ANYTHING GOES CHALLENGE AT THE HOUSE THAT STAMPS BUILT

Happy New Year!!!!! 

I hope 2016 is a healthy, happy and prosperous year for us all.  

The Rock Stars from The House are back.  Wendy was so kind and gave us several weeks in December so we were able to spend family time for the holidays.  It was quite a break, but now we're back with an all time favorite "anything goes" challenge.  

I went with lots of glitter and sparkle on this card....I love gold against black and that inspired me to create it using RI# 4308-M "Clock face #3", 4810-C, 4811-C. The sentiment is RI #3804-I "Happy New Year".  

Thank you for stopping by!  Now, for more creative inspiration please visit the other Rock Stars - prepare to be amazed!  

                                 Deonna - Heather - Joy - Karen - Kathy - Patti J

NEW CAS CHALLENGE AT OUTLAWZ CHALLENGES

Hi blog friends!  

I hope your Christmas was full of wonderful moments, shared with those you love.  

I'm here to let you know about a new CAS challenge at Outlawz.   The challenge is to create an anniversary card.  

I love these Altenew "Painted Poppies"  and the script sentiment is awesome.  

Have a great week!   I'll be back on Wednesday with a new challenge from The House That Stamps Built.  

See you then.  

CLEAN AND SIMPLE SNOWMEN AT OUTLAWZ CHALLENGES

Hi there blog friends!  It's almost Christmas day and still no snow in our part of Maine!  So, unusual, but I don't hear too many people complaining.  Personally, I like the snow and miss it, especially now during the holidays.  (I hope I didn't just jinx us).  

There's a new challenge over at Outlawz Challenges and it's simply "SNOWMEN".  

Here's my card for the challenge.  

I love this snowman stamp by Courtney Ricker.  She's a local rubber stamp artist.  I'm not sure where she sells her stamps anymore.  I got this at a local stamp store that closed several years ago.  The sentiment is from PTI Wet Paint Holiday.  The frame die is from MFT Inside and Out Diagonal Stitch.  The image was colored with Copic Markers.  

Step on over to the Outlawz CAS challenge with your snowman and play along!   There are prizes to be had!  

A personal note here:  I am stepping back from my Design Team position at Outlawz CAS challenges.  It's been an awesome experience and I have gained so much in the way of friends and experience.  

Thanks for stopping by,

INK DRAGGING

Hi there!  

Cheri here with a new Project of the Week for The House.  It's a really quick one and so, so easy but packs enough drama so that people will be wowed by the results.  I call it "Ink Dragging".  

For this example I'm using Brilliance Inks.  I've had them for a long time and thought they needed some attention, they also add a fantastic shimmery effect with this technique which is great for Christmas cards.  

Here are the supplies you'll need:

Dark card stock (that's the drama)
clear embossing powder
Versa Mark or some other clear ink for heat embossing
stamps 
Ink (dye or pigment)

Stamp your image on your dark card stock with VersaMark or any clear embossing ink, sprinkle with clear embossing powder and heat set.

Take your dye or pigment ink pad and begin dragging it from the top of the embossed image to the bottom of the card stock.  Try and do this in one swipe without putting heavy pressure on the ink pad.  You can go over it again if it's too light, but you can't remove it if you have too much.  

Take a paper towel or a soft cloth and wipe the ink off the embossed area.  It pops right out from the background.

Finally, trim your layer and mount it against another layer and place it on your card base.  For this card I also added some Brilliance "Galaxy Gold" in the sky area as well as on the light of the lighthouse.  For this card I used RI Stamps #8908-G Magical Christmas, RI# 2101-Q- Santa Over Portland Head Light.  

RI#2709-I "Large Pine Forest" and #2219-G "May Your Days".  

That's it!  Super easy and fast.  I hope you give it a try.

NEW CAS CHALLENGE AT OUTLAWZ CHALLENGES

Hey, blog friends!!!

