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Hello firneds. I have to say that Father's Day snuck up on me. I have been so busy making other samples, ordering more merchandise and working in my other business. Plus I am doing some repairs and improvements on my house and that means supervising contractors which is a full time job!
My first Father's Day card shows a shirt with contrasting collar and a pocket that says it all! All pieces were handcut except the letters and numbers on the pocket. A fun card that could be adapted to a birthday or other special occasion.Number 1 Dad – Memory Box die Classic Numbers; Impression Obsession die Typewriter Alphabet; Paper Smooches dies Pocket and Stitches
From the Archives
#1 Dad – Taylored Expressions dies Color Block Background and Wispy Grass; TE Little Bits dies Grill, Lawnmower, Mug and Golf Ball & Tee; TE stamp set Punny Man; TE embossing folder Brick; design inspired by Kerri MichaudBest Dad I Ever Saw – Taylored Expressions Little Bits dies Kisses Confetti, Ties and Uncle Sam Hat; TE die Frame in Frame; MB Stencil Splatter Spray; TE stamp set Punny Man; Impression Obsession die Retro Masculine; TE embossing folder Diagonal Stripe; design inspired by Joan Ervin
Father’s Day 3” x 3” cards – Taylored Expressions Little Bits die Lawnmower, Mug and Anchor; TE dies Skinny Borders 1 and Wispy Grass; TE stamp set Punny Man; design inspired by Kendra Wietstock
The Taylored Expressions' Pegboard die and All the Fixings stamp and die combo set make really cute "guy" cards. Here you will see 3 cards: Father’s Day, Birthday and Thank you – to show you this set can be used all year long. Plus it can easily be used for more feminine cards – see the last card. Some of the greetings in the stamp set are a little distressed (it’s not bad stamping!!!).
3 Taylored Expressions Pegboard cards -- Taylored Expressions die Pegboard; TE stamp and die set All the Fixings; Impression Obsession die Typewriter Alphabet upper case; Krylon Silver Leafing pen; sticky-back canvas; Die Cuts with a View self-adhesive cork; Eyelet Outlet Screw brads
PegboardUpsy Daisy – Taylored Expressions die Pegboard; My Favorite Things die Upsy Daisy; Sentiment from MFT Sunflower Sweetheart stamp set; Doodlebug enamel dot
Lots of Dads golf so here's a good card for them.My Guy Golfcart – Paper Smooches clear stamp set My Guy; PS dies My Guy Icons and Borders 1; Memory Box Golf Landscape; Poppystamps stamps Fancy Cloud large and small; Poppystamps die set Fancy Clouds
Ties – Paper Smooches clear stamp set My Guy; PS die My Guy Icons; Studio Calico wood veneers StarsDad – Taylored Expressions Graphic Greetings stamp Dad; TE die Open Star Border
Birthday or Father's Day Card
I love this vintage car from Cottage Cutz and combining it with some dies and stamps from Taylored Expressions makes a perfect card for the men in your life.
Outside of card
Inside of card
Vintage Car Birthday – Cottage Cutz die Vintage Car; Taylored Expressions dies Stitched Frames and Rolling Hills; TE stamp set Keep On Truckin’
Anniversary Cards for Men
This anniverary card celebrates the "best day ever" with a clever die from Impression Obsession.You could use this same layout for a birthday or other special date.Best Day Ever – Impression Obsession die Best Day Ever; My Favorite Things die Sentiment Strips; Taylored Expressions Little Bit die Love Confetti; TE die Stitched banner Stacklets; Memory Box die Classic Numbers
I love the sentiment on this card. Piece of my Heart – Taylored Expressions stamp set with coordinating dies Pieces of my Heart; TE dies Circles Background, Banner Stacklets 1 and Bloomin’ Stacklets 2; design inspired by Kendra Wietstock
A new set that Taylored Expressions released for Valentine's Day is perfect for anniversary cards. How Sweet It Is – Taylored Expressions stamp set How Sweet It Is; TE dies Stitched Heart Stacklets; TE stamp Brushed Hearts; design inspired by Kerri Michaud
Here's another card using the same set with the Loved Script die. Know That You Are Loved – Taylored Expressions stamp set How Sweet It Is; TE dies Script Loved, Floating Hearts and Stitched Circles; design inspired by Michele Boyer
What's more appropriate for an anniversary card than love birds? I die cut the birds (new from Impression Obsession) from watercolor paper and wet the paper with water. Then I scribbled some blue and green Memento markers on an acrylic block and colored the birds with the markers. Love Birds – Penny Black die Songbird Branch; Impression Obsession die 6 in 1 Frame Rectangles; Hero Arts sentiment stamp; design inspired by Kitty Caracciolo
The Stamp Act is happy to offer a wide variety of papercrafting supplies and invites you to please stop in soon. Thanks!
