Four Ways Friday #66 - Reinkers!

Hello everyone!  Thanks for stopping by on my birthday! :)  It's exciting to have had the experience of another year of life and to have shared some of this past year with you!  I really appreciate your stopping by and I hope you gain something, anything, from sharing your moments with me!
In this week's Four Ways Friday I would like to share four ways for you to use your classic reinkers!  And yes, I am typing this with inky fingers :)  That's kind of hard to avoid when you start playing with your reinkers ;)

Let's begin with a quick and easy way to use your reinker - as a writing utensil!  Here I took a piece of Whisper White card stock and my Blushing Bride reinker and I just drew lines and squiggles vertically on the card stock.  When you draw with your reinkers in this way, the lines actually become a bit raised from the card stock - it's a cool textural look!  I then adhered some adhesive pearls and added some additional pearl dimension by making small dots along the lines with a non-SU! product.  The greeting is from Teeny Tiny Wishes and I layered a number of punches to pop up the greeting.  The whole panel was then adhered to a Whisper White card base with dimensionals.

For this second card I played with one of my favorite self-created techniques.  If you have watched my videos, you have seen me create this ink blot background.  I placed Tangerine Tango and Basic Black reinker onto a piece of freezer paper and then folded the freezer paper in half and squished the ink around.  I then opened up the freezer paper and laid a piece of Whisper White card stock over the ink and pressed down.  It creates a great ink blot transfer onto the cardstock!  Next I let it dry and then sponged the edges of the piece and adhered it to a Whisper White card base with glue.  The ghosts were made using the 2-step owl punch and I punched the eyes and mouths with my crop-a-dile and backed each ghost with a small piece of Basic Black card stock to highlight the eyes and mouths.  I sponged the edges with Basic Black ink.  The banner was sponged with Tangerine Tango ink and then the letters from the Calendar Alphabet & Numbers stamp set were stamped with Basic Black in.  The banner and the ghosts were adhered with a combination of glue and dimensionals.

I love creating ink mists with my reinkers!  I just place a few drops of reinker in a small spray bottle with water, shake it up, and spray away!  Here I began with a piece of Whisper White card stock.  I then punched out some circles from scrap paper and placed the randomly over the card stock to act as masks.  I sprayed various colors of ink, removed the first set of circles and added another set, and then sprayed more colors of ink until I was happy with the result.  I used the heat tool to dry things a bit (since I'm not the best at being patient for card stock to dry!).  I then added the scallop-punched Tempting Turquoise card stock and the greeting from Teeny Tiny Wishes.  The animals from Fox and Friends were stamped, cut out, and adhered to the card with dimensionals.  The button adds a final touch.

If you're not afraid of cleaning up a little ink, this last reinker technique is a lot of fun.  I placed some water and Rich Razzleberry reinker in a little spray bottle and then sprayed one side of the Finnial Press embossing folder.  I then placed a piece of Whisper White card stock down on the ink sprayed side of the folder and ran it through the Big Shot.  I helped the drying process with the heat tool and then built the card.  The greeting is from Sincere Salutations which was punched out.  I then used a smaller circle as a mask and did some stamping with a floral image from Tiny Tags to create a border around the greeting.
I hope you've enjoyed this week's Four Ways Friday!  I wish you a wonderful and creative weekend!!!!!  Thank you for sharing my birthday with me! :)

Sprayed Ink Background

Today's Question From The Craft Room:  How Do You Measure Your Creative Progress?

Today's question is one that has captured my attention lately.  Somewhere in my life I began to believe that progress requires completion of tasks and the faster you can complete tasks, the more successful you are.  Where the heck did this belief come from and why have I given it so much weight in my life?!  I truly believe it is a bunch of bunk!  I have been brainwashed!!!!!  True progress only requires that you are living in the present moment - in the now - with your full attention.  This is my new measure for my creative progress.  If it happens to result in a "completed" project that I can share with you, so be it.  If, on the other hand, it results in something that is still in a state of creation - then I can share that with you too.  Either way it is all a part of my creativity - my expressing myself - and maybe you will find some inspiration - a seed - to inspire you to live in your own creative moments - your "creative now."
Today, my living in the moment resulted in this card.  And actually, it wasn't just today - the heart on this card actually began a few days ago when I took a few pieces of wood scraps and glued them together to make a heart and then painted them and rusted them and painted them again and applied some wax metallic finish.  It was the heart that then inspired the card.  A card whose background began with a piece of Whisper White card stock that got sprayed and sprayed with mixtures of water and ink that I placed in little spray bottles.  I then ran the bottom part of the panel through the Big Shot with the Finnial Press embossing folder and stamped the top of the panel with the En Francais background stamp and Pear Pizzazz ink.  Next came a bunch of sponging and the Certainly Celery ribbon.  I stamped the greeting from Short & Sweet onto watercolor paper with Tempting Turquoise ink and punched it out with the decorative label punch.  Next I stamped a bit with an image from Tiny Tags and sponged the edges of the tag before adding it to the embossed panel.  I hope you like it!

Pocket Silhouettes Best Wishes Card

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  If You Do The Work, You Will See Your Progress!

