La Pashe Flippin Stamps - Golfer

DH needed a birthday card for a fellow golfer and retired vet so I thought I would give this stamp another go.  I have previously struggled to get a decent image having tried many different ink pads.  Since I now have a Misti it makes it a lot easier and quicker.  I used Momento Tuxedo Black ink on special Copic card which I purchased from Flourishes a long time ago.

The colouring in was done using Copics.  The cats are from an Impression Obsession die and the dog is an Art Impression stamp.  The background paper is from my large stock of old Creative Memories and the 'window' was made using 2 dies from Spellbinders Rectangles large.

Kaszazz - Man of The House

In my usual 'leave everything to the last minute' style I remembered a male relative's 90th birthday which is in a couple of days.  I find male cards challenging and was going through my stamps when I found this Kaszazz one which I have not used.  I thought it would be perfect as my relative reminds me of the person in the image.

I had a couple of goes at stamping onto thicker card stock as I naively thought I could stamp straight onto the front of a card.  The first two images were crooked and not clear so I switched to a thinner paper, probably around 100g weight, and this worked out well.  The ink used was Archival Coffee.  After stamping on a larger size paper I trimmed the image around the borders and matted the top three quarters onto brown card stock.

The sentiment is from Art Impressions.

Great Impressions stamp - Landrover Defender

Panic set in when I realised it was DH's birthday and I did not have a suitable card in my stash.  I remembered having an old Landrover Defender stamp which was one of the first stamps I bought a good 15 years ago.  It does not have a name so I have given one.

Using watercolour paper I used Distress Stains Vintage Photo and Shabby Shutters to paint in the background after stamping and masking the stamp.  With the watercolour paper being ridged I did need to use a black marker to colour in parts of the stamp.

The sentiment is an Art Impressions one from the Tryfolds set called Lakehouse.

Art Impressions - Up, Up and Away

This is a stamp I have had for a long time and never used.  I do love Art Impressions stamps as they are so different.

The background to this card is from a Stampin Up Designer Series pad called Welcome Neighbour.  I stamped the Art Impressions Up, Up and Away stamp onto watercolour paper and coloured it in using an aqua painter and Distress inks.  The sentiment is a Lili of the Valley one from the set called Sentiment tags.

Art Impressions - Chatting Whoots

Looking at this card it does seem a little on the bright side but I had experimented with water colours and bubble wrap on water colour paper and I did not want to waste my efforts.

Starting from the bottom up - 2 x Spellbinders Curved Rectangles in a brown card stock and a biscuit colour elephant dung paper.  Next up is My Favourite Things Fishtail Stax in a brown patterned paper from my stash.  The oval is from Go Kreate, the Art Impressions Chatting Whoots were coloured in with aqua pencil crayons and a blender pen and they are on a branch cut from a Cottage Cutz die called Owl.  The sentiment is Hero Arts You Hoo die cut with a Sizzix Oval.

Art Impressions - Birthday Whoots

Starting from the bottom layer - Creative Memories Storybox Jewell, the Sizzix Tags Rounded, 2 green Marianne D Branch Forest, Art Impressions Birthday Whoots set coloured in with aqua pencil crayons and markers.  The sentiment is Clear Dollar Something to Crow About punched out with Stampin Up Word Window.

Tag - Art Impressions - Tree and Leaves

Yet another Go Kreate Concentric tag this time with the Art Impressions Tree and Leaves stamp in Archival Olive ink.  The sentiment is from an un-named Inkadinkado stamp set.  The flowers on the tree were hand done with a Stampin Up Dusty Durango marker.  The tag was finished off with Brushed Corduroy Distress ink.

Art Impressions - Cash Keeper

The older I get the more I appreciate the images and sentiments from Art Impressions.  They have some wonderful Golden Oldies characters !

