Anything Goes...

Yes, it's Anything Goes week here at Woodware and today I decided to share a card I created using a TESSLER Stencil AND a WoodwareUSA Set. Did you know that Tessler Stamps stock WoodwareUSA Clear Magic Stamps in their show booths? Yep, that's right! You can pick up your stamps, your stencils, your supplies...The whole shabang in one quick stop at a convention or show.

While in Virginia Beach a few months ago, I picked up some fun stencils (they also emboss in my Cuttlebug) and knew I was going to go to town!!! I picked up this marigold or mum (depending on the season, I guess) Embossing Queen stencil called Heart Flower and I really love using it. It makes awesome backgrounds and fun little embellishments. After stenciling it with distress inks and embossing it in my Cuttlebug, I decided to pair it up with my Garden Greetings Sentiment and little bee to make this card! FUN huh?


Don't you just adore that little bee? It is included in this fun sentiment set that with a variety of flowers, garden bugs and of course, a watering can!!! LOVE IT!!! I paired up my images with some deelish Crate Paper patterned paper and some brown grossgrain ribbon. Such a simple and fun card to make!!!

Make sure you stop by tomorrow to see Anne finish up the week with her "Anything Goes" creation, then remember, starting MONDAY, You'll see a brand spankin' new blog post...FULL of fun projects by the Design Team to inspire you, challenge you, and encourage your creative spirit!!! Join the fun. There just might be a prize in it for you!!!

Bye for now,
Kerry

Heee Hee Heee...

Trick or Treat! Tomorrow is Halloween and I can think of no better way to avoid eating all the candy in my candy bucket than to lock myself in my stamping room to make a few festive creations!

Halloween Colors? Well, I guess you can say the traditional colors are green, purple and orange...so I think I followed the line pretty well this week even though I added a few more to the mix.

I decided to make a square cardfront that will double as a scrapbook page for my three year old niece. She loves playing dress-up all year long and has been wearing her costume (a cute little bat fairy) for WEEKS around her house. I don't make pages often, but Halloween and Christmas seem to get the most showcase in my scrapbook layouts anyway.

On this creation, I used one of my most favorite WoodwareUSA sets (I think I say that about all of my sets, but it's TRUE!) called Mary and Friends. I added a little witch hat (QuickCutz) to Mary's head so she and her friend "Boo" can spook the town Sunday night!

I noticed something as I was making this card. I always seem to add a few more curls to Mary's hair. For some reason, I think a fuller set of hair is easier to color with my copics. What would you do? Keep it the same or add some more?

I hope you have a fun Sunday evening and have some fun stamping too! Remember, If you want to play along in the "Make an Everyday Set HALLOWEENIE" Contest, the deadline is tonight. So post your card on Piali's post HERE and you will have a chance to win a WOODWARE PRIZE!!!

Magic Potion?

Want a little sip? It's just a little magic potion to get you into the stamping mooooodddd...Really! Ha!

Hello- Kerry here to share my not-a-card-creation with you today. I decided to mix up a little magic potion and poured it into a tall bud vase (yep, for roses) and added a festive tag on the black straw. Such a fun way to spruce up a drink for a party, right?

I'm getting into the mood for my sister's annual Halloween Bash and this little potion will be a hit for sure. Wanna know the recipe? Well, you'll have to post a comment to know the secret recipe.
Woodware's Wizardry set was the perfect set for this cute tag. I started out by distressing with Ranger Rusty Hinge distress ink, then "generation" stamped the bubbles from the cauldron around the edges of the tag. After that, I doodled a border, stamped some stars in Ranger Stormy Sky distress ink, added my Copic colored dragon, stamped and doodled the sentiment (You can even hand write a name if you don't want a phrase like I used), popped on some bling and the fun fibers and POOF...It was done!
Make your holiday and party service a hit with little tags like these. Attach the tags to a bendy draw and it's a perfect treat! I think the tall bud "glass" is a unique way to spice up a boring drink presentation too...Give it a try!

Stop by tomorrow for another ANYTHING BUT A CARD creation as Anne finishes off the week of inspiration. Make sure to stop by the shop too. It's now time for my holiday card making extravaganza so watch for some of the newest stamp sets (Many of the Christmas ones) to show up here and on my blog!!! Join me in some fun too...I've got PRIZES!!!

PSSSST....If you didn't already notice, FREE INKY LINKS until 12-25-10!!! One free pad with purchase (while supplies last).

Whooo's into stitches???

