Another TJ techie

Holy moly! Stop the presses! I believe I've actually been well for almost a week! :D Funny how you take it for granted when you feel well, but when you have a rough winter/spring it means *so much* to feel healthy. It sure does feel good to be at 100%!
Since I've felt better I've been diving into some of the TJ techniques - some for challenges, others just for fun. This particular one is an older technique called Stenciled Collage. I had never tried it before, but it was enough fun that I'll be doing it again!
Generally speaking you use a stencil and white ink over a background piece (mine happens to be a piece that I covered with glimmer mist, starburst stain & distress ink with perfect pearls) then stamp in a similar color as the background (Majestic Blue VersaFine in this case). I was very pleased with how well the stamped portion came out - but I'm not in love with the card. I'm not exactly sure what, but something is missing. Perhaps it's the fiber? Dunno. You can get the idea of how the color/glimmer went in streaks across the paper (my own idea, even!) *and* you can see some of the glimmer from the VersaMark Frost I rubbed on the raised portion of the background paper. The light was *perfect* for taking this picture! :D
Anyway, thanks for dropping by! Hopefully I'll get good sunlight tomorrow & will be able to post the second version with this stamp (but not the same technique!).

Pulled Glimmers - a TJ technique

I've been working away (ever so sloooowly...) on this latest card. Last week I was down with yet ANOTHER illness, this time thanks to the boy. *sigh* Why can't he give these little gifts to his dad??
Anyway, here is my interpretation of one of the newest TJ techniques called Pulled Glimmers. I think I'll need a little more practice choosing colors, but the technique was pretty easy. The card itself is smaller than I usually work with - I believe it ended up being a 4x4 inch card.
The dandelion area is from a frame stamp by Hero Arts. The fairy (with the sentiment) is from Rubber Stampede. Both were stamped with Versafine Black over the glimmers background. Since it *is* glimmer mist you'll just have to take my word for it that it's much more sparkly in person! :)
The background flourish is also from Hero Arts and was stamped with Dusty Concord Distress Ink. I added some glitter pen to the image because it just didn't have enough bling!
Thanks for stopping by!

Crying woman

If you've been reading for a while you know that we've had illness galore around here this year. *sigh* It's been a wild ride, and looks to be even tougher ahead. Between the three of us getting sick at the drop of a hat, summer arriving with all of it's activities, long term family issues and DH's condition continuing to worsen with no answers in sight - well, we've really hit a wall.
Ugh.
So, not so strangely, it finally came out in my crafting. I have to say that I really love this image - it's evocative even if it's not comfortable. And it seems to fit the mood around here lately! :)
The main image is from Non Sequitur. All of the flourishes are from Stempleglede. First I covered some white c/s with Milled Lavender DI. After rounding the corners I used Milled Lavender and Dusty Concord to stamp flourishes around the edge.
On a second piece of white c/s I stamped the woman with black VersaFine and colored her with Lyra pencils. I cut the oval using nesties, then inked around her & the flowers with more Milled Lavender. More flourishes with Dusty Concord and a final edging with black completed her panel.
Although it's not completely obvious in the picture, the oval is popped up for dimension - which allowed the use of a few of the ubiquitous little rolled flowers. You can find an awesome tutorial for them here - it's actually very easy to do, just a little tedious. They came out super dark looking in the picture, but IRL they were the same color as the card base on one side and the same color as the flowers on the other (with a spritz of glimmer mist).
Thanks for dropping by!

Hero arts poppies

Finally my mojo came home! :) Maybe just for a visit, but boy was I glad to see it!
So, as you can tell from the title, I'm back loving on the Hero Arts flowers. This time I found myself drawn to the poppies image (that isn't reversed).
For this card I got a little inky! You may not be able to see the full effect in the picture, but there are tons of layers of stuff going on here. First I inked up a piece of white c/s with Scattered Straw distress ink. Then I stamped over it with versamark Frost with a diamond pattern stamp. While it was still damp I spritzed it with water (it makes the ink move a bit - subtle, but there). You can see the diamond pattern, especially when the light hits the sparkly versamark.
Then I stamped the word Love all over the background in Scattered Straw. The extra layer of ink really makes a difference even though it's the same color. Once that was dry I stamped the HA flowers in brown Versafine and let it dry. I used my Lyra pencils (white, golden brown & a couple shades of green) to color the image. I thought it needed a little bit more oompf so I used a brown pencil along the left side of the flowers/stems to give a little definition.
The butterfly is from a Martha Stewart punch - he has a light coat of stickles but the light was not cooperating. It was actually punched from the same paper that I used to mat the main panel (Far East stack, I believe). Finally I used the ticket corner punch (from SU!) and a couple of colors of green embroidery thread. Once everything was in place on the card I realized that I needed another little pop of white. Out came the pearls! :D
I love how this finally came together. Slightly more masculine colors than I envisioned, but right up my alley when all was said and done. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the mojo is in town for a while!
Thanks for dropping by!