Butterfly Challenge = R + Ruby

Happy Saturday! Here the sun is shining, it's fairly warm, and I finally got a card ready in time for the 54th Butterfly Challenge (where the theme is Butterfly +R for Recycle and/or Ruby Red! Last time I missed the deadline.

Here's the card and then will explain where the recycle effort comes into play (and you must promise not to laugh!!! - well, ok, you can laugh a little bit).

- SU Rose die cut from white and a created background, that looks pink, even though red sprays and other products were used (brusho, mica sprays, mica powders...it just would NOT turn red!) Decided to exaggerate the offset for this more so it would be more than just a shadow effect.

- MBox Pippi Butterfly overlay created with alcohol inks over Yupo paper...Liked this red, and die cut with my new metal plate, cut like a dream. All little bits just fell right out. This Yupo paper is such fun to play with using alcohol inks.

- MB Isabella Butterfly for the underlayer using some of the spray created background, and decided to hunt up a snippet of red for one of these...I was getting very discouraged at having some red. Now it looks more burgundy than red when I see the photo.

Now for the recycle - which is the background: Used a piece of very lightweight cardboard that came from a package of men's jockey shorts! (ahem...a new package was required at our house, and when I was gathering up the wrappings to toss, thought the white cardboard had a rather nice finish on it. Wondered how that might take to alterations. Remember, now: I don't DO altered stuff! So perhaps this is my 1st foray into that arena!! LOL). Ok, first I sponged on about 4 shades of DI red inks. Didn't want to really dry well, so heat set between applications of succeedingly darker reds. Still looked quite 'pink'. Then advanced to sprinkling brusho Osto Red, Scarlet and Crimson dry powders, spritzed very lightly.Now - - yes, getting some red. Puddled each layer of the brusho color around with the Ranger Spritzer tool, let it dry slightly, dropping another color of the red crystals over. Then dropped on some Ken Oliver Metallic Platinum, puddled that around. Still not as red as I wanted. Finally got Dylusions Post Box red, a Lindy's Stamp Gang spray that looked red, spritzed, spritzed, and finally said "that's as red as this is gonna get". Left it to dry. The pink rose and the butterfly underlays came from smooshing up the over sprays of the different sprays...and really created quite a pretty pink.

Added on some sequins..(and there's more than I would have used normally; the package spilled and it was easier to pick 'em up with the sticky pickup tool, adhere on the card front, than try to put back in the package. These are Pretty Pink Posh, so they were not going in the trash!!!

Hope you've gotten a chuckle from my adventures, (and psst...don't mention the recycle item!). Do join in over at Mrs. A's Butterfly Challenge and you can have some fun too!

Have added 2 new pretties to the Cards by Friends tab, that you'll be able to enjoy along with me. It's lovely to have such talented and generous friends!

Have a wonderful afternoon, thanks for coming by to visit, and Blessings and Hugs.

Edit: Forgot to say that the sentiment is 2 layers of vellum, colored with copic reds, because I want to keep a light effect in that corner. Used a glue that didn't show to adhere the layers together, since the vellum was colored.

Green & Gold - Happy

Good afternoon, and welcome. Today's card is a scheduled post, with a card made from some bits that were in the Pile. The piece was done on watercolor weight paper, probably using sprays and micas. Found it, decided to try the Viva Décor Gold modeling paste through a Tim Holtz Flourish stencil. After looking at it for a while, decided to try to finish off something to use it.

- a die from a very old S/B set cut the corners, can't decide if some gold pearls should be placed on each corner, or just leave as it is.

- purchased prefolded chartreuse card from The Paper Cut at a craft show (on a great sale due to the color I'm sure...). Stamped with an Impression Obsession Cover a Card  Thin Stripes CC001 which had versamark applied. Then used WOW Gold Pearl to eat emboss and was quite pleased with the results. Dressed up the plain card but very subtle so as to not compete with the gold flourishes of the embossing paste design. Only used one coat of EP for this effort.

- Memory Box Painted Happy die cut 4 layers of watercolor weight white (snippets) - colored each layer with a Gold WoStella pen. Then used versamark on the top layer, heat embossed with the WOW Gold Pearl, 2 coats. One coat does not give the coverage that I prefer...after applying the first coat, it's dipped back on the versamark pad, more EP applied, and reheated. The 2nd coat gives this effect that looks like gold metal, which I think is quite pretty. Photo does not show this well.

No other sentiment on the front, but I think this will have an anniversary verse on the inside, as our DD has one coming up in May. Came together fast (for me!) once I thought of how to use the snippets. Little by little, some of the stuff in the pile is getting  put on cards.

Thanks for popping in to visit, and hopefully there will be a few more scheduled posts this week. In the meantime, Big Cyber Hugs to all!

Happy Little Stampers Challenge for May 2015

Hi, and welcome. I've been trying for quite some time to get something finished that would fit into the Happy Little Stampers Challenge. Finally I did get something that I think will work. In fact, 2 somethings! Lately I've been trying to finish up a bunch of UFO's, that have been hanging around - seems like forever. Hunting for some things I ordered, put in a safe place...and can't find. Finding other things that I'd looked for earlier. Sound familiar?

