Oh My Crafty Heart

A Sassy Birthday Card

I have been stamping for years, starting over twenty years ago with good old red rubber stamps. Many stamping companies have moved into the world of clear stamps, opening doors for many small businesses to move into the market with their own designs. I have come to love these versatile stamps. It is important to me to source my stamps from small business where I can. I am happy to support them in their artistic endeavors and help them put food on the table for their families.

So many of these little companies have struggled with theft of their designs that are then mass produced overseas and sold super-cheap. This is devastating for these companies trying to compete. It is hard to enforce copyright infringements over international borders. Next time you are shopping for a great stamp, please think about the source, look for the small business first and buy direct.

One small business I’ve run across in the past year or so, is called “Sassy & Crafty“. They offer an ever changing array of cute clear stamps that are good quality and price points. They have great blog and facebook fan page to showcase their newest creations.

FYI Disclaimer: I am not receiving any compensation for this post. I am not an affiliate, merely a fan! 💕

For today’s demo I am using a stamp set from their Sassy Girls collection. This set is called “Sweet“, it may be sold out and I am not sure if they will bring it back. You can always sign up with them for updates on it (in case they restock) or any of their other products!

Ingredients:

Cardstock for: Base, 2nd accent color & image layer
Memento Ink-Tuxedo Black
Stamp set of choice
COPIC markers
Paper trimmer
Adhesive
Stamp platform if you have one or acrylic block
Stickles glitter glue

Trim all your layers of cardstock to prep for assembly.

I used my COPIC markers to put dots on the large light colored base layer.

Adhere layers together. You could use foam dots between the small layers and base if you want dimension.

I used Stickles glitter glue to give the girl some shimmery glasses!

I originally stamped a greeting in my card but realized I stamped it the wrong direction! Can you say embellishment opportunity?! I saved it by stamping it on something else and mimicking my layering and polka dots from the front! I like this even better!

Drawing Inspiration from Family

My in-laws have a lovely cabin nestled in the Oregon coastal mountains where we have all gathered for the weekend. Our winter weather this past week delayed gathering until now.

Saturday dawned with some much needed sun breaks that we all enjoyed seeing. We took a little jaunt into Tillamook to rummage antique and thrift shops between sprinkling rain in the afternoon. Of course we had to stop at the famous Tillamook Creamery for ice cream and squeaky cheese! <—That’s cheese curd by the way, so yummy!

Elk Herd outside Tllamook relaxing in a cow pasture.

One of these little shops had all kinds of Farmhouse style decor. Lots of cute inspiration to glean from. It was fun to be along for the ride with my lovely sister in law, who is a photographer, and see what she was looking for to use as props in her work. I mentally filed ideas of my own for my future craft projects as we browsed.

Our travels took us to Barview Jetty where we watched the restless Pacific Ocean beating the shoreline and jetty. There’s something so very humbling about watching the ocean. You suddenly feel pretty small and insignificant. I absolutely love being at the coast. I have been fortunate to have it within driving distance from home. It is my favorite place to go decompress and clear the cobwebs from my head. While I enjoy solo trips, it’s also pretty darn fun to make the trip with loved ones too!

A typical winter day at the Oregon Coast

Seagull at Barview Jetty (Tillamook, OR)

Weekends like this don’t happen nearly often enough. It’s so easy to just get caught up with the hustle-bustle of life. Making the time for family or even just a moment to yourself can bring so much clarity and inspiration. Take the time, make the time. Your crafty heart will thank you.

Winter Storm Crafting

Rumors of an impending snow event were flying at the beginning of the week. By Thursday our wintery mix decided to bring it in the form of freezing rain. While it can be beautiful it’s also treacherous for travel and absolutely devastating for trees. Power went out in the middle of the night Friday of Valentines weekend. I woke to a silent house followed by hours of hearing trees cracking, popping and toppling from their icy weight into the early dawn hours and throughout the day.

Our poor ice laden trees drooping under the weight.

When it was light we could see some of the damage. Much of our community and surrounding areas were without power due to the massive amount of trees or branches down. We would likely be without power for several days. In the meantime I could craft while it was light or by lantern glow.

One afternoon I worked on a Valentine for my hubby and a birthday card for my lovely niece. I’m sharing how I made this simple birthday card.

Materials: 8 1/2” x 11” card stock, patterned background paper, white card stock.

Cardstock and paper from my paper stash! Not sure how old this pattern paper by “It Takes Two” is but wanted to give them credit!

Tools: stamps, dies, die cutter, scissors, adhesive, alcohol markers, Memento dye ink pad.

This is great ink to stamp with if you want to color in with alcohol markers to avoid bleeding.

The set I used is the adorable “Hamster Mouthful” (may no longer be available but check out their other great stuff!) from the fabulous Art Impressions Rubber Stamp Company. It comes with stamps and dies.

Cut your 8 1/2 x 11 base card stock in half. Cut the background paper to 4 x 5 1/4.

I stamped my images on scrap card stock.

Color images. I used COPIC alcohol markers.

Used dies to cut smaller images and fussy cut the larger image.

Use the die cut to make mouth opening on your hamster and insert his favorite munchie.

Lastly I assembled all my layers and then used a bit of Wink of Stella glitter pen to give a little twinkle.

Crafty Beginnings

Mom saved tons of school projects. This is some of my early art!

From as far back as I can remember my fondest memories as a kid at school were on days we did crafts. While I was never a child prodigy artist, I was a kid who sincerely enjoyed getting my hands on crayons, markers, scissors, and oh my gosh finger paint, glitter, and you name it! I may not have realized it at the time, but crafting would become an important outlet for me throughout my youth and into my adult life.

I suppose it is in my genes. My grandpa and grandmother were gifted painters. My mom does a lot of quilting and other crafty projects. Even my dad was quite the artisan. He did counted cross stitch, leather tooling and loved wood working in his garage with all his manly toys. As a family strapped for cash, mom encouraged us to make things. We learned to sew, do embroidery and anything else that piqued our curiosity. I made some of my own clothes as a teen. To this day I still find when a birthday rolls around my first thought is always “ooh what can I make them?”

Being a maker means all kinds of life events call on that creative heart to do something to celebrate, relieve stress or to help to process grief. Crafting helped me grieve the loss of my dad in 2015. It is an outlet that helps me to process hardships and celebrate victories. I would truly not be the person I am today if I could not create.

If crafting is that important to me, I truly wonder what it means to you? Is art your therapy like it is mine? If so, what is your favorite way to express your passion?

My first blog post!

Holy cow! What have I gotten myself into?! I have been dreaming of writing a blog for several years and now here I am, completely overwhelmed!

Over the next few months I hope you will be able to see this page grow as I do. I am a crafter at heart and want to share my love of all things crafty with you; to teach and inspire you in your creative endeavors!