Hi everyone. Today I'm sharing two cards that use the same die-cut.
My dear friend, Nancy gave me a card using this awesome die-cut. LOVE it! Had to buy it for myself right away. We are great at enabling each other. :)
I cut this fun coffee mug from both white card stock and from Yupo paper that had been coloured with alcohol inks. I then mixed and matched the pieces to create this inlaid design on two cards. I popped up the main panel for a bit of dimension and then stamped a simple sentiment.
I'm adding these to the CAS Mix Up gallery where our challenge this month is Alcohol Inks.
Below are photos of both versions.
... and the reverse ...
This time I popped up the panel over a dark card base and stamped a simple sentiment. A quick and easy way to make two cards. :)
I hope you'll have a play with alcohol inks and join us at the CAS Mix Up Challenge. If you don't have alcohol inks or markers, there is a video on the challenge blog that shows how you can use rubbing alcohol and dye inks to create an alcohol ink background. :)
Stamps: Many Everyday Messages (Hero Arts); Mix Mash (HLS) Paper: White card stock (Neenah 110 lb.); Soft Suede (SU!); Yupo Ink: Alcohol Inks: orange, red, green and yellow (can't remember specific names) (Ranger); Distress Inks: Brushed Corduroy, Walnut Stain (Tim Holtz) Accessories & Tools: Coffee Cup Silhouette die borrowed from my friend Nancy (STAMPlorations)
This month we are also celebrating our 1st Birthday and we have a few prizes to give away - check out the details HERE.
I used a small scrap of smooshed background that I had in my stash. I made this a while ago, so I'm not positive, but I believe it is smooshing with Inka Gold and a few distress reinkers (ripe persimmon and picked raspberry). The colours are so pretty and bright. I added a white punched and layered daisy with a gold center, and two die-cut white leaf sprigs. The sentiment was stamped in Delicata Gold ink which matches the colour of the Inka Gold used in the smooshed panel.
Since this bright and cheerful card reminds me of spring, I'm also sending this to the gallery at CAS Watercolour March Challenge - Spring. I hope you'll join us there too! :)
I'm also entering this card into the Snippets Challenge - Week 271 & 272. I used snippets for the smooshed panel, daisy and leaf sprigs (everything except the card base). :)
Stamps: Fun Birthday Sentiments (Happy Little Stampers) Paper: White card base (Neenah 110 lb. card stock), Watercolour (Arches 140 lb. cold press) Ink: Distress Re-inkers: Ripe Persimmon, Picked Raspberry; Delicata Gold Accessories & Tools: Inka Gold, water mister, Small Daisy punch (Punch Bunch), hole punch, glossy accents, Olive Branch dies (C.C. Designs)
Hi everyone. We are in the middle of a snow storm. It's been snowing steady the past two days and there's at least 8" accumulated. I love looking out at the snow falling ... it's so peaceful and beautiful with everything covered in white. I'm lucky that I don't have to be out in it. Snow days means more time for me in the studio. :)
Today I made the card above. Very simple card using a background coloured piece that I had in my stash. This background was made from leftover ink, sopped up with a paper towel, and then transferred onto watercolour paper. I love the way the quilted design of the paper towel adds so much interest to the colours. :) I've used left over paper towels to make another background for a card HERE, if you want to take a look.
I simply die-cut the loon for my card front, popped it over the coloured background and stamped a simple sentiment. The lake loon die is a NBUS item from my stash, so I'm heading over to join in the fun at Darnell's NBUS #10 challenge that closes tomorrow. I didn't use the optional theme this time. :)
Stamps: Thinking of You (Happy Little Stampers) Paper: White (Neenah 110 lb.); Watercolour (Arches 140 lb. hot press) Ink: Smoky Slate (SU!) Accessories & Tools: Lake Loon die (Gina Marie Designs), inky paper towels, water mister, brayer
Hi everyone. Today I'm sharing several cards I made while filming my latest video tutorial. The tutorial is how I work with Alcohol Inks and Yupo Paper. The card above is a small snippet of one of the pieces I made in the video, and below is a card made with the rest of that piece, along with other cards made from samples from the video.
