I Brake For ....Large Pears

Hello stampers  - Nancy here today!!  I hope your Memorial Day weekend was nice and as the unofficial start of summer I hope you had some wonderful weather to enjoy the long weekend.

Today I have a beautifully illustrated stamp to show you.  It is called Large Pears and can be found here on the IBFS store.

I love fresh fruit - especially in the summertime.  We have lemon, orange, and plum trees in our yard but no pear - the weather is simply too hot for pears.  And have you ever had pear ice cream?  Oh it is delicious.  I was at a dinner where the host had homemade pear ice cream and served it with rum pound cake (also homemade).  The combination of the flavors of pear and rum was just delightful!!

The  Large Pear image was stamped with Memento Ink and colored with copics.  I tried several color combinations and decided the green looked best.

I went back and forth on how much embellishing for this card.  The image itself is large so you can only do so much before your card gets too big to handle. On cards like this I tend to leave a sentiment off because the image can be used for a variety of occasions .  Perhaps just a "thinking of you" would work well.  I took the brad used on the card and colored it with a brown copic to coordinate with the other browns used.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Hop on over to the IBFS store where you can find this and thousands of other stamps.  

I Break for Cute Curious Critters!

Here's a card with the Sew Easy rubber stamp set from the Curiosities Set #4 by Carmen Medlin Designs, available at I Brake for Stamps. By the way, IBFS ships internationally!

The seriously cute critter from the Sew Easy set was stamped with Tuxedo Black Memento ink (Imagine Crafts) and colored with Copic markers that were selected to match the patterned paper from the old 6x6 pad. The image panel was die-cut with a stitched rectangle die.

Patterned paper from the pad were layered and then die-cut with an A2-sized stitched rectangle die. The edges were sponged with Black Soot Distress ink (Ranger). Striped washi tape was adhered to the seam between the floral and solidish patterned paper. A fine point pen was used to detail the stitches, then the Sew Easy image panel was adhered. 

The leftover solidish patterned paper was die-cut with a banner die and the sentiment from the Sew Easy set was stamped with Jet Black Archival ink (Ranger). The banner was folded and the white bits were colored with Copic markers to match the patterned paper, then the banner's edges were sponged with Black Soot Distress ink.

The sentiment banner was adhered using dimensional foam adhesive in the center of the die-cut and flat adhesive on the ends.

I Brake for Stamps has a huge and varied collection of rubber stamps that you ought to check out right now. Click HERE to check out all of the goodies! 

Thanks for visiting today!

Kathi

I Brake For Cityscapes!

I Love the look of Cityscapes on a background, and I think it pairs up perfectly with a Silhouette Stamp!

Today I am sharing with you another image from The Fashion Silhouette set over at I Brake for Stamps.

The background is from the Travel Sheet which not only has this Cityscape, but some other fantastic travel related stamps as well. 

I stamped the image using the Iced Spruce Distress Oxide Ink. I wanted to see just how detailed this ink would stamp! WOW! I was pleasantly surprised at the details I was able to capture using this ink on this stamp.

The Cityscape was stamped using Jet Black Archival ink and the sentiment is from the Tim Holtz Metallic Stickers set call Quotations.

Thanks for stopping by!

I Brake For...Chilling

Greetings everyone, Hannah here! I am really excited to share this card with you!

Have you ever had a stamp that you’ve seen used and then couldn’t imagine any other use for it? That is exactly how I felt about this little monster for quite some time. I’d accidentally seen how another Design Team member utilized this cutie and then couldn’t imagine him in any other card. In the beginning, I struggled with how I thought this card would look.

I took inspiration from the sentiment. It made me think of science, so then I scoured my stash for any science related stamps. I even went to the IBFS website, they’ve got a TERRIFIC background stamp that I strongly considered ordering for this card. You can view it here. Before I spent money I didn’t exactly have I decided to try to think outside the box a little. This is when I discovered a background stamp in my stash that was supposed to be stepping stones. They could be molecules, I could make them appear sort of like little blobs under a microscope! I took that idea and ran with it. The next logical conclusion was to add a shaker element into this card, but I wanted to add water to glitter. After some research, and a lot of trial and error I figured it out.

Hopefully, this card makes you think of what might be going on at the cellular level of this adorable little monster. The interactivity of this card makes it GREAT for kids of all ages, you can shake, press, and move around the water and glitter in this card! I also finished him off using wool fibers on his tale, so it is extremely touchable.

I created this card for the I Brake For Stamps design team. IBFS has over 3000 images in their inventory, both in digital and in rubber stamp format. The rubber stamps are extremely high quality and made here in the USA.

Iris Sympathy Card

 Hello and happy Saturday!

Today I'm sharing a sympathy card with you.  A friend of mine recently lost her son and I wanted to make something special for her.

I used Stained Glass Iris from 

I Brake for Stamps.

