Bada Bling Blog

Where does the time go?

2010-12-08T12:54:00.000-07:00

Hello!

I am sorry I just fell off the planet there for a little while. It has been a little crazy around here with the Holidays and general baby stuff. On top of the general craziness that seems to be my life my Hubby has been traveling a ton and working lots of long days. Having said that, I have been making a few cards and doing my other crafts. I think that I might have a craft addicition as I am currently working on at least five non-stamping projects including my first quilt.

In my last post I mentioned some projects that I wasn't able to share. Well, here they are. I had applied for a contest with Tattered Angels and since I didn't make it in, I can share these with you now. They are, naturally, Tattered Angels product heavy. :-)

On this first card I sprayed the background with Gold Glimmer Mist and let that dry. I then cut out the chandelier from QuicKutz with my Epic 6 in plain ol' cardstock. I placed that cardstock over my gold colored cardstock and spritzed with Graphite Glimmer Mist. I dried this with my heat gun and added a little Black Soot Distress Ink around the edges. The sentiment is from Fancy Pants and the frame is from Tattered Angels' Glimmer Chips Regal. To color the frame I first sprayed the whole frame with Gold Glimmer Mist and then added Viva Pink on the lower edge while the gold was still wet. The hanging "crystals" are die cuts from QuickKutz cut out of white cardstock and colored the same way as the frame. The pink ribbon is from Stampin' Up and the gems are from Hero Arts. The pink cardstock is also Stampin' Up.

I love this photo. My brother took this of our daughter asleep on my shoulder. For this project I started with a stretched canvas which I painted with Adirondack acrylic paints first in Pitch Black and once that was dry with Snow Cap and Red Pepper mixed to make pink. I don't currently have any pink so I improvised. :-) Once that dried, I distressed the edges with a saning block so the black paint would peak through. I then added a healthy amount of fine glitter. After allowing the glue to dry I sprayed the glitter with Viva Pink Glimmer Mist. I mounted my photo to a piece of cardstock that I had colored with Glimmer Mist in Black Cherry and the Fanciful Stencils Glimmer Screens. The corner pieces and the lock are Glimmer Chips from the Regal set and colored with Viva Pink Glimmer Mist and Glimmer Glam in Lipstick Pink. Although the Glimmer Chips are self adhesive I glued them down just to be sure they would stay. I then added the flowers from Prima with gem brads from My Mind's Eye. I cut out the sentiment using my Silhouette Digital Cutter. You can't really see the last step in the photo, but I added a pink ribbon around the edge of the canvas.

I love the way this card turned out. I made the background with Patina Glimmer Mist and Pealed Paint Distress Re-Inker and Gold Perfect Pearls mixture along with the Fleur-De-Lis Glimmer Screen from the Fanciful Screens Set. I then used the new Chalkboard Glimmer Mist in Cornflower on the heart diecut. The heart is out of white cardstock and was cut-out using my Silhouette Digital Die Cutter. I hadn't ever used this product before but I really liked it. Once that was dry I added the ribbon and the Glimmer Chips. Both of the Glimmer Chips were from the Regal set. The Fleur-De-Lis was colored using Silver Sugar and Patina Glimmer Mist and crown was colored with Gold Glimmer Mist. The gems are from My Little Yellow Bicycle.

I have two more projects but I think that I'll save those for another day. Thanks for stopping by!

Rusted Enamel Card

2010-10-19T21:14:00.000-06:00

Hello All -

Sorry I have been MIA recently. I was working on a project that I cannot share just yet and then my horse decided to get a fairly serious injury. He is going to be okay, but it has been a lot of doctoring recently.

Today's card was created using Tim Holtz's rusted enamel technique and all of the shapes were cut using my Silhouette. Silhouette has recently upgraded the software that runs the machine. There has been a little learning curve but so far I am really liking the program. It seems a little more sophisticated and gives the user more control. I know I have said it before but I really love this machine!

My first step was to cut out two of the nested shapes (Artisans Nesting Rectangle) out of white cardstock. I inked the larger with Vintage Photo Distress Ink using my handy dandy ink blending tool.On the smaller shape I did the enamel technique using Weathered Wood and Vintage Photo Distress Ink and clear embossing powder. I then cut out two circles adding Vintage Photo Distress Ink to the larger and repeating the rusted enamel on the smaller circle. I didn't flick off as much embossing powder this time and so the circle is a little more shinny. I then took my medallion shape (Medallion Flourish) and inked on Vintage Photo. I felt like it didn't "pop" enough for me so I spritzed it with my mini mister filled with Vintage Photo re-Inker and Perfect Pearls in Copper. Just the right about of sparkle. I cut four of the large flowers and six small (3 Flowers), I removed the cut-outs out of on the small flowers. I added Antique Linen to the flowers and then shaped them into the flower shape and added My Minds Eye Lush brads. These brads rock!

For my finishing elements I added two brown organza ribbons, the smaller is from Creative Impressions and the larger ribbon was recycled from a present. I added two bronze brads to hold the ribbon in place. I assembled everything and voila! You can see a detailed photo below.

Here is a photo of the whole card without the flash.

As always, thank you so much for stopping by!

We're Back!!

2010-09-15T11:05:00.000-06:00

Hello Bloggerland -

We have returned from our short vacation to Southern Colorado to visit my husband's family. We had a wonderful time and I have been working hard to get back into the swing of things. Here are a few cards for you today.

To start we have a thank you card, I know that I make a lot of thank you cards but I always needing more.

I first stamped the damask design from Heidi Swapp in Bundled Sage Distress Ink on a white piece of cardstock and then using Vintage Photos I lightly stamped french text over the card base, the stamp is Stampin' Up's En Francais. Next, using my ink blending tools I applied Bundled Sage, Mustard Seed and Wild Honey. I cut the label using the Spellbinders Label Two set. I left the die on the label and sponged it with Tea Dye Distress Ink. Next I stamped the sentiment from Waltzing Mouse Stamps Victorian Frippery in Bundled Sage. I added the two ribbons and fiber to the card mounted on a piece of Certainly Celery cardstock. I adhered the flowers from Prima, added the Hero Arts gems and attached the gem brad from My Minds Eye. Volia!

I have been watching a few YouTube videos on making flowers and here is my attempt at a layered flower. I cut out nine daisy shapes using my Silhouette machine. I made each flower about 1/4 inch smaller. I painted each flower with red watercolor paint. Once dry, I adhered the flowers together and spritzed them with Perfect Pearls in water. For the background I stamped the damask shapes from Papertry Ink's Damask Designs set using Pixie Dust chalk ink. I used a little Tea Dye Distress Ink around the edges and adhered the background to a piece of pink cardstock. I then added the peach ribbon. My last step was to add the small gem from Hero Arts.

My last card for today features the new Wanda's Pantry Stamp Set from Waltzing Mouse Stamps. I stamped the Love label image using Memento Ink. I colored it with an assortment of cool grey Copic markers (C5, C7, C9) and R27. I cut the black label using Spellbinders Label Four set. I stamped the background using an image from Papertrey's Giga Guidelines set, I used Going Grey from Stampin' Up. I then sponged over the background using Going Grey ink with a little Weathered Wood and black Soot on the edges. I then roughed up the edges and added it to a black piece of black cardstock. I added the grey organza ribbon and a little red ribbon. I love this set but just haven't had much time to use it yet.

That's it for today! Have a wonderful week.

Cards for August 20th

2010-08-20T10:27:00.000-06:00

Hello All! I hope you had a wonderful week. I have a few cards for today. I bought a few new stamps from The Greeting Farm and I am having so much fun coloring them with my Copic markers.

My first card is for my cousin in-law who is a nurse. Just a little note to say "hi." A few years a go there was a cartoon called the Animanics and one of the characters always said "Hello Nurse." So, I thought that I'd use that sentiment on this card.

Materials

Stamp: Cheeky Nurse from The Greeting Farm

Ink: Jet Black Archival Ink by Ranger (embossed with Clear Embossing Power)

Cardstock: Real Red from Stampin' Up and Solar White from Neenah Paper

DP: Autumn Leaves

Dies: Moxie from QuicKutz & Oval Nestabilities from Spellbinders

Flowers: Prima

Gems: Hero Arts

Brads: My Mind's Eye Lush Collection & Creative Impressions

Glitter: Stickles in Xmas Red

Next we have Tuesday from the Creeper Crew by The Greeting Farm. I love her attitude!

Materials

Stamps: CC Tuesday by the Greeting Farm, Giga Guidelines from Papertrey Ink & My Sentiment's Exactly

Ink: Tuxedo Black Memento Ink, Victorian Velvet & Tumbled Glass Distress Ink from Ranger/Tim Holtz

Markers: Assorted Copic Markers

Paper: Solar White from Neenah Paper & Light Blue paper from The Paper Co

Dies: Labels Two Nestabilities from Spellbinders

Ribbon & Brads: Creative Impressions

Heart Eyelet: Queen & Co

Glitter: Stickles in Yellow

And now for a bit of a gear change. :-)

This card features the Medallion stamp from Stampin' Up. I love this stamp I find that very versatile! I broke out the real glitter, versus Stickles for this card. As a result I am finding little pieces of glitter all over the house. I have actually picked a few pieces off the baby. I use the Art Institute Art Glitter Designer Adhesive when I work with glitter along with the Ultrafine Metal Tip. I feel like this gives me the most control over the glue and I feel like the adhesive really holds the glitter in place. I will say that I do clean the metal tip after each use by soaking it in soapy water and then making sure that all of the adhesive is out of it with a small pin. It can be a bit of a hassle but then I don't have to struggle with picking dried glue out of the tip later.

Materials

Stamp: Medallion from Stampin' Up

Paper: Neenah Paper, The Paper Co

Ink: Versamark Ink & Weathered Wood Distress Ink

Embossing Powder: Black from Stampin' Up

Marker: Copics

Glitter: Real Red from Stampin' Up

Adhesive: Art Institute Designer Adhesive

Tool: Ink Blending Tool

My last card for the day is something I made for another card maker and I hope that she enjoyed getting it. I really find myself reaching for my Distress Inks a lot, they just work great for this type of look.

A quick tip: When I use Distress Inks with clear stamps I usually load the stamp with Versamark Ink first. I find that this minimizes the ink beading that can sometimes happen with clear stamps.

Materials

Stamps: From the Garden by Fancy Pants & Giga Guidelines from Papertrey Ink

Ink: Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade, Tattered Rose & Wild Honey Distress Inks & Versamark Ink

Paper: Solar White from Neenah Paper & Stampin' Up

Die: Labels Four from Spellbinders

Gems & Pearls: Hero Arts

Glitter: Stickles in Yellow & Orange

Have a wonderful weekend and happy crafting!!

Cheeky Rockabilly

2010-07-28T18:11:00.000-06:00

I love the Cheeky Cherry stamps from The Greeting Farm! I thought that I would try a challenge from the Color Me Copic blog. The challenge was to color using black and white. I went with the warm tone grey copics. The circle stamp is Butterfly from Inkadinkado and was stamped using Pumice Stone Distress Inks. I then stamped the long image which is from Technique Tuesday and is called Bijou Borders, also stamped in Pumice Stone. I sponged the background and stamped the sentiment from Fancy Pants. The gems are from Basic Grey and are grey and clear. I really enjoyed this challenge!

Here is an easle card I made with th Cheeky Rockabilly again using my Copic markers. These are so much fun! The ribbon is from Creative Impressions and the flowers are from Prima. The gems are from Hero Arts and the glitter paper is from Archiver's.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cards for July 22nd

2010-07-22T14:08:00.000-06:00

Little Charlotte is taking a nap so I am really hoping to get this post done before she wakes up. The joys of crafting with a three month old. :-)

So my first card for today features the awesome Cheeky Rockabilly from The Greeting Farm. I colored her with my Copic markers added Hero Arts gems and layered her to two cardstock ovals, that I cut with my Spellbinders dies. I aged the DP with Tea Dye and Vintage Photo Distress Inks and mounted those pieces to Glorious Green CS from Stampin' Up. The edge punch is from EK Sucess. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up's Warmest Regards set. I think that she turned out pretty cute!

All of the images on this card are from the Fancy Pants Bella Brush set. I used Antique Linen, Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade and Vintage Photo Distress Inks. My card base started as a piece of white cardstock and I just kept adding ink and stamped images. The ribbon is from Creative Impressions, flowers are from Prima and the gems and pearls are from Hero Arts, the brads in the center of the flowers are from My Minds Eye.

Thank you for stopping by!

Cards for July 8th

2010-07-08T09:37:00.001-06:00

I hope that everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. We loaded up the baby and dogs and headed to my parent's house. There is a new development just south of their house and we can watch the fireworks from the deck. It is so nice. The horses are not huge fans but they seem to stay pretty calm but do go in and out of the barn a lot to keep an eye on things. We slept with the windows open and were awakened at 4 am not by the baby but by coyotes right outside the window. Okay they weren't right outside but they were close and they were loud. Luckily the barn cat was still there in the morning.

For my first card today I attempted something a little different. I wanted to make a shabby chic card versus my normal distress. I tried to explain what shabby chic is to my husband and I decided that it is like distress only with white as the main color. Not sure that really describes it but that was the best I could do.

I used my Silhouette Digital cutter to cut out the bird cage, the bird, the roses and the word "Dream." I used a font called Be Safe.

I started with the background by cutting a piece of white cardstock. Using Spun Sugar Distress Ink I stamped the background using Hero Arts Antique Flower stamp. I then used Antique Linen Distress Ink to stamp over the flowers with a stamp from Fancy Pants. I the went over the edges of the paper with Spun Sugar and Victorian Velvet Inks. I distressed the edge with my paper distresser. I then mounted that to a piece of pink paper that I also distressed the edge and inked lightly with Antique Linen Distress Ink.

