Getting Inky

I have been a participant in the latest online card class entitled, Kick Start. I have been thoroughly enjoying each day's hints, ideas and guest artists. One of the homework assignments for Day 10 was to try creating a card that is not in your usual style. Although I have frequently played with distress inks and stains, I have never completed a project using the distress style. I recently received one of the new Tim Holtz Metallic Stains in my order from Simon Says Stamp, but I had not had time to give it try, so I set out to create a distressed collage project. In addition to the Tarnished Brass metallic stain, I used White Picket Fence and Forest Moss Distress Stains to create a background on watercolour paper. After spritzing the stains with water and allowing the inks to wick out and blend, I dried the paper with my heat gun. Next, I added a row of dots and another of squares using a Magenta stencil and the metallic stain. Once again, I dried the paper before moving on to stamp on the background. I used Jet Black Archival ink to stamp images from the "Flights of Fancy" set of clear Tim Holtz stamps. I also layered more images using Russet Archival ink and also the metallic stain. I decided that I wanted the black images to stand out more than they were, so I restamped some of the images with Versamark and embossed them with Tsukinek clear embossing powder (my favourite). I was quite pleased with the result. I trimmed and mounted the finished piece on black cardstock and then popped it up with dimensional adhesive on a light green card base. I also added gold ribbon and an autumn sentiment. I finally finished my inky project. How satisfying!

Can't wait to try some more!
Until next time,

Glitter Ritz Flowering Christmas Tree

If you haven't had a chance to experiment with Glitter Ritz Micro Fine glitters, you really should make a point of picking some of this product up. Used with Be Creative Tape, you can get fabulous results with the burnished velvet technique. Treasure Mart has some terrific tutorials on their website at http://www.treasuremart.net/products/glitter-ritz/

Here is the technique I use with Glitter Ritz and Be Creative tape. I first mount a strip of Be Creative tape onto Neenah Solar White cardstock. Next, I peel off the protective release paper. I then either run the release paper through my die cutting machine or use decorative punches to create masks for the tape. I reapply the release paper (with the blue lettering up) to the areas of the tape that I want to mask, leaving areas that I want to cover with a specific colour of Glitter Ritz bare, making sure that I press the release tape firmly down especially close to the edges. I apply the desired glitter and burnish before revealing another area to be glittered. (I usually just use my fingertip, but for tiny areas I use a ball tipped stylus.) Then I move on to another area and remove the masks and apply another colour of glitter until the entire piece of tape is completely covered with glitter. I keep the die cut pieces of release tape in a labelled envelope for future use. On my card I used Moss Green, Fire Red, and Warm Highlights.

I chose to trim around the tree with my detail scissors, but this really is not necessary and the finished rectangle can simply be mounted on your card. Here is a close up of this beautiful glitter:

I hope you will give this wonderful product a try.

Until next time,

We're so Trendy with Buttons

This week's challenge at Simon Says Stamp is "We're so Trendy" and we are asked to use chevrons, hexagons, or neon in our project. I have chosen to use hexagons on my card which I cut with my Sizzix Bigz Die. Unfortunately it is kind of difficult to see in my photo that I chose to pop up some of the hexagons and mount others flat. The image is one of Mo Manning's super cute fairies. I guess the cooler weather is making me think about fall and harvest time. There are lots of fall fairs running on weekends here in Ontario. This particular image is called "Fall Fairy Jeson" which I coloured with Copic markers. I am also entering this card in Mo's Digital Challenge where this week's challenge is "Buttons". I've used some waxed jute cord to tie the tortoise shell buttons and to decorate the right side of the card. The background paper is from the Tim Holtz idea-ology Paper Stash of Kraft Resist. I also used it for the background of the sentiment which I hand wrote with a white gel pen. I have inked the edges of the greeting with Chestnut Roan Chalk ink to give it some definition.

Until next time,

Who's the Boss?

