ATC swap

The Cracker Jack Stamp Club recently hosted their first ATC swap and here are the results!

Aren't they great!  And don't they look nice in a 7 Gypsies Printers Tray!

 

Here they are individually although the ATCs look even better in person:

 

Cathy's ATC has a sewing theme with ribbon trim and a gorgeous vintage button.

 



Karen's ATC is handpainted, with lots of layering, on corrugated cardboard.

 

 

Lynn's ATC looks and feels very textured and is also one of my favorite colors.

 

 

Lynn showed me some other ATCs she had made and said she was going to toss this one because she didn't like it so I quickly asked if I could have it because I loved it!

 

 

Ruth Ann hand painted her ATC.  The more I look at it the more I see.

 

 

Barbara's ATC reminds me of Barbara not only because of the "B" but because she also used some of her favorite colors and a little bling.

 

 

Sandy's ATC has lots of details and many layers and embellishments.

 

 

 

Chris's ATC uses one of my favorite stamps, Tim Holtz's Umbrella Man, and one of my favorite techniques, stamping with water.

 

 

Lori's ATC has several shimmery layers that I just couldn't capture in this photo.

 

 

Linda's ATC has many techniques and reminds me of Linda because she's the one who taught me to blend with distress inks.

 

 

Tami's ATC is handpainted and so creative.

 

 

And this is the first ATC that I have completely finished.

 

 

 

Great job, Cracker Jacks! 

 

And I'm sure that we all had inky and painty fingers!!!

 

Robin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



My Dad, the rubber stamper!

My dad is visiting me and this afternoon he decided he wanted to learn how to rubber stamp.  First I showed him how to blend ink onto cardstock.

 

Several weeks ago Splitcoast Stampers Weekly Inkling #324 demonstrated stamping with water.  I liked it so much I demonstrated that technique at the last Cracker Jack Stamp Club meeting.  Dad used that technique on his card and then stamped an image of a man playing an accordion with black india ink.

 

He made two cards to send to friends back home in SE Missouri but refused to sign his name.  :)

 

And he has inky fingers!

 

Robin

 





 

Enjoy!

Have you seen the Pure Michigan Singalong?  I've been hearing about it and finally took the time to watch it.  I really enjoyed it!  Michigan is a GREAT place to live and if that isn't a possibility then come for a visit!

I know this is a craft blog so I'll remind everyone that tonight, September 13th, is the Cracker Jack Stamp Club meeting at Michael's in Brighton from 6 pm to 7:30ish pm.  Bring a non stick craft sheet and distress inks and ink blending tools if you have them.  I'm demoing so everyone will go home with inky fingers!

Robin

Industrial Birthday

Today is my youngest son's 24th birthday.  Naturally, being the well-prepared, ahead-of-the-game person that I am, I started making his birthday card around 10 pm last night.  :) 

My art buddies, Barbara and Lynn, were over yesterday and we each made a Tim Holtz September Tag of 2012.  I liked the tag a lot and decided to use the idea for Tom's birthday card.

 

I followed Tim's directions (above link) with the exception of the numerals.  The "24" kind of blended into my background so I painted them with a Ranger black paint dabber, let the paint dry and then buffed the black paint off the middle of the numerals.  I wanted to add a little red, Tom's favorite color, so I sanded some red brads to distress them a little and used them to attach the numerals.  The project was matted with red glossy cardstock and then mounted onto a black 5x7 card.

 

My fingers were inky and covered with paint.  It was a good day!

Robin

Finished product

Here's a photo of the finished products from my last post, Floral Delivery:

My friend, Sharon, arranged the grunge flowers in vintage milk bottles and used them as center pieces for a family reunion.  She inserted the stems of the flowers through the vintage bottle cap.  How cool is that!

I'm meeting Sharon tomorrow at StampAway in Sharonville, Ohio for a few days of fun, talking, eating, talking, shopping, talking, classes, talking, antiquing, talking, etc.  We will probably end up with inky fingers, too!

Robin

Floral Delivery

I have a floral delivery for a special friend:

The sunflowers were previously featured in my Fall - my favorite season post.  I used Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 stamps (It's More Flower Art LCS018) on Grungeboard, a pearlized solution made from Mustard Seed Distress reinker and Copper Perfect Pearls mixed with water, a Grungeboard circle painted with Expresso Paint Dabber and then everything was stamped with various Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 background stamps.  The cluster of three blue bell shaped flowers were featured in my Let's get started post.  I die cut a scalloped flower shape from Grungepaper, cut each in half, spritzed with a pearlized solution made from Broken China Distress reinker and Blue Patina Perfect Pearls mixed with water, stamped with background stamps,  formed a cone shape, slipped a wire stem that has two vintage sewing hooks wired on at one end and stapled the whole thing together.  The little red flowers are die cut from Grungepaper using a Tim Holtz Tattered Floral die, spritzed with a pearlized solution made from Fired Brick reinker and Forever Red Perfect Pearls mixed with water and then stamped with background stamps.

My husband was watching as I rolled the sunflower petals and remarked that they really looked like sunflowers.  I held one closer to him and he remarked that they didn't smell like sunflowers!  If you have ever worked with Grungeboard or Grungepaper you know what he's talking about.

I went to bed with inky fingers every night last week after working on these.  It was a good week!

Robin





Need a masculine card?

I needed a masculine card yesterday and immediately decided to use my new Hero Arts Flying Airships stamp set.  I took a very quick photo before I put it in the mailbox:

I stamped the image with Coffee Archival ink on off white cardstock and started applying distress inks with an ink blending tool, starting on my craft sheet with circular motions and moving onto the cardstock.  I applied Antique Linen distress ink all over, then Brushed Corduroy distress ink almost to the center, Walnut Stain distress ink along the edges and Black Soot distress ink on the very edge.  I pulled out my pastels and added colored to the airship.  I stamped the light brown card with an Impression Obsession Cover-a-Card Scratches stamp and Walnut Stain distress ink.  The card needed something else and after trying several things (and making a HUGE mess) I decided on a black mat punched  with an EK Success Binding Edge Edger punch and a little "V" of ribbon attached using Tim Holtz's Tiny Attacher.

My fingers were still inky when I got back from the mailbox!

Robin