Lily

Isn't she gorgeous?  This is a very dreamy image and makes a lovely centrepiece for a romantic, vintage style piece of artwork.

Oh, the Price of Beauty!

This card evolved slowly, first with the adorable 50's era ladies under the driers from the Stampsmith's "Those Were the Days" plate. As I looked at these two, I tried to imagine what was being discussed. Even though the gal on the left (clearly the younger of the two) is smiling, I thought it might be under duress. Then I remembered the "Coffee Gal" stamp, also from the 50's, and I put the two together.

Now, we all know why she has that smile on her face, despite the barrage of gossip being hurled at her. She found her own way to endure a morning at the beauty parlor!

Please visit my shop on Etsy for this card and more:

http://www.fishintheatticstudio.etsy.com/

Breakfast with Audrey

Once again, I'm drawn to the Stampsmith images of Audrey Hepburn, who was a charmer and stunner!

This stamp is from the Audrey plate and captures an illustration of her character, Holly Golightly, from the 1961 film "Breakfast at Tiffany's". I purchased the "Tiffany & Co." stamp a while back from an unknown vendor, probably at Estelle's stamp show here in NY. I kept the overall feel of the card playful yet elegant, which to me, sums up Audrey in a nutshell!

This card is available for purchase in my shop on Etsy:
www.fishintheatticstudio.etsy.com

A Spring In Her Step

The weather determined my choice of stamp this week. As the sun shines it seemed appropriate to use a stamp with a happy feel to it. I Love Paris is such a stamp, with it's quirky design.

I made four notecards and wrapped them with organza ribbon and made a little tag.

Marrying the stamp with pastel designer papers continues the summery feel to the project.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

This stamp always makes me smile because it's so full of fun.  The words are from the "say it like it is" plate.  I've also done another version for my Dad for Father's Day (in June) which says "Hello Cheeky!" across the front so you can adapt it for both sexes.

A Leisurely Stroll

This particular Flapper (Flapper #2 UM plate) reminds me of Springtime. You can imagine this young woman taking a leisurely stroll alongside the riverbank or meeting her suitor for a walk in the park.

Live Life To The Max

Say It With Flair is a must have A4 sheet of words and phrases from The Stampsmith. Studying some of the smaller words it popped into my head that they could be used to make a pair of ear-rings.


Here I used 1"x1" Stampbord (more details at my Blog "Adorn"). Even with the addition of beads the ear-rings are very light.

Pairing up such words could be a thoughtful gift for a friend or as a reminder to ourselves to Live Life.

Glamour Girls

There's something about movie stars that we just can't resist, especially the ones that have that "it" factor! Two such stars, in my opinion, would be Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn. They were both so beautiful and glamorous in such different ways. Marilyn naturally exuded pure sex appeal that drove men wild, and Audrey had a quiet, elegant beauty that made people just love her! I have used two Stampsmith images to honor these talented beauties!

The Marilyn (seated) stamp is available as a single, and shows her wearing a soft, floaty tulle skirt, which evokes the innocent side of her personality. It was easy to depict her as an angel, complete with wings!

The Audrey stamp comes as part of a plate, and shows her dressed as a beautiful bejeweled princess. I thought any little girl would dream of being just like her one day!

Memory

I'm embarrassed to say I can't remember who this actress is - somebody remind me please! LOL  I love the faraway look in her eyes.  Wonder what she was remembering?

Love's Young Dream

As soon as I set eyes on Classic Couple, I knew I would use this stamp on an anniversary card to my parents. I hope Estelle and Kim don't object to me dedicating this post to my parents' as today is their 52nd wedding anniversary.

Normally I embellish my artwork quite heavily but I wanted the stamp to take centre stage and to keep a fresh and innocent feel to this card.

At The Bottom Of The Garden

Butterfly Kisses will be blown your way.

As I wanted a soft, slightly ethereal look to this piece, I deliberately used less ink on my brayer before stamping the image. The image was tinted with Distress Inks before embellishing with a variety of pressed flowers.

Dream the Dream

Meet Serena #2 who is just as pretty as Serena #1 and another of the fantastic quality photo images which Stampsmith are famous for!

Everything Stops For Tea (or chocolate)

For sometime I wanted to use this old spoon in a project but it was only once I received The Stampsmith's Paris plate that I found a use for it, at last.

The focal stamp was also stamped, repeatedly onto tissue paper which was adhered to the painted mini canvas. This image would also be lovely coloured/painted but I wanted to keep muted tones for this canvas.

LIFE'S LITTLE HEADACHES!

