Odds and Ends

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

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

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!