LOST AND FOUND - MORE "unfinished stuff" from my old stash - freebie

I've been plugging away in my craft room, a little at a time and using more "stuff" discovered in my "unfinished projects" box. I love using my old stamps and papers from long ago. Do you?  Today, I am using previously cut out triangles of papers in the backgrounds of these cards.

I especially enjoy this Fred She Said stamp because it works for people from our past or present - still present in our lives, and/or having moved away until we next talk. I love hearing the stories about my friends' relatives and family stories. Those kinds of memories come alive when retold, and give us inspiration to live in a way that inspires others, too. On this occasion, the card was sent to a friend's husband who has been chronically ill, and fighting a terminal illness, for decades. His strength and influence have encouraged me. In the card, I shared that he and I are "aged to a perfection" only the two of us can appreciate (giggle).

Aged to Perfection - Fred She Said Old Trucks

Using the backgrounds from my unfinished box, with a little help from Fred She Said Old Trucks, I utilized an ancient (dare I say "vintage") technique. Some call it "Cracked Glass" and others call it "Cracked Ice". 

Using Sepia tones to further the vintage look, I die cut the images, inked them up, coated with several layers of clear EP, and put them in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Then the images were "cracked" before the EP could thaw:

I liberally smooshed Black Soot DI on top of the images, so the ink could get into the crevices. The rest comes off easily with paper towel. These cracked really well -- kinda like me! (giggle)

I tried to capture more detail in the photograph by removing the overhead light on my desk:

Products: Stamps: Fred She Said Old Trucks, Freebie Digital Sentiment below Dies: Surprise Creations Pierced Decorative Ovals, Sue Wilson Double Pierced Ovals, Sue Wilson Pierced Flags, Inks: Distress Oxides Vintage Photo & Brushed Corduroy, Distress inks Black Soot, Old Paper, VersaMark, Clear EP, other: Charcoal colored Vellum, FREEZER TECHNIQUE

FREEBIE SENTIMENT

My gift to you - Arrangements of the same sentiment for use on the inside or outside of your projects. Please do not sell these Sentiments. Use on any of your projects, including projects involving any design teams you might be on.

Click on the image to bring it to full size. Because of the changes Google Made with Blogger (June 2020), your image will appear to be solid black. Don’t panic. Right click and do a SAVE AS PNG. Once it is saved on your hard drive, you can open it and it will have a transparent background. I create PNGs instead of JPGs so they can be placed anywhere on a scene or project, and so backgrounds can be made using them. Please let me know if you have any problems. I hope they serve you well!

Enjoy!

Playing in the following challenges please:

1. Perfect Time to Craft (June 1) #6 AG 7/1
2. Classic Design Challenge #5 AG with masculine 6/15
3. Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #231 AG 6/16
4. The Alphabet Challenge (May 31) E is for Embossing 6/13 (one of the background triangles is dry embossed with dots - the main image has several coats of Clear Embossing Powder - wet embossing - was placed in the freezer, then cracked and distressed as mentioned above)
5. Aloha Friday #11 Masculine 7/3

Stamping Hugs,

Antique Cars The Easy Way

Cardz 4 Guys has a great challenge this week to use ink and/or paint.

So out came the inks, dies and punches!

Let me take you down memory lane...

I actually made small A2 size cards, something that is very difficult for me. They are each backed with pattern paper in different ways.

It's always fun using old stash.

The image is actually a long-ago-retired image from SNS, who closed their doors last year. I enjoy playing with old dies, too. Long ago, when Spellbinders first introduced their "Wizard" machine, I immediately jumped on with this fun die set. Why did I prefer Spellbinders from the beginning? The easy way their dies emboss and ink to make that crisp white frame:

One of my favorite vintage dies proves that "fancy" works great with masculine cards. Some of the cars are semi-colored with Prismacolor pencils:

This Spellbinders Label die set sports a neat shape, but has clean lines:

Here are the same dies but with blue hues. Copic Multi Line pens were used to create a bit of linear interest on each card. I like this inking technique because it is fast, accident-free, and always pretty!

