02-17-2022

Hello-

Its a nice day here, but I think the cold is coming back soon.  Today I am doing laundry and making a card or two. I was fascinated with the cards at CAS Mix Up Challenge - Faux Cloisonne. I have at least one jewelry piece that is Cloisonne so I had to try it out. I am also linking up at Stampin Sensations -February things with wings or tails.

  

I don't subscribe to any magazines, so I was at a loss.  Then the Costco Connection arrived.  Flipping through it, I found a charcuterie board and thought the section of grapes might work... 

I powdered the page and stamped and cut it out roughly. Then using a piece of double sided tape sheet added a stiff piece of card stock behind it. I stamped with versamark added gold ep and heated it up. Now for me, the magazine paper was very static-y, so in the small spaces the ep was not quite so precise. But I think it looks cool. I fussy cut the dragon fly and finished the card with a center panel on a colored card base. I love this sentiment, that came in a SU set (Flowing Flowers).

 

Here is a close up of the dragon fly.

So I used a die cut, some stamping and the Faux Cloisonne technique for this card.

If you haven't already give it a try, it was fun. 

Thanks so much for visiting.

11-01-21

 Hello November...wow can it really be NOVEMBER? 

As I was going through blogs this afternoon, I saw CAS Mix UP and thought I better play now. I often wait too long.

 

 

I used a flower stencil, diestress inks in some reds, orange and yellow. I die cut my favorite part of the print and added a white triple layer diecut on top. The center of the flower was dipped on a gold ink pad. The sentiment was stamped and fussy cut then mounted with foam tape. Because I couldn't leave it alone I added 3 black dots.

Have you tried a stencil mono print? Its fun and the challenge is open until the 24th of November.

Thanks for visiting.

CAS Mix Up Alcohol Inks and Vellum

 Hello-

We made our first trip since late 2019 to Ohio last week having returned just this mid week. It was wonderful to see the family and to catch up. 

When I got back I looked through challenges and was so taken with the lovely inspiration over at CAS Mix Up I had to play along.

I have a set of cards for fun and a single card for the challenge.   I used the alcohol inks with a straw to move the color around.  White die cuts were used for the card set and a cute and silly little stamp set from The Greetery was used for the stand alone card.

If you haven't played with Alcohol inks and vellum before give it a try.

Here is my entry for the challenge using stamping, alcohol inks and die cutting: I really liked the juxtaposition of the cartoonish starfish with the artsy background.

I made several inked panels and below are some of the other cards I made for a set of note cards. No stamping; I'll decide if I separate them and use them individually if they will have sentiments on the front.  

These were just more play time and not for entry.

Thanks so very much for coming by to visit.

Have a Beautiful Day

 Hello-

I recently got the MFT Butterflies and had a play with them.  

This card will be visiting CAS Mix UP Challenge and If You Give a Crafter a Cookie.

The butterflies were gold embossed and colored with watercolor markers and a water brush.  Then I found this lovely edge cut piece in my stash of diecuts and stamp offs crafty friends have shared. If you recognize this die cut....thank you many times over. I love it.  And if you know the name and maker, please let me know. I might need to have this one in my stash permanently.

 

Thanks so much for visiting.

Happy Birthday

 One more card before I try to sleep...

This one will be visiting Addicted to Stamps, CAS Mix Up Card Challenge and Seize the Birthday.

A new stencil from Simon Says Stamp that is HUGE. I found some blooms in line and set it up on my panel. I used a few post it notes to block off areas I didn't want ink to flow over into.  I thought my yellow was stronger, but it looks like the orange played bully...lol.  No matter a yellow cardbase and sentiment strip and all the rainbow colors are included in this stenciled birthday bouquet.

Thanks much for visiting.

In the pink

 Hello-

My dreaded vampire hours have returned. My days are flipped night for day.  The only productive thing I get done is catching up on reading.  I can't do laundry as our washer and dryer are near the bedroom and hubs is a light sleeper.  Ditto with my crafty space and its inherent noises (Paper cutter, heat gun...)

