Happy Veteran's Day

Today is Veteran’s Day in the United States, and is celebrated in other parts of the world as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day to mark the end of World War I.  I was privileged to attend a high school assembly that honored veterans.  Notably the oldest living recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor is a graduate of Bend Senior High School, and a current resident of Bend.  A staff member in full dress military uniform who served eight tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan was honored to place Robert Maxwell’s medal for him during the assembly.  The school also honored six fallen service men and women from the War on Terror, one of whom I was a friend with during his years in Bend.  It was an incredible time of respect and remembrance.  It was also amazing the percentage of students who stood to indicate a family member has served at one time in the armed services.  I am proud to be an American and to honor those who gave our freedoms to us through their service.   

What a lead in for the current challenge at Ruby's Rainbow Challenges #117, to use the colors of red, white, and blue.   It just so happens that I volunteered to make cards for the care packages our church sends to members who are currently deployed, so I am taking this opportunity to start on a few with this CAS design.

Directions

1.     Mask the bottom the bottom portion of Stamper's Best "Thank you for your service" and ink the top portion with Versa Magic Night Sky.  Remove mask and stamp on white card stock.  Trim sentiment to 2 7/8" x 1 7/8".  (With solid rubber images this is often quicker than using a stamp positioner.)



2.     Trim red ribbon to 12" and 6 1/2".  Tie a double looped bow with a backing ribbon on the Zutter Bows-It-All v.2.



3.     Run a line of adhesive along the back of the sentiment and adhered the backing ribbon.  Slide the bow into the desired position.
4.     Back with Kraft card stock trimmed to 3 1/8" x 2 1/8".



5.     Trim red and blue panels to 1 5/8" x 4", and white panel to 1 3/4" x 4".  Lay side by side in the Darice Stars Assorted embossing folder and pressure emboss. Apply temporary adhesive to each panel and place on Kraft A-2 sized card. 



6.     Run a line of adhesive along edges of sentiment panel and adhere.  Remove from the card base and wrap ends of ribbon around back of outside panels and adhere.  Adhere to Kraft A-2 sized card.

Come and play along with our red, white, and blue theme at Ruby's Rainbow Challenges and enter your card or project!

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Creative Knockouts #115 Ribbon

Shabby Tea Room 263 Thankful

Cards in Envy Gratitude

Crafty Card Makers 151 Thank You
Make My Monday Many Thanks
Simply Create Too #98 Give Thanks
That Craft Place Kraft challenge
Glitter and Sparkle 162 Use some Red 
AAA Cards CAS 52 Thanks

Fall Thank You

Time for a new challenge over at Retro Rubber Blog Challenge!  This time around we have a beautiful color scheme to work with to create a project.  I am in need of a few thank you cards this time of year, and the colors provided the perfect inspiration.  Do stop by the RRBC and see all of the Mod Squad's fabulous makes!

1.    I started by searching through my papers to find my version of Hello Honey, Old Olive, Blackberry Bliss, and Baked Brown Sugar.  I knew I wanted to use the multi-lingual thank you sentiment by Distinctive Impressions and combine the colors in the stamping as well.  This is a timeless image because I purchased it in 1995 at the Portland Stamp Convention! 

2.    The easiest way to stamp different ink colors on one image is to use water based marker directly on the image.  For this card I used Memento Dual Tip Markers in Cottage Ivy and Grape Jelly.  They are a great color match, don't you think?  After coloring, a very light mist of Imagine Crafts Ink Potion No. 9 reactivated the ink before stamping on honey cardstock trimmed to 3 ½” x 5”.

3.    The Spellbinders A-2 Locking Loops die is centered over the image allowing for twine embellishment along the bottom and secured with light tack tape.  The sentiment is die cut.

4.    An 18” length of Darice hemp twine is tied in a multi-loop bow with the Simple Bows template.  The ends are threaded through holes in the design and secured into placed on the reverse side.

