I Brake For...No Mixed Signals!

Hello IBFS fans! I'm excited to introduce myself to you! My name is Hannah, I'm new to the design team and I've got A LOT of great ideas to share with you! Today I'm showing you a card using the No Mixed Signals set.

This card I'm sharing is a card that I struggled a lot with but the struggle was SO worth it!

There are actually a lot of firsts for me on this card. This card marks the first time I figured out my Zig Real Brush pens. The first time I successfully got ALL of the LEDs in a card to light up. The first time I used lighting Gel to color my lights. This is also the first time I've posted for the I Brake for Stamp team! To say that I'm excited is an understatement.

This card was painted on Arches watercolor paper from Canson. I actually did my die cutting first, so that I could figure out the placement of my stamps. I stamped both the adorable snail and the sentiment, in StazOn black. I then re-stamped both stamps with VersaMark Watermark Ink, over that I poured some clear embossing powder (WOW! brand). Don't forget to de-static your paper before putting the embossing powder on!

Next, I painted my snail. Because my previous attempts at coloring with my Zigs were less than successful, I applied my color to a laminated sheet of paper, and then applied the pigment with a paintbrush. I had A LOT of control! This step helped me gain the confidence to use my Zigs, as intended, in the next couple of cards that I'll be sharing. If you struggle with these markers like I did, I do hope I inspire you to keep them and to keep trying!

My Zig color choices

When the painting was done, including the ground for the snail and the border, I punched holes out of the ends of the antennas. I know there are a variety of tools out there for this, but I used the Making Memories Hole Punch because it is what I have. Then I adhered the two front pieces of my card onto some Neenah Solar White Cardstock in 80lbs, after I carefully traced and cut out where the holes would be onto the backing piece. This made the front of my card extremely durable and secured everything together.

This Jellyfish Lantern stamp is also from IBFS!

As you can see in the above card, I CAN mess up Chibitronics lights. There were supposed to be 3 working LEDs up there, not two....and I was lucky I got two working for this photo. Fortunately, my husband alerted me to these, which were MUCH easier for me to work with: 

LilyPad White LEDs and copper Tape

A lifetime supply of copper tape and 10 LEDs were far less expensive than the Chibitronics set that I ruined, and they worked far better! 

In the Jellyfish Lantern set above, I tried to color my lighting with vellum that I had used yellow Copic Markers. The result was OK. But I got BETTER results on my snail using gels from a gel swatchbook for theatrical lighting. These can be purchased online if you don't have a lighting nerd husband like I do, he had one on his desk.

There is foam mounting tape between both the card base and the watercolored panel. I removed all of the backing of the tape, except for one small area where I decided to leave a pull tab. I put all of this together and viola!

I am so pleased with how this turned out!

I LOVE these designs by Carmen Medlin that are available on I Brake for Stamps, there are SO MANY to choose from! I Brake for Stamps has over 3000 images, there really is something for everyone! Please follow the linked image below to see all the amazing designs!

Thank you for visiting today! I hope I have inspired you!

I Brake for MOO-ther's Day!

Hello and happy Saturday!

Today I'm sharing the card I made for my mom for Mother's Day.

I used 

Barbed Wire Fence

and 

Tina Mae

10mm Golden Yellow Open Roses 20 pack

I stamped Tina first and then stamped her on scrap paper.  I cut her out and masked her off.  Next I stamped the fence so that it appeared to be behind her. 

I used some watercolor paint to fill in the sky and grass.  The extra sprigs of grass were made with the fine end of a Marvy marker.

On the inside of the card I used the same green marker to write..."Happy Moo-ther's Day!"  I know...it's cheesy but my mom loves me and will think it's cute!

I Brake For...Prayers

Shanta here,

I wanted to share a card I created for I Brake for Stamps. I used Boy Praying and  Girl Praying stamps from the I Brake For Stamps shop. The shop has stamps for every taste in my opinion, and I am sure you will find something for your collection. 

Other Supplies:

Paper Studio Petals & Blooms

C.C. Designs Half Rectangles

Whimsy Stamps Stitched Hearts

Pink and Main Stitched Rounded Rectangles

Hero Arts Prayers and Cut

Michaels Enamel Dots

Hair- Spectrum Noir EB5, EB6

Skin - Spectrum Noir FS9, FS8, TN4

Bow - Copic Y19, Spectrum Noir CT2

Boy Shirt - Copic BG11, Spectrum Noir BT4

Gown /Dress / Boy pants - Copics Y19, Y13

Prayers Sentiment- same as boy's shirt

Until Next Time...

Shanta

I Brake for Cookin'

Hello IBFS fans !!!

Crystal here and today I am using  Chef Shy Bear .I copic colored my image and made a recipe file layer and added a doily and some enamel dots , the word recipe and What's Cookin' are words I cut from vinyl on my Silhouette to fit my space exactly .

markers I used to make my card .

