Oldie Moldie Monday

Oldie Moldie Monday - time to show some love for some old supplies.

The 6 x 6 pad I used for this card had a date of 2011 on it.  It is well aged but it sure had the right colors to go with this crazy bird.  The sentiment was a tag bought to go with the paper but it was too big for my card so I just trimmed it down.

I will send this to someone and tell them how happy I am retired and thanks for the gift.  After I took the picture, I added google eyes and glossy accents to the beak.

Enjoy your Monday.

Have a Plan

The challenge on the Monday challenge blog for Simon Says Stamp is to "have a plan."

My plan for now is to start sending encouragement cards to people who are struggling.  This last week I sent one to a sister in law of one of my Ya Ya's who is slowly loosing her battle with cancer.  I have know Diane for many years because her children went to the same schools my girls did and they were all in the same 4H.  Another card went to a fellow card maker friend who is finally returning home have a long tour in the hospital.

This card I am sharing is for the next time I need to send a word of encouragement.

I kinda lifted this design from a card I saw a long time ago somewhere.  I know my fox is not the same one on the card I saw.  I did some coloring with gelatos to complete the card.

The fox is from Stampendous and the Hello is from Hero Arts.

Maybe with retirement I will be able to do this more often.  I hope so.  I always hope my cards make people smile when they receive them.

More Mixed Media Fun

Retirement is grand.  You actually get to create when you are not tired.  It makes the process so much more fun.  I also get to play along with challenges so I am a happy retired person.

Today's share is a picture of two cards (same design) but it shows how things can turn out a little bit different on each one when you are working with inks.  I actually kinda CASEd this design from my friend Peggy Biggs - a wonderful card maker.  As always, my cards always go down a different road.

I am entering the card in the monthly challenge - Mixed Media Card Challenge where the challenge is Butterfly and the option is Gold.

I am also entering it in the weekly challenge on the Wednesday Simon Says Stamp challenge where the challenge is to tie it up.  I tied a bow on each card with twine.

I am still making thank you cards for my retirement gifts.

I first started out spraying ink on a piece of acetate and adding water and then squelching it onto my watercolor paper.  I did this a couple times.  You can see how differently that always happens when making a background.  I then added the two pieces of tape on the card front.  I did have a plan in my head for what to do, steps and colors.  I stamped the little flowers randomly on the card front and then colored when with the ink.  I did paint splatters in pink ink and black chalkboard paint.  As you can see on the card on the right, I got some big splats.  Oh well, I was not going to scrap the card front.  Some additional texture was added with embossing paste.  I wish now I had done a different shape rather than dots to mix it up a little.

The butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch.  I punched it out of white card stock and covered it with VersaMark and gold embossing powder.  The sentiment was also gold embossed on more squelched colored watercolor paper.  (I use the smoother side when I plan to stamp on the paper)  I matted the front on black.  The butterfly and sentiment are pop dotted.

Thanks for stopping by today.  My neighbor girls is coming to spend the day with me, I wonder what kind of trouble we can get into.  She likes to play in my paper.

More Mixed Media Fun

I played yesterday and made a couple cards.  I was able to combine several challenges for this card.  I don't know who will receive this card but I do need to mail it to someone who would appreciate the humor in the card.

The first challenge that inspired me was Shopping Our Stash   The challenge was to make a snarky card.  I had just bought a new set of Dyan Reavely sentiment stamps which are all wonderfully snarky.  The "Stash" part of my card is the woman stamp.  I have had it for years and this is the first time I have used it.  She will get lots more use.

The second challenge is from House of Cards which is to use metallics.  I used some metallic embossing paste I had to add texture to my card.

The third challenge is from Mixed Media Monthly Challenge.  Their challenge this month is to get texty.  The background of my card is a dictionary page which has been gessoed and colored with gelatos.  The sentiment is also texty.

The image was stamped on a background I had made awhile ago with spray inks.  I also dyed the ribbon with the inks so that it kinda matched.  The image and the sentiment were heat embossed so they stand out.  I also did some paint spattering.  I was really into that yesterday.

I hope you enjoyed my snarky, metallic texty card.  Have a good day.

