Shaded Posies Adding Charcoal Pencil

This is just an additional picture of yesterday's card with some added charcoal pencil detail.  Dina, our Mix-Ability challenge leader suggested I add some pencil to my card.  And, with great trepidation, I did...whew...that was a tough thing to do as I haven't done this before!!!

Just thought I'd share the results with you.   Thoughts???

Shaded Posies

Yes, it certainly has been a long time between posts hasn't it?  Not feeling the mojo these days and have been spending lots of time outdoors with my flowers, garden etc.

Dina has asked us to use some black shading on a stamped image today for the Mix-Ability Challenge over at Splitcoast.

I started out by stamping the floral image with Black Soot Distress Ink. Then I used my waterbrush to pull the black out in certain areas to shade the flowers. Next I used my waterbrush to add some color with Distress Paints.  Then I added more shading with the Black Soot Distress Ink.  A Copic marker was used to outline the flowers too.

For the background...Distress Paints applied with a spatula and a stamp.  And, for the embellies...some pale green pearls.

Here's what I used:
Paper:  Fabriano Acquarello Watercolor paper, SU! Basic Black
Ink:  Black Soot Distress Ink and Ranger Archival Jet Black
Stamps:  Unity Donna Poppy Background, Tim Holtz Mixed Media and Simon Says Stamp
All the other stuff:  Bundled Sage and Broken China Distress Paints, Niji waterbrush, Copic W3, Hero Arts pearls, spatula, ATG, Corner Chomper

Hope you have a wonderful weekend...back soon with more!

Music Expressions

Catching up on some challenges over at Splitcoast today.  I've been painting our shed and working in the yard as the weather's been quite nice; so until today...stamping has been on the back burner *grin*.  And, that said...not a lot of stamping on this shabby chic design today...I've let the paper do the work.

I've started out by dry embossing a piece of designer paper and then rubbing an ink pad gently across it to make the design pop somewhat.  Next come a couple of layers of a coordinating designer paper that have been matted on a solid card stock.  The little medallion you see is made by punching out a circle of solid card stock and running it though an embossing folder.

The focal point is yet more matching designer paper, stamped with the sentiment and wrapped with my own hand-dyed seam binding.  That's topped with a button with more of the seam binding pulled through it.

Each layer of designer paper has been distressed, inked and smudged with a little bit of gesso.  I've added a few pearls that have been colored with a Copic marker to tie into the color scheme.

This has been made for the Sketch Challenge, the Color Challenge and the Ways to Use it Challenge all from this week, over at Splitcoast.

Here's what I used:
Paper:  Melissa Frances Fifth Avenue, SU! Basic Gray and Gina K. Pure Luxury White
Ink:  Weathered Wood Distress Ink, SU! Sahara Sand and SU! Pink Pirouette
Stamps:  SU! Music Expressions
All the other stuff:  Big Shot Pro, Tim Holtz Sheet Music embossing folder, Sizzix Medallion embossing folder, distressing tool, inking tool, misc. pearls, seam binding, craft sheet, heat gun, ATG, gesso, Copic R21, button

Hope you are all having a fantastic week!  Back soon with more!

Just Because Butterflies

A couple of fun challenges over at Splitcoast today.  The TLC challenge is to use three neutrals and one pop of color and the CAS challenge is to use paper piercing.

My card base is a standard A2 size with the bottom corners rounded.  Next comes a smaller rectangle with the same bottom corners rounded.  The butterflies were stamped in various shades of Hero Arts neutral colors and then the central butterfly was stamped in an aqua color.  It's been topped off with some Stickles for a little more interest.

I used my piercing tool and mat to create the butterfly trail and used it on the sentiment also.

Easy peasy less than 10 minute card!

Here's what I used:
Paper:  Gina K. Pure Luxury in white
Ink:  Hero Arts Shadow Inks in Soft Sand, Soft Brown, Wet Cement and Soft Pool
Stamps:  Impression Obsession Small Butterfly and Hero Arts Everyday Sayings
All the other stuff:  piercing tool, mat, Corner Chomper, Stardust Stickles

Have a marvelous week everyone!  Back soon with more!

