Stamps, Paper, and Ink

Coastal Lights

Didn't want to miss playing along with Make it Monday at Papertrey Ink, even though I'm a few days late! 

The technique was to make a Watercolor Wash background and Laurie Schmidlin (whose work I've wildly admired for a very long time!) did a wonderful job of presenting her first video showing two beautiful cards with watercolored backgrounds. 

Here's my take on the technique using the PTI set, Guiding Lights.

I've had this in my stash for a LONG time, glad to ink it up!

I chose colors of the sea and sand for my background, washing them onto watercolor paper using my Peerless Watercolors.

For texture, I added droplets with my brush in blue and then white acrylic paint. I'd like to try this again because to make the composition work I ended up cutting away a good portion of the background.

My colored inks and card stock are from Stampin' Up!:  Riding Hood Red, Tempting Turquoise, and Coastal Cabana.

EDITED TO ADD

After posting earlier today, I went and did make another card using the same supplies. Not only do I really like this card better, the photo is also improved. I like showing more of the background with this layout.I really enjoyed getting to try this technique again. 

Hope you enjoy it too! 

Thanks for visiting!

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

Rose Wonder for Fab Friday

 Hello everyone!

You know, I miss a few days of blogging and before we know it two weeks have gone by without a post from me. I've been spending time enjoying this fall weather, taking walks along the lake where we live, and keeping up with day to day stuff and our family. 

Thank goodness for the Fab Friday Challenge that keeps me stamping! 

I was able to stamp with my dear friend this week and I borrowed her Stampin' Up! Rose Wonder set and dies for today's card. 

I love the Scripture verse included with the set and used it to make a distressed inked background on white card stock. I inked the image and stamped it across the white panel, and added more distressing with the images from Timeless Textures stamp set. Then I sponged the ink from the outside edges into the center. Finally I flicked a few splatters of acrylic white paint and die cut the panel. 

I used the Rose Garden die cuts to create the sentiment and floral focal points. 

We look forward to seeing your creations using the colors for our 100th challenge. You can link up your projects on the blog at the Fab Friday Challenge blog. 

Mindy Backes
Heather Heroldt
Amy Koenders
Brian King
Justin Krieger
Amanda Mertz
Brenda Myers
Janine Tinklenberg
Wendy Weixler

I'm so thankful that you spent time visiting my blog today. I love it when you do and hope you come back soon!

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

 

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Fab Friday 59

 

Vintage Roses for Mojo Monday

Ahh, yes, it's a SNOW day here and we got snow this time. With more expected!! Usually it's ice or freezing rain for us.

Except for worrying about my family who had to go out and drive in it, I've had a lovely morning. If you've never lived in the south, then maybe you don't know this. For 2" of snow everything shuts down! Which is a good idea because we don't have the equipment to clear the roads well. And, well - we don't know how to drive in it either!

Navigating in the craft room has been easy. I picked up the roses I made the other night with the Vintage Roses stamps that are NBUS - never been used shtuff - and put them together with the sketch at Mojo Monday! 

I'm very sorry to say that this card will be going to my dear godmother who lost her husband - my uncle. As often is the case, in my sadness I held off making the card because I just couldn't seem to. I know in this day and age we hardly receive hand written cards or letters, so they are appreciated. Mine also come included in this case - with lots of prayers. 

OK, back to the crafting details.

The main panel is Strawberry Slush even though in the photo it looks like Melon Mambo. Not.

The rose images include multiple stamps for each to get the layered look you see here. I was really just playing around with colors when I made these, but the combination I like best begins with darker colors for the details and paler shades for the whole shape: Rose Red, Strawberry Slush, Regal Rose stamped off, and Blushing Bride. 

Here's the wonderful sketch by Julee. The classic lines give lots of design options.

I love tall cards. Mine measures 3 -1/2" X 5-1/2".

Thanks for visiting, hope you've been inspired!

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft.

          Make something beautiful!

    

Stamps: Vintage Roses - Altenew, Hand Written Sentiments - Simon Says Stamp

Paper: Whisper White, Strawberry Slush, Garden Green

Ink: Tuxedo Black; Rose Red, Strawberry Slush, Regal Rose (retired) Blushing Bride , Wild Wasabi, Garden Green - Stamping' Up!

Accessories: Gold thread, Circle Framelits, Delicate Details Embossing Folder, Sequins from Simon Says Stamp

 

Insider Day 1 with Simply Sketched

For the second card I wanted to do a little watercoloring. I'm really not changing up the layouts presented, just the sets and the colors. The Hostess set Simply Sketched is my absolute favorite one to color right now, and it seemed a perfect fit for a sympathy card. 

