Mixed Media Hot Air Balloon Tag

I made this for a technique swap I hosted; use the wrinkle-free distress technique.

Then I stamped three different stamps over it, a scroll stamp, harlequin and a postal mark stamp. Then I added a the hot air balloon sponged in the same inks and a few embellishments. I’m happy to report I made this a while ago so my partner has received it and quite liked it!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Paper: white tag-stash, ivory CS-PTI
Ink: concord, peeled paint, scattered straw distress inks, Archival black
Stamps: Tim Holtz, Studio Calico
Accessories: rhinestones-Dollarama, filmstrip ribbon, pin-Tim Holtz, ribbon and tulle-stash

Shabby Rose Tea Cup

I made this card for the Shabby Tea Room Design Team call but never submitted it. I made it in plenty of time but kept hemming and hawing about submitting and when I finally sat down to do it, I was a few hours too late. I guess it wasn’t meant to be.

I’ve tried to figure out why I was so reluctant to just submit it! I’m not sure it was one thing, a combo of being too busy with 3 kids, 2 with special needs and one baby, my health and fear of rejection I suppose. I’ve entered a few card challenges lately and haven’t been chosen so I’m getting kinda worried I’m losing my mojo. Oh well. I thought this one turned out really well so it would have represented what I love to make perfectly.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Taylored Expressions
Ink: Versamark, Archival Potting Soil, frayed burlap distress
Paper: DP-My Minds Eye, kraft, ivory CS-PTI
Accessories: Roses-Really Reasonable Ribbon, gold EP-SU!, pinking shears, scalloped edge punch-EK Success, Labels Nesties, twine-PTI, MOP button-Ebay, lace-vintage, foam dots-Jody Morrow, tulle-stash, pearls-Dollarama, Hug Snug Seam Binding (hand dyed)

For Baby Card

So, I had to give this 10 minute thing another shot. Let’s just say I failed miserably (but I did get quite a bit closer, more like 14 minutes). Even though I prepped the heart embellie in advance… that’s not cheating right? :) I can’t do anything quickly apparently. Sponging even takes me a long time! I think there’s a reason why you don’t see shabby chic cards among the 10 minute craft dash team cards or in the linky creations!

This time I used this week’s deconstructed sketch 117. The basics of it anyway; I didn’t follow it to the letter. I now see I put the rounded edges at the top and I didn’t layer the two main panels the same way but I hope it’s close enough. When I set about to colouring the image, I realized I hadn’t used chocolate anywhere yet so the blanket ended up dark brown. And I added a chocolate button too. It’s a bit hard to see under the twine but it’s there.

I die cut the heart out of corrugated cardboard then added a soft yellow/ivory paint to the edges. While it was still wet I added some micro fine white glitter. Then I added glue to the very edges and gold opaque glitter. The button threaded with twine tied in a bow was the finishing touch.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Crafty Secrets: baby boy postcard set, background stamp-Hero Arts?
Ink: Memento Espresso Truffle, frayed burlap Distress
Paper: kraft, ivory-PTI, yellow stripe DP-MME lavender, blue DP-Simple Stories
Accessories: heart die, button, twine-PTI, paint-buttermilk Americana, warm white glitter-Glitter Ritz, gold glitter-Art Institute, ribbon-May Arts, foam dots-Jody Morrow, corner rounder-WRMK, lace-not sure, maybe WMS?

Baby Boy Bundle of Joy Card

I am NOT a quick card maker. I could be but I just don’t like to be. I always want to add one more thing or colour something instead of just solid stamp. So when I tried to make it under 10 minutes for the latest Craft Dash challenge… well, they don’t call it a challenge for nothing!

I used the latest Mojo Monday sketch for the basic bones of the card. And I rushed, or tried to. I’d never used this solid stamp before and did I remember to try it out first or condition it? Of course not. So when the Memento ink I’d set out didn’t seem to give good coverage, I pulled out my brown Archival ink and inked up the stamp, d’uh, I wiped it off because I planned to Copic colour it. More wasted time.

So I finally chose my new, never tried but much touted (by Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner) Hero Arts Shadow ink in Cup o Joe. It still didn’t stamp cleanly! Ugh! I will give the ink another chance with a better conditioned stamp. I wasted like 4 minutes on that fiasco though and fixing the bad stamping with a marker. Overall, took me at least 25 minutes to make this card. I’ll still link it up because the rules say you can anyways and I loved the colour combo. You’ll see in my next post, I tried again and got closer but still didn’t make it. UGH!

My other challenge was the placement of the little mobile hanging things. I thought the stamp was designed so that you could stamp them in one shot. But when I went to stamp them, they just didn’t look right. So I test stamped them. This was well after the I shut the timer off in frustration. I realized I’d have to cut them apart to stamp them and match the hanging strings exactly. Sure look cute though don’t they? :)

Click on either photo to visit the challenges.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Taylored Expressions: crib, sentiment-PTI
Ink: cup o joe (crib)-HA, blueberry sky-PTI
Paper: saffron, natural white CS-SU!, simple stories DP
Accessories: baby outfit button-Jesse James buttons, ribbon-May Arts, foam dots-Jody Morrow, labels 1 Nesties, Copics