Chicago CHA Update #2 - C.C. Designs Rubber Stamps & Stampendous

 Welcome to day 2 of my CHA Update. Today I'll be sharing with you pictures from the C.C. Designs Rubber Stamps and the Stampendous booth.

As I continued my quest for new, fun and exciting stamps companies I decided to venture into the New Exhibitor section of the show. This is the part of the floor where CHA first timers get to strut their stuff. In all honesty it is my favorite section of CHA because you really do get to see the latest and greatest products on the market all in one place.

C.C. Designs Rubber Stamps

According to the manufacturer, C.C. Designs Rubber Stamps are made of high quality, deep etched red rubber. All their stamps come attached to EZ Mount Foam. The stamp will then need to be attached to an acrylic block to be used. 

I found these stamps to be very cute, as I am fond of the warm friendly images of children which are dominating the stamp industry at the moment. The owners of the company were kind and a delight to talk to. 

To learn more about CC Designs Rubber Stamps you can visit their blog:  http://atsblog.typepad.com/cc_designs/.

 Stampendous

I've long been a fan of Stampendous images, but when I saw their vintage offerings and this cute side table display I just had to take a few pictures. The banner behind the candelabra is made up of their stamped images and what looks like mists. So chic!

The Stampendous website is can be found here: http://www.stampendous.com/

If you are new to stamping they have some really great tutorials on everything from masking to basic inking up.

Tommorrow I will share images of something other than stamps. There were some really neat paper and embellishment releases as well.

Thanks for stopping by,

CarrieAnne

April My Pink Stamper Pinkalicious Blog Hop

Happy Spring and welcome to the April My Pink Stamper Pinkalicious Blog Hop!

If you are just happening on the hop please be sure to start at the My Pink Stamper blog to see all of the projects created by Robyn and the MPS team. If you have been following along the whole time you should have just come from Shauna's blog.

After checking out my project and the tutorial below be sure to visit Karlee's blog next!

Our challenge was to create a birthday inspired project with any My Pink Stamper stamp set. I decided to make a vintage inspired birthday hat for my daughter's 6th birthday this Summer. Ironically, she was not home when I took the pictures so my 3 year old is having a blast being the model.

I used the "Birthday" sentiment from the "Happy Birthday Sweetie" stamp on the "Sweetest Cupcakes" stamp set and the "Girl" sentiment from the "Sweet Baby" Stamp set.

The blue rosette was created from the scallop on page 53 of the Sweet Treats Cricut Cartridge and the "6" is from the Carousel Cricut Lite Cartridge. The cone is from a pattern of my own design and I also created the crepe paper fringe. The fringe is easy to make and super cheap too! Visit your local party store to find a wide array of colors at about a $1 a roll.

RECIPE

Stamp Sets: My Pink Stamper: Sweetest Cupcakes and Sweet Baby

Cricut Lite Cartridge: Carousel (the number 6 cut at 2 3/4 inches using the Font Function and Shift Key)

Cricut Cartridge: Sweet Treats (The rosette is created from two flower5's cut at 4 1/2 inches with the Shift Key)

Paper: Madeline's Song Kit: Miss Art's Papercrafting School
Pink Flowers: Prima
Glitter: Stampendous
Pearls: Recollections
Brown Ink: Tsukineko
Misc: Crepe Paper, Pink Tulle, Ribbon


The entire blog hop list of artists and their projects follows:

Robyn
Michelle-Meesh's Pieces
Shelley
Edna
 Julie-readysetstamp
 Lori
Cristi
 Raechel
Bling Queen Wendy
 Agnes--Flowerdisco
Sonia
Tracy--Craft Junkie Too
Andrea
Pam
Helen
 Tammy
Courtney--Court's Crafts
Angela's Simple Creations
Kassidy
 Shauna at Craftee She
 CarrieAnne
Karlee
 Maria

Thanks for stopping by and for those interested in how to make the fringe - read on below.

CarrieAnne

Fringe Tutorial

1. Cut each color of crepe paper to your desired length. 18 inches for the hat shown.

2. Layer the 3 crepe paper lengths one on top of the other and stitch down the middle. You could use the straight stitch on a sewing machine, but I used a loose stitch and a needle and thread.

3. Fold the crepe paper in half and cut just shy of the stitched line down the length of the paper.

4. Open the layers again and "fluff."

5. Use your fringe on all sorts of fun projects!!

Chocolate Easter Bunny Card

With Easter just around the corner I have been having visions of my favorite Spring treat - chocolate Easter Bunnies. The bunny cut is from the Cricut Lite: Celebrate with Flourish cartridge and was cut at 6 inches. By combining dry embossing and all over heat embossing on the bunny I was able to create a "chocolatey" finish. This card is also fun because the bunny itself is the hinged card. I created the ribbon rosette for the tail by running thread through ribbon and pulling the ends of the thread and then tying a knot. This is also the way one creates a yoyo flower if you add a center. Thanks for hopping by, CarrieAnne Cricut Lite Cartridge: Celebrate with Flourish Cuttlebug Folder: Houndstooth Patterned Paper: K and Company, Three Bugs in a Rug Brown Ink: Tsukineko Embossing Ink: Stampendous Embossing Powder: Stampin' UP! Butterflies: Multicraft Imports Halfback Pearl: Recollections Misc.: Ribbon, Buttons

Hand Delivered Note

At 31 I am very blessed to have all my grandparents still living. I try pretty hard not to take them for granted and let them know how much I love them. This week both of my grandfather's have been hospitalized so this week I will be sharing a few projects I made to send them to cheer them up.

I am mailing out this "hand delivered" card later today. Inside the envelope is a personal note. The "stamp" was cut out from Creative Imaginations paper and then "canceled out" with a marker. I like the idea of the hand having painted nails that really looked painted so I painted on embossing ink with a liner brush and heat embossed clear enamel over the red nails. I am mad about tulle these days so I tucked a bit into her shirt sleeve and hand made the little rose with a flower from the Mother's Day Bouquet Cartridge.

Recipe:

Cricut Cartridge: Sentimentals, Mother's Day Bouquet
Patterned Paper: Graphic 45, Creative Imaginations
Ink: VersaMark, Stampendous Clear Embossing
Embossing Powder: Stampin' UP!
Pearl, Tulle: Stash


Thanks for looking,

CarrieAnne

Zero Calorie Ribbon Candy

In finishing my holiday decorations I needed a little something extra for my buffet table. A bit of ribbon candy in a crystal candy dish would be perfect, but I faced one little problem. Since having the baby I have been working really hard at getting my not-so J.Lo posterior back and a big bowl of ribbon candy tempting me every time I rounded the corner was not going to help me reach my skinny jeans goals. Zero calorie paper ribbon candy, however posed absolutely no threat.

My love for metallic cardstock is once again apparent as I cut several different colors into two inch strips. I then ran two rows of red line tape on each side of the carstock and covered the tape in coordinating microglitter from Stampendous. To get the true ribbon candy shape I then sprayed the paper with water (the glitter doesn't come off) and folded it back and forth. I placed the folded paper between two heavy soup cans and let the paper dry over night. This wetting and drying process does a pretty good job of creating the right shape, but a few glue dots were used on particularly rebellious pieces. These also make great Christmas tree decorations when you thread a string through the middle, and they are a great craft for the kids (minus the glitter if you aren't feeling overly vacuumy).

Thanks for looking,

CarrieAnne