First though, help me welcome a new friend, Kathy, of KTKrafts.  Please take a few moments to go over, enjoy Kathy's wonderful blog, and say hello. You won't be sorry you did! It's been a while since I had a new follower (have been seeing them disappear, then reappear), so it was happy, happy to see a new friendly face show up in the pictures' list.

Now, on to the card:

- MBox Ringo Tile die* cut out the white c/s, and Sizzix XandO EF. It is not showing well, but there are 2 scored lines separating the embossed section and the panel. Behind the panel is a previously done spray piece (believe it was Dylusions..I've been experimenting with Brusho-s and Dylusions - so there's plenty of background pieces. I _should_ write on the back of the piece what product was used, but ...)

- Frantic Stamper sentiment die cut from the same color.

- added a few sequins...and folks, that's my CAS!

*First tried die cutting the MB die with some textured Win-Win c/s (it's like Bazzill). Did lots of passes, but it did not cut well. Added a metal shim, still not a clean cut. Tried with varying thin card stocks...flipping & rotating the die as it was being cut. After working with some good sharp scissors to cut out bits of the panel, I gave it up. Decided to try one more time with just the cheap Walmart brand of GP cardstock, just a few back n forth passes - no shims - the die cut very cleanly. Only had to poke out just a couple of bits. The main panel was raised up on thin white fun foam - a technique I've seen Jennifer McGuire doing lately.

I'm off to link up with Happy Little Stampers Challenge for May 2015.

Thanks for joining me today, big hugs all round, and hope if you've not been feeling well lately, that you're on the mend! God Bless.

Penny Black - Tokens of Love

Good afternoon & warm welcomes. Hope you're not going to get sick of seeing Valentine cards, but that's the theme of most of my cards just now!

First order of business is to share the name of my newest followers:

Kellie of A Little Bit of Kellie and Sara of UTs Hobby Time . Shared Sara's blog link earlier, but I didn't have her name at that time. Sara was kind enough to let me share her name with you. Hope you'll take a few minutes and check out both of these awesome bloggers' work.

 

Another of the cards that were sent along to the DD. I'll keep the blather short, because the Blog Candy winners will be announced at the end of this post. Don't know how to insert the RG's results, so you'll just have to trust me on the numbers!

 

 

 

- PBlack Tokens of Love

- S/B Long Scalloped Rectangle

- MFT Stitched Fishtail banner

- VOS (probably Paper Studio) background paper

- Dylusions Sprayed background paper used for banner and card mat. Tried sprinkling Osti Red Brusho crystals over this piece while it was still wet...the crystals didn't spread as much as over just plain water.* You can just see some of the darker red sprinkles on the fish tail banner.

 

*This piece started out as one of my first Gelli plate efforts.  Gelli plate was inked with some copper acrylic paint, stencil placed and print pulled with white card stock. The piece has been on the table for a while. Since the background was white with the copper hearts, decided to spray Postbox Red Dylusions then sprinkle Osti Red Brusho crystals. Just goes to show, most warts can be salvaged to some purpose!!

 

- tiny heart brads - and yes there is some WoS on the Balloons & the envelope heart. The sentiment was done by masking off a portion of a stamp so that just the Valentine part showed, then punched with an SU oval punch. Card done.

****************************************************************************

NOW: Drumroll please: Congratulations to:

 

#224 - Benzi (http://benzistampz.blogspot.com/)

#180 - Shonna Erlenborn (http://shonasstampingstage.blogspot.com/)

#257 - Nancy ( http://whatsonmykitchencounter.blogspot.com/)

 

Did 3 passes on the Random Generator to get each number, matched the number to a name on the  database, and Ta-Da!

Each person has 48 hours to contact me by  1-25-15 at 6pm, provide mailing info, and an email address so that I can advise when candy is shipped.  Moderate comments is set to on, so any personal info left in a comment will only be seen by myself.  

 

Previous blog candy winners know that I like to include a little surprise in each envelope, which I hope the recipient will enjoy. It will be an unused product, or I will so state (sometimes I'll send along a well loved stamp that is extra to me. If it's stained, I will clean it as much as possible. Most of the items are duplicate purchases, or items purchased at good prices with the intention of using for blog candy. Sometimes original packaging has to be removed to make for easier mailing and I will say so.)

****************************************************************************

I want to thank each follower who took the time to join and help me reach this milestone goal. You can't believe how excited I am & I hope each person will be pleased with the items being sent. So thanks again for ALL of your support. Wish I could send something to each of you! Now it's set to go for the next milestone! I'm already collecting some goodies - oh I am optimistic, aren't I??? Many hugs, and hope I hear back from the winners within the time frame.

Anniversary with Fall Colors

Welcome Saturday..I hope your weekend has started off great. We have a family anniversary coming up next month, and since I'm thinking Fall colors, that was the theme for this card. Kept it simple so that the colors & the texture would show to advantage.

- Background created with Dylusions & some gold tattered angels.

- gold embossing paste - has a bit of a gritty texture & is a Viva product found in Walmart - done over a MB mesh stencil. This has been my best effort with the embossing paste to date.

- Alcohol ink over soda can - die cut leaf.