Next, I went to work on my embellishments. I started with the birdcage. I cut it out of white cardstock and then inked it with Antique Linen Distress Ink and then added the pink and clear gems from Hero Arts. The bird was also cut using my Silhouette and then painted with Antique Linen crackle paint. It did curl up but I set a little weight (I use an old small glass bowl for a weight) on it when I glued it to my card. I layered on the pink ribbon which I received in a mystery box I ordered from My Sentiment's Exactly but I suspect that it is from Creative Impressions. I added my bird and birdcage. Next I painted the grungeboard key hole with pink and white paint from Ranger. I was actually a mix of red, white and pearl paints since I don't have pink. I painted it in several layers because I wasn't happy with the color. I adhered this to my card using off-white eyelets. I then adhered my "Dream" to the card and once that was dry I added Rock Candy Distress Stickles. (It's hard to see in the photo it is a very subtle bling).

My last step for the card was to create the tiny roses. I used a new release in the Silhouette Machine store called 3D Rose. I made these pretty small, the flat roses are about one inch in size and the completed roses are around one centimeter. I inked the pink and tan roses before rolling them, using Spun Sugar and Tea Dye Distress Inks. I rolled the other two roses and then applied ink on the edges only. These can be a little tricky to roll up but I found that gluing them at the half-way point and letting that dry before rolling the rest was helpful. You might want to cut them out of a lighter weight of paper.Once I glued those on we were set.

My second card today was also created with images purchased and cut with my Silhouette. It was a very simple card but I really like how it turned out. I started by cutting my images out with the Silhouette and then inked them with my Distress Inks and Ink Blending Tools. I used Wild Honey, Barn Door and Vintage Photo. I then adhered the Mendi images to my layered card and added Stickles. Easy Peasy!

Have a great week and thank you for stopping by. :-)

Cards for June 19, 2010

2010-06-19T06:53:00.000-06:00

I wish I was clever. I always want to have a cute and clever title for my posts but I can never seem to think of something that doesn't seem dorky. So, in that vein I have a boring title today. :-)

My first card today is a very summer inspired card. The plaid element was created using Ranger Alcohol Inks and the Alcohol Ink Applicator. To start I placed small puddles of each color on the applicator and applied the inks in a single direction on to the glossy white cardstock, the I reapplied the inks and brushed the applicator in the opposite direction. Once that was dry I used Archival Ink to stamp the dragonfly. The dragonfly is from the Tattered Angel's Field Notes stamp set. I then stamped the swirls from the same set using Adirondack Paint in Pearl. The little flowers are from Creative Impressions as are the brads.

This card is a variation of an earlier card, please see that card here http://badablingblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/mothers-day-card.html. On the background I stamped the damask images in the same manner as the earlier card but I used Victorian Velvet and Spun Sugar Distress Inks to color in the background. On the edges I added Dusty Concord and Black Soot. I added Gurngeboard hinges by Tim Holtz that I painted with Pewter Crackle Paint. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Giga Guide Lines Set. I colored the center of the flourish using Tea Dye and Vintage Photo Distress Inks. The paper flowers are from Prima and the gems are from Hero Arts and Basic Grey. I don't know if you can tell from the photo but the large gems are grey.

My last card for today was made with Technique Tuesday's Parisian Market stamp set and an assortment of Distress Inks. I stamped the background images using Broken China on a white piece of cardstock and then I used my Ink Blending tool to add the ink over the images. I used Tumbled Glass, Old Paper, Wild Honey and Rusty Hinge Distress Inks. I stamped the large element with Embossing Ink and the embossed with Distress Embossing Powder in Walnut Stain. The oval is a piece of Grundeboard painted with Gold Paint from Adirondack by Ranger.The Fleur-de-Lys is a punch from EK Success. The ribbon is from Creative Impressions.

Thank you for stopping by today!

Odds and Ends

2010-05-24T14:50:00.003-06:00

Hi All -

Last week I was very motivated to use up the bits and pieces I had around my craft area. I had made some backgrounds and accent pieces and I finally put a few together to make some cards. Because some parts of these cards have been around for awhile it might be a challenge for me to remember all of the techniques or colors I used but I thought I'd share anyway.

For this purple card I applied ink to a piece of white cardstock using sponges (I am pretty sure they were Distress Inks). Once I was happy with the background I let it dry thoroughly. I then stamped over the ink with Versamark ink, the stamp is Regal from Tattered Angels. I then embossed with clear embossing powder. Once that cooled I mixed Twilight Purple and Espresso Adirondack paint on my craft sheet, I made sure that the two colors weren't completely mixed and I then applied the paint over my background with a makeup sponge. I gave that just a minute to dry and then took a damp paper towel and rubbed the paint off of the embossed swirls. I live in Colorado and things dry fast here.

The damask image was cut from white cardstock using my Silhouette. I then painted the image with Silver Adirondack paint and let it dry. My final step was to assemble everything.

For the background of this card, I again applied Distress Inks to a piece of white cardstock. I had cut out the "Rock Star" with my Silhouette for another project and used the negative as a stencil and colored in with Distress Inks. I then stamped a variety of images with more Distress Inks. The wings are from Regal Flourish Set by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous. The heart was cut using my Silhouette. To color the heart I spritzed Fired Brick reinker and water on my craft sheet then rubbed my heart in the pool of color. I then repeated the process with Gold Glimmer Mist.

For this card I used a few techniques that I have described before here on my blog so I'll just list the products. Stamps: La Letter - Hero Arts, Giga Guide Lines - Papertrey Ink, Thank You - Inkadinkado, Inks - Assorted Distress Inks, Noir Palette Ink. Flower: Silhouette. Gem - My Minds Eye, Organza Ribbon - Creative Impressions. Below is a close-up of the flower.

The last card was something a little whimsical. The highland Cow is from the QuicKutz Scotland set. I cut him out of white cardstock and then colored him with Distress Inks and my Ink Blending Tool. The frame is from Spellbinders and the paper was just some random paper I picked up at the store.

I know a little disjointed and maybe a little odd, but I was trying to get this posted while a little someone was napping. Have a great week!

Dreaming in the Garden

2010-05-21T06:51:00.004-06:00

The other day I was cutting out some Russian nesting dolls with my Silhouette and had a little extra room on the last piece so I threw in a small piece of fencing. Honestly I didn't even really measure it. I just thought that I might use it on a card, and here is that card.

I started with the fence. I cut it out of white cardstock using my Silhouette.

Next, I added Weathered Wood Distress Ink.

Then Black Soot Distress Ink.

To give the gate a more wrote iron look I added Stormy Sky Distress Ink.

Then I started with a quarter sheet of white cardstock.

I then rubbed Crushed Olive, Bundled Sage, and Forest Moss Distress Inks on my Ranger Craft Sheet and spritzed with water. I then took my cardstock and dragged it through the color until I was happy with the result.

All stamps on this card are from Tim Holtz Flights of Fancy clear stamp set by Stampers Anonymous. I stamped the flowers with Forest Moss Distress Ink.

I added the flowers on the left, stamping them with Bundled Sage Distress Ink.

The dream sentiment was added with Forest Moss Distress Ink.

And now I started my favorite direct-to-paper inking. Here I started with Bundled Sage Distress Ink, then Forest Moss Distress Ink and on the very edges I added Pine Needle Distress Ink.

I mounted the background to a piece of Basic Black cardstock and then to a piece of Forest Foliage cardstock, both are from Stampin' Up!

I added my gate to the background and added a few flowers that I had left over from my previous card. I added a few gems by Hero Arts, because all cards need bling and voila - all done.

I am sorry that my photos are a little blurry, I had the wrong lens on my camera and didn't bother to change it.

Thank you for visiting and have a great weekend!

Mother's Day Card

2010-05-13T11:22:00.003-06:00

Hello All - I know that it has been awhile but the new baby has been keeping us very busy. I did manage to sneak in a card over the course of a few days, working a few minutes at a time. I made this card for my mom for Mother's Day.

I started by cutting out the frame and flowers using my Silhouette Machine. Both elements were purchased from Silhouette. I added text to the center of the frame prior to cutting it out. The text says "Mothers hold their children's hands for a short while, but their hearts forever." Once cut out I inked the center oval with Antique Linen and Frayed Burlap Distress Inks. I then inked the frame with Weathered Wood and Black Soot Distress Inks. My next step was to color the flowers, for these I used Milled Lavender and Dusty Concord. To give the flowers a little shape I pressed each petal around a small dowel (aka cuticle stick).

For the background, I stamped the damask image from Great Impressions in Dusty Concord and then embossed with clear embossing powder. I am loving this stamp and I am sure you will see more of it. I then applied Milled Lavender over all of the background, then Dusty Concord keeping mostly to the edges. To give added depth to the colors I added Weather Wood and Black Soot Distress Inks around the edges. Once that had a chance to dry I used my Distressing Tool to rough up the edges, added a black organza ribbon from Creative Impressions and adhered the background to a black piece of cardstock. I assembled the card and added gems from My Little Yellow Bicycle and Hero Arts.

A pretty simple but high impact card. I hope you all have a wonderful day!

A few cards

2010-04-21T10:43:00.003-06:00

Hi All -

I know that I have been MIA for a little while. We are still waiting for the baby to arrive and as we get closer it is harder for me to get these cards created and posted. I do have a few quick cards to share today.

For the crane card I started with a light blue piece of cardstock for the base. I then cut out the crane from the QuicKutz Japan set. I actually cut him out of white cardstock and colored in the various parts with Copic markers. I then glued him together and set him aside to dry. I then cut out the temple out of black cardstock. The Chinese characters stamp is from Inkadinkado and I stamped it with Embossing Ink from Ranger and then embossed with Gold Zing! EP from American Crafts. I then mounted the red cardstock to Brushed Gold cardstock from Stampin' Up! I added a gold brad and assembled the card. My last step was to add the Hand Stamped from Stampin' Up! with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink from Ranger.

I made 20 of these carrots for my Baby Shower. I cut out the carrot box from Silhouette. The bunny is also an image from Silhouette and added that to the carrot so there would be a bunny shaped hole when I cut the box. Once cut, I glued a piece of cardstock behind the bunny and then I added the green glitter. I made half of these with green bunnies and half with pink bunnies. I then glued my boxes together and filled them with candy and tied on the green ribbon.

This last card was made for our vet that did our French Bulldog's spay. The staff and vet were great and really made us feel at ease. I broke out my Silhouette cutter for this one, I added the oval to my software and added the paw print in the center. This is similar to the bunny boxes in that are cutting a shape within a shape. I added color to the oval using assorted Tim Holtz Distress Inks. The stamps are from Tattered Angels. I made sure to let the ink dry before I added the glitter. I stamped the Thank You from Papertrey Ink on the background, added brads and then assembled the card.

That is all for today. Have a great week!

Thank you - 03.22.10

2010-03-22T19:09:00.007-06:00

Hello All -

Things are getting a bit hectic over here as we get ready for the baby. My OB said last week that she could come at anytime now, hopefully she'll wait until after our baby shower. I just packed my hospital bag today and put the car set in my car so I guess we are getting pretty close to ready. With all of that, I did manage to sneak in a card today. :-)

This card is for my dad who helped me move one of my horses to a new barn and came with me to check-out a horse trailer. Being almost nine months pregnant makes some of this stuff a little challenging.

I began with a 4"x 5 1/4" piece of white cardstock. I had cut out my own mask using acetate and my Silhouette machine. The shape is one that you can purchase from the online store. It took several passes to get the acetate cut but I am pretty happy with the results. I laid the mask on my cardstock and sprayed the paper with my Tim Holtz mini-Mister filled with Vintage Photo reinker and Perfect Pearls in Gold.

I removed my mask and dried the paper using my heat gun. Once it was dry I reapplied my mask and sprayed my cardstock with Tea Dye reinker in my mini-mister.

Once I dried my paper, I applied Pumice Stone Distress Ink over the flourish.

Then I applied Stormy Sky Distress Ink.

Then I added Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink over the flourish and Black Soot on the edges.

Next, I cut out a label using Spellbinders Labels 1. I stamped the horse image from Creative Impressions with Black Soot Distress Ink. I then applied Antique Linen ink.

I then applied Frayed Burlap and Black Soot on the edges of the shape.

Using the next size up of die I cut out a label in brown cardstock. I then distressed the label using my Tonic Distresser.

Next, I stamped "Thank You" from the Papertrey Ink stamp set Giga Guide Lines using embossing ink and then heat embossed with Gold embossing powder from Zing!

I added a brown ribbon and rick-rack ribbon to the card, the rick-rack is from American Crafts.

I added the horse label using EK Success pop dots. I painted two gold brads using Adirondack paint dabbers in Stream i added these to my labels before I mounted it to my card. Later I added Distress Stickels in Faded Jeans to the brads. I mounted the whole thing to a piece of Charcoal cardstock by The Paper Company.

Have a wonderful week!

St. Patrick's Day Card

2010-03-10T07:58:00.008-07:00

I love St. Patrick's Day! When I was in college, my mom and I took a trip to Ireland and we spent St. Patrick's Day in Limerick. We had such a great trip! It is fun to remember it every year. In honor of one of my fav holidays I made this little card.

I started with a 4"x 5 1/4" piece of white cardstock. I stamped the image using Bundled Sage Distress Ink, the stamp is Dreamy Leaves from Stampendous.

I then applied Antique Linen Distress Ink over the whole image.

Then added Bundled Sage around the edges.

Lastly, I added Vintage Photo Distress Ink without covering the Sage.

Next, I went to my trusty Silhouette machine and cut out the shape below. It is called Artsy Flourish. Once I cut it out I added Vintage Photo all over the shape.

I then did a colorwash over the Vintage Photo with Suede Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist. I followed that with a very light mist of Gold Glimmer Mist.

I then cut out a shamrock, again using the Silhouette and white cardstock. I applied Antique Linen all over the shamrock.

Next, I added the Bundled Sage Distress Ink. This is a new color from Tim Holtz and Ranger and I am loving it!

