A Couple More AIR 15 Cards (Projects 46 & 47)

Even though AIR 15 if over, I’ve got a couple of more projects from AIR15 to share with you. 

The first card involves a z-fold.  Here is a link to the FarNorth’s blog posting with instructions on how to do a z-fold.  Here's a pic where you can see the z of the fold.

I decided that I wanted to create a scene that went across all three layers and I went with a beach scene.    Instead of cutting along the diagonal, I drew a line on both sides of the paper so I could use that as a guide for stamping.  Then I fussy cut the top part off so that instead of having a straight line.

 

The front panel is the ocean. I stamped the waves with Versamark and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. Then I stamped the fish with Versafine.  I added the bubbles, stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.  I inked around the fish with Distress Ink in Salty Ocean. I colored the fish with Squeezed Lemonade, Mowed Lawn, Picked Raspberry, and Dried Marigold.  I went back and stamped in some waves with Salty Ocean and the seahorse with Picked Raspberry.  The waves and fish with bubbles are by Studio G.  The other fish, bubbles and seahorse are by Fiskar.  I fussy cut along the top waves.

 

I did the same scene on the back, except I forgot to stamp the fish before adding the Salty Ocean background.

 

 

Center panel is the beach. I stamped the shells across the top with a variety of ColorBox pigment ink and then embossed with clear embossing powder. Then I inked the beach with Squeezed Lemonade and Antique Linen and then flecked Vintage Photo. I meant to stamp the shells on the body of the beach before coloring the beach but I forgot so I did it after and embossed them. I added a little bit of the ocean at the bottom.

I did the same scene on the back of the center panel.

Back panel is the sky. I stamped the birds and palm tree using Colorbox pigment ink and embossed with clear embossing powder.  I also stamped and embossed the waves. Then I inked the sky with Tumbled Glass and Salty Ocean, the sand and ocean the same as the other layers. I added a beachy sentiment. All the stamps are by Inkadinkado.

 

Here's a picture of it completely open.

 

And here's what it looks like closed.

 

This next card combines 3 of the challenges in this card.  The first is the paint background, which I described in previous posts.  The second was the digital stamp challenge.  The host’s husband converted a piece of his art into a digital stamp for us to use for the challenge.  Isn’t she lovely?  And the final was the mistakes challenge, which is going to take some explaining.  One of the members of Artsy Inkers hosts a Bingo challenge during every party.  Before the party starts, she posts a list 25 words.  If you want to play along, you pick a 10 of the words and message her your list.  Then each day of the party, she posts 3 of the words from the list of 25.  The first person to have all 10 of their words posts and post BINGO, wins.  This time around, she picked a list of common mistakes made in stamping.  So for her challenge, you had to incorporate at least 2 of the mistakes on the list into your project, but not cover them up.  Personally, I think this challenge was a bit of a jinx because I ended up making several mistakes on this project, none of them intentional.   



 

Here is the list of my mistakes:

Mistake 1 - technique gone wrong - I intended to print the digi stamp and cut it on a lace scallop rectangle with my silhouette. Well the cut file was for a frame and I forgot to remove the inner cut lines and ended up with a frame and the image on a plain rectangle.

 Mistake 2 - torn paper - the silhouette ripped one of the scallops, so I ripped a bunch more so that it looks like the scallops frayed in the wind blowing the girls hair.

 Mistake 3 & 4 - blurred images and partially stamped image - the stamping of the background did not go so well.

 

 Mistake 5 - warped card stock - the paint warped the card stock.

 

You can see the mistakes better in this closer cropped picture.

 

I colored the image with Copics (I forgot to write down which ones, but I think it was YG03, YG06 and YG09 and then BG45, lips are RV10 and the eye is B02????) and went with making her a fairy. And I added some die cut flower to her hair with liquid pearl centers.

The background stamp is by Impression Obsession and I did the paint technique with metallic blue and purple paints.

I've got one more AIR 15 card to share but it deserves it's own blog post.  So I will post that one later this week.

 

Thanks for stopping by and please come again. 



More AIR 15 Party!!! (Projects 42 to 45)

While the main AIR challenge week ended on Sunday, this week has been the hangover week.  So it is still not too late for you to pop over to Artsy Inkers and join the fun.

Only 5 more cards till I meet my 50 cards and can lift my craft shopping moratorium.

