{Spotlight Project} Guest Designer Becca Creates Thank You Cards Using the Stamping with Sweetened Condensed Milk Technique!

Hello, STAMPlorations friends! Today and tomorrow, we're all in for a treat, as we've got two super-creative crafters guest designing and sharing their spotlight projects! 

First up is Becca Cruger of Damsel of Distressed Cards sharing a fun technique! We're so excited to have her on the blog today! Let us know what you think of Becca's project and then make sure to stop by her blog to leave her some love!

Although I've been crafting ever since I discovered how to attach glitter to paper, I just recently started blogging (in October). The amazing, supportive crafty community I've found on the web has been beyond inspiring! STAMPlorations was one of the first card making challenges I ever participated in, and I fell in love with the sketchy designs that lend themselves to all sorts of stamping aesthetics. My cards are very eclectic - I love all things vintage and distressed, but also find beauty in the simplicity of clean lines and smile when I come across a great pun. No matter what aesthetic I feel like working in, almost all of my designs will be saturated in color or filled with texture. 

And here's Becca's spotlight project! Enjoy and be inspired!

Ahhhh.... it's that time of year again. The Christmas cards have all been created, addressed in your finest print, and stuffed into matching envelopes. Now it's time to sit back, relax, and enjoy the holiday season. But what to do with all of that extra free crafty time now that you're not stamping furiously to make that one last card for Great Aunt Edna?

Thank you cards! I don't know about you, but my holiday season is filled with family get-togethers, present unwrapping, and cookie bakes. I have a lot to be thankful for, and I wanted to get a jump-start on the cards I know I'll be itching to give to thank all of the people involved in creating my Christmas spirit.

This weekend, I sat down to create a set of cards using the Sentiment Builders: Thank You set. I love the sentiment builders because there are so many different sayings you can create with one set! It's one of the (many) reasons I fell in love with STAMPlorations.

I decided to use an old technique my grandmother taught to me: stamping with sweetened condensed milk. It sounds messy (and it is!), but it creates this aged textural feel that will leave people wondering just what the heck is on your card - in a good way.

{Spotlight Project} Cornelia Plays with a Couple of Oldies but Goodies Stamp Sets

Hi, everyone. Cornelia is back playing with some of the older STAMPlorations sets today! I used one of my favorite techniques, sponging, and one of my favorite gadgets to make those cards, the Stamp-a-majig.

{Spotlight Project} Vicki Creates a Mixed Media Tag Card

Hi, it's Vicki here. Today I have a super-fun-to-make mixed media tag card. Here is the finished project:

Here are the steps make this tag card:

Step 1: Stamp an array of images on a tag.

I used the following STAMPlorations sets:

Sentiment Builders: Thank You

Vignette: Chevron & Arrows

Vignette: Celebrate Artsy

Vignette: Retro Mod Shapes

Step 2: Using a stencil, cover with embossing paste. [Ignore the fact the stamping isn't there yet - I did a re-do :)]

Step 3: Spray with ink spray.

Step 4: Using my Silhouette, I cut a border and then stamped thank you. [If you are good, you could use scissors.] I ink sprayed after I stamped this.

Finished Project: I adhered a second tag to the decorated one, put on a re-enforcer, and tied a ribbon. My tag card is done, and I love it! :)

I hope you try a mixed media tag card -- they are fun to make! See ya in 2 weeks~

      

{Spotlight Project} Shery Makes Her Favorite Kind of Cards

Hello, fellow stampers! It's my turn to share a project this week. I'm back with another one layer card.

One layer cards are my favorite kind of cards to make but there's another reason I decided to make them this week: my craft area is still a disaster after 2 weeks. I bought crates and a 7-drawer rolling cart a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, I haven't made any serious progress in cleaning, organizing, and downsizing my craft supplies. My craft area is in shambles. Fortunately, I don't need much to make one layer cards...just stamps, inks, and post-it notes.

Here's my card. In addition to the Boxed Blooms & Bold Sentiments stamps, I used Vignette: Eclectic Florals and words from two Sentiment Builders sets, Happy and Thank You. (Shooting videos isn't possible until I could clear my craft table so a photo tutorial will have to do for now.)

1.

I stamped the daffodil three times on my card base,

stamping first in the middle and then with a post-it note,

I masked the image before stamping on the upper left and

lower right. I used jet black archival ink because I will be

watercoloring the daffodil in the middle. [You'll want to 

use ink that's permanent and waterproof for stamping if

you plan on using a wet medium later on.]

2.

Next, I stamped my sentiment. [Tip: If you are using

words from different sets, "audition" them before

stamping by laying them uninked on your card. Try different

orientations. In my card, I let the layout of the boxed

daffodils dictate how I would stamp the words. And

here's another tip: don't be afraid to mix and match different

sizes and fonts. Use the design principle of contrast: bold with

regular, caps with small caps, serif with sans serif, slab with script.]

3.

I then watercolored the daffodil in the middle with

Inktense Blocks. You can also use Distress inks for

watercoloring, but I find the Inktense Blocks to be

more vibrant, especially on cold-press watercolor paper,

like the one I used for my card base.

4.

I masked my daffodils with post-it notes before

stamping my flowers in Memento inks

(Lilac Posies and Bahama Blue).

5.

I added some spatters on my card and affixed a

couple of adhesive gems to the flowers. (I was lucky --

I found the gems in the plastic container that happened to be

on top of one of the empty crates.)

When I'm making one layer cards, masking is my favorite technique to use because it helps create an illusion of depth. 

Here's a second card I made using the steps above, only this time I went all black so the middle daffodil would pop. For texture, I used one of the stamps in the Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds. Instead of watercolor paper, I used 100# (270 gsm) premium heavy classic white card stock and Distress inks to watercolor the daffodil. 

I hope you enjoyed my short photo tutorial and that you were inspired by my cards. Why not try making a one layer card too? See you in a couple of weeks!

~Shery