Joy, Hope and Wonder

I am back on the tags again to catch up in Linda's wonderful 12 Tags of Christmas... Seems I lag behind 3 weeks at a time and  have to catch up. Linda's challenge is hosted by The Funkie Junkie Boutique and there are prizes to go along with her challenge.  I truly don't do much online shopping but I do shop at  The Funkie Junkie Boutique regularly online.  The shop has great prices all the time and the customer service is wonderful.

Onto my tag for Linda's Week #9 tag.

 I am in love with what happened when I started playing around with the technique Linda did on her tag.  She painted the background with a hint of silver and then sprayed the Ranger Distress Stain Sprays over the surface.  I painted my whole tag with the paint making sure there was a thick coat of the paint. (Ranger Pewter)

 Then I sprayed a mix of greens, and blues and it looks so cool as it looks like alcohol inks on the surface after it dries. I used a heat gun and tilting the tag to get the pooling as the spray sits on the surface of the paint. 

 I thought that was so pretty I almost didn't stamp the branches over the surface but that got even cooler as I used a versafine ink which was very liquid on the surface and I had to heat set it.  To make sure it dried completely I then inked up the entire surface with versamark watermark ink and encased it in clear embossing powder.   What a beautiful effect all around and I can't wait to try this again with another metal paint and different spray colors!

The next tag from Linda used blue, silver and white!  Week #7 Tag had so many different pieces of it that I loved and I had fun trying to replicate some of the effects she put together. There was this yummy snowflake and accents at the bottom of the tag.  A little of everything all so lush and beautiful!

And then there were beautiful touches of snowflakes in white against a painted blue background. (I sprayed my background over painted white snowflakes and then added the deer stamped with silver and a silver snowflake behind him. 

The last tag for Week #8 tag from Linda went way off the beaten path and took me the longest to come up with an idea.  Linda's beautiful tag had all these lovely elements of which I had none!  So I decided to use the ideas of the sprayed background and the design and turn it into something very different. :O 

 Here is a close up of the main image. I love this Hero Arts stamp and always look forward to pulling it out for the holidays.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Suzz

Flowers

Hello! It's Saturday and we are having some beautiful spring weather.  What better inspiration than that to create a spring bouquet of cards?

Both cards are simple and easy to create. This takes me back to when I first started stamping with the Hero Arts stamps.  I was happy to see the new silhouette wildflowers form SA along with the doily stamps.

I used versamark in the background with the doily stamp to create a very soft shadow with a hint of mist sprayed from the bottom right corner. 

I inked up the flowers with two dye inks and stamped them over the background and added one of my many Verses Rubber Stamps sentiments.

These flowers are so lovely in their silhouette that I didn't want to distract from them other than a few glossy accents as dew drops.

My second one was a scrap from playing with a lovely flower stencil and blending the mists across the stencil.  I just added a few pearls and a tiny sentiment and a lovely card created quickly.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

A Merry Merry Christmas to You!

To you and yours a Merry Merry Christmas!

The stamp is Stampendous and I love these sweet birds and how they are huddled up for warmth.

I used a touch of Glimmer Mist and Ranger Distress Stain Sprays mixed and splattered onto  watercolor cardstock.

I stamped the stamp and colored them with the STAEDTLER watercolor pencils.  I added glittery goodness over white gel pen for the snow.

To pop the colors a the end I covered the entire surface with versamark watermark ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

The sentiment is Penny Black.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

Suzz

Pink, Silver and Gold

Good Morning. 
  I am back today with my tag for Linda's The Funkie Junkie Tags of Christmas  Week # 7(sponsored by her boutique The Funkie Junkie Boutique). A gorgeous blue and silver shimmery tag is what Linda created.  I love the pretty background with the snowflakes and that is what inspired my take on her tag. I started with a scrap of paper I had left over in pink so my color scheme is a little different.  While working on this I also added in texture which works for the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge of Texture and the Mixed Media World - Anything Goes Challenge.

Linda added a beautiful metallic element to her snowflakes. I unfortunately only had silver and gold so I had to gild my snowflakes with gold.  My color scheme became silver, gold and pink.

I started with multiple pink background scraps. I don't even remember the project but it made a lot of leftovers. :)

I then stenciled on the snowflakes using Wendy Vecchi Silver Embossing Paste.  Then I had to wait for drying time.  I used that time to cut snowflakes using different dies and different mediums. (More of the pink background, Silver foil, multi colored backgrounds.

