Inspire Me

Firecracker Designs Inspiration

Lately I have been so inspired by the stamp sets at Firecracker Designs. I especially love all of the scenic/landscape type sets. There are so many and they all work so well together or individually. I hope to bring you more designs using these stamps in the near future. In the meantime I was perusing the gallery (Which is full of amazingly talented people & their designs) I came across this card:

Designed by Julie Warner and called Peaceful Nature. You can see Julie's blog post highlighting the card and her directions for how she achieved this stunning look here.  While you're there be sure to look around - believe me this isn't the only amazing project that she has! Anyhow, I wondered how I might try to re-create this card or basically case it.

In the end here were my results:

 

Let me share with you how I completed mine.

I started with a reverse mask (I cut a 5" circle from the center of a piece of paper, remove the circle and discard. the frame is what becomes your reverse mask). Temporarily adhere that to your cardstock that you will be working on.

I used 6 different inks (Barely banana, Summer Sun, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Only Orange & Real Red).

Starting with the lightest color I sponged it on all over my paper, then went to the next lightest color and sponged that color on but not covering the entire circle  - just going to almost the middle. Basically each time you start with a new ink color you sponge it on starting from the outside edge and don't go as far inside as you did with the previous color. Which is what gives you such depth and blending of colors. So continue on until you are at your very darkest color and at that point you are really just sponging around the edge.

Stamp the Joy of nature tree in the center of your card. I also extended the water by re-inking just the waves and stamping again. I stamped in Chocolate Chip Ink.

I then highlighted the body of the tree and other spots with a white gel pen.

My orange border is stamped with the pussy willow stamp from the set and stamped in Pumpkin Pie ink. The edges are rubbed with Pumpkin Pie and Chocolate Chip. My brown cardstock is embossed using a SU texture plate.

Anyhow I put my card out for display in my store, Inspire Me and everyone went nuts (Thanks to Julie's inspiration!) So I decided to have a class and mix up things a little bit. So when class started I said they had to pick different colors then were originally used. I want to share with you the results of that class and the color of inks they used.

This card was completed by Betty miles and she did use the same colors as my original project but stamped her tree in Tempting Turquoise. It was simply stunning! And even though we used the same colors both cards look completely unique.

 

 

 

 

 

This card was completed by Deb Russo and she used:

Bordering Blue - Bashful blue - Brocade blue - ballet blue & elegant eggplant. Her tree is stamped in Night of navy. It's simply stunning and gives the feel of winter approaching. Now I do have to take a moment to pick on Deb, her words are stamped upside down. I placed the stamps on the block and just handed them to her. It was my fault I didn't pay attention when putting them on the block. We were all so busy admiring how the colors turned out that it actually took us a while to notice and then we laughed for a long time. Thanks Deb for being such a good sport!

This is Fran Pickard's card and she used the same colors as Betty & I. She stamped her tree in Night of Navy. Another amazing result! Each one looks so beautiful and yet so different! matted on Dark blue & yellow it was a stunning finished project.

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly, but certainly not leastly is tammy's card. I owe her an apology since it appears I had the massive shakes when I took this blurry picture. And you gotta love that I permanently leave the anti shake button in the on position on my camera. And I still got blurry! But I think you can see the beautiful combination of colors. Tammy's card ended up feeling like a Sailor's Delight Sunset. She used, Blush Blossom, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, So Saffron, Apricot Appeal & Taken with Teal. She stamped her tree in Always Artichoke and placed her words to the left of her tree. Way to think out of the box Tammy!

I also want to share with you a new (Or new to me) tool that I have come across that is making applying ink so easy and giving such amazing results. It's the Sponge tool from CTMH, they are called Foam Tools, product # Z1090 and be purchased here.  Applying ink couldn't be any easier or cleaner for that matter. The handles make them so easy to hold and use! In my studio these are a MUST HAVE!

So Julie, I hope we did your original card justice and we can't thank you enough for the inspiration!

As for you Pam; Simply fantastic stamps and we are having a ball here at Inspire Me. The gallery is full of amazing ideas and will keep you busy for days.

So a big thanks to the many talented ladies that took the class, to those that inspired us and to Pam for the awesome stamps!

