Christmas Loads of Love

From Heidi...

Yes, I'm still here. I was thinking all last week, "I need to post, I need to post..." It's just been a busy week. I was so glad to see Adriel add a few posts (and she's been busy with baby, homeschooling, kids, life!!...you go, Adriel :-) When you have a blog, it's really nice to have two people who can post. Usually when one is busy, the other can take over and vice-versa.

I thought I'd share this card I made for our Christmas card classes at Tumbleweed and at my house. Our Tumbleweed class is over, but we'll be repeating the class at my house on Tuesday, 11/16. Everyone's cards came out so cute. I used the Loads of Love stampset and the Candy Cane Christmas DSP. I love it when I get to use this stampset because it means I get to watercolor. This is one of my favorite stampsets. I love all the little stamp accessories you can add to the truck.

Stampset: Loads of Love

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Real Red, Early Espresso, Whisper White

DSP: Candy Cane Christmas

Loads of Love

Loads of Love Accessories

Candy Cane Christmas

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August Color Challenge Card

From Adriel:

I finally got around to playing with our color challenge colors (that sounds a bit awkward). Color challenge colors... anyway, yes, I did! I played with the colors and made a card. We'll probably be making this card later down the road at one of our classes, so we'll probably show it off again later. =)
I used a fun technique for the flowers that is pretty old by now in the stamping world, but it gives lovely results and makes me feel like an artist.

1. I stamped the floral image in versamark ink on shimmer white CS and embossed with white embossing powder.

2. Sprayed this with water and used an aqua painter and reinker (or ink any way you can get it... reinker is better, but I didn't have reinker for Wild Wasabi), and pick up the ink with the aqua painter and almost "drop" it on the wet CS. The water on the CS almost pulls the ink from the aqua painter and creates a pretty effect. I did Wild Wasabi in the centers and Marina Mist for the petals. This technique does tone down the color a lot and actually can change the hue completely. I tried this with the Night of Navy and it ended up being violet... not quite what I was going for.

3. Anyway, allow these to dry (I used a heat tool to speed up the drying process) and trim. They're really pretty! =)

The flowers are from one of my all time favorite sets from Stampin' Up! - Fifth Avenue Floral. It is so versatile and we've done a lot of different things with it. I really hope they don't retire this set for a while, because I really love it and love using it.

There's still time to play in our monthly color challenge! You have until the end of this month to make something creative, whatever it may be, using our colors. All the details are HERE! =)

If you have any questions, let us know! Thanks for stopping by our blog today. Happy Wednesday!

-Adriel & Heidi
Two Happy Stampers

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Our Love of Kraft!

From Adriel:

My mom and I were talking the other day about how much we love the color "kraft". It's so versatile and goes with so many colors. It's one of those colors that is a "go-to" when you don't know where else to start. It doesn't look cheap... it's somewhat trendy. You can keep it plain or dress it up... it looks fabulous either way. If I was energetic enough, I would put my creative writing to practice and write an Ode to Kraft... but I'm not, so I won't make you suffer either. ;-) I find that I have to almost force myself to use another color and I really tried to with these cards, but my mom and I both agreed that Kraft was the only acceptable card base for these lovely and simple stamped images.

I used inks and a blender pen to give them a "water colored" look... this stamped image from Stampin' Up's Asian Artistry is just gorgeous and looks even more incredible with a bit of color. I spent an afternoon a couple of weeks ago just coloring away... it was somewhat relaxing even. Using the blender pen makes me feel like the artist that I'm not! =)

So what color are you hooked on right now? I'd love to know... it might help me try something new and get out of my rut! =D

A Birthday Card

From Adriel:

I just listed this in our Etsy shop and thought, "Hey! I'll post this on our blog, too!" So, here's a cute birthday card I made a few days ago! Wouldn't it make a cute invitation to a little girl's party (with a different sentiment, of course!)?

The little girl is from the retired set, Lively Little Ones. I wish it wasn't retired... it's so cute!! Anyway, I used a blender pen and ink to "watercolor" her and I enjoyed myself. Watercoloring is relaxing, although it does take a little bit of time. It's worth it, IMHO! =) It's SO MUCH BETTER than a plain black & white image!

Yesterday I made an Easter card that I'll show you soon! I did some more watercoloring! LOL! Thanks for looking! Happy Friday! Enjoy your weekend!

Friend to Friend Card

From Adriel:

Here's another project made with some of the Love You Much bundle!

A 3x3 card with these cute little birds that have been watercolored ever so slightly, just enough so they're not plain.