It's flowers again! With so many flower dies I could blog a different one every day! Today I am spotlighting the Memory Box dies Zinnia Bouquet and Zinnia Bouquet Background. The background die makes it easy to cut matching background papers for each flower.
Zinnia Gold Mirror – Memory Box dies Zinnia Bouquet, Zinnia Bouquet Background and Stitched Squares; Memory Box stamp Seeds of Happiness; design inspired by Jean Okimoto.
I wish you could see this "in real life" -- the shiny gold mirror paper really catches your eye.
Zinnia Pink Orange – Memory Box dies Zinnia Bouquet and Zinnia Bouquet Background; Impression Obsession die Cutwork Border; Penny Black clear stamp set Happy Snippets.
This card is similar to the one above with the addition of a border die and ribbon.
Zinnia Hello – Memory Box dies Zinnia Bouquet and Zinnia Bouquet Background; Savvy Stamps die Hello; design inspired by Louise Charlton.
Add some rhinestones and a die cut greeting for a quick card.
Zinnia Bright Orange – Memory Box dies Zinnia Bouquet, Zinnia Bouquet Background and Stitched Rectangles and Stitched Squares; Memory Box stamp Happy Day; design inspired by Jean Okimoto.
For this card I embossed the flower die (tops) on white cardstock by using the tan rubber mat with my die cut machine. Then I watercolored each flower and adhered them over the green stems. I added Wink of Stella glitter pen to the centers.
Now for the Butterflies
Here are the Impression Obsession dies I used on the following cards:
Butterfly Block
Square Ornate Frame
Butterfly Block White – Impression Obsession dies Butterfly Block; Lifestyle Crafts die Nesting Rectangles; design inspired by Kitty Caracciolo.
I cut the Butterfly Block from white cardstock then cut a frame using the nesting rectangle dies. The picture does not show it well, but I cut the butterfly again and popped it up on top of the first butterfly for added dimension.
Butterfly Block Painted – Impression Obsession dies Butterfly Block; design inspired by Kitty Caracciolo.
Wow -- lots of color! I colored the Butterfly Block with Copic markers and then to add more interest, I took my Versacolor embossing ink pad and "sponged" ink all over the image and heat embossed it in clear. This really makes the color shimy and vibrant.
Square Ornate Frame – Impression Obsession dies Square Ornate Frame and Butterfly Block; Memory Box die Stitched Squares; design inspired by Kitty Caracciolo.
The Ornate Square Frame (which I did not use on this card) comes with an ornate corner piece. I created a frame using the Memory Box Stitched Squares then adhered the corner pieces to the underneath side of the frame. The butterfly is from the Butterfly Block die.
And a Few Miscellaneous Cards
Here are some more samples I made recently ... I hope they give you some inspiration:
Forest Birthday – Impression Obsession dies Forest and Greetings Edgers; IO Cover-A-Card stamp Bark; design inspired by Kitty Caracciolo.
Super easy card and great for a man's birthday. I stamped the kraft card front with the Bark stamp (6" x 6") then cut the trees (all one die) and sponged them with Vintage Photo Distress ink. I adhered the trees to the card with scor tape rolls (see Tip below). The Impression Obsession Edgers dies cut the top of the word out but leave the bottom attached. I cut the bottom edge to about 1" and adhered the edger word to a strip of brown cardstock. This strip was popped up with mounting tape.
