Bird and Cage

I have had company and lots going on, so missed a couple of days of posting.  Today I wanted to use the Tim Holtz "Caged Bird" die for a birdcage to show off this pretty bird.    The design paper I used is from Graphic 45 "Le Romantique" paper pad.  The branches were die cut using the Sizzix "Birds & Branches Die".  The bird is from a K&Company Grand Adhesions Dimensional Stickers" pack. 

The birdcage was die cut and shaped using tools from the Flower Tool Kit available from Joan's Gardens.  Two of the branches from the branch die were used.  They were cut out using green card stock then the branches were sponged with a sponge dauber and brown ink.  Some green ink was sponged over it and the leaves.  Vellum flowers were punched using a Martha Stewart flower punch, shaped then added to the branches and around the bird.  The sentiment is from one of my favorite JustRite stamps sets "You Inspire me".  It was black embossed on green card stock and cut out with scissors.  A piece of velvet trim was added to the bottom of the card.

We have a lot of exciting things happening at Joan's Gardens this week.  Tomorrow Joan will be back with the weekly Tag Challenge.  I have my tag all ready and I am anxious for you to see it.  You won't want to miss the next Weekly Challenge at Joan's Gardens on Thursday.  This challenge is really exciting. Some fabulous prizes will be available for those that participate. 

All the products used on my card today can be purchased from Joan's Gardens.

Thinking of You

Today I have created a card using a JustRite sentiment and want to show you how you can dress up a card using only a stamped sentiment; everything else is punched or die cut.  This card is completed using ivory card stock. 

Joan, and I have been giving you some hints that you are going to need a JustRite stamp for a very exciting event coming up.  I hope you have ordered one.  You won't want to miss out on the next Joan's Gardens Challenge. 

Now to my card.  The back piece was punched using the Martha Stewart Eyelet Lace border and corner punch.  Layered on top is the Heartfelt Creations Window Die and on top of that the Nestabilities Fleur De Lis Pendant.  A small Nestability Scalloped square was placed in the middle of the pendant.  This created many lacy layers.  The sentiment is from the JustRite "You're So Sweet" stamp set.  It was stamped using brown ink and cut out with scissors.    It was attached with dimensionals.

Leaves, die cut with the Sizzix "Branch w/Leaves" die, were cut out and sponged with Tim Holtz Distress Tea Dye ink.  The edge of the ivory card was also sponged with the same ink.  Using a brown sheet of vellum, flowers were punched out with the same punches as used in my Vellum Flower Tutorial.  The leaves and flowers were arranged along the left side of the sentiment as shown.  Copper KaiserCraft pearls were added to complete the card.

I will confess and tell you that all the punched ivory pieces were pulled out of a drawer where I throw extra things.  That drawer is really getting full so need to use some of it up.    I only had to stamp the sentiment and create the flowers.  What a quick and easy card for today.

All the products in bold can be purchased from Joan's Gardens.

Pretty Spring Flowers

Oh how I would love to be able to go out and pick a bunch of flowers like this.  I think it will be a long time before we have flowers in the yard.    It snowed here all day yesterday then the winds came up and we have snowdrifts everywhere.  We couldn't even open our doors.  Our front porch is recessed from the front of the house, and covered, so we never get snow on it, but today it is covered with the white stuff!  I stood just out the door a took a picture of the far end of the porch to show you the snow that blew all the way up to the walls.  It was 12 to 14 inches deep right in front of the door.  

