Birthday Card

Sometimes I like to challenge myself to pull out something that doesn't get much use and have fun with it. Occasionally I do clean out products that I don't think I'll ever use again, but this was a flower stamp (Stampendous Fresh Bloom) I really do like. It's an outline stamp that would be pretty colored in, but I decided to make a colorful background and keep the flower simple.

With white cardstock as my base, I stamped the flower with Versamark ink, and heat embossed with clear powder. Using a foam blending tool, I blended several cheerful Distress ink colors on top. In addition to great blending, one of the cool things about Distress inks is the way they react with water. It's fun and unpredictable! So...after blending, I spritzed the paper with water. After waiting a few seconds, I blotted the water off, and was left with bleached-out areas. The embossed flowers preserved the white and stood out nicely against the colorful background.

The sentiment if from Altenew's Label love - stamped in Versafine Onyx Black and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I trimmed closely around the sentiment and mounted it on top of the stamped panel. To add a little more pizazz, I glued on a few sequins using Ranger's Matte Medium. I mounted the panel on top of some coordinatingl cardstock, and adhered the whole thing onto a white card base.

I Miss You Card

Here is another card I made for the current Unity Stamp challenge. For the first card, see this post.

The image on this card is from a Unity stamp set called Truly Rest. The sentiment is from Blossomy Condolences.

Feathers are very popular right now, but they're not really my thing. I probably would not have purchased this set - I got it after winning a drawing, and stuck it away, not sure how to use it. As I looked through my stamps with the current challenge colors in mind, this one jumped out at me and I thought it was a great time to give it a try.

I stamped the image on watercolor paper with Memories Artprint Brown, feeling that brown would be better than black for the look I wanted. Before the ink had a chance to dry, I sprinkled clear embossing powder over it and melted it with a heat tool. Using my favorite coloring technique, I combined Distress inks with a wet brush to add the color to the feathers and the background.

I used a die from Quickutz Nesting Circles to cut out the image,planning to layer it on a larger circle, using another die from that set, but then I spotted a small doily in my stash. It was just the right size, so I added some color to it with more Distress ink, diluted with water. I used a little adhesive just in the center to hold the two layers together, and stitched around the circle with my sewing machine and tan thread.

I chose some papers from a 6x6 pad from My Mind's Eye called Reunion to layer behind my image, taking my cue from the card layout in the challenge. All the papers were darkened around the edges with Distress ink and a blending tool.

I stamped the sentiment on a scrap of watercolor paper, using Versafine Sepia and embossing with clear powder. After trimming it and cutting a notch in the end, I mounted it at a slight angle towards the bottom of the card front. I had a piece of string sitting on my work surface, so I colored it with a little Distress ink & water, then tied it into a double loop bow. I glued it down with some matte medium.

Everything was mounted on a card base made from cream cardstock. I'm going to be sad when all this cardstock is gone - it's old school Stampin' Up! cardstock that they discontinued many years ago.

I've decided that I like this feather image more than I thought! This challenge gave me just the push I needed to make it work.

Here is the challenge image that inspired the card:

I have one more card connected to this challenge to share with you in a few days. Hope your week is going well!

Immi

Friendship Card

I'm trying to squeeze more time in for art play in the evenings, and relying on challenges to give me ideas to try. Hero Arts currently has a challenge going with a nature theme. The only rule is to use at least one of their stamps. I decided to try a new stamp set I found on clearance at a local scrapbook store. (Somehow, if it's on clearance, I feel better about buying it!)

I started with a watercolor panel and inked it with two Distress Inks - Worn Lipstick and Wild Honey. I applied each color with a blending tool from the opposite edge, allowing them to blend together in the middle. I love the way the colors look together!

I stamped the floral design twice with Versamark ink and sprinkled it with Wow Opaque Bright White Super Fine embossing powder. (Since Distress ink stays wet longer than most dye inks, I was careful to heat set the blended ink in the background until it was completely dry. Otherwise, embossing powder would have stuck everywhere.) After heat setting the embossing powder, I stamped the butterfly from the same set (Hero Arts Butterflies & Wildflowers). This time I used Versafine Onyx Black and sprinkled clear embossing powder on top, heat setting afterwards.

The white embossing I'd done earlier really didn't look as good as I'd like in the middle of the stems. I decided to cover my boo-boo with a vellum strip. I used the Mini Scallop & Pinking die from Alterations to cut a scalloped edge on both sides of my strip. Then I stamped my sentiment from Hero Arts Friends, using Versafine Onyx Black. I used clear embossing powder again and heat set it. Since vellum is always tricky to adhere without seeing the adhesive through it, I chose to stitch it down with my sewing machine and white thread. I think this did a pretty good job of disguising my less-than-perfect stamping. I always try to find a way to salvage my work!

