Charcoal look

Just a quick post tonight while I'm still awake! :) While I was spending time (oodles of time!) over on Pintrest I saw something that really caught my eye. It was a video tutorial about using a black and a white pencil over kraft paper with OMS to mimic the look of a charcoal drawing. How awesome is that? So, I looked through my file of digis (printed some time ago) and decided that Poppy from Crafts and Me would be perfect to try this out. I think I got a little heavy handed, but practice will make me better at it (this was my first attempt). Don't be afraid to try it!

So after I colored her according to the video I cut her out with a nestie using the Out of the Box method I linked to in the last post.  Since the square die wasn't working well I trimmed off two of the sides to make it fit better and added the sentiment stamp to balance the right side.  This was layered over two pieces of black card stock that was punched with a Martha Stewart punch then over another nestie shape (a TJ technique) colored with Distress Ink.
The final layer isn't a layer at all - actually it's a line drawn in black pen with black pencil right up next to it that I blended outward with OMS to give it depth.  After rounding the corners and adding some white ribbon it was ready to go. :)
I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving filled with the best food, friends & family, and thankfulness that defines your day together!
Thanks for dropping by!

My best friend's birthday and a sad day

Everything seems to conspire at once, doesn't it?  Almost immediately after my last post I found out that a friend from high school had passed away.  It seems so strange - here we're not even 40 yet and already death has visited. :(  I guess we try to prepare ourselves for the deaths of our (older) loved ones, but it rarely crosses our minds to prepare for it to happen to someone our own age (or younger).  Rest in peace, Tricia.
In much happier news, my best friend (born a mere 6 days after me) came over to celebrate our birthdays with me last weekend.  She is a true delight!  Smart, funny, honest - I could go on for hours! :)
Here's the card I made for her:

I got the idea from a card at Archivers that I saw recently.  They used a different Pixie stamp but didn't have it in stock.  This is Paisley Pixie from Stamping Bella - isn't she cute?  My girlfriend has brown curly hair (well, me too just not as dark) which is why I chose to color her with dark hair. :)  I stamped Paisley on a piece of nice white card stock and masked the flowers.  After blending in a little DI in the center I removed the mask and colored the flowers and pixie with a mix of Copics, Smooch, colored pencil, Perfect Pearls mist, Stickles and Spica pen.  Whew!
Once the image was fully colored I used the TJ technique called Out of the Box to cut her out with my Nesties and Cuttlebug.  If you'd like to see a tutorial on this technique you can find it here on SCS.  After it was cut out I edged it with more DI (being very careful not to bend the overhanging pieces).  Paisley was popped up over a piece of Basic Grey paper and a simple white ribbon (which I added some stickles to!).
Here's a close up look at Paisley - you can get a good idea of the shine IRL:

Thanks for dropping by!  Hopefully the card I'm working on now will come together in the next day or so - posting twice in one week, can you imagine?? :D

C & M fairy again, and a revision

After posting my last card I realized that I wasn't happy with the bright blue butterfly. Unhappy enough to actually go back and change it (which is something I *rarely* do).
Well, here:
I wasn't entirely sure of the color or size so I changed them both. This is actually from the same Martha Stewart punch - it's just the larger size. I punched it from the same kraft cardstock as the image panel, stamped it with a Basic Grey flourish in Colorbox white ink before gluing it down in place of the original. I'm *still* not sure that it's the best thing for that spot. I do like it much better than the original blue one. Enough that I'm willing to leave it alone now. How about you? Would you leave it alone? :)










Now for the new card. Strangely enough, it uses the same digital stamp from Crafts and Me, in the exact same size, on a background of kraft and brown cardstock. I also used the same brown pencil, a white pencil, white Colorbox ink and flourishes from Basic Grey. It looks entirely different though! :)
For this card I used the Out of the Box TJ technique to let her wing hang over the side of the nestie die cut. I outlined the fairy in white pencil and did all of the interior coloring with one brown pencil. Yes, *one*!
The next layer is stamped with the Basic Grey flourishes (several from the set) in white ink. I used a Martha Stewart edge punch to mimic the flower that the fairy is holding. That piece is layered over a piece of dark brown cardstock that was also punched with the MS flower edge to give it some depth. I ran some thread around those two layers with a few simple beads for interest. I really wanted to add a sentiment, but just couldn't find one that fit the mood. *sigh*
Finally I stamped the same flourishes on the base card using Antique Linen Distress Ink. I also used the SU! ticket corner punch on the base to echo the fairy panel. You can't see it in the picture, but there is a bit of Spica pen around the layers and on her wings. Not much, but IRL it adds a subtle shine. *Love* that!
Thanks for dropping by!

