10/30/2018

Mermaid Dreams

I was going to post this Monday and say it was "Magical Monday" but my internet connection was so poor last night I couldn't do it.  AUGH!!!! technology...  And that's why I love my art!  It's low tech.
This card is for the color challenge at Splitcoast Stampers this week - Bermuda Bay, Cherry Cobbler and Blueberry Bushel.  This really was challenging for me and I had a tough time thinking of an image to use.  Then I came across this Laurel Burch stamp.

I have loved her artwork since the 80s and when I discovered that some of it was being released in stamps I was so excited!  If you are not familiar with her, her art is very graphic, colorful and whimsical.  Unfortunately she passed away in 2007, but has left beautiful art as her legacy.

When coloring this I tried to stay somewhat true to her style.  I used ZIG Kuretake brush markers in order to get depth of shading.  The most difficult part of the card for me was the layout.  I wanted it to be somewhat organic.  I used a swirl embossing folder on Vanilla card stock and the distressed that with sand paper and some Distress Oxide Antique Linen ink.  The mermaid panel was too pristine so instead of die cutting out the panel I ripped the edges - always a hard thing to do!
The dessert option this week is to add some shimmer or sparkle so after tearing I touched the edges with both Antique Linen and shimmer paint.  It is all mounted to a shimmery piece of card stock that my mother-in-law gave me.  I have no idea what it is, but it's pretty!  I cut the word Dream from the same card stock.

Stamp: Stampendous Laurel Burch Mermaid
Die: Penny Black
ZIG Kuretake Brush Pens: Persian Blue, Turquoise Green, Wine Red, Olive Green, Beige, Flesh Color, Dark Brown
Ink: Distress Oxide Antique Linen, Stampin' Up! Frost White Shimmer Paint
Embossing Folder: Stampin' Up!Swirls and Curls


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Christmas Wishes Turnabout Card

Happy Tuesday!  This week's challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches is both a sketch and color challenge.  The colors made me think of Christmas - maybe because I'm starting to get nervous about having all my cards made!
Here is the challenge:
http://cascoloursandsketches.blogspot.com/2018/10/challenge-296-double.html
I created the patterned panel by using a new stamp I just purchased call a "turnabout" stamp.  It's from Concord and 9th.  You put you paper in a stamping platform that will hold a 6 inch square.  You stamp the first color, turn the paper 90 degrees, stamp the second color, then turn and stamp until you have done this four times. The pattern fills itself in.  You can switch up colors as I did or do a monochromatic background.

I used the three challenge colors plus a grey.  (I thought about heat embossing in silver for the fourth color but decided I wanted to practice first before I went a bit crazy!)

To finish off the card I dies cut some sprigs and used silver thread to "tie" them on.

Stamps: Concord & 9th Deck the Halls Turnabout
Dies: Stampin' Up! Pretty Pines

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10/25/2018

3-D Thursday Under the Sea Double Slider Surprise Card

Well, I couldn't make just one Double Slide Surprise card!  Especially after my husband saw the card I made for Anushka.  He shares the same birthday and of course was expecting something pretty special for his card.
My husband is a scuba diver (I am not) and loves the ocean.  I am not particularly strong at swimming.  That said, on our last trip to Maui we decided to take a snorkeling trip.  It happened to be right before Hurricane Lane was coming by the islands and the sea was pretty rough.  That, coupled with my lack of swimming ability, made for a rather tense snorkeling excursion for me.  But my husband was great - he stayed by my side and actually held my hand the whole time I was in the water.  Best snorkeling buddy ever!
So I went all out with his card using a dive theme.  The background was created with Distress Oxide inks using wave a stencil for the sandy bottom.  In order to cut all the pieces I did two rows of the background scene.
I then colored A LOT of fish pieces.  Way more than I needed but it allowed me to play with placement and now I have extras.
 
I cut the center piece and the two side pieces roughly lining up the sandy bottom.  You can see by this photo that I originally had the diver front and center but changed it to the submarine.  I wanted to keep the diver as a "surprise."

I loved making Double Slider Surprise cards!  There are so many possibilities with this format.  But I will warn you - they are not quick to make.  You need some thought and planning with them - so make them for someone special and take your time!!!

