Purge Treasures

Hello my crafty and creative friends!

My studio purge continues...
in preparation for the HUGE crafting Garage Sale
that I am hosting here at our home in September.
(Myself and 12 of scrapping and card making friends will come together
to sell our crafty goodies at a mega Crafting Garage Sale)

In the process of going through the contents of my studio..
I've come across a few things that I'd forgotten about.

A few days ago..I found some bits and pieces that were leftover

from a wedding card project that I did last Fall.

So...I decided to take the prepared pieces...
and create a card.

As it turns out...I had just enough painted and cut pieces to create just one card.
Everything as cut..stamped...heat embossed and painted...

I just needed to cut a few matting layers...
and put the card together 

 This beautiful image is from the HAUTE WEDDING DRESS stamp set

by The Ton Stamps.
I added stamped the image with Versamark Ink...then heat embossed it with gold EP.
To add lots of shimmering color to the image
I painted the image and background with Twinkling H2Os and
 Kuretake Gansai Tambi Pearl paint. 

I created a background print with the large bloom stamps
in The Ton's Loose Peonies stamp set.
I painted the background with Twinkling H2Os.
Next I cut the mat layers...using Metallic card stock.
I positioned the matted image piece with self adhesive fun foam

This is the finished card...
Looking exactly like the wedding cards that I created last Fall!

Purging the contents of my studio in preparation for the Garage Sale
 hasn't really felt like a chore.
I've been enjoying going through everything...doing a bit of reorganization...
feeling inspired for what I will create after the garage sale is over...
and...

Enjoying the occasional surprises
(like the parts and pieces for this wedding card)
that I've "unearthed" during the the purge!

I wonder what surprise I might find today!

Have a great day, my friends..

Thanks for visiting today!
Michelle.

Catherine Scanlon Designs: Flower Teacup

Hello my crafty and creative friends!

I'm glad that you're visiting today....and joining me for a cup of green tea!

After many years (aka...decades) of card making...
I have some to the realization that 

although I am always happy to find a new stamp designer or company...
I have carefully cultivated a genuine passion for a few designers and companies in particular.
You know...

The stamps and images that shout out to you...

and bring on a flood of creative ideas for a card...

the minute you lay eyes on the image.

My list of designers and companies that make my heart skip a beat 

IS...in my card making world... etched in stone.
Yes...I am always happy to peruse and keep up on who and what "is out there"...

and I love making new inspiring additions to my stamp collection...
BUT....only a few hold an esteemed and carefully assigned spot on "my list"

Artist and designer Catherine Scanlon 

is way way way at the tippy - top of my stamp love list.
So while doing my studio purge...getting ready for the big crazy huge garage sale...

I took a break from the urging chaos...

got out a Catherine Scanlon Designs stamp that I hadn't inked up yet...
and...I treated myself to some good-for-the-soul creative time!

I created a short stack of of green tea (not coffee!) card s with Catherine Scanlon's

beautiful  FLOWER TEACUP stamp.

All of the cards were created with the same sketch, color palette 

matting and print.
I colored each image with Copic Alcohol Markers...

I chose an assortment of sentiments that I stamped and matted...

and I finished each card by brushing a little bit of Clear Wink of Stella
over the beautiful blooms.

and..

This is what I wound up with...

a few Birthday cards....a Get Well card

and a Just for You card.

As I always say....

I never seem to have enough Birthday cards in m stash...

so, whenever I create a stack of cards...I try to always make a few Birthday cards.

I Love Catherine Scanlon's floral designs.
Her style is SO me...right up my card making alley!

My favorite way to add color to them is to water color the images.
But as you can see...
Alcohol marker coloring is another terrific possibility for adding color 

to these gorgeous images.

Get Well cards are also something that I am always needing to replenish 

in my card stash...
So I created a get Well card.
I really enjoyed going through my print paper ...

browsing...until I felt that I had come across the ideal print.
I love the color of this print because it pulled the tea cup color and the leafy colors together nicely.

It also allowed the colors of the flowers to pop, I think.

and....it has a little bit of sparkly shimmer to it, here and there in the print.

