Mixed Media Tea

 

 A closer look at the collage elements. the Inspiration Challenge today heads to this tea photos board at Pinterest and I came across this shot that reminded me I wanted to try the pigment ink faux bokeh look for a background. So, I made an ghetto stencil from some packing from a die set and used my spellbinders classic circles to punch out some holes. ( this did not go well, I had to take scissors into the centers of them to get them to cut out all the way) is it possible to use your dies to be unsharp? who knows ( they cut paper OK) so, what I found is having a couple of goofs on the stencil did not matter with this background it was forgiving. I used some versamagic white chalk ink and some splendor yellow pigment for that. with some yellow gold inkagold int he largest yellow circle. The watercolor paper was colored with some shades of derwent Art bars a few weeks ago. so, I did not have that drying time today. I originally started this card in a portrait style and so, a lot of the dots got covered up when I flipped it on its side.

 

this card is A-7 in real life and the scale of the one cup by it self with all the leaves was not good so, I tossed in a shadow teapot and that helped a lot. the sentiment is an IO one stamped on a Martha Stewart tag I found at staples a long time ago. the paper has some kind of coating on it so, the whole center of the tag is heat embossed in clear. the edges I tried to use a Krylon leafing pen on but, it rubbed right off so, it got some old gold enamel heat embossed on the edges. The cup is up on pop dots and the center piece between the die cuts is a scrap of the yellow mulberry paper that was colored with some brown gold inkagold.  the leaves are only held on with a few glue dots so they can flutter on the edges.  you are now getting the idea this took a while to make right? I am loving how it turned out though so, its all good. and YAY me I actually USED some of these hoarded prima pearls...

WOYWW #299 {calendar}

 It's what's on your wed. workdesk?  on tuesday night I went upstairs really quick and shot this desk view and I had left this calendar out on the day before started a watercolored swirlybackground and it had not dried.
 the drying time just kills me for most of these types of things so... not sure how long the commitment will continue. I do like the small space aspect of it though. also seen on the desk is left over hearts from last weekend. the little pots of dried beeswax (mind is blank on the names of them at the moment) that need water in them. to the right is scraps that are needing dealt with.

not sure how long I can keep this up. so, I did not do tuesday's page nor Wednesdays square as of yet. maybe there will be time to play tonight for awhile. 

found this second photo in my phone from a few days before that I think I had not done any posting of it yet. 

this was stencil that had some pigment ink sponged through the holes with some fine line tracing around it and some stickles over the top. the sentiment is an Stampendous one. the white space is just neekid gesso. 

Wanna play along with us? you can find all the details where this blog starts here at our hostess Julia's blog. Happy Wednesday! & thanks for stopping by!

Pop-Up Diorama

 This is the cover of an experimental card for me, I need a birthday card for my husband and he always without fail picks up birthday cards and dramatically shakes them open over a table and sadly proclaims... there is no money in it... (before he opens the card to read it haha) So anyways. I have had this sentiment stamped and diecut for a while now thinking (he also doesn't need a thing the lure mfg.s are way behind the times compared to stamp tool mfg.'s) I just may resort to money in his card.
knowing this his oldest sister sometimes puts a 1 dollar bill into his card. its pretty funny to watch his face and see how excited he is about that.

 a closer look at inside the window.

So, I am really not a fancy folds person. but, this looked simple enough on the challenge thread ( thanks Sabrina for the push) so, I started with the inside just picking up scraps from already cut things on the table and I had made the frame around this deer diecut with the embedded deer a few months ago and thought the shape would work in this skinny design. ( I used the score numbers in Sabrina's write up) I forgot about moving the sentiment panel closer to the left edge I centered it and then when I glued down the scored pop up it put it off set looking. So, I decided since I could not get this to really fold all the way flat when I was just playing with the scored paper that meant I should put lumpy stuff in the hole. ( so I did) and the window hole was cut with a stitched rectangle also. I like the cover more than the inside so, I think I will put money over the hole and make it a "surprise" tfl.

Altered Calendar Days

 So, I started this by doing a thin coat of gesso on these pages. when I got to day 3. ( think the first two went to instagram only) the calendar page started to peel so, I let this dry then added more gesso over the top of this and (so it looks different on the rest of the days below) but, I also added gesso to the back side of these pages.

