October-November Challenge Entry

This is my entry into Tracy Weinzapfel's October / November Challenge.  The deadline to enter is Sunday, Nov 30th.  The challenge was to CASE any of Tracy's paintings from a Mixed Media Monday video.   I chose to CASE this one from October 15, 2014.

I used a baby wipe to slap down three different colors of acrylic paint for the background.  Then I drew / painted the flower and leaves with a primer coat of white gesso. After the gesso dried, I mixed a couple shades of yellows in a puddle on my paint palette and bright shades of orange and red in another puddle.  The center was painted first with the red/orange, and then the petals were painted with a bottom layer of yellows. I added streaks of the red orange for shading.  The leaves were painted with a mixture of green acrylic paints.  The lighter color in the petals was done with a white Sharpie paint pen.  I laid down a lot of the paint, then used the tip of the pen to move it around. As it dried, it picked up the color from the paint underneath.  


This was done in a little over an hour, including drying time. I used my heat gun to dry the paint. 

No card for today ...

This is just a quick update on my "studio purging" journey.

I have come to a standstill on breaking up my Stampin' Up! sets. As I scan the sets on my DVD shelf, I just cannot make myself break up any more of them right now.  So, I am not going to try to force myself; I'll wait until it feels "OK" to break them up.

Once that urge hits again, I'm ready.  I recently bought more of the full sized stamp cases (for wood mounted sets) that Stampin Up sells.  I'm almost at the point where I need to sub-divide certain classifications, such as flowers or birds. It will be easier to find the stamp that I want to use if I sub-divide  flowers into types of flowers (i.e. roses or 

Last night, I grabbed the plastic tote where I keep my paper scraps. Oh boy, did I ever get aggressive with throwing away paper scraps! I kept some of the larger pieces and a few pieces that I really loved or knew that there would be no more of that particular pattern.  The rest was put in a trash bag and will be taken to the dumpster in the next day or so.

If anyone looked in my studio, they would  not see any evidence that I am purging.  I am taking Baby Steps on this journey so each completed bit of the purge is not evident. But every one of those Baby Steps has been so freeing!  It may be a long time before I see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, but I plan on completing this journey no matter how long it takes.

I keep telling myself that I need to "lighten my load."  It is wasteful to have so much *stuff* in my studio that doesn't get used.  And it's even *more* wasteful to have stuff that is forgotten about and ends up at the bottom of a drawer or box.

My Granddaughter's Birthday Card

This card is for my granddaughter’s upcoming birthday.  She doesn’t read my blog, so it is safe to post her card even though her birthday is not for a couple of weeks yet. She is going to be 11. Where on earth did the time go?  It seems like just yesterday that she was born!

“Tween” cards are difficult for me, much like children’s or masculine cards.     Pinterest to the rescue!   I CASE’d    this card from Splitcoaststampers.com   and had to dig into the pile of stamp sets that I am going to either donate or sell to do so.

I used the same stamp set and layout, but everything else is different.  I left off the two smaller flowers, used different papers for the big flowers, and  different sentiment. I used mini pearls in the centers of the flowers instead of brads and added a layer under the card front.  Of course, the card needed a bit of bling, so I went over the sentiment with my clear glitter pen.

Recipe
Stamp Set: Stampin’ Up! Friendship Blooms (2008 Sale-A-Bration), unknown sentiment
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up! Marina Mist, Pear Pizzazz, Papertrey Ink white, unknown DSP’s (from my scrap bin)
Ink: Archival Black
Accessories: Mini pearls, Sakura clear gelly roll pen

MMTPT329 Monkeyshine!

Shenanigans!

This card is for yesterday’s Teapot Tuesday challenge on Splitcoaststampers.com. It is going out to Pam in Westminster, CO.  Pam recently had surgery and is “on the mend.”

Funny or cute cards are not my forte, so I had to think a bit on it. I looked on the internet but didn't find anything that gave me inspiration, so I was on my own for this tea party!   After looking through my stamps for a while, I remembered that I have some cute animal stamps. I figured I could do something with one of them.  And then I found the Changito Monkey set and the light bulb over my head turned on!