- Gold glitter sentiment. Happy is from a Joanna Sheen die -part of a Happy Birthday set. Anniversary is also J. Sheen die. I tried to cut these with the soda can metal, but it was very difficult to get them out of the dies without breaking the metal pieces. Happy worked ok, but the anniversary was too fiddly and broke in the middle as I tried to release it. The cut out pieces did not cut through well either. Enough aggravation, so I used a snippet of the gold glitter! I also don't like fussing with saving the tiny bits for the 'i' so I usually just use a rhinestone or pearl. Saves on the nerves! (got that idea from my Pixie friend over at the Pixie's Crafty Workshop - aka the Snippets Playground. So thank Diane. )

Ya'll come back when you can set a spell, now heah? Have a great day and big hugs.

Dylusions Sprays and Another Palm Fern

Hello and welcome. As you'll see from today's card, I've been having fun with some Dylusions sprays and that Hero Arts Palm die. I really like the look of that die and have seen that Penny Black has one similar to the Hero Arts die. I've been trying to keep improving on that embed the die technique and the frond in this card was one from an earlier attempt.

- Hero Arts Palm Die cut from a Dylusions sprayed paper using Postbox red, dilutions with white linen, Tangerine, yellows, then sprayed with bronze spray.

- Green mixed media (Canson #90) paper sprayed with various greens - either full strength or diluted with white linen or just plain water. There's a bit of yellow spray created with an acrylic paint mixed with water added in as well. I just play with colors in the family of choice, until I get a result that pleases me. Sometimes I spray the paper first with a spritz of water, sometimes I don't. I wear some Dollar store latex gloves too ---- if I think of it before starting the play.

-S/B curved bracket border die at the bottom.

- under side of the die cut was created with spraying some reds & bronze over a snippet of white Canson. There's a bin of old tissue dress patterns sitting by the airbrush table (part of the reorganization and finding another place to store these old patterns). A loose piece caught my eye, so took it, crumpled it well & dabbed into the wet sprayed red. Then decided to try spreading the crumpled piece into the wet & let it dry to see what effect it would make. Sprayed it with another coat of the bronze, and left it to dry overnight. Not sure I like it here, but I do plan to try some embossing paste, color that and then apply some of the crumpled tissue into the wet paste to see what happens!

Think this will be another family birthday card, but sentiment will get added later.

Thanks for spending some time here today, and come again when you can. Hugs & Blessings. Have a great afternoon.

Carolling Penguins

Good afternoon and Happy Father's Day to those readers for whom this would be appropriate. Thanks so much for visiting this afternoon. Our Christmas Challenge theme of penguins was chosen by Carol  and here's my challenge entry:

- PBlack Slapstick image (40-034-Carolling Penguins), stamped on Xpress paper with Memento Tuxedo Black, colored with Copics. Used some Opal Liquid Pearls diluted with water to paint the white areas of the penquins which gives a nice glimmer IRL. Sparkle n Sprinkle Cloud Nine Velvet Glitter was added to the fur and pompoms on the hats to give some texture.

- Sakura Silver Star dotted around on the snowflakes in the background, and added some sparkly Stickles around the area under the feet. Also added a bit more of the Cloud Nine for a little snow effect.

- die cut image with S/B Majestic Label 25. Faux cut a black mat using the outer edge of the same die.

- Dylusions background created with Calypso Teal diluted with White Linen and the same color diluted with just water. Added in some of the new Slate Gray, which was diluted with white, and this made some nice snowy blobs of color. Sprayed just a bit of Tattered Angels gold that has an iridescent look. After drying, embossed with the Kars snowflake EF.

- MBox Snowflake border die cut using some 6x6 DCWV glitter paper. This has a sort of 'plastic' backing, but is more lightweight than a lot of the glitter papers. However, even though the metal shim was used, several rolls through the Big Shot took place, I still had to fiddle about with scissors to get a nice cut. This die cuts nicely, but this paper was probably not the best choice for such an intricate die. Selectively cut the border to place bits of it where I thought it looked nice, and added the tiny punch out stars from the die around on the card front.

Please do check out the other members of the Christmas Club group to see what beauties they submitted this week. You can find the members listed on the sidebar.

Back later with a Father's Day card. Have a wonderful afternoon, God Bless. Hugs

Sweet Stamps Easter Bunny - Easel Card

Good evening, and thanks for joining me as I listen to the wind howling round the corners of the house. First, let me apologize to my recent visitors for my slowness in getting back to visit you. I've had blogger issues recently, and today was an away from the house day for  us. I will get back to visit, I promise. Hopefully tomorrow.

Here's my first ever easel card. I can see that I need more practice, but ...well, here we go.

- Sweet Stamps Easter bunny image, colored with copics (very easy coloring too), die cut with S/B deckled oval. Popped up with dimensional foam.

- S/B Lattice die for the mat. (Orange is not a color I think of for Easter, but with the orange-coral tones of the lily, and the fact that there was a Dylusions sprayed piece rejected from Halloween*, well, there you go. Just added some more of a new Dylusion color [Tangerine, diluted with white linen & water]. A little gold glimmer with Tattered angels).

- Memory Box leaf die (green snippet)

- white lace from stash colored with puddles of wet spray left over & made a bow.

- card background was a rectangle of silky fabric texture floral wall paper, in cream/taupe colors. Sprayed with the Tangerine dilution. Let it dry, resprayed. The fabric does not take the ink very well as it beaded up quite a lot. I liked the patterns the ink created so decided to use it for the card background.

- opened fully to reveal the inside layer. A Memory Box stencil was taped to the white base, inked heavily with Versa Mark. Removed stencil. Sprinkled Copper EP and heat embossed. Intended to use some Distress Inks to color this, but liked it as it was, so left it alone. Leaf shape is not adhered yet...still thinking about leaving it or not. Eggs cut from snippets using a S/B D-lite die Wonderful Locket (S2-076) - just the interior portion, which reminded me of an egg shape. Orange lattice backing the sentiment was a smaller shape from the Lattice Die - snippet from the orange paper*. Handcut the white snippet for the SU Teeny Tiny Wishes set - using Lime Green (Colorbox Fluid Chalk ink).

 Two more pics - just so you know it really is an Easel card! Hope to do another attempt so that I'm not just making the same ole same ole.  Hope you like this one. *This orange paper had been sprayed with a pumpkin stencil last Halloween. The additional spraying of the Dylusions ink covered the pattern quite well.

Submitting to Pixie's Snippet Playground Week 117. C'mon, let's go visit with Parsnip & all the Playground folks. It's going to be worth your time, I promise...so many lovely projects to inspire you.  Come again when you have time as it's always so lovely to have visitors pop round. Hugs.

Impression Obsession Bird on Dylusions background

Howdy, and thanks for visiting this morning. First let me welcome 2 new friends:

Leann of Paper Doll's Creations and Carol of Crafty-Stamper. Ladies, thanks so much for joining as followers. I hope that the shout-out here will result in some visits for you, from some of my older friends! (remember, the term "old" used this way, does in no way refer to our ages! Just how long we've been friends, ok???)

To the card for today:

I get in moods where I want to just play with the Dylusions sprays, so I experiment with colors, dilutions of the original sprays, then let these dry naturally on most occasions. Sometimes I will blot with paper towels or perhaps a piece of lace that is kept on the airbrush desk for airbrushing..or just whatever my hand picks up. Then later I pull out one of these, to use as a background. So I can't always say what colors I used...but you get the idea from what you see here, that it was blues, the pinks, turquoise.....Had also used a flower stencil in the play on this piece, but not sure if it's showing up here. Probably sprayed with a blue over the stencil, but I could have just laid the stencil down in the wet spray too. Sorry, I just don't remember, and not even sure if the flower stencil shows in this photo anyway, but I can see it IRL, and I like the pattern.

- stamped an IO bird stamp (E13046- Dina Kowal Designs) using a Versafine navy blue pigment ink - cause I couldn't find the Black StazOn. I'm finding that the Memento Tuxedo Black, which is always on my desk, is just not giving a real crisp sharply inked impression over these backgrounds. Sometimes that's ok, but for this I wanted the music on the bird silhouette to show well. There's also a pretty flower & leaf motif above the tail, but I covered that up pretty much with the flowers & leaves.

- additional leaves punched from another Dylusions snippet using Elizabeth Craft Curvy Leaves (730) dies, shaped with a stylus on a rubber mat thing-y. Roses were from a NBUS package, and were adhered as is. Thought about spraying or sponging, decided not to. The hot pink looks pretty with the pink in the background.

- Navy blue snippet cut for matting, rubbed some silver Viva Décor Inca paste around the edges for some glimmer. Hot pink card base from a textured Bazzill.

- sheer purple tone ribbon VOS - pearl added to hide the knot.

- Elizabeth Craft sentiment die from the same snippet as the leaves.

That is it! Shaping the leaves probably was the longest effort on this one. But I like it! So ya'll have a grand weekend, and hope the weather is giving my Northern friends a break. I hope my UK friends are getting some rain relief too! Thanks for stopping & many Cyber Hugs.

 

 

Dylusions Seascape with Ryn Bubbles Stamp

Good morning sweet visitor. Warm welcomes to all but especially to a new follower, Maureen of Mau's Place. I had been seeing links to this lovely blog as I swooped around some other blogs; followed a link, paid a visit, and found a new friend. What a joy! Please give yourself a treat, and check out Mau's Place. Now if I just knew how to do all that fancy-schmancy stuff Miz Darnell has started doing of late, where she not only provides the links to her new buddies, but also posts a picture, I'd try to do that too! It's such a sweet touch to add for her new friends!  And if you don't know our Darnell, well...you're missing out on your blogging experience. She's not only a skilled cardster, but she's funny too, and what a vocabulary. She of the NBUS word. (Don't tell me you don't know what NBUS stands for? Gosh, you'd better visit Darnell!) I always leave her place after some good chuckles and inspiration. Thanks Darnell for all you do!

One other tidbit: If you notice in the sidebar, our favorite Miss Pixie - of Crafty Snippets Playground fame - created a button for us--Keys to the Playground! Check it out, and do come & visit in the Playground when you can. You'll enjoy it, I promise.

Anyhoo, we are meeting some old high school buddies for lunch in a few minutes; then I have to zip back home, brush my teeth super well, and head to the dentist. At best I will be having a crown...at worst - I may need a root canal.

So here goes with an experimental card that started with no idea beyond using a previously created Dylusions background.

 



- Dylusions blue sprays, think there may have been one of the purple sprays too. This was created quite a while back.

- the wonderful Ryn Water Droplets Stamp* was added after stamping the sea scape stamp*, which also had a few bubbles, but not as many as I wanted.  (EDIT:  sorry - it was Rising Bubbles. Both were on my desk, but until I cleaned stamps that evening I was mistaken in which I had used! ..Fish scene is Fish Friends by Artful Stamper.)

- fish & plants colored with Spicas & gelly roll pens. Wink of Stella pen over places for added glitz.

- Die-Versions Whisper die Sweet Seahorse die cut from a snippet of turquoise-teal that was just the right size to fit the die. Smooshed into a Versamark ink pad, then sprinkled Ranger Snowflakes sparkle EP over it. The turquoise-teal color just didn't look 'right' after I placed it against the card, so I played with the EP. IRL it sparkles very nicely, but I don't like the white look against the blue. I had hoped some of the paper color might come through the EP, but -- it didn't! Remember I said I was experimenting!

Yesterday I received an order from Joggles, and had some of the Wink of Stella pens (not the brush tip, but a marker tip). I think I'm going to like these pens. Again, I had some fast shipping, so that made me happy!

Ya'll enjoy the day, and hope if any of you are where the storms are wreaking such havoc, that you are staying warm and not having to shovel too much snow. Thanks for stopping by, and many big Hugs!

*If you're interested I can provide the stamp manufacturer.

Sparkle n Sprinkle Daisy Rectangle

Good afternoon, lovely visitor. First let me welcome 2 new friends:

Gail L. of What's Normal and Hazel E. of HazelsBasketsofJoy.  Thanks so much for choosing to follow me; Gail had to work especially hard to join as Blogger was misbehaving. I do appreciate you taking all the time to persevere considering all the aggravations. So please do take a few moments to pay a visit to these wonderful people for some most enjoyable inspiration.

One other shout out to Cornelia of Fun Stamping. She has an excellent idea for making a lightbox to take photos (and hers are awesome). It's certainly worth your time to pay a visit and see the tutorial & pictures she has posted. All of us who are not-so-great photographers can learn some good stuff! Thanks Cornelia, for doing this great tutorial.

I'm a bit tired of Valentine cards (still got 2 very special ones to make still), and I wanted something that said "Spring". This cute little Daisy Rectangle stamp had jumped in the basket on a visit to Sparkle n Sprinkle; it looked as though it would be  easy coloring with any type of medium, and it WAS! I'm not fast with my coloring.

 

- Stamped Daisy on a snippet of white Xpress, using Memento Grey Flannel. Just started choosing markers in yellows, light oranges & I think an E35 too for the centers. Just kept laying down colors until I got something I liked. Greens were YG03 with a putty to shade. (In the YG family, but I forget the number!). Background colored with G0000. I made my daisies look more like tiny sunflowers with the brown centers, just because I wanted to!



 

- SnS Daisy Rectangle frame colors were Sakura gel star pen that looked silvery, then outer frame Spica yellow, then Sakura gell pen in yellow. IRL these sparkle very nicely.

 

- Curly frame was a white snippet - probably a bit left from inside one of the C/B heavy plastic embossing frames that also had a cutout. This bit hid deep in the already colored images box. Used DI greens to shade it. Added some Brushable glue around the edges, then sprinkled with SnS Semi Transparent Diamond Dust.  Trying to use more of the glitters that I have stockpiled.

 

- Inside part of a S/B Twisted Metal Accent using a snippet from a Dylusions background created with the green, yellow & chocolate browns...all of which had been diluted with water & water & white linen. It's fun to see the different effects from these combos, and also what air drying or blotting will create.

 

- MS border punch, and some American Craft twine (another product I need to use more). Button is really VOS. I've collected buttons for years (don't anymore though!) and I have buttons from my Mom, some Aunts, and a friend who does estate sales used to buy jars of buttons for me. This one really looks grunge-y, and I debated on using it. Decided it would be my 'vintage' item. Hope you like this one. It went together very fast, especially for my slowness!

 

Now you've seen there are snippets on this card, so you know what's next! Off to the Snippets Playground and since I'm sure you have those little critters hanging around your craft area, why not jump o'er the Pond and have some fun.

 

Will also enter in the Sparkle n Sprinkle January Challenge, since lots of SnS products were used.

 

Thanks so much for joining me this afternoon. Hugs.

Mulberry Wood Sweet Love

Hi Ya, and Good Morning. We have sunshine, the temps are warming up, one scheduled 'fixit' tech has showed up as promised, and we are waiting on another one. I finished a card last night, so here we go:

- Mulberry Wood image (Sweet Love), stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black onto Xpress paper, colored with copics, spica pens & Wink of Stella. The image is adhered with dimensional foam onto the border panel.

- My Favorite Things Die-namics circle die that has the piercing in the die. Love it! I'm trying to find the oval set. Smudged Victorian Velvet & Pickled Raspberry while still in the die.

- Dylusions Background: Cherry Pie, Postbox Red sprays that were diluted with white linen. Teal and Fresh Lime diluted with water. Perfect Pearls copper lightly spritzed after the Dylusions layer had dried. (This was a background I had done earlier, and thought it looked nice with the image.  ??).

- Border is matted with black rectangle that opens & has some punched heart shapes that were embossed with a Darice hearts EF, then used Versamark & added some Sparkle n Sprinkles white detail to one heart, peppermint stick to the other heart. A Valentine verse will be added to the card insert. Heart paper is a a snippet from Basic Gray 6x6 Kneehigh. Black matting was also a snippet.

The January 2014 challenge theme over at Penny Black and More is Love is in the Air so I'll be linking this little bear as it looks like love to me! I think this one might just go to DH...

So hope you'll give that challenge a look-in, as I'm sure you have plenty of Valentine cards to share!

Since there are a few snippets in use on this card, and since I missed several weeks over at the Snippets Playground, I think I shall go check on the fence repair progress, and see if the goat has turned up. C'mon along if you can. The weather may be frosty but the welcome will certainly be warm. Just bring along your snippety card as a ticket to enter in the fun.

Our next repair tech just called that he is on his way, so I'm off. We just discovered that our natural gas hot water heater pilot is out; DH's back doesn't want him crouching down to relight it, so have still another fella on call that we hope will show up later. Else we will be getting cold showers, and it's much too chilly for that to be fun! Have a great day, stay warm and come back again when you can visit.  Hugs

Friday Fun Day Challenge #30

Good afternoon & big welcome. Since it's Friday (Errgh - the 13th!), you know that's it Friday Fun Day at Jo's Scrap Shack . So pull up a chair by the fire, have a cup of something hot, and let's visit for a little while, if you've got time.

Our theme for this Friday was selected by fellow DT member Amanda who chose the theme Winter. Our sponsor was Stamp Art Design by Kathryne and I chose this little guy (Snow Mail). Isn't he adorable? Colored up very easily too, after printing on Copic Xpress paper, and I used copic markers with some spica glitter pens.

Here he is:

- Outlined one Snowmail image with a Sakura silver star gel pen after airbrushing the sky with B0000. Colored a second copy with copics, fussy cut Snowy & Mailbird, which were popped over the silvery outline. The little touch of silver that shows underneath the arms, adds to the frosty feel.  Sparkle n Sprinkle Cloud 9 added along the ground for some snowy texture. S/B Deckled Rectangle die cut the focal image, and thin black mat cut with Perfect Layers Rulers, which I'm trying to learn to use properly.

-  Dylusions Blues created the background on 90# water color paper. Some sprays were pure color, some diluted, some mixed with white linen. I spritzed the paper first so that the sprays would run. Added some pearly spray & a spritz of gold after the colors had started to 'set', but not yet dried, so that I could tilt the paper & get some color spreading. Sometimes I blot with a paper towel - which I did on this one - sometimes just allow to air dry. Air drying gives a more marble look I think. Thought this piece created the illusion of falling snow.

- Impression Obsession die cut trees (DIE084-V) out of a white textured snippet, popped up with tape, added stickles on the branches for glittering snow.

- MS drippy goo border punch using a glossy paper snippet which made great icycles, added some stickles just cause I was in the stickles mood! :-). This border is for Halloween I think, but it made some good icycles too.

- Winter sentiment is from the 3 Twenty Crafts Winter Wonderland set, stamped on a white snippet inked with Memento Bahama Blue ink.

We'd love to see what you create using the Winter theme, so please pop over to Jo's Scrap Shack for the simple rules, link up and play along with us for FFC 30 this week. Do check out what the fellow DT members have created for your inspiration today.

In the meantime, have a wonderful Friday, get ready to enjoy the weekend. As always, thanks for visiting & come again when you have time to chat! Hugs

3 Twenty Crafts - A New Stamp Company

Hello & good afternoon to all you lovely bloggers at the start of another week.
 

Welcome to Jo’s Scrap Shack’s Surprise Blog Hop! Why a “surprise” hop? Well up until now it had to be kept as a surprise but today…is the day another dream comes true!

 Ready for the surprise? Today’s hop is the first day of a 4 day hop and the new launch and release of a brand new company called “3 Twenty Crafts”!

Jo has decided to launch her very own company and stamp line!!! It's so exciting, right?? Every day we will be showing you a  brand new stamp set from 3 Twenty Crafts and you certainly don't want to miss this!

The stamp set premiered each day will be given away to one lucky winner. To win the set you must hop along and visit each design team member’s blog, leave a comment and then comment on Jo’s blog and let her know that you have completed the hop! The winner will be random and we have no idea which blog the winner will be chosen from. So make sure to visit each blog and leave some bloggy love!

 Today we are showing you the new and awesome stamp set “Happy Harvest”

  

 This is what I created using this stamp set.

 My first card with the new 3 Twenty Crafts Happy Harvest clear stamp set uses a Sizzix EF over one of the Dylusions backgrounds I had created earlier. Did a bit of shading on the leaves & tree trunk and some shadows around the tree & fencing. The pumpkin motif from the set was stamped on a snippet of another Dylusions background using Memento Rich Cocoa. Colored with Derwent Inktense pencils.  Apples were stamped on a snippet white Xpress paper, colored with copics. Highlighted with a white Signo pen, and pumpkins & apples were fussy cut. Popped up with dimensional tape. The sentiment from the Harvest set was stamped on another snippet with Rich Cocoa, cut in a rectangle, rounded corners, edged with DI Spiced Marmalade & Barn Door. Used Antique Linen and Tea Dye to avoid the very 'white' look. Added the 2 apples and this is a finished card! I quite like it. Loved the stamps too.

