Durcan Designs

Boo Boo Bear

Oh my goodness, is this bear cute or what!!??  He's from the new Kitchen Sink release, 3 Step Get Well Teddy.  If you haven't seen the set yet, check it out here .  It's a total must have!! :)

Here's my ink choices:

Step 1 - Versamagic, Sahara Sand - the chalk ink gives him a nice soft and solid base

Step 2 - Versamagic, Sahara Sand (again)

Step 3 - SU!, Close to Cocoa - the dye ink works great bringing out the details

Step 4 - SU!, Chocolate Chip

Hope you all have a great day!  We're off to the circus today.  It should be lots of fun :) 

  

Recipe:

Stamps - 3 Step Get Well Teddy by Kitchen Sink Stamps

SU! - Old Olive cardstock, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, Old Olive inks, wide grosgrain, brad, corner punch, dimensionals

October Afternoon patterned paper, button, sponge dauber, Versamagic Sahara Sand ink

Kitchen Sink Release Day!

Kitchen Sink Stamps is releasing 7 new sets today!!  Be sure to check them out here along with the other design team members blogs for more samples :)

Beth Silaika

Dee Jackson

Jan Tinklenberg

Julie Masse

Lori Tecler

Maria Colosimo

Nicole Cooke

Tammy Hershberger

Here's my card using 3 Step Autumn Squirrel :)

 

Recipe:

Stamps - 3 Step Autumn Squirrel by Kitchen Sinks Stamps

Inks - So Saffron, More Mustard, Certainly Celery, Bamboo Leaves (Memento), Pumpkin Pie, Ruby Red, Close to Cocoa

SU! - More Mustard, Ruby Red cardstock, Word Window punch, wide grosgrain ribbon, brads, dimensionals

Kitchen Sink Stars

I needed a quick little note today so I pulled out my SU! catalog, found some inspiration and put together this 3x3 notecard :)  I think it came out as cute as a button!

The background stars are from the Plaid Plus set.  I just stamped them a few times using Versamark ink.  The star was stamped with Versamagic Tea Leaves ink and then cut out with a Craft knife, ruler and mat.  The white ink is by Brilliance and I used it for part of the sentiment as well as the edges of the card. 

I hope you're having a great day and happy stamping!

 

Recipe:

Stamps - Playful Stars, Plaid Plus, Ready 4 Any Holiday

SU! - Sahara Sand, Real Red, Whisper White cardstock, Red ribbon, Real Red ink, dimensionals

Versamagic ink - Tea Leaves, Brilliance ink - Moonlight White

Welcome New Neighbor Card

Love, love, love this set "Other Important People" by Kitchen Sink Stamps!!  Look how pretty those words are!!  We have a couple of new neighbors at the beach this year so I made this card with them in mind :)  I really like how it came out - 

   

Have a great day and happy stamping!

Recipe:

Stamps - Other Important People by Kitchen Sink Stamps

SU! - Purely Pomegranate textured cardstock, Old Olive wide grosgrain ribbon

Ink - Versamagic: Tea Leaves and SeaBreeze, Brilliance: Pearlescent Orchid

Patterned paper and note sheet from Making Memories - {note}worthy line, button by Sassafras - all from Mosh Posh kits

Aqua ribbon from Taylored Expressions

Stamp Keepers Storage System by Inque Boutique

I've been meaning to share some pictures of the new stamp storage system my mom picked up for me the other day :)  They are called "Stamp Keepers" and are by "Inque Boutique".   They are thin, "acid free" (which is very important) clam shell containers that are designed to fit in a three ring binder.  They come in two different sizes 8 1/2 X 11 and 12 x 12.  The ones my mom got me are the 8 1/2 x 11.  

This picture shows you how thin they are.  This is five of them stacked together-

Here's a pic that shows you how many stamps you can fit in them.  These are my Inque Boutique stamps and they stick right to the clam shell.  The "Stamp Keepers" also work well if you use Aleene's Tack-It Over and Over for your unmounted rubber stamps.  Unmounted stamps on cling foam would not fit well in them because of the extra thickness.  For unmounted rubber stamps on E-Z Mount/cling foam, I would suggest using these acrylic boxes which come in two sizes, CD and Long. 

I also store my clear stamps in them. I keep the stamps on the printed image sheets (what's the correct name for those anyway :)  and then stick the back side of the stamps to the clam shell.  One of the great things about these is that I can easily fit my larger stamp sets in them. 

Lastly, seeing I was outside snapping pics, here's one of my blue hydrangeas :)

 

If you have any other questions about them, just let me know and I will try to help you out!

Have a great day and happy stamping :)

CPS Sketch #73 and Kitchen Sink Stamps

Kitchen Sink Stamps is the CPS sponsor this week, so I pulled out my 3 Step Hibiscus set to play along :)  It's an awesome sketch this week and the designers cards are gorgeous!! 

Here's a little snapshot of my card's beginnings -

When I'm feeling kinda serious about my cardmaking it's usually a two day process.  The first day is just playing around with materials and brainstorming.  The second day is when I execute the final card.  So prior to yesterday I had already decided on a color scheme for the flowers and had an overall idea of what I wanted the card to look like because I had seen the CPS sketch in advance. Then, when I have some quiet time I pull out all of the supplies I think I might need and get set up to do some stamping :) 

Here is my completed card:

Hope you all have a great day and happy stamping!