The watercolor panel was mounted onto a plain white card base and that was that! It was a fairly quick project and I'm happy with the way it looks.

Happy crafting!

Immi

Thanks!

Today I'm enjoying a day off from work. I recently started a new job, and I'm missing my craft time! I decided to make a "thank you" card today for a co-worker of mine. She made a little sign with my name for my work space as a welcoming gesture - so nice of her! I thought it would be fun to use the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge, A Piece of Paradise, to jump start my project.

I started with a piece of watercolor paper, cut to A2 size. I sprayed it with water, then had fun with several spray inks (Glimmer Mist & October Afternoon), letting the colors run and blend together. After drying it with my heat gun, I took a Tim Holtz stencil (Burlap), and spread Ranger's Texture Paste randomly through the stencil. I let that air dry for a little bit, then finished the drying with the heat tool. I used some Mini Distress inks and blending tools to add some color to the top of the texture paste. Next I die cut watercolor paper into flowers & leaves using Tattered Florals and Tattered Leaves dies from Sizzix. I sprayed those with inks as well, but they seemed a little blah. I added some interest to them by using various stencils & stamps. For the leaves, I used the Typewriter Background stamp from My Favorite Things and Mowed Lawn Distress Ink. For the purple flower layer, I used Tim Holtz' stencil, Dot Fade and Seedless Preserves Distress Ink. For the yellow flower layer, I stamped with Dandelion Archival Ink and a Penny Black stamp called Penmanship. The blue flower layer is stamped with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and a mini script stamp from Prima. I also edged the leaves with a Black Soot Distress Marker to help them stand out more from the background. I glued the leaves & flower down with Perfect Paper adhesive. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up! (Many Thanks). That was stamped on a scrap of watercolor paper with Versafine Black Onyx, covered with clear embossing powder, and heated. I trimmed closely around it and sprayed it with Sea Glass Glimmer Mist. Then I mounted it on a scrap of purple cardstock, notched on the one edge. I tucked the opposite edge under the leaves when I glued it down. The finished panel was mounted on purple cardstock, using Tombow's Extreme Adhesive. For one last touch, I glued a clear gemstone from my stash as a center for the flower.

That's it for today - happy Monday to you all!

Immi

Muse #93

I had fun this week taking inspiration from the card posted on the Muse blog.

I took away a couple of things from the original card: the simple shape of the tree and the "jewels" adorning it. 

Using Strathmore Bristol, I inked the paper with green Distress Inks, flicking some water droplets on top after heat setting it. I trimmed out my tree shape and set it aside.

For the background, I wanted to try to imitate a night sky. There are several good tutorials out there, and after watching a couple, I pulled out three shades of blue Distress Inks. These blend really nicely on the smooth surface of the Bristol paper. After heat setting, I decided to try to deepen the colors and was really amazed at how much more intense I was able to make it. I love the way that Distress Inks blend with each other!

I used a couple of different products to imitate the starry sky - the effect I like the most was simply dotting on Iridescent Medium by Liquitex.

I glued down some sequins onto my tree and was happy to find that I had a star shaped sequin for the tree top. The tree trunk was cut from some brown paper in my scrap drawer. Now that I think about it, the only stamping on this card is on the sentiment banner. I don't know the name of the set that the word came from, but the little red stars are from a Hero Arts set called "Birthday Messages". I used Stampin' Up! ink in Real Red for the stars and also to run around the edge of the banner.

Here is the original inspiration card:

Muse #93

I hope you have a great weekend!

Immi

Getting in the Holiday Mood

I have a couple of projects to share for this week's Monday challenge from Simon Says Stamp.

First is a card I made, inspired by this card.

I started with a kraft cardstock panel. I stamped the sentiment first to be sure that the snowflakes would fit around it. I combined snowflakes from multiple sets (Stampin' Up! and Inkadinkado) so that each one would be different. I used a silver pigment ink and covered that with silver embossing powder. After heat setting, I wanted to use some kind of thread or ribbon to make the snowflakes look like hanging ornaments. I remembered that I had some thin silver cord, so I tried that. I put down tiny dots of Glossy Accents to hold the ornament strings in place, then tied teeny little bows and glued them above each snowflake. I put a heavy book on top until everything dried. Then I wrapped the cord to the back of the panel and taped it down. The stamped panel was mounted onto a navy card base. I was surprised how quickly this came together. In retrospect, though, I don't know if I'd use the silver with kraft again. I'm not sure there's enough contrast. Live and learn, I guess.

Next is an ornament:

To make this, I cut a scalloped circle from watercolor paper using a die set from Spellbinders. The stamp I used is an old one from Stampin' Up! that I've had for many years. I used Versafine Black Onyx ink and embossed it with clear embossing powder. To color the image, I used Distress Inks diluted with water and some Stampin' Up! markers in a few spots.

