed off the directions.

Here is my version of the "Faux Snakeskin". As I had almost none of the supplies that Kittie used I had to wing it. (as usual).

The Indian Stamp is by Ink Blocks. Check under Southwest and Native American to find this image and several other by the same artist. Ink Blocks is now owned by I Brake For Stamps.

The Indian is stamped with black pigment ink and embossed with Ranger Walnut Distressed Embossing Powder. A coluzzle was used to cut out the circle and the edges were sponged with black dye ink to add depth.







The feather is from a wild turkey.

Faux snakeskin!!!!!
1. Cut a sheet of kraft paper colored cardstock in quarters.
2. Lightly mist both sides to soften paper and get a sharper deeper texture when embossing with the texture plate.
3. Using the Fiskars snakeskin texture plate, place the plate on your mat, paper on top of the texture plate and then the embossing sheet. The embossing sheet is soft clean rubber that when pressure is applied by the die cut machine will push the paper down into the texture of the plate. Now put mats and shims over this until you have the correct recipe to achieve a nice texture on your dampened paper. Dry completely.
4. Use a brayer to apply Archival Ink. By using even light pressure the ink will only color the top of the snakeskin, accenting the texture. On some of my pieces of faux snakeskin I used some green and rust inks as well as several shades of brown, applying them lightly with sponges. I liked the results.
5. Snakeskin has a sheen to it. My sheen came from a coat of water based polyurethane. Again let it dry completely. You now have snakeskin.

Using archival permanent inks will keep the ink in place when you apply your "sheen" layer.
Remember that waterbased dye inks will be reactivated with most water based products you apply over them. They will "move" causing you to see part of your ink coming off the paper as you apply that polyurethane. Kittie used Modge Podge on her snakeskin. I didn't have any, so used what I had on hand that would give my snakeskin that shine of real snakeskin.

Some Bunny Luvs You

Easter is just around the corner. This card was inspired by a "sort of" similar one that I found in a magazine. I don't know about the rest of the card makers out there, but when I find an interesting design in a magazine or book and start creating in my studio, wwweeeelllllll, the end result is vaguely like the picture (very vaguely usually). In fact, if I showed you the card and then had you browse through the magazine you would probably have a hard time picking out the design that had started the whole process. Now fess up, the rest of you do the very same thing. (I hope, LOL)

The cute little tags are a punch by McGill.

I used a plain white card base.

Coordinating scrapbook paper were glued onto the card base in a "thirds" format.

The wavy bar that the tags are attached to was cut using a paper cutter called Create-A-Cut, with a company name of Made Easy Inc. I could not find them on the internet. It has multiple blades that cuts various patterns. I love it.

I drew the carrot and carrot top myself. The edges of the carrot have been llightly sponged to create depth. I drew veins in the carrot leaves to attempt to make them more realitic.

Blizzard

Yesterday we had a raging blizzard all day long. There were periods of time when we had white out conditions.
Definition of white out - when driving you can't see the front of your car.

My husband came in this afternoon and told me to get the camera to take some pictures of the tree row and the odd drifts that had resulted from the high winds.

MacDuff the Scottie in the snow. He thought it was such a lark to play in the snow. Here you see a typical Scottie stance. So intense and alert.

The snowdrifts are fantastic sculptures in white. MacDuff definitely enjoyed investigating every nook and cranny in the whole tree row.

Silk Ribbon Embroidery

There was a time when I did a lot of silk ribbon embroidery. I still enjoy this form of embroidery, but how many brooches and teddy bears can one have laying around the house?

As with most of the hand made items that I have created down through the years, the prices that I could sell them for was pitiful. So like many crafters I slowed down my output, diversified to many crafts and used my talents to create gifts for family and friends.

Here are the remaining two brooches that I made many years ago. The designs are my original ideas.


If you love to do embroidery and want to take it to a new level, here is one way.

Recycling Jewelry

Down through the years I have been gifted with old unwanted or broken jewelry. These well-meaning aunts and old family friends did not realize that I simply can't turn this kind of thing down. As a result I have this huge stash of glittery, shimmery and shiny junk.

It is now a treasure trove. LOL

Your old ugly necklaces, bits and pieces and purchases that were too good a deal to pass up can become very stylish bracelets and necklaces in a surprisingly short amount of time.

Craft stores will usually have their jewelry making supplies on sale at least once a month.

I have learned the hard way to NOT use beading thread as it just does not hold up to the stresses that I put on a bracelet.

I use tiger tail or some other type of stainless wire and secure with crimping beads. Both of the above bracelets were second hand store ugly necklace purchases.

The Gypsy In My Soul

Like many crafters I have an addiction to the shiny, glitzy and pretty baubles.
I have been collecting beads in many forms for years for that "someday" when I will make something fabulous.

While this bracelet is not fabulous, I happen to be very fond of it and have enjoyed wearing it for a few years.

The first one was purchased and made with beading thread. This did not hold up well at all. When it broke many of the beads just disappeared. So I used the basic design, stuck in mostly my beads, leather and button clasp. Instead of beading thread, I used tiger tail, a stainless steel thread. I may even be doing some classes on this bracelet in the future.

Faux Tooled Leather

It really does look like tooled leather.

Supplies you will need to make tooled leather:

black pigment ink

brown fun foam

heat gun

stamp

1. cut the fun foam about 1/2" to 1" larger than your stamp

2. ink the stamp with black pigment and keep it in your hand

3. heat the fun foam until it start to curl

4. immediately place stamp on heated foam and press down HARD

5. keep pressing that stamp into the fun foam until it has cooled

6. now pull up you stamp and admire the 3D image

7. trim the foam as close as desired to the 3D image

A few hints:

Let this stamped 3D piece of art work sit at least over night, WHY? because it is stamped with pigment ink and pigment ink takes a long long time to dry. If you have two people you could probably have one heating the foam and one stamping AND get away with using dye inks. I found that after I stopped heating and inked up my stamp with dye ink, that the foam had cooled. It does not reheat well. You will get the best image from HOT foam.

This technique is fun with medallion stamps. I have a nice collection of multiple colors of fun foam. Great say to get a 3D effect without a lot of hassle. The foam also mails well.

Happy Stamping and God Bless,

Shelly N.

Take Time

Another Glimmer Mist and stencil background.
One is slightly darker than the other. Both have black dye based ink sponged around the outer edges of the card.

The card front was done on a seperate piece of paper and glued to the card base to get a nice crisp flat card.
Place your card under a heavy book for a few hours and when you take it out you will be amazed at how flat it is.

The stamped phrase is by Hero Arts and the tree image is by Inkadinkadoo.

They were both stamped with VersaMark and fine line black embossing powder was applied.
Very simple cards. If you have backgrounds made up a
and waiting - this is a ten minute or less card to produce.