Four Ways Friday #58 - Sincere Salutations (& Video!!!!)

For this week's Four Ways Friday I decided to use the Sincere Salutations stamp set in four simple ways!  For each of these cards, I only used the Sincere Salutations stamps and no other stamp sets!  I have to admit that this is one of my favorite stamp sets and I use it again and again and again!

This first card is so simple to make!  Here is a video to show you how to use your punches and die cuts as stencils to create this card:

Talk about simple!  For this second card I die cut a piece of chipboard using the Serif Essentials dies and then coated the letter with Crystal Effects and silver glass glitter!  I stamped the greeting with the stamp-a-ma-jig and Basic Black ink and then adhered the letter with glue.  So simple and quite dazzling!

I love the look you get when you repeatedly stamp a greeting!  Here I stamped the "get well soon" greeting three times using the stamp-a-ma-jig.  First I stamped it in Regal Rose, then Melon Mambo, and finally Rich Razzleberry.  I then punched flowers from card stock of those same three colors using the Boho Blossoms punch and the Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack.  I adhered them to the card with a mix of glue and dimensionals, just to create some dimension on the card.  Finally, I added some rhinestones and pearls.

This final card is all about repeat stamping as well!  Here I began by stamping the "holiday greetings" stamp onto a scrap of Whisper White card stock using Cherry Cobbler ink.  I then went back and stamped over it using the same stamp and Always Artichoke ink.  I then cut out the two triangles and sponged the edges with Always Artichoke ink to create the trees.  The trunks are just rectangles cut from Soft Suede card stock.  I then sponged the edges of the trunks with Soft Suede ink.  The trunks were adhered to the Very Vanilla card panel with glue and then the greeting was stamped on the card, with the help of the stamp-a-ma-jig, using Cherry Cobbler ink.  I then adhered the larger tree to the card with dimensionals and the smaller one with glue.  The final touch was to add some rhinestone brads (with glue dots) as ornaments on the larger tree before adhering the panel to an Always Artichoke card base with glue.
I hope you've enjoyed this week's Four Ways Friday!  I hope you have an amazingly peaceful and creative weekend!!!!!  Enjoy!!!!!

Notably Ornate Birthday Card

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  No Matter How Pretty The Flowers Are Somewhere Else; The Flowers Are Always Prettiest In Your Own Backyard :)

Michael went on a business trip and when he got home I asked him to help me come up with a lesson from the craft room for today.  Today's lesson is what he shared :)  There were flowers outside of the small house where he stayed on his trip and he would sit and watch them in the late afternoons.  He loved watching the small bees and bugs flying around; watching all the colors change in the light.  And yet, the flowers that grow here, in his own back yard, feel special in a different way.  I wonder if these flowers reflect back to him the love he has shared with them.  That somehow they know what care he has provided to them and that shows in the way they bloom and radiate in the back yard.  When you pour your love into something - when you help something grow - it truly does become the prettiest thing around! :)
Today's card began with a desire to bring the kitchen into the craft room!  I hadn't played with salt in my art work in a long time and this card provided the perfect opportunity!  I began with a piece of glossy white card stock and sprayed it with Perfect Plum ink (that I had mixed with water in a little spray bottle) and So Saffron ink and then sprinkled the piece with two different kinds of salt (finely ground and coarse) and then let it dry.  Once it dried, I brushed off the salt and then stamped the piece with black Staz-On and images from the Notably Ornate stamp set.  I then sponged the edges with Perfect Plum and Basic Black ink.  Next I punched a decorative label from Perfect Plum card stock and sponged the edges with Basic Black ink.  I then stamped the greeting from On Your Birthday with Basic Black ink on Very Vanilla card stock, punched it out with the modern label punch and sponged the edges with Basic Black ink.  The greeting was adhered to the decorative label with glue and then the piece was adhered to the salted and stamped panel.  I then poked the antique brad through the layers before adhering the entire panel to the Very Vanilla card with dimensionals.  I hope you like it!

En Francais & Tiny Tags Thank You

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Exercise Is Self Love!

