Saturday, June 30, 2012

Let's Hop with Clear Scraps!

Hey everybody!  All week long Stampendous and Clear Scraps have been collaborating to bring you some awesome eye candy.  Today we are having a blog hop for your enjoyment and to give you the opportunity to win an amazing prize package from Stampendous, Clear Scrap and Tsukeniko.  Each of us on the Stampendous Design Team were given an acrylic and chipboard album from Clear Scraps and some awesome inks from Tsukeniko.  I decided that rather than do an album I wanted to do something a little more simple and will also help me keep track of birthdays each month.  Here's my dry erase birthday board with plenty of room to write dates and names.

These are really a lot of fun as you are only limited by your own imagination.  As I was looking at the pieces of my album, I thought the piece I used as my top looked a lot like the top of a cupcake.  That got me thinking and this is the result!  I used papers from My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary collection, stamps were Party Invite and 15 Candles from Stampendous and stamped with Staz-On Jet Black Ink from Tsukeniko.  I used a variety of Stickles, Ribbons and Rhinestones for bling and the cuteness factor! 

I cut my paper to match my pieces and layered the bottom pieces.  I stamped my images prior to actually attaching the paper to the acrylic so I could flip each piece over and fill in the stamped image with Stickles.  Once the Stickles dry attach the paper to the acrylic with glue dots.  Cover your glue dots that are visible with rhinestones.  Attach the two pieces with large rings and decorate with ribbons.  Using a Crop-A-Dile, punch two holes for the ribbon to hang it, add ribbon and voila!  For the final touch, cover a dry erase marker with paper that matches (I also added a bit of ribbon), add some velcro to the pen and your board to hold it and you never have to look for your marker, it's right where it needs to be!  Simple, right!?

Here's another view that shows the top.


And another view that shows the bottom.


Here's a shot of the main board.


Here's the hop list for the rest of the designers that are playing.  Be sure to comment on each blog and increase your chances of winning!



Here's how to win!

Comment on the Stampendous Blog- all week - we'll choose one winner from the Mon - Fri Comments
  • Check us out on Facebook! We'll keep our Clear Scraps collaboration posts at the top. Click SHARE and share them on your wall. We'll draw a winner from all the folks who SHARE our posts this week (through Saturday's hop)
  • Comment on our Hop! Saturday will be our big Blog Hop - comment on the blogs and we'll enter you once for each comment!
Plus - ClearScraps has a passel of prizes as well. You can win them by visiting and commenting on their blog!


Good luck!  Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you again soon!

Hugs,
Lea

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Stampendous Fun with Clear Scraps!

Clear Scraps and Stampendous have joined forces this week to showcase products from both companies culminating in an awesome blog hop on this Saturday.  Each day this week a few designers from both companies are sharing their ideas.  There are prizes to win, my friends, so be sure to read to the bottom and find out how you can win!

I don't know if you have seen these cards from Clear Scraps before but they are just the coolest things!  Mine is called Heart Send It Clear Card, however, I've taken a little creative license and turned my heart into a fish.


There was just something about it when I was playing with the pieces that screamed "make a fish!"  I really like the way it turned out.  The "seaweed" didn't turn out quite as bright as I had hoped.  I stamped the leaves and stems from the Stampendous Perfectly Clear Encouraging Words sympathy set using Staz-On Opaque White and when it dried I went over it with chalk.   Here's a view of the card when partially open.


I believe most people adhere paper to both sides of the card to create the whole center that overlaps but I wanted to leave the overlapping piece clear.  I added some Stickles in Diamond to mimic sparkly scales on the side I left clear.  I also added some Stampendous Crushed Glass Glitter in Bronze to create my "sandy bottom."


Here's a pic of the card opened up.  The cute fishy paper is from Michael's, perfect don't you think?  Okay, so I took a little creative license with the sentiment as well.  I have to be honest and tell you it's an older Stampendous set that is no longer available, as is the fish stamp.  The problem is, I just recently moved and don't have my stamp room completely unpacked.  I was forced to use what was available to me at the moment, so, please don't be mad at me!  I actually used three words to create two, Best, Wishes and For.  I substituted the W with the F to get Best Fishes!  Corny but cute, right!?


So this is it, my Heart Send It Clear Card that went fishing!  To see what the others have created that are playing along today, visit their blogs, you'll be glad you did!

Clear Scraps -  http://clearscraps.typepad.com/
Stephanie Lee (Arty Carty) - http://blog.artycarty.com/
Leah - http://www.leahscraftylife.com/
Pam Hornschu - http://1pamperedstamper.blogspot.com/
Cathy - http://allofme-sofar.blogspot.com/
Lea Kimmel - http://ink-positive.blogspot.com (that's me!)

Okay, so I'm sure by now you want to know how to win the prizes, after all, we all like to win prizes!  Here's the details:

You can win our prizes in three ways -
Comment on the Stampendous Blog- all week - we'll choose one winner from the Mon - Fri Comments
  • Check us out on Facebook! We'll keep our Clear Scraps collaboration posts at the top. Click SHARE and share them on your wall. We'll draw a winner from all the folks who SHARE our posts this week (through Saturday's hop)
  • Comment on our Hop! Saturday will be our big Blog Hop - comment on the blogs and we'll enter you once for each comment!
Plus - ClearScraps has a passel of prizes as well. You can win them by visiting and commenting on their blog!

Alrighty folks, I'll see you back here Saturday for the blog hop, don't forget!

Hugs,
Lea









Friday, June 22, 2012

New BlogStars!