Dies: Lawn Fawn Double Slider Surprise
Stamps and Dies: All Lawn Fawn - Duh-Nuh, You Are Sublime, Fintastic Friends
Copics:
Distress Oxides: Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Faded Jeans, Stormy Sky, Tea Dye, Antique Linen

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10/23/2018

Falling Leaves - Using Distress Oxides to Create a "Patterned" Paper

Happy Tuesday!  It's a sketch challenge this week at CAS Colours & Sketches so I could use any colors I wanted!  Well, I really wanted to use some new leaf dies that I have and I knew how I wanted to approach it from a technique perspective.  Using the card sketch allowed me to concentrate on the technique instead of the layout.
Here is the challenge:
https://cascoloursandsketches.blogspot.com/2018/10/design-team-call-and-challenge-295.html
I used my Distress Oxide inks and what I call a "splat" technique.  I swipe the ink pad on a plastic mat and spray with water, then I dip my paper into the mess.  I do this with several colors, most of the time using my heat gun to dry between layers.
For these leaves I used mostly autumn colors and some green.  When the paper was nice and dry, I die cut the leaves.  This technique gives a nice randomness to the leaf colors - just like in nature!
After cutting I sponged the leaf edges with both brown and brick to make them more "autumn."  And I added a few dew drops.

My one struggle with this card was the antiquing around the edge of the card itself.  This is a CAS challenge and I did not want to get it too distressed, but a stark white card just didn't fit.  So I VERY lightly and narrowly tipped the edges with the same brown and brick.

Dies used: Cottage Cutz Fall Leaves
Inks:  Distress Oxides Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey, Fossilized Amber, Peeled paint, Gathered Twigs
Paper: Strathmore Mixed Media, Early Espresso, Copper foil

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10/22/2018

A Fairy House

This week I'm the Color Challenge hostess at Splitcoast Stampers.  I chose Petal Pink, Calypso Coral and Pear Pizzazz.  Not exactly fall colors, but I love the combination.
I have wanted to make a fairy garden for the longest time but have been too busy.  And I'm not even sure they are a "thing" anymore but I still think they are so fun and special.  In any case, this fairy house stamp just really appeals to me and this is my first time coloring it.  I used a combination of Stampin' Blends and Copic markers
For the cobblestone background I used a giraffe print stencil and some Stampin' Up! Champagne Shimmer Paint.  It really sparkles!  It sparkles so much that in the top photo there is a color shift and it looks like two different colors.  It is really just the light hitting one side more than the other.
Please consider joining us at the challenge this week!

Stamps/Die: Stamping Bella Fairy Garden Fairy House and Garden Girl Sentiments
Ink: (where Stampin' Blends are used Iused both light and dark, the Copic color listed after is an additional marker used for added depth that coordinates with the Blends color) Calypso Coral & R00; Petal Pink & YR0000; Soft Suede & E43; Crumb Cake & W00, W1; G40, G43, G46 (for the Pear Pizzazz)
Paint: Stampin' Up! Champagne Glimmer paint
Accessories: Stampin' up! Flowers, MFT Giraffe print stencil

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10/18/2018

3-D Thursday - Hat's Off to You Birthday Card

Three-D Thursday is back and Happy Birthday Ed and Anushka!  It's my husband's birthday as well as my "adopted" daughter's birthday today!  She is a very good friend of my youngest daughter and when she realized she shared Ed's birthday she started calling us Dad and Mom.  It stuck and we love having her as part of our family!  This is her card - I'm still working on my husband's.  (To be fair I'm writing this on the 16th!)

I love making interactive cards.  My cards are my birthday presents for a lot of my friends so I try to do something special.  This card uses the Double Slider Surprise die by Lawn Fawn.  I LOVE this die - so many fun things that you can do with it! 

I've had the Hat's Off and Party Animal stamp sets for a while and never used them but decided it was perfect for this type of birthday card.  This card was so much fun to make.  I picked out some colored papers and went from there.  The coloring was quick with minimal shading but works with the fun nature of the card.  The card itself does not open.  I mounted the slider pocket to a base using foam tape.  This makes it easier to pull the tab.

I'm using the same die for my husband's card - I'll post that when I'm finished!

Die: Lawn Fawn Double Slider Surprise
Stamps and Dies: Lawn Fawn Hats Off to You, Party Animal, Holiday Party Animal
Paper: Stampin' Up! DSP paper stack
Ink: Stampin' Blends and Copic markers

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10/17/2018

Autumn Fox

A quick post for today.  This little guy was created for the color challenge at Splitcoast Stampers this week.  The colors Mary chose are Tranquil Tide, Cajun Craze and Crushed Curry with a fall theme.
I knew I wanted to use this fox die and I decided to go with a sketch challenge at Splitcoast to make the layout easy.  But the details really stumped me until I found the patterned paper that is behind the fox.  Once I picked out that things quickly came together.  I immediately thought about the embossing folder I used in the background and the sentiment die also came with the leaf images - perfect!  I just need to add the linen thread and it was good to go!