Trick-or-treat? I guess today could be a trick if you are into Halloween. This week we're throwing in a little faux stitching on our creations and I decided to pull out my cute Owl Greetings set. I've used this set so many times with my students this month. It's such a great set for fall and the kiddos just LOVE to color it!

Can you see the faux stitching in the patterned paper (old Recollections paper)? I thought this paper was the PERFECT fit for this week's challenge! I thought I'd better not take a short cut either so I used a brown sparkly pen to create my faux stitches on the creamy rectangle. Tying a little ribbon along the top just finished the card off!

This card measures 3x6 and has no layering other than the framed owl area. I thought the patterned paper was perfect just the way it was so I didn't mount it on any other cardstock.

Have a little fun with faux stitching and if you do, don't forget to share...We'd love to see it. Remember that the two free Inky Links (USE CODE: inkylinksfree) deal will end on October 20, so hurry before the deal is G O N E!!! Honestly, it's a steal because you can use your 22% off discount on your order of 45$ or more PLUS get the two free pads!!!

Come back tomorrow as Anne shows one final creation for this week's FAUX STITCHING challenge!

Kerry

FEELING GREEN????

This week's challenge is to work in a monochromatic theme so I decided to step WAY out of my usual comfort zone and go with GREEN! I did something terribly painful to my back this week and I'm so sore! Over ten years ago, I had lower back surgery and ever since that day, things have been great...until this FRIDAY. OUCH...I hope I didn't mess it up again and a little bit of rest over the long weekend will cure my pain...This little card was all I could muster up...through the pain...and feeling TOTALLY GREEN....

I pulled out the clear acetate for this weeks card too, did all kinds of cutting on my newest stamp set if you really want to know. Cut the sentiment off one of the stamps in the Take it EZ set so I could straighten it (Since I can't seem to straighten my back out!), cut the little bug out of the jar so I could fill it with some GREEN pills...and those little pills inside the jar were cut away from the RX bottle...Poppin' meds myself to get rid of the aches! This week the featured stamp sets for my card include: Take it EZ (Oh boy do I need to do that!) and Easy Stitching (That's about what my back spazms feel like... Dizzy???)

A little bit of sparkly Stickles on the green pills should do the trick to get me back in shape, right??? And oh, maybe the fumes from my Copics will help ease the pain too!!!

Stop back tomorrow, for a HEALTHIER Monochromatic card and stay tuned Monday for another FUN weekly challenge. Until then, I'm off to bed!

Buttons, Buttons, Buttons...

I love buttons, and anyone who knows me well knows that one of my pet peeves is to see a "naked button". You know, those beautiful buttons with nothing done with the holes...It's like they are naked to me. Now, I know, there are MILLIONS of people out there who have NAKED BUTTONITIS, but I'm not one of them! No Siree...I mean who has ever seen a button on a shirt without something to hold it there? Or how about that singular button holding up your jeans? Can't stay up for long without something stitched through those holes, right?

SO...This week I challenge YOU to steer clear of the naked button! Have fun stamping, and oh- be sure to show us what you've made...

For this week's challenge, I decided to make a tag card. I wanted to use a lot of circles (because of the buttons) on my design so I grabbed a few WoodwareUSA sets that would work perfectly.

Easy Stitching Tiny Frames Large and Small Greetings

I also made some tiny rolled flowers from the stamped circles. It's a hodge-podge of circles, but it works for the theme Buttons, Buttons, Buttons.

I didn't forget about the inside of the tag card...

Stop back tomorrow to see Anne's take on the challenge!

Tiny Bubbles...

Hey stampers! This week is the perfect week for a stamper like me who LOVES sparkles, bling and...WoodwareUSA! I just love sparkly things and my family knows that whatever sparkles, catches my eye.

For this week's sparkly challenge, I decided to use an adorable baby set called New Baby. As you can see from my card, it's a great baby set that's easy to color and FUN to sparkle up with Diamond Stickles. The bubble bath is just PERFECT for the challenge, don't you think?

I paired the image up with some Imaginisce Paper with tiny little sparkly bubbles. To add additional whimsy, I stitched the border in a whimsical path around the card (I love whimsy and not-so-straight stitches.) I also added some Bazzill Harvest cardstock to give a little contrast to all the blues. A BIG button tied with a ribbon finished it off.

I hope you find some time to add a little bling to your cards. If you do, please share, we'd love to see your creations.

