Happy Little Stampers March Watercolor Challenge

 Yes, it is March 1 in Australia, the home country for Happy Little Stampers.  The challenge is always "anything goes."  Grab your watercolors, make a card and share with us.

Recently I watched a video by Kristina Werner on You Tube where she used this exact stamp from Honey Bee Stamps (I already had it in my new supplies).  She stamped it on black watercolor paper and colored it with beautiful glitter watercolors.  

I had neither of those items in my supplies so I improvised.  I had recently bought some black mixed media paper and I had Twinkling H2O's.  These are very old supplies - beautiful shimmery watercolor in a little jar. You may have them hiding somewhere in your craft supplies.

I heat embossed the image with gold embossing powder.  I then colored the image with the Twinkling H2O's.  You did not have to use very much water so I did not have any pilling of the paper.    The sentiment is from My Favorite Things.  I matted the image with some gold paper from my supplies.  

It really does shine in real life.  

Here is a close up of the flowers and leaves.

I made a second card.  This one is for a friend's birthday.  I just changed the colors of the flowers.

Please join us at Happy Little Stampers for our March Watercolor Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by.  

Mixed Media Christmas Card

 I love to play with Mixed Media.  I love layers of messy paints, inks, gels, papers, stamping - it is fun to bring it all together into a creative happening.  So, when I saw the challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown  was Mixed Media, I had to play along.  

My card started by making some panels to stamp my snowman on.  I used the baby wipe paint swipe method.  You put a little dab of paint on a diaper wipe and swipe it across your card stock.  I did a block style so I could get an assortment of colors on my panel.  Luckily there was enough paper left to stamp a sentiment and mat for the sentiment.

I heat embossed the snowman on the panel and die cut with a rectangle die.  I then used a stencil and put clear glitter embossing gel around the snowman.  This represents snowflakes falling.  I dry embossed a panel from white card stock in a snowflake patter.  I die cut a snowflake out of a white shimmer card stock to add another depth of color to the card.  Everything was added to the card base.

I love how I was able to get so many of the colors used in the sentiment circle and the circle mat.  

I made two of these cards and they will go to people living in warm climates who probably really are not missing a white Christmas.

Thanks for stopping by.  I can happily say our snow is slowly melting.  It was almost 50 yesterday and I had the front door open for some fresh air.

Hello - Happy Birthday

 I found time this week to play along with the current Tic Tac Toe Board at the Tic Tac Toe Challenge.  

I am working on cards for my "Birthday Card Project".  This project is to make birthday cards for the nursing home where my mother resided.  They took such good care of her and I wanted to give back to the community there.

This is the current board at Tic Tac Toe.

I chose to do the diagonal row:  Flowers, word die cut and stencil.  

When I travel I take along water coloring with me.  I stamp off images ahead of time and then it gives me something creative to do while I am vacationing.  My day is not complete if I don't do some type of creating.  This floral image was already colored in my box of images ready to be used.

I took a new stencil I had and laid it on top of the panel.  I used a very light pink oxide ink to stencil the design around and among the flowers.  I faded the pink color out to the edges.  This makes the background so much prettier than white.

I already had the happy birthday sentiment stamped so I just needed to die cut the word hello.  I stacked the hello three times.  The top layer is a shiny black card stock.

Here is a close up of the stenciling.

Thanks for stopping by.  

Happy Birthday Mixed Media Card

 I am working on birthday cards for my "Birthday Project" (cards for a nursing home).  I saw a video from Carissa Wiley where she painted on kraft paper.  

I got out some pink acrylic paint, cut some kraft card stock and painted away.  I then stamped the Dina Wakely floral stamp with a brown ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  I painted the image with more of the pink paint and then came in with my pink inkinstense pencils to add deeper shades of pink.  I painted the leaves with some green acrylic paint.  After the paint was dry I added some white highlights with my Posca pen.  I die cut a rectangle from my painted panel.  I mounted the rectangle to a kraft card base.  I did add a few layers of paper behind the rectangle to give a little dimension.  I added a brown die cut sentiment to finish the card.  No I finished the card with some black splatters.

I am entering the card into the following two challenges.

Addicted to Stamps where the challenge is Any Occasion.  

Sisterhood of Crafters where the challenge is Anything Goes.  

Thanks for stopping by.  

Wanderlust - Week 8

 This week in Wanderlust our instructor was Renee Rodriguez Mueller.  Our lesson was on layering our papers.  

I spent the morning coffee dyeing different papers so I would have the same basic color theme in my papers.  My pages smell quite lovely.

The greenish/reddish paper I used is a piece of background paper I had in my supplies.  I took a suggestion from Kate Crane (last week's instructor) to copy some of your original papers so you could use them in your journals.

