When a Card Doesn't Work

By Sue

Greetings Stampers! Did everyone have a good week?? Mine went very well, including this post!

My favorite part is that this card is almost completely made up of discards from last weeks stained glass card!

My original stained glass was stamped with G337 triple heart stamp inside. I was never totally happy with it, but I tried to finish it, and one thing I tried was using the same triple heart as a background for the bottom layer. I also tried stamping the hearts separately and coloring and cutting out the center hearts. Well, it just never came together like I hoped, but I did like those 2 elements.

The bottom layer was simply stamped in the center of the card (using purple ink) then using 3 masks I just kept stamping side by side till I finished one row, then I'd move on to the next row, doing the same thing.

The hearts were simply stamped on white cardstock and colored using my bic markers. Before I cut them out I did what I call a quick enameling by using a versamark pad to ink the paper then covering it with clear embossing powder. After heating, I cut them out and adhered them to the background.

I then attached the whole thing to a pink folded card. So there you have it - essentially it's a card made out of trash!

Have a wonderful week, and don't forget to send us a comment with your favorite DRS stamp to be entered in this weeks blog candy giveaway. Good Luck to all!

Stamp it to 'em-

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It's A Golden Birthday!

I challenged one of my friends this week to create a card with a "Precious Metals" theme. This meant that our cards had to be made mostly of Gold, Silver, Bronze, or Copper colors, and as the theme title implies, it also had to include a metal embellishment on it.

Here's my Golden Birthday Card made for this challenge!

Just for clarification, I'm calling it a "Golden Birthday" as in "there is a lot of gold on this card," and not necessarily meaning that it's for someone's 50th Birthday--however it could! :-)


If you look closely at this sentiment, there are little stars for the "dots" on each of the letter I's. I dabbed them with Golden Rod Stickles, and then chose to decorate my card using star eyelets in red to match the color scheme and sentiment on this card.

I loved the way this card turned out! This card is even more unique for me because I rarely use Designer paper--I have a hard time "making it work!" Plus, with all of the background stamps I have from DRS Designs I've gotten into the habit of making my own lately as well. To be honest, I'd rather make my own designer paper--you have more control over where to place your stamped background images and you have control over color choices too! Have you ever found a sheet of patterned paper you really like, but wished it was a different color scheme? I can't even count the number of times that has happened to me, especially with Scrapbooking! If you're curious as to what Background stamps I'm talking about, you can see all ones offered by DRS Designs by clicking here.

Stamps: DRS Designs- Birthday Sparkle Accessories Greeting
Ink: Colorbox Fluid Chalk Ink in Cranberry
Paper: Smooth white cardstock by Office Depot, Colored Cardstock by American Crafts, Designer paper by The Paper Company
Accessories: Star Eyelets by Oriental trading Company, Fiskars Treading Water Punch, Golden Rod Stickles, 3D-Dots

Finished Card Size: 5 5/8" x 4.5"

Just a reminder that DRS Designs is holding another Blog Candy offer! Click over to this post and leave a comment telling us what your favorite DRS Designs image is. You'll be entered to win a roll of 2 sided adhesive. You can read more about this adhesive on that post as well. So why not enter the drawing? I know we can all use a little "free" adhesive! You have until Sunday evening, Feb 8th to be entered into the drawing.

Hope you all have a Fabulous weekend!

Smiles,
Jennifer

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The Magnetism of Reading

Posted by Jessica G

Love to read, but hate losing your place? Magnetic bookmarks are a great innovation because they stay in place without damaging pages. The newly released DRS Designs' frames coordinate with punches or Nestabilities to make creating them a snap.
Supplies: Punches and/or Nesties, frame stamps, inks, and magnetic closures (I used the Basic Grey magnets which already have an adhesive side). Other decorative options are gel pens or Shimmerz.

Red tacky tape works well to permanently adhere ribbon to cardstock.

Speaking of adhesive, be sure to post a comment regarding your favorite DRS image on this thread to be in the drawing for DRS' own double-sided adhesive.

Punch out two of each shape, except the very top decorative element, the butterfly image in this case. Instead of repeating the butterfly on the back of the bookmark, I used a 'handmade by' stamp to sign the project. Cut your ribbon to approximately 12", or double the desired length of the finished bookmark.

