Bee Happy Journal Cover

 A friend asked for a journal cover. I knew

she liked bees, and vintage sewing. 

I was in a bee mood seeing how it is summer, so that is what I went with. 

Started with a piece of white cardstock.

Added some stenciling using distress ink. 

Then added the bees using jet black StazOn ink. 

I thought it was a little plain so I did some more stamping with

a script stamp. 

The word bee was made with little letters thinlit set from SU. 

Happy is also a from a SU set. Both were cut out using glossy black

cardstock. 

The panel was then layered on glossy black cardstock. 

Happy that I'm finding some ways to use this cardstock as I found

a big stash of it that I forgot I had. Bought it from Hollo's some years ago. 

I think you will be seeing me use much more of it. Halloween is coming

so it will be perfect for those projects! 

Happy 1st day of August! 

Stamping trails
Karen 

Distress Oxide Stamped Envelopes

 I've been into making decorative envelopes lately. 

The group I'm posting today I made for a private swap with my friend Deb. 

For all of them I used Tim Holtz distress oxide inks. 

This one has some stamping done using SU retired Botanical set. 

The coloring on the flower was done with more distress oxides using a 

small paint brush with water. 

Love these lady images! They are stamped with Jet Black StazOn ink. 

Added washi tape that has vintage cameras on it. Perfect addition with

the lady stamps, and I also added a black script washi tape. 

This one is a bit on the funky side, but I love it. Done

mostly in shades of red. 

Saying on this one is too funny "you'll always be my friend, you know too much"!

LOL

Really in love with this Washi tape girl! Of

course I used lots of different washi tapes to decorate it. 

I also decorated some window business size envelopes. 

Done in blues, and rust. This is a beautiful carousel stamp. 

Dancing in the rain. I used a multi line stamp with blue ink

and dragged it on angle to make the rain. 

This one is a Tim Holtz stamp set. The butterflies were

stamped using leaf green archival ink. 

Well that is all for today. I've been a busy girl!

Good news on our countertop. The install has been moved from the 16th to the 6th of July.

I can't wait to have a kitchen again. Been over a month already. 

Stamping trails

Karen 

April ATC Wine Themed

 My artist trading cards for April. 

Got the stamp set from cozyscrapbook.

Base was inked with different colors of distress oxides. 

Did some fun stitching around the edges using purple thread. 

Edges are also inked with purple. 

Today is April 1st, and we got an April fools joke.....SNOW.

Now I'm going to have to leave my car parked again till after it rains

and washes the salt off the road. Good Grief! 

Oh well its not like I drive the car that much anyway. 

Stamping trails

Karen 

Book Page Snippit Roll

 I'm back with another snippit roll that I made yesterday. 

I was having some trouble with trying to decorate a long strip of

paper so I approached this one differently. 

Started with a cash register receipt that I cut to measure 2 x 18 inches. 

Next I adhered book pages to cover the white cash receipt. 

I then wanted to add some color so I used distress oxide ink randomly leaving

parts of the book page un-inked. 

Then instead of looking at the entire inked piece I sectioned it

off and only focused on 3 1/2 inches at a time. Much

easier for me to work in smaller sections. 

I'm happier working this way. Not as over whelmed with all that

blank space. 

Going to get my first Covid vaccine shot this morning. 

Stamping trails

Karen 

Dragonfly Paper Napkin Tag

 Back with another tag I made this week. 

Started out the same way as the sewing theme tag that I posted yesterday. 

You can view that tag here

Just love all the beautiful paper napkins! 

Most of the ones I have I picked up on clearance at Tuesday Morning. 

Others were swapped, and or gifted to me. 

I liked using the sewing machine around the edges of the tags. 

I alternated from straight stitch to zig-zag. 

To the tab on top I added cheesecloth, lace, and a vintage button. 

Button was threaded with hemp and tied in a knot before being attached

to the top of the tag. 

The ephemera pieces are by Tim Hotlz. 

See that little wooden butterfly at the top right? I got

a package of them to add to my shakers cards, but never used them for 

that purpose. Works pretty good as an accent to this tag. I also added some purple

sequins. Just for sparkle. 

Stamping trails

Karen 

Vintage Sewing Themed Tag with Napkins

 This is a sewing themed mixed media tag I made yesterday afternoon. 

Lots going one here. Started with a piece of cream cardstock.

I added a book page to it then clipped the top corners to make it into a tag. 

Next step was to add some using distress oxide inks. 

Next layer was paper napkins. Those were added with the

help of modge podge. 

After that dried I did the stitching around the edges. 

The vintage photo is from Tim Hotlz photo booth collection. 

I used a dried teabag over the woman image again using modge podge. 

Top and bottom of the torn teabag edges were stamped with script. 

Sewing machine and dress form are thinlit dies. 

Added some lace, vintage buttons, and cheesecloth. 