I show two different techniques (smooshing and dropping inks), and then show another way to add interest and visual texture. Please check out the video below (on YouTube). If you like what you see, please give me a thumbs up!! Thank you!
Notice the texture on the sides of the AI smooshed panel ... made by spraying blending solution once my AI piece was completely dry. Blending solution pushes alcohol inks out of the way to create lighter spots. If the alcohol ink is still wet when you add blending solution, they will flow together and eventually blur. But if the AI piece is completely dry before spraying with blending solution, then the droplets will only push out a little bit until there is too much resistance from the dry inks to go any further. It creates a very unique and artsy design. You can see lots of this visual texture on the cards above and below.
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Just a quick reminder that my "Twelve Tags of Christmas" event starts on Monday, Nov. 7th. I hope you'll come back to check out my tags for the twelve days, along with the beautiful tags created by my wonderfully talented Guest Designers. And join the fun by adding one of your mixed media Christmas tags!
I love the artsy design of marbling. Today's card features "Floating Alcohol Inks Technique" which creates a marbled look. I have used that for the front tag on the card above. This is a simple technique were you partially fill a plastic container with water and then squirt alcohol inks into the water. They rise to the surface. You dunk in your piece of card stock (card stock, manilla tags, glossy card stock all work). The alcohol inks are immediately attracted to the paper once it hits the water. You just dip and pull out your card stock and you'll have some gorgeous designs to use for backgrounds, tags or die-cut embellishments. I used teakwood and mermaid alcohol inks to make my main tag.
I die-cut a leaf sprig from dark brown card stock, pressed it with my versamark ink pad, and heat embossed in clear. I like the shine on the leaves, which I shaped with my stylus and mat for dimension. I also heat embossed my brown stamped sentiment with clear to tie it all together. I cut out a second tag from a piece of smooshed Inka Gold (turquoise and gold), to place behind the the main tag to add some dimension. I added a knotted dark brown ribbon with silver edges to the top to finish.
My CAS Mix Up card has Stamping, Marbling, die-cuts, Smooshing with Inka Gold, and Heat Embossing ... and it is still Clean and Simple,
I hope you'll come play along with our challenge this month. Remember to keep your card CAS (Clean and Simple). There are a few different video tutorials on marbling techniques on the challenge blog if you want to check those out and give them a try.
We are thrilled to have Kimberley Wiener (WienerHoneyMooners) as our Guest Designer for September. Kimberley won the CAS Mix Up July Challenge - Markers with this BEAUTIFUL CARD.
Come play along. The challenge is open until the 24th so there's lots of time to try out some marbling on your cards. :)
Stamps: Mix Mash (Happy Little Stampers) Paper: White card base (Neennah 110 lb.); glossy card stock for marbling; Early Espresso (SU!) Ink: Alcohol Inks: Mermaid, Teakwood (Ranger); Early Espresso (SU!); Peacock Feather Distress re-inker (Tim Holtz) Accessories & Tools: Gold Inka Gold (Viva Decor), Little Leaves Die, Stitched Tag die (??), clear embossing powder, heat tool, water mister, silver edged early espresso ribbon (SU!)
Hi everyone. A while ago I had a day where I tried out the Floating Alcohol Inks technique. I made lots of different combinations of colours, using leftover pieces of glossy card stock. Click HERE to see a card I posted earlier using one of those backgrounds. This technique produces a marbled look --- very cool!
Fast forward 9 months later ... I still have a big stash of these backgrounds. Just so happens that my good friend, Karen is running a challenge on Splitcoaststampers using this fun technique. Here's a link to Karen's Floating Alcohol Ink card.
