Merry Monday #286

I created a card for Merry Monday #286 and got it in before the last minute. Yeah! The theme this week was use your Favorite Christmas Verse. I looked around and only had simple Christmas sentiments. The first thing I thought of for this was the last line from Twas The Night Before Christmas. This always reminds me of my Mom who loved to read it out loud at Christmas more when I went home to visit after moving out.

The background – I created it by applying Distress Oxide ink to a craft mat and spraying it with water. I wet the watercolor paper also before putting it down on the ink. At the end I stamped some snowflakes, from Hero Arts set Snowflakes by Lia (CL901) using Versamark Frost ink, across the sky. They pretty much don’t show in the photo. After I took the photo I brushed some Perfect Pearls pearl powder over the snowflakes and went over it with a heat gun. If you tilt it or in the right light you can kind of see the snowflakes.

The houses and trees – I cut this with my Cameo and it is christmas house border design #52275. I was starting to think I would do a monochromatic color scheme at this point.

The santa and sleigh – I stamped with a Stampabilities stamp called Santa Sleigh Silhouette that I got at Hobby Lobby using Cobalt Archival ink. It didn’t stamp all the way so I colored in with a Copic marker.

Favorite Christmas verse – This was probably the most time consuming thing on the card. Hard to believe but true. My printer doesn’t seem to like thick cardstock. This wasn’t 110 lb. Neenah paper either. I was using the 80 lb. Neenah and every single time the ink smeared all over. I probably printed this at least 8 times trying to make it better by changing settings. I ended up using some thinner cardstock but it still has a few streaks. I had another one that I went over with Distress ink but decided I didn’t like the blue so I printed once again and smudgy once again just a little. I was running out of time so I just went with it. I ended up going over it with ink and then went over it with a Copic pen to get the “perfect” color.

 

 

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Gnome Birthday

This is a card I made for a guy.

This background was also created while playing around with the Oxide Layered stamping. However this is not that exactly. It is just stamping with Oxide ink. I stamped with Hickory Smoke Oxide Distress ink using a Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz stamp Mesh (CMS221) on the dark blue paper. The card base gray paper was from my stash and it matches the Hickory Smoke Oxide ink pretty darn close. I tried several grays from light to darker.

The gnome is a stamp from Simon Says Stamp from a set called Secret Garden (SSS101629). Such a cute little gnome. I colored him with Copics. His belt and buttons are colored with a silver Pen Touch pen. I am not sure, now that I look at it, why I didn’t color the belt black and the buckle silver.

For the sentiment I applied Hickory Smoke Oxide ink direct to paper using the ink pad. Then I stamped the frame and sentiment over that possibly with Versafine onyx black ink. They are both from Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz set Saying Stuff (THJ009). I die cut the frame.

Entered in the Simon Says Stamp Challenge 95 in Flickr.

 

Oxide Christmas

I was playing around trying another Jennifer McGuire technique she calls Layered Oxide Stamping. So I made this background just playing around. Then I had a idea for a Merry Monday card for challenge #285 which was to use ribbon. I didn’t have the ribbon idea until the end. I also did not get it submitted but like I have said before “another Christmas card done”.

The background – I did a direct to paper layer of Oxide Distress ink in Fired Brick. I stamped on top of that with Oxide Distress ink Antique Linen using a Hero Arts background stamp Designer Woodgrain (S5208). I like the look a lot.

Then I decided I would have everything be Oxide ink.

So the tree stamp is Sizzix/Tim Holtz Tree Blueprint (649379). I stamped it with a darker green Oxide ink on top of a lighter green Oxide ink that I applied direct to paper using the ink pad. I die cut all three tree layers. Under the second layer I put foam tape and the third layer thick glue. The star is where the ribbon comes in. I was struggling with that part. At first I just tried to glue the ribbon down on the background and the ribbon wasn’t sticking very well to itself and the star shape wasn’t working out. I took the star I cut off the tree and glued the ribbon to that so it had a better shape. I would say it looks ok not great.

