Patriotic Owl

Hello, and welcome.

Don't know about you, but when my Wink of Stella pens go dry, I had tried once to add a couple drops of water to extend the life. (Jennifer McGuire tip). Saw this Youtube video by France Martin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XfO_BO6EVI) about adding some reinker, 70% alcohol to the barrel, and you can use the dried up WoS as an alcohol marker that has a bit of shimmer in it. So if you have time, check out the link to the video. I sure won't be tossing my WoS pens again.

Another 4th of July card, using a Whipper Snapper Image.. Pretty easy to color.

- Patriotic Owl  (the photo doesn't look great, but this colored up very nicely). Eyes have some SU Crystal Effects, WoS on the stars.

- Stitched Square die; edges sponged with DI Antique Linen and Tumbled Glass. Popped up on fun foam.

- red & blue snippets left from this card.

- dimensional sticker stars (VOS)

- ODBD sentiment (did not use the misti and SHOULD have, as this didn't stamp as dark as should have done).


Tha'ss it for me. Still a bit under the weather. Just finishing up some UFO's. Ya'll enjoy the afternoon, and thanks for popping in for a visit. Hugs

Rudolph Day - June 2016

Good Morning. Two things before I start this Rudy Day post.  Wishes going out for a Big Happy Birthday to a sweet friend so many of us know (and if you don't, you _should_!) It's Loll of Stamping with Loll. If you have time, stop by and help Loll celebrate...and in the process, if you scroll through her blog, you will get scads of inspiration & technique ideas.

Next: a warm welcome to Belinda of Inkabelle, who became my newest follower. Thanks for joining in here, and I hope my friends can pop over to visit, and perhaps all of us gain a new friend and even more inspiration.

Now for the June Rudolph Day card over at Scraps of Life. Rudolph Day is hosted by Maureen each month, is open from the 25th of each month to the end of the month. It's a good way to add to your Christmas stash, meet some lovely people and perhaps win a nifty prize. So do check out Rudolph Day, join in if you can.

 

 

Cutest Deer by Artful - colored with copics. Hand trimmed the top of the image piece by placing an oval die, and shaping it. Sides cut with a trimmer. Snow drift: Torn scraps of white paper covered with SnS Brushable Glue and then spread SnS Twinkling Clouds over this, let dry. Added some Stickles Star Dust over the 'snow' edges after the card was assembled. Ornaments on the tree were colored with Slicci Pentel pens.

 

- My Minds Eye 6x6 pack for the background dp. S/B Fleur de Lis die to cut the side border from the reverse side of the reindeer paper, and a snippet from that cutting  was just big enough to die cut the sentiment.

 

That's it for me today. Off to link up with June 2016 Rudy Day and hope to see you there too. Thanks for visiting today. Big Cyber Hugs.

 

 



Water color and Spotlight Technique

Hi again, and hope Monday** has started your week off in a happy way. I'm still dabbling with the Spotlight Technique, trying to achieve a look that makes me feel I've got it right. This one used Zig watercolor brushes, and I'm still trying to find a flower that everyone else is not showcasing! I've come to the conclusion that the image used certainly makes the difference (at least in _my_ hands!). \
Used Strathmore 140# Cold Press w/color paper.

**Oops...got the scheduled date wrong on this one! Sorry. Hope you enjoyed it anyway. Hope to get my Rudy Day entry posted tomorrow since this one showed up this afternoon.  And thanks to the replies about if you like the product links.

- Winnie & Walter In Bloom - Addie's Garden. Used Mini Misti to stamp in Tuxedo Black, heat embossed with clear EP (helps to avoid line bleeding).

- HLS Bold Birthday Sentiments

- Stitched Rectangle Dies (don't remember which company)

- WOW Gold Pearl EP (love these pearl powders)

- Zig water color brushes, blues, with a light violet for shading, bright yellow for the centers.

- navy mat, rubbed over the edges with Nuvo Indian Gold Mousse

You'll be seeing more of this technique. I'm determined to master it!!!

Ya'll enjoy the day. I'll try to catch up on visiting...having one of my respiratory bouts just at the moment, so a bit slow. Big Cyber Hugs..and thanks for your visit!

Christmas Card Club - Cute

Hello and welcome. Today's post is for our lovely Christmas Card Club ladies. We make & share Christmas cards all year long, posting for each challenge every 2 weeks (or as my Brit friends would say 'fortnight'.). Each member gets to choose a theme, and we try to make cards around that idea, and it certainly helps to have a nice stash come December. This time our sweet Sylvie of Gibmiss wanted to see Cute. So I hope this card will be deemed 'Cute'--- I thought the image was cute when we found it in a sale bin at a stamp show.

