Sending Joy

Hello

I hope you are all doing well.

I'm getting there with finishing up some more Christmas cards.  

But, I must admit....once I start making them, I find it hard to stop!!  

Anyways, here's what I did to create my card.

• I began by pulling out my Lace Doily stencil from A Colorful Life Designs.  I just love the look of this beautiful design.  I positioned it onto a piece of heavy white cardstock, then using a palette knife, I spread a thin layer of Gesso over the stencil.  I wasn't too worried about getting full coverage with the Gesso but just added enough to make the design appear.
• I removed the stencil and set the cardstock panel aside to dry.  Be sure and wash your stencil asap to remove the Gesso.  If for some reason it sticks on and won't wash off well, I soak mine in some Oxiclean and warm water.
• When the piece was dry, I got out some Peacock Feathers and Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide ink and I rubbed over the whole thing with an inking brush.
• I let that dry for a bit, then carefully, I mean very carefully, I wiped over the top of the piece with a baby wipe to remove some of the colour that sat on top of the Gesso.  If you wipe it too hard or with something that is too wet, the Gesso will move and you will lose your pattern and design.
• I die cut the 'joy' from Simon Says with a previously inked cardstock. ( I keep all my 'failed' pieces just for this reason.)  It is a 2-part die so I cut the backing in white and glued them together.
• I cut one snowflake (SSS) from white cardstock, then another from white cardstock (Spellbinders) but I left it in the die and added some ink over to give a bit more detail.
• I glued the snowflakes into the corner, then added the Joy die with the blue gems.
• I glued it all onto a matching piece of cardstock, then onto a heavy white card base.

 Here is the stencil I used:

Lace Doily

                                                        Discount Code for A Colorful Life Designs

*Just use the code KarenFan10 to get a discount on stencils and masks.

(affiliate with not extra cost to you)

Adding my card to these challenges:

Krafty Chicks- CHRISTMAS

My Time to Craft Christmas- VINTAGE

(doilies are vintage I think)

Creative Artiste- ANYTHING MIXED MEDIA

Thanks so much for coming by and taking a look, so very appreciated.

Supplies

Stamps- Taylored Expressions-Simple Strips Christmas

Inks- DOX, Versafine Clair

Paper- heavy white (Scribes Nook- Waterloo, Ont.)

Accessories and Tools- Gesso, Lace Doily stencil (ACLD), palette knife, Blender Brushes (TE), JOY die (SSS),large snowflake (SSS), small snowflake (Spellbinders), gems

See the Light

 Welcome

I am on a mission to use some of the inked background that I have in my stash.  

I have quite a few that I made that either didn't work out for my card or were made just for the fun of it.

That's how this card began.  By stamping over this inky mess with a large background stamp, it was instantly transformed.  

So here's what I did to create my card.

• I found this piece in my stash of backgrounds.  It was sitting there because I had no idea what the heck to do with it.  Luckily, I wrote on the back of the panel what I had done! (amazing that I actually remembered to do that!)  
• Background:  I spread a thin layer of Gesso using a palette knife over the heavy weight cardstock.  Spread it on like you are buttering a piece of toast.  I let that dry completely before going onto the next step.  I got out my Vicki Boutin Art Crayons and rubbed them onto a piece of acetate.  *they are highly pigments so you don't need a lot*  I diluted them with some water and a paintbrush, then using a brayer, I rolled the colour over the dried Gesso background.
• ....and there it sat in my stash bin, until I was looking through my stamps and came across the Shattered Glass stamp from Local King and had a lightbulb moment.  I placed the panel into my Misti and stamped over the bkg. with some Distress Archival ink.  It worked so well.
• I decided to make a side fold card (you can see all the instructions HERE), so I cut the panel down into the 2 pieces needed for my card.
• I placed the square main piece into my Misti and stamped the sentiment from Impression Obsession with some Versamark ink and white heat embossed it.
• I glued the pieces onto the side fold card base and then die cut the flower with the Tall Sketch Daisies die and glued them beside the sentiment.

Thanks so much for coming by and taking a look.

Have a great weekend.

