Faux Tile Technique

Recently, I read about a faux tile technique. I was intrigued! So, I pulled out my scor-pal and went to town. I used the mini occasions stamp set from TAC and it's just perfect for this technique. The Monet palette ink spots provided the perfect colors and the clear embossing powder pulls everything together! I love it. It just looks so much like kitchen backsplash tile. fun, fun!

So, how do you do it? Score your paper at every inch and then turn the paper 90 degrees and do it again. You're going to work with the score lines down (which is the opposite of how I normally use my scoring) but it's so you get that "grout" feel.

Pick a small image to stamp in the squares. After you've stamped, take your versamark or other embossing pad and smoosh (that's the technical term - hee hee!) the pad over the top of the paper. You want to get versamark over the whole thing. After your paper is covered, pour clear embossing powder over it. Make sure you get all your top covered. Tap off the extra powder and then heat. After the top is embossed, you'll be left with a laminate looking piece of paper. I love it! Layer and embellish as desired and voilá.

Have fun playing and stamping!

Spring/Summer TAC Retired Stamps List

The TAC Spring/Summer catalog retired list is out. Click on any of the links below to go to my e-commerce site or find them in the catalog by their page numbers. Get 'em before they're gone. Happy Shopping!

PG 26 A GOD THING
PG 36 ABUNDANCE IS
PG 53 ALL SEASON SKINNIES
PG 75 ANIMAL BLOCKS
PG 92 AUTUMN SMILES
PG 80 BE
PG 86 BE AUTHENTIC
PG 55 BEACH FUN
PG 31 BEAUTIFUL PLACE
PG 67 BIRTHDAY BUGGIES
PG 21 BLOSSOM BUILDERS
PG 99 BUGGIE CHRISTMAS
PG 69 CALENDAR
PG 87 CHICKEN SCRATCH
PG 37 DISTRESSED DESIGNS
PG 81 DIVA DRESSES
PG 56 DONT BUG ME
PG 19 F IS FOR FAMILY
PG 95 FAITH HOPE LOVE
PG 27 FANCIFUL FLOWERS
PG 91 FANGTASTIC
PG 34 FORGET NOT
PG 90 FRIENDLY GOBLINS
PG 76 FRIENDLY NOTES
PG 92 GIGGLY GOBLINS
PG 54 HANG LOOSE
PG 69 HAPPY CELEBRATION
PG 101 HAPPY HOLIDAY SQUARES
PG 87 HE SAID SHE SAID
PG 38 HEART-ITUDE
PG 37 HIP HARDWARE
PG 40 HIS ANGELS
PG 92 JOLLY JACK O LANTERNS
PG 102 LICENSE TO CHILL
PG 56 LILLY PAD POND
PG 41 LITTLE INSPIRATIONS
PG 40 LIVE INSPIRED
PG 100 MAY YOUR MERRY
PG 69 MINI SAMPLER
PG 53 MORE SEASON SKINNIES
PG 81 MY FAVORITES
PG 41 MY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
PG 88 MY STORY
PG 45 NEEDED NUMBERS
PG 43 NURTURE YOUR SOUL
PG 43 OLD FRIEND
PG 51 PALS
PG 68 PARTY NOTES
PG 69 PARTY TIME
PG 75 PLAYFUL PAISLEY
PG 76 PRETTY POSIES
PG 85 RAGDOLLS
PG 18 REMEMBRANCE
PG 100 RETRO CHRISTMAS
PG 90 RETRO HALLOWEEN
PG 100 RETRO REINDEER
PG 90 RETRO TREATERS
PG 81 RUB A DUB
PG 51 SASSY CATS
PG 75 SENTIMENTAL BOXES
PG 61 SO GIRLY SWIRLY
PG 45 SO SILLY
PG 32 STIPPLE BET
PG 87 SWEET SAYINGS
PG 88 SWIRLY SEASONS
PG 50 THE BUZZ
PG 92 THE FIRST THANKSGIVING
PG 95 THE ONLY THING
PG 33 TIP TOE
PG 92 TOO SPOOKY
PG 27 TRULEY BLESSED
PG14 WEDDING WISHES
PG 69 WISHING YOU
PG 33 WRITE IT
PG 38 YOU ARE MINE
PG 17 YOURE A HOOT
PG 69 YOURE INVITED

Wedding Wishes

The wedding season is upon us and it's time to get busy making cards. I have a friend who is getting married so she asked me to help her make cards to give to her friends to invite them to be bridesmaids. She's never made cards so she came over and we created the bridesmaid waterfall card together. We picked out matchmaker papers to match her fall wedding colors and layered them on the TAC brown cardstock and she did all the stamping and coloring. I think she did a fabulous job, don't you?