It's always good to have a few generic cards in a card stash...

so the 4th card that I created was a Just for You card.

Here's a close up of the shimmery blooms on each teacup.

Clear Wink of Stella is perfect for adding a little bit of pizazz to an image!

It felt GREAT to take a break from the garage sale studio purging

to create this stack of cards with this fabulous Catherine Scanlon stamp.

I have to confess...

I did think about abandoning the studio purge...

opting to just spend a week  water coloring and creating cards

with Catherine's stamps...

Yep...The thought DID cross my mind...

But my purge MUST go on...

I've made great progress...

and the garage sale date (September 22nd) will be here before I know it!

So back to the purging I go!

Thanks for visiting today, my friends...

I hope that you've found a bit of inspiration here at my blog.

Michelle.

PS...If you'd like to see all of Catherine's stamps...

Go HERE ...to the ART GONE WILD web site.

Have fun browsing...

(I have a feeling that you'll wind up with a BIG longggg wish list

of Catherine Scanlon Designs stamps that you MUST have!)

Penny Black : Floral Applique

Hello my crafty and creative friends!

Today I've got a short tack of 4 cards to share with you...

Al created with an image from Penny Black's FLORAL APPLIQUE stamp set...
All are CAS cards....

All created with the same sketch...
All colored with alcohol markers...
with an assortment of color palettes and sentiments.

I've got a few photos to share...
(Sorry....I forgot to take an individual photo of the plum colored card)

Here we go....

I created 2 birthday cards...a Thank You card....

and a friendship card

About a year and a half ago I made a promise to myself.

Actually...it was more like a "challenge", I guess....

I promised myself that I would use prints more often on my cards.

Well...a year and a half later...and I have kept that promise..

I've risen to the challenge...

And now??...I can't believe that I didn't always use prints on my cards!

The bonus?

I am actually using tons of the beautiful prints that I've had...(and continue to buy...haha)
as opposed to "collecting" beautiful prints!

I die cut each image piece with a stitched rectangle die....

I matted the die cut image piece and the print with green card stock

To finish each card....I added a few strands of gold thread that I knotted together.

The second birthday card...

with a different color palette/print.

The Floral Applique stamp set has lots of great images...

This smaller image is the ideal size for a CAS card fronts, I think.

Luckily...I DID include the plum colored card in the "group" photo 

of today's cards.

The friendship sentiment is so pretty...

Here's another view of today's cards...enlarged ....

actually...it's a bit too large for this blog format.....

But...I'll use it anyway....

so that you can see the beautiful friendship sentiment.

Penny Black stamps and sentiments are always on my list of favorite stamp companies...

Today's cards were created with a  stamp set that I've had ...

and have enjoyed using...for quite a while...

and will continue to enjoy creating with many more times, I'm sure.

Thanks for visiting ..
I hope that you've found a bit of inspiration here at my blog today!
Wishing you a terrific Tuesday!
(My day will be spent in the studio...continuing my purge ...

getting ready for the big huge crafty garage sale 

that will be happening here at our house in September!
It's going to be fantastic...

with 12 card makers and scrappers coming together here on our lawn.

...to sell our crafty "stuff")

So...here I go...

Into the studio...
Wish me luck!

Michelle.

Puppy Palooza!

Hello my crafty and creative friends!

Today I've got a Puppy-Palooza happening here at my blog!

I've got 14 puppy cards to share with you..
Created with a few different puppies from Mama Elephant's

PLAYFUL PUPS stamp set..

Each created with the same CAS design sketch...
The same MFT Mini Scalloped Stax die

An assortment of prints
and..

and assortment of sentiments.
I finished each  card with Nuvo Drop colors that went well with each individual card.

**I have no clue which stamp sets each of the sentiments came from

because when it came time to choose an assortment of sentiments to complete each card...

I was like a mad professor in a laboratory...
Bowsing through hundreds of stamp sets and pulled out the sets that caught my eye...

paying no attention to which sets they were.
(For those of you who like to have that info...I'm sorry )

This was a fun way to enjoy some Copic coloring

(But not too much)
A great way to have fun creating in multiples...(which I almost always do)
and a GREAT way to build up my card stash

relatively quickly.

