Howdy 'Tex!

EnviroTex, that is!  I hope you are enjoying your Saturday! We've had so much fun crafting with our stamp images and EnviroTex Jewelry Resin from Environmental Technologies. A huge thank you to Carmi Cimiata of the Resin Crafts Blog, she has helped us learn how this product works and just what it can do. We're so appreciative of her and the folks at ETI who sent us all some resin to play with. {big round of applause!}  

Today I have three projects to share with you before you hop along to the next designer's blog.  Here's my first project.  This is just a simple little magnet for the fridge.  It started out as an oversized button that was a very bright, almost neon, orange.  The first thing I did was cut some paper out for the center of the button.  I flipped the patterned paper I chose over and cut a smaller square for the middle.  I stamped my image from the set, From The Kitchen Perfectly Clear™ Stamps on Neenah, colored it, cut it out and coated it with Glossy Accents.  I snipped three small pieces of wire for my "steam" and adhered it to the back of the cup.  Next I poured my resin over the whole thing.  This was one of the first pieces I actually did so I learned very quickly that I should have coated the whole insert, not just the cup I colored with Copics.  The resin changed the vibrancy of the paper I used.








Next I did a card using Grasshopper Fluffles, Foliate Quad Cube and a really cute cheetah bottle cap that Carmi sent.  This just begged for something fun and from the jungle!  Sweet little Fluffles is daydreaming of being a wild jungle cat!  I really like how this came out!  For the resin piece, I colored the image with Copics, added a coating of Glossy Accents and when that dried, I poured resin on top.  The papers are Bazzill, Neenah and Reminisce.  I also added a little Tim Holtz distress ink around the edges of both stamped pieces.



Here's a side view of the bottle cap!  Pretty cool!







My last project for today is one that I decided to create at the last minute!  This is a bit of a sneak peak of one of our new fall/Halloween images.  This one is called Raven Background and it's so new you can't even find it on our web site just yet!  How cool is that!?  I stamped my image on a clear piece of acetate with Staz-On ink in Jet Black.  I had this neat little wooden piece that had been sent to me a short while back.  I hadn't known at the time what I could do with it but this one just popped into my noggin!  I used some Tea Dye distress ink to stain the piece of wood.  I laid my piece of acetate with my image on it down and then covered that piece with another piece of acetate creating a kind of sandwich.  Next I took Gilded Mica Fragments, Tea Stained Mica Fragments, Bronze Crushed Glass Glitter and Black Crushed Glass Glitter, mixed them all up and glued them around the edge of the board with Glossy Accents.  Once that had dried I added my resin.  There are still a few areas where the fragments stick out of the resin but I love how it turned out!  I hope you like the projects I created to share with you today.

The rest of the design team has prepared some fantastic projects to inspire you today. We hope you'll run over to your local Michaels or other craft store and pick up some resin and some Stampendous stamps and get playing. If you make something fun, please take a picture and put it on our Facebook page! We'd love to see what you're doing! As you visit each blog, you'll be entered in our drawing for a great prize package when you leave a comment! If you don't tell us you were there by commenting, we can't include you in the drawing! We'll pick a winner from today's comments separate from the commenters throughout the week. Get hoppin!

Resin Crafts Blog

April Derrick

Cyndi Bundy

Janelle Stollfus

Jennifer Ingle

Krissy Fossmeyer

Kristine Reynolds

Lea Kimmel (that's me!)

Lynn Mercurio

Melinda Gleissner

Pam Hornschu

Stephanie Lee

Susie Moore

Suzanne Czosek

Tenia Nelson

Wendy Jordan

Wendy Price

NATURALLY you want to hear about the Prizes!! Carmi has 3 prize packages that can be won by our fans in Canada where she lives. She will draw three Canadian winners from the comments on her blog all week. We have 3 prize packages for our friends with US mailing addresses.