All of the cards for this post use Blissfully Ever After. It's a wonderful wedding set from TAC. I used Odorless Paint Thinner (similar to odorless mineral spirits) and Prismacolor pencils to color the images. A little bling on a button on a bitty blossom made the perfect finishing touch on the sparkle cardstock.

This third card is a small circle enclosure card. I made it for a challenge on Paper Wings which is a TAC site. The gallery is open to the public so it's a great way to get ideas for your favorite TAC stamps. It's easy to make a circle card with the coluzzle and the mega scalloped circle punch. Cute, fast and fun!.

Have fun making cards for your upcoming weddings! Happy Stamping!

And, the winner is...

Congratulations, Kristy!!! I used Random Integer Generator to pick the winner and your post had the winning number!!!

Kristy has awesome layouts on her blog so you should check them out. I've sent Kristy and e-mail and will send her the blog candy as soon as I hear back from her.

Thanks for all the great comments. I'm tired so will post creations in my next post.

Happy Stamping!

Blog Candy deadline tonight!

Don't forget. The blog candy deadline is tonight so comment on the blog candy post below to get in on the drawing! And, remember to answer the question in your comment. I've really enjoyed reading all the embellishment ideas!

Have a super day and I'll post some of my latest creations later when I announce the winner!

Happy Stamping!

Piercing Paper - simple and fun!

I bought some plastic canvas last week-end as a guide for paper piercing. Great simple tool that gives you tons of design possibilities. Then, I was out blog-hopping and checked Heather's blog and she had a card fabulously designed with paper-piercing using plastic canvas. How's that for the same thought process in the same week. What a hoot! I love what she did with her card.

Here are some of my attempts with a 29 cent round plastic canvas template as the guide:
All three cards feature the Spring Dream stamp set and prismacolor pencils. On the navy card, the paper piercing is highlighted with a white gel x-treme pen.

The mini round tab punch and the glitter gel pens are fun additions to the mint and raspberry card and besides the glitter gels, a little "bling" finishes it off.

And, on the third card, a button and a ribbon accent finish off the look.

Hope you get the chance to pierce some paper soon!

On a separate note, Diana has some blog candy so check her site out. She's a great TAC angel and SBS4 blog sister. Oh, and don't forget to comment on my blog candy post below this one. Happy stamping!

BLOG CANDY and 1st Scrapbook pages!!!

Welcome to my 50th post!!!! In honor of this auspicious occasion (LOL!), I am offering blog candy to anyone in the world who posts a comment (see below for what to include in your comment) before Friday, May 16th at midnight (central time USA). So, what's the prize? Well, it's the items in this photo (a current Level A TAC Hostess Set: It's the Little Things; a couple of individual stamps; colored staples; and blue fiber) and there may be a surprise or two included. Fun, fun!

In addition to blog candy fun, I thought I'd share my very first scrapbook pages. I used the Yield to the Princess stamp set on the pink and black page and the Limited Edition Bitty Pond stamp set on the green and blue page. I usually am not a big fan of frogs but I think this set is fun! And, it's perfect for little boys. And,the princess sayings and stamps are just darling for a little girl's (or big girl's) page. Both of the pages are 8X8 and the background paper is TAC's Uptown Girl (my favorite paper!) and Just Like Dad. I love that I can just tear out a sheet, add a few embellishments and a picture and bam - a scrapbook page is done. I can't wait to try some more pages.

By the way, have I mentioned that I love buttons? Both of the pages have them and I bet 75% of the cards I've made this week have a button or two or 3 on them. I guess it reminds me of good times going through button boxes looking for treasures. What is your favorite embellishment? Let me know in your comment.

Thanks for popping in. Good luck and Happy Stamping!!!

A shiny cow!

What could make someone feel better than with a shiny cow card? Aren't the glitter gel pens great? I had a good friend who had a stroke so a little shiny cow card went her way. I hope it brought a smile to her face as she's a special lady! Glad she's home again!

This card features the following TAC products: an'udder birthday stamp set, ordinary greeting stamp set, monet palette spots, noir palette ink, stardust glittering gel pens, stardust paper and giga merchandise tag. A little green ribbon finished it off. Cute, fun and fast!

Happy Stamping!

A quick, fun little monkey card!

Here's a fun little monkey card for you. A touch of whimsy paper layered on green matchmaker cardstock and adhered to navy blue cardstock. It features one of my favorite stamp sets, Little Friends. An eyelet and ribbon add a little extra something to the corner to draw the eye in. Fast and Fun!

Happy Stamping!