Studio Play Day

Hi everyone.  Last Sunday I had a play day with my two friends, Susan and Christine. We tried out lots of different techniques and products.  So much fun!!  And a bit messy too.  What could be better??!!

One of the products we were experimenting with was alcohol inks.  There's little else that matches the vibrancy and intensity of AI colours.  But they are messy and stain everything.  We wore gloves (a MUST), and used parchment paper under our project (and over top of our silicone mats ... AI's will even stain the mats).

The ornament above is cut from an acetate sheet (you could also use acetate packaging from your craft supplies).  Alcohol inks work great on acetate.

Even though the tip of the alcohol inks is really small, I found that it flowed too quickly and was always getting more than I needed.  So I started by adding just two drops of AIs.  Then to get some more colours, but with less ink, I squirted a few drops onto my parchment paper, and picked up the colour with my fingers (with gloves!), and tapped it onto my piece above.  The results were spectacular ... the ornament looks like a piece of marble. Too bad I didn't try this BEFORE the CAS Mix Up Marbling closed. :)

* * * * *

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has sent me messages of love and support over the past while.  I had several emails and cards after announcing I would be taking a medical break from my blog.  After sharing my story about breast cancer two weeks ago, I have had many more wonderful messages and cards sent to me.

It has been very uplifting receiving all these positive messages (emails and cards).  I appreciate every one of them.

I took a picture of my mantel with the cards.  Look at all the gorgeous designs ... hand made by very talented card makers.  Thank you so much!!

Stamps:  Sentiment - Season's Gifts (Penny Black)
Paper:  White card base (Neenah 110 lb. card stock)
Ink:  Alcohol Inks:  Mermaid, Ultra Marine, Silver (Ranger); Versamark
Accessories & Tools:  Acetate, Ornament Set 2 die (Elizabeth Craft Designs), Silver cording, Silver Embossing Powder (Ranger), heat tool

Exciting New Challenge

EXCITING NEWS!!

Bonnie and I are thrilled to announce a new card challenge --- CAS Watercolour Card Challenge.

We both love watercolouring on cards and we hope you do too! :)

We have been working on this for many months, and are excited to finally launch this new adventure.  We hope you'll play along.

The CAS Watercolour Card Challenge blog is up and running.  Come see what it's all about. :)

Our first challenge, along with Design Team Call goes live on Oct. 1st.  Don't miss it!

* * * * *

Simple card above.  Used a beautiful sunflower stencil gifted to me by my good friend Bonnie.  Sprinkled with Brushos, spritzed with water and quickly removed the stencil.  Let it dry.  Done! :)

Stamps:  Big, Bold, Happy (Winnie & Walter)
Paper:  Watercolour (Master's Touch --- gift from my friend Susan)
Ink:  Brushos:  Lemon, Orange, Dark Brown, Turquoise
Accessories & Tools:  Mini Joyful Sunflower (The Crafter's Workshop), water mister

Challenges:
CAS Watercolour Card Challenge Launch

Bamboo Rose

Hi everyone.  Today I'm sharing a card made with Altenew's Bamboo Rose stamp set.  LOVE this set! :)

I kept my card very CAS.  I started by adding some stamped splats for the background.  Used one stamp, changing the direction and stamping multiple times. The rose and leaves were stamped in Archival black ink onto mixed media paper.  I used distress inks to watercolour (abandoned coral, picked raspberry, festive berries for the rose; twisted citron, mowed lawn for the leaves).  I then fussy-cut and popped it up for added dimension. The sentiment is from the same stamp set.

Easy peasy and fun card to make.

I'm heading over to enter in the Altenew Ultimate Challenge Blog Hop.  Hope you've had a chance to check it out.  There are lots of different challenge blogs participating in the hop, including our CAS Mix UP! :)

Thanks for stopping by.

Stamps:  Bamboo Rose (Altenew); Paint Splats (Impression Obsession)
Paper:  White card base (Neenah 110 lb. card stock); Mixed Media (Strathmore 140 lb.)
Ink:  Archival Black (Ranger); Black (Memento); Distress Inks:  Abandoned Coral, Picked Raspberry, Festive Berries, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  paint brush

Challenges:
Altenew Ultimate Challenge Blog Hop

Lighter Marbling with Shaving Foam

Hi everyone.  Made another card from my last batch of marbling with shaving foam. I sure had fun with this technique. :)

CAS Mix Up's September challenge is Marbling, so why don't you give it a try.  Click HERE to see the challenge, which includes a few different marbling technique videos.

This marbled piece is from my stash when I added very little colour and lots of foam, so the colours are much lighter.

Click HERE to see a card I posted a few days ago with the same layout and die-cut,  but the marbled colours were much darker.  Interesting how different the two cards look. :)

To finish, I was inspired to try another new technique that I saw done by my good friend Susan (Cardmaker's Garret).  She die-cut acetate and then squirted drops of alcohol ink over it.  The colour is so translucent and pretty.  Click HERE to see Susan's card.   I did more of a "smoosh" with the inks and acetate, so there's variations depending on the look you want.  Super happy with this pretty fern leaf. Just popped up my marbled panel and added a very simple sentiment to finish the card.

Since a used a snippet of leftover marbling paper, and a snippet of acetate for my fern, I'm heading over to the Snippets Playground for a visit.  :)

Stamps:  Word Salad (Paper Smooches)
Paper:  White (Neenah 110 lb. card stock)
Ink:  Distress Inks:  Peacock Feathers, Peeled Paint (Tim Holtz); Alcohol inks:  Mermaid, Botanical (Ranger)
Accessories & Tools:  Acetate, Pair of Fern dies (Cheery Lynn), Shaving cream

Challenges:
CAS Mix Up September Challenge - Marbling
Snippets Playground - Week 247