Dies: all Cottage Cutz - Fall Fox and Hedgehog, Fall Phrases, Nested Stitched Circles
Paper: Stampin' Up!Joyous Noel DSP
Accessories: Stampin' Up! Layered Leaves Dynamic Textured Impressions embossing folder

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10/16/2018

First Frost Floral

It's time for another color challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches!  This week Patricia has chosen Blushing Bride, Berry Burst and Soft Suede. A beautiful combination so I thought I'd use a beautiful new Stampin' Up! stamp and die set from the Holiday Catalog.
https://cascoloursandsketches.blogspot.com/2018/10/design-team-call-and-challenge-294.html
This was a simple card to make.  I stamped all the flowers using my Stamparatus in two steps.  First I stamped them in Blushing Bride, and then with the Berry Burst.  Because of the nature of these stamps - they are meant to give a very soft and detailed shaded look - I used a sponge dauber to ink up the stamps.  When I used my pad directly on the stamp, I did not get the subtlety of shading that you see here.  For the Berry Burst, I just lightly touched the Center of each flower with the dauber.

I used one of the Petal Pair embossing folders that I think coordinates beautifully with the die cut foliage and a stitched circle that I popped up on foam dots for the sentiment.
This card was very easy to make and would also look lovely in holiday colors.

Please join us this week at CAS Colous and Sketches!

Stamps and Dies: Stampin' Up! First Frost Bundle
Ink: Berry Burst, Blushing Bride, Soft Suede
Dies: Stitched Shapes
Embossing Folder: Petal Pair Textured Impressions
Accessories: Stamparatus

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10/09/2018

Fall in Love - sketch challenge

This week I'm the hostess for the sketch challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches blog and I hope you will join us in the challenge!

Using the challenge sketch, I decided to make an anniversary card for my husband.  It will be 34 years at the end of this month!  Time sure flies....

Posted challenge:
 I started this card by picking a few patterns from two of three autumn themed paper stacks I just purchased.  I then color matched some of the colors to go with this image.  When coloring images, I often quickly block in colors on several stamped images. This saves me from getting part way through coloring and realizing that I should have made part of the image a different color. 
You can see it took several tries before I decided on the colors.  It is very rare that my first attempt at color placement is the one I end up with.  Ultimately, I even changed the pattern paper that I had chosen.  I ended up with a plaid from the third paper stack that I hadn't even considered.  Fortunately, the colors in all three stacks were very similar!

To add some texture to the girl's sweater I colored it first, and before coloring anything else, I misted an old sock with some Copic blending solution.  The sock has a texture like terrycloth and when lightly blotted on the colored sweater it gave it a fuzzy texture.  To add the ribbing to the tights and scarf I used the chisel end of my marker held at a sharp angle and drew in some lines.
I intended to go over this and add detail with Prismacolor pencils but decided to leave it as it is.  Sometimes you can overwork an image and that is rarely good!

Thanks for visiting today - please join us in the sketch challenge!

Stamps and dies: My Favorite Things Birdie Brown Fall Friends
Copic markers: Pumpkin - YR18, YR 15, YR 21, YR23, YR27 Scarf - BG70, BG72, BG74 Hat - YG21, YG93, YG97 Skirt and Leaf - E04, E08, E09, E07, E13 Sweater and Leaf- Y26, Y21, Y18 Boots - E43, E49, E74 Skin and Hair - E000, E11, R20, E29, E35, E37
Paper: Pink and Main Pumpkin Spice 

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10/08/2018

Four Hour Card

What makes this a four hour card?  Well, let me tell you....a lot.  Funny thing about clean and simple cards.  They may be clean, but they are rarely ever simple.  Because you can't cover over mistakes or adjust as you go every decision is deliberate and every mistake needs to be redone.  Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against mistakes being embellishment opportunities - it's one of the things that makes cardmaking fun. 
But if you're going for CAS, too many of those opportunities makes the card no longer CAS.  In addition, without a lot going on things that are slightly off look worse than they are.

There were many trials and tribulations on this card, from messing up the sentiment AFTER I had stenciled the front to changing that circle four times!  But the biggest time draw was decisions on the design.  I just couldn't make decisions quickly today.  I ended up trying things out and discarding a lot.  The only decision I DIDN'T agonize over was the colors.  Since this is for this week's color challenge at Splitcoast Stampers I didn't have a choice - thank goodness or it would have been a six hour card!

