Category Archives: Happy Little Stampers

- Stamps:
- Stampington & Co. Christine Adolph “Ledger Butterfly”
- Spellbinders “Wishing Expressions” stamp and die set
- Die – Spellbinders “Wishing Expressions” stamp and die set
- Tim Holtz Ideaology Collage Paper – Floral
- My handmade collage paper
- Perfect Pearls Mists “Bronze”
- Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist “Creme de Chocolat”
- Cardstock
This is one of my favorite kinds of cards to make: mixed media. I layered my handmade collage tissue paper and some Tim Holtz collage paper onto cardstock with matte gel medium. I stamped the butterfly on a piece of tissue and adhered it with gel medium as well. After the piece dried, I sprayed it with the metallic inks and also inked the edges with black ink. I then added the die cut word and stamped sentiment and put the card together. Thanks for visiting.
Challenges:
Happy Little Stampers August Mixed Media Challenge – Words
Everybody-Art-Challenge #429 – Say it in words
2 Comments | tags: butterflies, cardmaking, die cuts, flora, mixed media, spellbinders, stamping, stampington & company | posted in Birthday, Happy Little Stampers, mixed media, Uncategorized

- Stamps – Honey Bee Stamps “Zen Floral”
- Dies – Honey Bee Stamps Honey Cuts “Zen Floral” and “Hello”
- Inks – Ranger Distress Oxides: Peacock Feathers, Worn Lipstick and Squeezed Lemonade
- Copic markers
- Cardstock scraps
- Sequins – Simon Says Stamp “Moonshine”
For this card, I used this floral stamp set in two different was. First I created the background, beginning with covering a piece of watercolor paper with Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide ink, direct to paper. This ink covers the paper so smoothly and thoroughly with just a few swipes! I then stamped the border stamp from the Zen Floral set with another color of the oxide inks with a spritz of water, which activates the ink. I used Worn Lipstick ink for the top border and Squeezed Lemonade on the bottom. I then cut the “Hello” die-cuts and stamped and colored more flowers using Copic markers, picking up the colors in the borders. I arranged the flowers and sequins around the greeting. Ta da! Thanks for stopping by.
Challenges: Happy Little Stampers – April Anything Goes with Dies Challenge
3 Comments | tags: cardmaking, clean and simple stamping, die cuts, distress techniques, flora, honey bee stamps, stamping | posted in General Cards, Happy Little Stampers

- Dies –
- Sizzix Tim Holtz Detailed Butterfly Thinlit dies
- Sizzix Tim Holtz Tag Collection Framelit dies
- Stencils – Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencils: Diamonds (THS081), Flourish (THS032)
- Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Idea-ology Tissue Wrap – Postale
- Ranger Texture Paste
- Dictionary paper
- Napkin – Michel Design Works “Wisteria” cocktail napkin
- Ornate metal corners
- Distress Oxide inks – Broken China, Cracked Pistachio, Faded Jeans, Worn Lipstick, and Black Soot
- Ranger Perfect Pearls mist – Bronze
- Ribbon
I worked on these tags over quite an extensive period of time: layering, drying, analyzing… They were a lot of fun to make though. I cut the tags from a Tim Holtz die set that I’ve had for years and comes in handy because I can make lots of different sizes with it. I made backgrounds on the larger two tags using Distress Oxide inks in blues. Then I added torn butterflies from the napkin applying them with gel medium.
Because I was layering the tag pairs, I added more details on the smaller ones as they would be most visible. I started by collaging torn dictionary paper and Tim Holtz tissue wrap with gel medium onto the gessoed tag surface. I then applied texture paste through stencils. Once that was dry, I layered Distress Oxide ink (Worn Lipstick) over the top and distressed the edges of the small tags with the Tonic Studios paper distressing tool. I added some spritzes of Perfect Pearls mist to add some sheen.
I used more Distress Inks for the butterfly layers, the base layer in blues and Worn Lipstick and the top layer with Black Soot. I then die-cut the black layer and placed it over the base layer so just the center of the body was attached and the wings stick up. I colored the white ribbon with distress ink for a perfect match and tied the two tags together.
Thanks for visiting. It was fun investing time and experimentation into these tags!
Challenge: Happy Little Stampers November Mixed Media Challenge: Tags
2 Comments | tags: butterflies, die cuts, distress techniques, Ranger, Stamper's Anonymous, stencils, tim holtz | posted in Distress Techniques, Happy Little Stampers, mixed media, Tags

