ICWM - Fail....

Well, I failed my challenge for the International Correspondence Writing Month... 

I had planned on writing a card to someone each day of the month and I started off great but then things feel apart.  I thought I had a cold at the beginning of the month but then we went off to a trade show right after Valentine's Day.  I didn't feel great while we were gone but we had this trip planned for months and I didn't want to disappoint. I had all my cards done and sent for the time we were going to be gone ahead of time so I made it up through the 20th. 

When we got home dh decided that I must have the flu because it was still going strong (and he heard a program about it on talk radio).  I got worse after we got back home and haven't done a thing since returning (well, other than housework and laundry) so I missed out on sending the last 8 cards out :( I am starting to feel better but I feel like I've lost the entire month of February. 

I hate it when I challenge myself and I don't complete it. It sucks!

I'm hoping to get back into the swing of things soon...I have some fun new goodies I want to share with you but I have to play with them first!  Just have to get the crafting urge instead of the napping urge.

I did get some pretty photos while we were at the show...  We went to PA...

The sky was so pretty over the mountains.

This is the kids (youngest son & his wife) set-up at the show...

they are mfg. vintage garden tractor seats!

After the show we were going to go a different route and head north instead of going to toll road. 

 It went from this....

to this in a matter of about 20 minutes.  It was wicked so we had to stop in Harrisburg for the night.  Most of it melted the next day but it did make for an interesting evening.  We got the last room at the Marriott hotel - Whew!  Would have been scary if we would have had to drive on.

Enamel Copper Beading

So excited to share this bracelet that I made...

These beads started out as copper tubing but with a little help from Imagine I was able to turn them into an enamel covered bead. I liked the results so much I made one to keep and one to give as a gift.

The VersaFine Clair ink Tulip Red looks so pretty over the copper...almost like a candied apple!

Please see 

Learn to Make an Enamel Copper Bead Bracelet

for the complete tutorial.

Sweet Song of Spring...

Happy Friday!  Today I wanted to share some fun I had recently with Rubber Stamp Tapestry's new stamp set Sweet Song of Spring.  I was so inspired by this set of stamps that I decided to create little scenes by incorporating a bit of free-hand drawing and watercolor painting with the stamps...here's what I came up with...

My first card I made this little home for the Spring robin...I wanted to give him a nice secluded home in a secret garden to live. All of the flowers and foliage were stamped using VersaFine Clair then embossed with clear EP.  The bird was stamped using VersaFine ink and I drew the birdhouse and pole in free-hand.  The remainder of the image was watercolored using Kuretake Watercolor.  The sentiment is from Club Scrap.

This card is my attempt at a clean and simple watercolor card...not sure if it fits the "C&S" police term but it's pretty simple for me.  I started off by penciling in the mailbox to give myself a rough idea on where to add the foliage.  Next I stamped the greenery and added the flowers with VersaFine Clair inks.  I then went back and watercolored the mailbox and pole.  The final step was adding the sentiment (Club Scrap).   I messed up though - I wanted to sit the bird on top of the mailbox but my proportions were off and he looked like a giant next to the mailbox so I left him off ;)  LOL!!

Supplies:

Rubber Stamp Tapestry - Sweet Song of Spring
Imagine - VersaFine Clair
Kuretake Watercolors
Club Scrap - Sentiments

Steampunk Inventor Gothic Arch

Last Sunday was Thomas Edison's birthday...he was and in my mind will probably always be one of the great inventors of our time.  In honor of his birthday they named February 11th National Inventors Day and I made this fun Gothic Arch to celebrate them both!

There's a little bit of everything on the arch...vintage ephemera, stamping, die-cuts, Vintage Creative Medium (my favorite), Metallic Creative Medium (Bronze, Silver, Gold and Copper); lots of embossing powders on the Gothic Arch base (red, copper and patina) as well as the fun vintage images.  I love when I can mash 'em all together to make something like this.

If you'd like step by step instructions 

and a complete list of supplies you can find it here - 

Mixed Media Gothic Arch

Happy Valentine's Day Friends!!

First I wanted to share my steampunk inspired Valentine's Day Tag with you!

And I also have a selection of vintage Valentine's Day cards from my collection...

Enjoy!

Hope you all have a lovely day!!