I colored the image with Marvy markers and Copics.

I Brake for Script Backgrounds

Hello Everyone, 

Shanta here, I hope you guys are having an amazing day!!! I had a swap to complete and I thought it would be the perfect time to use the large script background stamp. I love this background stamp as you can do so many awesome things with it. I normally do not create with such bright colors, but I love the change this brought to me. 

First up is a 5 x 7 card

Next are 6 flowers

along with 3 3 by 3 cards

lastly a treat topper

I Brake for the Happy Couple !!!

Hello IBFS fans !!!

It's Crystal here and today I am making a card for a happy couple using the Smooching Al and Betty Lou . The image is copic colored and then the window layer is water colored splattered and spritzed with a pearl shimmer mist  I added a heart speech bubble die cut and then used the heart knockouts and added some sequins and then the die cut congrats ..

if you like this images or want to check out lots of other great stamps visit the I Brake For Stamps on-line store , they carry thousands of images to choose from .

I Brake For....Apple Blossom!

Hello stampers - Nancy here today to show you a couple of cards using the very pretty Apple Blossom stamp.  Here is the first card.

I've been wanting to do this technique for awhile now - where you use part of a die or cut file to create  the look of a trellis with some flowers climbing on it.  I started with a Silhouette cut file called lattice placemat and using the Silhouette knife tool cut out most of it so that it would fit on a card front.  Here is the original file (which is a 12 x 12 design)  and how I used it on the card front.

I stamped the Apple Blossom image to overlap the cut out area.  This was done intentionally.  I stamped the image again on a separate piece of paper, colored the larger blossom, cut it out and popped it up on the main panel  I sponged some memento ink around the edges.

I found some pretty green organza ribbon along with a stash of silver thank you charms that I have had for ages and added them to the card.

The Apple Blossom image was colored with copics.  It can be found on the IBFS store here.

I decided to do another card with the same stamp but really had nothing in mind.  So I first stamped the image several times in versamark and embossed the images....

Then I took several shades of blue ink and just covered the card with the ink.

Loved the color scheme and decided to make a few tags...

I figured I had the makings of a card at this point so I stamped the bottom of a card base with the same stamp and ink and placed the tags on the front.  Here is the final version.

The "thanks" is a cut file.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Hop on over to the IBFS store to find your favorite image!

I Brake for Flowery Cats!

Cats plus flowers make me happy. The Purrfect Day Cats rubber stamp sheet (Stampinback), available at I Brake for Stamps makes me really happy ecstatic because the sheet includes TEN floral cat silhouettes, four paw prints, two sentiments, one fish skeleton, and one matching flower for a total of 18 fabulous images on the sheet which means you'll be seeing LOTS of flowery cat creations from me! By the way, IBFS ships internationally.

Here's my card with one of the ten floral kitties!

Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide ink was smooshed (technical term) onto my craft mat, spritzed with water, then 140 lb. Mixed Media cardstock (Strathmore) was dragged through the diluted ink and heat set. This step was repeated with Spiced Marmalade Distress Oxide ink, then Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide ink. When I was happy with the coverage,  Post-It Notes were placed across the cardstock and Peeled Paint Distress Oxide ink was sponged over top. I wasn't really thrilled with the color, so I sponged Peeled Paint Distress and Mowed Lawn Grass Distress ink over top.

Using my stamp positioner, the kitty from the Purrfect Day Cats sheet was stamped with Onyx Black VersaFine ink . I had to re-ink the stamp and stamp it again to get better coverage, most likely because inept. I can't wait to get ahold of the of one of the new trendy stamp positioner systems so that I don't have to be quite so careful when re-stamping an incomplete image! Anyway, I touched up the image using a Black Pitt Artist Brush pen.

A shadow was added under the cat using a Warm Grey Pitt Artist Brush pen.

The image panel was die-cut with one of a scalloped rectangle die. A larger plain rectangle die, a "Purr-fect" sentiment die, and the "Just" die were used to die-cut black cardstock. The image panel was matted with the plain black rectangle die-cut. The sentiment was adhered in place.

The leftover Distress Oxide sponged cardstock was die-cut with a Butterfly die ) and punched with a tiny dragonfly punch. The butterflies and the dragonflies were a bit boring, so I added Distress ink to them to perk 'em up a bit. My black marker was used to detail their bodies and edge them, then Black  Glitter pen was used to add a touch of glitter to them. The insects were adhered to the image panel and a Clear Glitter pen was used to add flight trails. The cardfront was adhered to a rust card.

I Brake for Stamps is where you'll find great selections of Stampinback stamps plus lots of other stamps from other stamp companies. 

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

Thanks for visiting today!

Kathi

I Brake for Remarkable Creations!

Hi everyone. Did you know today is my birthday? I have been celebrating all month long on my blog Taylormadecards4u! I sure hope you have been joining along in the festivities.

