Do you love to hang out after an event to watch everything come down or arrive early so you can watch it all go up?  What about watching out-takes from a movie or TV show?

As a teenager, I used to sneak out and go back to the carnival and watch them take down all the rides.  The “Carnies” were real and raw then.  You got to know them a bit.  And, they came back year after year, so eventually, you would get free rides and stuff!

So, I am going to let you have a sneak peek into my world!

Y’all have already seen my craft room.  If not, you can see it here, https://keepitsimplestampers.com/a-craft-room-tour/.  But, this isn’t the only place I work.

Once I have completed cards and projects, I take them to my office at my job and take photos.  I do this because I am still fairly scared to purchase anything like a mini-photo booth or whatnot to take my photos with.  And, my photo-geek friends out there would kill me to learn that I don’t mind the fluorescent lights above me.

So, here is my “photo booth”!  I can say this because I live in Southern Illinois… It is sort of a hillbilly set-up… isn’t it!  What it is is four sheets of cardstock – two up against the monitor holding thingy and two on my desk.  Then I use my cell phone to capture the picture…

It’s a little dark.  But, I have learned that with the click of two buttons in photo shop, I can fix that. (Image -> Auto-Contrast).  Then, I crop it and add my watermark.

And, that my friends, is how I take my photos for my blog.

A little about this card…  It was CASE’d from Georgia Giguere.  And, don’t you just love that Designer Series Paper?  It’s called Delightful Daisy (144137)!  #loveitchopit

I won’t bore you with the little details because… here…  I did a project sheet!

Proj Sheet – Daisy Birthday

If you really like the behind-the -scenes stuff… you should really think about becoming a Stampin’ Up demonstrator!  We learn about all the products before they are released to the public.  We can get our hands on them and play around!  Wouldn’t you love to do that?

Just click on the link above and come join my team!  I would love to have you!

Until next time… keep it simple, Stampers!

🙂  Joanne

No, this isn’t about the small moon I saw last night.  But, hey, did you see it?  It was almost full but tiny.  Got me thinking about the Total Solar Eclipse coming up in a little over a week.

Is the moon going to be full to completely block out the sun?  And, can a total solar eclipse happen if the moon is not full.  I mean, really, the whole moon will be in front of the sun… so that’s a total eclipse, right?  I partial eclipse is when the sun is only partly covered by the moon.  Oh great!  Now I am so confused…  Well, back to topic at hand!

So, have you seen this beautiful sleep baby on top of the moon?  It’s a great set to welcome new babies into the world!

This card was inspired by Kirsten Aitchinson… and by inspired, I meant I copied it pretty much exactly!  But, who wants to recreate the wheel some days!

It’s just some cardstock, water color pencils and a sleeping baby!  What could be easier?

Until next time… keep it simple, stampers!

🙂  Joanne

Today is one of the most exciting days in the Stampin’ up world.  It’s the first day that demonstrators around the world can pre-order items from the brand-spanking new 2017 Holiday Catalog.

I cannot wait until I have my stuff and can create beautiful Christmas cards and other projects for you all.

But, in the meantime…

Here are a couple of birthday cards that we made at the July Stamp Camp.

This card uses the Happy Birthday Gorgeous stamp set (143662) available in the 2017-2018 Annual Catalog… check it out on page 77.  I’m pretty sure I CASE’d it from someone.. just am not sure who.  If it’s yours, please let me know!

Here I used the “masking” technique where I placed a piece of super sticky Post-It notes across the middle of the card and stamped over it.  Then, I was able to peel it off and stamp the sentiment in the void left.

I also used the “stamp off” technique to create the lighter background of the flowers and the leaves by simply inking u the stamp and stamping first on a piece of scrap paper.  Then I stamped the flowers full strength to add the detail.

And the next one…

This is such a simple yet elegant card that I CASE’d from Megan Daves.  It also uses the Happy Birthday Gorgeous stamp set.  But, that lovely die cut birthday wish really makes it stand out, don’t you think!?!  The Happy Birthday Thinlits Die (143700) just bumps up the wow factor of any card.  And that Falling Snow Textured Impression Embossing Folder makes the bubbling so real you can feel the fizz!

So, while I am in a rush to get the new Fall and Christmas stuff, I would be remiss to just toss aside the Annual Catalog when it is chocked full of such great product!

Until next time… keep it simple, Stampers!

🙂  Joanne

Have you heard?  A total solar eclipse is getting ready to cut it’s way from Washington state to South Carolina.  It will be darkest the longest right over my house!  They have been planning for this day for a couple years.  Hotels are booked… people are renting out rooms in their homes.  Tourists are searching for off-the-beaten-path locations to view.  Ozzy Osborne is giving a concert!  Schools are out. Area-wide shutdown of life!   In fact… we locals have all been warned!  It’s going to be like a snowstorm in the middle of summer!

So, what is a Stamper to do but make a card to celebrate the occasion?

Here is the one I think I have finally settled on..

What had me so confused was the placement of the saying.  Where on earth should it go?  I opted for directly on the card.

(PS – let the ink dry very thoroughly before embossing.  It took me three tries and the heat tool to get it this good and it’s not even that great!)

Here were my other options…

Which one do you like the best?  Which on gave your heart a total eclipse?

As far as technique goes, I watched a couple of different tutorials on YouTube to figure out how I was going to do this.  But, In the end, I settled on sponges and the following colors…  It’s all about the layering.  Start light then darken!

Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Tangelo Twist, Rich Razzleberry, Perfect Plum, Elegant Eggplant, and Basic Black.

(Don’t mind the messy workspace…)

So… What events come to your area that inspire you to make cards?

What else inspires you?  Trust me, I see inspiration everywhere.  In fact, the next Ink & Inspiration Blog Hop (on August 24th) is all about recreating something that inspired us!  Just wait!!!

Until next time… keep it simple, Stampers!

🙂  Joanne

Welcome to the July edition of the Ink & Inspiration Blog Hop!

Our theme this month is WATERCOLOR!

I will admit that watercoloring is not my forte.  But, Stampin’ Up provides the tools that make it easy and mistake-proof.   And, there are plenty of tutorials around the interwebs to help you learn the umpteen bazillion different techniques.

So, since really like sets of cohesive cards, I decided I wanted to do something kind of fall-y.  I created a color scheme…

Then I chose a stamp set…  I went with Colorful Seasons because of the coordinating dies.

And, then I chose a technique.  I went with the block spritzing technique.  It’s really simple.  You take a clear BLOCK and color it with Stampin’ Write Markers. Then you SPRITZ it with water using a Stampin’ Spritzer. Then you place the block onto your paper (thick white, thick vanilla, shimmery white and watercolor paper work the best… but you can use regular whisper white in a pinch).  Pull off the block and let it dry.  Ta-da!  You have water colored!

I also did a full page f watercolor paper where I used the markers to color randomly then used an AQUAPAINTER with blur it.  I couldn’t figure out why this didn’t seem to work as well.  Oops!  I had grabbed the aquapainter with the alcohol instead of water.  But, in the end, it worked!

Well, here are my creations!  Hope you like them!!!

I hope the projects you’ve seen here on my blog today have inspired you & brightened your day. You are currently visiting JOANNE CANTRELL. Please see the list below & hop through all of the people on the list to see all our projects. You don’t want to miss any!”

#IIBH if you’re into hashtags.

Until next time… keep it simple, Stampers!

🙂  Joanne