Tip: To pop up a very skinny die like the trees on this card, cut a 2" to 3" piece of Scor tape (double sided tape). I use 1/2" wide or 1" wide Scor tape. Adhere this tape to a non stick surface like a Craft Mat or your desk surface. Working with the length of the tape, use your fingertips and roll the tape into a roll. You can adhere this roll to the back of the trees cutting it to any length you need.
Mountain Birthday Wishes – Impression Obsession dies Boy with Flowers, Mountain Landscape Layers and Puppy Set; design inspired by Harriet Head and Darlene at darscraftycreations.
I wish you could see the card Harriet made using the same paper and mountain die set. It is truly awesome! The paper is the Believe collection from Bo Bunny and one of the papers contains all these colors (and more). The Mountain die set has three mountain profiles so you can "build" your mountains in any number of ways.
Paint Strokes – Paper Smooches clear stamp set I Heart Art; Paper Smooches die Paint Strokes; design inspired by Michele Boyer
Rush Arrow – Poppystamps die Rush Arrow; Penny Black clear stamp set Happy Snippets; design inspired by Jeanne Jachna
I love this very graphic die. I used the same Bo Bunny Believe paper for the backgrounds behind each arrow. Another idea for this same layout would be to stamp sentiments in some or all of the arrow openings. Be creative and have fun! The die also comes with a skinny arrow die.
Boddington Treescape – Memory Box dies Boddington Treescape, Puffy Clouds, Auto Parts, Tiny Village, Stitched Circles and Butterfly Delights; sentiment stamp by Amuse Artstamps; design inspired by Jeanne Jachna
My friend Molly recently moved to Virginia and this is the card I sent her to welcome her to her new home. I embellished the Boddington Treescape scene with cars, houses, sun, clouds, butterflies and a sentiment.
Wedding Cake Card – Impression Obsession dies Wedding Cake and Love Doves; Spellbinders label die
Here are the dies:
Wedding Cake Card – Impression Obsession dies Wedding Cake and Love Doves; Spellbinders label die
I am sorry there is a shadow on the middle and top of this card.
Adhesive Tip: Adhering the two trim pieces on each cake layer can be very tedious and messy if you use glue. White shows every imperfection -- ask me why the my first card took forever to complete! So my tip is to use Stick It Adhesive Paper. Take a piece of cardstock, white in this case, and adhere it to one side of a Stick It double sided adhesive sheet. Cut the cardstock away from the Stick it sheet and die cut the trim pieces from this now self adhesive paper. Important: Be sure to cut the cardstock side so the adhesive side is the back of the die cut.
Now all your tiny trim pieces are self-adhesive and easy to apply to your cake layers.
If that's not clear, stop in and I will show you how to work with Stick It. It is sold in a packet of 5 sheets (8" X 12¼").
Dimension Tip: It is hard to tell in this photo, but the cake layers are curved. To do this I put a double layer of foam tape behind the center of each cake layer. I also added dimension to the wedding couple by die cutting three extra couples from chipboard, gluing them all together then coloring the sides of the chipboard black.
I added dimension to the doves, the cake layers and cake stand by die cutting these pieces from fun foam and gluing the cardstock die cuts to the top of the foam.
Here's another card made with the same Wedding Cake die. This one also features the Impression Obsession dies Ornate Frame Rectangle and tiny flowers.
Sunshine Birdhouse – Taylored Expressions die Little Bits Birdhouse, Picket Fence and Picture Perfect – Sunny Days; TE embossing folder Walking on Sunshine; Memory Box die Marshmallow Clouds, Resting Birds and Mini Heart Collection; design inspired by Jean Manis.
Just a happy and colorful card that anyone would love to get.
I know it's hot and you are probably burrowing into your air-conditioned home, but should you decide to pop out and shop at The Stamp Act, you will be rewarded with a FREE make and take card that's perfect for summer. I would love to be relaxing in a hammock with a cool glass of lemonade, a good book and a powerful fan!
