SBS 27 - Sisters please read

Hey ya'll,
I want to personally welcome each of our SBS 27 members to the group. I do not have email addresses for all of you yet. So I'm making this announcement here on my blog with hopes that you will all see it.

I have set up a yahoogroup for SBS 27 members so that we can keep in touch with each other easier. Please be sure to send me your email address privately at mel@javamels.com or mel@elementaldoodles.com so that I can make sure you get an invite to join our group. Brenda, one of our SBS 27 members has already started putting together a birthday list for our little group. She is also going to be a moderator on our yahoogroup. So you will want to be sure to hook up with Brenda and get your birthday and mailing address to her so you can be added to the birthday list.

Please be sure to pick up your SBS 27 badge at http://sisterhoodofthebloggingstampers.blogspot.com and add it to your blog. In addition, please be sure to add the links to your other SBS 27 group sisters to your blogroll for our group. And once you have joined our little group be sure to stop by everyone's blogs and post a hello. If you are not a member of SBS 27 but would like to be please feel free to stop by the blog listed above and sign up to be included in our blogring. Members are limited to 20 and spaces are filling up fast (there are only 4 left as of the date of this post).

Thank you. I am now off to visit each of your blogs and check in with you all. :-)

Elemental Doodles Pre-Order Sale!!!!

WooHoo!!!! This is just what many of you have been waiting for. The announcement will be made on the ED blog and website this weekend but I wanted to go ahead and make the announcement with coupon code here first. :-)

Elemental Doodles is now taking pre-orders for their initial set release that is scheduled for March 2009. The Pre-Order Sale is 25% off any orders of any size that uses the coupon code below:
EDPO25

Go to www.ElementalDoodles.com , click on Catalog in the left side navigation, click on Stamps in the body of the Catalog page, click on New Releases and then select the sets you want to add to your cart. When you enter this code in the cart you MUST click the RECALCULATE button at the bottom so that the cart will apply the discount. Otherwise, the discount will not be applied.

All orders will ship as soon as the first run is received (expected delivery date into the ED office is by the first week of March if not sooner).

What is an ATC?

I've had several questions about ATC's (both on the blog and privately) so here is a brief explanation.

I absolutely LOVE working on ATC's. They are miniature works of art. And the stamps from Elemental Doodles are PERFECT for making ATC's.

And ATC is an acronym for Artist Trading Card. The only requirement of an ATC is that is has to be 2.5" X 3.5". This way they will fit into trading card sleeves for those who collect them. Many artists trade these cards....many use them just to send out the same as you would regular cards. They are normally made with a CS base just like any other card. However, they can be made using any material as a base as long as the finished product is exactly 2.5" X 3.5".

ATC - Easter

Hey ya'll, I finally had a chance to play with one of our new stamp sets for ED. This is the ATC I worked on tonight. I am going to redo it though. I forgot to lighten my pencil oval outline so that it wouldn't show up. :-( So please overlook that. I just really wanted to get this ATC posted.

ATC - Easter
Supplies Used:
Stamps - Elemental Doodles
Printed Paper - Making Memories
Inks - Various Versamark and Palette Inks (TAC)
Miscellaneous - Crystal Glitter, Spiral Clip, Adhesive Dot Roller, Tombow Glue Pen (all from TAC).

Instructions:
Very easy card to do. This card is made using Elemental Stamping technique with Elemental Doodles' Easter stamp set.

1. Cut printed background paper to 3.75X2.75" (yes, I know, this is a wee bit larger than a normal ATC but I cut the white part first and stamped without thinking about the size I needed for my printed background - if this bothers you then cut your Printed Background paper to 3.5X2.5 and your white CS to just 1/4" smaller).
2. Cut White CS to 3.5X2.5".
3. Ink the solid bunny with Pallete Noir ink and stamp center on the bottom of the "frame".
4. Ink the bow stamp in a light color (I used a pale pink here) and stamp center top of the "frame".
5. Repeat step 4 above using a darker shade of the same color leaving a little bit of the lighter color showing around the edges creating a shadow effect.
6. Ink the open carrot orange and the greenery green (this is easy to do with clear stamps because you can actually see where you are inking). Stamp this carrot randomly around your "frame" turning the stamp periodically so it is facing different directions.
7. Ink the solid carrot the same way as the open carrot and do the same thing.
8. Ink the palm fronds with a light green and use as a filler between the carrots.
9. Repeat step 8 with a darker green.
10. Ink the swirly deco image with a metallic color (I used gold) and stamp randomly around the "frame".
11. Ink the Bunny face image in Palette Noire and stamp in the center.
12. Using a sponge and dark blue ink (or other dark color of your choice to complement printed paper and colors in your image) and sponge all around the edges of both White CS and Printed Paper.
13. Using the glue pen, outline both papers and then dip into Crystal Glitter.
14. Let glue dry.
15. Apply adhesive to the back of the white CS and adhere to center of printed paper.
16. Add Spiral Clip as a decoration to one of the sides.

