Quick and Easy Thumping!

If you have some of those stamps that you think would look too over done with coloring but a bit to plain with just plain old stamping, try thumping! It's a great technique to add just a tad bit of color to an image as you stamp. I tried this following a tutorial over at splitcoaststampers from Beate and it's easy as pie! Believe me, if I can thump, so can you! So let's go thumping!

Here are your supplies:

You stamp (Please don't laugh at my very well loved acrylic block with all it's ink on the sides!) I used this beautiful stamp, Pitcher and Basin, from Serendipity Stamps from Susana's Custom Art and Card Design.
paper
An Ink Pad
A marker that's a darker color than your ink



First off, you ink up your stamp with the ink pad.



That's not so hard. So on to step 2 - the thumping!



Now we thump with the marker. Add color wherever you want to. Use the side of the marker to add some darker ink onto the inked image. Please use the side so you don't damage the point of your marker.



After your image is thumped as much as you'd like it, take a deep breath and breath onto your inked stamp and then stamp your image onto the paper.



Isn't this great! I love how it comes out. I thought this looked good, but look at the imaged cut out and framed by my scalloped circle. Doesn't that dark ink just pop off the page? I love it! Here's a close up of it.



This is the beautiful card I made using my pitcher image. I wanted to keep it simple so the pitcher would be the focal point of my card. I'm trying to thing that less is more! But you know me!



Here's another version of the image but in red. I can't decide which I love more!

I'd love to see what you come up with! So get thumping and showing off what you've got!




Card Ingredients:

Pitcher and Basin by Serendipity Stamps, Laura Ashley Connemera Paper from Dovecraft, Bella Baubles, Blue Moon Heart Charm, Ribbon, gold thread, Kaisercraft Pearls.

Puzzle Pieces for Susana's Blog Candy!

Don't forget to stop over to Susana's store blog, Follow Your Heart, and check out the delicious Elisabeth Bell Blog Candy coming to Susana’s (SCACD) store until April 13th.

Everyday a puzzle piece of the prize is being revealed! What’s up For Grabs? A signed print by ©Elisabeth Bell of a “NEW Upcoming Stamp to SCACD”!! You'll have to head over to the store blog, the “Follow Your Heart” Blog for all the details!, to enter. Keep checking for the details. This is something you won't want to miss!

Try It Out Tuesday #13 - Easter or Spring, I'll take both!

I had the best time last night by spending some time talking with my friends at Susana's Custom Art and Card Design PCP group and our special guest, Elisabeth Bell herself! What fun it was but our power has been flickering off and on so I had to leave early. I'm going to keep this post short just in case the power goes off.

Our Design Team Challenge this week for Susana's Custom Art and Card Design from our ever talented Suzanne was to create a card for Easter or Spring. I knew what imaged I wanted to do and the paper just literally fell into my lap! Catherine With Butterfly is from our own talented illustrator, Anki, from the Anki's Sweetheart's for Susana's Custom Art and Card Design and what fun she is! I love her spring Easter dress and her hat with the pretty ribbon just says Easter to me. There's nothing more precious than a little girl dressed up in her East Sunday's best!

I colored Catherine with copics and used my oval nestabilities to cut her out. The sketch is from Susana's PCP group sketch challenge for the month. What a great sketch it is and I've filed it away to pull out and use again and again! The paper is from the Retro paper pack from Dovecraft, another exclusive to Susana's great store! instead of flowers, I used buttons with some of my favorite Scrapper's Floss. I gave the paper some texture with my dotted swiss cuttlebug folder and used some Glossy Accents on the hat ribbon and the top of her pretty dress. Since it's hard for me to leave the glitz off, I had to use my glitter pen on her flowers and on the precious butterfly. I think she's ready for the holidays!

Make sure you stop by Susana's store blog, Follow Your Heart, and look at the wonderful creations that my fellow Design Team sisters came up with. They're just beautiful!

And speaking of Elisabeth Bell, who wouldn't love some sweet blog candy from Susana? Check out the delicious Elisabeth Bell Blog Candy coming to Susana’s (SCACD) store blog, Follow Your Heart on April 6th – 13th!!

Everyday a puzzle piece of the prize will be revealed! What’s up For Grabs? A signed print by ©Elisabeth Bell of a “NEW Upcoming Stamp to SCACD”!! You'll have to head over to the store blog, the “Follow Your Heart” Blog for all the details!, to enter. Keep checking for the details. This is something you won't want to miss!