First layer: Fold ribbon in half to determine where to position the back layer. Place this shape on top of ribbon which will eventually become the back half of the bookmark. Adhere half of magnetic closure and place additional adhesive strips:

Fold ribbon over and adhere to this combination; the square will be on the back side of the ribbon. Adhere remaining punched shape (oval) on top of ribbon and then place butterfly as final layer.

Step 2: Flip finished portion of bookmark over, leaving the ribbon in the open (flat) position. Place second square shape directly on top of completed portion and adhere second half of magnetic closure (layers will be finished layer/square/second magnetic closure) to be sure magnets and squares of cardstock line up:

Fold ribbon over this completed portion, adhere in place, and adhere final layers on top of ribbon.

This procedure sounds complicated, but it really is simple once you remember you are trying to hide the magnets while still keeping them as close to each other as possible.

To make the bookmark gift complete, a simple card base can be used to showcase the project:

Stamps by DRS Designs: Butterfly D226, Flower oval H303, Butterfly sentiment G222. Cardstock: Textured white, Lovely Lilac, Elegant Eggplant, GP110 white. Ink: Lovely Lilac, Cool Caribbean. Accessories: Oval and Square Nestabilities, white gel pen, Stardust Glitter pen, grosgrain ribbon, Shimmerz 'Angel Wings'.

I had so much fun creating these magnetic bookmarks that I went on to complete two more; one more in the butterfly theme:

Stamps by DRS Designs: Flower D214, Square frame F322, Butterfly M385, sentiment F349. Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss, GP110 white, glitter white. Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Kiwi Kiss, Pretty in Pink. Accessories: Circle and Scalloped square Nestabilites, grosgrain ribbon, Stardust glitter pen, Shimmerz 'Angel Wings'.

And a winter theme as well:

Stamps by DRS Designs: Snowflake circle frame H259, snowman H1129, snowflake background H015, sentiment H858. Cardstock: Texture white, Ballet Blue, GP110 white. Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Ballet Blue, Real Red, Versamark, Copic cool grey 01. Accessories: Square and scalloped circle Nestabilities, double-stitched grosgrain ribbon, Stardust glitter pen, Winter Wonderland EP, Prismacolor pencils.

Although after our latest round of weather, I think the sentiment 'Make it Stop!' would be more appealing!

Give the magnetic bookmarks a try. You will be set to curl up with a good book the next time a blizzard (or your area's version of homebound weather) rolls through town!

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Simple Elegance

posted by: Janette

Hi everyone! I am sad to say that this is my last post for you here on the DRS blog. I am so thankful to have had the chance to work with some awesome stamps and with the talented ladies on the design team. I can tell you that it won't be the last time using the stamps though.

Well, 2 weeks ago I showed you some some very sparkly, shimmery cards with lots of layers and embellishments. Today, I would like to show that I can also do simple and elegant. Really, I can LOL.

I am also glad that I had these cards done a few weeks ago because I badly sprained my ankle last week and have not really done much stamping at all since my craft area is in the basement- bummer! The first card uses the newly released butterfly stamp which is so pretty and elegant that it can stand alone. Take a peek:



I stamped the butterfly twice- once on the card and once on another piece of paper. The second butterfly I painted with lilac shimmerz, cut out and attached to the card over the other butterfly with pop dots. I also added rhinestones to the antennae. I pierced a trail for the butterfly and also punched a border on the bottom which was also accented with rhinestones before attached to the plum card base and finishing with ribbon.

stamp used- D226

My second card uses a newly released snowman silhouette stamp:



I stamped the snowman twice just like the butterfly card above. Once I stamped it with blue pearlescent ink and the second time I only stamped the top and embossed it with black. I cut out the embossed hat and attached it with pop dots over the blue snowman which I accented with stickles. I used some black grosgrain ribbon to make a scarf for him and then accented my card with black brads on each side. I finished the card by stamping the sentiment at the bottom.

stamps- DRS K247, F229

There is also a terrific coordinating snowflake bg stamp that would go nicely with the snowman stamp- H015

Hope to see many of you participating in the challenge that was posted yesterday. I would love to see what you all come up with since I was not able to participate in this one.