 

 

I could only fit one of the cutout pumpkin stamps on the 1st card (and since I had worked hard coloring these I wasn't about to not use them!) I decided to make a second card with the new Happy Harvest stamp set. Card base covered with a glossy pumpkin motif paper from a small DCWV stack of seasonal appropriate paper. The brown border is from another DCWV that was a textured companion of solids to the patterned pack. Used an MS twig border punch for the edges. Another harvest gold piece was trimmed, embossed with a favorite dots folder. A small snippet of the brown rectangle was embossed with Versamark, the Ranger Queen's Gold for the sentiment. Popped up my pencil colored punkins and at the last minute added the little flower as I spied it lurking a-top the mess on my desk!

 

If you've any questions about the products used on these cards, please leave a comment, and I will edit the post to answer.

Well my friends that is my project for today. I sure hope you have enjoyed hearing the great news and I hope you are as excited as I am about this awesome-ness!! LOL

Just a reminder.. In order to win Happy Harvest, visit each blog along the hop and leave a comment! Also, all four sets that will be released this week will be available for purchasing on Thursday, November 21^st at 3pm and will ship out on Monday, November 25th!

 Soooo are you ready for some Blog Hoppin Fun??? I'm the last stop on the hop, but if you get lost along the way, just start at Jo's Scrap Shack at the beginning.  Don't forget to check in at Jo's Scrap Shack to let her know you visited all the Team Members, so that you can be in the running for the prize stamp set.

Thanks so much for stopping by and hopping with us today and make sure to join us tomorrow for another sneak peak at another great stamp set by 3 Twenty Crafts!

 

Also, thanks for visiting here on Carolina Cards and have a wonderful day. Hugs.

Friday Fun Day Challenge at Jo's Scrap Shack

Good Morning. Today's Friday Fun Day Challenge #24 over at Jo's Scrap Shack is being sponsored by Limited Runs Digital Stamps for Team A.  I chose this Flower with Lady bug image to make a card following the sketch provided to the Design Team.

- Printed the Limited Runs digi on Copic Xpress paper, colored with copics; die cut with a S/Binder circle and used DI Peeled Paint to sponge around the edges while still in the die. The background had been colored with Copic G0000.

- Background created with Orange Zest, Pure Sunshine & Dry Martini Dylusions sprays. The Dry Martini spray was a dilution of water with White Linen added. Sprayed some gold Tattered Angels over the Dylusions spray and let dry naturally, after tilting the w/c paper to allow the puddles to marble. Different pieces created this way were used for the S/B Lacey Circle mat, and circle trims were created with different punches, in order to follow the sketch. I rearranged the position of the circles to fit horizontal card design. Some of the pieces were snippets from other projects (the banner & the smaller circles). The scalloped circle & lacey mat were created during this session using sprays listed.

I'm Dreaming of a Pink Christmas

Good Morning, and welcome to 2 new followers: Kimbo of Kimbo's Cards & Cats and Christine of Christine's Cards and Crafts. I urge you to visit both these blogs because you are going to see some beautiful cards that will inspire you. In my travels around different blogs, I am always so amazed at the artistry & talent that I get to enjoy. Also delighted to find some new followers! (Hmm...could be some more candy in the future...!)

Over at Jingle Bells, there is a fantastic challenge going on, (where you can find the Linky tool) and when I saw the theme, I knew I had to try to participate. Please do check it out, as it is very worthwhile. There are some goodies available, but the biggest prize is the chance to do something to help other people. The title of the Challenge is I'm Dreaming of a Pink Christmas(and a Cure) (where you can read about the challenge).  The rules are pretty simple...make a card featuring Pink. For each card, $2 is donated to the Susan K. Komen Foundation - up to $4, but you can enter as many cards as you wish.

Here's mine.

- Elizabeth Craft Ornament #2 die made from Dylusions sprayed background with colors Bubblegum Pink, Cherry Pie and Funky Fuschia. Some of the colors had the white linen dilution, some were full strength. Pink rhinestones added for some bling. Silver rickrack hangers.

- Ruby Red Shimmer Sheetz embossed with a Darice Snowflake EF, then sanded.

- card base background was a cream & gold 6x6 paper that got DI Victorian Velvet, Spun Sugar and Raspberry Pink sponged all over it.

- added the rhinestone snowflakes and a sticker sentiment, which is silver on glossy card stock.

Hope you like it, and that it inspires you to join in the Jingle Bells Pink Christmas Challenge. Thanks for joining me this morning, and have an absolutely wonderful day. Hugs

Friday Fun Day Challenge at Jo's Scrap Shack

Good Morning, and welcome to another Friday Fun Day challenge #22 over at Jo's Scrap Shack. Today the sponsor for Team A is Bugaboo Digi Stamps. I've chosen the very easy to color, Autumn Sign. Our challenge was "Anything Goes", and I thought I'd read somewhere "anything but a card". Decided I'd try using this cute little digi on a tag, experiment with some of the molding paste that I've gotten in my recent travels. Here is the tag:

 







- Manilla tag sprayed with Dylusions Orange Zest, Postbox Red, Melted Chocolate - which had been diluted with water & White Linen which made the sprays more opaque. The Chocolate was water with some Tattered Angels Gold, which doesn't show in the photo, but created a pretty bronze glimmer to the painted surface.