Card Ingredients:

Catherine with Flowers from Anki's Sweethearts for Susana's Custom Art and Card Design (SCACD), copics, Retro paper from Dovecraft, Atyou Spica Glitter pen, Scrapper's Floss in Aqua, buttons, brads, nestabilities, ribbon, dotted swiss cuttlebug folder.

Sophia and Tilda

It's amazing to me how much creativity I get by cleaning out my stamps. I've been sorting through some of my stamps I don't use very much anymore and would like someone else to love. When I send them out in the mail, I get this shot of creativity and so many ideas pop into my head about what to do with some stamps that I've been holding onto for a special occasion. These two cards are the result of a couple of Bellas being sent on to new homes.

Speaking of creativity, what better way to get your creative juices going than with the yummy blog candy Susana at Susana's Custom Art and Card Design has going on at her store blog! It's fabulous and involves Elisabeth Bell! Something like a signed print of one of our new stamps that will be released. Make sure you stop over and find out all about it! It runs from April 6th through April 13th.

Sophia of Paper Pretties has been at my house for over a month and inked up but I couldn't bring myself to color her up. I could so get addicted to these sweeties and go hog wild over them and way overspend! I joined up for their Stamp of The Month Club and this beauty, Hippity Hoppity, was my first Paper Pretties and I couldn't be happier! I was sorting thorough my papers and voila, I found my Nana's Nursery Baby Girl stack and Sophia came to life for me! She reminded me of pink lemonade and she just kind of put herself together. She's stamped on GinaK's Luxury White paper and colored with copics. All I did was add some Dew Drops, a bit of Glossy Accents to make her ribbons look satiny and used my cuttlebug to add a bit or texture to her. I adore this stamp and believe me, she's staying with me forever!



Tilda with Lamb is so beautiful and innocent sitting with her lamb. The Easter Collection from Magnolia that Summer at Roses on Paper is carrying is by far, my favorite collection. It's the first collection that I want every single stamp from! I've got to tell you that I had a hard time having Tilda sit on the Bible! I think it's the Baptist in me but I hope I've not been disrespectful. Once I saw the card in my head, it just happened. I've wanted to stitch on my cards for a long time and between Catherine Scanlon's encouragement (one of the most talented paper artist I've ever seen and get the pleasure of stamping with every month!) and Danni's tutorial, I just took the plunge! So glad I did! I had so much fun stitching that you'll be seeing it a lot more on my cards. I colored and the Bible with copics and used some Souffle Pens to highlight some of the flowers and Sophia's eggs. I used Glossy Accents on the satin book mark for the bible and my glitter pens on the swirls. I also added some Glossy Accents to Tilda's blouse becauseTilda what little girl doesn't have satin in some sort for Easter? She's got stickles on her socks and I used Dew Drops on the corners and just love how she came out.

I hope you enjoy these two cuties. I had such fun creating them to share with you all.

Don't forget to stop by the Follow Your Heart blog for some great blog candy! My gosh, a signed print by Elisabeth Bell is too good to pass up!

Card Ingredients:

Tilda With Lamb, The Bible, Dew Drops, Glossy Accents, Glitter pen, Souffle pens, ribbon, The Glitter Stack and Nana's Nursery Baby Girl's stack from DCWV, GinaK Luxury White paper, copics.

The Bride

There's nothing more beautiful than a bride. A spring or summer bride makes all things seem so fresh and clean and like the possibilities in life are endless. The Bride from Rubber Romance from Susana's store at Susana's Custom Art and Card Design, caught my eye and every time I passed by a Brides magazine on a rack, she kept popping back in my mind. I had to have her and as soon as she arrived, I had to stamp her up and get her ready! I tried to keep her simple and elegant, yet beautiful.

This beauty was stamped with memento Tuxedo Black and colored with copics. I highlighted her dress and veill with Bella Baubles Angel Wings Shimmerz and used my clear glitter pen to outline the dress and veil in a couple of places. The paper is from the Luxury Stack from DCWV and I put on the corners. I used a heart charm from Blue Moon and the ribbon is from my stash. Isn't the Flower Soft perfect for her bouquet? I love it!

Everyone loves a bride and I hope you love this one. I sure do!

Card Ingredients:

The Bride by Rubber Romance, Flower Soft, Bella Baubles, Angel Wing Shimmerz, copics, Blue Moon heart charms, ribbon, SU ticket punch, Atyou Spica Glitter Pen