Archive for July, 2008

Jul 26 2008

We Have A Blog Candy Winner!

Published by zindorf under Uncategorized

 I very much wish I could send blog candy to each and everyone of you who left a comment telling me what brought you to stamping.  I am amazed by the heartfelt stories and just how stamping has touch so many lives.  A few things I found out from your comments are:

1. There is a tremendous amount of scrapbookers out there that stamp.   I may have to do some scrapbook page tutorials in the future.  Although I haven’t scrapbooked in a very long time.  This might be the kick in the pants that I needed to start again.  :)

2.  I am definitely not alone when it comes to using stamping as a stress reliever/therapy of sorts.  :)

3.  There are a great number of you that has or had a major illness and stamping has been or is a big help in getting you through it.

4.  You are all my friends!  Much love and hugs to each and everyone of you!!!!

 dsc05240.JPG   And the winner of the Studio G Stamps out of a whopping 493 entries is ……………………………………………

Congratulations to Nancy T, who left me this comment:

“Like many others, I started out scrapbooking and originally tried to convince myself that I was not going to get into cardmaking. That thought didn’t last long. I found that card making and stamping are such a great stress reliever for me. I am a chronic pain patient and this is great therapy for me. I can do a card in a short period of time or I can spend hours on cards, depending on my mood, my pain threshold level. Especially now with all the great card ideas that you share, I’m even more excited about stamping. Thanks for always sharing your incredible talent with us!”

Nancy T, you will need to e-mail to your address to mzindorf@aim.com so I can mail out your stamps.  :)

Thanks again everyone for sharing with me your stories and letting me get to know you a bit better!

Alrighty then, I’m officially off on vacation!  I’ll be back to ramble and share more stamping in 9 days!   For those of you who are signed up for my California workshops, I will see you next weekend.  I CAN’T WAIT TO MEET YOU!

Michelle

18 responses so far

Jul 25 2008

Framed Scene - Tutorial and More Blog Candy

Published by zindorf under Tutorials

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I’m feeling generous today.  It is my last day at work before my vacation starts.  YIPEEEE!  So today I have a tutorial for you and the finished piece is being given away as blog candy.

So to enter for a chance to win this framed piece, please leave me a comment on this post telling me to enter you.  If you are getting this blog update by e-mail you will need to click this link to leave a comment on this blog post:   http://zindorf.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2008/07/25/framed-scene-tutorial-and-more-blog-candy/

I will use a random number generator to pick the winner on the morning of Tuesday, August 5th, which by the way is the next time I will be posting a stamping project.  I will be posting the winner of yesterdays blog candy tomorrow morning before I leave. :)

A little about the frame.  I don’t buy new frames for anything.  I like to poke around at thrift stores, flea markets and garage/barn sales for them.  When looking at framed pictures for sale, I’m really looking at the frame.  What is inside of the frame doesn’t matter, because I’m going to throw it away.   The little frame I used today is solid wood and has a nice easel back to it and I paid 25 cents for it.  I also buy really large wood framed pictures, generally not paying more than $2 for them and use them for my pastel paintings.  New they run from $50 to $75.  I found I can pick the frame before I do a painting and then paint it using the dimension I need so it will fit in the frame (cart before the horse I guess, lol).  I also cut my own mats, big savings also.

Ok, enough about that, on with the tutorial.  :)

Supplies:

Stamps: Stampin’ Up Spring Solitude & Lovely as a Tree
Paper: Stampin Up Whisper White & Basic Black
Ink: Stampin’ Up Blue Bayou, Perfect Plum, Close to Cocoa, More Mustard, Basic Black, Soft Sky & Pale Plum
Accessories: Brayer, Post it Notes, Sponges, White Gel Pen, Fine point Black marker, Frame

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Brayered Soft Sky ink on the top 1/2 of a 6″ x 3″ piece of Whisper White card stock.

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Tore Post it Notes (through the sticky part) to use as a mask for the sky while I put in the horizon line.