That cute little reindeer is from Hero Arts set Christmas Reindeer (CL540). For him I also applied Oxide ink in Antique Linen ink pad direct to paper. I then stamped the reindeer with a darker brown Oxide ink. I colored his nose and sweater with you guessed it Oxide ink using a paint brush and picking up the ink from my craft mat. I used red and two different greens. I hand cut out the reindeer. Instead of trying to cut out the antlers by hand I stamped them on the background.

The sentiment is from the Tim Holtz set mentioned above and stamped with a dark brown Oxide ink.

It was kind of hard to photograph in a way. It looks washed out but that is the look of Oxide ink.

Poppy Birthday

This is a card I recently put together with some of the many pieces I have collected/saved.

For the background I sprayed it with probably Heidi Swapp color shine. It’s been awhile since I did it.

The flowers are Hero Arts set Delicate Blossoms (CL449) which I have always really liked. I colored them with Prismacolor Pencils.

The sentiment is also Hero Arts from the It’s Your Day set (CL661). It’s probably stamped with Versafine onyx black ink. I just love that ink.

Entered in the a2z Scrapbooking April Challenge with a theme of Flower Power.

Entered in the A Blog Named Hero challenge with a theme of Put a Flower On It.

Lotus Hello

I decided to try some Distress Oxide ink layering with a stencil. I was thinking of a particular challenge but that passed by.

For the bristol panel I used a blending tool to cover it with Oxide Distress ink. Then I used a couple other blue colors of Oxide Distress ink to ink over the Hero Arts Large Lotus stencil (SA001). I actually made two panels. This one has water sprayed and dripped and the other does not.

The sentiment is cut out with a Neat & Tangled die called Hello There. I cut out 2 layers and glued them together. I went over the sentiment with a sparkle pen (not sure which one).

Iris Sympathy

I made this for a friend who recently lost her father. I remember many years ago she had a sweatshirt that she would wear often with irises on it and I recall seeing purple on her often so this was just right for her.

The flower I had colored some time ago and it was waiting to find it’s way to a card. The background is some nice paper from a paper pad I got awhile back by. I colored the irises with Copics and cut them out with a Spellbinders die.

Background paper – DCWV Brights 6X6 pad
Floral image – My oldest Hero Arts stamp Two Irises (F213) from 1990
Spellbinder Die – Labels Four (S4-190)
Sentiment – Clearly Besotted Say What (CBSSA421) stamped with Versafine Onyx Black (love this ink)

Entered in the Die Cut Divas challenge for April with a theme of Anything Goes.

 

Merry Monday #284

For this weeks Merry Monday Challenge #284 the theme was use just red and white.

The inspiration photo.

Here is my take on the theme. This time I made this on Sunday morning and got it posted without skidding in at the last moment. Yeah me!

All the papers except the base card are from a Pink Paislee Christmas paper pad called Yuletide.

The ornament is cut with a die from Hero Arts – Joyful Tidings Tag Set by Lia (DI167). The circle I cut out to back the ornament is a die from Spellbinders (S4-114). That white circle actually has a bit of a pattern on it which is probably impossible to see in the photo.

The sentiment is from the same tag set by Hero Arts. It is heat embossed with Hero Arts white powder. A little oops on the embossing…. I made an ornament and backing circle and was doing the heat embossing when I realized I forgot to powder first. The first round the powder got all over. So I wiped it off and started over. The re-stamping was close but the embossing didn’t look that great. So I cut out another ornament and circle. And what do I do with the heat embossing process again? Ha no powder. So it is a bit messy because the stamping left a bit of extra Versamark in a place it shouldn’t be and the powder flies around as we all know. I wasn’t going to try the re-stamp thing again so it is what it is.

Oxide Floral Birthday Cards

I had a lot of fun making this using a technique I saw on Jennifer McGuire’s blog. I created two cards using this technique she calls Distress Oxide water painting. And there is also just the fact that you use Oxide Distress ink which is enough to catch my attention right out of the shoot.

