August Rudolph Day - Stampendous Cling Cardinal

Hiya, and thanks for joining me this afternoon. Been quite a busy day, as our concrete team arrived this morning. It had been scheduled for Monday, but the owner of the business called us Sunday night to ask if he could start Thursday. We were appreciative that he called, and didn't just leave us waiting for someone to show up. Unfortunately, that happens a lot in today's world. So bright & early this morning, a cast of thousands (just a slight exaggeration!) arrived at the house. Here's a few pictures:

It was fascinating to see how large chunks of concrete were broken & lifted and then placed in a huge dumpster, that was filled and hauled away. This debris will be recycled into other projects, so glad it's not going into the landfill. Picture 1 shows the first section nearly removed. The section next to this one, and 2 sections nearest the house were removed. The concrete had pitted badly, was all crumbly. Not a good first impression for any future buyers of this place, so better to get it fixed now, while we have someone whose work has been highly regarded by our neighbors.

This is what the area just outside the garage doors looks like at the moment. And if it starts to rain, would be one big, red muddy mess! Where the guys are digging in the grass, will an enlarged pullout - Mr. has been parking his trailer in the area closest to the house. That bothers me when I back out my car, as I can't swing out into that area, but have to just back straight to the street. Yes, I can do it, but I don't like it!!!

 

Thank goodness this morning was fresh & cool for the guys doing this dirty work. After taking some pictures, I had my coffee on the porch swing, read my kindle and watched the neighbors go by, peering in to see what's going on. The crew should be back early tomorrow to form up the area where the addition to the pullout will be & then pour concrete. We're hoping no sneaky rain shows up to mess up the surface.

Now here's August's Rudy Day card:

- image is Stampendous Cling Cardinal Elements. Stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa; die cut with S/B Marvelous Squares; airbrushed the background with Copics E41, E42 to create an aged look. Colored the cardinal with copics and still debating on whether to add some glossy accents to the wing poinsettia. Used a metallic gel pin to accent the leaves the cardinal perches upon. Used a colorless blender to remove some color and highlight that area. This started with touching up a tiny red berry smear...thought the effect looked nice, so did the entire motif. Looks quite nice IRL.

- design papers from various 6x6 Christmas packs. S/B Victorian Medallion Three cut the mat just behind the cardinal. This die only cuts the design, so had to trim out to fit the red layer underneath. Because this medallion is quite large, this became a 5.5x5.5 square card.

- Gold mirror card covers the white card base.

- sentiment is from the new release of HLS Mixed Christmas Sentiments, which is going to be a quite versatile set for me. I loved the calligraphy font used on this card, but there's many styles in the set. Here's a link explaining shipping charges, etc. and Kylie ships internationally. These stamps are very high quality and the image was crisp and clear. Used a Memento Luxe Love Letter to ink, embossed with Ranger clear detail EP. Die cut with a S/B tag and edged along the die with Copic E41, 42, to tie in the colors of the background.

Now, I'm off to join in with August Rudolph Day. Why don't you join in the fun? There's a great Memory Box die as this month's prize! c'mon! Thanks for popping in & big hugs. Let's have coffee on the swing, ok????

DeeDee's Classic Truck - Thinking of You

Good evening, and I'm back with a Thinking of You card for one of our neighbors who just had some serious back surgery. Mr. and he are car/truck enthusiasts, so my mission was to have a truck on it. Had a cute classic car set from DeeDee's, so that was my first thought.  Then it took me a while to think of just how to present it...can't just plop a picture of a truck on a card! I knew it couldn't be 'frilly' - so should I do sponged hills with a highway, some trees? What? So had to wait for inspiration to strike.

Before sharing the card, though, let me introduce some new followers that I think you would enjoy meeting too. Their blogs are wonderful!

Shirl of Creations by Shirl and Sharyn of My Crafty Place

 

Ladies, thanks for becoming new followers. Hope you'll have time to pop in to see their beautiful cards, and tell them I sent you! It's such a great feeling when I visit a blog, to see other friends there as well, plus get to scroll through some inspiring cards.

 

Now, on to the Classic Truck. 

 

 

 

- Sized and printed the truck, added coloring with red copics to the pre-colored red truck. Some white gel pen on the highlights, silver spica pen on the tires, Sakura silver star pen on  hubcaps and running board. Glossy Accents on windows and other trims like the mirror, handle, gas cap and bumper.