Products:

• Dies: Spellbinders - Labels Four, Wonky Rectangles, Floral Ovals.
• Punches - EK Success circles, tags, fancy squares
• Images: car - SNS, Just For You - Impression Obsession

Challenges:

1. Cardz 4 Guys #239 Use Ink and/or Paint 3/3 (3 brown tone inks and 3 blue tone inks plus Versafine Clair for the images)
2. Retro Rubber #129 AG using old stamps (my car set is from 2006, and the sentiment is probably that old as well) 3/7
3. A Place to Start (Feb 3) Masculine 2/28
4. Pammie's Inky Pinkies #2008 3/2

Thanks for visiting!

Aged To Perfection - A Masculine Card

A note to my panhandle friends - please stay safe from Hurricane Michael. I hope you do not suffer loss or too much discomfort.
Hurricane Michael passed to our west today - monster storm that even effected our weather - keeping the temperatures lower, but the humidity higher than usual, making the "feel like" temperatures pretty icky. We only suffered gusty winds and a tad of rain, thank goodness.

Hoping everyone else is doing well - and that you are enjoying a happy crafting week!

It's time to share a Project for the new Moving Along With The Times Challenge!

Challenge #82's theme is MASCULINE - for the next 2 weeks just make sure your project is suitable for a man and upload it!

Like many guys, my husband loves old trucks, old cars, old tractors - it's that guyish nostalgic thing. His birthday is next week, so he's getting a monochromatic old truck card from the I Love Old Trucks set.

The image and sentiment were heat embossed with Timber Opaque EP. It's a dark embossing powder that shows its highlights when the light hits it.

While Timber Opaque EP is a dark brown, it shows up beautifully against the darker colors (like tires) in the image:

After "watercoloring" the image with distress inks, Tombow markers and Prismacolor pencils, a VersaMarker Pen was used on the windows and headlights, and then dredged with a light coating of Clear Detail EP. This heightened the bluish-grey tone of the glass, but allowed the textured blending paper to still shown through, kind of like "old glass".

Here is the finished card (with a sappy note on the inside of course) giggle.

On a Personal Note:

Could the sun have been any more spectacular yesterday morning?
It's like Mother Nature is saying, "Have a Rainbow Kind of Day".

After pausing a few moments to look out over the pastures and talking to my ever-present feline companion, I turned to go indoors. The heat (93F-33C) and humidity (90%+) are still heavy, and well... I'm a wimp! But then, two tiny hummingbird moths greeted me, as well! My bright pink nightie likely attracted them and they continually tried to "taste me". Soon they were busy pollinating the "dregs" of this summer's coleus, pentas and periwinkle flowers. They were quite diligent and only a foot or two away! I was able to capture one quick shot (see the arrow?) click for a larger photo:



Here's a better photo from the internet. Aren't those wings incredible?
Sigh - I love mornings!

thanks for stopping by today!

Some SNS Products used on this project:

Products Used:

• Images: I Love Old Trucks 890 (also available digitally with fabulously colored trucks!)
• Embossing Powders: Timber Opaque EP469 (for the truck and sentiment), Clear Detail EP280 (for the windows and headlights)
• Inks: VersaMarker Pen, VersaFire Clair Acorn, Antique Linen Distress, Black Soot Distress
• Other Coloring Mediums: Prismacolor Pencils, Tombow Markers
• Dies and Punches: SB Majestic Labels 25, MS "Cherish" Edge punch, SW Double Pierced Rectangles, IO Grass
• Paper: Ivory Blender CS, True Thyme, Black

Challenges I'd like to play in please:

1. Scrapy Land Challenges #99 AG w/dies fr SL 10/17 (SB Majestic Labels 25, MS "Cherish" Edge punch, SW Double Pierced Rectangles, IO Grass)
2. Pammie's Pinky Pinkies #1840 AG 10/15
3. Papercraft Challenges - must stamp - #22 Diecuts and Punches (my Spellbinders die cut frame is also edged with a Martha Stewart border punch. I also used a Sue Wilson die cut and an Impression Obsession die grass). 10/23  C5
4. Always Happy Birthday Challenge (Oct 1) Happy Birthday - to my Husband - 11/1

stamping hugs,

Sparkle N Sprinkle October Release

Hello, Blogging Friends!

