It's Retro Week in Chaos

I used to teach stamping classes at our local stamp store, Stamp-A-Doodle. I started many years ago and I did a bunch of technique classes. Then I approached the owners about doing a once monthly class called Quick Cards. They liked the idea and we gave it a shot. It was a lot of fun and I ended up having several ladies who came every month. We would make four cards with whatever product and techniques I felt like using. I really enjoyed it, but we stopped doing them because I became so busy and because they sold the building.

I have a crazy busy week and we are going camping for a couple of days, so I decided that I'd do a week of "retro" cards. I don't have a lot of new creations to showcase, but I don't want to get an email from Heather wondering if I'm ever going to return to regular blogging, (giggle; she keeps me on track) and so I thought I'd post some of the cards I made for these classes.

I always loved this card. It's a resist technique which is one of my favorites! I used Versamark to stamp the background and then applied Distress Inks and wiped off the extra to reveal the resisted background. Then I stamped the pears in Chalk Ink which mostly covered the resist.

Hallowe'en

I know it's very early for Hallowe'en, but I did this layout awhile ago and it's just been sitting in my folder to post, so I thought today would be a good day.

I took three pieces of light brown cardstock and embossed them with three different embossing folders and accented the raised portions with brown ink. I mounted them on dark brown cardstock and then just added my photo and title. The title is grungeboard inked with brown ink.

Very quick and so simple.

Distress Burst Reindeer

A quick post today as I'm heading out the door to work at my mother's. Not nearly as fun as stamping. I got a new TO DO app for my iPhone though and it allows me to do recurring tasks, so I have "blog" as a daily task, so here's hoping I make it here on a more regular basis.

That said, it will never actually be everyday, but at least I have to consciously delete the TO DO from the list instead of just forgetting!

Here is a quick card using the Distress Burst technique. Stamps are from "Reindeer Flight" by Tim Holtz (one of my favorite sets; I LOVE those trees).

Another Distress Burst

June's Technique Club technique was Distress Burst. I first saw a variation of this technique in Technique Junkies (if you don't receive it, check it out; it's amazing). She used Bingo daubers, but I don't like those colours, so I never really did it. I did try it with some form of Radiant Rain or something, but I can't remember what the product was. It was one I didn't really like, so I didn't really ever do it.

Fast forward to June and I was sitting at my craft room desk and I had a brainwave and thought I'd try it with Distress Stains. It worked great.

The technique is so easy really. You literally just pounce the Distress Stain down on the paper. The harder you pounce it, the more of a starburst pattern you produce.

The first couple I did, I tried colours I normally like together, but then I didn't know what to do with the background. For this card, I used more colours of the same tone and then used it as a background for an image and then mounted it on a larger card. I really like how it turned out.

The stamps in black are from a set by Hampton Arts. The yellow stamp is one of my favorite background images from "I See Paris" by Tim Holtz.

A Sneak Peak: July Demo Night

Hello. I am having a demo night tonight and am going to show the July technique. It's kind of a mish mash of stuff that I've read and put together. I'll post the instructions later (after I've distributed the technique sheets), but for now, I just wanted to post a quick card using it.

This is the make and take project for tonight.

Ladybug Birthday

It was Nathalie's birthday a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to try my hand at a fondant cake. My sister and I had done one with our cousin (who is our resident expert) and figured we were ready to tackle alone it since Deb was heading to Vegas.

In the end, it turned out better than I had imagined possible. I was so excited!! I know it's not stamping, but I just wanted to share it anyway.


To keep with the stamping theme, though, here is the card I made Nathalie for her birthday. It's quite simple, but I liked how it turned out. I stamped the background from "Papillon" by Tim Holtz and then just cut out a ladybug using my cricut.

Purple Flower

I wanted to share a card I made a couple of months ago.

I cut out the purple flower using my Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die. Then I cut out the same flower from fun foam and I ran it through an embossing folder to give it some texture. I adhered the purple cardstock flower in the middle and then used the funfoam flower as a stamp and stamped it with Dusty Concord Distress Ink. I love that the stamp and flower coordinate.

To create the stamp, take funfoam and adhere a very strong double sided adhesive (I love the Sookwang sheets). Cut out the shape you want and then emboss it with an embossing folder if desired. Then adhere the stamp to some strong plastic (I cut apart the plastic that my Tim Holtz dies came in; but that plastic packaging is everywhere!). Then you have a stamp.

More Kioshi

My cousin, Debbie, came over to scrapbook last night. It was a great motivation to get going again. I had so many photos left over from the sleeping layout that I wanted to create a second layout with just a title and pictures. I found some paper and matching cardstock and then sat and stared at what wasn't coming together.

I gave up on that combination and tried another. Still nothing. Finally, I put it all away and grabbed my Kioshi pack and got something down. I was sort of copying a layout, except that mine looked nothing like the one I started out to copy which made me laugh. The only thing that I ended up taking from it was four paper squares. It was easy to get matching papers since they all match in the package.

Then I felt like I was on a roll, so I created another quick layout of Nathalie's smile. I used the same paper package. I wanted to share both layouts so you could see how I've used the Kioshi packages on another 2 layouts.

Jolly Jumping

Another quick post so I can check it off my TO DO list for today. I set it up as a recurring task each day so I wouldn't forget to post. I often ignore it, but at least I can't forget.

I did this layout last month and it was a very quick one. It's just a few pieces of paper from a coordinating paper pack (Basic Grey) and then the photo and a title. So simple.

As always, I love how the papers go together. This layout is so simple because you just grab papers that match.

I scrapbooked tonight and wasn't working from a kit and I struggled to find papers to put together. I know I can do it, but when I'm creating in the evening (three kids home because it's summer tends to make stamping during the day difficult) I'm often too tired to have to think a lot. I finally put it all away and grabbed one of my kits. I ended up using Kioshi by Basic Grey (which is what I used on this layout too). This is the first kit I ever bought and I still have a ton of the paper left. These kits really go so far!!

Hush Little Baby

It's been forever ...

I do think that I might just have that as my first line permanently on my blog since it seems to be true.

I keep thinking that I will do something to do with stamping or scrapbooking every day, but unfortunately, three kids and a business seem to get in the way most days. So, I will just do what I can do I guess.

To start out, I'll just keep it brief and post a layout I did of Nathalie sleeping. I love watching babies (and kids) sleep, so I had way too many photos for one layout, so I think I have to do another one since the photos are too cute to not use.

For now, though, here is the layout.