- Impression Obsession (designed by Hannah Davies) cling rubber, inked in Tuxedo Black, colored with bright colors of copics. Added some lines in the birds' wings with a turquoise pentel pen, also used some fine line Staedtler Fine Liner pens (found mine at Target...but Amazon has these). Covered over some of the colored areas with WoStella, which managed to smear the turquoise, but still looks ok! Added SU Crystal Effects, which shines nicely IRL.

- Nuvo Crystal Drops (bright gold)

- Gina Marie Scalloped Square Frame die - this creates inner portion and a frame. Colored frame with copics, added some Crystal effects. After drying, placed the birds back in the frame. Matted with black, card base covered with a 6x6 pack of DP, that was on sale. (very thin DP - but some pretty patterns. Chose this chevron because it had the tropical colors of these goofy birds in the pattern)

- EK Success Tree punch - 2 layers. One from a snippet of green dots. Stamped an HLS Mixed Christmas Sentiment embossed with Ranger Liquid Platinum (close up below). Then stamped another tree from clear package plastic snippet, tied some silver twine through the star that was punched with a small handpunch (you know, the kind we used to make holes with in school, but this one has a tiny star! It didn't like the plastic either!!!).

This closeup shows the sentiment better.

I'd be interested in hearing from you, if my links to products used, is at all helpful..OR if it may be distracting as you're reading. I don't know how to add all the product pics the way I've seen it done on other blogs. If it's more distracting than helpful, then I'll stop doing it!!! Sometimes I can't always find a good link. If a product is used that you want more details than I provide, do please contact me and I'll try to help if I can.

I hope you'll check out the Christmas Club member links as shown in the right sidebar. It's always such fun to see how each interprets the challenge theme.

Have a wonderful day, and God Bless. Big hugs too!

Uncle Sam

Good afternoon, Shure Happy It's Friday! Welcome. 

First please help me welcome a new follower whom I expect is known to quite a few of you already.
Vicki of Stamp Smiles... I had been seeing Vicki around in Blogland at places I'd visit, but we didn't connect with each other. I'm happy to say, now we have!!! For those of you who don't already know Vicki's wonderful work, do yourself a favor, and hop on over right now. You're in for a big treat. Thanks for joining as a follower here, Vicki.

OK...the USA's next holiday will be our 4th of July so have just now started on trying to have a couple cards done. I love Whipper Snapper images...this one was fun & easy to color.

- Whipper Snapper CY813 - Uncle Sam ...colored with copics. Die cut with S/B circle, then mat with a S/B pinking circle.

- PTI Sentimental Splits die to cut red and blue; the red was popped up on pieces of fun foam. The blue frame has dimensional foam that I found in a $1 Store, and is long skinny strips.

- SU Sizziz stars EF on the red swirl, also on the white card base.

- Gina Marie All Seasons set for the sentiment. Versamark and Wow Red Glitz EP heat embossing.
- scattered some blue & silver sequins around. (Gina Marie is a new company to me, that I tried out after a recommendation from KT Fit Kitty. I'm pleased to say the shipping was timely, and there was even an extra little gift tucked in the package. This could have been due to a cardinal EF that I'd ordered, and it was out of stock...or it could just have been a thank you for the order. Either case, I was pleased with the customer service!!! The sentiment stamp set has lots of holiday sentiments for which I search. KT recommended the shop for reasonable die prices so I checked it out. Got some dies and this stamp set. So far, have been pleased with the dies used (in a project that will be posted tomorrow evening). Extremely pleased with the cost of the products and the time to ship. Just sayin'.

The good thing about this card, is that since both red & blue papers were die cut, there's snippets to create another card (if I get It in Gear to do so!).

Ya'll enjoy the afternoon. Happy weekend too, and Big Hugs.

Stamping Up Cut Out Technique

Hi Ya! Trying to get a few posts scheduled ahead, and finishing up some birthday cards. I've been trying to do the Cut Out technique shown in Brenda's tutorial . I've seen some wonderful cards done based on Brenda's instructions, and have looked through my stamps, trying to not use the same floral images as I'm seeing others use. So far, the stamps I've selected have not really 'floated my boat' to make me feel like I've done a good look. Remembered that I had the SU Kindness set, and decided to try that. Today's card is a result:

Stamped this in a coral pink ink (think it was a Colorbox Fluid Chalk ink)  and colored parts of the flower with copics. (Hard to tell in the photo, but the colored petals are in the inner die). The outer corners are just the stamping color. I'll be sharing another look that I first stamped in Black, intending to color the inner corners. That hasn't turned out well at all, but I'll finish it, and show you later. This SU flower is probably not best suited to this particular technique, but hey, I hadda try it. The stitched rectangle is an MFT die that shows stitching on both sides of the cut. Nice die too.

- have unmounted this old red rubber sentiment stamp. It looks like it's placed perfectly straight, but then it looks crooked when it stamps. We'll just call this wonky look a 'design decision'! My family has a LOTTA birthdays during the coming weeks...and hopefully the recipient will love me enough to politely not notice the stamp is crooked!!! (None of them stamp or do crafts!)

