Crafty Secrets - Christmas Vintage Postcard Kit

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We had a really nice weekend, it was beautiful here in MN! I think we are finally getting our Indian Summer. Eric put up some of the Christmas lights, better to do it now rather then in the cold and snow. Eric and the boys (mostly Eric *wink*) finished up raking and bagging a ton of leaves. I worked on some projects and helped out with a fundraiser at our little guys school. Our oldest woke up sick on Saturday but thank goodness it was just a 24 hour bug! He started feeling better yesterday afternoon so I'm a happy mom.

Today I want to share with you a couple of altered postcards that I made using the Christmas Vintage Postcard Kit from Crafty Secrets. I love these kits! The kits include: 6 Large Images, 12 Image Embellishments, 18 Ivory Chipboard Pieces and a matching Clear Art Stamp Set. The postcards are do fun and easy to make and you can add as little or as much as you would like for embellishments. I think these would make great little gifts for the holidays. I attached ribbon to both of my postcards so they could be used for little wall hangings or Christmas ornaments. Here is the first one I made. I used the image with the three little angels and the sentiment Noel. I start out by cutting out the images and then I use 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue from Beacon Adhesives to apply the images to the chipboard. Once the glue is dry I like to sand the edges for a nice smooth finish. I use a sanding block and finishing files from CTMH. I love the finishing files--they are so handy and you can get into all of the tiny little spaces. After the sanding is done I lightly misted the larger image with Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist from Tattered Angels. Then I inked the edges using Not Quite Navy ink from SU and added Diamond Stickles to the star, angel wings and the edges of the chipboard. For the star I added a little of the Diamond Stickles and edged the star with a gold leafing pen and using foam tape to attach it to the front of the postcard. For the backside I inked the edges with Not Quite Navy ink from SU. Then I used the matching Clear Art Stamp Set that comes with the Christmas Vintage Postcard Kit and Gold Pigment Ink along with Gold Embossing Powder and heat set the embossing powder. I also added a light blue sheer ribbon for a hanger.

Supplies~
Stamps~Crafty Secrets-Christmas Vintage Postcard Kit Clear Art Stamp Set
Ink~SU-Not Quite Navy, Clearsnap-Gold Pigment Ink
Other~Crafty Secrets-Christmas Vintage Postcard Kit, Beacon Adhesives- 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue, CTMH-Sanding Block, Finishing Files, Tattered Angels-Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist, Ranger-Diamond Stickles, Gold Leafing Pen, Blue Sheer Ribbon, Gold Embossing Powder, Foam Tape, Heating Tool, Cotton Balls

For the second postcard I used the image of Santa and his arms full of toys. I did the same steps as mentioned above with the Beacon Adhesive and the sanding. Then I inked the edges with Snow Cap (White) Pigment Ink from Ranger and added Silver Stickles around the edges. Next I applied tiny dots of Diamond Stickles on top of the snowflakes in the image. I also added a silver snowflake embellishment to the front. The snowflake was a button and I cut off the shank on the backside. I used 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue from Beacon Adhesives to apply the snowflake. For the backside of the postcard I inked the edges and added some stamped images from the Christmas Vintage Postcard Kit Clear Art Stamp Set. I also added to silver ribbon for a hanger and a red bow.

Supplies~
Stamps~Crafty Secrets-Christmas Vintage Postcard Kit Clear Art Stamp Set
Ink~SU-Not Quite Navy, Ranger-Snow Cap
Other~Crafty Secrets-Christmas Vintage Postcard Kit, Beacon Adhesives- 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue, CTMH-Sanding Block, Finishing Files, Ranger-Silver and Diamond Stickles, Silver Snowflake Embellishment, Silver and Red Ribbon

I hope you enjoyed seeing a couple of different ways to create the Vintage Postcards from Crafty Secrets. Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful week!

Smiles!
Heidi

Vicki Chrisman's Sketch Challenge - Nature - JustRite Autumn Blessings

Good morning and Happy Friday! A few days back my dear sweet friend, Vicki Chrisman, asked if I would like to join her and some friends in a sketch challenge. I happily said, YES!! I have a link list at the bottom of this post for other ladies who joined in Vicki's Sketch Challenge so be sure to check them out! Vicki designed a Fantastic sketch and said we could create a LO, card, altered or whatever we would like. I decided to create a LO. I have a beautiful close up picture that I took of some leaves and it has just been screaming at me to be put on a LO! *wink*

Here is the sketch that Vicki Chrisman designed.Here is the LO that I designed using the sketch.I am so happy with how the LO turned out! I have been wanting to use this photo for a long time but I just wasn't sure exactly what to do with it and the sketch gave me a push in the right direction.

I started out by digging through my stash to see what I had that could be used on the LO and trying to match up colors. For the background I used designer paper from My Mind's Eye, the Bella Bella Collections--this is some of my favorite paper! Then I found a JustRite stamp set, some ribbon, a brad and chipboard so it was time to get started.
I first I started with the raw chipboard. I used three different colors of Glimmer Mist, Honey Dew Mist, Coffee Shop and Vintage Pink on the chipboard. Usually I spray the glimmer mist over a non-stick mat for easy clean up but I had an idea for some leaves and I didn't want any of the Glimmer Mist to go to waste so I put down a piece of white cardstock and then the chipboard letters. After I had the Glimmer Mist on the letters I heat set them. Then I used a Glimmer Screen and ran the screen and chipboard letters through the Wizard from Spellbinders™ to emboss them. After I had the embossing done then I applied Memento Rick Cocoa ink over top of the letters to pick up the embossed detail. Also to add a little more depth to the letters I went around the edges with a black Copic marker. Here is a close-up of the letters.I took that piece of cardstock that started out white and was covered with Glimmer Mist and set it aside to dry. Next I wanted to add a stamped sentiment and I thought the Enjoy the Days of Autumn stamp from the JustRite Stampers, Autumn Blessings stamp set would match with the LO perfectly. I started with a piece of ivory cardstock and lightly misted the same three colors of Glimmer Mist as mentioned above. I heat set it to dry and then I stamped the image/sentiment with Memento Rich Cocoa ink and used the Labels Nine S4-233 die template along with the Wizard from Spellbinders™ to cut out the die shape. After I had the diecut shape then I added some Memento Rich Cocoa ink to the edges and touches of gold using a Metallic Gold Gelly Roll pen from Sakura.

The last part I worked on was making some leaves for embellishments. Remember the piece of white cardstock that I placed down to add the Glimmer Mist to the chipboard letters? Like I said I didn't want to waste a drop of it and the colors blend so beautifully together I thought it would be a great piece of paper for creating the leaves. To create the leaves I used Harvest Leaves Two S4-011 die templates from Spellbinders™. After I had the diecuts made I added a little Ranger Distress Ink, Peeled Paint (Green) and Worn Lipstick (Pink) to the leaves and then I also added Memento Rich Cocoa all over to pick up the embossed detail. I also added a strip of Chatter Box Artsylicious Fine Flocked Paper in Willow along the side. I distressed the edges and also added some ink. I added ribbon and lace trim, a trinket pin, a bird brad and some twig punch outs.

