Peace & Joy

Good morning friends.  Been busy this week making LOTS of tags, and thought I'd share a couple using SU!'s "Ornamental Pine" stamp set.

Both backgrounds were sponged using TH distress inks (Stormy Sky, Tumbled Glass, & Salty Ocean), and then the first tag I embossed with white and then used a few Copic markers to color over the embossing.  (Alcohol inks like Copics will stay on heat embossing, where regular markers will not)  The 2nd tag I colored with SU! markers (Always Artichoke, Old Olive, & Whisper White) directly onto the stamp.  The embossing and Copic colors take a bit more time, but pop a bit more and I think look a little more realistic.  Finished with PTI's Holiday Wet Paint dies and a few gold sequins. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a wonderful (and warm if you're in my "neck of the woods"...COLD and snowy here!!) weekend! :0)

Make it Monday #188 - Stamping Ombre Backgrounds

Good morning friends.  Laura Bassen is hosting this weeks Make it Monday challenge and shows us how to use the ombre effect for backgrounds on our cards.  I thought I had a quick and simple idea for my card that should only take a half hour or so to make.  Two and a half hours later and a fuller wastebasket, I finally had a card that I considered "ok". 

I knew I wanted to stay in the "blue" family and use my "Fancy Flakes" die, but the colors became my first issue.  I only have 3 blue colors from PTI: Hawaiian Shores, Aqua Mist, & Spring Rain.  I used "Background Basics: Super Chevron" to start building my ombre background, but once I added the Spring Rain to the Hawaiian Shores and Aqua Mist, I didn't like it!  I tried it a few different ways, but it just didn't look right, so I ended up only using the Hawaiian Shores and Aqua Mist.  Then I cut out the snowflake and replaced all the small pieces to keep my chevron pattern going and stamped my sentiment....and the center of my sentiment didn't stamp...grrrrrr!!  Of course I tried to match up and stamp over it, but no luck!  Stamped another background and carefully stamped my sentiment...so far so good!  Cut out my snowflake, punched out the small parts, replaced the stamped snowflake with a plain white snowflake on the card (inset), and then went to replace the small stamped pieces, and couldn't find them all!  My elbow must of brushed them off my desk, and I don't know if one of the dogs got them or what, but I could NOT find them!  Started at the beginning AGAIN, and this time when I stamped the sentiment, I also added a small black line right over the bottom of the snowflake (top of my acrylic block got some ink on it and I didn't realize it until after I stamped the sentiment!).  At this point I was SO frustrated, but refused to start from the beginning again, and just added the bakers twine to cove up the black line.  Anyway, it's done and it is what it is! 

Make sure you check out Laura's beautiful card and video, and all the other great entries, over on Nichole's blog right here .

Thanks so much for stopping by today and listening to me grumble...hopefully the rest of the day will go much better! :0)

Joyeux Noel

Good morning friends.  Sharing a card today that I had made for a Merry Monday challenge a few weeks ago, and then forgot to post it! 

Believe it or not, I started with a piece of Smokey Slate cardstock for this card.  After embossing it with a new (to me) snowflake ef (Darice), I sponged it with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, and now the color is more tan than gray.  Coupled with the sponged snow banks and deer die cut (TH), the card took on a very vintage look.  Here's a closer view of the deer:

 
I used a newsprint DSP (SU!) for the deer, and after also sponging him, I embossed a small snowflake with white embossing powder all over his body.  Added a seam binding ribbon around the deer's neck and the sentiment (PTI) to finish.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a wonderful start to your week! :0)

November Birthdays

Good morning friends.  LOTS of November birthdays in my family and circle of friends, so thought I'd share a couple cards I made for the birthdays this week.

I used the same stamp set (PTI's "Mum's the Word") for both cards...just different colored card bases.  The first card uses Blackberry Bliss and the 2nd card Hello Honey cs and inks (SU!).  I also used Pumpkin Pie and Old Olive inks.  The top card uses PTI's "Wet Paint" die and stamp set for the sentiment, and PTI's "Think Big Favorites: #24" for the 2nd card.  Both simple, but bright and cheery with bold and bright fall colors. :0)

Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a wonderful weekend! :0)

Make it Monday #187 - Partial Die Cuts for the Holidays

Good morning friends.  This weeks Make it Monday challenge has Melissa Phillip's showing her magic with partial die cuts on holiday tags.  I can't resist anything Melissa does, and had a delightful time making Christmas tags using the "Basic Bookmark #3 Die". 

