A Touch From the Heart

My Secret Stash

I admit it......I have two huge drawers in a dresser full of retired stamp sets.  These are my treasures.  Every six months, I go through these treasures and re-evaluate how I feel about them.  Most of the time, everything stays "as is".  Sometime, I do move a stamp set to my "for sale" pile.

For today's card, I used a retired stamp set I purchased from a fellow demo.  Did she "re-evaluate" her stash too?  Well, what she gave up, I will treasure for a long time.  This stamp set is called Schooner, and it retired before I was even introduced to Stampin' Up!  It's a great stamp set for the men in my life. 

This card actually uses some sneak peek items from the new catalog too!  Don't you just love how you can use everything in your stash (both old and new) to make a great project?   

Can you spot the new stuff?

Well, the patterned paper is new.  It's called Newprint, and it is fabulous!!!  There's all different black and white patterns.  There's patterns that look like newspaper, maps, ledgers and ones with letters on it (like the one I used here).

I dragged my Crumb Cake ink pad (also new) along the dsp to give it some texture and added color.  I matted it on some Basic Black cardstock and added two antique brass brads. 

The ship is inked with Versamark ink and stamped onto some Crumb Cake cardstock (formerly known as Kraft).  I sprinkled on some Black embossing powder and melted it with my heat tool.  I used my Aquapainter and Whisper White Craft ink to color in the clouds.  I sponged the edges with Crumb Cake ink and used my Color Spritzer Tool and a Basic Black marker to add some splatter. 

Well, that's about it for the "deets" on this card!  It's for my father-in-law for Father's Day.  I sure hope he likes it!!

Until next time.....Happy Stamping everyone!

Ordering from Stampin' Up! is easy.....place your order today through my demonstrator website

Card Recipe

stamps:  Schooner (retired)
paper:  Basic Black, Crumb Cake (aka Kraft), Newsprint dsp (available July 1st)
ink:  Crumb Cake, Versamark
accessories:  Black embossing powder, Square Lattice embossing folder, Big Shot, heat tool, Vintage Brads (retiring), sponge, Basic Black marker, Color Spritzer Tool

Color Inspiration #127

Wow! This week is just flying by.  Yesterday, Dennis and I celebrated our 20th anniversary.  How can it be 20 years already?  Did I get married when I was 10?  LOL!!!  We had a great day together!  I'll do a separate post on our fabulous day......

Every Thursday I have the pleasure to present the Stamping 411 blog readers with a weekly color inspiration challenge.

This week I was inspired by a card I made last week for my "Let's Hear it for the Boys" class.

The colors are Night of Navy, Real Red, More Mustard and Taken with Teal.

I love how these colors play off of each other!!



The base card is Night of Navy.

The next layer is Taken with Teal. It's been texturized with my Big Shot and the Perfect Details Texturz Plate.

The next layer is More Mustard. I used the direct-to-paper technique for some added texture. It's easy to do. Take your ink pad and drag it along the cardstock.

My cute little truck (from Loads of Love) is inked with Black StazOn ink and stamped onto Watercolor Paper. Make sure you use StazOn ink whenever you use watercolor paper. I watercolored my image using my Aquapainter and Stampin' Write markers. This is SO easy to do!! Simply draw lines of color just on the inside of the lines of the image. Then use your Aquapainter in a circular motion to blend the marker color towards the center of the image. Remember, it's easy to add more color. It's not as easy to take it away. So work slowly and add color until you get the level of shadows and highlights that you desire.

I used my Going Gray marker to make the road. After my image dried completely, I sponged the edges of the paper with Going Gray ink.

Using my Cropodile I punched holes and set Jumbo Pewter Eyelets for my tires. Isn't it cute?

I matted my focal image onto some Real Red cardstock.

All that's left is the sentiment. It's from Teeny Tiny Wishes. It's stamped with Black StazOn ink (since it was already on my desk.....Basic Black would work perfectly here too) onto More Mustard cardstock. Punch it out with the Word Window punch and add to the card.

If you haven't tried watercoloring with markers, I encourage you to give it a try. The colors are so vibrant, and it really is easy to do. Remember, you MUST use watercolor paper for this technique to work.

Until next time......Happy Stamping everyone!

Ordering Stampin' Up! products is easy to do......just go to my demonstrator website and click on "Shop Now"

Card Recipe

stamps:  Loads of Love, Loads of Love Accessories, Teeny Tiny Wishes
paper:  Night of Navy, Real Red, More Mustard, Taken with Teal (retiring), Watercolor Paper
ink:  Black StazOn, Going Gray (sponging)
accesssories:  Aquapainter, Stampin' Write markers (Night of Navy, Taken with Teal, Going Gray, More Mustard, Real Red), Jumbo Pewter Eyelets, Cropodile, Perfect Details Texturz Plate, Word Window Punch