I've been collecting vintage ephemera lately, from the 1950's, so when I saw this Stampsmith plate called "Those Were The Days", I just had to have it!

I thought it would be fun to imagine what these two ladies were thinking, so I made up my own scenarios!
I think the possibilities are endless! What would you come up with?

Ophelia

Ophelia must be one of the defining Stampsmith images - well she is to me.  Must have been one of the first SS images I ever bought.  I made this by stamping and masking the Ophelia image and then stamping the mirror over the top of the mask to make her appear in front of the mirror.  The words are from the "Say it with Flair" plate.

....and yes, it's another easel card!

Thanks for having me!

Congratulations to the new team members, I look forward to seeing more of your beautiful work!

Again, I just wanted to say thank you to Estelle and Kim for keeping me on the team! I love participating and contributing to the blog, and I hope you will enjoy my creations!

Please visit my blog and Etsy shop for more!

Karen Fisher
http://www.fishintheatticstudio.blogspot.com/
http://www.fishintheatticstudio.etsy.com/

ROCK & ROLL LEGENDS

Jim Morrison

Janis Joplin

Jimi Hendrix

John Lennon

The Stampsmith has a fantastic hand carved set of stamps featuring the some of the great legends of Rock & Roll, like Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and John Lennon. These were some of the people I was listening to in Junior High School, back in the 70's! So, needless to say, they have a special place in my heart!

Here is a set of cards using the Rock & Roll stamp sheet, keeping with the psychedelic patterns, bold colors and flower-power motifs of that era.

Prima Ballerina

For this piece I was aiming to encapsulate femininity and the romance of the life of a Ballerina. I cut around the actual Ballerina image to stage her against all the elements - scraps of organza, sheet music and tulle along with a paper rose and gems.

Who needs a man.....

....when you can have chocolate?!

My name's Carol Quance and I live in the Cotswolds in the UK with my family. I was very honoured to be invited to join the Stampsmith DT. I've been stamping for years now and the obsession just doesn't go away! I have a very wide ranging interest in crafts and as far as stamping is concerned am always happy to try out new techniques. I've collected quite a lot of Stampsmith stamps over the years and I particularly like the photo quality stamps.

For this easel card I've used a photostamp called Bling and I've added one of the quotes from the Say it Like it is plate.

Blossom

Hi, my name is Lynne Moncrieff, from Scotland and I am one of the new DT members for The Stampsmith. In 2005 I started cardmaking but it was not until I discovered rubber stamps that I realised the possibilities of this hobby. I am on a couple of on-line stamping groups and in December 2009 I set up my Blog, Adorn. My style leans towards vintage whether it be stamping, mixed media, etc. My favourite technique is probably distressing. This is my first time on a DT which will be so much fun for me. Thank you to Kim and Estelle for allowing me this opportunity.


The above piece uses Camelia, she is such a beautiful image. I wanted to echo the blossoms in the picture so I stamped onto a piece of artist sheet canvas (painted with household emulsion/latex paint), glued some blooms which I removed from a stem of artifical flowers, added a scrap of fabric and a piece of vellum which has silver blossoms printed on it. I am sure Camelia will become a favourite stamp of mine.

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Valentine card

This card uses an image from the Thank Heaven for Little Girls plate 2. I hope you are having a great day with the special people in your life.

Congratulations to our 2 new members of the Design Team!

Oh my goodness, what a tough decision that was to make.  Estelle and I were amazed at all the applications that came in, it sure made it hard to decide on just 2 people.  Thank you to everyone that applied, and please do apply again.  We will be having another Design Team call in about 6 months or so. 

Now for the big news!  I know these 2 ladies are going to blow you away with their art!  Please welcome:

Lynne Moncrieff from the UK.  You can check out her blog here. 

Carol Quance from the UK as well!  You can have a look at her creations here. 

Both of these ladies are incredibly talented, and we can’t wait to work with them.  We think you will be very inspired when you see their creations!

Have a wonderful day, and thank you again to everyone who applied.  All the submissions were just beautiful!

Kim and Estelle

growing up

I made this ATC/card for the wednesday stamper theme "when I grow up" I used an image from the "ooh baby plate"

Blessed Are

These cards use images from the Blessed Are plate from the Stampsmith. These stamps make wonderful cards for people of faith. I like to keep them quite simple so that the main image is the focus. I hope you enjoy them.

More details can be found at my blog.

4oth easel card

I am addicted to making these easel cards at the moment. I like how you can have two parts of a quote on it, and see it all when displayed. This image is taken from the "isn't she lovely" plate.

The quote says " don't see yourself as 40, just 18 with 22 years experience"