So I pulled out a FAI background from my stash, placed the clock stencil from Tim Holtz over top and sponged some vintage photo distress ink. Mounted my piece onto foam and popped it up on my card front with a simple stamped sentiment. Easy, peasy ... and another CAS mixed media card is done. :)
I need to delve into that stash more often. :)
Since I used a snippet of glossy to make my background, I'm heading over to Snippets Playground for some fun!
I had a difficult time photographing this card. It looks blurry, and the inka gold shimmer does not show one bit. In real life the blue, platinum (pearl) and gold inka smooshed in the background are shimmery and look like marble. The die-cut gold snowflake is recessed behind the popped up card front with the snowflake aperture. The sentiment is heat embossing in gold to match.
Easy card to make as I already that the inka gold background in my stash, ready to be made into a card. Why don't you come and play along??!! The challenge is open until noon (PDT) on Sunday, so there's still lots of time to join in the fun!
Stamps: Mixed Christmas Sentiments (Happy Little Stampers) Paper: White card base (Neenah 110 lb. card stock); Mixed Media (Strathmore 140 lb.); gold foil (SU!) Ink: Inka gold in Steel blue, Platinum and Gold; Gold Delicata Accessories & Tools: water mister, stitched snowflake die (lil' inkers), gold embossing powder, heat tool
Hi everyone. Today I'm sharing a stenciled card that I made for a friend's birthday a while ago.
I started with a lightly smooshed background of Inka Gold (turquoise and green). Then embossing paste was added partially over a mesh stencil.
Turquoise Inka Gold was sponged onto a piece of white card stock. When dry, it was buffed to a beautiful shine and then die-cut into a leaf sprig. The second leaf sprig is cut from vellum and is tucked behind the turquoise leaves, just to add a little bit of a shadow. A simple birthday sentiment was stamped in Delicata Silver ink onto a banner. Delicata inks are beautiful and metallic without having to heat emboss.
I do love to play with stencils! And this was a lot of fun to make.
Hi everyone. Today I'm playing along with the Merry Monday challenge #203 - Ombre & glitter. Such a fun challenge from Kristie! Check out the DT cards at Merry Monday --- amazing inspiration!
I started by sponging four shades of blue distress ink onto my small font panel, starting at the bottom with my lightest shade and progressing to dark blue at the top. I then sprayed the panel with a bit of water, let it sit for a few seconds and then dabbed with a paper towel. This added lots of visual texture to my panel.
I inked the two trees with versamark, stamped and then heat embossed in white. I ripped a piece of white card stock for my snow hill, coating the edge with a new-to-me product called Snow Writer. This has been around a long time, but it's the first time I've used it. :) I sprinkled dazzling diamonds glitter over top ... love the sparkle. Once dry, I splattered with diluted white acrylic paint and stamped the sentiment in Delicata Silver ink. I also added little dots of dazzing detail glitter glue on the trees, but it's impossible to capture the glittery look with a camera.
Here's a close-up ...
My CAS Mix Up card has stamping, heat embossing, sponging, snow paint with glitter, and splattering. :) I'm heading over to join in the gallery at CAS Mix Up! Come join us!!
Hi everyone. Today I'm sharing the card I made for my DIL's birthday. I played with a new-to-me stencil from STAMPlorations. Love these butterflies --- they are so pretty! I'm heading over to STAMPlorations Anything Goes to join in the fun.
I started with a watercolour sprayed background from my stash. The stencil was taped over the card and versamark was press on top, and then heat embossed in white. I sponged more picked raspberry to deepen the colours of the background, then sprayed with a shimmer mist on top. This is very sparkly in real life, but hard to capture in a photo. A white embossed sentiment on black finishes the card.
We are away on vacation this week on beautiful Galiano Island. The weather was sunny and warm at the beginning of the week, but cool these last few days with rain on and off. Jer and Alex came over to spend the weekend with us. It's been lots of fun.
