New Zig Clear Color Real Brush Pens

Hi everyone.  Playing with my new Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pens that I got from hubby for my birthday. :)  They are so easy to use and blend beautifully.  And I love the brightness of the colours.

I stamped this image in waterproof black ink onto Mixed Media Paper and then watercoloured using three shades of blue and two shades of green.  I had this image done in about 15 minutes, which is really fast for me. :)  Love this new stamp set from Stampin' Up! ... and know I'll get a lot of use from the four stamps, especially this sentiment stamp.

Simple, one layer card, which is pretty rare for me. :)

This was inspired by the Happy Little Stampers Sketch challenge that went live just a week ago ...

Also entering this card into Virginia's View #16 - 100% Stamping (my second entry), ATS&M #151 - Anything Goes, and Paper Players #252 - The Great Outdoors ... haven't played along there for ages, so happy to be joining in this week!

Have not been feeling well for the past week, so doing a little colouring was very therapeutic and took my mind off things.  :)

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I don't know if this happens to you, but I have bought stamping supplies several times and when the order arrives, it turns out I already have it. :)  I'm getting so much (fun) STUFF that I'm having trouble keeping track. :)

I recently got an order from Joann's with two sets of two Penny Black Stamps.  I didn't order one, but two of both --- how the heck did that happen??!!  :)

I have decided to give them away to my loyal followers.  If you're interested, leave a message on this post saying which one you'd like (or both), and then I will do a random draw.  The draw will be one week from today.


Here are the stamp sets:

                   Nature's Gifts                                     Etched Branches

Thanks for taking the time to visit, and thanks to those that leave me comments ... most appreciated!

Stamps:  Best Thoughts (SU!)

Paper:  Mixed Media (Strathmore)
Ink:  Black Archival (Ranger); Zig Clear Color Brush Pens
Accessories & Tools:  white gel pen

Challenges:

HLS July Sketch
Virginia's View #16 - 100% Stamping
ATS&M #151 - Anything Goes
Paper Players #252 - The Great Outdoors

HLS July Christmas Challenge

Hi everyone.  Today is the start of our brand new Christmas Challenge at Happy Little Stampers.  Not only are we launching a new challenge, but we have a new design team to start things off.  Check out the challenge HERE to see the wonderful cards by the rest of the Design Team (Bozena, Carol D, Carol S, Gail, Ingrid, Kylie, LesLee, Mary, Susan).  And then come and join in the fun! :)

The rules are simple.  Make a Christmas card that uses the key word (this month is Tree) and upload to the challenge blog.  Any style of card is welcome!

I started with some die-cuts I had cut over a year ago when my friend Susan (Cardmaker's Garret) came for a crafty play day.  I love this set of tree dies that she has.  At that time I was on a kick to use up some of the many packages of Christmas papers that I had bought.  I cut the trees from the ugliest patterned paper you can imagine ... then they sat, and sat, and sat.  I decided I need to do something with them.  So I turned them over to the plain white backing, sprayed with two shades of green watercolour sprays, let them dry and then added some snow texture.  LOVE how they turned out.  And the ugly paper is on the backside. :)  No one will ever know. :)

I used Martha Stewart Sparkle Texture Effect for my snow.  I wanted to have a soft, dreamy looking snowy sky for the background, so I sponged two shades of distress ink (Tumbled Glass and Peacock Feathers) on to vellum, leaving a little white space at the bottom.  Then I splattered with diluted white acrylic paint.  I finished the card by adding a frame with the vellum taped to the inside, stamped a simple sentiment and attached the tree on top; and then popped everything up on my card base. Easy and so fun!! :)

I hope you'll come play along with our new challenge.  Never too early to start making Christmas cards. :)

Stamps:  Christmas Greetings (SU!)

