I Brake for Africa!

Hello from designer, Heidi.  I have a two cards that are a bit outside my typical style, but I really ended up liking them!  I usually choose stamps that I just like (which is a lot of flowers and birds!) but sometimes I like to send cards that are different, and these projects fit the bill.  

I created my background by swiping Distress Oxide inks onto watercolor paper, and then giving a light spray of water.  When dry, I stamped the Pride of Africa stamp right over top.  

I also stamped a background stamp called Tribal Blanket, using tan ink, onto kraft cardstock, to create a subtle tone on tone look.  I really love that it is patterned, but doesn’t compete with the main image.  It was no problem to stamp my greeting, Thank You, on this panel.

Now, onto a “bonus” card!  

So, I just loved that background stamp, and wanted to use it a little more. I had a plain white Hello die cut sitting on my desk, so I decided to dress it up by stamping on it with both green and orange inks (also still on my desk from the other project.). I then colored over the rest of the white by pressing it directly to my yellow inkpad.  

I then stamped my Large Oak Tree with brown ink onto some white kraft cardstock and put the die cut directly over.  This turned out to be a great, everyday masculine card.  

I hope you will be inspired to choose some stamps outside of your ordinary with your next purchase! Thanks for stopping by and have a good day!

Shroom to Grow!

Hello and happy Saturday!!

Today I'm sharing a card that surprised me by how much I liked it.

I had a color scheme in mind and it changed about 10 times before he was finished.

This little cutie is called
Shroom to Grow.

You can get it as a single or on this fun sheet...
Curiosities Set 5 Full Sheet.

I had a color scheme in mind...green and blue...and as soon as I started to color I started seeing a bunch of colors that were catching my eye.

This is what it morphed into and I think it's fun.  It's a little outside the box for me but I like it!

This image comes with the most inspiring of sentiments...

Remember, 

Life gives you infinite DO-OVERS...

Be brave!

We should all try to live by this motto.

I Brake for Hummingbirds!

Hello from design team member, Heidi.  I am sharing a Sympathy card today.  I like to have several in my stash. 

I started by coloring the Hummingbird with Flower stamp and I completely fussy cut it out.  I die cut a window in my card front.  Behind the panel, I put a piece of a background I made using the Cuttlebug Embossed Waxed Paper technique (tutorial is here). 

Then I simply stamped the Memories Comfort You sentiment and framed out the entire card with green and yellow card stocks.

Thanks for spending time at the I Brake for Stamps blog today!  Have a great day!

Heidi

I Brake for Flowers!

Hello and happy Saturday!

Today I'm sharing a stained glass window with you. 

This is one of my very favorite lines at I Brake for Stamps.

I own about 20 of the glass windows.

This one is called STAINED GLASS FLOWERS #5.

I'm not great with knowing my flowers so I don't know what this one is.

I have some white ones in my yard that look similar which inspired this card.

You can see the entire STAINED GLASS line HERE.

You can see all of my stained glass cards here.

 

I Brake for Birdhouses!

Hello from design team member, Heidi. I would like to share these cards, which I recently used for Mother’s Day, that I made with the Large Summer Time Birdhouse stamps.  This stamp is large, measuring almost 6 inches by 3.5 inches.  It would be great for 5x7 cards, but today I cropped it to fit a standard A2 card. 

I colored the image with alcohol markers, adding some detail with a white gel pen. I decided to color the birds as a family of Eastern Bluebirds, as these are my Grandma’s favorite.  I colored a second image and framed it out slightly differently to suit my mom’s tastes.  I used sentiments from both the Dahlia Quarter Sheet and Bird Sheet 141A.  

I Brake for Stamps also carries some other really nice birdhouse stamps! When I used that search term on their website, I found all these!

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Heidi

I Brake for Skydiving!

Hello and happy Saturday!

Today I'm sharing a fun anniversary card with you.

My card features an image from
Senior Full Sheet #ES1012

from I Brake for Stamps.

You can also get just this image and the verse Come Fly With Me if you prefer.

This fun couple is a little braver than I am.  I don't know that I'd ever be able to jump out of a plane.

On the inside I used

  Happy Anniversary.

I just masked off the flowers because I didn't really

think they went with this card.

You should check out the full sheet.  It's got so many great images and sentiments on it!   Or...look here to see all of the Humorous Seniors.

I Brake for Retro Coffee!

Hello, design team member, Heidi, back again today with another card using the fantastic, Coffee Rubber sheet set.

These images are fun and retro, so I paired then with primary colors, kraft paper, and polka dots.  I did add a touch of red glitter glue to the heart on the sentiment, just to jazz it up. I plan to send a little Starbucks gift certificate to a teacher inside this card.  It is Teacher Appreciation Week!  

Thanks for visiting today!  Hope you have time to get out your stamps today!

Heidi

I Brake for Coffee

Hello from design team member, Heidi!  I would like to share a fun coffee card with you!  I love coffee and I Brake for Stamps has some great coffee related stamps!

I stamped with green Versafine ink on kraft paper.  I colored the cup with alcohol markers and die cut out the panel.  After choosing this fun, slightly retro, floral printed paper, I went back to the stamp set for an accent. I thought that the coffee tree looked kind of the shape of a bouquet.  

I colored on that stamp with different markers, to represent both ripe and unripe coffee beans, spritzed with water and stamped.  I trimmed this out and added a bow.

This stamp set called Coffee Rubber Sheet is available in the I Brake for Stamps store.



Thanks for visiting today!  Come again soon!

Heidi

I Brake for Perfect Moments and Chrysanthemums!

Hello and happy Saturday!

Today I'm sharing a card meant to inspire.

I've been wanting to use this black and white dotted paper and started thumbing through my I Brake for Stamps index book.

I came across NOVEMBER CHRYSANTHEMUM - JUMBO.

I haven't used that one in a while and for some reason instantly thought pink and black.

I also used the verse from HALF SHEET BALLERINA.

I Brake for Dahlias!

Hello from design team member, Heidi!  I would like to share a clean and simple card idea with you today.  

I wanted to use this very large Dahlia stamp.  It is so pretty and really makes a statement!  I stamped it over a watercolored background I had made.  I tend to make several of these  watercolor backgrounds at one time, and then I have them on hand.  I fussy cut out the flower.  

Next, I simply stamped the same flower twice on my card panel. I just eyeballed where the middle was and stamped in Pool ink on both halves. The sentiment is one of three from the same stamp set, and it says “Simply Enjoy it All.”  A fun sentiment and I don’t have anything else like it in my collection.  I popped my watercolor flower up on foam adhesive.

This stamp set, Quarter Sheet Dahlia, can be purchased in the I Brake for Stamps store.  I hope you enjoyed this idea and will be back soon to see more stamping ideas from the entire design team. 

Thanks for stopping by!