Inspiration Team — create your own ending

Sprinkled With Love - Using Your Older Stamps 0

Hey friends! It's Jess!

Have you ever gotten a little overwhelmed with new products coming out and felt like you didn't even have time to thoroughly 'play' with one stamp set before the next one came out and you had to set that first one aside? Well, get those older stamps back out! Today, we're winding back the clock a few months and using the Sprinkled with Love stamp set to create a card. To start things off, I stamped my background using the Hit The Brick collaboration background stamp from Unity and Brutus Monroe. I used Sidewalk ink and I just love how subtle the background turned out. Next, I stamped my sentiment using Raven Detail Black Ink and my Mini MISTI. I did stamp a couple of times just to really saturate my paper and get a very dark black sentiment. Then, I grabbed my stamp set and got to work. I chose a few of my favorite ice creams from the stamp set and colored them using Copic markers. I fussy cut them and added a few white gel pen accents to make the colors seem a little more vibrant. I decided to cut a thin strip of black cardstock to break up my background a little bit and I placed this just above the top of my sentiment. Then, I arranged each of the ice creams until I found a placement I liked and glued them down using Craft Glue. To finish things off, I mounted my card front to an Alabaster card base and added a couple of clear dew drops. I love getting to use older stamps in new ways, so I'll have another card featuring this set for you during this week's Team Hop. Be sure to check back on Wednesday to see my second card and the awesome cards everyone else has created!

Hugs and love to you all,

Build a Scene with Jess 0

Hey friends!

Jess here! Today I'm sharing how I made this themed scene using Brutus Monroe products. I'm not sure if any of you are Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit fans, but I definitely am! Ever since I saw the Barn Wall background stamp from Brutus Monroe and Unity, I knew I had to make this card. The green wooden circle is meant to be Bilbo Baggins' door in the Shire. Have I lost you yet? Let's get to making the card!

To start off, I used the circle Simple Blend to mask off my card front except for the circle are near the top. I did some ink blending with Mowed Lawn Distress Ink to fill in the circle. Then, I grabbed the Barn Wall background stamp and some Alabaster PIgment Ink. I stamped over top of the green with the Alabaster and let it dry. Then, I used a gold gel pen to draw on the doorknob right in the center, just like in the books!

Next, I drew a bunch of lopsided rectangles around the outer edge of my circle. Imperfection was the goal! Then, I colored the bricks with Copic markers and also shaded the area around the bricks. Bilbo (and Frodo!) had the help of awesome gardeners, so I thought it would be perfect to put some beautiful flowers up front. For this, I used the Botanical Banners stamp set. I stamped the image twice using Raven Detail Ink and my Mini MISTI and fussy cut around the edges I knew would be on the card. I left the edges hanging off of my card front and used my paper trimmer to get perfect edges on each side. Then, I colored up the flowers with my Copcs.

I used black cardstock and embossing ink along with Alabaster Embossing Powder to heat set my sentiment from the True Love - Sailing set. To finish things off, I added a few clear bubbles - I love how they look like they could be dew drops on the flowers in the morning. So cool!

That finishes off this card, and now I'm in the mood to curl up with a copy of Lord of the Rings and spend the whole day lost in Middle Earth. Are you a fan? Do you have any books you just keep going back to again and again?

Hugs and love to you all,

Aqua Pigments Night Sky + Halloween! 0

Hey friends!

It's Jess and I'm so excited to be back again today with another card. In face, I'm going to share TWO cards with you just for fun!

For the first card, I decided I'd pull out my new Aqua Pigments and try them out. I mixed pink and turquoise together to make this night sky background for my card front. I also used the circle shaped Simple Blend to mask off a moon shaped area in the sky.

After my background was done with Aqua Pigments, I grabbed Scattered Straw Distress Ink and blended on some color for my moon. I also went outside the lines on this to give the effect of the moon glowing in the night sky. I like how it turned out!

I snagged the cute little owls from Owl Love You and stamped them with Raven Detail Ink. I colored them up with Copic markers. Next, I hand cut some black cardstock to looks like hills or mountains and adhered them to my card front. I thought it was a little too dark, so I added some stitched detail with a gel pen to help it pop out a little more.

For finishing touches - I added a sentiment down at the bottom with Gilded embossing powder, a purple ribbon with a bow, and some clear sequins. That's it for this card!

For the next card, I decided on a fun and whimsical style. I used the ink cubes from the Fall set (Locomotive, Aubergine, Cabbage, and Jack O Lantern) to stamp directly onto my cardstock. I used the September Stamp of the Month to stamp square outlines in a wonky patter over top of each inked area. I went back over each inked area with a white gel pen and wrote out: 'Boo! Happy * Halloween!' I thought this was such a fun touch!

To finish things off, I stamped out a few bats from a My Favorite Things stamp set and also used the sentiment 'Happy Haunting.' I thought it perfectly!

That's it for today! I hope you guys love the cards and get some inspiration for your fall crafts.

Hugs and love to you all,

September Stamps of the Month - Galaxy Stars 0

Hi crafty friends! Lauren here with a fun card using the star stamps from the Stamp of the Month set from September! The stamp club subscription is 5.00 per month, and you get a really fun, exclusive stamp design in your mailbox each month!