I am busy working on some projects I can't post right now, so I wanted to post another card I created for Heartfelt Creations.  This is a 5.5 inch square card. A 5.5 piece of yellow card stock was distressed around the edges with the Zutter Distrezz-it. A paper piercer was used to punch holes evenly around the edges. A 5 inch square was punched with the Martha Stewart "RainDrop" border punch. A piece of yellow design paper was attached to the center of this piece. The water can of flowers, HCPC 3306 Posy Patch Garden Delights Precut Set,  was stamped on white card stock and cut out with a square Nestability. The edges were sponged prior to taking it out of the die. The water can was colored with a blue colored pencil and oms. Ten larger posy flowers and eight slightly smaller flowers, HCPC 3303 Posy Patch Flowers PreCut Set,   were stamped and cut out with the matching dies "HCD 701 Posy Patch Diecuts" . The inside of each flower was colored with the salmon pink Copic marker and the centers colored with the yellow Copic marker. The flowers on the main images were colored the same way and the leaves were colored with two shades of green. The individual flowers that were cut out, were   shaped and layered to make them dimensional, then placed over the stamped flowers. Yellow Stickles was added to the center of each flower. A yellow bow was attached to the corner to complete the card.

Well I hope you are having  much nicer weather than we are.  Thanks for stopping by for a visit.  I love to read your comments.



Moonlight Dahlia

Today I am posting a card I created for Heartfelt Creations using a stamp set I have not used before.  It is the HCPC 2282 Moonlight Dahlia 2 PreCut Set. The base of this card is 5.5 inches square. Using a 6 inch square of ivory card stock, the border was punched using the Martha Stewart “Doulbe Arches” punch. I wanted to create a monochromatic card with the exception of the beautiful  Moonlight Dahlia. Two Heartfelt Creations decorative corners were cut out (HCD 701 Decorative Butterfly-Border Die)  The sentiment (HCPC 3354 Classic Message PreCut Set)  was stamped on a slightly lighter ivory card stock, so it would stand out, with VersaMark Ink then gold embossed. It was cut out with a Nestabilities “Labels Four” die then edged with a gold leaf pen. Some Sizzix foliage was cut out and two different sizes of Martha Stewart butterflies were punched. The butterflies were embossed with the Cuttlebug Dotted Swiss embossing folder.

The Moonlight Dahlia was stamped eight times with brown ink on ivory card stock and each cut out with the matching Nestabilities Dahlia die. Each flower was sponged with Tim Holtz “Tea Dye” ink. All the layers are from the smallest flower in this set. Layers were cut away to give the flower dimension. The edges of the petals were sponged with burgundy ink. They were then shaped and layered to form a dimensional flower. Once it was put together, it was sprayed with apricot glitter spray. A beige pearl was added to the center. All the elements were layered as shown. An ivory bow and two more pearls were added to complete the card.

The pretty dahlia was stamped eight times with brown ink on ivory card stock and each cut out with the matching die. Each flower was sponged with Tim Holtz “Tea Dye” ink. All the layers are from the smallest flower in this set. Layers were cut away to give the flower dimension. The edges of the petals were sponged with burgundy ink. They were then shaped and layered to form a dimensional flower. Once it was put together, it was sprayed with apricot glitter spray. A beige pearl was added to the center. All the elements were layered as shown. An ivory bow and two more pearls were added to complete the card.

Be sure to check out all the new cards posted by the Heartfelt Creations design team this week.  Here is the link.  Today Emma Lou gives you the first sneak peek of the Dutch Iris-Blossom 3 Collection. This collection is definitely one of my favorites -- more flowers to work with!  This new collection will also include some great sympathy stamps. There will be a total of 7  PreCut Sets and will debut on March 8 . These new sets will coordinate with a new exclusive Heartfelt Creations die, made by Spellbinders, and 2 dies released by Spellbinders at Winter CHA.

Egg-Citing Day

This is a scene I created using two of the new stamp sets from Heartfelt Creations;  HCPC 3368 Egg-Citing Day PreCut Set and HCPC 3369 Outside My Window PreCut Set. The sentiment is from the HCPC 3366 Wrought Iron Cross PreCut Set.

This is a 4.25 x 5 .5 inch card. I love to create scenes using stamps from different sets. I tried to create a scene on a hill using the background from “Outside My Window”. That background was stamped on white card stock and colored with a mixture of markers, colored pencils and chalks. The Bear was stamped and cut out so it would be dimensional on the side of the hill. It was also colored using a mixture of coloring tools then attached with dimensional tape. I tried to take a photo so you could see the dimension. The greeting was stamped in the corner. I didn’t feel this cute picture needed embellishment so did not add any.