Supplies~
Stamps~JustRite Stampers-Autumn Blessings Stamp Set, 2-1/4'' x 3-1/16'' Wood Stamper
Paper~My Mind's Eye-Bella Bella Collection, Chatter Box-Artsylicious Fine Flocked Paper in Willow, WorldWin-DoubleMates Rich Chocolate Malt, The Paper Company-White, Ivory
Ink~Tsukineko-Memento Rich Cocoa, Ranger-Distress Ink Peeled Paint, Worn Lipstick
Other~Spellbinders™-Wizard, Labels Nine S4-233, Harvest Leaves Two S4-011 die templates, Tattered Angels-Glimmer Mist Honey Dew Mist, Coffee Shop, Vintage Pink, Glimmer Screens Garden Blossom, Sakrua-Metallic Gold Gelly Roll Pen, Martha Stweart-Twig Punch, Copic-Black 100, Oriental trading Company-Bird Brad, Advantus Corp.-Tim Holtz idea-ology Trinket Pins, Beacon-3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue. Chipboard Letters, Ribbon and Lace Trim, Foam Tape and Cotton Balls

Here's a link list for the other ladies who played along for the Sketch Challenge.

Vicki Chrisman
Tera Fujan
Maggie Bade
Jan Hennings
Lee Brehon
Michele Kovak

I want to say a special Thanks to Vicki for inviting me to join in the fun!! Fabulous Sketch, Vicki!!

Thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

Smiles!
Heidi

E-Scape and Scrap Digi LO's and a Banner

Good morning! Today I would like to share a couple of digi LO's with you and also my banner that I designed for E-Scape and Scrap.

I created this first LO awhile back and just didn't get a chance to post it as I came down with the flu shortly after I created it. :( But I am feeling so much better and trying to get caught up and back in the swing of things.

Here is my first LO~I love this photo! I have kind of dabbled around with photography and I love taking all kinds of pictures. This photo is of my little guy when he was about eight months old. I wanted to have a picture like this of him so I set everything up for the photo and then waited until nap time. When he fell asleep in my arms that afternoon I carefully placed him in the basket and started snapping pictures. I took several pictures and he slept the whole time. To create this LO I used several elements from the Baby Makes 3 Complete Kit by Kay Eflin. Baby Makes 3 is a wonderful kit with 20 designer papers, charms, and so many elements to choose from and the colors will work for girls and boys.

The next LO is one I started working on a while back and just finished up. For this LO is used designer paper from the Baby Makes 3 Complete Kit by Kay Eflin and the frame and leaf clusters are from Courage to Fly by Kay Eflin and Ruth Davis. Courage to Fly is a beautiful scrapbook kit with 12 designer papers, and wonderful elements including butterflies, wings, hearts, tags, ribbon, frames, leaf clusters and flowers just to name a few. For this LO I used the same designer paper as in the first LO but I removed some of the color for a more faded look. Here is another picture of my little guy (who's not so little anymore!), I took a colored photo and made it B&W and then added the color back into the flower. Then I removed him from the photo and added his picture to the designer paper. I enlarged the frame and placed it coming off of the page and then added the leaf clusters and journaling.

I also wanted to share with you a banner that I created for myself. Each of the E-Scape Artists creates a banner to go along with their bio. Click HERE to see all of the great designs in the banners and to read about the E-Scape Artists.

Here is my banner~I really had a lot of fun creating this banner and playing with all of the beautiful images! The designer paper, flourish, flowers and leaf clusters are from Haute Love by Julie Mead and I used the butterflies and lace trim from Nature's Playground by Cheryl McCain. I love the designer papers and the images are so beautiful in both of these digi scrapbook kits.

Please check out the Nifty Boutique over at E-Scape and Scrap, where they are always adding beautiful new designs to the Boutique. Also while you are visiting E-Scape and Scrap you have to check out the Gallery and see all of the amazing designs!! The Gallery is sure to inspire you!

On a more personal note, thank you so much for all of the wonderful comments, emails and prayers for my MIL. She is one heck of a fighter! I am happy to say she is continuing to get stronger everyday and as of yesterday she was transferred to another hospital where she will be staying until she is strong enough to have surgery and have a pacemaker put back in. Thank you so much for your continued prayers!! (((Hugs))) to you all!!!

Thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope you have a Wonderful Day!!

Smiles!
Heidi

JustRite NEW Decorative Frames & Borders-Round with a Rose, Ivory & Black Christmas Card Set

Have you been checking out all of the NEW Releases from JustRite Stampers? This week JustRite Stampers is showing the NEW Releases on the JustRite Blog so be sure to hop on over there and check it out! You will also be able to see new creative designs using the new products and have a chance to win some Fabulous Blog Candy!!

For today's project I created a set of Christmas cards using the NEW Decorative Frames & Borders-Round and A Merry Little Christmas Borders & Centers along with the 2'' Wood Stamper. I love the NEW Decorative Frames & Borders-Round stamp set! The set contains 9 Frames & Borders and you can mix and match any of the 1-5/8'' Centers from other stamp sets. As you will be able to see from the pictures the Frames & Borders are wider and I have to say I really like this style!

Here is the NEW Decorative Frames & Borders-Round Stamp set from JustRite.I also used A Merry Little Christmas Borders & Centers stamp set.Here is a picture of the stamps that I used from each set.I created a set of eight Christmas cards in non-traditional colors. I used black and ivory cardstock for the base colors and designer paper from My Mind's Eye-Laundry Line Flirty "Embrace" Fully Embraced Print Paper. I love this designer paper with the touches of glitter and the pink and rose colors. I started out by stamping all of the images/sentiments from the Decorative Frames & Borders-Round and A Merry Little Christmas Borders & Centers stamp sets and then cutting them out using the Wizard and Standard Circles Large S4-114 die templates from Spellbinders™. I also cut out a scalloped circle to use as a mat for each of the cards using Petite Scalloped Circles Large S4-115 die templates from Spellbinders™. On each card I rounded two of the corners and did the same on the ivory cardstock and designer paper. I added a rose colored velvet ribbon and assembled as shown. I also created a snowflake embellishments for the corner of each card using the Create a Flake S4-223 die templates from Spellbinders™. I layered the black and ivory snowflake and used 3D foam squares to add some dimension and then added the glitter and rhinestone. I also added rhinestones around each of the stamped images/sentiments. Supplies~
Stamps~JustRite-Decorative Frames & Borders-Round, A Merry Little Christmas Borders & Centers, 2'' Wood Stamper
Paper~My Mind's Eye-Laundry Line Flirty "Embrace" Fully Embraced Print Paper, The Paper Company-Ivory, Black Cardstock
Ink~Tsukineko-Memento Tuxedo Black
Other-Spellbinders™-Wizard, Standard Circles Large S4-114, Petite Scalloped Circles Large S4-115, Create a Flake S4-223, SEI-Velvet Rose Ribbon, Martha Stewart-Crystal Coarse Glitter, SU-Corner Rounder Punch, Beacon-Gem-Tac Embellishing Glue, 3L Scrapbook Adhesives-3D White Foam Squares, Rhinestones Thank you so much for stopping by today! Don't forget to hop on over to the JustRite Blog to see all of the New Release and have a chance to win some Blog Candy! Good Luck!

Smiles!
Heidi

I've been keeping a secret - Just for Fun

Happy Monday to all of you! It is a beautiful autumn day here in MN, the air is crisp and the sun is shinning. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and a Happy Halloween. Today I get to share a secret with all of you that I have been keeping for quite awhile! Don't you just love secrets?! *wink* A while back I received an email from Sherry Cheever asking me to join a new design team! I am very honored to say I am now part of the first ever Design Team for Just For Fun Rubber Stamps!! Sherry is our Design Team Coordinator and we have a wonderfully talented group of ladies on the Just For Fun Design Team! I have links to all of the Design Team members listed below and I hope you will take a little time to visit each of them and leave a little love.

