I won a contest!!

I was so excited to come home from a great weekend of stamping to find that I had won an Angel Company contest! It was 1:30 in the morning when I checked the TAC newsletter online and I actually screamed when I saw my name under the Terrific Trio category. I'm glad that I didn't wake my son!! To say the least I was very excited!

These cards are very similar to the contest winning ones. I forgot to take pictures of the ones that I entered before I mailed them to TAC and these are slightly different because I changed the contest entries to match the contest rules. The category that I entered was Terrific Trio and the only rules are to use only 2 TAC stamp sets on a series of 3 cards. To see my cards that won you can click here.

The stamp sets I used were the Jubilee Hostess Set "Forget Not" and the word set "Soft Spoken". The patterned paper is Rustic Chic (a TAC exclusive paper) and the cardstock is Matchmakers & the Brown Bazzill cardstock pack that TAC carries. On these cards pictured on my blog I also used the "So Splattered" Jubilee Hostess set and the "Swirly Background" stamp.

To make the little tag on the discover flower card at the top I cut a small rectangle piece of cardstock, stamped the word "discover" on it and then used the corner rounder that TAC carries and rounded the corners of two of the edges. Then I used TAC Burnt Umber Palette Ink to distress the edges of the tag. Last I attached the brad and glued the tag down with Designer Dries Clear glue.

These were fun to make and you could customize the flower/leaves with any patterned paper & color combination that you like!

Fun Words With Letter Stamps & More

Think out of the box when using your letter stamps and the possibilites of what you can do are endless! Try using shape stamps in place of letters stamps on your cards. Here are some examples of what I am referring to:

Use the giraffe from the TAC Wild Animals set in place of the letter "A" for a cute & fun baby card.




Use a stem & flower for the letter "i" to spell hi. The "H" is from TAC's Alpha Grunge set and the stem & flower are from TAC's Tip-Toe. The paper is the from the TAC Genevieve collection.

Use a flower in place of the letter "O" when spelling love. The flower in the example on the left is from TAC's Pretty Posies set and the alphabet stamps are from Alpha Grunge in the Fall Supplement. The paper is also by TAC and is called Uptown Girl.

You can even try this with smaller alphabet stamps--just use a smaller flower for the "O".

There are lots of other options as well. Here are some ideas:

For the letter "O" use:

Flower, snowflake, Christmas ornament, balls, hearts

(words: love, joy)

For the letter "A" or "a" use:

giraffe, Christmas tree, pumpkin, balls, stars, angel

(words: baby, ball, fall)

For the letter "L" or "l" use:

Tall, Skinny Stamp

(words: hello, love)

For the letter "I" or "i" use:

Tall, Skinny Stamp

Bat or hockey stick stamp

wrench or screwdriver stamp

candle stamp

(words: hi, big)

For the letter "r" use:

hammer stamp

For the letter "s" use:

Snake or worm stamp

For the letter "t" use:

cross stamp

These are just a few ideas for the thousands of possibilities out there! Look at your stamps a new way and see if you might have a stamp that you could use in place of a letter the next time you are stamping. It's a lot of fun!!

Library Pocket Cards & Gallery by Stamp Set

Want a creative card for a new baby, birthday or wedding?

Try a library pocket card!

There are templates all over the internet of pockets that you can cut & fold yourself or you can buy pockets premade (TAC carries some too!!). For this card, I used a template that I downloaded here. I printed the pattern onto a scrap piece of paper and used it as a diagram when I cut the cardstock for my pocket. (Note: There are other versions of the library pocket that require less cutting.)

After I folded the card, I used Designer Dries Clear glue (also sold by TAC) to adhere the card together. If you look closely at the pocket, you will see two watermarks of snails. This is one of my favorite techniques! Take your VersaMark pad and your stamp of choice. Ink your stamp and on cardstock with a white core, stamp your image. The cardstock that I used is in the TAC catalog and is by DCWV. LOVE this paper!! You will not be able to see your image at this point. After you have stamped your image, take a sanding block and lay it on your paper flat. Then, using a circular motion, begin "sanding" your image and watch your image POP out! So much fun!!

The paper that I used on the flap of the pocket is A Little Whimsy by TAC. It is an 8x8 pad of 36 pieces of paper for only $6.95.

For the tag part of the card, I used several layers. The bottom is white cardstock and a piece of TAC's A Little Whimsy paper is on top of that. The library card template is one that I printed from the computer and then stamped the image on top of and then matted it with a piece of yellow cardstock. The stork and the words "Special Delivery" are images from the "So Sweet" set. It is an adorable set! The snail on the pocket is also from this set. I colored the stork in using aquacolor crayons and a dove blender.

Last, by not least, I added ribbons on the pocket & at the top of the tag to finish it off.

Most of the items used to make this card can be purchased from the TAC catalog, through me. Let me know if I can help you!

**Gallery by Stamp Set Added**

I am excited to be able able to say that I have started my gallery by stamp set!! So, if you are looking for an idea using a particular stamp set, try looking at the left hand side of my blog. You will see links for various items and after the blog archives, you will see a heading called "TAC Samples by Set". Not only will you find samples using the stamp sets, but some of the paper packs as well! I also hope to add a technique & product gallery of some sort where you can view samples that were made using aquacolor crayons, chalk, VersaMark and other products & techniques.

If you don't find the stamp set that you are looking for samples for, try looking for a set that is similar that you could get ideas from. Or, let me know what you are looking for and I'll see what I can come up with for you!

Thanks for taking the time to visit this blog!

Shakers are so much fun!!

What can you put inside a shaker?

small beads,
large beads,
buttons,
tiny glass marbles,
sand,
confetti,
mini sea shells,
punched shapes,
glitter,
sequins,
anything else that will fit inside the window

A "shaker" card is made in 3 layers. You start with the bottom layer that can be stamped on or, on the card shown above, it can just be a piece of colored cardstock. Then, you will add your 2nd layer which contains the items that can be "shaken". This layer will have dimension by either using foam tape or styrofoam pieces or foam core board cut to the size you want and layered all the way around the window. After adding the shaker pieces, you will put the top layer on, which is a piece of acetate. You can use transparencies or sheet protectors cut to size for the top layer. In the snowflake card example, I stamped a white snowflake on a transparency using Moonlight White Brilliance ink (available through TAC) and gently heat set it to make sure that it wouldn't smear.

Shaker cards are fun to make and fun to receive! They liven up scrapbook pages and add just that perfect touch! If you've never made one before, why not try one today?