Are you getting ready for Christmas????  I'm feeling a little slow this year.  It could be there's NO SNOW in Maine!!!!!  Unbelievable!!! I look out my window and see green grass and I can't get into the feeling of Christmas.  Then I look at the calendar and think, "I better get in gear, with or without snow!". 

There's a new CAS challenge at Outlawz Challenges and it's the all time favorite challenge....ANYTHING GOES! 

I've been making Christmas cards (with the helpful sound effects of Christmas music played on my iPod.) and so I've added this card to the lineup for the challenge. 

 

I love this stamp (Christmas Joy) from Sweet'n Sassy Stamps.  My grandmother loved cardinals and always said when we saw one after she was gone, it meant she was there with us.  A year ago, my mother passed away and while I was mourning her, I looked out my window and there appeared three cardinals flying together and they stopped and perched on a tree right in front of my window.  I knew it was my mother, and her parents telling me they were all together now and could be at peace.   They appeared together and they flew off together.  Cardinals hold special meaning for me. 

I colored this using Copic Markers.  The dies I used for the frame are MFT In&Out Diag Stitched Rectangles and Pinked Die from Avery Elle. 

Come on over to the CAS challenge and bring your "anything goes" entry.  There's some great prizes to win too. 

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great week. 

OUTLAWZ CAS CHALLENGE - HANGING A CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT

Hi blog friends!  

Come on over to the CAS challenge at Outlawz Challenges this week.  We're hanging Christmas ornaments.  

Here's a card I created for the challenge.

This Santa is an old Inkadinkado stamp that I've had for years.  I absolutely love this rendition of Santa and each year at Christmas I try and create something new with him.  This year he's an ornament!  

I hope you'll stop by and play along with the Design Team.  

Thanks for stopping by.

COLOR CHALLENGE AT THE HOUSE

Hi blog friends!  

This is the last challenge for the Rock Stars at The House until after the holidays! We're taking a break, but have no worries....we'll be back with some great new challenges in the new year.  

This week we're playing with colors and this is the challenge.  

These colors are fabulous together and you can have some great fun making Christmas cards or any other occasion card using them.  Their versatility together is endless.

I've got my RI Christmas stamps out and I'm having a blast....Repeat Impressions makes some of THE BEST Christmas stamps I've seen and they're by far my favorites of the Repeat Impressions collections.  

The stamps used are RI#4714-L "Snow Skating" and RI#424-G "Wishing You a Season". The background was created using a Memory Box stencil called "Tiny Snowflakes" and Faber-Castell Glass Bead Glitter Gel.  The "snow" is from some snow glitter by Martha Stewart.  The snowman and his base, was fussy cut in one piece and then popped up with dimensional tape.  Some sequins and a little gold string added for sparkle.  

There's incredible inspiration using this color combination on the Rock Stars blogs. Check them out.  
                                Deonna - Heather - Joy - Karen - Kathy - Patti J

And don't forget to visit THE HOUSE and play along with our challenge....you might just win yourself a $25.00 GC for Repeat Impressions Stamps.  

While I'll be breaking from my challenge blog posts for Repeat Impressions, I will have a Project of the Week for you on December 14, so stay tuned.  See you soon.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

  

CLEAN AND SIMPLE TRANSPORTATION CHALLENGE AT OUTLAWZ CHALLENGES

Hi there, blog friends!  

There's a new challenge over at Outlawz CAS challenge this week and I'm hosting - I hope you'll have a chance to play along...you could even get a few Christmas cards done at the same time!  

Here's the challenge:

It's coming up on the holiday season.  We've all heard the song, "I'll Be Home For Christmas", what we don't know is how you'd get home for Christmas...or any other occasion.  Your challenge this week is to show us in CAS style the mode of transportation you'd use to travel to see family or friends for the holidays or any occasion (car, train, plane, bike, horse, dog sled, magic carpet, walk, run, sleigh....you get the idea) . 

After all the pie and food over Thanksgiving, I better bike to wherever I'm going.  