One of the sites I like to visit frequently is Louise Hay's site.  I visit to look at her daily affirmation and the other day her affirmation was "Exercise is self love!"  It was the perfect affirmation for me to see since lately I have been road biking and it is making me feel soooooo good emotionally!  It really does feel like I am loving and appreciating myself every time I go out on the bike for a ride.  I know that I sometimes fall into a rut and begin to think of exercise as a chore and a bore.  How nice to put a different spin on it and recognize that every time I do something active I am expressing my love for myself :)  How 'bout showing yourself a little self love, in the form of exercise, today!
Today's card was inspired by some odds & ends that were sitting on the craft table staring up at me :)  I began with a Crumb Cake card base and then stamped a piece of Very Vanilla card stock with the En Francais background stamp and some Sahara Sand ink.  Next came tearing a small strip of Sahara Sand card stock and adding it to the bottom of the Very Vanilla panel.  I punched out a decorative label punch from Naturals Ivory card stock, cut it in half, and then sponged the edges with Rich Razzleberry ink.  The piece was then adhered to the panel with glue.  A small piece of Victoria lace was adhered to the label with a glue dot.  I then used a piece of twine to attach a small tag that was stamped with a greeting from Tiny Tags and the punched with the jewelry tag punch.  The Rich Razzleberry button was the added with glue dots and the entire panel was adhered to a Rich Razzleberry panel before being adhered down to the card base.  It is fun to see what you can do with the scraps that stare up at you from your craft table :)

Medallion Stamp & Gesso Card

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Work Through The Resistance!

Resistance is such an interesting emotion!  It seems to come up for me quite a bit in the craft room, especially when I find myself not liking the creation that is unfolding in front of me.  I begin to resist finishing the project and I just want to begin another one.  That moment is a big decision point for me - do I abandon and give up on what I am doing and just begin something new (or walk out of the craft room)?  Or, do I forge forward and work through the resistance and see what unfolds?  I believe it takes strength to be willing to forge forward - to face the demon that is staring you in the face and let that demon know that you won't be dissuaded.  I know it's just a card, but if I can face that demon in the craft room and get through it, maybe I will learn that in other parts of my life the demon can be slayed as well!
I wish I could deconstruct the process I went through while making this card, but I honestly went through so many steps I don't even remember what I did!  The part I do remember though is that when I was ready to walk away I thought to myself, "gesso!"  Gesso is a wonderful art medium that can be used to cover surfaces, while allowing the layers beneath it to show through (depending on how thick you apply the gesso).  You can also use a toothpick or other pointed surface to scribe designs into the gesso and the gesso also gives the surface "tooth" so that you can paint or stamp on top of it.  I began with a plain piece of watercolor paper for the background and applied ink and gesso in different layers (that's as specific as I can be about the process since it was a all a bit of trial and error as I went along...not to mention fighting the demon that wanted me to abandon this background all together!).  The Medallion background stamp was inked with Melon Mambo ink and stamped at half strength onto Very Vanilla card stock.  I then cut it out and sponged the edges with black ink.  The greeting is from Bring On The Cake and was stamped with Basic Black ink onto a strip of watercolor paper.  I hope you like it!

Emboss Resist Inspired By Nature Card & Video!!!!

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  You Have So Much More In You Than You Think You Do!!!

If you had told me that this past weekend I would go for a 38-mile bike ride, I would have told you you were crazy!!!!  I would have to eat those words since yes, I did it!!!!!!  As I have begun to enjoy bike riding what I am learning the most about myself is that I underestimate me.  I think I am weaker or less athletic than I actually am and I am learning to stop underestimate myself.  It has taken this new sport to make me feel so proud and to begin to develop a different kind of confidence in my abilities and it feels GOOD!!!!!  I am also very grateful for the synchronicity that led me to run into my neighbor on the bike trail just over a week ago because she has become a wonderful biking buddy!  That is also something new for me.  I have always been a bit of a loner when it comes to exercising and I am actually enjoying riding with someone who is supportive and encouraging and inspirational!  I believe that each of us has so much more inside of us than we give ourselves credit for.  Sometimes it just takes a new sport/activity to give us insight into our potential!
Today's card uses an emboss resist technique with the Inspired By Nature stamp set.  Here is a video to show you how I made it!  Enjoy!!!!