Happy Father's Day : ) And yes, I was away for a bit

Happy Father's Day to you all!  Or day after Father's Day.  Sorry that I have not posted, my son has been in the hospital for the last 2 1/2 weeks.  He is home now, but still not completely well.  Needless to say blogging and stamping have not been a priority for me.  Please keep him in your prayers, as he could use as much help as possible in this very trying time in his life.


I need to announce the winner of the last blog candy....so drum roll please....and the winner is..........Cherie!  Cherie please email me at Jacquie at afterhoursstamper dot com with your name and address and I will get your blog candy in the mail.

And I have some cards to show you, made them a while ago and just didn't get around to taking pictures.

Here is a card I made using one of the new Victoria Case designs in the "Hearts and Hugs Summer Collection,"

From 2010-05-30

And from the same collection, the Father's Day card I made for my husband:

From 2010-05-30

On the Father's Day card I used an impressability for the background, put some of the distress ink on my craft sheet, added some glimmer mist to the ink, then placed the impressibility in the ink, then put the whole thing through my cuttle bug.  Also, the green background paper was done with distress ink, wet with glimmer mist (on the craft sheet) then I just placed my paper on top of that.

Oh, and this is my hubby (he doesn't know that I am putting his picture on the blog ; ) Isn't he a cutie?  I love him so much and appreciate his patience and understanding towards my stamping addiction.

From 2010-05-30

I just LOVE these stamps!  Fantastic collection of images that you can use so many ways.  And speaking of stamps, we have another blog hop coming up this week on Friday, June 25th.

Believe me you are going to LOVE these stamps! This time Susana is revealing a new Elisabeth Bell collection, and yes, there is blog candy too!  Just go to the SCACD blog and answer the secret question to be entered in for some great blog candy. You have until June 24th to enter, but don't wait till the last minute, get over there and leave your comment so you won't miss out on a chance to win.

And I have one more card I made, this one is with a Magnolia stamp, one of the new "Fairytale" stamps (which I just love!):

From 2010-05-30

I used colored this with Distress inks and used the Viva Decor pens to make the brown pearls as well as the yellow raised dots on the back ground.

Ok, one last picture of something I wanted to share with you all.  I used to store my copics and other markers like this:

The other day the whole stack just fell down on me, pens everywhere, so I ordered a new system to store my pens and WOW!  What a difference!

From 2010-05-30

I have enough room to split up my copics by color family now, before I had all the Y's and YR's together, the B's and BG's together, now?  Well, each letter has its own little shelf which makes it WAY easier to find what I need and use what I have!  And I now have a spot for my distress reinkers!  And a few punches as well.

Is there any room left to share some links?  YES!  Of course : )

ScrapGirl:  Wow!  Amazing cards here, just the place to go when you need some inspiration or you just want to enjoy looking at some absolutely stunning cards.

Yes, another DIY flower:  I really like posting these because it gives you more options on making flowers yourself.  This one is quick, easy and looks great.

Craft Gossip Stamping:  You are going to LOVE this link, as a matter of fact it is going on my best of list on the blog.  Freebies, great product reviews, just about anything and everything you can think of in one place!

Alright everyone, see you on Friday, June 25th for the blog hop!  Take care and thank you so very much for all of your support.

SCACD Blog Candy and Blog Hop on Friday, links and a card

Hi again, we did not have internet until last night...and my family took me out to dinner for my birthday yesterday...needless to say I did not get around to posting, but here I am, finally.  Our internet is actually not fully working, it was our wireless router that went out, so my computer is the only one hooked up to the internet, this weekend we need to get a new router, which we will get done.


Thank you all for your kind thoughts and prayers, things, sadly have gone from bad to worse, and I pray each day for our family member who is struggling right now, your continued thoughts and prayers are most appreciated.


I was surprised by my sister in law who sent these beautiful flowers to me at work today:

Now how about some blog candy details?  Go here by Thursday, 10 pm, leave a comment answering this question, "What was the last thing that put a smile on your face?"  Susana is giving away all sorts of GREAT things, so hurry by to leave a comment. Susana's Custom Art and Card Design is a fantastic store, and Susana is an amazing lady, not only is her store stocked with great products, she makes sure your order is sent as soon as she gets it!

And the Blog Hop will be on Friday (my post will be up at 4:00 am, est), and ladies....the stamps are simply amazing!  This is a new release by Victoria Case called "Hearts and Hugs," and you are going to LOVE these stamps!  All of them are "keepers," and on deeply etched red rubber (I have to admit that I am prefer rubber to the clear cling stamps).   The stamps will be available for purchase on Friday, check this link for purchase information. 