I cut three more scallops and glued them all together, using a book to weight it down until dry. I decided to run a Versamark marker around the edges and dip them in silver embossing powder. I really like the way that turned out. Then I used a bookbinding tool to punch a small hole in the top and used some of that thin silver cord to make a hanging loop.

That's it for now. I hope your week is going well!

Immi

Take It, Make It Challenge : November

The November Make It Take It challenge from Craft Stamper Magazine just about had me stumped. The challenge is to use non-Christmas themed stamps to create a Christmas or holiday card. I enjoyed seeing the examples from the Design Team, but I was drawing a complete blank. And then...it came to me! Alphabet stamps in the shape of a tree! Now I was getting excited to see if I could make it work.

I knew I would need to use a clear stamp set so that I could see exactly where each stamp was being placed. I pulled out Typewriter Alphabet by Stampendous which I thought would be about the right size. I tried at first to stamp each letter individually, but I quickly saw that it would be very uneven and messy looking. I decided I would use a stamp press, and tried laying the stamps out on a piece of paper but they kept getting bumped out of position. (Insert sounds of frustration.)

I finally figured out that I needed to arrange them directly on the stamp press so that they would stay put until I had them all in position. Ahh! That's much better! I stamped them on my paper and then used some low tack tape to mask off a triangle around the "tree". I heat set it to be sure it was dry and began blending some Distress Ink in Evergreen Bough over the letters. To my dismay, the letters began smudging. Blech!

So, determined to make it happen, I turned the paper over and taped off my triangle area again. I blended the Distress Ink over it and decided to flick a little water over the surface to create some lighter spots. After drying the paper, I inked up the letters again and stamped - much better this time!

Next I took a small stamp that looks like an asterisk and stamped in Stampin' Up! Real Red randomly over the tree. I cut it out and brushed the edges with some more Evergreen Bough and a little Vintage Photo.

Next up, the background. I took another sheet of paper - by  the way, I used Strathmore Bristol for this project - and inked the entire thing with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. After heat setting, I used the little asterisk along with a couple of others to stamp "snowflakes" with Versamark. I poured some sparkly embossing powder over them and heat set again. It's hard to see in the photo, but the snowflakes have some nice sparkle to them.

I cut a scrap of white to make a hill for the bottom of the card, along with a scrap of brown for a tree trunk. I stitched the hill down and used adhesive for the tree and trunk. I had a little silver star in my stash that I glued above the tree with Glossy Accents so it won't budge.

Finally, I colored some scrap white cardstock with Festive Berries Distress Ink and stamped the sentiment which is from a new set called Winter Wonderland from Walter & Winnie. The sentiment comes as a single line, but since it's a clear stamp I was able to cut it apart and stamp it as a two-line sentiment. That fit my card better. I cut the strip of paper in a banner shape and adhered it down to the background panel. The entire panel was then adhered to a top-folding white card.

I'm happy that I was finally able to come up with something for this month's challenge. Hope you enjoyed  it!

Immi

Make it Take it Challenge: October

So, I'm a little late joining this party, but I'm going to get this squeezed in by the deadline. This is a challenge from Craft Stamper Magazine. I'm not very familiar with it, but discovered it because it was mentioned on a blog I was reading. Every month they issue a new challenge - this month, participants are to use the technique of multi-color stamping. This involves using mulitple colors of ink, paint, etc. on an image.

Here's my card:

I pulled out a leaf stamp by Rubber Nature ArtStamps and started adding various colors of orange and brown Distress inks. After giving it a light misting of water, I stamped that on a cardstock panel. Then I stamped it again on another, lightweight piece of paper and cut it out to make a mask. I put the mask over my leaf, and inked up an old favorite script stamp from Stampin' Up! in various shades of green Distress inks. I stamped the script on top of the masked leaf, and then removed the mask. This left the leaf image untouched, with the script all around it.

So far, so good. I trimmed the panel down a little, and mounted it to some dark brown paper which was product packaging I'd saved. I pulled out some multi-hued thread and wrapped it around the top of the panel several times, securing it to the back with tape.

Next I pulled out Altenew's Label Love set and chose "thank you". I tried several brown inks before settling on a very old Ancient Page ink in Close to Cocoa (Stampin' Up!). I poured clear embossing powder over that and heat set it. I trimmed it close to the stamped image, leaving some of the white around it as a frame. I tried that on the card front, but I felt that it needed something dark behind it to provide sufficient contrast to the panel behind it. Brown didn't seem to be the right choice, but I thought a rust color would work. I inked up some paper using Distress Ink in Rusty Hinge, creating my own colored paper. I adhered the sentiment to this and trimmed it, leaving a thin edge of color showing. This was added, and that was that - all done!

