Four Ways Friday #43 - Sock Monkey Accessories Stamp Set

This week's Four Ways Friday is all about using the Sock Monkey Accessories stamp set...whether or not you have the Sock Monkey set too!  I actually don't have the Sock Monkey set, but I find plenty of ways to put the Accessories stamp set to good use!

A simple way to use the Sock Monkey Accessories stamp set is to just stamp and color the images on their own!  Here I stamped the Easter basket with VersaMark and heat embossed using black embossing powder.  I then colored the image using markers.  A bit of dimension was added with some dazzling diamonds and a touch of Crystal Effects.  The greeting is from A Good Egg stamp set.  Striped grosgrain ribbon and punching with the eyelet border punch finish the look!

You can repeat the stamped images too!  This is a simple, one-layer card.  I began by stamping the greeting from Bring On The Cake and colored it in with markers.  Then I stamped gift box image from Sock Monkey Accessories.  I used my black marker to ink up the stamp so that I could stamp the bottom boxes without the box (ie I did not ink up the bow part of the rubber stamp with the marker).  I inked up the full stamp for the last box.  I used my stamp-a-ma-jig to help me align the boxes.  I then colored using markers and added some dazzling diamonds and Crystal Effects - sooooo easy!

You can also stamp, cut, and paper piece your images too!  I LOVE this adorable little ice cream cone!  I stamped the image twice onto Whisper White card stock.  First with Crumb Cake ink and then with Pink Pirouette ink.  I then cut out the full Crumb Cake stamped image and cut out only the ice cream scoop on the Pink Pirouette image.  I then used glue to adhere dyed sand to the ice cream scoop - here is a close up...

The greeting is a combination of the "so" from one of the stamps in Teeny Tiny Wishes and "sweet" from another stamp set (I can't remember which one...oops!).

And just because the accessories were made for Sock Monkey, that doesn't mean you can't use them with other characters! :)  Here I combined the bunny ears with one of the monsters from the Make a Monster stamp set!  The ears fit perfectly!  I colored the monster in and even added a bit of Crystal Effects on the inner part of the ears.  The googly eyes give him even more whimsy!  The greeting is a combination of "happy easter" from A Good Egg and "earthling" from the Greetings, Earthling stamp set.
I hope you've enjoyed this week's Four Ways Friday!  Happy April Fool's Day!!!!!  Have a wonderful and creative weekend!!!!!!!

Bliss Collage Stamping

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  You Can Create A Lot Of Color With One Color!

I never thought that this card would be described as having "lots of color," but that was exactly what Michael said when I showed the card to him!  As I looked at the card a bit more closely after his comment, I realized that you can create a lot of color and contrast with just one color.  I used different shades of brown - Soft Suede, Chocolate Chip, and Early Espresso to create this card.  This is one of those "build it from the ground up" kind of cards.  I started with the idea to make some paper flowers and then, once they were sewn to the card front, I just kept embossing and stamping and spraying...there was no stopping me :)  Challenge yourself to see what kind of texture and contrast you can create with one color - you'll be surprised how much color you can create!
Today is the last day to get ahold of this beautiful Bliss Sale-a-bration stamp set!  The flower, the butterfly and the vintage-looking leafy image (what else would you call it?) are all a part of the set!  Today is the last day of Sale-a-bration and your last chance to get a free stamp set, like this Bliss set, with a $50 product purchase.  Feel free to shop HERE now :)  For this card I combined the Bliss stamp set with words from Fabulous Phrases and a definition from Define Your Life.  I hope you like it! :)

So Cute & Fabulous Phrases Cupcake Birthday Card

Today's Question From The Craft Room:  Is Too Much Of A New Technique A Bad Thing?!

