Sometimes simple is best... and this is how to make it

Sometimes we need a simple card to just say hi, to just let someone we know we are thinking of them. Nothing fancy, keep it simple and small. Sometimes simple is best.

Simple and super easy... here are the steps, and I will reveal one

 of my stamping secrets!!

First start with a cream colored card stock that measures 6 1/2 x 4 1/2 ... I buy a Pre- cut packet of them at Hobby Lobby... so easy!

Fold it in half

Now gather a few supplies for stamping on the image...

You will need crayola washable markers (part 1 of my stamping secret) the adorable bird stamp with shout out, can be purchased here  http://www.etsy.com/listing/76412431/hand-carved-rubber-stamp-bird-with-shout

and a Q-tip

After lots of playing with stamps I have discovered a few tricks to inking and image transfer that I am going to share with you all :-)

Washable children's markers work GREAT for inking a stamp you want multi colored.They are cheap, they wipe right off of the stamp, come in all the basic colors and transfer beautifully onto paper. A little note of caution though.... I use the markers for cards and things that do not include photos... I am sure they are not photo safe. Also, if you are working on something that you do not want to last for a very long time these may not be your ink of choice. I am not sure how long the true color will last, not sure how much fading they will do over time.

Next, use the colors you choose to color right on the stamp. I colored the bird blue, the shout out black, the branch brown and the leaf green.

These markers are very wet, you should have plenty of time to color the stamp with out the ink drying.

If you were to stamp the image now you would end up with streaked uneven color, after trying a few different ways to make the color look just like a stamp pad was used I came up with a trick... step 2 of my secret :-)

Take a Q-tip and pat over the stamp, being sure to slightly turn the tip with each color so you do not transfer colors.

Line the stamp to the edge of the paper and transfer the image... just beautiful!! :-)

How cool is that!! I am so proud of my technique :-) A versatile and cheap way to stamp :-)

Next, I stamped the "hi" in the shout out. I have a set of very tiny letters that work great, but you can always hand write the "hi" and that would be great as well.

Because I am just using one color for the letters I used a black ink pad.

Next I broke out the cricut.

I used the song bird cartridge. I cut out the bird house with the flower cut out of the middle.

Now, if you do not have a cricut you can always cut out a house shape, I think that would look good also.

The next step is tearing off a light orange/yellow piece of paper and gluing it to the back of the bird house  so it shows through the flower. Add a little dab of glitter glue to the center of the flower, I used a copper color.  Then, use some thin ribbon and tie a bow leaving long enough ends to fit the card. Adhere the ribbon to the card, and adhere the bird house to the card just slightly over the ribbon. Finally, I colored in the birds belly with a colored pencil and dotted the birds eye with a fine black marker.

And there you have it! How easy is that? You may want to adhere you ribbon a little straighter  than I did though, lol :-)

Been playing around with my stamps and cricut!

Just a few cards I made with my stamps... you can find them in my etsy shop, just look to your right :-)

This is a letterboxing log book I made, I am sending this stamp to a letterboxer in another state for a letterboxing swap! The other boxer will plant this box in her state and I will plant the stamp she sends me in my state! Very Cool :-)

My latest swap, fun in the sun, Cricut

As I mentioned before, I am new to this swap thing... but so far I am loving it, and am pretty well hooked!
The swap group I have joined is called Paper Crafting Diva's and is organized by a sweet person who takes a lot of time to make these swaps happen... you can see her blog here... http://marie97-lotlot.blogspot.com/
This swap was for  4 sets of Cricut cut images that can be used for cards. They had to be embellished in a minimum of two ways, and a sentiment needed to be included . 
This was a great reason to get more familiar with my Cricut. I really have wanted to use this cool cutting machine more often, and this was a perfect opportunity to do so. I really had a lot of fun with this! Take a look at what I came up with, and the card I made from the cut outs...

embellished with glitter glue polka dots

Also dotted the sun with glitter glue, and added glitter cheeks to the crab :-)

And this is the card I made with the same cut-outs. I just used a plain white card, and  colored the back ground with pastels... (I am hooked on pastels :-)

Makes me want to go out and play!!

My fun little Cricut

I have been spending a little more time playing... when I say a little I mean it. My time has been so limited... so much I want to do! I have ideas just running through my head :-) I have stamps, crochet ideas, and now this Cricut... So, I made this love letter for my husband. I learned a lot making this card. First, it does matter what kind of adhesive you use. I tried a high quality water based glue that when dried made my card hard and non flexible, I was pretty sad :-(  I looked around different sites and did a little reading about glue. I now have some new adhesive that I am going to try next time. Over all I like the way the card turned out, I like the diagonal pattern and the illusion I created with it, and I think my husband will like that I wrote him a love letter ;-)

Cricut!!

I am so excited about my new Cricut cutting machine!! My mom was visiting us here for Christmas and gave me this fun little gift! The cartridge it came with has given me this desire to collect many more! The part that killed me is the price of these little cartridges! But.... Hobby Lobby had them 30% off last week so I bought two! I thought that was great, until I did a little on-line shopping and found the same cartridges at Amazon for an even larger discount WOOOHOOO!! I am so glad I did not open the boxes from Hobby Lobby!! So back to the store they went and I was able to buy 4 cartridges for just a little more then what I paid at Hobby Lobby for 2 (and that was with the sale price)! I LOVE a great deal!
So now I am watching my mail box and patiently (well, not so much) waiting for them to come in so I can have even more fun!
 My two children are trying very hard to take my little treasure Cricut away from me. Now, I am all about sharing but this is MY toy... right?? Well, kind of... you know how it is when you are having so much fun and thinking something is soooo cool you just want to share it with your kids, so I did. It did not take long however for my 10 year old to teach me about the sticky mat and what makes it not sick any longer. The wrong paper to use on it is construction paper, it will leave all kinds of tiny fibers on the mat and nothing will stick :-(  My lesson did not end there though, I researched on YouTube and found that the mats can be cleaned of with a baby wipe! A couple of swipes with the magic cloth and to my delight I had a sticky mat again and I am ready to roll!! This picture is one of the first projects I did with my Cricut. I embellished my laptop with these vinyl stickers!! Then I did my daughters.... Oh I love it when I find something new to embellish!!