The beauty of the inside of this card, is a small card that pops up to carry over the theme and sentiment from the card front. This is so easy to do that I think I'll remember to do it often.

I watercolored the bird that also goes with this set. I love to use inkpads, an aqua painter and watercolor paper. Markers are great for adding a bit of shading too. 

Hope you are enjoying multiple posts today. Thanks for looking!

 

 

 

All supplies by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Simply Sketched, Blessings from Heaven

Paper: Very Vanilla, Watercolor, Old Olive, Basic Black

Ink: Black StazOn, Strawberry Slush, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Soft Sky, Smoky Slate, Marina Mist, Calypso Coral

Accessories:  Large Scallop Edgelits, Aqua painter

Beau Château Sympathy

It's sad when you find yourself needing to send a sympathy card. I've always wondered why the word sympathy is used so I looked up the definition.

Sympathy: harmony of or agreement in feeling, as between persons or on the part of one person with respect to another; the fact 

or power of sharing the feelings  of another,  especially in sorrow or trouble; fellow feeling, compassion.

It makes so much sense to realize sympathy is not sorrow/pity FOR someone, but loving thoughts shared with them. 

My friend gave her friend a beautiful butterfly necklace as a gift, so I thought bright butterflies would be appropriate using Daffodil Delight card stock. I highlighted the butterfly details by painting on Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink to give a shimmery glow. 

I've been featuring the Beau Chateau Designer Papers on my projects this week, and the Paper Doily Die. The coordinating Side Notes are a ready-made focal point for any project! I chose the label and stamped the sentiment from the Loving Thoughts set in Soft Suede ink. 

Our son and precious new DIL spent the last couple of nights visiting us, and just got on the road home. All our household is quiet now, with everyone off for the day except for Josie (our beagle pup) and me. I'm settling in with a second cuppa my morning tea, so glad you could join me! Have a great day.

  All supplies by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Loving Thoughts

Paper: Beau Chateau, Marina Mist, Very Vanilla, Daffodil Delight

Ink: Soft Suede

Accessories: Beau Chateau Side Notes, Marina Mist Taffeta Ribbon, Beautiful Wings Embosslit Die, Paper Doily Die, Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink (Midnight), Basic Jewels Pearls

Soft Sympathy

I need a sympathy card for a man whose mother passed away and the color combo challenge at SCS gave me just the soothing shades for a serene winter card.

The Beautiful Season set is intended for Christmas but I think it can be used for many occasions. I really like it for the sympathy theme and even thought about using just the "Thinking of you" portion and omitting the "at Christmas." But since I am playing along with the great Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge, I added the banner strip and chose the sentiment from Thoughts and Prayers.

I stamped the image on Whisper White card stock with Basic Brown ink (it's retired, but I LOVE it for it's soft look) and colored with inks and my Aquapainter.

I really resisted adding a bow or even a button, but that was not without trying a bit of Linen thread and twine. No sparkles either. Now you know why this is not my favorite card,lol!

  All supplies by Stampin' Up!

Stamps: Beautiful Season, Thoughts and Prayers

Paper: Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Pear Pizzazz

Ink: Pear Pizzazz

Accessories: Taffeta ribbon, Lattice Squares EF, Antique brads, Northen Frost die

I made myself do it!

I remember in the early days of my stamping, I would sneak upstairs in the evening, make a card in an hour (or less, now that I think about it) and come downstairs beaming. I'd say, "Look what I made!" and my husband and kids would oooh and aaahh and tell me they loved it.

Yesterday was a bit different for me. I've been in a mojo slump and I basically had to MAKE myself start a card. Here's my problem - I've been spending way too much time looking at everybody else's cards!  That is the surest way for me to kill my own creativity because for one thing, I start comparing, and for another, looking at cards (for me) saps my energy for MAKING cards. Do any of you relate?

So after I LOOKED at a a card using Blushing Bride, I decided to come up with a color combo using it. I pulled out the In-Color DSP that I wanted to use, and experimented with neutrals - all the browns, Crumb Cake and Basic Gray. I finally decided on Sahara Sand to make the white pop. Then I made the card (read: this thinking process took at least a half hour!)

Here's today's card.

I put LOTS  of details on this one.