I have a  card today to post to a few challenges. CAS Mix Up Challenge, NBUS, and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge. 

At CAS Mix up we need to use a stencil with heat embossing.  My NBUS item is the stencil Peeking Chrysanthemums from Artplorations. Simon is asking for favorite technique- for me its still the magic of heat embossing which sucked me into this hobby.

I cut a slimline card base and inked up the stencil with Hero Arts Neon pink ink heavily at the center then very lightly towards the longer petals.  On the main bloom at the bottom I added versamark  then lifted the stencil to heat and add sticky embossing powder through the stencil and some very fine glitter after activating the sticky powder with heat. One more light heating and it was nicely glittered.  Lastly I added ink to the remaining images on the stencil but left them plain.  (The embossing changed the ink color just a bit, but I like that it keeps the focus on the bottom bloom.)

After adding the sentiment, I chopped off about an inch from the top of the card. The new dimensions are 7.5 inches by 3.5 inches. 

Below is a close up of the heat embossing.

Thanks so much for visiting.

Winter Wishes

 Hello Makers-

I have a card today for CAS Mix Up Card challenge where Hilary is hosting and the theme is Splatters.

This cute penguin trio from Newton's Nook Designs were stamped, colored with copics, die cut and foam mounted onto the panel.  The panel was ink blended and splattered with both black and white inks.  Two die cut pieces were added to the top and bottom of the card to give a clean edge. The entire panel was die cut and mounted on a dark gray card.

Thank you so much for stopping by.

Peace

 Hello-

Today I had a wonderful tele crafting session with Peggy. She was a lot more efficient than I was.  But I do love the card I created.  It was inspired by Less is More (Red & Gold) and CASMix UP Card Challenge (Watercolor and off the edge.)

I started with Simon Says Stamps Center Cut Holiday Floral stamped and embossed in gold on cold press watercolor paper.  I used a red Karin marker and some red gold Gansai Tambi watercolor to selectively color in bits of the stamp which was stamped off the edge of the paper.  Once done, I fussy cut the bottom edge and mounted it to a red card base. I love the drama of the dark red and the lighter watercolored panel.

  

Thanks much for visiting!

Vitamin Sea

Hello -

It is another afternoon in the crafty space while catching up around the house.
 

I am playing along with CAS Mix Up Challenge.  I have a cute sentiment from Newton's Nook and I watercolored a beachy scene over it after having heat embossed it in white.  I used distress markers for my colors Antique Linnen, Salty Ocean, and Blueprint Sketch.  I used them both the dry watercolor paper, and on the wet paper using a wet brush to move the color around to give some depth and texture to the card front.

Thanks for stopping by!

CAS Mix UP

Hey there -

Another card tonight.  I decided to play with CAS Mix up.  After flipping through my stencils I settled on a rose stencil by Tim Holtz. 

First, I put a gold gel ink pen to the stencil and traced all the openings, next I sponged a very light layer of distress ink in worn lipstic over it.  I cut a portion off and mounted it over two strips of gold washing on either side.  I added a heat embossed sentiment in gold to finish the card.

This was a fun new way to use a stencil. IF you haven't tried it give it a go.  Thanks so much for visiting.

Sending Hugs

Hello -

Today I dug out a jar of gesso. Hubs wrestled with it to get the lid off the jar.  Its an old jar. Fortunately it was still wet and of a spreading consistency.

This card is inspired by CAS Mix it UP challenge.  I am often learning a new technique with that challenge, and that is what calls me to the challenge.  I chose a Hero Arts background stamp and applied the gesso. I then laid a panel on it to lift the pattern of the gesso.  It was messy and I immediately went to wash off the rubber stamp and my paint brush. 

After it dried, I added three shades of distress inks.  Then I wiped off the panel with a damp rag. I was not fond of the panel once it dried so I decided to die cut some flowers from it.  I used a layering die from Altenew.  I also  added a layer of polka dotted paper to the layers.

