Today, Marsha Valk from my Creative Squad is sharing two gorgeous prints using this month’s theme: “Good Things Just Keep Happening.” I invite you to join me and my Creative Squad this November, in the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday in the US, to remind ourselves to be thankful for even the smallest things. Every once in a while it feels nice to slow down and recognize the good stuff that’s all around us. What Good Thing happened to you today?
Play along with us! I love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.
Good Things Just Keep Happening – Cheiron Brandon
Today, Cheiron Brandon from my Creative Squad is sharing three wonderful cards using this month’s theme: “Good Things Just Keep Happening.” I invite you to join me and my Creative Squad this November, in the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday in the US, to remind ourselves to be thankful for even the smallest things. Every once in a while it feels nice to slow down and recognize the good stuff that’s all around us. What Good Thing happened to you today?
Hi there! It’s Cheiron with my post for November and we are playing with the theme of Good Things just keep happening. I am thankful today that I finally have my own studio in my house where I can create and I get to relax there every night even if its just for a small amount of creative time. I couldn’t wait to try out Nat’s new stencil release and wanted to try out all the patterns. You know I am a card maker, so I cut a bunch of card panels, took out the stencils and made 3 cards with 3 different techniques.
For my first card, I wanted to do some basic ink blending through the Santiago stencil, but decided that I wanted to keep the squares in the center white…so I masked them off with some masking paper.
Then I blended my inks through the stencil with the foam blending tool.
Once that was done I removed the masking paper
And then adhered the panel with foam tape to a card base:
For my second card, I played around with some Distress Paints in Fossilized Amber, Aged Mahogany, Gathered Twigs and Spiced Pumpkin and pounced paint through the Toledo stencil. Then I sprayed the entire thing with a bit of Tarnished Brass Distress Mica Spray. This one will be perfect to send as a Thanksgiving card!
For my last card, I pulled out my Gelly Roll Moonlight pens and colored through the Buenos Aires stencil, I have not played with these in a while and forgot how good they look on black paper.
I am thankful today that I got to play with these fun new stencils and that I get to create something almost every day!
Maybe you will even play along with us -I would love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“..
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Good Things Just Keep Happening – Tina Walker
Today, Tina Walker from my Creative Squad is sharing two beautiful mini book journals and a bonus project using this month’s theme: “Good Things Just Keep Happening.” I invite you to join me and my Creative Squad this November, in the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday in the US, to remind ourselves to be thankful for even the smallest things. Every once in a while it feels nice to slow down and recognize the good stuff that’s all around us. What Good Thing happened to you today?
Hi! Tina Walker here today to kick off the new month with a new Theme. This month, our theme is ‘Good Things Just Keep Happening’. This is a great mantra and reminder as we enter the month of Giving Thanks.
I have been through a lot in my short 50+ years and staying positive every day can be a challenge. I have had relationships come and go, as well as jobs and cities, but I’ve always been thankful for what adventures I’ve had and for what is to come. Creatively, my life has been a whirlwind of excitement, wishes, and success. Art is something that makes me feel complete and fulfilled. In order to celebrate my life and good fortune, I created two pocket sized journals that can be used to record those special thoughts and memories no matter where I am. Let’s check them out!
Floral Fabric Mini Book
Apply fabric paint to a piece of vintage cloth using your favorite Nathalie Kalbach new ArtFoamies stamp. I used the Batik Pattern 4 foam stamp. Set paint per manufacturer instructions. When applying the stamp to the fabric, stamp the image twice, back to back. This way, you will have the image on the front and back of the book. Do this step twice, one double stamped image for the outside of the book, and one double stamped image for the inside of the book.
Here’s a picture of the front and back of the book for reference.
Add hand-stitching embellishments to one of the stamped images. I choose the image that would be on the outside front of the book. Sew a button to the outside front and back layer. The buttons will serve as the closure.
Sandwich a layer of cotton batting between the two stamped pieces, wrong sides together. Hand-stitch the 3 layers together using a blanket stitch.
Cut to size, 3 signatures of 7 pages each. I used vellum paper for my paper inserts. Sew signatures to book using a three hole saddle stitch and Enjoy!