 After the first three days the oh snap is a stampin up sentiment and the hand with the quill is also an su image.

so, I made it 3 whole days with flat things... then by day 4 the textures started coming in. this is scraps The colorful parts were part of a blotter sheet in the bottom of my spray box... this has some sealer over the top. the sentiment is a new one I just got in the mail from Art Impressions.

 the paler green dots are some gelatos which I just rubbed on here dry to see what they would do. the probably should seal this too but... the big green birdhouse is a wax seal that I pulled off the packaging that this particular tool was in when I bought it. its been sitting in that teacup saucer on the table for months.

Since I did not start this in January. I really think it looks cool but, also partially like a "chore" and the commitment issues of having to deal with it daily did not sound like "fun" so, I have lots of blank space about the where the dates were and I had stamped this image on this scrap when I first got it and its been laying on the table for a few weeks. so the staples are only in the printed paper not through the calendar page. the vintage photo distress was just color dusted to the squares that were masked in two directions for some movement.

 Days 4, 5, & 6

These butterflies were cut from a scrap made a bery long time ago. guessing alcohol ink on glossy cardstock. this is some Tim Holtz border die. so, these were in that little bin of bits and pieces on the table. I think that giving my self permission to just turn this into some kind of a smash book is working better than trying to make some fabulous piece of "Art" every day.

The daily challenge at Split Coast stampers for "ways to use it" on thursday was to use buttons and lace. and that was almost too easy of a challenge for me but, I grabbed these scraps off the table and just you know kinda laughed a little because, it felt too much like cheating and so I didn't stick it in the gallery.
the reds are all distress inks and water.

 So this got me thinking, maybe I would use these day's to mess around with "ideas" for the daily challenges.

 I took a peek at the Mix Challenge on Friday all my brain remembered was that there as mask a hill and use some text paper some how... so, Not really sure this even fits that one but, the hill was masked and then I added some snow-tex to the plain calendar page hill and then cut this house diecut from a free gift die that Sweet and Sassy Stamps sent me with my last order ( no clue what its real name may be)


 Added some stickles to the snow-y hill and then added faux stitches to the house dieshape.

You know what the sad part is? these pages really are being masked... and I am even blotting the big drops of color... but, I am still seeing it bleed.
(a little) I'd imagine it would be even messier with no masking tape. This bird is from Technique Tuesday.

What the first 10 days look like together.

Inspired Hearts

The Inspiration challenge this weekend goes to this pinterest board of Inchies..
where I found This pile of hearts.  
and I Just love the mix of textiles and stitches but, the thing with me is, needlework is just like coloring and its a mood thing. so, I started making a pile of hearts from papers. ( and I seriously almost uploaded this shot to the gallery.)

a not so cropped look at the beginning of the pile. after this I started finding snips of fabric's and laces. so, I did not use up everything I made but.

I started out with these gift tags. the black heart on the left tag is a wood chip that was pressed into a versafine pad. the congrats is up on pop dots. The larger heart diecut is a Sizzix primitive cut and the smaller hearts on it were stamped from the Simon Says Stamp set called sending and wishing. ( colored with a white gel pen) the smaller heart is from Unity Stamps. ( also colored with a white gel pen)  the falling hearts Love stamp(can't remember its name sorry) is heat embossed in white on the kraft tag (that was cut from the My Favorite things stitched tags die.

  Then these little A-2 cards followed. The book page was color dusted with some vintage photo distress. the Celtic heart was heat embossed in white on the scrap of tan. the tall primitive sizzix diecut was run through inside an craft concepts budding vine folder. I did ink this with some white chalk ink ( which didn't really show up) so I scribbled over parts of it with a white gel pen. the scroll heart diecut is from Serendipity stamps. the smallest heart was cut from a scrap of Corrugate paper and the bitty red one is a pop out piece of the fs red doily die cut way at the bottom of this post. I cannot remember who makes the sentiment. ( have to go look) The card on the right the Sending die, large doily die and stitched rectangles die are all from simon says stamp ( as is the stamped sentiment) the embroidered trim is vintage.

 closer looks at these cards. the frame is some printed paper. ( maybe die cuts with a view) the heart brad is from Making Memories and the bitty tag is from a Justrite spellbinders set.

