Not for Sympathy Anymore | ft. Distress Inks and Inkadinkado Stamps

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

As you know the last week has been pretty crappy. When I feel crappy I tend to make sympathy cards. Maybe I'm feeling sorry for myself and I need a little perk up, or maybe just channeling my grief into a project helps me to feel better.

So when I started this card, feeling crappy, my intention was to make a sympathy card. Obviously, I wasn't going to send it to myself, but the thought had crossed my mind. But by the time I was done the card, I didn't need it to be a sympathy card anymore. It was just a beautiful card that came together in as I worked on it.

I opted to not put a greeting on it, because maybe I'll use it as a "birthday card" or a "thinking of you card" or a "sorry your dog peed in your shoe" card. Who knows? I just know that at the end of the process the card didn't say "sympathy" to me - and I was okay with that.

To begin, I cut down a piece of Strathmore 140lb cold press watercolour paper. I prepped it with water to make the whole panel damp - but not wet enough to curl. Then I dropped in Peacock Feathers and Seedless Preserves Distress ink to create the background.

Once that was completely dry, I prepped it with my powder tool and stamped the images from Inkadinkado "Meadow" stamp set with VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with detail white embossing powder.

I then cut a piece of coordinating purple cardstock to create a border on the left and right of the watercolour panel, adhering it down with super sticky two-way tape. Next I mounted that on a white panel and rounded the corners on the right side.

I adhered that panel to the front of a standard A2 sized card base and rounded the right corners of the base as well. Finally I added a few sequins just to give some additional dimension and because I really just can't help myself.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Monochrome Monday Series | Green Birthday ft. Distress Oxide Inks

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Happy New Year to all of you! With the new year, I have a few new series' coming and since the year starts on a Monday and we're all fans of alliteration, I thought to start out with Monochrome Mondays.

In this series, I'll be showcasing monochrome cards - this is really an effort to keep myself challenged and thinking outside of my comfort zone.

The last week has turned my whole world upside down and let me tell you it has not been awesome. Everything I thought I knew and held so close to my heart has been taken away and while it has been super fantastic for my creativity the rest of me feels lost and alone.

To begin I cut down a piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth cardstock and used Peeled Paint and Lucky Clover Distress Oxide inks to create the background. I didn't really think that these two would blend the way I saw in my head, so I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out pretty darn close.

Once that was mostly dry - I really should have waited longer but I'm not exactly a patient person I used the circles from Lawn Fawn's "Let's Bokeh" stamp set with Daisy White ink from CTMH to create the Bokeh effect. I was a couple spots in when I realized that the Distress Oxide wasn't completely dry. So the spots are lighter than I wanted them to be and they picked up the green. In order to avoid contaminating my white, I wiped it clean with a baby wipe between applications.

I hit the panel with my heat tool to get all the pigment inks to dry, I really wish there were a more efficient way to get pigments to dry. They aren't even consistent. I've had pieces dry within half an hour and others that I had to leave overnight. It can be very frustrating.

Once the panel was pretty dry, I stamped the leaves from an old Inkadinkado set using Olive ink from CTMH in the lower right corner.

For the greeting I stamped a "Happy Birthday" from CTMH's "Cursive Birthday" with Olive pigment ink.

Finally, I mounted the Bristol panel to a darker green cardstock then adhered the whole piece to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Sympathy Silhouette | ft. Distress Oxide Inks

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

A while back I did a comparison between Distress Inks and Distress Oxide Inks (you can see that post here, Distress Showdown) and I showed the most common uses for my current collection of regular Distress inks and how the Oxides compared.

This was the first time I stamped over a Distress Oxide background, and I'm beyond impressed with the results. I cannot believe how crisp the images turned out, with the help of the MISTI, of course.

I have been holding off on getting more Oxides because I didn't know if I really wanted duplicate inks that didn't come in the mini cubes taking up space - as we all know the space we have is precious. This really tipped the scales for me, and I have a list going of my most used Distress inks that I want to get in the Oxides. I was so pleased with how the background turned out and the crisp stamping on top that it is definitely worth the space they large pads will take up.

To begin, I sponged Salty Ocean and Broken China Distress Oxide inks over my panel to create a very subtle ombre look, with the darkest in the lower left corner. I then used my Distress Sprayer to spritz water over the panel, let that sit for about 20 seconds then blotted it dry with a clean paper towel.

Once the panel was completely dry, I put it in my MISTI and stamped the floral silhouette from Inkadinkado and the greeting from (Recollection, I think) with CTMH Archival Black ink. I did notice that the Archival ink stayed wet a bit longer than it normally would, as though the pigment in the Oxides created a barrier. So stamp with caution! Wait until it is dry before touching. Smearing is likely to occur.

