Running With Scissors...

Ruby Tuesday: Stella’s Been Busy Gardening

Stella sends her sincere apologies for her absence the last two weeks.  As I’m sure you can relate, she’s been very busy with miscellaneous activities which (ahem) blossom this time of year.  Despite the fact there’s been so much rain this Spring we’ve picked up the pace the same as this time every year.  Oh, my gosh, there’s so much going on this week – landscapers in the back yard, an outdoor wedding on Saturday (fingers crossed in regard to the weather), lots of gardening and outdoor excursions in-between.  Not to mention the fact that I find myself with more stamping than usual to do this week, as well.  First up, Stella would like to share her latest:

This card uses one stamp called Spring Garden and Table.  One stamp, but three images.  It’s a large wood-mount stamp which can be turned into a whole stamp set by isolating different parts of the image.  There are lots of possibilities.  Today I used just this table top with the pot of tulips, and the watering can and tools which I cut from the image.  It’s a very simple card using some of my smaller scraps of Stella (BasicGrey Stella Ruby designer paper), with some textured white which I had on hand, and a bit of Prismatics Sunflowers Light.  My upside down bow was made with pink burlap string.  Spellbinders Labels Eleven mat the image, and the coloring was done with Copic markers.  I think that covers it!

Thanks so much for visiting.  Have yourself a beautiful day!

A Thing of Beauty

Hello, stampers!  I hope you're all well and happy on this early Spring day.  The sample I'm sharing is made from parts of a much larger image called Spring Garden and Table.  The image as a whole is beautiful, but there's so much more to it than first meets the eye.  I found that this one image transforms into a whole stamp set.  Just in case you missed it, you can see my post about the transformation here.

The pot of pansies I selected for this card were colored with Copics to coordinate with the very delicate and feminine tones of the Memory Box Gossamer paper.  I made a frame with Spellbinders Nestabilities, and accented with the hat and gloves which were also cut from the original large image.

The sentiment is from the JustRite Joyful Hearts set.  It's an oval stamp, but I mounted it on the 2" square stamper so it was easy to line up nice and straight on my paper.  Mounting on the square stamper required that I trim just a bit off the edges of the oval sentiment stamp, but no harm done.  It can still be used within one of the pretty oval frames.

I guess I was in the mood to snip and trim when I made this card -- the ivory crochet edging was cut down from a 1 1/2" width of crochet ribbon.  Where there's a will, there's a way!

Thank you for spending some time with me today.  Have a wonderful Thursday!

Stamps:  Spring Garden and Table (Northwoods Rubber Stamps), Joyful Hearts (JustRite)  Paper:  Bazzill textured pale green, Classic White, Memory Box Gossamer Designer paper  Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black and Rich Cocoa, Copics for coloring  Accessories:  Ribbon, crochet trim, rhinestones, Spellbinders Oval Nestabilities, Scotch brand foam mounting tape

One Large Stamp, Or a Whole Stamp Set

Hello!  I hope you all had a nice Easter.  Ours was very rainy.  In the afternoon we put on our rain gear and took Wally out for a long walk in the woods.  The moment we came inside and got all warm and dry, the rain stopped and the sun peeked out.  Never rained another drop the rest of the day.  Doesn't it figure?  That's Spring for you!

Today I have a very Spring-like sample to share.  I used a Northwoods stamp from Stampers Dream called Spring Garden and Table.  I colored it with Copic markers and matted it on Apricot and Chocolate textured cardstock.

This being a large image, there's not much required of the layout.  I even considered leaving off the ribbon but now I'm glad I added it.  Since not much of it shows, I used only short lengths and taped the ends under the mats.  The bow was tied separately and glued on afterward.

For quite some time now the trend has been toward stamp sets, rather than individual stamps.  I balked at that in the past but now I'll admit I do enjoy the variety and versatility in a set.  So, when I look at a large wood-mount rubber stamp such as this I think, "but, gosh, it's just one stamp".  Then, as I do with all large stamps, I take another look and find the variety and versatility within that one stamp.

In this stamp I found several vignettes that could be isolated from the image.  The following picture shows how I cut two at once with my oval Nesties.  There were other possibilities, as well, but this is what I chose to do at this time.  The pot of tulips could easily be cut out entirely and used on its own, too.

In fact, after I cut the two oval vignettes, I realized there were several usable images left untouched by that cutting.  So I cut them out and, from one stamped image, I wound up with an entire stamp set -- and a rather large and pretty set, at that!

 

Chances are, you do the same thing with your large stamps.  This is the first time I've sat down and split one up into a set all at once.  I've already made a card using one of the small ovals and some of the accessory images, which I'll share later this week.  I am looking at the large stamps differently these days.  You can see more of the Northwoods Rubber Stamps here, and a gallery of beautiful Northwoods samples here.  Imagine the possibilities!

Thank you for your time today!  Happy stamping!