 The fiber is tied in a bow and held on by a glue dot. I will hunt for the sentiment set later. ( it was stamped on a scrap a long time ago. that shape is a labels trio diecut from spellbinders though.

This is my Featured stamper CASE from this beauty in Sue's gallery seen here. I love that she stamped her diecut with the cling wrap. (upstairs I have wax paper, so I used that instead) so, changes are instead of crinkle stamping the diecut, I did the printed paper trying for a frame shape. ( there is no versafine in the center under the layers) the red corrugate was cut with the Simon says stamp large doily heart die and the vintage book page was color dusted with both barn door and vintage photo distress inks. the always sentiment is from SU but, I don't remember its set name anymore the tag also has some crinkle stamping on it. I *think* that lace is from SU, the wood chip ah, that wood chip, I broke it in half trying to lift up a side to tuck the sentiment tag into this design. ( and I think if I had not told you that you would not even notice ) yep, you can click on these photos on my blog and enlarge them just hit your browsers back button to come back. anyways this one is 6" square in real life.

WOYWW #298 {organizing Again}

Welcome to the mess. If you'd like to play along
with us this blog hop starts here at our hostess Julia's blog. This Wednesday finds me organizing.

 

a few weeks ago I showed you the disorganization of my dies. ( it makes me a little crazy) and now that there are a lot of different companies in the mix I think I want them split into what they are more than who made it. ( like all the hearts from everyone close together) kwim? so, I have been putting these slim dies into either the small square pouches like the top right or into clear boxes. ( links were in that previous post) and the problem with this is... the boxes are taking up too much room and the small square pouches do not hold the longer die sets. and then I happened across some thread somewhere where people were talking about these avery elle pouches for holding stamp sets. and I forgot about it. until recently I had to place a staples order and these popped up as a suggestion for me to buy from staples ( go figure eh?) I was surprised anyways. so, I ordered some and they came. 

they are thinner than the square Memorex pouches but, they will work better than the mfg original packaging because, this will make it more uniform plus its see-through. ( a big deal in my life) if I cannot see it, it does not get used. 

 

what I have done so far this evening. (the ones closest) I decided that I was not going to make any labels for these either. so out came the identi pen. some have pieces of the packaging inside the pouches but. the only ones with magnets came on a thin magnet sheet. I am seriously considering taking the dies out of the plastic boxes and putting them into these pouches too just to see how much room I could save. crazy I know. but, I feel like I cannot find a die I want quickly anymore. so, it would be nice to have all the solid words together and the trees together. etc. Thanks for stopping by! I am still waiting for the new computer to ship so will be trying to peek in from work when its slow. 

6 for Sunday

The featured stamper challenge today is what originally started off the thought process for these Christmas cards. ( its down below) but, these were done knowing the Ways to use it was a double triple. ( three ink colors and 3 "things" ) so the colors are brown, green & red. the things became, photo corners, a double stacked die cut word and a pearl. the poinsettias ( swags, sprays and such) were colored with prisma pencils and a marker so when you mix in the red stickles glitter it made it work for this weeks Mix Challenge too. 

To have a mixed fonts sentiment. the diecut word is from the Christmas blessings set from simon says stamp and both pieces were run through an Xyron machine and this time around (still a very slim die cut ) I used grabbed the end of a paint brush that was laying out because, of the faux white washed card ( previous post)  and ( itpaystobedisorganizedsometimes) and I used that end of the paint brush to try to smoosh some of the adhesive in the holes of the letters. ( it worked ) :) 

 So, since I had these stamps out and dirty... 4 more were built with slight changes ( two went portrait) and they all have some green stickles in the centers of the poinsettia's.

 

so, that puts me as "done" with my April Quota of Christmas cards... I will most likely mail out one or two of these and and put one in the booth stash and donate a few. these all have the same stamps colored the same way and what I found is that moving the where each one was stamped helped with that whole "oh no, it's a chore" to make a multiple batch design of cards...  they are all A-6 in real life.

