Williamston Archives - Delight of my Art

Hello 2020!

Posted on January 22, 2020April 28, 2020 by debjoysmeak

Who’s ready to jump into 2020? I’m so excited for this year. I’ve revamped small weekly classes to one big class a month with a fun new option to get the class for free. Here is the link to this month’s class with details. Next month’s will be posted soon on Facebook. Each monthly class should include a quick and easy notecard, a regular size card, a 3D item and a “wow” project. This month’s “wow” is a spinning heart card that I’m super excited about and I also am loving the fabulous purse/tote die from the Best Dressed Suite. The stitching on the edges is so cute. If you’d like to get registered for this class or for future classes in Williamston, MI, please go to my Facebook page HERE to see the current class. And hooray for 2020!

Teacher Thank You Gift Card Pocket Card

Posted on June 6, 2018 by debjoysmeak

I can’t believe another school year went by already! My oldest will be in MIDDLE SCHOOL next year! My son will be in third and the twins will be going to first grade. So crazy! Time sure is flying by. We’ve been super busy this spring and life doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon. Life is about the journey, not the destination though, right?

I really like how this teacher thank you card came out. I am in love with the Daisy Delight stamp set and punch. They always turn out beautifully. And I love the idea of the hidden pocket inside for a gift card. Let me tell you how I put this together.

First I took a piece of Whisper White cardstock and cut it halfway down the long side, so the piece is 4 1/4″ x 11″. Score this in the middle at 5 1/2″ and also 2 7/8″. This will fold in to form the pocket on the inside of the front. I decorated this with a piece of Designer Series Paper in Lemon Lime Twist and then the flap with a solid piece of Lemon Lime Twist stamped with Lemon Lime Twist. Can you tell I like this color? Ha! Actually I think the pocket is a bit over-decorated so I think I may just do the lemon lime twist on the white fold-over pocket on the next one. I do have to make 4 of these for the kids’ teachers. I also punched with the Every Day Label Punch on the edge of the pocket before I glued down the edges with Tear and Tape.

The ink colors I used are Basic Black Archival (retired), Lemon Lime Twist, Call Me Clover, Sweet Sugarplum (retired), and Blackberry Bliss. (I guess I could have used Rich Razzleberry stamped off, but this was easier since I had it. I’ll link to Rich Razzleberry below.) It is all stamped right on the card base except for the front Daisy, which is punched out with the daisy punch. I stamped the daisy in Sweet Sugar Plum and then used a sponge dauber right on the stamp in the center in Blackberry Bliss. After punching the flowers out I sponged lightly again in Blackberry Bliss in the center. I punched out a 1/2″ circle in Lemon Lime Twist for the center of the flower and put the largest Faceted Gems in clear on top. So pretty! I really like the gradient in the leaves. I got the idea from Pinterest from Artisan Paula Dobson. The leaf fill stamp is stamped in solid Lemon Lime Twist and then I sponged on Call Me Clover on half of the image before stamping it over the outline I had already stamped on the front.

I also stamped the cute little bee from the Touches of Texture stamp set and colored in the body with Crushed Curry and a Blender Pen. I also colored the wings with Wink of Stella. Love the subtle sparkles! I think the teachers will like these. I left the inside blank so I could write a really detailed note about how much we appreciate them. I’m going to have the kids include thankful notes to fold inside as well. Teachers love to hear how the kids loved being in their class.

Have you made any teacher gifts this year? I’d love to see what you’ve made! You can add a picture to our Facebook group .

Happy stamping!

tams# 23225

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Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Magical Day – Dragon Cave

Posted on April 13, 2018 by debjoysmeak

My son just turned 8 and he wanted me to make him a birthday card with a blue dragon that was also a shaker card. Challenge accepted! This was a lot of fun to create, but it did take a while! It actually has quite a bit of painting involved, using my aquapainter. I think it turned out pretty fantastic, don’t you think?!

This Magical Day stamp set is amazing and I’m so surprised that it is on the retiring list. Get it now, while you still can! It’s so cute with the mermaid, unicorn, dragon, knight and wizard along with the nice sentiments and sparkle stamps. I’m getting a lot of use out of it. My son made thank you notes to his friends in his birthday goodie bags with the tiny sparkle elements in this set. I let him pick out exactly what stamps and ink colors he wanted to use. They turned out really cute! And he did them all himself. He chose Dapper Denim, Crushed Curry and Lemon Lime Twist.

