More New Craft Stuff!!

What, you thought I could stop at just five nifty craft items? Hah!

Here are some others in no particular order:

Love me some glitter paste! Cosmic Shimmer Glitter Kiss from Ecstasy Crafts has an applicator right in the lid!

Glitter goes on easily with Ecstasy Craft’s Glitter Kiss, which comes with its own applicator.

I can’t wait to try these new Translucent Gelatos® from Faber-Castell:

Translucent Gelatos give a watercolor look

The BowVy (a Creativation Innovations winner) from Little Pink Ladybug uses a hot filament to slice and seal polyester ribbon.

In action:

And a new online company, Love + Lemon, lets you pick from a plethora of craft supplies to suit every need:

Check out the sparkles:

Can’t you just imagine a box of these dazzlers showing up on your doorstep?

That’s it from the show for a while. It’s February and I have Valentines to post! So stay tuned … and thanks for stopping by.

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!

Fabulous Finds Friday with Faber-Castell

I love making backgrounds so I’m thrilled with any new colorants, techniques, etc.

Check out this new, fun and easy Tea Stain Dye from Faber-Castell® — it’s as easy as making a cup of tea!

I love this sample, seen at the big craft show in January:

My first experiments were not at all as pretty as the ones above! I basically made background paper (which I have not photographed yet; I’m not that happy with it but let’s see what happens when I play!) But I do love how easy it is to use this dye. So there will be more to come!

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

Gone Camillia Crazy….

Must. Stop. Stamping. Camellias.

Here is the last batch from my Technique Tuesday camellia crazy card making spree.

This time, I used the stamp more as a background:

This top-folding card was really fun. I stamped the first camellia in the upper left hand corner, then made a mask and stamped all over the card using Wendy Vecchi’s archival Watering Can grey (from Ranger).

Check out the teeny camellia in the lower corner!

I stamped the camellia on scrap white card stock (using that same Wendy Vecchi watering can ink) then painted it using my water brush and Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Markers (Tattered Rose, Victorian Velvet) and some leftover green ink on my palette from my Faber-Castell PITT brush markers. When the piece was dry I cut out the center of the flower, plus two leaves.

I stamped and black embossed “Beautiful” (Technique Tuesday) on a strip of vellum, which I attached by wrapping the band to the inside of the card, attaching with Scotch Brand vellum tape. I also anchored the vellum on the front, using the same tape, where I knew I would put the flower, which I attached with foam squares.

The final touches included a dab of Ranger Diamond Stickles on various flower parts a few Doodlebug Designs sequins, attached using Glue Dots micros.

And one last one …

So simple! Stamp the camellia in grey in the lower right corner of a white card stock panel, round the corners and mount it on a Paper Source cement card front (also rounding the corners). Die- cut “happy” (Technique Tuesday) twice, layer the two and adhere to top of card. I added some Ranger Glossy Accents for shine and stamped “everything” beneath it. A few Dew Drops from Robin’s Nest, a black Hero Arts gem and bam! I’m done. Everything was glued down with ScraPerfect Best Glue Ever.

Thanks for coming by!

Technique Tuesday’s Lovely Camellia

In my last post, I teased a picture of a new stamp from Technique Tuesday’s Greenhouse Designs — the beautiful camellia.

I admit, I went a little camellia crazy… because the flower is so much fun to color and easy to cut out if you want it just as an element.

Here’s my first, very simple, set:

As you can see, I had a great time experimenting with different coloring techniques. I stamped the flower on plain white card stock in VersaMark embossing ink and used black powder to heat emboss. Then I just colored myself silly, experimenting with just about every coloring agent in my desk.

I used a lot of Faber-Castell PITT Artist Big Brushes, scribbling various colors on my plastic palette, then using my water brush to paint in the petals. I also used my VERY old set of LuminArte Sparkling H2Os** (Sunburst, Yellow Rose, Lemongrass and Moss Green for the yellows; Chiffon Pink, Cherry Sorbet and English Lavender for the pinks/purples.) I love the subtle shimmer. (**I’m not sure who is making these anymore, but you can still find them by checking on the internet. These are a water-based, mica-filled dry paint that is activated with water. So yummy.)

When the flowers were dry, I cut them out (the perfect thing to do while watching TV!).

To make the card base, I ran the front of my folded card stock through this beautiful embossing folder from Stampin’ UP/Sizzix, called Softly Falling. (I can’t wait to use this folder as snow on my holiday cards!) I rounded the card corners using a heavy-duty corner rounder.

Then it was just a matter of adhering the flowers to the card base, using foam tape. On some, I added the lovely Wink of Stella clear to get a little sparkle.

I plan to make several sets to give as gifts. (The sentiment is from Technique Tuesday’s new Random Thoughts stamp set, cut with the coordinating Little Labels dies.)

Here’s a close up, showing off the Wink of Stella glimmer:

More camellias to come!

