The album I made to showcase today is made using some simple tags.  I designed these tags using my die cutting machine software and then cut out patterned paper covers.

The Facts About You

For each tag, I used a different kind of patterned paper but all from the same collection by My Mind’s Eye called “Alphabet Soup“.  By using the same line of paper, my mini album appears unified.

stamp sets used: Bold Blocks, Funky Circles, Mini Pennants, Splash Me a Little! alphabets, Mini Alphas

I chose to feature my furbaby, Teaco.  She’s my scrappin’ buddy most nights!

stamp sets used: Bold Blocks

Look at that tongue!!!

stamp sets used: Snapshot

See how all the colours just flow from page to page…

stamp sets used: Oval Office, Repeat After Me,  You Name It

Remember, you can make anything with stamps… even a little faux stitched banner…

stamp sets used: Whatever!,  Repeat After Me

That crazy cat!!!!

stamp sets used: Whatever!

And my final tag…

stamp sets used: Review Time, Small Greetings

The moment I finished my little tag album, look who showed up??!!…

She thought it would be the most appropriate place to be with me while I worked!

I hope you’ve been inspired by my simple little tag album today. Why not try one yourself!

Happy stampping!

This week I’m challenging you to use this sketch:

Don’t forget… a sketch is just a starting point so the sky’s the limit in how it inspires you!  You can even use it for a layout.  Try stretching it or center it with in your page.

Here are a few cards I created using my sketch this week…

Just a Little HelloStamp sets used: Floating Leaves, Oval Office, Funky Flowers

Check out my blog on how I created my autumn leaves on this card!

HELLO Tags

Stamp sets used: Road Trip,  Royal Flush, Floating Leaves

I rotated the sketch for my tag card.

Butterflies

Stamp sets used: Colorful Companions, Funky Flowers, Repeat After Me

So grab some stamps and the sketch above and let’s see what you can create with them!  Happy stamping!

We hope to inspire you with these ideas for backgrounds!

Jolene Johnston used the cheesecloth stamp from “Repeat after Me” to create the background on the striped blue paper. The sentiment is from “Oval Office”.

Jill Hildebrand used the “Abundant Blossomsl” to create this cool diagonal backdrop on her layout. Some of the stamps were not re-inked to create more dimension.

Jaine Drake stamped a flower field background, partially white embossed, with the “Funky Flowers” and spritzed the inked paper with water to create a mottled effect. The sentiment is from “Wishing you Sunshine”.

Maryfrances Fabbri used a sentiment stamp from “Everyday Lines” to create a 2/3 background on this white card. This allowed the flower to be the centre of attention while still getting the message across. Stamping your sentiment repeatedly allows you to custom “colour” your paper or card stock and create the shades you like.

Melissa Wright used the “Graphic Borders”  for this background. The sentiment is from the “Pennants” stamp set. Melissa used two of the stamps, cut them out and layered them.

Join us next week for a showcase of patterns. We have created a variety with several different stamps!

Happy Stamping,

Love,

We’re thrilled to be sharing some fun projects with you today.  We tried to think of different products to use our stamps on because normally we stamp on paper.  So we, Jaine and I (Cari) gave ourselves the challenge of stamping on anything BUT PAPER. I admit it was a bit difficult trying to come up with a variety of things to use but we did it!

First off, Jaine made this fabulous card by stamping into black polymer clay in a beige coloured chalk ink. After it baked she rubbed the chalk ink over the surface just to take the shine off the clay and make it look more like fragments of black stone.  The stamps she used were from the Funky Flowers, Repeat after Me and Wishing you Sunshine stamp sets.

For this next sample I used felt as my stamping source.  I stamped on the large turquoise flower with black pigment ink using Funky Flowers and then stamped again with turuqoise pigment ink on the small cream rectangle shape using Seal It stamp set.

This third example Jaine created another card that has been stamped using a red pigment ink and the Wishing You Sunshine stamp set onto a piece of denim.  The red card mat has also been stamped using the Repeat after Me stamp set.

Using some a transparency for my “non” paper source I stamped a sentiment using Stazon ink in black from the Oval Office-Small Box set. This would make a great Father’s Day card.

The third card that Jaine created (which she says is her favorite!) has been stamped onto shrink plastic using a black Stazon and the Border Lines stamp set.  The shrink plastic pieces were torn rather than cut and coloured with Adirondak ink before shrinking. Tearing the shrink plastic makes it look more like fragments of sea glass. (I love the tearing idea!)

The last two cards that I created I stamped on canvas with pigment inks in Peony and Pink, Dark Moss and Moss Green using the Funky Flowers stamp set. I really like how the images turned out on the canvas too. The second card I used Colorful Companions and Oval office – Small Box stamp sets on the canvas.

