Mother's Day and Flowers

Calling all cardcrafters! Here are three of the four cards we will be making in our Card Factory class at Stamp Antonio this weekend. Yes, of course they are all Hero Arts stamps this month. What else am I buying?!!! And I have to say, I love the peacock! I have been wanting to use this Webster's Pages vellum for a long time, and I finally have a stamp to do it justice! I think each of these cards would make a great Mother's Day card.
Stamps used: CL380, Truly Appreciated
CG184, Peacock
CL403, Have a Donut
CL333, What's Cooking
CG142, Engraved Daisy

Wildflowers!

Today we took a little road trip into the country to look at wildflowers. The bluebonnets are pretty much gone this time of April in South Texas but we saw beautiful Indian Paintbrush and millions (actually zillions) of little yellow flowers all over the median along IH10 from Kerrville to San Antonio. I wish I had a picture of all the luscious yellow and red. However, not wanting to get rear-ended stopping along the interstate, we stopped at a little rest stop and took this shot along the access road. Pinks, blues, yellows--gorgeous color. We actually headed out Texas 16 toward Bandera but saw little in the way of flowers. At Bandera we headed north on a road toward Kerrville. Super road--smooth (at least until Kerr county), and green pastures everywhere dotted with ponds and little glades of trees. Some wildflowers, but mostly just gorgeous green rolling hills. The landscape had an old-world look about it--set off from the highway and urban sprawl--the kind of place Heidi or Snow White would have lived! Definitely different from the streets packed with traffic where I usually drive. A magical day.

Fiesta colors

This card is a re-do of a card I made a couple of years ago. It was originally done in pinks, but I wanted a fiesta theme, so I chose hot orange and bright yellow. I needed some fiesta cards for a class I did last Wednesday, and I really like how this turned out. The stamping is done with a discontinued Hero Arts blossoms set, coupled with a couple of colors of embossing powder (the orange powder really adds a punch to the card!). The center circle is a punch from Fiskars, and the edging reminds me of the colorful Mexican cutwork paper banners put out for fiesta. The Colorbox Sunflower pigment ink is very bright and cheery for the background. A few fun Prima flowers add the perfect touch. I hope everyone in San Antonio had a fun fiesta week with memories that will keep a touch of fiesta in your lives throughout the coming year.

Cherries, Asian Art Style

I so much want to learn how to paint these cherries! I don't know if the cherries are actually on the class program, but Stamp Antonio Arts is having an Asian Arts weekend starting tomorrow. Norene Spencer, one of Amy and Carol's friends, is coming from out of town to give lessons in Chinese water brush painting, an art I would really like to learn, especially if it comes to painting cherries in ethereal glass bowls! I know Norene and Amy are painting all kinds of oriental flowers, in addition to other fun activities, like origami and oriental cards. If you would like to join us this weekend, call Stamp Antonio at 210-342-6217 or check out the website at www.stampantonio.com. I think spaces might still be available. That's where I am hanging out this weekend. How about you?

Watercolor Resist

In the photo above, the flower image (Hero Arts), and also the flower image in yesterday's post (Hero Arts), you can see examples of a watercolor embossing resist. This is really a fun technique, but involves several steps:

1. Make a light watercolor wash on watercolor paper. I used the little watercolor wheels available from Hero Arts. You can blend several colors. This will be your background. Let the watercolor wash dry thoroughly.

2. Stamp your image (this must be a reverse or shadowed stamp, with a lot of rubber surface surrounding a depressed central image) with Versamark, Top Boss, or another clear ink, like the Ranger Watermark/Resist pad. Heat emboss with clear powder.

3. Once your image is embossed, use a darker coordinating watercolor to color the depressed image. The watercolor will seep into the unembossed area of the stamped image. Wipe off any excess watercolor from the embossed area.

4. Using newsprint to soak up the excess embossing powder, iron off the embossing with a craft iron. Be sure to turn the embossed side face down onto the newsprint and iron the backside. Use a piece of newsprint to protect your iron. Iron several times until no more embossing remains. Be careful not to burn your artwork!

5. See your darker watercolored central image pop from the watercolored background!

I finished the card pictured above with a bit of paper from Prima, a May Arts ribbon, and a stamped word from Art Impressions.

More Resist Techniques: Crayon Resist

In the card above, I used the crayon resist technique to enhance the flourish background. I first stamped the flourish background (Hero Arts) with coal black Ancient Page dye ink (Clearsnap) on glossy cardstock. Be sure and let the background dry thoroughly before proceeding with the next step, which is to use a white crayon to follow the edges of several of the flourishes.The crayon resists the inks I then used to ink the background: Tim Holtz' new Spun Sugar and Tumbled Glass (Ranger), which I sponged on with my blending tool. I like the drama of the black ink against the pastel blue and pink. The white crayon resist softens the look of the black just enough and gives it a slightly ethereal look. So, have you experimented with crayon resist? I would like to challenge you to play with this technique and share your stamping. Just leave a comment on this post, giving the url where your sample is located. Remember: glossy cardstock, dark dye ink background, crayon, softer dye inks sponged on top.