Another digi stamp

I've run across some really gorgeous things lately. First there was this stamp from Crafts and Me in the UK. Ok, there were some others that I loved as well, but Poppy was the one I bought. ;)
Then there was this painting (also available as a digi stamp) which just jumped into my imagination and wouldn't let go. Still hasn't in fact (I'm actually working on another card with the same stamp also on kraft & using white pencil).
This is what came out of that inspiration:
Poppy was printed on kraft cardstock then allowed to dry for several days. All of the white was colored with a pastel pencil (not wax or oil based) then rubbed with a sponge (or finger!) and reapplied until I liked the depth. Unfortunately, I learned that pastel pencil sort of dissolves under stickles. Originally the wings were *very* white! :D
Her hair was colored with several different shades of brown pencil (regular colored pencil, not pastels). I colored the leaves and the flower with pencil at first, then went over them with smooch for extra pizazz. If you look closely you can see that I cut and embossed with a nestie (curved rectangles) and used some Distress Ink around the edges. I wanted a bit more definition so I ran the white pencil around the embossed edge and then smudged it so that it would look soft IRL. I don't know *why* it took on such a hard edge in the photo!
The sentiment was actually a part of a flower stamp from Hampton Art done in Colorbox ink on the same kraft paper. Some of the dots are done with white smooch - too bad I couldn't get it to show well in the picture. *sigh* Both the flower and the butterfly are done with the same color of blue smooch - although looking at it now I want to make the butterfly larger and not as solid colored.
The base card was embossed in the cuttlebug then attacked with stickles. Ok, maybe just rubbed a bit! ;D
Thanks for dropping by!

Two different looks

First, let me say that these two cards are the *same* card. I bought an adorable image from Just Some Lines and couldn't wait to color her. :) I used a Technique Junkies technique called Level up - which requires a significant amount of fussy cutting (not my favorite thing to do!) but allows me to color messily. This particular image was printed four times on a sheet of paper, then certain parts of the image were colored, cut out and adhered over the base image. Make sense? ;)
As you can tell, the scrapbook paper I used for the last card I posted was still on my table. So I used that for the color palette, mat and flower accents. The girl was colored with a mish mash of pencils and OMS - Copics around the edges. The sentiment was printed on a sheet of card stock and cut out with a nestie. Of course I used the same 'dotty' technique around it - it looked a little too plain without! Some smooch and pearls on the flowers and part of one of those swirly flourishes and I thought I was done.
A bit later, I was trying to color black hair on a different image. Oy! Now *there* is something that truly defeats me! I finally got the bright idea to see if there were any tutorials on YouTube - sure enough, I found a couple (that I will attempt to try at a later date) that made it look doable. Somehow I ended up watching several different videos about coloring hair, mostly with Copics, and I found this one. I pulled out several of my Copics (close to, but not exactly the same numbers as she uses) and gave it a try. Wow! It being my first try I wasn't expecting much - but I was amazed at the results. Unfortunately, (a) the hair was colored with markers and looked too vibrant with the girl done in pencil; and (b) I was working on a girl that was printed about 1/2 inch larger than the original image used on this card. *sigh* (I am working on a Copic colored version of this card - look for it sometime soon.)
The good thing about watching the video was that it gave me some ideas about coloring hair - even with pencils. However, there was no way I was going to be able to match the size of the image again exactly (save those files!) and I just didn't want to waste a bunch of time trying to get close enough.
So I did what any crafty crafter would do... I used an eraser! ;D
I erased a roundish section of hair in the middle of that larger area and a smaller section on her bangs. After adding some yellow, red & brown to those sections I went back and added a touch of black to the ends and where her part would lay. Not a lot! Just enough to give it some more contrast and dimension.
Aside from the fact that this picture is better (go figure - this one was taken *inside* because it is literally 5 degrees outside today and the other was taken *outside* a few days ago when it was nearly 70 degrees) I can honestly say that she looks more dimensional to me. How about to you?
Thanks for dropping by!

Triple threat (or maybe treat?)

Somehow or another, no matter how much I promise myself, I don't seem to get here and post as often as I'd like to! Hence, the triple treat! :) Unfortunately, all three of these cards are on a base of *very* shimmery white card stock - which made my camera *very* unhappy! I've done my best to make them look better - but, well, they aren't the best pictures... bear with me!
Up first is a card that uses acrylic paint. Honestly, I chose that medium because I'm determined to play along with the UPC challenge going on over at Tyggereye Arts . One medium a month? I can DO that! :D First I stamped (with versamark) and clear embossed the Agapanthus stamp (Stampendous) on the white base. Next I tapped out some pearl paint dabber onto my non-stick craft sheet. Just a small drop of Tumbled Glass reinker was dripped next to the paint. First I swirled just a teeny bit of ink into the paint (and painted using both a brush & my finger for a softer look) then as I got closer to the center of the flowers I added more reinker to the remaining paint. IRL this actually has quite a bit of depth for being so light.
I used the ribbon trick I learned at Archivers this winter for the ribbon at the base, then added a nail head that was almost an exact color match for the paint (how often does THAT happen?). It looked a little plain - no problem - a little Glossy Accents and a clear gem made a statement without taking over. :)
This second card also used acrylic paint - just in an entirely different way! Can you see it? No? :D
I dabbed the same pearl paint dabber onto my non-stick mat (much larger area this time) and used it as my stamp pad for the flower stamp (Hero Arts). I had to use my Stamp-a-ma-jig and stamp it several times... apparently the thin lines of this stamp mean that the paint dries out faster than I would've believed possible! Once the paint was dry, I used a Ranger nib and Stormy Sky ink to color parts of each flower. Once that was dry I added some white pencil for shading inside the petals and some gray Copics around the stems and flowers for depth. The vine (a bitty stamp from Inka, I believe) and the sentiment (River City Rubber Works) were both stamped in Stormy Sky to match the flowers. If you look closely, you might notice that some of the words in the sentiment look lighter (almost faded) than others. That's because I highlighted those words with my clear Spica pen - just a select few that I felt could use a little extra attention. They stand out beautifully IRL.
This final card came about because I fell in love with Karen's card here. Mine is nowhere near as elegant as hers - she is a true master!
Instead of popping up my panel, I chose to cut out a frame with my nesties. You can just barely see it (even IRL) but there is a vine-y/leafy stamp clear embossed on the paper 'frame'. The flowers (Clearly Inspired by Paper Inspirations) were stamped using a mix of greens, blues and lavender Distress Inks. The sentiment (Wordsworth) was stamped with Peeled Paint Distress ink then clear embossed.
This card is one of the *very* few that actually took more time to do than time to explain! It took me a lot of time working with finicky placement (and RE-placement) before I was satisfied. In hindsight (*sigh*) I would just stamp the flowers THEN cut the frame. DUH! :D
Either way, I really *do* like the end result... and I *will* try this again!
Thanks for dropping by!

Thinking of You

Well, technically, thinking of *me*! :)
We finally had to put our kitty down, it was past time. She was starting to really suffer - but it's a hard thing to do. Once I finished my 'day of crying' I sat down at my table and started working on a new card. The Hero Arts contest was for masking (so that decided the technique) and I haven't used my big flower stamp in a while (there was my stamp!) so it was pretty easy to pull it all together.
Originally I intended to have the flowers build from the bottom right. Heh. That's what I get for not double checking the orientation of the card after masking it! :D If you look very closely you can tell that when I stamped the text inside the flowers I did the *same* thing over again (what can I say? It just never occurred to me to check that!)
So, anyway, I stamped the main flower then masked the outside of the image and stamped the text inside. Then I masked the inside of the flower and stamped the 'parts' on the space that was left. Then I masked the large flower & the outside of each partial flower & stamped the text in those. Shew! That was a *lot* of masking!
Then I used a couple of different Copic markers to color the blues and the shadows (and the very light violet). I also used a new white pencil to add highlights to the flower petals - it's a pastel in pencil form. (It's a lot brighter than the usual white pencil, but it smudges a lot so you're seeing two or three layers here.)
Somehow, this sentiment seems like it was made for this card... so I didn't even try to resist! What you can't see is the sparkle I added to the sentiment, the inner score line and some of the petal lines. Which is a bummer - it's very different looking IRL. I'm still not sure about the ribbon - this is the *third* thing I tried! I guess I like it enough to leave it there for now... maybe I'll find another option later. *sigh*
Thanks for stopping by!