• We'll draw one winner from the weekly comments on our blog.
• We'll draw one winner from the comments on Saturday's Big Blog Hop
• We'll draw one winner from Facebook - You need to SHARE one or more of our posts about this project on your Timeline **

Each prize package from us will include a Jewelry pack of Resin, a bottle cap, bezel and button to try, and the Stampendous Charm Collection Perfectly Clear Stamps - perfect jewelry sized stamps for your crafting pleasure! ** Why do I need to SHARE the post ? Because Facebook has changed the way they show posts from a Page to that Page's fans. (There are millions of posts a day now!) When you "share" a post it lets Facebook know you want to see posts from us. It also tells your friends what we're up to and extends our "reach". Maybe they will come like us, too! That IS why we're doing this, to meet more people! How do I SHARE a post? Visit our page on Facebook - Stampendous - We'll keep an EnviroTex post pinned at the top this week - just find it and click on SHARE underneath the post, it's blue. It will pop up a window that says Share On Your Own Timeline. You can write a message in the box if you like then click Share This Link. That's it...easy!!

Thanks for hopping with us today!

Hugs,
Lea

Resin-ating with EnviroTex!

Hey everybody!  This week those of us on the design team for Stampendous are playing with EnviroTex Craft Resin. Carmi over at the Resin Crafts Blog generously sent us some jewelry resin to create with and has shown us some cool techniques to try out. We've all jumped in with both feet and created some awesome things to inspire you to try this craft yourselves. The possibilities are infinite with all the wonderful micas, glitters, etc in the Fran•táge Essentials Collection.  Stampendous images are just perfect for jewelry and home decor, from the really big ones right down to the little bitty ones! Here's what I've created!

My first project here was created using a fragment charm from Tim Holtz for a base.  I stamped my piece using my Jet Black Staz-On pad and three stamps from the Charm Collection Perfectly Clear Stamp Set from Stampendous.  I punched out a small heart with red Bazzill paper and adhered it to the back side with Glossy Accents.  Next it was time for Resin!  On the front side, I added a little sprinkle of Black Crushed Glass Glitter and added my resin.  Once that side cured, I flipped it over and added a layer of Multi Ultra Fine Crystal Glitter then covered it with resin.  When that side cured I added a jump ring, some black satin cord and a few more charm findings from Michael's.  This is going to be a really cool necklace to wear!  My next project was equally fun to create using a bezel sent by Carmi. First I put down a layer of Royal Ultra Fine Jewel Glitter for my water, then I added a little Taupe Color Fragments for my sand.  Next I stamped just the seahorse from the Cling Mermaid Kiddo stamp on Neenah Classic Crest with Memento Tuxedo Black ink by Tsukineko.  Next I colored it with Copic markers, cut it out and added a layer of Glossy Accents to keep the ink from blotching.  Once my Glossy Accents were good and set, I place the seahorse where I wanted it, added three seed beads for "bubbles" and added my resin.  Once cured, all it needed was a jump ring and a chain to wear it with!



Yet another cute piece of jewelry I can wear for years to come.  Just knowing I created it myself will make it that much more special!

Come see what the others playing along today have done!  Visit them, leave some love! Win cool stuff! If you get brave and try this, leave a photo on our Facebook Page so we can see what you've done!

ResinCrafts Blog

Jennifer Ingle

Lea Kimmel (that's me!)

Suzanne Czosek

NATURALLY there are Prizes!! Carmi has 3 prize packages that can be won by our fans in Canada where she lives. She will draw three Canadian winners from the comments on her blog all week. We also have 3 prize packages for our friends with US mailing addresses.

• We'll draw one winner from the weekly comments on our blog.
• We'll draw one winner from the comments on Saturday's Big Blog Hop
• We'll draw one winner from Facebook - You need to SHARE one or more of our posts about this project on your Timeline **

Each prize package from us will include a Jewelry pack of Resin, a bottle cap, bezel and button to try, and the Stampendous Charm Collection Perfectly Clear Stamps - perfect jewelry sized stamps for your crafting pleasure! ** Why do I need to SHARE the post ? Because Facebook has changed the way they show posts from a Page to that Page's fans. (There are millions of posts a day now!) When you "share" a post it lets Facebook know you want to see posts from us. It also tells your friends what we're up to and extends our "reach". Maybe they will come like us, too! That IS why we're doing this, to meet more people! How do I SHARE a post? Visit our page on Facebook - Stampendous - We'll keep an EnviroTex post pinned at the top this week - just find it and click on SHARE underneath the post, it's blue. It will pop up a window that says Share On Your Own Timeline. You can write a message in the box if you like then click Share This Link. That's it...easy!!

