Holiday Classes

Christmas is coming before you know it, and it's time for some fun holiday classes.

Winter Foliage Class

These cards are part of the new Winter Foliage class (times/locations listed on the sidebar) featuring a wonderful collection of winter images by Penny Black.

 Winter Berries, Christmas Cheer

A Splash of Winter, Christmas Story, and Christmas Cheer

Shades of White Class

This next image is from the Shades of White Class...a whole class incorporating texture, shine, and lots of subtle details to create a wonderful whitewashed winter wonderland.
You have to see this class sample board in person.  I encourage you to head down one of the stores and check it out.  The first class is full already, but I have scheduled additional classes.

 Delicate Pattern

See you there...

Glitter Me Up Class

 Every now and then I just can't help myself.  I have to get into the glitter.  This Glitter Me Up class is a study in various kinds of glitter, and various ways to adhere that glitter to your project.  Some the the projects have a subtle sparkle to them (like this one), and some will dazzle the eyes, but all of them will leave your sparkle-loving soul sighing with satisfaction.  (Too cheesy?  I know, but I don't care.)

This card was created using a variety of stamps by Penny Black.  

Circle Pattern background

Fanciful

Free Flight

and

Gratitude

Here is a close-up so you can see the sparkle a little bit better.

The sparkle on this one comes from Tim Holtz Clear Rock Candy Dry Distress Stickles by Ranger.
You probably can't tell from this picture, but the black part of the butterfly is fuzzy black flocking.  Why?  It just makes me happy. :)

Embossing with Templates Class

 

I just got the board up at Stampin' Cat for a new class called Embossing with Templates.  This is one of 4 cards we will be making in that class.  We will be embossing in a variety of ways, including dry embossing, heat embossing and paste embossing.  This card features the Blazonry template by The Crafters Workshop.
The blazonry shapes were stamped with the Marquise stamp from Impression Obsession.  I just got this stamp and I can tell that it is going to get lots and lots of use.  The butterfly was made using the Wonderful Wings die set by Spellbinders.

All About Archival Class Preview

This little interactive card is one of the cards we will be making in the All About Archival class coming up.  This class is focused on learning some of the wonderful things that Ranger Archival Ink can do, but it also uses some wonderful stamps that I am excited to introduce you to.  This card uses the Free Flight stamp set by Penny Black.  The butterfly that is trapped under the acetate "inside" the cage is attached to a sliding piece of acetate that sets a butterfly free when you pull on the ribbon.

Floral Frenzy - Dreamy

I finally finished all of my projects for the Floral Frenzy card class coming up on June 23rd.  All of the cards in this class feature stamps by Penny Black.

This card features:
Dreamy

Letter Background

and Delicate Pattern (one of my all time favorites!)

I don't think they could have picked a more appropriate name for this stamp.  I really is dreamy...and lovely...and whispy...and beautiful...

Floral Frenzy Classes

Here is a little sneak peek at a project from the first class in the Floral Frenzy series, featuring floral images by Penny Black.

Penny Black has so many wonderful floral images...some that have been around for awhile, and some that are brand new...and I am sooo excited to bring this series of classes to Stampin' Cat Studio.

This card features some really wonderful stamps that I was so excited to introduce to my inkpads:
Awakening

Circle Pattern

Puzzle Parts

The sentiment is from the Sentimental Banners set by Layers of Color.

Spellbinders dies:

Labels Four

Ribbon Banners

Inks by Ranger.

Penny Black - and - Vintage Sweetness!

In honor of the wonderful news here, that my talented friend Laura's designs will soon be available at Penny Black, I decided to post a new creation using some of my favorite Penny Black stamps.

The background image is Delicate Pattern, which is one of my favorite backgrounds of all time.  It is a really great one for resist techniques because the pattern isn't really solid.  It's made of lots of tiny little lines, like the threads in a tapestry.  Anyway, for this card I simply stamped it with Chrome Yellow Archival Ink.

The main image is Flamboyant.  I just got this one, so this is it's inaugural project. :)

The lace that I put down the side was cut from an old dresser scarf that my aunt gave me.  I stained it with Antique Linen Distress Stain to give it even more of a distressed feel.

I wish you could see this in person so that you could see the fabulous, shimmery look of the Clear Rock Candy Distress Stickles that I added over the stamped image.  I just wasn't able to capture it with my camera.  It's really pretty in real life though...guess you'll have to take my word for it.  :)

So now...I'm waiting in anticipation of the reveal of more fabulous stamps by Penny Black...