Stampendous has new BlogStars in the house!  Please join me in giving these wonderfully creative ladies a warm welcome!  First up is:

Rhea Weigand

Rhea Weigand

Living in Arizona with her best friend hubby and two seriously good looking adult sons means this lovely lady has lots of fun around her house. Adding some Yorkies into the mix has got to make crafting a challenge, but she rises to it just superbly. Her cards embrace such a wide range of styles and techniques, we know she’ll have just as much fun coloring our Kiddos as Fran•táging Jumbo Flowers. We just can’t wait to get some Stampendous goodness into her hands! We know you’re going to enjoy her varied talents as much as we do. You can see lots more of her art on her terrific blog Passionate Paper Creations, but just to get you warmed up, here’s a fantastic 8″ X 8″ canvas Rhea created with our
I Love Paris stamp.

I Love Paris by Rhea Weigand


Now let’s hear a good, 0ld-fashioned, Stampendous welcome for:

Jan Garber

Another Arizona resident, this mom and grandmother has been enjoying stamping and scrapbooking for the last few years. She’s a frequent participant in the Stampendous monthly challenges, in fact she participates in lots of challenges all over the web. We sure hope she chooses to use some of the goodies we’ll be sending her for those challenges in the future! We loved the fact that Jan likes making 3D objects and home decor as much as her cards and scrapbook pages. We feel fairly certain that, in view of the temperature in Phoenix this time of year, she’ll be crafting indoors and making us all sorts of fantastic things during her term as BlogStar. You can see lots of Jan’s art at her blog Scrap’n Surprise!, but here’s a taste using our fantastic Rose Corset stamp.

Rose Corset Dresser by Jan Garber


Well, if you’re not excited enough, sit back in your seats and let’s hear it for

Tobi Crawford

This British Columbia, Canada resident (with a U.S. Mailing address, thank you!) is so excited to be part of our team! We could almost hear the scream in Southern California when she found out! But we’re even more excited to have her. An excellent sense of color, design, composition and great photography skills make her the perfect BlogStar. Combine that with a cute blog, activity on all the major boards and forums, and teaching classes at one of our favorite customer stores… well it’s a match made in heaven. And Tobi makes our Cowlick look soooo cute! We just know we’re going to love working with this talented, charming, young woman! Here’s one of her great samples featuring our Cowlik Sunflower stamp… and you can see lots more of Tobi’s terrific art on her blog, Tobi’s Place.

Cowlik Sunflower by Tobi Crawford


And now, to round out our list of amazing talent, give a heartfelt welcome to

Asia King

Ok… we admit it…we broke our own rule! We said no international artists, but, well, ok we think you’re going to see why we couldn’t help ourselves. We fell in love with Asia’s work some time ago when we stumbled on her blog after she entered one of our challenges. We were literally blown away! Her work is in a class by itself, and we dreamed of the day she would join our team, even if only temporarily. She’s just such a unique person with such a unique style…she even has an Alias!! Wow…!!! Not just a nom de stamp like so many others, a genuine AKA. Magical, mysterious, Asia’s art is just like her! So we’re going to enjoy weekly visits on our blog all the way from Oxfordshire, England where the Queen herself has presented Asia with a first place award for crafting some Diamond Jubilee coasters! Asia certainly has us Under a Creative Spell, as her blog is called. We think she will bewitch you as well. Here’s a sample she sent us with her application using our Cling Jumbo Dahlia (available at Michaels Stores) to create a very unique piece of home decor.

A is for Asia by Asia King



Ladies, congratulations and I look forward to working with each of you! 



Hugs!
Lea 


Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Summertime...

d...and the living is easy!  Our cute little friend, Changito, has the right idea!  This card was created using the Stampendous Cling Changito Simple Daydream set.  This has really been a favorite of mine and I knew I had to use this paper with it.  First things first, I stamped my image and colored it using my Copic markers.  I cut my image out, edged it with a little Tim Holtz distress ink in Antique Linen and matted it on green Bazzill.  I cut my base from Bazzill then cut my patterned paper from My Mind's Eye Lime Twist collection and matted it on the green Bazzill as well.  Next I used my Memento Tuxedo Black marker to ink up just a portion of the sentiment, stamped it, matted it and distressed it!  Using some plain cotton string, I wrapped it around the front of the card and tied on the three pieces of ribbon to mimic the kite tail.  I adhered the rest of  my pieces and voila, cute summertime card!  The other thing I would like to point out is how easy it was to mimic the patterned paper on the kite portion of the image.  I used my blender pen and darker Copic markers to mimic the designs on the kite.  How cool is that? 

This fun card serves a dual purpose.  I'm using it for the weekly challenge on Splitcoast Stampers, SC388 and I'm also using it for the monthly challenge on the Stampendous Blog.  If you are going to play along with the weekly challenge on Splitcoast, please make sure you post as SC388. Throughout the month of June we are challenging ourselves (and you) to make a card, project, gift, altered item, or a bit of home decor that is related to SUMMER! That’s right, we’re celebrating the start of summer all month long! 


Don’t forget, we want YOU to play along with us! Simply make a summer themed project of some sort and add the direct link for your project to our collection at the end of this post (or on the Stampendous blog) no later than Thursday, June 28 at 11:59 PM EST . You do not have to use Stampendous products, but we sure love it when you do! As an extra incentive for playing along, one lucky crafter (drawn at random) will receive this fabulous new Friendly Phrases Perfectly Clear stamp set:
As an even bigger incentive, if you use Stampendous products on your project, that entry will count twice, which increases your chances of winning! Due to shipping restrictions, the winner must have a U.S. address. We hope you have a chance to play along with us (you can enter as many times as you’d like!) this month…Happy Crafting!

Hugs,
Lea