I added Vintage Photo on the very edge. I also went back over the edges with Bundled Sage just to darken them up.

I cut a piece of 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" Old Olive cardstock from Stampin' Up.

I then edged the cardstock with Vintage Photo.

I mounted the white cardstock to the Old Olive and added a distressed piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock and added a light green organza ribbon.

I then glued the flourish to my shamrock. I also cut out two small hearts, one using a Marvy Uchida punch and the larger was a miscellaneous heart punch. The larger heart was aged with Antique Linen and the smaller with Bundled Sage. I added Distress Stickles in Rock Candy to the green heart and once that was dry I applied Diamond Glaze. It is a little hard to see in the photo but it almost looks like a stone.

I mounted the shamrock to the card. I discovered some old photo corners in my drawer and painted them with Lettuce and Espresso Adirondack Paint Dabbers and completed the card with green gems from Mark Richards.

A close up.

I really like the way this card turned out. Have a great rest of your week.

Another Heart Card

2010-03-02T08:33:00.008-07:00

I don't know if it is just because Valentine's Day was just a few weeks ago but I have been feeling hearts. Just to prove it, here is another one. :-)

I started with my basic white heart cut-out using my Silhouette Digital Cutter. I have made up my own ink spritz colors using the Distress ReInkers and Perfect Pearls. I misted the heart with spray made with Fired Brick Ink and Gold Perfect Pearls and the I misted a little Vintage Photo with Bronze Perfect Pearls.

Sometimes I have a happy accident, which is what happened on this next step. I rubbed Versamark Ink all over my heart and then poured Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel on my heart. At the time I didn't realize that my Versamark was drying out so when I hit the heart with my heat gun it blew off a lot of the UTEE. I thought that I'd just see what it looked like and voila! I loved it. I felt like this gave a really distressed metal look. I then inked over the edges with Walnut Stain Ink.

Next, I cut-out the Damask Fleur shape from Silhouette. I cut it apart and painted it using an Adirondack Paint Dabber in Gold.

Next, I cut out the Diamond Grunge Lg from Silhouette in white cardstock and then sprayed it with Tea Dye Distress Ink (no Perfect Pearls).

I then applied Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress Inks over the Tea Dye base.

I then took a plain piece of white cardstock and did a colorwash using Old Paper, Antique Linen and Tea Dye Distress Inks. Since the colors are pretty light I did the wash about three times, drying with my heat gun between applications.

I mounted my colorwashed cardstock to a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock.

Then added the grunge diamonds on top of that.

I cut two small pieces of cardstock one in Basic Black and the other a matallic from Bazzill. I used my Paper Distresser on both pieces, I loved that the metallic paper had a really different color on the inside.

I then stamped a flourish from the Flourishes set by Bo Bunny using Embossing Ink from Ranger and then embossed with Black Soot Distress Embossing Powder.

I assembled all of my background pieces and added vintage eyelets from Making Memories.

I added my damask wings to my heart.

I added a little reinforcement to the "wings" to be sure that they wouldn't fall off.

I stamped the sentiment from Penny Black on the inside of the card using Black Soot Distress Ink.

I used a ton of foam dots to adhere my heart and damask to the card.

Here is the final product. Perhaps next week I'll make something without a heart on it, maybe not.

Heart & Crown Baby Cards Part 2

2010-02-28T14:33:00.007-07:00

As promised, here is the step-by-step directions for the blue congratulations card. I'll keep these directions brief as this card is very similar to the pink one. :-)

Cut a 4" x 5 1/2" piece of basic blue cardstock, again from Archiver's.

Stamp using Broken China Distress Ink.

Add Broken China Distress Ink all over the cardstock but heavier around the edges.

Ink with Faded Jeans Distress Ink and on the very edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

Distress the edges with Tonic Paper Distresser.

Stamp My Sentiments Exactly sentiment using Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

Cut out crown using the Silhouette Digital Cutter. Ink with Broken China, Faded Jeans and Walnut Stain Distress Inks. Stamp with part of a flourish from Parisian Market set using Broken China.

Ink smaller heart with Antique Linen Distress Ink.

Then add Tea Dye Distress Ink.

Ink larger heart with Walnut Stain.

Stamp flourish with Antique Linen. Adhere to larger heart.

Add blue gems from K & Co to the crown and then adhere to the hearts.

Add brown ribbon and pearl gems to blue cardstock, adhere to Chocolate Chip cardstock and then added the hearts using foam dots.

Thank you for stopping by!

Heart & Crown Baby Cards Part 1

2010-02-28T13:46:00.008-07:00

Just watching a little USA vs. Canada Hockey today and I thought that I would post these cards for you. I made the pink one first without thinking of it as a baby card but it just spoke to me and so I made a blue one too.

I'll start with the step-by-step for the pink card first. Look to part two for the details of the blue card.

I started with a pink piece (4" x 5 1/4") of cardstock from Archiver's. I do usually prefer heavier cardstock, but I always have to use my free cardstock coupons.

Using Worn Lipstick Distress Ink I stamped the flourish image from Technique Tuesday's Parisian Market set.

Next, I applied Tattered Rose Distress Ink all over the cardstock also focusing a heavier application around the edges.

I then went over the edges with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink using my Ink Blending Tool.

Next, I added Brushed Corduroy around the very edges.

I then distressed the edges using the Tonic Paper Distresser.

I then added a piece of brown organza ribbon from Creative Impressions and then mounted my pink piece to a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock (4 1/4" x 5 1/2")

I then cut out two crowns using my Quickutz Squeeze and crown die. I actually just glued them together so I only colored the top one.

I used Tattered Rose, Worn Lipstick and Brushed Corduroy Distress Inks. Below you will see the shaded image. I also stamped the shaded crown with a flourish from the Parisian Market set in Worn Lipstick and added brown gems and Distress Stickles in Worn Lipstick and Rock Candy. (You can see these embellishments in the final image)

I cut out the heart using my Silhouette in white cardstock. I then applied Antique Linen Distress Ink to the heart.

I then added Tattered Rose Distress Ink.

I then added Brushed Corduroy on the edge.

I then stamped the large flourish from the Parisian Market set using Tattered Rose Distress Ink. I lightly spritzed the whole heart with water using my Mini Mister to slightly soften in the flourish.

I cut another heart slightly larger then my first heart I then applied Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink to the heart.

I then added Walnut Stain to the very edge.

I assembled my pieces and added the gems and pearls to the card. It was at this point I decided to make it a congratulations card.

The sentiment is from My Sentiments Exactly.

Here is a close-up of the crown.

I'll be posting the step-by-step for a blue version too.

With Sympathy Card

2010-02-27T09:19:00.007-07:00

Good Evening! I sometimes have trouble coming up with ideas for sympathy cards. I recently needed to create one for some friends that had to put down their beloved dog. So here is my card that I made for them. I was, again, inspired by Jennifer McGuire. You could easily make this into any type of card by changing the sentiment.

I started by cutting out the smaller label with my Spellbinders Nestability Die from the Labels One set.

I then stamped the Antique Flower Background from Hero Arts in Broken China Distress Ink.

Then, using my blending tool I applied Broken China Distress Ink all over the die cut.

Next, I cut another Label from the same set in a larger size.

I edged the label with Antique Linen Distress Ink.

Next, I stamped the butterfly from the Hero Arts set Antique Engravings with Archival Ink in Pitch Black. I then colored the butterfly with Prisma colored pencils and then cut it out.

I then used a pop dot to mount it to the labels.

I then cut a piece of Sage Shadow cardstock and used an EK Success punch to embellish the corners. I also went over the very edge with Dusty Concord.

I then stamped the sage cardstock with the Stampin' Up background stamp Soft Swirls using Versamark Ink.

Then using the Wide Oval punch from Stampin' Up! I cut out a small label from white cardstock. I then applied Antique Linen Distress Ink over the shape. Then I applied Dusty Concord Distress Ink on the edges of the label. My last step was to stamp the sentiment from Stampin' Up!

The I assembled everything. Added two gold brads for an accent.

Lastly, I put all of this onto a piece of purple cardstock and then mounted it all to a white cardstock base.

I am hoping to have a few more cards for you tomorrow. :-)

Cards for 2.22.10

2010-02-22T14:03:00.008-07:00

Hello -

It is another chilly day here in Colorado. We had snow for the third Sunday in a row and today it is only 22 degrees here today. Now the snow has stopped and the sun is out but it is super chilly.

So, my first card today was inspired by French Chablis. If you haven't seen what she creates head on over to SCS and check out her lovely cards.

I started with my trusty Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Faded Jean, Peeled Paint, Broken China and Tea Dye inks. I rubbed these on to my craft sheet and lightly spritzed with my Mini Mister. I once thought that I could use any mister but I have come to see the error of my ways. The Mini Mister gives a very light fine spray unlike anything else I have used, I never have water blobs.

Next, I pressed my Medallion Stamp from Stampin' Up into the ink pools. I did dip it a few times to be sure that I covered my whole stamp. I pressed my stamp onto a white piece of cardstock. I let it sit on the cardstock for awhile just to be sure that it had time to soak into the cardstock.

I mounted this to a piece of Barely Banana cardstock (SU!)and punched a slot on the left-hand side of my card and tied a small piece of Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon (SU!)

Next, I stamped the sentiment with Broken China.

Next, for bling. The gems are from Hero Arts and My Little Yellow Bicycle.

Next, I broke out the liquorice . . . .

. . . . actually this is how I store my gel pens. :-)

I then used assorted gel pens to accent the design.

Here it is my finished card.

A bonus for today.

I made more flowers with my Silhouette. They all started as plain white cardstock. The larger flowers I colored with my Copic markers and the smaller flowers were lightly colored with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink. I cut the label with my Epic 6 and Spellbinders dies. The flourishes and border are from Papertrey Ink and the sentiment is from Stampin' Up. The gems are from Hero Arts and the ribbon is SU! Once I had assembled everything I spritzed the whole thing with Glimmer Mist in Pearl. I got a little heavy with the spray but I still like it.

A close up.

Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful week.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T12:37:00.003-07:00

I hope that you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day! My hubby and I are just taking it easy today, really just enjoying time together. It was snowing this morning and it was really pretty. Of course, since we live in Colorado it is already melting.

Here is a little photo in the spirit of the holiday - Bella and Ripley showing that they do really get along.

Vintage Valentine

2010-02-12T20:40:00.009-07:00

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day. My hubby and I don't have any major plans but I am looking forward to a restful weekend. Today's card is my take on a Vintage Valentine.

So, per usual I started with my quarter-sheet of white cardstock (4" x 5 1/2").

I then aged it with Antique Linen Distress Ink.

I added Frayed Burlap Distress Ink.

I sprayed a little water in my hand and splashed it onto my background. Next, I distressed the edges with my Tonic Distressing Tool.

Then I stamped with Stampin' Up's French Script in Aged Mahogany Distress Ink. I kept the application of the ink a little spotty to give a distressed feel.

Next, I stamped the Medallion from Stampin' Up on two corners using Antique Linen.

I cut out a heart using my Silhouette Digital Cutter and then I aged it with Frayed Burlap and then Aged Mahogany. Once I had done that I used my distress tool again.

I had cut out the Antique Damask image from Silhouette and trimmed it down so I could use just the fleur-de-lys. I usually cut my shapes out of white cardstock and then add color.

I sponged on Gold and Espresso paint from Adirondack. Once that was dry I embossed it with Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel. I did two applications to get a smooth finish.

Next, I stamped the clock image using Frayed Burlap Distress Ink. The clock is from the Hampton Art's Clock set. I then cut it out using my Spellbinders Circle Die. I left the circle on the clock to act as a mask and then sponged the inside with Antique Linen.

I removed the die and inked the outer rim with Frayed Burlap. Once that dried I applied a generous coat of Rock Candy Crackle Paint from Ranger. You can see that I was a little sloppy with my application but I knew that I was going to cut part of it so it was no big deal. Once dry, I layered this to a larger circle of brown cardstock. I used my Fiskar's Circle Cutter to cut out the larger circle.

I mounted the background to a quarter-sheet of Sahara Sand cardstock. I adhered the clock to the background, and cut off the piece that was hanging over. I added a brad that I colored with Zing! Embossing Powder in Chestnut.

I then added the heart.

Next I adhered two paper flowers from Prima.

I added a Kaiser Pearl to the center of the flowers and then I added the fleur-de-lys element. For some reason these pearls don't have a very good adhesive so I end up gluing them down.

I then mounted this to a Vanilla cardstock card base.

Here is a close-up of the detail.

Have a Happy Friday and see you soon!

Key to my Heart Card

2010-02-05T21:06:00.020-07:00

Happy Weekend!

Thank you for stopping by. Here is my card for the day.

I started with my quarter sheet (actually 4" x 5 1/2") of Vanilla cardstock from Stampin' Up! I place my flourish mask over the cardstock and spritzed it with my Vintage Photo Mini Mister and Glimmer Mist in Black Cherry. I sponged off the excess with a paper towel, and then sponged off my craft desk where I missed my craft sheet. I dried the card using my heat gun.

Next, I grabbed my ink blending tool and loaded up with Antique Linen Distress Ink. I sponged this on the flourish.

Then I inked with Tattered Rose Distress Ink.

Then Worn Lipstick Distress Ink.

Then Aged Mahogany Distress Ink. I added a bit of Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink around the edges. Sorry for the blurry photo, I clearly forgot to check it to be sure that I got it in focus before I moved to the next step.

I then stamped the flourish from Regal Classic Accents by Tattered Angels using Adirondack Paint Dabber in Gold.

Once everything was dry I mounted the whole thing to a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock from Stampin' Up.

Next, I started preparing my main element. I started with a Grungeboard key which came from the Elements Grungeboard set. I embossed the key using the Textile Texture folder from Provo Craft. Then I painted it using the Gold Paint Dabber. Once that was dry I put just a little Aged Mahogany ink over the key.