After everything dried I took out my gold leaf and rubbed it on over the snowflakes on all my different backgrounds.

I used my Memory Box Christmas music stamp and added a hint of music in the background with silver and gold ink.

Along the way I was trying to figure out what I wanted as my focal point can I stamped the Madonna and child. 

 I also had this large snowflake which was too big for my tag so I took my bits and pieces and pulled them together into a card. I love how this turned out.

I also had a half piece of pink splotches that I thought would make a great card background.

 I took that and made a card. 

 My last was a white background with the silver and gold and I added hints of pink but didn't finish the tag yet.  It will go back into the scrap pile for future use. :)

Have a great day!

Suzz

Christmas Berries

Stamps make me happy!  Especially one like this from Penny Black.

What a beautiful stamp and so fun to use with just a hint of color in the berries and then the soft yellow background.

A quick share for today!

Suzz

Color Bursts

I have been busy with other projects that will be shared in the future and was happy to have time to play around with some new color bursts. 

 I was trying out the brusho's and color bursts and found the color bursts worked better for these because of the squeeze bottle on the bursts which allowed me to squeeze the colors in puffs where I wanted it. 

I stamped the image using versamark onto mixed media paper.  Then I puffed a light dollop of color on the versamark areas.  I used a very find tipped paint brush to ensure the versamark and a light coating of color on the surface.  The remaining powder is fine on the the background.   Then I spritzed with water.  The first card was spritzed lightly so most of the powder did not fully explode and dissipate.  On this card I will need to seal the surface because if it comes in contact with water it will continue to exude more color and lose the speckling.

The next card was spritzed to a lot more spreading of the color. I used a baby wipe to pick the excess color.

 I added the touch of blue after I finished the orange.  I just sprinkled a touch of blue powder and hit it with a touch of spray and again dabbed up excess water/color with a baby wipe.

For my last card I followed the same process but added a lot of water to the flowers and picked up excess with wipes/paper towels.  After it dried I added the blue with sprinkling the powder, wetting with water and then taking away excess color and water with baby wipe dabbing the color.  I repeated until I got the effect and color I wanted. 

Products:  Hero Arts - Wildflower, Penny Black - Tiniest Thing, Memory Box Sentiment - Birthday, Ken Olivers Craft Color Bursts.

Have a wonderful Friday!

Suzz

Royal Welcome

A quick share today of a sweet fairy from Penny Black celebrating the arrival of a baby girl.  This was inspired by the arrival of the princess Charlotte and the Mojo Monday Sketch #400. 

I love these little fairies and had fun coloring her with my STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell watercolor pencils.  I decided to frame her out on the inside of my card. 

I flipped the sketch and left a little room for my sentiment.  I cut a partial circle to show her off and then used the Simon Says Stamp Stencil to add the circles on the front sponged with fossilized amber and vintage photo.

The sketch:

Have a happy Thursday!

Suzz 

On Ice

These little penguins are out in their Christmas finery.  I provided a crown on Mr. Penguin with half of a snowflake and Mrs. has a glittery gem necklace.

There is a tulle tuft on top but it is hard to see in the photo. The background is stamped with Ranger Archival Ink - Rose Madder using Memory Box - Vintage Christmas Words.  The images are from Penny Black - Nature Walk. 

Yeah Friday again and the weekend!

Suzz

Blissful

Happy Saturday!  It was a long week and I am happy that the weekend is here.  I bought this new Penny Black background stamp called Blissful and I love it.  I inked it up and created a card and a tag.

I used the Ranger Archival Potting Soil ink to stamp the image onto a manila tag and over text.  I then colored them using STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell watercolor pencils with a waterbrush.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Suzz

Botannical Bliss

I asked May if we could celebrate May's flowers and the challenge this week at  Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is botanical bliss. Pull out your flower stamps and join in the challenge this week!

I had fun with some new stencils and embossing paste!  I laid the stencil on white cardstock and put embossing paste onto the white cardstock.  I let that dry.  After it dried I added the sentiment in he top right corner.

I put the stencil back on and sponged the surface with purple dye ink to add a hint of color. 

I hen decided I wanted to add some dew drops on my background with a hint of sparkle.  I sprtized the surface with goosebumps and while it was wet I sprinkled the ultra fine crystal glitter over the surface. I was really pleased with how it turned out.  Click on the photo to see a close up of  the dew.

The butterflies were stamped on vellum using archival ink which I heated up to set the ink. I then cut them out. I sponged over the butterfly with Versamark. I then heat embossed with shimmery embossing powder.