Key to my Heart soap box gift set

You know how sometimes you make something and just love the results? And you think that this may be worthy of entering into one of those calls. And you do enter and then you wait, and wait and wait. Until you finally realize that all this waiting is more than likely a "NO". I can handle the "no" part - I just hate the waiting. Patience has never been a virtue for me, my kids would laugh over that! So some times you enter and they pick you and sometimes they don't. But don't give up just keep trying. So instead I get to share this project with all of you:

This was an entry in the small division for a Close to my Heart call. You had to use their Key to my Heart stamp set and paper set. Believe me not hard to do. Just look at this stamp set

So many beautiful elements! And the paper set is equally as gorgeous!

The small division had to be anything 6 x 6 an under.

This wooden box is 5 x 5. I had picked it up a while back for $.50 and it had the word seeds printed on it where the love is now. And that inset was also painted blue. It was yucky!

But I took ink and inked up the outer edges of the box and then decoupaged paper in the insets and edges. The whole project was intended to be like a little Valentine's gift for that someone special. I originally stamped the frame and then lined it all up on my computer so that the words would print perfectly within the pre-set lines.

I stamped the designs for the soap on paper, antiqued it and sealed the top with a thin layer of paraffin wax, smoothing out any rough spots with a small craft iron.

The votive candles I just wrapped with a piece of the patterned paper and ink the top of the candle to take away the bright white. To make the keys look more real I stamped them on chipboard with versamark and heat embossed them in silver embossing poweder. Cut them out and intertwined them.

Here are a few different views of the box.

A side view

Another side view. Each side of the box was a little different, whether done with patterned paper or inked and stamped with an image.

 

 

 

  A close-up view from the top

The part that I liked the most was making the bar of soap and having it actually be used. By sealing the image with a layer of paraffin wax it makes the soap usable and the image then won't melt off.

Think about the cool gifts you could make this way!

Now I haven't forgotten about my other bunny basket, I had a short video to go with it and I just couldn't get it to load so I opted for this which I've been wanting to share with you for a while anyhow. So I may just ditch the bunny video and print the instructions for it.

See ya soon, I'm off to Copic Certification tomorrow so I will see you all Monday. Have a good one!

Family Ties

So the other day I was crying about my 4 yr old growing up. Now I'm going to brag on him a little. At Christmas time he received a rock guitar, as he calls it. You know one of those computerized type of things. Well he now runs around singing rock star songs. His two favorite songs that he has written are "My Mom is a rock star" (I personally love that one!) and "My Dad loves my Mom" If you can imagine the first one is a hard rock melody with him screaming the words, while the second song is more of a ballad. Here he is dressed in his rock star outfit that he has put together on his own, a vest from a western party, a dollar store bling necklace and his shades:

Don't you just love him?!

Anyhow, my point to this whole post is a card. As you know I just received this great order of stamp sets from Close to my Heart. And today as Nicholas was running around serenading me I realized that the Family Ties - Adult C1346 set matched his song exactly!

First, here is the set:

 

 

 

 

Isn't this set just adorable?!

So with the My dad loves My Mom ballad being sung ever so softly I created this card.

   

Nicholas chose all the colors for the clothes and I colored using my Copic Markers. After which we both decided it needed a little bling, cause Mom just wasn't Mom without some sparkle. So I went over the dress, tie and shoes with my Spica markers. I just love that this picture captured so much of the bling. Actually this is a pretty common scene in my home. My Dh loves to bring me flowers and he's forever holding my hand, even when we're just sitting on the couch together. He's a keeper, lol.

In addition to choosing the colors he also chose the papers. So it's a simple card but hey it was created from a 4 yr olds love song and his creative mind. I think he did a great job!

Supplies:

• Copic Markers

• Spica markers

• Riding Hood Red cardstock from SU

• Striped paper - All My Memories, Toadstool

• Family Ties - Adult stamp set from Close to my Heart

• White cardstock from Papertrey

• Chipboard rings from Technique Tuesday

• Ribbon by Offray
• Brads, unknown source

Now the real reason I had originally purchased this stamp set was cause I felt I could use it with my Cricut. I'm terrible at drawing faces and I don't have a lot of cartridges so I thought that this would work so well with Beyond Birthdays. The boy and girl that are on the cartridge. I thought that if I could cut out an image, like the boy, I could then just use the Family Ties set to decorate him. This was the result:

Not too bad, huh?! I had to re-bend the arms a little to fit the t-shirt. I haven't had a chance to play anymore but it does appear as if it's going to work well. What do you think?