Next, I cut out a heart using my Silhouette Craft Cutter. I then inked the heart as I did the flourish element. Here it is in plain white.

Then I added Antique Linen

Tattered Rose

Worn Lipstick

Aged Mahogany

Brushed Corduroy. Once I finished with the color I embossed the entire heart with Extra Thick Embossing Powder. It took about three passes to get the effect smooth. You can see the embossed heart on the finished card.

So apparently I totally forgot how to use a camera at this point so I'll just tell you what I did. I tied a brown organza ribbon from Creative Impressions around my key. Then I colored a paper flower from Prima using Tattered Angels Creme de Chocolat Glimmer Mist. I added a brown rhinestone by The Paper Studio to the center. The fleur-de-lys charm came from a Hilliary Duff charm set that I found in the clearance section at Michael's. I attached the charm to my ribbon and adhered the flower. Then I attached my key element to the heart. I cut out the Fleur Damask shape using my Silhouette and then painted it with my Gold Paint Dabber.

I added a piece of Vanilla cardstock as a belly band, I aged the edge with Antique Linen. To this I added a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock that I punched with Dotted Wave Edger by EK Success. On top of that I added a piece of Twill Tape from Stampin' Up. On top of the bellyband went the heart and key element. I mounted the whole thing onto a Vanilla cardstock card base.

And there you go . . . .

. . . my little card for the day.

A Card for Friday

2010-01-29T15:33:00.006-07:00

Happy Friday! I am still in the process of relocating my craft room but I have most everything down in the new spot. I am certain that I will be re-arranging everything before it is set. I am loving the nice natural light in my new spot but it is taking a little bit of time to get used to the move.

Today's card is inspired by Tim Holtz. I love all of the ideas on his blog, it is a great place to get inspired.

I started with my quarter sheet of card stock. I laid the Tim Holtz Flourish mask over the cardstock. You can see it in the photo if you look carefully. I am working on my Craft Sheet from Ranger. A must have in your craft arsenal if you ask me. It keeps me from making a huge mess of my craft area.

I spritzed the card with my custom Distress Ink mister, I made it with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and Perfect Pearls in Perfect Bronze. You combine that with water in a Mini-Mister. Once I had my color on I lightly blotted at the card with a paper towel to pull the excess off of the mask and to keep the color from puddling on the cardstock.

For the next step, I spritzed opposite corners with Patina Glimmer Mist from Tattered Angels. You can see that I let it set on the cardstock a little too long and it pulled a little color under the mask.

I dried my card with my heat gun before going to the Direct-to-Paper techniques. I used Peeled Paint and Broken China Distress Inks applied to the masked area.

My next step was to add a little Vintage Photo Distress Ink to accent the flourish.

I then added a little Walnut Stain and Black Soot Distress Inks to the edges of the card. I then stamped the Hero Arts Antique Flower Background stamp in Archival Black. I somehow forgot to get a photo of this but you can see it in the final photos.

I grabbed a piece of white scrap cardstock and stamped the Hero Arts Elegant Brocade in Peeled Paint Distress Ink and then embossed with Clear Embossing Powder.

Next, I stamped over the brocade with La Letter in Black Soot Distress Ink, this stamp is also from Hero Arts.

I cut the images out using Spellbinders Labels Two and then worked Old Paper Distress Ink onto the whole label. It might have been easier to cut out the label first but hey that's how I roll. :-)

I then added Vintage Photo Distress Ink around the edges.

I mounted my label to a large label cut from Chocolate Chip cardstock by Stampin' Up. I had distressed the edges of the brown cardstock. I added vintage bronze eyelets from Making Memories.

I added the brown organza ribbon from Creative Impressions and mounted the background to a piece of Certainly Celery cardstock from Stampin' Up. I added some Vintage Photo Distress Ink around the edges I used a light application so it is a little subtle.

I have a large jar of paper flowers from Prima that I sorted through for the right colors of flowers. As you can see I have a very sophisticated technique for finding the correct flowers. I glued these to the front of my card and added pearls from Kaiser Scrapbooking.

Here is the finished card! Have a wonderful weekend and thank you for visiting!

Anniversary Card

2010-01-19T14:23:00.006-07:00

Hello - out there is Blogger land! I am almost feeling like myself. Just a little cough left but that is pretty much it. I normally do not get sick so having such a bad infection/cold (I suspect that I actually had more then one right after the other) was really hard for me. One of the interesting side-effects of being pregnant, I guess.

On to today's card. My husband and I have an Anniversary tomorrow. This actually isn't our wedding anniversary which is in February, but the anniversary of our first meeting, 14 years ago. We have pretty much been a couple since we met in college so we acknowledge this anniversary. (Really and truly we don't do anything or buy presents but just say Happy Anniversary). I don't normally even make a card but this one was knocking around in my head, since I saw a version of this on Linda aka Oz's blog Wood INK.

I start out with my quarter sheet of cardstock. In this case I am using Neenah Classic Crest Cover in Solar White (80 lbs). This is actually what I have been using for awhile and I have been very happy with it. I can pick it up locally at a paper store and it works out to be about .10 per sheet.

Next, I created two masks using plain printer paper. I used my Fiskars Shape Cutter and the Heart Template also from Fiskars. I was careful not to tear the paper so I would have both a positive and negative heart. I am using the positive image first. I have placed the heart cut out in the center of my cardstock and stamped the French Script background image from Stampin' Up in Frayed Burlap Distress Ink from Ranger.

Once I remove the mask you can see I have a heart shaped void in the center of my card.

Then I used the negative of my mask, so the area around the heart would be protected. I lined up my new mask with my previously created void and stamped Antique Flower Background from Hero Arts in Weathered Wood Distress Ink from Ranger.

Once I stamped the image I wanted to add a little dimension to the heart. I took my Inkssentials Blending Tool with the Weathered Wood Distress Ink and worked that over my heart, keeping the darkest area to the outer edge of the heart. My intention with this is to give the heart more dimension. Once I had the grey as I wanted it I went back over the edges with a very light application of Black Soot Distress Ink.

When using printer paper you have to be very careful not to tear the mask, you can easily do this is you use a bit too much gusto when inking. I use my left had to hold the section where I am working down, so as not to catch the edge of the paper and tear it.

You can see how the Distress Inks give added dimension to the heart. I think that it really pops.

Now I needed to add some color to the script portion of the card. Again I picked up my Inkssentials Blending Tool. I worked in Antique Linen and went all over the script. I did put my mask back over the heart to protect it while I worked close to it. If you like to live dangerously you could probably just risk it, I know that I cannot be trusted. :-)

At this stage I worked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink keeping it to the outer edges, then to Frayed Burlap on the very edge of the card. I really like the contrast between the cool grey heart and the warm paper.

I mounted my card to a piece of Basic Black cardstock and added four brads in a vintage metallic from Making Memories.

My very last step was to add the two birds. I broke out my Silhouette Digital Cutter and cut them in a grey cardstock. These birds are from a dingbat font called Birds of a Feather. Once they were cut out I inked them with Weathered Wood and Black Soot Distress Inks. I mounted them to the card with foam dots. I left this step to the end so I could use my ATG without having to go over bumps. I normally forget that and smoosh the front of my card while trying to lay down adhesive or I end up putting the adhesive on the card base.

Here is the finished card. Thank you, as always for stopping by.

Mahalo - Thank You Card

2010-01-15T16:37:00.004-07:00

About two years ago my husband and I took a trip to Maui for a friend's wedding. We had never been to Hawaii before and we loved every minute we spent on the island. This card takes me right back to that special time.

This card was inspired by Bunnie800 over on the Quickutz Community Gallery she made a very similar card using a flower punch. To start I cut my flowers out of white cardstock. There are actually two sizes of flowers. They were then inked with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink. To create the curl to the petals I used a cuticle stick and/or a small dowel to wrap the petals around. (I used the cuticle stick for the small flowers and the dowel for the larger) Once I did that I sprayed them all with Tattered Angels in Pearl and added the pink gems from Hero Arts. Now you can't really tell in the photos but the background paper has a shimmer to it, it is from Brazzil. For my final step I cut out the sentiment using my Silhouette and a font called QK Marisa.

On the flowers, I had a really hard time getting the pink to look like I wanted and I ended up with a strange technique. I tried using a sponge, which made the ink blotchy. Next, I tried my ink blending tool from Inkssentials but that was giving me way too much color and a clear line in the ink. So, what I ended up doing was pouncing my pinkie on the ink pad and picking up ink and then dabbing that in the very center of the flower, then while the ink was still wet I used my ink blending tool to smooth the color outward towards the tips of the petals. Here is a close-up of the soft color. After that just a light spritz of glitter and we were ready to go.

All in all, this is a very simple card. It took me forever to really work out what I wanted and this time I managed to edit myself and go with less. I am thinking that I may have to make this card with yellow flowers. Have a wonderful weekend and thank you for stopping by!

Cards for January 14th

2010-01-14T17:02:00.008-07:00

Hello - I hope that everyone had nice New Year's Eve. I haven't been able to post much because I have been fighting a wicked sickness/cold/infection. Since I am pregnant, there aren't a ton of medications that I can take. I am still sick but I have to believe I am on the mend. Anyway, I have a few cards for you today to make up for my absence.

I love the Medallion stamp from Stampin' Up, it is pretty new to me so I haven't used it a ton. I saw a really inspiring card over on Splitcoast Stampers using lime green on black and this is what I came up with for my version.

I started with a black card stock base, just a little something I had lying around. I stamped the Medallion using Versamark and embossed with American Craft's Zing! Embossing Powder in Frost. Next I colored in some of the openings in the image with a white Gelly Roll gel pen. I also added a few silver touches using a silver paint pen.

I then added the Nailhead stickers from Mark Richards. They are red and are in essence the same thing as gems. I was digging around in my box of brads and found the center gem brad, it was just perfect. I am not sure where it came from. Next I added the two ribbons the blue ribbon is a fuzzy velour that came from the dollar bin at Target. I bought it last year right before Valentine's Day. On top of that I adhered a piece of red grosgrain ribbon from Stampin' Up. The two ribbons together were pretty thick and so I used Tombow Aqua Glue and then set a weight on the card while it dried to adhere them to my card. I added the three square brads from Memory Makers for an additional accent. For my last steps I adhered my main element to a piece of Real Red card stock from Stampin' Up and then all of that to a piece of Taken with Teal.

I love Tim Holtz and this card is a direct inspiration from his 2008 Christmas Tags. The paper flowers are an idea that I found on Jennifer McGuire's blog but they originally came from Dawn McVey. There is a great tutorial video here http://dawnmcvey.typepad.com/these_are_a_few_of_my_fav/2010/01/new-raspberry-suite-sneakie-peek.html. I didn't have a vintage book to use for the flowers so I made my own vintage pages.

I started with a piece of vanilla card stock and I painted the whole piece with Adirondack paint in Pitch Black. I let that dry and then stamped the flourish images from Stampers Anonymous and then the French Script from Stampin' Up. All images were embossed with clear embossing powder and the heated. Once that cooled I dabbed on Adirondack paint in Pool and then scrapped it around with a make-up sponge. I let the paint mostly dry and then rubbed off the extra paint with a slightly damp paper towel. This takes the paint right off of the embossed images. Once everything was dry I added a little Distress Ink in Black Soot around the edges. Here is an image with the background by itself.

This image is a little yellow, I am still getting used to the natural light in my new craft area. I mounted this to a teal piece of card stock and then black card stock.

My next element was the swirl, this is a piece of Grungeboard from Ideology. I painted it with Pewter Crackle Paint by Ranger. I put it on pretty thick and as such it look forever to dry. Once it was completely dry I sponged over the element with Distress Ink in Black Soot. I adhered that to my card.

Now on to the flowers, if you have watched the tutorial video you pretty much know how to make these but I am going to walk you through how I did it without the vintage book pages. To begin I cut out eight flowers using my Silhouette Cutter, instead of card stock I used printer paper. Here is a single plain flower.

Next, I stamped La Lettre from Hero Arts in Black Soot Distress Ink. It was at this point that I have both French and English on my card but it works for me. I took French in High School and sometimes I try to pretend that I can still speak French. So I am really speaking some strange hybrid language I call Franglais.

Next, I aged each layer with Distress Ink. For the lighter flower I used Tea Dye and then Vintage Photo on the edges. For the darker flower I used Vintage Photo and then Frayed Burlap on the edges. There is a big difference in aging printer paper versus card stock , you have to be much more careful or you can easily tear the paper.

The next step is to take four layers and place them on top of each other and add an eyelet.

The final step is to squish up the top three layers.

I then added the large element in the center. It is a brad from Making Memories but I snipped off the fasteners and then just glued it on to the center. The fasteners were too big to fit through the eyelet. I really wanted to use a nice button but I don't have any buttons in my craft stash.

Well I guess that isn't exactly true I did have bright pink and lime green but I didn't think that they would have worked with this card. :-)

To finish my card I added a sheer black ribbon from Stampin' Up and three small adhesive pearls. I really worked on this card and made countless changes to it, I think that it paid off in the end.

I have one more card for you but I think I'll save it for tomorrow. Thank you for stopping by and have a great day!

Our Holiday Card

2009-12-24T09:03:00.006-07:00

I have been very under the weather this week, since I am pregnant I can't take all the medication that I would normally. I am feeling a bit better today but still not great. So, per usual our holiday cards have gone out a little late. We ended up with two colors because I didn't have enough of the raspberry cardstock.

I started by stamping the deer image in Rich Razzleberry. The deer is from the Basic Grey set Figgy Pudding. My next step was to shadow stamp the image with Going Gray. Of course I forgot to take a photo of that step. It was an overcast day while I was working and I just couldn't get the light bright enough, so sorry about the poor quality.

Next I stamped the background with the Rich Razzelberry. This image is from the same Figgy Pudding set.

I know that it is a little hard to see but this is where I stamped the Going Gray as a shadow.

My next step was to color my crystal elements with Adirondack Alcohol Ink in Currant. This is a great technique.