Product List:
Brown Card (5 1/2" x 4 1/4")
Tim Holtz Kraft-Core Nostalgic Collection (Core di'nations cardstock)
Cream Cardstock
Stamps: Delicate Pattern and Flamboyant (Penny Black)
Ink: Chrome Yellow and Coffee Archival Ink (Ranger Industries)
       Scattered Straw, Vintage Photo, and Rusty Hinge Distress Ink (Ranger Industries)
       Antique Linen Distress Stain (Ranger Industries)
Clear Rock Candy Distress Stickles (Ranger Industries)
Oriental Weave Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug)
Sanding Block
Labels 3 Nestabilities Die (Spellbinders)
Flowers (Misc.)
Washers (Ranger Industries)
Twine

Upcoming Classes

Hi everyone,
I know it's been a long time since I've checked in here. I've been having withdrawals from teaching classes, so I've decided to put a few on the schedule. Below you will find the info. and descriptions for each class. Looking forward to seeing you all again!

Alcohol Ink Basics Class
Date: Sat. April 30, 2011
Time: 10:00 am
Class Description: Come explore the wonderful world of Alcohol Inks. This introductory class will cover the basic techniques and information about Alcohol Ink. You will come away with a really good grasp of this product and how to get the most out of it. You will not only complete a fabulous technique tag reference tool, but will also create some fun cards and a great necklace!
Prerequisite: Beginners Workshop
Cost: $21

Garden Wall Stamp Class
featuring products by Layers of Color
Date: Sat. April 30, 2011
Time: 1:00 pm
Class Description: Celebrate spring with a collection of beautiful cards featuring the Garden Wall Frame stamp by Layers of Color, as well as other products by this wonderful company. This class will incorporate a wide variety of products and techniques, including: the new Distress Stains, Acrylic Paint, Alcohol Ink, masking and more. Each participant will receive a Garden Wall Frame stamp (included in the cost of the class).
Prerequisite: Beginners Workshop
Cost: $26

Reflections Stamp Class
featuring products by Tim Holtz
Date: Sat. April 30, 2011
Time: 4:00 pm
Class Description: This class features an awesome new stamp set from the mind of Tim Holtz...script background stamps that stamp backwards! These stamps are perfect for, well, some awesome applications, like stamp kissing, transfer techniques, and so much more. This class will be very technique driven, and we'll have a blast getting all turned around.
Prerequisite: Beginners Workshop
Cost: $25

More Vintage Fun

I don't know what the deal is with me and the whole vintage thing right now, but I just can't help myself...Everything on this card was stamped using various colors of Adirondack Paint Dabbers. Stamps are: Wallpaper Background (Hero Arts), Cher Amie (Rubber Stamp Concepts), and Flourishes (Crafty Secrets). Just a bit of Silver Fine Vintage Glass Glitter (Art Institute) for some sparkle was all the embellishment it needed.

Vintage Cream

I've been loving vintage style designs lately. Maybe I'm feeling nostalgic...who knows? Anyway, this card was created using the current CPS sketch.
Supplies:
Cardstock - Cream Linen Weave
Stamps -
Shine On You verse (Stampendous)
Delicate Branches (Inkadinkado)
Ink-

VersaMark (Tsukineko)
The Essential Gluepad (Tsukineko)
Antique Linen Distress Ink (Ranger Industries)
Other -
Textile Texture Cuttlebug Embossing Folder (ProvoCraft)
Platinum Embossing Powder
Fawn Microfine Transparent Art Glitter (Art Institute Glitter)
Antique Linen Distress Stickles (Ranger Industries)
Flower (Prima)
Rhinestone

Just a quick card to share...I realized I didn't have any congratulations cards in my stash right now so I figured it was time to make one.

Supplies:
Hero Arts Stamps -
Scattered Leaves Clear Stamp Set
Chinese Dolls Clear Stamp Set
Wallpaper Background
Woodgrain Pattern
Cardstock: Black, Orange, Aqua, Yellow, and Grey
VersaMark Ink
Charcoal Zing Embossing Powder (American Crafts)
Sunflower Die and Flower Bouquet Miniabilities Dies (Spellbinders)
Flower Punch (EK Success)
Everyday Greetings Die (ProvoCraft)
Black Pearls (KaiserCraft)
Matte Accents (Ranger Industries)

I made this card for two challenges...Hero Arts and CPS

Here is this weeks' CPS Sketch

This is my first time to participate in a CPS challenge, and I had lots of fun taking on the challenge.

Now about Hero Arts:
Hero Arts has a month-long theme challenge and this months' theme is Flowers & St. Patricks Day. I've incorporated the "flowers" theme two ways. The most obvious...the giant layered flower...lol. I stamped the background with VersaMark Ink using the Dots and Flowers background stamp by Hero Arts. I used a Willow Paint Dabber by Ranger Industries to stamp the leaf (from the Scattered Leaves set by Hero Arts).

The Scripture verse sentiment comes from one of my favorite sets of all time, Scripture Essentials 1 by Cornish Heritage Farms.

Just using this verse today has encouraged me, I hope reading it has done the same for you.
Blessings...

