NASA estimates Earth has almost 372,000 miles of coastline, and about a third of all people live within sixty miles of an ocean. That’s a lot of beach! We visit eleven beaches lovingly captured in time by stampers. The story imagined by Laura Verderame for her Welcome Home! stamp art involves a woman waiting on shore for her husband to return from a long fishing trip. That’s his boat—about to bring in the catch. Laura colored the sky with die inks and blending brushes. The sun was made with a circle punched from Masking Magic Sheets. “I put the mask down and started coloring the sky, took it ..read more

After weeks of watching videos and chatting with fellow crafters columnist Karen Whitmore learned something important: Organization is different for everyone. She also learned there are no hard and fast rules on how to organize. However, there were two repeated messages:  Don’t try to organize it all at once. That mess wasn’t made in a day and, chances are, it won’t get cleaned up in a day.  De-stashing is a necessity. When you look at your craft space, do you feel inspired and ready to create? Or is your crafting mojo buried under piles of untidiness?   Karen then goes on to ..read more

Life Is a Bowl of Cherries (and Stamped Stuff) You’re Fintastic Fish-filled bowls accompanied by curious feline spectators is a popular theme. In this scene by Patricia Walsh, a black cat eyes the fish in the middle bowl.        The large fishbowl was stamped twice. After stamping the fish inside the left-side bowl, Patricia turned to her Stampendous Mirror Stamping plate to stamp a second identical fish in reverse. The cat looking into the small fishbowl is a single image and was stamped between the two fishbowls.  “The cat looks a little cross-eyed, and it could be ..read more

Cartoon Capers / High on Life Millions of Peanuts fans look forward to holiday TV specials featuring Charlie Brown and the gang. Front and center in that happy group is Stamper Lynette Etzel of Marion, Iowa. Her favorite character is Snoopy and when she saw this image on eBay, she just had to have it.   Cruising along in a sky of gorgeous blues created with several Distress Oxide inks, Snoopy is surrounded by puffy clouds Lynette cut out with a cloud die. The clouds were colored with Oxide colors and highlighted with white pigment ink. Along with Snoopy’s little feathered friend, the clo ..read more

Little Skater The simple phrase “comfort and joy” can be traced back to the 16th Century English Christmas carol “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen. Sue Williams’ artwork, Little Skater, can be traced back to her memories of skating on farm ponds with her family. “We had so much fun racing each other, playing tag, and practicing our spins,” recalls Sue.  Sue colored this scene with watercolors. She started with lighter colors for the snow, then added darker blues, purples and grays. The pond and stream were painted with several shades of blue. She painted the trees with several shades of gree ..read more

Safe in the Woods Artistic inspiration can come from many sources and local history can provide interesting springboards to creativity. The plan behind Elizabeth Hart’s Safe in the Woods was to highlight the horses in a wooded environment. Elizabeth lives in Aiken, South Carolina, where thoroughbred horses are trained.  “The legendary racehorse Secretariat was trained here. The wooded area in my layout reminds me of Hitchcock Woods located in Aiken, which is one of the largest urban forests in the nation. There are numerous equestrian events held there,” Elizabeth explains. Elizabeth sta ..read more

Coloring and Blending with Alcohol Markers / Lori Craig “I love the look that only alcohol ink can deliver,” says Lori Craig. “I have traveled North America and the world sharing alcohol-marker coloring tips and teaching blending techniques. I’ve found that coloring, like any skill, can definitely be learned—practice is the key.  “There are three important components you’ll need for creating beautiful cards. I like to call these the Marker Magic Trifecta: alcohol markers, paper, and stamping ink. For the samples shown here, I colored with OLO, a fairly new brand of alcohol markers ..read more

There’s a lot to learn from working outside our comfort zones. Choosing bright and bold colors rather than natural hues, for example. Not only is Lana Slouber’s card bright & bold, the message inside continues the theme with a multicolored stamping of “Wishing you a COLORFUL DAY!” Lana took inspiration from a classic movie idea. “The thing that fascinated me most about The Wizard of Oz is when it changes from black and white to color. I translated that idea to the idea of using our skills to move from a black-and-white view of the world to full color!” Working on a Slimline card format, s ..read more

RSM’s Fall issues are Sharon Shuman’s favorites—when she learned the theme was Dark & Stormy, she knew she had the perfect word stamps for her scene. “I wanted to include the Edward Gorey stamp because it’s a favorite of mine and because it fits so well with the house, which I use every Halloween,” says the Bakersfield, California, stamper. With the main images in place, she added a tree to fill the middle area. The house was stamped in black and left uncolored to make it stand out against the ominous sky and appear as if it’s bathed in the light of a full moon. Sharon will do anything to ..read more

Stamping on Veggies Stamper AJ Vander Ende inspiration for genie stamping came from a food show she saw many years ago. The presenter cut off the bottom of a bunch of celery and dipped the rose-like shape into red food coloring—it became a floral accent decorating a vegetable tray. Although AJ’s favorite thing to do with celery involves stuffing a stalk with peanut butter and eating it, she was motivated to make art instead. The peanut butter jar stayed in the pantry and Distress Oxide inks were hauled out in its place. The Oxide’s die and pigment formulation is water-reactive and turned out ..read more