Nuvo Shimmer Powders Thinking of You

Good afternoon. Here's the card made with the Embedded Brusho technique (examples shown here in the last post)

- Nuvo Violet Brocade, Cherry Bomb Shimmer powders. Sprinkled onto watercolor c/s while in a WR Memory Keepers EF. Embossed in the Big Shot. Spritzed after embossing. This created a very vivid piece, so after it dried a bit, sprayed with a pearlized mica spray, which softened it somewhat. I liked the softer look much better.

S/B Label 25 to cut out the focal piece; same die shape to cut a faux mat from some paper that looks like mulberry paper with the fibers in it, but it's thicker than mulberry . VOS.

- Hero Arts Papel Picado Confetti (D1500) cover die for the lilac layer, then placed over a hot pink layer. The Picado is a pretty cover die, but most of it is covered up here.

Don't usually put flowers on cards as my arrangements never seem to look 'right' to me (I see so many beautiful bouquets, but mine just never look that nice!). This card will be mailed in a larger envelope with some other items, so thought I'd try to decorate the card a bit. Flowers from stash.
MS punch cut the leaves from white snippets. Colored with several shades of green copics.

Sentiment from a Gina K set, die cut with a S/B label die. While inking the edge got a smudge, so added the little lilac flower.

A friend is having a rough patch of late, so I hope it will cheer her to know she's in my prayers.

Now, here's some more of the embedded Brusho play:

first impression

 

2nd & 3rd impressions

4th impressions - there was enough color on the folder, that by using a brayer was able to get 2 more pulls

the last efforts. The  'smooshed' look was just by dabbing this c/s around on wet pieces of c/s and to get the very last bit off the E/F. The colors used were Brusho turquoise and Lime Green. It seems that the darker colors yield more pulls. Maybe the Nuvo shimmer powder might have gotten more impressions, but the color combination didn't strike my fancy, so I didn't bother.

Thanks for joining me this afternoon. Ya'll come back when you can, and God Bless - lots of hugs too.

 

Happy Birthday Flower

Hi and thanks for joining me this evening. I've been a little missing on blogging the past couple of weeks. We had things going on - some medical, some family obligations - and you know...just life. Hopefully most of the medical stuff is in the past, just going for checkups and stuff like that. It's getting pretty hot in our area, and our air conditioning had to go on over the weekend. We did have some lovely porch times, as we had nice breezes to cool; it was so nice to open up the house and air out the winter's mustiness.

Anyway, I'd seen a youtube showing a stamp that makes 'stained glass' effects using any stamp image in your stash. It was DRS Designs Large Stained Glass, so tried the techniques used in the video.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_Bv9adZ2a0.

Sparkle n Sprinkle Dahlia was embossed with a sparkle gold, then colored with copics in yellow shades. This would have shown up better had I used black to emboss it.

Background was colored with copic BG colors - which is not showing up great in the photo either. Then the Stained Glass stamp was inked with Versamark black, and stamped using the Misti. It took quite a few efforts to get it stamped thoroughly, especially at some of the corners and along the bottom edges. Good thing I had used the Misti. I'm hoping the next time it's used, it will stamp a bit better. Think it would also have looked better had I colored in some of the 'pieces' with a darker blue shade to emphasize as done in the video.  Used 3 coats of UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) - inking with Versamark, then sprinkling UTEE, heat, and repeating this process 3 times. Let it cool well, then bent the piece to cause crackling.

- used the same glitter gold EP to create the gold outer frame.

- white c/s was embossed with a floral EF, then sponged with DOX colors of Peacock Feathers, Spiced Marmalade and Wild Honey.

- old wooden stamp with a calligraphy font for the sentiment, embossed using the same gold used above, die cut with a pierced die, then edged with the gold again.

This is a pretty floral, but it just doesn't show up well with the way I've used it here. It's hard to see the flower details. Lesson learned!

There's a new card to enjoy on the Cards by Friends page, which I hope you'll take a peek to see.

Thanks for visiting, and take care. God Bless, many hugs.

