IT'S INDEPENDENCE DAY!


Well, not quite yet, but it's coming fast and furious. To celebrate this wonderful day, I have made a quick and easy card.
The base is dark red card stock. I drew a template on the back of the patterned paper and cut out the three wavy rectangles with an Exacto knife. I then glued the patterned paper to white CS which had been cut to the same size. The stamps are from Elemental Doodles Firecracker USA set, and I stamped them with Adirondak's Red Pepper dye ink. The photo corners were punched from white CS using the photo corner punch from Stampin' Up! I then punched small stars from patterned blue denim paper and glued them on the photo corners.

A HEAVENLY ATC
This ATC was made to submit to Elemental Doodles as part of June's "assignment". The base CS is from Coredinations, and the background paper on top of that is from one of the Hot Off the Press pads. I apologize for not knowing which one since I have several of them, but the cover of the pad has done a disappearing act.
To enhance the patterned paper, I stamped on it randomly using one of the star stamps from ED's new Mini Heavenly Tea stamp sets. I stamped it using Marvy Matchables Deep Lilac. I cut the tag and mounted it on a darker shade of lilac Coredinations CS. The saying is from ED's Heavenly Tea set and was stamped using Marvy Matchables Violet ink. Two holes at the top of the tag allow the ribbon to be threaded without a lot of bulk. The tag is mounted on the ATC using foam tape.
If anyone reading this blog is interested, Elemental Doodles is issuing a new challenge for Design Team members. The term is for six months and starts in July. If you go to their web site at http://www.elementaldoodles.com/, you can find more information about the requirements for submission to become a designer for this new company. (You can also order stamps at this site if you're not interested in becoming a designer. Check out their new ... and old ... stamp sets!)
Today is my day to play in my stamp room. With the exception of finishing a load of laundry and cooking dinner, my Darling Husband has been informed that today is all about me. I don't plan to be at anyone's beck and call. What a fantastic feeling!

This card was done using one of my favorite techniques. I heat embossed the image in white on glossy card stock and then did a direct to paper technique using my Marvy Matchables dye ink pads. I immediately wiped off the excess ink with a soft paper towel. The embellishments are real, tiny starfish and scallop shells.
I have been working on cards and ATCs for the Elemental Doodles Design Team. I'm going to be posting a few things on here later that I have done with the new stamp sets I received in the mail this week. As stampers, we all know that some of the designs are not in our comfort zone and are something we have not worked with before. This is the case of the new sets I'm working with, so we'll see if I can come up with something wonderful ... or not!
I also have the Elemental Doodles' stamp cleaner, but it has been missing in action. I found it tonight hiding behind my Ott light, and am I glad to see it. I like this cleaner, especially since it conditions the stamps as it cleans.
I still can't report on the "colors" that Elemental Doodles is coming out with. All we've had so far are "teasers", but I do know the initial offering will be 12 or 13 colors. I love working with colors and am so anxious to see what Inquiring Minds have come up with.
On a closing note for today, my favorite stamp store closed out Saturday with a big hoorah, lots of discounted items, and a potluck dinner to end all potluck dinners! For those of you who have shopped at Imprints in Ft. Worth, Texas, I know you will be as sorry as I am to see the store close.

SKELETON LEAVES MADE EASY

I love using skeleton leaves on projects, so this simple card features one. It's not always easy attaching the leaves to paper, but this one was a cinch. I have some adhesive that comes on a roll and is about 4" wide which I bought from Amy's Magic. I placed the skeleton leave on that, pressed it down firmly, and then cut around it. I then removed the backing on the adhesive and adhered it to light gray card stock.
This card uses three shades of gray CS ... medium for the base, light for the skeleton leaf and stamped image, and dark to accent the light gray colors.
The image is from the Autumn Splendor set by Elemental Doodles. I stamped it randomly on the light gray CS using Gray ink from Marvy Matchables.
If you read one of my earlier posts, you know that Elemental Doodles is having a pre-order sale for their new stamp sets which are scheduled to be released the last of June. It's always exciting to get new stamps, but it's even more exciting when they're so new to the market that no one else has them. Be sure to visit the web site at http://www.elementaldoodles.com/ to pre-order one, two, three ... oh heck, order the whole batch. Be the first kid on your block with them. Just think of all the fun you'll have playing with them.
If you're a member of Splitcoast Stampers, you will find that Elemental Doodles has now been added to the Company Galleries. The key word is elementaldoodles. Thanks go to one of the other Founding Design Team members, Etha Schuette, for this addition to SCS.
I am so anxious to find out what the "colors" we're going to be seeing from Elemental Doodles are. As of now it's still a secret, but since I love color, curiosity has me in its grips! (I'm almost as nosy as my cat, Bonnie ... just a little sneakier about it!) We don't know if they're paints, chalks, markers, or ink colors. I want the new toys ... NOW. What? You mean I have to wait like everyone else. What a concept.
In closing out this blog for the day, this is for my fourth son. Douwe, I hope your birthday is a good one. I just wish we could have been there to celebrate it with you. Many more!