I've got a few photos to share....
Wanna see?

I rarely create in grey tones...(or yellow tones)
So I thought that I'd make a few grey puppy cards

 

Get well cards are always great to have on hand...

Retirement cards....

Something that I rarely think about making...

so...I created one retirement card

From grey...to bright orange cards..

brightened even more... with foiled card stock

and orange Nuvo Drops

I never have enough birthday cards in my stash..

So I created multiples of this card...

(Love this sentiment)

A softer less bold orange color palette

...and a mixture of coordinating prints...and orange Nuvo Drops

I like to keep friendship cards on hand..

simply because it's nice to send a card to a friend...

for no particular reason.

I LOVE dotted prints...

so I HAD to create a few puppy cards with dots.

I love this sentiment.
(Why didn't I make a few more cards with this sentiment??)

To keep the birthday section of my card stash replenished..

I made 3 of this card ...
mixing stripes....and dots with solid brown card stock 

This MFT Mini Scalloped Stax Die set is one of my favorite go-to die sets.

I find myself reaching for it all of the time.

It really got a work out when I sat down to create this stack of 14 cards!

I also enjoyed creating this stack of cards because it was easy non-tedious coloring...

and also got me to using some coordinating prints from paper collections 

that I sometimes forget about.

If you visit my blog regularly..

You know that I am a lover of floral images.
But I am also a lover of having the opportunity to stay from my norm

to create "other" types of cards.

I'm glad that I got out this adorable Mama Elephant stamp set...

and can now add this stack of 14 cards to my "stash"

Thanks for visiting today...
Have spectacular Saturday!
Michelle.

Pause the Purge

Well....
I was rolling right along...

working on my big studio purge...

Getting ready for the Huge Crafty garage sale that's going to happen

here at my house... in September.
(The Huge Crafty garage sale that I had here 2 years ago was  big hit..

so I am hosting one again...

Myself...and 12 of my crafty card making and scrapbooking friends

will gather here at my house...to sell our purged crafty items.

So...

my purging as going well...

and then...

I cam across a few Zip Loc bags filled with blank A2 cards
Inside of each folded blank card I found cut KIWI LANE pieces to create a card.
In all...I had 20 cards...filled with the parts and pieces to make a card.

I had to stop and think....
WHEN did I prep all of these cards?
When did I last use Kiwi lane templates?
WHEN?

Then I remembered...

It was during one of our trips to a favorite vacation place.
I wanted to make cards during that week away...

But I wanted to pack light.
I just didn't feel like bringing ink...stamps...Copics....pencils..

paint brushes...card stock.... etc etc

So I brought a few 6x6 print pads...some cut an scored blank cards...
a pencil...scissors..
and a bunch of Kiwi Lane templates.

When did I do that?
It was either 7 or 8 years ago.
Yes....7 or 8 years ago.
How crazy is that?

I apparently had intentions of putting the cards together 

when I got home from our vacation.
(Well...that obviously never happened)

When I found the Zip Locs ...

My first I thought was that I'd just throw them away.

And then...

I thought...

I haven't made a Kiwi Lane style card in ages...years...

probably in  a decade!

So the purge was paused...

and I sat down to make use of the ready-to-go pieces.
I am a die hard stamper...watercolor/pencil/ink/Copic person.

But I have to say...
Creating this stack of 22 cards was a fun diversion from my usual card making.
It was extra easy and very  because everything was already cut

for each card,
I just had to ink the edges of the pieces...and put the cards together.

I wasn't even thinking of sharing them here via a blog post...

But then thought...
Why not!

So here they are...
The cards that "Paused the Purge"
(You can see that I worked with just a few print pads...

which made coordinating and mixing prints fun and easy.

A great way, I think, to really "Use" a pad of paper)

Well...
There they are...
The "Purge-Pausers"

It was fun putting this group of cards together.
Am I now going to abandon my beloved stamping and coloring...

and start making paper pieced cards?

NO!
But , as I mentioned above...

this was a nice ...unexpected change of pace.

Thanks for visiting today my crafty and creative friends
Wishing you a wonderful day!

Michelle