 

- pierced shape behind the truck was a snippet leftover from another project. The white spots showing along the piercing are not visible IRL, guess it's picking up the silver background, as I didn't notice until I saw the photo. :-)

 

- Butterfly tree had been done weeks ago with a white snippet, and decided to leave it off that project...so it's just been traveling around in the desk debris. Think I used WoS pens to color the butterflies and trees, but don't honestly remember now. The truck needed something more on the card, and I thought this would work.

 

- The 'road' was also a leftover snippet from a previous card, that had been sprayed, embossed with a brass stencil,then stenciled with color, and had some other stuff done to it. Didn't use the whole piece, so thought 'hmm...would that work for a road to ground the truck?'. Yep, it would. Then found the black shape and decided to place it behind the truck...why? I dunno. Seemed to work there to my eyes! :-)

 

- Ditto for the filigree corner. The sentiment (which I just noticed needs the 'eye' back over the 'i') was 3 layers from a black snippet. This was Bazzill, a bit thicker than the usual GP I layer 3 deep for some dimension. I think it is just a mite too thick to look as crisp as it should, but too late this time. Will try to remember that for next time. Used clear WoS, then added some glossy accents.

 

- What I really like with the truck, is the silvery embossed background, from an old C/Bug EF. When I was trying to pull all of this together, I remembered having this folder. It's always reminded me of the heavy embossed metal design on a truck's toolbox or in the bed of some trucks. The silver is a textured snippet and used some Hero Arts Wet Cement ink over the folder before running through the B.Shot.

 

Thought the Mr. might disapprove of the butterfly tree & the corner bit, but he just said "It looks good. He'll like it". So I'm home free. I find I do not work well with a specific request to accomplish..particularly for a guy. I do better with feminine things.

 

Since I have so many snippets on this one, I wonder if Parsnip of Pixie's Snippets Playground would approve? It's Week 191 and there's some FAN-tastic cards already on display, and a marvelous couple of dies for prizes. So c'mon and let's play!

 

Thanks for joining me this evening. Hope to be back tomorrow with August's Rudolph Day Card.

Big Hugs.

 



Christmas Card Club - Santa

Good morning & welcome. Had a booming thunderstorm with some needed rain late last night. This morning is a bit overcast so we may get another one this afternoon. Tomorrow the concrete guys are scheduled to be here to do some repairing of our driveway, so we're hoping the weather will be sunny & the work won't have to be postponed.

Please help me give a warm welcome to another lovely new follower - Barb of Barb's Faraway Cards. Found Barb's lovely blog over at Darnell's  and had a few minutes to pop over to meet her. Thanks are due to Darnell for her idea of welcoming new followers by giving them a highlight and linking to their blog, so that the rest of us can get to meet them as well. It's grand to meet new friends! As always, thanks to the folks who follow along with this blog! You are very much appreciated.

 

Today it's Christmas Card Club, and our theme of Santa is coming to Town, was selected by our Carol of CMDesign. (Fellow teammate blogs will be listed in the right side bar, and I can promise, you'll see some great cards if you take time to browse over.)

 - Image is an old wooden SU Santa set purchased at a stamp garage sale. It was not easy to color either, for some reason. Also it looks as though the image is not straight on the card, but I even used a ruler to measure from the top and bottom edges, and get the same measurements at each corner. So it is what it is! Of course it was colored with copics, WoS on the holly berries, and a gold gel pen for the gold touches. DI Tea Dye used around the edges of theLil Inker Stitched Square for a bit of vintage look.

- Sue Wilson Configuration arch from a gold snippet left from another card, which also provided the tiny S/Binder scallop border.

- stripe background paper came from a 2013 Our Daily Bread Designs 6x6 pack found at the ODBD booth at Stampaway. The green EK Success punched border came from the same pack. (I have plenty of these 6x6 packs, so you ask why did I buy this one? It has some cardinals in it, and of course it wanted to come home with me!)

Thanks for visitin' this morning, and do check out the other challenge cards for our Christmas Card Club...a group of cardmakers who are making cards all year long. It sure helps when it gets to be November and there's some cards ready. Just a reminder that Rudolph Day will be open August 25, another good chance to join some fun and get another card in your stash! Big Hugs

A Beachy State of Mind - DeeDee's Digis

Hooray, It's Friday! Welcome, pull up a chair, and let's chat about the weekend. We're pretty much ready for it here at our house - hope you are too. A bit cooler for the past few days, but still very muggy & humid. Local kids are back at school - which I expect their parents are thankful for that!

