Eastern Beauties, Variations

I love the versatility of Stampin’ Up!’s Eastern Beauty stamp set and matching dies. I posted two cards here, but have many more to go because … say it with me … there are so many variations in this set!!!

Here’s a quick sample of the different looks you can get simply by changing the paper color and size:

For this card, and the one below, I used the dies to cut various shapes into a cover card. On the white card base, I dabbed on various Ranger Distress Inks (Victoran Velvet, Tumbled Glass, Seedless Preserves and Iced Spruce), then layered the die-cut piece on top. The dots are from the Robins Nest.

Using a black cover piece gives a dramatically different look:

(This card is a 4Bar (roughly 3 1/2 x 4 inches, smaller than the A2 size above).  I used the same technique, but using Faber-Castell Gelatos Highlighters in Starfruit, Dragon fruit, Clementine and Dry Ice. Nuvo Crystal Drops added some texture and a strip of glitter paper (Paper Source) added sparkle.

Here’s a detailed look:

Thanks for stopping by! I have one more set of cards using the same stamps and dies, coming soon!

A Rainbow of Birthday Wishes

Would you believe I never made a shaker card? I don’t know what took me so long! But with this Birthday Wishes die from Simon Says Stamp, and some Distress Oxide inks from Ranger, it was a perfect storm.

I LOVE these Distress Oxide inks. I love the colors, I love the way they blend, I love the way they react with water, I love everything about them.  I used Fossilized Amber, Worn Lipstick, Cracked Pistachio, and Broken China. After blending them on my card stock, I spritzed a bit with water and dabbed off the water with a paper towel, leaving those cool spots. There just wasn’t enough sparkle, so I added some Ranger Perfect Pearls. 

I added some foam tape to the die cut and sprinkled some small sequins (I think they are from Sulyn). I was tempted to add more sparkle, but decided to keep it simple.

Here is a more detailed shot:

This was a very good play day!

Thanks for stopping by.

Fabulous Foiling!

Yes, I am obsessed with foil. I didn’t do a lot of foiling when it first became big because I didn’t have the right tools (including access to a laser printer for printing and foiling).

But my discovery of therm-o-web‘s wide selection of foiling capabilities rocked my world! And I’ve been foil crazy since then.

I started my experimenting by using my Fiskars XOXO punch (see here for more on this punch. My first experiment was to use the punch on  ToW’s adhesive foam. (The adhesive was a tad thick for the punch, but I managed to not mangle it too badly. My foiling was not perfectly smooth, but that’s ok!)

The background was made using Magenta‘s Nuance, a water-soluble powdered coloring agent (similar to Brusho, Ken Oliver’s Color Burst, Cosmo Cricket’s Pixie Paints, etc.) The butterflies were cut from a wonderful new Donna Salazar/Spellbinders die, Cascading Butterflies, then stamped and inked with Ranger Distress Inks (Fossilized Amber, Abandoned Coral, Peacock Feathers, Shabby Shutters). A light mist of Ranger Perfect Pearls gives them a subtle sheen (hard to see here.)

My favorite so far is therm-o-web’s self-adhesive toner sheets. For this card, I first die cut the Stampin’ Up Rose Garden from the toner sheet, then foiled it (using ToW’s iCraft® foils and a Royal Sovereign laminator.) I cut the leaves off and foiled them separately.

(sentiment by Kaisercraft, gold embossed. Black panel cut using a Spellbinders’ Cele’bration pierced rectangle die)

Never one to toss out a scrap, I used the leftover sheet (the negative left after foiling the rose die) to create this:

(Sentiment by Technique Tuesday).

I’m obsessed, so there are more foiled projects to come! Thanks for stopping by.

 

Continuing March of the Ornaments

For my next batch of ornament cards, I went a little rogue, going for non-traditional Christmas colors. (Again, it’s mostly Stampin’ Up! unless otherwise noted.)

