May You Find Comfort

Recently, I saw a card that used the surrounding space instead of the die cut itself as a major part of the design.  I liked the look so much I played with the idea myself . . .

I first cut the stitched edge layer and then die cut with the Leafy Flourish.  I backed it with a single layer of cardstock to add a little dimensional lift.  A few mail-able flat layers of leaves and flowers and this peaceful card is pretty much done. 

Cardstock:   Bazzill Cocoa, Leapfrog, Generic watercolor paper

Stamps:        Inkadinkado “May you find comfort . . .”

Inks:               Archival Fern Green, Distress Peeled Paint

Emb Powder:   Vippies Transcendence

Dies:              Mama Elephant Femme Frames, My Favorite Things

                           Leafy Flourish, Marianne Creatables Flower and Leaf , 

                           Hero Small Tag Frame

Doo Dads:    Distress Stickles Antique Linen

Happiness

Still having wonderful fun with dried die ink powders!  I decided to see what these vibrant shades would look like under a sheet of vellum . . .

  . . . love the misty and mysterious look you get when vellum arrives on the scene.  But I also brought back the original colors via the feathers and the butterfly . . . win win!

Cardstock:   Bazzill Bon Bon, Strathmore #90 Watercolor paper, Stampin’

                           Up White Vellum

Stamps:        The Stamp’s In the Mail “Happiness”, Memory Box butterfly

                           trail from Fun Firefly

Inks:               Lindy’s Stamp Gang Magicals: Merci Beaucoup Mint, Café

                           au Lait, Distress Brushed Corduroy, VersaMark

Emb Powder:   Personal Stamp Exchange Woven Tapestry

Dies:              Simon Says Pointed Feathers, Tim Holtz Tattered Banners,

                           Memory Box Moonlight Butterfly

Doo Dads:    Antique brass spokes, star brads

Thank You

Even as an art minor in college, I somehow never learned the order of colors in a rainbow.  Anytime I wanted to make one, I had to go online and look one up!  Enter Shari Carroll and her repetition of an old artist's trick . . . the wonderful mnemonic:  ROY G BIV, which stands for Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.  Great!  Now I can paint a rainbow in authentic order . . .

Why is this important, you ask?  Because of something I learned from stamper and rainbow artist extraordinaire Laura Bassen.  Coloring in rainbow order means no mud!  Using colors adjacent to each other in the rainbow means you'll  always get beautiful blending and no ugly brownish mud.  ROY G BIV:  a great friend to have for your creative life . . .

Cardstock:   Bazzill Raven, Paper Cut Watercolor paper

Stamps:        Stamp Zia “Thank You”

Inks:               Distress Barn Door, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed,

                           Mowed Lawn, Faded Jeans, Dusty Concord

Emb Powder:  Judikins Detail Black

Dies:              Lil Inkers Stitched Rectangles, Spellbinders Dragon Delight

Doo Dads:    Distress Rock Candy Dry Glitter, Oriental Trading Enamel Dots

A Marvelous Birthday

My love affair with gesso continues!  Lots of splotchy, white, textured fun for sure . . .

 My big hang-up on this layout was the honkin' huge pewter brad holding the tags together.  I wanted to go big because I sometimes think my embellishments can be a little on the timid side.  So I challenged myself by adding the brad, gluing everything down, and then stressing for an hour over what to do next. 

I tried artificial blossoms, punched flowers, buttons, floss tied into knots, floss tied into a bow, and a spiral embossed circle.  None of them worked – too bulky or just plain wrong.  Then I remembered I had several dies for flat bows and my day magically got back on track.  After using VersaMark direct-to-paper, I embossed with the same sparkly powder I used for the text and then die cut the bow.  Done!

Cardstock:   Strathmore #90 Watercolor paper, Bazzill Kachina

Stamps:        Inkadinkado “Wishing you a simply marvelous birthday”

Inks:               Stamp Zia Malachite, Obsidian, Versamark

Emb Powder:   Stamp A Mania Desert Night

Dies:              Papertrey Ink Tag Sale #9, La La Land Pretty Poinsettia,

                           Impression Obsession Small Bow

Doo Dads:    Gesso, Antique Silver nailheads, Stampin’ Up Pewter brad,

                           Gelly Roll Clear Star

Bouquet of Wishes

Time for more fun with stencils, stencil paste, sprays and daubers . . .

I used to think that it took ages for stencil pastes to dry and that they were a lot of mess.  Not true – you can get plenty of texture with very little paste and this means it can dry quickly . . . as little as ten minutes, in fact!  It's easy to scrape the excess paste off the stencil and then to quickly wash the stencil under running water and pat dry.  Nowhere near as fussy or messy as I'd thought.

Cardstock:   The Paper Cut Eames White, Generic Teal

Stamps:        Too Much Fun “A bouquet of wishes”

Inks:               Adirondack Color Wash Terra Cotta, LuminArte dauber

                           Solar Gold, Lindy’s Stamp Gang California Poppy Gold

Emb Powder:   Ranger Gold, B’Muse Mint Jelly Metallic

Dies:              Creative Expressions frame Salzburg, Impression

                           Obsession Hollyhocks

Stencil:          The Crafters Workshop Mini Tile Texture

Doo Dads:    Starform Outline Sticker, Fanci Kwik Stencil Paste, 

                          Quickie Glue Pen

Birthday Wishes

While I do love shine, glitter, and glitz, lately I've been on a quest for non-shiny embossing powder.  I love the added options you get with the more subtle look of a non-shiny embossed finish, especially with vintage and distressed looks.  The WOW company has a fabulous Clear Matte Dull that works beautifully and I've been writing them in hopes they'll consider adding White, Black, Kraft, and Cream matte finishes to their line of fabulous powders.  In the meanwhile, I've discovered Ranger's Antiquities Weathered White . . .