I first added a layer of gesso and acrylic paint to my two pages.  The color was a little too something so I just took the coffee I had been using and slathered it across my pages to give in a more brownish tone.  I used some green acrylic paint and added some color to several corners.

Here are both pages.

Here is the right page - I drew a leaf which links the two pages together.  I used my Inkintense pencils to add some color to the leaf.  The bottom embellishment is book paper, some fabric, dyed cheesecloth and an old piece of canvas I had in my supplies.  I used DMC floss to hand stitch it all together.  I added a piece of the patterned paper and also a small strip of the alphabet paper.

Here is the left page.  There is a layer of the copied background paper, alphabet paper which was coffee dyed, a flap of an envelope which was coffee dyed - (I like the odd shape it adds to the collage),  a piece of fabric, coffee dyed cheesecloth, a strip of canvas and all hand stitched together.  I cut the leaf out of the paper.

I used gel medium to glue everything down.  The edges of everything are loose so there is added texture.

This was a fun lesson.  I have always liked playing with layers of paper.  

I am entering this into the current challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.  The challenge this week is anything but a card.  

Thanks for stopping by.  

Watercolor Birthday Card

 I am joining the current challenge at AAA Cards.  The current challenge is a sketch with the optional twist of watercolor.

A couple weeks ago I colored a new floral image.  After I had water colored the image, I decided I wanted to color in the background.  After I colored the background with a very light grey, I did not really like it so there it sat.  It has been haunting me every time I went to the design table (or some would say the messy table).  

When I saw the sketch challenge from AAA Cards, I thought maybe I could cut the image down.  Pick out the part I liked the best.  I took a square die and auditioned different parts of the water colored image.  I found a part I liked and used the square die.  I did mat it with black.  In my supplies was this grey card base and it really worked well with the grey in the background of my image.  I heat embossed a sentiment to the card base and I now have one more card for my birthday project.

Thanks for stopping by.  

Oldie Moldie Monday

 It is Monday.  Time to show some love for your old supplies.

This year - finally at the end of February - I have decided to dedicate Oldie Moldie Monday to birthday cards for nursing homes.  The first nursing home will be the home that took such wonderful care of my mother the last few years of her life.  Each card I make is in her memory.

All the cards are from old supplies.  I had two sheets of this paper.  It is copy paper weight but I made it work for cards.  Pink was my Mom's favorite color.  I fussy cut the flowers out and then added more pink color to the bloom with a Copic marker.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.  They still make wonderful cards.

Text Me Christmas

 I try to find different challenge blogs to play along with so I can get some cards made.  They provide the incentive or push with an idea and then I interpret it.

This time I am playing with the current challenge at Jingle Bells.  Their challenge is to use "text" in your Christmas card.  I chose to use a large sentiment stamp I had purchased recently.  I think it is from The Stamp Market.  I am in the basement - the stamp is upstairs.  I am lazy.

Both of these cards started with backgrounds from my background box.  I got smart one day and put all my backgrounds together in a box.  It is so nice to thumb through them and grab one to use.  The first background is a clean up sheet (I think).  I believe the second one is from a dry colored powder you sprinkle on your paper and then spray with water.  You don't always know what you did to make a background.  The sentiments were embossed in gold embossing powder.  I die cut the image and added a gold mat.  It was all added to a kraft card base.

Yay - two more Christmas cards done.  

Wanderlust - Week 7

 This week our instructor was Kate Crane from England.  She had some lovely ways of making our own ephemera.  I made two pages.  Each page has a different color palette.

Thanks for stopping by.

Using a Quote

This week the challenge at Inspired By is to use a quote on your card, use the sketch or use a quote on the sketch - I chose to use the quote.  

I recently got a new stamp set from Simon Says Stamp.  I love leaves and trees and have quite a few in my collection.  This lovely stamp set had a quote also with it.  The quote "Friendship is a sheltering tree" is by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.  

I used the ink smooshing technique to make a sky - grass background.  I stamped the tree in dark brown ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.    I die cut the panel and matted it with dark brown before adding to a kraft card base.  The sentiment was heat embossed on kraft card stock.

I think this will be a prototype for a birthday card project I am working on,  It is hard to make masculine cards and this tree card will be a great one.

Thanks for stopping by.  

Oldie Moldie Monday

 It is Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies.

I found these cute images already colored and the sentiment was ready to go so I needed to make a couple winter greeting cards.  

The embossing folder is an old one also.  The large snowflake is a new die.  Sometimes I like to use grey instead of black as a mat.

The image is from My Favorite Things.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.

Wanderlust - Week 6

 It is week 6 of Wanderlust and our classes for the month are on ephemera.  The artist leading the group this week was Kristin Peterson.  

Here are my two interpretations on the different styles she discussed.  One area dealt with junk journals - and this is the page I created.  It was all leftovers from different projects, etc.  