I had a scrap of watercolor paper on my desk that needed a bit of a trim to make it the perfect size.  I stamped the tree limb image, added extra leaves, then stamped the monkey.  Then I colored the image with my colored pencils.  After it was all colored, I realized that I should have stamped the image of bananas that is in the set in the monkey’s hand.  I guess I could have paper-pieced  the bananas, but I didn't think about doing that until just now as I’m writing this post.  Oy!

I used on old Stampin’ Up! Set called Bitty Backgrounds to stamp on the layer of Lost Lagoon cardstock. I tried it first with just Versamark ink, but it didn't show up as nicely as I’d hoped. So I flipped the cardstock over and stamped again with lost Lagoon ink.  Ahhh, much better!

I layered both pieces onto black cardstock before assembling the card.  There is no bling or embellishments on the card at all.

Recipe:
Stamps: Stampin’ Up! Bitty Backgrounds, Changito Monkey
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up! Basic Black, Lost Lagoon, Papertrey Ink white, watercolor paper
Ink: Archival Black, Stampin’ Up Lost Lagoon
Accessories: Colored Pencils

Sparkly Snowflakes!

This was a fun, quick, and simple card to make.  I’m running short on time, so I think this is the “winner” and will be this year’s Christmas card for my family.

The snowflake designer paper was cut to 4”x5-1/4” and layered onto silver foil paper.  The silver foil looks black in the picture, though.  The white center piece was cut to 4” wide, punched with the embossing punch, stamped with the sentiment, and then trimmed it to about 2-1/2” wide. I glued a thin strip of silver foil paper to the top of the panel to make it pop even more.

After the card was assembled, I went over the sentiment with a clear glitter pen. This card is very sparkly in real life!

Today’s card fits the requirements for both of the Monday challenges at Splitcoastampers.com:

The Technique Challenge (TLC508) was to make a card is 15 minutes or less. 

The CAS Challenge (CAS299) was to use snowflakes.

Recipe:
Stamps: Tim Holtz Handwritten Holidays
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink white, Recollections designer papers
Ink: Archival black
Accessories: Martha Stewart snowflake embossing punch, Sakura clear gelly roll glitter pen

Sympathy Card

Once again, I needed a card for a co-worker who recently lost his father.  Goodness, but sympathy cards are so hard! More so when you need one right away.  I really need to make an effort to have sympathy cards on hand.

This card is 5 x 7.   The sizes of the panels are as follows:

Back panel mat – 2-1/2” x 6-1/4”
Back image – 2-1/4” x 6”

Main image mat – 3-3/4” x 5-1/4”
Main image -  3-1/2” x 5”

The back image was stamped with Stampin’ Up’s Hardwood background stamp.  The main image was also stamped with the Hardwood background stamp, then over-stamped with Stampin’ Up’s En Francais background stamp in a darker ink.   I then stamped the cattail image on the main panel piece, then glued the panels together, assembled the card and stamped the sentiment.

After the card was all glued together, I realized that the cattail image was floating in mid-air on the panel. So, I adhered a very narrow width of the rust cardstock along the bottom of the image to ground it.

Recipe
Stamps: Stampin’ Up Hardwood and En Francais, unknown sentiment, unknown cattail image
Cardstock: Stampin’ Up Really Rust (retired), Close to Cocoa (retired), Papertrey Ink cream
Ink: Archival black, Momento light cocoa, rich cocoa

I started doing it

Well, I never thought I would be able to break up my (Stampin Up!) stamp sets and store similar images together.  But it has gotten to the point where I need to do a purge my studio, soooooooo I started out slowly.

I grabbed some older sets that I haven't used in quite a while and dove right in.  Flower images moved to the cases with other brands of flower images, leaves to the leaves case,  butterflies moved to the butterfly case, etc.  It wasn't so bad after all; in fact, it felt pretty good.

And!  I took four sets of silhouette images and combined them into one case. The sentiments with those sets were rather silly, so I  (gasp!) threw them in the trash!

I have a small stack of some sets that I know I will never use, so those will either be sold very inexpensively or donated to a thrift shop.

Progress in tiny steps.

