Scratch-N-Stamp
Search

Checkout

Keep up with Sales, New Products and other events at Scrap `n Stamp. Sign up for our newsletter now!

What's New

Hot Deals



christmas in july

Tuesday with Tara {take 360} Let it SNOW

Happy Tuesday!

In my mind, I feel like I should avoid ‘snowy’ cards when I’m working on Christmas in July projects… but here I am, sharing a snowy card inspired by today’s SNS Challenge word: WHITE.

Perhaps you remember that I had a bit of an oops with a bottle of White Dina Wakley Media Gloss Spray several weeks ago (see the card & read about it here).  Since I had a puddle of white on my desk, I started grabbing papers & tags and assorted other things and dipped them in the puddle.  I suspected that since it has a glossy finish it would be fun for a resist technique, and I was right!  This card front was plain white Cardstock, which I dipped & dripped and splattered and left to dry.

I die cut the sentiment (Tim Holtz Festive Words) from Glitter Cardstock and added some color blending to the solid layer behind it.  I found a couple of Scribbly Snowflakes left over from last year’s holiday crafting and while I don’t recall what colors I used, I took inspiration from them for the palette on this card- keeping the background softer to let them stand out.

I went to my old faithful, Distress Inks to do some color blending over the card- a subtle mix of Stormy Sky, Salvaged Patina & Chipped Sapphire.  Once it was blended, I spritzed with some water and wiped off the card to really make those glossy bits pop!

I finished everything off with a few sequins and mounted it on a light blue card base.

Hope it gets you thinking about the Christmas creations you might start making this month… and the shopping you’ll do during our upcoming Christmas in July event, celebrating with 12 full days of inspiration and savings!

See you soon!

Inky hugs,

Tara

Tuesday with Tara {take 360} Let it SNOW Read More »

Christmas in July Blog Hop

Happy Blog Hop Day!

I’m not one of those people who work on their Christmas cards all year long… and I’m not one who does more than one or two Christmas cards in July.  However, I DO buy Christmas stamps after Christmas and our blog hop today gave me an opportunity to make a card with one such stamp set that was at the top of my wish list in 2020.

But first, let me tell you about our blog hop!  We’ve kept the theme pretty flexible this time, so you’ll see a variety of Christmas card inspiration ranging from elegant to cute and everything in between!  I’m always so impressed with the diversity on our design team, and I hope you enjoy it too!  You’ll find the full list of blogs & links at the bottom of this post.  You can also enjoy some Christmas shopping in the SNS online store this weekend- lots of fabulous Christmas items are on sale 20% off!  Have fun!

Today I’m using Sketch Greenery Stamps by Tim Holtz, which I fell in love with last fall when it was a new release.  I missed out on all the after Christmas sales, but still had to have this one when I found it this spring.  I love the mix of greenery and the collection of lovely, simple sentiments… and I can totally envision myself using some of these images during the rest of the year, too!  Just watch for it to show up in future projects 🙂

I kept things very simple for my card, going back to basics as it were by featuring gold embossing and plain white card stock with Kraft.  I stamped one of the greenery images multiple times and heat embossed with gold, then stamped the holly design with Picket Fence Distress in the open spaces.  I added a bit of loose color (aka I scribbled) to the gold leaves with a white watercolor pencil.

I selected one of the many sentiments in the set and heat embossed it as well, then trimmed it down and cut it into a flag shape before mounting it on a white layer.  I added a small piece of white sheer ribbon to the flag before gluing it all to my white card base.

As I said, I kept it really simple! Gold heat embossing was one of the first things I learned to do when I started stamping in the early 90’s and it still makes me smile!  This card really is a throwback for me though… my VERY first project with stamps was making personalized Christmas wrapping paper on Kraft shipping paper!  So fun to think back about what started it all!  I’d love to know, what was your first stamping project?

Next up you’re going to hop over to see what KIA has made!  And she’ll keep you going from there. If you need it, here’s the full hop list:

 

Happy Hopping!  I hope you’re inspired to get going on some Christmas makes… or at least that it gives you a bit of a mental cool down in the midst of all this heat 🙂

Inky hugs,

Tara

 

Christmas in July Blog Hop Read More »

Tuesday with Tara {take 257} Fa La Latte Ombre

Happy Tuesday!

I’ve used Dina Wakley Media Gloss Sprays in Lemon, Olive & Turquoise to create this easy ombre background.  I wanted to have lots of space to let the colors blend and overlap, so a slimline card seemed like a fun size to work with.  Starting with a strip of white card stock, I sprayed each color to cover approximately 1/3 of the strip.  Once I had good coverage & no white showing, I removed the nozzles and splattered across the paper for some extra contrast.  This was actually my first time playing with the Gloss Sprays, and they have a really neat sheen to them (especially where the paint is thicker, like on those splotches) that was really hard to capture on camera.

I challenged myself to take today’s ‘ombre’ theme and combine it with Christmas in July… a bit tricky when you are working with colors that are more reminiscent of summer than winter!  I selected some Christmas dies that I purchased after Christmas last year and hadn’t played with yet, and decided three large snowflakes (from the Tim Holtz Wreath & Snowflake set) would be great for a slimline card.  The colors on my card have a whimsical feel, so I chose this fun little coffee mug image from the Festive Things set.  Coffee is perfect any time of year 🙂  I selected cardstock scraps that were close to the colors in my background and cut the mug three times, layering the two pieces for contrast.  Each was layered onto a glittery die cut circle.

I was debating whether I would add a sentiment to my card… and once I decided on one, I had to figure out how to do it.  I could have used alphabet stamps or dies, but instead I did a little ‘stamp surgery’ to create the sentiment from words in the Lawn Fawn Thanks a Latte Stamp Set.  It’s easy to do with good quality photopolymer stamps!  Make a clean cut to separate the parts you want and you can rearrange them as you need- in this case I only had to move & shift one letter!  If I need to use the original ‘fall’ word, I can easily place them back together on an acrylic block.  I used my Tim Holtz mini snips, but any sharp detail scissors will work.

I decided to play up on the whimsy of the card and cut imperfect layers for the fun sentiment, which I arranged under the three snowflakes.  Here’s another look at the details.

Hope you like it and are inspired to create some easy ombre with Dina Wakley Gloss Sprays!  I know I’m looking forward to playing with them again!

Inky hugs,

Tara

Tuesday with Tara {take 257} Fa La Latte Ombre Read More »

Free Shipping Anywhere In Canada