- Darice flower embossing on some dark rich red, rather a metallic sheen, paper. Added some gold wax gilding over the embossed flowers. Can't see too much of it at the edges...

Hugs and Blessings. Stay cool if you're in an area where it's so hot. Our humidity has been a bit low, so that helps it not feel so muggy outside even though the temp is hot. Come again when you can set a spell, and we'll have some ice tea!

Bold Blossoms with Brushos

Hello & thanks for coming by to visit. Today's card has this wonderful Julie Ebersole Bold Blossoms die made with a brusho created background. This came from the snippets box (where I toss backgrounds that I'm not ready to use just at the moment, and I have no clue as to what products/colors were used. Definitely some brusho crystals, but could have had some sprays mixed into the mix. I had thought to use the piece for a July 4th something or other, but the die was on the desk, the background in my hand, and so......)

- leaves from the set were cut from a previously created background using BoBunny Glitter paste and a stencil over a sprayed background, (not sure I quite like this color with the flowers, but it was glued down!). I like the shapes in this die set.

- Poppy happy sash die - 2 layers from some package chipboard. Top layer cut from the same brusho background as the flowers. This die did not cut well on the edges of the h and y, so had to snip with the scissors. Checked the die edges, and perhaps this die is not meant to cut at those areas, but it cut very nicely elsewhere. Easy to do a snip-snip. After it was glued down, added a layer of SU Crystal Effects (works like Glossy Accents). Lots of dimension. Added some of this stuff to the bottom blue flower, the leaves too.

- Darice flower EF on some red cardstock that has a pretty sheen to it. It's not shiny, but looks rather metallic.(from a 12x12 old pack). Debated on adding some gold gilding to some of the embossed flowers, but decided to leave well enough alone! That's hard to know when to stop!!!

This will be another birthday card...Hope you like it!

Have a great afternoon. Hope your Monday started the week out well for  you. Blessings & Hugs.

Pearly Flowers CAS Mixup Challenge

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

 

Welcome on a lovely sunny Sunday afternoon. It's rather warm here, but low humidity, so it's pleasant outside. It's been quiet here at our house, as Father has done what he pleased (which is napping - with no interruption from annoying phone calls).

 

Here's a card, which I hope will work for the June CAS Mix Up Challenge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This card also has snippets - 2 efforts...tried sprinkling water droplets on the first one, and it looked terrible! So repeated the efforts, left off the water sprinkles.

 

- PB Efflorescence flowers stamped with WOW embossing ink, heat embossed Stampendous Pearl white. (I'm finding this WOW embosser is giving me better results than the Versamark pads. Not sure if perhaps the Versamark pads need a good reinking).

 

- Sponged the piece with DI Iced Lemonade, Twisted Citron and Victorian Rose; the V. Rose was not dark enough, so came back over that with Picked Raspberry, liked that better.  Some **Nuvo Mother of Pearl Mousse** was rubbed very lightly over this and added some lovely glimmer.

 

- fussy cut flowers from the water spattered piece, and popped this atop the flowers in this piece (a snippet from the inside of the die cut Pretty Pink Posh Scallop Frames - the smaller die. Hope this will work as the CAS Mix Up Die Cut requirement!)

 

- Coutour Creations Marriot Collection Only One EF (used the debossed side, accidently, but like it). I wanted something very simple so as to keep focus on the sponging.

 

- Wood stamp from 2010 Rubber Soul for the sentiment...stamped in Wow embossing powder on a black snippet, heat embossed with SnS White Detail EP.  Stamped this sentiment 3 times thinking I'd gotten it crooked, until I looked at the red rubber...and realized - it's made this way! It's showing 'straight' on the wooden block.  Hand trimmed the banner.

 

Now off to link at June CAS Mix Up, the Snippets Playground (week 234) and Sparkle n Sprinkle's June Anything Goes challenge (but you must use loose glitter, embossing powder, and/or flocking).

 

**The Nuvo Mousse I have was ordered from SnS, but I didn't find it stocked when I checked the Nuvo supplies at SnS, so I've linked to Oozak, which shows the product.

 

Thanks for joining me this afternoon, and hope your day has been relaxing and pleasant. Also hope you'll check out some of these challenges, and perhaps join in yourself. Many thanks for the wonderful response to the Summer Blog Dress. 

 

Now I have some lovely visits from sweet commenters that I need to get started, so BIG HUGS!

 

 







Cutout Technique with Penny Black Flower

Happy Saturday!!! Thanks for coming to visit..and let's start with a warm welcome to some new followers (one I missed at the time, and then noticed a new face in the line-up, so apologies for that oversight)!