• I added embossing along the bottom of the DSP with the Framed with Tulips embossing folder.
• I stamped white card stock with the tiny petals stamp from the "Because I Care" set
• I die cut the flowers using the Fun Flowers die, and embossed them with the Square Lattice Embossing Folder
• I added a bow. Notice how my bow has two extra "tails?" That's because in my experimenting I had wrapped the ribbon around the card base and tied a bow. When I decided to add just the bow I cut off the loop of ribbon at each end. (gasp!) Such trial and error.
• I wasn't done with those flowers yet! I spritzed them with water and crumpled them. After they were dry, I sprayed with Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz.
• I added Basic Pearls to the DP and on top of the Filigree brad.

I was really having fun by now, KWIM?  Especially when I broke open my bottle of Smooch Pearlized Accent Ink (Moonlight.) I hadn't used this product yet, it has been sitting on my work table for months waiting for me to figure out how to use it. It was not rocket science (like I thought!) it is just what it says, a pearlized ACCENT. It's in a bottle just like nail polish and I just painted it over the row of tulips, and on the tips of the die cut leaves. Here's a close up of the flower so you can see the shimmer it gives.

There you have it! Now, picture me coming down the stairs with a card in my hand, saying, "Want to see what I made?" and smiling.

Have a great day! I'd love to hear from you!

 

 all supplies by Stampin' Up!

Visit my online store  HERE if you need supplies or to see our specials

Do you have any questions about our products, my projects/classes, or being a demonstrator? I am happy to answer them, just send me an e-mail, you'll find it HERE

Thoughts and Prayers

It's a bright, beautiful and breezy Saturday morning! Lovely day and I've already spent time outside. Our puppy Josie loves coming around with me while I water plants and this morning there was ACTION in our front yard for her to watch as my husband and a crew felled a large dead tree. Now she's sleeping {{*sigh*}}

 
 

  I've been eyeing the great sketch at Mojo Monday all week. Seems like the more beautiful cards I saw with this layout, the harder it became to come up with my own idea.

Inspiration hit as I was tidying up and putting away my catalog. The card on page 214 caught my eye because I really loved the soft colors. Any visual cue helps kick-start my mojo, and what better source than the catalog!

Here's my take on the sketch.

Having the layout and colors made the rest easy. Can you believe this is the first time I've used the Elegant Lines Embossing Folder?  I LOVE it, the texture is crisp and elegant.

Thoughts and Prayers is the perfect set for a sympathy card, this one will go out in the mail soon.

Thanks for taking time on a busy Saturday to visit my blog. I love hearing from you in my comments box or e-mails. I'm not sure I'm quite over my loss of Mojo but I can say that every comment received was read thoughtfully and appreciated.

Hugs~

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up!
Stamps: Thoughts & Prayers, Bloomin' Beautiful (retired)
Paper: Baja Breeze, Whisper White, Elegant Soiree, Soft Suede (textured)
and Ink: Soft Suede

Accessories:Elegant Lines Embossing Folder, Pretties Kit (pearls), Top Note Die, Big Shot, Satin Ribbon

Order from me online anytime HERE or e-mail me HERE with any questions you have!

Classic Comfort with Of the Earth Set

Hi friends, Hope you had a blessed time of Thanksgiving! Welcome back to my blog!

Over the weekend, I needed a Sympathy card and I wanted just the right colors: to be soothing and hopeful at the same time. I was inspired by the soft hues in the Bella Bleu Designer Series Paper, especially the So Saffron and the Sahara Sand patterns. I paired them with Brocade Blue, since that's the ribbon that I wanted to use. I just LOVED these colors together and then I realized - these shades of yellow and blue (with red accents) are the main colors of my living room, dining room and kitchen! *happy sigh*

The ribbons are layered with a classic looped bow peeking out from behind the main image panel. I adhered them with sticky strip, so they don't shift around in the mail. You can click on the photo to see the detail.

I used an emboss resist technique on the bird image. I stamped the bird in versamark on the designer paper and embossed with clear powder. Sponging added the blue color to the bird and edges of the square. I punched it out and layered it over a mat of the DP punched with the Scallop Square punch. Rounding the corners and embellishing with two half pearls from the Pretties Kit were the last touches.

Some of you took advantage of the GREAT deals during the Holiday Extravaganza sale. If you are reading this early, there's still time today to order (you'll find that info HERE.) Be watching for more fun opportunities to save from Stampin' Up!

I've had quite a few chances to stamp over the weekend, can't wait to show you over the next few posts!

Supplies~  all supplies by Stampin' Up!
Stamps: Of the Earth, Teeny Tiny Wishes
Paper: Bella Bleu, whisper white, so saffron, brocade blue
and Ink: versamark, brocade blue

Accessories: Pretties Kit, 1-1/4", corner rounder, scallop edge and scallop square punches; clear embossing powder, 5/8" brocade blue grosgrain ribbon