Sending Holiday Cheer

This was a fun card to make!  Lots of non-traditional Christmas colors.  It may be considered a CAS card, but it was not really all that quick.

The inside front of the Darice embossing folder was inked with Distress Inks Peacock Feathers and Salty Ocean, then  the watercolor paper was laid inside the folder and ran through my Big Shot.  (Be sure to clean your embossing folder right away or it might stain).

The house and tree were stamped onto watercolor paper using black Stazon ink. After using watercolor pencils to color the images, I fussy-cut them out.  I used Liquid Pearls on the roofline and at the top of the chimney and Distress clear stickles on the tree.

After that, I tore a piece of watercolor paper for the hilly shape and used Distress clear stickles to make the sparkly snow. I dried the stickles with my heat gun but let the paper get a bit too hot!  Oh well.  Anyway, I stamped the sentiment with black Stazon.  After I glued the pieces together, I mounted the card front onto an A2 card base.

Recipe:

Stamps: Hero Arts Sending Holiday Cheer CL464
Cardstock: Watercolor paper, Papertrey Ink white
Ink: Distress Peacock Feathers & Salty Ocean, Stazon black
Accessories: Darice embossing folder, Liquid Pearls, Distress stickles, watercolor pencils

MMTPT327 Truck for Jayden

Today’s card is going out to 6 year old Jayden.  He recently lost his little sister in a terrible accident and his mother was badly injured as well.

You can find his story at this week’s Teapot Tuesday challenge on Splitcoaststampers.com:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/teapot-tuesdays-f260/mmtpt327~november-4-2014~10-4-good-buddy-t593709.html#post20801719

Jayden likes big trucks and race cars. Since I come from a racing family, I am a bit weary of making racing related cards, so I chose to go with a big rig.  The stamp set is called Big Boy Toys from Mark’s Finest Paper. This set was released in 2012 and is still available.  In fact, I just saw that Mark’s Finest Paper is running a sale right now and this set is going for $14.39, so there ya go!

I love washi tape, but i just never seems to look right on my cards. This time, though, the washi tape fit the bill perfectly! I used Tim Holtz’ tissue tape to anchor the truck to the card.  I’m not sure if it shows in the picture, but I used Crystal Effects from Stampin’ Up on the windshield of the truck.  The truck itself was colored with pencils.

Recipe:

Stamp Set: MFP’s Big Boy Toys

Paper: Georgia Pacific White

Ink: Archival Black

Accessories: Tissue Tape, Crystal Effects, Coloring Pencils

Lovely as a Tree birthday card

This is the card that I am sending to my nephew who lives in Colorado. His birthday is next week.

He enjoys auto racing like his grandfather (my Dad), his father, uncle, and brother.  Quite honestly, though, I am a bit weary of making cards related to auto racing and wanted to do something different. I know my nephew enjoys camping and fishing with his family as well as the mountains in general, so this is what I decided to go with. 

This card is a pretty close CASE of the card found here:  http://fireflyscards.blogspot.com/2013/01/lovely-tree.html   I used the same layout and stampset (Lovely as a Tree). Instead of using an embossing folder for the wood background, I used Stampin’Up’s Hardwood background stamp. I tore scraps of green & light blue papers and sponged the edges rather than brayering in the scene.  I used dies to cut the sentiment. I forgot to note down the brand of the dies, though.

Recipe:
Stamps: Stampin’ Up Lovely as a Tree, Hardwood
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink cream, Stampin’ Up Old Olive, Early Espresso, scraps
Ink: Stampin’Up Early Espresso, unknown blue
Accessories: Dies for the sentiment

Christmas Card

I like how this card turned out!  I design as I go, so it took a couple of hours to complete (not to mention the mess that was on my desk when I was finished! Lol).  I will make more because I like the design, but the next ones will go much quicker!

I am making an attempt to actually use the supplies that I have purchased at least once.  The money is not well-spent if the supplies are never used.  And, if I use something then find I don’t like it after all or I have a difficult time with it (intricate dies, in particular), it is a lot easier for me to put it in the “Let It Go” bin.   I have been purging my supplies, but it has been a very slow process.  It’s more fun to create than to clean, yaknow?   

