Fun Stamped Envelopes, a card, and more!

Well, hello there, and happy Friday friends! What are you up to this weekend? I know I'll be watching the Oscars on Sunday night in the craft room - and watching the red carpet action all day too! I'm pretty sure I love the pre-show better than the actual awards show part! Other than that, we don't have solid plans. It has been raining cats and dogs, and elephants and bears...and everything else, here in Northern California. I think we are all ready for a break and a bit of sunshine. There is so. much. water. I hope we all don't float away! Do you have a fun weekend planned!  

Today I'm sharing a little story about a fun event I went to, some envelopes, and a card! Lots to share today!! Two weeks ago I had the good fortune to attend an awesome craft retreat put on by my friends Wendy and Carrie. It was called "Escape to Create" and it truly was a lovely escape for the entire day! So much fun stamping, and laughing, and eating delicious food. Such a nice group of women. I love going to stuff like that. It's restorative for our creative souls - I believe that 100%. BIG thanks to Wendy for putting on such a great event for us. I will share more about the event at the end of this post. But I also wanted to share the projects I made that day. I made some custom envelopes and a Copic colored card. 

First up, the envelopes! OH MY. So, I went completely bananas for the new Waffle Flower Stamps at CHA. In fact, when I got home from CHA, these stamps are the first thing I ordered! They are illustrated by Helen Dardik and I have admired her art for a long time. I was like, whoa! What a brilliant idea to turn her gorgeous illustrations into stamps! CLICK HERE to see Helen Dardik's blog and more of her work.

When it came time to pack for the retreat I didn't know what to bring. I ended up bringing a bunch of stamps, some envelopes, white paper and all my Copic Markers. I made these five envelopes using all new Waffle Flower stamps and Copics. 

Here are the first three envelopes.  

 

And here are the last two envelopes! I almost always use A6 envelopes. They are the next size up from an A2. This gives me more room in the envelope for my big fat cards! I don't have to squish them into the smaller size envelope. I will layer a piece of cardstock over the front of my cards before mailing them so they don't get damaged in transit. These are the Paper Bag envelopes from Paper Source. They have all sizes of envelopes in about a million colors. This color is a perfect kraft color. I buy all of my envelopes from Paper Source because of the quality and the colors/sizes available! (CLICK HERE for an envelope size chart)

 

I used my MISTI tool to stamp all of these images. There is so much black in the images that it would be difficult to stamp these and have them come out 'clean' the first time. Each of these was stamped two or three times. The MISTI tool allows you to stamp and restamp in the exact same spot to get a darker impression. I slid a piece of white cardstock inside the envelopes before stamping and coloring, so the color wouldn't bleed through. These images are so adorable. 

 

I like to color with Copics onto Kraft paper (or envelopes) as it gives a nice rustic feeling. I love it with these images. The colors are slightly muted and so pretty! 

 

I also stamped on the back of each envelope with matching stamps and sayings from the same stamp sets. I can't wait to send these out to my friends!

 

 

 

Paper Source sells a set of envelope liner templates that you can use to make perfect linings. I used some gingham from my stash (Old paper from Amuse Studio) and lined each one in a different color. This makes the envelopes even MORE happy and cheerful! 

 

While at the retreat I had time to Copic color another one of my new favorite images - from Mama Elephant! This is one giant (beautiful) stamp! You could color it a million different ways. I have mostly seen it colored in softer tones and with watercolors. So I decided to go big and bold with tropical colors! The stamp outline is not as thick as it looks here in the photo. I achieved a thicker outline by stamping the stamp FOUR times with the MISTI tool. It gave me a really bold look to hold up to all the color. 

 

I chose Copic shades of lime green, bright yellow, orange and hot pink. SO fun and fresh!

 

I did sort of an ombre effect on the "hello" part of the coloring by using three shades of blue green Copics (BG10, BG11 and BG13). I added a few deep black enamel dots for flower centers. The rest of the card is clean and graphic. Just one layer of pretty blue paper on a white card base. 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a few photos from the retreat! It was in Plymouth California which is about 30 miles from my house. It's in the beautiful gold country foothills. God's Country for sure. It was a glorious day full of puffy clouds. This is the view from the back deck of the meeting spot. The one good thing about all the rain we've had is that everything is lush and green here! 

 

Beautiful, majestic, California Live Oaks....

 

 

 

Wendy and Carrie made us feel so welcome! They had treats and presents and decorations at everyone's place to sit. Such a colorful and pretty theme! Love the hot air balloons and the color palette. 

So that's a bit about my fun time at the craft retreat and some projects too! I hope you have a fantastic weekend! XOXO

If you have trouble finding the Waffle Flower Stamps in the links below, TRY HERE. They are kind of selling out fast everywhere! Update - I also just found them ON SALE! CLICK HERE!

 

SUPPLIES FOR TODAY: 

InLinkz.com

Comments

[Ashley N Newell]

Those envelopes are literally the cutest thing ever!!

[Gale]

I love your envelopes, so bright and cheery, thanks, too, for Paper Source and their liner templates. Love your blog!

[Zehra]

These envelopes are super adorable, love them

[Julene]

Such darling envelopes! As always, great color choices. Thanks for sharing.

[Wendy]

Aw wow Wanda. I'm a little misty eyed. Thank you for this gorgeous post. I'm going to be sharing.

[Julie]

Love the projects and photos you shared. Is the building exterior a metallic finish? Were those pop-up balloon cards something you made at the retreat? Your cloud photos are stunning. It HAS been great to see all the green up here after so many years of brown.

[Christine Duval]

I love to put something on the envelope as well. These are very cute. Card is very colorful and happy. Thanks for sharing.

[Chris]

Oh wow! I love your cards and envelopes. I've been doing LOTS of stamping lately and have stamped every single envelope - so proud of myself. I always forget how cool stamped envelopes look. It makes me happy mailing/giving a card that way.....and I know the person receiving feels special... Thank you, Wanda, for all the great ideas you share! XOXO

[Teresa C]

Wanda, love your projects today (and everyday) with the fun, bright colors!
Helps us all get through winter!
Your envelopes are a delight with making-me-smile stamping and coloring!!
Many thanks for a great lift for my day!!

[Holly Saveur]

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE the envelopes..OH my they are SOOOOOOOOOO SUPER cute!!

The craft retreat looks so much fun ..and such a gorgeous place too!!

[Teresa Doyle]

WOW Wanda. AWESOME projects and it looks like you had a great time at the retreat! California looks lovely from your photos. For all the rain YOU have been getting, last week we had 3 Nor'Easter's (YES, THREE snow storms in 7 days!) We were dumped on! However, since then the temps have risen and the snow is settling and we have even had a BBQ or two! No doubt you have never BBQ'd with snow all around you and thought, "Oh, this is nice!" LOL Around here you take what you get and enjoy it! HAHA
Have a wonderful weekend!

[Patti Willey]

OK I've been trying not to buy this Helen Dardik stuff but yeaaaah I think I've got to have them all now! Wow! Love your envies! And thanks for pointing out the Paper Source details, I've saved many of their magazines with the thought of purchasing envies there now...You've done it again Wanda. Great going! Ok I must pin all this great information. I"m glad you got out of Dodge to enjoy your friends and paper craft. I hope you're safe from the effects of so much rain. Working this weekend myself, and a 74th Birthday Party at the Nursing Home for my Step Father..probably no time to make a darn thing. Hugs!

[Susi]

Sounds - and looks - like you had an amazing time, Wanda. And yes, definitely "food for the soul" spending crafty time with good friends and at such a gorgeous retreat! Your cards are darling, whimsical, colourful and amazing. Having envies that match is extra special too.