I am so sad that there are only a few more weeks before the kiddos go back to school. Summer is just so short. But since it is coming up so fast we decided to focus on Back to School projects this week on the Latenightstamper's group! I have so many ideas for little thank you type teacher gifts that I want to make. I know for sure what I am making my son's teacher for first day of school--just haven't been able to get all the supplies together yet so I will have to post it a bit later. But I did see a darling little idea on Pinterest to package up two tea light candles with a decorated box of matches and thought that would be a super cute little gift for some of the teacher/staff at school so I make one with a matching card. Hope you like it. Actually I hope the recipients like it, lol!

It don't seem like it in the picture but the flowers are the same colors.  I could not get the candle package and the large flower to both look good because of the glare of the plastic bag.  But I am sure you get the idea.  These were two of the projects at my clubs this month.

Stamps:  Stippled Blossoms, Just Believe
Paper: Island Indigo, Whisper White, Twitterpated DP
Ink: Riding Hood Red, Pink Pirouette, Island Indigo, Basic Black
Other: Beautiful Butterflies embosslit, Little Leaves Sizzlit, box matches, tea light candles, clear envelopes, thin ribbon, MDS for sentiment.

Check back all week for more gift ideas.
Mary Jo

So, how has your week been going--I sure hope better than mine. I will not go into all the details but lets just say that my bank--HSBC has changed over to Key or First Niagara depending on which branch you were at and it was supposed to be a simple change over with no problems for us! Sound good huh? Well let's just say--they lied, lol! And when you have no access to money you have lots of stressful situations come up! But all is figured out now and I am back to my normally scheduled program--running a bit late though. So this week's challenge on LNS was to do Embedded Embossing. This is a really cool technique that makes some beautiful cards. The technique makes your paper look like you have somehow embedded stamped images or pieces of paper into your base card stock. All you need is an embossing folder and a big shot.  Adhere something on a piece of card stock. either a stamped and cut/punched out image or other color card stock shapes.   Place the card stock in an embossing folder and run it through your big shot.  The layer gets embedded and looks fabulous! I used my lattice die cut and created this cross them attached it to a piece of Early Espresso card stock and then ran that piece through the bigshot with the square lattice embossing folder and this is the result. 

Isn't it beautiful!  I love it.  This is the only reason I purchased this die--to make these crosses.   The banner is cut with a Spellbinders die and I embellished a bit with pencil to give it more dimension.  Why not come on over and play along with the challenge! 

Mary Jo

I did not think I liked this technique when I seen it but decided to finally give it a try and I LOVE it!  How fun and so easy.  What do you think.  You can find the directions on SCS by clicking HERE.

Of course I combined it with the Latenightstamper challenge for the week to use designer paper!  This challenge is oh so easy.  I made two cards with the technique so far. But will defiantly be making more.

Today's Technique Lovers Challenge was Masked Frames. What a fun technique. I originally seen it in the Technique Junkies Newsletter but never tried it out--till now. How fun. I double masked the focal section to get the layered look. You can see directions on how to do this HERE. You can see my original sketch HERE.

Stamps: Bump in the Night (SUINK)

Paper: Yo Yo Yellow, Basic Black, Whisper White, retired dp

Ink: Basic Black

Accessories: brads, nestabilities, copics

Techniques: Double Masked Frame

Combining three challenges and two techniques. The first challenge is the TLC234 leafing pen resist, the second challenge is my very own sketch challenge TSSC83 and it is also this week's OCCC challenge to make a Christmas in August Card--I added the Modern Grid technique to give it a different twist. Thanks for looking.

Stamps: Snow Swirled

Paper: Night of Navy, Crushed Curry, Whisper White, Watercolor paper

Ink: Basic Black, Silver

Accessories: misting bottles, re-inker, circle scissors plus, ruler, glitter pen, silver leafing pen, rub ons, black marker

Techniques: Modern Grid, Leafing pen resist

Sure hope you have a fabulous day,
Be a blessing to someone you see today, it will bless you too!

Mary Jo

I am so impressed with all three of these cards and each person did the squares differently! How cool is that. Great job ladies, thanks so much. Come on the rest of you --let's see what you got!

Mary Jo

Today's card is for the color challenge on SCS. Fun one today you had to use two colors and one of them had to be the bleached out result of the first color--you could then add a neutral if you choose. I also combined it with the new Midnight Madness Challenge. Come on and play along, it makes you house smell so clean!

Here is the sketch for the week on the Midnight Madness blog

And my card..

Stamps: The more the merrier

Paper: Brilliant Blue, Whisper White

Ink: Brilliant Blue

Accessories: bleach, ribbon, pretties kit, bleach, scallop edge punch, rub ons (chit chat collection.

Techniques: bleach

Hope you have a fabulous day! It is still raining here, think I may have to invest in a boat to get to the grocery store--crazy weather this year!

Mary Jo

This is the watercolor rose technique gone WILD! Can't really decide if I like it or not. I do like it a lot better in real life. Seems much more "bad" details always show up in pictures. Wonder why that is?