I stamped this image with Momento black ink on Copic friendly paper which I purchased from 7 Kids College Fund.  The Copics used were :

Blue   B23, B21
Yellows   Y35, Y23, Y21
Reds  R39, R37, R35
Skin  E21, E00, E000
Hair  C0

The earrings were coloured in with Smooch Pool and on the cheeks I used Pebbles Ikan'dee chalks.  The sentiment is from the same set and it was die cut with MFT Sweet Stack Labels.  The whole image was die cut with Spellbinders Deckle Edge Rectangles and, most important, put on rises to attach to the next layer of paper.  Not sure if it is the South African money that is larger but I struggled to get the image to lay flat after tucking the money into the slit I cut around the hand then had a brainwave to put it on rises which solved the problem.

Art Impressions - Buzzard

This set from Art Impressions appealed to my sense of humour.  The image was stamped with Momento ink onto cardstock suitable for Copics and die cut using Sizzix Ovals.

The Copics used are :
Beak and claws - YR07 / YR04 / YR 02
Yellow breast - Y35 / Y23 / Y21
Neck - N2 / N0
Body - N8 / N6 / N4
Branch - E57 / E55

The yellow background paper is a scrap piece, the orange is from Creative Memories Shades of Orange.  The yellow zig zag pattern is from Doodlebug Paper Frills.  The sentiment is from the same Art Impressions Buzzard set and it is die cut with Hero Art Small Tag Frame.

Art Impressions - Chatting Whoots

The owls on this card were coloured in bad light at night and I did not intend them to be this colour.  Rather than change or scrap the owls I decided to take artistic licence with them !

The background paper is from my stash, the die cut is Spellbinders Labels 21 and the branch the owls are resting on is from Go Create - Owlets die.  The Art Impressions Chatting Whoots image was coloured in with aqua pencil crayons and a blender pen.  The sentiment is from the same set and it was stamped with Archival Coffee ink.  It was die cut with Hero Arts Small Tag Frame and edged with Distress inks Antique Linen and Brushed Corduroy.

Art Impressions - Birthday Whoot Set

The package the Art Impressions stamps come in give you an idea of how the image can be coloured in.  This I like as it takes the pressure off of what colours to use - something I always spend too much time on.

The background paper is a Creative Memories scrap.  The sentiment and owl image are from the same Birthday Whoot set and I used a variety of markers to colour the owl in.

Peachy Keen - PKSC-06 June 2012

This might seem like an unusual get well card but my family would probably expect something like this from me.

The stamp set is from Peachy Keen - PKSC - 06 June 2012 and the cute bird, pot plant holder  and sentiments are all from this set.  They are coloured with aqua pencil crayons and a blender pen.  The grass is a tiny grass stamp from Art Impressions.  The plant is a Cottage Cutz die called Fern with the flowers being from an old Cuttlebug die with no name.  The embossing folder is Craft Concepts Leafy Flourish.  The border punch is Martha Stewart Pine Needles.

Just love the inside saying :

Art Impressions - 'Try' Folds Village

I have been an Art Impressions fan for a long time and just love their new 'Try' Folds sets.  There are instructions on the rear of the packet and they are easy to follow - I generally do pictures but this was not hard at all !

The colouring in was done with a variety of mediums, markers, pencil crayons, aqua crayons and a blender pen.  The tab on the right hand side is a Stampin Up punch.

The concept is that the centre panel with the houses on is stamped in the middle of the card, you turn the cardstock over and stamp the other 2 scenes,  the trees and the snowman at opposite ends.  You then cut out the top half of the trees and snowman stamps and fold them both inwards.  Not the best of explainations, I know, but the Art Impressions site is bound to have a better one !

Art Impressions - Surprise Keepers

This is the first time I have used a full Art Impression Card Keeper stamp set and next time I think I might have to adjust the measurements to fit the gift card into the slot.  Not sure if our gift cards are larger here in South Africa or perhaps my measurements were off (very possible) but I ran out of space and had to make a cut in the inside of the card to slot the gift card into.  Saying all that, it is definitely one of the better ways to present a gift card.