PS...Did you hear WoodwareUSA has added 28 new sets to the website? I've got my eyes on Parcel Train, Pretty Labels, Winter Tots, and Bird Song...among others. What are your new favorites? If you happen to pick up a few sets, make sure you take advantage of the FREE INKY LINKS special!

Come back tomorrow when Anne shares the final Sparkly/Blinged Up creation this week.

Introducing...Inky Links....

Hey everyone! I promised I'd post this weekend and share a little about the new Inky Links on the website. These inks are so fun! I take them to school with me and my students even enjoy stamping with them. They had a blast stamping mathematical patterns and creating secret color coded patterns for everyone to solve. If you are a teacher or a parent, you might just consider purchasing a set for the classroom (great for teacher gifts).

Because they are so inexpensive, it doesn't scare me so bad for my kiddos to be using my inks. You know, REAL stampers NEVER share their INKS with KIDS!!! That's just sinful, right? Well, these inks were made especially for kids, or the kid at heart! They pick a nice bit of ink on the clear polymer stamps. As you can see from my sample swatchbook, I used the Wizardry stamp set to really highlight the color. Pick up a few (or even the whole set of eight) when you are shopping for stamps today. PS...I think Andre is going to be running a very special promotion for them, so watch the website!

So without, further adieu, I present to you INKY LINKS! Click on the photos to go directly to the ink of your choice.

Happy Stamping...Go Get INKY!

Kerry

Is it Christmas yet???

Hee Hee!!! It's Kerry for another paper pieced creation. I hope you've enjoyed the fabulous creations this week and have become inspired to create some of your own paper pieced works of art! If you do, please share because you can win a fabulous prize!

I started out by cutting an oval in the patterned paper then decided that would be my layout inspiration...Lo and behold, I see Piali using an oval cut-out cardfront on her card too. Wierd...That may be some inky vibrations channeling through or something. In any case, I decided to use my Teddy Remembers set.

I've collected teddy bears for YEARS and this set just had to be in my collection. You know a Teddy collection isn't complete ever...even if it does have polymer stamps in it!

I thought the card was a bit festive so I'm going to put it in my Christmas Card stash for this year! One down, a billion to go!

Hope your weekend is fabulous and you get an opportunity to ink something up!

Stay tuned tomorrow for another paper pieced creation to wrap up the week!

Kerry

Anything Goes...

Kerry here for another post this Saturday. Somehow I couldn't post with Nancy's post today so I had to do another one! WIERD! Anyway, I decided to use some of my new purchases from the CK Convention in VA Beach last Saturday. I picked up lots of new stamp sets, WoodwareUSA Ink, tons of patterned paper, and some fun stensils from the Tessler booth. Did you know that TesslerStamps.com is now carrying the WoodwareUSA clear stamps at conventions? If not, check them out the next time you visit their store or their booth.

For this card, I used the stamp set PATCH ALPHABET and an EMBOSSING QUEEN brass stencil from Tessler Stamps. I put the stencil through my Cuttlebug to quickly create the embossed "Quilt" on white cardstock, then used some chalks to add a bit of color. The letters were colored using Gamsol and colored pencils. Notice the little stamped flowers from the Patch Alphabet set on the little quilt squares? I stamped those with the new ink from WoodwareUSA called BLUE CHUNKS! FUN. The ink is a basic grade pigment ink but it reminds me of how my Versacolor inks stamp. To finish the card off, I handwrote the welcome with my black Copic fineliner marker.

Hope you have a fabulous week and stop by tomorrow for another example of Anything Goes!

Kerry

Anything Goes with Kerry and Nancy

Nancy Here!!

Happy Saturday, Woodware fans!! Anything Goes this week, and I decided to do a Christmas card in some seemingly non-traditional colors. This little cutie is from the set "I Love Snowmen", and it is adorable!! I love how the words are mostly separate so that you can create your own sentiment. I always have so many different people to send holiday cards to...Christians, not really practicing Christians, non Christians, family and friends of Swedish descent...it could make you crazy! So, this set just sort of sets you right in the middle (except no Swedish sentiments...I guess that would be asking a little too much!).

I digress...my card is a simple layout, but I had some fun blinging it up a bit with both Diamond Stickles, glitter pens, and Martha Stewart gems. I used Copics to color the image, and the paper is Kiwi Kiss and Blushing Bride cardstock from Stampin' Up and Eskimo Kisses designer paper from Basic Grey.

Now for Kerry's creation this week--

School Treats...