5.    The Blackberry Bliss card stock is trimmed to 2 ¾” x 4” and adhered to the sentiment panel die cut.

6.    A piece of Kraft card stock is pressure embossed with Sizzix Wrought Iron Balcony Moroccan folder.  Cottage Ivy is colored in a strip on a rubber brayer and gently misted with Ink Potion No. 9.  The brayer is gently rolled over the raised portion of the design.  The design is trimmed to ¾” x 4”.

7.    The Old Olive is trimmed 4" x 5 1/4" and adhered to the A-2 sized base card.  The remained sections are adhered into place.

Please come and join in the fun over at Retro Rubber Blog Challenge and play along with this beautiful color scheme.  Remember to use your rubber stamps that are more that a year old (mine is 20 years in my collection!) and have some fun.

I would like to enter the following challenges that provided inspiration for this card.

Creative Knockouts #115 I used twine

Southern Girls Challenge Twine

Aud Sentiment 144 Tic Tac Toe row: embossing, rubber stamp, die cut

Simon Says Thanks

Shabby Tea Room 263 Thankful

Cards in Envy Gratitude

Crafty Card Makers 151 Thank You
Make My Monday Many Thanks
Simply Create Too #98 Give Thanks
That Craft Place Kraft challenge

Soccer Coach Thank You!

We are so blessed to have community members and parents step up to coach our youth sports!  They spend hours with our kids during the soccer season and coach their hearts out, in this case with fourth graders.  In case you haven’t watched most fourth grade recreational leagues . . . they are still at the “bunch soccer ball” stage for game strategy.  Our boys had a wonderful mom who LOVES soccer and plays adult league as their head coach this year.  It is the end of the season and time to thank the coaches who give so much of themselves and their time!  I volunteered to make the thank you cards.  I couldn’t resist making a soccer themed card similar to her favorite ball!

A recent video at Imagine Crafts Blog highlighted the use of Ink Potion No. 9 and the Kaleidacolor ink pad.  I’ve used the brayer technique with Kaleidacolors before, but with the Ink Potion No. 9 spritz, the colors are so much more vibrant and blend so much better on the glossy card stock.  If you’ve not noticed, soccer balls come in all colors now and the Kaleidacolor Spectrum made for a great background on this soccer ball.  After inking the glossy card stock it was die cut using the Quickutz Soccer ball die.  Black card stock is die cut for the pentagon portion of the soccer ball. 

 I also decided to participate in Week #385 over at Sketch Saturday because they have great sketches AND I was the winner over there last week.  I didn’t have to scroll very far down in the archives to find this great sketch to incorporate a round soccer ball!

I used a scrap of the Kaleidacolor Spectrum glossy cardstock to die cut the Spellbinders Phrase Set One sentiment “Thanks”.  It is backed with black and blue cardstock trimmed to size.  Boxer Scrapbook’s Soccer Clear Stamps provided the soccer goal, which is stamped on blue card stock in Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black.  Green cardstock is die cut with Lawn Cuts Stitched Hillside Borders.  The layers are adhered to the card front and the sentiment panel is adhered with dimensional foam adhesive.  I was able to crank out two thank you cards for the coaches in no time!

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Sketch Saturday #385 Pick any Sketch 215-375, I went with 218

Hiding in My Craft Room #223 Freestyle

Sweet Stampin’ Dies & / or Punches

Art Impressions #171 Use Water Based Inks

As You Like It Brights or Pastels? 

(I like brights!  The brilliant color cheers me up!)

Mod Squad Bold and Beautiful

A Quick and Fun Birdday Card!

When pressed for time and in need of a quick birthday card . . . it is a sketch challenge to the rescue!  Sketch Saturday supplied the sketch for this fun card.