Once the ink was dry, I used a piece of black twine to create a bow. I would love to find twine that doesn't have all these little hairs sticking out of it. I love twine, but I do not love this.

I then mounted the coloured background to a piece of black cardstock, then adhered the whole lot to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

I then used my Nuvo Crystal Drops (gloss) in Ebony Black to add a bit of detail. The more I use these drops the more I absolutely love them (foreshadow - review/comparison coming soon!) I'm less happy about the 24 hour cure time on the drops, but frankly the finished product is well worth the wait.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge

Anything Goes

Technique Tip | Adding Gilding Flakes After Colouring an Image

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

For last week's product review, I discussed the Nuvo Gilding Flakes by Tonic Studios. In that post, I briefly touched on a fun technique where you add the flakes after you've coloured an image. I had promised a card using this technique but then I got sick and my daughter got sick and my other daughter got sick and frankly it was a whole sickly mess.

Today I have that card for you. I'd like to walk you through my process and discuss some of the things that I learned along the way.

There are a few things you're going to need:

• MISTI - I can't line up a stamp to save my life after it's been stamped. Even the clear ones, so the MISTI has become an invaluable tool. If you are able to do this with an acrylic block then I envy you.
• Heat embossing supplies - Powder Tool, Sticky Embossing powder by Ranger, Gilding Flakes and a stiff brush
• Swiffer or Duster cloth to catch all the stray flakes and dust
• Images to stamp and colour
• Colour Medium of your choice - I'm using Copics

To begin, I stamped these leaf images from Inkadinkado using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I arranged these cling stamps in my MISTI so that after stamping I could turn the panel upside down and stamp the images a second time with without having to move them. I then coloured them with Copic markers.

After the images were coloured, I prepped the panel with my powder tool and returned it to the MISTI. I inked up the stamps using VersaMark ink and used Sticky Embossing powder by Ranger to cover the lines of the original stamping, and used my heat tool to melt the powder.

As you can see from the little leaf on the right, my stamp moved slightly and I despaired; I had originally thought to toss the panel and start over but then I thought that this would make an excellent practice piece - because you can never have too much practice when it comes to a new technique. Moreover, I'm a big fan of trying to save the card - so on I trudged.

The trick with this powder is to not over heat it. If you do the powder it will lose it's stickiness and defeat the purpose. This happens here too as you'll see in the next photo, but again - I trudged on.

I added my Sunkissed Copper flakes, patting them down with my finger to ensure they were sticking to the embossing, I then use the stiff brush (mine is from Faber-Castell, but you can use an round stiff brush) to burnish away the extra flakes.

Don't forget to breathe softly during this part. These flakes are light as air and one sigh will have flakes floating about your work space like metallic snow on a clear day.

Once the flakes had been swept away, I was left with this beautiful panel. The light is tricky in my craft room, but they really do shine.

On the right middle leaf you can really see how the stamp had misaligned and the gilding did not cover the original ink lines. You can also see on the same leaf how I had over heated the sticky powder and it no longer was sticky. Again, I thought to toss it. But all experiences are learning experiences in the craft room, and frankly I was very pleased with how the rest of the leaves turned out.

I used a finger dobber and sponged in Weathered Wood Distress ink to fill in the white space between my leaves. I prepped a piece of vellum and heat embossed my greeting using Copper Embossing powder by Recollections.

I added some glue drops behind the letters and wrapped the band around my panel. This mostly covered up the errors that I made on this card. As I looked at it, I actually liked that worn look that my errors had resulted in. To me, it created this rustic finish which worked for the card. If this were not a fall card I likely would have started new.

I mounted that to a piece of green cardstock and then adhered the whole lot to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

Somethings I learned:

• Make sure your cling stamps are actually stuck to the MISTI door. That's what happened with the one leaf. It wasn't stuck properly and that's why it moved. Had it been a clear stamp, I could have lined it up more easily but as a cling I had to roll with it.
• I would have done one leaf at a time. Heat embossed, applied flakes then burnished them away and moved on to the next. I think the reason I over heated some areas was because I did the whole panel at once.
• It would totally have been possible to skip the initial stamping - just gilded from the beginning and then coloured the images in, but I was concerned about what the flakes would do to the tips of my markers. While I'm certain I would have been very careful, I find it best to play it safe - especially when it is a technique that I am not familiar with.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss out on any future posts. If you have any further information regarding this technique, please drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think. I would love to hear from you!

Autumn Birthday | ft. Inkadinkado and Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Yesterday was my Grandfather's birthday. As long as I can remember he's been a gruff, no nonsense kind of man. But he's also always been the kind of man who would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. He's the strong, silent type - not really brooding and definitely not missing anything that happens around him. Never mistake his silence for indifference.

