Oopsie!

I was trying to find a way to store a small amount of bleach for stamping purposes so I wouldn't have to haul out the gallon jug every time I needed some. If you let bleach see any light it will lose its potency and start breaking down pretty quickly.

I thought putting it in a plastic medicine bottle and sticking the bottle in something dark would do the trick. It didn't leak when I first put it in this cardboard deco box.

But apparently it did at some point. The bottle was too tall to stand up in the box, so I laid it down. Bad idea.

Oh well, back to the drawing board! Do you have any ideas you can share with me? I tried storing bleach in one of my water brushes. I even taped it all up with duct tape trying to keep the light out. It didn't work.

Do you think one of those dark eye dropper type medicine bottles would work? I think I'll have one available pretty soon. Will share what happens if I try it out!

God Bless America! ODBD Sneak peek!

Isn't this eagle the most regal creature?? It's from one of the upcoming May releases at Our Daily Bread Designs. The set is called In God We Trust and it has this handsome eagle and several sentiments. The sentiment I chose to use is from another May release called God Bless America! I am really liking the Versafine Onyx Black ink that Kelley sells in her store. It stamps such crisp, clean images. I'm reaching for it more than I am other blacks I have. But I'm not ruling out the other blacks. They all have their purpose.

For instance, I used Brilliance Graphite Black for the eagle because I wanted to heat emboss the image and then bleach it out and color it. I used Judikins Detail Black ep. Then I bleached out the image and colored it with many different mediums. I used Prismacolors, chalks, and even oil pastels. I just kept adding things to build up the colors. I used Prismacolor pencils to color the eye. Then I went over it with Mustard Green Twinkling H2Os. Then I put some Diamond Glaze over the eye for shine.

One of the last touches to the bird was some Glimmer Mist Pearl. I sprayed a pool on the table and brushed it over the white feathers to give them a sheen. It's like Pearl-Ex in liquid form. So pretty! And a little goes a long way!

The flower is actually an all white Prima from the Daisy Dreams Snow collection. I colored it with markers. If you buy white the options are endless! They're so easy to color!

After coloring it using SU Close to Cocoa and SU Summer Sun markers, I spritzed it ever-so-lightly with Glimmer Mist Pearl to match the eagle's feathers. Before attaching it to the black organdy ribbon I heated the ends of the ribbon with my heat gun to crimp them. Haven't done that in awhile!

The bird is cut out using the Nestabilities Labels One set. I paper pierced around 2 of the corners.

The striped paper is from the Basic Grey Archaic 6 x 6 pad. I thought it went perfectly with the patriotic theme and the eagle. Stripes just seem patriotic to me. I used the Ornare Decorative Corners piercing template in the corners. The eagle piece and the striped paper are all popped up with 3D-Dots (my fave!).

Thanks for looking! Please check out the other designers for Our Daily Bread Designs in my sidebar to see what others are creating!

Stamps: In God We Trust and God Bless America! by Our Daily Bread Designs

CS: Black, Basic Grey Archaic dp, Chocolate Chip

Inks: Versafine Onyx Black, Brilliance Graphite Black

Other: Nestabilities Labels One dies, Ornare Decorative Corners piercing template, paper piercing tool, sponge mat, Judikins Detail Black ep, Prima Daisy Dreams Snow flower, SU Close to Cocoa and Summer Sun markers, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Pearl, Prismacolor pencils, chalks, oil pastels, Diamond Glaze, 3D-Dots, Stamp-a-ma-jig, black organdy ribbon, heat gun, bleach, water brush, Mustard Green Twinkling H2Os

Hubby's Father's Day card

Recipe:

Stamps: Classic Pickups, Smorgasborders (sentiment)

Paper: Black, Basic Grey Urban Culture designer paper, Chocolate Chip

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black pigment ink, "Vintage Photo" Distress Ink by Tim Holtz, Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Ruby Red, Only Orange, Summer Sun, Real Red

Accessories: bleach, water brushes, sponges, Detail Black embossing powder, Prismacolor silver and gold pencils, Dimensionals, Diamond Glaze, antique brads, leather strips, 1/16" hole punch, 1/2" circle punch, 1/4" circle punch, sm. oval punch, Cuttlebug

Techniques: Bleaching, heat embossing, cuttlebugging

This is the card I made for my hubby for Father's Day using Beate's sketch challenge #5.

I really loved this simple design. Sometimes the simplest designs are the most satisfying to play with, don't you think?

As you can see, I used the Cuttlebug embossing folder yet again! I can't help it, I love the look, especially on designer paper.

I made this card as a 5.25" square to fit in my 5.5" square envelope. The directions are on Beate's blog (through the above link).

I used black as my background cs. For the inside, I made a square of Chocolate Chip cs to go inside so the sentiment phrase would be visible. I sponged the inside square's edges with Chocolate Chip ink after stamping the sentiments. Then I adhered it inside the card. Sorry for the poor sentence structure. :)

For the outside front, I used pieces of Basic Grey designer paper (Urban Couture, I think) and rubbed them with a vintage distress ink by Tim Holtz. Then I cuttlebugged them using the Mesh embossing folder. It was really tricky trying to line up the holes for the brads as they had to go through a little 1/2 circle piece of cs, the leather strip and the cuttlebugged cs. Very difficult. I won't even try to explain what I did. There's probably an easier way than mine. ;) The look was worth the trouble to me, thankfully.

For the oval sentiment, I used the smaller oval punch and sponged it with Chocolate Chip ink and punched 1/16" holes on either side. Then I punched 1/16" holes in black cs and, turning a 1/4" circle punch upside down, punched to get the smaller holes in the center - like a tiny doughnut. I used antique-finish brads and adhered them as you see. I used a bit of Diamond Glaze (Crystal Effects) on some Dimensionals to adhere the sentiment to the card front. That helps it adhere better to the Cuttlebugged surface.

For the pickup truck feature, I first powdered a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock with my embossing buddy pillow thingy. Then I stamped the truck using Brilliance Graphite Black pigment ink and heat embossed it with Detail Black ep. Then I bleached the inside design of the truck completely and colored it with a combination of waterbrush/inks and Prismacolor pencils (silver/gold for the chrome portions). I just kept applying color until I got it the way I wanted it. When finished, I sponged the area around the truck with Chocolate Chip ink, then mounted it to black cs. I adhered that piece to one side of the card with Dimensionals.

Thanks to Miz Beate, for the inspiration!

Father's Day card

Recipe:

Stamps: Horse stamp (can't remember maker), alphabet stamps by CTMH "Storytime alpha lower"
Paper: Black, Chocolate Chip, Basic Grey Urban Couture designer paper
Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black pigment ink, "Vintage Photo" Distress Ink by Tim Holtz, Chocolate Chip, More Mustard
Accessories: bleach, water brushes, sponges, Detail Black embossing powder, Dimensionals, Diamond Glaze, antique brads, leather strips, 1/16" hole punch, 1/4" circle punch, sm. oval punch, Cuttlebug "Mesh" embossing folder
Techniques: Bleaching, heat embossing, cuttlebugging

This card is for my dad using the same technique as this card.

I just used different colors and images. I bleached out the horses and used Chocolate Chip, Vintage ink by Tim Holtz, and More Mustard to get the dimensional look of the horses. The white parts are where I left the bleached part alone.