- Dies –
- Little B “Circles”
- Spellbinders “Standard Circles Large”
- Stamps –
- Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Collection, “Falling Leaves”
- Hero Arts “Branch Background”
- Hero Arts/Basic Grey “Dotted Grid”
- Embossing powders – Ranger Ink Wendy Vecchi – Red Geranium, Sunflower, and Forget-Me-Not; Ranger – Lime Green and White
- Cheesecloth
- Tea bag paper
- Sticker – Tim Holtz Idea-ology “Small Talk”
- Ticket – Tim Holtz Idea-ology “Expedition” Ephemera pack
- Inks – Tsukineko VersaMark watermark ink and Ranger Distress and Archival inks
- Sequins – Neat & Tangled “Festive Fall Sequin Mix”
- Flower – Prima
- Twine – from the kitchen drawer
I’m kind of thinking I should rename my blog “Lots o’ Layers,” based on some of my projects! I certainly get caught up in enjoying the process and never am very sure of the outcome! For this piece I was inspired by a technique demonstrated in the November issue of Craft Stamper Magazine. The unique step that I took away was using white embossing powder almost as a paint rather than embossing from a stamped image.
I die cut a number of different circles and used one large circle for the base. I stamped the two larger circles with VersaMark and then also applied a bit more VersaMark ink with my finger before adding the embossing powder and heating. After stamping the leaves with Distress inks and moving the colors a bit with a waterbrush, I applied VersaMark ink with my finger, then white embossing powder and heat-set the powder. The bright colors of the ink and some of the embossing powders, along with the white embossing powder, made this a visually interesting collage. I added cheese cloth, paper from a tea bag cut into a circle, sequins and ephemera, layer by layer and topped it off with the little sticker sentiment: Finders Keepers. Thanks for visiting today.
Challenge: Happy Little Stampers – Anything Goes with Dies Challenge
2 Comments | tags: die cuts, distress techniques, embossing, Hero Arts, Ranger, spellbinders, Stamper's Anonymous, stamping, tim holtz | posted in Autumn, Challenges, Craft Stamper, Happy Little Stampers, mixed media

- Stamps – Penny Black “Butterfly Trio”
- Die – Technique Tuesday “Crocus” set
- Enamel dots – Teresa Collins Designs
- Zig Clean Color markers
- Watercolor paper
- Cardstock
After stamping the butterflies onto watercolor paper, I began watercoloring the background for this card using ink from the Zig Clean Color markers and a waterbrush. I added layers of color until I was happy with the look. Then I colored the butterflies with the markers and waterbrush as well, and added the die-cut and dots. Thanks for visiting.
Challenge: Happy Little Stampers October Watercolour Challenge
2 Comments | tags: butterflies, cardmaking, clean and simple stamping, die cuts, penny black, stamping, watercolor | posted in General Cards, Happy Little Stampers, Uncategorized

- Stamps/Dies – Art Impressions “Mini Raccoon Spinner Set”
- Rectangle dies – Simon Says Stamp “Stitched Rectangles”
- Patterned paper – BoBunny “Enchanted Harvest Collection” 6 X 6″ paper pad
- Cardstock – Paper Accents
- Copic markers
- Fishing line
This raccoon is is running up the tree and really trying to take that cake! I stamped the raccoon and cupcake, then colored them with Copic markers. Once that was complete, I die cut them and attached them to the fishing line (these images are two-sided).

Detail of view of raccoon from the inside.
I put a panel of the bark patterned paper on the inside of the card base and die cut the outside opening and the other stitched frames. I attached the raccoon and cupcake suspended by fishing line on the back side of the card front, concealing the fishing line with another stitched frame.
This was a fun card to make and I know a certain raccoon lover who will really like it! Thanks for visiting.
Challenge: Happy Little Stampers September Anything Goes with Dies Challenge.
3 Comments | tags: bobunny, cardmaking, copics, die cuts, fauna, Simon Says Stamp, stamping | posted in Birthday, Happy Little Stampers

- Stamps – Darcie’s set JCS165
- Dies –
- My Favorite Things Die-namics #466 – “Sun, Moon & Stars”
- Little B “Circles”
- Spellbinders Edgeabilities “Classic Ric Rac”
- Patterned papers
- Echo Park “A Perfect Summer: Chevrons”
- KaiserCraft Ubud Dreams (from 6-1/2″ paper pad)
- Sequins – Doodlebug Designs
- Cardstock – Paper Accents
In honor of the solar eclipse we experienced here in the path of totality, I made a card featuring the sun! I used a stamp set I’ve had for a number of years by Darcie’s. It was fun to repeat the sun’s rays with the die-cut from My Favorite Things and repeat the chevron from the paper with the die-cut made with the Spellbinder’s Ric Rac die. The sequins are an iridescent yellow, but they look pretty orange in the photo. Thanks for stopping by.
Challenge: Happy Little Stampers – August Anything Goes with Dies Challenge
3 Comments | tags: cardmaking, Darcie's, die cuts, echo park, my favorite things, spellbinders, stamping | posted in General Cards, Happy Little Stampers, Summer

- Stamps –
- Flourishes “Orchids”
- Technique Tuesday “Pansy Stamp Set”
- Embossing folder – Cuttlebug Decorative Tile
- Patterned paper – BoBunny “Secret Garden – Lovely”
- Cardstock – Bazzill
- Zig Clean Color markers/waterbrush
For this simple card, the main attraction is the orchid. This is such a beautiful stamp set from Flourishes! I stamped it and then went in with Zig Clean Color markers and a waterbrush to color the image. I added the sentiment, still keeping it simple and elegant. I layered the main image with a subtle patterned paper and a simple embossed white layer, then adhered the whole shebang onto pink cardstock. I made this card for a close friend who recently lost her husband. Thanks for visiting.
Challenge: Happy Little Stampers August Watercolor Challenge
2 Comments | tags: bobunny, cardmaking, clean and simple stamping, cuttlebug, embossing, flora, Flourishes, stamping, technique tuesday, watercolor | posted in Happy Little Stampers, Sympathy