And here’s one last card from Jaine where she stamped on the button and then embossed it. She also stamped on the ribbon as well. Fabulous! She used Funky Flowers stamp set.

WE hope that you have enjoyed our projects and have encouraged you to try different ways to use your stamps.

Thanks for stopping by!

and

Let’s start with a fun flower pot card.  Here are the dimensions of the pieces of cardstock you will need to create this card:

• 9 x 3 1/2 – flower pot
• 3 x 4 5/8 – tag
• 2 3/4 x 4 1/2 – tag mat
• scrap pieces for flowers & leaves

To begin, score your largest piece of cardstock (flower pot) at 2 and 5 1/2 inches.

Fold your score lines to create one valley and peak.  See below.

Now, measure in 1/4 of an inch on the bottom fold.  Use these marks to trim your card base to create a tapered pot base.

I then edge punched my pot edge and inked all of the edges of the card to create more dimension.  I also added some foam adhesive under the pot’s decorative edge to hold it up and create a shadow.

I then added some decorative dots using my Funky Circles stamp set using Versamark ink for a subtle effect.

Then using a scrap piece of green cardstock, I stamped a variety of fun leaves from the Floating Leaves stamp set in various green inks.

I hand cut them out and added some soft air brushed Copic colouring to them for some depth.

I then stamped a variety of floral stamps onto some pretty patterned paper.  For these blooms, I used the Garden Sketches and Kind Flower stamp sets.  I also cut them out.  I added my center flower images using our Preferred Partner, Helmar’s 3D Scrap Dots to pop up the centers.

I then cut the tag and tag mat and adhered the two pieces together.  I tied a bright ribbon around the top of my flower pot to hold the 2 halves of my card together.  I used some glue dots to hold the ribbon secure.

With the tag tucked inside the pot, adhere all of the greenery to the top of your tag.  Don’t worry about the adhesive showing under your leaves.  The flowers will cover it up.

Add all of your flowers and add gems or pearls to add some shine to your card.   I also added some of our Preferred Partner’s crystal glitter from PK Glitz to one of my flowers.

Here’s my finished card!  You can add some stamped images or a sentiment to the front but I decided to leave mine plain.

Since we’re all about interactive cards today… let’s make one more!!!

Let’s make a fun easel card.  Here’s how I made mine!

For this card, you will need only two pieces of cardstock;

• 4 1/4 x 8 1/2 – card base
• 4 1/4 x 4 1/4 – card front

Let’s get started!  Take your largest piece of cardstock and score it at 4 1/4 and 6 3/8.  The Scor-Pal has a groove for both fold lines!

Fold your card to create one valley and one peak.  See the image below.

Now take your square piece of cardstock for your card front and adhere as shown below.

Create a fun 2 inch piece to go on the inside of your card.  I used the beautiful floral block from the Itty Bittys set and stamped in on a whole bunch of one inch squares in soft Spring hues.  I added a funny butterfly from the Colorful Companions set with some polka dots stamped on his wings from the Itty Bittys stamp set again.  I made sure that my lacy cardstock edge was pulled up a bit as to catch the bottom of my card front.

I created my card front to look like a continuation of my inside piece.  I also added some glitter paint to the exterior to give my card some shine!  Sorry it’s so hard to photograph that aspect.  The sentiment on this card is from the Oval Office set.

And now you have two more interactive cards to add to your creative knowledge.  I hope you give them both a try for your next card project!

Have a great Thursday!

~ Allison Cope ~

So in honour of all the lovely additions to our mSB family, I thought I would fun to focus on BIRTHDAYS today!

Let’s start with some fun and simple birthday cards; cards for all ages and genders!

I started off with a very simple, masculine card.  Clean lines, darker colours, simple patterns like polka dots and some fun stamps can make a great masculine card!

Happy Birthday

I used one of the cute little circles from the Funky Circles stamps sets and created a quick line of fun stamped circles on my off white paper.  I added a heat embossed “Happy Birthday” greeting from Happy Word Jumble stamp set on some dark brown cardstock and popped it off this simple card background.  A very easy birthday card for that special man in your life!

Programmed

I absolutely love all the little robot creatures from the Programmed Robots stamp set and knew that I had to make a fun birthday card for that special little guy reaching that next year of life.  I bent the greeting from the set around a circle of fun patterned paper and heat embossed the greeting and the little robot using some gorgeous embossing powders by one of our sponsor’s, PK Glitz.  I love how this fun birthday card turned out!

Wish Come True

For my last card, I wanted to create a “girly” kind of card for my stash so I searched through my patterned papers for one that jumped out and I found this fun polka dot paper.  It started me off with a fun colour scheme for this card.  I stamped the subtle green branch from the Floating Leaves stamp set for the window first.  Then I layered on a pretty pink butterfly from the Colourful Companions set and also a fun greeting from my Oval Office stamp set.   I also used some Versamark ink and stamped a frilly edge along the label shape at the bottom using one of the circles from my Funky Circles stamp set.