Caz of Bunnys Bits n Bobs

 

Sandma of Sandma's Handmade Cards

 

Cheryl of Cheryls Creative Space

Some of these bloggers are new to Blogland - so I hope you'll have a few minutes to pop over and say Hello, and enjoy some fab inspirations. Some have been blogging for a while, but again, some good inspiration to scroll through the posts. Speaking for myself, I always am inspired by seeing what another card maker has created..(sometimes intimidated too! but in a good way :-}  ). Thanks for joining as followers here, and I hope you'll be able to visit when you have time. It's exciting to see new faces in the followers list. When you're a new blogger, it's thrilling when that spot starts to populate. Then when you do have some followers, and no new followers join for a while, it's another big high to see new friends come to visit. I guess all of us feel that way, regardless of how many followers are in that list! It's the best part of blogging, I think, to meet new friends, get to know who they are, what their lives are like, and hear their stories. Anyway, thanks to all of you who come here from time to time.

OK...recently Brenda of Friends Crafting with Friends shared a beautiful card that I just loved, and she explained to me the technique. Well, I'm kinda thick-headed sometimes, so bless her sweet heart, she did a tutorial that shows in pictures, exactly what she'd explained to me. (Hope you'll check out the link, if you didn't already see Brenda's post). I've seen other bloggers making use of Brenda's tutorial.  I've been trying to do one, but not use the same flowers I've seen other people using. Well, today's card is part of that effort:

- Still haven't quite got the look I'm going for yet, but this one is going in the mail today, as a family birthday card.  I've done a few others, still not quite right to show off this technique, but hey, I'll get there eventually! I think the problem my eye sees with this card, is that there is not enough of the flower colored..due to using the center oval die.

Hope your day is going well. Mr. is off with a neighbor guy, and I only have one thing on my house chore list for today. So I may go downstairs when I finish this post, and do some stamp cleaning & supply put-away. It's a bit cooler so far this morning, from the mid-to-high 90F's we've had this week. We're getting July weather here in June, so July might be brutal in our area.

Thanks for coming by, and have a wonderful day. Also Happy Father's Day to any fathers who might visit here. Big Hugs.

And how do you like the Summer Blog Look? (thanks to the generosity of the sweet lady who helped me with this!!! ♥)

- Penny Black clear Efforescence - stamped with Tuxedo Black, colored with copics in Y and YR shades.

- Just Right Graceful Sentiments - Rich Cocoa

- Lil Inker Stitched Oval die

- Flower petals from stash, come colored with copics.

Father's Day - Vroom!

Good afternoon, welcome. Firstly, prayers go out to those poor Orlando families who suffered such a tragic loss. It's just sickening that things of this hateful nature happens - anywhere, to ANYbody! I don't understand this kind of evil..and I don't know what else you can call it. I'm sure we all feel the same about this kind of thing. Whether one is religious or not, it's cruel evilness and no other word to call it. Enough.

Onward to happier things: Please  help me give a warm welcome to new follower, Pam of Scrap-n-Sew Granny. Thanks for joining here Pam, it's lovely to see a new friend in the lineup. I hope my friends might become your friends as well. It was fun to see that Pam comes from Florida and migrated to the Carolinas, just as we did. Different parts of each state, but still, small world.

Since Father's Day is drawing near, and since I came across an old Kanban page of popout images, today's card evolved. My DH loves old cars. After this one was together, DUH, I realized, this is a European car, while he's into old hotrods and old USA cars. Well, it's still a car, so I hope he'll like it!

- Kanban Life's Journey Paper Craft Toppers (no telling how old this is!). Main image popped out from the sheet, used the shape to trace a faux mat of SU Marina Mist. 

- Gold Shimmerz Sheet embossed with an old C/Bug e/f that has always reminded me of the design on the toolboxes I see on pickup trucks (no we don't have a toolbox on our truck! It has a solid surface cover over the whole bed).

- Lil Inkers Die sentiment - 1 white snippet layer, 2 layers cut from the inside of the faux mat piece. Applied Glossy Accents after this was glued in place. This is a fairly largish die for a  sentiment, and I had to sort of cover up the one driver's head to get it placed where I wanted. As it dried, noticed the glossy was very crackled, so dunno what caused that. Decided it might take to some gold gilding paste, so rubbed a bit of that around. Managed to get some on the charcoal card base, so just rubbed it other places too, and along the blue mat. Pretty easy card - just need to finish the inside.

Ya'll have a wonderful afternoon, and thanks for coming over...always love to have visitors. If you leave a comment, I'll do my best to pay a return visit. Sometimes I'm not always sure that Blogger publishes my comment, as I don't see the confirmation or that comment moderation is on. If for some reason I don't visit you, please call that to my attention. Big hugs.

Christmas Card Club - Star of Wonder

Good Morning, and it's time again for our bi-weekly Christmas Club to share some cards. This week, Zoe of Stamping Scene selected our theme as Star of Wonder.

