Dustin Pike Digital Stamps

I found an amazing new papercrafting medium.....digital stamps!! This is an awesome new stamping idea. I was surfing Splitcoast and I saw some images that I really liked. Turns out the artist was Dustin Pike. After I did a little searching I found out these are digital stamps. I never knew such a thing existed! I went to his website purchased a couple stamps, downloaded the file and then printed them off. It was super easy!! You can also resize them to any size you want. This is super cool!!

Here are a couple cards I made this weekend with the digital stamps. I just printed them on white cardstock with my ink jet printer and then colored them with reinkers and aquapainter. The black ink from the printer ran just a little bit. I had to be careful to stay away from the edges. So cool.....

Watercolor Rose Technique

Here's another technique I picked up on Splitcoast. This is called "watercolor rose." Essentially, you emboss your stamped image with white embossing power and then watercolor the rose. The secret is to use Shimmery White cardstock. The Shimmery White cardstock is really heavy weight so you can put lots of water on the image.

It's super easy to do and it really doesn't take any artistic skill!! My favorite kind of stamping!

Splitcoast Stampers Challenge

So...I've been a huge fan of Splitcoast Stampers for a long time. I check the gallery everyday and marvel over the amazing artwork. SCS has weekly challenges for all kinds of different things so I decided to participate for the first time this week.

Here's my creation. I used two challenges for this one. The color challenge was Bashful Blue, So Saffron and Pumpkin Pie. I also followed the Sketch Callenge for the overall layout. I think it came out pretty good!

House Mouse Fun!!

I just love these cute little mice from House Mouse Designs. They are so easy to color. They have so much detail in the stamps that all you have to do is follow the shading on the stamp and your coloring looks fantastic.

I colored these with reinkers and an aquapainter. The colors I used were Kiwi Kiss, Tangerine Tango and Rose Red. These make a great summery combination. I'll be sad to see the current In Colors go but I'm sure I'll love the new ones just as much!!

Cheep Talk

I just recently got the Cheep Talk set and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I knew I would like it but I didn't realize I would absolutely adore this set!! It's a ton a fun to play with and makes such quick projects. I usually prefer line art sets because I really like the look of watercoloring. But this set is really cute and much faster to work with since you don't need to color it. Just a few quick stamps and you're done! What's better than that?!

On the left card I used my Big Shot to cut some flowers from the Birds and Blooms Sizzlet set. Then I embossed the background using the Texturz plates. For the card on the right, I used my Circle Scissors Plus to cut the DSP mat. Both projects were super fast!!

Not just Stampin Up!

Ok.....so while I love all things Stampin Up!, I have to admit there are a lot of other great stamp companies out there. I'm a big fan of Hanna Stamps 'Riley' images as well as all the super cute Stamping Bella 'Bellas'.

Here are a couple projects featuring these great companies. Again, these were all colored using Stampin Up! reinkers and an aquapainter. I also used the Labels 4 Nestabilites from Spellbinders for one of the Bella cards. I just love those dies! It's hard not to pull them out for every project!

Just Buzzin By.....

Here's another great Stampin Up! set. I just love the cute little bees in the Just Buzzin By set. I also really enjoy watercoloring so this set is perfect for me.

When I watercolor I really don't use any special technique. I stamp with SU Basic Black or Basic Brown ink on any SU neutral card stock. I use the classic reinkers and my aquapainter. I find that it takes a little practice but it's well worth the effort!

I also used my Top Note Big Shot die on these cards. I just love that die! It's soooo trendy right now. All the papercrafting publications feature dies, paper, stamps, etc in this shape. It's great for scrapbooking and card making.

My first project upload!

So I've been busy taking pictures of some of my recent projects. I thought I'd start with one of my favorite SU sets....Branch Out. This set is so easy to use and really versatile.

For this card I used my Circle Scissors plus to cut the card in a circle. Getting the hang of the Circle Scissors takes some practice. I've found that you really need to tape down your paper so it doesn't shift when cutting. I've been using painter's tape to stick the paper to the glass cutting mat. Once I figured that out it works great!!

To get the nice, soft watercolor look in the leaves of the tree, I stamped with classic ink on watercolor paper and then used my aquapainter to blur the colors a little. It's super easy!! No skill required!! My kind of stamping!

Ok....slowly but surely I'm getting the hang of this blog thing! Now to post some projects!!

My new blog!

Keep an eye on my new blog for Stampin Up promotions and updates.