Here is my card to share with you today.I had so much fun coloring the Floral Oval VI (G1809) stamped image. I used Copic markers (listed below) in yellows, orange and red to color the flowers. The colors look like the beautiful leaves on my neighbor's maple tree. For the card base I used Between the Lines Ooh La La designer paper from My Mind's Eye. For a mat I used brown cardstock and then layered it with Over the Top Ooh La La designer paper from My Mind's Eye. On the My Mind's Eye paper I stamped the French Script (F1849) in the background with Memento Rich Cocoa Ink from Tsukineko and inked the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink from Ranger. Then I used Spellbinders™ Fancy Tags S4-235 die templates to make a tag for the sentiment Just a Note (WB8010). I made the diecut tag twice, once for the sentiment and the second one for layering another color. The flower embellishment started out white and I used Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink from Ranger, Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie and Ruby Red from SU to ink the flower. I also added some green lace trim and pearls.Supplies~
Stamps~Just For Fun Rubber Stamping-G1809 Floral Oval VI, WB8010 Just a Note, F1849 French Script
Paper~My Mind's Eye-Ooh La La "Over the Top", "Between the Lines", The Paper Company-White , Brown Cardstock
Ink~Ranger-Distress Ink Vintage Photo, Spiced Marmalade, Tsukineko-Memento Rich Cocoa, SU-Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie, Ruby Red
Other~Spellbinders™-S4-235 Fancy Tags, Copic-Y11, Y19, Y38, R17 (Flower), YG25, YG63, G85 (Leaves), YR24 (Airbrush), Airbrush System, Flower, Green lace Trim, Pearls, Foam Tape, Cotton Balls

Don't forget to check out all of the Just For Fun Design Team Members and see what they have been busy creating. I sure you will be inspired!

Sherry Cheever-Walkin' on the BAD Side (DT Coordinator)
Broni Holcombe-Splashes of Watercolor
Linda Duke-Linda's Works of Heart
Sandy Sandrus-CleverIdeas
Starla Nelson-Exploring Creativity

On a more personal note I want to say thank you so much to all of you who have been keeping my MIL in your prayers! The power of prayer is an amazing thing!! I am very happy to say that she is doing so much better and yesterday she was moved from the ICU into a regular room!!

Thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Smiles!
Heidi

Crafty Secrets Design Team Challenge

Today is the Crafty Secrets Design Team Challenge blog hop and I can't wait to see what all of the ladies have been busy creating. Vicki Chrisman our wonderful and very talented Design Team Coordinator gave us a challenge to create a project with a bird theme. Crafty Secrets has several products with beautiful images of birds from stamp sets, journal and note booklets, vintage postcard kits, creative scraps, stickers and vintage cuts.

For my projects I used the Best Buds Vintage Postcard Kit and matching Stamp Set. I love working with the Vintage Postcard Kits, the images are so beautiful and the creative possibilities are endless. The Vintage Postcard Kits come with 6 Large Images, 12 Image Embellishments, 18 Ivory Chipboard Pieces and a Matching Stamp Set.The first project I created is a little mini wall hanging with one of the large images from the Best Buds Vintage Postcard Kit and one of the large ivory chipboard pieces. I started out by cutting out the image of the bird with the nest and lilacs and using 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue from Beacon to adhere the cardstock image to the chipboard piece. Then I sanded the edges for a nice smooth finish. Next I inked the edges using Vintage Photo Distress Ink from Ranger and then I stamped the floral vine images with Rich Cocoa Memento Ink from Tsukineko. Here is a close up where you can see the stamped images around the edge of the chipboard. Then I misted the edges with Honey Dew Mist, Glimmer Mist from Tattered Angels. I let the Glimmer Mist sit for a few seconds and then took a kleenex to lightly blot it. Once the paper was dry then I stamped the sentiment with gold pigment ink and added gold embossing powder and heat set. Here is a close up picture where you can see the shimmer from the Glimmer Mist on the edge of the chipboard.I also added some Lilac, Lavender and Ivory Flower Soft to the lilacs, a few pearls and finished of the wall hanging with a light blue sheer ribbon.For the backside of the postcard I used Peeled Paint Distress Ink from Ranger to ink the chipboard. Then I stamped several of the stamp images from the Best Buds matching Stamp Set. I also added Honey Dew Mist, Glimmer Mist from Tattered Angels to the edges and a few pearls.

Supplies~
Crafty Secrets~Best Buds Vintage Postcard Kit, Best Buds Stamp Set
Ink~Ranger-Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint Distress Ink, Tsukineko-Memento Rich Cocoa Ink, Gold Pigment Ink
Other~Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Honey Dew Mist, Flower Soft Lilac, Lavender, Ivory and Flower Soft Glue, Beacon-3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue, Gold Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Pearls, Blue Sheer Ribbon.

For my second project I altered a tiny little candy tin. I started by using two colors of Glimmer Mist, Coffee Shop and Honey Dew Mist on the tin and then I heat set the Glimmer Mist. When I was doing the heat setting I did it a little longer and let the Glimmer Mist bubble up in some areas. Doing this seemed to give the tin an older look. Then I added a piece of lace trim. I used on of the Image Embellishments from the Best Buds Vintage Postcard Kit from Crafty Secrets and a piece of the Ivory Chipboard. I sanded and inked the edges using Vintage Photo Distress Ink from Ranger. To adhere the lace and chipboard I used 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue from Beacon and For the buttons and pearls I used Gem-Tac from Beacon.Supplies~
Crafty Secrets~Best Buds Vintage Postcard Kit
Ink~Ranger-Vintage Photo
Other~Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Coffee Shop, Honey Dew Mist, Beacon-3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue, Gem-Tac, Heat Tool, Lace Trim, Pearls and Buttons, Candy Tin

Don't forget to check out all of the Fabulous projects made by the Crafty Secrets Design Team! Here is a list with links to their blogs. I also wanted to let you know that Marisa Grosson will be giving away a $30 Gift Certificate for Crafty Secrets on her blog and Sandy Redburn, owner of Crafty Secrets is also going to be having some fun Blog Candy on the Crafty Secrets Blog.

Vicki Chrisman

Pam Hooten

Heidi Blankenship

Marisa Grosson

Michele Kovack

Linda Duke

Michelle Van Etten

Florence Teixeira

Guest Designer Melisa Waldorf

Heartwarming Vintage Blog

Crafty Secrets

Thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope you enjoy the Crafty Secrets Design Team Challenge! I hope you have a Wonderful Weekend and a Spooktacular Halloween!!!

Smiles!
Heidi

Thank You!!!

Hello! It seems like forever since I have done a blog post with some artwork, and I am sure you are agreeing with me. *wink* Thank you so much for your understanding!! I also want to thank you for all of the wonderful comments, well wishes and prayers for my MIL and our family. We have very deeply appreciated it. I am doing much better but still have a little bit of a cold and cough. But everyone I talk to who has been sick has said the cough lingers on for weeks. My MIL is still in the hospital, it has really been up and down. The doctors have said they have done everything they can for her and now a lot of it just depends on if her body is strong enough to pull through this. So thank you for your prayers!! My husband came back home on Monday, I know this has been very hard on him and it's hard to be so far apart.

I just wanted to let you know to please be sure and stop back tomorrow as I will be doing a post with some really artwork. LOL! Crafty Secrets Design Team is having a Blog Hop tomorrow and I can't wait to see what all of the girls have created!

Thank you again for all of your understanding, support and prayers!!

