Stampfest at Lynette's May 22, 2026

Don and I visited Lynette yesterday. We enjoyed a nice lunch at Olive Garden. Then we returned and had a wonderful day of visiting and stamping!

 

Lynette showed me the "Tommy Bahama" Tropical shirt card she had made after seeing Tami White's YouTube: "Tommy Bahama" Tropical shirt card featuring Stampin' Up products . I am grateful that she was willing to help me make two of them! We used navy cardstock cut in half at 4-1/4 inches to get two topfold cards. With another piece of the navy cardstock Lynette cut four-2 inch squares to get 2 sleeves on each of the 2 cards. She also cut two navy collar pieces, 1 x 4-1/4 inches and two white inner collar pieces.

Using the Stampin' Up ink colors Tempting Turquoise, Summer Sun, Only Orange and Real Red, I ink blended the white panels. Then stamped the tall palm trees from Gina K's Ocean Silhouettes using GK's  In the Navy ink. On the pocket, I stamped It's Your Day with an old 2001 SU stamp. 

Lynette cut two pocket about 1-1/4 x 1-1/2 each. We just trimmed the bottom corners off before ink blending with Tempting Turquoise. 

The sleeves were just a  2 inch square adhered to the front of the navy card at an angle, before the "shirt" panel was added.

The shirt panel is cut in half at the center, 2-1/8 inch from the side. The left panel is then prepared with a paper pierce tool. Lynette had a plastic template with tiny holes to get an even placement.  The tiny holes make the shirt edge looked stitched. Lynette had navy brads to use as buttons. I added 6 evenely down the shirt front. I inked the edge of the shirt with a dark navy marker. 

The collar is folded so that the top corners meet. The white panel is put inside the collar. It should not go beyond the diagonal fold. You cut partially into on the fold, about 1/2 inch up from the bottom. This allows the front part of the collar to be placed over the inked shirt part. You adhere the back part of the collar centered on the top of the blue card base. It will be behind the shirt when you add the 2 shirt panels. I made a mistake on the first card, gluing the collar to the back side of the navy card. So then I  had to add a crease in collar back to open the card. It's a bit confusing. I didn't watch the YouTube closely enough! Once this card was done, it really looked impressive. On the inside white panel that is 4 x 5-1/4 inches, I stamped Happy Father's Day with a stamp from Lynette's stash-not shown. 

Our pink rose card was inspired by Karen Dunbrook's Everything Rosy? blogpost.We used Lynette's Stampin' Up! Mixed Bouquet wood stamp set for the flower and leaves. The  card we saw had green leaves but with some stamping on those leaves from the stamp with the 6 circles with dots.

First we inked a separate piece of white cardstock with Gina K's dusty rose ink. Then Lynette stamped the big rose stamp with Brilliance white ink and used white embossing powder over that for beautiful outline/texture. 

We did the same for the leaves, inking the white cardstock with Gina K's jelly bean grean ink. Then we  stamped the "6 circle stamp with dots in the centers" using the same jelly bean green ink. If you look closely, you can see portions of that circle stamp in the leaves. Lynette used Brilliance white ink to stamp the leaves and then used white embossing powder over that for the outline texture.  

The rose and leaves were fussy cut. We added a strip of black polka dot paper to our card base. Then using foam tape added the rose.  The leaves were adhered with double stick tape and a little bit of clear acrylic medium for glue.

It was so much fun making this Swing Card. Again, Lynette had made one previously and she was willing to take the time to show me how she did it. She found this YouTube

HOW TO CREATE A SWING CARD THE EASY WAY!  by Angela Pyjas of StampingWithAmore

from May 19, 2020.

The card is a regular 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 inch card. The front flap is scored at 2-1/8 to get the fold back flap. We used 2 circle dies and a Cuttlebug machine.

Our circle die that cut just half of the circle in the card was 2-7/8 inches in diameter. 

Our die to cut the entire white circle was  2-1/2 inches in diameter.

As shown in the YouTube...we placed our card flat onto the Cuttlebug plate centering the larger circle die evenely between the edge and the fold. We taped it (with low tack, easy release tape) and placed the top plate over, just to the edge of the fold...maybe a tiny bit over the fold as instructed in the YouTube. You hold the plate in place until the rollers grab and then you run everything through.

Stamped a sentiment on the inside white circle (2-1/2 inches wide) and adhered it to the inside of the circle.

We cut a piece of printed paper 2-1/4 wide by 5-1/4 high and left a small border of the cardstock. 

I may add a piece of white cardstock next to the printed paper to add a personal note.