Key to my Heart

I wanted to share this layout I did today. My baby is going to be 5 soon and basically I'm freaking out! The joke is that I'm not allowing him to go to school in the fall and he is to never get any older! So I've been quite reminiscent these days, thinking back to his birth. Sorting through photos, shedding some tears (good tears) I finally decided to get productive and actually scrap a photo, go figure, lol! So while playing with photos I did this quilted layout:

Actually it's paper weaving, one of my favorite things to do. The background is supposed to look like a quilt. So there's my baby, it seems like it was just yesterday. He was so damn cute! Actually he still is and thankfully he still loves to cuddle!

Since I had just received this new paper pack it was a perfect fit.

All supplies from Close to my Heart:

• Key to my Heart paper pack & Key to my Heart E1012 stamp set

basically choose four of the patterned papers and cut two of them into 6 - 1" x 11" strips and the other 2 patterned papers into 5 - 1" x 11" strips. Then start weaving the strips together, being sure to weave them as tightly as possible to keep your quilt square. Some trimming may have to be done to completely square it off. Mat on a piece of 11 1/4" x 11 1/4" cardstock and mat that onto a piece of 12 x 12 cardstock in a coordinating color.

To create the frame I used the large corner flourish stamp and stamped it twice in opposite directions. To follow the curves of the image I simply laid the stamp back onto the paper and traced the outside edge with a pencil. Now if I was a better cutter I could have free-handed this, but my cutting skills are not the best! But that's the beauty of unmounted and acrylic stamps - you can lay them against your stamped images and get the exact outlines by tracing.

The photo corners are made with 3/4" x 2" strips. I basically followed the directions at TAC.

Other paper-weaving projects I've done:

 

On the Day that You were Born

I just love that song. I always sang it to my four yr old, I still do only now he's old enough to tell me to stop. Cause, well I don't sing it all that beautifully. American Idol contestant I'm not. Anyhow, don't fall over - two posts in one day - YIKES! But I am just having so much fun with my new Close to my Heart stamps.

So I promised you a card made from the Moments in time set:

It really is so much more than just a calendar set. However, I wish I could take credit for my card but I cased it from Celebration Moments, take a peek at what she did with the set. So from there I came up with this for my daughter:

I used the That's Amore paper pack,

Moments in Time Stamp set and a few stamps from the Key to my Heart set. Remember you can get any of these from here.

Yup, My DD was born on March 28th - it seems as though it was just yesterday - she was so beautiful and so tiny. When she came home she was wearing Cabbage Patch clothes! Can you imagine?  Oops, sorry I digress.

The card - finished size is 5 x 7 with coordinating mats and fibers. Check out those fibers, they come in a package that looks like this: This set is called Spring Harmony. Plus there are at least 7 other sets.

The hearts were stamped and cut out and the hang heart hanging from the fibers is acrylic. Simply take a clear acrylic heart place Liquid Glass on one side and adhere to your patterned paper. When the liquid glass is dry then trim away the excess paper & boom instant embellishment that matches perfectly!

So now I know you want to order these right? First let me tell you that I am not working for Close to my Heart I am just overly excited about my new stamps so I love to share and better yet enable, lol. I just found out that the Moments in Time and the key to my Heart sets will not be available after January 31st so go here quickly and order!

I just got off the phone with some great friends in California, "Hi" Linda, Priscilla & Mary! They say the weather is beautiful - UGH! However, as much as I complain (and sometimes I can really whine!) I would rival anyone's sunny day for the amazing beauty of freshly fallen snow on the trees.

Calendars in a CD Case

I have been working on this really cool project, a calendar that fits inside of a CD Case. So it closes up for traveling or gift giving and then pops open to act as a stand while holding your calendar of the month.

Here is January: 

For this calendar set I am using all Close to my Heart stamp sets. I now have an awesome collection and thought I had better put them to good use. For the January page I used Moments in Time. Actually I used this whole set to create each month. It has a ton of great features to it and can even be used to make a great card. I'll try to finish one up later today and show you. I also used the set Make it Count.    As you can see I used that great Number border and the big clock. Now my page isn't the most classic Happy New Year page ever but it sure does symbolize our home. We were all sound asleep by 8:00 that night. The boys had wanted to stay up so badly, I told them they could. Like I said none of us made it past 8:00 p.m. And my little Nicholas fell asleep in his new Diego chair from Christmas. Hopefully he was having the sweetest dreams of a very happy new year!