LaBlanche Country Home

I have a quick and easy card to show you this morning.  I have posted several cards using the new LaBlanche stamps you can order from Joan's Gardens and want to show you another one.  I have shown you how beautiful these images are when you color them with reinkers and also with Copic markers.  This one was stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink and embossed it with Ranger, Super Fine, Detail Clear embossing powder.  I clear embossed it because it seems to bring out all the fine lines even more.  I love this stamp without coloring, but I bet it is going to be gorgeous in color too.

After stamping the image, it was cut out with a Label Seventeen Nestability.  Then using the same die and the one size larger, cut a black frame for the picture.  The designer paper used for this card is from the Making Memories Wedding paper pad.  A strip of black card stock was added to the left side and the pretty trim was attached with ScorTape.  Since the trim has pearls, I decided to add a few more to the frame. 

Hope you like it.  If you would like to see all the LaBlance stamps Joan has in stock, just check out her store here at Joan's Gardens.  I know you will love working with them!

Thanks for stopping by.

Easel Card

This is the Easel Card showing the entire front when it is closed.

Easel Card Open -- you can see the glare on the acetate layered over the scene.

This is another card created with the new release from Heartfelt Creations.  The products used are:  HCPC 3369 Outside My Window PreCut Set; HCPC 3363 Inspire Me Sentiments PreCut Set; 198E Daisy Border.

This is a 5.5 inch square easel card. Design Paper from Basic Grey was layered on both the outside and inside of the card. The picture was stamped and colored with Copic Markers. I wanted to create a framed picture scene so cut a black frame with Nestabilities, plus a piece of acetate and layered them. The Decorative Oval Window was cut out with brown card stock. To get the gold highlights, I used a VersaMark pen while the card stock was in the die to ink it then took it out of the frame. These areas were gold embossed. The frame was attached over the window. The top portion of this frame was cut off and another piece of black card stock was attached to the back to give it a finished look. I was trying to create an easel for the picture. The daisy border was added above the frame and can only be seen when the card is closed. The sentiment was stamped and cut out with a Nestability tag. It was sponged with green ink prior to taking it out of the die.

My son and his family are here from San Diego.  They are currently up in Canada on the ski slopes and tomorrow my DH and I will be going up to visit with them and to wish our DIL a happy birthday.  I did get a set of cards completed for her.

Hope you have a great week.

Pot of Flowers

Birthday Card

There are two pieces to this card -- the flower pot and the pull up section to add a personal message.

This is a picture showing the dimensional "funky" flowers.

What a fun day.  My DH went to a golf show this morning and my GD, Shannon,  called and wanted to know if she could come over and make a card for her best friend.  Shannon has been my stamping buddy since she was a very little girl, age 4.  She used to attend all my stamp workshops and eventually was able to even help the ladies with different techniques.  She is now 13.  She had no idea what she wanted to create and spent a lot of time going through design paper, Cuttlebug embossing folders and embellishments trying to figure it out.  I told her I had a suggestion and explained the above card.  She was excited to do it.  She had previously created cards with vellum flowers but this time we decided to make colorful "funky" flowers out of design paper.  We had a little problem figuring out how to create the flower pot, but after a couple of tries had it just the way we wanted.  She used the Martha Stewart "Scallop & Three Dots" punch for the edge because it matched the DP she wanted to use.

We used a Sizzix flower die and a lot of different punches to create the funky layered flowers.  She had a lot of fun using the tool kit, available from Joan's Gardens, to shape all the flowers to make them very dimensional.  She was totally amazed how making the stamens really changed the appearance of the flowers.  She wanted to also add  some bling, so added different colored rhinestones to the center of each flower.

Shannon is a big fan of JustRite stamps and chose stamps from the JustRite "Just A Note" set.  The birthday sentiment and frame was cut out with a circle scallop Nestability.  She designed each layer of the flowers, mixing colors and shapes,  and glued them together.  She wanted really colorful flowers.   They were added to the rim of the pot and the top half of the pull up section.  She always has lots of patience and does a fabulous job.     

