Challenge: Anything Goes

Last week, the Wednesday Simon Says Stamp challenge was the wide open theme of "Anything Goes". I had just made a card  that I thought would work for this challenge, but today is the first chance I've had to post it.

This came about as a result of an experiment. I had seen a technique that I thought looked interesting and wanted to give it a try.

I took some off-white cardstock and, using a brayer, layered Distress Ink in Mustard Seed and Barn Door. I then spread on some acrylic medium by Golden called Coarse Garnet Gel. If you look closely, you can see bumpy spots, which are the grit embedded  in this gel. The grit is a dark red color, while the body of the medium is clear. I had no idea how this would turn out, but I thought it was very interesting. The colors of the inks stayed true and were even intensified, and the grit in the gel added texture. I left it to dry overnight - the next morning it was dry but the cardstock was rather flexible. I wasn't sure what to do with it at that point, but I decided to make a card background with it. I trimmed a little off the edges and adhered it to a green card base.

The pear stamp is an oldie from A Stamp in the Hand. It's a very solid image with little detail, so it works well for blending colors. I used several Distress Ink colors in the mini pads and then spritzed it with water. I stamped onto some watercolor paper and added a few splotches of color with watered down ink.

I trimmed it pretty close, tearing the bottom edge of the panel and mounted it onto some dark brown paper. I added some foam adhesive (3M) to the back and set it aside for a moment. I cut a length of twine and looped it around my fingers, then placed it on the card front with the foam mounted pear panel on top. The foam adhesive holds the twine in place.

The "happy birthday" sentiment is from Altenew's Label Love (I'm using that set a lot lately!). I've discovered that these stamps work best for me if I stamp on a surface with a little give, like a pad of paper. I used a teeny bit of foam adhesive on the far right side of the sentiment strip to bring it up to the level of the pear panel. Otherwise it would have been hanging in mid-air and probably would have gotten bent out of shape.

I thought the card still needed a little something, so I found a dark brown button and threaded it with a little gold metallic thread, then glued it on with some Glossy Accents.

This next card has nothing to do with the challenge, but it's so similar I thought I'd include it. The background was made with a checkerboard stamp, inked with Distress Ink and misted with water. It was stamped on some watercolor paper and trimmed a little smaller than the card base.

The pear was done exactly the same as the previous card and also mounted on dark brown paper. I wrapped some twine around the checkerboard panel, and added a die cut "p" just for fun.

That's it for today. I hope your week is off to a good start!

Immi

Challenge: Get Crafty & Use Kraft

Here is my submission to the Wednesday Simon Says Stamp challenge - Get Crafty & Use Kraft. I love the look of kraft cardstock so this was a fun challenge.

I used one of my favorite flower stamps from Stampendous, stamping in Versamark and heat embossing with white. I colored in the flowers using Inktense pencils and a wet brush, which went very quickly. The embossing makes it easy to "stay in the lines".

The sentiment is from Altnew's Super Script 2. I stamped in black ink and trimmed it closely. I brushed on clear Wink of Stella and added Glossy Accents on top, then set it aside to dry. 

Meanwhile, I cut a piece of lace edging and taped it down to the back of the kraft panel. I stitched around the entire panel using my sewing machine, then adhered a thin strip of green ribbon at the bottom. This panel was attached to a pink card base, then the sentiment was glued on top of that.

I hope your week is off to a good start! Happy crafting!

Immi

Challenge: Use Watercolors

This week's challenge from the Wednesday Simon Says Stamp blog is to use watercolors. There are so many options available, including inks, pencils, crayons or traditional watercolors, just to name a few. I thought I'd submit a card I did while practicing making a background using watercolor pencils. I got this idea from Watercolor for Cardmakers from Online Card Classes. It's a really fun class, and I can take my time working through the lessons without any deadlines.

Here's my card:

The technique involves lightly coloring a piece of watercolor paper with water soluble pencils. Then water is applied with a brush, blending as you go. It's possible to go back after drying to add additional layering and depth. The splotches add some interest and fun. I cut the watercolor panel slightly smaller than the card base and attached it to a turquoise cardstock panel.

The "hello" is one of the few word die cuts I have - I'd like to add to my collection as there are so many available in lots of fun fonts. I cut several from white cardstock and glued them together to make it thicker so it would stand out more from the card. You can see the slight shadow created by the depth of the letters.

There really isn't much to this card, but I like the way it turned out. I also like that every card would be a little different, since watercolor never turns out the same way twice.

Happy creating,

Immi

Challenge: Spots & Dots

I'm participating in the latest Wednesday challenge at Simon Says Stamp: Spots & Dots. Now, I can't seem to help myself - whenever I think of dots, I usually turn to a Hero Arts stamp set I've had for a long time with 4 different sized circles. It's called "Box of Dots" and I bought it years ago when my husband and I were in San Antonio. I talked him into a stop at the famous Stamp Antonio store. (Side note - that made me wonder if they are still in business; apparently they closed in March of this year.)

Anyway, I always seem to gravitate towards bright colors when I use this set. For another challenge post where I chose to use this set, click here.

For this card, I stamped my dots in various bright inks from Stampin' Up! I also used another circle stamp (the one in yellow). I like the overlapping of the circles and the additional colors that result. The sentiment is (I think) a Heidi Swapp stamp which is meant to be stamped in a single line. I cut it apart so that I could stamp it as shown. I added a bow with sheer pink ribbon and mounted the stamped piece onto a turquoise card base. This one was pretty quick and easy, and I always enjoy using bright colors.

Happy crafting!

Immi