Are you sick of cupcakes with faux frosting yet??? :)  I have to admit that I have fallen in love with this technique!  It's not a new technique, but it was new to me and I'm loving it!  I moved on from making the pink frosting to combining some white craft ink with the Crystal Effects and clear embossing powder and voila!  Vanilla frosting!!!!  Yummmmy!!!!  If you haven't yet seen my video on how to make this faux frosting, you can check it out HERE.
For this card I ran a piece of Bermuda Bay (retired) card stock through the Big Shot with the Square Lattice embossing folder.  I then used the scallop square punch to punch squares from Cajun Craze, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White and Daffodil Delight card stock.  I made 4 of the little cupcakes using the cupcake stamp from the So Cute stamp set (this was one of the sets I chose as a FREE Sale-a-bration set)!  I stamped the greeting using words from the Fabulous Phrases stamp set and Real Red and Tempting Turquoise ink.  A button with a bit of crochet thread adds a finishing touch!  I hope you like it...and I'll try to do something other than cupcakes for the rest of the week....but I can't promise :)

So Cute Birthday Card With Cupcakes

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Plan Ahead :)

I'm feeling quite proud of myself!  I'll let you in on a little secret...I actually wrote this post on March 17th!  Can you believe it!  I knew that things were going to be hectic and I wanted to be sure to have posts for you every day, so I figured the best way to do that was to plan ahead!  Blogger let's you schedule your posts so you can create them one day and then schedule them to post on another day - brilliant!  I'm hoping to stay ahead of myself with the posts - I think that will allow me to feel a bit less pressure and give me a bit more space to create some cards for submissions to publications.  When I submit cards I'm not allowed to post them until I hear back from the publishers so it can feel like extra work at times since I want to send in submissions and I want to have something to share with you too!  So hopefully this plan ahead strategy will work!  I figure I have a week and a half lead time now...let's see if I can keep it up!!! :)
I went a little crazy once I learned the faux frosting technique!  It is so simple and easy and has a great impact.  So, of course, I have a few more cards for you with the faux frosting technique :)  For this card I made 4 of the cupcakes with Pink Pirouette frosting and colored the wrappers with Baja Breeze marker.  I white heat embossed the greetings - the "happy" and "birthday" are from Fabulous Phrases (love that script!) and the cupcake image and "cupcake" greeting are from the cupcake stamp in the So Sweet stamp set.  The color combination is Early Espresso, Pink Pirouette and Baja Breeze (I love my Color Coach - it provides great color inspiration)!  I did a touch of sewing on the bottom of the panel before attaching the panel to the card with dimensionals.  Finally, I added some buttons and a few rhinestone jewels to complete the look.  I hope you like it!

Friends Fur-ever Birthday Cards

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  There Are Some Things You Should Tell Your Neighbor About

I lived in an apartment for a very long time and it was funny how little I knew about my neighbors.  It seemed that because we lived in such close proximity to one another, we didn't go out of our way to get to know one another.  Now that we're in a house, we find that knowing our neighbors has been wonderful!  I think it's fair to say we have gotten to know quite a few of them since we walk Buddy all the time.  We either end up walking with some of our neighbors who have dogs too or we pass by neighbors who don't have dogs while they are out in their yards or going to and from work.  I got a call from one of my neighbors today about a crime alert email he had received.  He knows I walk a lot and just wanted me to know that there had been a strange car in the area that had been reported to the police since the man inside the car had tried to order a woman into the car.  I really appreciated his telling me so that I can keep an eye out on my walks and be sure to have my cell phone with me at all times.  There are some things that you should be sure to tell your neighbor about - it's nice to know that we are all looking out for one another!
I just can't seem to get enough of this Friends Fur-ever stamp set!  I hope you're enjoying these cute dogs as much as I am!  For the first card I did some simple stamping and coloring.  I stamped the birthday greeting from Bring on the Cake and colored it in with my Bashful Blue marker (and a touch of Daffodil Delight for the flame).  I then used the stamp-a-ma-jig to stamp the dog and gift box from Friends Fur-ever in Basic Black.  I colored the box and collar in and then added a touch of dazzling diamonds to both to give them some bling!  I mounted the panel onto Pumpkin Pie card stock and added a bit of striped grosgrain ribbon before mounting the panel onto the Whisper White base with dimensionals.  I also wanted to share this card with you that is just a variation on the first.  Here I used the retired "Think Big" stamp set and stamped the dog right above the "g."  I stamped, colored and cut out the balloon and hand drew the string.  I added Crystal Effects to the balloon to give it some shine.  I hope you like both cards :)