Hurricane Irene is out of here!

We had so much time on our hand during hurricane my husband figured out how to make a video but no sound.  take a look and leave a comment to let me know it worked.

Hurricane Irene is coming

Sounds like they are saying Irene is coming here Sunday morning so battened down the hatches!  Stores here in town are saying they are going to close up early today starting around 2 p.m.  That's stores like bead shop here in town and such.  Don't know about grocery stores but we went there yesterday.  Only thing we couldn't find was size D batteries so hopefully the batteries in our flashlights hold up or we will be in the dark if we loose power.  Other than that all is good here. 

Hurricane Irene is coming

Unfortunately I'm in the line of fire for Hurricane Irene so if I don't post for a few days that means we lost power.  I hope not but it is better to plan for the worst then when it doesn't happen ..........I'm happy.  Have a popsicle on me and stay safe.

collage stamping with roses

 You are probably tired of all these collage stamping cards ...... last two for now anyway.  Used Impression Obession roses cover a card background stamp for the main image on these two cards.  I bought this stamp at Springfield convention because the rose is the flower for June which is my birth month.  On the red card I also used Hero Arts envelope pattern background - that's the hatch work type looking background with Ranger Distress burlap ink. Do you see those ribbon roses on the side of the card?  That is actually a May Arts ribbon...cool, huh.  Second rose card I did on a ochre type color cardstock that I got from Hollo's PaperCraft Brunswick, OH @ hollos.com .  A great warehouse type store that if you are ever in the neighborhood of Brunswick is worth the trip.  Back to the card over the top of roses I stamped Judi-Kins big crackle background and added tan crochet ribbon from Stampin'Up.  Another Stampin'Up product I used was the photo corner punch unfortunately mine doesn't really work that well...it gets stuck when I can get the cardstock in it.  Anyone else have problems with this punch?  would love to hear how you have resolved it. 

Silver Sands Park boardwalk

On thursday afternoon my husband and I took a walk on the boardwalk here in town.  It started out overcast but by the time we got back to the car it was hot and we needed a drink of water.  On the side of the boardwalk there were lots of these plants with berries and very fragrant white flowers.  Unexpected but very nice greenery in fact some of them had purple flowers.  Along the way on the seashore there were rock formations like this one.  I'm inclined to think this is how a budding young artist is formed.   

See me in front of a fun rock formation of a pirate ship!  Isn't it great.  Very creative.  We have lived in this town for years and never knew this was here.  It was a fun afternoon of discovery.

Silver Sands Park boardwalk - not as long as thought

I found information on Silver Sands State Park by googling it and guess what it isn't as long as we thought....LOL!  just seemed it for us out of shape old folgies.  So we walked 1 1/2 miles which is a good stretch.  Guess I should get my facts straight before posting from now on. 
Silver Sands State Park features a boardwalk with 1/10th mile markers extending west 3/4 miles, connecting the State park to the City of Milford's Walnut Beach Park. The site includes an offshore island connected to the mainland by a sand and gravel bar (tombolo) that is submerged at high tide. Accessing the tombolo is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS and should be avoided. Access to the island is prohibited May 1 through August 31 to protect heron and egret rookeries.  Below is a photo we took of Charles Island......hmmmmm should we go dig for treasure, mateys!

Silver Sands State Park is a Connecticut State park in Milford, Connecticut, USA which offers facilities for swimming in the Long Island Sound, picnicking, trails, boardwalks and opportunities for bird-watching. It includes the 14-acre (57,000 m2) bird sanctuary of Charles Island, which is rumored to be the site of Captain Kidd's buried treasure. Silver Sands is adjacent to the city-owned park, Walnut Beach.

An afternoon walking at the beach

 First if you know me, you know I'm basically a lazy person and when it comes to exercise ..... well let's just say that's not me BUT yesterday afternoon my husband and I decided to take a walk on the boardwalk.  This boardwalk is at Silver Sands park and is about 2 miles one way and if you want to get back to your car you have to turn around and walk back so that is 4 miles....approximately.  Needless to say it was a hike for these two old geezers ....meaning me and hubby.  It took us a good hour and a half to walk it including walking down to the water and resting on bench.  Only problem with resting on bench is then I don't want to get up and move!  He had to pull me off that bench!  lol!  This boardwalk is over a swamp or as my husband says it is more politically correct to say wetlands on the right and the beach on the left so depending which side you decide to look you see "swamp" or kids playing in the water.  If you read my blog you know that back in June myself and a couple of friends walked across a boardwalk in Poughkeepsie, NY.(http://stampingsueinconnecticut.blogspot.com/2011/06/afternoon-walk.html)  That boardwalk was nice but completely different from this one in my town.  Both have their own features only good thing about Silver Sands is it is right here in town so a lot easier for me to walk it whenever I want.  I'll post more photos soon.