Have a wonderful day and happy stamping!

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Challenge #13 - Hand Stamped by....

You! Our next challenge to the DT was to use any of the DRS recognition stamps on their projects. DRS already had a ton and just released three more so there are plenty to choose from. Of course the intended use of these images is for the back of your cards/projects but what about thinking outside the box and using them in other ways?? Check below to see how our designers can inspire you to use these images in other ways (other than hiding on the back of your card!) so you can get more bang for your buck!!!

We would love for you to play along in our challenges. You do not need DRS images to play but if you have them, why not use them! If you play along, be sure to come back to this post and post a direct link to your project so we can check it out. We want you to inspire us! Also, if you upload to a public gallery, please use the keyword - DRSC13.

We're having another giveaway!!! We'll make it easier for you this week though!!! This week the prize is a roll of the best adhesive I have ever used!!!



It is a roll of two sided tape (1/2" x 36 yards) and all you have to do is leave a comment on this post indicating which DRS image is your favorite! We'll draw a random winner on Sunday night Feb. 8, 2009.

We'd also like to wish several of our designers good luck as they move on to other projects at the end of this month. We appreciate and thank them for all their hard work and awesome contributions during their design term and expect to see their names again and again as we cross paths in the stamping/paper crafting world! Best wishes for a successful future to Angel, Etha, Janette and Jessica K.

Without further ado...here are projects by the Design Team to inspire you...


Heather's kitty card / The Best In Life

Jessica K's bookmark / There She Goes

Sue W.'s ~ Stamps go Round



Vicki's Friendship Fragrant Sachet ~ recipe on Stamped Smiles




Jennifer's Treat Bag, Handmade By "Me"

Cathy Indelicato/Crafty Thoughts...



Etha 's gift sweater:







Dawn's "Hand" stamped Hand image for sending to Mimi in New York.

Jessica G's Handstamped Card with Tags/ Jess' Obsession:

Inside:

Angel's "love" card/ Angel'sCreativeWorld:

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We have a winner!

It's 8:33pm EST on Sunday night and DD#2 was very excited to pull a name out of her hat to choose the winner of the ribbon slide blog candy!! A big thanks goes out to everyone who participated...we hope you will participate in our next challenge and/or candy giveaway. The next challenge starts tomorrow and the next giveaway is yet to be determined but keep playing and keep checking back because you never know when we'll throw a surprise in for you!!

So, you're probably thinking enough with the babble...who is the winner?!!! Well, the winner is.....


Vicki S.


You can find her challenge submission HERE. What a great card, huh?! Well, Vicki, we can't wait to send a selection of ribbon slide stamps out to you so please email me with your address and we will do that right away! You can email me at stamper_c@yahoo.com

Don't forget to stop back tomorrow for our next challenge...we hope you can play along. Remember you don't need the exact stamps to play (although we do ship your orders very quickly and the challenges do run for two weeks!!!)...make due with what you have (while you're waiting for your DRS images to arrive) - get creative, look outside the box...and most of all....have fun!

Another reminder!!! The last day to submit your application for a guest designer spot is Friday, Jan. 30, 2009 at 10pm EST. Find out more details HERE.

See you soon...

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Sisters...

posted by: Cathy

Hi There - I'm back to my Sunday posting!! Hopefully I can make this a regular thing and then you can visit the DRS Blog 7 days a week for inspiration! As we all know, your family especially, it's not a happy day when we don't stamp!!! (LOL)

Ok, so you're probably wondering what that title is all about! Well, in perusing all the great DRS Designs sentiments, I came across a whole bunch designed for sisters...having two girls (and oodles of supplies!), an idea instantly popped into my head...why not make a little coaster book that would highlight each of these awesome sentiments.

So, I got right to work. To be honest, finding pictures on my computer was more work and took much more time than it took to put this little book together!

Images by DRS Designs...



I thought this photo was perfect with this sentiment! DD#2 is a goofy, but cute kid and although this picture is a few years old, she is still the same when you want to take a posed photo of her! This was taken in Disney World on the girls first trip. I love the deer in the head lights look of the dd#1...hence the combination of the sentiment and photo. I used my Cuttlebug Olivia alphabet for the letter S for, you guessed it....Sister! It might be hard to tell in the photo, but I stamped on the solid blue lines of the paper with this border stamp by DRS in versamark ink...they are so versatile, I can't get enough of them!