So I have several more projects that I finished for AIR to share.  For the first two projects, I did the paint it background again.  (See my last post for details on the technique).

For this one, I used brown cardstock for the base and stamped it with the flourish stamp by Inkadinkado and the sentiment stamp by Stampin Place. After the paint dried, I edged the piece with Distress Ink in Vintage Photo (maybe Tea Dye).

 

I die cut the tree twice so that I could pop up the leaves. I did that by putting a dot of glossy accent on each tree, letting that dry and then using another dot of glossy accents to attach the leaves. That was kinda a pain and I'm not sure you can really tell, but I didn't realize this until it was too late and I had to add all the leaves.

 

I started out coloring the leaves with DI in Spiced Marmalade, Barn Door and Mustard Seed, but the orange and yellow didn't really show up, so I went back over the leaves with Barn Door. The trunk is Rusty Hinge.

 

 

In this picture, you can see the popped up leaves.  You can also kinda see the sparkle on the tree.  That wasn't intentional.  I made several backgrounds for the paint it challenge using metallic paints.  And I cleaned my brush in my cup of water.  So I colored the trunk of the tree and decided I wanted to add more color.  I dip my brush in the cup of water and start coloring the trunk.  That's when I notice that the trunk was sparkly and a little blue.  I managed to get rid of the blue color but the sparkle wasn't going anywhere. 

 



 
The next one is another Christmas card.  I stamped the snowflakes on dark blue cardstock. The stamp is by Inkadinkado. And painted with silver metallic paint. The main image is by Stampendous. It was left over from one of the kit in the envelop swap. I colored it with metallic watercolors. The blue is not showing up very well in the photo. The ribbon on the ornament was the hanging loop in a dress that I cut out. The other ribbon is from Really Reasonable Ribbon.

I also made a second card for the clean and simple challenge. The image is a digi stamp by Tiddly Inks and colored with watercolor pencils. The sentiment is by Technique Tuesday.

Again, the paper looks textured but that is just a shadow from my screened in porch.

And I've got one last card for you.  I made it for the back to the beginning challenge.  For that challenge,  the host wanted us to go back to the days before there was all the fancy supplies for making cards on the market today.  We were not allowed to use dies, punches, stamps or inking.  Yikes.  Since I got my start crafting when I grandma put a small counted cross stitch kit in my Christmas stocking when I was in the fifth grade (29 years ago, where did the time go?), I decided to see if I had any spare Aida cloth, and I found a snippet of cloth. So I pulled out my DMC floss and stitched a little floral scene. I added a button from my stash of spare buttons that come with clothes to make the sun. The ribbon was from my cousin's bridal shower. It is a lovely deep purple satin. She got a ton of it because it came with all of the wrapped gifts she got from Bed, Bath & Beyond.  The photo does not do it justice.  It is absolutely lovely in person.

Since I used snippets for die cutting the tree and on the stitched piece, I'm going to pop over to the playground. Which, I was featured in last weeks picks and won one of the drawings.  I'm looking forward to getting my new stamps in the mail.

Pixies Snippets Playground Week 180

Thanks for stopping by and please come again. 

 

AIR Party and Rudolph Days (Projects 39 to 41)

AIR15 is going along swimmingly over at Artsy Inkers.  And I made these cards for challenges over there. And since I made a bunch of Christmas cards, I'm going to join the fun at Rudolph Days.

Before I get to the cards, I have an update from my last post.  I mentioned cutting up the flower stamp, but I forgot to mention that I lost the smallest flower.  I looked, and looked, and looked and could not find that sucker.  So I gave it up for lost.  Then when I was working on these cards, I pulled my bone folder and there was the little flower stuck to it. 

The first piece was for the Paint It Challenge. The challenge requires that you create a background using the technique explained Here. Basically, you take a piece of dark cardstock, and stamp and clear emboss a background. Then you cover the whole piece with acrylic paint and when it is almost completely dry, you wipe the paint off the embossed areas.

 

I used a piece of dark red cardstock and stamped with a bunch of Stampendous Christmas foliage stamps. I used a metallic paint in champagne.

To finish the card, I die cut a snippet and stamped with an Inkadinkado sentiment. I inked the edges with a Spica glitter marker and added some gems. You will notice that I was not paying attention when I attached the ribbon, so the sentiment is hanging off the bottom. Oh well. The green ribbon is from Really Reasonable Ribbon (last October's club assortment) and the cream is from my stash.

