Fast & Easy Layered Card

Who can resist a card that is fast and easy to make, and uses up some scraps? Heck, not me.

Stamp set is Hero Arts Color Layering Bird CL866. For the blue flowers in the background, I stamped the first layer with Hero Arts’ Unicorn white pigment ink, then over-stamped with ColorBox Stephanie Barnard blueberry blue die ink.

Tip: When I stamped the blue layer on top of the white, the stamp picked up a bit of the white pigment. To prevent the white from contaminating my pretty blue pad, I off-stamped it before re-inking with the blue. I started off-stamping on scrap paper, then saw how pretty it looked, so went for scrap card stock and created some tags:

Fun, huh?

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

Sweet Swirly Bird Stamp Set

I’m having fun experimenting with Stampin’ Up’s new Swirly Bird stamp set (and the matching dies, of course!) This stamp set has so many possibilities!

As you know, the first thing I do with any new toy, er, work product, is play … randomly stamping images on scrap paper, trying different colors, etc. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t!

Here’s a group shot after play time:

Very simple cards! Here are more detailed looks:

First I stamped the solid round base in Ranger/Tim Holtz’ Distress Ink Spun Sugar, then topped it by stamping the swirl in Abandoned Coral. The smaller daisy, from the same set, was stamped in Imagine Crafts’ Kaleidacolor Bouquet, using the pink/orange colors. (Tip: Using the Kaleidacolor rainbow inkpads gave me easy access to several colors at once! I’m a long-time fan of these rainbow pads.)

The leaves were stamped first in Hero Arts Lime Green; my old (very old! Very, very old!) Marvy Matchable Bottle Green was used to stamp the veins. A dot of Ranger Stickles was added to the center of the daisies.

Simply changing the colors gave me a different look — a softer, pastel feel:

I used a very old gold inkpad to stamp the swirls (You can barely tell it’s gold!) and added the smaller flower using ColorBox Stephanie Barnard bubble gum pink. The base leaves were stamped in Hero Arts Pastel Mint and the stem in Hero Arts Lime Green.

And a matching envelope:

(I added a bold base for the pink swirls)

Switching it up, I went for blues: (starting with this discontinued bluebell card stock from Paper Source.)

I stamped the solid base in Hero Art’s Unicorn White pigment ink, then over-stamped used Stephanie Barnard’s Blueberry for the swirl and the smaller flowers. (I did a second generation stamping on a few of the smaller flowers to get a slightly lighter shade.)

The leaves were stamped in various greens, toped by that Bottle Green vein.

Fun, right?

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

More Gel Printing

Let’s jump right in … here are some more results from my gel printing extravaganza!

As I mentioned in my last post, I used the 3×5 inch plate from Gel Press.

Here’s the big picture:

It’s so fast and easy to make a batch of cards once you have the backgrounds done! For many of these, I added some stamped images to the backgrounds to provide more interest, mostly using Imagine Crafts’ StazOn ink. And then I just added various sentiments.

I trimmed my selected panels and attached them to a 4-bar sized card (4 7/8 x 7 inches, folded in half.)

The card below is a little different. Instead of using the gel print itself, I used this piece to “off-stamp.” I stamped on the wet paint using Art Foamies, then off-stamped on a piece of card stock. I added a sentiment (from docrafts, black embossed and fussy-cut) and some Robin’s Nest Dew Drops.

As you know, not every print is a winner. But even the “fails” can be used. For example, for this one below, I over stamped with StazOn Jet Black, then cut the piece into tiles, edged the tiles with black Sharpie and mounted them to a folded card front. I decided it needed a frame, so I made some score lines. Easy. And now it’s one of my faves.

Some of the fails (and you know there were a lot!!!) I turned into tags:

The pieces were mounted to card stock.

It’s amazing how quickly these cards and tags came together, which is one of the advantages of making a big ol’ stack of backgrounds to have handy!

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.

 

More Layering

In my last post I used a new layering die from Hero Arts. The company also has some lovely layering stamp sets, which is a popular technique today and adds depth to stamped images.

I love these layering stamps.

Normally, I would stamp these on white card stock with inks in pretty floral hues. This time, I took a slightly different path, starting with a white base (Hero Arts Unicorn white pigment ink) on darker card stock:

I started with the white pigment base, heat set it, then added the pink and purple layers (Stephanie Bernard’s ColorBox die inks). I created a mask (using just the bottom layer stamp) to add the leaves. The sentiment (Hero Arts) was stamped on a scrap, cut out and edged with a white Faber Castell PITT pen. I added some dots of Viva cream Pearl Pen to the centers.

The next one is a slight variation, but the same technique, same stamp set:

The black piece was cut using a pierced rectangle die from Richard Garay’s Celebra’tions line (Spellbinders).

Easy Ombre Card

As noted in my last post, I’ve been playing with Hero Art’s new Ombre ink pads, which I love. These tri-colored pads are great for adding interest to one-layer cards, giving a quick burst of color with little effort.