The little red glitter heart was made by using the small heart in the 3-heart stamp from the Love You Much set with Versamark ink, applying heat&stick powder, giving it a blast with the heat gun, pouring on the glitter (can't say sprinkle because I POURED, heehee), another blast with the heat gun... punched out with the corresponding Heart to Heart punch (just the small heart for this one). Love the sparkle!

The sentiment is also from the same set mentioned above. It fit perfectly in the curly label punch so I used that and attached it so that it just peeks out. Just a nice little touch!

This card is part of our Valentine Treasures class on Wednesday, January 14, 2009 & Saturday, January 17, 2009. Class will be held at Heidi's house from Noon - 2:30pm on both dates. Space is limited. We will be sharing more pictures of the other projects that are part of this class as the week goes on.

Thanks for looking! I think I'll make up a few of these little cards and post them on our Etsy shop. They're too cute to keep all to myself! =D

Another Love You Much creation

From Heidi...

Here's another Valentine creation I made using the Love You Much bundle. I used two types of the DS paper (stripe and tiny polka dot), watercoloring (one of my favorite techniques!), sponging, and paper piercing. Other supplies used: Scallop edge punch, circle coluzzle, ribbon, brad, and dimensionals.

Thanks for letting me share this with you!

Circle Cards

From Adriel:

Here's some cute cards I made using a coluzzle circle and blade and the cute (but retired) set, Very Punny.



Here's a close up of one of the cards.


I made four sets of these cards to sell at the craft shows. They fit into a 3x3 envelope. I water colored the images with a blender pen and inks. I used my crimper on the background circle to add some texture to the cards and topped off all the cards with ribbon! I think they're pretty cute! What do you think?

Supply list (all SU! unless noted):

Gable Green CS
Lovely Lilac CS
Barely Banana CS
White CS
Chocolate Chip ink
Gable Green ink
Lovely Lilac ink
Barely Banana ink
White craft ink
Very Punny set (retired)
Sprinkles set
Itty Bitty Backgrounds set
Ribbon (all ribbon used is not SU!)
Crimper
Blender pen
Coluzzle circle template and blade
2" circle punch (not SU!)
Scallop circle punch
1-3/8" circle punch
Dimensionals


Also, I added a new picture of my mom and I to our side bar. It was taken last Thanksgiving. Just makes me thankful for my mom. She's a very good friend. :-D

October Newsletter Now Available + Card

From Adriel:

This blog has been neglected lately! We've been busy! As the title suggests, the October newsletter is now available and you can view it by clicking on the link on the side-bar that says October newsletter. Check it out to see what's going on!

Also, here's a BEAUTIFUL card my mom made for our upcoming classes at Tumbleweed.

Isn't it gorgeous?!?! She used the water color technique and dimensioned some of the parts of the image. She did a wonderful job and I wanted to share it with all of you! Leave a comment letting her know what you think!

From Heidi:

I love this new hostess set "Serene Spring". I've been waiting to have some time to play with this set, which I was able to do Saturday. I used two different color palettes with these cards I also used water coloring on both of them. My dad was a watercolorist and I have several of his paintings hanging in my house. He tutored me for a short time, but I haven't done much with what he taught me until this weekend. I'm looking forward to using this technique on my cards. It's such a fun medium to use to bring color to cards. I enjoyed getting back into it on these two cards.I embossed the blue card, which I wish I hadn't done, it seemed to drown out the watercoloring. Oh well... it was still fun to make.

Ingredients: Card 1 -Serene Spring SS; So Saffron, Barely Blush, Whisper White CS; Staz=On black, So Saffron, Barely Blush, Bashful blue, Certainly Celery Ink; Scallop edge punch, Fabric flower, punched Barely blush flower, So saffron brad, Barely Blush inked ribbon, sponges, blender pens; Card 2 - Serene Spring, Wonderful Words SS; Bashful blue, Almost Artichoke, Mostly Moss, Sahara Sand, Whisper White CS; Really Rust, Bashful blue, mostly moss, Sahara Sand, Staz-On black ink; Embossing powder, heat gun, Scallop edge punch, grosgrain ribbon, sponges, blender pens.

Today Adriel and I worked on some new cards and projects for our upcoming classes at Tumbleweed Park and Recreation Center this December through February. We're trying out our new project ideas. Adriel stamped and decorated a great looking candle, and I worked on a Gate Fold card using sponging, while trying out some new colors together.

I made a fun card a few weeks ago for my grandson's birthday (Adriel's son) using an idea I saw on SCS where someone had used punches to make some Sesame Street characters. I love how it turned out and I had such a great time gluing all the little pieces together to create the fun characters. I must have been successful because the kids both knew who the characters were...so that's a good thing!