Sweet Baby

Although I've had my MISTI for well over a year, I've never given it a really serious try until now.  I'm an instant convert and will remain a huge fan for the rest of my days. 

Getting all of those word stamps to stamp in precisely the right spots would have been impossible for me.  Mostly because the cardstock is textured and I knew each word would require multiple stampings in order to make solid impressions.  With the MISTI, this was a totally stress-free cinch.  Without it, forget it.

Cardstock:   Bazzill Lima, Strathmore Soft White

Stamps:        Verve “Precious little one”, “Welcome baby”, “Bundle of joy”; 

                           all other text by Cloud 9 Design Baby set, Paper Smooches

                           Scripty Sayings: Solid Heart, Outlines Bits & Pieces Set Two

                           Small Star, Kaisercraft Marble

Inks:               Distress Scattered Straw, Fossilized Amber, Wild Honey,

                           Hero Black, VersaMark

Emb Powder:   WOW Clear Matte Dull 

Dies:              DieVersions Onesie, DieNamics Mini Scalloped Rectangle

Doo Dads:    Black metal hanger, Wink of Stella Gold

Happy Birthday

This card reflects my mania for leaves.  I love leaves of all kinds - realistic or sketchy, it doesn't matter.  All of them are beautiful to me . . .

On this card, I believe I used every leaf in the set.  As for coloring, I tried for an ombre effect and although it emerged on the subtle side, I'm happy with the results.

Cardstock:   Bazzill Great Lakes, Strathmore #90 Watercolor paper           

Stamps:        Artsy Fartsy Leaves           

Inks:               Distress Weathered Wood, Stormy Sky, Faded Jeans,

                           Chipped Sapphire, ColorBox Frost White

Emb Powder:   Judikins Detail White

Dies:              Lil Inkers Stitched Mats: Rectangles

Doo Dads:    American Crafts Jute Blue, Viva Pearl Pen Cream                        

Yes I Can

Making her way through a frosty October sky, Wanda the Witch is quite confident of her abilities in driving a standard broom . . . I can identify, having never owned an automatic myself.  Automatic car, that is.  Have never actually tried driving a broom, although I can be witchy at times . . .

Wanda is steering through a purple and blue Distressed sky I sprinkled with just enough water spatters to suggest an early snowfall.  Then I stamped the images in black.  This was the perfect opportunity to use a non-shiny embossing powder - I think of witches as being dressed in sooty clothes rather than shiny ones, so a matte finish powder really works well here.

Cardstock:   Bazzill Purple, Tim Holtz Watercolor paper, Generic Black                

Stamps:        Lost Coast Silhouette Witch, Rubbernecker Bats, Northwoods

                           "Yes, I can drive . . ."        

Inks:               ColorBox Black, Hero Black, Distress Stains Dusty Concord,

                           Chipped Sapphire, Stormy Sky

Emb Powder:   WOW Clear Matte Dull

Dies:              DieNamics Grassy Edges, Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Squares            ,

                           QuicKutz Bats

Doo Dads:    Wilhold Glitter Black            

Take Flight

Aerodynamically speaking, I doubt that this little winged lady will actually be taking flight any time soon . . .

 . . . but then, according to the laws of physics, bumblebees aren't supposed to be able to fly either.  And yet, they do.  So this rather unusual woman might just surprise us.  Meanwhile, I had a lot of fun coloring her with bright and happy colors which I think are set off very well by the black and white striped background.

Cardstock:   Generic Textured Teal, Newsprint, The Paper Cut White

                           Matte Coate

Stamps:        Lost Coast Take Flight, Simon Says Diagonal Stripes

Inks:               ColorBox Black, Various Prisma pencil colors

Emb Powder:   Judikins Detail Black

Punches:      Punches: EK Success Photo Corners,  Stampin’ Up Arrows

Doo Dads:    Crystals

Soar, Play, Discover

It's North New Jersey Fair Time again, folks!  And, immodestly speaking, it's also Crowing Time, as I picked up a few ribbons along the way.  There were eight themes we could submit for, and I did one card for each theme.  Happily, I scored with all of them!  I'll be sharing them with you over the next four weeks.  Meanwhile, here's a picture of me with my lovely new ribbons for 2017:

So let's get started:

Distressed edges and smooshed backgrounds:  these are two of my favorite techniques . . .

For this particular smooshing session, I started with really wet watercolor paper, dusted on some dried die ink powders, re-misted, and then pressed down with an acrylic block to push the color around a little.

In all truth, I love just about every technique I've tried.  Our glorious hobby is enjoyed by many thousands of highly creative artists who love to share what they've learned during their crafting times at the worktable.  And the rest of us get to benefit and see our art improve as a result.  We are fortunate indeed . . .

Cardstock:   Bazzill Cutie, Crimson, The Paper Cut Watercolor paper 

Stamps:        Starving Artistamps Positive Words: “Soar”, “Play”,

                           “Discover”

Inks:               Ancient Page Cardinal

Colorants:    Ken Oliver Color Burst Alizarin Crimson, Orange

Emb Powder:   WOW Clear Matte Dull

Dies:              Memory Box Fresh Daisies, Joy Butterflies

A Little Birdie Told Me

Couldn't resist . . . had to make just one more Bird Crazy card before starting to work on some handmade Christmas presents . . .

One of the things I love most about stamping is that there's usually a means to wiggle your way out of almost every fluff up.  Take the ground that the bird is standing on.  I'd tried using darker ink to create a shadow around her feet, but it didn't look right.  I'd already glued her down so there was no way I could safely pry up such skinny, delicate legs and feet.  So I took a free form scrap of cardstock and placed it under the feet and legs of the die and ran it through my machine. I poked out the feet and kept the mortise.

Voila!  Ground!  I embossed the scrap with Distress Walnut Stain powder as it has a perfect matte finish, applied glue to the back and pressed it down around the bird's feet. Clever workaround if I do say so myself . . .

Cardstock:   Bazzill Cheddar, Strathmore Bristol         

Stamps:        Tim Holtz Bird Crazy, Crazy Things, Crazy Talk, Amuse

                           Script Background

Inks:               VersaFine Vintage Sepia, Distress Pine Needles, Broken

                           China, Tumbled Glass, Walnut Stain

Emb Powder:   Distress Walnut Stain

Dies:              Tim Holtz Bird Crazy, Crazy Things, Spellbinders 

                          A2 Distressed Edges

Happy Birthday

And the tie die beat goes on!  I'm having such fun experimenting with various color combinations.  If you're just tuning in, scroll back a few posts and see a variety of tie die backgrounds . . .

This card goes to a young woman I used to babysit!  She looks wonderful in pink, so this card definitely has her name on it.  The perky white butterflies have their wings propped up with dried Glossy Accents drops.  A few crystals and some Wink of Stella shimmer, and I'm done . . .

Cardstock:   Bazzill Romance, Coffee Filter White     

Stamps:        Printworks “Happy Birthday”

Inks:               Ancient Page Cardinal, Bordeaux, Pink Pizzazz,

                           Flamingo   

Emb Powder:   Vippies Transcendence

Dies:              Studio Calico Nested Rectangles, Tim Holtz Wildflowers,

                           Marianne Butterflies

Doo Dads:    Generic 3/8” grosgrain ribbon Pink, American Craft Jute

                           Magenta, Crystals, Wink of Stella Clear