I started off with a piece of aqua pigment paper, and masked off a strip across the middle with purple tape. I taped it all down really well because I didn't want the paper to curl or buckle when wet! I wet the exposed strip in the middle generously with clean water, and started dropping aqua pigments directly from the bottle in the colors Blue, Yellow and Pink. I dropped quite a bit of each color and gently swirled them with a brush so that the edges blended, but not to the point of all the colors muddying together. It was kind of a soupy mess at this point, so I confess my confidence was not high! But it was worth it in the end. I used a heat tool to dry it completely.

Then I used surface ink in the color "locomotive" with a blending tool to blend dark areas all around the edge and through the middle as well, then removed the purple tape. There were a couple of tiny areas on the edges where some color had slightly bled, since I used SO much water and liquid pigment, so I just used a black marker and a ruler to make the edges of the galaxy strip nice and clean.  I squished a little bit of Alabaster ink onto an acrylic block and used a wet paintbrush to flick white spots all over.

When everything was dry, I wiped an embossing buddy over the whole card surface. With the embossing ink, I stamped the solid star around the edges of the galaxy strip, and then embossed the stars using the Sterling embossing powder. I stamped the star outline with Raven ink to fill in the rest of the card. For the sentiment, I cut 3 layers of Raven cardstock with the "Congratulations" die, and one layer in the Sterling glitterstock. I adhered the black layers together and then the silver layer on top, and glued the thickened sentiment onto the card front. I stuck the whole piece onto a mat of Raven cardstock to finish it off. 

Have you ever had a project that you weren't so confident about during the process, but that you ended up loving at the end?

Post your projects with the stamp of the month to social media, and don't forget to use the hashtags #BrutusMonroe and #CreateYourOwnEnding!  

Harvest Moon with Simple Blends! 3

Welcome to our blog!  I'm taking a break from fall cards done in traditional autumn colors and created today's card using only blue and black inks!  Once again, our Simple Blend Circle stencil takes center stage, this time as a huge harvest moon!  Let me share the details!  I began with a piece of Bristol Smooth card stock and taped down the stencils frame then lightly sponged Faded Jeans distress oxide ink around the edges of the circle to create the outline of the moon.  I have a really cool texture stamp that I always use for a moon so I inked that up with more Faded Jeans and stamped it a few times to mimic the shadows, then again with Black Soot oxide.

Next, I placed the circle stencil (mask) over the moon to cover it up, and heavily sponged Black Soot and Faded Jeans oxide around it to create a night sky.  It's barely noticeable but I also lightly sponged a teeny bit of Zest just above the horizon line!  I heat-embossed my tree in black right over the panel.  I then added fine spatters of white craft paint to depict stars.

Once my tree was in place, I got really excited for how awesome it already looked!!  But it needed to be grounded, so I used a paper mask to create the hillside with Raven Detail ink then stamped the line of geese.  After cutting the panel with Stitched Rectangle dies, I mounted it to a piece of fun foam to lift it up and then onto an off-white base card.

I LOVE how this card turned out!  I'm not sure if I'll add a sentiment, but in the meantime, I'll just enjoy it's striking simplicity!  Have you checked out the Simple Blends stencils yet?  They're great because you get the outside frame as well as the inside shape, they're very durable and the design is placed so that your stenciling with always be centered on your A2 card!  And we not only have the Circle, but an Oval and Square as well!  Now, how cool is that?!  

To Infinity... 0

Welcome back to the blog!  I'm sharing another galaxy card because my good friend, Janice, just gave me the new Tim Holtz Alcohol Lift Ink and this is my first card using it!!  How cool is this stuff??!!  To create my card, I began with an alcohol ink print that I've had for a while and decided to see how the Lift Ink would work through a stencil!  If you look closely, you'll see the bokeh effect which I made by using Brutus Monroe's Paint Spots Mixed Media Stencil.  I laid it over my print then tapped a sponge dauber into the Lift Ink and pressed it into the stencil dots.  When all the dots were covered I removed the stencil, and first blotted the Lift Ink away then rubbed in a circular motion to remove any residue.  Voila!!  The Lift Ink indeed lifted the alcohol ink, leaving behind my soft bokeh!  

I then pulled out my little stars stamp and inked it up with Lift and applied it in the same manner.  It didn't show up very well after blotting and rubbing, so I stamped more stars and embossed them in silver.  You can see that the powder stuck to my inked background and despite my attempts to brush off the excess, some stayed behind and was embossed.  But I still think it's pretty!  

I had already die-cut the alcohol inked panel with Stitched Rectangle dies, so attached it to a panel of white, then to a black card base.  I stamped the sentiment from Neat & Tangled's Celebrate You set onto a strip of white card stock, then attached it with two silver brads and made a little bend.  

The Paint Spots stencil is so versatile and I love how this card turned out!  I'm also looking forward to playing with Lift Ink again!  Have you tried it yet?  Brutus Monroe has many styles of stencils and stamps to use for this technique!  Reach for the stars, friend and "create your own ending"!