I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane

and boarding a HUGE ship to cruise with Tim Holtz and Wendy Vecchi TODAY - yippppeeeeee!

My friends and I have been waiting to leave for this cruise for almost a YEAR and it's finally here. My SIL and I are participating in a swap on the ship - something we've never done before. I thought I would share you with what we made (cuz we're leaving today before the rooster crows - or did I already say that???)

The Journey Bird:



Grunge Flower (I made this for Wendy):




Margarita Party with the Rain Man (Mexico is the back):

Voyage Under the Sea (this one is Rhonda's):


While I am away I have many posts scheduled for the new release of ISC images.

Have a great week everyone - We know we will!!! Dreams do come True!!!

KAT

Christmas Card Quest - 10 of 40

Okay it's the beginning of October and I am 25% of the way to having my Christmas cards completed.

Todays:


You can't read it in the picture but the Idea-ology Philosophy tag says "Believe".

I'm loving using lots of layers and my holiday Tim Holtz stamps that I HAD to have last year but were never inked. So far I have not spent any money to make these cards (of course money was spent, just not this year - so they are almost free right???)

30 to go - I plan on spending today World Card Making Day - making more!

Oh- one more thing.... It's only 8 days until my Tim Holtz Cruise.... Yipppppeeeeee!!!!!!!!

Are you stamping today?

KAT

The Stuff:
Stamps - Holiday Collection, Santa's Wish, Letter's to Santa (Tim Holtz); Winter Post (SU)

Christmas Card Quest - 8 of 40

Here's another in my quest to get 40 Christmas card completed before December.


I love monochromatic cards -especially when you add lots of embellishing to them - okay really I just like to add embellishments - it's a sickness!

The black and cream mat is another one from Archiver's $1.99 spot - it really helps to pull the entire card together and gives you the WOW factor!

32 more Christmas cards to go and 13 more days until I am Cruising with Tim Holtz!!!

How many Christmas cards do you have finished?

KAT

The Stuff:
Stamps - Santa's Wish (Tim Holtz), Sanded (SU)
Other - 5th Avenue Spiral Journal (Making Memories)

Country Friendship

Hmmm... I must be on a pink kick - this card has pink written all over it! This is from ISC new stamp sheet Country Living

Country Friendship:

The background behind the flower "vase" is another of the spiral journaling pages (remember Archivers $1.99). The little flower in the vase and on the side panel were water colored with distressed stickles for their centers. Love the little stick pins in the ribbon knot.

I'll have to make sure that my next card is not pink!

KAT

The Stuff:
Stamps - Country Living (Innovative Stamp Creations)
paper - Perhaps (Basic Grey)
other - noteworthy spiral journaling book (Making Memories)

Friendship in Pink

How about a girlie card today? The flowers on this card are from ISC new stamp sheet - Let It Bloom.

Friendship In Pink:

The focal flower and the background floral panel are polished stone with reinkers. The girl image is distressed background using the same colors at the polished stone.

Pink is Pretty (purple - not so much!)

KAT

Stamps - (all Innovative Stamp Creations) Let it Bloom, Women Around the World
Paper - Glossy, Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana, Black (SU), VersaMark
Ink - Black Archival (Ranger), Barely Banana, Pretty in Pink and reinkers (SU)
Other Black EP

Ferns

Happy Monday!

Today's samples are also using ISC Shades of Autumn. I used the fern image using two different techniques.

Fern - Paint Resist:

After stamping the fern on pattern paper from Basic Grey I used a versamark marker and clear EP on the image before apply ivory acrylic paint. After the acrylic paint drys simply wipe off with a damp paper towel and it will "magically" disappear where the EP is...

Fern - Opaque Pen

The opaque pen was used to color the leaves. One the side panel the same stamp was used and the leaves were water colored.

Have a great day!

KAT

The Stuff:
Stamps - Shade of Autumn (Innovate Stamp Creations)
Other - Classic Frame (Spellbinders), Scallop Punch (SU)

Grape Leaves

I love leaf stamps - any size, shape or type of leaf - my favorite are line image leaves because then you can do all kinds of wonderful techniques to them. Today's sample is from ISC new set - Shades of Autumn.

Grape Leaves for You:


The focal grape leaves were embossed in Brown and water colored. The background was created by clear embossing the leaves and blending with distressed inks.