It's been a while since I had a little brusho & spray session, so that was my first effort on getting a card ready for this challenge. Used Strathmore 140# water color cardstock, Brusho-s in Cobalt and Ultra Marine Blue. Then added some pearlized spray. Puddled all that around...drizzled some Color Burst Metallic Sky Blue & Amethyst, and finally after playing with all this, spritzed on some Lindy's Starburst Spray - in a dark blue. Sorry, don't remember the name. It was good to play.

Used these backgrounds on both the cards shared today.

 - Sue Wilson Wisemen Striplet die cut from one of the brusho backgrounds. Some silvery American Crafts glitter paper backs this. Debated whether to add a little touch of silvery wax paste over the blue, decided I best leave it alone as is.

- Another Sue Wilson border die cut twice from another American Crafts glitter pack, slightly different shade of silver than the one backing the striplet die cut. Think this border is from the SW French Collection.

Didn't have a good space for a sentiment, so used a small silver sticker at the bottom of the die cut.

- Used the darker of the brusho backgrounds to stamp a Hero Arts nativity stamp over the background, heat embossed with Ranger's Queen's Gold.

- Pretty Pink Posh Scalloped Rectangle Frame cut from white c/s, heat embossed 2 coats of the Queen's Gold. Placed the frame over this background, and once it was adhered, decided to leave some of the blue showing outside the frame. This is mounted on white craft fun foam.

- Sue Wilson flourish  (it's part of one of the border sets, with 3 parts to this die - and I didn't use the cutting edge - so had to hand trim parts of this). Used a white snippet, then heat embossed with 2 coats of Queen's Gold.
- the card front is embossed with a C/B geometric EF, that was used as a cushion when embossing some design paper recently. Having an extra layer of card stock under the dp, keeps the folder from 'tearing' the paper.

Again, not much space for a sentiment, so used a silver sticker, which was colored with gold pens, with a top coat of Wink of Luna Gold.

I do hope you'll check the sidebar for the links to my fellow club members, as I'm sure each will have some awesome cards to share for this challenge. Hope my Star of Wonder is what Zoe had in mind!

Thanks for popping in. Have a wonderful day. Blessings & Hugs.

Hydrangea Watercoloring

Hi & welcome. Recently did this card with Distress Inks and water lifting the color. In the process of doing the card, used the old wooden Rubber Stampede Hydrangea stamp a few different ways. Today's card image was just heat embossed and watercolored with Zig Markers.

- heat embossed with Ranger's Liquid Platinum (my current fav EP color). Used blue & lilac Zig brush markers to color the petals, with an aqua pen. Actually IRL it doesn't look this washed out.
Of course the leaves were done with shades of the green brush pens. The platinum outline looks pretty, as it's a warmish shade - not quite silver.

- die cut with a Sizzix rectangle, made a faux mat with the same die.

- white background stamped with just the blossom portion of the stamp image and DI Evergreen Bough (2nd generation stamping). Then did same with the leaf portion, but that's covered up.

- Mama Elephant Basic Borders inked with Versamark, heat embossed with Ranger Liquid Platinum, added as a border strip. Covered the join with a dark gray snippet.  

- Black snippet sentiment stamped with SnS Detail White, trimmed by hand, and it's done! The photo looks way too pale, and while IRL it's not bold coloring, it looks much better than the photograph!

Happy Saturday, and wishes that your weekend will be just as you want it to be. Hugs.

Hello Roses

Good Afternoon & SHIF - (Shure Happy Its Friday! LOL) Hope your day has been fine so far. Ours started with a trip to the dentist for Mr. (our dentist is closed on Friday - early weekend). Thought he got something between his gum and a crown last night while eating. With his history of developing infections/abscesses plus a weekend looming, Miz Good Thinking Person said "call their emergency number, and at least somebody will schedule you early Monday". ) For once, he listened to my good advice & he was met at the office this morning; a piece of the crown had broken off & was the irritant between the tooth & gum. The bit was removed. Recommendation is to leave things alone, unless it starts to bother him. So at least we're thankful it got looked at quickly before it became a real emergency problem.

OK...on to the card:

- Bed of Roses overlay die using a previously made background. Had tried white embossing a flourish image over some patterned red card stock. Didn't work for the intended project, but think it worked interestingly as an overlay. Added a few pearls in the center, and also trimmed down the die cut so that the sentiment would fit. (this die cut nicely using the super duper metal plate, but I did a couple of passes. No extra snipping or fussing required...very happy about that).

- yellow & white polka dot snippet embossed with a C/Bug Oriental weave EF. Looks nice as some subtle texture...perhaps if photo is enlarged, you can see the detail.

- Julie Ebersole Brushstroke Hello - 2 layers from white snippets; heat embossed with a NBUS SnS Harvest Nights EP.  This particular red EP is a good match with the red overlay. The Hello sentiment will allow the card to serve several occasions depending on the inside verse.

Since this card has some SnS Ep on it, think I'll link to the SnS Anything Goes June challenge.