Here you can see the clear crystals and the Currant colored images. I didn't have any navy colored ink so those stayed clear.

Once I assembled my card I added the clear crystals on the background and the colored crystals on the deer image. While you cannot see it in the photos, I spritzed all the cards with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Pearl.

Here is the Razzleberry card assembled with Silver Cardstock.

Here is the Night of Navy version.

Here they are together. Fairly simply but when you make a lot you have to keep them pretty easy. I forced my husband to help me with assembly process. He loved my ATG 714 which validates my purchase of it. :-)

I finally had a moment to make and post a card!!

2009-12-04T11:44:00.011-07:00

I know that I have been slacking off on this blog. In all fairness I have been busy and we got a new puppy and she doesn't give me many free moments.

Here she is "helping" while I made this card. Actually this was the reason that I was able to get anything done today. She has crazy times where you cannot ignore her.

Here is the card for today. I actually dreamt of this card. I love my damask stamps and I think that the shading turned pretty nice.

I was feeling very Fall-ish although it is very cold and Wintery here in Colorado.

I started with a white sheet of cardstock, I use Neenah Classic in Solar White. I cut this sheet to 4x5 1/2 inches.

My next step was to sponge my cardstock with Crushed Curry by Stampin' Up.

I waited for my first layer of ink to dry, it wasn't quiet as dry as I would have liked by I can be a little impatient. I stamped the damask image using Chocolate Chip Craft (Pigment) ink from Stampin' Up and embossed with Chestnut Zing! embossing powder from American Crafts. The stamp is from Technique Tuesday from the Small Damask set.

I then sponged around the edges and over the damask images with Dried Marigold Distress Inks by Ranger.

I then added Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink by Ranger. I went around the edges and over the damask making sure that I left the previous colors.

I came back over the center of the images and lightly over the edges with Chocolate Chip Classic Ink (Dye) by Stampin' Up. I also added Fired Brick Distress Ink by Ranger over the brown. I think that this gave the colors more depth and kept the brown from standing out too much.

I went back over my card with Crushed Curry to blend in all of the colors. I then mounted the background to a quarter sheet of Chocolate Chip cardstock.

To finish off my card I added brown organza ribbon from Creative Impressions. I cut the accent piece using Spellbinders Label 4. I replicated the inking process and added the custom colored brad.

Why the Silhouette Rocks!

2009-11-18T15:14:00.004-07:00

I have used my Silhouette Craft Cutter for a few projects that I have posted here but I did something with my machine that I had to share. This machine rules. I can cut any font that I have on my computer and really any shape that I load to it. I love it. Last week The Greeting Farm offered a set of digital stamps inspired by Twilight. They were so cute that I bought them all.

Smooth and even cutting has never been a strength of mine. So I printed out a few of the images and colored them with my Copic markers. They were great until I cut them out. So, I thought that maybe I'd try and load them to my software and see what I could do. So loaded them to the software clicked on Get Outline and choose Select Outer Frame Only and voila - I have now told my machine to cut out the outline. So I can print the image through the software then load that paper to my cutter and voila it cuts out the shape I just printed.

I love layering, I feel that it just gives the imaged more depth and weight. Once I printed the images I went back to my software and selected Offset Shapes. I can choose how much offset (or shadow) I want and just like that I have a layering piece. I was so impressed, I had to share it. :-) Here are the photos of what I am talking about. I am using the Ebony image from The Greeting Farm.

Here she is printed and cut out with the Silhouette.

Here is a close up so you can see how well the machine cut everything out. I know that it isn't perfect but since this was my first time with this process it may be me. Plus my bossy printer keeps asking me to calibrate it. It is still way better than what I could do.

Here is the shadow I cut out.

Here she is with her shadow. I love that you can make it whatever size you want. For this one I went pretty small. This is a great feature for text too.

Here she is with her shadow under her.

I know that this isn't Ebony but I haven't colored her yet. So here is a completed Jeremy. He was colored with Copic Markers. I know that I have said this before but every time I use them I feel like I need more. This time was no different. I have about 20 markers in my online shopping cart, just waiting.

Here is the Ebony that I colored before I found this awesome trick. :-( Now I have to cut her out as neatly as I can, or bribe my Engineer Hubby. Hmmmmm!

Until next time!

A little Halloween Card

2009-10-30T08:44:00.003-06:00

Well, I am finally back. I have been so busy with my photography and then travelling to family weddings. It was great to sit down and make this little card.

I started with a quarter sheet of Basic Black cardstock I stamped the flourish image from the Majestic set by American Crafts with Versamark ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. Since it is hard to see the images I stamped one at a time and then poured on the embossing powder but I didn't heat them until they were all done. Since the powder is white until you heat it you can see where the previous images were. I edged it with the EK Success punch and mounted it to Brushed Silver cardstock.

I then cut out the three label shapes using the Spellbinders Label Four set. I stamped the bat from Inkadinkado with Memento Ink in Tuxedo Black. I then embossed with Iridescent Ice embossing powder. I added a silver bellyband and black grosgrain ribbon. I threw the in some black brads and voila we're all done. I have a large collection of metallic brad so I just use embossing powder to color them to match my cards.

I pretty simple but fun card. Of course everything in my house is covered in glitter. Have a Happy Halloween!!

Friday - Elegant

2009-09-18T14:40:00.005-06:00

I don't normally post two in one day but I just couldn't put the Devil Duck card in the same post with Damask. So, you get two.

I began this card with Pink Passion cardstock from Stampin' Up. I stamped the Damask images with Archival Ink in Black and then embossed with Black Embossing Powder. All of the stamps in this card are from the Damask Designs set from Papertrey Ink. Once I had all of the Damask images stamped and heat set I went over the card with Pixie Pink Ink and then Pink Passion Ink and finally Rose Red Ink using my quarter sponge. With the Pixie Pink and Pink Passion I went around the edges but also over the prints as well. I think that this gives additional depth to the card. With the Rose Red I just stayed on the very edges. My next step was to layer my pink cardstock onto a quarter sheet of Basic Black. I added a bellyband, also in Basic Black, then added the organza ribbons. Both ribbons are from Stampin' Up in Pink Passion and Black. I punched the oval using my Stampin' Up Large Oval punch and edged it with a little pink ink and stamped the sentiment. I added the oval to the card first and then added the pink metallic brads from Memory Makers. I finished off the card with four black eyelets set in the corners, they are from Stampin' Up.

This card was created using Archivers Cardstock in Sand and Burgundy and accented with Brushed Gold cardstock from Stampin' Up. The stamp set is Baroque Motifs from Stampin' Up. I stamped the background swirls with Black Archival ink and then embossed with Stampin' Up Embossing Powder in Burgundy. I then stamped a shadow image using Versamark Dazzle in Champagne. I stamped the main image with Versamark and embossed with Gold Embossing Powder from Zing! I also shadow stamped this image with Versamark Dazzle. The center brad started life as a gold brad but I embossed it with the same Burgundy Embossing Powder as I used earlier in the card.

I really liked the way this card turned out, I hope the recipient thinks so too.

I started with Real Red cardstock from Stampin' Up. I stamped the flourishes, which are from the Kimberly Poloson set called Flourish, in True Black ink from Memento. I then embossed with Black Embossing Powder. I shadow stamped flourishes again using Versamark Dazzle in Champagne. I edged my cardstock with the Corner Chip punch from EK Success. I then edged the cardstock with Worn Lipstick, Fired Brick and Black Soot Distress Inks from Ranger. My next step was to stamp the small flourishes on white cardstock with Memento Ink in True Black and emboss with Black Embossing Powder. I then punched these out using a circle punch from Stampin' Up. I also cut out Basic Black mounts for my circles using the next size up of circle punch. I aged the white circles using Old Paper, Tea Dye and Walnut Stain Distress Inks from Ranger. The Walnut Stain was only applied to the edge of the circles. I added the Black Organza ribbon from Stampin' Up, mounted my circles and then added the Red Gems from Hero Arts.

That is it for today - have a wonderful week!!

Friday - Whimsy

2009-09-18T14:19:00.004-06:00

We have family that live in the Greater Seattle area and a few years ago my husband and I made a trip up to visit them. There is the most wonderful store called Archie McPhee. They have the strangest and most kitchy products you could ever want. One of my favorite items is the Devil Duck. (My husband thinks that the Zombie Duck is better but he is way wrong.) It is a rubber duck with edge. I made the below card in homage to said Devil Duck.

While most of my card feature some stamping, this one was made completely with my Silhouette Cutter and one EK Success punch. I started with the basic rubber duck from QuicKutz and I free handed the beak, horns and eyebrow in the RoboMaster program. I then cut out the wave shapes and added the white shadow. The skull and cross bone punch is from EK Success.

Sorry this is blurry, I really should make sure that I have gotten a good photo before I give the card away. The main stamped image is Dahlia from The Greeting Farm. I colored her with Copic markers. Most of the cardstock is random pieces from my stash. On the bright teal circle I stamped with a Fancy Pants image in Versamark. The sentiments were cut out using my QK Revolution. The "U" is from the Blossom alphabet set and "rock" is from the Zoe alphabet. The DP is from Fancy Pants. I cut the circles with my Fiskars Circle Cutter.

I was again using my Silhouette Cutter for this card, in fact all images are from QuicKutz. I first cut out the ladybug using Basic Black and Real Red. I shaded the red using Worn Lipstick, Fired Brick and Black Soot Distress Inks from Ranger. The highlights were added using a Sankura White Gel pen. Next I cut the ovals in Real Red and White cardstock. The sentiment was also cut out using my little favorite machine. I added two black brads for accents. My last step was the grass, once I cut that out I added the color using Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint Distress Ink from Ranger. When I add small die cuts to my cards, things like letters, I use Two-Way glue.

I'm back . . . . well at least for now

2009-09-02T07:49:00.005-06:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, things have been crazy busy around here. We have one more "normal" horse show to photograph and then the huge Championship competition here in Colorado this month. After that I am planning to spend lots of time crafting!!! Of course, that is after the editing, stressing, completing orders and stressing. Here are a few cards that I have put together over the last few weeks.

So clearly this isn't the greatest photo. :-) I totally forgot to get a good photo of this card before I was about to give this to my dad for his birthday. So this was all I could do. My inspiration for this card is the cover of OneRepublic's album. I first stamped the tree from Inkadinkado's Fall Season Set with Versamark ink and then I embossed with white embossing powder. I then applied the following Distress Inks with 1/4 sponge; Broken China, Dusty Concord and then Black Soot. I edged the main image with a silver paint pen, layer onto Basic Black CS from Stampin' Up and the added the brads.

The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Damask Designs, stamped on black CS with Versamark ink and embossed in silver powder from Stampin' Up. I then edged with the silver paint pen. I'll admit when first heard about Emboss Buddies I was skeptical. I thought "Just one more thing to buy that won't help." Well, I finally caved and bought one and I loved it, especially on dark papers or when you will be layering color over your embossed image. They certainly have a life span, my first one was leaving white powder all over my cardstock and was not rubbing off but once I replaced it, back to happy times. I highly recommend this tool to anyone that does a lot of embossing.

I have a thing for most things British. The Rampant Lion is certainly one of my favorite images. I have a T-shirt that is green with a Rampant Lion with a crown that inspired this card.

To start I took the following Distress Inks and rubbed them on my craft sheet; Tea Dye, Shabby Shutters and Pealed Paint. I then spritzed with my Mini Mister. I rubbed the cardstock onto the ink puddles about three or four times to get the look I was after. Between rubbings I dried with my heat gun.

The Rampant Lion image is from the Tim Holtz's Collection from Stampers Anonymous and comes from the Regal Flourishes set. The crown is by Hot Off The Press and is from the Flights of Fancy set. I stamped the image with Broken China Distress ink and then dusted with Perfect Pears in Gold. The blue paper was some random cardstock that I had in my craft and while it looks black in the photo the other cardstock is a Gun Metal from Brazzil. The ribbon is black organza ribbon from Creative Impressions. The Fleur-De-Lys is an EK Success punch that I embossed with Sahara Pearls embossing powder from Stampendous. I embossed the punch three times to give it the dimension. There is a small green gem in the center of the Fleur-De-Lys from Hero Arts.

This was another simple card but I think that it has a really elegant look to it. The navy cardstock is Night of Navy from Stampin' Up. The pink DP I used on the background is from the Old World Stack by DCWV. I cut out a circle with my Friskar's Circle Cutter in Night of Navy and a smaller one from white cardstock. I sponged onto my white circle with Tattered Rose and Worn Lipstick to mimic the background paper. I then stamped the image from Stampin' Up's Finest Flourishes in Faded Jeans. I also embossed this with clear embossing powder. I added very small dots of Distress Stickles in Faded Jean on the two small dots on either side of the flourish. The Bonjour is from the Stampin' Up set Carte Postal and was also stamped with the Faded Jeans Distress Ink. I edged all of the cardstock with a very small line of silver using a silver paint pen. I just applied the paint to the edges. My final element prior to assembly was setting the eyelets, and I actually used a ruler this time, so they are pretty straight.

That is it for today! Thank you, as always for stopping by.

Back Soon

2009-08-25T16:23:00.001-06:00

I have been completely ignoring my blog. For those of you that don't know, I am a Dressage photographer and we are right in our busy season. As soon as I complete my editing I'll be posting some new cards. I hope you are all enjoying your summer!

Red & Black

2009-08-07T07:58:00.004-06:00

Sometimes I have cards rattling around my head for awhile, I have been having a black and red construction bouning around in my head for sometime. The card creation process is usually fun and I really enjoy it, usually. Pulling this card from deep within my brain was a bit painful and I struggled getting everything to come together - but here it is.

So I started with a red piece of cardstock, I stamped the image lower left-hand image from Bo Bunny in Versamark and then embossed with clear embossing powder. I then shadow stamped the same image with Worn Lipstick and then embossed again. I then grabbed my trusty sponges and layered on the Worn Lipstick, then Fired Brick and then I layered on the Black Soot.