More Christmas cards

I really have gotten into the Christmas spirit! :)
A couple more cards are done and there are a few more coming down the pipe. I'm impressing myself!
This one may end up being my favorite of the year. I love how the embossing came out! The angel was stamped on a really light brown/cream cardstock with Distress ink (Brushed Cord, I think) then colored with white and french gray pencils. I added some Spica pen to parts of the dress (although you can't see the sparkle in the picture) and edged the panel with Walnut Stain. The second layer was colored with Brushed Cord and a blending tool, then overstamped with the same color. I brushed on some perfect pearls & spritzed with water - uber shiny IRL! The white panel is watercolor paper which was stamped with versamark and clear embossed. Finally I mounted it all on a base made from the same brown/cream cardstock as the first panel. Although there is no sentiment (or ribbon!) I really like the elegant feel of this card.
This card has a totally different feel! Much more scrappy - even though it's not *at all* what I had in mind when I started. The stamp is from Unity (one of their Itty Bitties - great buy!) and is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. You'll be seeing more of this one for sure!
So, stamped in Brushed Cord on kraft cardstock. I filled in the tree with stickles (one of the clear ones, but it has a green tint which was perfect for this). Originally, I had planned to leave this on a kraft card base - imagine my surprise when I discovered that I had stamped it *upside down*! Grrrrr!
That was when everything took a left turn.... I used a nestie to frame the image with some paper by MME. It has tons of glitter - in a very similar color to the stickles I used. You can see that I added a double layer of ribbon - but did you see that I also added beads? Yup, hand stitched!
Hope you enjoyed a little peek into what my Christmas cards are looking like! Thanks for dropping by!

My freebie from A Day for Daisies

I mentioned that you could get a freebie from Tammy if you joined her group on CDAC, right? AND you can get a second for joining her email list! This image (A Magical Read) is the one I chose.
As you can probably tell, I colored her with pencil & marker like most of the other digis I've done recently. I used nesties to cut her and the mat out. The mat was covered by some of Tim's tissue tape, then rubbed with a little Pine Needles distress ink.
The background paper is from the Mariposa stack by DCWV (I think!). Three of the corners were also covered with tissue tape & distress ink. For some reason the ribbon looks black - I couldn't get it to look brown (it *is* a nice dark brown that goes well with her hair & the base card) with PSE. *sigh*
The sentiment stamp is from Club Stamp - I've actually had it for years.... I guess I've just been waiting for the right image to go with it! A few blue dew drops and it was all finished.
Thanks for dropping by!
And I hope you had a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Just dropping in quickly

I'm a couple of days later than I usually like to be when posting, but we've had a bit of bad news, so posting may be more sparse than usual. :( (on the other hand, it may be that the muse will kick in big time - who knows?) And in other news, I had DH film a video of me using the hot knife for more organizers. Now I have to learn how to edit & post that... keep your eyes peeled for my debut!
I do have something to share, though! (are you sick of me and digi's yet?) Once again, I used a fabulous image from A Day for Daisies. Once again she was colored with pencils and a touch of perfect pearls. (I'm on a roll!) I did take the time to mask the image (something I rarely do, especially since it involves so much fussy cutting) in order to make the clouds with Distress Ink. I don't remember where I saw this technique - which is *so* frustrating - but it's very easy to do with a scalloped circle and ink.
The background papers are all Kioshi by Basic Grey except the white scalloped circle (which is white flocked paper). The blue piece was embossed with a cuttlebug folder in my Cuttlebug, then painted with perfect pearls in the recessed portion. After I printed the sentiment on white cardstock I cut it out with a nestie and edged it with a silver pen.
Thanks for dropping by!

For my cousin...

If you knew my cousin, you'd know that she's one of the most vibrant people alive. Always with a funny story (usually a hysterical story!) or a joke. She's having a hard time right now, and I want her to know that I'm keeping her in my thoughts. So this one, Jess, is for you!
I wanted this lovely digi (from A Day for Daisies) to look like you were seeing her through the trees. And since the trees that I have didn't look right, I used this fabulous background stamp from Hero Arts.
First I printed the digi on regular cardstock, but when that proved to be difficult to work with I figured out how to print on a small piece of watercolor paper. Once that was printed (and dried overnight) I started painting it with a water brush and some Distress Ink. First I coated it with Stormy Skies - being careful not to get water/ink inside the digi - then I went over the bottom portion with Chipped Sapphire. It was an accident that I pulled the Chipped Sapphire up in a circular motion - but I thought it looked like those nights when you can see a sliver of the moon and a faint impression of the whole thing.
The digi itself was colored using pencils on her hair (no OMS, I didn't know how well it would work on w/c paper & didn't want to try it with this one), a mix of red and white perfect pearls on her wings, silver pen on her dress and white smooch over the moon.
The background image was stamped on regular cardstock (several times - I kept smudging it!) with black VersaFine. I cut the digi image out using a nestie, then placed over the stamped background where I wanted it to be and stamped again (so you could see the plants over the moon). Then I used a light touch with a pencil and traced around the circle before moving it. I used the foam pads with the same colors of Distress ink to color the main panel, then set it aside to dry.
Once dry, I cut the hole in the main panel and edged it with the same silver pen I used on her dress. Used the corner chomper on the corners and stamped the sentiment in Platinum Planet (Brilliance). (oh, and added the tiniest bit of Dusty Concord to the bottom edge - just cause I could!) Finally, I centered the digi image, popped up the main panel, mounted the whole shebang on a black base and Voila!
(in reality, I had to do the main panel at least four times and the digi at least as many to get a mostly smudge free card. this actually took me almost a week!) (at least I love it, right?!)
Thanks for dropping by!

It's not another book...

But it is another image from A Day for Daisies! :)
This one is called Skirt of Flowers - isn't it lovely? Sorry the picture isn't all that great. Between the shimmery paper and the white smooch ink I thought the camera was going to have a nervous breakdown! Even post processing didn't help that much! :)
I actually started with a completely different card in mind, but as you all know, detours abound in the cardmaking world.
I started by printing the image on regular white cardstock & cutting it out with a nestie. Once she was colored (with Copics and colored pencils) I got a little carried away with coloring the background... it just ended up looking dirty. So, I cut her out! :) NOT my favorite thing to do - but I really loved the way she was colored and didn't want to scrap it.
The oval paper is from Reminisce and was cut with a nestie. The image is adhered on top and then lightly outlined with a warm gray copic for dimension. I loved the shimmery paper so much that I pulled out some white Smooch and added some touches to the dress and hair. It actually works quite well over pencil!
The background paper is Basic Grey; the corner punch is from Martha Stewart. Can you see some shimmer around those edges? I used the clear glitter pen from Sakura - both around the edges of the BG paper and on the lines of her dress. IRL this is one shimmery, sparkly card! :)
Thanks for dropping by!

Another book cover

Apparently I'm in a 'mood'. Do you do that? Create the same type of project in bursts? I seem to go through phases - this time it's notebooks! :)
I don't really do very much with digital stamps, although I have some, mostly because printer ink doesn't seem to go very well with my usual coloring methods. There are some images that I make an exception for - this is where I got the one I used for today's post. Aren't they gorgeous?! Love them! (and I can blame Mel for it since she's such an enabler!)
This notebook also started life as a cheap purchase (dollar bin at Michaels anyone?). Have I mentioned that I'm also in a brown phase? I bought a roll of luscious brown wrapping paper at the Container Store recently and *needed* to use it for something more lasting than wrapping boxes.
I started by prying off the covers - careful not to bend the spiral coil - and covered them with the wrapping paper & PVA glue. Unfortunately I don't have any sort of punch to make the holes look good after covering so they look much better on the outside. After gluing the paper to the front, I take a sharp knife and make three cuts in each hole. (both long sides & in the middle) Then add a little more PVA with a small brush and fold each half down into the hole with an orange stick (or whatever fits). This is *very* patience-testing work! (hence, the inside does NOT look as good as the outside)
I printed the Wind In My Hair stamp onto regular white card stock (I tried better/thicker stock and it just jammed up the printer. *sigh*) then trimmed to an appropriate size for the cover. She is mostly colored with pencil and Distress Ink but there is also a touch of Copic marker. I've been trying very hard to increase my skill with pencil - I'm pretty thrilled with the results! DI was applied with a water brush for the background (sky and ground).
Once that was all dry I roughed up the edges and applied some yellow DI to the edges. The background paper is from Basic Grey - also roughed up & edged with DI. I used Matte Mod Podge to glue both pieces to the cover and give a little protection. (note: do NOT turn a wet piece upside down - even for just a moment - and think it will all be ok! It won't!) Since that altered the brown wrapping paper a little, I covered both sides with Mod Podge as well (on both covers).
I added the flower to echo the flowers she's holding in her dress. All three flowers were colored with DI and a tiny bit of Smooch, then coated with Mod Podge as well. Except the dew drop! :)
I think I have the perfect person to send this to.... And perhaps she'll forgive me for not working too hard on the Ami's. But when the muse strikes..... :D
Thanks for dropping by!

The crafty post!

Ok, so technically it's not Tuesday anymore. But it *is* just barely Wednesday - does that count? :)
I thought this book deserved it's own post (and I didn't know if I could fit this pic in with the last post!). It's something I've done a few of - actually they're pretty easy to do once you get the hang of it.
Isn't it lovely? :)
This started out as a plain notebook from Target (clearance, even!). I started by prying apart the binding and slipping both covers off. Once I chose my yarn (yes, yarn - it's actually called ribbon yarn and is getting *much* harder to find these days) I was ready to wrap.
If you choose to wrap a notebook like this there are a few tips that I can give you. Before anything else, decide if the area where the binding goes looks ok - paint, sharpie, ink or otherwise color it to look good. Measure enough yarn to wrap the right edge of the cover - I used red liner tape on the edge & folded my yarn in half. This will completely cover the edge and make for a nicer finish. Apply whatever adhesive you choose to use (this was a combo of red liner tape, xyron & Fabri-Tac) to both sides of the cover and start wrapping from the bound edge. The first wrap will have to completely overlap your leading edge, but after that you can wrap overlapping 1/2 to 1/3 of the preceding edge. I chose to cover the corners of this book with metal findings from Tim Holtz, but with a little forethought you can make that last edge look professional enough to escape notice. :) If you (or the intended recipient) will be dropping this in a purse from time to time you may want to use some Fabric Tac and nail down some of the edges. Otherwise the yarn may get pulled out of whack and look bad. If you're just using it at home, don't bother!
As I said, I used some Tim Holtz book corners in a sort of antique-y gold color. To match the feel of them I matted the main panel with a piece of gold card stock that was embossed with a cuttlebug embossing folder and punched with a Martha Stewart corner punch.
The main panel is a stamp from Lost Coast Designs. I stamped it with black VersaFine on a piece of letterpress card. Yes, I bought some letterpress card - even though I don't have anything else related! :) Thick, luscious paper! I had to use a *very* light touch with the water brush - it is NOT built like watercolor paper. I used a couple of different Distress Inks to color the columns, her wings and the 'sky', but the woman is done with colored pencil. After it dried I gave it a quick coat of Matte Mod Podge for protection.
Thanks for dropping 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!
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Since I can't get anything else done...

I swear this has been the year of sickness! If you're keeping track at home - headaches over Christmas and into the new year, a really nasty cold, double ear infection, my neck got thrown out of whack (by sneezing! of all things) and now DH has shared his horrible cold with me! Usually he doesn't get sick, but he had to stop taking his daily medication (reacting badly with his liver) and he caught this cold like a day later... coincidence? Yeah, I didn't think so either. THEN we got home from visiting family last night and the boy was ill. Poor little mite, he *so* hates throwing up! Lemme tell ya, this is not the house you want to visit! :P
Ok, rant over (for now....)!
I've had a few things waiting to be posted, mostly they're more along the lines of CAS than my usual style. It is interesting to see your own style morph and change according to what you've been looking at. I have no doubt that I'll be back to wild inky fun soon - but in the meantime:
How's this for mostly CAS? :) The sentiment is from Unity (new at Archivers!) and the flourish is from Hero Arts. Both were stamped with white ink on kraft paper. The ribbon was actually white - but I fixed that with the blending tool and some Tumbled Glass distress ink. If you click the picture to make it larger you'll be able to see that the crystals are a light pink and there are diamond stickles over parts of the flourish. Oh, the special thing about those crystals? They're from a nail art set - they were the only ones I had that were small enough to use on these flowers without overpowering them.
There. See? CAS is callin' my name!
How 'bout another? This card was inspired by something I saw over at Dina's blog - not the actual card, but the layout. For some reason I really loved the way it looked at set out to create one of my own!
The sentiment is another from Unity (they came in the same package, I think there are 3 or 4 more). Besides the kraft colored base, the rest of the paper is from the Linen Closet stack from DCWV. A little bit of cuttlebug embossing on the darker blue piece, some colored pencil and a touch of crystal bling were all that I added. I'm lovin' those sentiments from Unity! :)
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Dropping in real quick...

