My New Camera

Not only am I late posting on this Fabulous Friday, I don’t even have a card to share! I did, however, get a new camera, which makes me very happy. I have been snapping away. I was too impatient to read the instructions… I wanted to play. Here are two photos I took — maybe you will be inspired to create something.

Not the most thrilling photo, but my first one, playing with the close-up feature. I love the sharp main image and the blurry background.

And here’s one of the orchid sitting above my kitchen sink:

Have a wonderful weekend!

Awash in Color!

Every so often I get on a kick to use something that’s been stashed away too long. This week it was my color spritzers. I’m not always successful with spray misters, but I thought I’d re-visit the technique, so I pulled out my beautiful, vibrant Stamp Zia water color sprays. These colors are so bright, they always make me happy! (Even though my efforts pale besides the stunning artwork done by Stamp Zia’s Zana Clark — you really must see her work.)

I started with water color paper, because it is sturdy and takes liquid color well.

First, I sprayed on dry paper, then stamped and white embossed this new image from Stampendous!:

(sentiment by Hero Arts.) The white embossing shows up much brighter in person.

For the next sheet, I wet the paper first, then sprayed with the colors, which blended nicely. Then I stamped and embossed this big, beautiful Stampendous! blossom, cut it out and glued it to the grey base.

I like the softer colors from the wet paper.

Next up was a resist technique:

(this came out VERY yellow in the photo… it’s really more of an ivory background and prettier!) I stamped the flower (Hero Arts) using VersaMark clear ink, embossed with clear powder, then sprayed with color.

For the next piece, a little tag, I sprayed the colors on my craft sheet, then smooshed my paper (yes, “smoosh” is the technical term!) in the wet spray. I dried it with my heat tool, then spritzed it with Ranger Perfect Pearls mist (which makes evrything look better!).

The next card I made a while ago… so I don’t remember what sprays I used. But as long as I was showing sprays, I figured I should use up this piece.

I sprayed over a stencil from Crafter’s Workshop (they have the cutest designs!), trimmed the sheet, added a bow and some Ranger Liquid Pearls to the centers of the flowers, then attached the piece to my card base.

The fun thing about playing with sprays is that you can make several background sheets at once, giving you a nice stash for later.

Have a great weekend, and thanks for stopping by.

Wonderful Washi

Washi washi everywhere… and I want it all! I love the ethereal, wispy texture and appearance of washi paper, that thin, stick-able, tear-able hip design element.

Check out these nifty offerings from American Crafts/Dear Lizzy:

I have this horrible habit of lusting after paper products/embellishments and then being unable to actually use them. (Ack! What if I mess up? What if I can’t think of the perfect design? What if I make a mistake?) But I was so inspired by this adorable card made by the amazing and talented Lisa Spangler (you MUST check out her blog Sideouts & Scribbles. Delicious). My card is a poor second to hers. Here is her card:

Adorable, no? Check out her blog for her simple instructions.

Here is my pale imitation:

(Stamps, including the subtle background provided by the envelope liner stamp, a new fave of mine, are all from Hero Arts. The washi tape is from several sources, including American Crafts,  Happy Tape, Tim Holtz, and the late and lamented Kodomo.)

But at least I broke the ice and dug into my washi stash to make a few more cards:

(See — you can even stamp on it! Dontcha love the Divine Twine that holds the flags?)

Yay —  I used up all those little scraps!

(Chair, background blossom from Hero Arts.)

Thanks for coming back!

Another Tape-embellished Card

On Friday, I raved about self-adhesive tapes and paper ribbon. I showed a card made using tape from Tape Tastic. Here’s another one using their owl tape:

(stamps: Hero Arts)

I hope you come back Friday for a post on washi tape.

Fabulous Finds Friday — Using Those Embellies

Last week I showed a small cache of my ever-growing embellishment collection. Determined to use as many embellies as possible at one sitting, here is my work product from one productive afternoon when I got no laundry done, made no dinner, and cleaned no bathrooms. It was a beautiful day!

I love love love the canvas tags from Basic Grey! So vintage-y, so texture-y, so yummy! This tag is not as yellow as it looks in this picture). The self-adhesive paper ribbon is also from Basic Grey and matches the blue in the canvas tag. The paper ribbon sticks quite well, despite the delicate appearance. Can you imagine how hard it would be to glue that sucker down without making a mess? You do need to first prep the ribbon a bit by poking out some of the holes. (Sentiment and envelope lining background stamp from Hero Arts; butterflies from Inkadinkado.)

Here’s another card using that pretty ribbon tape:

Next, we’ll look at some terrific tape:

This tape, while not as thin or transparent as washi tape, is also fun. The black and white printed tapes above, from TapeTastic, have a bit of a vinyl look and feel. But I still love them! The tapes are easy to work with and come in many fun colors and patterns. I’ll have some other washi tape samples next week.

The hardest part in making this card was figuring out what colors to use for the flowers. I stamped and embossed several blossoms before I figured out the right combination (at least I THINK it was the right one!):

(But now I have a few extra flowers hangin’ round for other projects!)

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you check out my article on unique embellishments in the June issue of Crafts ‘n things magazine.