April's Twofer Challenge - Pets

Hiya! Hope you had a nice Monday to start your week off; we had rain most of the day. I've been in the process of trying to finish up a few cards, and trying to think of something that would fit April's 2fer Challenge with Pets. Here's what I finally came up with...nothing like linking in at the last minute!

Here's the solo pic of the 2 cards, and then below will be individual pictures.

Well, here we are. Now for the individual cards, and a little explanation of how I did #1.

 

Doggy image from an old set of clear stamps by DmD (pets). Used a stencil to create some clouds on a white c/s. Memory Box tree cut from white, colored with copics. A snippet of spotted green DP cut the stitched grass hill that covers the tree trunk. Impression Obsession dies cut the different layers of grass from 2 different snippets of green dp. Tucked the dogs in behind the grass but over the spotted dp hill. The branch in the dog's mouth was hanging down in the way of placing the dogs, so tucked in his mouth. I used this video to do the reverse imaging using my misti. Took about 4 tries before I got a result that I could use. The woof stamp was from the set, embossed with Ranger Seafoam white on a vellum snippet. Frantic Stamper Howdy image die cut from another green snippet and a white snippet. Gluing this down over the vellum circle helped hold it down, plus added some drops around behind the Woof. Added google eyes with the jewel picker, (got from Amazon...I'm liking it better than that pick stick that's been around for a while)

 

Had created this scene as the first card, then tried to think of a way to reuse the dog in another way.
Some flowers & insects from another small stamp set added to the scene after masking the dog. Colored the insects using a BG000 copic, then spread some Liquid Pearl opal over that for shimmer. Which of course, covered up the outlines a bit, so used a Copic multiliner to redraw. This panel was cut out with a small pierced rectangle die, mounted over a MB postage die cut from some floral green that was a small piece in the snippets box. Placed on a black card base. Tried to white emboss over the black card base using the Seafoam White...did not look all that great. Restamped the sentiment on a white snippet using the Misti and black ink; die cut with a Darice rectangle. Smudged some DI Shabby Shutters around the edges to tone down the white. Sprinkled a few sequins round.

I'll be linking this to the April Twofer Card Challenge.  Additionally linking in with Pixie's Snippet Playground, Challenge 324,  just cause there's quite a few snippets on these cards, and I'm missing my little friend Parsnip, whom I don't visit often enough these days. So why don't you just c'mon along and add your cards too? You still have time to participate in both challenges, and there's some great inspiration and lovely people who have already entered.

Thanks for joining me, and God Bless.

PS...I've been getting comments from someone who signs as Anonymous. I don't know if this is a real person who is asking these questions, but since I'm afraid it might be a spammer, I've not been publishing these comments. So if it should be you, and if it's a legitimate comment, try to leave a message with your name or some way I can contact you, ....please! And thank you.

More Rubber Band Cards

Happy Saturday afternoon, and it's been lovely in our area. Temperatures show that it's in high 70-s, but truly it doesn't feel all that warm. Nice, though!

Made some more cards using the fun rubber band technique shown in this video by my talented pal Loll. Took photos this time to show what tools I used, and first up shows the brayer & the size of rubber bands used for this card.

 

 

 

Look closely where the brayer fits into the white handle, and you will see that one of these bands broke. There were 2 bands wrapped on the roller. One broke as it was being rolled. Had a large bag of rubber bands, and they must dry out awfully rapidly, as so many broke as I tried to wrap them. I'd like to buy a smaller bag, but this was the only size I could find at the time. Anyway, it still worked to create the look. The final design definitely depends on the width of the rubber bands used.

 

 

Decided to try the bands over an acrylic block as shown in the video. Used 2 narrow rubber bands on the block. Use an embossing buddy over the surface of the card to keep the ep just where you want it. After inking the block edge of the rubber bands with versamark, just stamped around all the surface of a white c/s, embossed this with a silver EP. Then used DOX in Twisted Citron, Peacock Feathers, and Mermaid Lagoon (I think) to sponge the surface. Buffed off the sponging with a soft cloth. Then die cut with some dies that were bought from Ali Express. Here's the 2 cards created from this piece.