Ugh. I'm *still* sick. Two weeks of ear infection, two different antibiotics, two visits to the doctor... yuck! Sorry this is going to be such a short post, but I'm off to bed as soon as I've finished here.
Haven't been making too much the last few days, but I do have something interesting. :) Remember the wood flower from my last post? This time I used the wood as a background - you can see it much more clearly this way.
Looks like wood burning, doesn't it? A long time ago my Grandpa V. used to do wood burning. He could make the most intricate (and beautiful) patterns and pictures. There are other fond (and funny!) memories associated with his wood burning hobby, and this card brings them all to the front of my mind!
Once again I used the birch wood panel. I stamped the flourishes (Inkadinkado) with Brilliance Coffee Bean ink, let dry and went over parts of it with a Uniball Signo pen (yes, technically this is the bandanna technique too!). The bird was from an entirely different experiment - it was stamped with Coffee Bean on kraft paper, colored with pencils and coated with Distress Crackle paint. The sentiment came from the Love Hurts plate at Non Sequitur.
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The big flower

Back again! :)
I've been busily playing with a new Hero Arts stamp of a large flower. So far I've gotten 3 1/2 cards done (not quite finished on the 4th - but I'm sure you know how that is!) and I'm still loving it. I thought I'd show off the first two - see what you think!
This first one was kind of an experiment with colored pencil over textured card stock. I didn't go as well as I planned, in fact I had to pull out the OMS to get smoother looking coverage. That's OK though, I do like how it came out in the end. After I colored the flower I used an embossing tool and puffed up the petals and the very center. Once they were puffy I went back and really defined the edges and the yellow stripes by pushing down on them.
At first I wanted to leave the cut out area, well, cut out. But the base just didn't have enough strength to hold itself up. I also thought about using some acetate, but decided on this dark brown. One of the hot color combos lately has been blue with brown - I changed it up! :)
I also did some accents with Stickles (distress ones in Antique Linen I believe) over the yellow/orange pencil. I know the brown looks almost black - but the outline of the flower, the sentiment and the cut out area are all a nice brown IRL. On this one I added some faux stitching at the very end, unlike the real stitching on the next one!
This second card is one that I'm very proud of! I almost sent it to my friend Lauren (hi Lauren!) but decided to send her something more out of the box (it may hit here mailbox yet... we shall see!). This was a background done with a variety of Distress ink colors and a blending tool. Then I spritzed water on the craft mat and stamped the script background into it then on the paper. After I did that several times (my script stamp is about 1/4 of the size needed) I hit it with a heat tool to set the ink. I stamped the flower over the top (in brown Staz On again) and colored it in with a white prisma pencil. I *love* how it still shows the underlying colors but makes them look like ghosts.
After the flower was colored in I used another Distress Ink (Walnut?) to stamp the same script over where the water had 'bleached' it. (then I had to wipe the DI off the pencil - sheesh, a little forethought would have been nice!) A little bit of Picket Fence Distress stickles in the middle of the flower added the necessary bling. I used the same brown ink to stamp a portion of a stamp on the ribbon. Finally I used a single strand of white embroidery floss all around the outside. Boy, for someone who doesn't sew, I've been doing a lot of it lately! Once again this dark brown card stock (used for the base) shows up almost black in the picture. *sigh* I'm still working on my PSE skills. Yes, skills. They aren't mad enough to be skillz yet! ;D
Here's a closer look at the flower. I just *love* how this looks! I'll have to do it again (and again...).
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