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. 



Rudolph Days April (Project 35)

I managed to get a Christmas card finished just in time for this month's Rudolph Days challenge over on scrappymo's blog: scrapsoflifebyscrappymo - April Rudolph Days Challenge.  I used the prompt for May's Christmas All Year challenge over at Artsy Inkers, which was to use a flower. 
So I pulled out my Sizzix Thinlits Poinsettia die, which I bought last summer and this is the first time I'm using it. 

So I started by making the poinsettia, and I wanted to do it in white.  I used a gold pen for the center veins.  I was going to use chalk to color the green leaves, but I didn't have any chalk in the right color.  So I used Copic marker in YG01.  I used a gold pencil to color the center of the flower and then added liquid pearls.  I cut all the pieces from a snippet of white paper.  Then I used a Spellbinder Nesties die to cut the shape for the sentiment.  It is by Inkadinkado.  I stamped it with Versamark and embossed it with gold embossing powder.  I then added gold pen to the edges.

I had planned to make the card 4 x 5.5 and cut the red paper to that size and used a Sizzix embossing plate to emboss it.  But when I went to assemble it, it wasn't big enough.  So I cut the green paper for a 5 x 6.5 card.  Then when I went to assemble it, there was too much space between the green and the red, so I added the gold paper.

Here's a close up of the poinsettia.

 

 

As I said, I'm entering this in the Rudolph Days challenge.  And since I used snippets for the flower and for the sentiment, I'm going to enter it over at the Playground:

 

Rudolph Days Challenge

 

 Pixies Snippets Playground Week 174

 



The Last of the Halloween Cards (Projects 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)

Woo Hoo!!! I'm more than half way to my goal of 50 cards.  I'm really going to have to get moving with posting if I want to meet my goal in time to do some crafty shopping on Black Friday.

The Raven

 

The image is a stamp by Stampendous.  I colored it with Distress Inks in Dusty Concord, Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade.   I then used Frantage (by Stampendous) embossing powder and mica chips, and some Martha Stewart glitter along the edge.  I’m not sure if I like how it came out.  I have a love-hate relationship with the Frantage embossing powders and elements.  I love the stuff I’ve seen it used on but I tend to hate how it turns out when I use it.  I think I just need to keep practicing with it.

 

Pumpkin Head Girl

 

This image is by Stampendous, stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics.  I added stickles to her hat.  I inked the edges with Distress Ink in Dusty Concord.  I think it needs an embellishment but I can’t find one in my stash that I like how it looks with this.

 

Pumpkin Cat

 

This image is by Inkadinkado, stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and Colored with Copics.  I added stickles to the collar.  I die cut the oval and the scallop oval mat with Spellbinder nesties dies.

Girl Dressed Like Pumpkin

 

The image is by Recollections and was RAKed to me after last year’s Stamptoberfest over at Two Peas.  She’s stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics.  I added stickles to her tights and the three corners.  The candy corn circle and mat were cut with Spellbinder nestites dies.  The candy corn is from the same stamp set as the girl.  After coloring them, I added glossy accents for some shine and dimension.  The background was made by repeatedly stamping on the diagonal a long sentiment stamp by Stampendous.  It is about 5 inches long. 

 

 

Witch

The image is from the same set as the girl dressed like a pumpkin by Recollections, stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics.  I got a drip of ink on the top corner, so I covered it with the enamel pumpkin sticker.  The bow was made with my bow easy.  The sentiment is by Studio G.   

Owl

This is another fairly new stamp, by Outliners/ Hampton Art.  I stamped it with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics.  I added liquid pearls to the hat, stickles to the spider’s thread, metallic pen to the buckle and Wink of Stella to the flower.  I created the bow with my bow-it-all.  I love that thing.

