She's a tease!

My mojo, that is!  I'm positive that she's at someone else' house, laughing her head off and eating cookies!  Dang it! ;D
Anyway, I *do* have a couple of cards to share today.  The first is this wintry card (wishful thinking?) that doesn't qualify for the OLW challenge (over at Simplicity) because I did both masking AND sponging.  Ah well, it does make me a bit happy:

The sentiment was a freebie digital image from Raindrop Echo Designs that I found some time ago.  I was inspired by a card I saw recently that had a cute image softly colored inside a pierced circle - I just took it a little farther.  I printed the sentiment on a regular sized piece of card stock & cut it down to card size.  The panel and the circle were measured then masked.  The snowflakes (Katzelkraft) were stamped with VersaMark then embossed with iridescent ep.  I sponged Tumbled Glass DI in the masked area then removed the masks and pierced around the circle.  Finally I lined up a clear ruler and outlined the main portion with a black pen.
This next card is nearly painful.  I took me (literally) eight days to complete!  First I printed the freebie digital fairy (Ike's) on the same piece of paper from the previous card.  I colored the fairy with copic markers and smooch, then trimmed her out (she was originally sitting on a cloud).  Unfortunately, this is when my laughing mojo took to the road again....
For several days I tried to fit the fairy together with another digital sentiment.  It never did work out. *sigh*  Then I happened to place her over this card looking for some color inspiration.  I loved it!  On the other hand, I just don't like to make the same card more than once, so I thought I would change it up a bit.  Then as I was floundering (yet again) I ran across this sketch from the Lily Pad July CCC.  If you've followed me for a while you know that I'm not usually good with sketches.  This time however, everything just fell into place!

I used a brayer and the Hydrangea pad from Ranger to create the background panel.  The flowers (Hero Arts) were stamped using Pearl Paint Dabber from Ranger.  The moon (Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers) was stamped in gold paint dabber, then covered in white smooch, then coated with Sugar Cane Glimmer Glaze (nothing like being decisive, right?).  It looks a lot more dimensional IRL.  I dotted some "stars" around the base card and the colored panel for added interest - then added a tiny gem for one more star.
The two bottom panels were cut from some leftover paper that was brayered and edged with paint dabber.  The sentiment (Rubber Stampede) was stamped in Versafine - I didn't notice until I used my last long enough piece of colored paper that the rubber was wonky on the block.  Grr!  I couldn't handle even *one* more delay, so I just left it as is!  After assembling all the pieces, I edged the oval with black spica pen and outlined the rectangles and oval with the same.
Finally! :D
Thanks for sticking with me... and thanks for dropping by!

I think I'm getting better?

Hmm, possibly the mojo is trickling back?  Dunno for sure, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed! :)
This card came out of nowhere... no plan, no idea of what I was doing!  I (finally) inked up this gorgeous stamp from Stampers Anonymous that my very best friend gave me.  I've wanted this stamp for some time - the girlfriends always come through, don't they?

First I brayered some Ranger dye ink onto glossy paper (Hydrangea, I think) then stamped the angel in black VersaFine & clear embossed it.  Once it had cooled I painted the angel with bleach - several coats in some places.  It dried blotchy (the glossy paper, I think) but I thought it still looked cool enough to use.  I painted some Glimmer Glaze (in Sugarcane) on the flesh parts since I didn't like the blotches on her face and a bit of white Smooch on her wings (although, as usual, you can't see it in the pic).  Finally I trimmed her out as closely as I could and added a light coat of Perfect Pearl mist - which shows up as lighter, splotchy looking color especially in the purple areas near the top.
I stamped the border along the edges of the card base and embossed in clear again.  After cooling, I masked them off and colored them with a Q-tip and 3 - 4 colors of Opalite ink to match the dye background.  I also dotted some smooch and glimmer glaze to tie the two parts together.  The embroidery floss was added (although I still question the gold strand - yes, it's actually a muted gold IRL) then popped up the stamped panel over them.
On a completely different subject, I also learned how to make the picture much, much bigger.  I haven't tried it before, so I don't know if the size will interfere with sidebars, etc when posted.  Do let me know if it takes a long time to load, or if it looks wonky - *please*?  Thank you! :D
Thanks for dropping by!

Another bandanna card

It's been a while since I last posted a bandanna card (my very first post to be exact!) I really do love the look once it's finished. The only problem is all that tiny little work with a pen! :)
I am a member of a swap group (we swap supplies through a Yahoo group - let me know if you're interested in more info) and managed to snag this background stamp from someone that had two. It's by Impression Obsession and as soon as I saw it listed I knew it would be perfect for this technique! Originally I saw this technique on the Ranger site (by Robin Beam) and then just a few months later it was in my TJ newsletter. I do love that newsletter!
Since I just received my shipment of the new Distress Ink colors (aren't they super delicious??) I thought I'd give them a shot. I believe there is a mix of Barn Door, Wild Honey, Mustard Seed and a little bit of Scattered Straw. I stamped the background with VersaFine Onyx Black and did the doodling with a white Uniball Signo pen.
The sentiment is from River City Rubber Works - an awesome place to shop if you ask me! I don't believe you can see it in the picture, but I also did a light spritz of gold Glimmer Mist on the same background stamp and applied it to the colored panel. Much like stamping with water, it makes the DI run just a little bit. Unlike water, it leaves a nice little glimmer behind! The sentiment was also stamped with VersaFine. As a final touch, I used the blending foam pads (with the same DI colors) to ink up the little flowers. Once they were dry I added half pearls and glued them down with Glossy Accents.
Hope you like it! Thanks for dropping by!

I've been very crafty!

Although I haven't been posting very often, I have been *very* busy! Today I'll give you a peek at two different cards that started with the same idea but went completely different directions.
It all started with a technique from Technique Junkies called Alcohol Ink Press. Only one of my backgrounds was deeply enough colored to use for this particular project, but I had two of the man with the umbrella to use. Hence, two similar (but very different) cards!
This first one was closer to what I originally intended. The AI technique gave me a lovely background, although the brown color I used at the bottom seemed to lighten up considerably. This was backed onto a piece of glossy white card (so the colors were visible) and stamped on top with a Tim Holtz stamp using StazOn. I felt the man needed more 'umpf' so I stamped him on grunge paper and did my favorite thing of all time (NOT!) - fussy cutting. I lightly coated him with a turquoise/gold Lumiere paint that had been watered down a lot. I wish I could say that I stamped the flourish (also Tim Holtz) next, but that would be a lie! :) Instead, I did it the hard way... adhering the grunge man first, then lifting him up in order to stamp the flourish & dust with Perfect Pearls from the Patina kit. I did learn something important - perfect pearls do *not* stick well to acetate. I learned that by rubbing my finger across it and having to reapply the pearls! A piece of offset black card stock and a few dew drops later and voila!
The second one was more of an experiment with the grunge man. Also fussy cut from grunge paper, I treated him to a little different style. First I inked over the black image with Faded Jeans and Fired Brick (IRL the umbrella is *very* red but I couldn't seem to get a good pic). Then he was given a 'wet' coat, umbrella and shoe tops with Distress Crackle paint (clear). Once that was dry I rubbed some more blue ink into his coat and dabbed a little of the clear distress stickles on the top edge of the umbrella. The background (and grunge paper word pieces) were colored with Faded Jeans, Dusty Concord, Worn Lipstick and Vintage Photo DI. They were a little too bright for the man, so I spritzed them with Graphite Glimmer Mist.
Once everything was dry I stretched a piece of copper wire mesh over the background and stuck it down to a black mat (using super strong red liner tape). The black mat gave me a way to attach the word pieces using the Tiny Attacher from Tim (which has the *most* adorable little staples - evah!). Some red liner tape to stick the man down and a sparkly gray card base and I was done with number two.
So there you have it. Two similar, but very different cards. Hope you like them!
Thanks for stopping by!