 

On the filigree leaf, wrapped another rubber band across the block and dabbled around the black mat  of the filigree leaf. Used Ranger Blue Pearl, Green Pearl, just to see what these pearl embossing powders looked like on a dark background. They don't usually show up very well on white (I tried embossing the sentiment this way, and ended up covering it with the black fishtail). The card fronts were dry embossed with a square die to add a subtle frame around the black mats . Due cut the happy die from black c/s, inked with versamark, sprinkled the blue pearl EP & heat embossed.  Right black mat edges were dragged over the versamark, then sprinkled some of the green pearl EP over it to add a little more interest.

 

The April CAS Mixup Challenge is still open until April 24, so why not have a little fun with this technique, and link your cards there?

 

Thanks for visiting & enjoy your weekend. Hugs & Blessings.

 

 



 





CAS Mixup Card Challenge for April 2018

Happy Friday - gosh just realized the date is the 13th! Oh well, I'm not superstitious - very much, anyway! There's a neat challenge going on over at the CAS Mixup for April...using rubber bands. Finally had a chance to have a play, but this past week was rather busy for us, so just got a card made with one of my efforts.

First, though, I'd like to welcome a new follower, Louise of Cards4ubyLouise and Other Treasures.
I happened to spot Louise on a visit to my blog pal, Brenda of Inkspired to Stamp, as Brenda had shared a lovely card using the Black Ice technique. Louise's comment indicated she was going to try the technique, so of course I paid her a visit, enjoyed her cards, and there you go. It's interesting how  visiting various blogs can often lead you to a new friend. So if you've the time, I urge you to visit both these blogs to enjoy some really pretty cards using this 'new-to-me' Black Ice technique.

Now on to the CAS Mixup Challenge for April 2018:

 

 

Edit: A nifty video by Loll shows off this neat & easy technique.

 



My effort at this technique.

 

 

- 2 medium size rubber bands wrapped round a brayer roller.

 

- inked with versamark, WOW white pearl embossing powder for the resist.

 

- DOX smooshing with Twisted Citron, Broken China. Looked at this for a bit, thought it was too greeny, so went back and did a couple more layers with Blueprint Sketch, drying in between the smooshing. DIe cut with a stitched rectangle die

 

- MB Koi die cut from a previous background made with Dylusions sprays

 

- mirror gold overlayer cut and adhered.

 

- Sentiment stamped and then added some Nuvo Grey mist for water bubbles. Hope I left enough white space to consider this a CAS!

 

I'll be back later - hopefully before the challenge closes - with another card made using thinner rubber bands wrapped over a small ink block.

 

CAS Mixup Card Challenge for April 2018

 

Ya'll have a good afternoon, and come back when you can! Hugs & Blessings.

 



February Twofer Challenge

Good afternoon and welcome. It's time for the second Twofer Challenge. This is a new challenge started by Our Darnell . The challenge is to make TWO cards, but use the same item(die, stamp, etc) on each card, BUT it must be for a different occasion.  So jump on over to see what the fantastic Design Team has created to inspire you, and check out the entries that have already been submitted - join in! When you do the linking, show both your cards together on the link.

 

Here's my Twofer cards side by side, which is the picture I'll link at February's Twofer Challenge.

The cards side-by-side:

 

 

 

Now here's the individual cards:

 

 

 

 

I was in the throes of making Valentine cards, and this little Hedgie was a UFO that was still on the desk crapalanche. Had the Valentine dies out, and found this Memory Box heart swirl, decided I could use it and perhaps take the center of the heart to create a green shamrock for the cards I will be needing for the next up holiday. Die cut this swirl 4 times to get that center piece, so have some extra dies now.Hedgie was die cut with a Gina Marie square die, matted with a S/B square die, and then the little heart trims were from the next Twofer card.  The heart swirl and the little heart motifs started out white, colored with copics. 