Ok, back to the birthday card! I used Thick Whisper White as the base of my card. The top layer is Shimmery White because I knew I’d be water coloring on it. The middle layer is Basic Black. First I cut a circle out of the center of my shimmery white top layer, which I think was the second biggest in the layering circles framelits dies.

Then I laid that over the black panel to see where to stamp my sentiment. I wiped my embossing buddy on the black cardstock to reduce static, stamped my sentiment in versamark ink and sprinkled with white embossing powder. I tapped off the excess and heat set that with my heat tool. So far so good!

I stamped the dragon in Memento ink on Whisper White cardstock, cut him out with the matching framelit and colored him in with the Night of Navy Stampin’ Blends. I love those things! When they are back in stock, make sure you snag as many as you can. And there are new colors coming with the new catalog!!! (Can you tell, I’m so excited?!)

I used my aqua painter and ink pads to paint on the shimmery white piece. I made horizontal black stripes around the cave with Basic Black archival ink. Then I made a light wash with Smoky Slate underneath the cave and around the cave again after the black dried. Then I added a little bit of Crumb Cake all around for depth of color. I stamped a scrap piece of white multiple times with Smoky Slate using the heart from the Sure Do Love You stamp set (another one that’s retiring!). Then I used the larger cloud die from the Up & Away Thinlits to create the rocks. They looked kind of blah, so I added shadows with Basic black, and also some jagged lines to break up the circular cloud shape and then the crumb cake on top of that really finished those off nicely. I added some fire tendrils using Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango and Real Red up top, but it looked strange the rocks were on fire, so I added some mossy tufts to be on fire with Garden Green and Lemon Lime Twist. Whew!

For the shaker part, I turned over the shimmery white piece and adhered a window sheet square to match over the opening. Then I put the foam adhesive strips right around the hole and also a bit along all four sides for support. I poured in a generous amount of gold glitter flakes before I took the backing off the adhesive strips. This is the point of truth! Carefully taking all the backing off so as not to spill the glitter I also had to carefully align the black middle layer with the sentiment side down (so it would show through the cutout) so that the sides were even. Ahhh! Nerve wracking! I got it fairly straight but not perfect. Usually I don’t have a sentiment inside and just put a scrap down for the backing before turning it over and applying it to my card. This was a bit harder but I managed it in the end. I just had to adhere the dragon and my rocks and the card is finished! It took probably 2 hours of planning and execution, way longer than I anticipated, but my dear son is worth it. Let me know what you think! Please leave a comment below and join my mailing list to be updated on future posts.

I’m running a special this month, April 2018!! I will send you a gift in the mail for any order of $30 or more as a special thank you for helping me promote this month to the next level demonstrator! I’m super close, less than $150. Please help me reach my goal and let me spoil you! 😀

Use Hostess Code: R2YGTKCV at checkout before the end of the month. If your order is $150 or more, do not use the hostess code, claim your Stampin’ Rewards and I’ll still send you a gift in the mail.

To place an order, you can click on any of the products listed below and it will take you to my store. Have a wonderful day and happy stamping!

tams# 21967

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Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Lots of Lavender

Posted on March 16, 2018 by debjoysmeak

This Lots of Lavender set is super pretty! I used every single stamp in this set on each card and envelope set. And these cards have a fun secret. THEY SMELL LIKE LAVENDER! What?! Ok, maybe you guessed that from the one where you can actually see the lavender through the shaker window…but they actually all have lavender chambers behind the front panel. Super fun, right? There is a limited time to earn this set for free, but for now Sale-a-bration is still going strong! I’ll be featuring the free sets you can earn with your qualifying purchases until SAB ends March 31. We made the ‘amazing’ one above in our weekly Cocktail & a Card class this week and I also made that one for my second ever Facebook live. You can view that video with this link and see how I put the shaker part together.

Amazing (Smelling) Lavender Card

All of these cards are your regular A2 size cards (half a sheet of cardstock folded in half) and the white panels are all 4″ x 5.25″. All of these have discreet small holes poked in the front so you can smell the lavender through the cards.

