CSS Group Project-- Vday Tags

Hey friends!!!  I have such a fun project to share with you today.  The Clear & Simple Stamps Design Team and I are sharing our Valentine's Day tag creating.  I have to say, this was so much fun!  I ended up making 5 tags to put on some treat bags for Valentine's Day.

I started by getting out my Tags 1 dies.  I cut 5 large tags out from A Blanc Check card stock, and 5 small tags from Dare to Be a Diva Red card stock.  I stamped the tag outline from Trendy Tags in black.  Next, I put together the letter to spell "bee mine" from Alpha Clear.  "Bee" is stamped in black and filled in with a red sharpie marker, "Mine" was stamped using red ink and left as an outline.

The whimsical swirls come from Taglines: Critters, and so does the bee.  I stamped the bee image on the red tag first and then stamped on a piece of white card stock.  I colored the bee with a yellow copic marker (Y35). When I cut out the bee, I didn't cut out the antenna, and then glued it in place on the tag, over top of the stamped image, that way it uses the antenna from the first image.   I took the tiny heart from Taglines: Critters and stamped it in red right over top of the dot in the "i" in "mine".

I stacked the two tags and tied them to the bag of treats using red, shiny curling ribbon.

You won't want to miss the wide variety of tags the Design Team has created:

• Lori Tecler
• Audrey Tokach
• Elena Roussakis
• Tracy Schultz
• Laura Bassen
• Clear & Simple Stamps

Have a great day!

{Bee Mine Tags}

Stamps: Alpha Clear, Taglines: Critters, Trendy Tags (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: A Blanc Check, Dare to Be a Diva Red (CSS)

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress, Dare to Be a Diva Red (CSS)

Dies: Tags 1 (CSS) 

Accessories: Curling Ribbon, Red Sharpie

Copics: Y35 

 

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Sneak Peek!

Hi there!  Just popped on for a minute to let you know I have a project featured on the Clear & Simple Stamps App for the iPhone/iPod.  I have to tell you, this is a card I absolutely love!

Have a great rest of your weekend!!!

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A {Be Mine} Valentine Card...

Hello!  It's been hard, but I am determined to post five times a week.  Hopefully once I get going, I won't be able to stop.  So, this morning I was checking out my Google Reader and stumbled upon the Silhouette free shape of the week (one of the many things I love about Silhouette), and the shape was actually a full card with all the embellishments.  I really liked the card base, so I decided to use that for my card today.  Everything you see in pink was cut with my Silhouette, the hearts at the bottom were the centers of the hearts at the top.

I really liked the diagonal lines at the bottom of the card the was made on the Silhouette Blog, so I recreated that using lines from Designer Lines from CSS.  I simply placed post-it notes over the top of the card when I stamped the lines in black.

The sentiment comes from Love Cupid.  The hearts and sentiment panel are all popped up on foam dots.

I love Valentine's Day!  I'm sure you'll be seeing more Valentine's Day stuff from me leading up until the big day.

Have a great day!

{Be Mine Valentine}

Stamps: Love Cupid, Designer Lines (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: I'm a Princess Pink, Cre'me de la Cream (CSS)

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress (CSS)

Accessories: Digitally Cut Image (Silhouette), Gems, Foam Dots

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Group Project: Nature of Winter

Hey there!  I have a fun winter project to share with you today.  It's our first Clear & Simple Stamps group project of the year.  The first challenge was to make a card/project with the theme of Nature in Winter.  

I put together a wintery card using a twig from my yard, some liquid appliqué for the snowflakes and woodgrain stamp for the "tree".  

I colored the my little owl guy with copics, using a darker color to outline the scallops and ears.  I used an orange sharpie for the owl feet.

I stamped the letters for "wishes" using Alpha Clear and colored them in with a light blue copic marker, the same color as the owl's eyes.

I used a snowflake stamp from Taglines and liquid appliqué for the snowflakes, although you can't see the stamp.  I used it as a guide for the liquid appliqué.  If you've never used liquid appliqué, it goes on like puffy paint and then it puffs up when you heat it up with your heat gun.

I used Tombow Multi Glue to adhere the twig and it is staying on really well, much better than the glue dots I tried at first.  The glue dries completely clear.  

Check out the other group projects that are happening today with a Nature of Winter theme:

• Lori Tecler
• Jennifer Rzasa
• Clear & Simple Stamps Blog

Have a great day!