Today's card is a cute DeeDee's Digi which has some really fun summer (or end of summer!) images to use. While you're at the site, do check out the Path of Positivity theme , that DeeDee's Challenges is sponsoring this month. How would  _you_ interpret the idea of  'positive'?

Ok, on to the card:

- DeeDee's Beachy State of Mind digi set; selected several of the digi designs, inserted into a Word document, printed out. Hmmm..pretty easy, as these can be resized to whatever scale you desire. Added some Glossy Accents to the umbrella after die cutting with S/B Decorative Labels 8. Set aside to dry.

Printed out the beach bag, flip-flops, resized both of those to fit in with the beach scene I envisioned, fussy cut.  Added a little shading on the flip-flops, then dabbed some glossy accents to the sandals, sunglass lens, and to the water bottle top -  with just a tiny drop on the screw of the beach chair frame.

- Impresson Obsession Mini Shell set dies from a white snippet. Colored with copics, then added some Liquid Pearl Opal for the sheen of shells, shaped just lightly with a stylus. Adhered with some glossy accents.

- shaded the edge of the Label 8 die cut with some DI Tumbled Glass. Covered a white card base with some blue DP that sort of looks like waves - distressed around the edges of this paper with some DI Faded Jeans to add more contrast to the die shape. This rather defeated my idea of having the 'waves' show on the patterned paper background.

Once the main scene had been glued to the card, decided to add the ocean blue, creating a horizon line between the water & sky. Some white gel pen for waves.

- Hello die was a freebie from an order, 3 white snippet layers, colored with copic blues, added some WoS for shine, then Glossy Accents. Easy Peasy. Reminds me of Florida beach days. Hope you'll pop over to DeeDee's and check out the new releases for August.

Ya'll have a great afternoon. Thanks for popping by, and big hugs coming your way.

Birthday Roses - ODBD

Good Morning, and finally had a chance to sit down, share a card and have a little chat! First - let me say a big welcome to 2 new followers:

Andrea W of Savvy Handmade Cards and Mary S. of Thyme to Create. Thanks so much for joining me here to share in cards & my little adventures. Do please take time to visit my new friends, enjoy their inspiration, and say a big Hi.

Next: I did get the lost Drivers License replaced. After searching our files for all the documents that I had been told the local Division of Motor Vehicles would require as proof of who I was, happily found I didn't need anything but my name and address! The receptionist found me in the system, I had to sign an official affidavit that the license had been lost...and Voila. Processing began. Instread of just replacing the license, since mine was expiring next year in my birth month, the officials suggested that I take the eye test and renew it.

Then right after that, was running errands, and got rear-ended. (good thing I had the DLicense replaced)! Thankfully no one was hurt, minimal damage, just a bit of insurance & official paperwork to handle. So finally the post-trip and all the barney that goes with being away for a few days, got settled around, and here I am!

 

 

- Our Daily Bread image, colored with copics. Started with some light YR (orange tones) shades, then overlaid with some of the pink (R) tones. Stamped the image twice, and handcut a couple of the roses to shape and adhere for some dimension. Hard to see in the photo. This was an ODBD image purchased at Stampaway.

 

- S/B Classic oval die cut the aperture and then a Darice folder from a Stampaway vendor was inked with Memento Morrocco pad, then embossed.

 

- used copics in green shades to ink a narrow green ribbon to sort of complement the greens used on the rose leave, and a tiny left-over heart from a spraying project was tucked on the frame.

 

- Die sentiment was from a new Impression Obsession Die (show purchase, not stored yet), that says "Happy Mother's Day". White snippets, 2 layers, colored with YG copics. The stamped portion of the sentiment is a new set from HLS Bold Birthday Sentiments. And if you follow the link, there is presently a discount code available, and Kylie has free worldwide shipping. This is a very high quality transparent set, and am very pleased to say that my first use of this set, resulted in a very happy outcome. The order was placed just prior to our trip, and Oh Happy Day, was waiting in the mail when we got home. So do yourself a favor and check out this set. There are several others available. I also purchased the nice Mixed Christmas Sentiments set, which you'll see used later. I'm drooling over some of the other new releases too! I think the sentiment sets are going to be so versatile.

 

Ok, I'll share a few trip photos...hope I don't bore you to tears...Thanks for stopping by, and hope to get back with some more cards to share in the next few days. Big Hugs.

 

MH- Brenda W, Sharon W at Stampaway entrance hall

 

T Holtz - Mary H.