 

 

Recently received a package from some sweet bloggers containing speciality coated cardstock that some of their group have been using with brushos and other mediums. (thanks to you sweet ladies). Out came the brushos (in shades of green), Paper Artsy Infusions in Olive Green and a Gold mica spray. Did not pre wet the new c/s, but sprinkled the  brushos and Infusion powders over the surface, then spray starch. Let that sit just a bit to watch the colors fuse and bloom. Then decided to sprinkle some lemon yellow brusho and spray a bit of gold mica spray. Scrunched cling film, placed over the wet surface and left alone for a few hours.

 

One of the swirl heart dies was colored in copic greens...used the center heart waste to form the shamrock petals, glued over the heart shape. Added a gold sequin to hide the center join. An Impression Obsession shamrock die was cut and colored. The little red hearts that cascade down the Hedgie card above were from this shamrock, the piece that separated the 2 heart shapes of this corner shamrock. Added a smaller gold sequin to this shamrock. The gold horseshoe is a Your Next Stamp* die and the sentiment was a $1 cheapie clear stamp tucked in the St. Pat's supply box. Heat embossed with a gold EP (but not my fav Queen's Gold).

 

*a word about some good customer service from YNS: Ordered a stamp set from YNS that is geared to St. Patrick's day. A die set was sent instead, and so I emailed - received a very  prompt response, apologizing for the mistake, and assuring me that the stamp set would be mailed ASAP. Received the stamp set very quickly, and was told to keep the die set. This was my 2nd order placed with the company. Now that is MY idea of terrific customer service. Just sayin'!

 

  

Thanks for joining me this afternoon. Ya'll come again when you have time! God Bless and many hugs.

 



 



CAS Mix up Valentine

Good morning, and I expect you are so tired of seeing Valentine cards. Sorry, but that is what I had to get made this week! If I were on top of things, I'd make these all year long, and share one or two along instead of a bunch at once. Oh well...I'm so glad you came by for a little visit. Just a few more, and I'll get on to some other subject.

Over at February CAS Mix Up the challenge is to use Felt, Cork or Canvas, plus stamping. I've never worked with either Cork, Canvas or Felt, but after seeing some really pretty entries, hunted up a 6x6 pack of DCWV cork and went to work:

 

 

Heart die cut the cork very easily, then cut the same heart with a smaller die using a very lightweight balsa wood that has been here for ages. Again, this is quite thin material, used for making model airplanes I think. (DH bought this wood for us to try die cutting, worked very well, but probably wouldn't be so great with an intricate die).  The 3rd heart was cut from corrugated paper - a cover from a Starbucks latte. Not sure what these things are called, but it's the little holder put around the cup to avoid burning your palm with a hot cup. Used the blank side, cut a heart. Colored with several layers of copic reds, then using my finger, rubbed some gold Novu mousse over it. Not bad for recycling.  Lastly, added a trim with thin copic wire. Folks, this was another experimental play session.

 

Needed a way to add the sentiment, but didn't want to stack any more on the heart layers. Found an arrow die. Cut 2 layers from a business card(more recycle!), used a gold pen to color each layer. [Remember to color the white edges that can be seen when stacking dies]. Heat embossed the sentiment  in gold onto a snippet of cream textured c/stock, punched holes in this with a tiny hand punch. Twisted some more of the copper wire to hang it from the arrow. (the wire inspiration came from this card)

 

Embossed a heart EF, stacked all of it on a white card base, Voila. So I'm off to link up with February's CAS Mix up. Why not join in?

Hope you'll take time to check out the Cards by Friends page...there's a gorgeous new card added.

Thanks for joining me today. Hugs and have a grand weekend. Come again when you can.

Technique Valentine

Hi. Another valentine...as that's what I've been working on. This one was fun - used some Lindy's Magicals mica powder, spray and Pink Himalayan salt (thanks to Bonnie's generosity). Created the background on a play day, and then wondered how to use it.

 

 

- wet heavy weight c/s and sprayed a mixture of Pink Dylusions which had been mixed with white & water. While it was very wet, sprinkled a pinky shade of Lindy's Magical mica powder over it. Used the spritzer tool to move it around the paper. Then sprinkled a coarse grind of Pink Himalayan salt over the surface and left it alone. The salt wicks up the liquid & creates some interesting texture on the surface of the c/s. Not sure it's visible in the photo, but it's there.

 

Sponged some Pearl Cosmic Shimmer over the surface (this is a new product to me, and wanted to see what it does.) The jar has a sponge in the top of it...and I learned you need to do this very lightly. Didn't mean to get as heavy a result as I did, but since the background was rather dark, this looked ok...just sayin' use a lighter hand than I did.

 

S/B heart die cut out the shape & emboss the design. Stitched heart is from a Gina Marie heart die set, and Fiskars punched silver heart  heat embossed with Altenew Antique Silver EP.  Lace doily from VOS. Heart EF embossed textured gray c/stock, sponged lightly with Memento inks in the purple family, added some Cosmic Shimmer around the surface too.  MBox die sentiment heat embossed with Altenew Silver EP. Added the pearls and called this one done.

 

Take care, thanks for visiting, and hugs. 

CAS Mixup Brusho and Clingwrap

HiYa...We have welcome sunshine after several dreary days. Think the cold front moving across the USA is on its way towards us, as the air is much cooler today. I hope all of you dealing with health issues are beginning to feel improvement. So many folks are down with respiratory infections, colds, the winter blues. Sending hugs to those folks.

After some playing with the brusho/starch/cling wrap techniques, I'm back with another card made from that play. Will add it to the CAS Mixup Challenge for January.

 

 

Blue background created with Dylusions After Midnight spray over a glossy krome kote cardstock; sprinkled some blue shades of brusho crystals, may have added a dash of the black pot, then spray starch. Let it bloom just a bit, then crumple a piece of cling wrap and just scrunch it all around. (remember that old song, You Do the Hokey Pokey and you shake it all about? Well, maybe nobody ever sings that anymore, but that's what I think about as I'm scrunching that cling wrap LOL).

MB die cut white glitter paper (American Crafts 6x6 pack - it does not have the heavy plastic backing some glitter papers do, so it's very easy to cut). Cut a plain c/s of the same die to give the glitter paper a little heft. Used a Hero Arts Infinity circle die to get a shape to fit the blue background - round part of the snow globe. I have quite a few different circle dies, and would you believe not a single one fits exactly? I made one of the Infinity dies fit with a little trim here and there, and carefully glueing it to the globe. Could have cut another die from the blue and done an inlay, though some of the bits would have been tedious. I'm not in the mood for tedious just now.

Fun Foam behind the finished snow globe for dimension. Then popped it onto a rectangle embossed with our favorite CB dots EF. Cut thin strips from the remaining brusho piece to create a frame after seeing how it looked just plopped over the snowflake mat. Stamped sentiment in Memento Paris Dusk, then restamped with versamark and clear EP to get some shine. Hand cut the sentiment piece and this is the card that was delivered to our neighbor with the new knee this morning. Since it was a little bulky - thought this would be a good use of a dimensional card, and will save the earlier card to mail.

Added a pretty card to the Cards by Friends page. Now off to link up with the CAS Mix Up Challenge. Hope you'll come along and see some gorgeous cards done with this technique.

Blessings and Hugs. Thanks for the visit.

CAS Mixup Challenge with Brusho and Cling Wrap Technique

Good afternoon, welcome and all that stuff! We're getting rain at our house, but the temperature is a bit warmer. (gosh, the older I get, the more I talk about the weather! Or how I feel...I used to laugh to myself at old people who did that. Now I ARE one!) LOL


First off, big shout out to a lovely new follower:

Christine of It's a Card Days Night

Do go over to see Christine's wonderful work and say Hello. You won't be sorry! She's also a guest Designer this month at CAS Mixup with a gorgeous card.

Next:

There is a fun challenge going on over at CAS Mixup for January. Since I enjoy some of the techniques that are 'it' for this challenge, I wanted to try to join in. Here's the card:

Some blog pals are using a 'new to me' glossy cardstock, which I think is called pancetta or Carolina Cardstock for some clingwrap/brusho techniques. I don't have that, but thought I'd try Kromekote glossy cardstock (Marcos Paper) and Yupo, with the technique to see what would result. Both seemed to work ok, but the Yupo took much longer drying time. Even after 24 hrs, it was still wet in spots, which I daubed with a towel; still looked sort of wet, so then I used a Tim Holtz heat gun - very cautiously keeping it a good distance from the yupo which is a plastic type of paper and will melt I'm told. Tried that a couple of times over a few hours, and it did get dry.

What created this background was: glossy cardstock, sprinkled blue shades of Brusho over it, then spritzed with spray starch (cheap stuff from the Dollar Store). I'd not tried spray starch before, only water or other sprays. The starch makes it smell very nice I must say. Then use a piece of cling wrap, bigger than the piece, and as you lay the cling over the wet piece, scrunch it up a lot. Leave it to dry. I left this one overnight. When you remove the cling film, what a beautiful design you see.

Also tried spraying Dylusions After Midnight to wet the surface first, then sprinkled brusho blues, then starch, and this resulted in a much deeper blue (pretty too!). However, the cling wrap does dilute the depth of the color though, at least it did for me.

Then die cut with a stitched square. Tried to stamp with a Penny Black clear stamp.First tried a navy blue Staz-on (one of the newer pads with the square design, not the old-style rectangle shape pad). Used Misti so could repeat stamp but that didn't help. Not certain if it's the stamp, stamping with that ink on the slick surface, or Just Plain Ole Operator Error! Cleaned the stamp well (and now of course it's stained). Repeated the process with the Staz-on black - no better results.  Cleaned again - then tried Versafine Onyx Black. Stamped 2 times, (thank you Misti) and got this result. My friend Nancy S. (no blog) suggested I try Ranger Archival Black with this stamp - so I did (but this effort is not that try!) I'm pleased to say the test stamping with Ranger did work better. Just sayin'. Still not sure this stamp is not part of the problem though.

Anyway, mounted the focal point with fun foam for dimension over an embossed floral pattern, then onto a white card base. The sentiment was stamped with the same versafine black, and heat embossed with clear EP, corners rounded. That's that. A neighbor has just had her 2nd knee replacement, so this is for her. Hope ya'll like it and will pop over to CAS Mix Up Card Challenge to join in with the fun - I'm off to link up this card.

Please take a moment to see the Cards by Friends page, as a new Christmas card was added with this post. 

I hope that the explanation of my experiments is not too confusing for any of you who might wish to try this technique for the first time. It is a lot of fun. (a good tip: wear gloves, I didn't).


Blessings and Hugs.

Waffle Flower with Brusho Cling Background

Hello Friends, and welcome. This will be a fast post, as we've been having some thunder rumbling around all morning, and the computer will be powered back down quickly. Finished up a card last night and wanted to do a post. Haven't done much the past few days, other than enjoy a gorgeous sunshine day yesterday- after a rainy gloomy Monday. Had some neighbor visits, and we rehung the porch swing. Always takes a few adjustment to the chains to get the swing 'just right' & comfortable each spring.

On to the card:

Another background made by applying cling wrap, scrunching it over wet brusho background. This is such a fun and easy technique --- after I learned to use more intense shades of colors. The paler colors don't hold up well - at least my efforts didn't!

- Waffle flower Magical Flower die: cut from another stash background. Used a yellow-shaded piece and then part of a green one for the stem & leaf. Each time  cut just the area of the color of the size wanted, and added a piece of white snippet  with that to save the cutting plate from the die blade as much as possible (meaning there were 2 layers in some places, but only the white layer in a place-if that makes sense). For the flower part, glued the white snippet piece behind the colored piece. The center part of the flower cuts separately, and that came from a tiny snippet of a brown/yellow toned background piece. That & the stem is only a single layer. Was able to use the white leaf cut behind the colored cut, so it adds a bit of dimension. When I cut sentiments from a background, I try to save as much of the remainder as possible, as you just never know when it will come in handy for a tiny part of something!

Die cut the background with a pierced die, then just used the cutter to trim a snippet of green from the stash to fit as a mat. It's paper, not card stock, and of course it ripped when I was trying to edge with some DI pumice stone. Decided to go with that torn distressed look, and did a couple more deliberate tears, roughed up the edges, curled 2 corners. Edged all of it with more Pumice Stone.

The top fold card base is a textured cream, and the Misti came in very handy to repeatedly stamp the sentiment using Versamark Sepia several times to get good coverage. We have a lot of family birthdays approaching, so along with Easter cards, I've been trying to use up bits that I'm finding on my cleaning, to make up into cards.

Ya'll have a wonderful afternoon. Will try to post again tomorrow; got another one finished last night too, from bits & pieces, snips and snaps! Hugs & Blessings.

Brusho Garden Silhouette

Good afternoon, and welcome. Also - Happy April Fool Day, if you observe that holiday. ( one that I try to avoid...LOL). It's a gorgeous Saturday here in our area, and so far the morning has been spent in doing some much needed house chores. Took a break, and decided to write a post. Hoping to be back later in the evening with the Christmas Card Club post, so maybe you can check back in then.

I'm loving the Brushos and cling wrap technique. Watched some videos on Youtube yesterday afternoon during a little break, and gosh, you can get some fascinating looks with cling wrap, and even using the plastic garbage bags (just like cling wrap, except you can't see through it!).

Here's a background, that got stamped with an old wooden Hero Arts Silhouette stamp.

- Inked the stamp with Versafine Black onyx, and since it's wooden, couldn't use the Misti. Even though I had inked the heck out of the rubber, it still didn't give super great coverage. Used a Copic multiliner to color in the areas that needed some extra coverage. Used a Sakura gel pen to add some sparkle on the shovel and some of the plants. The colors of the background were from the brusho & cling wrap magic. Isn't that a pretty evening sky? Used an appropriately sized S/B classic square to cut out the stamped image & the black framing around the scene is part of the stamp image.

- Matted from a snippet created by other brusho & spray play, then used a scant black snippet to have another mat.

- card base was left from cutting another 8.5 x 11 piece of c/s (think it's a SU color), then embossed.

- Trim & sentiment were cut from the same brusho piece as that used for the stamping.

Here's another picture of what is blooming around our yard. This little tree is known locally as an Eastern Red Bud tree (sorry, don't know the Latin name). The pretty pink blossoms will fall off and it will just be a very pretty green during the summer. The foliage will be much thicker too.  The gardening shed in the background belongs to our neighbor.

 

 

Hugs. 

Watercolor Valentine

Good evening, and welcome. Hope that any of my Northern states friends are ok with the snowstorm that dumped on you last night and today. We had sunshine, but brisk air with winds making it feel colder. Tonight the temps drop...but AH...No Snow!

Tonight's card was meant to go into the February CAS Mix Up Card Challenge. As I pulled up the blog to have available to link after finishing this post, I realized: No stamping! Dang it! So I'll share it anyway, and hopefully get time to do another card that has some corrugated paper, AND remember to stamp on it.

- Used Silk Glaze to watercolor the background, attempting to do an ombre effect on watercolor paper.

- Oval was a snippet from a die cut (using a recycled card). Thought it looked artsy behind the corrugated paper.

- Sprayed the corrugated paper snippet (which has been on the airbrush table who knows how long, and had oversprays of other colors on it too). Used Dylusions Fire Box red and an Adirondack spray red. Some of the earlier overspray colors - which included a gold, peek through the reds, and I quite liked the effect.

- Gina Marie Stitched Hearts die was cut from a snippet of dark red c/s. Then used Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel, 4 layers, heating between each layer, adding more versamark and another coat of UTEE. This creates a very glassy look. It's fun to crackle the product and then use a vintage ink to distress it.

- Hero Arts Valentine word sentiment die from 3 layers of glitter gold paper (snippet).

Hope you like this one. And I hope you'll be able to join in with the February CAS Mix Up Challenge. Remember: have stamping on the card too!!