For Chef Shy Bear and many other great images, be sure to hop over to IBFS online store and pick it up.

Brake For....Bass Fish

Hello stampers - Nancy here today and time  to show you another  great stamp   This one is called Bass Fish,  Here is my card.

Let me tell you that I love the size of this image.  Big enough to fill a card and great for coloring.  When I first saw this image I thought it would make a great masculine card - and perfect for Father's Day for those men who love to fish.  Then I thought....I know several women who love to fish as well - just as much as the guys.  This would make a great card for those women!  It made me realize that I have to get past the old traditional "if it's a fish its masculine, if it's a flower its feminine" thinking.  In fact, I used to work with a guy who had the most amazing flower garden in his backyard.  I could definitely send him a floral card and not feel funny about it.

I stamped the image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored with copics.  I sponged some Memento Cantaloupe ink around the edges.  On the base card the text "GO FISH" is computer generated.

The Bass Fish stamp can be found here. I hope you hop on over to the IBFS store and take a look at the thousands of stamps available.  

Thanks for stopping by today!

I Brake for Sailboats!

I love the ocean and I love to sail, though I don't get to do so very frequently. I guess that's why sailboats, beach scenes, and ocean-life stamps always appeal to me. 

My tag features the sailboat, gulls, and the compass from the Always Time for Friendship Half Sheet (Stampinback), available at I Brake for Stamps. By the way, IBFS ships internationally!

I recently received my long awaited set of Distress Oxide inks and after playing around a tiny bit, decided to try to create a seascape tag using them. 

A tag was die-cut from mixed media cardstock, then sponged with Distress Oxide inks. When I was happy with the result, the sailboat from the Always Time for Friendship Half Sheet was stamped onto the tag with Jet Black Archival ink. I colored the image using pigment and India ink markers. 

The gulls and the compass were stamped with with Jet Black Archival ink (Ranger). A white gel pen was used to add sea foam and white caps to the ocean. 

Three colors of hemp twine were added to finish the tag.

I Brake for Stamps is where you'll find great selections of Stampinback stamps plus lots of other stamps from other stamp companies. Click on my badge below to be whisked over to I Brake for Stamps to check out all of the goodies!

If you have any questions about the techniques or products I used, feel free to ask!

Thanks for visiting today!

Kathi

I Brake for Wine and Grapes!

Hello and happy Saturday!

Today I'm sharing a card that makes me happy!

I really love red wine.

The image is from I Brake for Stamps

and it's called 

WINE AND GRAPES.

I used some Bister stain on the card base to look like a little of the red wine spilled.

Then red is currently sold out but IBFS is hoping to offer it again soon.

For now they have several other pretty colors.  If you scroll back to last Saturday you can see the blue Bister also.

I Brake for Coffee ...

Hello IBFS fans !!

It's Crystal here and today I am back and using the Coffee Shy Bear  to create a 2D more dimensional look to my image .

if you look closely to the paw and the face I stamped and colored the image  and the stamped again and only colored the paws and face and then fussy cut them out and next I used a stylus on the backside to cup up the paws and face I then add glue dots and put them over them main image to give a puffed up dimensional look  ,

this is a flower molding mat and stylus and I trace the outer edge to cup it and give a dome look

I do run my copic marker around the fussy cut edge to cover the white paper edge

I also stenciled some coffee stains with TH stencil and tore the layer to give a fun distressed look and then I inked the edges with walnut stain , my hello is die cut 2 times and layered up on a black fishtail banner that I used a white gel pen to make faux stitching , I added a few of my DIY enamel dots I make . I added glossy accents to the bears nose to make it look shiny. Thats it for this card ,I hope you enjoyed it . For The Coffee Shy Bear and many other great images, be sure to hop over to IBFS online store and pick it up. 

I Brake for....Large Mums!

Hello fellow stampers!  Nancy here today to show you a card using the pretty Large Mums stamp - available here.  

This is a perfect stamp for Mother's day!  The mums here are in the style of Fuji Mums which are so very pretty and come in a variety of colors.  I chose my paper first (a tip I learned long ago and often forget!) and then matched copic colors to coordinate.  The image was stamped on a pierced oval die cut with memento tuxedo black ink. The paper is a from a Michael's 6 x 6 paper pad.   I sponged some light blue on the side to add a little more interest.

Let's talk about sponging.....I have many sponge daubers - both the large jumbo type and the small finger ones.  But the sponge part tends to disintegrate over time and a few weeks ago I had to throw out a bunch of them. I've also used those round yellow regular sponges but really don't like how they apply the ink.    Then a friend told me about using latex make-up sponges instead - she bought them at her local dollar store. I picked up a bunch and love them.  Because they are latex they hold up very well and really do a nice job of applying the ink to paper.  Here is a look at the ones I got.  And they were much cheaper then the daubers.  So - that's my tip for today!!