My next step was to stamp the large wroth iron image over the red stamp and inks. The large image is from Fancy Pants, it is strange because it matches the Bo Bunny image but is a size up. Next I stamped the silver image in the top right-hand corner with Versamark and then embossed with Zing! embossing powder in Platinum.

I cut out the red circle with my Revolution and Spellbinder die. I stamped the circle with the background stamp from Stampin' Up called French Script. I used Fired Brick Distress Ink and I did the same with the bellyband. I then rubbed the edge with Fired Brick and Black Soot Inks. The "M" was cut using the QK Revolution and it from the Magnolia alphabet set. I pressed it into a Versamark pad and then embossed with the Zing! Platinum. I added the red ribbon from Stampin' Up and then layered onto a charcoal accent papers.

As you can see, this card is very similar to the first one. Instead of embossing the top right hand image with Platinum I used Black Glitter also by Zing! Embossing Powder. Next, I took a button from Little Yellow Bicycle. It started out white and I covered it with Versamark and embossed it with the same Black Glitter Embossing Powder. I added the side accent and place a few gems from Hero Arts.

As I always say - skulls are not just for Halloween!! Thanks for stopping by.

'Ello Govna'

2009-08-06T20:19:00.003-06:00

I love all things British, in the spirit of my adoration I have made this British Bulldog card.

Can you tell that I am in a distressing mode?? To begin I started with a blank white card. I sponged on Antique Linen, Tea Dye, and Vintage Photo Distress Inks, then I added a very little touch of Walnut Stain on the very edge. The awesome bulldog is from Inkadinkado. I stamped him with Jet Black Archival Ink, added a few touches of colour with my Stampin' Up markers, cut him out and then aged him in the same manner as the background. I then mounted him on a piece of black cardstock and cut that out.

Now to the Union Jack, I cut the flag out using my Quickutz Silhouette Craft Cutter it was cut from white cardstock. It was in three layers. I sponged on the background piece with Broken China Distress Ink and then worked in Faded Jeans. Next I worked on the top layer, starting with Worn Lipstick and then Fired Brick Distress Ink. I worked Antique Linen on the light part of the flag. I then assembled my flag, and then aged it following the same process I used on the background of the card. My last step was to mount this to my black cardstock. I stamped the sentiment in Walnut and that was it. This was pretty quick and easy and I think that this bulldog rocks. Have a great night all!

Fairy Card

2009-08-03T07:54:00.003-06:00

I love The Greeting Farm's stamps. They are super cute and I love breaking out my Copic markers to color them. The only problem is that I feel like I need to buy more markers every time I use them!!!

Here is my latest creation featuring the Flutter Anya stamp.

The pattern paper is from Making Memories, the flowers are Prima and the solid cardstock is all from Stampin' Up. The Flutter sentiment is from Making Memories. I used my Stickles all over my flowers and on the wings.

Here is a list of the Copic markers I used.

Hair
B32
B21
B24

Face
E00
E02

Cloths
BG10
BG13
BV00
BV04
V01
V04
V09

Thank you for stopping by!

Friday Cards

2009-07-31T15:30:00.009-06:00

I feel like I was just so super busy this week. I am glad to get these cards done and up today. As always, thank you for stopping by to take a look.

This card is created with brown and lime green cardstock, I purchased both at Archivers and they are the Archivers brand.

I used the Handful of Henna stamp set from Technique Tuesday. I stamped each piece with Basic Brown ink from Stampin' Up and embossed with clear embossing powder. I then went back and shadow stamped each design with Sahara Sand ink to give a little more depth. I went back in and accented the design with a white, lime green and blue gel pens. It is key to let the gel pens dry before moving on to the next step. I then aged the lime green cardstock with the Basic Brown ink.

Next, I cut the bands in brown and lime green and edged the lime green piece with the EK Success punch Moroccan Lace. I aged the lime green with the Basic Brown ink. I tied around the strips with Organza Ribbon in Brown from Stampin' Up. My final accent for this card was the little gems, they are from Hero Arts.

Surprise! More Damask!

To begin, I started with a piece of white cardstock, I sponged on Broken China and Faded Jeans Distress Ink from Ranger. Once the ink dried, I stamped using the Antique Damask stamp from Memory Box with Versmark and then I embossed using Gold Zing! Embossing Powder. This embossing powder is great, very opaque and easy to use.

The background and bellyband papers are Brushed Gold cardstock from Stampin' Up. The off-white band was painted using Antique Linen Distress Crackle Paint from Ranger. Once it was dry I sponged over the painted strip with Tattered Rose and Tea Dye Distress Ink. The small medallion was created by cutting out two circles. The blue one was sponged with Broken China and Faded Jeans Distress Inks. I then edged it with a gold paint pen. The gold piece was created by repeatedly embossing the small circle with Gold Zing! powder. On my third embossing pass pressed a stamp from Papertrey's Guidelines Two set in the hot embossing powder. My three brads are custom colored by dipping each brad into the Gold Zing! powder and heating. My last step was stamping the sentiment from Stampin' Up in Faded Jeans.

I am really loving the Alcohol Inks from Ranger, you can create a lot of different looks. I started with a base of glossy white cardstock from Stampin' Up. I sponged on alcohol ink in Eggplant and Meadow, once I had a base layer on I added the Blending Solution and Pearl Mixative on my felt and sponged again. Once dry, I stamped the Compass Rose image, it is from Tattered Angels and is called Tattered Traveler Compass. I used Black Archival Ink from Ranger. I dryed it with my heat gun to set the ink. Next, I poured a little of each color of the alcohol ink onto my craft mat. I only put a little ink on my sheet at a time, as it dries very fast. I then painted with the ink using the Eggplant and Meadow and Silver Mixative.

I had cut a little of the initial cardstock off and used that as my bellyband. I stamped on the bellyband using an image from Technique Tuesday from the Bijou Borders set using Black Archival Ink. I then cut my small square and performed the same inking technique as I mentioned above. Once dry I stamped the central image from the American Crafts set Majestic. I then embossed with clear embossing powder. I added the silver brads and mounted to black cardstock. Once assembled I mounted the base to Eggplant Envy cardstock and then to Sage Shadow cardstock.

Alcohol Ink Cards

2009-07-26T16:45:00.005-06:00

Hello! I am finally back. We photographed a three day horse show last weekend and that really ate into my card making time. Between recovering from the horse show and editing and posting the photos I didn't have much time to craft!

I have really been loving the Thinking Inking classes over on Two Peas in a Bucket. Jennifer McGuire has done an amazing job. I also went back over to Tim Holtz's site to re-watch some of his product demos. Here are some of the cards I made using the Ranger Alcohol inks.

For the primary image I began with a square of white glossy cardstock. I used my applicator tool and loaded my felt with Cranberry and Butterscotch and Blending Solution. I covered the whole square and once that was dry I added Copper Mixative to my felt and pounced over the existing colors.

I loaded my stamp, Tapestry Pattern from Stampabilities, with Versamark Ink and stamped on the square. I quickly poured Ranger Distressed Embossing Powder in Black Soot over the image and heat set. Once cool I rubbed off the release crystals. I think that I would have gotten a better result if I had remembered to shake the embossing powder before I used it. Since I don't have a copper paint marker to do the edges, I used my Versamark pen and Copper Embossing Powder. I simply ran the Versamark pen down the edge and the sprinkled that with Copper Zing! Embossing Powder, then heat set it.

I then repeated the Alcohol Ink technique on the background piece and the bellyband piece. I added a Black Organza ribbon from Stampin' Up and then added three brads. As usual, I custom colored my brads with Copper Zing! Powder.

This purple card was made using Wild Plum, Stream and Eggplant Alcohol Ink and Pearl Mixative. For this one I started with the Wild Plum on the left-hand side and then started with the Stream and Eggplant on the right-hand side. I then added the Blending Solution and the Pearl Mixative to my little felt piece and and pounced over the whole card. This is what blended the two sides of the card.

The stamp on this card is from a new set I picked up this week called Formal Esque by Recollections. This set is very elegant and I see myself using it a lot. For this card I used the main image and loaded it with Archival Ink in Jet Black. I would have normally gone with Stazon but I thought that I would try this ink. I was really happy with how it worked on the glossy cardstock. Since it takes awhile for the ink to dry I hit the piece with my heat gun. If I don't do that I run the risk of smudging it and ruining all of my hard work. My last step was adding the little dots with Liquid Pearls in White Opal. I also added just a few little dots of Stickles in Frosted Lace. Added a black piece of cardstock and a black organza ribbon from Stampin' Up.

For the background of this card I started with glossy white cardstock, again. I loaded up my felt piece with Meadow, Currant, and Slate Alcohol Inks and added a little Pearl Mixative and then Blending Solution. I kept the application a little lighter on this card just for a different look. I normally go for intense colors so I sometimes make myself back off a little. I then stamped the background images with a great new stamp from American Crafts. It is from their Majestic Set. I used the Archival Ink in Jet Black and then embossed it with Black Embossing Powder from Stampin' Up. I actually stamped the whole background and then decided to emboss the images. I guess that is a benefit of working on glossy cardstock.

For the central image I selected another image from the Majestic Set and stamped with Archival Ink in Jet Black and embossed with Silver Embossing Powder from Stampin' Up. I mounted the black piece of cardstock to a piece of silver cardstock, both from Stampin' Up. I selected a smooth gem from Hero Arts and colored it with the Currant Alcohol Ink. I adhered the image to the background with pop dots and added a black organza ribbon from Stampin' Up.

Thanks for stopping by there will be more soon!!

Inspired by Berry Sensation

2009-07-12T15:49:00.007-06:00

To begin, I wanted to create a fairly simple card featuring electric green, brown and berry cardstock. The cardstock in this card is all from Archiver's.

The stamps are from The Paper Studio by Stampabilities and are in the Flourish Set. The stamping on the bright green is Basic Brown and the stamping on the berry was done in Versamark. The edging on the brown was done with an EK Success border punch called Scallop Diamond. The organza ribbon is from Creative Impressions and the gems are from K&CO. This is a very simple card but I think that the colors are pretty unique.

Rock Star - girly style!

As in my previous card Yellow Damask, this card has been floating around in my head for awhile. The background is Regal Rose stamped with the Zebra Background stamp by Stampabilities in Basic Black Craft ink and embossed with Black Embossing Powder. I ran a silver metallic pen around the very edge.

Next, I cut a piece of Berry Sensation by Brazzil. I stamped the skull border with Basic Black ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. This stamp is from Inkadinkado's Rock Star Set. I colored in the accents with a pink and silver gel pens from Gel Writer. Next, I cut out an oval and embossed it with Zing! Black Glitter powder. I layered onto that the skull rock & roll image that I stamped with Rose Red and Basic Black inks. I threw on the awesome pink metallic brads. I placed that onto a strip of Regal Rose cardstock that I set six very, very small eyelets. I was going for a rock star belt look. I stamped the top of the card with swirls in Versmark from a set called In My Dreams from Ink by Steph for Fiskars.

I cut out the words from White cardstock using my QuicKutz Silhouette Cutter using a font called Jailbird Jenna. I inked it with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink by Ranger and then Rose Red. I then embossed two coats of Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder and then two coats of UTEE. I cut the shadow in Basic Black using my Silhouette. The star is from a sticker set from EK Success, it was brown which totally wasn't working for my card so I inked it with Black Stazon.

Here is a close-up of the detail on the STAR and star.

Soleil & Damask

2009-07-12T14:45:00.006-06:00

The first card I am sharing today is a creation that I am calling Monsieur Soleil. A little tribute to a great Concrete Blonde song called Les Coeur Jumeaux.

This card was inspired by the Thinking Inking series. I began this card by cutting out the sun using my QuicKutz Silhouette Digital Craft Cutter. I used Basic Black cardstock form SU! Once I had that cut, I started coloring my sun with Adirondack Paint Dabbers in Gold and Copper, dabbing directly onto the cardstock. I then took my makeup sponge and moved the paint round until I had the effect I was looking for, in this case I wanted it slightly blended. I made sure to leave some places where you could see the cardstock through the paint, I let this air dry. Once the die was dry I rubbed Versamark Ink onto the sun and embossed with Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel, I let it cool and then repeated this process two additional times. You can see the effect in the lower image. In person this is a really neat look.

To create the background I started with a White piece of cardstock, I worked the following Ranger Distress Inks onto the cardstock; Antique Linen, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo, and Walnut Stain. I use a Stampin' Up sponge cut into quarters and my craft sheet to get a smooth effect. I then stamped over the background with the French Script background stamp from Stampin' Up using Tea Dye. Once I ink up my stamp I take a baby wipe and take off some of the ink to give a bit more distress. I kept the negative image from when I cut out my sun and used this as a mask, I sponged with Frayed Burlap onto the background. The edge of the card was detailed with a Marvy Opaque Paint Marker in Gold. The brads are from embossed with Pirate Gold embossing powder from StampN Stuff. To finish off the card I distressed the edges of the main background and mounted it onto a piece of black cradstock.

Our next card today is one that has been floating around in my head for awhile. I am again really happy with how it turned out.

I started with a quarter-sheet for Summer Sun cardstock from Stampin' Up. I know that I have mentioned that I normally eschew working with black embossing powder, it just gets so sticky and gets everywhere!! In an attempt to work though my Black EP issues I have been making myself work with it. The image in the background is from Heidi Swapp. I inked it with Basic Black Craft ink and then embossed with the dreaded Black Embossing Powder, first making sure that was vigilant in my application of my Emboss Buddy. I shadow stamped the same image with Sahara Sand ink from SU. My next step was to add the shading, I made sure to work the color on the edges and over the damask images themselves. I started with Summer Sun and then moved into Marigold Morning, More Mustard and Basic Brown (all from Stampin' Up). I really kept the brown just on the edges. Once my ink set I did a little embellishing with Yellow and Clear Stickles. The ribbon is the black grosgrain ribbon from Stampin' Up. The Sentiment is from My Sentiments Exactly, stamped with Basic Black ink and Black EP. The flowers are from Prima Marketing and the centers are black gems from Hero Arts.