Have a great day and thank you for stopping by.

WHAT IF WEDNESDAY AT THE HOUSE

Hey blog friends!!! 

Happy Thanksgiving to all my USA peeps!  I hope you are able to share and enjoy time with your family....there's no substitute for family...I treasure mine.  

There's a challenge happening at The House and this week it's another awesome sketch challenge.  Gotta tell ya....sketch challenges really stretch my creativity....90% of them stump me....but I really love the challenge.  

I wanted to create an easy peasy Christmas card with this sketch, so I chose the RI Stamp #8811-K "Joy Penguins", I mean....how cute are these guys???  Not much to creating this card....some coloring of the stars and penguins' beaks and feet.  I used Glossy Accents on the stars, beaks and feet for some additional layering.  The "icicles" were cut with a pendent die from designer paper.  The penguin layer is popped up after being mounted on a dark gray edge die.  

The details for this challenge are at The House and there are some incredible interpretations for this sketch on the other Rock Stars.....don't miss these....great talent on this design team.  

                                  Deonna - Heather - Joy - Karen - Kathy - Patti J

Thanks so much for stopping by.  

Repeat Impression Stamps Thanksgiving Disount

Hi, blog friends!  

I'm enabling....I didn't want you to miss this in case you're interested.  Wendy's having a 20% off sale at Repeat Impressions

HERE'S the link.  

Shop and enjoy!  

WHAT IF? WEDNESDAY CHALLENGE AT THE HOUSE THAT STAMPS BUILT

Hello blog friends!  

I hope you all had a chance to take the blog hop "Big on Sentiments" this last week for the release of the newest sentiment stamps from Repeat Impressions.  Take it from me they are awesome!  

It's Wednesday and time for a weekly challenge from The House....this week it's a photo inspiration challenge....what inspires you about this photo?  Isn't it beautiful? I saw the beautiful sun resting on the edge of land....this could be sunrise or sunset.  

To create this card I did some masking and sponging.  It was relatively easy, a little time consuming but when I was finished, I really was pleased with it.  The stamps I used to create the silhouette image is RI #2709-I Lg Pine Forest.  The sentiment is RI# 4009-G, "In All Things".   

Don't miss the opportunity to enter this challenge and win yourself a gift certificate of $25.00 for any Repeat Impression stamps you'd like.  The details are at The House, and certainly don't miss the fabulous inspiration results from my team mates.  

                                     Deonna - Heather - Joy - Karen - Kathy - Patti J

Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you get inspired to join the challenge.  

NON-TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS COLORS

Hello blog friends!!! 

There's a new challenge over at the CAS group at Outlawz Challenges and it's to make a Christmas card using non-traditional colors (no red and green).  

I hope you'll get a chance to play along with the challenge.

 

This is a sponged bg over a white embossed stamp by Hero Arts "Tree Trunks".  A piece of vellum was placed over the background layer.  The snow hills were created with Mama Elephant "Landscape Trio" and Viva Glue Pen "Halogen".  The deer are from an Impression Obsession die "Small Deer".  The sentiment is from Sweet'n Sassy "Christmas Joy" set.  This card was CAS'd from memory of a card I had seen on Pinterest.  I didn't PIN the card and for the life of me I can't find it again in order to give credit to the inspiration and designer.  

Thanks for stopping by today!  

BIG ON SENTIMENTS BLOG HOP FROM THE HOUSE THAT STAMPS BUILT

Hi there blog friends!!!  

I'M EXCITED!!!! 
As promised yesterday, I'm here on a blog hop, along with all the Rock Stars for the release of 4 new sentiment stamp sets from Wendy at Repeat Impressions and The House!!!!   You are going to love these sentiment sets.  

I'm first on the order of the hop - take the hop in order, complete the hop, comment on each one of the blogs and you will be entered into a drawing to win ALL FOUR SETS of the new sentiment stamps.  DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE A COMMENT ON THE HOUSE SITE.  