 This is the card that started off all the Christmas cards above. Now, this was totally inspired by this cool card in Cathy's gallery seen here. isn't that neat? I love it. so, I found today that I really do not own that many open petal stamps actually. ( smaller scale designs) so, the pointed doodle petals is from Hero Arts, the medium bloom is from the SU set called 5th avenue floral and the little bitty yellow trio of blooms are also SU but, from before I wrote on wood blocks and I sort my stamps by what they are not the set names ( sorry ) this stamped panel is up on pop dots and this is A-2 in real life.

Inspired Daisies

The inspiration challenge yesterday links to a photography store inside Etsy and I had seen some cool stuff. and my first idea did not pan out. ( I had intended to shoot a shot of my blooming orchid in my kitchen with a toy camera I received as a gift last Christmas and stick that on the card somehow. but, those camera's do not do macro type shots, more like whole room type shots) Instaxmini 8 anyways I had also seen this daisy note pad and first thought about it was oh it looks like daisy's growing in front of a wood shutter. ( before it clicked that it was a notepad) and that lead me to thinking about white washing kraft cardstock. The scrap on the side show's what is stamped on the inside of the card. this is one layer in real life. used some MFT Kraft, SU white powder, White Acrylic Paint, some distress and other ranger ink pads to color over the dried white washing

and now that you know way more then you wanted to about how twisted I think,

 oh squirrel moment

 the other thought is... all of these stamps ( the blooms and sentiments) are from two different sets from Club Scrap ( last year in July) that both were named Oopsie Daisy... there are no product numbers on them but, I shot a mug shot of the index sheets so you could see what they look like. I am not seeing the second smaller set on their site today. ( people have asked) hopefully seeing the whole sets may help with searching. I don't know if they are sold on ebay or amazon. I bought these from club scrap direct last year. 

Last Thursday's Cards

 

The way's to use it challenge this last thursday was to be music inspired. and since this IO sentiment had followed me home last tuesday it seemed like fate kwim? this is stamped with versamark and heat embossed with teal shabby enamel from Stampendous on a piece of watercolor paper that had been previously colored with some derwent art bars. the edges were outlined with an staedtler tri plus fineliner (brown) oh, and these pens are cool the barrel is triangular shaped so they are easy to hold. 

 

The finished card is 6" square in real life the top watercolor pieces are up on pop dots over the tied chocolate hemp string layer. 

 

and it was still daylight and I have been sorting through stamps since I had all the boxes out of the closet since Christmas ( not kidding) the weight of the stamp boxes was pulling the brackets out the wall and the boxes were sliding off and hitting the floor and cracking. so, I took them all off the shelf and stacked them all over the place upstairs until hubs could (getaroundtoit) fixing this. ( it has since been fixed) so anyways. the Heart is a really old one from a SU set called love always and its heat embossed with some blush Zing! powder on a sheet of basic grey printed paper. this was masked and the definition was over stamped (as was the border below that is not really visible under the lace) and this was sprayed with some heidi swapp color shine (pink color) 

 

the lace is vintage, the flowers are from wild orchid crafts, there is some chocolate hemp string through the buttons and this one ended up boxed. 

Cupful of Birthday WIshes

 

This is a closer look at the glitter paste from bo bunny this one is the copper color and it looks pink in the jar. these are "wet" shots. I just stuck my finger in the lid and patted it on the petals and some got on one leaf so I added some to the other haha. It dries pretty quick. I just wiped off my finger with a baby wipe. 

 

This is 6" square in real life. I had this big cup out last week to stamp some for someone and made a couple for me this one is up on pop dots. used a metal file to sand the scraggly parts inside the handle after cutting with a X-acto knife. 

 

The wishing die was cut twice but the "dots" are just singles. I did run these through an Xyron machine and stacked them. its a bit of a pain to get all the glue boogers off but, I wanted it to have some depth and the font is too skinny for micro glue dots. 

here is a peek at the sketch this was inspired by: ( my oval fell on its side) 

 

 

you can find the challenge thread here.

