More Goosebumps & A Sale

For some reason I don't have very many stencils. It never bothered me, since I never really used them. However, with my recent discovery of how much I love Goosebumps, I was dismayed when I only found a couple that were currently in my "I own it" stash. I even checked my "you need to sell this" stash, but I apparently sold most of those too.

Then I had a bit of a brainwave and thought, what about Spellbinders Impressabilities? They're a stencil, right?? And I tried it out and it worked awesome. I have a few of these that I tried to use like an embossing folder, but I just find them too fragile. As a stencil, however, I love them. Yeah! I'm happy to have found a use for them.

As with the plastic stencils, you can generally get a positive and negative from them. This card was made with the negative. It got kind of messy, but it still looked nice when I added a few stamps. I love how it gives you an instant type collage type background without a ton of work.

In honour of my newfound inspiration, I have all my in stock Impressabilities on sale for $5 each. I have limited quantity of each, so when they're gone, they're gone (well, I can order you one, but it will be regular price).

Paisley

Cherries

Diamond & Stars
Flower SilhouetteFleur De Lis Pattern
Fleur De Lis StripeButterfly

I've got Goosebumps

I've had a bottle of Goosebumps Texture Spray on my desk for over a month and finally sat down this week and played with it and I love it! It is so cool. For anyone who knows me, they know that I love anything resist. There are so many different techniques for doing resist and with the Goosebumps Spray, there is one more.

I ordered a bunch of stencils from Prima a couple of weeks ago and when they came in, they were so gorgeous. I went to get one when I was playing the other day, but I must have sold out at PMS (Pretty Mean Stampers) last week. Oh well, that's a good thing, right?? I'll just have to order more. I ended up pulling out a pretty stencil from Crafter's Workshop instead. It's of a cherry blossom and a little bird. It's so simple, but I really like it.

I found some information on the Internet about Goosebumps and then just started playing. I cut some white matte cardstock and placed the stencil overtop and just spritzed a bit. You really don't need a lot. And you'll want to wash the stencil off right away because when it dries, it's very difficult to get off the stencil. But, not to waste any, I put a piece of cardstock on top of the stencil before I washed it so I could pull off the negative. Then I washed it.

You can either heat set the spray or let it air dry. I then added Distress Ink with my Blending Tool. You can stamp some background stamps with Distress as well. Wherever there is Goosebumps, it will resist. When you're happy with it, then spritz some water on a paper towel and wipe the ink off the resisted areas. You can then stamp with Versafine or Chalk Ink which will cover the resist areas if desired.

Again, I used the Cherry Blossom template and Aged Mahogany Distress Ink. I stamped French Script (Hero Arts) as a background in Aged Mahogany and added the saying (Inkadinkado) in Versafine. It's a very simple card, but I love how it turned out!

I love how you can get a resist by using a stencil instead of a stamp. This opens up a whole new realm of possibilities for me. Needless to say, I have just added a whole bunch of template stencils to my next order.

Nathalie Squares

I was flipping through the latest "Creating Keepsakes" and found this simple layout that I just loved. It's just a plain paper with squares of patterned paper to form a background. A couple of embellishments and a photo. Just up my alley.

So, I grabbed one of my Basic Grey packages and chose 5 sheets of patterned paper that I liked. I knew that anyones that I chose from that package would go together, so I just picked the ones I liked best. I cut a bunch of 2x2" squares and inked the edges with Dark Brown Chalk Ink. I stamped a couple stitches borders and added a sticker or two and the matted photo. I really like how it turned out and it really was so quick.

Thankful

I've been absent. It was Eric's birthday September 6 and then we had his birthday party last weekend. For each, I made a giant Star Wars cake with my cousin, who is an awesome cake woman!! It turned out awesome, so I'll share photos soon.

This weekend is my parents 40th wedding anniversary party. We are having a ton of people and we are doing the food ourselves, so it's been a lot of work just getting organized and we haven't even started cooking. I love my mother because she's very anal like me and so I feel good about the onslaught of food prep which will begin tomorrow (seriously, we've made a list of all our food and assigned a serving dish for each one so it's all set out and ready to go. I've even put post it notes in each one so the girls doing the food know).

There is so much going on, but today I had a wonderful day. I spent it with my friend, Bette Lou. She's in town visiting from Madagascar, where she and her husband moved back in January. I miss her terribly. She emailed to see if I had a day to spend hanging out and scrapbooking and I'm so glad we could find time. I even convinced her to let me have a potluck party this evening so a bunch of us could visit.

I truly had the most wonderful day. We scrapbooked (I finished 2 layouts!!) and we reminisced. I remember being 9 months pregnant with Kayla (my first child) and thinking this baby was going to be trapped inside me forever. I was going crazy and so Bette Lou set up a series of adventures for us to go on to keep my mind off my the fact that I was destined to be pregnant forever. When I decorated the nursery, I found a Winnie the Pooh picture that said, "A Grand Adventure is bound to occur" which was perfect.

Anyway, I had the most wonderful day and evening. Tonight, we just sat around and ate and chatted and it was so fun. It made me so incredibly thankful for my friends, but also for this hobby that has allowed me so many opportunities. It's introduced me to so many wonderful friends and taken me in directions I could not have ever imagined. I am so truly thankful.

I'm not the kind of person to get really mushy and sentimental, so I'll stop there. I just thought it was important to make note of feeling thankful and content. And I thought I'd share the cake I made for Bette Lou.


It would have been so easy to say, "I'm too busy." I know I have craft for 15 minutes on my daily TO DO list, but lately, I just haven't had time. I need to make time though since it is so important to have that outlet. And it's important to take the time to be with friends since the other stuff can just about always wait.

Distress Paint

I am behind. I think it's going to be perpetual for awhile, so I think I just need to allow myself to be OK with it.

I finally got my August & September Technique Club sheets and samples done. Here is a card from the August technique: Distress Paint.

Sizzix Embossing Folders

I haven't spent much time in my craft room lately. I haven't even spent much time thinking about stamping lately. I seem to be entirely too busy and so I feel like I have nothing to share.

I was looking through some new product stuff today and see that there are some new embossing folder sets from Sizzix so I thought I'd share those.

Each set is $12. Let me know if you are interested in ordering any.

Botanical and Beaded Ribbons


Christmas Stockings

Holly Swirl & Sheet Music


Sending Christmas Love


Snowflake & Flourish


Starry Night

My Love

I was playing around in my stamp room the other night and was in a mellow mood. I finished my Bathtime layout and then wanted to start another. I was flipping through a magazine and saw one I liked. The problem was that it was very finicky and so out of my comfort zone.

But I was in a weird zen type mood and not stressed about how far behind I am or how much I have to do and so I just went with it.

I used my "Olivia" pack from Basic Grey so that all the circles would match and coordinate and then I cut some strips from the same paper. I hate to admit it, but it was kind of fun playing with all the circles to place them. I don't know that I'd do it again, but it was fun because I was in the right mood.

Then I stamped the Magenta flourish in black and added a journaling block (from the kit) and a flower. The "my" from the title is out of grungeboard and then I cut "Love" with my Cricut. I really like how the black kind of grounds stuff and makes it pop.

Overall, this layout took me awhile but I like doing those kind once in awhile.