Hello Friends. Whether it's Father's Day, Birthday or just appreciation, we all need masculine cards from time to time. And I often hear customers say they have no ideas. Well today I have some great ideas for you using new stamps from Impression Obsession.
June FREE Make It and Take It
The photo of this card is a little misleading. The card is pictured on a white background with a black border so ignore those aspects. The central image is called Roadster Grill which, along with the Gears background stamp and the You Are A Classic sentiment stamp, portrays a handsome vintage automobile. The "Celebrate in Style" is a Hero Arts stamp from my stash. Stop in the store anytime and make this card for Free!
Masculine Cards
Same stamps with a different look. I stamped the Roadster Grill on kraft cardstock then watercolored it in red, finishing it with a spritz of water to make the ink run a little. I embellished the card with gears, die cut with Memory Box Gearworks Border and Mini Gears dies, and a brad with a "screw top." Design inspired by Dina Kowal.
Here's a third idea with these stamps. OK I am really going to date myself now -- this roadster reminded me of the old movie (1965 -- yikes!) The Yellow Rolls Royce with Rex Harrison so I thought it would be fun to play with an unconventional color scheme. I used a Diagonal Stripe background stamp from My Favorite Things and embellished the card with the same gears dies from Memory Box. Design inspired by Laura Fulcher.
The other new stamp I played with is the Truck Collage from Impression Obsession. I stamped it in black and colored the truck with Prismacolor pencils blending with Gamsol, an artist-grade odorless mineral spirit. We sell Gamsol in a convenient, sponge-top dabber bottle that results in a pretty, almost watercolor-like look since it essentially melts the pencil's waxy lines and erases any grainy appearance. Simply color in a stamped image with colored pencils and apply Gamsol using the blending stumps. Note: this technique is for colored pencils that are waxy (like Prismacolor) not watercolor pencils. Our Gamsol Kit includes a 2 ounce bottle of solution, 2 blending stumps and a sandpaper pad for sharpening the paper stumps. We also sell additional stumps.
If you haven't ever tried blending with Gansol, here's a link to a video that demonstrates the technique. The houndstooth square is stamped with one of the new Mini Pattern stamps from Impression Obsession. This card is based on one that Kathi Anderson designed.
Another sample with a tip: I stamped the Gears background in dark brown ink on the corrugated paper then stamped it several times in tan ink in the corner. This gives the sentiment stamp more depth and the card more interest.
The last card in our series features the Collage Truck stamp with a Gears border. The sentiment stamp is from Tim Holtz Hashtags stamp set.
Here's another card I made using the Gears dies:
I used the same Memory Box gears dies and the Impression Obsession die set Greetings.
Retro Masculine Die
A must have die set for making masculine cards is the Retro Masculine set from Impression Obsession. Look at all the pieces: mustaches, glasses, hats, pipe and ties!
Here are a couple cards made with this set:
For this card I embellished the stamped sentiment (My Favorite Things) with the Retro set. The frames are from a frame in frame die from Impression Obsession.
Same Retro and Frame in Frame sets along with a thanks die from Paper Smooches.
This card was created by my friend and customer, Bea Mieckowki. I love the mix of papers and square brad embellishments. I am not sure if Bea inspired me or vice versa, but here's a somewhat similar card I made:
For this card I used dies from Paper Smooches (Frame 2 and Kudos Words) with the Retro Masculine set.
Just a few more samples that are classic masculine cards. For these Bea and I used the Taylored Expressions set All the Fixings stamp and die combo set and the Pegboard die.
To see other masculine card designs, please visit The Stamp Act Gallery here.
Huge Sale Continues
Don't forget that our huge sale continues until June 18. All Christmas, Halloween, Fall, Easter, Valentine and Graduation products are on sale 40% off. Stop in and shop and make a free card -- Chloe and I would love to see you! FYI: Chloe is feeling great these days and although this isn't the best picture, I wanted you to see her fresh from being groomed. Come say hello in person! Have a great day!