It's a good day! My sister-in-law and I made it to the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Arlington, and we found some good things. Jan had never been to one of the conventions, and she had a blast. We found some 12x12 metallic CS for 25 cents a sheet. Yep! What woman can pass up a bargain?
We didn't stay as long as we would have liked, but we still had a good time. I found a set of the scalloped Nestabilities that works with the plain set I already have. There were loads of Nestabilities in that booth, and I could have bought a whole lot more. I did restrain my retail instincts, though, against my baser "gottahave" instincts.
This scan today is an ATC I made recently ... simple and quick. The base is a scrap of black CS covered with two types of patterned paper. I don't remember who makes the paper on the top, but I found the striped paper on the bottom in a package at Walmart. The solid blue strips were more CS scraps, and the buckle is a tab top from a can of CocaCola. The black "stamp" stamp is from the Firecracker USA stamp set from Elemental Doodles. After stamping it, I masked it and stamped the face of one of the Forest Fairies in the center. She is colored with Copic markers and Twinkling H2Os and mounted on the ATC using foam tape.
This post is short today because I feel a great responsibility to my purchases this week. In other words, I have to go play!

ATCs can be elaborate or very simple, but they are always fun to make. This ATC was made and attached to a card base using the following:
CS - White Cougar Opaque scrap; burgundy suede paper
Patterned papers - Hot Off the Press
Stamp - Autum Splendor from Elemental Doodles
Ink - VersaMark
Chipboard rectangle
Embossing powder - Lapis Lazuli and Garnet from JudiKins
Mesh
Silver mini-brads
Once again I have had my Milwaukee heat gun out and working! The heat gun was my first purchase, along with a few stamps, ink and EP, as a beginning stamper fifteen years ago. There's a lot to be said for good tools since it is still going strong after all these years. I know the Milwaukee heat gun gets very, very hot, and I know there are other heat guns with a gentle attitude toward life on the market, but this is my favorite. I'm too impatient for the slow and gentle ones. I also know that using a heat gun on a glass table top will break the glass. Don't even ask me how I know!!
Here are a few tips on making this ATC. The mesh I used is not the kind sold in stamp stores. Rather it is from a roll of white mesh that I bought at Home Depot for a fraction of the price. I think it is used for drywall repair, but it's a good thing for stampers. The back is quite sticky which makes it easy to adhere to CS. There is also a small amount of stickiness on the front side, so I cut a piece and stuck it to my nonstick mat, poured EP over it and heated the EP. I then took it off the mat, stuck it on the ATC and trimmed the ends to fit.
The image was done in EP the same way as the card posted on my blog on June 2nd except I didn't swirl the hot EP. Be sure to let it cool before you try removing the stamp.
Can you tell I've been "Doodling" around this week with my stamps from ED? As a member of the design team, I send cards and projects I've created to the company but am encouraged to publish them to my blog also.
If any of you are interested in becoming a designer for them, there is a new Design Team member call published on their web site at http://www.elementaldoodles.com/.

Today has been a wonderful day for me. My sister-in-law from Massachusetts is here, and we have spent the day playing. I introduced her to my Cuttlebug and to Nestabilities, and we went to one of my favorite stores ... Gotta Scrap in Rockwall ... for a little retail therapy.
We are thinking about going to the Great American Scrapbook Convention if we can find something for the husbands to do tomorrow.
In the meantime, I need to tell you about this card which has turned out to be a favorite of mine.
Card base - Double-sided brown CS by WorldWin
Orange, dark green, and light green CS - Leftovers from my scrap basket
Stamped flower image - Elemental Doodles' Forest Fairy set.
Ink - Jet Black StazOn
Saying - Computer generated, printed in green
Embellishments - Dew Drops by The Robin's Nest
Cutting the L-shaped CS was probably the biggest challenge in making this card. The flower itself was stamped on orange CS, cut out and mounted on the green image. The colors on the card are a little brighter than shown on the scan.

The Liberty Bell is a favorite of mine, so I was pleased to receive this stamp from Elemental Doodles in the Firecracker USA set.
The card was designed to be displayed on an angle using a square black card base. Patterned paper is from DCWV. To make the center image, I used a 2" square precut chipboard from Magenta, covered it with VersaMark ink and added three layers of JudiKin's Black embossing powder, heating between each layer. While the third layer was still hot and runny, I added a layer of silver EP and used a toothpick and heat gun to swirl the colors together until I achieved the marbled effect I liked. I then inked the Liberty Bell stamp with VersaMark and stamped into the hot EP, leaving the stamp in place until the EP cooled. After it was completely cooled, I highlighted the image with Platinum Rub N Buff. It was then mounted on a square scrap of black CS and an offset square scrap of red glossy CS. The saying was stamped on white CS with Jet Black StazOn ink and mounted on another scrap of the red glossy CS. I added red star brads in the upper corners and mounted it to the card using foam tape.
I can hardly wait to see this month's new products from Elemental Doodles. We don't know what the product is yet, but we have been promised a lot of color! I love color ...
Tomorrow is play day here. My sister-in-law will be visiting, and we have decided to stay here and play rather than going shopping which is what we usually do. Jan is an avid scrapbooker who wants to learn some stamping techniques. We'll probably indulge in some good TexMex food for dinner. Sounds like a plan to me!