 

THoltz during a demo session

 

LivInn, Cincinnati - next to convention center (where we stayed).

 

how we travel!

 

Side Porch at Monticello

When people hear Southerners talk about their pickup trucks, I'm sure most envision gun racks in the rear window, huge tires for mudding, etc. So I thought I'd share a picture of how we travel. This F150 is without a doubt, the nicest & most comfortable vehicle we've owned yet. It is heavy enough to ride smoothly and has a very nice interior. Also it has a roll top cover over the bed, that can be locked. Just so ya know, we're not really 'Rednecks' ...LOL! Will share more of the scenic photos in later posts. The photos at the stamp show were made with the Smart phone - and remember, we're not very good with those yet. We're taking a class on 8/26 with our provider. Bye Bye

  

 



Traveling, Traveling

Good Morning and I hope your week is off to a wonderful start. I have some new followers to introduce, but will have to wait until I'm at home to do a post with some links to their blogs. This morning we are close to the home of James Madison (Montpelier) where we plan to visit. Yesterday was at Monticello(Jefferson's home) and Ash Lawn (James Monroe - our 5th president). The day was overcast and misty - a good day because it was cool. The views from Monticello are magnificent...rolling green lawns, looking out to forested acres & gardens & on the far horizon - magnificent mountain ranges. We had planned to take the extended tour which goes to the 2nd floor of the mansion, but this one was booked up. So we just toured the ground floor rooms and the gardens, the cemetery and then had a nice lunch at Michie Tavern. It was supposedly the type of fare that one would have been served back in Jefferson's day. It was most interesting to see all the innovative items that Jefferson had in his home and hear about the restoration of the furnishings. Jefferson's belongings were sold upon his death to pay his creditors. The foundation that now has the property has recovered many pieces over the years, and some are on loan. Very interesting to visit.
In the gift shop I used my drivers license for identification when using my credit card, and realized later when we were having lunch, no license did I have. We returned to the shop, but the drivers license is still missing. So that has been a little blot on an otherwise fun trip. Not much I can do about it until we get home. Made some phone calls to our States Dept of Motor Vehicles, being concerned about fraudulent use of my license, but was told not much to be done while we're traveling. Thankfully I don't have to do the driving (I HOPE).

The tour at Monroe's house was nice, but this was more of a little cozy cottage...nothing elaborate. We didn't get to Montpelier, about an hour from Monticello - until too late in the afternoon to take the tour. So that's where we're headed this morning, and afterwards, guess we shall wend our way back home.

I apologize again, for not doing any visiting while on this trip. Although the hotels have Wi-Fi, it's not as high speed as what we have at home. Tried to watch some movies on Netflix and the movie would halt frequently. Have been trying to keep the emails cleaned out, as we get so much spam. With the mail program at home, I know how to filter it out so it just goes into the spam folder and deletes. With the webmail, I can't seem to get it to work.

Just wanted to check in, say hello to anyone who happens to pop by, and leave an update. Big Hugs and have a Blessed Day.

Christmas Card Club - Lots of Layers

Welcome to the Christmas Card Club post, where our challenge today has been chosen by Lorraine of Rainey's Craft Room. Lorraine said she would like to see lots of layers on the members' cards this week, so here we go:

- Great Impressions wooden stamp inked with Memento Pistachio ink and colored with copics. Red WoStella added some glimmer to the berries. Used some waste from the outer red mat to add more little spots of red into the wreath.

- Various Spellbinder circle dies were used to cut focal image, 2 red mats and the separating green mat.

- S/Binder A2 Border Bracket die (design and  cutting die) to cut the side border.

- MBox Precious Mittens die - cut from the same 6x6 Christmas pack as the border. Spica pens colored the bow & mitten strings. Added some waste from the last circle mat to decorate this. Drew cuff fold lines on the mittens with the spica pen, as I thought it looked better with defined cuffs.

- Snippet of green was embossed with a holiday words EF, and shaded around the corners & edges with a dark DI green ink. Since the holiday sentiment is embossed on the front of the card, I will not be adding any other die or stamped sentiment. That's it, Folks - I hope I met Lorraine's Lots of Layers challenge.

Do be sure to visit my fellow Club Members, and their blog links are over on the side bar. As always, thanks for joining me today, and big hugs! This will be a scheduled post, so I hope it works properly!!!