The flower is so heavy with pattern and color, I decided to lighten up the card with a  pale corner stamping of an envelope liner patters, added white die cut leaves and a simple sentiment.  I used the gesso resist, stamping, and diecuts.


I dislike tossing a project once started.  This one took a lot of effort as it was so far out of my comfort zone. I am satisfied with the end result. 



Thanks for visiting.

Thank you

What do you do when you wake up in the middle of the night with a card idea that won't let you sleep?   I get up and make the darned card.

Such is the case this wee early morning.  (I've always said 3am should never be seen unless you haven't been to sleep!)

CAS Mix up has been nagging at my brain, and I had the perfect dies for it.  They are Simon Says Stamp's  partial cut flowers.  I do know how to perform the technique by stopping the die cutting before it completes the design, but I love these little blooms and they are partially die cut so should qualify.

I've laid out my flower dies on the front panel, taped them in place and cut them, then I did the same to a dark gray scrap.  I sandwiched the dark gray panel between the main and cardbase.

Before adhering it I pushed the petals outward for some dimension. I added some foam dots to keep the petals from lying flat again.

Before adding the sequin centers I die cut the panel to add stitching and a scalloped edge. All was mounted onto a pale gray cardbase and the sentiment was stamped and then heat embossed. 

I added some interest to the top petals free hand using a pale gray marker.

This photo shows a close up of the partial diecut, the under petals, the stitching, and the marker strokes on the petals. 

This was a very quick and easy card to make, writing up the post took twice as long.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Triple CAS

Hi there -

Where has this month gone????  I looked at the calendar and saw it was the 24th and realized I had yet to play along with the ladies at the CAS challenges...so I got myself to my craft space and had some play time.

 

I started with CAS Stencil - Monoprint, because it needed drying time.

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 Next I played with CAS Mix up -  Oxidized Metal. 

This one was tough for me for some reason.

I have stamping, oxidized metal and embossing both dry and heat.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My final card is for CAS Watercolour - Monochromatic

I used reds from the distress inks and some gold embossing hopefully this 

counts as a neutral and doesn't disqualify the card.

It was an enjoyable evening of crafting and getting inky.  Thanks for visiting and have a fabulous week.

More Foiling

Hello-

I tried foiling the other day...I had a learning curve, but eventually got it.  So I wanted to try it again.

I had some of my alcohol inked yupo left over and I cut some leaves using Lawn Fawn's stitched leaves.  Then I using a glue pen with a roller ball I added glue to the veins. After it dried (it becomes tacky when dry) I added foil over the top of the veins.  The sentiment comes from Winnie and Walter and was gold heat embossed.  I used a stitched  coverplate to add some interest and texture to the card front, mounted the leaves and the sentiment strip and that finished the card.

This card is going to CAS Mix UP and If You Give a Crafter a Cookie.

      

Thanks so much for stopping by.

hello

Good Day -
I was up early after sleeping as opposed to up early and not having gone to sleep yet.  So I decided to tackle the challenge at CAS Mix up - Foiling.

I had watched several of the videos yesterday.  I don't have a laminator, but I did have some foil sheets taking up space in a drawer.  They'd been there so long I was beginning to wonder if they'd gone bad.  I used foiling, stamping, heat embossing, AI Inks, and die cutting.

It was a true mix up...on my part. If you want to read about it... carry on below.

I pulled a bit of yupo paper out along with butterscotch, valencia, and sublime alcohol inks.  I added ink to a felt bit added some blending solution and pounced around my yupo.  Then I tried adding veins of foil. I kept getting ink on the foil but no foil on the ink.  So I decided to clear emboss the AI prepared yupo.  I got lots of fun bumps and still couldn't get any gold.  Since I had planned on die cutting some leaves from foiled paper any way I went to do that, and I finally figured out why nothing was working.  I applied be creative tape to some card stock, stuck the foil down and pulled the foil edge back up...well I tried to pull it up.  IT was good and stuck and it finally dawned on me I was trying to transfer foil from the wrong side.  Come on ... both sides of that stuff is shiny.