——————–

Now that I had created a few cards, I also wanted to showcase a birthday themed layout so I created this frilly page showcasing lots of fun mSB stamp sets. That’s me and my son just hours after he was born.

Special Delivery

Here are all the fabulous stamps I used on this layout: tag (Road Trip), title (Mention It!), butterflies (Colourful Companions),  flowers (Garden Sketches), branch and leaf (Floating Leaves).

Here are a few close ups of my stamping and design…

I used only one colour of ink for all my stamping on this page.  To create a lighter ink colour, I first stamped my image off on a scrap piece of paper, then I stamped the image on my page.  It’s as simple as that!

And another close up of one of my butterflies with a touch of glitter.

So the next time you are looking for some birthday inspiration, just take a gander at your myStampBOX stamp sets!  You never know where you will draw inspiration from!

Have a great weekend!

~ Allison Cope ~

Today I want to show you an easy way to use glitter.  Yup… you know.  All those little tiny bottles of wonderful and super clingy glitters we all hide in our scrappy stash!

So grab your stamps and glitter and come play along with me today!

I started off by stamping a few flower images from the Garden Sketches stamp set with black Memento ink.

I masked off the flower images and stamped a few fern images from the Floating Leaves stamp set.

Then I coloured my flower images with my Copic markers, using the same colours (or close) to the colours of glitter you choose to use.

Once all the images were coloured, I used my Quickie Glue pen and started to colour each flower in individually.   Once my glue was applied, I sprinkled on my glitter and tapped off the excess.

Here is the image completely coloured and all the glitters applied.

I finished off my glittered squared with some soft inking around the edges, some Copic airbrushing for some speckles, some piercing using my piercing tool and adding some pretty green adhesive pearls to the center.  I then took my square and applied some hairspray to it.  This was to ensure the glitter stays in place and it didn’t effect the ink either!

I added some purple frames and then used the same fern stamp again with Versamark ink on the green card base and placed the purple frames on the card base.  I also added a quick sentiment using the Oval Office stamp set.

I hope that you too grab your stamps and glitter and create a fun card today!

Thanks for joining me today!

~ Allison Cope ~

It was simple… layered some pretty Christmas papers, some torn, and some cut using border punches. Stamped and embossed a “Thank you” using the Oval Office set and tied it on with a piece of tulle! Then I stamped the flower from the kind flower set 4 times, layered them and curled the edges for dimension! Finished the project off with some bling and it’s ready to fill!!

I’m going to fill mine with Hershey’s Kisses in red, green and silver and give this as a gift for my daughter’s teacher!!

I know you have some pretty bottles, jars or containers of some sort just calling to you to be decorated! Come on… now’s the time to do it!!

When I first started scrapbooking, I was quite intimidated by sketches…I didn’t know what exactly to do with them, and I thought that if you were working with a sketch, that You had to follow the sketch 100%.

Over the years, I have learnt that You can use a sketch for anything….cards, layouts, calendars, canvases, etc, and that You can follow as much of the sketch as you like, or you can change it up to make it your own.

Being a bit of a doodler, I tend to doodle my sketches at random times.

I try to always keep a pen and black sharpie on me at all times, because I can be going for a walk, or waiting to pick up my son from an activity, when I get an idea for a sketch. If I don’t quickly doodle my idea, the sketch will be gone from my mind.

I never redraw a sketch, or pretty it up, but rather work with the raw, messy original(as you can see..lol)

The title of this layout is “may your wish”

Rather then make 4 separate blocks along the side of the photo, I kept it in one large block, where I could use stamped images.

stamp sets used: She says-He says, Oval Office (my Stamp BOX)The title of the card is “merry Christmas”

I stamped the present stamp onto blank scrap paper 4 times, and then used my son’s watercolour paints to paint each one a different colour.

Following the 4 blocks on the sketch, I adhered 4 stamped presents in the same spot.

stamp sets used: Merry Mr. Snowman (my Stamp BOX)The title of this layout is “oh boy”

This was the original layout I made,  right after thinking of the sketch.

I followed the sketch 100%, with adding 4 stamped butterflies where the 4 blocks were alongside the picture.

stamp sets used: Colorful Companions (my Stamp BOX)

NOTE:  All of my cards were made using templates from the Maya Roads website.

To make the first card, I simply cut out two identical heart shapes .  Because my paper had the word “love”  on it, I decided to cut a heart out of the front shape so this word love shows through from the back.

To put the card together, I simply attached the front and back with a brad.  The card will not open in the traditional manner, but will simply slide back and forth to reveal the interior.  Quick and Easy!

I used the “He Says, She Says” set to stamp the sentiment.