 

Copic List:

Pumpkin Head Girl:

Head & Body – YR15, YR16, YR12, Y02

Clothes & hat – V12, V15, V17, YG06, YG09, YR15, YR16

Cat – C1, C3, C7, 100

 

Pumpkin Cat:

Pumpkin – YR02, YR04, YR07, Y08 (for the face)

Cat – YG01, YG03, YG06, G02, G05

 

Girl Dressed Like Pumpkin:

Pumpkin – YR02, YR04, YR07

Face – E00

Hair – E11, E17, E19

Arms & Legs – V15, G07

 

Witch: (I forgot to make a list of the colors I used, so this is my best guess)

Dress & Hat – YR02, YR04, YG03, V01, V04, V06

Hair – YG03, YG06

Face & Hands – E000, RV10

Pumpkin – YG02, YG04, YG07

 

Owl:

Body – V04, V09, Y38

Wings – YR07, YG03

Hat – YR02, YR07, YR09, YG01, YG03, YG06

Flower Stem – YG03, YG06

Pumpkin – YR04, YR07

Gourd – Y15, Y17, YG17

Flower – Y06, V04, V09, YR16, Y08, Y17

Spider – YG06

Stars – Y06

Leaves – E08, YG95, Y38, Y17, YR23, E79, YR07, E08, YR16, Y28, Y38, Yr23, Yr18, E09, YR68, R17, R08 (that’s quite a lot of colors for such small leaves).

 

Thanks for stopping by and please come again.

 

 

 

 

 

House Mouse Halloween (Projects 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)

I know it is a little late for Halloween cards, but I didn't have a chance to post these before Halloween. 

I just love House Mouse stamps.  These cards (except for the very last one) were made using stamps from a set of clear stamps by The Paper Studio that I’ve had for years.  I just think all the little mice dressed up for Halloween are too cute.  There are also stamps with the mice dressed like a ghost, a bat, a vampire and a lobster.   All of the images were colored with Copics, and I will list the colors at the end of this post.

 

Caterpillar Mouse



 

For the bottom half, I stamped the sentiment and the candy corn using ColorBox ink.  The “candy” and the solid candy corn are by Studio G and the outlined candy corn are by Recollection.  The mouse prints are from the same stamps set as the mouse.  I used the wavy blade for my paper trimmer to cut the mat for the mouse and the mouse prints.  Finally, I added some stickles to his antenna. 

 

 

Pumpkin Mouse

 

The orange strip is stamped with pumpkin baskets from the same set using Versamark ink.  They are really hard to see.  The sentiment is by The Paper Studio (I think).  The small rectangle of pp is the reverse of the pp that I used for the card base.

 

Carrot Mouse

 

For this one, I matted the image on an offset rectangle to do something different.  The ribbon is from my stash.  The sentiment is by Studio G.  I used Ranger enamel accents in black to create the dots on either side of the sentiment.

 

Butterfly Mouse

The flowers was cut using my silhouette and colored with Distress Ink in Spiced Marmalade and I used buttons from my stash for the centers.

 

Cheese Mouse

 

For this card, I created a spinner card.  I used my silhouette to cut the rectangle in the center of the purple paper and in the card base.   Then I sandwiched twine between the image and the sentiment.

 



 

Then I sandwiched the ends of the twine between the purple paper and the card base so that the image is suspended in the whole in the card and will spin.

 

I added liquid pearl dots.  I didn’t like how the image looked against the white card bases, so I added a rectangle of green paper to the inside of the card.

 

Dino Mouse

 

This last card was made using a new stamp I got this year (pre-moratorium).  It is a cling stamp by Stampendous.  Since it is such a big image and I was sticking with a 4 x 5.5 card base, I kept this one fairly simple.