I am digressing!  Back to the card ….   I used a Stampin” Up embossing folder for the background.  The holly leaves are from a Cuttlebug / Spellbinders die that I found at Joannes Fabrics & Crafts earlier this summer.   The label die is also one of Spellbinders fancy labels dies.  I cut the small piece for the sentiment from white cardstock, stamped the image, and glued it on.  I sued Stickles glitter glue for the berries.

Recipe

Stampset – Stampin' Up! Christmas Blessing (retired)
Ink – Archival Black, Old Olive
Paper – Cherry Cobbler, Gable Green, White
Accessories – Stampin” Up! Embossing folder, Spellbinders dies, Stickles

Stampin' Up! Wetlands

Now that I am back home in Central Florida, I have been getting together with my Stamping Friend every other week.  The cards she makes are more elaborate than what I come up with on my own. She helps me step out of my comfort zone and I am usually always happy with the results.   This card is no exception!

This card was CASE’d from a card that Stamping Friend and I saw at our Stampin’ Up! Demo’s house.  Our Demo made the card at her upline’s meeting. I tried to find the card (or a close proximity of it) online so that I can give proper credit; if it is your card or you know whose it is, please let me know so that I can give credit.

We stamped the sandpiper image onto watercolor paper then sponged in the sky, water, and sand. We then cut out the image with a circle die.It is layered onto a Baja Breeze circle.  We embossed just the card front.  We stamped the wavy line image from Chalk Lines in Baja Blue and trimmed it to fit the card front. The strips in order  below the stamped lines are Baja Breeze, water color paper, Night of Navy.

But the real magic happens when the card is opened!

I love how this card turned out!  We cut the inside piece using a Karen Burniston pop-it-up die from Elizabeth Crafts.  We were going to use the cut in the other direction so that the sentiment would be standing up when the card was opened, but we decided we liked it better this way.

We stamped the sentiment on water color paper and cut it out with a circle die.  We stamped the pelican then fussycut it out, leaving a couple of inches long tail at the bottom. The tail is needed so that the bird can be secured to the card base.  We used a grass die to cut the grasses in front of the pelican.  We sponged in the clouds using a handmade cloud template.  You could also punch out a scalloped circle or oval and  use that as your template.

Recipe:

Stamps:   Stampin’ Up! Wetlands and Chalk Lines.  Unknown sentiment, pelican, and birds

Cardstock: Baja Breese, Sahara Sand, Night of Navy, watercolor paper

Ink: Baja Breeze, Sahara Sand, Stazon Black

Accessories:  Stampin’ Up! Embossing folder, Karen Burniston pop-it-up die by Elizabeth Crafts, Circle dies, Grass die

Mix-Ability Challenge at Splitcoaststampers.com

This is my card for Friday’s   Mix-Ability   challenge (MIX85). The challenge was to use crayons to scribble or draw on cardstock, then spray or paint over the piece of cardstock.  The crayon acts as a resist.

I drew my flowers with pink, yellow, and green crayons, then sprayed the cardstock with brown Dylusions spray.  I noticed that the crayons lost some their color intensity when I wiped off the still-wet spray.  The piece still looked rather plain, so after it was dry, I outlined the images with a black charcoal pencil then smudged it just a bit with my finger.  I knew the charcoal would continue to smudge if it wasn’t sealed so I sprayed it liberally with liquid hair spray.  After the hair spray was dry, I layered the piece onto dark chocolate cardstock, then onto pink cardstock before mounting it onto the cream-colored card  base.  The finished size is 5-1/2” square.

There is no stamping on this card.

Sympathy Card

I needed a sympathy card for a co-worker whose father passed away suddenly earlier this week.   This card is what I ended up with after making something different that didn’t work as planned. (So frustrating!) I CASE’ed  this card  that I found on Pinterest.

Unfortunately, I can’t really write out a recipe since I do not know the names of the cardstock & ink colors or the brand of the sentiment stamp. I did not note down that information as I was making the card.  But I can tell you that the embossing folder is from Stampin’ Up and the leaf stamp is from Heartfelt Creations.