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Sponged on More Mustard ink being darkest at the post it note edge.

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Removed mask and stamped bird with Basic Black ink.

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Tore a new piece of post it note to use to mask the sky and create a mountain in the distance.  Sponged Pale Plum ink in the open area.  Opps!  Missed the photo of this.

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Used torn post it notes again for a mask to create another mountain in the distance and sponged on Perfect Plum ink so it is a little darker than the first mountain. 

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Removed masks and used a White Gel pen to define the birds wing and eye.

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Used a fine point marker to put dots on the ground at the birds feet to simulate bird feed.

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Sponged a little Blue Bayou ink at the top of the sky to give it some drama.

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Stamped two pine trees at the left of the piece with Basic Black ink.

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Sponged More Mustard ink on to create a shadow for the trees and for the bird.

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Sponged on a little Close to Cocoa ink in the middle of the tree shadows to give a little more depth.

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Added a Black card stock panel and here it is finished.

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Everyone be safe and have a super pleasant and sunny day! 

Until my next post. . . . . . .

Hugs,

Michelle

234 responses so far

Jul 24 2008

Blog Candy and Getting to Know You

Published by zindorf under Uncategorized

Times Up and we already have a winner!!!!

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Do to some work commitments I was unable to stamp this morning. :(   I really enjoyed last weeks comments letting me know where you are from.   Knowing about my readers helps to motivate me to continue sharing with you.   My Word! there are a lot of you readers out there!  My blog gets around 2,000 to 3,000 clicks a day and there are about 1,300 of you subscribed to this blog by e-mail.  The shear numbers freak me out a little, lol.

This week I want all of you to share with me, please what brought you to stamping?  In return I have some BLOG CANDY to give you a chance at!

So to enter for a chance to win these 16 Studio G, Series 6 stamp packs with a bonus Valentine pack, please leave me a comment on this post telling me what brought you to stamping.  If you are getting this blog update by e-mail you will need to click this link to leave a comment on this blog post:    http://zindorf.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/2008/07/24/blog-candy-and-getting-to-know-you/

I will use a random number generator to pick the winner on the morning of Saturday, July 26th.

I will start by saying, my friend Claire Sharkey asked me to come along with her to a stamping workshop.  I didn’t care about rubber stamps and wasn’t all that interested, but I wanted to spend time with my friend, Claire, so I went along.  Next thing I know, I’m ordering my very first Stampin’ Up stamp set “Frosty”.  That was back in 2001. 

I almost felt guilty for stamping at first, because I like to paint with watercolors and pastels and there I was just stamping the images instead of drawing them.  But my stamping in time became more artist in nature and more satisfying too.  I know you don’t believe it, but I can pretty quickly do a scene now with stamps and ink.  Now I say quickly, but quickly to me is 1 hour.  I like the creative process and why rush it.  :)   My paintings with pastel can take me, literally months to complete, so 1 hour to accomplish a scene seems super quick.

Alright, that is my beginning in stamping, what is yours?

500 responses so far

Jul 23 2008

SC186 Grapes - Tutorial

Published by zindorf under Tutorials

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Hello Everyone!  I’m just trying to make it through this week.  Next week I am on vacation from my real job and my husband and I have rented a cabin in the Hocking Hills Region of Ohio for a few days at the beginning of the week and then on July 31st I’m off to sunny California for my first ever workshops.  Let me tell you, I’M EXCITED!!!!

