My Digital Studio Fireworks Scrapbook Pages

Nothing too spectacular, easy to create with My Digital Studio.

• Textured Basic Black card stock
• Whisper White and Real Red card stock
• Fireworks stamp image from the Calendar Kit add on set
• Whisper White, Real Red, Brilliant Blue, Summer Sun colors
• Star punch
• Stars and Stripes font found on the internet

Happy Fourth Card 2

This was a fun card to design and make !

The lighting was terrible when I took the patriotic project photos, 

so they aren't the best and don't show some of the detail clearly.

This is a red, white and navy blue card. 

I made a "4" stencil from scratch, traced it onto card stock

then cut out the pieces with scissors.

The fold is at the top of the "4".

The red was run through the Stripes embossing folder from Stampin' Up!.

The navy blue has several small star shaped punches glued on top

to make a dimensional look (difficult to see in the photos). 

Two little red stars have red glitter applied.

A paper piercer was used along the edges of the white strip.

Navy ink to stamp "th" on white card stock then hand cut;

red ink for "happy". Rubber stamp images are from Stampin' Up!

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY !

Americana Angel Card

I think this may have been the first time these stamps were inked up! 

They are from an old Stampin' Up! set, Americana. 

I have used the adorable teddy bear image in it before,

but not many of the other pieces.

All supplies from Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted:

• Naturals card stock
• Baroque Burgundy card stock and ink
• Night of Navy card stock and ink
• More Mustard, Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip, Going Gray, Blush Blossom                             and Basic Brown inks
• Blender pen (I normally use a water color brush for water coloring with my ink pads)
• super thin strips of card stock that I crinkled up to attach behind the brad
• gold star brad (unknown) colored with a brown Sharpie marker then wiped off 
• distressing tool (or the edge of scissors) to distress card stock edges

thanks for looking =) 

Suspended Star Patriotic Card

The star shaped Movers and Shapers die and 

coordinating large star punch

from Stampin' Up! made it easy

to create this fun card. 

 The middle size star (silver) is an old McGill punch.

The tiny star (red) is a really old punch ordered from Betty Crocker

points many, many years ago. 

Anyone else remember saving points to turn in (with cash) 

for merchandise from Betty Crocker / Pillsbury / etc ? 

I bought a few things from them long ago.

A tiny paper punch set was one of them.

At the time I'd never seen card making, scrapbooking.

I bought them thinking the kids would like to play with them.

20+ years later the kids never once used them. 

Both embossing folders are from Stampin' Up!

Stripes - used on red card stock card front

Lattice Squares - used on navy card stock star punch outs

Silver glitter glue on the medium star punch out.

Silver star eyelet, unknown manufacturer.

Fishing line to adhere the stars to, 

making them appear to float in the cut out opening.

Use super sticky double sided tape to attach

the fishing line between the layers of the card front.

Use the same tape to attach the two largest stars

to each other with the fishing line sandwiched in between.

You can see the steps used to make a similar card,

but using hearts, posted here.

Thanks for looking =)

Flower Fireworks Card

I'm not sure that I shared this card.

I made it a long time ago as a sample

and finally mailed it out this year.

All supplies used were from Stampin' Up!

The fireworks are made by stamping a bold flower image

from an old stamp set with Versamark ink 

onto Basic Black card stock. I then lightly applied

Pearlex Powders to the sticky ink. 

Brilliant Blue, Real Red and Whisper White card stocks

Brilliant Blue ink

Red brads

Modern Label (I think?) punch 

Thanks for looking =) 

Happy Fourth Card 1

This is the first of several Patriotic / Independence Day cards 

that I will be posting the next few days.

 Click on the "Patriotic" label on the left side of my blog
 to see more red, white and blue projects I've shared 

(those that I remembered to tag!).

 Happy Fourth of July !

All images, inks and card stock from Stampin' Up!

This card is the perfect example of how well Stampin' Up!

stamp sets and Stampin' Around wheel images coordinate. 

Real Red

Brilliant Blue

 Whisper White 

Happy Fourth stamp set (three multicolored images on top)

 Happy Fourth Stampin' Around wheel (background)

Silver and Blue glitter adhered with Crystal Effects

Start by creating a mask to cover up the portion of the background you wish to be blue.

A mask is a simple piece of paper cut to fit the area of your project that you wish to protect.

I normally use old scratch paper and sometimes sticky note paper. 

For this project a square sticky note worked perfectly to cover the area

I wanted to remain all white as I rolled on the red ink design.

Roll on red ink across the card and mask to simulate red stripes of a flag.

Remove mask and make another to cover the red portions.

For this mask I used scratch paper cut slightly bigger than the card.

I removed a square area the size of the solid white background

that was left from the first masking so I could roll blue ink in it.

The mask prevents the blue ink form getting onto the rolled red areas.

Roll on blue ink to simulate the blue area of the flag. 

Color stamp images with water based markers to get the multi colored effect.

Stamp images and mount to blue card stock.

Apply Crystal Effects or glue to the stars then add glitter. 

Be sure to stamp the inside of the card as well as the envelope !

Side note: funny how the exploding firework image reminds me of a spider-

I found the big dead spider in my craft dungeon while working on the patriotic cards. 

Thanks for looking =) 

Mailing A Smile

Aren't these the most adorable postage stamps ever ??!?

