Category Archives: sketches

2023 Stamp & Swap projects

Last month we had our 8th annual NEPA (Northeast PA) Stamp & Swap and today I’m finally sharing the projects that I made for it. Be sure to read all the way to the end for a really cool project we did!

The first one I made was for our 6×6 Recipe Swap. I used Angie Blom’s Coolest Chicks Ever digital images, which are also available as physical stamps through Unity Stamp Co.

For the ATC swap, I wanted to create a shaped ATC. This retired MFT Milk Carton Die was the perfect size. I also used Lawn Fawn’s Cerealsly Awesome set & Dies, which was a cerealsly awesome gift from a friend! 🙂 How cute! I couldn’t decide what color to make the bowl, so I did several and let the participants choose.

Several weeks prior, I found the event theme in a sentiment set of scrabble tile letters at Hobby Lobby. They already had an adhesive backing, so I just formed them in the shape of a tree and added brads for the trunk & star. I embossed the background and added a frame and ribbon.

The Mini Slimline Swap was one of the most popular. I made mine a gatefold card using my favorite Christmas plaid paper from Hobby Lobby and SU! Snow Wonder Bundle. My base is 3 x 12, scored @ 3 and 9.

For my shoebox card, I used the retired Spellbinders Sharyn Sowell Winter Friends die set, Simon Says Stamp Pine Landscape embossing folder and die set, and SnSS Christmas Sentiments. The large bunny and sentiment circle are popped up with foam tape.

A new swap that I came up with for this year’s event was a Sketch & Card Front Swap. I used the SU! Penguin Place Bundle and coordinating papers on the card here. Below is my sketch that I started with. Participants swapped both of these together…the card front & it’s coordinating sketch.

The last project that I’m sharing is the favor that we made for everyone who attended the swap. We decided this year to make the tools to use on the MISTI or other stamping platforms, but to also PERSONALIZE them. Someone from our committee (I can’t remember who) named them our NEPA tool. 🙂

We purchased mini candles from the Dollar Tree and used the glass tops, making sure to pick out the ones with a large clear space in the center of the lid. My friend, Lou Ann, and I had several hours LOL trying to get our swap words in a circle with each name inside but when we were finished, it was so worth the effort (Don’t ask me how we did it lol)! They were then printed onto colored copy papers and punched out with a circle punch. Lou Ann’s husband cut wood circles for us to place on the bottom of the glass for stability, and then we covered the base with felt. So, there’s the glass candle lid (with a plastic covering on the bottom of it), then a wood circle which we painted white, and two layers of felt circles. Each attendee was asked their favorite colors without knowing what we were making.

We used several glues and adhesives with trial & error until we figured out the right combination! Lou Ann used her Xyron sticker maker with the punched circles, so they had adhesive on top. Then I carefully adhered them in place inside the lid using tweezers to get them inside. Our committee got together and working quickly, Mod Podge was applied inside the entire lid and chunky glitter was dumped inside. Next, a fine glitter was added to fill in the empty spaces. It’s hard to capture the glitter in the photos below! When dry, E6000 glue was used to adhere the wood circle to the candle lid. Again, they were left to sit as the glue dries. Aleene’s Felt and Foam Tacky Glue worked great to adhere two felt die cut circles to the base. We finished them off by adding some ribbons with Scor-Tape. Whew! It was a lot of work but so fun!

Thanks for reading all the way through! LOL. Have a great day!

autumn birthdays

I have quite a few photos from the past few months that I haven’t shared, so I will try to catch up with them before the end of the year. Here’s a few fall birthday cards that I made. The first two used a pretty patterned paper from Hobby Lobby. I also used the SU! Soft Seedlings & Birthday Banners on the first card. The second card has Crafty Secrets Wizard of Oz (a set from 2010).

Here’s the sketch that I used for those cards. I started with a 4 1/2 x 2 3/4 piece of patterned paper before cutting it into strips.

Next, I used the Taylored Expressions Create in Quads- Word Party to make some masculine cards. I only used one section of the stencils. The leaves are Spellbinders Mini Fall Blooms and the small sentiment is from SNSS Birthday Wordfetti.