Anyway this is my card for Kerry challenge and it was supposed to be posted last night (sorry Kerry) but I got caught up with some personal stuff. At least I am up bright and early on Thursday Morning. Hope that works.


Here is the inside of the card. All sentiments are from the Chit Chat rub ons.

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral
Ink: Versa Mark
Paper: Whisper White, Bella Rose DP, Shimmery White.
Other: re-inkers,, paint brushes, heat gun, clear embossing powder, lace border punch, Sizzix tag die by SU, Chit Chat Rub ons, ribbon., craft knife and mat.

Hope you have a great day.
Mary Jo

For the Technique Lovers Challenge on SCS. Faux Mosaic.

Stamps: Bloomin' Beautiful

Paper: Really Rust, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White and scrap dp

Ink: Basic Black

Accessories: copics, ribbon, rub-ons, embossing powder, large sheet of sticky strip, heat gun, Top Note die, White marker

And then as I was looking at the scraps of Really Rust card stock left over from the Top Note die I thought the scrap piece looked like a beard so that is where this lucky little guy came from. His eyes are pretty freaky IMO!



Hope you have a fabulous day.

Mary Jo

The Ways to use it challenge was the perfect finishing touch to this fun card. I love these colors and this card to me is just stunning. I will post a tutorial on how to do the ornament if I have any interest, just let me know by leaving a comment. Here are the details, need to get back in bed, my son is home sick too so we are resting.

Stamps: Season of Joy, Snow Bursts, Cardinal Christmas

Paper: Rose Red, Regal Rose and Whisper White

Ink: Rose Red, Regal Rose

Accessories: Pearls, martha steward border punch, white gel pen, circle punch, word window punch, designer label punch, large circle punch for mask, silver cording, Rose wide grosgrain, cuttlebug, sponges

Techniques: reverse masking

Yesterday's technique lover's challenge #192 was napkin transfer, also know as Hot Card Technique. I learned this from the Technique Junkie Newsletter a few years ago. I really love this technique but don't do it often because I don't want to risk being caught with an iron in my hand, people might think I know how to use one and then my work load will increase which of course means a cut in stamping time so SHHHHHH. Basically the technique requires you to find some fancy decorative napkins and iron them to freezer paper then use them on your card. Here are the directions. Ironically as I was rearranging my stamp space on Sunday I found a box with leftovers from these two cards, I used them for a technique class and a shoe box swap quite a while ago so I figured now is as good a time as any to use up these leftovers. I got out the (you know what) and got to work. Here are the samples..

Stamps: Edgy Eloquence for sentiment

Paper: Real Red, Basic Black scrap retired dp

Ink: Real red

Accessories: marker, iron, freezer paper

Techniques: hot card, napkin transfer

Stamps: Roses in Winterfor sentiment

Paper: Bashful Blue, Ballet Blue, Basic Black

Ink: Basic Black

Accessories: napkins, iron, freezer paper.

Such a fun technique, and it really feels like I got a TON done today -- I made 5 cards two of the margarita and three of the rose. No one needs to know they were alread designed and prepped, lol.
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I chose this card to case. I changed the stamps, colors and used the bandanna technique. Basically I just used the layout.

Here are the details.
Stamps:Pun Fun
Paper: Pacific Point, Tangerine Tango, Basic Black and Whisper White
Ink: Basic Black
Other: word window punch, nestabilities, white gel pen, black faux brads, colored pencils, blender pen

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Here are a few more sketch players for this weeks sketch #35. You can find the original details along with the sketch HERE.

Isn't this retired polar bear just adorable? This is another card for the technique class we did last month. It is such a simple technique and fun too. Looking at it now I realize I should have flipped it so that the oval was on the other side and the bear was looking into the card instead of off the card. Funny how once it is on the computer screen all the flaws really pop out at me, there is always something that I notice now that I did not notice before. Too bad I am such a lazy stamper, or I could go back and fix after looking at the card on the screen but by this point in the game I am DONE with this card and ready to move on to the next one. When the girls made this card they used the snowflake cuttlebug on the background blue -- another after thought, lol! I think the saying is perfect for the images and it is from the retired coffee set. The colors used are Rose Red, Regal Rose, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Basic Black and watercolor paper. I also used a piece of acetate, my water brush, Stazon Black, my Nestabilities dies for the ovals and the retired sticker sheets from last year's Sell-A-Bration kits. Now for the last cards for sketch 15. Don't forget to check back at about 12pm EST to see the new sketch and find out who won the beautiful set from Our Daily Bread Designs. See ya then.

This month's technique class was Spotlight Three Ways. I don't normally post all the projects from this class since I am not sure how the people who pay for the class would feel about it, but this weeks is so busy and I needed to post something, lol. This is a great technique for this hostess set. The image is stamped on Whisper White and then the areas that I wanted to highlight (spotlight) were masked off and the rest was brayered in Bashful Blue ink. Now I just had to color in a little bit of the image and not the whole thing. Fun and easy - and really neat looking in person too since there are no layers on the focal image strips. So here is a little about my technique classes. We do them once a month and every one makes a 6 x 6 page to keep in their technique album for future reference and two cards to show and use the technique. It is a fun class. Let me know if you are interested.