Welcome to the 

Sparkle N Sprinkle October Stamps Blog Hop

This month SNS is featuring five new specialty stamp sets suitable for:

* the men in your life, 
* the country-lovers and farmers you know, 
* those who enjoy fishing (great sentiments!) 
* and workers who wear scrubs or work in the Navy Nurse Corps.
* There is also a beautiful Autumn Nature set.

Enjoy!

Lovely as a Leaf -  Rubber Stamp Set and Digital Set
Fish Whisperer - Rubber Stamp Set and Digital Set (extra sentiment)
Farm Fresh #1 - Tractors - Rubber Stamp Set and Digital Set
Farm Fresh #2 - Cows - Rubber Stamp Set and Digital Set
Navy Nurse Corps - Digital Stamp Set
(sentiments may be suitable for any of your scrub-wearing friends!)

SNS digital stamps include JPG and PNG images, and often have additional sentiments and papers.

All the new digital and rubber stamp sets are 20% during their debut from October 15 - 20.

BUT THIS MONTH WE ARE CELEBRATING:

20% OFF ALL SNS RUBBER STAMP SETS IN THE STORE

PLUS20% OFF TONIC STAMP PLATFORM.

Just use the code STAMPING20 at checkout to receive your discount.

On October 18th, ONE GRAND PRIZE WINNER will be selected from the comments left on the Designers' blogs listed above. Please leave a comment with each Designer in order to be eligible for the Grand Prize.  It's a Mystery as to which Designer will have the winning comment on her blog.

The Grand Prize Winner, who will be announced on the SNS Facebook page and the SNS Blog, will receive ALL of the new rubber stamp sets revealed this month.

Gus the Fish Whisperer inspired my easel card:

I colored Gus with Copic Markers. This rendition of Gus is available as a colored image with the Digital Set. The digital set also comes with a black-and-white image, and two colored versions - one with the blue background and one without, plus an extra sentiment.

First I crimped some tan and blue cardstock, and die cut the grass. I also added additional weeds and grass around Gus's feet with Copic G07 and Copic Multi Marker in Olive.

To coordinate the card, I also cropped the cat tails and the fish hanging from Gus's line. After copying and pasting the fish several times, two panels were cut and distressed as "matching" designer paper. Placing the cropped images on my word processor allowed me to flip the cat tails horizontally and frame the PNG sentiment. The tiny fish was copy and pasted repeatedly to make the "printed papers" for the top and bottom of the easel card:





Even the sentiment alone makes for a great card:



Ivory colored cardstock was used to frame the layered panels and as the base of the easel:

OCTOBER'S VIDEO KIT CLUB

https://sparklensprinkle.net/products/lovely-leaf-october-video-kit-v10-17?rfsn=487273.8c3a2

Receive the Lovely as a Leaf stamp set, and create a gorgeous glitter bow with cording.

These products are included in your kit:

Please join us in our monthly Sparkle N Sprinkle Creative Challenge group on Facebook. The challenges run from the 1st of the month through the 25th. Please use one or more SNS images (rubber or digital) - and if you don't already have SNS stamps in your stash, SNS offers a few freebies here. No blog is necessary. A Winner and Top Three are posted on the last day of each month. The winner receives a $15 Gift Certificate to the on-line store. Come join the fun! We love seeing what you do with SNS products.

