Glittery Snow Scene

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!!

Stamps:  Snowdust (Penny Black); Mixed Christmas Sentiments (Happy Little Stampers)
Paper:  White (Neenah 110 lb. card stock)
Ink:  Distress inks:  Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean (Tim Holtz); Versamark; Silver (Delicata)
Accessories & Tools:  Sponges, water mister, white embossing powder, heat tool, Snow Writer (DecoArt), Dazzling Diamonds Glitter (SU!), Dazzing Details Glitter Glue (SU!)

Challenges:
Merry Monday #203 - Ombre & Glitter
CAS Mix Up May Challenge - Heat Embossing

CAS Mix Up May Challenge

Hi everyone.  It's the start of the CAS Mix Up May Challenge ... so exciting! :)

Bonnie and I were thrilled (AGAIN!) with the amount of creative and inspiring entries for CAS Mix Up's April Challenge - Stenciling.  :)  Thanks to everyone who shared their awesome cards with us!

Here's this month's challenge ...

There's lots of exciting news at CAS Mix Up, so I'll start with that first, and then share how I made my heat embossed card below that.

First, Bonnie and I are thrilled to welcome Nancy Littrell (scandinancy creates), and Susan Bridgman (CardmakersGarret) to the CAS Mix Up Design Team.  YAY!

Also, we have the amazing card artist, Karen (Snippets) as our Featured Designer for May.  Welcome Karen!

And ... we have Betty Keefe (created by bjk) joing us as our first Guest Designer. Betty was the winner of our CAS Mix Up challenge in March - Watercolouring with THIS AMAZING CARD.  Welcome Betty!

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On to my card ...

I white embossed a random bit of script for my background and then sponged over top with three colours of ink.  This technique is called Emboss Resist, where the embossing resists the inks.

I punched three small daisies, shaped them with my stylus and tweezers and then glued them together.  If you are interested in how I shape my daisy flowers, click HERE to see a written tutorial.

A small circle punch of yellow sponged card stock was glued to the center of the flower, and then coated with glossy accents.  Two small leaves where die-cut from green sponged card stock, and three tips of a die-cut sprig were added to enhance the daisy.  I added a little clear glitter glue to the rounded tips for a bit of sparkle. To finish, the sentiment was heat embossed in silver.

All in all it was an easy card to make.  My card has stamping, heat embossing and "my choice" is sponging and die-cuts with shaping. :)

Here's a close-up of the flower ...

I hope you'll come play along with our CAS Mix Up May Challenge - Heat Embossing.  See you in the gallery! :)

Stamps:  En Francais (SU!); Sentiment - Cosmos (Technique Tuesday)
Paper:  White (Neenah)
Ink:  Versamark; Distress Inks:  Squeezed Lemonade, Twisted Citron, Tumbled Glass (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  White embossing powder, Silver embossing powder, heat tool, sponges, Medium Daisy Punch (Punch Bunch); stylus, mat and tweezers for shaping, Tender Leaves die (Memory Box), Beach Sprig die (Memory Box), dazzling details, glossy accents

Challenges:
CAS Mix Up May Challenge - Heat Embossing

Color Bursts Part 2

Hi everyone.  Today's card is again from the crafty fun I had with some friends a few weeks ago.  This time the background is Color Bursts done with Stencil Monoprint technique.  I placed my butterfly stencil over a piece of watercolour paper, sprinkled the Color Bursts, spritzed with water and then removed the stencil (that print is still in my stash).  But instead of washing off the stencil which was still covered with bursts and water, I flipped it over and pressed it into a second piece of watercolour paper (stencil monoprint).  Love how the colours moved and flowed on the watercolour paper.

Wasn't sure what to do with the background, so decided to try out a new-to-me technique that I saw perfected by my friend Lee-Anne (Creatively LA).   I lined up my butterfly images with my stencil and then used a fine tip black marker to outline them.  This is totally different than my usual style, but I'm happy with how it turned out.  I definitely need some practice using the fine tip marker! :)

Lee-Anne used the same stencil - click HERE to see her card.  You'll notice that she did the positive stencil with the butterflies coloured ... for mine, the background is coloured and the butterflies are left plain. :)  Always learning from Lee-Anne.  She is a constant source of inspiration for me. Thanks Lee-Anne! :)

I needed something fairly dark for the sentiment to stand out, so again with the black banner. :)  It just works.  Everything else seemed to get lost.

Since I used STAMPlorations' stencil and stamp, I'm heading over to join the Never-Ending Anything Goes challenge.

Thanks for coming by for a visit! :)

Stamps:  Fond Expressions2 (STAMPlorations)
Paper:  Watercolour (Arches 140 lb. Hot Press)
Ink:  Color Bursts (yellow, orange, red); Versamark
Accessories & Tools:  Flutterby stencil (ARTplorations / STAMPlorations); water mister, fine point black marker, white embossing powder, heat tool

Challenges:
STAMPlorations - Never-ending Anything Goes Challenge

Fun with Color Bursts

Hi everyone.  Today I'm sharing another card from my get-together with my crafty friends a couple of weeks ago.

I've been away on vacation for a week, and I'm so happy to be back playing in my studio. :)  I missed it!  Today I made a card using a stencil and Color Bursts that Shirl brought for us to play with.  They are really beautiful and very similar to Brushos.  I did find it easier to get the powders out of the containers with Color Bursts, but other than that, don't see a lot of difference.  I already have several colours of brushos, so for now I will stick with what I already have. :)

I placed my stencil over top of my watercolour paper, sprinkled wih Color Bursts, spritzed with water, then removed the stencil.  Love how the panel above turned out. When I removed the stencil, it had brushos and water on it, so I flipped it over to create a stencil monoprint on a second piece of watercolour paper.  Will make a card with that panel soon to share. :)

I sponged some Vintage Photo distress ink through a mesh stencil for the background, cut down my clock face monoprint to a small panel and stamped the sentiment in Vintage Photo ink as well.  Each layer is popped up on foam to add dimension to the card.

I'm heading over to enter at Addicted to Stamps & More #191 - Anything Goes.

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Also want to share how I store my brushos.  I followed the video instructions from Sandy Allnock for organizing my pots of colour --- definitely worth watching.

Here's a picture of some of my pots of brushos ...

Thanks for stopping by for a visit! :)

Edited to Add:  Just realized that this will fit the Time Out Challenge #55 - Celebrations.  I didn't use the optional twist. :)

Stamps:  Heartfelt (Penny Black)
Paper:  Soft Suede (SU!); Watercolour paper from Shirl (Strathmore)
Ink:  Color Bursts
Accessories & Tools:  Clockwork stencil (Tim Holtz), Textured Mesh stencil (Memory Box), sponges, water mister

Challenges:
ATS&M #191 - Anything Goes
Time Out #55 - Celebrations