This was the first card I tried. I used Sweet Sugarplum cardstock and ink, but then added some Soft Sky ink over the top to make the lavender a little bit more blue. I think most people are using Wisteria Wonder ink for this set, which looks fabulous, but that is a color that I don’t have in my collection right now. It’s a way to stretch your imagination if you have to use what you have! You can see the small circle of holes I poked to the lower right of the flowers in the window sheet. I like this one, but I’m not a super fan of seeing the lavender. They just look dry and not really super pretty like the rest of the card. The sentiment here is from Picture Perfect Birthday. I love the fonts in this set! So scripty and pretty. I especially love the one that says ‘treat yourself.’

On the next two cards I decided to hide the lavender so you can smell it but not see it. I really like the color Rich Razzleberry so I decided on the others that I would just do a stamp-off technique to get a lighter purple. I made a mask using a sticky note pad that is fully sticky instead of just at the top. I fussy cut around it and stuck it on the center flower and then did the side ones. The purples here are all Rich Razzleberry in either full strength or stamped off once. The green is Pear Pizzazz. The ‘Thank You’ sentiment here is from another free Sale-a-bration set Heartfelt Blooms. You really can’t see the holes very well, but there are many throughout the blooms so you can smell the lavender. A word about getting dried lavender: I bought mine through eBay. I had no idea how much a pound of dried lavender would be. I have 2 ginormous bags of dried lavender now. Haha! I show one of them in the video above. You probably do not need to buy this much dried lavender!!

I really liked the clean look of this last one and it was the easiest to do for my class. Which one do you like best? Did you get this set for SAB?

Please click on the links below to shop for any of these products. Happy stamping!

tams# 21205

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Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Watercolor Stocking Christmas

Posted on December 12, 2017December 12, 2017 by debjoysmeak

I love how this card turned out. I’m choosing this one to send out to family and friends this year with the exception of one special card I’m making for my grandma. I love watercolor washes and this is a great way to add a splash of color on shimmery white paper and a textured snowy background.

You can follow along how I made this card on YouTube here.

The items I used in this card are listed at the bottom of this post and also in the video.

The variation I did for my grandma is using the Quilted Christmas DSP to look like a quilt on a watercolor background. She has made dozens of quilts over the years and this piece reminds me of a square quilt she might make to hang on the wall. I used two different paper patterns from the same DSP stack. The red star background fit perfectly behind the 3″ x 3″ quilted piece to look like a border! I was thrilled about that.

I’m really thrilled with how these two cards turned out. I’m excited to see the variations that come from doing multiple cards because watercolor is never the same twice.

The shimmery white cardstock is a dream to watercolor on. I love how it has that wonderful subtle shimmer! I used all the colors from the DSP: Garden Green, Real Red, Lemon Lime Twist, Pool Party and Blushing Bride.

Please share with me the cards you are making for your family this year! I would love to see them. You can post on my new Facebook group here.

Merry Christmas!

tams# 18351

Product List

Hang Your Stocking Photopolymer Stamp Set

Snowflake Sentiments Clear-Mount Stamp Set

Quilted Christmas 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Snowy Season’s Greetings

Posted on November 27, 2017 by debjoysmeak

I love the texture in the Cable Knit embossing folder! It adds so much depth to cards. This card features stamps from Snowflake Sentiments. This is a really easy and pretty card. I used Whisper White, Pool Party and Dapper Denim along with a splash of silver from last year’s Sale-a-bration sale. (Next one is coming up soon in January!)

I did not shoot a video for this one, but it’s fairly easy to explain so I’ll just give the measurements here:

Whisper White base – 5.5″ x 8.5″, folded to 5.5″ x 4.25″

Whisper White Stitched Shape oval – largest oval

Dapper Denim layer – 5.25″ x 4″

Pool Party layer – 5″ x 3.75″

1 Whisper White medium envelope

Directions:

Stamp the 3 different sizes of snowflakes in Dapper Denim onto the Pool Party layer. I found it easier to cut my 3 small snowflakes into 1 and 2. They line up nicely if placed together on the block and then I can use a single one when needed. After it is all stamped, emboss the Pool Party layer with the Cable Knit embossing folder with the ribs going up and down.

Stamp the greeting in Dapper Denim in the middle of the Stitched Shape oval. Stamp the single small snowflake in Pool Party in random places around the sentiment. Run a line of Fast Fuse on the back of the oval and attach a silver ribbon. Trim the ends on an angle. Place Stampin’ Dimensionals above and below the ribbon on the backside of the oval. Since the oval is so big, I recommend 4-6 dimensionals.

