Postage Due Vintage

Happy Tuesday!

I hope those who had the day off yesterday had some fun!  I realized this morning that not everyone in Canada HAD the day off - some provinces have "Family Day" ... but not all!  I failed in my mission for a "tech-free" day.  In fact I spent a LOT of time on the computer placing orders, doing the paperwork and so on - it was a very productive (and relaxing) day!  We DID spend time together as a family - Craig built a snow fort with the girls and later in the day we played a family game of Charades.  It's actually FUN playing games with the girls now that they are a little older.  Alicia is still at the "I always want to win" phase but at least she doesn't have full-on tantrums if she loses anymore *lol*! 

Now ... crafting.  I've gotta say I'm actually feeling on-top of things in that regard!  Rather than being a week BEHIND in my Stamp Set of the Month projects I'm actually a little ahead of the game!  I've designed my three projects ... now I just have to mass-produce them!  The set for February is "Postage Due" - page 108 of the catalogue - $20.95 clear; $26.95 wood.  This is yet another set that I just HAD to have ... but hadn't used!  I love the challenge of the Stamp Set of the Month Club in that it forces me to sit and make at least three cards with a set.  It really stretches my thinking and creativity - something I don't force myself to do very often - I generally want the "quick wow" rather than just letting my mind quietly create.  Well Friday I did just that and came up with three cards that I love.  The first one I came up with I LOVE!  It's looks complicaed (and yes ... it probably took me well over an hour to come up with it) but it really doesn't take long to put together.  Check it out:

I probably should have taken the photo against a darker carpet - the colors really strike you in person.  I stamped the main image with Crumb Cake ink on a 3 1/4" x 4" piece of Very Vanilla cs.  I then cleaned the stamp and used my Soft Suede marker to color directly on the bicycle image on the stamp.  I used my Stamp-a-ma-jig tool (an absolute MUST HAVE tool!!!) to stamp the darker bike on top of the lighter one.  I cleaned the stamp and used my Pool Party marker (which I discovered desperately needs re-filling!!) to color the number 3 on the stamp ... again - the stamp-a-ma-jig to line it up and stamp in on the VV piece.  Cleaned the stamp - used my Calypso Coral marker to color the flower image directly on the stamp - stamp-a-ma-jig to line it up on the main image.  The VV piece is matted with a 3 1/4" plus 2 ticks x 4" plus 2 ticks (technical, huh?) of Pool Party cs.  I then stamped the 2 cent postage stamp image in Soft Suede ink, punched it out with the Postage Stamp punch and layered it with a 1 1/4" square punch in Pool Party.  I inked the Tower stamp in Crub Cake, wiped off the "1932" with a blender pen and then colored the 1932 with my Coral marker.  It's layered with Coral cs.  The truck was stamped in Crumb cake, I colored OVER the truck image with my Soft Suede marker, wiped off the "10" with a blender pen then colored the "10" with my Pool Party marker.  Finally I used a piece of Sticky Strip to tape down some of the new (and FABULOUS) natural 7/16" Trim Ribbon for that "final touch".  Ok ... maybe it isn't the quickest card to make ... but it really isn't that hard ... just lots to type *lol* ... hope it makes sense!  I love that the Coral and Pool Party stamped images are "faded" - they aren't as bright as they would be if I just stamped those images directly on the vanilla card stock.  It is softened and made more "vintage" because of the Crumb Cake that is underneath it.

So that's the first of my three creations.  I hope you like it!  Leave me a comment - I'd love to hear what you think! 
Pop back tomorrow when I'll show you my second card using this set!  Until then ... have a stampy day!


Tam