Asian Butterfly

The fun continues with Lindy's Stamp Gang Magicals line of powdered dye inks.  These are gorgeous dye inks that have been dried into powder form.  The background on this one used two of them . . .

After smearing on some Distress inks and a yellow Gelato, I wet the cardstock and immediately used a small dry brush to pick up a little of the powder and tap it on.  Patterns form and you can leave them this way or brush them around to distribute the color.  The color intensity can be light or saturated, depending on how much water you use.  You can brush the water on first, or you can spray mist afterwards.  Either way, you'll probably never have a failure with these lovely powders!

Cardstock:   Generic Dark Brown, Orange, Paper Cut Watercolor paper

Stamps:        Local King Chinese Flowers 2, Hero Chinese Newspaper

                           Wordprint, Jim Stephan “Butterfly”, Asian Stamp Craft

                           “Long Life”

Inks:               Distress Forest Moss, Wild Honey, Black Soot, Gelato Banana,

                           Lindy’s Stamp Gang Pineapple Paradise, Orange Creamsicle,

                           Hero Black, Gelly Roll White pen

Emb Powder:   WOW Clear Matte Dull

Dies:              Local King Chinese Flowers 2 Detail, Memory Box butterfly

                           Isabella, Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Squares

Emb Folder: Darice Basket Weave Background          

Doo Dads:    Chinese coin, pine needles

Journey

During one of Tim Holtz' fabulous online Creative Chemistry Classes, we happy students experimented with coloring directly on the stamp with Distress markers.  After huffing to re-moisten the ink, I stamped the image and then heat-dried it.  When dry, I sponged over the whole design with Antique Linen, and then spritzed with water . . .

It was a great start, but I wanted more droplets and visual texture in the background, so I smooshed the Antique Linen pad on my craft sheet, spritzed again, and then dipped the card front into the droplets several times, heat-drying between each application.  This has to be my favorite technique for creating beautiful backgrounds with gorgeous variations in color.  Even though you never know what you're going to get, it always works!  I really think that failure just isn't possible with this technique . . . try it!

Cardstock:   Bazzill Light Sand, Cheddar, Beckett Moonlight

Stamps:        Tim Holtz Papillion, Max Stamp Pegz “Journey”

Inks:               Distress Barn Door, Wild Honey, Stormy Sky,

                           Dusty Concord, Antique Linen, VersaMark

Emb Powder:  Ranger Gold

Dies:              Impression Obsession Six-in-One Frame

Get Well Soon

Something cozy and comforting for a Get Well card . . .

This started out with a hexagonal pieced quilt shape and as often happens, it sort of got added to along the way.  As long as my friend feels better, I'm good to go with it . . .

Cardstock:   Bazzill Yam, Dark Olive, Generic watercolor paper

Stamps:        Alias Smith & Rowe Flowers & Swirls Background,

                           Stampin’ Up “Get Well Soon”

Inks:               Distress Barn Door, Wild Honey, Peeled Paint, Brushed

                           Corduroy, ColorBox Frost White

Emb Powder:  Judikins Opaque White

Dies:              Sizzix 1.5” Hexagons, Memory Box Marietta Buckle, Joy

                           Buttons, Fiskars border punch Scallop

Doo Dads:    Carla Craft flower punch

Just Wanted To Say

This card started out well, became a real puzzle midway through, and then wound up teaching me a few things . . .

The hang-up was with the background:  I had it placed so that the lighter part was at the top and the darker at the bottom.  It didn't work and sat on my worktable for 5 days until it occurred to me to switch the orientation.  Such a little change and yet it made all the difference.

As for the herringbone pattern, that technique was a wonderful discovery I first saw on Splitcoast Stampers.  The original demo artist used Distress inks for this technique, but artist Dina Kowal used Gelatos instead.  I decided to do the same:  I scribbled with the Gelatos on the back of my stencil, misted with water, and laid down my watercolor cardstock on top.  Rather than blot up the excess, I heat-dried in order to preserve the lovely variations in color.  So simple, and so beautiful!

Cardstock:   Bazzill Raven, Neenah Solar White, Strathmore #90

                           watercolor paper

Stamps:        Stampin’ Up In the Wild set: Giraffe

Inks:               Encore Gold, Distress Black Soot, ColorBox Frost White

Emb Powder:   Stampendous Ivory Pearl, Bear Rubber Thick Gold,

                                Cloisonné Smoky Obsidian

Dies:              Spellbinders Diamond Effects, Simon Says Stamp Sketchy

                            Banner Greetings: “Just wanted to say”

Watercolors:   Gelatos Black, Gold

Stencil:          The Crafters Workshop Mini Herringbone

Doo Dads:    Zutter Distrezz-it-All, Stampin’ Around Gold Dust glitter,

                        Tulip nail heads Gold

Celebrate

While this card looks a lot better in real life . . .