This week, the Woodware Design team has been presenting a variety of "treats" you can make to place in the lunchbox of your school aged child, pass on to favorite teachers and also to new school friends. Today, Kerry and Nancy share their creations.

Kerry writes:

About a week ago, I was in a local fabric store and I discovered a whole shopping cart of empty little boxes. Their thread shipment had arrived and they were unpacking and shelving all the tiny bobbins of thread. I spied these boxes and thought they would make perfect little treat boxes! So I headed over to the front desk and said "This may sound strange, but if you are going to throw those thread boxes out, can I have them?" They giggled and said I could have as many as I wanted! WOO HOO...SCORE!

I brought them home (I think I got about 30 of these little boxes) and started making some little boxes up for my students. Some of you may know that I'm a teacher, and I always love to have a little treat for my students on the first day of school. The box is filled with an eraser, a pencil sharpener, and a peppermint. Why a peppermint? Peppermints have been found to boost test scores!

Stamp sets used: School Tots (apple), Mixed Greetings (happy and part of the word birthday) Paper: The Paper Loft (Well Worn Collection)

Nancy's project uses the set School Tots, and this is called a criss cross box. You can find the tutorial HERE. It is a fun little box to make to house any kind of treats! The paper is from Stampin' Up (Riding Hood Red designer paper and cardstock, and Night of Navy cardstock. I used circle punches for the School Days and apple stamps, and I cut the image of the little girl out after coloring her with Copic markers. For more information, please visit Nancy's blog.

Check back tomorrow for more Woodware USA inspirations!!

What's YOUR favorite technique???

Hey stampers! We hope you've found the projects and techniques inspiring this week. Today Nancy and Kerry want to show you two of their most favorite techniques...

Kerry writes:

I really love experimenting and playing around with different techniques. Over five years ago, I went to an art show in Maryland and saw an artist doing something that fascinated me. This artist painted in layers...Not what you think...paint on top of paint on top of paint...Actually, the artist created his scene of depth and intensity by painting parts of a whole on individual panes of glass then stacking them one on top of the other (with spacers) to create depth. I minored in Art Education in college so this reminded me of an ancient technique of Reverse Painting...but with a twist. So as a teacher, there's always something in me to teach a little. If you want an art history lesson today, CLICK HERE to read about the history of this technique.

When I observed his work, all I could think of was my stamping. I knew this ancient technique could be a stamper's dream...So I tried using clear acetate, ink, my stamps, and of course, acrylic paints.

I created two different cards with the same materials, just a twist on the layout and a few additional embellishments. I used Mixed Greetings because not only does it have some great sentiments in various fonts, it also has little icon images (like the cupcake) that are perfect for cards!


So it was about five years ago that I first tried reverse painting on acetate and I just LOVE it. If you create something with this technique, please share, we'd love to see it!!!

Kerry

Nancy writes:

I'm not a fancy technique kind of gal, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve. I chose to highlight dry embossing because, above all, it is my favorite technique. The addition of texture to any project is just awesome!! I suppose you could count coloring with Copics and using scissors to cut out images as technique, but the dry embossing will have to do today! I used the adorable set Jungle Pals for my card today. It is a fun, versatile set, and I plan to use this card for a little boy's birthday very soon! For more information about this card, please visit my blog HERE. Thanks for stopping by today...we hope you enjoyed the samples from the design team!! Play along with us, and I'd love to see you send some submissions made with Woodware USA stamps.

Stamping Saturdays...

Weekly Challenge: Color Challenge #1: Kraft(Beige), Teal, Red

It's Saturday, and that means Kerry and Nancy will be sharing a few creations to inspire your spirit...We hope our first weekly challenge has inspired you to return again and again for stamped fun.

Kerry created this MANLY set using the sets FRCL122 DIY and FRCL080 MIXED GREETINGS. For a detailed description of her cardmaking process for this card, please visit her blog HERE

From elegant, to manly, and everywhere in between, the color challenge this week (Kraft/tan, Teal, and Red) has given us many opportunities to showcase awesome clear stamp sets from the WoodwareUSA collection and we hope that you have found a set (or two or more...) that have become NEEDS on your stamping inventory.

Nancy has used the set MARY AND FRIENDS FRCL131 to highlight this week's color challenge. She has used designer paper from My Mind's Eye called Love Me Do. She colored the image with copics and used Nestabilities to highlight the image. The Bow Easy helped to finish off the look!! For more details, please visit Nancy's blog HERE.

Please stop by tomorrow as Anne shares her final project for this week's challenge.