Recipe:

Stamps - 3 Step Hibiscus by Kitchen Sink Stamps

Cardstock and Patterned Paper - Lime Tart "Half Tart" kit July 08

SU! - Whisper White cardstock, Corner Rounder punch, Inks: Pretty in Pink, Rose Romance, Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, 2 Way Glue Pen

Doodle Bug black pigment ink, Colorbox Lime Peel chalk ink 

Pastel Trees

Maria at Kitchen Sink Stamps is having a three day sale on Christmas stamps so I thought I'd put together a quick little card using my favorite set, Playful Christmas.  I also wanted to try out my new Memento inks :)

Here are the sale details:

Playful Christmas

3 Step Holly and Mistletoe

and

Snow Flurry

All 15% off June 25 to 28 :)

Hope you're all having a great day and happy stamping!

Recipe:

Stamps - Playful Christmas by Kitchen Sink Stamps

Memento inks - Angel Pink, Lulu Lavender, Summer Sky

Star brads by Making Memories, ribbon and cardstock by SU!, Doodlebug black pigment ink (sentiment)

beautiful hibiscus

I loved playing with this hibiscus set!  I wound up using a variety of different inks because 1) I just ordered a big stash of VersaMagic and Memento cat's eye inks from Kitchen Sink Stamps and  2) I wanted to try and coordinate the flower with this Bazzill cardstock color.  I think it came out kind of cool.  I'll give you a run down of what I used in the card recipe below.

I will tell you too, that if you've been thinking about trying one of the 3-Step stamps from Kitchen Sink, you should give this one a go.  I found the flower and leaves very easy to line up.  The first and second steps are a piece of cake and then the rest of the flower easily lines up using the center stem as a focal point.  Also, if you have any questions, you can always just drop me a note :)

all images by Kitchen Sink Stamps

Recipe:

Stamps - 3 Step Hibiscus, Ready 4 Any Holiday

SU! - Certainly Celery and Chocolate Chip ink, Pallette O' Prints patterned paper, cream and white grosgrain ribbon, silver cord, hardware, silver brads, sticky strip

Memento Inks - Cantaloupe and Ladybug

VersaMagic Inks - Thatched Straw and Tea Leaves

Bazzill textured cardstock

Graduation Gift Bag

I am so high on life today!  Miranda and Cooper were so cute at their graduation yesterday!!  I am so proud of them.  I wish you all could have been there to see them :)

Today I wanted to share this cute little bag I made for Kitchen Sink Stamps.  It features the new release, 3 Step Graduation.

This is what I used for ink...

For the hat:

Step 1 - Going Gray

Step 2 - Going Gray again

Step 3 - Palette Noir Black

For the tassle:

Step 1 - Pale Plum

Step 2 - Perfect Plum

**I tend to reach for my SU! dye ink pads a lot with the 3 Step sets just because of the large variety of colors.

The bag I found at AC Moore and they were cheap :)  I think 35 cents or something.

I hope you like it!

Recipe:

Stamps - 3 Step Graduation by Kitchen Sink Stamps

SU! - Going Gray, Pale Plum, Perfect Plum Classic ink pads, Whisper White, Pale Plum and Perfect Plum cardstock, ticket corner punch, silver brads, piercing tool and template, grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals

Palette Noir black ink, eyelet by American Crafts

May Freedom Ring

Today is the release day for eight new Kitchen Sink stamp sets!!  There is a lot going on in the Kitchen this month including a contest, so be sure to check out the new Contest Blog to find out how you can win free stamps!!

The cards I'm sharing today use the new stamp sets Playful Stars, Plaid Plus! and Ready 4 Any Holiday.  The first card is an atc I made for my swap groups and the second card is just a larger version :)

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I also took a few photos while I was making the cards so I will share those too :)

Step 1 - Use the plaid maker image and SU! white Craft ink to make your background. 

Step 2 - Add the stars with Brilliance "Rocket Red" ink.  This brand of ink works really well with SU! Kraft cardstock.

Step 3 - Stamp your stars with Brilliance "Moonlight White" ink and cut. 

The large blue star and the medium red star were cut with a craft knife and ruler.  The small stars were punched with a SU! star punch.

For the ATC, I used both the large and small SU! star punches to make them easy to reproduce :) 

If you have any other questions, please let me know :)

Here are some links of my fellow design team members who are also featuring new Kitchen Sink sets on their blogs today:

• Beth Silaika
• Dee Jackson
• Erika Martin
• Jan Tinklenberg
• Julie Masse
• Lori Tecler
• Nicole Cooke
• Rebecca Oehlers
• Tammy Hershberger

Recipe:

Stamps - Playful Plaid!, Playful Stars, Ready 4 Any Holiday by Kitchen Sink Stamps

SU! - Brocade Blue, Kraft and Real Red cardstock, Brocade Blue Classic ink, Craft White ink, Ticket Corner and Star punch, Brocade Blue and White ribbon, Silver Cord, brads, dimensionals

Moonlight White and Rocket Red Brilliance ink, Papertrey White cardstock