Vintage Paper Mini Book
This mini book uses the same beginning techniques as above, except we will be using your favorite Nathalie Kalbach stencils for this one, I chose the new Buenos Aires 4×4 and the Buenos Aires 9×12 stencils.
Using the same stencil, apply modeling paste to an 8.5 x 11 piece of chipboard. Spray with your favorite spray mist.
Cut stenciled chipboard to your mini book size and adhere fabric stenciled image with heavy gel medium. Allow to dry completely.
Cut to size various vintage papers. I used vintage music paper, receipt paper, glassine paper, tags, lined paper, plus others.
Using a Crop-a-dile or similar tool, cut three holes in the front and back and each piece of paper. Assemble and bind with 3 metal o-rings.
After I was done creating my mini books, I had several pretty scraps that were too nice to throw away. So I created a mini hanging, using the leftover stenciled chipboard and fabric pieces. Bonus!
What good things are happening to you? Do you create art to celeberate? I’d love to hear about it! Thank you for taking time today to take a peek at my projects. See you next month.
Thank you Tina for these gorgeous ideas! I’m gathering my own collection of papers to turn into some mini books now. Besides some vintage fabric, vintage buttons, vintage papers and gun metal metallic casting powder, here are the supplies Tina used – note that some of the links are affiliation links:
Maybe you will even play along with us -I would love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.
See you next time for another project from the Creative Squad and DON’T FORGET: As we are celebrating the launch of my new website, everything in the n*Studio Store and all Online Workshops are 20% off until Sunday November 6th! Use the coupon code NEWNAT20 during checkout to take advantage of the savings!
Comments (1)
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Joi@RR
Your mini-books are darling Tina but my fav is the wall hanging… so pretty – love the stars and stitching.
Not too many celebrations at our house since it’s just the two of us now but… since I paint every day, if I was celebrating I probably wouldn’t paint! I would be more likely to write about it!!!
Thanks bunches for such lovely inspiration with these great patterns. j.
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Today is the Day – Marsha Valk
Today, Marsha Valk from my Creative Squad is sharing two brilliant projects to help us get organized! She is using my new Santa Fe, Batik Pattern 3, and Buenos Aires Tile foam stamps, and this month’s theme: “Today is the Day.” I invite you to join me and my Creative Squad to stop procrastinating and to make today the day you finally tackle that artsy thing you’ve been meaning to get to for so long. Start that new project you’ve been planning for months. Try out that new product you bought ages ago. Experiment with that new technique you read about last year. Try it! Today is the Day!
Today is the day that I got organized and ready for 2017! I know it’s still early days, but my first try-outs with the new Art Foamies ended up as covers for a couple of Travelers Notebooks and that inspired me to create new planner dividers for my Filofax planner in similar patterns.
I bought a Silhouette cut-file to cut the tab dividers months ago, so this was the chance to finally put that to use too. I cut the tab dividers from sturdy cardstock and then I stamped black acrylic paint patterns onto them with the Santa Fe, Batik Pattern 3 and Buenos Aries Tile Foam Stamps.
Once the paint was dry I applied spray ink in rainbow colours on top of the patterns so that I could have 8 tabs in rainbow order. I hadn’t really used my spray inks in a while and it was fun to get inky again!
I took the new divider tabs for a test run first. I like to print handy stuff like school holidays on the back of my tabs, so I did that first before I laminated them all. I used A5 pouches for the two dividers without tabs and A4 pouches for the ones with tabs. I just trim the excess after laminating.
Marsha just made organization look really awesome! I love how she used black paint to make the stamp designs extra bold against those beautiful ink colors. Here are the supplies Marsha used – note that some of the links are affiliation links:
Maybe you will even play along with us -I would love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.
See you next time for another project from the Creative Squad!
Comments (4)
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Dee
Love these, the black makes things pop!
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Michelle Rydell
Great idea Marsha! I love how the bright colors really made the designs pop!
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Today is the Day – Michelle Rydell
This Tuesday, Michelle Rydell from my Creative Squad is happy to share with you a gorgeous art journal spread using my new Versailles ArtFoamies and inspired by this month’s theme: “Today is the Day.” I invite you to join me and my Creative Squad to stop procrastinating and to make today the day you finally tackle that artsy thing you’ve been meaning to get to for so long. Start that new project you’ve been planning for months. Try out that new product you bought ages ago. Experiment with that new technique you read about last year. Try it! Today is the Day!