The greeting on the tag was drawn for me using the cricut air 2 machine.  

At the top I added a tab, and to that I added some cheescloth,

lace, and vintage button. 

Very happy with how this one came out. 

Will be making some more tags! 

Stamping trails

Karen 

April Mixed Media Journal Page

 Mixed media journal page I made for April.

Theme for this one Rain, and Umbrella. 

The girl I cut using an image from the Cricut Air 2 machine. 

I folded a piece of blue stationary paper in half then added book

pages to the front side. The rest remain undecorated for journaling space. 

Added some distress oxide inks, and stenciled. 

The flap opens up to show more stamping, and collaging. 

Under the flap there is more paper for journaling. 

Added a tab to the top, and decorated with cheese cloth, and flowers. 

Hope my partner loves this one as much as I do. Really want

to keep it. May have to make another one. 

Stamping trails

Karen 

Easter Themed Mixed Media Journal Page

 Easter themed mixed media page I made. 

Started out with just folding over a piece of stationary paper. 

To the page I added torn book pages. 

Next I added some color using distress oxide inks. 

Then a little stenciling, stamping, and at the bottom 

I added some paper napkins. The grass along the bottom of the

eggs and bunny are from a die. 

The top of the page is actually a pocket that I added a tag to. 

More stenciling, and matching napkin on the tag. 

Added a tab at the top so it can be removed from the pocket. 

Stamping trials

Karen 

Hodge Podge of Pictures plus Die Cut Flower Card

 My friend Lisa sent me this Dream Big elephant

mug for Christmas. Thanks Lisa! Love it! 

Another view of this fun cup along with homemade Christmas cookies. 

I'm glad the holidays are over as I got rid of all the junk food. 

Sent the last of the cookies home with my daughter Sarah. I told

hubby to be ready for a dry spell as I'll be making only healthy things to eat. 

Remember that kitty I was talking about yesterday who was taking up

all my time? Well here she is peeking out of a empty chicken broth box that

I put on the floor. She loves this boxes, but I have to watch her as she tries

to eat the plastic. Is there anything this kitten won't chew? 

This little beauty is a flower die cut card that Stampin'Up sold

many moons ago. Found them in my stash. Only 4x4 cards, but they are

cute to decorate. I used Oxide inks, and a stamp to decorate. Going

to use this one in a junk journal. 

Krafty trails

Karen 

April Egg ATC

Here are the Easter themed artist trading cards I created

for April. 

Cut out the egg shape then added color with distress oxide inks. 

Next step was to run them through different embossing folders. 

The edges have been heat embossed with gold powder. 

I had to cut more egg shapes from pattern paper to glue on the 

back. After embossing the shapes were a bit wonky! 

Last step was to add the greeting and a little sticker. 

Closer view of three of the egg cards. 

Stamping trails

Karen 

Easter Egg Artist Trading Card

I played around with a artist trading card design for

April. Not sure I'm in love with it, but I like the concept

of an egg shaped card. Artist trading cards are a standard size of 3 1/2 x 2 1/2. 

My egg one measures just a bit below that as it was hard to be exact when I was 

cutting the curve of the egg. 

The gold stripes and dots in the center were made with score tape, and mini glue dots. 

After they were on the egg I covered the remaining sticky side with nuvo gilding flakes. 

The color was added to the egg with distress oxide inks. The embellishments are 

stickers. 

I'm sad after reading something put out by the Cleveland Clinic. They are 

saying that Ohio is looking good on lowering the curve of the coronavirus. However

the peak of the virus won't be till mid May to mid June. From that point it

will start to decrease, but we could still being seeing cases into mid July. 

Don't know if I can hold out that long. Going to be a long three months. 

Stamping trails

Karen 

Easter Cards for the Kids

Made some Easter cards today. Need to mail them

to the kids. Going to be an odd Easter without the kids coming

over for dinner. 

Just don't know when this madness will end. 

The greetings are different on each card as I used what I had. 

The backgrounds are made using distress oxide ink. Love 

that stuff! I really need to invest in the rest of the colors. 

After stamping the image with jet black StazOn Ink I added

color with dye based markers. The bunny was stamped again on

white cardstock then cut out, and added over the base image. 

Think they came out super cute! Hope the kids like them. 

I've been keeping busy doing some Spring cleaning. Also

re-organized the craft room. I had to clean out the spare bedroom closet. 

Been using it to house some craft stuff that I don't use daily. 

Even after letting a bunch of stuff go I still can't believe how much

craft stuff I actually still have. Coming in handy now to keep me

busy since the stay at home order. Only time I'm getting out

is to walk. Doing that in the early morning to avoid coming in contact 

with any other people. There are lots more folks out walking now. 

Weather is getting a bit warmer, so I'm sure that will add to even more

people out on the sidewalks. 

Stamping trails

Karen