Included below is a picture of the four of us out on the deck at our rental house. We are on a highbank, looking at the Active Pass. Don't we look happy??!! :)
I'll also include a picture of the delicious breakfast (Chilaquiles) that Alex made for us this morning. It has a broth (tomato, onion, garlic and cilantro) poured over tortilla chips, with chorizo sausage, feta cheese, avocado ... with a poached egg on top. Yummy!! :)
Thanks for dropping by for a visit!
Stamps: Fun Birthday Sentiments (Happy Little Stampers) Paper: White card base (Neenah); Mixed Media paper (Strathmore 400 series); Black card stock (SU!) Ink: Versamark Accessories & Tools: Watercolour sprays made from concentrate (yellow, orange, magenta) - Dick Blick; ARTplorations Flutterby Stencil (STAMPlorations), white embossing powder (Stampendous), heat tool, Shimmer spray
Hi everyone. More fun with gilding flakes. I hope you're not getting sick of my gilding flake cards. :)
Another reminder that there's only a few days left before the CAS Mix Up April Challenge - Stenciling closes on April 24th at midnight (PDST). Come join us!
I posted a card a few days ago that has a little bit of stenciling with gilding flakes. I wasn't sure if it would work, so just did a little. The card above uses the same stencil, but with lots more stenciling. LOVE how it turned out. The flakes I used are called Verdigis and it is mostly gold, with a little bit of green, turquoise and copper. I wanted to pick up on the turquoise on my stenciled background, so die-cut a leaf sprig out of turquoise foil. This is my favourite leaf die ... I'm sure you've noticed that I use this ALL the time! :) I then heat embossed a sentiment banner in gold on gray (love how these colours work together, popped it up and tucked the leaf in behind. :)
Edited to add: Linda asked me how I added the glue over my stencil. I use a sponge. I squirt lots of glue out onto a piece of wax paper, and then pick it up with a sponged and dab over the stencil. Don't add too thick a coat of glue. If the glue is thick, you need to wait for it to dry until it is just tacky, not wet. Then add the gilding flakes. Make sure to wash the stencil right away after removing it from your card stock. And any excess glue you didn't use can be added back to the bottle. :) Hope that helps.
My CAS Mix Up card has stamping, stenciling with gilding flakes, die-cut, and heat embossing.
Since I used a snippet for both my turquoise leaf sprig and for my gray sentiment banner, I'm heading over to the Snippets Playground for some fun. :)
Thanks for coming by for a visit!
Stamps: Fun Birthday Sentiments (Happy Little Stampers) Paper: White (Neenah 110 lb. card stock); Basic Gray (SU!) Ink: Versamark Accessories & Tools: Textured Mesh stencil (Memory Box), gilding flake glue, sponge, Verdigris Gilding Flakes (Cosmic Shimmer), Rub-it Scrub-it Pad (Inkssentials), Gold embossing powder, heat tool, Little Leaves die (Sizzix), turquoise metal sheet
Hi everyone. I struggle making one layer cards, but had a LOT of fun making this one ... and it even has a couple of mixed media techniques and products. :)
I started with a very fun and loose background using Brushos (dark brown, turquoise) sprinkled onto a brick embossing folder. I sprayed with water and then pressed my card stock over top. I love how the colours of Brushos flow. I used my heat tool to dry, and then sponged over top with the clock stencil from Tim Holtz using Vintage Photo ink. I stamped the sentiment in black so it would stand out over the dark brown stenciling.
This is a very easy card to make using just a few simple techniques. And it's a great card I can use for one of the men in my life (I have several!). :) Actually Jer saw this already and claimed it for himself. :)
Hi everyone. Yesterday my dear sweet blogging friend, Karen of Serendipity Dragonfly, passed away. We met about four years ago when we both joined the design team for the newly formed Addicted to CAS challenge. Even after Karen left the team a few years ago, we always stayed in touch.
Karen was a very generous, caring, loving individual who always had something positive to say. Even during her illness, her emails were always upbeat. The news of her passing was a shock to me.
I made this card to send to her family. Grief is such a personal experience and so I rarely post sympathy cards that I've made. But since I knew Karen through on-line card making and know that several of you are also feeling the loss, I thought I'd share my card.
My heart goes out to her husband and family, including her dear sister, Val. My deepest sympathy to all who knew and loved Karen.
You are in my thoughts, dear my friend. xx
Stamps: Full Bloom (Penny Black); Thinking of You (Happy Little Stampers) Paper: White card base (Neenah 110 lb. card stock); Mixed Media paper (Strathmore 400 series) Ink: Stampin'write markers: Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, Wisteria Wonder, Rich Razzleberry Accessories & Tools: water mister
I'm here with two cards I've made with the Splash Watercolour Background technique and a video tutorial on how I do this technique. :) This is a very easy and quick way to make watercoloured backgrounds. I love the randomness of this splattered look with lots of visual texture. Make sure to use watercolour paper for this technique.
After finishing the background, I die-cut the fern leaf, brushed on lots of water and then randomly dropped in different shades of green ink. Once the fern was dry, I diluted a small amount of gold acrylic paint with water and splattered over top.
This is also a reminder that we are half way through the month for the CAS Mix Up March Challenge - Watercolouring. There's still over a week left to play, the challenge closes on March 24th. Come join the fun! :)
The video on Splash Watercolour Backgrounds is below, or you can watch it on YouTube by clicking HERE. It's very short (2:25) and I show lots of examples of cards I made using this background technique.
I hope you'll take a few minutes to watch the video and I'd appreciate a "thumbs up" if you find it helpful. :) Thank you!
For my second card, I have used the same Splash Watercolour Background, this time using three colours of ink (Antique Linen / Brushed Corduroy / Peeled Paint). I stamped my image first in archival black ink (waterproof), then added the background layers. I blotted the blooms with paper towel after each layer of splashing so it was very light then I watercoloured over top with my pinks and yellows. To finish I added splatters on top with diluted ink and a large brush.
Fern Hello Stamps: Where the Heart is (Simon Says) Paper: White cardbase (Neenah); Watercolour Paper (Arches 140 lb. cold press) Ink: Distress Inks: Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint (Tim Holtz); Re-inkers: Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, Garden Green (SU!) Accessories & Tools: Pair of Ferns die (Cheery Lynn), water mister, waterbrush, gold paint (Lumiere)
Thinking of You Daisies Stamps: Daisy Thanks (Stampendous); Thinking of You (Happy Little Stampers) Paper: Watercolour Paper (Arches 140 lb. cold press) Ink: Black Archival (Ranger); Distress Inks: Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Worn Lipstick, Abandoned Coral, Picked Raspberry, Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed (Tim Holtz) Accessories & Tools: Water mister, waterbrush, Corner rounder (We R Memory Keepers)
Hi everyone. Sharing another card I made after my fun day of playing with some crafty friends a couple of days ago. Shirl brought some Aged Copper Frantage. So cool!! I sprinkled some over versamark stamped spots and heated. There's bits of green in the embossed background, but hard to see in the photo. Very subtle, but really beautiful. I didn't want to cover it up, so I added a small die-cut to one side and then a strip at the bottom, which has a copper embossed sentiment (plain copper embossing powder was used). Thanks so much for bringing this Shirl! xx
Another masculine card for my stash, although I have the feeling Jer might claim this for himself. :)
I used a couple of snippets (one for the leaf sprig, and another for the sentiment) of some lovely striped (subtle) black card stock I got from my friend Christine. I'm heading over for some fun at the Playground.
Stamps: Fun Birthday Sentiments (Happy Little Stampers); Gorgeous Grunge (SU!) Paper: White (Neenah); Black (gift from Christine) Ink: Versamark Accessories & Tools: Meadow Leaf die (Memory Box), Aged Copper Frantage (Stampendous), Copper embossing powder (unknown), heat tool
