If you can make a card...

NEWSFLASH!
If you can make a card, boy do I have news for you!
You can definitely make a scrapbook page too!

I know, right!
I’ve heard it said and read it from crafty mavens on the Internet:
“I’m just a cardmaker. Scrapbooking intimidates me.”

If this is you, I’m here to tell you one thing: you’ve got this!

The skills used to make a pretty, handcrafted greeting card are the exact same skills needed to create an inspired scrapbook page!

In cardmaking, the first step is to choose a base and fold it appropriately. Some people choose to score before folding. Similarly, in scrapbooking, the first step is to choose a base. What are you going to build your page on?

In cardmaking, the next step is usually to choose a recipient and the occasion. Cardmakers apply a sentiment to specify the occasion the card is marking.  In scrapbooking, this would usually be the time to choose the pictures and a title.

In cardmaking, this is the fun part—the addition of embellishments! Guess what we are all lined up to do to the scrapbook page? Add the pretty! Embellish!!

In cardmaking, after the embellishment is added, and the card is finished, it’s time to write a personal note inside. In scrapbooking, we call this journaling.

See what I mean?
Exactly the same steps.
So no more complaining that you’re "only a cardmaker" okay?

But wait...there’s more!
Let’s put this to the test!

I shared this concept in a group of stampers about two years ago, along with the following examples.

Here’s the card:



Here's a scrapbook page:

Here's the card:

Here’s the scrapbook page:

Don't sell yourself short.

You are a creative and crafty person.

If you can make a card, you can definately build a scrapbook page!

Until next time,

--Sarah

Patterned Pumpkin Love

Please note that this post originally appeared on ,y stamping blog. I'm currently in the process of migrating all the stamping content to this page. All links that are no longer relevant have been removed.

While I don’t love pumpkin spice beverages, (gasp, I know)  I do love pretty pumpkins! And that’s how it came to be that I held onto this retired stamp set from Close to my Heart called Autumn Wishes. The pumpkin is just so special with all those patterns...it doesn’t even need much embellishment. 

I made this card recently using the pumpkin from Autumn Wishes. I wanted to share this with the Heart 2 Heart Challenges group for the Pumpkin Spice Challenge!

#retiredstamplove 

The sentiment is a tiny little wood-mounted rubber stamp by A Muse Art Stamps, now known as A Muse Studio. I love it because its an appropriate sentiment for so many occasions. Unfortunately, A Muse has undergone several reincarnations since I purchased this stamp and it seems that while they do still offer a very limited selection of wood-mounted stamps HERE, this particular one is retired. :(

Until next time,

—Sarah

To All the Stamps I've Loved Before

Please note that this post originally appeared on my stamping blog last year. I', in the process of migrating all the stamping content to this page and all the links that are no longer relevant have been removed.

The Heart 2 Heart Challenge for this week is to create something that is “inspired by nature”. This challenge is wide open to interpretation—those are the kinds of challenges I love most!

This is my entry—

I’m mixing up all the stamp companies this time—because that how I ike to stamp! #allthestamps

This card was made using a border stamp and a sentiment stamp from Close to my Heart and a wood-mounted stamp from Impress Cards and Crafts that I have loved for years! It’s called Savy Line Flower Cluster. You can see it here.

That skinny stamp of checked border has been my go-to lately...I’m seriously loving it. It’s in a Close to my Heart set called “Holiday Borders” and is now retired. (Retired stamps is a concept I'll never understand. I get so attached to the lovelies.)   I stamped it out in about six different colors and cut them out at a recent crop night. I find hand cutting or “fussy cutting” as some call it, very soothing and relaxing.

In addition to the challenge card, I also created one more card, using the same collection of stamps. That little torn bit of the checked stamp acts like a piece of washi tape holding things together at the top.




Until next time,
--Sarah

Christmas Card Color Dare Chaallenge

Please note that this blog post originally appeared on my stamping blog last year. The links that are no longer relevant have been removed. If you see a product you need, send me an email and I will help you source it.

The COLOR MY HEART COLOR DARE #320 
is to create using to following colors:
-New England Ivy
-Candy Apple
-Kraft

Here’s my answer to the challenge:

I stamped the stripes for a tone-on-tone look. I’m really taken with stamping my own stripes right now and I love that because this stamp isn’t a straight line, I really can’t mess it up. No precision needed.

I used a tiny piece of plaid ribbon for balance as well as a strip of sheet music from a discarded music book.

I love red and kraft together...don’t you?

Happy Stamping!
—Sarah

Spotlighting Techniques--Vellum

To spotlight something is to draw attention to it. 

There are many techniques that paper-crafters use to draw attention to a certain element on a card or scrapbook page. In this previously-shared blog post (from 2018), I have demonstrated spotlighting using velum to create a lightweight visual frame around the element of a card.