Hot Foil & Letterpress

Hello Peeps....I've been busy!  First I think I mentioned a while ago we bought a Kingsley Hot Foil Stamper.  We are looking at doing some stamping for a company we already work with.  We're hoping to talk them into hot foil stamping their logo into tags that they can then sew into their seating products (they do van conversions).  Exciting stuff. So I've been experimenting with it to get a feel for how it all works and practicing on paper, cardstock, vinyl and leather just to see how the machine preforms under different temps and materials.

This is gold foil on black vinyl.  We have a small die that we can use to cut it out on one of our clicker presses.

These are some business cards I made using an aqua blue foil. 

It looks amazing in real life.

AND....

Look at this baby!

It's our new Chandler & Price Letterpress machine!

We don't have it home yet but it came out of an old print company that closed down last year.  It needs a little bit of work but we're very excited about it. It comes with all sorts of goodies and the alphabets I have for the hot foil machine will work in the letterpress machine as well.  We have been talking about getting one for a while now and this one was less than half an hour from our shop. I think we're going to move it next week sometime...I can't wait!  It has a large print area - 12" x 18" large enough to print book pages! 

So, that's what we've been up to lately...

Oh and the International Correspondence Writing Month is coming right along.  I'm still up to date with mailings. We're going to be taking a trip in the next week or so - I'm going to do a mass mailing at that time so I don't miss any days while we're gone.  I've heard from a few people that their cards are starting to arrive...so happy about that!

What's new with you all?

A Card Sketch for February

Hello Friends!  Today I wanted to share the card sketch I created for the Card Sketch Challenge on the Club Scrap Facebook group.  If you'd like to join us there you can find the group here: Club Scrap Chat.  You have to answer a couple questions to make sure you're not a robot then you're in :)

This is a card for my sweetie...made using supplies from the "Sweet on You" collection.

This card was made from the Surprise collection (01/18).
Don't you just love those ring sequins?  I've never seen them before but I love em!

Finally a card made using goodies from the "To You...With Love" kit. 

Hope you decide to join in on the fun!!

Be sure to stop by the FB page and check out all of the fun cards folks have made using this sketch.

Geranium Magic

Have you seen 2 of the newest sets of stamps over at Rubber Stamp Tapestry?  They are themed around geraniums!! Cottage Geranium & Red Geranium -  I just love these sets.  Geraniums are some of the first flowering plants I can remember aside from violets.  My grandma had a small nursery/greenhouse and these were always a favorite.  Here's what I made...

The first card was stamped and embossed using Imagine's VersaFine Clair. I was able to stamp the entire piece then emboss in one fell swoop - no stamp emboss, stamp emboss, etc.  This ink is just amazing!  All stamps are from the Red Geranium set.

This is a combination of both geranium sets along with a tiny single flower from my stash...  It just needed that little pop of red don't you think?  Inks are a combo of Memento  & VFC.  

This card was so much fun.  I had a piece of cardstock laying on my desk that had 2 holes cut out of it from a previous project.  I used that piece of cardstock as a stencil to stamp through.  All of the inks were VersaFine Clair that was stamped and embossed.  Simply stamp through the stencil, move the stencil and stamp some more.  Once all the stamping was done, embossed using a clear EP.  I wish you could see it in person...the colors are stunning.  I know blue isn't the usual color for geraniums but I thought it worked out well.

My final card was made using the Cottage Geranium set...the bucket I planted my geraniums in is also a RST stamp.

Supplies:

Rubber Stamp Tapestry - Cottage Geranium, Red Geranium
Imagine: Memento Dye Ink; VersaFine Clair Ink; Clear Embossing Powder
Club Scrap.com - Sentiments
Cardstock
MFT Dies

I.C.W.M. Under Way!

Yes, in case you didn't see my post near the end of last month I found out not too long ago that February is International Correspondence Writing Month! I decided to take up the challenge and have started writing little notes and cards, sending them off across the country and globe. I am hoping that some of them will start arriving at their destinations soon and that they will spread a little joy.  If you'd like to receive a bit of happy mail, please e-mail me your addy.  I'd be happy to drop you a line :)

Between the writing and work things have been a bit backed up here but I'm going to try to catch up a bit.

First I wanted to share the new challenge on the Just For Fun Rubber Stamps blog this month.  We're featuring silhouette images!  There are so many fun silhouette stamps out there that you're sure to have at least one in your stash.  If you're feeling up to it, stamp up a card with your favorite silhouette and share it here - JFF Feb Challenge - Silhouettes.  We'd be happy to have you!

To get you started here are a few cards I made for the challenge....

Now it's your turn!