Paper:  White (Neenah); Vellum (40 lb. Bazzill); Misc. patterned paper, Silver glimmer paper (SU!)
Ink:  Distress Inks:  Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  Spray mists (Lime Green, Green) made with liquid watercolour concentrate (Dick Blick), 5 part tree die (Elizabeth Craft Design dies), Large Holiday Shapes die - star (Simon Says), Sparkle Texture Effect (Martha Stewart), paint brush for splattering, white acrylic paint

Challenges:

HLS July Christmas Challenge

O Canada

Hi everyone.  Time for a new challenge at Addicted to CAS.  This challenge is being run by the very talented Jaydee (Stampin! with Jaydee).  And she chose this code word -

This challenge is sponsored by

We have recently celebrated Canada's 148th birthday (July 1) ... and the U.S. is celebrating it's birthday today (along with a few other countries).  No matter what time of year, it's always wonderful to show pride in your country.

I started by spraying red and brown watercolour sprays randomly on the background.  Once dry, I sponged randomly over top with some Fired Brick distress inks to add depth of colour.  Then I inked up a large maple leaf stamp with dark red (Aged Mahogany), spritzed with lots of water and stamped.  I did this twice to create a background.  I then inked up one of my new stamp purchase .. a maple leaf spray with more aged mahogany, spritzed with just a little water this time, and stamped. Using less water means the ink is more intense in colour.  I added a small sentiment banner at the bottom, stamped with the same colour of ink.

We are excited to welcome Kathy K (Purple Princess Diaries) as our guest designer for July.  Welcome Kathy!  Please click HERE to check out her patriotic card and the cards from the rest of the design team.  Speaking of that, we are excited to have several new designers joining ATCAS starting today. :)   Welcome to Anja, Bhavana, Ceal, Doni, Ksenija, Sarah G, and Sarah P!

As always, the challenge is open for two weeks so there's lots of time to play along.

I'm also adding this to the Happy Little Stampers July CAS Challenge - Stamping.  I used the watercolour spritz technique to stamp my images.

Stamps:  Lisa'a Painted Maple Leaf (Hero Arts); Nature's Gifts (Penny Black)

Paper:  White card base (Neenah); Watercolour (Arches 140 lb. cold press)

Ink:  Fired Brick and Aged Mahogany (Distress inks from Tim Holtz)

Accessories & Tools:  Watercolour sprays (red and brown) made with watercolour liquid concentrate (Dick Blick), water mister

Challenges:

ATCAS #67 - Patriotic

HLS July CAS Challenge - Stamping

HLS July CAS Challenge - Stamping

Hi everyone.  It's the start of the  July CAS Challenge at Happy Little Stampers, and it's the start of our new Design Team.  Yay!!  Kylie and I are thrilled to have eight talented designers joining us.  Welcome to Anita, Bonnie, Chrissie, Hazel, Linda, Sue, Toni and Valentyna. :)

Today is my friend, Dolly's (aka Darnell) birthday .  Hopefully she received this card in time and this is not the first time she's seeing it! :)

Happy Birthday Dolly!

This card is all about the wonderful technique of generation stamping (or second generation). Basically you stamp an image and then stamp again (and possibly again) without reinking your stamp.  Multi-generation stamping can create the illusion of depth or movement.

I inked my tree trunk and then used a paper towel to randomly removed some of the ink from the top branches, stamped off once onto scrap paper, and then stamped onto my card front.  This gave me a general outline for the tree without having dark branches that would show through the leaves.

Then I stamped the leaves three times before re-inking and stamping again.  It really creates the look of leaves in the background and foreground, giving the tree visual dimension.  So cool! :)

I hope you'll be inspired to join in our fun challenge.  It's open for the whole month of July, so there's lots of time to play along.  Simply make a CAS card that includes stamping and join the challenge.

This card actually works perfectly for the HLS July Sketch challenge that began two days ago, so I'm adding it over there as well.  Here's the sketch ...

And Virginia's View Challenge for July is 100% Stamping, so I'm linking up there.

Stamps:  Leafless Limbs (Stampscapes); Leaf sprig (Kittie Kits Outdoor Master from Rubbernecker), Be Happy Sentiments (Amy R)

Paper:  White (Neenah)
Ink:  Distress Inks:  Squeezed Lemonade, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Brushed Corduroy (Tim Holtz)
Accessories & Tools:  sponges

Challenges:

HLS July CAS Challenge - Stamping
HLS July Sketch Challenge
Virginia's View #16 - 100% Stamping