The Unpampered Stamper: April 2017

Once Upon a Time - My Favorite Things

Hello crafty friends! Today I wanted to share with you a fun castle-themed Box Card featuring both the Once Upon a Time and Knight in Shining Armor stamp sets from My Favorite Things. I made this box card for the daughter of a friend of mine. I love making box cards for kids because they just love the 3D components of the card.

I began by first creating the box base of my card. I follow this tutorial from Splitcoaststampers when I want a box card that is slightly larger than some of those that come in die sets. Once finished, I then trim the bottom portion of the box so that the bottom sides are the same length as the flaps etc. That's just my personal preference, so it's definitely not a necessary step!

Once I had my box built, I then began to build my castle. To do this, I used the Die-Namics Castle Die Set, also by My Favorite Things. This die set is so cute! I mean...it's REALLY cute! I cut out my castle on light grey cardstock and then used the MFT English Brick Wall Stencil with slightly darker grey ink to make my bricks. I then die cut some flags and tower tops from pink cardstock and then put it all together around the base of the box to resemble an actual castle.

I diecut some grass using the MFT Die-Namics Grassy Fields on green cardstock and then glued the pieces around the base of my castle walls. I then added a few cute flowers on the side (also from the Once Upon a Time Stamp & Die Set). Once my castle was complete, I then glued all of my images to either the inside shelves or outside portion of the box. For the butterflies and one of the clouds, I used some clear acetate to attach them to look as if they were floating in the sky. All of my images were stamped with Tuxedo Black ink and colored with Copic markers.

As you can see, this card folds up nicely and will fit into a 5X7 envelope. Because the flags are a bit fragile, I will probably add some thick pieces of cardstock on either side of my card to protect it.

I will be entering this card into the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes.

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

Thank you all for dropping by! If you liked this card and want some more crafty inspiration, don't forget to check out my INSTAGRAM feed!

Wishing you all a lovely day!

♥ Rachel

More Spring Flowers - Simon Says Stamp

Hello friends! I would like to share with you a birthday card that I made for my sister-in-law using the recently released More Spring Flowers stamps & coordinating dies from Simon Says Stamp. I think that this stamp set is absolutely gorgeous and I couldn't wait to try it out!

When I first saw this set, I thought that it would be perfect for water coloring. To start, I first stamped my images onto watercolor paper with some water-resistant Versafine Onyx Black Ink. I then used my Zig Watercolor Brush Pens and a Watercolor Brush to add color. To add just a little more shading, I also used a few Prismacolor Colored Pencils on a few of my images on top of my layer of watercolor. I love this look because it helps to make the watercolors pop but also keep their softness in the areas untouched.

For the base of my card, I used some distress inks (Spun Sugar, Squeezed Lemonade, Forest Moss and Twisted Citron) to create an ink blended background. I then used the Hero Arts Stone Circle Pattern Stencil with Pure Platinum Nuvo Embellishment Mousse on a piece of grey cardstock to create what I hoped would resemble a stone walkway. I can't say enough about the Nuvo Embellishment Mousse. It looks so pretty and just shimmers when it catches the light! I then trimmed my "stone" panel to approximately 1.75x5.5", and then glued it onto my watercolor base.

Lastly, I adhered my bouquet of flowers to my card base. I used a few 3D foam squares on a couple of the flowers to add some dimension. The "birthday wishes" sentiment came from Altenew's Floral Frame Stamp Set (which I embossed with Super Fine Black Embossing Powder).

I will be entering this card into both the Simon Says Monday (Splash It On) , Wednesday (Showers and/or Flowers) and Work It Wednesday: April Showers Bring May Flowers Challenges.

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Splash It On

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Showers and/or Flowers

Simon Says Work It Wednesday: April Showers Bring May Flowers

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today! Please feel free to leave any comments or questions!

Happy Stamping!

Rachel

Dog Sugar Pudgie - The Stamps of Life

Hello crafty friends! April has been an extremely busy month for me, so it's been a while since I last blogged. I'd love to share with you today a brand new stamp & die set that was just released over at The Stamps of Life. It's called dogsugarpudgie2stamp and it's the third set released in a new series of super cute pudgie stamps & dies.

For my card above, I used the SOL Gingersnap Cardstock and Sizzix Large Circle #4 Flip-its Die Set for my base. I stamped the dog, ball and bone with Tuxedo Black Ink and then colored them with Copics (Dog: E55, E74, E77, E79). I added some patterned paper panels and some ribbon to finish it off. Super easy!

My next card is all one layer. I achieved this look by masking my images before stamping and then coloring with my copics. To make things simpler, I included some step-by-step photos of the masking process below.

First, I stamped my dog and bone images onto masking paper and then cut them out. Since I wanted the dog's bone to be in the front, I stamped that first on my card front before covering it with the masking paper and then stamping the dog on top of it.

Once that step was complete, I then covered my dog (as seen in the first photo above) with masking paper and then stamped my doghouse. I then colored in my finished image with Copics and adhered my white card front to an A2 size piece of TSOL Blueberry Cardstock.

(Colors used - Dog: E21, E34, E23, E25, E49. Doghouse: E41, E42, E43, E57. Sky: B0000, B000, B00, B01. Grass: YG01, YG03, YG23, YG17)

* I chose the colors of the sky and grass based on numerous cards designed and colored by Michelle Short over at The Card Grotto. If you've never checked out her work, her cards and color schemes are absolutely amazing!

Lastly, I made a 3D Box Card featuring this cute pudgie pup by using the SOL Exclusive Box Card Die Set. I used my Copic Multiliner Pen to draw some "spots" on my dog and then colored them in shades of brown. The flowers and leaves came from the Box Card Die Set.