The other evening, an old card from our Christmas Club Card (the Birds & wings card) showed up on the blog with the current date. Have no idea why or how this happened. I only realized it _had_ happened when some comments came in. Scurried quickly to the blog, and there was the old card. Figured out how to change the cuttrent publish date back in time, but for anyone who remembered the card, that's why a Christmas Club Card showed up. I blame it on Gremlins!!!

Thanks for joining me tonight. Ya'll stay warm. I'm off to finish up some visiting with blog friends, so catch you later. Got a bunch of Valentine cards that will be posted the next few days. Trying to get started on a few St. Patrick's and Easter cards. Big hugs.

Let's See Some Wings

Hello and welcome to the Sunday Christmas Card posting where our theme "Let's See Some Wings" was chosen by Christine over at Christine's Cards and Crafts.  Our choice was angels, fairies, birds...I chose birds.

Here's card #1 using a white wash on kraft technique seen in a video by Melanie Muenchinger.

 

 

- PBlack Holly Concert image, stamped in Versamark, heat embossed with Ranger Seafoam White. Mement greens in 2 shades for the leaves, blues for the birds and reds for the berries. Used a water brush to dab directly into the pad, making sure the brush was not too wet, then brushed onto the kraft. As Melanie suggests, left more uncolored space at first. Because of the smaller areas, this was not what I wanted. After looking at the results, went back and w/colored in the remaining areas. Tried spattering some white over the craft (falling snow!) & this easy technique is not as easy as it looks! Smudged some green around the edge of die cut.

 

- S/B Gold Label 4 for the image die cut. S/B Grand Label 4 used for the mat.

 

- Light blue cardbase embossed with the Taylored Expressions Holly cutting plate using a thick tan rubber mat so that the metal would not cut, but just emboss. Smudged this with DI Sage, which was also added to the mat & main image.

 

- SU sentiment stamped with SU Real Red on vellum, heat embossed with clear EP. Impression Obsession holly leaves die - Christmas Red stickles added to the berries. Punched with an SU oval punch.

 

- Memory Box Poinsettia die cut twice from vellum to get multiple layers of the flower, which were colored with copics. Shaped, and glued at the centers.

 

Card #2

 

Recently found a new to me product called Embossable Acetate, which can be colored and embossed. I've used packaging acetate for alcohol inks and embossing before...this product is thicker.

 

- Nellie Snellen Snow birds EF . White snow done with an SU white chalk marker coloring on reverse side. Used gel pens for the birds & sun.

 

- Blue background was also embossed with the same EF, and just slightly offset. This looks quite nice IRL, but did not photo well, as the acetate is a bit 'bowed'. The blue flower corners cover the vellum glue - which is not supposed to show..but  does when you know it's there!

 

Closing today with a wish that you have a wonderful Sunday afternoon, and visit again when you have time. Many Hugs.



Water color and Spotlight Technique

Hi again, and hope Monday** has started your week off in a happy way. I'm still dabbling with the Spotlight Technique, trying to achieve a look that makes me feel I've got it right. This one used Zig watercolor brushes, and I'm still trying to find a flower that everyone else is not showcasing! I've come to the conclusion that the image used certainly makes the difference (at least in _my_ hands!). \
Used Strathmore 140# Cold Press w/color paper.

**Oops...got the scheduled date wrong on this one! Sorry. Hope you enjoyed it anyway. Hope to get my Rudy Day entry posted tomorrow since this one showed up this afternoon.  And thanks to the replies about if you like the product links.

- Winnie & Walter In Bloom - Addie's Garden. Used Mini Misti to stamp in Tuxedo Black, heat embossed with clear EP (helps to avoid line bleeding).

- HLS Bold Birthday Sentiments

- Stitched Rectangle Dies (don't remember which company)

- WOW Gold Pearl EP (love these pearl powders)

- Zig water color brushes, blues, with a light violet for shading, bright yellow for the centers.

- navy mat, rubbed over the edges with Nuvo Indian Gold Mousse

You'll be seeing more of this technique. I'm determined to master it!!!

Ya'll enjoy the day. I'll try to catch up on visiting...having one of my respiratory bouts just at the moment, so a bit slow. Big Cyber Hugs..and thanks for your visit!