This is in my journal and I am trying to complete all the pages.  There was a background on this page done with leftover spray inks.  I put a layer of gesso over the background to make it meld together.  I assembled my "junk" and made this layout.  I tried to have a flow between the two groups.  The stars flow through the page.  I then stamped the little stars and added the sentiment to complete the page.  

Here is a close up of one of the groupings.

This is the second project I did.  I first put a layer of gesso on the page and then adhered ephemera all over the page.  There was a flow of pieces and they connected.  After this was completed I got out some high flow acrylics and added them to the page.  I first added the pink and then the teal.  I wiped lots of it off.  I then used a black acrylic and stenciled on the heart.  I added the lines on the bottom through a stencil and the color ran through so that is why it is smudged (happy accident).  I added a smudge in the other corner and then put black around the edge.

I may go back and add black splatter and a title.

Thanks for stopping by.  

Oldie Moldie Monday

 It is Monday, time to show some love for your old supplies.

Today I made a card with this beautiful panel which was already made, all I needed to do was add the sentiment and make it into a card.  How easy is that.  I have so many unfinished items like this, I could probably create for weeks or months.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies, they still work.

Beautiful Floral Birthday

 In the midst of cold weather, it is nice to have some beautiful new floral stamps to create with.  They give us hope that spring will arrive probably later than sooner.  

I am playing along with the monthly challenge at The Flower Challenge where the challenge is to use your latest stamps and dies.

The stamp I used is a new one from the brushstroke line from Penny Black.  It was a learning experience and I am going to do more experimentation with it.  I used some new inks and  they may not be the best for this technique.  After I had done my stamping and was not overly happy with the results, I took out a water brush and tried to even out some of the ink in the leaves and flowers.  I then added some pen lines with my black fine liner and a white gel pen.  I finished the card with some splatters.  From all of this the card took on more of a mixed media vibe.  

On this image, do you see the boo boo made with running ink.  It is amazing what a strategically placed sentiment will cover up.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Love Is In The Air

 It is February and all cardmakers turn their creativity to Valentine's day or something with hearts on it.  

I am entering this card into the weekly challenge at Wednesday's Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog.  The challenge is "love is in the air".

The background for these cards were created with the baby wipe technique.  I took a baby wipe and acrylic paint and swiped it across my card front.  I used multiple bright colors.  I then stamped the the sentiment in black and heat embossed it.  I thought it still needed something so I got out a stencil and my clear glitter gel and added it over the stop.  These cards were fun and easy to make.

When I put my girls to bed at night, I always thought them to think happy thoughts.  

Thanks for stopping by.  

Happy Little Stampers February Christmas Challenge

It is February - so time for a new monthly Christmas Challenge at Happy Little Stampers.  The challenge for this month is Anything Goes with the optional twist of Berries.  

I decided I wanted to use the leaf and berries die from My Favorite Things.  I die cut many pieces out of watercolor paper and colored the leaves with various shades of green and the berries with shades of red.  I also knew I wanted to make it look like a wreath.  I taped two circle dies together and cut out the circle shape.  I cut it from several layers of gold card stock to give it a little dimension.  I figured out the layout and then using my Misti stamped and heat embossed my sentiment before gluing the gold circle in place.  I believe the bow die is from Tim Holtz.  I layered the leaves on top of each side of the bow and tucked the berries in between some leaves.

I did have a hard time finding a background when I started planning this card.  I found this blue one in my box of backgrounds and for me it worked perfectly.  The card base is made from a navy card stock.  

After the card was all assembled, I added gold splatter to complete it.

Here is a close up of the wreath, sentiment, bows, leaves and berries.

Here is a close up of the berries.  You can see the different layers of color.  I also added some red Stickles to the berries to give them some shine.

Please join us at Happy Little Stampers for our February Christmas Challenge.  

Thanks for stopping by.  

Wanderlust - Week 5

 In Week 5 of Wanderlust, Kasia Avery was our instructor.  We have started a month of classes on ephemera.  I love to do pages using ephemera.  I will enjoy this month.

My page this month uses my mother's high school graduation picture.  Her favorite color was pink and she loved flowers.

The papers I used on my journal pages are from a 6 x 6 pad from Prima.  The definitions come from a dictionary.  I did freehand the hearts.  The pink is paint from Arteza.

I was very pleased with this page.  It made me happy.

Thanks for stopping by.

Oldie Moldie Monday

 It is Monday - time to show some love for your old supplies.  

One day as I was looking through a scrap box I found scraps of an entire set of coordinating papers.  The papers are beautiful and wonderful colors.  I made two cards but there is more paper to make more - just need to find the time and unbury the paper on my desk.

Remember to show some love for your old supplies.  They still make beautiful projects.