Have a great day!

virtual stamping 9

Hello! Here’s a few more cards that I’ve made while stamping “virtually” with my friends. These were all stamped with Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps.

First, I have two more gnome cards using the new Winter Gnomes stamp set. These gnomes are so cute and fun to create with! I paired them with papers from American Crafts- Noel.

If you like sketches, I drew this one up…

My second gnome card was for another sketch challenge. I used the same paper pack, along with the Cuttlebug Ice Crystal die & embossing folder combo and the Martha Stewart Polar punch.

The next two cards use the new Encouraging Peonies stamp set. These beautiful flowers can be colored many ways or stamped simply like I’ve done here. This card was also for a sketch. The sentiment was cut with Sizzix Stacked Baroque dies and accented with gold thread (hard to see!). Also difficult to see in the photo are a few adhesive pearls.

Sympathy cards can be difficult to create…I kept this one CAS. The large flower was stamped onto a speckled cream base and the smaller one onto white cardstock, which was fussy cut and popped up with foam tape.

Refresh…something we all could use a little of right now, right? A gift card to a local coffee shop would go perfectly with this “Jesus & Java” card. I used the SNSS Fill Me Up set and matching dies. The coffee cup was paper pieced, popped up, and accented with a small epoxy heart sticker. This was for a challenge to use any beverage.

My last card today uses the Thrill of Hope stamp set. It was for a challenge to create this special cut & fold. My largest trimmer is 12″ so I had to cut the diagonal on the 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock by hand with a craft knife and ruler! But I was happy with the end result. I love the trees in the Gina K Red Velvet ink! I used Gina Marie Stitched Circles and Rectangles and the SU! Northern Flurry embossing folder.

EDIT: To answer some questions… I didn’t follow a tutorial,  I’m sure there’s one out there but I’m not sure what it is called. I just scored an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of cardstock at 4 1/4 on the short side and 5 1/2 on the long side. Then I used a ruler and craft knife to cut it diagonally to get the two card bases. For the music paper, just cut a layer… 4 x 5 1/4  or 4 1/8 x 5 3/8  diagonally.

The inside…

Thanks for popping in and have a great day!

simply the zest

Good morning! I have one more SNSS card to share this month. Here I used the July Stamp of the Month, Summer Fruits… a fun, fruity new set perfect for your summer-time cards!

The dots on the lemons aren’t near as bold as in the picture! My camera really picked up on those. lol. I kinda liked how this card came together. I may use this layout again. EDIT: I’ve added a sketch below if you’d like to try it!

Have a great start to the week and stay cool! It’s supposed to be another hot one!

stamps- Sweet ‘n Sassy Summer Fruits; paper- white, black, SU! Smoky Slate, MME-Breeze; ink- Memento Tuxedo Black; accessories- MISTI, Copics, Gina Marie Scalloped Stitched Circles, foam dimensionals, enamel dots.

simply enjoy it all (and a sketch)

Hey friends, sorry for a third post today!  The auto feed on my blog isn’t working quite right (this seems to happen about once a year…arrrgh) and so here’s a test post to see if I fixed it.

Simple card….I used the Misti to line up the flowers and stamp a bunch so I could put several cards together.

painted flowers 2 diane zechman

I got the Altenew Painted Flowers set here!  The sentiment is an old Michael’s dollar stamp.  And those are tiny Nuvo Drops to accent!

If you like sketches, here you go!

sketch 20 diane zechman

Have a great day!

fill me up

Good morning! This month Sweet ‘n Sassy has released one set for pre-order… the Exclamations Clear Stamp Set from the Creative Worship line.

I used the coffee cup (or hot cocoa would be my choice!) image to make a quick CAS card.

fill me up diane zechman

I colored with Copics, then added some Crystal Effects to the drink and spoon.

fill me up shine diane zechman

This layout is great for using up some patterned paper scraps! I figured I would use it again so I drew up a sketch.  These are the measurements I came up with for this card and can be used as a guide, but you can make your banners any size you want.

sketch 19 diane zechman

Have fun with it and have a great weekend!

stamps- Sweet ‘n Sassy Exclamations Clear Stamp Set; paper- white, Basic Grey- Eva; ink-  Memento Tuxedo Black; accessories- Copics, foam tape, 2 1/2″ circle punch, twine, Crystal Effects.

hoppy Easter

Hello friends and happy Thursday!