Simple Little Card

This simple little card is an example I did for our local Hero Arts Club at Stamp Antonio this past week. We looked at various resist techniques, and this one is an example of the chalk ink resist. I stamped the duck (Hero Arts) with alabaster chalk ink from Clearsnap onto glossy card. I then covered the stamping with burnt sienna chalk ink (patting, not rubbing, and you have to have a juicy pad). Since the duck is a reverse stamp, the burnt sienna really shows up the duck. I then cut the duck square out and mounted it onto a cantaloupe colored cardstock and then mounted that onto an orange folded card. (Before I cut out the cantaloupe piece I ran it through the computer and added a sentiment. ) I then just drew in squiggles with a black pigment pen around the cantaloupe piece for a small border. Simple card! Simple technique! Just remember: glossy cardstock, alabaster chalk ink, another chalk ink color on top. I would love to see your examples using this technique! Just add a comment to this post listing the URL where you have posted your sample. I can't wait to see what you have done!

Fragments

Here are the two tags I made yesterday in the Totally Tim Tag class hosted by Jennie and Carrie. We worked with Tim Holtz Fragments and Stazon ink. I love blending the Tim Holtz inks on these tags--they glide like butter! Since I used a lot of Rock Candy Stickles and Distress Crackle Paint there might be a touch of glare on the photo of the tags above. I made mine way different from Jennie's and Carrie's originals because I used Hero Arts stamps. Because my Stazon pad was rather dry I made good use of my Sharpie black pens. The tag on the left could be a product of a tattoo parlor! I added little red felt hearts to complete the tag. In one of the fragments on the tag on the right I added a little Sakura gel pen before I adhered it to the tag. I really liked the sparkle and shine it added. Thank you, Jennie, for showing us how to use the seam binding to make a little center for the flower. Very classy! Carrie, I really like the "interference" look of blending the Distress Stickles with the Distress Crackle Paint. And my favorite part of the tag class is getting together with friends who love to play with ink and stamp in color! A good time was had by all!

Feelin' just ducky!

I love the yellow and green on this card! The yellow color, especially, coupled with the white embroidered paper, remind me of the first garment I ever sewed. I was about ten years old, and always watching my mother at her Singer sewing machine made me want to sew, too. She led me through putting together a simple dress for my little sister, who must have been no older than three or four. The bodice was an embroidered white cotton, and I remember sewing it to a yellow skirt. Sewing was not really a hobby then--it was how we got our clothes! Everything about this card reminds me of fabric and sewing--the embroidered paper, the gingham paper, the yellow rick-rack. And of course I made this card at Easter time, even though it is not really an Easter card. And what did we always get for Easter? New clothes! Hand-sewn, of course! In the card above, the duck stamp is by Hero Arts, stamped with Sunflower pigment ink from Clearsnap. I think it is really striking against the green of the cardstock. Oh dear, I wish I could "wear" this card!

A little bling

Here is my take on a card I saw in a recent issue of CARDS magazine. Instead of using crossword scrapbook paper, I stamped the Hero Arts crossword in cyan ink. I used a Quickutz nested flower die to create the layered flower from yellow dot Bo Bunny and turquoise cardstock. Before adhering the center circle of the flower, I added bunch of bling and embellies--brads, rhinestones, pearls I colored with Copic marker, etc...Since I did intend on using this card as a thank you I stamped "Thanks" with the swirl alphabet stamp from Hero. It just fit right where I wanted! Thanks for looking!

Texas Pride

If you look closely at the picture above, you can see the fruit of my labor (no pun intended) amidst all the clutter on my work desk. I participate in the ATC swaps at Stamp Antonio and one of the April themes was "Texas". I decided to do "Texas farmer". I stamped a background on blue cardstock of gingham using the new Stormy Sky Tim Holtz ink. I then overstamped an old farmhouse (Wildlife Enterprises) and a windmill (Stamp Goods). These are both stamps I have had for years and years. Do those companies even still exist??? I then added a transparency of my son at his grandpa's farm in West Texas. It's hard to see in such a small size, but he is leaning over a cow fence gate. I then added "cotton" snow--yes, when they are ginning cotton out there the ground is covered with white like snow. I cut the selvedge from a yard of cloth that says "100% cotton and printed in the U.S.A." and added a piece of red cotton cloth with a button. The final touch was to add a doctored up metal tag that says "Texas farmers--Texas pride". My son always loved to be on the farm--a place where he felt free despite all the hard work. He lost both his grandparents who worked the farm this past year, but I hope he never loses the memories of being out there in the open fields and skies.