Smiles!
Heidi

I am sorry for such a long absence...

This is going to be a very short post and with no art to share. I am sorry! I have been really sick for a little over two weeks. I am slowly starting to feel better but I don't have a lot of energy. I still have a horrible cough and a very sore throat and I get tired very easily. On top of all of this we received a phone call today that my mother in law is in the hospital and she may not make it through the night. She has suffered with heart problems for several years (starting at an early age) although she is still very young. She lives out of state and because I am still sick my husband will be going home by himself. My heart just breaks for him...

I will try to post when I can, when I am feeling better and things calm down around here. Thanks for understanding!!

Heidi

Happy World Card Making Day!!

I hope you have been enjoying World Card Making Day and have found at least a little bit of time today to be creative. Or maybe you are one of the lucky ones who has been creating all day!! This morning I was at Scrapping On The Go! teaching a card class. The class was full and all of the ladies were so wonderful and had a great time creating, sharing, talking and laughing.

After I came home and unpacked everything I took a little creative time for myself. It was very easy to get inspired--when I came home there was a box of Crafty Secrets goodies waiting for me!! I couldn't wait to use some of the NEW Christmas Creative Scraps from Crafty Secrets! Here is a picture of the card I designed. Sorry it's going to be a quick post tonight, it's been a long day. *wink* But I do have several close-up pictures of the card to share with you.Supplies~
Paper~Crafty Secrets-Classic Designer Paper Pad, The Paper Company-Olive Green
Ink~Ranger-Distress Ink Vintage Photo, Worn Lipstick
Other~Crafty Secrets-Christmas Creative Scraps, Spellbinders™-Nested Poinsettias S4-219 die templates, Tattered Angels-Glimmer Screens Decorative Corners, Glimmer Mist Iridescent Gold, Old Lace, Honey Dew Mist, Flower Soft-Flower Soft Glue, Christmas Green, Shamrock Green, Martha Stewart-Twig Punch, Grunge Board Flourishes, Distress Stickles Rock Candy, Diamond Stickles, Glitter, Button, Trim, Pearls

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Be sure to hop on over to the Crafty Secrets Blog to find out all of the details about the Crafty Secrets Challenge over at SCS for World Card Making Day. Also hop on over to the Spellbinders™ Blog, Beth has a great tutorial for making quick and easy cards. I hope you have a Wonderful Weekend!!

Smiles!
Heidi

Spellbinders™ Wizard™ and Tattered Angels Glimmer Screens together create an Amazing Embossed Background

This past July while I was at CHA in Orlando, Florida Spellbinders™ and Tattered Angels booths were right next to each other and in conversations the wonderful ladies with Tattered Angels told us about using their Glimmer Screens in the Wizard™ to create Beautiful embossed backgrounds and we were all sooooo excited!! Who doesn't love a new technique! *wink* A couple of days ago I posted the card shown below and today I am going to show you how I created the tree in the background.If you would like to find out more details about this card you can click HERE to see the post.

To create background you will need a Wizard™, die cutting and embossing system along with the White Master Mats (2 of them) and a Tan Embossing Mat (1) from Spellbinders™, Glimmer Screens and Glimmer Mist from Tattered Angels and something to hold the Glimmer Screen in place, like a paper piercing tool or a stylus and some kleenex. You will also want to lay down some scrap paper to cover your work area or a mat for easy clean up. **Just a Note--when you purchase the Wizard™ you will also receive 2 White Master Mats and a Tan Embossing Mat with the machine.

Step 1
Create a sandwich using the mats as shown in the picture below.

White Master Mat
Glimmer Screen
Cardstock
Tan Embossing Mat
White Master Mat

Then run the mats through the Wizard™.

Once the mats have been run through the Wizard™ this is what the backside (side that was face down on top of the Glimmer Screen) will look like. The Glimmer Screen that I used to for this project is from the Blossom set. The set includes a tree, branch and a floral flourish.You can see from the picture the deep impression (debossed area) created in the cardstock. The Wizard™ has over 3000 lbs of pressure--Yes, I did say over 3000 lbs!! With all of that pressure is gives the Wizard™ the unique ability to leave such and amazing and detailed impression.

Step 2
Turn over the cardstock so the embossed tree is facing up. Place the Glimmer Screen on top of the embossed tree making sure to carefully line them up. Use a paper piercing tool or a stylus to hold the Glimmer Screen in place. Then lightly mist over the cardstock with Glimmer Mist. For my card I used Raven, Haunted Shadow and Marshmallow Glimmer Mist.Step 3
Carefully remove the Glimmer Screen. I let the cardstock sit for a few second and then I place a kleenex on top of the cardstock and just lightly press down on the cardstock. Doing this helps to create a very soft and smooth finish. Since the fibers in the paper have become a little damp from the Glimmer Mist the embossing loses a little bit of the crispness and the paper my also be a little wavy.

Step4
To get the crisp emboss back into the cardstock you will turn the cardstok over to the backside and line up the Glimmer Screen. Holding the Glimmer Screen in place lay it facing down onto the White Master Mat, place a finger on the top side to hold it in place and then add the Tan Embossing Mat and White Master Mat. You are basically lining up the mats the same way as in Step #1 but you will need to line up the Glimmer Screen and then run the mats through the Wizard™ again. Remember that 3000 lbs of pressure I told you about? Well, it will not only leave a crisp emboss the second time through the Wizard™ but do you see how nice and smooth the other areas of the cardstock are--no more wavy paper! Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed the tutorial! :) I know for myself I love trying new technique and it's always an extra bonus when I can get the most out of products and be able to use them in several different ways.

Don't forget to check out the websites and blogs for both companies, I'm sure you will find many creative ideas to inspire you!!

Spellbinders™ Paper Arts Website
Inspiration Alley
Spellbinders™ Blog
Tattered Angels Website
Tattered Angels Blog

I hope you have a Wonderful Weekend!! Don't forget tomorrow is World Card Making Day--I hope you can all enjoy some creative time!

Smiles!
Heidi

JustRite Thinking of You-Sympathy Card & Stamp Set Storage

For today's card I am using the Thinking of You stamp set from JustRite Stampers. This set includes six borders and centers with some beautiful images to color too. The Thinking of You stamp set fits the 2-1/4'' x 3-1/16'' Oval Wood Stamper. Here is the card I designed using one of the centers and borders from this set.Here is a close up of the stamp so you can see all the details in the images.I started out by stamping the sentiment/image using brown ink onto ivory cardstock. Then I used the Classic Oval Lg S4-110 die template from Spellbinders to make the oval diecut. After I had the diecut made I colored the leaves in the vine and the border around the oval with a Copic marker and then I inked the edges with brown ink. Then for the mat in the background I made two diecuts using the Fleur De Lis Pendants S4-204 die template from Spellbinders. I inked the edges of the designer paper with brown ink and added some pearls.

Supplies~
Paper~7gypsies-Gypsy Market Designer Paper, The paper Company-Ivory, Brown, Deep Red
Stamps~JustRite-Thinking of You Stamp Set, 2-1/4 x 3-1/16'' Oval Wood Stamper
Ink~Tsukineko-Memento Rich Cocoa, Ranger-Distress Ink Vintage Photo
Other~Spellbinders-Wizard, Classic Oval Lg S4-110, Fleur De Lis Pendants S4-204, Copic- Sketch Marker-YG95, Creative Impressions-Bits of Bling Pearls, Foam Dots, Beacon-Gem-Tac Adhesives, Cotton Balls

Another thing I wanted to share with you today is how I store my JustRite Stamps. I have had several questions and many emails about storage.