For my second card I used the embossing paste and the same stencil

After I embossed the flowers. I let the embossing paste dry.  I then stamped a series of flowers. 

After I colored them with watercolor pencils.  I sponged blue on the embossing paste.  I tried to stamp a sentiment in the top right and it ended up crooked.  ARGH!  I decided I loved what I had already done so I decided to cut out the corner following the lines of the flowers.

After I cut this out I sponged the blue over the inside of the card.  I heat set the blue dye ink before I stamped the sentiment and heat embossed with white embossing powder.  I stamped the bee and colored and cut it out.

Products: Penny Black - Promenade Stencil,  Impression Obsession - In a Garden. Wendy Vecchi White Embossing Paste,    Versamark Watermark Ink, Stampendous White Embossing Powder, Wendy  Vecchi The Beauty,    Ranger Distress Ink - Salty Ocean,  Memento - Sweet Plum,  Goose Bumps, Stampendous Butterflies,  Ranger Archival Ink - Potting Soil,  Clear Embossing Powder, 

Come play along with us  for an opportunity for a chance  to win a   Simon Says Stamp $50 Gift Voucher.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Birthday Pup

I love this little Mo Manning illustrated Penny Black birthday dog.  I decided to pull him out to create a card for my niece using the Mojo Monday Sketch #335.  She is working with dogs every day and I think she will enjoy this.

I colored the image with STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell watercolor pencils and paired the image with Authentique Paper.

Have a great Friday!

Suzz

I'm Seeing Silver Stars

I promised last week to share my second pocket tag inspired by Linda's tags.  I held this tag after I realized yesterday's tag had silver stars on a blue tag too!

When you open up the inside you see there is a little pocket for my tag: 

This was given to one of my daughter's friends for her birthday so I added the sentiment of wish big. 

The front is fairly plain with just the silver trim and a smattering of stars. 

The background is a mix of leftover spritzes on my craft mat.  I always like to soak them up onto cardstock to be used on future projects.   I added a metal foil trim which was embossed with chevron.  I embossed my brads with silver embossing powder to match.  The twine was painted with Ranger Distress Paint - Silver to coordinate.  The stars are from a Heidi Swapp stencil and Wendy Vechhi Silver Embossing Paste.

Linda has one more pocket tag on her blog made of silvery colors and I can't wait to have a play with it.  So you will be seeing one more folded tag this week. :) Have a wonderful New Years Eve!

Suzz

More Christmas Cheer

I have been so busy creating that I have a little stockpile of Christmas projects to share before Christmas arrives.  This one was another card popped into the mail earlier this week and should arrive in time for the holidays.

Another one of my Gelli Plate backgrounds.  You can see I was using the blues and tans still on the plate.  I used Paper Artsy Fresco Finishes (Irish Cream, Mermaid) with the Tim Holtz Stencil. 

I sponged brown dye ink over the ruler stencil in both corners to add more movement. :)  I then stamped the Penny Black stamp in the top right corner.  I colored this with STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell watercolor pencils.  To help the birds pop more I did two things.  I heat embossed them with brown embossing powder while the ink was wet.  I also then shaded around the image with the brown watercolor pencils.  I take it back I did three things I also added white highlights in the darker areas.

After that was done I added a the sentiment on a coordinating background paper and a little touch of the holly and some burlap and ribbon.

Now off to the store to pick up groceries!

Happy Saturday!

Suzz

Birthday Cupcake

Blessed Sunday to you!   I went to my favorite LSS yesterday and they had a new shipment of Penny Black stamps in house.  I couldn't resist this cutie pie as I am pretty sure it is a Mo Manning illustration. I decided to create a oh so elusive (in my house)  cute and pretty birthday card.

My daughters are always looking for something not vintage, shabby chic or steampunk for birthday cards and it is hard to find here. :)  I love this image and decided to put together a card using him and some MME papers. I started creating banners and couldn't stop.  :) 

I stamped him using Ranger Archival Ink and colored him with STAEDTLER watercolor pencils. 

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Suzz

Dream a Little Dream

Happy Friday!   My card today uses a sweet fairy who is holding a little ladybug. The Mojo Monday Sketch #297 as my inspiration for the layout of my card.

I love the Mo Manning illustrations and was happy that Penny Black started selling her images.  I purchased this set of fairies and haven't had a chance to play with them until just recently.