Happy crafting!
Immi

Unity Stamp Challenge

I have recently been experimenting with some of the stamps from Unity Stamp Company. Their stamps are all made in Minnesota. The prices on sale are really great, and shipping is quite reasonable. Each month, on their blog, a new challenge is posted. Participants have the choice of basing their inspiration on a sketch and/or a color scheme.

I love the look of vintage ornaments, so the photo really caught my eye. I decided to try to incorporate the colors and the card sketch. Here's the result:

I started with an off-white cardstock that I colored with Distress Ink - Old Paper, using a blending tool. Then I inked up a background stamp - Thin Stripes from Impression Obsession, using Distress Ink in Spun Sugar. The pink panels are from a 6 x 6 paper pad by Colorbok that I found at Walmart. 

The sentiment is from Unity Stamp's October 2014 Sentiment Kit. I stamped it on a plain old manila shipping tag using Ranger's black Archival ink. The tag was colored with Distress Ink Peacock Feathers, with Vintage Photo around the edges. I spread a crackle medium over the entire tag and let it dry. I love the cool crackled effect!

The thread is some heavy cotton thread that I colored using Distress Inks in Picked Raspberry and Vintage Photo. I smooshed some ink on my craft sheet and spritzed it with water. Wearing a glove to prevent stained fingers, I rubbed the thread into the ink until it was colored, then dried it with a heat tool. I wrapped both colors around the bottom of the tag, and also made a bow at the top.

Till next time,

Immi

Challenge: O is for...

This week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is to be inspired by the letter "O". I always enjoy seeing the different interpretations that the blog design team shows us to get things going.

I chose to let "O" represent the color orange. It's a nice fall color, although the card I made doesn't have an autumn feeling at all. Here it is:

This was a fun technique-driven card. I made the background using a stencil and Distress Ink. The sentiment panel was made by smudging various Distress Inks on an acrylic block that had gridlines on it. After applying the inks, it was sprayed with water and pressed onto some watercolor paper. I really like the colorful background it created, and it was super easy. The sentiment was  stamped with Versafine black ink and layered onto the orange background. The card base is a light green cardstock.

This card went in a box for Operation Write Home.

I hope you can do something fun and creative today!

Immi

Challenge: About A Face

This week's Monday challenge on the Simon Says Stamp blog is called "About a Face". The challenge is to come up with a project that features a face - a clock face, a person's face - the interpretation is open. 

After seeing an inspiring video tutorial on coloring with Distress Inks and Cut & Dry Nibs, I decided to give it a try. I pulled out a collage-style stamp I haven't used in a looong time. It's called "Small Rose Collage" by Paper Inspirations. The video I had watched suggested using Specialty Stamping Paper by Ranger which I didn't have. I thought the technique might work on some glossy paper I had in my stash, so that's what I used.

I stamped the image using black Archival Ink, which will not bleed when touched by water. This is important for the coloring, since the Distress Inks would make other black dye inks run. After heat setting, I followed the instructions on the video and used the nib to apply ink to the stamped image. I heat set after each color to prevent smearing. After all the coloring was done, I rubbed some darker Distress Ink on the edges to give it some definition.

I decided to use the image to make a card and went with a top-folding style. I rarely do this type of fold, but it's very popular right now so I  hopped on the bandwagon. I trimmed my stamped image and mounted it on a pale pink cardstock and wrapped some black & gold ribbon around the bottom. I mounted this panel onto a black card base. Normally I would stamp a sentiment for the card front, but I chose to leave it off this time. I think this card would work for any occasion, or just to send a note.

Here's my finished card:

Happy crafting!

Immi

Playing with Watercolor

I had some fun today visiting several blogs on a blog hop featuring the new spring releases from Simon Says Stamp. I enjoyed seeing all the different ways the artists used the new items. Several of the blogs featured videos showing how the cards were made. One of those bloggers, Kristina Werner, used a technique I wanted to try right away (follow the link if you'd like to see her video). Although it's not a new technique, I hadn't worked with it before, but I found it to be easy and fun. 

Here's what you need for the technique:

• A Ranger Craft Sheet
• Distress Inks (your choice of colors)
• Water in a spray bottle
• Watercolor Paper

Press the ink pads down on the craft sheet to leave some of the color on the surface. Spray liberally with water; then begin pressing the watercolor paper down into the ink. Dry with a heat gun or allow to air dry, then continue pressing the paper down into the inks to get a beautiful, multicolored look.

I used some of my Sizzix dies to cut out shapes, then made several cards. Since the watercolor paper is heavy, I find that I need a heavier adhesive to get it to stick well to the card. I would recommend either Glossy Accents by Ranger or Diamond Glaze by JudiKins. They both are excellent as a strong adhesive or to add a shiny, glossy coat to an embellishment.

Here are the cards I made this afternoon:

All these cards are destined for Operation Write Home, to be sent to American troops for them to use as mail home to family and friends.

Happy crafting!
Immi