Hmmm, can't decide it I like the colors here. I was good till I added the Red and River Rock. What do you think? This is a new technique from the Technique Junkie Newsletter. The technique is called Magic Pattern. I think I like the technique just not sure of the card?

Stamp Sets: retired Happy Healing
Paper Used: Brilliant Blue, Bashful Blue, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, Whisper White
Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Brilliant Blue, Versa Mark
Other: clear embossing powder, markers, red eyelets, ribbon

This is a simple card, designed to show off the Faux Tile Technique. I tried not to take the focus away from the technique by added lots of embellishments and layers. Hope you enjoy!

Stamps: Polka Dots & Paisley, Paisley bg, Noteworthy

Paper: Rose Red, Soft Sky, Blue Bayou textured, Whisper White,

Ink: Blue Bayou, Soft Sky

Accessories: ribbon, markers, circle punch, photo corners punch

Techniques: Faux tile

This is one of my favorite techniques although I don't use it often. First I wheeled the Snow wheel across a piece of Whisper White card stock using VersaMark ink. I then embossed it with white embossing powder. Next I randomly stamped the snowflakes from Snow Burst in VersaMark over and around the already embossed area. I let the VersaMark set for a moment (do not emboss) and then brayered over the whole piece with Blue Bayou ink. The results are two different layers of resist. The embossed area will completely resist the ink and the VersaMark will only lightly accept the ink. It is very pretty in person. I love this look with leaves too! To finish my card I attached the finished layer to a strip of Soft Sky and the onto another piece of Whisper White that has the Whimsy jumbo wheel rolled on it in Soft Sky and the the smaller snowflake form Snow Burst stamped in Blue Bayou. This whole thing is attached to a base of Blue Bayou that has the front bottom scalloped with the small corner rounded, pierced with the paper piercier, and little dots with my gel pen. Finally I stamped the Happy Holidays from Riveting and punch out the center. Layered it on a piece of Whisper White and stamped the small snowflake inside. This whole piece was then punched out and layered on the designer label punch! Hope you enjoyed. This was the technique at our last technique class and everyone said they loved it. We also did a leaf card and 6 x 6 page for our books.

Another sketch challenge.




This was my swap card on one of my groups. I had a lot of fun creating it which is weird since I had to do so much coloring with all those different color markers! Not normally a favorite of mine. The main image from Season of Joy is colored with Real Red, Old Olive, Bashful Blue, So Saffron, Pretty in Pink and Regal Rose markers. After I colored it I covered the entire image with Versa Mark ink and embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder to create the Faux Diamond Dust technique. It is incredibly sparkly in real life! I mounted that piece on a piece of Real Red card stock that has small dots around it made with my gel pen. The base of the card is Wild Wasabi followed by Bashful Blue. The striped paper is from the Winter Bright Simply Scrappin kit. I finished off the card with three Real Red brads and some pretty in pink ribbon. The Merry Christmas is stamped in Real Red. This was also another sketch challenge from Sara's Desperate Stamper. I believe it was sketch number 6.


By the way, I still need 48 more comments on the Techno Takeout to reach the bonus level. If you have not left a comment yet please do. Only one comment per person though. So spread the word. Here is the original post.

As long as I was creating, I did another one of Sara's sketch challenges from her Desperate Stamper blog. This is sketch #2.



I had a technique class last night and this is one of the cards from it. The technique is called Background Pop. I have not done it in a long time and forgot how much fun it is. We do two cards and one 6 x 6 page for their books at this class. The 6 x 6 describes the technique so they can reference it at a later time.




Here is a close up of the butterfly ......




Supplies used:
Paper: Bashful Blue, Close to Cocoa and Blue Bayou
Ink: Bashful Blue, Not Quite Navy and Basic Black
Other supplies: Scallop Circle Punch, 5-Petal Flower Punch, Ticket Corner Punch, paper piercer, white gel pen, rhinestone brad.
Stamps: retired Wonderful Wings, Paisley, In the Spotlight and the retired Warmest Regard.

Hope you enjoy!

OK, I said I would upload the other sample tonight so here it is. This one used the Pumpkin Patch Spectrum pad. The base of the card is Ruby Red followed by Pumpkin Pie. Then the technique piece -- this time it is done on Whisper White. It does give a whole different look. Before I did the technique I stamped the large leaves from Lovely as a Tree in VersaMark and then again in Chocolate Chip. It is hard to see the resist ones on the picture. Before putting my spectrum pad away I stamped the leaves two more times on Whisper White and cut them out. The tree, also from Lovely as a Tree, is stamped in Close to Cocoa and then colored with pastels. It is then punched out with a square scallop punch. I punched two more scallop squares -- one in Pumpkin Pie and one in Ruby Red and cut them in half. I pieced them to the the back of the tree to bring both colors back up front. Thanks so much from So Many Sayings is stamped in Chocolate Chip on Old Olive and cut out with the word window punch. I attached it over the top of the two cut out leaves. Finally I finished the card with the new photo corners punch in ruby Red and Old Olive. Of course there are brads from the hodgepodge hardware added too.

So which one do we like better. This one or the one in the last post???