Need for Speed

This is a card that I made when I was still living in South Carolina. It was for a Teapot Tuesday challenge recipient and was definitely a Quick and Easy card!

The clouds were created with a scallop circle punch and sponging.

Recipe:
Stamp:  Need for Speed (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Archival Black, Blue
Paper: Georgia Pacific white, unknown brand silver, Stampin' Up! blue (not sure of the color name, sorry!)
Accessories: star embossing folder

Watercolored Apples

This is a card that I made a year or so ago.  I stamped the apple image, then watercolored it.

Unfortunately, I don't remember the manufacturer or name of the stamp. The embossing folder is
from Stanpin' Up!.  The "littles" in the corners is a Spellbinders Nestabilities die.

"Mixed Media Monday"

I have been "into" mixed media and art journaling for the last year and a half or so; there are quite a few artists who I follow.  One of those artists is Tracy Weinzapful Burgos. She is a delightful person and does a live Ustream show on Monday nights (9 p.m. EST) called Mixed Media Monday.

Today's offering is my art journal page CASE'd from her 8/25/14 show

I created the background using acrylic paints and "slapping" them down with a baby wipe. Once I was happy with the colors, I "drew" my flowers  with  white gesso, then painted them with acrylic paints. The outlining was done with a charcoal pencil then smudged with my finger.  The circles were done with white gesso and  a foam stamp that I have had for ages.  the other texture was created with a piece of drywall tape and white gesso.

I cut the stencil with my Brother Scan N Cut; I used a piece of scrap cardstock then used molding paste to give the words some dimension.

Wedding Card for a Co-Worker

This is a card that I made a couple weeks ago for a co-worker who got married this past weekend.  It was fun and frustrating to make!

Fun because I played with a background stamp and embossing folder that I had for awhile but hadn't used either yet.  The sentiment is from a Stmapin' Up! "oldie goldie"  set called  Heard from the Heart.

Frustrating because I originally tried to use some Prima flowers that just. did. not. work on the card.  I was not a happy camper!  And then, Eureka!!!!   I remembered that I have a set called Flower Shop and the coordinating punch.  So I stamped a few flowers and punched them out. I played with the placement (had to hide the globs of glue left from when I removed the Prima flowers), punched some leaves, and glued them onto the card.  It was still a bit plain, so I put some stickles in the centers of the flowers.

Ahhhh,   soooooo much better!

Recipe:
Card size: 5-1/2 x 7"
Stamps:  (Stampin' Up!)  Heard from the Heart, Flower Shop, Baroque (background stamp used in the corners)
Ink: (Stampin' Up!) Marina Mist, Night of Navy
Cardstock: (Papertrey Ink) cream, Stampin' Up!) Marina Mist
Accessories: Embossing Folder, (Stampin' Up!) Flower Punch, (Martha Stewart) Leaf :Punch

Tulips

I don't want to lose sight of my blog again, or wait a year or so to make another post!   I have a lot of things that I can post, so there is no excuse this time.  :-)

Today's offering is a picture that I painted in my smaller size art journal.  I like the small one as a good place for "practice" pieces.  I am always pleasantly surprised when something turns out as good  (or better) as I hoped.  This page is one of those "pleasant surprises."

I created the background first with paints and sprays, then drew the tulips with a pencil.  I then painted the tulips with a primer coat of gesso before using acrylic paints for the colors.  After I was happy with the tulips, I used a black charcoal pencil to outline them & smudged the lines for depth. I then flicked black india ink over the piece with a fan brush.  After that, I used molding paste & a stencil to create texture.

Life certainly has a way of getting away from us, doesn't it?   I haven't posted anything here is nearly two years!

Surprise, surprise! I have moved yet again for my job.  lol   I am now back home in Central Florida, have been here since last Thanksgiving.  I miss South Carolina, but it's good to be home and closer to family.

Here is the card that I made this this week's Teapot Tuesday challenge seen here:  Teapot Tuesday challenge .   The only thing that is stamped is the sentiment from Papertrey ink.  the flowers and vine are dies from Spellbinders, Tattered Lace, and Sizzix.