S Postcard Buddies

 S is for Sign --- Skate --- Stand --- Style --- Seahorse!  this month two are the same but different.  Sign by sue (me) - Happy birthday sign image by Hot Potatoes Fabric and Wall Stamps .  did you notice that I also try to match up the color with the letter of the month.  S for sign and sienna.  Skate by muriel and petti - skating snowman by muriel - she punched out a circle for her skating snowman and added a glitter trail.  petti stamped a bunch of skating people including one who took a tumble.  Stand by leslie - she is very clever with her two definations.  a cake stand and on address side people standing.  Style by grace - she shows off all her style and grace.  get it?  style and grace (her name is grace).  sorry couldn't resist that play on words.  Seahorse by roberta - this postcard has texture with masking tape.  yes, she covered her postcard in masking tape then stamped on top of it.  clever girl.

collage stamping postcards

 

Yes, I'm still creating with my collage stamped pieces when I was over my friend's house.  I have to admit I came home with a bunch of those background pieces but we did have fun.  So this time I made a few postcards and remember in previous post I mentioned using a piece of sequence waste to add to the background well, here is a picture of it to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.  Now onto my postcards.  Let's see first up is a set of four stamps called Einstein Group from Paula Best.  In this postcard I used two of them and if you look close you can see in the two corners where I used the sequence waste.  If you look at the tulip (think it's Stampington & co.) postcard you will see more sequence waste in bottom left corner (do like the corners) and Tim Holtz  Sizzix alterations on the edge brackets/parenthesis border.  I can see slashes from Magenta, big bold swirl from Hot Potatoes Fabric and Wall Stamps , and brick background by Stamp Camp.  Again I think the bird is from Stampington & co. but would have to check with my friend to find out for sure.  Used a fun splotchy dots stamp (have no idea what co.) on this postcard which I really liked but unfortunately it was an unmounted stamp that my friend put on wood and didn't remember the company.  That's the way it is sometimes you know, you go to a convention and get lots of unmounted stamps .... mount them but don't make a note of the company.  I've done it myself. 

She sells seashells by the seashore

I told you I would be showing more of my collage stamping cards so here they are for you to see and leave comments letting me know your opinion. 

Are you seeing double when you look at card on the left? yes, you should be because I have the smaller version of the Fred Mullet fish that I stamped over my friend's house.  You must be tired of hearing me say my friend's house by now.  Anyway my little fish was stamped with VersaMark ink then multi colored with Ranger Ink Adirondack embossing powders to match the inks stamped on the card.  Some ginger ep and wild plum ep with gold ep (embossing powder) on the top fin of fish.  Used Tim Holtz  Sizzix alterations on the edge brackets/parentheses die for that extra touch of waves....yes, purple waves....artistic license.

Card on the right is one of my favorites of the cards I've made so far.  I did add some sequence waste(see previous post for pic) stencilling to the left side for added dimension.  you know that plastic stuff with lots of holes.  Added May Arts wide black silk ribbon around the card...just love their silks.  Last card to show you today is a shaped card which I learned in class with JENNIFERMCGUIREINK. To create this type of shape card all you do is cut out two shapes and on one of the cards you score a line about an inch away from the top. Tape the unscored card on top of the scored card and viola! a shaped card.  Used Nestabilities Labels Eight set for this card.  Also did another technique I learned in Jennifer's class where you use Ranger Ink blending tools to add color to a cut out image in this case the PSX shell.  Fast and easy way to add color quickly. Two May Arts ribbons on this card....first a silk (just got to love silk) one underneath that fun black fishnet looking ribbon.  The base card is copper, hope you can see it in scan. In person it is very shiney just like copper.  When I get more cards done I'll do more collage stamping show and tell.

Lovely with Lace

I'm getting in just under the wire this week for Outlines blog Lovely with Lace challenge.  I choice to use Outlines Rubber Stamps witch for my main image on this over sized bookmark that is colored in with Prisma watercolor pencils.  For the lace on this bookmark I used some fun May Arts black open lace ribbon.....yes, this is ribbon....very cool.....don't you think?  Added a eyelet to left corner with May Arts black cording.  For some sparkle used Ranger Ink rock candy Distress stickles ...... just adds sparkle without being an overpowering glitter.

If you follow my blog you will see more posts with cards/postcards using sequence waste as a stencil to add color/dimension to a piece well......here is a picture of it on the right.  I used Ranger Ink Distress ink faded jeans in the left corner of bookmark to add the sequence waste texture/dimension to this project. 