Just added a pretty card to the Cards by Friends tab, so if you've time, check out the card.
 ****************************
Bathroom update: Shower glass folks here yesterday to measure, discuss plans. Their lead time is at least 3 1/2 weeks once they place the order with their glass manufacturer. So nothing going real fast around  here. {sigh}.

Thanks for popping in, and come again when you can. Thanks to all who joined in with the cards for Jerry. Your kindness is much appreciated. Big hugs.

CAS Mix Up - with DI Lifting Technique

Hello and Welcome! This afternoon's card has a technique done by Jennifer McGuire called Distress Ink Lifting. Finally had a chance to try this, and while my technique is not as polished as Jennifer's, I was pleased with the final result. There's a new CAS Mix Up Challenge for June, so I'm hoping this will work for that challenge.

Here goes:

- Inked an old wooden block hydrangea with versamark, heat embossed with Ranger Liquid Platinum on white cardstock. Direct to paper with DI Blueprint Sketch....lots of ink...many times going over the piece. When it would dry, it looked way too light to me, for any lifting to be apparent. Then used DI Wilted Violet a couple of times, still not dark enough, so back over with Seedless Preserves. This finally looked dark enough to try to lift some ink.

- aqua brush touched to petals, leaves, lifting, blotting, until some of the color was removed.

- Pretty Pink Posh Scallop Frames die cut the frame, which was embossed with the liquid platinum. This die was not long enough so extended the cut by moving the die before reaching the 'end' of it, reversing the die to get the length required, and finished the cut. Then embossed. Frame adhered over the inked cardstock.

- white card front EF is a Darice dots.  Tiny tag is an Mini Square Tags Die Set by Impression Obsession, stamped with Hero Arts Wet Cement using an old wooden block stamp that just fits the dies in this IO set.

- Pretty Pink Posh 4mm clear droplets added and called it finished. Hope you like this. I think I shall try this technique again, with some of the other DI darker colors. I really liked the liquid platinum embossing with the dark blue-purple.

Thanks for joining me this afternoon. Hope you'll join in at June's CAS Mix Up Challenge. Hugs

Hero Arts Velveteen Florals

Good afternoon...hope it's as pretty where you are this afternoon as 'tis here in Upstate SC. Back from running a few errands, having some lunch. Just got a call from some fella who's supposed to fix the bathroom floor...he's on his way. YAY!

Recently a blog buddy (Donna of Creative Smiles) had a post with a request for cheering cards for her BIL who is battling brain cancer. He's now under Hospice care, and it would be awfully wonderful for anyone who feels they could send a little cheer for Jerry & his family just now. If you'll check on Donna's Blog, there is a contact form. If you let Donna know that you're willing to send along a card, she'll provide you with the snail addy info. I know how generous bloggers are, so if you feel able to send an uplifting card, that would be so generous. Donna has the specifics of what should be on the card...so please read her post. I thank you. Donna thanks you too!

Here's one that we just put in the mail:

Some years ago, I had seen a card done with a "Velveteen technique"; did one myself, but didn't remember per'zackly how it was done. Sunday afternoon I spotted a link to the blogger** whom I remembered having done the card, then spent most of the afternoon browsing her posts to find it.

**EDIT: Went back and searched up the link- if you read the post, see her card, Sue (Sue's Inky Fingers) has a link to a video showing how to do this technique.

{Even if you don't try this technique, enjoy browsing Sue's Inky Fingers blog..some fab inspiration there.}

Basically what you do: stamp the first layer with a good quality coverage white ink & let it dry well (used Hero Arts Unicorn white). Then you stamp other colors over the top of this white layer, and although you can't really see the effect in the  photo, it's quite pretty (yes, it looks like velveteen!)

- Hero Arts Luscious Floral Background (cling) inked and stamped with Unicorn white. Allowed to dry well.

- unmarked wooden floral (probably $1 Michael's stamp) inked and stamped with HA Tidal Pool shadow ink.

- other flowers from clear floral sets inked with HArts shadow inks (this shadow ink gives a softer look without stamping off). Used HA ombre ink in blues to ink & stamp a butterfly from Wplus9 Flora & Fauna 1. Finished off with an HLS Butterfly Birthday sentiment stamped in HA Wet Cement. Did not trim the cardfront to add a border or anything else. I liked it just as it is.

On the inside, stamped the butterfly again on one side, with a simple verse on the opposite side. I hope Jerry will enjoy this.

Thanks so much for buzzing by for an afternoon visit. Big hugs.

Thinking of You - with Flowers

Good evening. Happy to report that DH is safely back in the house again, after a nice time away. Said it was very productive, with lots of projects started & finished, and some fun times going to big flea markets, estate sales, eating some yummy New England foods. Not great news to report on the bathroom project: what little that had been done, had to come out. (floor pan had been installed - then the greenboard drywall, and marble folks had shown up to replace the walls). I noticed something that I questioned. Contractor said "can work with this". Repeated what he said to the marble fellas who were to install the walls, and they started shaking their heads "No you can't do it that way". So after a conversation with all concerned parties...decision was made to remove what had been done, do the floor in that area first - so things will fit. Not happy at all, BUT glad that it was caught before walls had to be removed again..