Ok, are you ready? It's a really fancy system. LOL!! No, I am just kidding--there is nothing fancy about this but it's something that works for me. Like I said, nothing fancy here. *wink* After the JustRite packaging was changed I tried several different ways for storage and the baggies just seem to work the best and take up very little storage space. I label each of the bags with the Name of the Stamp Set, Number of Borders and Centers and the Diameter so at a very quick glance I will know which size wood stamper they will work with. I store all of the stamp sets in a decorative box. I also keep all of the inserts for the stamp sets and I store all of my wood stampers in a basket. HTH! ;)

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday!!

Smiles!
Heidi

JustRite Spooktacular Halloween Card

Things are cooling down here in the north and fall is upon us. I love the crisp cool air and prefect sweatshirt weather. The colors of nature are so beautiful in the fall. One of my favorite things in the fall is Halloween! I love Halloween! I love decorating for it and creating for it.

The card I have to share with you today is a cute Halloween card. I had a lot of fun creating this card and I used several of the stamps from the Witch Way to the Treats stamp set from JustRite Stampers. This stamp set includes 10 Borders & Centers and it fits the 1-3/16'' Wood Stamper.Here is a close up of the stamps I used from this set. Here is a picture of the finished card.I started out with the black paper and making the tree for the background. *See note at bottom of this post. Then I stamped the pumpkin center and border from the Witch Way to the Treats stamp set onto white cardstock and colored with Copic markers. After I had the coloring done I used the Standard Circles Lg S4-114 and Petite Scalloped Circles Lg S4-115 die templates from Spellbinders to make the circle diecuts. I also used Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist on the white cardstock and Haunted Shadow Glimmer Mist on the purple cardstock. Next I stamped the creepy cauldron image from the Witch Way to the Treats set with black ink onto green cardstock and cut the image out. I added some green glitter to the bubbles and put foam dots behind it.Then I stamped the images of the ghosts from the Witch Way to the Treats set with black ink onto white cardstock and cut out the images and added foam dots so the ghosts would look like they were flying in the sky. I also added some tiny rhinestones for spooky eyes in the tree. *wink* You can't really see it in the picture but I misted the ghosts with Marshmallow Glimmer Mist from Tattered Angels.Now a spooky Halloween card wouldn't be complete without a witch flying by the moon so I stamped the image of the witch from the Witch Way to the Treats set with black ink onto yellow cardstock and cut the image out. I added Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist from Tattered Angels and foam dots. The cobwebs in the corners are from the Halloween Fun stamp set from Crafty Secrets.
For the border I used the Harvest Border Petites S4-226 die template from Spellbinders with some NEW paper from 3M, Post-it Craft Paper-Orange. *See note at the bottom of this post. I also used the Copic airbrush system with a black marker to airbrush through the die template. Here is another picture of the finished card, you can see a little more of the shimmer from the Glimmer Mist.
Supplies~
Paper~The Paper Company-White, Black, Purple, Yellow, Green, 3M-Post-it Craft Paper-Orange
Stamps~JustRite Stampers-Witch Way to the Treats, 1-3/16'' Wood Stamper, Crafty Secrets-Halloween Fun
Ink~Tsukineko-Memento Tuxedo Black, Ranger-Snow Cap
Other~Spellbinder-Wizard, Harvest Border Petites S4-226, Standard Circles Lg S4-114, Petite Scalloped Circles Lg S4-115, Copic-Airbrush System, Markers-Y38, YR04, YG25, YG63, G85, 100, Tattered Angels-Glimmer Mist-Marshmallow, Iridescent Gold, Raven, Haunted Shadow, Glimmer Screens-Garden Blossom, Taylored Expressions-Tiny Rhinestones, Sparkle N Sprinkle-Green Nugget Glitter, Foam Dots, Spiderweb Ribbon, Beacon Adhesives-Gem-Tac

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed the Halloween card. Don't forget to hop on over to the JustRite Blog to find more inspiration for JustRite Stampers!

Smiles!
Heidi

*Note, I will be posting a tutorial on how I created the tree for the background on Thursday or Friday so be sure to check back. I will also be posting more information about the New Post-it Craft Paper very soon.

Crafty Secrets Blog Hop - Learning to Read, A Pocket Card with Book Labels & Bookmarks

Edit ***So Sorry for the late post! I was having some issues with blogger this morning. :(

Good morning! Today is the Crafty Secrets Blog Hop and our Design Team Leader, Vicki Chrisman gave us all a challenge to create a card or project using a stamp set that we haven't used in awhile and if we were making a card it had to have fancy folds or a different size or shape.

The inspiration for the card I created came from my youngest son. We have always had stories at bedtime for both the boys ever since they were little. Our oldest son doesn't do the bedtime reading (to us) anymore but he does have a great love for books and spends many hours reading. Our youngest son started reading last year and this year we have a reading log and if he reads 500 minutes within the month he will get a certificate for pizza at a local restaurant. He loves to have and create bookmarks and write his name in the front cover so I created a book label and bookmark set for him along with a pocket card to hold the labels.

I started out with making the book labels, I used one of the stamps from the Book Lovers Clear Art Stamps from Crafty Secrets, white and brown cardstock and Labels Seven S4-231 from Spellbinders. First I took the brown cardstock and applied it to Adhesive Sheets from Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L, I wanted the labels to have a sticker back so my son could easily adhere them into the front cover of his favorite books. Then I made 12 diecuts with the Labels Seven S4-231 die template from Spellbinders with the brown cardstock. Then I also made 12 more diecuts using the next smaller die template in the set and white cardstock. After I had all of the white diecuts made then I stamped an image in the center with the sentiment From the Library of, colored the leaves with Copic markers, inked the edges and I left the banner blank so my son can write him name in there himself.For the bookmarks I just simply stamped images and sentiments from the Book Lovers and Story of Me Clear Art Stamps from Crafty Secrets with brown ink onto white cardstock and left the images so my son can color them. Then I inked the edges, added brown cardstock for a mat and an eyelet and some brown ribbon.For his card I used a piece of brown/orange cardstock from the Core'dinations Chocolate Box Paper Pad, some designer paper from Cosmo Cricket Lil'Man, Handsome Henry and white and brown cardstock along with stamped images from the Story of Me Clear Art Stamp Set from Crafty Secrets. I started with a piece of cardstock that was 12'' x 9-1/2'', scored it at 6'' and then scored every 4'' going across. I cut out the center bottom panel so it would fold a little easier and also because I only wanted to have two pocket. Here is a picture of the inside of the card.I inked all of the edges for the Cosmo Cricket paper and also the orange on the inside of the card. The diecut for the sentiment was made using the Large Labels S4-168 die templates from Spellbinders. Each pocket holds 6 book labels.For the front of the card I used a sweet little image from the Story of Me Clear Art Stamp Set from Crafty Secrets and colored it with Copic markers (listed below). I applied some foam tape to the back of the image to give it some dimension and then I also added some brown ribbon to the front to hold the card closed.

Not all fancy and frilly today, boys like it keep it simple. *wink*

Supplies~
Paper~Core'dinations Chocolate Box Paper Pad, Cosmo Cricket Lil'Man-Handsome Henry, The Paper Company-White, Brown
Stamps~Crafty Secrets-Book Lovers, Story of Me Clear Art Stamps
Ink~Tsukineko-Memento Rich Cocoa, Ranger-Distress Ink Vintage Photo
Other~Spellbinders-Wizard, Labels Seven S4-231, Large Labels S4-168 die templates, Copic Markers-E00, E27, E31, E74, YR24, Y19, Y38, YG25, YG63, B95, 100, Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L-Adhesive Sheets, Brown Ribbon, Foam Tape

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed the project I shared with you and please be sure to visit the Crafty Secrets Design Team Member (listed below) for today's Blog Hop!! I can't wait to see what they have created!!