A Star is Born

Time for the Sketch Challenge over at Splitcoast.  It's a great sketch that lends itself to so many options.

I started out stamping the little train in Memento Tuxedo Black, then using a Copic marker, I drew the "tracks".  The stars/moon are stamped across the entire card again with the same ink and then colored in with Stickles.

The little bunny has been stamped in Mustard Seed Distress Ink.  More Stickles added here too!  The train has been colored with Copics and yes, you guessed it...more Stickles.

Pretty simple CAS design...

Here's what I used:
Paper:  Gina K. Pure Luxury card stock in white and SU! Real Red
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black and Mustard Seed Distress Ink
Stamps:  WPlus9 Kisses and Cuddles
All the other stuff:  ruler, Christmas Red and Yellow Stickles, Copic Multiliner, Copics:  B21 & B23, R35 & R37

Hope the sun is shining on you today...where ever you are!  Back soon with more!

For Vicki

Time for the Featured Stamper challenge over at Splitcoast today.  The featured Stamper is Vicki and her gallery is full of glorious eye candy.  I chose this lovely sympathy card from her gallery to case.

To honor Vicki, I pulled out some of my old Stampin' Up! designer papers and my Stampin' Up! markers.  The image was stamped in Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink and then colored with markers and a blender pen. I added a some sparkle with some Stickles too.  Three pink rhinestones were added to mimic her design and  then a die bow instead of her ribbon and bow.  I changed the layout a bit too.

Here's what I used:
Paper:  Gina K. Designs Pure Luxury card stock, SU! Melon Mambo and retired SU! designer papers
Ink:  Ranger Archival Jet Black Ink
Stamps:  Penny Black Dahlias
All the other stuff:  Stampin' Up markers, misc. pink rhinestones, blender pen, Memory Box Perfect Bow, Fruit Punch Stickles, dimensionals, ATG, Big Shot Pro

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Fly Dragonfly

Time for the Inspiration Challenge over at Splitcoast.  Anne chose a wonderful Etsy site called "Jennspendants".  I chose this beautiful dragonfly necklace as my inspiration.  And, this is also for the Mix-Ability Challenge from Lydia this week...having both smooth and rough elements on our design.

My card base is a standard 4.25" x 5.5" size.  Next I covered a piece of  heavy white card stock cut slightly smaller with some Tim Holtz tissue wrap.  I like to use Golden Matte Medium for this step but there are lots of options out there.  Just paint a layer on your card stock, place the tissue wrap over top, smoothing it out.  Then add another layer over top to adhere it completely.  In this case I wrapped the edges around the back and added more matte medium in the same way to make it stick.   Another option is to wrinkle it as you're adding the tissue wrap to give lots of texture, but in this case I wanted it smooth.

I stamped the dragonfly image in Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink and heat set it.  Next I added some black gesso with a Catalyst Wedge for texture and Distress Paint with some burlap for more texture (my rough element) to various parts of the page.  I also painted the wings with the Distress Paint too.

The top layer of the wings were made by stamping the image on Clearly for Art Modelling film with black Stazon ink.  Once it was dry, I cut the wings out and used my tiny attacher to add it to the page.  Then I used my heat gun to shape the wings for a little more interest.

Finally, for my sentiment I used Signmaker Alpha Parts.

Here's what I used:
Paper:  Gina K. Pure Luxury White and Black Onyx
Ink:  Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black and Stazon Black ink
Stamps:  Stampers Anonymous Classics #1
All the other stuff:  Tim Holtz Tissue Terminology Tissue Wrap, Golden Matte Medium, paint brush, heat gun, Catalyst Wedge, Broken China Distress Paint, Liquitex Black Gesso, Wendy Vecchi Clearly for Art Modelling Film, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, Tim Holtz Signmaker Alpha Parts, burlap

Wishing all my American friends and family a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!  Back soon with more!