Julie Nutting Stamps

I ran into Julie Nutting stamps while browsing a few card making blogs and fell instantly in love with them. I immediately purchased a whole collection on Amazon. I love the infinite possibilities of being able to create beautiful cards with these stamps.

My first creation was a farewell card for the organist of my choir who was leaving.  Knowing her love of fashion, I immediately made a card she could identify with and which spoke to who she was.  Here it is:

This stamp is called Megan. I stamped and colored her using Copic markers then paper pierced the skirt and top with card stock from my stash.  I then used Stickles to embellish the hem of the top and her boots. I layered the cut-out on a fancy frame and placed it over a colored burlap to match the colors in the skirt. The background paper is from the Animal Prints digital paper by Digi Diva.

The second card I made was for a 50th birthday party. This card started out with me creating a checkerboard flooring technique (tutorial is found here). Once I made the floor, I thought a Julie Nutting stamp would go just right with it. I Gessoed the card stock paper and used watercolor and reinkers to create the background. I then attached the flooring I made to the card stock.  I stamped the Doll with Swing Dress rubber stamp, cut-out the doll, colored with Copics.
I then paper pierced the skirt, again using Animal Prints by Digi Diva and embellished the skirt and blouse hem, and shoes (as well as added earrings and a bracelet) with Stickles. I cut out a dance hall ball, used Stickles to give it some dimension, and added some gold thread to give the appearance of a Disco ball hanging from a dance floor.  I finished the card by adding a Happy Birthday tag.

My third creation is a framed art using Julie Nutting's Lorena rubber stamp. For this I used watercolor paper to make the background. I used a mixture of pinks with a tinge of orange watercolor and swirled it on the background. Once dry, I stamped the rubber stamped image to the background and colored it with Copics. I placed the card stock in my printer and printed the scripture to the right of the stamped image (Genesis 1:31). I then used a double-sided card stock by Beyond the Page. I stamped the image again on the card stock and paper pierced the top and hem of the skirt with the black and white polka dot pattern (on one side), and the skirt with the pink Damask pattern (on the other). I attached these to the stamped image using glue stick, then embellished with rhinestones in pink and black. Once done, I glued these to an Cheetah print card stock from my stash, then attached that to the pink Damask paper used on the skirt. I then framed and embellished the finished art piece.

Here is a larger view of the art work and below that, the finished product.

True to My Word

Well, here I am again, and true to my word, I'm updating you on all I've been doing for the past few months. Let's start with right after Mother's Day. I dance in a liturgical group at my church and our dance director has resigned from his position at my church after serving in that capacity for seven years. Well, as a token of our love and appreciation for him, the group wanted to get him a plaque. My creative side balked at that idea, so I volunteered to create something for him from all of us.  Here is the outcome of my creativity:

This is the mixed media piece I made. First off, using the logo and images from our group, I printed them on canvas paper (the fonts I used were not filled in which allowed me to do so with acrylic paint and/or Stickles. A day before printing, I used random watercolor doodles to add some character to the canvas. Once dry, I used a Recollections Chevron stamp and inked it with Versamark Watermark stamp pad, then spritzed it with water and stamped the canvas for some dimension. Next day, I printed to image/logo to the canvas. I then went to work. Using Stickles Platinum. I filled in the director's name. For our logo I used blue acrylic paint, then once that was dry I applied clear Stickles (which gave it that sparkle effect).

For the dancers, I used some African fabric I had stashed away. I cut a mask of the last two dancers on both sides, then traced the cut out onto the fabric with while pencil. I cut the dresses out (one red, the other green) and applied them to the dancers' image on the canvas. I then used the Stickles Platinum to add dimension to the dresses.  For the two dancers with the gold dresses, I used another medium -   Flower Soft. I added glue to the image and sprinkled it with Gold Flower Soft. Once that was dry, I went to work on the guys. For their shirts I used purple acrylic paint and followed that up with clear Stickles.  Here's a close up look at the dancers:

Once the canvas was dry, I mounted it on a piece of brown fabric. I cut the borders of the fabric using my pinking shears. I glued the canvas to the fabric, then attached it to the red African fabric. Finally, I attached it all to a woven place mat I had purchased years ago from Marshall's. To finish, I painted gold acrylic onto some Popsicle sticks, then used the Stickles to draw a pattern on them. Once they were dry, I used the pinking shears to cut the sticks and attached them to the piece. I also used acrylic on a few buttons and attached those also.