I have seen Art Foamies videos on youtube and always thought they looked like fun. I love their chunky look, and have been especially intrigued by the concept of the “stamp buddy” that comes with each foam stamp! I was so excited to find out that Nat has a new line of gorgeous Art Foamies stamps! So finally, Today is the day I get to try them out! I decided to use the Versailles set – I love how the intricate patterns of the two stamps fit together! Here’s what I did to create my page…
I got out some warm colors of acrylic paint – yellow, pink and orange; and scraped them onto the stamp buddy, with the lightest color in the middle and the darker colors radiating outward. At first I used a credit card, but then decided it would be more fun to use my fingers – ha…
I pressed the stamp into the stamp buddy to distribute the paint, and stamped it onto my art journal spread. WOW it looked gorgeous! I was so excited to see how the colors created an ombre effect!
I decided to cover the whole page with this stamp, and I did not have to re-ink the stamp buddy at all! That thing really holds a lot of paint!!! When I was done it reminded me of a tiled wall. I almost didn’t want to do anything else to it!
I decided to repeat the ombre effect with the second stamp in the set; only this time use all cool colors, and instead of having the lightest color in the middle, I put the darkest.
I stamped the second stamp onto my page and actually said EEK out loud – it looked so pretty! I LOVE how the images fit so easily together. This is truly a new experience in stamping!
I wanted to cover up the blank edges of the page, so I decided to paint a black, cloud-like frame to make the colors pop even more. At that point I just stared at the pattern for a minute, to see what I could see… and out came a flower! I used part of the pattern for a colorful center, and drew and colored the petals and stem with paint pens. After that I realized that I needed to differentiate the flower from the background a little more, so I added a magenta glaze to the background. You can just see the beginnings of that behind the bottom left few petals in this photo…
And here is my finished page. I finished glazing the background, did some doodling in the black frame area, and added a quote with a white paint pen…
I love the super juicy background that Michelle created by using both the positive and negative Versailles stamps together! And the whole thing really pops with that cute black and white frame around it. Here are the supplies Michelle used – note that some of the links are affiliation links:
Maybe you will even play along with us -I would love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my next “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.
See you next Tuesday for another project from the Creative Squad!
Comments (10)
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Dee Spillane
Wow! This is wonderful. Fantastic stamps with great color yay!
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Cindy
Always love your work, Michelle … so colorful and bold, and happy!
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Jessica Sporn
This is just beautiful. I love Nat’s foams and what you created with them. Gorgeous.
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Meg
Michelle, this is gorgeous!!! ❤️
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Kim
This is just a stunning page … big fan of Julie’s ArtFoamies, so the product is wonderful, but this takes it to a whole new level with the negative stamp included as a set, WOW. Always love seeing your work … thanks for sharing!
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Marit
I love how you explain every step and thought along the way from beginning to end… awesome post Michelle!
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Kandy Gordecki
So creative! You amaze me how your ideas just keep coming!
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Sue Clarke
I really enjoyed seeing how the pages progressed and ended up with such a colorful, full two pages of pattern. Delightful!
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Kathy P
Totally awsome—I love it!!!! So colorful, cool design!
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Julie Tucker
This is GORGEOUS! LOVING how you created that background!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Today is the Day – Cheiron Brandon
This Tuesday, Cheiron Brandon from my Creative Squad is happy to share with you some amazing cards using my new Manhattan ArtFoamies and inspired by this month’s theme: “Today is the Day.” I invite you to join me and my Creative Squad to stop procrastinating and be inspired to make today the day you finally tackle that artsy thing you’ve been meaning to get to for so long. Start that new project you’ve been planning for months. Try out that new product you bought ages ago. Experiment with that new technique you read about last year. Try it! Today is the Day!
Maybe you will even play along with us -I would love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my next “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.
See you next Tuesday for another project from the Creative Squad!
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Today is the Day – Tina Walker
This Tuesday, Tina Walker from my Creative Squad is happy to share with you two super cool projects using Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel and inspired by this month’s theme: “Today is the Day.” I invite you to join me and my Creative Squad to stop procrastinating and be inspired to make today the day you finally tackle that artsy thing you’ve been meaning to get to for so long. Start that new project you’ve been planning for months. Try out that new product you bought ages ago. Experiment with that new technique you read about last year. Try it! Today is the Day!
