Sweet Stamp Shop: Sketches 2 Ways

It's a lovely Tuesday morning here in Iowa and I just wanted to pop on to the blog and let you know that I'm up over at the Sweet Stamp Shop blog.  In case you didn't know, I'm sharing a sneak peek at this week's CAS(E) this Sketch challenge that won't be on the blog until Thursday!  How fun is that?  So, go check me out.  I think you'll enjoy it!  Here's a peek of one of the cards I made...get over to the blog to see the whole thing!  ;)  See you guys tomorrow!

Sweet Stamp Shop: Sketches 2 Ways

Guess who's up on the Sweet Stamp Shop blog this morning?  ME!!  You saw one of my cards yesterday but you'll want to check out my post to see just how I created that card.  You also won't want to miss your peek at next week's CAS(E) this Sketch challenge.  It's a fun day on the Sweet blog and I hope to see you there!

Sweet Stamp Shop: Sketches 2 Ways!

Are you ready for another awesome sneak peek at the upcoming challenge at CAS(E) this Sketch?  Well, you asked for it and Sweet Stamp Shop and I are giving it to you.  Just check me out on the Sweet Stamp Shop Blog for your exclusive peek at this week's challenge and two cards made with the sketch.  You won't want to miss this one, there is something EXTRA special about this challenge.  ;)  Here's a peek at one of my cards:

See you over at the Sweet Blog!  Can't wait to spill the beans.  Ha ha! 

Sweet Stamp Shop: Sketches 2 Ways!

Good morning!  I'm about to run out the door to get my 2 oldest boys to their first day of Bible Camp.  They are SO excited and I can hardly wait to hear all about it.  They are going to have a blast.  I didn't want to run off before letting you guys know that I'm up on the Sweet Stamp Shop Blog this morning and you won't want to miss the peek at this week's CAS(E) this Sketch challenge.  The cards I created with it are pretty darn cute too plus, you'll learn about a fun product I found at tried out on my card.  I hope you stop on over and say "hi".  I'd really love it!  Well, off I run!  Have a great day and see you soon!

Sweet Stamp Shop: Sketches 2 Ways!

Woo hoo!!  It's an awesome day here in Iowa.  The corn is getting high and it is really starting to feel like summer.  We are prepping for our first cookout of the summer this afternoon and the boys are SUPER excited and have talked of nothing else.  In fact, My littlest guy seems to think we are going to party from now until Sunday.  He's quite the party animal.  ;)

You know what else makes this an awesome day?  I get to share a sneak peek at this week's CAS(E) this Sketch challenge over on the Sweet Stamp Shop blog.  I do hope you enjoy my post over there and will go check it out if you haven't already.  I had a great time with the sketch and I love sharing my cards with you guys.  In fact, I created 3 cards for the sketch so I'm going to share my 3rd card right here but you'll have to visit the Sweet Blog to see the sketch I used! 

I used some crazy dotted paper I had in my stash to make an interesting background for Foxy to peek into.  I used Speech Bubbles for my sentiments and to get my fox's point across.  ;)  I was going to add some bling but figured with all the dots, it would just get lost or clutter things up.  What do you think?  Does it need a little sparkle? 

Thanks for stopping by my blog and I hope to see you over at the Sweet Blog today.  Enjoy your summer!

Sweet Stamp Shop: Sketches 2 Ways

Morning everyone!  I'm up over at the Sweet Stamp Shop blog and I'd LOVE it if you would go check out my post.  I think you'll love what you find over there plus, you get a sneak at this week's CAS(E) this Sketch Challenge.  Woo hoo!

We are getting ready to head out the door for a play date, exercise, and some much needed grown up chat time.  ;)  I hope you are having a restful day.  I have to take advantage of all the rest I can get, I have my first mud run on Saturday!  Ha ha!  Don't worry, I'll share some pictures.  For now, here's a peek at one of my cards over on the Sweet blog.  I hope to see you there!

Sweet Stamp Shop: Sketches 2 Ways

Hi everyone!  It's another gorgeous day here in Iowa and I intend to get myself and the boys out in it but first, it's my turn on the Sweet Stamp Shop blog again and I hope you have already checked it out.  You won't want to miss my post, especially if you play along at CAS(E) this Sketch!  You'll get some extra time with the sketch that is coming up on Thursday.  Plus two fun takes on the sketch to help give you a jump start on your creations.  Don't miss it!  I'm going to share a quick picture rundown of how I made one of the cards on the Sweet blog today and share one bonus card that I made just for those of you who came to my blog!