Have a wonderful Saturday!

KAT

The Stuff:
Stamps - Shades of Autumn (ISC)
Paper - white, chocolate chip (SU)
INk - Watermark Resist, Aged Mahogany, Scattered Straw, Brushed Corduroy, Peeled Paint (Ranger), choc chip (SU)
Other - Brown EP (american crafts)

Innovative Stamp Creations - September Release

For September Innovative Stamp Creations has a little bit for everyone - images that range from flowers, to farm life, leaves and even the tropics!

Since today is Betsy's (the owner of ISC) birthday - yes ladies she's 29 again - she's running a unique special for ISC. You can buy all 5 of the new release sheets for $40.00 (retail value $56.49). That's over 50 stamp images for less than a $1 an image. This special offer ends on Sept 18th. To learn more go to Innovative Stamp Creations site here

Today I am sharing with you samples from the new sheet called The Tropics - love the fern and bamboo images on this sheet (and maybe I like these cards because they are green and that's my favorite color!)

Something For You:


Close up of Memory Frame:

I love the Ranger memory capsules - see the little leave inside - it's a button.


Dreaming of the Tropics:

I made the little rosette under the button by simply slip stitching the ribbon and gathering - I thought it went great with the velvet and gathered ribbon. I love the little journaling paper behind the image - you'll see a few samples from me using these with different designs and colors - they were a great find at Archivers in the $1.99 section.

So now I am dreaming of hot, sunny weather!

KAT

The Stuff:
Stamps - (all Innovative Stamp Creations) The Tropics
Paper - Very Vanilla, Old Olives (SU)
Ink - Chocolate Chip, Old Olive (SU), Brushed Corduroy Distress (Ranger)
Other - 1 1/2 Memory Capsule and Frame (Ranger), paper crimper, Paperie Greenhouse spiral journaling book (making memories), velvet and gathered ribbon (Pink paislie)

Another Christmas Card!

I’ve finished 6 cards for my self imposed Christmas Card Quest…

6 of 40:

Each of these finished squares is 1 ½ - so technically an inchie + half! I love the simple color scheme on this card - Sepia, Cream and Mellow Moss with a little copper hardware added in. The Santa’s and Dec calendar were all punched from ATC stamps. The Do Not Open was crackled with Range Crackle medium - because - sigh - I don’t have the new Rock Candy yet…

Quest Update:
6 of 40 cards completed
Money Spent $0
Items Never used - Tim Holtz ATC Stamps and Hero Art Collage Stamp (Santa definition)

How am I doing on making 50% of them easy to complete cards - not so much! I knew this would be hard for me - but I want to enjoy the process more than I am worried about the time it takes! (as long as I get them all complete before the beginning of Dec!)

RU ready for Christmas?

KAT

The Stuff:
Stamps - Holiday Collection, Santa’s Wish (Tim Holtz); Winter Post (SU),
Collate Merry & Bright (Hero Arts), Holiday Prints (SU)
Paper - Very Vanilla, Mellow Moss (SU)
Ink - Sepia Archival (Ranger), Mellow Moss (SU)

Christmas Card Quest - 4 of 40

Here is the next design of two for my self imposed Christmas Card Quest…

4 of 40:

This is my attempt at a easy/simple card - of course it would have been a lot quicker if I didn’t insist on using an opaque pen to have one side of the trees look like there is snow - if you look you can barely see it - so my question to myself - Why did I bother? Cuz the girl just can’t help herself!

The background for the trees is Alcohol Ink and Silver Metallic Mixative. Over the cuttlebug snowflake embossing I used silver rub on. See the felt snowflakes - they are from SU - I just had to have them last year and I bought two packages - this is the first time they’ve seen the light of day!

Quest Update:

• 4 of 40 cards completed (look I’m 10% finished *snort*)
• Money Spent $0
• Item Never used - Felt Snowflakes

KAT

The Stuff:
Stamps - Trees (Just for Fun), Sentiment (endless Creations)
Paper - Glossy, Black, Pretty in Pink (SU)
Ink - Versamark, Black Archival (Ranger), Baja Breeze (SU)
Other - Felt Snowflakes (SU), Rhinestone Brad (Creating Memories), Black EP (Ranger), Metallic Rub On