But in the mean time, I checked out the Sketch Challenge SC186 this morning on Split Coast Stampers and decided to play along.  :)  Here is the link to the challenge if you want to play too:  http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=366251

Let’s get started with tutorial 94!  :)

Supplies:

Stamps: Stampin’ Up Sun Ripened II & Baroque Motifis
Paper: Stampin’ Up Whisper White, Basic Black & Mellow Moss, Basic Grey Design paper
Ink: Stampin’ Up Really Rust, Mellow Moss, More Mustard & Apricot Appeal, Palette Noir Black
Accessories: Black Ribbon, Copper Brads, Clear embossing Powder, Heat Gun, Versamark Marker, Prismacolor Markers, Faber Castell Black fine point maker, Going Gray marker, Sponge, Cuttlebug Corner Die

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Stamped grapes with Palette Noir Black ink on a 3″ x 4″ piece of Whisper White card stock.  Note:  I use Palette ink because it tends not to smear when using solvent based markers.

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Colored the grapes with a Prismacolor Violet Mist Marker.

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Colored the shadow parts of the graps with a Parma Violet marker.

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Colored the leaf with a Mint Cream marker.

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Colored the shadow parts of the leaf with a Light Olive Green marker.

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Went over the entire leaf again with the Mint Cream marker to blend it some.

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Colored the stem with an Eggshell marker and extended the stem some too.

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Added some French Grey 30% marker to the stem.

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Colored over the entire image with a Versamark Marker and then heat embossed the image with clear embossing powder and a heat gun.

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Sponged on Apricot Appeal ink.

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Sponged on More Mustard ink being more heavy with it on the right side.

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Sponged on Really Rust ink being heavy with it on the right side.

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Added a layer of Basic Black card stock and Cuttlebug Corners.

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Added a thick line of Going Gray to the right side of the grapes and leaf to create a shadow.  Then added a very fine line along the right side of the grapes, leaf and under the branch.

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Added highlights to the grapes and leaf with a white gel pen.  (Love white gel pens!)  Now that makes those grapes pop!

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Sponge a bit of Really Rust ink on the left side of my two panels.  Also dragged the card stock across the Really Rust ink pad at the left edge.

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Stamped the flourish with Mellow Moss ink on the left side of the panels.

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Assembled card and added two copper brads.  Here it is finished measuring 5″ x 6.5″.

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May your day be filled with wonderful highlights and sweet fruit!

Until my next post. . . . . . . . . .

Hugs, 

Michelle

36 responses so far

Jul 21 2008

Birds on a Wire - Tutorial

Published by zindorf under Tutorials

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The idea of birds sitting on a wire has been rattling around in my head for some time.  This morning it finally made it to paper. 

Here is the tutorial.  :)

Supplies:

Stamps: Stampin’ Up Spring Solitude & Lovely as a Tree
Paper: Stampin’ Up Basic Black, Kiwi Kiss & Whisper White
Ink: Stampin’ Up Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Old Olive and Basic Black
Accessories: Ruler, Fine point black marker, Old Olive marker, White Gel Pen, Stampin’ Up Piercing Tools, Sponge & Brayer

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Brayered Baja Breeze ink at the top 2/3rds of a 3.5″ x 8″ piece of Whisper White card stock.

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Brayered Kiwi Kiss ink on the bottom 1/4th of the card stock.

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Made a line across the card stock with a fine point black marker and a ruler.

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Stamped birds with Basic Black ink.   I also extended their legs with a fine point black marker so they would reach the black line.

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Inked only the trees, with Basic Black ink, on the tree stamp to omit the ground part of the stamp. Stamp it twice.

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Used a white Gel pen to make the eye and wing of the birds more prominent.

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Sponged Old Olive ink on the trees.

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Made dots with a white gel pen on the left side of the trees to create highlights and show light direction.

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Sponged a shadow under the trees with Old Olive ink that is slanting toward the right side.

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Made dots on the right side of the trees with an Old Olive marker.

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Assembled card front and pierced a line at the bottom of the card stock.

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Added two silver brads and here is the completed card measuring 9″ x 4″.

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On a personal note, I had a great time over the weekend playing, playing and playing some more with my beautiful Grand Daughter.  Here she is pictured with my Husband, Russ being silly.

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Hope your day is filled with snack time and smiles!

Until my next post. . . . . . . .

Hugs,

Michelle

47 responses so far

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