Shop ’til You ….

…. Can’t stop making these adorable shopping bags from Hero Arts!

These are made using the Fancy Dies 3-D Shopping Bag.  As you can see, I couldn’t stop making them! The bag is open enough to let you add things, but not so puffy that it won’t easily slip into an envelope.  I love that you can put anything in these bags!

Check it out:

For the background, I did a soft watercolor wash using Hero Arts’ liquid pigment watercolors. The greenery was created from Spellbinders’ Fern Dies. The dots are Nuvo crystal drops.

For this card, I first stamped Hero Arts’ Floral Mandala Bold Print in Unicorn White onto the gray cardstock. The flowers are from Hero’s Coloring Layering bird CL866, and the stems are an older stamp from Art Impressions F3022.

This one is a particular favorite — I love the ombre bag and the balloons!

The paper for the bag was colored using Ranger Distress Oxides; the background is Lawn Fawn’s Quilted Backdrop die, and the balloons are from My Favorite Things,  the Bundles of Balloons card kit.

Thanks for stopping by!

Quick Creativation Recap

Hey … what happened to January? Can’t believe we are in February already!

I have some Valentines ready to go, but first I need to do a quick report on what was new, fun, and fabulous at Creativation, the big trade show for the craft and hobby industry (a recent report puts crafts and hobbys as a $36 billion-plus industry!)

So here are some quick shots:

More Distress Oxides? Yes, please, may I have another??? From Ranger.

Whaaaa? Macrame is back? Yes, but hipper and cuter. These are kits from Plaid. There was a lotta knottin’ going on….

Plaid also has a nifty acrylic marbling ink, just dribble from a jar. This opens up such possibilities! Check out this one:

Cool, eh?

Check out Tim Holtz in the cool shades, ready to show off his new 3D embossing folders for Sizzix:

(No, it’s not your eyes … you need the glasses to make sense of the sign!)

 

Here’s a folder:

There’s more to come!

Check out my Instagram account @RobertaWax.

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 Finds Friday: The Cats’ Meow

Today, I’m obsessed with cute cats.

Here are two quick and easy cards using two different kitties:

I love this playful cat set from Waffle Flower. Above is just one of the cute kitties from Flora Cat Play.

I die cut the Stitched Journal die from Lawn Fawn then painted a soft blue watercolor wash rectangle. I stamped the kitty in black VersaFine and lightly colored in the images with a bit of grey. Gel pens added color to the cat’s flowers and a Wink of Stella added a touch of glitter.

The background was stamped in Hero Arts Unicorn white pigment ink using images from Spellbinders Designer Series Feather stamp and die set. When everything was dry, I mounted the cat panel with foam dimensional tape.

I’ve always loved Laurel Burch designs, so I was delighted to find that Stampendous! has licensed her images for stamps. This was also fast and easy, and came about as I was playing with the stamp, testing it out. (This cutie is from the Indigo Cats set.)

I stamped the cat on watercolor paper with VersaFine black ink, then colored with a mix of Ranger Distress yellow and mustard markers (which I first scribbled on my palette, then picked up with a watercolor brush.)

I added some color with sparkly gel pens. I did a light wash of blue watercolor around the cat and decided it needed more interest, so I used the stencil that comes with the stamp set to add a bit of Ranger Distress blue ink. I trimmed the panel, edged it with black permanent marker and attached it to a top-folding yellow 4Bar card. A few sequins finished the deal.

Have a great weekend! Meow!

Pretty Poseys

I’ve always loved this big, bold, beautiful floral from Stampendous! And it makes an easy, fast card:

It’s just perfect for watercoloring. The image was stamped on Ranger Specialty Watercolor paper (love it because one side is smooth, great for stamping, but it still holds up to watercolor!) in VersaMark ink, then embossed with black powder. (By the way, before stamping with VersaMark, I used I used my  ScraPerfect Perfect Embossing Pouch to eliminate static and stray powder), and  Zig Kuretake Clean Color Watercolor markers for coloring. And of course, a dash of clear Wink of Stella … why not?

After it dried, the panel was trimmed, edged with a black permanent marker, and mounted on a moss green folded card. The sentiment (Technique Tuesday) and stamped in VersaFine black on piece of white scrap, edged in black, then mounted with foam tape. The sequins are from Doodlebug Design.

Here’s to a great weekend!

 

Fabulous Finds Friday: New at Ranger

Today I have a packed Fabulous Finds Friday with some new items from Ranger that will make summer a little brighter.

Let’s start with Enamel Accents, an opaque, dimensional medium that dries to a glossy finish. I love making my own domed dots with the black enamel, so I think the new colors will be a must-have in my embellishment arsenal.

Besides Black Tie and Glacier White, Enamel Accents now come in Pink Gumball, Classic Cherry, Cheese Puff, Lemon Twist, Electric Lime, Lily Pad, Carribean Coast, Blue Ribbon, Wild Orchid and Grape Soda.