Today I am on the Art Impressions blog with a card using the 4754 – Hoppy Easter Set.  It has a few bunnies with eggs but it also has this cute little chick.

hoppy easter diane zechman

You may have noticed that my challenge card today has the same patterned paper. I found this piece of 12×12 paper that was cut into squares for a project a few years ago. I guess I thought the leftover pieces were too pretty to toss and left them in a box of unfinished cards.  The colors and fun floral pattern were perfect for my spring cards today.

I brushed some clear Wink of Stella onto the eggs for some sparkle and the chick’s arms & eggs were popped up!

IMG_6417

I also have a sketch if you’d like to try this one.  🙂

sketch 16 diane zechman

Have a great day and… happy stamping!

Diane Signature Medium size

stamps- Art Impressions 4754 – Hoppy Easter Set; paper- white, SU! Blushing Bride and Dusty Durango, K&Co. Amy Butler- Lucky Flowers; ink- Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Black; accessories- Copics. Circle Nestabilities, washi tape, foam dimensionals, Clear Wink of Stella, rhinestones.

hedgie hi

Good morning!

Today I am sharing this card on the Sweet ‘n Sassy blog using the Furry Friends and Chunky Alpha stamp sets.

hedgie hi diane zechman

I don’t remember where I saw a card with a similar sketch, but I love it!  I think it will quickly become one of my “go-to” sketches.  This hedgie is quite cute…I masked him and stamped the stump below so he had a resting place.  Then I chose a patterned paper with a sort-of “woodsy” feel to go with him.

If you like the sketch too, here you go…

sketch 14 diane zechman

Thanks for popping in and… happy stamping!

stamps- Sweet ‘n Sassy Furry Friends and Chunky Alpha; paper- vanilla, SU! Crumb Cake, Basic Grey- Sultry; ink- Memento Tuxedo Black, SU! Kiwi Kiss; accessories- Copics, linen thread, mini staples.

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leave it

Good morning!

Today Sweet ‘n Sassy is starting a new weekly special for their birthday month.  Be sure to keep checking for occasional daily deals, weekly specials, and a grand prize!

Here I used one of the freebies SNSS is giving away this week.  I also used some dies from Leaf Silhouettes Dies and Bookmarks & More Dies.

leave it diane zechman

From November 18th to the 24th, you will receive a FREE Exclusive Stamp with your purchase!  You will receive 1 of 4 designs for every $25 you spend.  🙂

It’s been a while since I drew up some sketches and I really liked this layout, so here you go.  I made the width of the image and banner panels a bit wider on the sketch.  If you want them the same as this card, they are each 2″ wide.

sketch 15 diane zechman

Thanks for popping in and… happy stamping!

stamps- Sweet ‘n Sassy freebie; paper- white, SU! Crumb Cake, Tangerine Tango, Crushed Curry, MME- Boo to You; accessories- Copics, SNSS Leaf Silhouettes Dies and Bookmarks & More Dies, Stickles, twine.

 

lotus blossom and a sketch

Just sharing another SU! card today…I used the SAB freebie Lotus Blossom set on this one.

lotus blossom 1 diane zechman

This flower is gorgeous in lots of colors!  (Trust me, I’ve tried it!)

And here’s a sketch in case you like the layout.  I used the same one as I did here…but added the paper doily.

sketch 12 diane zechman

I am longing for flowers…can you tell?

stamps- SU! Lotus Blossom; paper- Painted Blooms dsp, Crumb Cake, white; ink- Rose Red, Blushing Bride, Wild Wasabi, Early Espresso; accessories- paper doily, button, crochet thread, adhesive pearls, Labels Collection Framelits dies, Festive Paper Piercing Pack, corner rounder.