I hope you like what you see here today.  Head on over to the IBFS store where you can find this and many other stamps. 

I Brake for Curiosities!

Here's a card with Those Days rubber stamp set from the Curiosities Set Two by Carmen Medlin Designs, available at I Brake for Stamps.

The Those Days set includes a dazed looking creature and the sentiment "Ever have one of those days?". The creature from Those Days was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink (Imagine Crafts), colored with Copic markers, fussy-cut, edged with a dark marker, then set aside while I created a background for him.

Clouds were stenciled onto 140 lb. Mixed Media cardstock with Watering Can, Shadow Grey, and Hydrangea Archival ink. Leaf Green and Fern Green were sponged along the bottom of the page. 

An ancient tree die-cut was sponged with Tree Branch Archival ink, then touched up with Copic markers. The tree was adhered to the sponged image panel using Matte Multi-Medium, then the creature from Those Days was adhered at the base of the tree. His eyes were touched up with Clear Gelly Glaze pen to make them dimensional and shiny. He was so out of it that he didn't feel a thing! Some white drops were judiciously added with a White One4All paint marker

White cardstock was die-cut with a cardinal die, then colored with Copic markers to magically become bluejays, which were then adhered to the tree.

"Ever have one of those days?", from the Those Days set was stamped in the upper right hand corner using Jet Black StazOn ink . The image panel was matted with black cardstock and adhered to a white card.

I Brake for Stamps has a huge and varied collection of rubber stamps that you ought to check out right now. Click on my badge below to be whisked over to I Brake for Stamps to check out all of the goodies! 

Thanks for visiting today!

Kathi

I Brake for April's new baby boy!

Hello and happy Monday!!

It's a time for celebration in my home town!  

That's right...that world famous giraffe APRIL is from my hometown. (well, close enough)

Her owner Jordan is.  She's about 30 min. away from my house.  We first met him about 13 yrs. ago when my kids used to go to birthday parties that he was at.  He used to bring all his little critters like snakes, centipedes, tortoises and bearded dragons.  It was fun for the kids and adults alike!

For those of you who don't know the story, there's a small zoo called Animal Adventure in Harpursville, N.Y.  They have a giraffe couple April (15) and Oliver (5).  They recently bred for the first time.  The zoo set up a live webcam and almost the entire world watched and waited for April to give birth.  This past Saturday (2 days ago) she finally did!

It's a boy!!

I used three stamps from I Brake for Stamps on April's card.

CONGRATULATIONS SON

SPECIAL, BUNDLE, BABY BOY, BABY GIRL

GIRAFFE IN EGGSHELL

April and her soon to be named calf  are both doing well!

I'll be mailing my card to them today and can't wait to visit them this summer!

Congratulations April and Oliver and of course Jordan and everyone at Animal Adventure!

I Brake for Beautiful Blue Bisters and Flowers!

Hello and happy Saturday!

Today I'm sharing what I'm calling Blue Beauty!

I used several different products from I Brake for Stamps.

My background was created using Blue Bister Stains.

My flowers are from two different stamps.

The larger flower is the center portion of 

MAGNOLIA FLOWER.

The smaller flowers are from 

DOGWOOD BLOSSOMS.

My verse on the front and on the inside is from 

EVERY DAY PHRASES.

On the inside I also used

LARGE LILAC.

Here's a close up of the front flowers so you can see the layered dimension.

I Brake for Antique Tea Sets!

When I used the tea set last week, I thought to myself, "Self, wouldn't a teapot look cool if it had a crackled texture?" So I set about creating an antique tea set this gorgeous teapot and matching tea cups from a fabulous rubber stamp sheet (MS78) from Merry Stamper, available at I Brake for Stamps! The tea set has four tea gorgeous teapots with four matching tea cups, two sentiments, and a tiny steaming teapot. 

Here it is!

The teapot and matching tea cups were stamped with Blueprint Sketch Distress ink, colored with Copic markers, fussy-cut, then edged with a blue Sharpie marker. I used my index finger to coat the teapot and  tea cups with relatively thick layers of Distress Collage Crazing Medium. They were left to dry for several hours. When completely dry, I had to place them under a stack of books for a few days to flatten them out.

Blue floral cardstock was trimmed, then the edges were distressed. White cardstock was die-cut with a pretty lace border die.

The border was adhered over the patterned paper, then the teapot and matching tea cups were adhered. The final step was to adhere card front was adhered to a blue card.

Here's a close-up view of the lovely crackling!

I Brake for Stamps has a huge and varied collection of rubber stamps that you ought to check out right now. Click on my badge below to be whisked over to I Brake for Stamps to check out all of the goodies! 

Thanks for visiting today!

Kathi