Onto page 2:



I used the DRS interlocking heart background on my green panel. Again, I tried to coordinate the sentiment with the photos. This time I added an f for...friends!
As I mentioned, the book is made from coasters. I simply traced around the coasters onto my paper and then cut out. I stamped the papers and then adhered them to the coasters with two sided tape. The back sides are covered with a square of solid yellow patterned weight paper.

And the last page...



I used some patterned paper by Three Bugs in a Rug on page one and three. This picture was taken on the first day of school a couple of years ago. Again, the BFF = Best Friends Forever. This is a great photo because they are not always looking like this or feeling like they have the best sister in the world! Two girls, three years apart, at different phases in their lives can sometimes equal trouble!!! I keep telling them that they are lucky to have each other and I'm sure some day they will realize that! In the meantime we'll cherish the moments that they are actually civil to each other whether in the moment or in a photo!!

Here is another shot of the whole book...I added eyelets in the corners with my Crop-o-dile and ran a colored keyring through before attaching some grosgrain ribbon.



I hope you found some inspiration in this project...if you decide to work on a mini book of your own, let us know by coming back here and posting a link.

Check back tomorrow for the winner of the current DT challenge - ribbon slides AND the start of a new challenge. I hope you can join us!!

See you soon...

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Stained Glass Butterfly's

by Sue W.

Welcome!

Last week Jessica G. did a beautiful post with several gorgeous cards using a brayer. In the comments several people wrote that while they owned a brayer, it never got any ink on it (you know who you are!) My own experience with a brayer and chatting with stampers about brayers is that it is not an easy technique to learn. The key - like most things, is practice.

My question is - how many of you actually got out your brayers and got to work????? Now I've learned many things as a stamping demonstrator and that is most of you hate waste and will save even the tiniest scrap of paper :) With all of this in mind I set out to make a card this week that will show you that use can use the "bad" brayerings that you might make in your quest for the perfect, smooth, lineless, brayering we all strive for.

Let me encourage you that you can't mess this up! I have done this card as a demo at several stamp shows and I can honestly say that in watching hundreds of stampers I have never, ever seen a finished card that wasn't beautiful. Some were the pale-est of pale and some were as dark as could be, but they were all lovely!

A couple of quick rules for brayering.

1. After inking your brayer, always run it first on scrap paper to get rid of the bulk of the ink.

2. The harder you press the more likely you'll get lines.

3. Stopping the brayer while it's on your card and lifting it will also give you lines (keep it rolling as you lift it).

4. Practice, practice, practice!

Let me apologise now for the terrible color quality of these photos, I'll keep trying to get the color right!!!

1st thing I did was brayer from the bottom corner using my light pink ink. Lifting the brayer as I got to the center.

2nd - I used a darker pink ink and brayered from the bottom left corner. At this point I broke the first 3 of my brayering rules in the hopes of getting lines and guess what??? I did!

Next I used lavender ink and finished up, again trying to add lines.

Pretty sloppy in the brayering world, but just perfect for our Stained Glass Stamps. My next step was to dry the brayered ink with my heat gun, then I stamped P199 Stained Glass, using black pigment ink, aiming for the section with the best color. As soon as I lifted the stained glass stamp I immediately stamped my butterflies using the same black pigment ink. Then I embossed the black ink using clear embossing powder.

These are the stamps I used this week -

Now to finish my card. I stamped the background using the DRS single flower C1065 and raspberry ink, giving it a little turn each time I stamped it, then stamping a 2nd flower before reinking. I did the same on the strip of pink paper using lavender ink. After cutting out the stained glass all I had left to do was glue it all together!


Thanks for stopping by - and a special thanks to Stef H., & Kelly L aka Littlekel90, Vicki S., and Maria Matter for all your wonderful comments!

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Love these new stamps!

Posted by: Jessica K.

Hello everyone and TGIF! This is my last blog post as part of the DRS Design Team. It has been such a wonderful experience working with this amazing company! Have you seen the post on SCS for the Design Team Guest Designer spot?? If not, check it out! DRS is an amazing company to work with!