I simply die cut numerous layers of flowers using various SOL colored cardstock. I then used the matching SOL ink pad for each flower to add some ink blending to the outer edges of my flowers before piecing them all together.

For more ideas and inspiration, go check out The Stamps of Life Dogsugarpudgie Gallery!

I will be entering my Box Card full of blooms into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Showers and/or Flowers.


Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Showers and/or Flowers

Thank you for stopping by my blog today! Wishing you all a wonderful day!

Happy Stamping!

Rachel

Happy4BannersTWO & Extras4Lion - Stamps of Life

Happy Friday everyone! I'd like to share with you two of the three new stamp sets that were released at The Stamps of Life this morning. The first that I'd like to share is called Happy4bannersTWO. I love banner stamps with sentiments. They are perfect for adding a quick and easy, yet classy, sentiment to your cards and/or projects.

For this card above, it was all diecutting except for my sentiment, which I used the happy4bannersTWO stamp set to quickly stamp my "Thinking of You" sentiment before using the coordinating die to cut it out. For the flowers, I just die cut a bunch of different colored paper using TSOL Newport Flower Dies. The patterned background paper came from the newly released "Me & You" Collection Patterned Paper Pad (one of my favorites!)

Happy4bannersTWO

Here's a closer look at the Happy4bannersTWO stamp set. As you can see, there are a great variety of sentiments to pick and choose from. To me, this (or something similar) is a must-have for card making!

For my second card, I once again used the Happy4bannersTWO stamp set but this time I paired it with the Sizzix Kind Sentiments Step-ups Die Set for my base. I diecut a cute little bird from white cardstock using the Sizzix Triplits Spring Bird Die Set and then used my copic markers to color him. The flowers with stems came from the Hippo Die Set and the sun from the Sizzix Triplits Hello Sunshine Die Set. For the white picket fence, I used the Sizzix Flowers & Fence Stamps & Dies to simply cut the fence out of some white cardstock. I cut some grass using TSOL Grass Die and trimmed about 1/4" off of the bottom so that it didn't completely cover my fence. Once again, I used my favorite paper pad (TSOL "Me & You Collection) for the background paper.

extras4lion

Lastly, I'd like to quickly share another card (below) that I made using this month's lion2stamp club stamp set and dies. However, instead of coloring this lion like my previous ones, I used the new extras4lion stamp set (shown above) to stamp him with TSOL Banana Ink (his body) and TSOL Gingersnap and Chocolate Inks (for his mane etc). Super easy! The base of the card came from the Sizzix Friends Forever Step-ups Card Die Set. The sweet little flowers in the background of the card came from the Sizzix Square Card Front Die Set. I used TSOL stitched ovals to cut some ovals upon which to stamp my sentiment and then stamped the word "CONGRATS" using the Alpha4banners stamp set and TSOL Guava Ink. I then cut out each mini banner using the coordinating Sampler Dies.

Thank you for stopping by my blog today! Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Hugs,

Rachel

Lion2Stamp - Stamps of Life

Hello! Have you seen the new and super cute club stamp set called lion2stamp that was released this month over at The Stamps of Life?

lion2stamp

This set is super fun and very versatile! It also comes with a set of coordinating dies. These dies are perfect if you don't want to color and just want to "build" your lion with paper pieces. If you're not a DieHard Club Member (which you do not have to be in order to get this set) the dies will not be available to you until the 20th of this month.

For my first card, I started off by creating a simple background. I trimmed and scored a piece of Guava cardstock for my base. I then layered it with a piece of white cardstock that I diecut with TSOL Stitched Rectangle Dies. Using these same dies, I also cut a smaller piece of yellow and white patterned paper from the Happy Birthday Collection Paper Pad. For my "setting sun", I die cut a piece of Tangerine cardstock with TSOL Stitched Circle Dies. I used TSOL Chevron Dies on brown cardstock to create what I hoped would resemble mountains. I then stamped my two lions with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink and colored them with Copics (Y21, E43, Y26, E84: Lion's Body and E42, E23, E29, E49: Lion's Mane) before using the coordinating dies to cut them.

For my next card, I created a festive 3D Birthday Box Card. Aside from the lion and the party banners, everything else that I used with this card was just simple die cutting. All products used are listed below:

Thank you for stopping by my blog today! Please feel free to leave any comments or questions!

Hugs,

Rachel

Sweet Statement Set and Sizzix It's a Party Die Set

Hello friends! Happy April 1st! I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend so far! And since it's the first of the month, that means NEW stamps and dies over at The Stamps of Life! I'd love to share with you two new beautiful stamp and/or die sets that are available today at a special flash sale price!

The first is the Sweet Statement Set that is exclusive to The Stamps of Life. I just love all of the sentiments that you can mix and match with the word die set.

For my first card above, I paired the Sweet Statement Set with the butterfly2build stamp set and some TSOL patterned paper. I first stamped the outline of the butterfly in a very light colored ink. I then stamped the butterfly wings using TSOL Cranberry Ink. Lastly, I used my Misti to line up the butterfly once more and stamped with clear VersaMark Embossing Ink. I then embossed the outline in gold embossing powder. I also embossed my word sentiment with the same gold embossing powder before adhering it to the card.

For my second card, I paired the Sweet Statement Set with the Sizzix Triplits Cupcake Dies and the stamps4cupcaketriplit stamp set for the swirly icing.

The second new set that I'd like to share with you is the Sizzix It's a Party Die Set. This set makes card making SO easy. Seriously. It's just a little bit of die cutting and voila!

For these last two cards, I simply used the It's a Party Die Set, TSOL Patterned Paper and the Sizzix Dotted Rectangle Dies. Super easy!

I will be entering some of these cards into the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes.