Week 2 Art Journal

Yes I know I'm running behind. I wish I knew how other people can cook, clean, do laundry, medicate a sick dog, care for an old man, feed and water dogs, cats & chickens, make jam, create artwork, photograph it and get it blogged without getting behind. I haven't even looked at this weeks projects. Oh well, fortunately Camp Scrap is all recorded and should keep me busy for months.

Anywhoway... Last weeks Art Journal Project was to a) Use just one color b) Be inspired by a single shape and c) Use something from around the house. I did 2 of the 3. I couldn't think of a single thing around the house that I could use.

I chose hexagons because they remind me of chicken wire (I'm obviously obsessed with all things Chicken) and bees. The shades of yellow just seemed to go with the honey bee theme so I went with it.

In order of execution:

1. Apply book page to mixed media paper with matte medium
2. Gesso the whole page
3. Randomly stamp hexagon outlines (Papertrey Ink & StampinUp)
4. Mask previously stamped hexagons
5. Randomly stamp patterned hexagons all over page and emboss with clear embossing paper. (Papertrey Ink and StampinUp)
6. Airbrush with Copic markers starting with lightest shade of yellow in upper right corner, working down towards lower left corner using medium shade and ending with darkest shade.
7. Use Tim Holtz Honeycomb stencil and alcohol dampened applicator to remove some ink here and there.
8. Use alcohol and cotton swabs to remove excess ink from embossed hexagons
9. Remove masks, journal in and around white hexagons and stamp a few bees (PITT pen, StampinUp bees)
10. Using UmWow's hexagon confetti mask, apply a mix of white and gold embossing paste here and there (Dreamweaver, Wendy Vecchi)
11. Stamp, die cut, color and embellish large bee and mount in lower corner. (StampinUp bee and die, Copic Markers, Glossy Accents, Donna Salazar Pralines & Cream glitter

P.S. If you read my last post, the UmWow mask did give me a sharper, higher profile with the embossing paste that I really like on this piece.

Til next time...

New Beginnings

That's the theme for todays Waltzingmouse Blog Hop but it applies to my life and this blog as well. I can't believe it has been nearly 5 months since my last post. Life has been a rollercoast, full of ups and downs and will take a few posts to get everyone up to speed.

The card I am showing today was made for one of the recent "ups" - my son and daughter-in-law's new home. They are just over the moon and we are all so thrilled for them.  I started with an old Stampendous cottage image, colored it with Copics then built the card around it. Not my usual method but it worked.

Stamps: WaltzingMouse - Cottage Home, Heirloom Patterns, Irish Blessings; Stampendous Cottage
Embossing Folders: StampinUp
Dies: Spellbinders, StampinUp
Cardstock: StampinUp
Other: Copic Markers & Air Brush System, Flowers handmade by me, Quickutz leaves, Martha Stewart fern

Til next time...

Day 3 Christmas Card

I saw a card similar to this in a magazine and I just knew I had to CASE it. I kept the design fairly close to the original except I used a stamped,colored and layered poinsettia instead of a silk flower and my sentiment is from StampinUp.

 

Stamps: PTI Poinsettia, Argyle; StampinUp Sentiment

Cardstock: StampinUp Crumb Cake; Neenah Classic Crest Solar White

Ink: StampinUp Garden Green, Real Red; Memento Tuxedo Black

Copic Markers:

2 in a Row!

Hot stuff! Another post in the same week. Try not to get too spoiled. LOL  Today's post showcases a Christmas card I made with stamps from WaltzingMouse. I have loved Claire's work even before she started designing her own stamp line and I just adore her designs. With this card I was able to combine 3 of my favorite things - WaltzingMouse Stamps, Copic Markers and watercolor crayons. I'm not sure if you can see it in the photo but I also added a bit of sparkle to the tree with Copic's  atyou Spica Glitter Pens.

Stamps: WaltzingMouse

Cardstock: StampinUp River Rock, Soft Suede; Neenah Classic Crest Natural White

Ink: SU Cherry Cobbler, Soft Suede; Memento Tuxedo Black

Other: Copic Markers, Spica Glitter Pens, StampinUp Embossing folder  & watercolor crayons, Papertrey Ink Jute Button Twine

Til next time...

Kooky Kolors for a Baby

Not that I'm a little behind or anything, but this card was made for Waltzingmouse Sketch #61 found here. It's a bit of a mish mash of techniques including making my own custom ribbon with Copic Markers (a Make It Monday challenge), making a custom brad with stamps and Glossy Accents, and doing a Tim Holtz Distress ink thing. I don't know why I chose this color combo other than it appealed to me. I created the paper that the birds and brad piece were stamped on using the Wrinkle Free Distress technique with a bit of a twist but I may have used a bit too much water.

Over all I am rather please with this project even if it is a bit weird for a baby card.

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Celtic Heritage, Faux Fun, Fauz Fun Circles, Fancy Flourishes, Vintage Circles

Ink: Distress - Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Black Soot; StampinUp - Tempting Turquoise, Basic Gray

Paper: StampinUp - Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Gray, Basic Black

Other: Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Spellbinders Circle Dies, Copic Markers, Grosgrain Ribbon from Michael's, Glossy Accents from Ranger



Til next time...

PTI August 2011 Blog Hop Challenge

WooHoo. Today is PTI's Blog Hop. You can find links to all the participants here. The challenge is to create something inspired by this photo. I knew what I wanted to do the instant I saw the photo. The challenge for me was to find the right paper and low and behold, it was hiding deep in my hoarded stash. The bow is my first attempt at wrinkled ribbon. I used SU taffeta ribbon to make a bow but it looked too formal so, knowing the ribbon was a synthetic, I used a heat gun on it.

Stamps: PTI - Vintage Picnic, Little Labels
Paper: SU - Cherry Cobbler, Confetti White; Chatterbox - Loft Bias Plaid;
Ink: SU - Cherry Cobbler, Bashful Blue; Memento Tuxedo Black
Dies: PTI - Mat Stack #5, Picnic Basket, Edgers #1; Spellbinders - Tag, Ribbon Slider
Other: SU Bashful Blue Taffeta Ribbon, twine from The Twinery

Copics Used:

Red Mat:

Til next time...

Another Week - Another Verve

Last week brought a wonderful sketch for Week 3 of the VLV August Challenges by Shannan Teubner. I had a lot of fun with this one, dragging out all kinds of dies, embossing folders, Copic Markers and even bling! Thank you Shannan for a fabulous sketch to work with.



Stamps: Verve Birthday Wishes Plain Jane

Paper: StampinUp -  Pool Party, Bermuda Bay, Groovy Guava, Whisper White; BoBunny - Gabrielle.

Ink:  StampinUp - Groovy Guava, Bermuda Bay; Memento Rich Cocoa; Ranger - Adirondack Snow Cap

Copics: E02, E95, BG11, BG15

Other: Cuttlebug Butterfly Cut & Emboss Set; Cheery Lane Doily Die, BoBunny Gabrielle Jewels

Til next time...

Looking For A Diva

The theme for Verve's August 2011 Get Your Diva On challenge was tags. Anything and everything to do with tags.  If there is a hint of Diva in me anywhere, its showing up is pretty hit and miss but I gave it a shot anyway. To be perfectly honest, I think I am too practical to be Diva material but I am happy with how this card turned out.

Stamps: Verve - Let It Shine

Paper: StampinUp - Bashful Blue, So Saffron, Whisper White, Delicate Dots DSP.

Ink: StampinUp - Bashful Blue, So Saffron, More Mustard

Misc: StampinUp Ribbon, Verve Charming Oval Die Set, Martha Stewart Border Punch, Assorted beads & jewelry findings from Michaels, Mini Envelope template from Hot Off The Press, old yellow brad recolored with a Copic Marker.

Til next time...

August Apertures

This weeks MIM technique, Decreasing Apertures, was very enjoyable for me. I got to use a lot of layers which meant a lot of colors and different treatments on each layer. This made my husband very happy because it meant I finally used some of those stamps, dies and Impression plates I've been collecting in my singlehanded attempt to keep Papertrey Ink in business. On this card I used 8 dies, 5 stamp sets, both sides of an Impression Plate and 5 colors of cardstock not to mention the 3 dye inks and 12 Copic Markers.

The pitcher of Mums was stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa and colored with Copics.

All stamps, Impression Plates and dies are Papertrey Ink; Cardstock & Dye Inks are StampingUp.
Flowers were made using a technique from Nicole Heady featured in this post with the addition of a fringed paper center.

Til next time...

What the Cluck!

I just had to show this card I made for a friend's 50th Birthday. He was so impressed with my chickens that this spring, he got 3 of his own, hense the chicken card.

The chick and party hat are from a Crafty Secrets set called Farm Chicks , Candles with stars are from a See D's Birthday set I picked up used, Gingham background stamp is from Waltzingmouse, sentiment was made with a JustRite alphabet and the cardstock is StampinUp's Real Red, Baja Breeze and Whisper White. Ink used was SU's Real Red, Memento Tuxedo Black, Antique Linen Distress Ink and Copic Markers.

Til next time...

Megafortress Monday

First I have to tell you... the last 24 hours have been unbelievable. Yesterday I discovered I had won a Top Mouse Award from Waltzingmouse Stamps for this card, then this morning I found out I won last week's Make-it Monday prize from Papertrey Ink for this card. I never win anything!! I've put up my Top Mouse blinkie in my sidebar and now I am going crazy trying to decide which stamp set I want from Papertrey Ink. I think it's going to end up being Daydreamer.  What do you think?

Now on to today's card.  My husband Chris is hooked on an old DOS game called Megafortress from 1991.  I recently upgraded our desktop to an Intel Core i7 Sandy Bridge Processor with 8 GBs of Ram, 1 GB of video Ram, a 240 GB Solid State Drive for the OS and programs and a 500GB Sata drive for all saved files and this man still wants to play Megafortress. Sheesh!  So our youngest, Alex, set up a DOS shell so dear old Dad could play his game and Dad is now a very happy gamer.

Now that you have the background you will understand why Alex asked me to make a Father's Day card for him to give his Dad that looked like the box the game came it.

Here is the game:

I used Make-the-Cut to create the cut file for the plane then cut it out along with some clouds and wonky stars.  The colors used were Poppy Parade, Pacific Point, More Mustard, Whisper White and Black from StampinUp. The Father's Day sentiment was from PTI's Masculine Motifs and the inside sentiment was created with an alphabet set from JustRite Stampers.  The Poppy panel was embossed with the Cuttlebug diamond plate folder and the Pacific Point panel was embossed with the stars folder.  I did the gray shading on the clouds with my Copic Airbrush System but I need a lot more practice with airbrushing.

So here is the card and it's not too shabby if I do say so myself.

Card Closed

Card Open





Til next time...

Double Flap and Finished Swap

We finished all 51 of the swap cards yesterday and they are gorgeous!!  I can't show you the card until Thursday but I can show you the card I made for my father-in-law that I based the swap design on. This is how Kim and I work. One of us comes up with a design and the other tweaks it and we go back and forth until we have it right. Once I post the swap card on Thursday and you compare it to today's card, you'll see what our collaborations can achieve.

I started with a Flap Fold pattern from Technique Junkies Fancy Folds and Motion CD then, as usual, I did my own thing to it. The stamps, ink and cardstock are all Stampin'Up, the bikes were colored with Copics and the faint texture you see on the Baja Breeze cardstock was applied with the Papertrey Ink Linen & Canvas Impression Plate.

Card Closed:

Card Open:

Til next time...

Back & Up for a Challenge

I can't believe it's been over 3 months since I have posted anything.  I know I've been very busy but just not sure with what. I've made a ton of great projects but forgot to photograph any of them before sending them off to their recipients. Hopefully I can get back in the swing of things starting with this sketch challenge from Waltzingmouse.

The colors used were Real Red, Peach Parfait, So Saffron and Certainly Celery in inks and cardstock from StampinUp. Rubberstamps are from Waltzingmouse, Dies from Spellbinders, border punch from EKSuccess and ribbon from my stash. Flowers were colored with Copics in the colors shown.

Tomorrow I will be posting my card for PTI's Make It Monday Challenge.

Til next time...

Prismacolor to Copic

I love my Prismacolor Markers.  They’re fat, easy to hold, relatively inexpensive, American made, easy to blend and shade and come in plenty of colors.  I saw no need to jump on the Copic bandwagon. Unfortunately I have been having a hard time removing the caps on my Prismacolors.  I can use my pinky and ring finger around the cap and yank with the other hand but then I get ink all over the side of my hand and this technique only works on good days anyway.  I tested some Copic Sketch Markers at a local store and found them much easier to open and not only are they comfortable in my hand, the oval shape prevents them from rolling away. So needless to say, I took the plunge… big time!

 I got my first batch of markers at Christmas plus the Air Brush Kit.  Never got to use them with all the remodeling but picked up an air compressor at Harbor Freight.  Then I got a deal at DickBlick.com – one of those “Spend X amount to get 15% plus free shipping” – so I ordered more markers plus a set of Spica pens.  Still didn’t use them but they were there just waiting for when I found the time.  Well, last week, Dick Blick had another deal – spend $179 and get 20% off plus free shipping – soooo, I ordered more markers plus the second set of Spica pens. I must need my head examined. So here I am with 117 markers, 24 Spica Glitter pens, an air brush system and an air compressor.  It is definitely time to get busy and use this stuff.

I used Viva La Verve’s Sketch Challenge for March/Week 2 and stamps from Verve’s Easter Joy set along with die cuts from Spellbinder’s Eyelets Pendant and Border sets and circle dies. Ink, cardstock and ribbon is from StampinUp.

 

 I stamped the flower with Memento Tuxedo Black on 2 white circles.  The one on the left I colored with Prismacolor Markers 147 Greyed Lavender, 129 Dahlia and 168 Dark Purple.  The one on the right I colored with Copic  V0000, V01 and V12.  Blending and shading with Prismacolors is very easy so blending and shading with the Copics takes a bit of getting used to.  Copics aren’t necessarily harder to work with, just different.

 Airbrushing with Prismacolor markers is not possible so this was a whole new experience for me. I cut the flower from the Prismacolor circle to use as a mask, put the Copic circle back into the die, applied the mask and airbrushed with Copic Y00 then removed the mask and die.  I was in awe.  I cut a label and label mat with “the cutter that shall not be named”, stamped the sentiment on the white label with Su’s Rich Razzleberry, colored it with Copics then airbrushed with the Y00.  I am hooked! 

To finish the rest of the card I embossed the card front with SU’s polka dot embossing folder with my Big Shot, threaded SU’s Razzleberry Taffeta ribbon through the border die cut, added a bow and a few rhinestones from Imaginisce and there you have it.

If anyone is interested in trying alcohol markers and would like to buy my entire collection of Prismacolor markers at a very good price just email me.

Til next time…