Non Traditional Christmas in August

In a private facebook group of cardmakers, the challenge was to make something with pink and purple.  I knew I had two of Tim Holtz's crazy birds colored with pink.  I did not know it would lead me down the road to a Christmas card.  It was not going to be a Christmas card but once I stamped the branch on the card front to ground the bird, it became and Christmas card.  Probably because it is a stamp from a very old Hero Arts set.

This is a square card approximately 4.25 inches.  The base is mixed media paper.  I scribbled a purple gelato on the front and used a baby wipe to blend it.  I placed a stencil over the top and rubbed out some of the color because I thought it was too dark.  You can see the faint circle in the background.  This did not lighten it enough for me so I watered down some gesso and swiped it across the front.  I finally got a soft lavender for my color.  (I know it looks darker in the picture - let's say I am not a good photographer.)  The bird was stamped on gessoed dictionary pages and colored with distress paints.  It was fussy cut.  I adhered the bird to the card front with glue and he was floating so the branch was added.  Now he is grounded.  I clear embossed both the sentiment and the branch.  I splattered watered down gesso across the front of the card.  White string was colored and tied around the top of the card.  The front is mounted with foam tape.  I even finished the inside of the card so it is ready to be mailed.

I am entering this card in two different challenges.

The Paper Players challenge is Hip To be Square.  The card is square.

The other challenge is Merry Monday Christmas where the challenge is to use pastels.

Thanks for stopping by.  I did enjoy the journey my crazy pink bird took me on yesterday thanks to Cora's color challenge.  Come back tomorrow to see my snarky, texty card.

Journaling - A New Creative Path

Last week end I had the utmost pleasure in taking four classes from Dyan Reaveley at my local scrapbook store in Milwaukee, WI.  By local, it is an hour and 15 minutes away from where I live.  I want to share with you one project that I have completed from the class.

I challenged a fellow classmate (we are attending another class on August 15 at the same store) that we needed to have done journaling on at least one page we created in class.  I am happy to say I am working on my third page.

We worked with both Dylusion Inks and Paints.  I have on order a set of the paints and keep thinking I really need those inks but I struggle, I am basically a card maker.  Should I or shouldn't I?  Do you want to know the reason I bought my paints is because I ate a Dove chocolate and on the inside of the wrapper it said, buy something extravagant - so I bought the entire set of paints.

The page I am sharing with you today is done with the paints.  We made our background with a brayer.  We then used a masked and rubbed black paint around the mask leaving parts of the background showing.  I chose to use her flower.

As you can see I did some very simple doodling.  I did white dashes around the outside of each flower and a tiny circle at the end of each petal.  Inside the flower I drew a checkerboard line and colored in parts of it.  The center of each flower is stamped.  I chose to use a stamped sentiment on white to pick up the white that is showing in each flower.  Big dots were punched out of green painted paper and added to the journal page.

I kept my doodling to a minimum.  I did not want to chance ruining it.  I also used a stamped saying instead of hand writing a message.  I promise I will be more adventurous in my journaling in the future.

If you ever get a chance to take a class from Dyan, do - she is so much fun and you learn so much.

Mixed Media Mojo August Challenge - Anything Goes

It is the first of the month and time to get your Mojo rev started with the monthly challenge at Mixed Media Mojo.  The challenge for August is anything goes.  I love those challenges because then you can do a project you may need to get done.

I had to make a card for a challenge on a group I belong to.  The challenge was "something sweet" - well cupcakes are pretty sweet. 

The cupcake is a digital image that I traced onto patterned paper and cut out.  The background is patterned paper adhered to mixed media paper for support.  I then coated the paper with a layer of clear gesso.  The design still shows through but when you color on the surface the color has something to bite onto to.  I then added different colors of gelatos on the patterned paper.  The cupcake and sentiment were adhered with gel medium.  I added a coating of glass bead gel over the top of the cupcake.  The bow was colored with gelatos and water.  Embossing paste was colored with gelatos also and using a stencil added some random polka dots around the card.

Please join us for our monthly challenge.  I am excited to see your projects.  

I am entering this into the weekly challenge on the Monday Challenge Blog for Simon Says Stamp which is to not use ordinary paper.  I did use the mixed media paper as my base for the card.