There will be two winners:  We will be awarding 1 unmounted word set of choice to one individual who comments on at least 4 blogs. And we will be awarding one other lucky individual ALL 4 of the unmounted word sets if they comment on the RI blog and all of the design team blogs.

You must complete the hop by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Sunday, November 15.  The winners will be announced on November 16 at THE HOUSE and the Repeat Impressions Facebook page.  

I created two cards for this hop  

Stamps used:  RI# YOU,   RI #9501-O "Wine Bottle".  The bottles were colored with Copic Markers.  

Stamps used:  RI# HAPPY" and RI# 5108-F Balloon Sil  

I hope you found some inspiration here.....keep going....there's lot's more.  

I'm sending you off to the incredibly talented Heather Mills.  Her creations are incredible.  

Thanks for stopping by.  

DESIGNER'S CHOICE CHALLENGE AT THE HOUSE THAT STAMPS BUILT

Hi blog friends!  

Time for another Wednesday challenge at The House That Stamps Built.  This week it's a designer's choice and the designer challenging us is the talented Karen Hasheck and her challenge is "Focus on Sentiment".  

My card uses one of the newest word stamps from Wendy at Repeat Impressions.   The stamp I used is from the "YOU" set.  Each of these sets is fabulous.  Perfect for so many cards and projects.   

For more awesome cards for this challenge check out the other Rock Stars.  

 

                                Deonna - Heather - Joy - Karen - Kathy - Patti J

We hope you'll grab some creative time this week and come over and play along with us.  The details can be found at The House.  

Don't forget to grab the 10% off your entire RI order; the Discount Code is on my sidebar.  Just add it to your shopping card at check out.  


BIG NEWS:  The Rock Stars will be joining Wendy in a very special RELEASE blog hop tomorrow....we'll be showing off a sampling of all of the new word stamps.  You don't want to miss it.  

Thanks for stopping by. 

COLOR CHALLENGE AT THE HOUSE THAT STAMPS BUILT

Greetings, blog friends!!!  

It's What If? Wednesday, once again from The House That Stamps Built  and this week it's a color challenge.  

I saw Christmas in this color combination so my card is my first Christmas card for 2015.  

The background was created by sponging Distress Inks.  The green is lime green cs, with sponged DI (a little darker green for shading) and the stamps are embossed in gold embossing powder.  RI#3814-K "Ornament Frame", RI#8912-I "Snowflake Solid LG" RI#8917-I "Snowflake Outline Lg", RI# 8916-E "Snowflake Outline Sm", RI#8805-K "Snowflakes" and the sentiment is RI#424-G "Wishing You a Season".  

You're going to find some incredible inspiration from the Rock Stars so check them out.  

                                         Deonna - Heather - Joy - Karen - Kathy - Patti J

Come on over to The House and join in on the fun color challenge this week.  Wendy offers a $25.00 GC to the winner, selected at random, who enters the weekly challenges.  AND, if you use Repeat Impressions stamps on your entry, you'll be entered twice in the challenge.  To enable you further, there's a 10% off  your entire order coupon code on my side bar for your shopping enjoyment!  

Thanks for stopping by!  

SHARE HANDMADE KINDNESS CHALLENGE WEEK 1

Hi there, blog friends,

I'm going to be playing along in a challenge initiated by Jennifer McGuire called "Share Handmade Kindness".  The details are here.  

Week one is to create a handmade project for a friend or family member.  I created this card for my boss, whom I consider a friend.

The stamps I used are Repeat Impressions #504-L "Peaches" and I paired it with a PTI sentiment stamp Signature Greetings Vol. 3.  I used Copic Markers to color the image.

That's it for today.  Thanks for stopping by.  

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE - CAS AT OUTLAWZ

Greetings, blog friends! 

Today we're thanking those who put their lives on the line for others at the CAS challenge at Outlawz Challenges.  

I'm hosting, so I hope you'll come on over and join us.  