Vicki Chrisman
Anna Wight
Linda Duke
Marisa Grosson
Michele Kovack
Pam Hooten

Crafty Secrets website

Heartwarming Vintage Blog

I hope you have a Fantastic Friday and a Great Weekend!!

Smiles!
Heidi

Back home from ScrapFest!

WOW What a weekend!! I am back home from ScrapFest at Mall of America and I can honestly say I have never experienced anything like it!! I went to ScrapFest with Spellbinders and Kim Hupke, Education Director and I worked in the booth doing make-n-takes for the event. The lines were never ending!!! The ladies would already be lining up when we arrived each morning to set up, greeting us with their smiling faces. We did a different make-n-take each day and the ladies loved it!!! They were very excited about the products and what could be created with them and they also loved having a chance to have some hands on experience with the Wizard and Spellbinders Die Templates.

It was so busy that we really didn't get a chance to take many pictures but here are a few that I snapped. Here is Kim at the make-n-take table with a few of the ladies showing them how to use the Wizard.Here's a couple of ladies that were at my table and they were so excited to be at ScrapFest and having so much fun!!Lastly here we are with some of the ladies (and their cute pink Spellbinders bags) that were in line Sunday morning before the show started.While we were up in the Cities on Thursday night before ScrapFest we went to Scrapbooks Too and held a Spellbinders Event night. Sue Turchick, owner and instructor is the sweetest lady and she has an absolutely beautiful store with eye candy everywhere you look!!! We had such a wonderful time with all of the ladies at her store!! If you are up in the Bloomington, MN area or planning a trip to Mall of America you will have to stop in at Scrapbooks Too and say hello to Sue!

It has to be a quick post today--so much to catch up on! But please stop back tomorrow for this months Crafty Secrets Blog Hop!

Smiles!
Heidi

JustRite Mega Font Blog Hop - Personalize It!!

Are you ready for an Amazing Blog Hop? JustRite Stampers and 54 very talented Ladies are going to be sharing soooooo much creative inspiration with you over the next two days!! Yep, that's right it's a two day JustRite Mega Font Blog Hop!!! JustRite Stampers is also going to be having a wonderful SALE on ALL of the Fonts.

Here is the information on the JustRite Sale.

JustRite is celebrating their Mega Font Hop (a 2 Day Event with 54 designers) in style with a Super7 Day Font Sale. Take 30% off all JustRite font sets and the Horizontal and Vertical Font Stampers. Sale begins Sept 17th and ends Sept 24th.

Now if that's not enough for you, JustRite Stampers is also going to be giving away some Blog Candy!! But you will need to read all of the details to find out how you can win--there is a little twist thrown in there.

There is Mystery Blog Candy being given away during the Two Day Just Rite Font Blog Hop!!! Why is it a Mystery.....

Well, there will be 3 blog candy give-a-ways on each day and you can only win by leaving a comment on the right blog! The real surprise is you won't know which blog has the candy.....even the designer doesn't know! So as you visit each of the 54 designers over the two day event take time to leave a comment.....who knows, the lucky winner may be you!!!!! You have until Sunday at noon to leave a comment for your chance to win. Then check back at the JR Blog on Sunday evening to find out who won!!!!

Enjoy the Hop.

I have two projects to share with you today. The first one is an invitation to a Christmas tea. I don't happen to have any stamps for a Christmas tea but with JustRite Font Sets I can customize the stamps to make just the right sentiment. A question that I have often been asked about JustRite Fonts is--"How do you line up the fonts so perfectly?" I thought this would be the great time to show you how I line them up. It's really very easy, I just write out what I want the word/sentiment to be and then cross off the letters from side to side until I find the center point. Also don't forget to count the spaces in between the words. Once I find the center point then I place that stamp in the wood stamper and then fill in the stamps on one side and then go to the other side. This is so much quicker and easier then putting all of the letters in and continuously moving them a little until you can get them centered. Here is a picture of all the wood stampers for the front of the card. The 2-3/8'' x 5-1/2'' Rectangular Horizontal Stamper has the first part of the sentiment on it, "Please come & sit a spell with me", using the Trompe Script Font Uppercase 25pt and Trompe Script Font Lowercase 25pt. The 2'' Wood Stamper has a center from A Little Caffeine Set, a sentiment from Holiday Demi Phrases Set at the top of the stamper and Times New Roman Font 15pt at the bottom. The 1-3/8'' x 3-1/2'' Rectangular Horizontal Stamper has Trompe Script Font Uppercase 50pt, Trompe Script Font Lowercase 50pt. Lastly the 3-1/4'' Wood Stamper has a border from the Old Fashion Christmas Set. Now I am ready to stamp. ;)
After all of the stamping is done then I lined up the sentiments and images with my Spellbinders die templates.Once all of the die cutting was done then I left the paper in the die templates and used them as a stencil to airbrush with Copic markers. First I used E74 Cocoa Brown and then I added G85 Verdigris.
I colored the images using R29 Lipstick Red, YG63 Pea Green and G85 Verdigris Copic markers.
Here is a close up picture of the images. And a few more close up pictures...Here is the finished card~
I added a few twig punch outs, red rhinestones, pearls and some ribbon.
I also stamped the other half of the sentiment on the inside of the card, "while we sip a cup of Christmas tea." I used the Trompe Script Font Uppercase 25pt, Trompe Script Font Lowercase 25pt and the 1-3/8'' x 3-1/2'' Rectangular Horizontal Stamper. The inside of the card~Christmas Tea Supply List~
JustRite~Trompe Script Font Uppercase 25pt & 50pt, Trompe Script Font Lowercase 25pt & 50pt, Times New Roman Font 15pt, Old Fashion Christmas Set, Holiday Demi Phrases Set, A Little Caffeine Set, 2'' Wood Stamper, 3-1/4'' Wood Stamper, 2-3/8'' x 5-1/2'' & 1-3/8'' x 3-1/2'' Rectangular Horizontal Stampers
Paper~WorldWin ColorMates-Dark Autumn Red, Deep Creamy Cocoa, Heritage White, My Mind's Eye-Laundry Line
Ink~Tsukineko Memento Rich Cocoa
Other~Spellbinders-Wizard, Fancy Tags S4-235, Labels Five S4-229, Standard Circles S4-114, Copic- Airbrush System, Sketch Markers R29, YG63, G85, E74, Martha Stewart-Twig Punch, Joann's-Ribbon, Rhinestones, Pearls
Beacon-3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue, foam Tape

The next card is one that I made for my aunt and uncle's 25th wedding anniversary.
For this card I only used the Trompe Script Font Uppercase 25pt along with the 1-3/8'' x 3-1/2'' Rectangular Horizontal Stamper but just by simply adding their names it gives the card such a personal touch.
Here is a close up and also a side view so you can see the dimension and detail.Anniversary Supply List~
JustRite~Trompe Script Font Uppercase 25pt, 1-3/8'' x 3-1/2'' Rectangular Horizontal Stamper
Paper~My Mind's Eye-The Spider's Web, The Paper Company-Black, Ivory
Ink~Tsukineko-Memento Tuxedo Black
Other~Spellbinders-Wizard, Fancy Tags S4-235, Labels Five S4-229, Fleur De Lis Pendants S4-204, Chatter Box-Ruban Green Ribbon, Joann's-Pearls, Foam Tape, Cotton Balls

I hope you have enjoyed the cards I shared with you today. Be sure to check out all of the other ladies in today's JustRite Mega Font Blog Hop--I know the inspiration from all of these talented women is going to be Amazing!!!