Attach the layers using Fast Fuse, since the Pool Party layer is so textured.

On the inside I stamped a retired greeting from Jar of Cheer in Dapper Denim and a few scattered small snowflakes in Pool Party. I also stamped the envelope front with a big snowflake in Dapper Denim and the triple line of small snowflakes along the back flap (not shown).

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Please support small businesses and families. Have a fantastic day!

tams# 17996

Product List

Cable Knit Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Greenery in the Snow

Posted on November 14, 2017 by debjoysmeak

It’s time to start preparing for Christmas! Be ready to send out lovely Christmas cards to your family and friends this year by starting early and not being in a rush for once. (Tell me it’s not just me!) I recently got these Pretty Pines thinlits and I LOVE them. They are so versatile and lovely. They make great accents on cards, tags and gifts. Love love love!

For this card I used the Softly Falling embossing folder on the background and the Everyday Label Punch along with the Pretty Pines thinlits. I put Wink of Stella on the Real Red twig shape things because Wink of Stella is freaking awesome and it dazzles up everything. Wink of Stella would also make a great stocking stuffer…just saying. 😉

The card also features the stamp set Snowflake Sentiments. This stamp set has AMAZING greetings. I really hope this one sticks around for a long time. (And if it retires I’m still going to use it!) I did use the pine branch from the now retired set Merry Patterns, which you could have earned for free in October 2017. You can easily use another stamp as an accent on the envelope such as a single or triple small snowflakes or one of the larger ones from the Snowflake Sentiments. You can see all the included stamps in the links at the bottom of the blog post.

You can check out my YouTube tutorial about how I put this card together. And if you’d like to purchase any of these amazing materials to make your own fun Christmas cards you can buy them directly by clicking on the picture links below.

We are celebrating my family Christmas on the Saturday after Thanksgiving so I really have to get a scoot on! We usually get together in a big gym and enjoy snacks. The boys run around and play ball games and the girls and I get together and do paper crafts. Then we have a big dinner (including fondue) and finish up with stockings. We recently started a new tradition of having a paper tearing competition. It sounds so weird but it’s totally fun! We have dozens of strips of newspaper about 6″ wide by the height of normal newspaper. We have double elimination rounds and go two by two against each other tearing from top to bottom without going off the edge.

What are some of your fun family traditions? Share with us in the comments.

tams# 17500

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Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Stampin’ Blends Coral Yellow Rose

Posted on October 25, 2017 by debjoysmeak

I love roses and especially coral and yellow rose blends so when I saw these new artist quality alcohol blending markers from Stampin’ Up! I knew what I was going to do. These blend so nicely and are very easy to work with. You don’t have to be an artist to end up with gorgeous results. You can layer each color on top of others or themselves, creating layers of color. (They do bleed, so make sure to use scrap paper underneath.)

I only started with a few colors, namely the three I used here which are the light and dark version of Daffodil Delight, Calypso Coral and Old Olive. I also picked up the Ivory, Bronze and Color Lifter, which acts like an eraser to add highlights to projects or as a nice way to erase an oops outside the lines. I love that the price point is the same for a single marker and the entire collection. I don’t feel bad at all collecting these as I am able. Essentially they are allowing us the single markers at the bundle price, which was really cool of Stampin’ Up!

For the card above I colored in the yellows first and then gradually going from light to dark coral. In the YouTube video I did it backwards to see if there was any difference. I think I blended in the video even more than the card above and it resulted in a more blended version of the picture. I really like both and they were both simple so it’s really a win win.

They can also be used to color in Perfect White Accents, Pearls, Rhinestones and ribbon! What a perfect way for us to continue our matching tradition and make even more options of embellishments for us to use on our projects. Thank you Stampin’ Up!

I hope you consider picking up a few for yourself or for your friends for Christmas or really splurge and get the whole set for yourself. Please visit my online store here after November 1, 2017 for these to be available for purchase. You won’t regret it. There is also a kit and special limited time stamp set available for use with the markers as well, which will also be posted November 1st.