Here’s another one:

This was so quick and easy it’s almost embarrassing.

First I took a piece of Post-it® tape, tore the edges, and created a mask:

I then brayered over the card front using Hero Arts’ Ombre Pink to Red and Butter to Orange.

Here’s what I got when I pulled off the mask:

Cool, eh?

Then I simply stamped the bicycle and the sentiment in VersaMark black. I made several blank ones to be used later when I need more specific cards. (Both stamps from Ken Oliver Crafts.)

Thanks for coming back!

Fabulous Finds Friday — Cosmo Cricket

The watercolor look was in style at the Craft & Hobby Show last month, and Cosmo Cricket is right on trend with some great new products, including this cool resist-infused watercolor paper that is so fast, easy and fun to personalize.

I played with various coloring mediums, including:

… Faber-Castell Gelatos in two shades of pink and a coral. I scribbled them on a craft sheet, then spritzed them (and the watercolor cards) with water. I picked up the color with a water brush, then brushed on the card.

The next two cards I went retro and pulled out my old Sparkling Pastelles Watercolor Palette from USArtquest. I had forgotten how much I love these watercolors!

(I also swished a bit of these colors on the envelopes, which I forgot to photograph.) I could have made a dozen in a few minutes.

For my fourth card, I spritzed first with water, then sprayed with Ranger’s new Cracked Pistachio Distress Stain Spray. Yum. I love this color! Because I wanted a touch more glitter I added a light spray of Perfect Pearls Blue Smoke.

On all these cards, I wiped away bits of color that landed on the white and gold resist parts, just to give them more clarity. I especially wanted the white to pop.

I used another nifty new Cosmo Cricket product — the Splatter Caddy.

The white plastic-lined container is a great spray box … and when you’re done, it folds into a neat package for easy storage:

Thanks for stopping by! There is still so much more to report from CHA.

Fabulous Finds — Ken Oliver Colors, Stamps and More

Another crafting star was born at the Craft & Hobby Association Show … Ken Oliver. It was Ken’s first time starring in his own booth, and he did it with flair, introducing several cool new products, including coloring agents, papers and stamps.

Let’s start with his exciting Color Burst color treatment. Color Burst is a concentrated watercolor product in a powder form. To use it, first spritz your watercolor paper with water. Then squeeze the Color Burst bottle to spray out the colored powders. The powder reacts with the water and … POW! Bursts of color!

You can use Color Burst with stencils, over an embossed or wax resist, etc. You can spray more water to help blend the colors, move the color around with a brush or even a heat tool, and more. The vibrant colors make fast, easy, beautiful backgrounds and designs. As Ken says, “just sprinkle and spritz.” Color Burst will be available by mid-March.

Check out these samples:

And these pretty blooms:

Ken also introduced his Click It ink pad, a retractable, pivoting 1 x 1 inch raised dye ink pad. The velveteen pad gives a great color application whether you are stamping an image or edging a tag. It’s compact and I love the hangable chain that is attached.

PEGz™ stamp sets are individual letters that you click together to form words. Have you ever tried to line up alphabet stamps to create a greeting? Not so easy. Until now. (Look for them in your stores by the end of February.)

Look how easy they are:

Then there’s Stick It, a thin, dry adhesive specially formulated for use in intricate die cutting. When you first lay it down, Stick It is repositionable, giving you some sticky wiggle room. After a while, it becomes permanent. You apply Stick It to your cardstock before die cutting, then just peel off the liner after it is cut.

As for stamps and paper … Ken has definitely mined his small town roots. His Hometown images are vintage, nostalgic and beautiful, whether on paper or stamps. Paper designs include the Studio Collection (a soft, more colorful vintage feel), Watercolored Memories (vibrant botanical prints) and Pitter Patterns (geometrics.) I’m hoping to play with these soon!

Check out Ken’s blog at www.kensworldinprogress.com. His products are being distributed through Product Performers.

Hero Arts at CHA

Hero Arts never disappoints in its showing of stamps, inks and more. And this year’s CHA reveal was no exception.

We all know how crazy I am about succulents (see here)

So naturally, I immediately gravitated to these cards (and images):

I also love the new ombre ink pads:

And look at this cute card done with those inks:

Check them out at www.heroarts.com.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Trip Down Memory Lane….

Amazing what we find hidden deep in our closets…

A friend recently gave me a box of her old … and we’re talking practically prehistoric … stamping supplies. Check out these ancient ink pads:

Here’s the amazing part: some of these pads are still inky!

Anyone old enough to remember when we had to use office ink pads? And colors were pretty much limited to black and red. Ugh. Here’s a pad I once used to stamp cute images on envelopes and to stamp my return address:

We didn’t have the internet back in the day, so we relied on little booklets like these for inspiration:

And check out this old time stamper:

Ah…. memories….