This week's challenge at A Blog Named Hero is entitled "Who's the Boss?" and we are asked to use any form of embossing on our project. I used 2 kinds of embossing on my card. First, I chose to score an embossed border around the edges of my card base. I actually chose to use watercolour paper as my base because I wanted the texture for the background that one can get with this type of paper. Next, I stamped my image with Versamark ink on another piece of watercolour paper and used black embossing powder to create a silhouette effect with the forest scene. I used a variety of Distress Inks and my sponge daubers to create a mottled, sunset-like background. Once I was happy with the colour combination, I generously misted the entire piece with water and allowed the colours to blend on their own and left the image to air dry. I just love the depth the colour gave to the background of the trees! Once the paper was completely dry, I trimmed the paper close to the frame of the stamped image and then mounted it on a piece of peacock blue cardstock to punch up the colours. I mounted the image onto my card base using dimensional adhesive squares. To finish off the card, I stamped my sentiment in the lower right-hand corner. Very simple, but elegant I think.

Here is a second card that I made today for the Simon Says Stamp "Put a Stamp on It" Challenge. In addition to using a stamped image, the challenge required the use of washi tape. First I stamped a bunch of poppies in warm colours using "Poppy Combo" by Savvy Stamps. I fussy cut each one of the poppies, leaving a fine white border around each flower. I had the idea in my head that I wanted to have the poppies look like a bunch of flowers tied with a ribbon, so I cut stems and leaves to create the bouquet. I decided to punch heart-shaped matching centres. I used Freckled Fawn Orange Scallop washi tape to form a border down the left side of the card and used a variety of depths of dimensional adhesive to mount the poppies at varying heights. I added a double bow using organdy ribbon to tie the bouquet together. I added a simple sentiment with a tiny flower to dot the "i" in smile. In order to give the card more punch, I used double backgound mats in green, then white mounted on an orange card base. I had great fun making this card.

Until next time,

Birthday Fairy

As you may know, I adore Mo Manning images. This week's theme at Mo's Digital Challenge is "Anything Goes". I made this card with one of the fairies in Mo's set of "Five Little Fairies". Each one of the fairies is absolutely precious. I coloured the image using Copic markers, adding some highlights with a Stardust gel pen and some Glamour Dust glitter. I used the largest die in my Spellbinder Mega Ovals LG set to cut her out, then used a variety of papers to create a layered effect. The border was made with a Martha Stewart Doily Lace Edge punch. I embellished the card with purple gros grain ribbon, Kaisercraft paper flowers and a purple button tied with white Scrappers' Floss. Kind of cute don't you think?

Until next time,

Anything Goes

The Simon Says Stamp Challenge this week is "Anything Goes". It is always fun to have free rein to jump in with whatever strikes your fancy. I used Hero Arts Etched Medallion to create this card.

When I started to work on this card, I had decided that I wanted to mount the medallion so that it displayed through a circular opening, so the first thing I did was to create a background for the medallion. I used three colours of Distress Ink and my sponge daubers to create a mottled, gradual colour transition from Bundled Sage to Broken China and finally to Seedless Preserves on watercolour paper. When I was happy with the colour transition, I misted it with a mixture of water and Perfect Pearls to give the whole thing a metallic sheen. I set that aside to dry and stamped the medallion three times with Tuxedo Black Memento Ink on Solar White Neenah cardstock. I coloured the three layers with Copic Markers, adding a touch of white pencil crayon to highlight the top 2 layers. I curled the edges of each layer to add dimension before mounting them one atop of each other and adding a button to form a 3D centre. I cut a 3 and 7/8ths inch circular opening in a 5 inch square piece of Iris Hero Arts Layering Paper, then added a thin black circle inside of that to add a little extra contrast. I used another piece of Iris paper to create a 5 and 1/4 inch square card base, mounted the background paper to that, and then mounted the square with the cut out onto that with dimensional adhesive. I added the medallion inside of the circular cut out, and finally added a sentiment on a thin strip of coordinating paper. My final touch was to add a small Swarovski crystal on either side of the sentiment.

Until next time,