Birthday Watercolors

I took inspiration from another card I made (also seen in my current blog header) to create this one. I love the papers from the Memory Box Poppyfinch Collection. A pity they no longer offer it.

Recipe:

Stamps: Stampin' Up! More Petal Prints,"Happy Happy Birthday" sentiment by The Angel Company (TAC)

CS: Black, Memory Box Poppyfinch Collection, White

Inks: Versafine Onyx Black

Markers: SU! Old Olive, CTMH Topiary, CTMH Breeze, SU! Sage Shadow, SU! Basic Black

Other: Cuttlebug Textile embossing folder, Ornare Decorative Corners piercing template, piercing tool, sponge mat, Pigma Micron .01 pen, olive green organdy ribbon, black gingham ribbon, clear gems, water spritzer, Inkworx air art gun, foam tape

Blessings to You

Good day to you! I'm enjoying this break from the Internet so much that I might just make it a permanent thing! I am enjoying a greater closeness to my husband and children that I want to continue to foster. I had no idea my heavy online usage was hurting my family so much. I highly recommend turning off the computer more often! Your family will be blessed!

Despite my time offline, I still find time to stamp here and there. I pulled out an old standby technique that I used to do all the time: watercolor misting. Simply color your stamp with markers as you like and then spritz the stamp with water and stamp. Easy! And the results are so pretty!

I pray you have a wonderful week!

Stamps: Stampin' Up! More Petal Prints, TAC saying (unsure of set name)

CS: Black, Memory Box Poppyfinch collection, White

Inks: Versafine Onyx Black, Lovely Lilac, Orchid Opulence

Markers: Lovely Lilac, Orchid Opulence, Old Olive, Always Artichoke

Other: Cuttlebug D'Vine Swirls embossing folder, Nestabilities Long Classic Rectangles Large and Long Classic Scalloped Rectangles Large, Ornare Decorative Corners piercing template, piercing tool, sponge mat, black polka dot ribbon, clear gems, water spritzer, sponge dauber

Published again!

I wanted to wait until I was sure my cards were in the magazine before I said anything. Well, they are! I was published a second time in Rubberstampmadness magazine! The July/August 2008 issue!

They put 2 of my cards in an article called Tools of the Trade mainly because my cards had lots of embellishments. I used the Cuttlebug and embossing folders, mini-brads, vellum, watercoloring, etc.

Before mailing off the cards, I took pictures of them:

It's so much fun to see one's own artwork in print. And the people at Rubberstampmadness are so nice to deal with. Send in your cards and get published!

Mother's Day card 1

Recipe:

Stamps: Happy Harmony, Hero Arts "Happy Mother's Day"

Paper: Perfect Plum, Black, Pale Plum, white

Ink: Markers: Perfect Plum, Pale Plum, Basic Black, Old Olive

Accessories: Dimensionals, "stamp" deco scissors, moss grosgrain ribbon, black grosgrain ribbon, Cuttlebug Textile Texture embossing folder, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Air art gun

Techniques: watercolor misting

This card is simple to make, but looks harder. I cuttlebugged the Pale Plum cs with the Textile Texture embossing folder. I used the circle cutter to make two circles, one larger than the other. Then I used some "stamp" deco scissors to trim the bigger circle. I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig to position the flowers and the word stamp.

I used the watercolor misting technique on the flowers.

3-D rose scripture card

Recipe:

Stamps: Canvas, Roses in Winter, Scripture stamp (source unknown)

Paper: Baroque Burgundy, Black, Always Artichoke, White

Ink: Basic Black, Baroque Burgundy, True Thyme, Old Olive, Always Artichoke; Markers: Ruby Red, Rose Red, Baroque Burgundy, Real Red, Close to Cocoa, Basic Black

Accessories: Cuttlebug Script embossing folder, Gingham ribbon, Dimensionals, Sponges, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Inkworx air art gun, crochet hook (for curling rose petals), water spritzer

Techniques: Watercolor misting, sponging

Well, how about that! I actually got the Sunday challenge done on a Sunday for a change!

It helped that the idea came into my head pretty quickly after seeing Amy's challenge design. That isn't usually the case.

