Monday, September 9, 2019

Six New Cards

Life Doesn't Have To Be Perfect 

I finally had time to take photos of the recent cards I created!

I was working on them before I went on a road trip over Labor Day to Kentucky to visit family. I just didn't get a chance to photo and blog them.

I'm happy to be back in the North where we don't have the humidity that they have in the South. It just about kills me, I hate it! I know we have humidity here in Minnesota, but nothing like they have there. Normally when we visit we either go in May, June or July when it's even worse. We had one day that we could tolerate and that was the first day we were there! Anyway, it was nice to see family.

Moving on.....my first card the background was created blending distress oxide inks - fired brick, worn lipstick and fossilized amber. I then spritzed the background with water to get the droplets where the water reacted. The leaves are from a die called Outline Clustered Leaves from Simon Says Stamp. The sentiment is from a stamp set by Reversed Confetti called The Most Beauty.

Bold Color 

For the card above and below I used a stencil called Wonky Grid from Altenew. 

I used Brusho Crystal Colours (which are similar to Ken Oliver's Color Burst). I used the colors gamboge, turquoise and cobalt blue. I laid my stencil down then sprinkled the power over the stencil and spritzed watered over it. I set a stamp block on top for a few minutes then lifted it. I cut the panel in two for two cards. The stamp used on the top card is called Bold Colour by Visibile Image. The sentiment used on the bottom card is from Simon Says Stamp called Handlettered Encouragement.

Feel Better 

Make Me Laugh 

For the card about and below I used a stencil from Altenew called Ombre Stripes.

I applied distress oxide inks over the stencil on both. The colors used for the top card are cracked pistachio, salty ocean and blueprint sketch. For the card below I used blueprint sketch, hickory smoke and wilted violet. After I blended the inks I spritzed both cards with water to get the inks to react. 

The top card uses a sentiment from Visible Image called So Much Stronger. The card below uses a stamp for Gina K Designs called Lettered and Lovely. 

Thank You 

You Make Me Laugh 

For my last card I used a stencil from Gina K Designs that I applied distress oxide ink through. The colors I used are fossilized amber, ripe persimmon and candied apple. I die cut my panel using a die called double stitched rectangles from Our Daily Bread (they've changed their name to Divinity Designs LLC now). The sentiment is from Gina K Stamps called Lettered and Lovely.

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I am working my way through the pile above. I'm basically just deciding what sentiments to use on them. I may decide at last minute to add stenciling, embossing paste or die cut into flowers......the possibilities are endless...... I'm trying to keep the pretty clean and simple.

I've been working on the details for a crop I'm hosting the end of October/beginning of November. This will be our second year going to this particular retreat. It's always so fun to get together with others for three nights. I never get anything done, but that's okay! I hope we keep going year after year. The place is always booked so you reserve it a year in advance. 

This year I'm going to be doing a very casual card class. So, I'm thinking of ideas so that I can make a few sample cards for them look at. We'll be doing watercolor, stencils, paste etc so all cards will turn out different. 

We also have one of the ladies doing a Chalk Couture class, so that will be fun. I took her class back in April and loved it!

That's it for now! Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Breathe

Breathe


I'm back again with another card for three different card challenges!

I'm adding this card to the No Patterned Paper challenge for Dragonfly Dreams, the Anything Goes challenge for Dare 2B Artzy and I'm going to add a second card to The Flower Challenge

For my background I used four distress oxide inks. I used evergreen bough, hickory smoke, mermaid lagoon and blueprint sketch. I added the ink to my Tim Holtz glass mat and spritzed water over the ink. I took my alcohol ink cardstock and kept swiping into the ink. I used my heat tool to dry in between layers and proceeded until I was happy with the background. 

After the background was dry, I used the Wacky Boxes stencil from Dare 2B Artzy randomly on the background with hickory smoke distress ink. I splattered evergreen bough and blueprint sketch inks over the background with a paint brush. Once I made sure the ink was dry, I went over the background with Distress Micro Glaze. Because I had used oxide inks on alcohol ink cardstock the background looked a little milky. Using the Distress Micro Glaze makes the color more vibrant. It also seals the background. 

The flower is from the Sizzix Tim Holtz Wildflowers dies. To color the flower I used distress ink in these colors: crushed olive, peeled paint, mustard seed, worn lipstick and barn door. 

The sentiment is from Picket Fence called It's Going To Be Okay. I stamped it using my MISTI with Ranger archival ink in black soot. Instead of using a white card base like I normally do, I used a base from Papertrey Ink called new leaf. 






Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, August 12, 2019

Creativity Takes Courage

Creativity Takes Courage

Hello and happy Monday! Is there such a thing as happy Monday?! I didn't used to think so. Now that I don't have to get up and head to work, I believe there is!

I haven't posted anything on my blog for about a month. That's because I really haven't created anything. I'm never not doing something in my craft room, I just either haven't finished a project or I'm putzing around with something. 

I've been in sort of a creative slump lately though. I always know what I want to do, it's just getting it done. I'm also guilty of having too many projects going on at once, which is what I have going on right now. 

I always sift through the emails that I get for card challenges. I love card challenges so much! Over the weekend one caught my eye for The Paper Players. This one is a color challenge. You are to use black, white and one other color. Well, I knew right away that I would be doing this challenge because it's a no brainer for me. These are the kind of challenges I like.  

While I was at it, I looked to see if there were any other challenges I could submit my card to. I found that I would be able to add my card to The Flower Challenge. Flowers have to be the main focal point and my card fits the mold for that one. 

For my card I used an older Tim Holtz embossing folder from Sizzix for the background. I don't know what the name of this folder is as I don't have the packaging and I neglected to write the name on the folder. 

I've been die cutting tons of Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlets Wildflowers #1 and #2 and watercoloring them for use in future projects. I decided that Rusty Hinge Distress Ink would be the color that I would go with for this challenge. I love the color rust. I just watercolored a sheet of watercolor paper, let it dry naturally and die cut the wildflowers. 

For my sentiment I used a sticker from the Small Talk sticker book from Tim Holtz Idea-Ology. I diecut a banner using the Simple Strips Banner Die from Taylored Expressions. 

My card is linked to the two challenges below.





Thanks for stopping by!

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