Layered Stamping with the MISTI

A while back I won a random draw on a Simon Says Stamp challenge and was awarded a $50 gift certificate to their wonderful store.  I agonized over what to get and ultimately decided that I had admired the Altenew layering stamps way too much to let a gift opportunity pass me by.  I splurged and got the stamp and dies as a set.  I am in love!

There are a lot of videos out there that will show you how these beautiful flowers were made.  I'll suggest Jennifer Mcguire's video as it is what I used.  The other trick I'd give you is to download the tip sheet offered by Altenew.  I Google'd the stamp set name (Vintage Flowers is what I used, though the Vintage Roses is similar) and the tip sheet came up as a image.  I printed the image and it helped to orient the layers.

I did spend a little while trying to figure out the layering process.  There are some messed up flowers in my work.  However,  the great thing about these stamps.  They are forgiving and even those "mess ups" are pretty and useable.

OK, maybe not all messed up flowers were pretty.  The other  tip I would offer is that you really need to play with the foreground and background colors.  Things I thought would be beautiful fell flat and combinations that I thought would not work ultimately became my favorite.

Caution :  this stamp set could make you an ink hoarder.  I'm resisting the urge. I will say that other than a strong urge to own every single craft supply on the planet I was able to make a wide variety of beautiful flowers without buying a thing. Resist the urge people!

I found it helpful during my color experimenting to write the color name on the sheet.  It helped me to creatively combine colors.

I ultimately die cut all of these flowers and plan to create some card sets to be used for Christmas gifts.  If/when that happens I'll take some photos and share with you.  Hope you have a crafty day.

Our Beautiful World - Messy

The word prompt at Our Beautiful World this week is Messy.  I don't have very far that I have to travel to find messy.  It seems as though our house has been in a constant state of "create a mess" followed by "clean up said mess".  It is due to the home renovations we've done this year.  When all is done, it is fabulous, but it sure can get messy around the house while these improvements are ongoing.

Here is a pile of linens that we sorted.  Most of it sent to Goodwill, but some (like the hand crocheted baby blankets in the foreground) were folded neatly and put back into the cupboard for safe keeping.  I will say - most of it went to Goodwill though!

I'm linking up with the folks over at Our Beautiful World to share my version of Messy.  Won't you hop on over to Our Beautiful World and join the fun?

Baby Shower Card - Baby Boy Style

While I was making baby shower cards, I decided to try a bit of Distress Ink scene making.  The card didn't turn out as I expected, more on that later.  Here's the details:

• The sheep are die cut using a Quickutz die that is at least a decade old.  These little critters are adorable in person, but let me tell you about paper piecing these bad boys together.  Each leg is an individual die cut.  I almost lost my mind trying to decide whether the sheep look like they are actually standing on a hill.  A couple of them look to me like they are about to break their precious little necks.
• Earlier this year, I had purchased a set of IO cloud dies at the scrapbook convention.  I, unfortunately didn't empty my convention bag (it is a nylon shoulder bag and I've pinned all my lovely convention pins to the outside, anywhooo).  When the construction and work was done on my house, I misplaced the bag.  Just found these dies again and decided to die cut some to use as a mask for my Distress Ink scene building.
• I used Peeled Paint, Faded Jeans and Scattered Straw inks to create my scene.  There is a little Vintage Photo in the grassy dirt as well.  The sentiment was stamped in brown Archival Ink.

When the scene was all made I couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't girly.  The baby's room decorations were sheep and so I thought this themed card would work.  All in a rush I decided to stamp a sentiment on the inside and place some pink epoxy dots.  I thought that would help.  It didn't, so I made a pink card (shared with you a couple of days ago).

This card will go in the stash and I can use it on a future occasion where it fits better or I forget my strong feelings about the front.

I'm linking up to the following challenges:

City Crafter challenge Week #278 - Feeling Flat.  I think this card is as flat as you can go with die cuts - easy for mailing.

Word Art Wednesday's Challenge #200 Let's Celebrate.  Come join the fun as we celebrate their 200th challenge.

Baby Shower Card

I made a card to go with my shower gift.  That pink handmade paper called my name so I decided to feature it greatly in the card.  I think it really works here - adding a bit of softness and texture that allows the teeny, tiny flowers to be the star.  Here's the details:

• The patterned paper in the background came from the Echo Park Bundle of Joy 6 x 6 paper pad. 
• The frames were cut using a Spellbinders set.  I've lost the labeling and so I'm not sure which set, but I had to hand trim the frame out as it doesn't cut all the way, but leaves the image in the center of your paper.
• The sentiment is cut from white cardstock using my Penny Black Words of Gratitude die.
• The leafy swirl is cut from white cardstock using my Spellbinders Sprig D-Lites die.
• The flowers are cut out of pink cardstock using my IO Spiral Flowers die.  I used a little TuTu pink prills in the center.

Inside I used one of the leftover chipboard sentiments paired with a stamp from the stash.  I thought this card a perfect blend of soft and sweet, just right for a baby shower card.

ETA:  I'm linking up to Word Art Wednesday's Challenge #200 Let's Celebrate.  Come join the fun as we celebrate their 200th challenge.

Handmade Baby Album Continued

Whew!  I got distracted editing the photos for Our Beautiful World.  Here's the finish of my handmade mini album.  There's a few more photos here, so grab a coffee and a sweet and scroll through.

I purchased the chipboard elements, the sticker sheet and the matching brads.  You'll see these pop up on the pages.

The pink is some handmade paper from Michaels.  There is a fair bit of texture to this paper and so it is great for use in projects like these.  Here, as a backing for the photo mat, there is just the right amount of lift to the paper and it sets everything off nicely.

I tucked a little lamb and a small mini book in the back of the album.  Both can be removed and or left in.

The book ends with this adorable flap to add a few more pictures into the album.

Lucy Marie was born on Sunday and I received a pic today.  I couldn't resist adding it here.  I can't hardly wait to see photos of Lucy Marie in this album.  I know she will be cherished and I can already see how beautiful she is!

ETA:  I'm linking up to Word Art Wednesday's Challenge #200 Let's Celebrate.  Come join the fun as we celebrate their 200th challenge.