Today I wanted to share a couple of cards that I have made with my favorite stamps from the last release. These images are so darn cute and the words inside are perfect! You can find these new designs HERE.

I just love how stunning this card is even though it is so simple. I first stamped the image in versamark and then onto my colored ink pad. I embossed with clear embossing powder, cut them out and popped them up on dimensionals.

I absolutely adore this sentiment! It can be used for any occasion and perfect for all teacher cards and projects!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Thank you to everyone at DRS for having me be a part of you first Design Team!!

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Same... But DIFFERENT!!!

BY: Dawn Knight

Well Happy Thursday everyone! I want to show you my 2 "Same but Different" cards. I used the same thing on bot of these cards. The AWESOME butterfly stamps from DRS Designs,the branch from DRS, Vellum Cardstock,(CS) black CS,copic markers and orange gems. Oh yea... my new nesties that I got for Christmas! For the Spring Card, I cut the black and white CS at the same time with the nestie. Then I embossed the butterfly in black on vellum CS. This type of CS is heavier than regular vellum and easier to heat emboss on... but it still allows light to pass through it. I colored the butterfly on the reverse side of the vellum and then adhered it between

the white and the black CS. I stamped

the smaller butterflies in black ink on regular CS and colored them. The sentiment, the leaves and the sponging around the black square in front is all done in silver pigment ink.This card will fold flat and mail in a square envelope. When it is removed from the envelope... it springs up!

For the next card, I did the same thing... BUT DIFFERENT!(are ya seeing a pattern?LOL) I cut the "holes" in the black and white CS at the same time. I stamped and embossed the butterflies and colored them on the back the same way I did for the top card and then I adhered them between the black and white CS. I stamped the sentiment and the branches in silver pigment ink as well. I added the orange gems to the corners and here is card number 2. It is really pretty when you hold it up to the light and the colors light up! So i hope I was able to show you all how to use the same things... but in DIFFERENT ways! Enjoy your day!

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think outside the stamp!

posted by Etha

Often when I see a new stamp design my ideas immediately go ways that the stamp probably wasn't initially thought for, this is fun and opens new possibilities for using stamps in a creative way. Let me show you what I mean :)

I wanted to use this wonderful Brush Baby Buggy image and wanted to have the fabric of the buggy to have some flowers. I really didn't have any designer paper that fit so I browsed my DRS stamps and saw the super Flower Butterfly that had exactly what I wanted. I basically used the butterfly stamped repeatedly to make myself a designer paper to piece parts of the buggy and then also the background.
My sentiment is the last row of the Happy Moments/Happy Days birthday message :)

Here is another example for a Valentine's card:
My intent was to showcase the pretty Ribbon Heart from the last release in a simple card. The heart was colored with pencils and gamsol for this one. But I wanted a border of some sort to set off the stamped panel.

Stamping just one side of the Giga Knot Square from the last release I got exactly what I was looking for. So while you may not initially think of the square stamp to be a long border, turn it around and have your paper on a grid surface for alignment, you can stamp it into an endless border to frame an image! The sentiment is the small Happy Valentine's Day sentiment that also would fit perfectly inisde the square if you use it as a whole :)

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A bright rainbow birthday!

posted by: Angel R.

Better than a Rainbow Brite birthday (geesh, am I dating myself with that one? hehe!)! HA! For this card, I wanted to use the newly released "believe", "live" and "love" stamps with my kaleidoscope ink pads. All of the images are cut out and put up on dimensionals. I also used the square dotted border (F322) on the turquoise square layers. I also kept the circle theme and used the dotted easy backgrounder (H628) on the upper part of the card base. Some ribbon and a double row of piercing on the bottom finish it off! Don't forget about the current DRS blog challenge to use your ribbon slides!!! C'mon and play along ~ there's BLOG CANDY!!!!!!!! *wink*

Thanks for stopping by!!!

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Winter Time Blues?