This next piece isn't a card yet. I made it for the Warm-Up challenge, which was kinda evil. You had to start a timer with 20 minutes before clicking the link to the cite that explained the technique to be used. Here's the link. I spent a good 5 of my minutes picking the die to use. I actually cut both the reindeer (Cottage Cutz) and some flowers. I did the reindeer first and didn't get the flower piece finished before the timer went off. Eventually I'll finish that piece.

For my color choice I was inspired by Darnell's lovely poinsettia card. So I used Distress Inks in Pine Needles, Mowed Lawn, Barn Door and Fired Brick to create an ombre effect. The background stamp is by the Stampin Place and I reversed the ink order for inking the stamp. You will notice that the legs did not want to stay put while I was inking the piece. And I am still debating whether I want to go back with some white paint to clean it up. My buddies over at AI all seem to like the effect, but I'm not so sure.

Since the last piece involved inking and stamping over the die cut, I had a ready made reindeer. So I decided to make a card for the Clean and Simple challenge using the reindeer. I used a corner punch by Fiskar and then inked the corners of the card base. I glued on the reindeer and then stamped a sentiment by Fiskar. The white base looks textured in the picture but I think that is because I photoed it on my screened in porch. It is just plain cardstock.

I just realized I used a snippet to cut the reindeer, so I'm going to pop over to the Playground.

 

I'm entering these piece here:
Pixie's Snippet Playground
Rudolph Days
 

Thanks for stopping by and please come again.  And the party is going on at Artsy Inkers through June 7, so there is still time for you to head over there and join the fun.  

Easter Parade Part 2 (Projects 32-34)

I'm just a few weeks late with getting these posted.  I've been in a bit of a funk lately and haven't felt like posting.  But here are a few more Easter cards involving one of my newest crafty obsessions - little dies.  These cards are inspired by the wonder scene created by Kittie.  I've been lurking on her blog: kittiekraft


This one is the first card I made creating a scene with dies.

 

The base is watercolor paper that I colored with Distress Inks.  All the pieces were colored with chalk, except the eggs. The chalk has a shimmer to it.  The eggs were stamped with brilliance ink and colored with Spica glitter pens.  The egg stamp is by Studio G.  To create the frame, I used a Nesties oval die.  I actually cut the frame before I started creating the scene so I could use it to make sure everything was in the frame.  I stamped the images (by My Favorite Things) in the corners with Versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder.  Then I inked it up with Distress Ink in Dried Marigold.

Here are some close-ups:

Yep, I put a single micro bead in the center of the flowers. 

Here is the next one.

For this one, I colored the sky, grass, and flowers with Distress Ink - Salty Ocean, Tumbled Glass, Mowed Lawn, Pine Needles, Dried Marigold, Spun Sugar, and Worn Lipstick.  The eggs were stamped with Brillance Ink and embossed with clear embossing powder.  I then colored them with chalk.  The basket, bunny and chick were colored with chalk too.  The frame was down with a Nesties label die and the stamp is by My Favorite Things. 
Here are some close-ups:

 

 
And here is the last one:

Yep, that's a squirrel with the Easter basket.  I gave this one to my mom's friend that got her involved in wild life rehab.  I used Distress Inks on the sky, grass and flowers: Salty Ocean, Tumbled Glass, Pine Needles, Mowed Lawn, Shaded Lilac, Ripe Persimmon, and Peacock Feather (I think).  The eggs were done the same as on the last one.

Here are the close-ups:

Dies:
Flowers & stems (card 1) - Cheery-Lynn Designs
Leaves (card 1) - Poppy Stamps
Basket - Poppy Stamps
Bunnies - Impression Obsession
Chicks - Memory Box
Grass - My Favorite Things
Stems & leaves (cards 2 & 3) - Poppy Stamps
Flowers (cards 2 & 3) - Impression Obsession
Squirrel - Impression Obsession

Since I used snippets for all the dies, I'm entering this one over at the Playground - Pixies Snippets Playground Week 174

Thanks for stopping by and please come again.

Funky leaves times 2 (Projects 4 and 5)

For today, I’ve got 2 cards I made using the same image but colored using two completely different techniques.

Card Number 1

The first card is one I made for the August vellum challenge over at Artsy Inkers.   So I’m a little behind in posting it here.