First I stamped the flowers and leaves and heat embossed them with white powder.

Next I ink blended three Oxide Distress inks on the panel.

Then you wipe the ink off the embossing.

After that I took a water brush and “painted” over the flowers and immediately dab them with a cloth. This removes some of the ink and puts the Oxide ink to work to get the oxide look. I did the leaves also but it is hard to see because of all the embossing.

I die cut the sentiment once out of 110 pound Neenah paper and glued a 80 pound Neenah layer over that to give some dimension. I love the look of layered up thicker die cut sentiments but sometimes it is a bit tedious to get them lined up and stuck together especially if they are small.

I went over the flowers with a sparkle pen also and dabbed it off with a cloth. It still leaves plenty of sparkle.

Flowers & Leaves Stamp – Simon Says Stamp Summer Garden
Embossing Powder – Hero Arts white
Oxide Distress Inks – Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalde, Picked Raspberry
Sentiment – Simon Says Stamp Painted Happy Birthday die
Sparkle Pen – Spectrum Noir
Water Pen – Kuretake – small brush

Entered both in the Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge 94, with a theme of ink blending, located here.

I also entered this orange/pink card in the Love! Handmade Cards April challenge in Flickr with the theme of Spring.

Here is another card using the same water painting technique. I actually made this one first.

So I ink blended on this one too. This also has a layered sentiment. The dragonfly wings and the sentiment are colored over with the sparkle pen.

Flowers & Dragonflies – Hero Arts My Monthly Hero March 2016
Embossing Powder – Hero Arts white
Oxide Distress Inks – Wilted Violet, Shaded Lilac, Picked Raspberry
Sentiment – Simon Says Stamp Painted Happy Birthday die
Sparkle Pen – Spectrum Noir
Water Pen – Kuretake – small brush

Easter Bunnies

Here we go with some Easter cards.. A few close ups and then the group of them.

I love this image, obviously. I made all of my Easter cards using this one stamp for the main image. I usually don’t make so many so similar but I really enjoyed coloring this image. I made one more card that I did not photograph and I am going to make my hubby and my son a tag thing with this image for their Easter treats.

The bunny stamp is by PSX (G-1946). I couldn’t remember where I got it but it made me very happy to see I found it at a thrift store recently and it is getting lot’s of use. It is in great condition. I keep notes on a spreadsheet for my stamps and many other crafting supplies. Mostly so I can keep track of what I have and look things up while writing up a description of how I made a card. I colored the image with Copics. I used a glaze pen on one of the cards for the center of the purple flowers but it didn’t show up that well. I also added a little sparkle to the eggs with a Gelly Roll pen which you probably cannot see in the photos. I cut all the images and the mats out with Spellbinders dies.

All the backgrounds are the fab Lawn Fawn plaids. Ok not all.. The upper two on the right in the group photo I used a piece of Authentique paper.

I rounded many of the corners but not all of them. On two of them I cut fun foam to pop up the image and it’s mat.

The sentiments – The bigger Happy Easter is a Hero Arts stamp from the Celebrate Everyday set (CL498). I stamped with Versafine Onyx Black ink which always leaves a nice sharp image. For the smaller Happy Easter greeting I used a wood mount stamp from savvystamps. The greeting is a bit crooked and not glued on tight so I had to keep adjusting it. I am tempted to just take it off the wood. I think the first time I stamped with black ink with the smaller greeting I used black ink and clear powder and heat embossed but then decided just straight stamping would work better.

Peace Birthday

Just a real quick post on this one. I bought two of these with a couple of people in mind. One being my sister and the other her friend. I found out about her friends birthday and got this all colored up and sent off for a belated birthday.

I have to say this was fun to do and not very many of these things get all the way colored. It’s nice to just think about the colors to use and nothing else. I used Prismacolor pencils. I love the way it turned out.