Also be sure to check out the JustRite Blog!!

Michelle Wooderson
Sankari Wegman
Heidi Blankenship
Eva Dobilas
Beate Johns
Sharon Harnist
Barbara Anders
Sharon Johnson
Deb Saaranen
Becca Feeken
Kazan Clark
Lauren Meader
Tammy Hershberger
Linda Beeson
Jenny Gropp
Lori Craig
Tanis Giesbrecht
Jenn Balcer
Lisa Somerville
Karen Maldonado
Pamela Smerker
Karen Taylor
Latisha Yoast
Julie Overby
Mary Pfaff

Thank you so very much for stopping by today and I hope you enjoy the JustRite Mega Font Blog Hop!! Don't forget about the Blog Candy--Good Luck!!

Smiles!

Heidi

__._,_.___

Upcoming Class at Scrapping on the Go!

I am going to be teaching a class at Scrapping on the Go! October 3rd and I would love for you to come and join in the fun! We will be making two beautiful fall cards and a snowflake Christmas ornament. For the class you will get a chance to use some of the wonderful new products from Spellbinders Paper Arts and JustRite Stampers.

Pictured below are the cards and the Christmas ornament we will be making for the class.


Autumn Leaves Card~
Hello Pumpkin Shape Card~
Three dimensional Christmas Snowflake Ornament~
**Original Creative Credit**~Cathy Chlebana, Spellbinders Paper Arts Design Team Coordinator. Cathy created these beautiful Christmas snowflake ornaments for one of the CHA make-n-takes. For the ornaments that Cathy created she used silver mirror cardstock and for the class at Scrapping on the Go! we will be using Core'dinations cardstock. If you would like more information on the class you can go to the Scrapping on the Go! Blog or you can give Tammy Marti, owner a call and she can give you all of the information and get you signed up for the class. (507)-377-6130


I hope to see you there!!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope you have a Wonderful Wednesday!

Smiles!
Heidi

Going Digital with E-scape and Scrap and Happy Grandparents Day!!

I have been wanting to share some exciting news with you for awhile now but with my recent computer problems I had to put things on hold. I have the computer back and I can finally let you in on the secret I have been keeping. Julie Mead, Owner and Designer of E-scape and Scrap contacted me and asked me to join her Creative Team, E-scape Artists. I am so excited and honored to join her Creative Team!! I am also excited to be working with all of the very talented E-scape Artists!! This is something that is very new to me, so I invited you to join me on this creative journey.

So would you like to see what I have been up to? *wink*

Here is my very first digital scrapbook LO~ (You can click on the photo to enlarge it--if you would like.) This LO is in honor of Grandparents Day. Happy Grandparents Day!!!!I had so much fun creating this! I think doing the digi LO's could become very addicting!! All of the digital elements are from The Nifty Boutique at E-scape and Scrap. The designer paper is from the Friendship Meadows Paper Pack designed by Julie, Kay & Karen. The butterflies are from Altered Fragments Butterflies by Karen's Creations . Flourishes and the frame are from Ebony and Lace Brushes by Jo Paquette. The font is Papyrus.

If you love doing digital and you are a pro at it or if it's something totally new to you and you would like to see more creative inspiration click HERE to see all of the fabulous creative work in the gallery.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! I would love to hear what you think about my digi LO and my new creative journey!! I hope you are having a Wonderful Weekend!

Smiles!
Heidi

ScrapFest 2009 at Mall of America Sept. 18th -20th

Are you going to ScrapFest at Mall of America? If you are I hope you will stop by and say Hello! I would love to meet you!! ScrapFest is September 18th - 20th. Kim Hupke, Education Director for Spellbinders Paper Arts and I will be at there to show you Spellbinders Products and to make some wonderful and fun make-n-takes.

We will also be at Scrapbooks Too in Bloomington, MN on Thursday, Sept 17th!! Let's make it a long weekend and come join us for all the fun!! To read all the details and see the fun projects we will be making click HERE.

Hope to see you at ScrapFest!!!

Smiles!
Heidi

PS~Stop back soon--I will be doing another post a little later this afternoon and I have some fun and exciting news to share and some new art.

Personalize it for Christmas with JustRite Stampers

Hello! Before I get started with the blog post I just have to tell you I have some Fantastic news--I have the computer back!! I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am!! You just don't realize how much you depend on the computer until it's gone and then it about drives you crazy until you get it back--LOL!

Today JustRite Stampers is the Product Focus at Splitcoaststampers and the product review team has written reviews on the 2" Stamper with 15 point Font, Holiday Demi Phrases, and the Have A Merry Little Christmas Set. With these three items you can Custom design your own Personalized Christmas Cards. To read the Product Review click HERE. To see a written tutorial with great photos on how to use these products click HERE. Also JustRite is having a Mini Christmas Card Blog Hop (names and links are listed below) and I know the ladies have all created something that is sure to inspire you.


My project for today is on the simple side but I wanted to show you how quickly and easily you can personalize your gifts with JustRite Stampers and adding some pretty designer paper. Here is the card and gift I custom designed.To create the card and tin I used the 2" Stamper with 15 point Font, Holiday Demi Phrases, and the Have A Merry Little Christmas Set from JustRite Stampers. Starting with the card here is the custom design stamp that I made. The snowflake and the center border are from the Have A Merry Little Christmas Set. The sentiment on the top half is from the Holiday Demi Phrases. The letters to customize the stamp are from the 15 point Font set. I started out by inking the stamp with Rich Cocoa Ink but I wanted to have the snowflake image blue so here is a little trick that I do when I need to remove or add a color of ink and I am working in a small space. I take a q-tip and tightly wrap a baby wipe around one end. Then I used that to remove the ink from the stamp.Then taking the other end of the q-tip to add the ink to your image. You don't want to wipe the q-tip on the stamp, just tap up and down the same way you would if you were applying ink directly to a stamp with an ink pad.Here is the finished result.I used the Classic Circles Nestabilities Lg. S4-114 to diecut the circles. I also used the Classic Petite Scalloped Circles Nestabilities Lg. S4-115 to make a scalloped circle mat behind the image and sentiment.

Here is a picture of the finished card. The designer paper is from The Robin's Nest, Winter Retreat Snowflake and the brown and ivory cardstock is from The Paper Company. The edges of the ivory cardstock were inked with Vintage Photo and I added some chocolate brown sheer ribbon and some crystal ice glitter.Here is a picture of the tin before I altered it.Here is a picture of the stamp that I custom designed for the front of the tin. The letters in the center and on the bottom half are from the 15 point Font set. The center border is from the Have A Merry Little Christmas Set and the sentiment on the top is from the Holiday Demi Phrases . I covered the tin with the same designer paper I used for the card. The band around the center is the same paper but it's the pattern from the other side with snowflakes on it. I also added a dimensional snowflake on the lid of the tin. The snowflake was made using the Create a Flake Two S4-223 die template from Spellbinders.Here is another picture of the finished set. Supplies~
Stamps~JustRite Stampers-2" Stamper with 15 point Font, Holiday Demi Phrases, Have A Merry Little Christmas Set
Ink~Tsukineko-Memento Rich Cocoa, Ranger-Distress Ink Vintage Photo, SU-Not Quite Navy
Paper~The Robin's Nest-Designer Paper Winter Retreat Snowflake, The Paper Company-Brown, White, Ivory, Light Blue
Other-Spellbinders-Wizard, Classic Circles Lg. S4-114, Classic Petite Scalloped Circles Lg. S4-115, Create a Flake Two S4-223, Sparkle-N-Sprinkle- Glitter Crystal Ice, Waterfall, Scrapbook Adhesives 3L-White 3D Foam Squares, Brown Sheer Ribbon, Cotton Balls

I hope you enjoyed today's blog post and maybe it will inspire you and get you thinking how you can personalize your Christmas cards and gifts with JustRite Stampers. Here is a list with links for the hop.