 

Copic list:

Caterpillar Mouse:

Caterpillar body: YG01, YG03, YG06

Mouse: E000, E93, E23

 

Pumpkin Mouse:

Pumpkin – YR02, YR04, YR07

Stem – YG67

Mouse – E000, E93, E23, RV10, RV13

Shadow – W5, W0

 

Carrot Mouse:

Carrot – YR12, YR15, YR16

Pumpkin – YR02, YR04, YR07, YR09, YR27

Mouse – W0, W5, E000, R20

Leaves – G02, G05, G07

Shadow – C1, C3

 

Butterfly Mouse:

Wings – Y11, YR15, YR16, YR18, YR00, E18, E79

Mouse – W0, W3, W5, E000, RV10

Pumpkin – YR15, YR16, YR18, G05

Shadow – C3

 

Cheese Mouse:

Pumpkin – YR02, YR04, YR07, YR09, YR27

Mouse – E000, E23, R20

Cheese – Y02, Y06, Y08, Y17

Shadow – C1, C3

  

Dino Mouse:

Dino – YG03, YG06, YG09, V01, V09

Candy Corn – Y08, YR07

Pumpkin – G05, YR04, YR07, YR18

Big Mouse – E09, E17, E23, E00, R20

Small Mouse – E23, E00, R20

Shadow – C3, C1, C0

 

Thanks for stopping by and please come again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inktoberfest Details (Projects 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18)

Let’s start by welcoming Di and Liz, my two newest followers.  You should go check out their fabulous blogs: Pixie's Crafty Workshop and Crafty Sunflower.  Ms. Di is the wonderful hostess of the Pixie's Snippets Playground challenge.

I’m sorry it has been so long since I posted, especially since I promised more details for my last post.  The last couple of weeks have been crazy.  About 2 weeks ago, I had a conference to go to for work and before leaving I went on a cleaning bender because my husband, who I’m currently separated from, agreed to dog sit while I was at the conference.  Then when I got back, my parents had returned from their vacation and brought my aunt back with them.  So I spent some time with her.  Around the same time (the weekend of the 18^th), I realized that I had agreed to have a table at the garage/ craft sale at my mom’s church this weekend but I did have anything made that I could sell.  So for the last week and a half, I’ve been working like crazy to get stuff made for the sale.  So my card making and blogging have been neglected.

 

On to the details from the Inktoberfest sneak peek:

My challenge sample:



This is the card I made for the challenge I hosted, called Starting Point.

 

 

 

 For the challenge, participants had to start their project by choosing 2 different embellishments and use them as the inspiration for the piece.  I started with the buttons, which are two buttons layered together, and the ribbon, which I used my bow-it-all to tie in a double bow.  They served as the guide for the colors I used for the rest of the piece. 

 

 

After coloring the angel image (Stampendous) with colored pencils, I stamped the image on a scrap paper and created a mask. I used Distress Inks (Dried Marigold and Spiced Maramalade) to ink around the image and then I used a firm bristled brush to flick Distress Stain in Chipped Sapphire on the piece.  I was being a bit lazy and didn’t do a close cut on the mask and when I got done inking, I did not like the ring of white around the angel.  So I went back in with a brush to ink the white area. 

    

The tag was inked with Distress Ink in Dried Marigold and Chipped Sapphire and splattered with Chipped Sapphire. The sentiment is by My Favorite Things.  I used a corner rounder on the angel and the tag.

 

A Master Board:

The master board was created for a challenge that required that you create a master board and use it to create at least two ATCs (artist trading cards).  I started by inking watercolor paper with Distress Inks in Broken China, Salty Ocean and Shaded Lilac.  I then wet the paper and sprinkled with salt to get the spotted effect.

 

Then I used a snowflake stencil I made with my silhouette and sprayed it with Shimmer Mist in Frost.  It is kinda hard to see.

 

Finally, I stamped the snowflakes with Distress Ink.  The stamps are by Impression Obsession and Inkadinkado.

 

Once done, I created two ATCs.  The snowman (Inkadinkado) is stamped with Brillance Ink and fussy cut and popped up on the ATC. I created the embellishment by die cutting a circle and stamping the sentiment (Studio G). I added some stickles. Once dry, I covered with glossy accents.  Then when that was dry, I popped it up in a bottle cap.

Combining 3 Challenges:

For this card, I combined three challenges: the Paper Towel challenge , the Lighten Up challenge and the Mixed Media challenge.  Check out the links for details on the requirements and techniques required for each challenge.