Blog Hop Order this month is:

Jess
Belinda
Diane
Eret
Shona
Donna
Chris

Products Used:

• Tonic Tim Holtz Stamp Platform
• Fish Whisperer Rubber Stamp Set
• Fish Whisperer Digital Stamp Set (has an extra sentiment in it)
• Poppy Red NUVO Hybrid Ink (for sentiment)
• Copic Markers, Copic Multi Markers, Distress Inks, White-Green-Blue-Tan cardstock
• Sue Wilson Double Pierced Ovals, Double Pierced Squares
• PoppyStamps Grassland Border

Challenges I'd like to play in please:

1. 613 Avenue Create #202 Anything Goes with Masculine Card 11/5
2. Aud Sentiments #190 "Use A Die Cut and A Sentiment 10/15 (sep post)
3. DREAM VALLEY CHALLENGES #165 ONE FOR THE BOYS 10/21 (sep post)
4. Sunny Day Crafting #56 "O is for Oval" 10/16
5. Always Fun Challenges #27 Lots of Layers (each ivory frame is also a layer) 10/16
6. Artistic Inspiration Challenges #187 Anything Goes Plus Use Cool Colors (I have used a lot of cool blue tones in this card) 10/16
7. Classic Design Team Open Challenge Anything for a DT Card Goes 11/1

Stamping Hugs,

Masculine Truck Card

Hello, Friends! Fun Summer Wishes to you and your families.

It feels good to write a post again. I miss you, and am slowly recovering (I hope).

Today's card uses an image from an extinct company - but they are still one of my all time faves. Personal Stamp Exchange PSX - do you remember them?

*SIGH*

I miss them.

So sad when a favorite company disappears.

(giggle - if only that were the biggest of our problems, right?)

All the products used on my card are old (including the cardstock) except the embossing folder.

Product List Below.

This stamp is also precious because it was "bequeathed" to me by Dottie Karvonen, a dear on-line stamping friend who has since passed away. Her daughter Lisa has become a friend, and I treasure all the encouragement and words of wisdom Lisa shares.

My simple card needed a little something. The Card Mania Challenge came to the rescue by suggesting the use of Metal Embellishments (the four corners are copper metal, and have been in my stash for some 8-10 years).

The inside is very simple, but continues the oval theme:

I've submitted my card to the following fun challenges:

1. Card Mania Challenges CMC#69 - Use Metal Embellishments or Ornaments 6/29
2. Cardz 4 Guys Challenges #76 - Use Dies or Punch - (3 SB Oval Dies) 7/1
3. Get Creative Challenges #17 "For the Boys or Father's Day" 7/1
4. Shopping Our Stash SOS #207 "For the Boys" 7/2 (Used an old PSX stamp which I've never before used, everything on this card is old except for the embossing folder - thanks for always inspiring me to look at my stash)
5. Clear It Out Challenge June 23 - July 7 Theme: YOUR STYLE, Stash: FAVORITE CRAFT PRODUCT (theme - copic markers, stash - rubber stamps - I love rubber stamps. In the past few years, I've neglected my stash of rubber in favor of digital cards or die cut cards. It's a pleasure playing with rubber again).
6. Outlawz Greeting Card Challenge GCC062215 "Father's Day or Masculine" 6/29
7. Crafts4Eternity #232 Metal Element (used 4 metal copper corners, and metal copper brad)
8. Simply Create Too #88 "Old, Vintage" (vintage truck with vintage style embellies) 7/2

Products:
Stamp: PSX K-2040 Truck (long in my stash, and first time use)
            Hero Arts Mini Sentiments (also very old)
Die Cuts: 2 Spellbinders Grand Nestabilities Ovals
Studio K Twine (in stash, never before used)
Copic Markers
Embellishment Corners: OLD OLD Copper Metal Accents from ScrapEssentials, Copper brad
Cardstock: Neenah Ivory, Navy, Ivory 
Embossing Folder: Teresa Collins' Modern Stripe by Craftwell

Thanks for stopping by...
hugs,

Happy The Car {Sparkle N Sprinkle}

Greetings! And Welcome to my humble blog home. 

Today I am featuring a masculine card using

 SPARKLE N SPRINKLE products.