I decided to dig into my Scripture stamps and find one that would work for this design since Amy used one for hers. I bought this stamp so long ago that I forgot where. Somewhere online. It's unmounted, so no name on the side of a wood block to check.

I enjoyed creating this card. Lots of extra stuff was done to give a sense of depth.

First, I used a piece of Baroque Burgundy for the biggest piece of cs and sponged black around the edges to soften the transition to the black in front of it.

Then, I stamped the Canvas background stamp on Always Artichoke using Baroque Burgundy ink (still haven't switched over to Bravo Burgundy yet). Then I ran it through the Cuttlebug using the Script embossing folder. Then I sponged black and burgundy inks over the embossed areas. After that, I mounted it to the black cs.

Next, I added the gingham ribbon and adhered the Script/black cs to the burgundy cs.

When making the pieces for the rose, I started by squiggling different red markers (Ruby Red, Baroque Burgundy, Real Red, Rose Red) here and there on the biggest rose stamp in the Roses in Winter set. Then I spritzed the stamp with water and stamped it on white cardstock. I actually made 2 of the biggest rose stamp so I could add even more depth. And I stamped the biggest rose yet again so I could use the center for the top of the rose. I varied the colors and even put a little Close to Cocoa on a few spots for variation. I did this with the other rose stamps that are in the set. I used Old Olive and Always Artichoke inks when doing the leaves.

To create the rose, I cut each piece out and layered them with Dimensionals. After putting the rose together, I sponged the edges with black. That really made a difference! Then I curled the edges a bit with whatever was handy (in my case, a crocheting hook). I mounted the leaves just behind the rose with Dimensionals after sponging them also with the black ink. You could say this card is a sponge-a-rama! The sponges touched everything!

Here's a close-up:

Once the rose was on the card, I stamped the Scripture stamp on white cardstock with black ink. Then I stamped the leaf sprig stamp from Roses in Winter in True Thyme, but I stamped off once first as the full color was too intense behind the Scripture. I spritzed it with the Basic Black marker using the Inkworx air art gun. Then I mounted this piece onto the Script piece with, of course, Dimensionals. What would I do without Dimensionals??

So there you have it. Another fun stamping session thanks to Amy!

Happy Harmony friend card

Recipe:

Stamps: Canvas, Print Pattern, Happy Harmony, Amazing to Zany

Paper: Black (natch!), True Thyme, Ruby Red, White

Ink: VersaMark, True Thyme; Markers: Black, Always Artichoke, Ruby Red

Accessories: Brown/Black Gingham ribbon, Cuttlebug Script embossing folder, Water spritzer, Small oval punch, Dimensionals

Techniques: Watercolor Misting

Amy Westerman holds a weekly challenge on her blog that I like participating in. This card is from this week's challenge.

For the flowers, I applied the marker inks to the stamp and then very lightly misted it with water and stamped. I love the watercolor-y look it gives.

I love this design Amy challenged us to use! I slightly altered the sentiment location because I couldn't make it work where it was supposed to go on my card. Otherwise, I think I stayed true to the challenge. Thanks again Amy!

Butterfly sketch challenge card

Recipe:

Stamps: Bold Butterfly, Cool Cat, Curvy Verses, Filigree, Leaf Prints wheel

Paper: Black, Tempting Turquoise, Gable Green, white

Ink: Versamark, Basic Black

Accessories: Gable Green marker, Tempting Turquoise marker, Dimensionals, black mini-brads, Stamp-a-ma-jig, post-it notes (for blocking), water brush, water spritzer

Techniques: Watercolor Misting, Blocking

I haven't stamped much at all in the last many months. But I'm getting back into it and here's my newest creation. It was in response to Amy Westerman's Super Sketch Sunday challenge. I did a lot of popping out of images because I love dimensional cards. To me, they come alive when popped out. I used the Stamp-a-ma-jig and blocking to do the word phrase. I did the watercolor misting technique on the butterfly by coloring with markers on the shadow stamp. Then I spritzed with water and stamped. I used the water brush and the markers to add more color as I wasn't satisfied with the results.