Doodle Star & Friday Fun

It's a little early for the 4th of July, but my dear friend Cami over at Our Craft Lounge got me to play along with their new stamp release blog hop. I couldn't resist, since I drew 17 new sets for Summer. You'll have to go see their full list of Summer releases to see all the fabulous new stamp sets, not just by me, but by the other OCL artists as well.

This is from the new set I drew, Let Freedom Ring. When they first asked me to make some patriotic sets I immediately thought back to my A.P. US History study sessions when I was in High School. We would always go to my friend's house to study, and her mom had the whole downstairs decorated in antique 4th of July (very fitting when studying the Revolutionary War). I couldn't resist drawing a beautiful, old-fashioned set in memory of my friend's sweet mom, who died only a couple months after we graduated.

I made this quick box ensemble from a piece of red paper that I doodled stars onto, since I didn't have a patterned paper that I wanted to use for this project. Same with the blue paper. If you look below I show you how to draw quick stars using your Super-brush nib on your Sketch or Ciao markers.

I used B34, B37, R32, R39, Y17, E31, E33, W1, W2, G85 on these stamps. The origami box was made to hold the little poppers you see around it, I think this would be a fun gift for my son this 4th of July. The border stamp was perfect for decorating the sides of the box, and I toned down the white areas with my warm grays to really add to the antique feel. The buttons are from my stray button jar - I like how they are mis-matched.

Sometime I'll post my directions for folding the box. If you've never played around with Origami I strongly suggest getting a beginner's book and trying it sometime. It's a lot of fun and pretty simple. Here's another simple technique you can try right now:

Doodle Star
To make the star pattern on the blue paper I used the side of a super-brush nib. Press it down gently on it's side to make one drop-shape. Put 5 drop shapes together, point out and you have a perfect star (or a flower depending on how you look at it).

Friday Fun
As part of the OCL new release I am giving away one of the Let Freedom Ring sets. All you have to do is leave a comment on today's post and we'll draw winners on Monday. It's that easy. Please be sure to leave your e-mail address so we can contact you when you win! You can check out other neat projects for Our Craft Lounge Summer Release from these fabulous crafters:

• Diana Gibbs • Jeanne Streiff • Heather McNally • Nancy Morgan • Valerie Stangle • Vicki Garrett • Denise Marzec • Lila Holgate • Holly McMillen • Pam Hooten • Jacqui Lines

• Carol Halvorson • Debbie Corbari • Deb Felts • Joy Kennedy • Cindy Lawerence • Sherry Cheever • Kendra Wietstock • Bethie Silaika • Roseanne Knowles • Kisa Peters • Cambria Turnbow • Amber Hillman


Have a great weekend! I have some neat stuff to show you soon, as well as updates on Certification classes, so stay tuned.