Vellum has been a staple in paper-crafting forever and is an easy-to-use specialty paper. It has a variety of uses but perhaps the most obvious is as a frame to give the eye a transitional avenue around something exciting. I use vellum quite often in this manner.

I had to give the Spotlight On Challenge at Heart 2 Heart Challenges extra thought. This is why I enjoy participating in challenges—doing so takes you places creatively. It stretches those crafty muscles.

This time I went super clean and simple using vellum to spotlight the decorative band across my kraft card base. The vellum layer is soft but adds visual weight. I enjoy the impact of repeating images, especially if the color combo is complimentary.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

—Sarah

Choose the Blues

This post was previously shared on my stamping blog for a stamping challenge at COLOR MY HEART in 2018.

The  COLOR MY HEART COLOR DARE #319 is to feature the color blue. Can’t go wrong there. Blue comes in so many delicious shades and variations—what’s not to love? I choose blues quite often.

I went with a delicate blue and a basic dark blue to create this stamped card. Blue is my preferred color pallet and I love this pairing. Do you often choose the blues?

Until next time,

—Sarah

Retired Stamp Love

Stamping has been a part of my life for more than twenty years. (Do I say this too often?) While I understand the need for our favorite stamp companies to retire stamps and move on to new things, it's always difficult for me to move on, leaving the sets I've come to enjoy creatively or sometimes even parting with them in order to keep my stash manageable. New designs are fun, of course, but saying goodbye-- not so much. 

So with this in mind, I'm going to do something here that I have never seen another consultant do(but how I wish they would)--I'm going to do a regular feature called *Retired Stamp Love* where I go back and create with sets that are retired but still loved. 

Why?

For the sheer love of stamping. :)  

Sometimes I'll pair up retired sets with things that are currently available. Usually retired sets can still be acquired on eBay, or through the many Facebook groups that exist for buying and selling second hand craft items. 

Today, in Retired Stamp Love, I'm playing with the stamps from the Sugar Rush Cardmaking suite by Close to my Heart. This set of stamps and matching dies was available

 Can't go wrong with cute donut stamps, right?

This is the Sugar Rush Cardmaking stamp set made by Close to my Heart back in 2016.

The Stamp images that are outlined in blue are the ones that have coordinating dies. As you can see there are several wonderful, universal sentiment images in this set--that "Happy Birthday" is a great size for making paper ribbon. More on that in a moment. 

I paired the Sugar Rush suite from last year with the Silver and Gold suite that is also retired.

--The two lighter brown donuts are created using second-generation stamped images. This is a good technique to use when you need a lighter color of ink that you don't have. (This happens to me often.) To achieve this look, simply ink up your stamp, stamp the image on cardstock, then immediately without re-inking, stamp it again. The second image will be much lighter than the first. 

Frosted donuts can be made in many color combinations. For the above card, I skipped the stamping steps and just used the dies with cardstock. I did use the sprinkles stamp to jazz it up a bit. 

I happen to think the sentiment in this set that says "Happy Birthday with sprinkles on top!" is just perfection. I really like the font that Happy Birthday is written in. It's perfectly sized for carding and can be added to any card design. 

For convenience, I performed a bit of stamp surgery on this image and separated the Happy Birthday from the rest of the sentiment. They can be now be used together as shown above or individually as shown below.

I wanted to make it easy to incorporate this Happy Birthday sentiment into some future projects, so I took just a few minutes and stamped out some paper "ribbon" strips using the Happy Birthday repetitively. Each paper ribbon is about 1/2" wide and 11" long. When I use these sentiment strips, I will add a matching colored gem or sequin in between each phrase. 

So there you have it.

Retired Stamp Love.

Until next time,

--Sarah

PS This post originally appeared on my stamping blog, which is also now being retired. All no-longer-relevant links have been removed. :) If you see a product you like, email me and I'll try to help you track it down.

Watercolor experiments

So after a binge of watercolor stamping videos on YouTube, I thought "how hard can it be". 

This is the result of dabbing ink pads directly onto acrylic blocks, dripping a few water droplets onto the block and the pressing a very heavy-weight watercolor paper onto the block.

FYI The ribbon on the above card is by Recollections (the Michaels cover brand) and can I just say it ties magnificently! Really magnificently. And it's a perfect match to Stampin' Up! Tempting Turquoise ink and paper.

Live a Scrapworthy life.

--Sarah

Little bits of Yellow

Yellow. 

The color of the sun and Daffodils in spring.

The color of ribbon reminders on Old Oak Trees and fresh juicy pineapples.

The color of #2 pencils and summer squash.

The color of allegedly tiny little polka dot bikinis...and the occasional card creation on my desk:

(The inside)...

Happy Stamping!

--Sarah