Stretch Your Stamps, Day 11

Friday was the last day of the Stretch Your Stamps class, and I am sad to see it end. These classes always have fresh ideas and fun challenges. Kristina, Jennifer, and the guest artists did a terrific job.

The last class challenged us to use reverse stamps. These are stamps where the image is the "white space." I mimicked the design from Shari Carroll's example. I used clear embossing powder on the background and the same stamp on the text paper. I like the clean, simple, masculine look of this card.

The stamp on the text paper is very subtle. Love that.

Impression Obsession - "Small Paisley"

Hero Arts - sentiment, embossing powder, Wet Cement Mid-tone ink

Stampin' Up - Sahara Sand and Basic Black card stock, text paper

Stretch Your Stamps, Day 10

Day 10? Use a border stamp for something other than a border. Jennifer McGuire showed us a card where she had curved a border stamp on the acrylic block, and I wanted to use that technique.

Neenah solar white card stock

Martha Stewart - "Heart and Flower" (zigzag border)

MFT Die-namics - "Umbrella and Stamp" (sentiment)

Spellbinders - "Reverse Wonky Rectangles"

Stretch Your Stamps, Day 9

Day 9 of the online card class used outline stamps. Shari Carroll posted a wowzer of a card. She created a scene using lots of masking and watercolors on the images. I've never water colored a whole card, but I thought I'd give it a try. This card won't be going in my box for OWH. I need to practice more!

Now that I've finished it, I can see clearly where I need to make improvements, but it was a good first attempt. That's what I like about these online classes, they are a challenge in many ways.

The Craft's Meow - "Apple Pickin' Time"

Memento markers

Stampin' Up markers and aqua painter

Canson watercolor paper

Ranger - Glossy Accents

Stretch Your Stamps, Day 8

In the online class, Stretch Your Stamps, we saw lots of unique ways to use label stamps, and I was intrigued by Julie Ebersole's one layer card. I love a one layer card! And it's Carolina blue! ;)

Hero Arts - layering paper, white embossing powder, "Wallpaper Background,"

"Made with Love" sentiment, Pool mid-tone ink

Inkadinkado - "Maison Frames" and masking paper

Signo - broad white uni-ball pen

Stretch Your Stamps, Day 7

Day 7 of the Stretch Your Stamps class: use floral stamps. One of the bonus ideas was from Lisa Spangler. She used markers to watercolor the flowers. You can see her card and a video on the Hero Arts Blog HERE.

This was fun!

Spellbinders - Reverse Wonky Rectangles

Basic Grey - "Plumeria" 6x6 paper pad

Hero Arts/Basic Grey - "Pattern Hearts and Flowers" and light green pearls

Hero Arts - "Classic Messages" and clear and white embossing powder

Impression Obsession - "This Chevron"

Memento markers

Stretch Your Stamps, Day 6

We got a bonus day of class on Saturday! Nice surprise. Our assignment was to use a die with a matching stamp. I wanted to try the technique Jennifer McGuire demonstrated, die cutting off the page. My greeting and stamp don't technically match; I had to improvise. (The flowers were my first attempt at water coloring, and that's explained in my post on day 7.)

The inside of the card.

A closer view.

Basic Grey - "Plumeria" 6x6 paper pad,

Hero Arts/ Basic Grey - "Pattern Hearts and Flowers"

MFT Die-namics - "Vertical Greetings" stamps and "Well Worn Greetings" dies

Stretch Your Stamps, Day 5

Day 5 of our class: use sentiment stamps. One suggestion was to "wrap" the sentiment from the front of the card to the inside. I chose a lawn fawn sentiment, "Flying by to say hi."

I used my Silhouette to cut the card base and the patterned paper. The base was easy, but I had to make some adjustments to get the patterned paper cut. I love a challenge.

Here you can see the card swinging open.

Silhouette - Lori Whitlock's "3d flip swing card circle"

Lawn Fawn - "Flying by" and "Bon Voyage"

SU - "Fan Fair" designer series paper

Memory Box- "Puffy Clouds" dies

Stretch Your Stamps, Day 4

Day 4: Use graphic stamps. There were some fabulous examples of stretching graphic stamps in our online class, but my card today is not an "out of the box" example. I'll work on that later this weekend.

Hero Arts - "Year Round Sentiments" and "Cling Dots"

Impression Obsession - "Harlequin"

Dee's Distinctively - "Chickadee"

Neenah - desert storm card stock

SU - vanilla card stock

Stretch Your Stamps, Day 3, part 2

I felt like I cheated on my first project for the third day of Stretch Your Stamps, so I did another. I used the Fiskars stamp press to arrange my letter stamps and stamped them twice with Pool ink to get a shadow effect. I used the same ink on the three background stamps to stamp the strips of Pool paper.

Studio Calico - "Noah Alphabet"

Hero Arts - "Stripes and Frame," "Graph," and "Zig Zag" background stamps

Hero Arts - pool layering paper and ink

Neenah - solar white card stock

Stretch Your Stamps, Day 3

Day 3? Use alphabet stamps. 

One of the suggestions was to decorate an envelope. I used an ancient Hero Arts alphabet stamp collection to create a logo for the corner of the envelope.

I'm glad I dug out these stamps. They have lots of little images that will come in handy. I'd forgotten about them!

Stretch Your Stamps, Day 2

Day 2. Use a collage stamp. 

I was fascinated with Kristina Werner's technique, and I just had to give it a go. Although I'm not very happy with the card design, I do like the technique. I was just so happy that I was able to follow the steps!

Here's the card, and below it is a picture of the stamp. Believe it or not, no black paper was used to make this card.

Stampers Anonymous - "Papallion"

Hero Arts - "Paris" sentiment, "Blush" layering paper, clear and white embossing powders

SU - "French Script" background stamp

Ranger - summer distress inks

Memento - tuxedo black ink

Neenah - solar white card stock

Stretch Your Stamps, Day 1

Yes, I'm taking another online card class. I think I'm addicted. This class, Stretch Your Stamps, will hopefully give me lots of new ideas for using the stamps I have in my collection. Day one of class was all about using background stamps in new ways.

I've had the lattice stamp for weeks and have only used it once or twice. I love its symmetry. On this card, I used it to create a background with clear embossing powder. On the patterned paper, I used white embossing powder and then got busy with the fussy cutting. I hate fussy cutting.

It's time to start using fall colors for cards going to Operation Write Home. I think this one will work.

Teresa Collins - "World Traveler" 6x6 paper pad

MFT Die-namics - "Vertical Greetings"

Hero Arts/Studio Calico - "Lattice" background cling stamp

Hero Arts - embossing powders

SU - card stock