Wrought Iron & Vampires

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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