A scrap kit from the card-making box supplied the papers by My Mind’s Eye Penny Lane in Free Bird Robins Egg.  The paper was trimmed to match the sketch.  The Hero Arts OWH Missing You toucan image was stamped on white card stock with Tsukineko Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Chameleon Aqua Marine BG4 and Seville Orange OR4.  The image was die cut with the corresponding die.  The Happy Birdday is stamped with Tsukineko Memento Luxe Rich Coco.  All the lower layers are edged with Tsukineko Memento Luxe Rich Cocoa ink as well.  The layers were adhered together and the toucan is raised with dimension foam adhesive.  

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

 

 Sketch Saturday #384

Dream Valley Challenges #118 Use the Color Blue

Addicted to Stamps Challenge #112 Things with Wings

Birds of a Feather Thinking of You

The theme for our challenge at Ruby’s Rainbow Challenges this fortnight is Birds of a Feather, RRC#116.  Do stop by and check out the wonderful creations of the Design Team.

My current stamp stash had little in the way of bird stamps, but I did have several feather stamps to work with that I’ve had around since 1998!  The first thing that popped into my head was to use metallic embossing powders on the stamped images, and this is what was so fun to create.

The feathers are all from Where the Rubber Meets the Road purchased at a stamp convention in Portland.  That is a story for another time!  The images are stamped in Tsukineko Briallance Galaxy Gold on cream card stock and are heat embossed with bronze and gold opaque embossing powders.  The feathers were fussy cut, then colored with Decorator Chalks using a Tsukineko Fantastic Brush Tip tool. 

The card base is Kraft card stock trimmed to 5 ¾” x 9 “ and folded in half.  I used one sheet of Coordinations Black Magic and trimmed the backing layer to 4 ¼ “ x 5 ½”.  It was pressure embossed with Sizzix Damask #3 so the image is “debossed”.  Using a brayer and Memento Tuxedo Black the raised portion is distressed.  Spellbinders Medallion Two is die cut and pressure embossed and then sanded to allow the color to show through.  A die cut of the same in Kraft backs the medallion.  These small sets offer great versatility in layering.  The center circle is die cut and pressure embossed before inking the edges with Tsukineko Versa Magic in Midnight Black.  The sentiment by Inkadinkado is from the Just Saying set. The various layers are adhered together with dimensional foam adhesive between the top layers.

Come join the fun and show us your creations that feature a bird or feathers.  Stop by Ruby’sRainbow Challenges and link up your creation.

I am pleased to enter the following challenges with this card:
Shopping Our Stash #225 No Patterned Paper
Everybody Art Challenge #342 Stamp
Our Daily Bread #260 Double Embossing (heat & dry)

Crafting When We Can #106 Distress It

Create and Inspire #32 Anything Goes

Scrappy Land #28 Embossing (I did both heat and dry)

Crafting From the Heart #83 Anything Goes

Craft Your Passion #285 Anything Goes

Use Your Stuff Challenge #197 Die Cuts and/or Punches

Ooh La La Creations #192 Embossing

Vintage Stamping Challenge #37 Use a Die or Dies

Stamp & Create Oct Challenge Brown or Craft

Fall Happy Birthday using RRBC Sketch

It is time for a new challenge over at Retro RubberChallenge Blog, and this go around it is a fun sketch.  Stop by the blog and check out the complete line up of the Mod Squad’s take on this sketch.

I choose to flip the sketch on its side and make a birthday card for fall.  I started with a very old (late 90’s) Magenta dandelion image and a simple Scrappy Cat Birthday Wishes set that I’ve had for five or six years.   

At first I tried an ink color and didn’t like the results, so I went with a tried and true way to get an ink color from my marker set!  I used the brush tip end of the Tsukineko Memento Dual Tip Marker in Bamboo Leaves and colored directly on the rubber of the stamp, then used the moisture of my breathe to make sure the ink was still wet just before stamping.  This technique works best on rubber stamps, but can be successfully used on some photopolymer stamps as well.  (Test it before you stamp on your project!)  I was able to get a good image with the Scrappy Cat set.  After stamping on cream card stock trimmed to 3” x 5 ½” I colored the small sections of dandelions with Tsukineko Memento Dual Tip Marker in Pear Tart.  With a little bit of Designer Dries Clear adhesive I added some Recollections Snow flocking to mimic the dandelion seeds.  The edges are inked with Tsukineko Versa Magic in Gingerbread.

