Out on a Limb

It's been a while since I've used my Hambo Stamps, mostly because I've been concentrating on making card ministry cards, and I lean towards more elegant images and sentiments for those. But then I have to remind myself that different people enjoy different things, and maybe a pun will be just the thing to brighten someone's day!

Here, I've used the Hambo clear "Owl" set, and colored the owl and the branch with copic markers. I'm identifying with this owl, as I too am feeling extra "fluffy" around the middle. Summer is a time for ice cream and milkshakes, and, well, you know how that goes. But I digress... The beautiful leaf print is another design in the "Aquarelle" pad, by Love Nicole. I popped up the sentiment with dimensionals, thus satisfying the "Ways to Use It" challenge for this week at Splitcoast. I love using dimensionals, so there was really no challenge in it for me. Perhaps I should push myself a bit harder next time.

Hope your weekend is a HOOT!!

Plaid with Flowers

This week's CAS challenge at Splitcoast asked us to use plaid in our creations. I actually had a piece of plaid out on my table with this teal textured cardstock that I thought could work together, and when I found this scalloped circle in a baggie of leftover elements, the card came together.

The flowers are from the "Enamor" clear set by Penny Black, and the sentiment is from "Kind Words" by Verve. I used copic markers to color the flowers. The plaid paper is from and American Crafts 6x6 pad called "#summer" -- which is filled with some of the brightest colors and designs I've ever seen in papers! Just using a small strip like this helps to tone it down a bit.

I have a special coupon code for Hambo Stamps that is good thru the rest of this month. Mention "CAS35" when you order to save 35% on all Hambo stamps thru next Tuesday (31st). This code is not referenced on the Hambo website anywhere, and is a special code just for my blog readers.

Have a great day!

Collage Duo

REMINDER: Now thru July 8, enjoy 40% off ALL Hambo stamps! See our SALE page for details. 

I had this "collage" page in my Pebbles paper pad that I wasn't sure how to use. It's kind of busy to use as a background, as I normally do my designer papers. But then instead of seeing the page as a whole, I started seeing the smaller squares and rectangles and ways I could divide the paper, and I came up with two designs:

Not only did dividing up the squares make them more manageable, but I still have enough squares left over that I could make a third card -- just not today!

The first card uses two rectangular sections that I cut out:

I framed these two sections with another coordinating paper from the same pad. For some added interest, I used a couple of dies to cut out a red heart, which I popped up on the bottom, and a yellow flower, with a little jewel center.

For my second card, I centered a larger portion of the collage on my white card stock base:

I framed it out with a coordinating turquoise solid paper, and then added a Hero Arts sentiment to the bottom. Very CAS (clean and simple)!

This keeps happening to me, where a design that I originally skipped over because I didn't know how to use it, ends up making cute cards that I want to duplicate! Maybe some day the lesson will sink in, and I won't immediately dismiss something that is challenging.

Have a great weekend!

Supplies:

Stamps - sentiments on both cards by Hero Arts "Everyday Sayings"
Paper - "Garden Party" by Pebbles
Ink - Memento "Lady Bug" red (top); Memento "Teal Zeal" (bottom)
Dies - heart & banner (top) by Becky Higgins

Making Some Noise

REMINDER: Now thru July 8, enjoy 40% off ALL Hambo stamps! See our SALE page for details. 

Now on to today's card:

While on a stamp retreat years ago with some of my Hambo Stamps designers, I was privileged to receive a tutorial from card-maker extraordinaire Melissa Edwards. She is a master of coloring, but the technique she showed us was using markers on an acrylic block and spritzing to do easy water-colored backgrounds. I've since made dozens of cards (you can see some here and here) using her technique, because not only is it very easy to do, but the results are STUNNING. But we didn't merely lay down the watercolor -- she taught us to add "noise" to the color, which kicks it up a notch.

My card above demonstrates such "noise." Although this time I used a swatch of designer paper instead of using markers to make the water-colored strip, I still started with basic variations on a color:

Above is the paper I chose from Love Nicole's "Aquarelle" pad. I cut it down so that I just had purplish strip on the left. I could have left the strip as it was, glued my die cut on top and finished the card, but it would have looked a little more dull than it does with the added "noise." I started with a script background stamp, and stamped it in an ink that coordinated with the paper's design, but wasn't too dark. You want the noise to be there, but not stand out too much on its own. Next, I chose another coordinating color to stamp some leaves randomly over the script. The paper already had some white spots included in the design, so I was satisfied to stop there. You can see a close-up of the noise below:

With the paper now jazzed up, I was ready to glue it to my white card base, and add the "Prim Poppy" die cut. Finally, I finished the card with a scripture stamp from Verve. The noise adds just enough extra drama to help the die cut stand out a little more, and leads to a more interesting card.