I have two more cards that I am going to get up a little later tonight. Thanks for stopping by.

Distressed Cards

2009-07-07T08:08:00.006-06:00

Hola all you out in Blogger-Land. Here are a few cards for you today.

I have been following the Jennifer McGuire Thinking Inking series over at Two Peas in a Bucket for the last few weeks. These are really neat tutorials and very inspiring. I highly recommend that you check it out. I made this card after watching the series on Ranger Paint Dabbers.

I began with a white piece of cardstock. I stamped the images that appear as white with Versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder. The stamp is from the Flourish set from BoBunny. For the next step I pounced paint onto the card with Gold and Copper paint and then swirled it together using a makeup sponge. I used one of those little wedge ones, it seemed to work very well. Then I let the paint dry, Au natural no heat gun assistance. Then I took a damp paper towel and scrubbed the paint off of the flourishes. I did this same process for the sentiment.

The branch shape is from Quickutz, I cut it out of brown cardstock. I removed an extra bird off another branch and then put gold paint onto it. This I blasted with the heat gun to get the paint to bubble up. Everything was mounted to brown cardstock and voila - all done.

For this card I used my Papertrey Damask set - which I adore, I am sure that you hadn't noticed how often I have been using it. I started with Vanilla cardstock and stamped with Versamark and embossed my damask with Distress Embossing Powder by Ranger in Black Soot. Once the EP sets you go back and rub the release crystals off. Next I aged my back ground with Tea Dye, Walnut Stain and Black Soot Distress Inks by Ranger, between the Tea and Walnut I added Close to Cocoa. Since I did this after I did the embossing powder my sponge was a little worse for wear because the embossing powder is quite ruff. I did this same process to my sentiment block but I used black ink and clear embossing powder, I thought that using the Distress Embossing Powder would make it hard to read.

The brads started as gold brads and I inked them with Versamark and then into black embossing powder twice and then into Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel once. I am really irritated at myself for not getting them straight on the card, but such is life. The metallic paper is by The Paper Co and is called Gilded Rust. I added the black cardstock and then to a Vanilla cardstock base.

This last card today was also created with Distress Inks but I think it has a very different look. I started with a white piece of cardstock and inked my image, from Inkadinkado's Garden Flower set, with Peeled Paint and Worn Lipstick Distress Inks from Ranger. I then spritzed the stamp with water a few times and then stamped. For the edging I swiped my two ink pads on my craft sheet then spritzed with water again and then swirled my paper through the puddles of color, only getting the color on the edges. I added a celery ribbon and attached it to a coral piece of cardstock. Very simple easy card.

Cards Galore

2009-07-06T20:52:00.005-06:00

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July. In the spirit of the 4th of July here is my 4th card.

This was a very easy card. All of the shapes were cut out using my Silhouette Digital Cutter. The font is Mandingo. Very easy, but fun!

I am loving all of the distressed techniques that are popular now. I cut out the emblem shape with my Quickutz Revolution. I stamped the image from Colorado StampN' with True Black Palette ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder. I watercolored the image using Twinkle H20s in Yellow Rose, Stargazer, Black Orchid and Key Lime. The Lions were watercolored with Stampin' Up Classic ink in Close to Cocoa. I aged the image with Antique Linen, Vintage Photo and Aged Mahogany Distress Inks from Ranger. The outer frame was embossed with Zing! powder in Chestnut.

The brads started as simple gold brads that I embossed with Zing! powder in Chestnut twice, and then I embossed with Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel. The effect was that the embossing powders created a marbled effect.

On the background, I started with White Cardstock. I sponged on Antique Linen, Vintage Photo and then Aged Mahogany on the very edges. I stamped the corner piece from Regal Flourish by Tim Holtz for Stampers Anonymous and Antique Map Background from Hero Arts in Vintage Photo. I then stamped London from Wordswoth in Vintage Photo and Aged Mahogany. Once I had everything the way I wanted it I spritzed it with water. My final step was to mount the whole thing to a burgundy piece of cardstock and add an organza ribbon from Creative Impressions. Now it took a long time to complete this card but I am really happy how it turned out. I'd like to believe that some of the time was due to the trial and error process.

As you might have noticed, I have been distressing lots of project, so in an effort to do something different I created this card.

The little girl is from Basic Grey and was stamped with Palette True Black and embossed with clear embossing powder. I colored her with my Copic markers. The "Hi" is from the Chic Alpha Set by Fancy Pants. The blue background was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I created another custom brad for this card. I started with a silver brad, embossed in blue glitter embossing powder from Zing!, I did this twice and then into the UTEE powder twice. You can see the detail below. The flowers are from Creative Impressions. The gems are from Hero Arts.

I am hoping to get more cards up tomorrow! Have a great night.

Wrought Iron & Vampires

2009-06-29T18:22:00.007-06:00

I have a little confession, I usually hate black embossing powder. I have trouble making it work correctly and I typically end up with little black speckles all over my card. I recently purchased a new Emboss Buddy, so I thought that I would give it another shot. Here is the result of the experimentation. I am pretty happy with how speckle-free the card is. I think that using Versamark under my ink gives me a little more time, which allows me to go a little slower and as a result I get better results.

I started with a piece of Sahara Sand cardstock by Stampin' Up. I really rubbed my Emboss Buddy over the paper before stamping. I loaded my stamps with Versamark Ink and then right on top of that I inked them with Palette True Black ink, this was then embossed with black embossing powder. The image on the lower left-hand side is from the Flourish set by BoBunny and the image on the top right-hand side is from the Ornamental Set also by Bo Bunny. I then trimmed the cardstock so it would look like I am capable of stamping straight (I always stamp a little crooked). Next I loaded the stamps with Champagne Versamark Ink, I slightly off-set the images and stamped. There is a little residue on the black embossed part of the card but I think that it gives a cool effect.

I stamped the sentiment by Mae West on a scrap piece of Sahara Sand cardstock by Stampin' Up. The Mae West stamp is by All Night Media. I rounded the corners with the EK Success Large Rounder. I layered this on Black cardstock and rounded the edges with the EK Success Corner Chip punch. I added a very simple antique gold brad and then a little bellyband in black cardstock. The main image is mounted to a piece of antique gold cardstock that I picked up at a local paper store (brand unknown).

As I mentioned in my last post, I often make two or even four cards at one time. That is the case with the next two cards. I recently ready the Sookie Stackhouse novels and I have been loving the HBO series based on them called True Blood. This is not a new obsession for me, I have loved vampire books and movies as long as I can remember. My friends and I waited in line on opening night to see Interview with a Vampire. These two cards are a testament to this life long love of the fang. :-) I do know that these are a little over the top, but they were great fun to make and you may see more like them.

To start, I cut out the mouths with my Quickutz Silhouette, for these I first cut the primary image in Real Red cardstock by Stampin' Up and then I used the off-set function and cut-out the black part. I hand cut the fangs, as I was unable to find something in my library that I could convert or any online image that would work. I used Rich Red embossing powder by Ranger on the red lips to give them a gloss. Of course, like everything on this card once was not enough, I repeated this process three times. I assembled everything for the mouth once the embossing powder was cool. For the top card, I cut out the sentiment and heart with my Silhouette, the font is Boister Black. I added a little accent on the heart with a white gel pen. The mouths are mounted with pop dots.

Next I went to work on the background, I started with Whisper White cardstock by Stampin' Up and using my quarter of a sponge I sponged on Real Red ink by Stampin' Up and then Fired Brick Distress Ink by Ranger and then on the very edges Aged Mahogany Distress Ink. I layered that onto a black piece of cardstock. Then to the flourish image, I stamped the central image from Baroque Motifs twice using Real Red ink by Stampin' Up and then embossed with clear embossing powder. Next I went back to my sponge and worked Worn Lipstick and Fired Brick Distress Inks from Ranger on the white cardstock. This was layered on black and then red cardstock. On the second card, I stamped the sentiment with Martha Stewart's Halloween Typface Clear Stamp Set in Real Red Ink.

These were so much fun. They are actually pretty heavy, much weightier than a regular card. Must be all of that embossing powder. Thank you for stopping by and have a great week!

Baroque Motifs, Damask & Girly Girl Goth

2009-06-23T06:51:00.009-06:00

Here is a bold little card made with the Baroque Motifs stamp from Stampin' Up. I really like this stamp set so I am sure you'll be seeing more cards with this set.

The base of this card is just simple white cardstock. I stamped the motif twice with Palette ink in True Black and then embossed with Clear Embossing Powder. I then sponged on the color, building up the color effect slowly. I used red, purple and black inks. I gave a little boost to the image by going around the image and accenting with my Starlight Gel Pen. The last steps were to adhere it on black cardstock and then on to a white card base. A very simple card, but I like the way it looks.

On occasion, when I start working on a new card I will make two at the same time. Usually they come out looking very similar, or in some cases I make a mistake and there is only one. I am posting two sets of cards that were intended to turn out the same but ended up as slightly different versions, so I'll share both.

To start, you'll see a familiar pattern - more Damask!!

Version 1

On this card our top layer is Orchid Opulence cardstock from Stampin' Up. For this card I started with the silver image first. The stamp is from the Tim Holtz Visual Artistry French Market set. I loaded the stamp with Versamark ink and then Starlite Silver from Brilliance. I stamped the image and then embossed with Stampin' Up Embossing Powder.

The next step was to stamp the Damask image, which is from the Bold Damasks set by Inkadinkado. I used Lovely Lilac Craft Ink by Stampin' Up this time. There is a lot of surface space on this image and I was having trouble getting a clean image. (Which is the reason there are two variations of this card and not the four I started with) I put a magazine under the card when I stamp to give a little cushion to press into. I have seen people use mouse pads and I'll probably give that a try next time. Once I stamped over the silver flourish I took a paper towel over the silver images to remove the ink that settled there. I then sponged over the images with Orchid Opulence ink. On the very edges I sponged Lovely Lilac ink.

I stamped the Thank You image, from Wordsworth in Lovely Lilac. The gems are from Hero Arts. The focal cardstock was layered on to Brushed Silver cardstock from Stampin' Up and then onto Lovely Lilac. The final step was to a White cardstock card base.

Version 2

So here is Version 2 of our Orchid & Lilac Card. The biggest difference on this card, aside from the fact that the left silver flourish is crooked, is the depth of color and the order in which the main image was created.

For this card I stamped the Bold Damask first, then I let it dry for about an hour. I also flipped the damask image and stamped more of the image on the card. I made sure to really rub my card with my Emboss Buddy to be sure that the embossing powder would only stick to the flourish. I loaded up the flourish in the same way as I did for Version 1 and embossed it with the Silver Embossing Powder from Stampin' Up. I was trying to see if I could get the same look without the smudging that happened in the other image. Turns out you can - I just didn't like the look, so back to sponging color around the image. I also added Elegant Eggplant ink around the very edges. The clear gems are from Hero Arts and the purple is from K & Co. I also added a few accents with Purple Stickles.

Our last card series today is something that I am calling Girly Girl Goth. I have a soft spot for the drama of goth and really felt like breaking out some skulls . . in pink.

Version 1

Version 2

Both cards started with a white piece of cardstock. I first stamped the flourishes from Fancy Pants in Pink Passion Ink from Stampin' Up and then ofset the stamp loaded with Pretty in Pink Ink. Then I sponged on Pretty in Pink, then Pixie Pink, Pink Passion and on the very edge Rose Red. When I start building a background like this I take the lightest color and using a circular motion I work it from the edge to the center of the cardstock. Then I proceed with each darker shade repeating the process but not completely covering the lighter shade. When I get to my darkest shade I often work that on the very edge only. When I load my sponge with ink I start my circular motion off of the card and then move it onto the card in a circular motion, the limits the blotches that can occur if you place a loaded sponge right on the cardstock.

My next step was to cut out the diamonds and skulls using my Quickutz Silhoutte cutter. This machine is awesome and I am loving what it can do. I cut the skulls out of white cardstock and the diamonds out of Pink Passion and a misc. grey cardstock. I didn't like the way that the plain grey looked so I inked it with Billiance Platium Planet ink. I inked it pretty heavly so it took a few hours to dry. I also thought that the pink was too plain so I inked them up with Pink Passion and Rose Red. I also used Pink Passion to stamp the same flourish on the pink diamond.

Next came my skulls, on Version 1 I simply inked them with Versmark ink and the embossed with Stardust Embossing Powder. On Version 2 I stamped my handy-dandy flourish with Starlite Siver Brilliance ink and then embossed the whole thing with Stardust Embossing Powder. The pink skulls for both cards were inked with Pikie Pink and Pink Passion, the flourish (yes, again) in Pink Passion. Then that whole thing went to the Stardust Embossing Powder. All of the skulls went into the Stardust Embossing Powder twice. What can I say, I like my bling!

For Version 1, I finished up with Hero Arts gems and then put the skulls and diamonds onto black cardstock and then onto a white card base. Version 2, got the same treatment but I added a black organza ribbon below the eyes.

Thanks for stopping by!

Even More Damask

2009-06-20T09:46:00.004-06:00

Even more Damask!

Here is the breakdown for this Eggplant and Copper Damask card

I began this card with Eggplant Envy cardstock from Stampin' Up. I stamped the damask image with Versamark ink and embossed it with My Sentiments Exactly! Copper Embossing Powder. The damask image was a treasure that I found in the $1 Bin at Target. My husband makes fun of me for my Target $1 Bin obsession but I think that this stamp shows that there are treasures to be found. I then aged the Eggplant card with Eggplant Envy ink and the the very edges with Elegant Eggplant ink.