So my card on the blog uses distress inks to stamp an image and then simply uses a waterbrush and the stamped image to paint the card.  Here's how I did it:

 First, I stamped my images with the distress ink colors that I wanted them painted in.  

 Next, I used my water brush to wet the outline and drag the color into my balloon.

I did the same with the blue and green.

You'll see some blending of the colors where all the balloons come together.  I actually liked how that happened.  It sort of made me think of when the light would shine through one balloon and project it's color on another.  If you don't like the blending, you may get less of it if you wait for each balloon to dry before starting the next.

Finally, my sky was created simply by grabbing some color with my water brush from the ink pad.  I just randomly scribbled around the paper using different amounts of ink and water to get variations in blue.  Pretty easy, right?

Here's my extra special card created just for you guys:

Another simple watercolor technique that makes a super fun card.  All I did was take the "Happy" from Happy Birthday and ink it up using my water brush and distress inks.  A swipe of dark green, then a swipe of light green, stamp, and repeat.  I just love how it turned out!  I hope you enjoyed my little extras this week and, if you haven't already, check me out on the Sweet Stamp Shop blog.  You won't want to miss it!  Have a great day!

Sweet Stamp Shop: Sketches 2 Ways

Good morning everyone!  It's my day over at the Sweet Stamp Shop blog and I hope you'll go check out my post, if you haven't already, to see the sneak peek at this week's CTS challenge and two takes on the sketch.  I had a blast with them and I'm going to show you how I stamped in my embossing powder to create my deer's look on the Father's Day card you can see here.

I'm going to show you the technique but I'm going to do it on the back of the card using Handcrafted so you get a bit of a bonus today...two cards and a card back! 

Here's a look at the finished back:

To get my "crafted by" to have a wax seal look, this is what I used:  my trusty stamp set, versamark, gold embossing powder, and my heat gun, of course!

I flipped my stamp over to stamp the back of the stamp in versamark.  Luckily, with clear stamps, both sides stick to an acrylic block.  This is also a great way to get a watercolor look behind a stamp image.  I'll have to do that another time and show you what I mean.  For now, we are using it to make a similarly shaped area of embossing to stamp into.

I covered my stamped image with my embossing powder and was ready to heat it.  Keep your embossing powder close because you are going to move fairly fast for the next step.

After you melt the embossing powder, you are going to want to shake on more embossing powder into the still wet layer before.  You will continue doing this until you have a fairly thick puddle of embossing.  You will have some stray embossing powder because it likes to stick to the warm cardstock area.  I actually like the look it leaves behind.  The above image shows one layer and you can see how much neater it is than the later layers.  In all I did 5 layers.

When you have melted your last layer, you are going to want to quickly stamp your image into the still wet embossing powder.  It makes a very satisfying sticky sound when you remove it.  ;)

I took it a step further and decided to see if I could get an aged gold look by stamping some black ink back into my depressed image.  I didn't want it too dark so after I inked up my image, I stamped it off once before stamping it into the embossing powder.

I like how the addition of the black really makes the image pop.  I didn't add my gold foil to the back of this card until after all the heating was finished.  I've noticed that heat and gold foil don't play well together.

I hope you enjoyed my little step by step today and I really hope you will go visit me on the Sweet Stamp Shop blog!  Thanks for stopping by.

Sweet Stamp Shop: Sketches 2 Ways

Good morning!  I'm up on the Sweet Stamp Shop blog today at 8:00 PDT and I'm sharing two more takes on this week's joint challenge with CAS(E) this Sketch and Runway Inspired Challenge.  I just love this challenge SO much and I had a blast coming up with two more takes.  I hope you'll go check out my post!

We are enjoying some awesome weather and the farmers (including mine) are itching to get out in the field.  Here's hoping they can get the tractors going soon!  This time of year is always crazy busy.  At times I almost forget that I even have a husband.  Ha ha!  Luckily my mom and dad are coming at the end of the week for a visit and we are all going to have some fun in South Dakota while they are here.  My mom and I, being the brave ladies we are, took the boys on a 4,000+ mile trip around the western United States a few years ago and one of our favorite stops was Custer State Park in SD.  We have been dying to go back and since my poor father usually misses out on our crazy adventures, this seemed like the perfect opportunity for all of us to go.  Here's hoping my hubby can get someone to fill in for him in the field so he can come along.

I hope you guys are all having some fun and had a wonderful Easter.  Here's a peek at one of my cards over at the Sweet Stamp Shop blog and to make matters even cooler, I have a coupon code (CS15) to share with you guys for 15% everything you could possibly want at the Sweet Stamp Shop today.  How cool is that?  Just use the code CS15 and shop away!  See you over on the blog and have a great day!

Sweet Stamp Shop: Sketches 2 Ways

Happy Tuesday!  I'm up on the Sweet Stamp Blog and I'd love for you to come check out my peek at the sketch coming up this week at CAS(E) this Sketch on Thursday and the two cards I made using it.  I think you will really love what I came up with.  Here's a little glimpse of one of my cards:

I hope you will go check out my post!  I'll see you over on the Sweet Stamp Blog!  Have a great day.

Sweet Stamp Shop: Sketches 2 Ways

Hi, everyone!  It's my turn over at the Sweet Blog!  I'm sharing this Thursday's CAS(E) this Sketch challenge and I know you won't want to miss it!  So, head over to the Sweet Blog and check out my post.  Here's a peek of on of my 2 cards you'll see over there and a peek at my card for Thursday!  We are off to the chiropractor and then the gym!  Hope you all have an awesome day. 

Sweet Stamp Shop: Sketches 2 Ways

Boy, do I have a treat for you guys today!  Not only is it my day on the Sweet Stamp Blog and I'm sharing a peek at this Thursday's CAS(E) this Sketch challenge but I also have a giveaway (more on that below).  Not just any giveaway, I have THE cutest stamp set in the world to give away.  Yup, you guys are in for an awesome day today!  First up here's the sketch:

I shared two takes on this awesome card over on the Sweet Blog.  You MUST go check them out.  I think you'll be pretty happy you did.  What I'm going to share with you now is a my take on the sketch using pocket scrapbooking.  I'm trying to get back into documenting the boys' lives with scrapbooks and I'm thinking the only way I'm going to get it done is by jumping on the pocket scrapping wagon!  So, this layout is for my 4 year old's birthday.

Here's a closeup of my pocket using the sketch as inspiration.  My little guy is a total goof and loves to be silly for the camera.  I thought this cute pup with a mustache from Doggy Dog was PERFECT for this layout!  The sentiment is from Too Hip and it worked so well with the card and layout.  LOVE IT!

 
Speaking of Doggy Dog, I have a set to give away!!!  How cool is that?  What do you have to do to get this awesome set in your hands?  Use the tool below to enter!  This giveaway will close on Monday, March 17th and I'll announce the winner the next day right here!  Be sure to do some serious following and liking....you are going to want this set!  ;)   Thanks for checking out my blog and make sure to check out my other cards over at the Sweet Blog!  Have a great day!

Sweet Stamp Shop: Sketches 2 Ways

Good morning, everyone!  I'm up today on the Sweet Blog and I really excited to show you what I've created!  You'll get a peek of CTS sketch #65 that's coming up on Thursday and two fun cards created with the sketch in mind.  I really hope you will go check it out.

Instead of showing you a card that you'll see when you head over to the Sweet Blog, I decided to give you peek of the card I made for this week's CTS sketch.  You'll see the whole thing on Thursday but I hope you enjoy this little peek.

My Sweet Stamp Shop sets are getting a real workout this week.  So, go over to the Sweet Blog and check out the upcoming sketch and my two fun takes!  See you back here Thursday for our CTS challenge!  Have a great day!

Sweet Stamp Shop: Sketches 2 Ways

It's my turn again over at the Sweet Blog!  I hope you'll go check it out.  You will be rewarded with a sneak peek of the upcoming CAS(E) this Sketch challenge.  I really think you should go check it out!  Here's just one of my cards.  Get yourself over to the Sweet Blog to see the sketch and the other card.  I'll see you there.  ;)

Have a great Monday!