DH asked me to do a card for a family bereavement for the folks in New England, so here's today's card.

 

 

- Hero Arts You're So Lovely clear stamp set - inked with HA ombre inks, and Memento inks. Stamped foliage using the Mini Misti. Flowers cut out, applied with dimensional tape. (didn't want to bother with masking, so that's why the flowers were just hand cut).

 

- upper corner was an old Stampscape branch inked with Memento greens.

 

- HLS Thinking of You stamped with Memento Northern Pine ink, using the Mini Misti 

 

- purchased card base stamped with IO Cover a Card Diagonal Lines, inked with Memento green.

 

Card is in the mail...pretty easy to stamp and assemble. I LIKE easy.

 

Thanks for joining me this afternoon. Hope your weekend has been great. Quiet around here, but nice to have things somewhat back to normal. Hugs & Blessings.

 

HLS Christmas Challenge - June - Twine

Welcome to the June HLS Christmas Challenge, and this month our challenge theme is:

Our Sponsor is Happy Little Stampers:

 

Recently had a play with a NBUS SU Woodland EF after being inspired by its use on many blogs and Pinterest. Used several different inks in the process, and it's amazing what different looks can be created. There's an earlier post, using a tan cardstock which turned out nicely, but here are 2 cards made for the HLS Christmas Twine challenge.

 

 

 

- SU Woodland Texture EF inked with Memento Sky Blue. Added some gray shading on the trees using a dauber. This was the 2nd effort, after inking the trees at first, then realizing it's the background that is meant to be inked. It looks good to me, done either way, just depends on the look you're going for.

 

- MBox birds cut from white snippet, then colored with copic reds, Black spica pen to create the birds' masks, with Orange Spica for the beaks.

 

- HLS Mixed Christmas Sentiments  stamped with Memento Love Bug red, heat embossed with Rangers Clear EP. Hand cut the fish tail tag. Added some bakers twine, red mat and called it done.

 

Actually this was the first effort at embossing the Woodland folder, and I inked up the trees using Hero Arts Unicorn Pigment ink instead of the background. The c/s is a mottled pale blue gray - very old stash. It's not showing well in the photo since there is less contrast because of the lighter c/s. IRL, this looks very much like heavy snow flurries among a grove of these trees. The cardinals stand out beautifully if they are about in such weather. Added some SnS Twinkling Clouds over all this, to create some dimensional & sparkling snow flakes, ---again, it's not showing well in the photo.

 

MBox birds die cut from a white snippet, colored with red copics, Black spica.

 

- HLS Mixed Christmas Sentiments stamped with Memento Nautical Blue ink, then heat embossed with a Silver Pearl EP, which created some shimmer over the ink. Punched with an EK Success punch, edged with the Nautical blue, then added clear rhinestones. 

 

- Recollections dark gray mat, over a SU Marina Mist mat, adhered to white card base. Blue Twine, and done!

 

 

 

- Green & yellow Brusho crystals sprinkled on dry w/c weight cardstock. Sprayed with Dylusions in green & yellow. Let the blooming and puddling take effect, used a Ranger Spritzer tool to move some of the puddles. Then dropped some Colorburst Gold Metallic (this is a liquid) in spots, dragged that around with a paintbrush. After drying, used a Jenny Bowlin leaf stencil and Gold BoBunny Glitter embossing paste to create some bling.  Let this dry overnight, then die cut with a S/B Astoria Die.

 

- JRL Design old wooden Feather Christmas tree image - colored with copics. Stamped the base of the tree on pattern paper that looks like burlap, and paper pieced that portion. Stars punched from glitter paper. Die cut with a S/B deckled rectangle, DI Antique linen to distress the edges, creating a white border. A matching size S/B long rectangle traced to create the faux mat from green snippet, inked edges with Memento Northern Pine to create a darker green for more contrast. .

 

Added some gold & natural bakers twine, used HLS Mixed Christmas Sentiments  heat embossed with Ranger Detail Gold - stamped over another background created using the 'mop up' from the brusho-o and Dylusions sprays. Edged with Northern Pine. Adhered to a purchased kraft card base. 

 

 

 

 

- MBox Trees Trio sponged with SU Suede, then smudged with Hero Arts Unicorn White (pigment ink). A 2nd layer of white was added behind the first layer, offset slightly. This was popped up with dimensional foam once the gold-natural twine was added.

 

- background created with SU Suede, Unicorn White, them embossed with a snowflake EF, which had been inked with the Unicorn white.

 

- Martha Stewart punched branches (from the snippets stash), Fiskars punch for the red bow, which started as a tiny white snippet.