A Fishing we will go

Yes, a fishing we will go with these collage stamped fish themed cards.  Remember a few days ago I showed you all the collage stamping my friend and I did at her house?  Well, I made some of the pieces into cards to send out to friends.  What to see them? o.k. here is my show and tell today.  So what do you think?  comments are always welcome and appreciated.  The card on the left is basically the collage stamped piece with a couple of brads for eyes and Tim Holtz Sizzix Alterations on the edge brackets/parentheses die.  Those on the edge dies are great but that is only my opinon, I'm not affiliated with them at all.  That caveman looking or maybe a better way to describe it is primitive fish is by Hot Potatoes Fabric and Wall Stamps .  Roberta, my friend, has just about all those big bold stamps.  She does some fun stamping with them on all types of materials like ripped up paper bags, corrigated cardboard and much more.  Roberta is a great multi media stamper. she loves to add paint and use all types of what I would call junk and turn it into Art with a capital A.

Now for the card on the right...........went a little crazy for me with this one because it is going to my friend who I stamped with that day and she was fixed on adding glitter to all her cards.  I never would have taken her for a glitter girl and I've known her for years. 

 Had glitter all over including on me as my husband pointed out to me when we were making dinner last night.  So after dinner I decided to encase all the glitter in Diamond Glaze!  if you look close to this card you will also see some self stick crystals and some really fun May Arts light blue lacey ribbon.  more collage stamping cards to come.

Envelope please - cont.

Here are some of the envelopes I folded stamped.  Just did some simple stamping on them because of the decorative papers I used for these folded envelopes.  Got out some stamps I haven't used in years like the two Fred Mullet fish images.  I love his images but they are expensive so only have a couple.  Got out my little solid seahorse from Stamps by Lasting Impressions with Panache .  A PSX big shell that my friend just gave to me because she found a duplicate in her stash of stamps. thank you my friend.  Bubbles from MMR (museum of modern rubber-out of business), swirl from Hot Potatoes Rubber Stamps that I have had forever and a few other images that I don't remember the companies name.

Envelopes, please

 

 If you have been reading my blog this week you know I went over a friends' house to stamp.  Well, my friend likes to make envelopes and she told me she sits in front of the t.v. and folds envelopes sooooooo I did it yesterday morning.  Now keep in mind these are a work in progress.  First set of envelopes (pic on left) are called Diamond Fold.  Next set of envelopes (pic on right) are called Easy Square fold envelopes.  Last bunch of envelopes (pic on bottom left) are called Mennonite Fold note.  Oh yes, did I mention all these folded type envelopes are in Creative Correspondence book by Michael and Judy Jacobs.  There are a lot of fun folds for envelopes and cards in this book.  I said these are a work in progress because they are made out of decorative papers and could be left alone but being a stamper I need to stamp on them.  Should get to that later this week or next week and when I do I will show them to you.

collage stamping

Look at all the backgrounds I have to make cards, tags or postcards!!!  went over a friend's house yesterday and we just played with big background stamps to create fun background papers.  Basically what we did was just stamped on top of each other using different color inks then stamp big bold images on top of that and this is what I call "collage stamping" which I've been doing for years.  I do admit when I started doing my collage stamping it was very simple where I picked out four stamps then just stamped all over a full sheet of cardstock then cut it up to use in cards and such.  But this technique has evolved into more....and.....more....and....more!  We just got out our big background stamps and went crazy adding layer and layers of stamps and color.  So many stamps I couldn't keep track of all the companies we used but if there is a perticular image you like just leave me a comment and if I know it I will let you know.  This is a fun way to let yourself be free and just go wild!

R Postcard Buddie

Hello, back with another set of Postcard Buddies Alphabets.  Here are our "R" postcards.  I think it is always fun to see what we create and this time we all did something different.  Radish is by sue (me)- main image is Hot Potatoes Fabric and Wall Stamps .  First I inked up the radish with green and red inks, stamped then stamped two more times without re-inking.  This is called 2nd and 3rd generation stamping.  Red rose is by muriel - colored in with marker.  Read is by petti - she did what I call select coloring. this makes the main part of the image pop out from the rest.  Ruler is by leslie - she is doing two for one definations.  On the front you can see the Ruler and on the back (addressed side) are rulers (for measuring).  don't like to scan side with address.  Ring is by grace - nice set of wedding rings stamped on postcard.  Raving Red Rooster by roberta - named by our roberta.  how do you like all those "R's"! 

B & W Birthdays

Here is another B & W birthday card front and inside.  A little different version than the ones I made last week.  This time instead of making squares out of the scrapbook papers....I made banners.  At least that is what I'm calling them.  Strips of papers with the ends cut into points, I guess they could also be called flags.  Take your pick banners or flags.  This seems to be the in thing right now for adding to cards besides the faux baker's twine around the front stamped embellishment.  I call it faux because it is regular crochet string I picked up at craft store and colored with sharpie pens.  This one was with a green sharpie pen.  I saw this on a blog out there in cyber space -----  Life {Sweet} Life: DIY Faux Baker's Twine  -----
and thought it was a creative alternative to the real thing which I can't find around here. Well, I think I have enough birthday cards made up for now so onto my next project which is a perpetual calendar.  I have the calendar pages printed but more on that when I get it done.
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