A special welcome to new followers: Sandra van Blaricum and aussie aNNie.

This masculine card used several embossing powders listed below, and this fun Happy The Car Rubber Stamp Set.

TIP:  Depending on the thickness and/or layers of EP applied, metallic EPs can look smooth and shiny, or they can highlight textures and details, making them look like real metal, rather than applied to paper.

Shade unexpectedly, like above the "smile" to create the illusion of a mustache, adding humor to your artwork!

Speaking of Humor, this month at Path of Positivity Challenge, the theme is HAPPINESS.

• Perhaps Happiness is a very subjective emotion/feeling/state of being. 
• To me, Happiness is definitely tied into our state of being, and comes from within. 
• Many people depend on others to bring them happiness. I wonder if those individuals ever truly enjoy a true state of Happiness, since it would be so fleeting. 
• Others seem to bring it with them, regardless of their circumstances. 
• Probably, like a good relationship, Happiness requires cultivation and a little hard work at times. 
• But you cannot "fake" true happiness. Contentment and Gratitude often work hand-in-hand with Happiness. 
• Sometimes we have to make difficult choices in our lives in order for Happiness to overcome Unhappiness.
• It's important to always make time in our lives for a little "Happying Up" so that the rest of our time is more productive, enjoyable, and free.

One thing is certain, thank you, dear blogging friends, for bringing happiness into my life -by sharing your lives with mine, and making me a better person because of it.

My first ever step card! 

TIP:    Create 5x7 step card in white card stock. Use walnut ink and distress all the edges and folds so that the white will not show on the edges. Cut Brown Authentique DP pieces to layer on top of the white CS as desired.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Crafty Bloggers Network June Challenge uses this bingo card:

Column A (Die cuts, Image, Patterned Paper) is on my card.

Products Used:

• SNS Exclusive Stamp "Happy"
• SNS Copper embossing powder EP236
• SNS Copper Kettle Cosmic embossing powder EP341
• SNS Caramel Cosmic embossing powder EP116
• Blue Fern Studio Chipboard (gears)
• Spellbinders: Grand Scallop Circles LF249, Decagons S4-369, Petite Scallop Circle Small S4-117
• SU Slot Punch
• Lifestyle: Nesting Star Dies
• Papers: Authentique Designer Papers, tan, blue, white cardstock, Neenah Solar White
• Copic Markers
• Ink: VersaMark, Walnut, Old Paper
• Embossing Folder
• Ribbon

Challenges this Card was submitted to:

1. Crafty Bloggers Network - June 2 2014 - Bingo Card (shown in my blog post uses Column A (Die cuts, Image, Patterned Paper) on my card - see blurb in my blog post. 7/2
2. Path of Positivity Challenge - #15 "Happiness" - See paragraph above 7/2
3. Party Time Tuesday - #178 Anything Goes - 6/30
4. Through the Craft Room Door - June 24-30 Anything Goes 6/30
5. Cards Galore Encore - June - Anything Goes 7/1

Thanks for visiting today!
hugs,

Here Come The Boys Challenge

Blog Candy Offer Deadline March 31 - three Sparkle N Sprinkle Sets - click here for details.

A quick A2-size card to say hello to my dad. He likes things without any embellishments - do you find that difficult?

It is also difficult for me to make A2 size cards.

I'm trying to get into the CAS mode. Hope it happens soon. LOL

It's a card within a card, so the front opens with a little "classic message" and the inside, too, for a little note.

In my stash of Miscellaneous Things (which I'm trying to use up) were these older postage stamps.

Do these only count as SEMI-embellishments? They are sorta classic, too.

Just like my dad, who will be 86 shortly.

This is for the "Here Come The Boys Challenge" using their picture inspiration.

Products used:
Spellbinders Labels Eight for the mini card
Spellbinders Labels One for the layering
Cardstock: SU DP, navy, white, blue
Ink: Cloud blue dye base, navy dye base
Stamps: Just for Fun

Thanks for taking a peek.
hugs,