If you have been reading my blog, you know that I have been doing the P90X workout videos.  I've been very proud of my resolve to actually do the workouts - I have been sticking with it and I continue to "push play" on the DVD player on my laptop - doing each video, one by one - putting in the work.  I am now almost done with week 3 and it is actually fun to think back to the first week and recognize how far I've come.  There were some exercises I really struggled with that I can now do - I'm not saying they are effortless yet - but I can do them and do them proudly!  There was a part of me that was a tiny bit discouraged since my body seemed to be staying the same to me - I was wanting some instant gratification.  Well today, after almost 3 weeks of daily workouts - I had some gratification!  I did the abdominal exercise workout for the 9th time in 3 weeks today and I actually saw some muscles in my stomach area that I had NEVER seen before!  Who knew they even existed in there?! :)  It felt AWESOME to see something like that appear from all of my hard work!  It reminds me, yet again, that if you do the work, you will see your progress!  The same is true with your creating!  If you take the time and do the work of expressing your creativity, you will progress with your art and with your ability to express yourself in your own best and unique way!
For today's card I went back to a clean and simple look with one of my favorite stamp sets.  I started with a Whisper White card base.  I then die cut a piece of Brushed Silver card stock using the clearlits scallop rectangle die.  Next I cut a rectangle from Whisper White card stock.  I stamped the right hand side using a floral image from Pocket Silhouettes using Sahara Sand ink.  I then added a touch of dazzling diamonds to the flowers using a 2-way glue pen.  Have I mentioned lately that dazzling diamonds is my FAVORITE glitter in the world?!!!!!  It is so fine and sparkly and add such an amazing pop to cards in such an easy way!  I stamped the greeting from Short & Sweet using Basic Black ink and then mounted the rectangle to the scallop rectangle using dimensionals.  The piece was then attached to the card base using glue.  The final touch was to add three adhesive rhinestones.  I hope you like it!

Watercolor Paper Embossed Background

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  I Get In My Own Way

It's easy to place the blame in so many different places.  To say that the reason we don't create is because we are too busy, or have to cook dinner, or have to work, or have to ______ (fill in the blank).  Well, today I realized another huge reason - the reason I don't create is because of me.  Today (I'm writing this on Monday) I had a day that was wide open.  I had one conference call that I needed to be on and then my list of responsibilities was pretty empty.  So today was the perfect day for me to sit and create.  I did some creating - I worked on painting layers of paint on wooden and chipboard pieces to use on my can projects.  And then I found myself getting up from the craft table and wandering around - checking email, looking at my blog to see if anyone else had looked at it, walking into the kitchen to grab yet another snack.  You name it, I was finding ways to distract myself and here I had a whole day open to my creativity.  So now the big question is why?  Why am I getting in my own way?  Am I afraid to spend a whole day creating?  Am I afraid I'm going to like it too much and not want to do anything else?  Or am I afraid that it won't be all that I believe it can be - that the ideas will not flow or the results won't be what I want?  Maybe it's a combination of both.  The bottom line is I am responsible for my time and what I do with it.  I can get in my way or I can get out of my way and create - the choice is mine.
I got out of my way a bit to create this card.  I began with a piece of watercolor paper and used the direct to paper technique to apply a layer of Certainly Celery ink and then a layer of Tempting Turquoise ink right over it.  Then I ran the piece through the Big Shot with the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder.  I then did direct to paper again with River Rock ink to bring out the textured pattern.  Next I used my finger to rub Champagne Shimmer Mist paint over the raised areas of the design - this card has great shimmer in person!  The piece was then adhered to a piece of Whisper White card stock and then adhered to the River Rock card base using glue.  I die cut two butterflies using the Beautiful Wings embosslit and Crumb Cake card stock.  I sponged them with River Rock ink and then applied some Champagne Shimmer paint using my finger.  I then punched a piece of River Rock card stock with the decorative label punch and stamped the piece with the birthday greeting from Sincere Salutations using Early Espresso ink.  The edges were then sponged with River Rock ink.  I then applied three pearls and dabbed them lightly with the paint as well.  The butterflies were attached to the label using glue and the label was attached to the card using dimensionals.  I hope you like it!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Today's Lesson From The Craft Room:  Rust Takes Time!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend!  I disappeared on Friday - sorry about that - I just couldn't get my act together to get my posting done in time.  But this is a new week...so we'll see what happens :)  What I have already begun to learn this week is that rust takes time!  I have found a new product (non-Stampin' Up!) that really intrigues me!  I had to run out and buy it and give it a try!  I got together a few cans and began my journey toward rust.  First I used black gesso to coat the cans (I should have used some sandpaper to scratch up the surface a bit before adding the gesso - I'll make a note for next time!).

Of course I had to show some patience and allow the time for that to dry.  Next came two coats of the  base for the rusting process - and allowing the coats to dry in between.

And then came the rusting solution!

 I've got one coat on now...and I can add another coat in another 24 hours...this really is a true test of my patience ;)  Of course, it is also a test of your patience since I can't share a finished product with you until the can is ready to decorate and stamp! :)  I guess that means we're both learning...rust takes time!
Ooh - look!  I woke up this morning and put another coat of the rusting solution on the surface and here is what the cans look like now:

Glad I've been patient - I really LOVE how these are turning out!  Hopefully I'll be able to share more progress with you tomorrow :)