I stamped the image using Ranger Archival Ink on white cardstock. I then colored the image using my STAEDTLER watercolor pencils.  I was looking for pattern paper to coordinate with my image and found a  little bit of the My Minds Eye - Stella Rose 6x6 pad of paper.  I layered the papers in the background.  I painted the wood sentiment with white acrylic paint and smudged with a touch of blue dye ink. I added a few details with flowers, tulle and twine. 

Have a fabulous weekend!

Suzz

A Merry Merry Christmas to You

I used the CASology challenge cue word Star as my inspiration and used a few stars cut from cardstock as a mask to sponge the stars and add a silver edge. 

 I added the print inside of the stars using the mask again.  I edges the card in silver krylon pen. A quick and simple card.   The print inside the stars is a retired Hero Arts set.  The sentiment is from Penny Black.

Blessings,


Suzz

Drop A Line

Welcome back to week II of the lovely  CR84FN54 colors. 

When I was working on the colors for this challenge I used two different Mo Manning images to create my cards. 

I used  Memory Box paper in the background.  The image is from Penny Black.  I was so happy to find out that Penny Black is now carrying Mo Manning images too.  I was able to purchase this image at my LSS and love it for the fisherman in my family.

The image is stamped in Ranger Archival ink. The coloring is watercolor pencils and a waterbrush. The background is sponged with dye ink and a few little waterspots to add a little texture.  The EK Success border punch is perfect for a masculine card.

I added a few accents on fish line to emulate a lure. 

Here are the pretty colors (love that they work for masculine or feminine cards):

For all the details on the challenge this week go to the CR84FN blog. 

For more inspiration the CR84FN Design Team:

Deborah Frings * Sue Lelli  * Andrea Matthews *  Suzanne Czosek (me)  *  Heather Jensen * Mona Pendleton  * Lisa Somerville * Shannon White* Pauline Pollington

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Happy Birthday Tanya!

Today is our DD 10th birthday. She is our youngest which makes it harder to see her grow up. :)

I created a patriotic themed card for her as she is a July baby and she thinks that her cards should be red white and blue and patriotic themed.

 

The background is Hero Arts Design Block, The little girl image is from Penny Black.  Tanya selected the stamp set to create her card from. I modified the image to have her holding the star balloons. The background fireworks is from a Northwoods Sparkler stamp. The script in the background behind the fireworks is the Declaration of Independence pasted into the word processor and printed out on card stock to create a custom pattern paper. :) 

I also created a card for the Colour Q Challenge #95  this week: 

I picked up a few new Pure Innocence stamps from My Favorite things and this little girl and her kites were perfect for the colors of the challenge.  The background is another Hero Arts Design Block. 

The sentiment is from Verses called Think Lovely Thoughts FS1140-D.

Here is the fun inspiration photo:

Hope you are having a tenth birthday kind of day! (where you are queen and everyone does everything for you!) 

Suzz

Lily Pad Cards Challenge - Lucy's Fine Lines

Time for another fun Lily Pad Cards Challenge.  This week Lucy is providing a lovely sketch.  Our wonderful sponsor is Penny Black!

Here is my interpretation of Lucy's sweet sketch:

Recipe:

1. Cut black cardstock form card base. .
2. Cut layer of beautiful embossed paper Penny Black hearts white. Distress edges and sponge with Memento Rose Bud dye ink. 
3. StampPenny Black - perfect pair on white cardstock using Black archival ink. 
4. Spray Tattered Angels glimmer mist on Craft mat. Pull bottom half of paper through gilimmer mist to add pink color. Wait to dry and sponge any additional pink ink to finish the pink on the background behind the birds.
5. Stamp sentiments using glimmer mist. Spray glimmer mist on craft mat and ink up stamps and stamp onto cardstock. 

All the details of the challenge are at the Lily Pad Cards Blog. 

For more inspiration visit the sweet design team:

Design Team: Alice Wertz, Deborah Nolan, Lin Brandyberry, Nancy Krueger, Sherri Thompson, Vicki Papaioannou

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Joy and Blessings to You!

Happy Sunday to you! 

I created this card today for the Simon Says Stamp and Show your Distress Inks. I love using my distress inks. I went looking for some inspiration today in Jacqueline's flickr photo stream and found this beautiful card. I was trying to capture the softness in her hydrangea in the blurry watery edges on my berries.

The Ranger inks used were Aged Mahogany, Brushed Corduroy and Vintage Photo.  The stamps are Hero Arts and Penny Black.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz