The Happy Room

This guy was SO much fun to make. This is Riley from Hanna Stamps. Riley is so thoughtful, making a birthday cake for someone special in my life!! He is colored with SU ink refills and an aqua painter~the shadow is done with a Sahara Sand marker (ALERT: throw away those gray markers for shading and shadowing. Once you use a Sahara Sand marker, you will never go back LOL!)

He was cut out with a Nestabilities die and mounted onto another piece of cardstock cut with a scalloped Nestabilities die. Background paper is from my stash, the velvet rick rack is from WalMart. The birthday greeting is from a whole sheet of sayings that go along with the many Rileys in the Hanna Stamps line. It was so easy to stamp and line up (the actual stamp is all on one line~I needed it to fit inside of a small SU oval punch so, I inked up the first few words, then moved down a line and stamped the rest of the saying.....easy peasy. The see-thru stamps make it a breeze to do!). The greeting is layered onto several SU punched shapes in coordinating colors.

I sewed around the background paper with my Janome Sew Mini sewing machine and Cuttlebug'd a small strip across the lower edge of the card. The greeting is mounted to the strip with dimensional tape.

Happy Birthday from Riley!!!

This stamp is from a drop dead gorgeous sheet of Posh Impressions stamps that I recently got at the Mesa, AZ convention. WOW~it's been so much fun working with these stamps and they come color indexed on a storage board. Thanks, Sunday International for making my life easier! =)

I colored the image with Marvy brush markers and stamped onto glossy cardstock. Fast and easy and such a fun technique to blend colors together on your image (notice the multiple tones on the flowers). After layering it onto some coordinating cardstock, I added some machine zig zag stitching with a Janome Sew Mini sewing machine.

For the circular image behind the flower vase, I used Dee Gruenig's signature "Blending Blocks" to brayer onto white (non-gloss) cardstock, cut it with the Sizzix large circle die cut, then Cuttlebug'd it to add some interest.

The stick pin is a pin from JoAnn's onto which I added some beads that I purchased from WalMart. I glued the last bead onto the pin with fabric glue.

A wonderful new (to me) Hanna Stamps image. LOVE IT!! She is colored with Prismacolor pencils and SU markers, then glittered with Art Institute Glitter. I used AI's Dry Clear Adhesive on the flowers and ribbon and a 2-way glue pen on her dress and veil. Background is Cuttlebug'd and the card base is scored (no particular measurements on the score lines~I just scored random lines)with a Scor-Pal. The scallop edge is cut with scissors, then I took the piece I cut off and Cuttlebug'd it to match the other white layer. I turned it around (so the scallops would face the outside edge) and glued it on top of the edge I cut it off of (bad English there, I know =). The pearls are slid onto a dressmaker's pin~they are all from 3 broken necklaces (I save everything. I really mean everything). I glued the last pearl onto the pin with fabric glue to cover the sharp end so I wouldn't poke myself, which I seem to always do.

I met up with some of my all time favorite stamping celebrities at the Mesa, AZ Rubberstamp and Scrapbook Expo this weekend~Dee Gruenig of Posh Impressions and Michael Strong of Michael Strong Rubber Stamps. And if that wasn't "star overload" enough, add to that Barbara Trombley of Art Institute Glitter!! All were doing demos and make~n~takes that were just fabulous!!! In addition to seeing their fantastic lines of products and watching their incredible talent, I have to say that these stamping stars are "the real deal" and have a huge commitment to those of us that admire them. And did I mention a whole lot of fun?? So to Dee, Michael and Barbara I say "Thank you for making my weekend such a wonderful experience.You are THE BEST!!!!"

I made a gift box for Michael that I created from a 12 X 12 piece of cardstock scored at 4" all the way around. Four cuts (parallel on the top edge and bottom edge) and some glue and voila~instant gift! I added some tooled leather to the sides and a die cut to the front~the pot image is one of my favorites from Michael's line of stamps. It's stamped in VersaMark and embossed with copper embossing powder. The lid of the box is cardstock which is punched with a Martha Stewart border punch.










I took a "Potholder Notes" project to Dee that I made with her exclusive stamps (this Duo set now retired). Instructions for this project can be found in a previous post in June 2008 on this blog. .


Visit Michael here: www.strongstamps.com
Dee here: www.deegruenig.com
Barbara here: www.artglitter.com

Watercolored butterflies from: (pink card~Stampscapes/other cards:Inkadinkado). I learned the technique from this group: www.techniquejunkies.com, a subscription only group. Ink pads used are Tsukiniko's Kaleidacolor "Calypso" (pink card) and "Creole Spice" on the darker cards. The butterfly punch is from Martha Stewart, the jewels are from a decal I purchased at the Dollar Tree~then I cut it apart and used the jewels individually. Enjoy!!