 . . . it's still on the dark side, and the feathers and fronds are hard to see.  I was having such a good time with the coloring that I got a little carried away and lost some needed contrast.  Next time, I'll look ahead and call a halt a little sooner . . .

Cardstock:   Bazzill Bon Bon, Strathmore #90 watercolor paper

Stamps:        Stampers Anonymous Art Deco Palm Fronds, Printworks

                           “Celebrate”

Inks:               Distress Spray Stain Picket Fence, Archival Potting Soil,

                           Fern Green, Perfect Pearls Bronze Mist, Wink of Stella

                           Gold, Gelly Roll Clear Star

Emb Powder:   B’Muse Devil’s Food Delight

Dies:              Impression Obsession Feather Set, Hero Palm Fancy,

                           Frames with Sprigs Set

Doo Dads:    Jute fiber

A Day To Celebrate

More and more, lately, I find myself working with #90 watercolor paper . . .

 . . . it adds a lovely weight and texture, is a very gentle white color that works with many themes, it folds without cracking, die cuts beautifully, and can even stand in as a sturdy card base.  It's also a very economical choice . . . try it!

Cardstock:   Bazzill Fire Hearts, Strathmore #90 watercolor paper

Stamps:        Hero Arts Newspaper Tulips, Hero “Day to Celebrate”

Inks:               ColorBox Cream White, Distress Tattered Rose, Spun

                           Sugar, Worn Lipstick, Fired Brick

Emb Powder:   Stampendous Ivory Pearl, Vippies Transcendence

Dies:              Spellbinders Petite Oval Small, Elegant Ovals,

Doo Dads:    Viva Pearl Pen Cream

Dream

Spray inks . . . what on earth did I ever do without them?

A couple of spritzes with lovely colors, some white embossing over the top, a layered vellum butterfly, some frosty glitter, and voila: a quick card with lots of personality.

Cardstock:   Bazzill Classic Purple, The Paper Cut #90 watercolor

                           paper, Generic Vellum

Stamps:        Inkadinkado Morphic Bugs, Inkadinkado Swirled, So She

                           Stamps “Dream”

Inks:               ColorBox Frost White, Memories Mist Blue Hawaiian,

                           Lavender Tea, Distress Stormy Sky, Dusty Concord,

                           Perfect Pearls Mist

Emb Powder:   Judikins Opaque White,

Dies:              Mama Elephant Femme Frames, Impression Obsession

                           Six-in-One Frames, Memory Box  butterfly Isabella,

                           Simon Says Sketchy Banner  

Doo Dads:    Past Time Stamps Multi Ultra Fine Glitter

Celebrate

Once in awhile, to heck with whether or not it's easy to mail!  I just love making rolled flowers (or using some that were already made, as I did here) and have decided that they're worth the extra postage. 

The fun of this card comes from the fact that the colored oval layer was an un-recoverable disaster.  A mish mash of messy colors made it a sure candidate for the wastebasket.  However, I used a stamp with an all-over image and white-embossed it over the smeary colors.

My wastebasket went hungry that day . . . 

Cardstock:   Bazzill Kachina, Strathmore #90 watercolor cardstock,

Stamps:        Starving Artistamps Tooled Leather, Printworks “Celebrate”

Inks:               ColorBox Frost White, Distress Peacock Feathers, Lindy’s

                           Stamp Gang Magicals Hibiscus Rose, Merci Beaucoup Mint

Emb Powder:   Judikins Opaque White, Vippies Transcendence

Dies/Punches:  Spellbinders Classic Ovals, Lacy Ovals, Impression

                                 Obsession Tag Set, Marvy & McGill Butterflies

Doo Dads:    Prima paper flowers, white brad, Glossy Accents raindrops,

                           Past Time Stamps Multi Ultra Fine Glitter

It's Your Day!

My current two favorite design elements to use are stripes and any die with stitching on it!  This card uses a goodly amount of both . . .

The leaves were colored with Copics which used to give me pause.  Their highly touted blending capabilities never came true for me.  That is, until I learned that I could stroke on the Copic Blender Pen first, then add my colors, and actually get a great blend with no hard lines to bedevil me.  I got so inspired by the smooth results I was finally able to achieve that I wrote an article on the simple procedure and it will appear in this year's Holiday issue of Rubber Stamp Madness.  Do please watch for it!

Cardstock:   Bazzill Leapfrog, Neenah Solar White

Stamps:        Stacy Stamps Fern, Magenta Leaf, Clearly Besotted Diagonal                                                    Stripes, Stampin’ Up Itty Bitty Background

Inks:               Stampin’ Up Always Artichoke, Hero Black

Emb Powder:   Vippie’s Transcendence

Markers:        Copic Blender Pen, G43 Pistachio, G94 Grayish Olive

Dies:              DieNamics In & Out Stitched Rounded Square

Doo Dads:    Tulip Hot Fix Jewels Black, Perfect Pearls Mist Silver