I have one more calendar page to share with you for this post - It's February: I have to admit I just love this page! All my guys! Isn't that amazing?!

  For this page I added the set called Key to my Heart. Now this set is a must have! Just look at it:

 This set has so much versatility that I even used it for the May & December pages. also.

  Wondering how this all works with the CD case? Take a look at this: Isn't that the coolest thing? Doesn't take up much space and it's low profile. But you get to have it close to you for the whole year!

Then when you are done with each month you can scrapbook the entire page. Just think about it, a calendar and a scrapbook page that's already been started for you! 

So if you're in my area I will be hosting Lisa Moore at my store, Inspire Me as we teach this whole calendar project on Saturday the 31st (If the darn snow has stopped by then!) And if you're to far away and would like the instructions and paper used to do this then just drop me a line and I'll let you know how you can get it. Or you can go straight to Lisa's site and order any of these sets today. That was how I got my addiction started and as you know I'm always happy to enable someone else!

Well it appears as if it's gonna be a doozy in the good ol' State of Maine. School has already been canceled and for that matter so hasn't everything else. The snow hasn't started yet but they say it's coming and it's going to continue for today and tomorrow - Whew! The kids are excited, the hubby is groaning and I'm just tired of it! The store parking lot is getting smaller by the day! So when snow starts to impact my play time well then - that's enough!:)

I'll be sure to share some photos for those of you in the sunny states.

So for today stay dry & warm - bling on!

The ABC's of Marriage

Well, finally here is the scrapbook page that I completed for the ABC's of Marriage swap. The rules were pretty simple:

• Pick the letter of the alphabet that you wanted to scrap about
• Create a 12 x 12 page using the Boom-Di-Ada paper from Close to my Heart

• Make the same page 27 times

• Use a stamp set from Close to my Heart also. (if you're interested in purchasing or seeing all of the great stamp sets & paper packs that Close to my Heart has just click here - Lisa will be more than happy to help you!)

First let me show you the paper pack

Then I chose the letter J and went with something simple like Joy. To make the letter J I used the Solos J set.  

My big problem came when I realized that one paper pack would not make 27 pages - what had I been thinking? So I tried to use the patterned papers as accents and focus on the basics of the cardstock. Here is the final result:

 

The best part is that I sent off these 27 pages and never even remembered to take a photo of them. So I had to e-mail the hostess and beg her to take a photo and send it back to me. And no I didn't even keep my copy. Sometimes I wonder where my head is at........

I'll get the whole set back shortly.

Here's how I made the page. I placed each page on my scor pal and scored at 1" all the way around, forming a frame.

I punched each corner with my Diamond print Tonic corner punch and backed the corners with a piece of the burgundy cardstock. I stamped a small flower in three colors on all four sides of the page. I used this small flower since all of the patterned papers had flowers. I stamped and cut out the J's. For the dot above the J and the O I cut a flower from the paper pack. I popped the O in Joy with a foam dot. The Y was cut using my cricut from the orange paper in the pack. I then stamped small dots on the Y to give it more texture and to blend with the small Joy frame which was cut from the green polka dotted paper in the pack. This was also stamped and cut, I also placed each one of these joy frames on a piece of chipboard so everything didn't look so flat. The washer type rings were stamped from another CTMH stamp set and then punched out. I cut up the piece of patterned paper that had all the borders and ribbon type print on it and placed a strip on the side of the lower mat and on the top of the small journalling block. Each of the small burgundy dots was punched from another of the patterned papers that had these dots all over it.

Even though this is a very basic and rather plain page, there was a ton of time that went into it with all the stamping and cutting. I do have to thank my Mom for helping though. She did most of the cutting for me - Thanks Mom!

So doing these 27 pages with all this stamping and cutting took more of my time than I had anticipated. But it's another project done and checked off - Wow, that feels good!

My last swap that I am in is an ATC card and I only have to make 6 of them. Simple enough, I hope :)

Hope you enjoyed and I'll see you all tomorrow!

Bling on!