WOYWW #297 {shopping}

It's Wednesday! So, this means here is some of what was dumped out of the bag onto the table last night shots. This blog hop starts at our Hostess Julia's blog seen here if you'd like to play along. (you know you want to)

 

this desk view is brought to you in part by enablers at splitcoaststampers. (mainly Loll  & Nancy) Nancy made the most amazing colored card with these Tim Holtz bird stamps not to long ago and Loll has been posting cards using this inka gold and so, I stopped into scrappycraft when I was fetching the ice for work yesterday. ( that store is worth the stop off the freeway if you ever end up driving I-5 through so. Oregon.) anyways the pit stop started for those inka gold pots. and the owner of the store said they are not "quite" good and she gave these to me to see if I could make them work. ( I think they are supposed to be wetter and maybe more like a paste? but, these are more solid. I have not tried yet, just dumped out the bag shot these blurry shots with my phone and had to go do other domestic goddess baloney.

 

the other new things that came home with me are a couple new stencils, some pan pastels ( have not played with these before) and a pot of copper bo bunny glitter paste? I guess you smear it on with your finger and it leaves a trail of the glitter behind without showing the glue. ( I am thinking this would work cool on 3 d things maybe flower petals) oh and that sentiment is from IO. and all the rest of the mess came about on monday from the embossing folder stamping card that I have not cleaned up that yet.  on the computer front. I have given up on this one and am having a new one built. so, I will be mostly peeking in during the slow times at work because. this post has taken almost an hour to do between trying to get the photos to open, pages to load and open etc. (it's not a virus it's old age) thanks for stopping by.

try a new technique {love story}

 

a closer look. the try a new technique challenge today uses this tutorial from Audrie.  (embossing folder stamping) so, I used some distress stains peacock feathers and antique linen on a darice notebook folder. (with lots of water) so, its not a perfect page and I deliberately tried to make some pale spots with the linen. the edges were rubbed with the linen dauber after. and one heart was pressed into the blue puddle.

 

That sentiment is from My favorite things ( love story ) and I think this will be hubs valentines card. the heart wood chips are from freckled fawn. they are just tied on with the May Arts cord. this one is A-2 in real life. used the other half of the watercolor card from yesterday with that pale green stardream shimmer. 

Birthday Fishing

 

The featured stamper challenge this week led me to this cool card in Pauline's gallery. 

I love that I love that the panel was split and popped up in the middle and I really loved the colors I have not used this stamp with red before. so, changes were I flipped it to landscape and switched the big brad for a wooden button. I am debating going over the sentiment with a micron pen because, the brown ink just fades into that red paper. this is A-7 in real life.

Inspired by Watercoloring

The  Inspiration site this week goes to a watercolor artist site seen here.

 

a closer look. I started with spraying the wc paper with water, dragging a waterbrush over the rubber then scribbiling the colors onto the rubber then spraying that with more water before stamping. so that I could tilt it up and let it run down.  These are both from Hero Arts the tall one is "a real wild poppy" and the shorter one is "a real field wildflower" these were colored with an SU watercolor crayon (green) and a cretacolor crayon (red)

 

the base is one of those watercolor packs that is a premade cardfront I did some art bars on a whole stack of these last week for the heck of it and they have been sitting under a box of stamps flattening out this last week. the sentiment is from the Avery Elle set oh happy day. ( love this font!)  this is just a smidge shorter than A-7 in real life. the inside is lined with MFT whip cream.

 

FINALLY, this is a funny thing but, I always feel like my "watercoloring" is something a 3rd grader could do better. but this one made me feel happy when I looked at it. and I think the secret is the paper. and I absolutely have to thank Dina for this one. she made the most awesome card for a CHA display for Impression Obsession. and it had the very neatest texture you ever seen... ( and so I bought some) this is the other half. I bought a pack that is A-7 sized trimmed sheets and I cut it in half for these two cards. this one I also started by spritzing the paper with water but, then I sprayed in some old paper distress spray onto the craft sheet and more water with that and kinda played with this. tilting it that way and this wan and letting it drip and then pushing it back into the puddles to pick up every last drip. and when it was dry I was impressed. I think it is the texture of the paper. (it's Shizen watercolor paper. I got it at Dick Blicks but, I think you can find it at Amazon too. 

so basically this is the same stamps and crayons and inks as above but, I did not spray the flower stamps with more water after coloring so there is not drag down on that part. this one is A-2 in real life.