I paper pieced the box and coloured in the ribbon using Smooch.  The image was coloured in using markers and the sentiment is a Clear Dollar one.

Art Impressions - Surprise Keeper

Wanting to make a quick and easy card I reached for this Art Impressions stamp set.  There are other stamps in it but I just needed the box this time.

I used paper from my stash for the box and coloured in the ribbon part with Cherry Chocolate Smooch.  The stamp was matted onto another offcut with the biscuit coloured cardstock being a speciality paper called Scarab.  It is made from elephant dung (sanitised, off course !) and I always make sure I stock up when passing through Sedgefield in the Southern Cape.  The texture of this paper / cardstock is very different and does not cut cleanly. 

Tag Album - 2

Another page to the tag album I made recently.  Again, I used a number of different tags but decided to keep the same raffia ribbon at the top.  Each tag was unique with either embossing or stamping on and the darker ones were plain.

My only complaint about this Tim Holtz album was that I had to hand cut the paper on each page.  There is a Spellbinders die that is the same shape but it does not fit the page.

Sizzix - 3D Pop-Up Sleigh with Santa

I made these 2 sleighs as a decoration for the Xmas table.  The sleighs are from Sizzix and the Santa is Art Impressions Santa Front & Back with the gift sack trimmed off.

The sleigh was made with quite thick cardstock and I did not use the inside box which comes with the die as it was too small.  Instead I made up one wide enough to accommodate the image.  I decorated the back of the box with a Martha Stewart snowflake punch and the sides are normal white cardstock run through the die, embossed with the CB Swiss Dot folder and trimmed with a Martha Stewart border punch.

The image was stamped with black Momento ink onto Neenah Solar White cardstock and coloured in using Copics.  There was a problem with one of the Santa hats so I used red Stickles to cover it.  I then filled the sleigh with some praline chocolates which sat on my desk for quite a while.  Obviously DH did not spot them !!

Impression Obsession - Shuttered Window Box

This is another image I spent quite a while colouring in.  It is not that I colour in slowly, I just have a hard time deciding what colours to use.  It would help if I laid them all out beforehand but I seldom do that preferring to make it up as I go along.

The window box was stamped using black Archival ink onto watercolour paper - my normal one this time which made it a lot easier to use blender pens.  I coloured in using Letraset Aqua Markers and then cut out the image.  The background paper was one I had laying around on my desk and I cannot remember where it came from - the joys of getting old !!  The sentiment is from an Art Impressions Doorways set called Cafe and I used coffee Archival Ink to stamp it onto a beige coloured card stock.  I then cut it out and cut out one of the flowers in the flower box so I could hang the sign over it.

Post-It note - Art Impressions

Another of my post-it note gifts.  This time I could not find the exact colour green cardstock and decided to use a paint swatch which DH picked up at the local hardware store for me.  I had forgotten that the Archival ink I use will not dry completely on it.  I thought a heat gun would help but it did not so I ended up putting a square of vellum over it to stop the ink from smudging.

The sentiment is from Flourishes and the image, coloured in using markers is from an Art Impressions Doorways Clear stamp set called Apr/May DW.



Penny Black - About Town

Some of my first stamps were Penny Black.  I just love their "cute" factor and this one is no exception.

I stamped Mimi on watercolour paper and after using Distress ink for the car I decided it did not look too good so I went over it with SU watercolour crayons and used a blender pen to recolour the image.  Mimi's face was coloured with Copics - yes, I used the wrong paper and ink but if you colour in really carefully you can sometimes get away with it.  The rest of the image was done using a blender pen and markers.

The balloons are from an Art Impressions clear stamp set called All Occasions and they were coloured in using Copics - I used the correct paper this time.  I drew in the balloon strings by hand.  The houses in the background are from a retired SU set and the sentiment is a Flourishes one called Tag Lines.  The die cut clouds are from C.C. Designs and the fence is a Martha Stewart border punch.