I don't usually use digis, but the sponsor for this month for our challenges is Deedee's Digis and she donated this cute little owl to me for this challenge.  (Thank you, Deedee!).  

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you all have a fabulous week!!! 

WHAT IF? WEDNESDAY SKETCH CHALLENGE

Hi there blog friends!!!  

Here's another awesome challenge hosted by The House That Stamps Built for What If? Wednesday!!!!  

I know you're  going to make this one work for you.....I found it difficult but most of you will rock this!  

Join this challenge at The House and link your creation there.  The detail are all there, but to save you a step.....if you use Repeat Impression Stamps, you're entered in the drawing for $25.00 worth of RI stamps twice!!!! 

The clock face was created using Bushos and then lightly sponged Distress Inks along the edges once cut with a die.  RI Stamps #4308-M "Clock Face #3", #4810-D "Minute Hand", #4811-C "Hour Hand".  The sentiment is RI #9505-E "Happy Hour".

I took the sketch literally, however, when you see some of my team mates....they've got their creative groove on.  

                                      Deonna - Heather - Joy - Karen - Kathy - Patti J

Thanks so much for stopping by.  Please come on over and play along with us!  Don't miss the 10% off your entire Repeat Impression's order code on my side bar.....I'm all about enabling - especially for these fabulous stamps!  

INSPIRATION CHALLENGE AT THE HOUSE THAT STAMPS BUILT

Greetings blog friends!  

It's time for another What If? Wednesday challenge at The House That Stamps Built and this week it's an photo inspiration challenge.  

Isn't this a gorgeous photo of fall colors?  What inspires you about this photo?  Here is what I created.

My inspiration was the colorful trees and the way the color was reflected in the water.  I used Distress Inks to create my line of trees on watercolor paper and then dragged a water filled brush across each color to spread the color.  The stamps used for this were RI#2719-K "Large Pine Tree" and one of the newest word stamp sets "Thanks".  I'm absolutely in love with these word stamps.

So, we all hope you'll come over and play along...the other Rock Stars have some amazing inspiration pieces you'll love to see.

                                      Deonna - Heather - Joy - Karen - Kathy

For the details on how to play check them out at The House.  If you enter the challenges, you could win a gift certificate for $25.00 worth of incredible stamps from Repeat Impressions.  If you use a Repeat Impression stamp on your entry, you'll be entered twice.  

Also, to help enable you (just in case you're sitting on the fence), pick up the 10% off Code for your entire order of RI stamps on my sidebar. They are one of the finest red rubber stamps available.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I love comments so please leave one if you can. 

PROJECT OF THE WEEK

Hi there, Cheri here and I'm excited to be showing you another Project of the Week!  

This is one of those techniques that comes about when you're trying to correct a mistake!  (Love it when that happens).  I'll call it "blending with baby wipes" and the results are fantastic!  

Here's what you need to try this technique - 
~An assortment of color dye inks (I used Distress Inks).  
~A baby wipe cut into the same amount of pieces as you have ink colors.
~Water color paper or some other mixed media paper able to bear up under the moisture.  I wouldn't recommend regular card stock as it often pills and breaks down.

Folding a piece of baby wipe, wipe it across your first color and apply it to your paper, continue and move on to each color until you're satisfied with your piece.

I went for a rainbow background on this card.

After stamping RI Stamp #9202-O "Peacock" in Archival Black Ink (not shown) and drying the image I then fussy cut the image.  I wanted more dimension on the image so applied a coating of VersaMark ink to the entire surface and sprinkled clear embossing powder over it then heat set it.  This gives it a wonderful sheen and helps the colors pop.

This is the final card using this technique...I love how it pops the image.  The sentiment is RI#1112-E "Just a Note".  

Here is another card using different dye ink colors using RI Stamp #2719-K "Large Pine".  On this card, I heat embossed the trees with white embossing powder.  

I hope you enjoyed this project and I hope you'll give it a try.