Of course, we can't have a gift without a card. Here's the finished product to the card I made. I used the Praise Dancers digital stamp by Fine Arts by Robert Jackson. I used Gimp to fill in the colors of each dancer. Once that was done, I saved it with a transparent background and added it to the background image. I then  cut that with the pinking shears and attached it to rounded card stocks (fluorescent yellow and aquamarine blue). I attached all the this to a colorful piece of fabric I'd purchased at WalMart. I finished the card by cutting out a label and stamping "We'll Miss You" to it, then embellishing it with a spot of bling.

Just Being Creative

There's one thing I love more than paper crafting and that is playing with graphic images. It's a plus for me when I can combine the two.  The following cards were made using both of these forms.

First, I created a card for a friend who wanted to thank the DJ that played at her husband's birthday party.  In trying to find something that fit the occasion, I used the "Lil DJ" digi by Robert Jackson and using Gimp, combined it with a background image I had in my stock collection. Prior to adding the digi to the image, I made it a png file, so the transparent file would blend in with the background image.  I then made a tag in Word and cut / paste it to the front of the card.  This is the final product.

This next card was for my sister's boss. Her boss loves to dance and since I didn't have an image she liked, she asked me to use a shoe as the theme. Again, I went into my stash of digi files and found a shoe I had used on the left. Again, using Gimp, I first filled the black shoe with the leopard pattern. I then cleaned up the image so that the spots that are highlighted in the black shoe were completely filled with the pattern. I also made the image transparent (png), which would allow me to place it on a background and not have an overlap with the white background jpeg files have. Once done, I found a background that would highlight the shoe. My idea was a stage light theme. I found the right image, though the original color was blue.  My sister's boss loves green (so do I BTW), so opening the image in Word, I recolored the background in green, added a border, and using Word Art, created the sentiments on the front of the card. I placed the shoe image on the background and then copied/pasted another copy with the same dimensions and printed it all on white card stock. I paper pierced the extra image of the shoe that I printed out and stacked it over the printed image with sticky dots that would allow the shoe to "pop out" from the background image. I finished by embellishing the card with buttons and twine to match the color of the card stock and green background, then used Stickles to add some dimension and bling to the words and image.   Hope you like it.

Our Purpose

God made us for His glory. There's no ifs or buts about that.  The enemy of our souls has lied to us and tried to derail us from our purpose. But Jesus came into the world to steer us back on course. 1 Timothy 1:15 states, "Here is a true statement that should be accepted without question: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and I am the worst of them."

We had not been doing what we were made for, so God, in His infinite wisdom, sacrificed His only Son, Jesus Christ, so that we (humankind) could be saved from the hold the devil had on us. 2 Corinthians 4:4 brings that point home, "The ruler of this world has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They cannot see the light of the Good News—the message about the divine greatness of Christ. Christ is the one who is exactly like God."  Think about it, God loved us so much, He made the ultimate sacrifice for us and showed His love in Jesus' obedience to His will.  Take the time to analyze these words, and stand amazed at what God did for us -- sinners! Yes, we've all sinned and fall short of God's glory! - Romans 3:23

What say you? Can you fathom this? If you're not a believer, it might be very difficult for you to do, but for anyone who's felt and experienced the grace of God, this would not be hard to do. 

The enemy won't quit that easily, though. He will use our past behaviors or mistakes against us, but here are words we can live by and use to guard us from that threat, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," Romans 8:1.  Our sin was condemned in Jesus' flesh! Think about it -- our purpose is to live for Christ, to worship Him, to bring glory to His name. Every mistake or failure we have made prior to receiving the revelation of this fact, does not keep us from doing what we were made to do. 

Just sayin'

I leave you with these cards, which I feel are appropriate. The digi images are from Robert Jackson. I used Gimp to add the animal print background to the dress and colored the rest with Copics.

The second card, I just colored with Copics and used Stickles to add some glitz to the card.