I mounted the Eggplant Envy & Copper background on a copper sheet of cardstock, I am not sure where this came from, then created a band of Eggplant Envy and Copper on the left-hand side of the card. The die is from Quickutz. I initially cut out the die in white cardstock so I could be sure that it was going to work on the card. I ended up cutting out one whole copy of the image and the a second set of "wings. " The card base is from Very Vanilla cardstock.

To begin this card I started with a quarter sheet of Creamy Caramel I stamped the images by first loading the stamp with Versamark ink and the VersaMagic Chalk ink in Oasis Green, then I embossed with clear embossing powder. I used the Versamark first to give myself a little more working time to fully coat the image with the embossing powder. Once I had stamped each of the flourishes I came back over and stamped a shadow image with Versamark. The stamp set is Kimberly Poloson Flourishes. This is a clear stamp set which makes getting the flourishes lined up a little bit easier. Next I aged the Creamy Caramel with Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip and then Basic Black inks.

To the little sign, the stamp set is Stampin' Up Sage Advice and the quote is from Shakespeare. I stamped the sentiment on a Vanilla piece of cardstock with Walnut Stain Distress Ink from Tim Holtz, I then aged the edges with Tea Dye. I then cut the teal and brown (Chocolate Chip) pieces of cardstock and aged them with the Tea Dye ink. I strung a small piece of black embroidery floss and mounted it on a antique brass brad. The brown ribbon is from Creative Impressions and the card base is from Very Vanilla.

That's it for today - more coming soon!!

Distressed Cards

2009-06-19T12:03:00.006-06:00

I have been playing with Tim Holtz Distress inks for the last two weeks. I am hooked. I really love all of the unique techniques you can use with these inks. They react with water and stay wet longer then traditional dye inks. I have purchased all of the colors carried at our local hobby stores, they were on sale this week. I also have a few more colors on order so there will be more to come.

For this Diva card, I laid down a coat of Fired Brick and Worn Lipstick Distressed Ink on my craft sheet and spritzed with water. I dipped the white cardstock into the ink, making sure to get the whole card covered with ink. I repeated this process three times, drying my paper with a heat tool between each coat. All of the stamped images on this card are from the Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Visual Artistry Collection. All of the images on this card are from the Regal Flourish set. These are awesome stamps the stamps are thick and give a great impression.

I stamped the wing image with Black Soot Distress Ink and then brushed Perfect Pearls in White while the ink was still wet. I then spritzed with water. When I was happy with the effect from the water I dried it again using my heat tool. I got this technique right off of Tim Holtz website, he had a great video that shows this technique. I then stamped the flourishes in Fired Brick. The image in the lower right corner is a rampant lion stamped with Black Soot and the embossed with Rouge Zing! embossing powder. It is very subtle but I really like the distressed look. Since these are still dye inks they have a short working time. This short working time means that your embossing powder with not have quite the sticking power as you see with other inks, i.e. Versamark. For distressed project this gives a great look where the ink color will show through the embossing powder. I went back over the edges of the red stamped piece with Fired Brick and then Black Soot just on the very edge. I lightly sponged over the lion image to knock-down the gloss on the embossing powder.

I finished off the card with the red cardstock accent, the punch I used is from EK Success and is called Moroccan Lace. I used my Quickutz Revolution to cut the "diva" from red cardstock using the Magnolia alphabet. I lightly aged both red accents with more Distressed Inks. I mounted this to a piece of chocolate cardstock and then that to a vanilla card.

Can you tell that I really like the wing image?? I started with a white piece of cardstock. I applied ink directly to the cardstock, I used Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint and Broken China Distress Inks. I used a Stampin' Up sponge that I cut into quarters to apply my ink. Once I was happy with how that looked I took a paint brush dipped it in water and flicked this water on to the card. As you can see the ink travels away from where the water hits it. When I was happy with the work that the water had done I dried the sheet with my ever faithful heat tool. I probably should mention that this heat tool once took a violent trip down my stairs and bounced off the wall and it still works. I don't recommend treating your craft equipment like this but in all fairness it was an accident.

I inked up the Eiffel Tower collage image from the Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz French Market set with Broken China on the top and Peeled Paint on the bottom. I stamped this on the left-hand side of the card. I stamped the diamond pattern with Vintage Photo and then the crown image from Regal Flourished also with Vintage Photo on the lower right-hand corner. The next step was to stamp the wings, I used the same technique that I used in the Diva card, but I used Walnut Stain to stamp the image and then Copper Perfect Pearls on top of the wet ink. I very lightly spritzed the image with water, then it was heat set. I mounted this to a chocolate piece of cardstock and then mounted the whole thing to a vanilla card base.

So the next card for today is something that is very different from what I normally do. I still couldn't tell you if I like it or not, but here it is. I love the distressed look but the colors are very non-traditional for a distressed look. The flash washed out the colors a little, I may try to get another photo of it.
I inked up the background image from JRL Design with Versamark and stamp on Eggplant Envy cardstock from Stampin' Up. I then embossed with a lime green embossing powder from My Sentiments Exactly! (They call it Pastel Green, but it in no way a pastel) I stamped the Fleur-de-Lys in the same manner, the image is from Inkadinkado. I cut out the image and mounted to Archiver's green cardstock and then cut that out again. I cut bellybands from the purple and green, both are stamped with a flourish from the Tim Holtz set I mentioned in the Diva card. On the purple it was stamped with Palette Ink in black and on the green it is in Versamark. On the green it is very subtle and you can't really see it in the photo - but I promise that it is there. I stamped Dream from Fancy Pants on the green in purple. The Fleur-De-Lys is mounted with SU pop dots. All of the images have aging on the edges with Black Soot Distress ink. So as I mentioned I cannot decide if I actually like this card or not but there was just something about it that made me post it.

Inspiration from an Interesting Place

2009-06-12T07:47:00.005-06:00

So clearly I called it Aloha for very tranparent reasons. Maybe not super original but I'd like to think that my source for the inspiration is a little more unique.

I love dark beers anything with a really full body - maybe something that could be called chewy, as my friend Jamie would say. This interest is what led me to Kona Brewing Company and their limited edition beer Pipeline Porter. It is make with Kona coffee and was wonderful. Below is the bottle:

(Please excuse the blurry photo, I clearly didn't double check it before I tossed the bottle in the recycle bin)

Here is the card it inspired! Recipe is below the card.

So I would have never guessed that the orange and teal would be so hard to work with - apparently they don't love each other and they cannot touch. The result was some terrible clashing, I really came close to giving myself a headache trying to make it work. Using the brown as a buffer seemed to make everything work together.

Cardstock ~ Sand, Brown, Orange and Teal all from Archiver's, their brand

Stamp ~Stampin' Up! Do The Hula

I used Colorbox Chalk ink in Chestnut Roan, Zing! embossing powder in Chestnut. I colored in the hula girl with Stampin' Up! chalks. The card was finished off with Crystal Stickers Teak Gems.

Chick & Arigato Cards

2009-06-11T07:14:00.004-06:00

Whew - I am finally finished working and editing from our horse show last weekend. So I am happy to have a day between to post some cards!

So this cute little lady is from the Hero Arts Japanese Dolls set. I really like this set. I have about 15 dolls cut out and laying around my craft room waiting for a full card to be attached to, ah someday. :-)

We'll start with coloring of the main image. She was stamped with black Memento Ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. I was trying to emulate the Copic look in my coloring but using Stampin' Up! markers. I would color with the two colors and then blend them with my Aqua Painter. I takes a little practice and quick movement, especially because things dry so fast here in Colorado. Here are the colors that I used - Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Pixie Pink, Pink Passion, Green Galore, & Gable Green.

On a 1/4 sheet of Regal Rose I stamped a small flower with Versamark and embossed with glitter embossing powder. I cut a white bellyband and stamped the same flower in Regal Rose on that, the I cut a Gable Green bellyband and edged it with an EK Success border punch.

The ovals, both smooth and scalloped were cut out using the Quickutz Silhouette. The sentiment was also cutout with the Silhouette. The font is called Heartbreaker.

The base of this card is just simply white cardstock. I brayered the background, using two post-it notes to create the dividing line between the colors. I don't have a ton of experience with brayering as I normally prefer the sponged look. All in all I don't think that it turned out too bad. The chick and her egg shell were cut using Quickutz Silhouette. I used markers to add dimension to the edges and to draw on the eyes. I think that his face has a funny expression but it wouldn't be a card of mine without some personality. I sponged Versamark over the egg shells and then embossed with glitter embossing powder from Stampin' Up.

Dramatic Cards

2009-06-04T06:24:00.005-06:00

Ever since I was a kid, I have always had a thing for drama. Perhaps even tending towards melodrama. I think that I may have been the only kid on the playground that was told, "Stop being melodramatic!" Hey it works for me - these cards help me channel that drama. In our first card, more damask!! I love this Papertrey Ink stamp set.

This is a pretty straight-forward card, I stamped the background image with Versamark and then embossed with a claret embossing powder. This powder came from the Colorado Rubber Stamp Company that is no long in business but I am sure that you could find something similar. Using Versamark
on black isn't easy when lining up your images. I think that I will try this card again to see if I can get my pattern a little bit better lined up. I did stamp and then emboss each image individually, which did help with seeing how everything should line up, but it was still a challenge. Once the background was completed I stamped the larger damask image with Versmark and embossed with SU! silver embossing powder and then cut it out. I layered black and silver SU! cardstock, popped on the gems from Hero Arts and voila, all complete.

The background stamps on these cards are from Fancy Pants. I started by stamping with Versamark and then once that dried I stamped over that with white ink. On these cards I used Cotton White Stazon ink. I used a little ink on the edges to give a little more depth, I selected ink that was just slightly dark then the background cardstock. The branch is a Quickutz die. The branch and background are from a dark brown paper that kind of looks black here. On the red card I ran the die through with white cardstock to get the white bird. Again very simple but I love the look of them. I'll probably make more in different colors.

So, again I think that you can see my wallpaper inspiration in this card. The background stamp set is Papertrey Ink Guide Lines Two. I stamped the alternating pattern with Going Grey and Marvelous Magenta ink on white cardstock. The edging effect was done with two shades of purple, Perfect Plum and Elegant Eggplant. Then a very light application of Palette True Black ink on the very edges. Belly band is white cardstock with the same edge treatment and layered on Elegant Eggplant cardstock. Sentiment is from the Stampin' Up set Wonderful Words II.

That's it for today - have a wonderful weekend!

Dreaming of Damask

2009-06-02T07:51:00.006-06:00

I have become obsessed with damask and wallpaper images in general. I love making cards that are aged and look like old worn wall paper. I think about the smoke from an old fireplace and light creeping in around heavy velvet curtains, slowly over many years, seeping into the walls, into the paper, changing it. I really love inking the edges of my background and seeing the many years of age appear in the card in a matter of minutes. Perhaps this is just a symptom of reading too much recently.

Here are a few of my favorites. I assure you that there will be more to come.

This card features the Quickutz chandelier. I cut it once out of black paper and then covered that base image with Versamark and embossed it with black embossing power. I repeated this process three times. I then cut out another chandelier this time out of silver paper. This was just something I had laying around so I am not even sure where it came from. The shades were cut from white card stock and then I repeated the embossing process, using an iridescent violet powder from My Sentiments Exactly! You can't really see it in the photo but it looks really neat.

The damask image on the background is from the Inkadinkado clear set. I use an acrylic block with grid lines on it to line up the pattern. That block is from Martha Stewart. I stamped the images individually with Versmark and then embossed with the same iridescent power I used on the shades. To do my aging I used three shades of Stampin' Up ink - usually I start with the same color as the paper. I ink all four sides and then start with a slightly darker color of the same family. I finish up with black on the edges. I love how this looks. I have started using a craft sheet and 1/4 of a Stampin' Up sponge, starting on the craft sheet and working in a circular motion.

I made the silver chandelier card in the same manner as the black one except I used silver embossing powder and a black card stock for the chandelier. You can see the violet powder in this photo a little better.

I was very happy with how this card turned out. I just got this set, Papertrey Ink's Damask Designs last week. I have been doing lots of experiments so I am looking forward to working those into cards.

The stamped background paper started life as white SU card stock. I started with damask images, they were stamped with Palette ink in True Black and then embossed with black embossing powder. I try to religiously use my Embossing Buddy to keep the black embossing powder from making a mess. I then began my aging process. I inked up the SU stamp Weathered with Tea Dye and stamped it right over the damask images. For this card I used Tim Holtz Distressed inks in Tea Dye and Black Soot around the edges. I built up several layers of the Tea Dye before starting with the black. This damask layer is placed over a piece of Vanilla SU card stock that was aged with the Tea Dye in the same manner.

Next I worked on the focal image, this is the large damask from the PTI set. Again Palette True Black ink and black EP. Tea Dye on the Weathered stamp, and then aged. I added two Hero Arts crystal gems for a little bling, then mounted to black card stock. I added a brown sheer ribbon from Creative Impressions. I did distress the CS edges just a little with an nail file, bone folder and my nails.

Thank you for stopping by and checking out my blog. More to come . . . . . .

Re-purposed Blog!

2009-06-01T09:10:00.002-06:00

Welcome to the Bada Bling Blog! I have previously used this blog to post, all be it very infrequently, all sorts of information. It was quiet the random blog. I have decided, and will try to stick to it, to make this blog primarily about my handmade cards and perhaps a few other crafts. Really and truly I will try to stick on target.

As a part of this re-dedication to the blogisphere I have also started a new blog to focus on JM Photography, our equine photography business that I run with my husband and brother. Feel free to hop on over to that blog to see what we are doing in the world of equine photography! http://jmequinephotos.blogspot.com

Woohooooo!

2009-03-02T11:39:00.006-07:00

I was playing with my camera and flash today. I am getting ready for a shoot this Friday, fingers crossed that my backdrop will arrive in time. We shall see. My poor pets get to be my models so here is Neo and Cosmo - enjoying the spotlight, or maybe not. next purchase will be real lights!!

I call these "Really, please put away the camera!!!"