Birthdays are the BEST

This card fulfills the age old adage* which says, “If it’s not working, just keep on going – even if it looks like you’re just digging yourself into a deeper hole!”

*  Well, actually, I sort of just made that one up . . .

None of the colors I started with worked, so I just kept going darker and darker.  I used an embossing folder to add some texture, and then got nervy and gold embossed the feathers on top of the texture.  Then came some color spray.  As the colors got darker, the feather images began to pop and I began to think I might actually wind up where I wanted to be with this card front.

I’ve never tried to stamp and emboss an image after using an embossing folder, but it gave the images some really cool texture so I plan to try doing this again.

Cardstock:   Beckett Moonlight, Marcos Jute

Stamps:        Cross My Heart Feathers, Hero Chalk Background,

                            Stampin’ Up “Birthdays are the best”

Inks:               Hero Black, Versamark, Adirondack Espresso Color Wash,

                            Distress Coal, Vintage Photo, Versamark

Emb Powder:  Ranger Gold

Emb Folder:    Quickutz Linear

Emb Plate:      Cheery Lynn Burble

Dies:                 Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Squares

                        

Wonderful

For way too many years, I’ve been very hesitant to do water coloring . . . . one might even say I was a watercolor wuss.  Happily, all that has changed.  At the time of this writing, Online Card Classes has just finished up their best class ever (they’ve all been superb!) and I am busily playing with the astounding number of techniques I learned in the “Watercolor for Card Makers” class. This one involved the use of a stencil . . .

Using a stencil with a lot of open space, draw around the inside of the openings with a watercolor pencil.  Remove the stencil and smoosh two or three colors of Distress inks on an acrylic block, keeping the colors separate.  Then use a water brush or a slightly wet paintbrush to pick up a color and fill in the design.  Alternate between applying color or using just water.  Let dry and add more color for shading – which is a lot easier to do than I had thought.  It’s that second application of paint that really makes colors sing!

With two weeks of classes and three or four videos a day showing wonderfully do-able techniques, I am an utterly reformed former watercolor wuss and I feel absolutely fearless.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go try another technique . . .

Cardstock:   Bazzill Grape, Cheddar, watercolor paper

Stamps:        100 Proof Press “Wonderful”, CC Rubber Stamps Fibers       

Inks:               Distress Dusty Concord, Mowed Lawn, Mustard Seed,

                          Salty Ocean, Wild Honey, ColorBox Frost White

Emb Powder:  Judikins Opaque White

Pencils:         Intense Watercolor Pencils Felt Green, Iris Blue,

                           Red Violet, Sicilian Yellow

Dies:              Spellbinders Long Classic Scalloped Rectangles Large,

                          Spellbinders Fanciful Flight

Doo Dads:    Americana Jacobean Floral stencil, Queen & Co

                          Grass Green Rox, Gelly Roll Clear Star pen

Serenity

This card uses one of my favorite techniques: smooshing a few ink pads on my craft sheet, spritzing with water, and then laying my stamps on the ink.  Just before stamping, I tapped the Black Soot pad very lightly around a few of the edges for greater contrast.  These lovely feather stamps are clear, so I just fit all of them onto my acrylic block and stamped in one pass . . .

The first impression was lighter than I wanted, so I simply re-dipped the stamps and stamped again . . . not having to fly blind is one of the huge advantages of clear stamps! 

Cardstock:   PaperCut Brown Umber, Marcos Jute, generic Textured

                           White

Stamps:        Cross My Heart Feathers, Hero Newspaper Background,

                            Starving Artistamps “Serenity”

Inks:               Memories Soft Brown, Distress Black Soot, Vintage Photo,

                            Faded Jeans

Emb Powder:  Stampendous Shabby White

Dies:              Impression Obsession Flags

Doo Dads:    Jute twine

Discover

More feathers!  Can’t say I didn’t warn you . . .

The card base was pulled from my stash where it has lurked for a couple of years.  It was an experiment gone bad but I knew that someday, it would come into its own.  Today is that day:  it’s a perfect match for the bark paper I used for the feathers and I cannot imagine using anything else. 

Now if I could just remember where I got the bark paper . . .

Cardstock:   Generic Tobacco, Black, Bark Paper

Stamps:        Unknown Lettered Background, Catslife Press

                           Dream Circle, Starving Artistamps “Discover”

Inks:               Encore Champagne, ColorBox Black

Emb Powder:  Stampendous Moonstone, Judikins Detail Black

Dies:              Die-Namics Feathers & Arrow, Spellbinders Shoot!,

                         Impression Obsession Flags, EK Success

                         1” circle punch                   

Emb Plate:    Cheery Lynn Burble

Doo Dads:    Candi Dots, jute knot, Gelly Roll Clear Star

Happy Birthday

Having fallen in love with all things feathers, I’m having a ton of fun playing with both images and dies using this iconic image.  Brace yourselves for numerous posts featuring plenty of feather finery . . .
 

The feathers on this card are the result of yet another heroic rescue from my Scrap Stash.  I’ve got some really ugly scraps in there and yet once they’re turned into feathers, they become instantly gorgeous!   

I’m not kidding . . . you’ll see . . .

Cardstock:   Bazzill Admiral, Beckett Iceberg (some were swiped

                           w/various acrylic paints), generic Light Green

Stamps:        Recollections Text, Wordsworth Vertical Happy B.      

Inks:               VersaFine Majestic Blue, Distress Chipped Sapphire 

Emb Powder:  Vippie Transcendence, Stampendous Shabby White          

Emb Folder: Quickutz Zig Zag

Dies:              DieNamics Feathers & Arrow, Spellbinders Curved

                           Matting Basics A

Doo Dads:    Light Green eyelets

May God Bless You

Stacy Stamps’ clever background allows for many coloring opportunities with this beautiful stamp image . . .

Here, the sun appears to be rising (or setting) over a tumultuous sea and it brings to mind the Breton Fisherman’s Prayer:  “Oh God, thy sea is so great and my boat is so small”.  As this card is going to a member of my church who has just suffered a heart attack, I’m hoping that a reminder of God’s abiding love throughout overwhelming circumstances will bring comfort and reassurance to both Bill and his family.

Cardstock:   Bazzill Blackberry, White, Beckett Iceberg

Stamps:        Stacy Stamps Stained Glass Waves, Sailing Set,

                           Stampin’ Up “May God bless you”

Inks:               Various markers, VersaFine Majestic Blue, Distress

                          Chipped Sapphire, Gelly Roll Clear Star pen

Emb Powder:  Vippie Transcendence               

Dies:              Simon Says Tilted Banners

Doo Dads:    Blue eyelets, White cording

Thank You

A truly dear lady in my church usually does the flowers for our significant events.  Trust me, her work is stellar.  In addition to Easter and all of the events leading up to this precious season, Carol also does absolutely beautiful corsages for every woman in our church on Mother’s Day.  Yes, we’re a small church, but this is still a wonderful floral ministry.  So naturally, I get to have the fun of making her a thank you note . . .

Her favorite flower is the carnation and as I have only one of these images, it’s a challenge each year to come up with a fresh take on using it.  But, we’re stampers, which means that we’re more than up to the challenge . . .

Cardstock:              Generic Corrugated Kraft, watercolor paper

Stamps:                   Hero Blossoms II, MaxStamp “Thank You”

Inks:                           Hero Black, Koh-I-Noor Water Wheel various shades

Emb Powder:          Vippies Transcendence                               

Dies:                          Nellies Multi-Frames Circles, Impression Obsession 

                                         Banner & Tails

Doo Dads:                Rose pearls, deckled trimmer, Prisma White pencil, 

                                          Jute bow