Also don't forget to check out the JustRite Stampers Blog!!

Angela Barkhouse,
Barb Schram
Debbie Olson,
Kathy Jones,
Lauren Meader,
Lisa Somerville,

Sharon Harnist,
Michelle Kovack,
Sharon Johnson (a little bit later today),
Heidi Blankenship (later this evening)

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a Wonderful night!!

Smiles!
Heidi

Crafty Secrets DT Postcard Challenge - Halloween Postcard Kit

Good morning! Today is the Crafty Secrets Postcard Challenge Day and Vicki Chrisman our wonderful Design Team leader came up with a Fantastic challenge for us this month! Each DT Member has created a project to share using the NEW Vintage Postcard Kits. We could have any theme and use any NEW Vintage Postcard Kit we would like for the challenge. I love these New Vintage Postcard Kits!! Each kit includes a custom Clear Art Stamp Set, 6 large postcard sized images, 12 smaller images to use for embellishments and 18 ivory chipboard pieces.

I made three projects to share with you today and I used the NEW Halloween Vintage Postcard Kits.

For my first project I designed a Halloween candy bucket. The little pan/bucket was a great find at a garage sale and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. Before I started working on the bucket I wanted to create a custom ribbon to tie around it. I started looking through my stash of ribbons and I found some twill ribbon that would be prefect. The twill ribbon is 1-1/2 '' wide and I stamped several of the images from the custom Clear Art stamp set that is included in the Halloween Postcard Kit onto the ribbon using Tsukineko Memento Rich Cocoa Ink and set it aside to dry.Here is a close up of the ribbon. The images stamp so clear and wonderfully onto the twill ribbon! Here is a picture of the ribbon after the entire piece was stamped. I know some of you might be thinking, oh my gosh how long did it take to do that? Honestly it was less then ten minutes to do the stamping. The ribbon looks fantastic just the way it is so if you wanted to stop at this step you could or if you wanted to add a little color and more detail you can keep adding to it and that is what I did. I took a wide Copic marker (E31) and I went over the whole ribbon to give it more of a vintage look and then I colored some of the images in using Copic markers. Here is a picture of the backside of the bucket and you can see the finished piece of twill ribbon. I colored the pumpkins, moons and added black eyes and diamond stickles to the ghosts.The bucket was already painted a dark brown and I used a sanding block to give it a more worn look. It also had little stars cut out going around the rim and I added some Orange Peel Stickles from Ranger to the stars. For the front of the candy bucket I added one of the vintage Halloween images from the Halloween Vintage Postcard Kits. To glue the image onto the chipboard I used 3 in 1 Advanced Craft Glue from Beacon. Once the glue was dry I used finishing files from CTMH to get the edges all nice and smooth. Then I inked the edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink from Ranger. I also added several colors of Stickles to the image and finished it off by adding Rock Candy Distress Stickles to the edge and copper eyelets. I also added vintage buttons with copper wire going around the edge of the bucket and then filled it up with goodies for Halloween.

Halloween Candy Bucket Supplies~
Crafty Secrets-Halloween Vintage Postcard Kit with matching Mini Halloween Stamp Set
Ink~Tsukineko-Memento Rich Cocoa, Ranger-Distress Ink Vintage Photo,
Other~Twill Ribbon (1-1/2'' wide), Copic-E31 (Wide), Y15, Y19, Y38, YR04, YG63, 100, Beacon-3 in 1 Advanced Craft Glue, Ranger-Stickles Diamond, Orange Peel, Lime Green, Distress Stickles Rock Candy, Glue Dots-Glue Lines, CTMH- Finishing Files, Crop-a-Dile, Copper Eyelets, Copper Wire, Vintage Buttons, Black Glitter Glue

For my second and third projects I made two hanging postcards. I would love to make up several of these to hang all over the house for Halloween! You can use them together or alone and they would also look great on the front of a gift bag or package for someone. The postcards are quick, easy and fun to make and it's up to you as to how you embellish them.I use 3 in 1 Advanced Craft Glue from Beacon to adhere all the pieces. I inked the edges on both postcards and added stickles from Ranger to the images. I also stamped images on the back of the postcards, added eyelets, buttons, bling and copper wire.

Here is the first one I made.
Front~
Back~Close up~Black Cat Halloween Post Card Supplies~
Crafty Secrets-Halloween Vintage Postcard Kit with matching Mini Halloween Stamp Set
Ink~Tsukineko-Memento Tuxedo Black, Ranger-Distress Ink Vintage Photo, SU-Pumpkin Pie
Other~Beacon-3 in 1 Advanced Craft Glue, Ranger-Stickles Diamond, Orange Peel, Lime Green, Red, Gold, Distress Stickles Rock Candy, CTMH- Finishing Files, Crop-a-Dile, Copper Eyelets, Copper Wire, Vintage Buttons

Here is the second one I made.
Front~Back~Close up~Black Cats & Mice Halloween Post Card Supplies~
Crafty Secrets-Halloween Vintage Postcard Kit with matching Mini Halloween Stamp Set
Ink~Tsukineko-Memento Tuxedo Black, SU-Pumpkin Pie, Old olive, Not Quite Navy
Other~Beacon-3 in 1 Advanced Craft Glue, Ranger-Stickles Diamond, Orange Peel, Lime Green, Gold, Dark Blue, CTMH- Finishing Files, Crop-a-Dile, Black Eyelets, Copper Wire, Creative Impressions-Bits of Bling Bright Smooth Circle Bling, Yellow and Orange RibbonPlease be sure to hop on over to all of the other Crafty Secrets DT Members Blogs and see what they have created to share with you!! I can't wait to see what they have designed!! Also don't forget to check out the Crafty Secrets Heartwarming Vintage Blog, Sandy will be announcing the winner of the Halloween Blog Candy!!

Crafty Secrets Heartwarming Vintage Blog

• Vicki Chrisman Team Leader
• Anna Wight
• Pam Hooten
• Heidi Blankenship
  
• Vivian Peters
• Michele Kovack
• Linda Duke
• Michelle Van Etten

Thank you so much for stopping by today!! I hope you enjoy the Crafty Secrets Challenge/Blog Hop and I would love to hear what you think about the NEW Vintage Postcard Kits from Crafty Secrets. ;)

On a more personal note I just wanted to say to my blog readers I am sorry I haven't been able to post very much this past month! We have been having some problems with our newer computer and it is still in the shop. I do have an older computer but it is so much slower and doesn't have the same programs I am used to using so trying to do a blog post takes forever! :( But hopefully we will have the newer computer back very soon!! Thanks for understanding!!!

I hope you all have a Fantastic Day!!
Smiles!
Heidi