Crafty Mama's Den

May is one of my favorite times of the year. It is getting warmer, everything is growing and becoming more colorful. Mother’s Day is here and Father’s Day is just around the corner. Soon families will be planning summer trips and vacations. It is just an exciting time of year. I got to spend the day with one of my sons yesterday and see a small sampling of Thomas Dambo’s troll sculptures. It was a fun trip and I got some good pictures. Most of his sculptures are in the Detroit Lakes, MN area, but 6 of them were brought to Omaha, NE for exhibit (They are at Lauritzen Gardens in Omaha, NE until 5/18). Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms out there!

Spring Card Making

I have been busy making some spring cards. I love the colorful ideas that usually come with this time of year. Here a few of my favorites.

Other paper crafts

Many Stampin’Up! crafters don’t make cards. One of the other options is scrapbooking and this month a new scrapbooking kit was released. Click on the picture to find out more!

My Favorite Techniques

A new technique that I just started using is making eclipse cards. This technique uses designer paper, die cuts, and stacked cardstock to create dimension to a card. There are lots of ways to use this technique to create cards. Here are some ideas.

Eclipse Card Instructions

What’s New at Stampin’Up! ?

The new catalog came out on May 5th! There will now be 3 all inclusive catalogs per year. With the new catalog, there are many new products. One of the best and most most useful tools that came out in my opinion is the stampin positioner. It can help to line up stamps perfectly if multiple stamps are needed and makes layering stamps a breeze. If you love to stamp, this is a must have!

Stampin Positioner

Insipration

You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. Maya Angelou

Crafty Mama’s Tips

Creating contrast on your embossed images is made easy by dragging an ink pad lightly across the raised areas. It will highlight the raised areas. It creates different effects just by varying the pressure placed on the embossed images. I used a white pigment ink to highlight the images on these examples.

Exciting News!

I will be posting my first tutorial on YouTube this week. It is the tutorial for the Scenic Coast eclipse card that I highlighted in the techniques section above. Please check it out at CraftyMamasDen on Youtube!