So it's always a treat when I give him a card. I get the "Thanks, kid" but I see the sparkle in his eyes that tells me he really likes it.

To begin, I prepped a piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth cardstock with my powder tool, then stamped the maple leaf image from Inkadinkado with VersaMark ink randomly around the panel and heat embossed them with clear embossing powder.

I then used the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers to add colour to the outline of the embossing and clean water to pull the colour out. The yellowish leaf on the very bottom right was a bit too bright for me, so I went over it with a bit of green, just in the middle and pulled that out to give it a mottled look. I used the light grey to go around the outside of the leaves, pulling that out with clean water, to give them some shadow.

I then prepped a piece of vellum and heat embossed the Happy Birthday greeting from CTMH "Cursive Birthday" with Copper Detail embossing powder by Recollections. I added a few tiny drops of liquid glue behind the script so it wouldn't show through the vellum, and used adhesive on the back to ensure the banner would stay stuck.

I mounted that panel to a piece of green cardstock then adhered the whole piece to a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss out on any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Muse Challenge

#236 Inspired by Anita Bowden

 Thank you all so much for your votes and support!

Silhouette Stamping | ft. Distress Inks

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Okay, so I know it says "Happy Father's Day", but really this greeting could be swapped out for any occasion. I didn't really do a lot of blogging for the first half of the year. I was making cards, I just couldn't really bring myself to do the blog. I don't know why, and I'm certainly making up for it now.

I guess I was in a bit of a funk. We all have them. There are times when I sit at my crafting desk and just look at all the stuff and sigh. Sometimes, there are just too many ideas in my head that I can't work on any one in particular. We've all been there.

Today, I wanted to share a card that doesn't really have a lot of colouring. None, actually. But it's still colourful and was fun to create.

To begin, I prepped a piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth cardstock with my powder tool. I then stamped the short grassy border stamp from Inkadinkado's "Meadow" set with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with detail black embossing powder. Because this is a short stamp, I had to repeat the stamping next to the first to get a solid border along the bottom of my panel.

I then cut a circular mask from a Post-It note to hide where I wanted the sun to be. I used Scattered Straw, Fossilized Amber and Wild Honey Distress inks to create a halo around my sun. I removed the mask and sponged Squeezed Lemonade and then more Scattered Straw to fill it in.

For the rest of the sky, I used Salty Ocean and then with a heavier hand I used Faded Jeans Distress ink over top of that.

For the greeting banner, I prepped a smaller piece of Bristol with my powder tool, then stamped my greeting using VersaMark ink and heat embossed with detail embossing powder. I used the same blues so that the piece would coordinate with the rest of the panel. I popped that up on foam tape and then adhered the whole panel to a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or you can follow me over on Facebook so you don't miss any future posts. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Fusion Challenge

Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

Simon Says Stamp

Work-It Wednesday August and September

Sunset Meadow Birthday Card | ft. Distress Ink Blending

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; masculine cards are hard. And not just a little bit hard -- but like friggin' ridiculously difficult. Maybe it's just me, maybe it's because all the stamp sets I really like are very clearly for kids or for the ladies, I don't know. But having to do a masculine card is something I need to approach when I have zero distractions.

Maybe I'm wrong and guys actually do like the cute little critters and flowers and sparkles. Who knows?

Today I have a card that could work for both masculine and feminine recipients. The process behind this one is very easy, and can be duplicated with nearly any palette you have in mind.

To begin, I prepped a piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth cardstock with my powder tool. You could also use an old make up brush and some kitchen flour.

I used a solid floral stamp from Inkadinkado "Meadow" stamp set with VersaMark ink along the bottom of the panel. It wasn't quite wide enough, so I reinked and moved the stamp over to get the best coverage along the bottom.

I then heat embossed that with ultra-fine black embossing powder to create what will be the silhouette.

I then cut a round mask for where I wanted my sun to be, and then used Distress Inks to create a sunset sky. I started with Scattered Straw around the sun, then with Dried Marigold, Worn Lipstick, Seedless Preserves, Faded Jeans and then Chipped Sapphire. To get a seamless blend but still retain each colour's definition I recommend working back and forth between the colours with an incredibly light hand.

I then removed the mask and filled in the sun with Antique Linen and faded out with the Scattered Straw.

I popped the greeting up on foam tape to give some dimension and adhered the whole thing on a standard A2 sized card base.

When working with Bristol cardstock a little bit of ink goes a long way, so if this is a cardstock you are unfamiliar with, give yourself some time to practice before starting on your actual piece.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. Don't forget to follow me over on the right sidebar so you don't miss out on any future posts. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.