I started with an extra heavy weight cardstock (it's almost like chipboard and had to use my metal shim to make it cut out!) and then stamped the bottom third with SU!'s "En Francais" background stamp in Crumb Cake ink, and then the music lines twice in black from PTI's "Songbirds" stamp set.  Next I used some distress ink (TH - Antique Linen) on the edges of the bookmark to give it a bit more vintage look. I used the leaf die from "Songbirds" on kraft cs and the snowflake from "Phrase Play #9" stamp set on white card stock and then lined them up on the bookmark so that the edges were cut off when I ran it through my Cuttlebug again.  (I also embossed some gold on the edges of the snowflake beforehand like we learned about a couple of MIM's ago!)  I used a gold mirrored cs for the joy sentiment (PTI's Wet Paint Holiday Dies) and for the layer behind the bird die cut. I finished by adding a few rainstones (PTI) and some dyed to match seam binding ribbon and bakers twine.  Here's a bit closer up view for you:

 
I also sprayed the heck out of the bookmark with Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist, so it really, REALLY shimmers in real life!  (wish I could figure out how to photograph that shimmer...grrrrr!)  Anyways, super happy with how these bookmark tags turned out (I actually made 3 of them) and am excited to put them on special gifts this year! :0)

Make sure you check out Melissa's video and beautiful Christmas tag, and then play along.  You can find all the info right here on Nichole's blog.

**Edited to add:  It was suggested that I add this tag to Loll Thompson's "Twelve Tags of Christmas" challenge.  Loll has some absolutely stunning tags on her blog already and it's only day 3!  You can check it all out right here .

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day! :0)

O Holy Night

Good morning friends.  A deceptively simple card to share with you today using distress inks and a new stamp set from Paper Smooches (A Blessed Christmas SES220).  Take a look:

I started with a die cut circle (Lil Inkers) and then curved the photopolymer stamp of Bethlehem to fit in the bottom curve of the circle and stamped the image in black ink.  Next came the fun part of creating the night time sky using TH distress inks and blending "Faded Jeans", "Stormy Sky", "Tumbled Glass", and "Dusty Concord" together.  I used gold pigment ink and one of the stamps from SU!'s "Glorious Grunge" to create the stars in the sky.  The sentiment is from the Paper Smooches stamp set.  Here's a closer up view of the blending and stars:

 
There are a lot of different videos out there on how to do these blended skies, and what I've taken away from the ones I watched is using Ranger Mini Ink Blending Tools, a LIGHT circular motion to blend, and repeatedly going over your color until you reach the intensity you like.  They all come out differently, but oh so pretty! 

That's all for today, but I'll be back tomorrow with a tag I made for the newest Make it Monday challenge if I can get enough light to photograph it.  Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day! :0)

Fall Wondrous Wreath

Good morning friends.  Hope you all had a great weekend and Halloween!  The rain and snow mix stopped in time for trick or treating here, but we still only had 13 kids come to the door.  Yep, that means I have LOTS of candy left over, dang it!  I also had time this weekend to play with some TH distress inks and a new Paper Smooches stamp set, but haven't had time to photograph them yet, so today I'll stick with the Fall season and share a card I made using a die cut wreath my cousin sent me.

This wreath is from SU!'s "Wondrous Wreath" die and stamp set, and she used the baby wipe ink pad technique.  I'm guessing at the colors here, but I think she used Blackberry Bliss, Hello Honey, Tangelo Twist, and Old Olive.  I sponged around the edges with Old Olive ink to give the wreath a bit more definition, and then pop dotted it onto a Old Olive "Stitched Circle Die" from Lil Inker.  I used the "Hardwood" background stamp (SU!) and Crumb Cake ink for the card base layer.  A little tag (PTI) with a stamped leaf (SU!) and some twine finished off this simple but pretty (IMHO!!) rustic Fall card. (Thanks Sue for the great start to this card!!)

Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a wonderful Monday! :0)