Do you like to add noise? If you've never tried it, give it a shot, and feel free to link up your result in the comments below.

Happy stamping!

Supplies:

Stamps - scripture from "Scripture Medley 4" by Verve; script background by Recollections; leaves from "Fanciful Filaments" set by Hero Arts
Paper - "Aquarelle" (6 x 6 pad) by Love Nicole
Ink - Memento "Lilac Posies" for sentiment and leaves; "Sweet Plum" for script background
Dies - "Prim Poppy" by Memory Box 

Hambo Summer Sale!

Now thru July 8, enjoy 40% off ALL Hambo stamps! See our SALE page for details. Spread the word!

Pretty Poppies

It's been forever since I played along with a Splitcoast sketch challenge, so I'm patting myself on the back a little, because I found this one to be kind of tough. I had several images that could take up the longish space on the left, but what would coordinate for the smaller boxes on the right?

I really wanted to use my Stampendous "Poppy Scene" stamp on the left, but adding further to my problem was that the frame around the image was irregular. My solution? Doodling!

That's right - those boxes on the right were doodled with a Micron pen. I stamped poppies from a Technique Tuesday clear set, but they didn't look right. I settled on keeping the stems from that stamp, but then re-stamping the Stampendous one, and cutting out some of the poppies to glue on top of the Techique Tuesday stems. Then I used a sentiment from Hero Arts to complete the layout.

I always like a red/white/black combination (maybe because of my love for the Detroit Red Wings?), and I think this pops. Hah! Appropriate for "Pop"pies! LOL (I crack myself up.)

Enjoy the last few days of June. See you in July! OH - And look for a big Hambo Stamps sale coming up next week! 40% discounts on everything - spread the word!

Have a great weekend!

Supplies:

Stamps - Stampendous "Poppy Scene"; Technique Tuesday "Growing Wild" set (stems); Hero Arts "Everyday Sayings"
Paper - "Garden Party" by Pebbles (DP); Stampin' Up real red cardstock
Ink - colored with Copic markers; sentiment embossed with white powder
Dies - banner from Becky Higgins set

Hello, and Welcome!

(Click for a larger photo)

Hello! It has been YEARS since I've had a blog, perhaps because I eventually ran out of things to say. Well, that's not really true, but things certainly changed in my life when I decided to put my stamp business, Hambo Stamps, on the back burner and focus more on my family. My stamp biz was taking over the house, right at a time when my kids were entering their teenage years, and needing more space. So while I didn't close my business completely, I DID quit promoting it, and spent my energy instead on my kids, a partial house renovation, and eventually -- as I began to itch to stamp again after taking so much time off -- the creation of a card ministry for my church.

I've been leading out in this card ministry for a few years now, and as my profile on the right says, I learned some things in the process. My hope is that the things I have learned will benefit others who might be doing a card ministry themselves, or wanting to start one. No sense re-inventing the wheel, right? Let my experience help you sidestep the potholes that I fell in, and one-up my successes.

I will share some cards with you along the way so you'll have something to look at instead of/in addition to reading my ramblings. You'll note that my card style is CAS (clean and simple) for the most part, which actually works quite well for card ministry, because you'll want those cards to fit in an envelope and be sent at regular postage rates!

Today's card has layers though, and was made with a GORGEOUS designer paper that was included in the spring edition (Apr/May/Jun 2018) Stampers' Sampler magazine. It is called "Budding Thoughts" by Eirene Nguyen. This was the background paper for my card. I had a piece of scrap paper with what looks to me like dogwood blooms, which I coordinated with the background. The papers were so pretty, I didn't want to cover them up, so I used a vellum tag with a Hero Arts "Hello" die and a rose gold brad. The brad will cause a small bump in the envelope, but it shouldn't cause any mailing problems.

I hope you'll check back in from time to time, and be sure to let me know if you have any specific questions about card ministries that I might be able to answer by email or in a later post. I'm not claiming to be an EXPERT, but hopefully the experience that I DO have will help!