Ultimately I'm pleased with the choices I eventually made.  The polka dots mirror the frame and sequins and adds to the geometric feel of the striped trees. To get my "merry and bright" look to match the sentiment, I heat embossed the focal tree in clear embossing powder and covered the star in Wink of Stella.  It sparkles a bit more in real life than in these photos.

Stamps: MFT Oh Christmas Tree and Hand Lettered Holiday
Dies: MFT Oh Christmas Tree
Ink: Stampin' Up! Garden Green, Real Red, So Saffron

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10/05/2018

BOO! to You

I have a quick and easy card featuring some adorable die cut ghosts from Cottage Cutz.  You may recognize the layout from my last post.  Yes I reused it!  It works so well for this card so I thought  "why not save some time?"
I cut all the pieces from white card stock.  I used a sponge dauber and Smoky Slate ink to add just a little shading to the ghosts.  The rest of the pieces I colored using Copic markers.
For the background I cut a piece of mixed media paper slightly larger then A2 and used Washi tape to tape it to a masonite board.  This helps keep the paper from warping while making a wash background.  I used the Smoky Slate ink.
I also used the Smoky Slate to stencil bats in the mist.  When it was dry I cut it down to A2 size.
Here is the assembled card.  Fun and quick to make!

Dies: Cottage Cutz Halloween Ghosts and Sugar & Cream Alphabet
Stencil: Tim Holtz

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10/03/2018

I've Been Called Worse

I'm a little late with my DT card for Splitcoast Stampers color challenge this week.  My dog had to go to the vet twice already so I've been a little distracted.  Hopefully she is on the mend!

The challenge this week is Old Olive, Fresh Fig and Pumpkin Pie with Halloween as the "dessert."  What perfect colors for Halloween!
I purchased this stamp and die set last year from Simon Says Stamp mostly because of the sentiments - they are great and the three hats are a cute bonus.

For this card I water colored the background in Gray Granite and then used a stencil and sponge dauber to add the stars, also in Gray Granite.  I wanted the look to be loose so I water colored the images in the challenge colors and Basic Gray.  Even though the one hat is black, black ink would have been too harsh.  And the Gray Granite has a definite brownish cast while the Basic Gray ink is pretty neutral.
I stamped the sentiment using Versafine Onyx Black.  This is my favorite ink for a good, solid sentiment, which I knew I needed over this gray.  Its a bit "thicker" or "stickier" in feeling when you stamp but it does a great job.  It can leave photopolymer  stamps a little stained - but not much. 

Before die cutting and adhering the hats (I used foam dots), I added Wink of Stella to the stars.  Then when the card was assembled I added iridescent sequins and star sequins for even more sparkle.

If you came to this page from Splitcoast Stampers - thank you!  If you didn't I hope you join us this week for the color challenge

Stamps and Dies: Simon Says Stamp If the Hat Fits
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Stampin' Up! - Old Olive, Fresh Fig, Pumpkin Pie, Gray Granite, Basic Gray
Sequins: 28 Lilac Lane Fairy Sparkle
Paper: Strathmore Mixed Media

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10/02/2018

Happy to be Stuck with You - Using a MISTI to Shade Stamps

Happy Tuesday!  It's another week and another color challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches.  This week features a gorgeous color combination (thank you Samantha!)
The colors this week are:
I decided to use this cute cactus set that was a freebie last month from My Favorite Things.  I used my stamping platform and masking to align everything.  Stamping platforms have really changed the way I create.  Five years ago I would not have wanted to try to shade the edges of stamps by stamping over what I just stamped using a handheld positioner.

Now it is so easy.  To get the shading on the gray pots I stamped the pots using my mini-Misti, then used a sponge dauber to put ink on the left side of each stamp and re-stamped.  I did the same to get the shading on the cacti using either the same color or the Coastal Cabana.  I show the technique in detail on this post.  I now use three different platforms - Stampin' Up! Stamparatus, Original Misti and a Mini-Misti.  All three have their own advantages.

This set doesn't have coordinating dies and I'm not much of a fussy cutter so I used Wacky Stitched Rectangles to cut them out.  Since the rectangle was fairly close to the size of a couple of the images I first cut one from velum.  This allowed me to see where to place the die so I wouldn't get too much stitching over the image and the placement was fairly centered.
To align the images on the card itself I used a clear ruler.  When aligning I always find it easiest to do the center image first...


...then the left and right side.  For me the real trick is the clear ruler with the horizontal as well as vertical marks.  You can see that you have the ruler aligned on the bottom of the card and each side and not slightly angled.

Stamps: MFT September Freebie
Dies: Cottage Cutz Wacky Stitched Rectangles

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