 The butterflies were done with this powder and I love the loose and lacy look they have.  I'm also super-pleased with the way the strips along the right and left sides turned out!  They were trimmings from cutting down the background layer and I hated to waste them.  I think the slightly lighter coloration is what makes this look work . . .

Cardstock:   The Paper Cut Eames White, Strathmore #90 Watercolor

                           paper

Stamps:        Imagiart Bold Elegant Butterfly, Large, Bold Rough Cut Butterfly,

                           Small, Bold Sideways Butterfly, Limited Edition Script 2, 
                           Starving Artistamps Motion Trail, Memory Box Fun Firefly 
                           (motion trail), Too Much Fun “May all your birthday wishes 
                           come true”

Inks:               ColorBox Frost White, Black, Hero Black, Distress Dusty

                           Concord, Weathered Wood

Emb Powder:   Ranger Weathered White, Judikins Detail Black

Dies:              Spellbinders Ribbon Tags Trio
Doo Dads:    Darice hemp cord Purple, Blue, Metalix Glitter Moondust

Happy Birthday

A stamper whose interview I read some time ago said that the reason she loved stamping was that it was the most forgiving hobby out there.  She was right . . . the number of ways we can bail ourselves out of yucky mistakes is exceeded only by the amount of stars in the sky.  This card shows the use of a small scrap (the vase), and also the use of a disastrous background attempt to marry an intricate stamp with a sloppy medium . . .

 The background stamp is a lovely delicate swirl that was utterly overwhelmed by the otherwise wonderful chalky liquid I was using to achieve a gesso-ed, dimensional look.  So I went from a realistic design to a modern, textural approach instead.

MORAL:  almost any disaster can be salvaged by chopping it up into small pieces, thus making it unrecognizable from its original state.  Then, people will think you went for this design on purpose!  Nobody needs to know you blew it . . . but confession is good for the soul, so I'm sharing my story with all of you.  Go digging into your craft wastebasket and see what you can salvage today!

Cardstock:   Bazzill Dark Rosey, Strathmore #90 Watercolor paper,

                           Generic Tan cardstock

Stamps:        Impression Obsession Swirl Background, Stampin’ Up

                           “Happy Birthday”

Inks:               Distress Spun Sugar, Tattered Rose, Worn Lipstick,

                           Distress Brushed Corduroy, Ancient Page Sandalwood

Emb Powder:   Stampendous Shabby Pink, Vippies Transcendence

Dies:              Cheery Lynn A2 Frame, Papertrey Ink Mega gracious Vase,

                           Impression Obsession Bare branch

Doo Dads:    Plaid Liquid Chalk White

MSG:              Stampin’ Up “Best Wishes”

Oh Happy Day

A look at the ingredients list below may have you wondering where on earth the "Chalkboard Frame Builder" and the "Crisp Bows" wound up being used in this layout . . .

In short, I needed dies for a candle and also for some flames, but I had neither.  So I started flipping through my collection to see if I could use die shapes I already had.  If you click on the Frame Builder link above, you'll see the perfect raw material for candles, and in a variety of sizes, even:  just snip off one of the angled ends and you're ready to go!

As for the flames, I used the double looped bow die pictured in the Crisp Bows link above.  The interior parts of both loops gave me perfect candle flames in two different sizes.  Was I clever or what?!!!

Cardstock:   The Paper Cut Eames White, Watercolor paper, Generic Black

Stamps:        Stampin’ Up border Perfect Plaids

Inks:               Distress Barn Door, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed,

                           Mowed Lawn, Faded Jeans, Dusty Concord

Dies:              DieNamics Chalkboard Frame Builder, Memory Box Crisp

                           Bows, Simon Says Stamp “Oh Happy Day “,Cheery Lynn

                           Lace Corner Deco B

Impr Plate:    Papertrey Ink Herringbone

Doo Dads:    Past Time Stamps Multi Fine Glitter, Star punch

Author of Liberty

In light of the Supreme Court's horrific and totally un-Constitutional rulings this past week, I thought it important to remember the One who is the true Author of our liberty . . .

It is frightening in the extreme to no longer be living under the rule of law – yet God is indeed in charge, and God-willing, may He intervene and save us from ourselves . . .

Cardstock:   Strathmore #90 watercolor paper

Stamps:        Heartfelt Creations Flag Background, I Brake for Stamps

                           Author of Liberty

Inks:               Distress Festive Berries, Chipped Sapphire, Adirondack

                           Denim, ColorBox Frost White

Emb Powder:   Vippies Transcendence, Judikins Opaque White

Dies:              Lil Inkers Stitched Mats Rectangles, Momenta Thanks,

                           Fiskars corner punch Star, Tattered Lace Alphabet,

                           Hero Alphabet Upper Case