More Watercoloring

In my last post, I played with an old “ink and drag” technique using Art Impressions stamps and inspiration.

This card, also an Art Impressions image, still uses watercolor techniques, but in a more traditional way — stamping and coloring.

I stamped the image in Imagine Craft’s Memento Tuxedo Black on the smooth side of Ranger/Tim Holtz Watercolor Paper. To create my colors, I scribbled Faber-Castell PITT Big Brushes on an acrylic sheet. Using that as my palette, I picked up the colors with my water brush. I love how the colors came out — vibrant and easily blended and shaded.

I ran a piece of mint card stock (Paper Source) through an embossing folder (We R Memory Keepers/American Crafts), trimmed and mounted it to a top-folding card base. I mounted the car image on foam tape. So fast and easy! I love the way the Art Impression images lend themselves to my watercolor obsession — the images do all the heavy lifting and I get to color!

I’m also very happy with the color from the Big Brushes and will be using them more in my watercolor journey!

Thanks for popping in.

Fast and Easy Watercolor Flowers

I’ve been lovin’ the look of watercolor lately and came across these fast and easy, one-layer cards I made a while ago using the Blossom stamp from Rubbernecker Stamps.

This is a great stamp for experimental playing, trying out different coloring agents and techniques, The yellow card above was made using Faber-Castell’s Pitt Artist Big Brushes to color the stamp, then slightly spritzed to blend the colors, and stamped. The sentiment (by Impression Obsession) was stamped with Wendy Vecchi Archival Watering Can ink. (I love the softer look of the gray.)

Here are some other versions, each done with different markers or inks, including Distress, Memento and Faber-Castell Gelatos. (My apologies… they were done so long ago I don’t remember exactly which I used on what. But that’s the fun, right? Just experiment with what you have!)

(Pierced rectangle die is from Spellbinders’ Celebra’tion collection)

Thanks for stopping by! Now go play…..

Multi Media Valentine

This card started with the mess on my desk. I wanted to play with some new product from Faber-Castell and Ranger … and I wanted to make Valentine’s Day cards.

Here’s how it happened.

I started by playing with some Faber-Castell Gelatos (read more here, here and here). I rubbed some color on my craft sheet then spritzed with water to create a paint, which I spread on watercolor paper. I knew I wanted some texture, so I stamped it with Old Letter from Hero Arts:

Next step was to die cut the hearts (using an old Sizzix die):

I REALLY wanted to try the new Cracked Pistachio Distress Stain Spray from Ranger, so I masked a stripe along the edge of a piece of Ranger Watercolor cardstock. (I tore a long strip of low-tack painter’s tape to create the mask.)

You’ll notice there’s some background stamping goin’ on there, too. After I sprayed the card, it felt bland, so I used Wendy Vecchi’s Archival Watering Can and a Stampendous! stamp to add some interest.

Note that the stamp is a rectangle, but I didn’t want hard lines, so I inked just random portions.

Next, I needed a sentiment. I tried various inks and paints (including the new Cracked Pistachio Distress Paint) but finally went with the Watering Can grey for the contrast.

I edged the hearts with gold metallic marker and added some Doodlebug Designs sequins to finish the look. Thanks for stopping by!

Fabulous Finds Friday — Scrumptious Succulents

I have had a thing for succulents for a long time so when I found this stamp and die set from Simon Says I had to have it!

I’ve only started to play, but check out these cute tags:

The stamps and dies — designed by the talented Sandy Allnock — are so dang clever. You can stamp the succulent and the containers together or separately, and die cut them the same way. (Sandy has a great tutorial here showing how to do this.)

I used a variety of tools to make these tags, including a corner rounder and the tag and ticket punch from Tonic Studios, which creates the straight corner as well as the ticket punch.

I colored them all with watercolor pencils then used my water brush to blend the colors. When they were dry, I added some dots and trim using Faber-Castell’s white PITT artist pen.

Thanks for stopping by!

More Celebra’tions

In my last post, I showcased some fun selections from Spellbinders’ Celebra’tions collection by Richard Garay.

Here are more:

This card features a piece of pretty patterned paper as well as a rosette made with the rosette die. (I added a dollop of Stickles Glitter Glue to the center). The stamp is from the # Sweet set and is colored using bright gel pens. The white dots were added to the green layer using a white dot pen from Faber-Castell (one of my must-have tools!). The patterned and purple pieces were cut using the Pierced Rectangles die (the green was a leftover!).

This pretty paper does all the hard work on this card, making it fast and easy to put together. The stamps are from # Sweet (the flower was heat embossed in black and fussy cut, then colored with Distress markers), Stickles gives sparkle on the flower, and I edged a strip of the patterned paper using a Stampin’ Up scallop edger. The gems are Dew Drops from the Robin’s Nest. (attached using Ranger’s Glossy Accents.

I made this a top folding card by cutting the patterned paper about a half inch longer than my base, then I scored the top of the patterned paper and attached that overlap to the back of the base card.

There are a few more coming!