Don't forget to come back on Saturday for more eye candy and more chances to win as the entire team is playing along.  Woohoo!  Now, leave me some love! Your comment might just be the winning comment.

Hugs,
Lea

Happy Fourth...

...of July!  Today our country celebrates it's Independence and being the patriotic soul that I am, I had to make a card in honor of the good ol' United States of America!  When I was a child I had a love/hate relationship with this day.  My mother passed away on this day in 1965 when I was four years old.  This has always made today a bittersweet holiday in my little world.  As I grew older and became more and more patriotic my love for our country eased the hurt.  Now I look at it as a celebration of our country and a celebration of the life of a wonderful woman who was taken from us all far too soon.  So, with that being said, here is my clean and simple card made in honor of my mother and our country.

Dedicated to

Shirley Ruth Cheek Quick

October 24, 1936 - July 4, 1965

I would like to believe she is looking over my shoulder when I create and that she approves!

I miss you and love you so! 

 My card is really a simple one.  The base is Bazzill and the patterned paper is from Bo Bunny's Liberty collection and I used May Arts Ribbon.  I also used a little Fired Brick Distress Ink from Tim Holtz.  Using Memento Tuxedo Black ink from Tsukineko I stamped the Happy 4th on Neenah Classic Crest.  I used two different Stampendous stamp sets for the sentiment.  I used the "Happy" from Party Invite Perfectly Clear™ Stamps  and the "4th" from Fifteen Candles Perfectly Clear™ Stamps.

As you can see, both sets are very versatile and there aren't very many celebrations    these two sets don't cover!  There's truly a myriad of things to do with each one.  Think of all the calendars you can create with Fifteen Candles; all the numbers are there!  You can do a lot of cute cards with the present or the party hat or candle using Party Invite.  That doesn't even include the words or the confetti and streamers in both!  And the cake, oh my, there's a lot you can do with that cake.  Just thinking of all the cute ways to decorate that cake gets all sorts of wheels turning in my creative little head!

I hope you all have safe and happy day today!  May the Fourth be with you!  (Sorry, simply couldn't resist that one!)  Thanks for stopping by for a look!

Hugs,
Lea

United We Run!

Welcome to our Sweet Gothic Kids Olympians Blog Hop Kick off!

Today we open with an awesome Blog Hop, and every day there after until Friday Simply B Stamps is previewing a new SGK Olympian!   You should have landed here from Katrina's blog.

Are you all ready to cheer?  Betty has some special guests on this hop to help "run" it!  I'm one of them!  I was so excited when Betty asked me to help out with this blog hop since I'm a huge fan of her awesome images so, of course, I said yes!  Here's my take on Track Alex, I hope you like him!

I kept it pretty clean and simple.  My base is Bazzill and my patterned paper is Bo Bunny's Liberty line from last year.  Of course my image is on Neenah and colored with Copics.  The sentiment is actually from Stampendous but I "modified" it for the play on words.  I took my craft knife and cut a few places to slide the ribbon through to create my "Finish Line."  A couple of pop dots later and a little layering and here you have it!

Leave a comment on each of the blogs (ya never know where the winner will be chosen from) for a chance to win today's Sneak Peek guy, Track Alex!!  Isn't he a cutie!  From here you should be headed to Kathy's blog.

Here's the complete blog hop list for your hopping convenience!

SBS Blog

Kim

Aeryn

Rosie

Katrina

Lea  (Me!)

Kathy

Suzi

Corinne

Jan

Celina

Trudie

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs!

Lea

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!

Stampendous Impressions

Clear Scraps

Jennifer Dove Bonner

Taylor Usry

Cyndi Bundy

Kristine Reynolds

Steph Lee (Arty Carty)

Pam Hornschu

Janelle Stollfus

Suzanne Czosek

April Derrick

Wendy Jordan

Lynn Mercurio

Wendy Price

Melinda Gleissner

Jennifer Ingle

Susie Moore

Krissy Fossmeyer

Tenia Nelson

Lea Kimmel (Me!)

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

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!

Stampendous Impressions - http://www.stampendousblog.wordpress.com/

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

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

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