Sylvia Cook Photography blog Giveaway

This giveaway is for all you photographer friends out there, this is an amazing giveaway you do NOT want to miss out on :)! Please head on over to Sylvia Cook Photography Blog, and enter into this giveaway :), I did...

Thanks for stopping by today, inky hugs for you,

Catherine

Sympathy cards

My mom called me the other day and asked me if I would make her some Sympathy cards for her to give, I think for Sympathy cards they are better if they are handmade as they have had an extra touch to them. To let the person know they are cared about, during this difficult time....just what I think :)!
Here are a few of the cards I made for her, they are simple but it is what she was looking for and wanted....
For this card I used the Hero Arts background stamp and then stamped Inkadinkado Sentiment over top the background image :)!

I used the same background stamp for this card, but I layered the sentiments using one of my label dies from Spellbinders, LOVE this label set. Cardstock for all my cards is from SU (Stampin' Up) and my ink is Archival. 

This card is made by all SU products, I used the SU stamp set called Watercolor trio and all the ink I used is also SU ink :)!

Thanks for stopping by, I promise I will be back with more cards that have more detail to them :)!

Inky Hugs,
Catherine

Unmounted stamp storage

Okay, so I need to improve upon my crafty area and make it more effective and more crafty friendly!  I am in need of some ideas for how to store one's unmounted stamps, I have several small rubbermaid containers that I keep mine in. I am in need of change and so I thought I should ask all of you :)!  So how do you store your unmounted stamps and I don't mean Sweetpea stamps got that covered it is all the others like Hero Arts etc.

Inky Hugs,
Catherine

Christmas cards

I received 2 beautiful handmade cards, from two of my crafty friends Tracy H. and Anita Hovey :)! Am impressed with the two of you, for getting your xmas cards made and out...when did you get them done??
Here is Tracy's card:

Ty, so much Tracy for this card...love the layout you used :)!  I used the easel card idea to create an xmas card for a friend of mine, which I will post below in this post....

Here is Anita's card:

Ty, Anita for your beautiful card (saw the one you gave Bernie and Wendy too, beautiful card too)!

Here is the card I created using the easel card idea I got from Tracy's card she sent me:

Thanks for stopping by, and Merry Christmas from my family to yours! Be safe and savor the moments together, and Happy New Years :)!

Inky Hugs,
Catherine

Blueberry Hill Pompom hat Giveaway

Please, hurry on over to Pamela Toppings blog and check out the giveaway she is having...she is giving away a Pom Pom hat by Blueberry Hill :)!

Inky Hugs,
Catherine

Win the Slice Elite over at the Crafty Charlestonian blog

Head on over to enter to win the "Slice Elite" over on the Crafty Charlestonian blog hurry before it is too late!

Thanks for stopping by,
Catherine

Stamping on Shells

So, I have been meaning to and have also been asked to post my shell that we did during the first class I taught about a month ago. The shells we used were Scallop shells, that Anne (Tabitha's Treasures owner) picked up from somewhere local and she washed them (bleached them too I think) and let them dry outside. I was given a few of these shells a few weeks before the class to play around with the shells to see if they could in fact be stamped on or painted on, the first couple of shells didn't turn out that great.  With some practice (I was glad I had a pile of these shells to play with in case one broke or didn't turn out), I managed to do 3 shells that I was happy with to teach the class how to do.
If you are planning on trying this project out, I would recommend that you have a few extra shells and that you use see through acrylic stamps or stamps that you can rock easily over the shell to get a clean crisp image from.
I stamp set I used is from There She Goes (can't remember what it is called right now, sorry!), and it was really easy to use and was glad that it was see through so one could re-align up the stamp again in case only part of the image showed up. Once we all stamped our images onto the shells, we painted the images in using SU Watercolor crayons or Tombow markers with a watercolor brush and with either one of these methods you have to make sure you don't have too much water on your brush or things will run/bleed. This is even more the case with having the shell as your medium, the grooves in the shell provided great little ramps for your paint to run down! Once we all colored in the images, let them dry, we sprayed them with a protective coating so they wouldn't run or bleed if they got wet again... and some of us even sprayed on some shimmer to make it sparkle a bit.

Thanks for stopping by,
Catherine