Thinking Winter!?!

Since I am sitting here at the lodge at Peak n Peak ski resort, I have snow and winter on the brain.  Well, there isn't really any snow on the ground, except for the slopes.  Only half of the slopes are open, but it made for a good day of skiing.  The temperature hoovered around 50 degrees and there were no more than about 50 total people skiing the 20 open slopes.  It made for a nice, relaxing day of skiing.  Anyway, this got me thinking about winter and Christmas cards to make for next season.  Then I realize that I never got around to posting one of my cards from this past season.  It happened to be one of my favorite because it was the first card I made using the Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses line of papers I had just purchased at the time.  I love Basic Grey papers in general, but I especially love the Eskimo Kisses papers.

Here is that card:

Ingredients:

• 
  
  Stamps: Artful Stamper, Sentiment PTI
• 
  
  Paper: Basic Grey, Prism, GKD
• 
  
  Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics
• 
  
  Accessories: Ribbon, American Crafts; Buttons, PTI; Glitter, Art Institute; Label Punch, McGill

Enjoy!

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! After much consideration, I decided to create a blog as a way to track and share my papercraft creations.  I purchased my first rubber stamp approximately 15 years ago.  At the time I only purchased the stamp because it was an image of African Violets, which happened to be my sorority flower.  I never used the stamp because I really didn't know what to do with it.  Little did I know that little purchase so many years ago would become my favorite activity...well more of an obsession.  After that initial purchase, I didn't explored rubber stamping any further until about 2002.  At the time, I was visiting my friend and noticed a basket full rubber stamps.  She was gracious enough to show me how to use them.  I was amazed at what I saw.  From that point on, I haven't looked back (much to my Husband's dismay).

I don't consider myself a creative person.  As much as I love rubber stamping and other paper crafts, the creative process does not come naturally to me.  I am still learning and searching for my style, but love every minute of the process.  So I hope you enjoy this creative journey with me.  Please be patient while I develop my blog since I am a newbie and still figuring this blogging thing out.

Now to my first creation:

I made this card for a product demo I did at my local stamp store, Loving Hands Creations, for one of their open houses.  I was demonstrating using Clearsnap Fluid Chalk Inks.  I created the sky background by using the Clearsnap Stylus tool to sponge Ice Blue ink on the paper.  I used a torn paper towel as my mask to create the clouds.  I have seen this technique done using various masks, from scalloped edged paper to acrylic pieces made specifically for this purpose.  However, I find that torn paper towels gives a more natural look to the clouds.  Next, I sponged on Lime Pastel and Olive Pastel for the grassy area.  On a separate piece of paper, I stamped the flower image from Artful Stamper with Blackbird ink.  I used the stylus tool to color the petals with Wisteria, Lavendar, and Blackberry.  I used Butterscotch and Bisque for the flower center.  I used the same greens from the grassy area on the flower stem.  I cut the flower out and adhered it to my background.  I stamped the sentiment from Great Impressions with Charcoal.  For the card base, I used Prism cardstock (embossed with Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder) and Cloud 9 Designs DP.  The ribbon is American Crafts.  The crystals are from Mark Richards and glitter is Stickles.  

Please enjoy!