It has been a fun day spending time with Shannon creating a cute card and ordering in pizza for lunch.  Now she is off to town to find a birthday present for her friend. 

Hope you are having a great weekend.  Thanks for stopping by.

Have a Fabulous Birthday

Punches available from Joan's Gardens that were used on this card.

Today I was cleaning out drawers and found a few stamped pieces I thought would make a great background for punched flowers. All the pieces for this card had previously been stamped, and pieces cut and embossed.  Many times I will stamp more than one image, color and cut it out for future use.  These pieces have probably been in a drawer for a couple of years.  I had made a very similar card a long time ago but did not make it dimensional with punched flowers, so it was fun to use the greenery for the background for the punched flowers I love to create.    

This is a 5.5" square card.  To create the grid in the opening, I used my ScorPal and scored 1/2" lines going two directions to guide me in laying down ScorTape.  The tape was attached going all one direction then the top layer pulled off to expose the other sticky side.  Then tape was attached going the other direction and again the top layer pulled off so now I had a sticky grid.  I poured gold embossing power over the card and it stuck to the tape.  It was heat set with a heat gun.  What a perfect way to get very straight lines!  A large sponge dauber was used to sponge on yellow ink. Three different size Nestability Ovals were used to cut the opening so the grid would  show.  The top layer was embossed with the Cuttlebug Dotted Swiss embossing folder.  Another piece of pink card stock was embossed using the Cuttlebug "Textile Texture" embossing folder.  A Martha Stewart "Doily Lace" border was attached between the two pink layers. 

The stamped greenery was layered around the oval opening.  Using the "Medium Blossom" flower punch I created the dimensional flowers.  The stamens were made with the small frilly snowflake punch.  The tool kit I purchased from Joan's Gardens was used to shape the flowers.  Black pearls were added to the centers.  Three butterflies were punched and added. 

The sentiment is from the JustRite "Kindness" stamp set.  I first stamped the frame, using VersaMark Ink, then stamped the beautiful sentiment inside.  It was black embossed then cut out with scissors.  A few pearls were added along the punched border to complete the card.

All products in bold can be purchased from Joan's Gardens.

Heartfelt Creations Wrought Iron Cross

Tonight I am posting a card I created for Heartfelt Creations.  Isn't that a beautiful cross!  I have used two stamps from the new Heartfelt Creations "New Life" Collection.  This is an A-2 size card. The stained glass background was stamped on glossy card stock using VersaMark Ink. Lavender, blue, and green inks were sponged on with a large sponge dauber, to bring out the stained glass lines. The Wrought Iron Cross was stamped over the background with black VersaFine Ink and clear embossed. The same stamp was stamped again and the cross cut out. I wanted it to stand out from the other colors on the card. It was sponged using yellow ink and Tim Holtz Tea Die ink. The flower on the cross was stamped again and cut out and attached with a dimensional.  That is the same flower as in the Posy Patch Collection.   The cross was attached over the wrought iron with dimensional tape. The HFC sentiment was also stamped with VersaFine Ink and clear embossed. The piece was attached to black card stock then attached to the card.

Heartfelt Creations Stamps used:  HCPC 3366 Wrought Iron Cross PreCut Set; HCPC 3364 Stained Glass Background PreCut Set

Have a wonderful weekend.

Another Thank You Card

These are the flowers cut from the Tim Holtz "Tattered Flowers" Die.  I really use this die a lot.   I placed three of the same flowers together to show you which flower I used for this card. 

This is my second Thank You card for the BD gift I am preparing.  The background paper is from Basic Grey and was embossed with the Cuttlebug "Seeing Spots" embossing folder.  The striped dp is from Making Memories pad.  Two punched Martha Stewart borders (Scallop and 3 dots) were added behind the striped dp.  I only left two of the dots showing because I wanted a narrow black border.  The black flourish is from a package of K&Company "Pillow Stickers".  The laser cut corners are from my stash that I never wanted to use because they are so pretty.