{Winter Wishes}

Stamps: Alpha Clear, Icons Sentiments, Taglines, Taglines: Critters, Background Basics 1 (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, Cre'me de la Cream (CSS)

Ink: Espresso Your Style (CSS)

Accessories: Liquid Applique, Foam Dots, Twig, Orange Sharpie Marker

Copics: B93, W1, W3, W5 

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A {Mr. & Mrs.} Card...

Hello!  I had a clear vision for this card, just a one layer card with six squares popped up on dots.  Well, I had my 2 x 3 rectangle cut and stamped, then I accidentally made my first cut at a half inch instead of an inch!  Whoops!  I could have redone it, but I wanted to see how it played out.  I didn't intend to mat the rectangles (would be squares) on the gray card stock, but it was just easier to maneuver.  I laid them all out first, then adhered them with foam dots, then trimmed the gray card stock.

The design reminded me of stained glass that you might find in a church, so I thought this would be a perfect wedding card.  

I also have another card to show you, it's on the Clear & Simple Stamps App for the iPad/iPhone.  Here's a sneak peek...

Have a great day!  

{Mr. & Mrs.}

Stamps: All Occasions 1, Background Basics 1 (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Dare to Be a Diva, Cre'me de la Cream, Such a Gray-cious Host (CSS)

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress (CSS)

Accessories: Foam Dots

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CSS Release Day W1...

Hello!  I'm so happy to be here, sharing the newest products being released by Clear & Simple Stamps. First, I'm sharing a really fun and versatile alphabet set, Alpha Clear.  I love that the letters are an outline and you can color them any color you like.  I didn't do that here because I love them as-is.  

You can also spot another new product on my card, did you see it?!  It's a new embossing plate with a houndstooth design, which is one of my favorite patterns!  It's called Imprints 5 and has an elegant design on the flip side of sheet music and pinecones.  

Lot's of fun laters on this card, which makes it perfect for my little guy's birthday.  It uses his favorite colors and it's personalized, I think he'll love it.  

Can't forget about the gift!  I made a coordinating gift tag using the same Alpha Clear set as the card and also using Imprints 5 for the houndstooth design.  

Next up is an addition to the Uppercase and Lowercase die cut alphabet sets, Symbols.  I have so many cards using emoticons pinned on Pinterest.  I'm so glad I was finally able to make a set.  

These cards were so simple.  I used Imprints 5 on all the card bases and Lowercase Alpha for all the words.  Here's the how the emoticons were created:

Laugh: Colon, Uppercase letter D 

Wink: Semi Colon, Dash, End Parenthesis

Smile: Equal Sign, End Parenthesis

My only dilemma was figuring out if I should leave the emoticons sideways like they would appear on a screen, like :) .  In the end I decided I wanted the emoticons to be obvious.

There are even more products being released today, you won't want to miss them!  Check them out at these following blogs:

• Stephany Zerbe
• Jennifer Rzasa
• Clear & Simple Stamps Blog

Have a great day!

{Happy 8th Birthday Colin}

Stamps: Alpha Clear, Number Blocks 

Card Stock: Cre'me de la Cream, Dare to Be a Diva Red, Orange You Fabulous 

Ink: Dare to Be a Diva Red, Orange You Fabulous, Cream

Dies:  Rounded Squares, Imprints 5, Tags 2

Accessories: Red/White Twine, Small and Large Circle Punch, Foam Dots, Corner Rounder Punch, White Gel Pen

{Emoticon Card Set}

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, Paint the Town Pink, Glamazon Green, Orange You Fabulous, True Blue Fan

Dies: Imprints 5, Lowercase Alpha, Uppercase Alpha, Symbols 

Accessories: Foam Dots

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A {Happy 5th Birthday} Card...

Hey there!  Sunlight was not on my side when I took this photo today.  The sun was out in full force so that's why my card has some shadows.  I think you can get the gist though.

My card is a CASE of this card I found on Pinterest.  I loved the layout and tried to recreate it based on the supplies I have on hand.  This card is for my nephew, so I wanted to keep it as boyish as possible.

Here's a close-up of the center panel.  Ugh, those shadows.

Have a great day!

{Happy 5th Birthday}

Stamps: Background Basics 1, Number Blocks, Circles Plus, Trendy Tags 2 (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: A Blanc Check, Such a Gray-cious Host, Trendsetter Blue, Dare to Be a Diva Red (CSS)

Ink: Dare to Be a Diva Red, True Blue Fan (CSS), White

Dies: Numbers, Tags 2 (CSS)

Accessories: Navy Blue/White Twine (CSS), Foam Dots, Circle Punch

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A {Just a Note} Card...