All of these cards were so much fun to make! I am so happy that Lynette had such good ideas for our cardmaking day!! Thank you, Lynette!!!

And thanks to my friends who visit this blog!

Peace and all good!

Stampfest at Lynette's March 23, 2026

Yesterday Lynette and I had a great time stamping. We worked on ideas we have been thinking about.

Our trees in the sky card was fun to make. We used a layer of dark blue card stock from Lynette's stash, Stamped trees from Gina K's You Warm My Heart and Natural Silhouettes stamp sets with Versafine Onyx black ink. The die cut happy is from Hero Arts and the "birthday" is from Lynette's stash.

Lynette and I saw a card like made by Audrey Pettit on her Audrey Pettit Designs website. We had lots of fun with this. Seems like we do a lot of substitutions but thie time we actually had the Leafy Texture Fades embossing folder. We inked the raised side of the embossing folder with Gina K white pigment ink, then placed the kraft paper inside and ran it through the Cuttlebug. We die cut 3 flowers from the Tim Holtz Sizzix WILDFLOWERS Thinlits Die set from white cardstock. Then ink blended with Gina K's lemon drop, powder blue and lucky clover inks. Sentiments from Lynette's stash.

Lynette and I saw Vicki Perry's February 22, 2026 post in the Gina K Designs & StampTV Friends Facebook group where she created her own background paper using blue and brown inks. We both loved it and wanted to give that a try. We used leaf stamps from these Gina K's stamp sets: Gentle Silhouettes, Flower Builders, The Greatest Gift, the Original Wreath Builder and Hugs and Wildflowers and Fresh Florals (the Birthday Blessings sentiment). 

We ended up liking a kraft oval for the sentiment in black ink. And stamping flower outlines from the Hugs and Wildflowers set on blue cardstock. The white oval got lost in the background print and so did blue flowers stamped on white cardstock.

We always have such a great time together! I'm so glad that Lynette hosts this very fun day!

Thank you for visitng and wishing you

Peace and all good!

 

Stampfest at Lynette's December 12, 2025

 

Don and I visited Lynette yesterday. We had great time visiting. We took a short walk to a restaurant for lunch which was delicious and we got a few "steps in".

For our Stampfest, we were inspired by two cards made by Meghann Andrews. She used Gina K's Great Outdoors stamps on her June 30, 2025 blog and Youtube: Gina K. Designs The Great Outdoors Livestream. 

We had some technical challenges. Lynette's Waffle Flower Postage Collage die did not have three rectangles going across. However, we were able to use my Gina K Master Layouts 4-it has a single rectangle postage die. So we cut three for each of us. We were glad we could squeeze these three postage pieces on a 5.5 x 4.25" card. 

Lynette found a beautiful wood  mounted stamp from Stampin' Up! called Homespun Plaid to use on blue cardstock. She stamped  both of our cards in Gina K's In the navy ink.

We used Lynette grip mat from Waffle flower. I cut strips of printer paper to mask off the rectangles, using washi tape to hold the paper in place. I liked how securely the grip mat held the three postage rectangles side by side as we worked.

For the sky and water, we ink blended Gina K wild dandelion, Stampin'Up only orange and Gina K powder blue. 

Then we carefully stamped the rocks stamp and the birds with GK in the navy ink. The rocks stamp was not long enough, so we had to mask off part and re-stamp trying to "match" the scene. I think it worked out pretty well.

You can see how well Lynette inkblended the sky and water and how she did a great job on stamping the rocks, which was tricky because the stamp was not long enough for the whole width. 

I did not get good coverage of in the navy ink in the center rectangle. And I had an empty spot on the left which I tried to re-stamp. It's not perfect, but I'm afriad to mess it up worse with a marker.

It was very fun creating this scene with the faux postage look. Having Meghann Andrews' sample was super helpful! Thank you Meghann for sharing your art with us on your blog and in your YouTube!

Now I'd like to try her golf version!

Lynette generously helped me make these three Christmas cards. She showed me cards she had made before our get-together with a Stampin' Up! kit called Sparkling Holiday that had adhesive on the back of the printed cardstock. I loved the design she created!  

Just wanted to thank my blog visitors. Just a reminder that you can always click on an image to see a larger version.

Wishing you peace and all good!

More Browns Technique Cards

This card started as a panel made at Lynette's house on Oct. 23rd using Natasha Foote's YouTube tutorial,  Browns Only Technique, Video #1237 from Sept. 24, 2025. The embossing of the hill and trees was demonstrated by Natasha at about the 10:15 minute mark in her video tutorial.