To create the flower, I added some yellow reinker mixed with water to a spray bottle and sprayed them on the Teflon Sheet. These flowers were cut out of a brown paper grocery bag.   They were wadded up in a ball then pulled apart and dried with the heat gun.  I then used a sponge dauber to add orange to the petals. Three flowers were layered and a corduroy brad added to the center.  The sentiment is from the JustRight "You Inspire Me" stamp set and it was cut out with a JustRite tag Nestability.  A brad was added in the hole then attached with a dimensional.  

All the products in bold letters can be purchased from Joan's Gardens.

Thanks

My DIL has a birthday coming up and she asked  me to make a box of thank you cards for her gift.  This is going to be the first for this set.

Can you guess what I used for making these flowers?  I had a couple of brown paper bags after doing some shopping, and wondered if I could use them to make flowers.  I cut the bags in strips and used the Tim Holtz "Tattered Flowers" die to cut the flowers out.  I used the two smallest flowers from the die for this card.  The flowers were placed on the Teflon sheet and were sponged around the edges with burgundy ink, then sprayed with enough water to get them really wet. I kind of pressed them down into the ink that ran onto the Teflon sheet blending the water and color onto the flower. (Warning - you can get your fingers pretty messy, so use tweezers as much as you can.)  I then "wadded" each flower up in a little ball then pulled them apart slightly and dried them with the heat gun. They were then shaped in the middle with the flower tool I always use.  Black stamens were punched and added to the center of each flower. I am really pleased with the way these flowers turned out. 

The design paper used is from the Graphic 45 "LeRomantique" paper pad for the background.  Two pieces of lace were added  to help frame the piece across the middle.  A Tim Holtz "Elegant Flourish" was added then the flowers were attached.  The pretty frame and sentiment are from the JustRite "You Inspire Me" stamp set.    It was stamped on ivory card stock then sponged with Distress Ink.  To complete the card, black feathers and burgundy pearls were added. 

This is one of those times that the real card looks much prettier than it does in a photo. 

The products I used can be purchased from Joan's Gardens. 

Happy Valentine's Day

I want to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day.  I thought I would share with you the card I made for my DH.  It has a really neat background.  The paper used is from the Core'dinations' Black Magic paper pack.  There are lots of different colors in this pad.  One side of each sheet is black and the other side a pretty color.  You are going to love this new line Joan now carries.    I embossed the background with a Cuttlebug embossing folder then sanded it to reveal the color under the black.  My husband thought that was pretty neat. 

The frame for my hearts is from the JustRight "Mother Nature's Gifts" set.  The sentiment is from the JustRite "Kindness" stamp set.  A Nestie circle was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder.  The sentiment was stamped on a Nestie heart and each scallop was pierced.  It was attached with a dimensional glue dot.  A Martha Stewart "Eyelet" heart was punched and also added with a dimensional.  The pretty little heart is from a package of Webster's Pages "Little Whimsies" - isn't it pretty!   A ribbon/bow that matches the background was added to the bottom of the card.  A few pearls were added to complete the card.

My husband took me to lunch today and gave me a beautiful valentine.  Now we are going to see a movie.  Hope you are having a great day.

All the products used on this card are available from Joan's Gardens.  The Core'dinations paper packs come in several different variety packs.  The pretty heart "Little Whimsies" also comes in packages of many colors. 

A Thing of Beauty Award

Yesterday I had this comment left on my blog:  "Grace Baxter said...  I've been enjoying your blog and I am pleased to be able to present you with a very special award. Please drop by my blog to pick it up and get all the details."

I have to be honest and tell you I did not know who Grace Baxter was until I received this comment.  On her blog I found the above beautiful badge and this is what Grace had written:

"In looking around blogland and seeing some lovely sites, I realize that certain kinds of style catch my eye. I have decided to create an award for the special sites which, in my opinion, have it ALL together. Not only are their projects great, but the blog owner has taken the time to make sure the overall blog design is good. This includes spelling, layout, color scheme, titling and pictures."