Wow, that was quite the blogging hiatus I just had.  It was glorious though, my hubby was on vacation and the kids were on break.  Not much crafting happened unless you count cooking and baking (which I definitely do).  I did teach myself how to knit, just the basics though.  

Since I haven't made a card in a week or two, I knew I should start with something easy.  A one-layer card was in order.  I pulled out an older CSS set, Love Cupid.  It contains a damask image that is cut in two, right down the middle.  I arranged both halves on my acrylic block to make the shape that is stamped on the left, I turned the stamp 180* and stamped the right side of the card.  

The stamped images actually go off the card on both sides, I trimmed the edges after the images were stamped.

After I stamped the main image in pink, I took the two stamps and individually stamped a "shadow" of the first image in yellow, slightly toward the center of the card.  

The card ended up being a little small, perfect for "just a note".  The finished size is approx. 4" x  2.75".

Have a great day!

{Just a Note}

Stamps: Love Cupid, All Occasions 2 (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Cre'me de la Cream,  (CSS)

Ink: Coral Necklace, Say Yellow to All Your Fans, Dish All the Dirt Brown (CSS)

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CSS Group Project: Joyful Resolution

Hello!  I have a super fun project to share with you today.  It's group project day for Clear & Simple Stamps and today we are sharing a New Year's favor along with a crafty resolution for the new year. 

I had so much fun making this wine tag.  As soon as I had the idea of using the champagne class for the #1, I was ready to go!  It's funny how it takes just a little something for my mind to go into overdrive.  

I started with a strip of card stock about 7" long and a little less than 2" wide.  I used a circle die from Shapes: Circles to make the opening that would slide over the wine bottle neck.  I stamped it using the woodgrain stamp from Background Basics 1.   The label itself uses a frame Label Frames 1 stamped using Dare to Be a Diva Red ink and then cut out.  I added some diagonal pink lines using Designer Lines.  That cute little wine glass is from Taglines and is colored using copic markers.  The die cut numbers were adhered using foam dots, so they literally pop off the label.  The sentiment is from the Limited Edition set JOY.  

As far as my crafty resolution is concerned, it's all about organization.  From keeping a blog agenda, scheduling more posts,  handing in projects before the deadline, to keeping my studio space neat and tidy.    

Be sure to check out the designers projects and resolutions:

• Lori Tecler
• Clear & Simple Stamps Blog

Have a great day! 

{NYE Wine Tag}

Stamps: Background Basics, Label Frames 1, Designer Lines, LE Joy, Taglines (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, A Blanc Check (CSS)

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress, Dish All the Dirt Brown, Dare to Be a Diva Red, I'm a Princess Pink (CSS)

Dies: Shapes: Circles, Numbers (CSS) 

Copics: Y32, Y35, W1, 110

Accessories: Foam Dots 

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#DrawnTogetherForCT

Hey friends!  If you are part of the crafting community you may have already heard about the #DrawnTogetherforCT project that my friend Amber Kemp-Gerstel is spear heading.  If you have not already heard about it, let me fill you in.  Amber is a Child Psychologist by day and an amazingly talented crafter by night.  We were all heart broken when tragedy struck Sandy Hook Elementary last Friday and I know I felt the strong urge to help out in some way, but how?  How can I have a direct effect on the children of Newtown, CT?  That's where Amber jumped in with both feet with a plan.  She is collecting crafty items (markers, card stock, glue sticks, stamps, etc) to put into art kits to send to the many places that have programs set up for the kids affected.   Amber is also accepting monetary donations to pay for supplies and shipping.

Amber suggested making a card for the kids to include in each art kit that is made.  I made 12 cards using Little Critters and Critters Sentiments.  They are purr-fect for kids!  Just a little something to let them know that somebody out there is thinking of them.

I made two types of cards, one says "with LOVE for you" and the other one says "PURR-FECT in every way".  Inside I wrote a note saying "You are special today and every day. " The cat's body is colored with a copic marker (W5) and the nose as well as part of the sentiment used a fuchsia colored sharpie marker.  There are little clear gems on the eyes.

For quite some time now I've had a massive pile of craft items I wanted to sell.  Most of them were from magazines in exchange for having a card published.  Most was not my style at all.  #DrawnTogetherforCT was the perfect opportunity to get rid of these things.  It's a win/win.  I get some space and kids get some crafty goodies.

It's hard to see everything in there, but that box is packed with LOVE.  It was so fulfilling to participate in this project.  I hope you are able to contribute a little something.  Amber, this box of LOVE is headed your way!!!

Have a great day!