The ornament is die cut from an old greeting card using Stampin’ Up!’s Delicate Ornament set. (Diamond Stickles has been added to the petals, though it is hard to see here.) The sentiment, gold embossed and layered on gold paper, is from Stampin’ Up!’s Embellished Ornament stamps. The background is embossed using Sizzix  damask and regal Texture Fades embossing folder.

For the next card, I stamped, then cut the ornament:

I inked the stamp using various Ranger Distress Inks, misted slightly and stamped on watercolor paper. The background is made using Stampin’ Up!’s Falling Snow embossing folder; the sentiment, gold embossed, is by Hero Arts. (This is from an old set, so simply substitute any appropriate sentiment.)

More rogue cards coming!

 

 

More Camellia Cards

My obsession with Technique Tuesday’s camellia stamp continues….

This is pretty straightforward stamping, very fast and easy (no fussy cutting!)
The camellia was stamped on white card stock in VersaMark ink, then black embossed. The sentiment (Technique Tuesday Swanky Sentiments) was stamped in black VersaFine. The panel was trimmed, edged with Delicata Golden Glitz ink (Imagine Crafts), layered on black, then on the yellow card front.

On this card, I first did a watercolor wash, using the smooth side of Ranger/Tim Holtz Watercolor Cardstock. (I love the way this holds up to water coloring but is still smooth enough for quality stamping.) I first wet the paper, using my water brush to paint clean water in a swath. I then spread some Ranger Distress Stains (Victorian Velvet, Milled Lavender, Broken China).

When the background was completely dry, I swiped it with my Embossing Buddy powder, then stamped the camellia with VersaMark ink and added white embossing powder. I used the same Distress colors to color in the flower, adding Forest Moss and Shabby Shutters for the leaves.

The sentiment was stamped with VersaFine black ink. The panel was mounted using Xpress It tape; Lawn Fawn sequins were added using Glue Dots micro dots.

Stay tuned for my last set, when I used mostly black and grey.

Fun with Ink and Faux Watercolor

I love watercolor in all its many forms.

In an early post here I talked about a technique I learned years ago using die inks to “drag” in color to your stamped images.

Here’s one of the first samples I made using this technique, which I learned from Art Impressions:

The idea is simple — color your stamps with a water-based ink or marker (in this early one I used mostly Marvy and Tombow markers). Then use a slightly wet paint brush to “drag” the color into the design.

I hadn’t played with this technique for a while until I found some Art Impressions stamps I bought way back in January!

(I love how the stamps come with complete instructions. If you’ve never created scenes before, the instructions give you confidence to build a scene. Also, there is lots of great information and inspiration on the Art Impressions YouTube channel.)

For the first impression, I stamped the girl using Tim Holtz/Ranger Distress Pumice ink on the smooth side of Ranger’s Tim Holtz watercolor paper (I do love this paper — the smooth side takes stamped images well while still holding up to water.)

Then I started playing with coloring, using a variety of Marvy (yes, my OLD Marvy markers that were still nice and juicy!), Tombow and Distress markers.

Here is the finished card:

(You can’t really see it here, but I added some clear Wink of Stella to her dress and hat for subtle shimmer. Man, do I love Wink of Stella!)

The set also comes with this adorable bridge:

The only thing stamped here is the bridge itself, stamped with Distress Vintage Photo. For the rest, I just added watercolor shapes, just blobbing on where I thought trees and grass and flowers should be.

I dried that, then added details, stamping some shrubs and flowers and softly blending them with my water brush. Here is the finished card:

And here is a shot of my messy desk with all the materials scattered around:

How can anyone work that way???? Grin.

My next post will have a few more samples. Thanks for stopping in!

Fabulous Finds Friday — Fiskars Tag Maker

I love, love, love making tags. There is something so appealing about decorating tiny little surfaces. Having a creative slump? Try making a few tags as a way to prime those creative juices.