I tried the technique, first wiping the bottom of the panel with an anti-static powder bag. I tore a piece of paper to make the mask for the hill.  I applied Versafine embossing ink to the paper below the hill mask with a makeup sponge. Then I stamped the trees with embossing ink. Finally I added the gold embossing powder and heat set it all.

I liked how the gold embossing looked, but the paper I used was thin and there was warping from when I did the browns technique. I tried to "get rid" of some of that warped paper by cutting my panel with a Hero Arts Oval nesting infinity die. I cut a black "frame" with the next size larger oval die. I did not get my panel centered perfectly, however! 

The photo above shows  the way the "swiping" of the 3 colors looks, working from the bottom of the page toward the top: Gina K's dark chocolate, warm cocoa and soft stone at the top. 

Below are three cards and another sample showing the swiping of the inks at the beginning. Below each card I list the ink colors I used for the sky. Info about the stamps is at the end.

Ink blending: distress tumbled glass for the lake and streams. The sky, bottom up: distress fossilized amber, Gina K sweet mango, blue denim.

Ink blending: distress tumbled glass for the lake and streams. The sky, bottom up: Gina K wild dandelion, sweet mango, bubblegum pink, blue denim.

Ink blending: Gina K peach bellini, lovely lavender, wild lilac.

Above you can I tried swiping greens for the land. Used Gina K's asparagus, then jelly bean and soft stone at the top. I liked using the Fabiano Smooth Bristol paper 103 lb. (280 gsm). It worked much better than my regular inexpensive cardstock. It held up to water without much warping to much. 

The stamps for the outline mountain and a solid, filled in mountain are from Momenta, a small set that Lynette gave me. 

The tree stamps are from Gina K's Natural Silhouettes & You Warm My Heart, Stampscapes:  Tree Duo 085A and Inkadinkado-2 pine trees 96683 K, 

The birds are from Gina K's Fearless Flyers and Stampscapes-Gulls 302A.

The ground cover filler in the green card is from Stampscapes: Bush, 191A.

You can always click on an image to get a larger version.

Thank you for visiting! 

Wishing you Peace and all good!

Stampfest at Lynette's October 22, 2025

On Wednesday, October 22, we spent a wonderful day with Lynette. We went to a delicious Mexican Restaurant, La Marina Mariscos and enjoyed their lunch special, with lots of left overs to bring home.

Then we had a ball working on cards.We made a quick card stamping on  printed paper. Then we tried a simple ink swiping technique from Natasha Foote's YouTube Come Crafting with Natasha. 

Below are the cards we made with printed paper, inspired by Sharr Lm's Oct. 9, 2025 post on Facebook, at the Come Crafting with Natasha group. 

We used Lynette's Tim Holtz printed papers from her stash, stamping flowers in Versafine Onyx Black ink. 

Stamps:

Hero Arts wood mounted H3258 Real Dill

Gina K Natural Silhouettes

My Sentiments Exactly Happy Birthday

For the next four cards we tried Natasha Foote's Browns Only Technique, Video #1237 from Sept. 24, 2025. 

We used Gina K dark chocolate, warm cocoa and soft stone inks for the "land" in our panels. As shown in Natasha's video, we dabbed a small amount of brown ink on an acrylic block, spritzed it and tried to drag it across the white cardstock. It was difficult to drag. The ink did not go on smoothly. Natasha used the words, "hot mess" at one point...and we were thinking the same thing. Natasha encourages to keep on going and we did! 

NOTE Oct. 25, 2025...I just revisited Natasha's YouTube and noticed that when she dragged the inked and spritzed acrylic block across the paper, the block was held at an angle, so only part of it was touching the paper. That must be why we had trouble dragging it across the paper.

For the second panel we tried Natasha's "wet paintbrush and ink from an acrylic block" technique. That was a little easier. However after our panels were complete, we LIKED the uneven look of the browns and gray colors applied with the acrylic block. That method added more texture than just painting the browns and greys. We dried the paper with a heat tool and also set it aside to dry completely. 

We colored the sky by using blending brushes and ink.

Stampin Up orchid opulence, Gina K wild lilac, blue denim and blue in the navy.

For our lakes: Gina K powder blue and sea glass.

Stamps used:

Gina K Natural Silhouettes...very small pine tree

Gina K You Warm My Heart...various pine trees

The first two panels are Lynette's. The second two panels are mine. Lynette found some beautiful dark brown cardstock to back the panels. 

After a day, our panels look 200% better and I think we both are going to try this technique again!

Thanks for visiting! You can always click on an image to view a larger version.

Peace and All Good!