 

Friday Funday Challenge #19 at Jo's Scrap Shack

Hello and thanks for joining me this morning. Since it's Friday, you know it is a Funday Friday Challenge over at Jo's Scrap Shack.  This week is our sponsor is Digital stamps by Kenny K. I chose Harper Blue as my image to feature for this week's challengetheme of National Womens Friendship Day which was selected by fellow DT mate, Brenda. So here's the card I have to share:

- Kenny K Harper Blue digi was printed on Copic Xpress paper. I printed 2 images, then printed again on 2 different DP's, as I had decided to try paper piecing again. (this is _not_ easy for me, folks!). Harper's flared jeans reminded me of jeans we wore back in the '60's - which I'm sure many of you can't remember that far back!. So that mandated my choice of papers to piece her clothing; then colored skin & hair with copics. I colored the arms and neck on my 2nd c/stock print, cut them out and adhered to the base image. Otherwise her braceleted arm would have been underneath the pieced jeans. Her belt & bracelets were colored with Lipstick Red Spica pen, and IRL - these glitter a bit..as does her lipstick. Her hair got a bit of glossy accents for some added shine, as did her platform shoes. As I recall, these espadrille wedgie shoes from the '60's were of a fiber similar to coir rugs. Not a favorite style of mine, and the one pair I had - were miserable to try to walk in without being 'wobbly'. Diecut the image with a S/B oval, then embossed it with one of the Gold Ovals. Airbrushed the background in BG0000.

- Used rectangles from the clothing DP for background layering, and embossed the check piece with a Darice Chevron EF.

Sunset Trees

Good afternoon, and it's a beautiful one in our area...very sunny after our rainy Wednesday, but a nice cool breeze blowing about. We are just back from running errands, some medical, some not. Had a nice lunch while we were out. Wanted to share another Dylusions background card and I have another one for later, in another colorway. Used the same stamp on both of them..but they look quite different with another set of sprays.

- Background done with diluted Dylusions sprays as I have described in earlier posts. I let this one dry naturally after a slight dab with a paper towel sheet. I just sort of 'blotted' quickly, not really drying it. I had selected colors thinking of a possible Halloween card, but when I saw the dried piece, it reminded me of a beautiful sunset.

- Memory Box tree stamp using Memento Rich Cocoa.

Dylusions

Good afternoon, and our Sunday is on the downslope toward late evening. It's been a lovely day; we even got in some swing time on the front porch. My #1 brother & SIL came by for a little visit, and to borrow a tool from DH. This brother is the family handyman, but unfortunately in the last years, he's had lots of eye problems. While we were in the driveway, saying goodbye to them, #2 brother walked by with his little dog (a Schnauzer). So we all chatted for a few minutes. They left and then DH, Bro #2 & I adjourned to the front porch to sit and yak a spell. There was a lovely breeze, so it was very pleasant to sit out.

Trying to play catch up with a few loads of laundry that didn't get done yesterday while we swanned off to the stamp show. Met a friend at the entrance and she & I stayed together, while DH wandered off to spot stuff that he thought I should see. We also met a bunch of our other stamp buddies from the Thursday stamp group I used to attend. It was delightful to see them after several months. Will try to spread out all the loot and take a picture of some of the stuff we bought. Oh it was fun, even though we didn't have as many vendors attending as have in previous years.

I had mentioned that Friday night I took a Mixed Media class (No, definitely NOT getting in journaling, but I enjoyed the techniques we learned).

So here's a couple pictures of the 12x12 sheet I produced using gesso (first layer on the paper), drying gesso, then spraying with Dylusions, adding some other products. We each picked a set of the sprays, choosing colors we thought would go well together (I chose blues), sprayed over the dried gesso, then wipe or swirl with a baby wipe or paper towel. I had textured my application of gesso - so had some ridge-y places. Most of the other students kept their gesso layer flat, so it dried faster. I wanted to try the textured look that I've seen on some blogs. The green places in the work were applications of Acrylic Silk paste, spread along the margin, then spritzed with water, watch it run, or blot it as you chose to do. The Silk Acrylics were a new product to me as well as the gesso, stone art, and pearlized embossing paste.

12x12 finished page- started with basic cream card stock

 



lower left section-after drying the surface, added stamping; Stone Art paste through a stencil (leaves) then painted with pearlized texture paste and Dylusions mixed together on a palette, using a brush

Butterfly charm, spots painted with pearlized paste mixed with Dylusion spritzed into it. Big Brush pen coloring the hummingbird

closeup of Stone Art raised surface- no color added

 

 

 

Gesso added through butterfly stencil, then leveled off using a palette knife. later added some color using a Faber Castell Big Brush pen, which can be blended while wet

 

Close up of the butterfly stencil & gesso. There is a bit of pearlized paint on the body.

 

 

The 2 sisters who taught this class were first time teachers. They did a fantastic job, answered all our questions - even those that didn't specifically pertain to the particular techniques we were doing for this class. All of us had 'what if' questions, and the ladies were so enthusiastic about trying to discuss - from either their personal experimentation, or just a general class discussion based on one person's knowledge about the processes we were asking about. It was so informative & good for me, because I'm a sort of 'controlled crafter', not great about just winging it with new techniques. This class led us to just be 'free' with our experimentation, and once I got started, I had a lot of fun. I did take a pair of think latex gloves, which I've learned is a good tool to use when I'm working with the Dylusions sprays. Don't like getting my hands all sticky, discolored - whatever, so the gloves are a necessary tool for me.

 

Thanks for popping in to visit this evening & I hope your weekend was just grand. Hugs