Hello friends. Today’s post is going to be a compilation of miscellaneous samples starting with a few cards suitable for the men in your life. March means birthdays for my brother and brother-in-law so I always have to scramble for guy cards. Here’s what I came up with:
Masculine Cards
Mustache Birthday 2 – My first mustache card and I must say I like it. I didn’t have one of the cute mustache joke stamps so I made my own using various stamps and dies.
Supplies – Paper Smooches die Mustaches; Memory Box die Pinpoint Rectangles; Paper Smooches stamp set Sentiment Sampler; Impression Obsession stamp set Sentiments 2; Memory Box die Classic Alphabet U/C and Numbers
Mustache Birthday 1 – This is a simple version that you can make lots of and keep on hand for male birthdays. Switch the sentiment for other occasions.
Supplies – Paper Smooches die Mustaches; Memory Box die Pinpoint Rectangles; Paper Smooches stamp set Sentiment Sampler; design inspired by Jocelyn Olson
Hoppy Birthday – My brother grew up loving all animals; he even had an iguana in college! So a card with a frog jumping across is perfect for him.
Supplies – Poppy die Pond Frogs; Memory Box die Stitched Rectangles; Impression Obsession die Plain Alphabet; Taylored Expressions stamp set And Many More; design inspired by Stephanie Serrano
Here's an easy card perfect for any man's birthday. I cut a strip of the numbers paper and then cut it in 2 pieces (the reverse side was a perfect match!) and rounded the ends. I added two brads, wrapped natural twine around the brads and tied a bow. Add a sentiment and a balloon and you're done!
Supplies – My Favorite Things die Brushstroke Birthday sentiments; Penny Black die Uplifting
Diamond Border – I love this card! The new diamond border die from Penny Black cuts the solid and the outline diamond borders. Choose a color scheme and cut 2 of each from both colors. Glue the outline borders on top of the solid borders. Cut a strip of cardstock 1” x 5½” and adhere the middle border to the middle of this strip. Then adhere one border above and one below, leaving a little space between the borders. Finish the card with a sentiment die cut from same colors and adhered slightly off set. I plan to make this same card in a variety of different color schemes and sentiments.
Supplies – Penny Black die Diamond Border; Paper Smooches die Quote Tag; design inspired by Elizabeth Allan
Welcome – The die does all the work for this card. I cut the die from white cardstock and mounted it to blue cardstock. Then I cut the same die from green and inlaid the hills. Next I cut the houses and trees from various colors and glued them over the white version. I added cloud above and a sentiment below.
Supplies – Poppy die Brevilla Hillside; Taylored Expressions Stitched Clouds; TE stamp set Welcome Home
Ironwork Window Bird – It’s easy to spot a Penny Black die! I stamped the background with a PB stamp then cut the window in the center of the stamped panel. Next I cut the window again from white and glued it on top of the stamped version. The bird was mounted behind the window. Finally I die cut the finished piece with the Memory Box die Pinpoint Rectangles to add some more textural interest.
Supplies – Penny Black dies Ironwork Window and Perched Bird; Taylored Expressions stamps and dies Many Minis All Occasions; Memory Box die Pinpoint Rectangles; Penny Black cling stamp Star Ivy; design inspired by Jean Manis
Ironwork Window – Quick and easy. Cut the window from white and glue it over yellow cardstock. Add a few red hearts, a sweet sentiment and an embossed background and you’re done!
Supplies – Penny Black die Ironwork Window; Taylored Expressions embossing folder Leafy Vines; TE Little Bits die Love Confetti; sentiment stamp from Printworks; Memory Box die Pinpoint Rectangles; Penny Black clear stamp set Snippets; design inspired by Jean Manis
I hope you've enjoyed these cards to day. Be sure to click overto the classes page to see the samples for the Negative Die Cutting class coming up Saturday, April 2 at 10am. And stop in soon to shop. All Easter stamps and dies are 40% off until April 9!