I thought this sentiment, Create Something Remarkable, was the perfect sentiment for today and you can find it over at I Brake for Stamps.

Now of course I had to create a remarkable background to go with this awesome sentiment. The stamp that I used to create the background is called Ruler Background and it is REMARKABLE!

I started out by using a stencil called Morroccan Lattice from Kaisercraft and Mustard Seed Distress Ink. I had some ruler washi tape in my stash that worked as a great compliment for this stamp. 

I added the washi tape, then came in with the Ruler Background stamp to complete the background.  I then used a tim holtz dots stencil along with some Black Soot distress crayon to add the finishing touches to the background. 

Thanks for stopping by!

I Brake for...Going Outside the Lines!

Hi, Stampers! Hannah here, from Fanciful Spaces!

I love squid and octopuses. I REALLY love them. I also really like the animal mechanical images by Carmen Medlin, if you couldn't tell. ;) You'll be seeing quite a few more cards based off of her designs in the near future. How could I not fall in deep, deep love with them, they are so creative! I Brake for Stamps has SO many Carmen Medlin designs to choose from, I encourage you to check them out!

Wow, do I have a lot of video for you today! I filmed myself painting the background and the squid in two separate sessions. I went into painting this card with zero ideas of how it would turn out. I very much wanted to do it in the spirit of the sentiment, but I just couldn't.

Painting the Background with Zig Markers, watch this.

Painting the Squid with Zig Markers;

My filming of this card was inspired by a conversation that happened in a Facebook group about how some people found it hard to paint with Zig brushes. I get that, boy do I ever. I almost sold mine because I couldn't figure them out. In fact, they were in my house for a solid year before I finally "got" them. It is so funny to think back on how much trouble I had with them, especially since my family and I are taking a trip shortly and I think I've decided that they will be the coloring medium I choose to use while away from my stash!

The videos show what ended up being the background of the main panel and the critter itself. I do not show how I built the card. Honestly, I didn't know how I was going to finish the card for the longest time. It floated around my craft room for a couple of weeks while I pondered that.

In the end, I'm extremely pleased with how the card was finished. I re-created more background for the back panel. I feel like the black middle panel acts like a black line in a coloring book and the background that I re-created is the color going "outside the lines".

I silver embossed all edges, because that is my MO, and finished the card off with single strands of silver embroidery thread. I also took a black Multiliner from Copic to color the card panel corners black, thus providing a more finished look to the card, instead of leaving the corners white.

I worked hard on this card, I spent more time thinking about it and trying to decide how it would look than most cards. I am extremely pleased by how this turned out, and I hope it inspires you!

I Brake for Bister Shaker cards!

Hello and happy Saturday!

Welcome to my weekly I Brake for Stamps post.

My niece just celebrated her 17th birthday.

Since she's a little older now I wanted to do something pretty, yet still fun.

I think this suits her perfectly.  She's quite mature now yet still very young at heart.

I used a birthday verse from EVERY DAY PHRASES.

Inside the shaker I used the blue and yellow BISTER STAINS.

This is the same blue bister that I used on a card a couple of weeks ago.

As you can see the original card was almost navy blue.  By simply adding more water to the powder I was able to get this teal look.  Add more powder for a darker look...less for lighter shades.  You can also use the stains to create a water color effect.  Pretty cool results for a tiny little container of powder.  And, although the container is tiny the powder lasts SUCH a long time.  It's so potent that you need only a tiny sprinkle to get some pretty grand results.

I mixed the blue bisters with water as you're supposed to.  I treated the yellow a little differently.  I have a shimmer spray that I thought would be interesting to mix with the Bisters.  I was right.  I sprinkled just a tad of the yellow powder into a plastic palette and then sprayed a bit of the spritz into the dish.  I "scooped" up the liquid with my paint brush and splattered it onto the paper.  I really like the look it created.  It's tough to see the metallic look in the photo but it's very cool in person.

I Brake for....Cammy Girl!!

Shanta here,

I hope you all are having an amazing day!!!

 I am here to share with you my first box card using Cammy Girl. 

I absolutely love the stamps by Chelsea Le Designs! 

I am enjoying my journey which is learning how to color, and add more depth to my images. 

Until Next Time! 

Shanta

I Brake for a Summer Float !

Hello IBFS fans !!

It's Crystal here and today I am using Floating Wilma to create my Thinking of You card ..

I color dusted my background with a brush and distress inks then added water drops and blotted and dried that layer , I copic colored my image and layered it on my background and then had fun add some die cuts to pull my card together and add some fun. I added stickle to my flip flop straps and around the image in the water , I added glossy accents to my float tube.

if you like this images or want to check out lots of other great stamps visit the I Brake For 

Stamps on-line store , they carry thousands of images to choose from .