I’m a big fan of Ranger’s Wendy Vecchi Archival Inks — I especially love to use them when I’m watercoloring. They stamp so crisp and bright and can also be used with markers, acrylic paint and even Alcohol Ink. New colors are Vibrant Fucshia, Bright Tangelo, Vivid Chartreuse, Paradise Teal, Majestic Violet and Shadow Grey (which I think will be my favorite grey.)

Alcohol Inks, those fast-drying, fade-resistant dye inks specially formulated for non-porous surfaces such as glass, acrylic, tile, etc., are ready for summer, too, available in three-piece sets or individually. Summer sets include Spring Break (Valencia, Limeade, Turquoise), Beach Deco (Flamingo, Patina, Amethyst) and Retro Café (Pink Sherbert, Pool, Espresso).

New flip tops are a nice addition to Tim Holtz® Distress Paints, which is a great segue to Tim’s newest medium, Grit-Paste. As the name says, it has a gritty texture, holds its body, and dries to a textured, matte finish. You can use it with stencils and color it using the usual suspects: Distress inks, sprays, paint, crayons, etc. They all have different saturation levels on the paste, so just play!

Dina Wakley and Dyan Reaveley both have some cool new stamp designs. Dina has new borders, scribbled text elements and faces and wings, while Dyan added more of her fun and funky designs. Dyan also has new colors in her Dylusions paints: Funky Fuchsia, Pure Sunshine, Chopped Pesto, Polished Jade, Ground Coffee and Slate Grey.

Head over to the website and check out the fun new items!

Easy Watercolored Card

A quick card that was easy and fun to create:

I stamped Altenew’s Persian flowers on watercolor card stock, using grey StazOn ink so I wouldn’t have harsh lines. (And the StazOn is doesn’t bleed with water.) I used Ranger Distress inks to add some soft colors, then trimmed the piece, edged it with a black permanent marker and mounted the panel to a kraft card front.

I added a dash of Zig’s clear Wink of Stella for a wee bit o’ sparkle.

I die cut two pieces of this Simon Says word from the same kraft card stock, glued them together and mounted on the front of the panel. The inside says “birthday greetings.”

Fast, easy and oh, so satisfying!

 

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 Topiary Frenzy

In my last post, I went crazy using Vertical Greetings, a nifty new topiary set from Stampin’ Up. I was all about the white embossing on blue.

But had to experiments a bit more, using mostly what was left on my desk.

Still playing with the white embossing:

And trying out two-tone embossing:

(embossed with Ranger’s Lime Green and Tea Rose powders.)

A little different, embossed in gold on vellum:

(Using TapeTastic tape to hide some boo-boos. Not my favorite, but hey, that’s what experimenting is all about!)

And my favorite use, tags:

I stamped the topiary and the sentiment in Ranger’s Wendy Vecchi Archival leaf green, then gold embossed a pot, cut it out and added it on top. This was fast and easy, especially since I had pre-embossed and cut a bunch of pots!

Thanks for sticking with me!

 

 

Experiments in Gel Printing

At the Craft & Hobby Association’s Mega Craft Show this year, I met Laurie Karian, who has her own line of gel printing plates at www.gelpress.com.

I’m a relatively new convert to the joys of gel printing but now that I’ve gotten started, I can’t stop!

I was lucky enough to get a 3×5 inch gel plate to play with, and I went a little crazy:

Look at all pretty pieces! (Did I mention how addictive this is?)

I played around with a variety of acrylic paints, including Americana® multi-surface Satin™ by DecoArt® and Dina Wakely heavy body acrylic paint from Ranger. To create the patterns, I also used a variety of objects, including stamps, bubble wrap and corrugated cardboard.

I really loved using Plaid’s Fabric Creations™ block printing stamps, which look like old-school wooden block print stamps from India, as well as some foam stamps from Art Foamies (which worked really well with the paints).

The small plate was perfect for creating smaller 4-bar cards, which measure about 3 1/2 x 4 7/8 inches when folded). Some I kept clean and simple, some I indulged with stamps, etc. Here is a sampling:

The bird and birdcage are from a Prickley Pear stamp/die set. The birdcage was die cut twice, then stacked and gold embossed. The bird has a coat of clear Wink of Stella. The sentiment, black embossed on vellum, is from Hero Arts’ Everyday Sentiments CL497 and attached with a Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher.

For this piece, the foam stamp was stamped into the wet paint, removing some of the paint; the green leaves were stamped after the print dried, using StazOn ink. The Dew Drops are from Robin’s Nest and were attached using Ranger’s Glossy Accents.

Here I cut poppies and a sentiment (both from Elizabeth Craft Designs) and added some Ranger Glossy Accents dots. So easy! (The pattern was made using good ol’ bubble wrap.)

One note I have neglected to mention for a while … I have been using ScraPerfect’s Best Glue Ever for a lot of my gluing, especially of tiny pieces. I’m loving this adhesive!

Stay tuned for more of my gel addiction!