 

 



The image is by Impression Obsession.  I started by stamping it on watercolor paper with Versamark ink and heat embossing it with clear embossing powder.  Then I did a water brayer technique to color the image.  I inked my brayer using Kaleidacolor Autumn Leaves and then spritz it with water.  I rolled the brayer over the image and added more ink and water until I was happy with it.  I mounted it on a piece of bronze metallic paper.

For the card base, I used a piece of embossed colored vellum that has been in my stash for years.  Here’s a picture of what the vellum looks like.

I attached it to a base of an orangy-brown textured cardstock with glue dots in the corners.  It is always a challenge to figure out how to attach vellum to a project without the adhesive showing.  To hide the glue dots, I added the brown pearls.

 

Card Number 2

For this card, I stamped the image with Memento Rich Cocoa on X-Press It blending paper.  I colored the image with my Copic markers (the color list is at the bottom of the post).  I mounted it on a piece of orange cardstock from my stash that I cut with the deckle blade for my Fiskar paper trimmer.

 

The card base is actually a reject from a WSW14 fest challenge.  It was a reject, not because I didn’t like how it looked, but because it didn’t really show the technique of the challenge.  The technique was to take a piece of patterned paper and emboss it with an embossing folder.  Then you use a brayer to add Versamark ink to the raised portions and emboss with clear embossing powder.  Next you ink up the paper and whip the ink off the embossed portions. 

There were a couple of problems with this piece for showcasing the technique.  I picked a too subtle pp.  And I think the embossed lines were too thin to show the pattern of the paper.  So this didn’t get entered in the challenge and sat forgotten on my craft table.  I spotted it on my desk and figured it would make a great base for this card.  Oh, I used Distress Ink in Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed (I think – I did make this back in June) to ink it up.  And I think the pp is by DCWV. 

 

For the final touch, I added ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon from the August ribbon of the month assortment.  I really loved August’s assortment.  Lovely fall colors.  So I added a strip of ribbon to the bottom and then made a double bow using my Bow-it-all.  Have I mentioned how much I love that thing? 

Copics used:

YR04

YR18

YR68

YG95

Y08

Y17

R05

R56

  

I’m entering this card in:

Really Reasonable Ribbon, Challenge # 102 Autumn Colors

and
Mixed Media Card Challenge!

 

Thanks for stopping by and please come again.

 

 

Bunny Trouble

Every have one of those projects that does not want to cooperate with what you have planned. And you are left with a choice of either forcing it to get with your plan or letting go of the plan and listening to what the project want to do. Well this was one of those projects. That cute little bunny did not like my plan. The planned card would have had the bunny on a cut out label shape with Fran-tage embossing powder and color fragments around the edges. As you can see, that is not what happened.

I started out by opening the bunny digi stamp (by a Day for Daisies) in my Silhouette Studio, resizing it, opening the label cut file, sizing it around the bunny, printing the bunny with registration marks, and then attempting to cut it out. The first time, I loaded the cutting mat wrong and the cut went through the middle of the bunny.

 

Attempt number two was successful. So I colored the bunny with colored pencils and blended them with baby oil. I then inked the edges of the label with Versamark ink and added the embossing powders and color fragments. Because the fragments don't stick to the piece, you have to heat it from underneath. Here's where it went horribly wrong. I scorched the paper in two places. So I set bunny aside and stated working on the background.

 

For the background, I decided to do an embossed resist technique. I started by stamping the Inkadinkado swirls with Versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder. You can kinda see the pattern I created on the paper.

I then added Distress Ink in milled lavender and tumbled sage. I thought the lavender was a little to pink, so went back and added some watered down dusty concord. Here's the final result.

 

 

Once I got done with the background, I went back to the bunny. I had two choices: start over or fussy cut the bunny out. I really liked how the coloring came out. So I decided to fussy cut the bunny. I used foam squares to attach him to the base. It still needed something. This weekend, I had made some flowers, leaves and butterflies using Martha Stewart molds and air dry clay. So I pulled out a couple of flowers and leaves and painted them with acrylic paints. Then I brushed on some Twinkle H2O paint to add a little sparkle. I used glue dots to add them to the corners, and viola, the bunny card was finished.

Here's a close up of the flower:

 

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my troublesome bunny.  Have a great day.

Challenges entered:
Crazy4Challenges - Number 228 Shake Your Thing
Emergency Crafters - Flowers
A Day for Daisies - Challenge 92 - Pretty Pastels