For anyone wary about these compared to their older Blendabilities markers which were recalled, you know Stampin’ Up! stands behind their products and have extensively researched and perfected these markers to be high quality and perform well under scrutiny. Being a new demonstrator I did not have the pleasure of using the old ones but I understand there was an issue with *some caps having small holes so the markers would dry out too quickly. I know they offered complete refund for all those old markers for a few months and gave everyone an option to keep them or sell them back for credit. Stampin’ Up! truly cares about their customers, the quality of their product and providing excellent customer care service. I know they have worked extra hard to provide an exceptional product here and I have not been disappointed at all.

Cheers to a relaxing time coloring and stamping!

*Note – the link to the Stampin’ Blends markers below will not work until they are available for purchase on November 1, 2017.

tams# 17216

Product List

Daffodil Delight Light Stampin' Blends Marker

Daffodil Delight Dark Stampin' Blends Marker

Calypso Coral Light Stampin' Blends Marker

Calypso Coral Dark Stampin' Blends Marker

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Thankful Petals

Posted on October 17, 2017 by debjoysmeak

Time to be thankful! I am thankful for my family, my friends and for a wonderful hobby I can share with all of you. This one uses the Blossom Builder Punch and the Bunch of Blossoms stamp set. There are great sentiments on this stamp set along with the Just Add Text stamp set I used on the inside. For a YouTube tutorial click here. To experience making this card with me please join me for this week’s Cocktail and a Card class!

The petals and leaves are bending up from the card for a fun 3D effect without extra bulk. There are no dimensionals used. The colors I used were just Rose Red and Old Olive. I made my own DSP (designer series paper) because I didn’t have enough plain Rose Red cardstock and I didn’t have any DSP that used Rose Red. I guess I could have used something with Old Olive but I really wanted the Rose Red to pop on this one. I also did a Marina Mist version for the YouTube tutorial, although many colors will look fabulous with this design.

The dimensions for this card:

Whisper White cardstock – 8.5″ x 5.5″, folded in half to 4.25″ x 5.5″

Whisper White cardstock – 4″ x 5.25″

Whisper White cardstock – 3.25″ x 4.5″

If you want to purchase anything I’ve used on this card simply click any item below and it will take you straight to my Stampin’ Up! page for that item. I hope you have a wonderful day and I sure am thankful for YOU!!

tams# 16955

Product List

$9.00

Bunch Of Blossoms Photopolymer Stamp Set

$21.00

$18.00

$18.00

$6.50

$6.50

$8.00

$7.00

$4.00

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Gold Embossed Leaves – Sept. 2017 Paper Pumpkin Alternative

Posted on September 26, 2017 by debjoysmeak

It’s time to be thankful! I love the gorgeous colors on the trees this time of year. And while it is almost 90 for one more day, tomorrow promises to be much cooler. I am getting a little excited to wear my hoodies again.

This card is made using the September Paper Pumpkin kit stamps. The leaf stamps are so pretty! And I realized the shape of the beautiful gold foil stickers matches the leaf from the Colorful Seasons stamp set from the catalog. I have been eyeing that one for a while, because it covers all four seasons quite wonderfully. And I am thrilled to have received these leaf stamps in this kit, along with the nice fall ink color Cajun Craze.

For these cards I took a Crumb Cake base card and stamped the smaller leaf all over the front in Crumb Cake ink for a tone on tone look. The card on the left is using cutout shapes from the kit and the one on the right was created just by using the stamps and cardstock from the catalog. For the small leaf I just embossed gold on Early Espresso cardstock and fussy cut it out. The tag was copied from the kit using Whisper White cardstock at 3/4″ x 1 5/8″, cut at the corners and hold punched. Then I laid the bottom onto my Versamark ink pad and embossed that part with gold embossing powder, then repeated that for a nice thick solid band.

To create the rainbow leaf I used Shimmery White cardstock (excellent for watercoloring). I embossed the large leaf stamp in gold embossing powder and heat set it. Then I stamped 4 colors along my F acrylic block, like a paint palette. I used Old Olive, Daffodil Delight, Cajun Craze and Real Red. Using the aquapainter I wet the image and then added color to it. Since the paper was wet, each color blended nicely with the next. I did wipe off the brush tip between colors so the colors on the palette didn’t blend. I painted well outside the outline so that when I fussy cut the large leaf there would be no white border.

For the inside of the card I used an image from the Bunch of Blossoms stamp set that says, “Thank you very much.” It showed up well in Cajun Craze on the Crumb Cake cardstock, without having to add a white insert like you would with darker card bases.

Here is a YouTube tutorial on making this card.