And since I have to wait until Friday to share the new stamps with you, here is a card I did using one of the new Tilda stamps:

From 2010-05-26

I colored Tilda with distress ink, and used the Viva Decor Glitter liner for some of her bling, here is a close up:

From 2010-05-26

And now some links, of course:

Copic Storage:  I love these very affordable storage towers for Copics, will have to figure out how I can rearrange my area to incorporate these into my work space.

Water Based Marker Tutorial:  If you do not have Copics or distress ink check out this tutorial (heck, even if you HAVE the other things, check out this tutorial) to see how to get some amazing results with water based markers!

Paper/Craft Storage:  This is a GREAT ebay seller who makes wonderful paper storage (I need to buy one of his towers, my plastic cubes are the leaning tower or pisa).  All sorts of paper storage, ink storage and more, prices are reasonable, he will customize some items if you ask him, the only downside is that shipping is a bit expensive, but truthfully worth every penny.  I am saving up for one of these!

Building a design with bracket stamps:  Love how this person uses the bracket stamps to make all sorts of new designs (and who doesn't want to be able to have multiple uses for stamps?).

Cala Lilly Grunge Flower:  Wow, these look real!  The tutorial is very easy to follow, can't wait to try this (and yes, I did finally get some grunge paper!)

Ok, that is it for now, sorry that I had to post this so late this week.  Now, don't forget that the blog hop is this Friday and if you want to be entered to win the blog candy you need to leave a comment on the SCACD blog by Thursday, 10 pm.

Have a great day everyone, see you again real soon, and thank you for your prayers and thoughts.

Three Tilda's, links and a video

Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend and are ready to take on the coming week with energy, happiness and joy : ) 

Last Monday I went to my local Michaels armed with a gift certificate and a coupon for 20 percent off my entire purchase, including sale items.  While I was walking through one of the aisles two ladies stopped me and asked if I knew anything about scrapbooking.  They were shopping for a daughter/grand daughter and did not have any idea of what was needed. An hour later I had helped them pick out a "starter" packet of goodies for the lucky young lady, and I warned them both that scrapbooking was very addictive and that they should watch out because the next time they end up at Michaels it could well be for themselves!  (We all know how easy it is to get pulled into the world of papercrafting.)

While I don't do much scrapbooking, I do a whole lot of stamping/card making.  Stamping, to me anyway, is a sort of therapy.  I can go into my corner (yes, going to your corner can be a good thing sometimes), take out some paper, stamps, ink, embellishments and forget about everything except the card in front of me.  This weekend I managed to play some more with the distress inks, and I have to say the more I use them the more I absolutely LOVE the way they bring the stamped images to life.

Here are the three cards I worked on this weekend:

From 2010-02-21

From 2010-02-21

From 2010-02-21

And here are a few more tips for using the distress inks as paint:

1.)  Use a heavy watercolor paper, at least 120, I bought some 140 lb cold press this weekend that was on sale at Aaron Brothers, 15 9 x 12 sheet pads for $4.49.  I still can't find any "hot press" paper in my area, but I will keep looking and may order some online.

90 lb paper is not heavy enough in my opinion, the paper starts to pill and warp as you add layers of color.

2.)  Experiment with the effect that you want:  putting water on the paper before you add color will give you a softer, more muted effect, applying the paint directly to dry paper gives you a brighter color, but you have to work to feather out the color so you don't get a harsh line.

3.) Make sure you have an assortment of paint brushes, I use a round 5,4,2,1 and 0 for my coloring.  The larger brushes I use to put down a light base of color, the smaller brushes for adding deeper amounts of color and soot black to areas for shadow.

While I have lots of copic markers, colored pencils, chalks and other coloring mediums, I am becoming ever so partial to the distress inks, especially since I am still experimenting with the technique.

How about some links and a video this week?  Lots of wonderful things are going on in the stamping world, and here are just a few things you might find fun and interesting:

More flowers:  Easy, easy, easy, and ohhhhhh so cute!  I loved this project, and thought the flowers were amazing!  Nothing special is needed beyond a scallop circle punch and your imagination.

Flourish stamp set:  Good price on these stamps, and a great set to add to your collection.  Flourish styled stamps are so versatile, no stamp collection is complete without a few of these stamps. And check out this link on how you can use these stamps to make other images.

Paper Reference Deck:  While I do not have a large amount of SU paper, I do have all sorts of other solid paper that this reference deck would work well with.  Having your solid colored card stock in a reference deck is a great help when trying to match designer paper.