Adding my card to these challenges:

Simon Says Wed.- ANYTHING GOES

Time Out- INSPIRED BY WORDS

We Love to Create Mixed Media- ANYTHING MIXED MEDIA

Supplies

Stamps- See the Light (Impression Obsession); Shattered Glass (Local King)

Inks- Vicki Boutin Art Crayons, Versamark, Distress Archival

Paper- heavy white (Scribes Nook- Waterloo, Ontario)

Accessories and Tools- Gesso; Wow eb powder; Tall Sketch Daisies (Poppystamps);

Paintbrush; palette knife; Brayer (Speedball); 

It's Snowing- Slimline

 Good Morning

I hope the start of your New Year is going well. 

Meet today's card.  

Just a fun one with lots of detail and of course, one of my favourite snowflake stamps ever. 

So here's what I did to create my card.

• I began with a piece of heavy white cardstock and spread some Gesso with a palette knife randomly over the panel.  (like you are buttering a piece of toast) I set that aside to dry completely.
• When dry, I rubbed some Peacock Feathers, Dusty Concord and a bit of Salty Ocean Distress Oxide inks directly onto my non-stick craft mat and sprayed with water to dilute it.  Using my brayer, I picked up the colour and brayered over the Gesso background.
• I then placed the inked piece into my Misti and stamped the Sweater Pattern Maker stamp from Picket Fence Studios using some Faded Jeans Archival ink. Love the look it gave.
• I dried the piece completely, then rubbed all over it with my Anti-static bag.  I stamped the snowflakes from Colorado Stamp with some Versamark ink, then white heat embossed them.
• Next, using my Posca white pen, I splattered to add to the snowy effect.
• I die cut the sentiment from STAMPlorations in white and glued it over the corner of my card panel. I added a white pearl to the center of the main snowflake.
• I mounted the piece onto some dark navy cardstock, then onto a heavy white card base.

Thanks so much for coming by and taking a look.

Adding my card to these challenges:

Challenge Up Your Life- SNOWFLAKES

A Bit More Time to Craft- ANYTHING GOES

The Crafting Challenge- SOMETHING NEW (sweater pattern stamp)

Supplies

Stamps- Warm Wishes Snowflake (Colorado Stamp); Sweater Pattern Maker (Picket Fence)

Inks- Versamark; Distress Oxides; Faded Jeans Archival

Paper- heavy white (Scribes Nook); navy cs

Accessories and Tools- Misti (My Sweet Petunia); white eb powder; heat tool;

brayer; Gesso; Posca pen; die (STAMPlorations)

Christmas Medallion

Welcome

I can't believe how quickly time is flying by as the big day gets closer.

I have all my cards mailed out, now I just need to finish a few to hand deliver.  

I have to let you in on a little secret of mine!  Once I start making Christmas cards, I find it hard to stop.  I don't know if it's creating while listening to Christmas music or just all the images that inspire me.

Anyways, here is what I did to create today's card.

• I began with a piece of heavy white cardstock and positioned the Lace Doily stencil from A Colorful Life Designs over to the side of my panel.
• Using some Gesso and a palette knife, I spread the paste over the stencil, then set it aside to dry completely.
• When the Gesso was dry, I rubbed on some Broken China, Faded Jeans, Stormy Sky and Blueprint Sketch Distress inks using an inking tool.

• Using a baby wipe, I lifted some of the colour from the Gesso and splattered heavily with water to lift more of the ink.  
• I wanted to give more interest to the background, so using a script from the Faded Text stamp set by Tim Holtz (love!), I randomly stamped in the background with Blueprint Sketch. 
• I die-cut the sentiment from Creative Expressions with some silver paper and then glued that over the panel.
• The panel was dry so I splattered using my white Posca pen.  I just take a ruler and tap the pen over my panel to add droplets of paint.
• To help accentuate the silver, I rubbed some Versamark along the edges of the panel and silver heat embossed it.
• I glued it all together onto a heavy white card base and finally I added some white pearl dots.

Discount Code for A Colorful Life Designs

*Just use the code KarenFan10 to get a discount on stencils and masks.

Thanks so much for coming by and taking a look.

Supplies

Stamps- Faded Text (Tim Holtz)

Inks- Distress (listed above); Versamark

Paper- heavy white (Scribes Nook); silver cs

Accessories and Tools- Gesso, Lace Doily stencil (A Colorful Life Designs);

palette knife; baby wipe; pearl dots; silver eb powder; heat tool; Merry Christmas (Creative Expressions)

Merry and Bright- The Flower Challenge

Good Morning
Time for some more fun and a new theme at
The Flower Challenge



I decided to make a non-traditional card for the challenge.  Sometimes it is fun to try and create 'out of the box'. As much as I love the colours of Christmas, I went for something totally different.

