CCEE1344 - Dogs

Anne Harmon is finishing up her month as CCEE Stampers challenge hostess today.  In honor of Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, she's asked us to make a card with a dog theme.   I created a relatively clean and simple card for my contribution.

Check out the rest of the kennel at the CCEE Stampers Blog and play along by linking your card at the end of the post.

Speedy Fox and Friends - Farm Scene

Speedy Fox and Friends' month-long "scene" theme has come to end this week -- with a Farm Scene.  My side-step card this week is made with three MFP sets -- Tree Selections, Scenic Selections, and Country Charm.

Check out the MFP Blog to see the farm scenes that the rest of the team has created.  If you'd like to play along, link your card at the end of the post there -- and you might win a free MFP stamp set.

CCEE1343 - Non-Traditional Halloween

This month's CCEE Stampers hostess, Anne Harmon, asked the team to make a Halloween card -- but in non-traditional colors (no orange, black, green, or purple).  My daughter-in-law Alex is going to be participating in a Zombie Run next month -- as a zombie, not a runner.  As their team is being sponsored by the doctor's office where she works, they are called the Dead Meds.  Fellow CCEE Stamper, Vicky Gould, shared a digital image of a zombie nurse with me -- and I made this card for Alex.  My colors are red, brown, and gray.

See how the rest of the team handled this non-traditional Halloween challenge by visiting the CCEE Stampers Blog.

12 Days of Christmas - Faux Mosaic/Stained Glass

Mark's Finest Papers, a Heinrich Company is having a series of challenges to celebrate 12 Days of Christmas.  We're doing it in October so that, if you find something you like, you've got plenty of time to create one or more items between now and Christmas.  Today I am presenting a tutorial for a technique I learned a couple of years ago -- Faux Mosaic/Stained Glass.  It makes a very nice Christmas card -- or perhaps a small picture you could hang on the wall.

This is the card I made for the 12 Days of Christmas:

This technique is basically an Embossing Resist technique, with a little twist.

Supplies needed:

Hand-made mosaic background stamp

Versamark

Clear embossing powder

Heat tool

Black ink (I used Memento Tuxedo Black)

Colored image

Several stamp companies provide their rubber stamps on one big sheet of rubber, and the customer punches or cuts out each individual image.  This leaves lots of excess rubber.  To make the background stamp, take the excess rubber and cut it into smaller pieces.

Glue the small pieces of rubber onto a piece of wood or acrylic block.  My brother-in-law cut two pieces of wood for my sister and me to make our background stamps.  Here is a close-up of the stamp.

STEP ONE

Color your image and cut to size.

STEP TWO

Apply Versamark over the entire background stamp.

STEP THREE

Stamp onto the colored image.  I usually do this upside down so that I can make sure the Versamark is applied on the entire image.

STEP FOUR

Sprinkle the image with Clear Embossing Powder.

This photo shows the entire image covered in embossing powder.  If you look closely, you can see the lines where the embossing powder did not stick.

STEP FIVE

Emboss the image using a heat gun.  When finished, you will see the shiny parts which were covered with the clear embossing powder.

STEP SIX

Here comes the scary part.  Rub the entire image with black ink.

STEP SEVEN

With a paper towel, wipe off the black ink.  You can see that the sections covered with Versamark and clear embossed are wiping relatively clean, but the black is staying in the lines between the sections.

STEP EIGHT

Complete your card.

Completed card.  

Thanks for stopping by my blog today, and I hope you want to try this technique.  Be sure to check the MFP Blog tomorrow for another Christmas project.

Speedy Fox and Friends - Zoo Scene

The Speedy Fox and Friends challenge is continuing our "scene theme" this week -- it's a Zoo Scene -- and I have another side-step card.   I live in Florida and have visited a different kind of zoo -- Busch Gardens -- which is not only a theme park with lots of roller coasters, shows, etc., but is also a wonderful place to see African animals in an open-air zoo. I used two MFP sets to create my card --  Be Wild and Free, Above the Rest.

Check out the MFP Blog and see what the rest of the team has created; and, if you'd like to play along with us, link up your zoo scene card at the end of the blog post there -- you might win a free stamp set.

CCEE1342 - Lots of Flowers

Anne Harmon, this month's CCEE Stampers hostess, is celebrating the anniversary of the release of "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" today -- so she asked us to make a card with lots of flowers.   My grandmother always had bunches and bunches of pansies growing in her garden, so I am bringing some of them to the party today.

Pop on over to the CCEE Stampers blog and take a look at all the flowers there.  We'd love for you to play along with us.

Speedy Fox and Friends - Fall Scene

This week the Speedy Fox and Friends challenge is to create a Fall Scene.  If you were here last week for the Snow Scene challenge, you saw my side-step card.  I've decided to make another side-step card this week too, using three different MFP sets -- Autumn Glory, Scenic Selections,  and Halloween Selections.  I stippled the leaves on the two trees.

Check out the MFP Blog to see what the rest of the team has created this week.  If you'd like to play along with us, link your card at the end of the post there -- you might win a free stamp set.