Circle card - Kristina Werner's challenge

Do you ever go check out the KWerner Design blog? She seems like the queen of CAS to me! Recently she had a circle card challenge on her blog and I just couldn't help myself! Usually I don't make too many circle cards, maybe it's because mailing them seems difficult? This time I made the card so that it would fit in a 5 1/2 square envelope. The challenging part will be if I actually *mail* it! lol
I used my curvy cutter from EK Success to cut the circle card out of a sheet of regular card stock. Then used the same tool to cut a window and the frame for the outside. I've had that gorgeous scrapbook paper from Hot Off the Press for a very long time - it's just so beautiful that I a) hate to use it and b) bought a whole bunch! I cut an acetate window and adhered it to the base.
On the inside of the card I used one of the small Tim Holtz masks (a floral one, sorry can't remember the name now) and went over it with Ranger's white ink. Once the ink was in place I felt like it needed some umpf - so I hand drew lines with my brown spica pen - just doodles! Then stamped the quote from Hellen Keller in Walnut Stain distress ink.
Since the frame paper didn't have much (if any) white on it, I stamped over it with Ranger's white ink using the Tattered Angels tree stamp (the branches portion). Once I glued it down over the window I realized that the circles weren't a perfect match - especially on the inside! To cover that mistake I ran white stickles around the outside of the window, let it dry, then ran Frayed Burlap distress stickles around the inside of the window.
I always like to add a few flowers around the edge of a circular opening - this card was no different. Because I was trying to match the color of the flowers and paper in the frame I had to do a little magic with different paints. I finally ended up using a couple of different colors of Radiant Pearls, let them dry & then spritzed with Graphite Glimmer Mist. Hah! Then I only used ONE of the flowers I had colored! :) But I did spritz the white ones with some more 'clear' Glimmer Mist. A couple of Latte half pearls from Kaiser and a little ribbon and called it done!
Yup, this was actually a very involved process! But I really like the final card.
Enjoy your day!

I finally caught up to the curve!

Remember when, oh say, six to twelve months ago etching glass was all the rage? Well, I finally did it! lol (yup, I'm usually behind the curve!) I have to say, this was NOT as easy as I anticipated - in fact it was quite frustrating. But we'll get to that.

First I want to show you this card (it goes with the etched glass). I made it for my friend's birthday (happy birthday chica!) which comes just a few days after mine. Sort of quiet - I'd call it understated I guess. The base is 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 (another unusual size for me) because that was what really 'fit' the tree image. Graduating half circles were cut using my Curvy Cutter on the front of the base, a patterned ivory paper and the main panel.

The tree image is a new stamp from the people who put out Glimmer Mist (Tattered Angels). I didn't use the screen (which I also bought), but it does look mighty intriguing! The technique is called Pierced Spotlight from Technique Junkies - not that you can see it all that well from this angle. The spotlight was colored with green and bronze perfect pearls, with a dab of blue burnished in.

I added some perfect pearls to the edge of the back panel that shows also. You can't really see it in this pic, but I stamped some of the tree branches in the corners and brushed them with the same green/bronze mix. It is much more interesting in person!

Since the card was for my friend's birthday, I decided to make her a matching candle holder as well. This is where the frustration began! lol First I stamped the tree with versamark, then embossed with clear. Since this was my first try (and I didn't know if I'd even like doing it) I only bought the small bottle of etching creme. Ummm, yeah. If *you* are going to try this - READ THE BOTTLE FIRST! Apparently this creme isn't for 'large areas', and worse, their definition of a large area differs greatly from mine!

After my first 'thin layer' (another definition that greatly differs) I washed it off and... WHAT?!?! It was patchy! Horribly, horribly patchy! Some areas looked great, most looked half done and some weren't etched AT ALL! Now, before you ask, yes I cleaned the glass with rubbing alcohol before even starting - so I know that wasn't the problem! I kid you not, I must have applied at least a dozen different coats of this creme. I actually had to go buy another bottle (the big expensive one, thank god for 40% off coupons!) so I could complete it.

I finally got it looking pretty good (ummm, yeah, use thicker coats than you think you'll need) - not perfect, but pretty good for a first try. Of course by now all the blog posts about actually doing this are impossible to find, so I had to guess the best way to remove the ep without messing up the glass. I grabbed a bunch of paper towels and the heat gun & went to town. lol I have to say, this was one of the most frustrating things I've ever attempted. I'm happy with the end result, but I imagine it will be a *long* time before I try it again! On the other hand, I now have a large bottle of etching creme.... *sigh*

It does look pretty awesome when lit up, and I love that the card & glass matched. And my friend is absolutely worth every minute! There were some more candle holders in process while I was doing this one, but they're for a different post! Drop by soon - they've got beads (and thread!) on them! LOL

Thanks for stopping by!