 

- Paper Studio copper tape (found on 50% sale recently), then Wplus9 die sentiment from green paper snippet, colored with copics to darken the green. Backed with a white cardstock layer from a small snippet. This was one of the easiest cards I think I've done...and the idea came from a card I'd seen on Pinterest. 

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This will be my last post on the HLS Christmas Design Team for now. It was such a pleasure to be on the team, with lots of extremely talented crafters, and I'm grateful to Kylie for giving me this opportunity. Many thanks, Kylie. We have things going on just now at home and within the family, that necessitated my stepping away from this fun team. Pssst... you might want to check out the DT call that is open. While you're there, do please see what my fellow HLS Christmas team mates have shared to inspire you, and perhaps add your own linkup using something with twine. You could win a nice prize!!!

 

PLEASE REMEMBER YOU DO NOT HAVE TO USE HLS STAMPS TO ENTER OUR CHALLENGES

 

As always, thanks for stopping in and come again when you can.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A is for Apricot & Aperture Butterfly Challenge

Hello & welcome on a lovely sunny Wednesday. I hope that all who celebrated this past weekend as a holiday, had a safe & wonderful time.  DH has been visiting in New England with our best buddy, and is on his way home. They got many projects done & had some fun visiting estate sales, and the famous Brimfield Flea Market. Since someone had to be here to wait on worker folks, I stayed put. For all that's gotten accomplished, I could just as well have gone along. Oh well.

Mrs. A's Butterfly Challenge this time around has the theme of A is for Apricot & Aperture. Since I was a lucky winner of a pretty butterfly die recently, I wanted to be sure to join in with this one. I really struggled with Apricot though! I'd think I had an apricot color and then when I'd really look at it in different lights, was either too orangey or too pinky. Finally decided to try my hand at creating apricot. Did some sponging with some Distress Inks using Iced Lemonade, Abandoned Coral, Spiced Marmalade. Looked ok at first, then it appeared too orange the next time I looked at it. Bought some small Prima paper packs (on sale of course!) that had what looked 'apricot' to my eyes- at first. My final try was to use Koi watercolors and do a wash with a pale orange, with lots of water.

Now my first card was going pretty good...I was pleased with the aperture effect, had the butterfly ready to go, had used Mrs. A's butterfly die cut. Then when the right edge needed to be trimmed just a smidge, disaster struck.

 

 

where the tiny butterflies are placed - the narrow edge of the card tore as I was even-ing up that edge. There's a good amount of adhesive in the layers (the base card, the image in the aperture, the gold frame and the top frame- and it was quite a narrow edge between the cutout & card edge. Yikes, as the rotary blade was cutting, it was shredding & tearing. (Blade had a build up of adhesive from other cuts, which I cleaned after this happened). What to do? Still had all the little bits of the butterflies from the bottom trim, so started adding them at strategic places. Well, it looks sort of dumb, and this card will probably never see an envelope, but there you have it.

 

Striped border is a Simon Says clear stamp, meant for Christmas candy cane stripes. Inked with Delicata Gold, heat embossed with a Silver Pearl, and I think that looks quite nice as a gold striped border! The underlayer of the larger butterflies was the one I'd created trying for apricot. Yeah, it looks way too orange-y when it dried. As I was doing it, my eyes were seeing a nice apricot. Hmph! The overlayer was from a brusho background - and up against the card front, oh my, definitely looks orange!!! The border cut out is from my recent Butterfly win...Thanks Mrs. A.

 

OK...needed to try again, so here's the final card, and I screwed up the first attempt at stamping the flowers...AND was using the mini Misti. Was beginning to think I was not meant to do an Apricot and Aperture card!

 



A created background, with a watercolor wash using Koi w/colors. While still wet, sprinkled Paper Artsy Golden Sands Infusion crystals (much like Brusho crystals). Spritzed some water, and let the piece dry.

- Avery Elle Sweet Scallops oval die cut for the aperture. SU What I Love set to create the layered flowers using Memento inks. (this was my 2nd try...first time the blues I selected were much too dark & also didn't have them placed as well as could be). Tucked in some previously punched Martha Stewart branches.

- MBox butterflies created from the earlier apricot sponging attempt. The overlay was cut with a gold holographic glitter paper. This paper has a plastic backing, which cut nicely with the new metal plate. In fact, I had 2 layers of the paper without realizing, and both layers cut very well.

Was going to leave the sentiment off, but a Brushstroke Hello die (Julie Ebersole, Essentials by Ellen) was waiting to be put in storage. Used that to diecut the greeting from the 1st messup attempt at stamping the flowers. After it was adhered, wondered if this was 'too busy'....but it is what it is, as they say!

I'm off to link up with Challenge #55 Butterflies + A is for Apricot and/or Aperture! Dang! I just realized: didn't have to do BOTH apricot and aperture! Well, I had some adventures anyway!

Thanks for joining me today, and hope that your afternoon goes great. Hugs