The border is cream card stock trimmed to 4”x 6 ½” and is liberally spritzed with Imagine Crafts Fireworks in Bamboo Leaves.  If you look closely you can see the shimmer in the color.  The top two layers are adhered together before placing the flocked brads by Creative Imaginations through both layers.   The base card from Kraft card stock is trimmed to 6 ¾” x 8 ½” and folded in half.  The top layers are adhered to the front.

Please do come by and share your project using the sketch above over at Retro Rubber Challenge Blog.  We ask that you use a stamp older than a year and have some fun with your retro rubber!

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

Aud Sentiments #143 Birthday Sentiment

Create and Inspire #32 Anything Goes

Inky Impressions #275 Make it Krafty

Crafting from the Heart #83 Anything Goes

Craft Your Passion #285 Anything Goes
Artistic Impressions #143 Anything Goes w/ a twist of Birthday
Blessings Ink Anything Goes

 

Celebrate Autumn RRC #115

Celebrate Autumn

Autumn Leaves is a wonderful challenge at Ruby’s Rainbow Challenges for this time of year in the Northern Hemisphere.  Here in Central Oregon we don’t always get leaves changing color as the weather can be a bit erratic and change swiftly.  But this year is an exception and we have wonderful fall colors all around us. 

In the bright sunlight the leaves really shimmer!

 

The perfect solution to represent Autumn leaves is a shaker card.  This was made simple by the use of Impression Obession’s Shake It circle.  The leaves die cut from a variety of Quickutz leaf dies.  The paper is spritzed on both sides with Tsukineko Fireworks in Dandelion, Lady Bug, and Tangelo.  The circle from Spellbinders Standard Circles Small is die cut through both layers of the frame, which are two colors from the Coordinations Distress Collection.   The top card stock is pressure embossed with Cuttlebug Polka Dots and then distressed with a sanding block to bring out the texture.  The Classic Scalloped Circles Small is a great mat for the circle and the stamped sentiments.   After it is die cut it is pressure embossed using the tan embossing mat.  The edges are sanded to distress the scalloped circle just a bit.   

The shaker portion is raised from the front surface of the card.

The stamp the sentiment I used Technique Tuesday’s Borderline: Same Time Next Year set.   What is wonderful about the clear stamps is that they can be gently bent into shape to stamp a circular border.  Once they are in the correct shape on the acrylic block it is easy to stamp a border around the scalloped circle and inside the shaker area on the base card stock.  I drew a light pencil line on the base Kraft card stock before I stamped the images.  Both images are stamped in Tsukineko StazOn Saddle Brown. (Mostly because that is what was sitting on my desk at the time!)  The inside sentiment was stamped four times, and the outside almost three, with a portion masked off to not over stamp.

Once the stamping was complete I placed the small die cut leaves inside the Shake It circle and adhered it into place.  (They came with adhesive already in place, how great is that?)  The successive layers were adhered into place with the larger leaves adding to the frame around the scalloped circle.

Thanks for stopping by and come and join the fun at Ruby’s Rainbow Challenges and create an Autumn Leaves project and share it with us. 

Selected as Top Three!

FanTastic Tuesday Anything Goes Autumn Colors

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:
Ike’s World Challenge Blot #48 Autumn Colors

Hand Stamped Sentiments #222 Autumn Colors

 Always Playing with Paper #46 Colors of Autumn

Crafting Desert Divas Autumn Colors

Come and Get It Happy Fall Ya’ll

My Time to Craft #306 Autumnal Colours

Fussy and Fancy #149 Autumn Colors

As You Like It Monochrome or Color

Typically color, but for this card monochrome shines through!

The Crafty Addicts Autumn Palette