Sadly, this is my final card as part of the DT's on The Flower Challenge team.  This pandemic has made me realize that I need to simplify my life as I get back to work and I want to be able to carve out time when I need it.  I will try and play along though when I can.


So here's what I did to create my card.

• I began with a piece of heavy white cardstock panel and applied a layer of Gesso as if I was 'buttering my toast' using a palette knife.  I set that aside to dry.
• While that dried, I took a piece of heavy cardstock that I had painted with some acrylic paints.  I did that using my brayer, rolling different colours in different directions all over the piece of cardstock.  I try and do a few at a time just to have them on hand.
• I stamped the poinsettia from Penny Black called Christmas Pride twice onto the acrylic painted surface with some Versafine Clair Noir and clear heat embossed it.
• I fussy cut out the large flower, then from the second stamped piece, I cut out just the center portion.
• My Gesso piece was dry by now, so I applies Speckled Egg Distress Oxide inks over the panel.  I did that by rubbing the ink pad directly onto a piece of acetate, sprayed with water and pressed onto my panel.  I like how that colour matched areas of the flower.
• I placed the panel into my Misti and stamped the sentiment from the Frosty Hello set.  I splattered using my black Posca pen to add interest.
• Now to assemble my card.  I glued the small flower center to the larger one, leaving areas with no glue so I could bend and shape them and then glued it onto the DOX inked panel.  
• I glued the panel onto a heavy white card base.
• To add my sparkle, I glued a shiny black gem into the center of my flower, then small crystal gems all around the flower.

Thanks so much for coming by and taking a look.


Supplies
Stamps- Christmas Pride, Frosty Hello (PB)
Inks- Versafine Clair Noir; acrylic paint (Paper Artsy)
Paper- heavy white (Scribes Nook)
Accessories and Tools- brayer (Speedball); clear eb powder; heat tool; black and crystal gems;
black Posca pen; Gesso; palette knife, Misti (My Sweet Petunia)

Creative Time

Good morning.

I hope you are keeping well and safe in these uncertain times.

I am so very grateful to have a hobby that distracts me!!

I've been watching a few videos now that I have some time and I've been playing around with some new ideas and techniques.  That's how this card came to be.

Before that, I have to say if my picture looks a bit weird, it's because my camera hates purple.  No matter what I do, it will not photo purple and turns them into blue.  Well for just this time, I wanted purple and not blue! lol  I ended up having to take the picture with my tablet so this is what I got.  I love creating but the picture taking and the editing is truly my most disliked part of the whole process!

So here's what I did.

I wanted to create a card with a textural background.  I took a piece of heavy white cardstock and spread some white Gesso over it as though I was buttering a piece of bread.  Not too thick, but just enough to roughly cover the surface.  It dried so quickly as well because the layer was thin.  You don't need to get every last inch covered, just a rough skim coat.

When that was dry, I applied some acrylic paint using a brayer over the top using a light hand.  Before the paint was dry, I rubbed over it with a paper towel, removing some of the paint.

The Gesso will act as a resist leaving behind some white areas.  The background resembled a woodgrain which I love.

I made 2 panels at the same time.  Here is a picture of what they looked like after they were dry and before I cut them into card fronts.

Then it was time to add some interest. 

 I stenciled some circles using the Messy Dot Grid stencil from A Colorful Life Designs using some Peacock Feathers DOX ink, then added some black stamping randomly along the edges to help ground the design.

I placed the piece into my Misti and stamped the sentiment from Rubbernecker then glued the flowers onto the front and then onto a heavy white card base.

Thanks so very much for coming by and taking a look.

Discount Code for A Colorful Life Designs

*Just use the code KarenFan10 to get a discount on stencils and masks.*

Supplies

Stamps- Live, Laugh, Love (Rubbernecker); Bitty Grunge (TH); Faded Type (TH)

Inks- Versafine, DOX

Paper- heavy white

Accessories and Tools- Messy Dot Grid stencil (A Colorful Life Designs); Gesso;

Acrylic paint (Dollar Store); Wildflowers (TH); Misti (My Sweet Petunia); 

paint palette knife; Speedball Brayer