Posted by: Vicki/ Stamped Smiles

Feeling those "Winter Time Blues"?
It seems that all it has been doing lately is snowing! (At least over in my "neck of the woods") I keep thinking, when will it EVER be Spring again?! Today, I had a bit of quiet time and I happened to look out my window and began to watch the snow fall gently and quietly to the ground. It was actually very pretty. Sometimes we get so caught up in everything that we forget to stop and enjoy the Seasons....so why not just beat those blues....but JOIN in?!! :)
Sometimes in the winter we get "bored" of the same ole same ole....so instead of your regular same card, why not come up with a different shape?! Try a new template you've been wanting to do! Winter is the BEST time to do this!!

DRS Designs has come out with some really gorgeous snowflake images to help you out! Check out ALL of the Winter Selections HERE!! This is what I've come up with for today to help you chase away....er JOIN, rather, those "winter blues"!!

I've used a really fun purse template that I got from one of the magazine that I subscribe to! Lucky for me I have a copy machine that will let me increase sizes, so this was an easy template for me to copy. And of course I never follow directions, so I made a card instead of pages inside, but I don't see why you couldn't make this into a darling book/brag book either!

The background was stamped in several different colors with the 4 in 1 Snowflake background image. And don't forget that those ribbon slides don't *have* to be used as ribbon slides!! The Snowflake Ribbon Slide here was used, but I also punched out a circle and added a silver glittered dot in the center of it. I took the Accessories Saying that I thought went perfectly with my template and stamped it in the corner of the purse. The shimmery ribbon was threaded at the top to make it look like a purse handle and the touches of Stickles everywhere made this little blue purse sparkle!!

And this is what the inside of the purse looks like! I stamped the snowflake theme on the inside as well and used the newly released Birthday Sparkle Accessories Greeting for the inside of my purse card. I also added some touches of Stickles to it as well. As you can see, I've used a Velcro circle to help hold the lid closed on the purse.

I hope I've inspired you to get creative in the winter with some new templates, new images and new appreciation for the Season! :) Grab a cup of cocoa, watch the snow and have some fun indoors with your winter stamps!! :)
If you are interested in checking out another creation I made...please join me on my blog! Would love to see you there!!
**Don't forget to play along in the latest challenge on this blog so that you could enter in for a great chance at winning some blog candy!! Play along today!!**
((HUGS))

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A Trip Back.....

posted by Samantha

Happy Sunday everyone! Thanks so much for stopping by. I have a confession to make (and please don't hate me for it) - I'm not a stamper. Not really anyway. I've worked with rubber stamps almost all my life (not doing the math!!) and I can stamp a card when I need to, but it's not my hobby. I'm more of the behind the scenes person around here, doing the paperwork, organizing things and such. When I see what everyone creates with these stamps, I'm just stunned by their beauty, cleverness and originality. So, when Sue asked me to post to the blog today, I was really at a loss for what to do. I certainly couldn't stamp something to share with you, you'd laugh me right off the internet! So, I'm going to share with you some of my favorite cards that have been created by our design team.

I've had the wonderful opportunity of working with a group of women over the past 6 months on our new design team and it's been really fun. Since we started the team, I've probably looked at, drooled over and scanned over 1000 cards and projects and at first I was going to just choose my favorites. Well, that list was going to be waaaay too long, so I decided to pick a favorite from each designer. These are in no particular order, but I think they are all just wonderful.

Janette's Beautiful Birthday Card - This one is new and I just love it!

Cathy's Bright Flowers -It sure makes me smile. Cathy did this card so long ago she's probably forgotten all about it!

Angel's Scroll Frame Christmas Miracle Card -Isn't this beautiful?

Heather's Circle Butterfly Card - It's going to take a lot to knock this one off my favorites list.

Jennifer's Butterfly Postage Frame -We've had this design for years and never thought to turn it on it's side!!

Jessica K's Butterfly Blocks -This is so delicate and pretty!

Jessica G's Heart Balloon Sparkle Card - I just love these two colors together!!

Dawn's Pinky Snowman Card -Isn't he cute?

Etha's Gentle Butterfly Card -I'm chasing this butterfly wherever it goes!

Vicki's Pink Flower Hello -Cute, cute, cute!

Well, I hope you've all enjoyed my little trip. I had fun putting all these wonderful cards together for you to see. Please come back to visit us soon - the team is working on more cards right now!!

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