{#DrawnTogetherForCT Cards}

Stamps: Little Critters, Critters Sentiments (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar (CSS)

Ink: Perfect Little Black Dress  (CSS)

Dies: Little Critters (CSS)

Copics: W5 

Accessories: Foam Dots, Clear Gems, Fuchsia Sharpie Marker

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A {Happy Holidays} Card...

Things sure do get crazy this time of year.  I vowed to get all of my shopping and wrapping done before my kids started winter break.  I actually stuck to this and therefore have not posted much on the blog lately.  Like last year, I also vowed to not buy any gift cards.  I like a challenge I tell ya.

I bought a gift for my husband that is a Groupon and I don't just want to hand him a piece of paper so I made this card this morning.  I used my silhouette a lot since he did by that for me for Christmas two years ago.  I thought architecture was pretty masculine, so that's where the whole I idea of the window came from.  The tree is on the inside of the card, that's why it's photographed with the card closed.

I created "siding" for my house by using my Martha Stewart scoring board.  I sponged the score lines and edges with brown ink to make the "siding" more noticeable.  I think overall this card has a vintage/shabby chic look.  Is it possible to be shabby chic and masculine?  I'm not sure.

 You can see a bit of the dimension is this above photo.

And here's the lone tree on the inside.

I'd like to post some more over Christmas break (I have one post scheduled already) but I'm not making any promises.

Have a great day!

{Happy Holidays}

Stamps: Stylish Sentiments: Holiday (Papertrey Ink)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, Glamazon Green, Pressed Greige Linen, Gray-cious Host (CSS)

Ink: Dish All the Dirt Brown (CSS)

Accessories: Silhouette, Foam Dots, Stamping Sponge, Scoring Board (Martha Stewart)

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{Personalized} Holiday Tags...

Hello!  Happy Friday!!!  Every year my girlfriends and I go out to dinner and exchange a little gift.  We did this a few nights ago, so I can safely share these on my blog.

Last year I crocheted everyone a scarf and I've made treats in previous years.  I really went a different way this year and bought them something.  It's something I would like to receive myself so I knew they would like them.  You can see in the photo below that they each received a 5-pack of drink mixers.  You mix each bottle with a certain type of alcohol (rum, tequila, or vodka).  I found these at Target.

You can see the tags I made above (I just had to make something!).  And below you can see them tied with a big red ribbon around the handle on the drink mixes.

These tags were made using four sets of CSS dies: Uppercase Alpha, Lowercase Alpha, Tags 1, and Leaflets. Once I had everything die cut, I just assembled everything.  

The letters are actually stamped with a houndstooth pattern from Designer Lines.  It's red ink on red card stock.  In person it shows up really well, but it did not show up in the photos. 
Have a wonderful weekend!

{Holiday Tags}

Stamps: Taglines, Designer Lines (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, Glamazon Green, Dare to Be a Diva Red (CSS)

Ink: Dare to Be a Diva Red, Glamazon Green (CSS)

Dies: Leaflets, Tags 1 (CSS) 

Accessories: Mini Hole Punch, Foam Dots, Ribbon

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A {Glamazon Green} Special CSS Project...

I have a special Clear & Simple Stamps project for you today.  Pantone just announced the 2013 color of the year - Emerald, which is the equivalent to CSS's Glamazon Green! Everyone know's that Glamazon Green is my very favorite CSS color.  I could not pass up the opportunity to make a card dedicated to my favorite color. 

My card was actually pretty simple to make, but with a big payoff.  Dontcha just love that?  I simply ran a sheet of Glamazon Green card stock and the entire configuration of Leaflet dies through my Cuttlebug and then randomly adhered them to a rectangular panel of the same color.  I trimmed around the edges of the rectangle, I had pretty many die cut leaves left over. 

Here's a close-up.  I matted the green panel on a piece of Brown Leather Satchel card stock and distressed the edges. I adhered that panel to the kraft card base using foam dots.  You can see in the close-up that the sentiment panel has some green sponging around the sides.

Take a peek at what the other designers created using Glamazon Green:

• Laura Bassen
• Lori Tecler
• Clear & Simple Stamps

Have a great day!  Thanks so much for stopping by!!!

{Thinking of You}

Stamps: All Occasions 2 (Clear & Simple Stamps)

Card Stock: Kraft Like a Rockstar, Glamazon Green, Brown Leather Satchel (CSS)

Ink: Glamazon Green (CSS)

Dies: Leaflets (CSS)

Accessories: Stamping Sponge, Foam Dots, Edge Distresser

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