First of all I am so honored that Grace is a visitor to my blog and second that she feels I deserve such a wonderful award.  I am very touched, and with gratitude, accept this award.
 
Here are the Rules of Award Acceptance:

• Right-click on the award and save it to your desktop for use when you add it to your blog.
• Choose FIVE (5) worthy recipients and list them. Next to their blog name, give ONE reason why you think their blog is special. What catches your eye about them? What do you love?
• On your blog page, list 5 things about yourself. Include at least one thing you enjoy about your craft.

It was very hard to narrow this down because I have such a long list of "favorite" blogs, but I am happy to present this beautiful award to the following FIVE recipients.  In no particular order, they are:

MagPies Corner - Glenda's work always makes me smile.  It is always very classy.
Geris Cards - Geri is a master at coloring and every creation is gorgeous. 
Paper and Ribbons and Stamps! Oh My! - Pam creates the most gorgeous gift items.

A Consuming Passion - Sue has a very attractive blog with lots of beautiful projects.

Craftieodamae - Olga is one of the most generous stampers - always remembers her  blogging friends sending her beautiful cards out to celebrate birthdays, etc.

It was hard to make just one comment about each of the above blogs. Please take a few minutes to visit each of these recipients' blogs. You'll find inspiration there, for sure!

 Now for Five Things About Me

• I have always been crafty.  My favorite of all crafts is stamping.  I used to teach workshops but now just share my creations with others on my blog.  I treasure all the friendships I now have through the world of blogging.
• I feel honored to do design work for Joan's Gardens and Heartfelt Creations.
• What I love about stamping is that there is no end to creativity.  I love to learn new techniques, find new products to use, and share what I have learned with others. 
• Flowers make me happy whether in my home, out in the garden, or on my cards.  I think I should have been a florist!
• I love to travel.  I have never been to the east coast and hope to go from Maine down to Florida some day.

 I'm looking forward to hearing from you. So tell me about your favorite blogs and let's keep the encouragement going! 

Thanks again Grace for selecting me for this beautiful award.

Decorative Vintage Cross

EDIT:  I JUST RECEIVED WORD THAT JOAN'S MOM JUST PASSED AWAY.

Before I give you information about my card, I wanted to give you an update on Joan's mom.  This is information Joan posted on her blog today:  "Things are on hold right now with Joan's Gardens.  Mom is dying and we are sitting with her around the clock.  She is barely breathing and has been in a coma since Friday. Almost all of her body functions have shut down, but she keeps hanging on. My brother hasn't arrived yet and we are thinking she is waiting for that.  There won't be any Challenges this week, but they will continue as soon as possible."  Joan does ask that continue to email her your orders and as soon as possible, they will be shipped.

I have had some requests for Joan's address.  If you would like to send a card you can send it to :

Joan Fricker

25790 Stanton Road

North liberty in 46554

Our thoughts and prayers are with Joan and her family at this difficult time.

This is another card created with one of the new stamp sets released this week from Heartfelt Creations.  This is a 5.5 inch square card. A slightly smaller piece of ivory card stock was cut and scored every quarter inch and placed on the front. The Decorative Vintage Cross was gold embossed four times. One was left without cutting it. The other three were cut with graduating sizes using the Nestabilities 4 dies. The edges of the die cut pieces were trimmed with a Krylon 18kt Gold Leafing Pen. They were attached with dimensional tape. The outside edge of the whole design was also trimmed with the same pen. This piece was attached to the right side of the card. Four Posy Patch Flowers were gold embossed on ivory cardstock and cut out with matching die. Three were placed on the left side of the card and one in the middle of the cross. A few Martha Stewart punched branches were added. The verse from the same set was gold embossed in the inside of the card.


Heartfelt Creations stamps used:   HCPC 3365 Decorative Vintage Cross PreCut Set; HCPC 3303 Posy Patch Flowers PreCut Set; HCD 701 Posy Patch Diecuts

Rejoice For He Lives

Today I am posting another card created with the new Heartfelt Creations release "New Life" Collection.  The two stamp sets used are: HCPC 3370 Easter Lilies PreCut Set and HCPC 3366 Wrought Iron Cross PreCut Set.  You can see this and many more cards created by the design team on the Heartfelt Creations blog.