Stampaway

Hi Ya tonight, from one very tired blogger. Stampaway and meeting Brenda W. of http://inkspiredtostamp.blogspot.com/  was worth every minute of the long drive up to Cincinnati. There were lots of vendors (and I didn't even get to _all_ of them, can you imagine?). Did get to all the ones I meant to though (and especially Northwoods Stamps..lots of luscious bird images there - oh my). Brenda & her SIL arrived about an hour or so after we had gone into the show, but we had talked on the phone so were able to find each other. I knew her at first glance! What a real sweet lady. I know that some of you who have met your blog buddies, know that exciting and heartwarming feeling you get, to finally meet in person. Then to find out that this person is just as lovely as you expected her to be. Ditto for her SIL who is not really a stamper (a quilter!) and came along to keep Brenda company. Bless her heart, she wasn't feeling all that well, and also has a foot brace which I'm sure didn't make walking around all that fun. We shopped a couple places together, but did our own 'thing' too. We did have lunch together at the convention center, and Brenda had to leave to drive back home. We stayed another hour (well, Mr. sat down and waited on me to try to go to some places I had missed). The hotel is just next door, so we didn't have to drive very far. (actually we could have walked it, but we knew we'd be tired. Yes he knows me well so he's the one who said "we'll drive over"). We even ordered a pizza to be delivered to the hotel, because we were just too tired to venture out for a meal.

Yes, to Carol L. that pickup bed will hold lots of 'schtuff'' and also has a nice lockable hard roll top cover to keep it safe!! Truthfully, it's all in the backseat. I did do a lot of craft sinning though. But how could I not, when I was saving all those shipping costs for those stamps that I would eventually buy, and have to get mailed? Make sense?! Of course it does!!! And for Darnell, I did indeed pass along your big hug to Brenda. And got one from Miz Pixie for myself. What excitement. Brenda has posted some pictures, but I can't download mine until we get home. (we tried using the Smartphone for a camera after I kept bumping into customers with my Nikon hanging around my neck, and a big stuffed bag over my shoulder. It was CROWDED with stampers looking for a deal).

We DID see Tim Holtz. However there was always a big crowd around his booth, standing room only and hard to see over those in front. We saw him when we were eating, as he came out to get lunch at the food court. I hesitated to intrude on his lunch (and he looked tired as well), but I finally did go apologetically ask if I could take a picture - apologizing for interrupting his break. He was very gracious & what a nice man. He had been talking & demo-ing from 9am to 5pm, and I know he had to be really tired. I'm so pleased to say, he seemed so pleasant to all those folks who were bombarding him with questions as he worked. I was able to watch some of it, and pick up a few new tips. Also was able to get the new August DI color (Espresso) - probably paid more for it at the show, but - hey, now I don't have to pay shipping, right? While we were taking pics with Tim Holtz, I asked if I could give him a big hug from one of his biggest fans in the UK, Anne Redfern. And he gave me one to send right back to Anne too! So meeting Brenda, her SIL and Tim were the highlights of this show for me. Sadly, didn't see Jennifer McGuire. One of the vendors said Jennifer had some family commitments this weekend, so probably would not be able to be there. Oh well, maybe next time!

I'll share the pictures when we get back home. Please accept my apologies for not getting back to those who have left comments yesterday & today. The Wi-Fi at the hotel keeps cutting out on me (and this dang laptop is a pain to type on.) I'm just trying to keep my mailbox cleaned out using a webmail which doesn't work like the Outlook I use at home;  will try to catch up with everyone later next week. I think we're headed down to Virginia tomorrow, with plans to visit Monticello, the home of President Thomas Jefferson. We've never been there.

The Christmas Card Club scheduled post will be up tomorrow also. In the meantime, thanks for stopping in, and catch you later. Blessings & Hugs.

On the Road Again.....

Tra la la ....and tonight we are here in Cincinnati, Ohio..in a hotel right by the Sharonville Convention Center. Ready for the Stampaway experience. There are lots of crafters here in the hotel (you wanna guess how I know they are crafters?!) Think lots of them registered for classes, which are being held this evening. However, I didn't register ahead of time, so we can't get in. I walked over to the Center, just to check on admission time tomorrow  - and it was good exercise after riding all day, and then having a nice dinner. There's lots of the usual chains of restaurants close around this area, and the hotel seems to be quite nice. We had a good run up the several interstates we traveled, but there was quite a lot of traffic. It moved very well, despite a bit of rain in a couple of places. Then when we got into Cincinnati - it was 'going home time on a Friday evening', so that took a long time to navigate through. We are always amazed at the people who drive, text, weave in & out of traffic, and don't seem to realize they cut off the vehicle behind them.  I'm always so thankful that we are in a nice heavy (and good riding)  pickup truck...and that I have a good & careful driver. He's losing his patience with these folks, though, as he is getting older. Some of his navy days vocabulary was muttered several times this afternoon. I just pretended I was still dozing. Which I did, except when I needed to watch for exits. Thank goodness for Navigation systems too!

I will try to check emails and publish any sweet comments, but will save visiting & commenting until I am back on my regular computer. This laptop makes ME say navy words, and I never served in the military! Looking forward to meeting my friend Brenda W tomorrow. Maybe we'll see Tim Holtz & Jennifer McGuire! I think THoltz is supposed to be there, and Brenda said she had seen Jennifer one year when she attended.

In the meantime, ya'll have a good weekend, and I promise: I won't buy anything that you wouldn't like too! Big hugs & God Bless

Butterfly Challenge #36 + W is for Washi

Hi and thanks for stopping by. Wanted to try to play in Mrs. A's Butterfly Challenge so have been working with butterfly dies lately. This month the challenge alphabet letter is W for Washi Tape. I have a good supply of this, seldom use it. The main reason is: I never know where to put it that it doesn't look clumsy. Some years ago, saw a blog post where the cardmaker had saved bits of ribbon, adhered it to chipboard and cut a pretty butterfly. Well, why not make a butterfly with washi? So that's what I did. However, in selecting the washi rolls from the box where they are stored, found that a couple of these are 'fabric tape'...hmmm. Well, it worked just like washi, except it needed more coaxing to stick. Hope the combination of washi & fabric tape on this Ellentina butterfly will qualify this guy in Mrs. A's W challenge!!!

- applied strips of tape over a lightweight c/stock (el cheapo Georgia Pacific), burnished down the tape, and used the Ellentina Butterfly Set to die cut. This set has the filigree shape and a solid shape. Used the solid to cut the tape layer, and the filigree to cut the vellum overlay. Colored the body with Copic C110.

- another masking and faux metal background (per Jennifer McGuire)**. This time had more narrow borders - used DI Abandoned Coral, Fossilized Amber and Persimmon, and Perfect Pearls Copper. That really created a pretty look, but don't think it looks as metallic as the blue & green of this card.  Still quite a pretty background though. Checked the EF more carefully this time to be sure the Embossing would be where I wanted :-).This time used Gina K Luxury Cardstock for the sponging. This c/s is 120# compared to the GP used on the previous card. That piece was from a stack cut to emboss samples to place with EF's before filing them to store. The GK c/s was much easier to sponge and then blend, and believe I got a much better look with this c/s. Just FYI. 

- Elizabeth Craft sentiment cut from a snippet of the washi taped c/s. Always lose the little bits that should be used over the 'i', so there's a gold pearl

- added 2 strips of some of the washi tape at the border, cut on an angle. The angle was pretty rubbish with the diagonal cut, so used a punch to add a butterfly to hide the wonky angle. That looked odd, so added one more to have a trio of butterflies.

Hope my explanations of the adventures I have while making cards does not bore you to tears. When I'm surfing, I always enjoy learning what the crafter did 'wrong' and how it was fixed. I learn a lot from that...probably more than from seeing a 'perfectly made- no problem' card. But if you get tired of reading, then hopefully just enjoy the card and don't read all the blah-blah!! (I write pretty much the way I'd speak to you if you were here with me :-).

** Several commenters have said they could get to the link but couldn't get the video to play. If you're looking on Youtube, then try Jennifer's Blog  (Aug 2 post). If it was at the blog where the problem was, try searching it out on Youtube, which is where I saw it. Hope this helps. 

Don't forget to check out all the new monthly challenges that are going on over at HLS...There is sure to be one (or two!) that you'd like to join in.

Ya'll have a grand afternoon, and come again when you can. Now I'm off to link up at the August Butterfly Challenge. Big Hugs.

HLS August Challenge - Sparkle

Hello and it's once again time for the Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge for August, and the theme is Sparkle. Let's be off to the card:

- Impression Obsession image (H10014), stamped on Copic Xpress cardstock, colored with copics, WoS, and Sakura Stardust on the lacey parts. Stardust stickles over her wings, then added some Glossy Accents on wings, halo, horn and her tiny shoes.

Here's some close up views that if you enlarge, I hope will show how nicely the Ritz glitter sparkles - and the Glossy Accents on the sentiment & other areas, shows up quite pretty too. 

- MicroRitz glitters over Sookwang (double side sticky paper)  using a Jenni Bowlin Pointed Star plastic stencil (more on that stencil in a bit). Used Versamark* to generously coat the backside of the stencil for easy release, then burnished it down very well, and dumped Glitter Ritz Stardust for the first coat. Cleaned off excess, then burnished again - to bring up the stars. Repeated the same process with Deep Purple for the dark sky. The places where there is more silver showing, is because the silver glitter got under the stencil, but I liked the effects, so didn't re-do it.

- PBlack sentiment - cut from a previous effort that didn't work too well. Tried different colors for the Peace, but my eye didn't like the look. Decided to use a boo-boo piece to cut the sentiment, and liked this much better.

- Silver mirror c/s for skinny mat, then a dark blue cardbase.

*There is a coconut soap for use with BRASS/Metal stencils, and I thought to try it with the plastic stencil. Worked ok for the glitter process, but when it was release time, that did NOT work well at all. The paper tore. Found out that very likely this soap should not be used with plastic stencils, only Brass. Just FYI. Anyway, the sentiment was cut from that torn piece, so at least my learning process was not totally wasted!

Remember that the August Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge is open for the month. I hope you'll have a chance to get another card ready for your Christmas stash, and come join in the fun. In the meantime, thanks for your visit, have a wonderful day, and Big Hugs.

Butterfly, Masking and Faux Textured Metal

Good afternoon and warm welcomes.****

Had a lovely phone call this morning from my blog buddy, Brenda over at Inkspired to Stamp. We are planning on meeting at the Stampaway Show in Cincinnati this weekend. Oh what fun...such a pleasure to meet someone that you met in Blogland. Both of us are excited.

Over at HLS CAS for August the challenge is Masking. This weekend I enjoyed a Jennifer McGuire Youtube video that did an interesting (and easy! don't forget the easy part!!!) technique. The link is to Jennifer's blog, but the video is there too. The masking part worked perfectly for the HLS CAS challenge, so off I did go to try this technique. (I love easy, don't you?!)

Had purchased some of the Hero Arts Ombre ink pads, and tried brayering with the blues- and boy, was this stuff hard to clean off the brayer. That effort did not get put on any finished project, so was in the desk clutter. After seeing Jennifer's video, got out the PBlack Swirling wings butterfly and used the brayered cardstock to cut this little critter. (The brayered piece was meant to be a late evening sky scene. Didn't work).

Used blue painters tape to mask off the white cardstock - making sure to remove as much sticky as possible, before attempting to place it on the 'straight edges'. So far so good. Selected DI Mermaid Lagoon and Twisted Citron inks, and a-sponging I did go. Found Perfect Pearls white powder, and dusted it over the very heavy inking. Burnished it off, and Jiminy! It really did shine like metal.

Don't have the Next Level embossing folders Jennifer used, but hunted up a EF pattern that might work. And it would have...except I had the DE-bossed side on the front of the project. However, I was still pleased with the results, and will be doing this technique again. I hope you have time to check out Jennifer's video.

Applied some Viva Décor silver paste to the butterfly and added a few pearls, along with a pearl swirl. Not sure if I'll add a sentiment to this one. I hope you like it!

Will be linked to the HLS August CAS masking challenge. Hope to see you there.

Thanks for joining me, and I hope you will have a wonderful day. Big hugs.

**** Some of you may know my 'other daughter' Brenda over at Friends Craftin' with Friends. She & her sweet husband have been dealing with some serious health issues for a while, and they are in need of your prayers. She has a new post up today;  if you've time, I'd appreciate your making a visit to read her post about the latest CT scan results. If  you should feel so inspired, send up some prayers for them.There is Power in Prayer...and if your beliefs are not of that kind, then Positive Thoughts & support can't hurt either!!! Thank you.

Crazy Bird Watercolor with Bleeding Art Tissue

Happy Sunday! It's another sunny hot one around here, but not quite so hot as yesterday, and perhaps not quite so humid. Still pleasant to be in the air conditioning though, and be quiet.

I've been trying to finish up some UFO's. Had seen this Eileen Godwin video using bleeding tissue paper to make a background, and thought How Neat! Ordered some of this art tissue, and finally had a little play. Not too successful with the outcome, so of course have to rewatch the video. This effort is about the 3rd time I tried it. Still not pleased, so used the reverse side to stamp the THoltz Crazy Bird that is all over Blogland. Embossed the black stamping with clear, and used the Zigs on CB. (thanks to a blogger who asked me what CB means. sorry 'bout that. I got lazy and was just typing CB instead of spelling out Crazy Bird each time!) The paper seemed too 'coarse' to blend the inks well, and I had trouble with waterlines. It was 140# watercolor paper. Put it aside and did another one with better results (will be a later project). In the course of moving things around on the desk, CB and the leftover turned up again. Hmmm...perhaps if I used some turquoise tissue, and did the bleeding bit again, might that help? Here's the result. I really do hate to let something defeat me, and end up in the trash. I'll have to be selective as to who gets this bird. Not everyone I know will think he's cute!

- Diecut CB with a stitched circle die (probably MFT)...added a little grounding for him. Used Glossy Accents on his tail feathers, google eyes, scrawny legs and beak (sort of wished I'd left it off the beak).

- Embossed the salvaged bleeding art background with an EF that has bird motifs on it. Added some double stick tape to the circle area, and inlaid CB back into it.

- White snippets (3 layers) for the Momenta die sentiment, adding Glossy Accents.

- Amuse bird in flight die (2 layers) from another small white snippet and called this UFO done. I will have to work on this bleeding art tissue technique. I'm tempted to try it with just some 'regular' tissue paper and see if that works at all. I'd be interested if you've tried the technique and how your experiments worked.

If you have time - do check the Cards by Friends page as there is a beautiful new card, that I had forgotten to add.

We're hoping to attend the Stampaway USA & perhaps get to meet a lovely blogger friend. So I'm working to get some card commitments finished, posts written & scheduled, and of course - the dread housework. If anyone else is planning to go to Stampaway, please do let me know. It would be great to meet face-to-face. (oh yes, for those who worry about my commenting on trips, we have somebody stay & a burglar alarm - along with neighbors who keep an eye on each other! Else I would not say anything on the blog).

Thanks for joining me this afternoon...and hope your weekend has just been terrific. Hugs.

PS..I see that the Snippets Playground Week 188 has opened the gates, so I'll meander over and join in the fun. After seeing all the wonderful cards already shared, I'm a bit hesitant to take Crazy Bird over. Ah, well, all those ladies are sweet and will let me in to play along. There's a lovely stamp set for some lucky person too. C'mon!

Brusho Hello

Happy Saturday and August 1. It's sunny here in Upstate South Carolina, but the humidity is a bit lower - so it feels cooler than this past week has been. I hope the day is off to a great start where you are.

Today's card has lots of snippets but alas the Snippets Playground closed just a few hours ago. {sigh}. Oh well, the gates will open again soon.

- Brusho background is a snippet - actually twice over. (1) the original background was very wet & dark, so another piece of cardstock was smooshed over it, and created this paler version. (2)this piece is the left over die cut center from another project. Ken Oliver Colorburst violet (so not _really_ brusho product) was combined with Brusho turquoise on a slightly wet white cardstock. The Colorburst was sprinkled first. This was my first time using this Colorburst, but it's similar to the Brusho-s.  This product seems more 'powdery' than the Brusho-s - which resemble tiny salt crystals. Even though the product was used sparingly (since I didn't know how it would perform), the color was very vivid & intense. Spritzed lightly, then sprinkled the turquoise Brusho crystals - spritzed again very lightly. As the colors began to spread, a gold spray was added. The gold shows up quite nicely around the top of the piece. Used the Ranger spritzer tool to blow air that created the patterns behind the green leaf.

While I was pleased with the Colorburst on this first trial, I think just now I prefer the Brusho-s; also there are more color choices in the Brusho products. It is good to know that these products can be used together. Have yet to try the Blister product seen on some blogs, but think that line has more of the neutral palette.

- LaLa Land Berry Flourish die for the green swirl (another snippet) - with a bit of Delicata gold sponged over the leaves. Glossy Accents added to the berries.

- Lawn Fawn Scripty Hello sentiment (snippet) - 2 layers for dimension - has Glossy Accents.

- SU Mesh EF on the white mat, and adhered a piece of fun foam behind the Brusho background to lift it up. Card base was also a leftover from a previous project, but probably rather large to call a snippet!

This card is for a good friend who is having a bit of a rough patch at the moment....I hope it will let my friend know that she is in my thoughts & prayers. Thanks for joining me today, and have a grand weekend. Big hugs.