 

I created the side panel by using my Big and Juicy ink pad in Hydrangea to ink up a piece of paper towel and then stamp on paper with it using a brayer. I added some stickles to accent the swirl pattern of the paper towel.

 

For lighten up, I stamped the bubble image by the Stampin Place with Distress Ink in Broken China. The tree is by Hero Arts. I colored it with Copic and Spica markers. I added stickles to the branches of the tree but it doesn't show up very well in the picture and stickles for the ground. I added some snowflake stamps by Hero Arts and some stickles for snowflakes. The corner punch is by Fiskar.

 The mixed media pieces are the large snowflakes. I added a snowflake charm to the bottom one and a sequin and gem to the top one.  You should definitely check out the link for the mixed media challenge, which has a link to Sadie's wonderful blog post with detailed explanation of how to create the pieces.

 

Bookmark:

This one combined the Lighten Up challenge and the Book'em challenge.

 

I used watercolor paper as suggested by Heidi. It took me 3 tries to get the stamping right. The first try was too dark and on the second, the image didn't come out completely. The stamp is by Heidi Swapp and I used Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink.

 

 Then I stamped the squirrel and sentiment by Studio G. It is actually one stamp and I cut it apart. The sentiment is next to the acorn so it was too wide for the base. I stamped with Memento Ink in Rich Cocoa, but the squirrel didn't come out solid enough. So I used some reinker to fill him in with a paint brush. The acorns in the corners are by Inkadinkado.

I wanted to put a heart around the sentiment because in needed something. None of my heart stamps would work so I decided to draw it in. Unfortunately, I did it in pen and I hate it. So after taking this picture, I used a Spellbinder scallop heart to cut out the heart. Then I cut another heart , restamped the sentiment, and did an inlay.  Here's the redone book mark. 

I plan on putting it in my Mom's Christmas stocking because as I've previously mentioned, she's the crazy squirrel lady.
 New Technique:

This is the card I created for the Shadow Knows challenge, which involved using a technique new to me.  The link has a more detailed explanation, but the idea is to make something stamped on dark cardstock with white ink stand out more by outlining it with a Versamarker.  

I stamped the turkey with Hero Arts Unicorn Pigment Ink.  Since I didn't have a Versamarker, I used my Zig Emboss Writer, which worked. I did the same with the sentiment. Both stamps are by Inkadinkado. Here's a close up where you can better see the outlining.

 

 

The base was made with Distress Inks in Spiced Maramalade, Mustard Seed, Barn Door, and Aged Mahosgany, I think. I made it awhile ago. I wet the paper and then sprinkled it with sea salt, which pulls out some of the ink and creates a spotting effect.  I used a Spellbinder die for the sentiment and added liquid pearls.

 

 

Mixed Media Fun:

 

I created a bunch of pieces for the mixed media challenge.  I really had fun with the technique. 

 

I decided I wanted to do something other than a square or circle.  So I pulled out my Spellbinder poinsettia and snowflake dies.  And I've got a pack of chipboard I bought at Michael's.  Well, that chipboard is a bit thick for a Spellbinder die.  So I had to pull out an Exacto knife for the poinsettias.  For the snowflakes, I pulled out a macaroni box from my recycling bin.  That worked much better.  And I used metallic acrylic inks to give the pieces some shine. 

 

 

I used the snowflake on the triple combo card above.  And here is what I did with the poinsettias:

I wanted the poinsettia to be the focus, so I kept the rest fairly simple. The background stamp is by Hero Arts. I stamped it with Versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder. I added a gold ribbon. Then I stacked the pieces of the die. I added liquid pearls in gold to the center.

I had so much fun with this technique on the die cuts that I decided to make some backgrounds with it. I decided to keep the image small so that the background could show.

 The image was stamped with Versamark and embossed with a green metallic embossing powder. I added stickles for the star and ornaments. Because I got embossing powder in spots I didn't want it and it left a mark when I wiped it off, I fussy cut the tree. The tree stamp is by the Stampin Place.

Thanks for stopping by and please come again.