ATC - Love & Laughter

This is ATC number 2 that I did today.



ATC - Love & Laughter
Supplies Used (TAC unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: T-2981 Love & Laughter
Cardstock: Brown Textured, Light Pink
Ribbon: Miscellaneous Brown with gold specks
Coloring Medium: Pink Marker
Inks: TAC Palette Burnt Umber
Embossing Powder: Transcendence
Miscellaneous: Double Stick Tape, Crystal Lacquer, 1/8" Hole Punch, Crystal Glitter, Crystal Glitter, Tombow Mono Multi Glue.


Instructions:

1. Cut brown CS to 2.5X3.5"
2. Cut pink CS to 2X3"
3. Stamp and emboss Tree image in Palette Burnt Umber (remove ink from tiny butterflies and recolor with a Pink Marker - breathe on stamp to remoisten ink just before stamping).
4. Using single heart image from T-3025 Love Blooms set, stamp using Pink Marker at ends of a few branches. Do not emboss.
5. Stamp sayings at top and bottom with Palette Burnt Umber ink and emboss.
6. Using pen tip apply glue to tiny butterflies and sprinkle on glitter. Tap off excess.
7. Punch holes in top center of pink CS.
8. Feed ribbon through and tie bow.
9. Attach to brown CS with double stick tape roller.
10. Apply Crystal Lacquer to hearts and let dry.

ATC - Love Blooms

I've been working on a few different ATC's the last couple of days. And will have more to share over the next few days as well.

Love Blooms ATC
Supplies Used (TAC, unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: T-3025 Love Blooms
Cardstock: Red Textured, Ultrasmooth White
Ribbon: Black Satin, 1/8"
Coloring Medium: N/A
Inks: TAC Palette Noir, Palette L'Amore Red, Versamark
Embossing Powder: Transcendence
Miscellaneous: Double Stick Tape, Foam Dots, Crystal Lacquer, Silver Mini Brads, 1/16" Hole Punch, Large Eye Needle, Crystal Glitter, Tombow Mono Multi Glue, Sponge, Slice, Noteworthy Slice Design Card.


Instructions:

1. Cut 2.5X3.5 Red CS.
2. Cut 1.5X1.5 shap using the Slice (or other 1.5" punch/cutter)
3. Using Versamark ink stamp mini hearts all over red background paper.
4. Using a ruler, mark with a pencil dots every 1/4" along both long sides (approximately 1/4" from edge on both sides).
5. Punch out holes where you just marked.
6. Stamp vase and stems using Palette Noire ink on white squares.
7. Stamp heart flowers using Palette L'Amore Red ink on white squares.
8. Using sponge dab Palette L'Amore Red ink along edges of white squares.
9. Using Tombow adhesive pen and crystal glitter edge white squares with glitter.
10. While glitter and glue are drying, lace up sides with black ribbon. First attach one end to the bottom hole with a silver mini brad. Then, using the large eye needle, thread the ribbon up and around and down the other side. Secure the other end with another silver mini brad. Cut off excess ribbon from both sides.
11. Adhere white squares to front of card using 3D foam pop dots.
12. Add Crystal Lacquer to the heart flower buds and let dry.

My baby won 3rd place

I am so proud of my baby. He entered a lego building contest at his school that was sponsored by the National Association of Women In Construction (http://www.nawic.org/) . This is the first contest he's ever entered. Each participant had 1 hour to build something construction related using only 100 legos. He was done with his in about 20 minutes. His is the Eiffel Tower and Paris surrounding it.