This next card opens and closes in a more traditional manner.  I folded a piece of black cardstock in half and traced a flower onto the cardstock making sure that one petal was just slightly over the edge of the fold.  Because I added flower petals to the entire surface of the front, you can’t even tell that one petal is a little shorter.

Here is a picture of the card opened and laying flat.

And here is a photo of the card when it is closed.

I used the “Oval Office” set to stamp a sentiment for this card.

The final card is a gift card.  I traced two identical stars, decorated them and attached them at the top with an eyelet and ribbon detail.

I used the “Deck the Halls” set for a sentiment on this card.  The “O Christmas Tree” set would also be fantastic for cards of this type.

So what do you think?  Are you ready to embark into a world of making shaped cards?  I know I’m hooked.

Tracey

Step 1: Cut four 1 ¾”x1 ¾” squares of cardstock.

Step 2: Stamp desired images on each square piece using coordinating colours.

 Step 3: Cut four 2”x2” squares of cardstock in the same colour of ink you stamped in and mat each stamped square on its coordinating piece.

Step 4: Cut a 2”x9” strip of cardstock.

Step 5: Score this piece of cardstock at 2”, 2 ¾”, 3 ½”, and 4 ¼”

Step 6: Fold your cardstock along the score lines.

Step 7: Adhere each stamped cardstock square to the folded parts of the cardstock strip. The bottom one (yellow in my sample) will completely cover the strip from the edge to the first fold. Each square from then on (red, green and orange) will only adhere half of its piece to a fold in the (blue) strip.

Step 8: Attach an eyelet and tie a piece of ribbon through the eyelet to create a pull.

Step 9: Decorate a card (sample is 5 ½”x4 ¼”) with coordinating patterned paper. Adhere a 1 ½” strip of cardstock near the bottom of your card. It’s very important to only adhere on the left and right edge, not in the middle of this piece of cardstock.

Step 10: Tuck the long edge of the (blue) strip of cardstock underneath the horizontal piece adhered in step 9.

Step 11: Apply glue to the horizontal strip, the same width of the slider underneath. Adhere your bottom stamped square to the adhesive making sure to line the bottom of the square up with the bottom edge of the horizontal piece.

Step 11: Once the glue dries, you should be able to pull the ribbon and your slider will cascade to reveal each image one at a time. You can then stamp a greeting on the inside of the slider to reveal when pulled.

And here is the finished card!  I hope the instructions are detailed enough for you. If not, feel free to contact me with any questions!

Stamps used: Colorful Companions & Oval Office.

Happy Stamping!
Cherie

Step One:

Stamp the images you want to highlight.  For this card I used the two small flowers from the Garden Sketches stamp set.

Step Two:

Grab that white or light coloured crayon from your kid’s marker stash and take it and draw right over your images where ever you want them to stay white.  The wax in the crayon prevents any ink that you use over top of your image from becoming coloured.

Step Three:

Take a sponge or your ink pad directly and start applying colour right over top of your stamped and crayon traced images.  The richer and darker the ink you use, the more your crayon accents will appear.

For the above image I used my Tim Holtz ink applicator and my inks to create a rainbow effect across my cardstock.  See how the white crayon pops!

Here is my finished card using the rainbow stamped image:

Wish

by Allison Cope

The oval shaped sentiment is from our Oval Office stamp set.

I also stamped a couple of the dragonfly images from the Garden Sketches stamp set on a piece of scrap white cardstock and highlighted them using the white crayon resist technique.  Here’s the card I made using that piece of paper:

Born to Fly

by Allison Cope

I hope you have enjoyed this simple and easy technique and hope you give it a try!  Visit my blog for more myStamp BOX inspiration.

Happy Friday everyone!

Allison

So I grabbed my Neighborhoods stamp set and my newest stamp set, Oval Office!   Here is what I came up with….

Little Red Barn Greetings

I used the barn skyline from the Neighborhoods set and the “hello” greeting from the Oval Office set for this simple card.  I used my Copic markers and my Copic airbrush system to colour my scene.

Yellow City Lights

I used the oval tower skyline and the “Here to There” greeting from the Neighborhoods set for my second card.  I stamped my image with Versamark, added clear embossing powder to the ink, heat embossed it and then inked over it with Ranger’s black Archival ink to see the cityline resist.

School Bus Greetings

I used the school skyline from the Neighborhoods set and the “you are the best” greeting from the Oval Office set for this fun card.  I used my Copic markers and my Copic airbrush system to colour my scene’s background.

Sunny Skyline

I used the tall tower skyline and the “Here to There” greeting from the Neighborhoods set for my final card.  I stamped my scene with dark brown ink and created a paper mask and coloured it using my Copic airbrush system.  The sun is just a simple circle mask.

For further details on how I made my cards and the products I used, come and visit my blog, Your Memories.

Happy stampy skies!

Allison.