The new *Tag Maker Punch from Fiskars is right up my alley. I love that the punch has three functions: it punches the tag shape, punches the hole, and sets an eyelet. Cool, huh? No annoying hammering.

Look what I made in about 10 minutes (it took me longer to find paper scraps than it did to punch these!):

I used mostly scraps to make these tags — and we all know how much I adore using my scraps! These tags are fairly simple and quick to make. But you could easily stamp and embellish to make tags with more flair.

There are currently four tag shapes: the rounded top one I show above, a traditional tag cut (like a shipping tag, on my wish list!), and two curvy label-tags with holes on two sides. The tags measure about 2″ x 3″ and the punch handles cardstock up to 80 lbs.

The Tag Maker accommodates two sizes of eyelets: 3/16 and 5/32. According to the company, these are among the brands tested that work: Recollections (Michael’s store brand) 3/16, ColorBok 3/16, Dritz 5/32 and Sewology 5/32. I have not tried any others (because I have to dig them out! I got so tired of having to hammer them in, I stopped using them! This will solve that problem.)

I also love that the Tag Maker perfectly centers the hole.

Here are some closer looks:

These were stamped using whatever was handy on my desk, including scraps from other projects (like the bright neon tag!)

These have some chipboard embellishments (an old K&Company set).

Love these tags made using leftover watercolor paper that had been colored with Ranger’s Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stains (another must have product).

And finally, look how I used up old greeting cards:

For more info, check out the Fiskars video here.

*Disclaimer: This product was provided to me to test by Fiskars.

Boo Two

Yowzahs! I made a quick Halloween card today!

The image, from Close To My Heart, was white embossed on white glossy paper. Then I swooshed on Distress Inks peeled paint, marmalade and a touch of lavender. (My lavendar pad is nearly dry, so you can barely see the lavender tint.) I layered it on a piece of black. The sentiment is from the same stamp set. I stamped it on a left over scrap of the inked glossy paper using VersaMark. I knew as soon as I stamped it that the image had slipped. I decided to emboss it anyway… and I kind of liked the double image for the Halloween sentiment! I edged the sides with some black dye ink, then added Ranger Stickles Gunmetal to the bottom. The polka dot paper is from Bazzill Basics Miss Teagen Sue collection; the spidery punch is from Martha Stewart.

Thanks for stopping by!

Boo! Happy Halloween 2012!

Happy Halloween boys and “ghouls.” (oooh, scary pun.)

Here’s a quick Halloween card for you:

(Yes, I made this last year… but I am posting it because despite my good intentions, I ran out of time.)

Hope your treats are tame and not tricky.

Fabulous Finds Friday — M-Bossabilities™

Oooh, how I love a good embossing! Heat embossed or dry, I love the texture. So of course I fell in love with the possibilities of *Spellbinders’ new M-Bossabilities™ double-sided embossing folders that actually give you four different looks. Take a gander:

The folders have two designs. You simply flip the folder over to see the second design. But WAIT! There’s MORE! You can actually get two OTHER designs, depending on which way you insert your paper. Here’s what happened when I started playing:

Who doesn’t love a good chevron? Above is one side of the So Trendy ES-006 plate. (highlighted with Distress Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet, Pumice Stone.  The round images are from Hero Arts’s Untitled Word Shadow AC005; the embossing I’ll talk about in another post, but aren’t those colors hot?)

And below is the same side of the folder, but embossed with the paper put in the opposite way, so the debossed area shows:

(Colored with Distress Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky.)

And here are two cards made with the flip side of the same folder:

And using the other impression:

Can you see the subtle difference in the texture? (The fun balloon images are Hero Arts Flying Airships CG427)

Here are two more cards:

The one above uses Regal EL002, colored with Distress Mustard Seed, Wild Honey and edged with Old Paper.

M-Bossabilities™ folder Sea Beauty ES-007; inked with Distress Pumicd Stone; stamps from Inkadinkado.

And one last look at the cards before they were embellished:

Thanks so much for stopping by!

*Disclaimer.