I had to make a stop by the Post Office to

mail out my patriotic cards. 

I didn't really need new stamps just yet, 

but could not resist buying these and using them already =)

I've always tried to buy fun, different postage stamps.

I keep one for myself to add to my "collection",

you never know, they may be worth something someday (right.......).

I used to think it would be neat if I could make money off of them

then use the money to take a trip to visit my pen pal !

I started "collecting" postage stamps when I was in fourth grade

after a presentation from a postal worker/stamp collector.

None of mine are worth anything except

 to look at the little pieces of art that they are.  

There are some I bought through those 

"grab bag" offers you see advertised

that come from all over the world,

but most of my stamps are what came in the mail to me

from a long time pen pal.

I also saved stamps from my parents mail way back when

and remember my grandmother saving some of their stamps for me.

To this day I always save new to me stamps 

and am thrilled to see a different stamp on an envelope.

Sadly, nowadays it it mostly junk mail with those 

presorted stamps or bulk mail images.

When I do get a piece of real mail with a neat stamp,

I immediately cut it off and put it in my little stamp collection drawer.

At the end of the year I empty it, maybe a dozen or so new

 stamps to be put in my old collection box.

Most of them have never been mounted.

Sounds like another good project to add to my to-do list 

of things to stay indoors, keeping cool projects this summer.

Funny, I collected postage stamps

as a child and now as an adult

I have a rubber art stamp collection =)

An Itsy Bitsy Spider.............

NOT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am about ready to get rid of all my crafty stuff , no more craft dungeon...............................  for whatever reason the past year I've seen more critters in this 100+ year old house, eeeeeek !!!!!!! Too many cracks and crevices I have yet to find to seal to keep them from sneaking into. A couple of lizards, a snake in the craft dungeon last month, big spider in the kitchen sink a few weeks ago........... shiver ! Thankfully the latest, another large spider, was already dead. Nonetheless, it had been hanging out in the craft dungeon because that is where I found it all curled up, nearly the size of a 50c piece ! I don't want to know how big it was alive with the legs all spread out - yikes ! That's two big ones in the house in a month now. I don't think that home defense bug killer I sprayed worked very well. Perhaps all of my working in the craft dungeon the past week, moving boxes etc to get to my supplies for the baby projects made it come out of hiding,

Anyone know of home improvement contests, etc I can try to enter my attic into ? Yeah, I really, really need to move my crafty area up out of the creepy dungeon of a basement ! One year when the kids have moved out I will take over their old bedrooms ;)

Headed back down there with a can of bug spray at my side; I've a retirement card and patriotic cards to get done!

Get Well Soon Card

I made this card for an aunt that recently had surgery. 

At a baby shower not too long ago she mentioned seeing 

my zebra butterfly photo in the local newspaper .

She said how pretty the butterfly photo must have been in real life,

she had never seen a butterfly like that either. 

I wanted to send her a print of it

and thought making it into a Get Well Soon card would be perfect.

All supplies used were from Stampin' Up! unless noted otherwise. 

The outside is just the print attached to the 5" x 7" 

Whisper White card front with photo mounts. 

I wanted to attach magnetic sheet to the back

of the photo in case she would like to stick it to up somewhere,

but the magnets I had were not large enough. 

The inside was created with Watercolor Crayons.

The first time I have ever used them - I sure need practice !

The clouds/sky were made by freehand cutting out a stencil 

from scrap paper and sponging Bashful Blue ink over it. 

The stamp images are from these sets:

Inspired By Nature

Garden Silhouettes

Stem Silhouettes

The butterfly die cut is from the Beautiful Wings die.

I colored it with Basic Black and Real Read markers

and mounted it with a dimensional.

The framed sentiment was created with the Labels Framelits die

and Bashful Blue card stock. 

I stamped Whisper White card stock with Wisteria Wonder ink and 

a stamp from the old set Versatile Verses. 

The green card stock is from an unknown manufacturer,

it is nearly identical to Green Galore and has a slight texture to it. 

Thanks for looking =) 

Blossom End Rot

Sigh, my three tomato plants were doing so well and have been loaded with blooms and baby tomatoes, but now they are getting what I believe to be Blossom End Rot. I've never seen this happen before. I assume it is because of where they are planted this year, something must be wrong with the dirt. Or perhaps this drought we are in ? I think I water them enough though. Every single tomato so far has this rot on the bottom. I've thrown away 27 to date and just noticed a couple more this morning starting to get discolored ....... I am so bummed about this. I may as well quit wasting water on them, sigh. 

Then again this little bird ( a couple actually ) has been 

"fertilizing" the plants on a regular basis.

The tomato cages are their favorite place to sit; 

perhaps the bird droppings have something to do with it ?! 

Nah, from what I've read it is most likely the soil. 

Makes sense since they were planted in the hollow from an 

old tree we had cut down last year. 

I added a bag of Miracle Grow garden soil before planting them.

 Perhaps because hubby insisted on using it

as a burning pit,  the soil was robbed of good nutrients and 

added too many bad things from the ash. 

Keeping fingers crossed things will turn around 

and I'll be picking yummy tomatoes soon enough.

If not, I'll be on the lookout for home grown tomatoes

sold road side or at a farmer's market.