And yet MORE homemade flowers: These are quick, easy, cute and inexpensive to make.  Buying flowers can add $$$ to your budget, so why not make as many of them as you can, adding fewer store bought and more homemade flowers to your projects.

Crafting the Web:  Wow!  Amazing cards, lots and lots of copic step by step coloring and an overall great blog to bookmark and visit often.  You are going to love the cards that Theresa Momber creates.

Make the Cut:  I thought this looked interesting, and given that I do not own a Cricut am not in the market for this product, however I thought some of you with Cricuts would find this product useful.  If anyone has this product already please post a comment and let us know what you think.  And here is one review I found with a number of comments about this product.

DoCraft TV:  Lots of great videos from this fun UK website. 

Video, video and more video!  Yes, lots and lots for you to view here, over 1,300 stamping/crafting videos.  Many of these videos are basic in nature, so make sure to save the link for anyone you know who is just getting started with stamping.

And here is yet another Jennifer McGuire video (she does the absolute BEST videos!).  This time she is showing all sorts of ways to use alcohol inks with glass and transparencies (I have to try some of these techniques):


Thank you for stopping by!  And thank you for all of your nice comments, I love hearing from you.

Adventures of the weekend and fun links.

Good morning and happy Monday (if there is such a thing as a happy Monday : )  I hope you had a wonderful weekend and are off to a great start to your week. Don't forget to leave a comment on last week's post (click here) for a chance to win the blog candy : )  The winner will be announced on Thursday (deadline to enter is Wednesday at midnight.)

Facebook page: I finally added a Facebook page for After Hours Stamper!  If you are on Facebook make sure to add After Hours Stamper to your friends list, you can click on the link from the blog (on the left hand side in the menu bar) or click here.  

Our weekend was somewhat uneventful, we did a few chores and had family over for the football game yesterday (go NINERS!)  Of course no weekend is without incident, and this one was no exception.  In preparation for the family visit I had just finished mopping the kitchen floor and went to exit the kitchen when my foot went out from under me and down I went, hitting my head on a cabinet and banging my knee in the doorway.

My fall was loud enough to bring my husband inside (he was watering outside at the time), I just laid there looking at this huge piece of skin hanging off my knee, moaning (no, I do not handle pain well.)  Eventually I did get up and hobble to the coach and put ice on my knee, all the while thinking that keeping a clean house is hazardous to ones health.  The knee still hurts, is black and blue and swollen, but my hard head was not even scratched, go figure : )

So while my knee recovers, our son is also recovering from his adventure last week.  It seems there is some type of concrete slide near his college (20 or so feet high).  As boys will be boys, my son and his friends got some cardboard and were sliding down the slide when my son got the bright idea that he should try going backwards, this is the result:

Of course we should have some links with the post, so here we go:

Hexagonal Stacking Box:  You are going to love this template (perfect for the upcoming holidays).  The directions on the site as well as the template.  I loved the look of this box (haven't made one yet, but plan on doing one soon), and really liked how they all stacked together.

Tipsy Pot:  I loved this for the garden, and you could decorate the pots with your stamps and have a unique piece of "living" garden art.

Free Online Scrapbook Classes:  This link will take you to a page that has some free/samples classes to download.  All of the samples are complete classes, there are quite a few for you to sample.

From my Craft Room:  Amazing Tilda cards here, take a look and be awed by the beauty of these cards.  I spent over an hour on this blog looking at her wonderful creations.

Magnolia Creations by Inge:  Another blog with some amazing cards using Tilda stamps.  

Make your own baby wipes:  I loved this idea!  I still have some baby wipes left from a big box I purchased at Costco, but when I run out I am making these!

Lyra Polycolor 72 Pencils:  GREAT price on these colored pencils, and I love the site as well, some pretty good deals to be found here, check out these prices on Pearl Ex and Pan Pastels.

Masque Pen:  I haven't tried this yet, but am very tempted.  Using this pen eliminates the need to make a paper masque when you are stamping multiple images.  If anyone has used this pen, let me know if you think it is worth the cost. 


How to make a "Star Book:"  This is a great project, and I love how the book opens into a star.  The directions are really clear and this project looks like it should be pretty easy (maybe a little time consuming though). 


How to make a paper lantern video.  You could make these out of orange paper and decorate them to look like pumpkins.  The dollar store carries the small led lights (they look like little votive candles), and you could put those inside the lantern for a really fun decoration for Halloween.

Here is the video (very simple to follow):

How to make a Paper Lantern

Ok, that is all for now folks, time for me to jump (mmmm, hobble?) into the shower and get ready for the work week.

Have a wonder day everyone, and please be careful when mopping your kitchen floor : )