Just a teaser

Alright everyone. Huge thanks to those of you who signed up for this class sight unseen. The sample is now complete and will be in the store later today.

This Ten Seconds Studios Framed Mirror Class is based on a class created by Linda Brown for Craft Stamper Magazine. It's going to be a fun one! If you are signing up for this one be prepared for the class to go longer than the usual 2 hours.

Stamp outside the...paper

This was an experiment for sure, but I can't wait to get back to our local store, All Fired Up, and practice some more. All Fired Up is a place where you go to paint your own ceramic pieces. They provide all of the paint, brushes, clean-up, and then fire the piece for you. When the piece had been fired I brought it home and added some soft felt "feet", and I now have a great coaster to set my drinks on.

Now the great thing is, this is another fun way to make use of my stamps. I used one of my favorite images from the Kamon clear stamp set by Kodomo Inc. It was actually pretty easy once I got the hang of it. I started by painting 3 coats of a very light yellow base, then chose a dark grey to do my stamping with. To stamp, I simply poured some of the dark grey paint into a piece of Ranger Inkssentials Cut-n-Dry Foam. The key, I discovered, is not to have to much paint in the foam, if it is too wet it won't work very well. To finish it up, I simply painted a border around the tile. The shop did the rest, and in a few days I got to go pick it up. Fun huh!

Night Pier Card

I received this beautiful stamp from Impression Obsession at a class I took in San Francisco. I finally made some time to play with it.

If you have any interest in learning how this card was made, continue reading this paragraph...if not, just skip down to the next one. I stamped the image 4 different times, once each on regular matte cardstock, acetate, brown cardstock, and glossy white cardstock. The sky and sand were colored using Distress Ink and the Blending Tool. The shiny water was cut out of the acetate, and was colored using Aqua and Pearl Mixative Alcohol Inks. The pearlized quality didn't really show much in the photo, but is really neat in real life. The pier itself was embossed with Distress Embossing Powder before being cut out and layered over the other pieces. Lastly, the moon and the shell were painted using various new Light and Bright colors of Ranger Alcohol Ink. I used Matte Accents over the outside of the shell to make it more like a real shell...just the "inside" remains shiny.

We have been enjoying life around here lately. Up until a couple days ago, weather was sunny and beautiful. We were getting some important jobs done around here, like replanting our lawn. Now the storms and rain we are getting are giving the new grass some important time to establish itself, and it's starting to actually look like a lawn again. As I sit here, the birds are greeting each other very noisily as they feast on worms.

School is winding down, end of the year parties and field trips are in full swing, and Hannah is loving all of the extra excitement. We'll see how she handles summer at home this year. I have a feeling she'll be good and ready when school starts again in the fall.

Noah...well he is spending all of his time and energy growing. Seriously, like a weed! One day none of his pants fit (luckily he had some shorts, and it was warm weather), then shortly after that most of his shoes didn't fit anymore. When I went to measure his feet, he had skipped a size and I had to buy him size 10's. Hannah had times where she suddenly grew too, but not the extreme growth spurts that Noah has. A couple days ago I went and bought him size 4 jeans, and when he wore them yesterday, they really didn't look big on him at all. How can watching your kids grow up make you so proud and so sad at the same time?

Catching Up

Well hi again everyone! This is going to be a random post, catching you up on what's been going on in my life recently. I realize spring break has been over for awhile now, but I'm just now getting to sharing with you what we did with our vacation.

We have some wonderful friends in California that welcomed us to their house for a whole week. We had a fabulous time with them, enjoying the wonderful sunshine, beaches, good food and bonus...visiting Disneyland and California Adventure. I thought I'd just include the above picture since this was the whole reason that our son was so excited to go on vacation! Lightning McQueen! Getting his picture taken with him, seeing him in the Pixar Play Parade, and getting a new Lightning McQueen toy made Noah's day...scratch that...the whole trip. He wasn't even smiling in the picture because he was just so in awe.

Next event: Noah started getting sick toward the end of our trip, and by the time we stopped at Matt's parents' house on our way home, Noah REALLY wasn't feeling well. He snuggled in with Daddy, and was content to just sit there and pet Poppa and Mommas new little kittens. This kitten in particular settled right in and seemed to enjoy just cuddling up.

Of course, Noah's sickness was followed by Hannah's sickness, which is followed by me currently loading up on Airborne in an attempt to avoid some not so pleasant symptoms on Easter.

I am supposed to be singing in 4 church services on Easter, and have all kinds of rehearsals coming up in the next couple of days, so I REALLY don't want to be sick. So far the Airborne seems to be helping. Or maybe it's the prayer...either way, I'll keep doing both.

