Happy Mother's Day!

Tomorrow I will be presenting this card.    I saw a card on the Hobby Lobby Facebook page a week or so ago that used this die, and I decided to go with a sewing theme, too.  I used Girl's Paperie as the background, and then inked around it with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  I cut the mannequin from Tim Holtz' Sewing Room die, and the scissor cut out is from the Cricut Sentimental's cartridge.  I distressed both with crackle paint.  Adding a lot of Tim Holtz embellishments completes the look, along with some stray buttons.  The inside features the same die cut with a special greeting.  I know sewing was really big with my mother and grandmother, and I used to sew a lot when my son was little. I made all his Halloween costumes and even some of his shirts.  I like the saying:  "Women are like buttons...they hold things together."  I hope you have a happy Mother's Day tomorrow, whether you are a mother, daughter, grandmother, or just a special woman in someone's life.

A Touch of Whimsey

Happy May!  I worked up one of my favorite subjects for this month's tag swap--the majestic peacock!  The theme was embossing folders and/or die cuts, so I used both.  I had this peacock die from Cuttlebug for a long time and never used it (sound familiar?!) so I decided it was time for him to go to work.  I first applied Evergreen Bough, Broken China, and Peeled Paint distress inks to the tag, spritzed it with Green Patina Perfect Pearl Mist.  After it was dry I ran the tag through a Tim Holtz damask embossing folder.   I cut the peacock from turquoise cardstock, the leaves from green, and the damask element at the top from gold.  It was work getting the little tiny pieces pulled from that peacock die!  I traced around the inner body of the peacock to make a template of white card and painted Radiant Pearls in shades of blue, green, and purple.  While that was drying I assembled the tag.  The leaves have InkaGold applied to them, in a shade called Lava Green.  I don't know what happened to my gold InkaGold--it completely dried up.  What's up with that?  I haven't even had it but about nine months.  Anyway, the lava green looks gold.  The bottom border is cut from that wonderful Royal Garden paper pack from DCWV I got from JoAnn's a few months ago.  I love this paper, and use it sparingly.  After putting the peacock together I added a few touches of Stickles, Smooch, and a few rhinestones.  The stamp is from Renaissance Art Stamp.  I used Stazon Jet Black because of the slick nature of the cardstock.  He sparkles!

Happy as a Clam!

It's ATC time again, and one of the themes is "Build a Scene".  My friend Karen had this marvelous Sea Horse stamp from Gina K Designs, and when I saw it, I immediately thought of using it on my ATC.  She also had the Stampendous goldfish clear set, and I filled in elements from that.  Lots of Stickles later, here is my ATC "Build a Scene".  I rummaged all through my stash for an appropriate saying, and found this one in a little box of sayings I got from Stampin' Up years ago.  The sayings came as one stamp, but I cut each one apart and I just use a little bit of dot runner to attach them to an acrylic block for stamping.  I think the yarn makes excellent seaweed on that sandpaper sea floor!  The background of the ATC is brayered Tsukineko Kaleidacolor "Fresh Green" onto glossy cardstock.

Denami Challenge: One Layer Card

This one's just for fun!  I have absolutely no (well, maybe one) DeNami sentiment stamp, so I saw on their blog someone had hand-written a sentiment.  So I decided to have some fun.  What did the first swan say to the other?  "Hey, I used to think you were a duck!" Corny, I know, but fun.  The rest of the inside greeting says,
"I hope you have a happy, fun-filled birthday!".  Who wouldn't want to get this card?  I think sometimes as cardmakers we focus on the pretty outside scene, when people would really like a little smile or grin.  Now, the front of my one-layer card was very pretty before I added my choppy little writing.  I drew some clouds to use as a mask and sponged around them with Broken China Distress Ink.  The actual card is glossy, so the dye ink really pops.  I gold embossed the swans and then masked them to sponge the sky and water.  (Yes, that is water below the swans--their lake is rather greenish!)  I then did get a set of cling DeNami stamps recently with a few little butterflies.  The only thing is, there was a flower amidst the butterflies, so I promptly cut that part of the stamp off so I could make bunches of butterflies.  These are stamped in black and colored with Tombow watercolor markers.  So what else could one swan say to the other?  "W-a-a-a-y down upon the Swanee River....!"

Looking Clearly at Clearsnap: Happy Fiesta!

Happy  Fiesta!  This little card is one of a series I created with Fiesta greetings in mind.  The design is the current layout challenge from Hero Arts:   http://heroarts.com/blogs/club/april-2012-contest-details/
I used various colors of cardstock, cut them into rectangles, and then inked them with coordinating colors of Clearsnap chalk ink.  Since the featured stamp is a clear set (Hero Arts CL510) I wanted to stay with pigment or chalk inks.  I like how these inks provided a tone on tone look as I chose colors to match the papers.  The inks did not disappear into the paper, like dye inks would have.  The scallop circle dies are an older set I own from Quickutz, now Lifestyle Crafts.  The center circle punch is an EK Success nesting punch in a 1 1/8" size.   I love using a circle punch to punch out an already stamped saying. Even with using a clear stamp, it's very hard to stamp right in the center of a small circle!  As a finish to a festive look, I added little sparkly gemstones all over the card.  Enjoy!

Card Patterns Sketch 161

Here is Card Patterns Sketch 161:

And here is what I did with it:

I needed a "wedding" card for an upcoming class, so I used black and gold for my base.  The stripe cardstock is from Reminisce, and the gold metallic is Bazzill.  The interior scallop is Bazzill mirror gold, and the interior patterned circle is Autumn Leaves.  The die cut letter is Quickutz.   I couldn't wait to use my new Ornamental Iron 2 Cricut cartridge, so I cut some flourishes from black card.  The interiors of the flourishes looked like hearts, so I thought, how appropriate for a wedding!  I backed the "hearts" with pink card, and added a perfect sentiment from an older Hero Arts cling stamp set.  You never know what you are going to need!  The little dots of Pearl Pen from Viva Decor complete the project.  I can see this card made into other papers with different color schemes and maybe a central picture image, rather than a letter die cut.  This sketch is so versatile!  The best part:  I already have a vellum envelope to fit!

Card Patterns Sketch 160

I just got this sentiment stamp from Inky Antics, and I just love the quote.  I don't know if you can see in the picture above, but when I watercolored my stamp direct to stamp from marker, I spritzed it with Ranger Perfect Pearl mist before stamping.  Also, this is a second generation stamped image, so the colors are quite muted.  The stamp image is called "Efflorescence" from Penny Black.  I think it is a lovely image and I have spent quite some time coloring it with watercolor markers.  Yes, I still use my Tombow watercolor markers.  I love them!  I tried out three or four different stamp images for this card, and I think this one works the best with the flowers, which are required for the sketch.  Here is this week's actual sketch from Card Patterns:

I turned the sketch to be landscape format, to suit the format of my stamped image.  That made it a little problematic for my sentiment, which I had first chosen to be on this card!  I hope you find it pleasing how I worked out all the elements.  Thanks for looking!