This is a 5.5 inch square card. A strip of design paper from the DCWV “Café Mediterranean” paper pad was added to the left side. The lilies were stamped twice with Memento black ink – once on the card and once on a scrap piece of paper. The leaves were colored with the G21 Copic marker. A yellow chalk pencil was used to shade around the design then a soft cloth used to soften the color. The center of the flowers was lightly chalked with a yellow and lime green chalk pencil. The flowers and two ends of the design were cut out with scissors, shaped, then embossed with “Iridescent Ice” embossing powder to give them a shine. They were attached over the stamped design on the card. Both the verse and crosses were stamped with VersaMark ink and black embossed. The black beaded flourish was added to complete the card.

These new stamps from Heartfelt Creations are fabulous for creating all your Easter cards.

LaBlanche Stamp Mini Tutorial

This card was created using another stamp by LaBlanche.  The name of this one is "Bird Cage".  Isn't this a beautiful stamp.  Joan's Gardens has a nice selection of these stamps.  Both Joan and I have had some questions about these stamps, so I have prepared a mini tutorial to explain a little about them.  The stamps are different from any I have previously owned.  Here is the description from Joan's Gardens:

" La Blanche Stamps are mounted on very lightweight, hard foam and the stamps themselves are made from high quality silicon, which results in very detailed images.The stamps are extremely heat resistant and they can be used with Archival Ink, VersaFine ink pads and also with StazOn ink."

This picture shows how the stamps are packaged.  Also you can see the package of "Cut-n-Dry Pen Nibs I colored with.  The stamp I am using is out of the package (there is only one stamp when you order the Bird Cage).  Today I am stamping on a piece of glossy card stock.

Here is a picture of the supplies I used to create my card:  The Bird Cage stamp, some Websters Pages design paper from a pack that came out last year, a Tim Holtz cutting tool, Nestabilities Label Seventeen dies, Tim Holtz Tea Dye ink and applicator. 

 I colored the design using the Cut-n-Dry nibs by touching the tip onto an ink pad.  I always like to try out new products and really like these nibs for coloring.    You can also  use reinkers to pick up color. I just put a dot of ink on my Teflon mat and pick up a little of the ink on the tip of the Nib.  The Nibs have a very fine point and are especially easy to use in small areas.  They only pick up a little color so it helps the design to show through very well.  You can also use Copic markers for a nice finish. I stamped my design on a piece of glossy card stock.  When using glossy card stock, you always need to be sure the ink is dry before coloring, or it will smear. You probably already know that.   I love how easily the color glides across glossy card stock; the ink doesn't sink in like it does on regular card stock. 

I cut the colored stamped image out with the Labels Seventeen Nesties and sponged around the edges with the Distressed ink.  I didn't want to cover up any of the design in the dp, so I used the craft knife to cut around a few items so I could slip the stamped design under them (leaves on the bottom left and flowers on the bottom right).

The sentiment is from the JustRite "You Inspire Me", stamp set.  A few flowers were punched and assembled to add to the top corners.     

This is a picture of the stamp.  It looks really different doesn't it. You can't really tell how very detailed this stamp is when looking at it like this. 

Here is what it looks like after you have applied the ink. Now you can really see all the detail.   I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and first rubbed it across the stamp to get ink on it, then tapped all across the design to be sure the ink was applied nice and even.

This is what TOTALLY surprised me.  I just sprayed some plain water onto this stamp to clean it and look how amazingly clean the stamp is.  This stamp did not stain like my other stamps. 

I love this new line of stamps.  Please go over to Joan's Gardens to see all the beautiful LaBlanche stamps she has in her store.  The Cut-n-Dry Nibs and all other products used on this card can also be ordered from Joan's Gardens. 

Hope you are having a great weekend.  Thanks for visiting my blog.