In other exciting news: My sister Birdie just recently announced to the world that she is pregnant with her 3rd child!!! AND while we were on spring break my mom got ENGAGED! So it looks like this summer we will be having a wedding! It's so crazy to watch my mom enjoying new love, I hear myself telling her some of the same things she told me as I was dating and preparing to get married. So funny.

Ok, finally, I have gotten back into my craft room and created something. This was a bit of an experiment, and it was finished up last night when I was tired. I'm just saying... The experimental part was that I used a Copic Colorless Blender Pen and dipped it in my new light and bright colors of Ranger Alcohol Ink and used that to color in the image. My inexperience definitely shows, but I'll keep practicing.

The Tulip Girl stamp and the background stamp are both by Cornish Heritage Farms. The background is the new Distressed Circles Scrapblock. I LOVE it! I definitely see it becoming another "go-to" stamp in my collection.

Oh, just in case you want to know. The Tulip Girl was stamped with Tuxedo Black Momento Ink before being colored in. And the background was stamped on vellum and embossed with Tattered Rose Distress Embossing Powder...LOVE the great texture that the Distress Embossing Powders provide.

Oh, and the Trinkets Pin from the Ideaology line by Tim Holtz says "thoughts" on it. I liked how that went with the "Wishes" sentiment from the Expressions set by Hot Off The Press.

My goal at the beginning of the year was to post at least once a week, so sorry about the long wait for this post. But I'm sure you understand that family and home life have to be my first priority.

Blessings to you!

Hero Arts Woodgrain Stamp

I've been playing with the new Woodgrain Pattern stamp by Hero Arts...SO FUN! Here I used Distress Inks to create this great "wood panel". I was very impressed with how realistic this looked.

The additional elements were both die cut out of Core'dinations Cardstock with Spellbinders dies.

This post is going to be short and sweet (as most of mine are) because I have a ton of things to do today, but I just wanted to share this with you.

Matthew 11:28

I love this verse, what a great word of encouragement. The design of todays card was formed by the words of the verse itself. When I think of calming, relaxing, and restful colors and designs, for me the delicate simplicity of Asian design is what comes to mind. So I chose a muted blue for the cardstock color, embossed the one end with a simple twig design, then stamped the Asian floral image with VersaMark ink before adding the verse.

Supplies:
Stamps - Scripture Essentials 1 set (Cornish Heritage Farms) , Kamon clear stamp set (Kodomo Inc.)
Ink - VersaMark
Cardstock - Black Linen, Gulf (Bazzill)
Other - Forest Branches Cuttlebug Embossing Folder (ProvoCraft), Black Distress Embossing Powder (Ranger Industries), Black Ribbon, Black Brad

More Scripture Essentials

I have several friends and family members who are anticipating big changes in their lives right now or very soon, so I am not sure which friend this first notebook is going to. I'll just have to make some more. Besides I want one for myself.

The notebook is 5" square, and is filled with plain white paper. The design and sentiment were embossed with Black Soot Distress Embossing Powder. I stamped with VersaMark Ink rather than the Distress Embossing Ink because I didn't want to be able to rub off any of the release crystals, I just wanted the rough texture that this embossing powder provides.

When I finished making this I was trying to decide whether it needed anything else or not, and I decided, no, I like the simplicity. It allows the simple truth of the verse to be the focus. Thank God for that truth!

Supplies:
Paper Products: Heavy Black Chipboard, Gulf Cardstock (Bazzill), and White text weight paper
Stamps: Scripture Essentials 1 (Cornish Heritage Farms) , Botanicals (Hot Off the Press)
Ink: VersaMark (Tsukineko)
Tools: Bind-It-All Machine (Zutter)
Other: Distress Embossing Powder (Ranger), Labels Two Nestabilities Dies (Spellbinders), Black 3/4" Binding Wire (Zutter)

Scripture Essentials

I finally have in my hand the new stamp set that I have been most anticipating, the Scripture Essentials 1 set by Cornish Heritage Farms.

And guess what, notice the "1" at the end of that title. I'm assuming that means there will be more scripture sets coming, yeah!

Anyway, the yellow paper was created by stamping the Canvas Backgrounder (CHF) with Lemonade Pigment Ink (Ranger), then adding Scattered Straw Distress Ink (Ranger). I finished it off by spraying it with a mixture of Perfect Gold Perfect Pearls and water, although shimmer doesn't really show in the picture.

Supplies:
Cardstock: MatteKote (Judikins) and Black
Ink: Jet Black Archival, Lemonade Pigment Ink, and Scattered Straw Distress Ink (Ranger)
Stamps: Scripture Essentials 1, Silhouette Blooms 1, and Canvas Backgrounder (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Dies: Curved Rectangles Mega Nestabilities (Spellbinders)
Other: White Opal Liquid Pearls (Ranger), White Tulle, Self-Adhesive Pearl (K&Co.), Perfect Gold Perfect Pearls (Ranger)