stamps

Imagine That: Trumpet Flowers Card

In The Studio

One of our prompts this month over on the Imagine blog is the color Sangria. I love a good, deep red–there’s lots you can do with the color. While the holidays are coming up, and I had another project that scooted into that territory, I wanted to do something more general for this prompt.

I’d recently seen a picture of trumpet flowers and for whatever reason that gut stuck in my head and I was desperate enough to try my hand at carving my own stamp just so I could create the card I saw in my head.

I’m actually really pleased at how it turned out, and if you’d like to see the carving process I’ve posted it over on my own YouTube channel: Stamptember: Carving a detailed flower cluster stamp! It was a good 4 hours or more of work, spread out over three nights, but totally worth it!

After putting in so much effort into carving the stamp and then coloring the image, I didn’t feel like the card needed at lot of extra bits added to it. Does this count as a CAS (clean and simple) card? Maybe?

At any rate, make sure to head over to the Imagine blog to check out the video of how the finished card came to be.

And if you’d like to make your own version of the card but aren’t quite into carving your own stamps, I made a digital stamp set from the finished image–complete with separated elements as well as the finished arrangement–and put it up over in the Crafty Branch Etsy shop. I’d love to see what you come up with!

While I was add it, as a thank you for reading this far, I took those digital elements and made a wreath image you can download now for free! Make sure you tag @scrapsoflife and @thecraftybranch on Instagram when you make something with it!

Download it by clicking this link: TCB_JLV_TrumpetFlowerFreebie

 

DIY Plannner Stickers with Labels and Stamps

In The Studio

January is, of course, the perfect month to talk about planning, planners, organization, and all that fun stuff (well, fun for me, your mileage may vary). Imagine recognizes that and ordered up some posts and projects on that subject. I, for one, was happy to oblige.

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I spent a couple of fun hours with stamps and inks and sprays and–this is key–a whole host of Avery label sheets to make my own stamped planner stickers. It meant I could go from needing all of this to stamp in my planner:

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To just needing this little handful:

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Not bad condensing, wouldn’t you say?

You can check out more about this project (along with two other planner-related DIYs) on the Imagine blog (Triad of Planner Awesomeness).

This Blog Hop Didn’t Get Lost in the Shuffle!

In The Studio

But how awesome is “lost in the shuffle” as an apology for missing a card-worthy occasion? It’s just one of the many sentiments included in the “In The Cards” stamp set (and coordinating “Shuffle” Fri-Dies set) that I received as part of today’s Imagine Crafts/CAS-ual Fridays blog hop!

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While I love the stamp set, I ended up using more of the die set for this card since I wanted to try the inlay technique and I’m very happy with how it all turned out.

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Materials:

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Spray a sheet of cardstock with Walnut Ink and allow to dry.

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Cut numerous diamonds, hearts, clubs, and spades from the Shuffle Fri-Dies set from the sprayed papers. For variation, feel free to cut some from the more speckled edges as well as some from the solid-color areas.

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Cut those same shapes from the card front in a random pattern. Make sure to cut some off the edges of the card front to really “sell” the random pattern idea.

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Apply adhesive to the entire front panel of the card front and match the card front over the adhesive. The glue peeks through the holes, making it easy to slot in the colored die cuts.

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Trim 1/4″ strips from the sprayed card stock and make them into a frame just inside the perimeter of the card.

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Spritz the assembled card with irRESISTible texture spray and allow to dry.

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Stamp a sentiment onto a 1/2″ strip of white card stock. Trim the ends, add a crystal, and pop the strip up with ZapDots and it’s done!

So, the next step on the hop will bring you to Karen Griglione’s blog! And if you missed a stop on the hop, you can find the full list of participating blogs (with links!) over at the Imagine Crafts post.

Now, a little bird tells me that there’s a giveaway happening as part of this blog hop, and all you have to do is leave a comment to enter! And if you can’t think of anything else to say, tell me your favorite card game! I’ve always been a Gin Rummy fan, myself. Winners will be announced on the 27th!