Once I figured out my mishandling, it was easy to play.  I added some light foiling to the yupo piece it stuck to the bumps from the clear embossing.  I die cut the Hello.  Next some two-sided tape on card stock and some Lawn Fawn leaves were cut out to highlight my Hello die cut from Winnie and Walter.  The last bit of mix up was I had no stamping.  But I fixed that quickly with a W&W stamp  and gold heat embossing.

All of those trials and not one bad word in thought or deed!  I am probably going to have another go at this before the month is out.

Thanks so much for visiting.

Thank You

Hello -


Tonight I worked on a card for CAS Mix Up Challenge.  The theme is:

Inchies are inch squares.  

For my card I stamped a Paper Smooches image from Rosie Posey, in a pale ink and did a no-line coloring effect with copic markers.  I then measured and cut out a 2 inch by three inch panel from that image.  I also cut a 2.25 x3.25 inch panel in black.  The colored panel was then cut into 6 one by one inch pieces.  I put adhesive on the back of all six, and then placed foam tape under three of the inchies.

I then placed them onto the black panel starting with the upper left which was on foam tape, next I placed the lower left flat to the panel. The middle two were placed opposite height wise from the two on the left. The two on the right were placed the same heights as the two on the left.  The entire black panel was also foam mounted to the white card base with a simple stamped and heat embossed sentiment in black.

 side view showing raised inchies

  side view showing raised inchies

Thank you so much for visiting!

Couple of CAS Challenges

Hi There,

How is it the 21st of August already...it was just July!  I love the CAS Challenges (Mix Up, Watercolor, Christmas and Stencil). They've introduced me to many new techniques. 

For this post, I am showing cards for two of the challenges: CAS Stencil and CAS Mix UP.

 

I started with the stencil card,  I placed a Flower Frenzy stencil on watercolor paper and spritz it with two shades of Heidi Swap sprays teal and green.  I mopped up with a paper towel there were lots of splooges all over.  The blotting made the sprays lighter.  So my first two attempts will be kept for something later.  My third attempt I used hot press water color card, and I had a bit better control on the spray.  I was able to get a light spray.  I love how the colors mixed.   I decide to add some clear pearl embossing powder ontop. The spray is very sticky so this worked well.  I love the texture and pearl effect this gave off.

My next card is for CAS Mix Up. 

 

I took the messy and sticky paper towel and laid it on more hotpress watercolor paper.  After lightly spritzing with water, I put a round stamping block on top of it and the used my fingertips to tamp down on it. I wanted to preserve the dimples from the paper towel in the color transfer.
 

I didn't get quite the look I wanted, the circle image wasn't clear enough, but the color with the dots intact was perfect.  So I diecut a window cardbase to go over the piece.  I die cut a daisy added it to the aperture,  heat embossed a sentiment on a strip of same the same  piece. That too was diecut and placed on the card front.


Both pieces are much more soft than my ususal colors, and I think they are great additions to my stash.  Thanks so much for visiting.

Last Minute CAS Cards

Hello -

Time has gotten away from me...mostly because of the vampire hours I keep I suppose.  I really wanted to play in both the CAS Mix Up Challenge and the CAS Stencil Challenge.  I was kinda bummed tonight as I was going to delete them from my list...but Yahoo thanks to the time zones I still had a couple of hours. I apologize to the DT's and coordinator of each challenge for the very late entries.



So here we go, one thank you card for each challenge because my stash is low and I am luckily suddenly in need of several.

 

My choices were Stamping my sentiment with Alcohol Lift pad and a stacked die cut.  

 

     

I use a small dauber that I repeatedly pounced on the alcohol lift pad and then into the open stencil areas.  This stencil is from Hero Arts.  This panel is a combination of regular AI and AI pearl inks.

This one also goes to CAS on Friday-Stencil.

 

Thanks so very much for visiting.