Yes, You Can, Kiss In Color. Make It Monday #57

This week, on Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday, Heather shows how to take a stamp that makes this image...then "kiss" that stamp with another stamp and color.


When you use that technique, it will make the solid space on the stamped image look like this...


Then, you can make a card look like this...
Really CUTE idea!
To see the tutorial, go here:
http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/2012/03/make-it-monday-57-colored-kissing.html

Supplies used:
Stamps-Papertrey Ink-Love and Marriage(tree), Garden Variety(text) Hero Arts-Small Metal Flourish
Inks-Memento-Bahama Blue,Versafine-Vintage Sepia
EK flower punch
Kraft paper
White and Blue cardstock
Glitter glue

Spring Fever

Finally... It feels like springtime. I thought it would never come. I have had a little bird's nest stamp sitting on my shelf so, as soon as the sun appeared, after seemingly weeks and weeks of clouds, I took it down and quickly...used it. After stamping it, I colored it with my brightest colored pencils. Next, I wanted to give it some thickness and depth. Because I save cereal boxes, cookie boxes, and pasta boxes, I knew just what to do. I cut out a square from one of the boxes, then sanded and glued the colored nest to the cardboard. Finally I cut out the outline of the nest, and then sanded and inked the edges.

After completing the stamped image, I began to prepare the background for the nest to "nest". I used beautiful scrapbook paper. There are so many patterns and colors to choose from these days. I added lace and ribbon, cut out flowers and sprinkled glitter.

A perfect card to send for any kind of celebration.

Using a Variety of Stamps for Christmas Greetings

Wow! What a snowy weekend we had here in West Virginia. Fortunately I just got my Christmas greetings in the mail before the snow and power outages began. We lost power but not for too long for which I am thankful. Last year and this year instead of sending traditional cards, I sent postcards. Last year, so many people asked how I made them that I decided to blog about it. You can see the tutorial under my February 2, 2008 post. Postcards are so quick and easy to write on once made. Postage is also a little cheaper which helps around this holiday season. In previous posts this December I have talked about using various stamps to create different designs and backgrounds on paper.

A couple of weeks ago, I showed how you can make this snowy design on paper. Kind of fitting for this weekend. Well, what if this paper became the background for your postcard? I took this paper, scanned it into my computer and printed out 4"by 6" copies. The basic size for a postcard.

I wrote about how I made this design a week ago using one stamp and an inchie punch.

What if you took this one stamp again and instead of using green and red ink you used blue and silver? Use your inchie punch, add a navy blue backgound. and create the same kind of design.

Then take that inchie cut design and adhere it to your snowy background. It looks really pretty just like this but I wanted to add one more thing for the message I wanted to say.

I decided to use two different stamps. A compass rose and a celtic cross. I stamped and embossed them using opaque white powder on black cardstock. I wanted a different kind of cross image...one that showed direction. I cut out the stamped designs, then trimmed more, glued, and came up with this:

Using raised glue dots I adhered this cross over the previous snowy image, inchie design and scanned it into the computer. I saved this image and had to do one more thing... It needed words.

Finding just the write thing to say took some time. I finally found an old medieval saying in a quotation's book. Using photo editing software, and playing around a bit, I added the quote onto my scanned image. I then printed out 4" by 6" copies of this design. I sprayed a fine mist of fixative on each card and glittered the cross just to add a bit of sparkle. Lastly I used a glue stick to adhere a basic "postcard" design to the back. Add your greeting, address and stamp and you're ready to mail.

With One Stamp

Here in West Virginia a blustery wind has blown in bringing light snow and frigid temperatures. What a good excuse to stay cozy inside and use my imagination. Creating with stamps are so much fun. Look through your stamp collection and select one image. It can be a Christmas stamp or any other you choose. This Christmas design is by Inkadinkado. I bought it this year at Michael's.

Take that stamp and ink it with any color you decide. I used a rich red. You can also ink it again and again in other colors. You judge how many variations you want. I chose two colors for the season. Red and Green.

Next, look at your stamped design. Imagine only being able to see a one inch by one inch square in any part of the stamped picture. (You may want to cut out a one inch by one inch opening in a piece of cardstock and move it around the stamped design to help you choose) Now with an inchie punch cutter or measuring and cutting with scissors, cut from your stamped pattern several one inch squares. As you can see, some of the images I decided on were faces or people or just interesting pictures.

After I determined how many squares I wanted and then cut accordingly, I measured and trimmed a coordinating piece of cardstock just about a half an inch larger.

Using a glue runner I carefully adhered each square onto the cardstock.
You can use this creation as it is for a tag, bookmark, or whatever...

or you can put a pretty Christmas paper behind your cut images and create a festive card. Grab a cup of hot chocolate or tea, stay warm and have fun!

How To Make A Gift Card More Personal

You've bought a gift for a wedding shower and you want the tag to say a little more than "to" and "from". Grab a mailing tag or make one of your own. Its fun to make one of your own by tracing a garment tag or even just a rectangle onto an old cereal box. Cut out the shape and then trace that shape twice onto pretty scrapbook paper. Glue the paper onto the front and back of the tag using a glue stick. Before you start to decorate your tag, take some vellum or other paper. Even a clear shopping bag will do. (Ann Taylor Loft has nice clear bags) Using your gift tag as your guide, cut out enough to wrap around the tag and glue in the back. Then fold the bottom opening inward and glue. (I use a very thin line of YES or a glue runner) This will make a "slip in" envelope. Decorate the top of your envelope with a pretty paper trim you cut out or one already made. Paste your "to" and "from" emblem on the front.
Now the fun part--the tag itself.

Find a picture of the lovely couple or print one out. I used my couple's facebook profile picture and printed one onto photo paper just the size I wanted. Before I glued the pic, I added some lace on the bottom. Using a decorative trim cutter (this one is from Martha Stewart) I cut out some ivory paper and stamped it. (This stamp says" And they lived happily ever after." ) Then I glued the paper on the front of the tag. Next I glued the couple's picture. Finally I sewed ribbon onto the top along with a button.