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Hi! Tina Walker here today to kick off the new month with a new Theme. This month, our theme is ‘Today is the Day’. As the old adage by Benjamin Franklin goes, ‘Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”
The Creative Squad was challenged to tackle an arsty thing that we’ve been meaning to do. It could be a new project or a new technique. I love trying new ideas and techniques so I was super excited to get started. Let’s get to it!
Have y’all heard about Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE)? It’s been around f.o.r.e.v.e.r and it’s been sitting on my shelf for YEARS just begging to be used. I thought this month would be the perfect time to create with it! I’ve watched several videos on how to stamp into UTEE and wanted to try for myself, so the two projects I am sharing today are the result of this technique.
Step One: Melt UTEE per instructions. You can either add color with embossing powder or metallic powders or use clear.
Step Two: Prep your stamp. (Only rubber stamps can be used. Acrylic will not work for this technique). To create a ‘resist’, apply Versmark ink to your stamp. You can either stamp without color or add color with Staz On Ink. I used a colored ink with Nat’s Urban Scribble cling stamp so it would show on the UTEE.
Step Three: Pour melted UTEE on heat resistant craft mat. Immediately stamp into the melted UTEE and let sit for approx. 15 min. Once cool, carefully remove your stamp from the UTEE.
Special Note: UTEE is very fragile and I cracked several in the process. Using a thicker layer vs. a thin layer adds to the stability.
Step Four: You can use your piece *as-is* or add paint, spray, or other mediums.
Project One – Today Wooden House
I added white embossing powder to the UTEE with Nat’s Kaffee Klatsch cling stamp. Once cool, I colored the piece with metallic powders. As I was ‘painting’ the piece it cracked. L But, instead of starting over, I continued to use the cracked piece, highlighting the cracks with dictionary paper.
Project Two – Rusty Cityscape
Using the same UTEE mixture, I stamped with another stamp. Once cool, I rusted the edges of the piece to blend with the other rusty elements in the project. Funky and unique!
What new technique or product are you dying to try/use? I’d love to hear about it! Thank you for taking time today to take a peek at projects. See you next month.
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I love love love both of these projects and can’t wait to play around with the UTEE myself!
In addition to some wood, gauze, various rusty findings, Dusty Attic Rusting Powder, sari ribbon, and a sticker, Tina used the supplies listed below (some are affiliate links):
Maybe you will even play along with us -I would love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my next “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.
See you next Tuesday for another project from the Creative Squad!
Comments (2)
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Michelle Rydell
Tina, your projects are gorgeous!!!
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Marsha.
Wow!!!!! That’s awesome Tina!
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From Small Beginnings – Michelle Rydell
Happy Tuesday! It’s time for my Creative Squad to share a project with you with this month’s theme: “From Small Beginnings”. Throughout the month of September, the team has been using my n*Studio Stamps to interpret the theme. The change in seasons and the childhood ritual of Back to School in September has me thinking about starting new things – new projects, learning new things, and meeting new people, and all the excitement and challenges that come with all of these “new”s. For this theme, From Small Beginnings, my Squad has thought about the process of starting something new and the very first steps they took. I asked them, how did you experience a Beginning?
So this week we have a very fun Fauxbonichi book cover from Michelle Rydell that definitely brings back those childhood memories!
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Oh my gosh I had so much fun with this month’s project! September and “Small Beginnings” made me think of going back to school as a kid, and that made me think of one of my fave things about that – making covers for my textbooks out of paper bags! Did you do that too?
I decided to make a cover for my Fauxbonichi – and use the “Marks” stamp set to decorate it…
I gathered together the basic materials for the project…
I cut the grocery bag open so it would lay flat…
I placed my notebook on the grocery bag and figured out how wide I would need it to be, to cover the width of the book and folded flaps on the front and back covers, and then cut off the extra…
At this point, I had to do a youtube search, so I could remember how to fold it. (it’s been awhile – ha!). Once I got the folding done I took a white pastel pencil and lightly marked where the spine was and which part was the Front cover. Then I took the cover off the book, and got ready for the fun part – decorating!
Using a roll of masking tape as a template, I cut a peace sign out of the extra paper, and lightly taped it on the front cover to use as a mask. Then I started stamping horizontal stripes with the various stamps in the “Marks” set…
When I got to the peace sign, I stamped right over the top of it…
When the stamping was done, I removed the peace sign, and this is what it looked like…
The last step was to put on some finishing touches with a fine point paint marker. I’m so happy with how it turned out!
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I love Michelle’s book cover – it’s such a cool idea that I haven’t thought about in a very long time and what a great place to use the stamps to make a field of pattern.
In addition to a brown grocery bag and her Fauxbonichi, Michelle used the supplies listed below (some are affiliate links):
Maybe you will even play along with us -I would love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my next “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.
See you next Tuesday for another project from the Creative Squad!
Comments (5)
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nathalie-kalbach
test
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Sue Clarke
LOVE this cover Michelle and like Marit I used to cover my textbooks as well (so this post brought back some cool memories too)!
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Meg
This is so fun, Michelle! I completely forgot about covering books in school. I wonder if I have any pictures of the covers I made back in the day. Love your project.
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Marit
Oooh, I remember covering my schoolbooks (I also enjoyed it, years later, to help my son with this…!) It was the second-best thing at the beginning of the school year. (The best was ‘buying and initiating my new school-planner!)
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Julie Tucker
Ohhhhhhhhhh this is just FABULOUS! LOVING that peace symbol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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From Small Beginnings – Marsha Valk
Happy Tuesday! It’s time for my Creative Squad to share a project with you with this month’s theme: “From Small Beginnings”. Throughout the month of September, the team will be using my n*Studio Stamps to interpret the theme. The change in seasons and the childhood ritual of Back to School in September has me thinking about starting new things – new projects, learning new things, and meeting new people, and all the excitement and challenges that come with all of these “new”s. For this theme, From Small Beginnings, my Squad will think about the process of starting something new and the very first steps they took. I’ll ask them, how did you experience a Beginning?
So this week we have a gorgeous scrapbook page from Marsha Valk, where she reminisces about her start in mixed media with stamping, embossing powders, and scrapbooking.
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This theme made me think about how I started stamping. I can’t remember which stamps I bought first. I’m guessing it was a small wood mounted alphabet set.
I do know that some of the first inks I had were little Colorbox Cat’s Eyes and the first time I used embossing powder was in an Ali Edwards class. It was sooo scary and soooo amazing at the same time!!! And then, of course I had to buy the stuff for myself.
Anyway, I started to look for the mini I made in that class and I ended up looking through some of the other minis I’ve made over the years. One of the minis featured a photo of my scrapcorner in the attic in 2006 and that sparked my plan for this theme:
I wanted to scrapbook, I wanted to heat emboss and I wanted to use materials I would (or could) have had 10 or more years ago.
I started stamping on a smooth watercolour paper with embossing ink. I heat-embossed with white embossing powder.
Then I played around with Ecoline and… forgot to take further photos… Oops.
Once the Ecoline was dry I added the cardstock cluster and my photo. My title was made with two of my Dymo Label Makers. One of them is actually visible on the desk in the photos!
I also added some Scrappers Floss to the cluster with a stapler and because I used to print most of my journaling, I adhered my text in strips to the page. I finished the page with some paint marker splatters and the date.
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I love how Marsha took us both back in time AND behind-the-scenes with her super fun page. And those Kaffee Klatsch and Mish Mesh stamps look amazing embossed in white against those gorgeous colors!
In addition to paper floss, a stapler, and personal photographs , Marsha used the supplies listed below (some are affiliate links):
Maybe you will even play along with us -I would love to see how you interpret our monthly themes. Email me how you used my stencils and stamps with the theme and email me an image – I would love to share your projects in my next “n*Spiration From Around the Globe“.
See you next Tuesday for another project from the Creative Squad!
Comments (2)
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Joi@RR
This was a fun story of your beginnings Marsha and your project is fun too! Really awesome background with the stamps. My very first stamp was Nathalie’s Fiesta stamp and would you believe I WON it – from her???!!!! I treasure it still!!! Thanks bunches for sharing. j.
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Mary
Beautiful. Love the technique. Thanks for sharing.
On my list to do.
Love them. So fun, cheerful and unique. j.
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