Marci and her panda

I made a cute window scene today using La La Land Crafts Sweet Friends Marci stamp.

I colored her with my Spectrum markers, then fussy cut her out. I made the curtains by free hand cutting, and added the tan piece for wallpaper. There is window panes, but you can only see one, the image covers the other, but it works. I added some twine bows for the tiebacks, and left a sentiment off the front. I'll put one on the inside for any occasion.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Sweet Autumn

Sharing a card I made last week for a sketch challenge. It uses the cute image from C.C. Designs called Autumn Mum, and Happy Sentiments stamp sets.

I colored with various alcohol markers, sponged the edges, and used some retired SU! dsp. I cut the sentiment panel into a banner and sponged it as well.

Perfect to send out this upcoming Fall season. Thank you for visiting!

Aspen

I'm joining the Your Next Stamp challenge using their sketch:

I colored this cute YNS stamp called Little Darling Aspen with water color pencils. I can tell I haven't used them for awhile!! :) After coloring, I sponged ink at the bottom for the water, then used a cloud print out and sponged the clouds.

I layered the main image, and used a YNS die along the front following the sketch. The sentiment comes with this stamp set, and is punched out and tucked under the main panel.

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

Winter Pines

Sharing what I made for last weeks color challenge at Splitcoast stampers. We were to use red, blue and an olive green.

I sponged on the background first and used torn post-it's for an uneven look. The pine tree is a single stamp that I just stamped multiple times, and used only the top also. The snowy ground was also masked and sponged.

The sentiment was stamped and double punched, and I added a few rhinestones to the sky. This is my first Christmas card for the year. I always make more than I send out. I like to have a variety on hand, and also pic and choose to suit the person's tastes.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Heart Melting Snowman



Isn't this just the sweetest snowman?!! I just got him from My Favorite Things. He is in the retiring section, and I'm glad I found him :) He's from the Pure Innocence line and I did pick up one of her too. They are just so sweet.

So, on to this card. I stamped the snowman with MFT hybrid black ink, and did the rubber cement masking again. I colored the background with Distress inks in blueprint sketch, salty ocean and tumbled glass. Then I rubbed off the cement and colored the snowman with Spectrums.

I added a little bit of snow using a torn post-it and the tumbled glass ink. The sentiment comes with this set and is turned into a banner and a little washi tape below that. I'm following a sketch from the MFT card challenges

Thank you for stopping by!

Masking Fluid



Unity's facebook challenge this week is to make a tag. I went with a sort of mixed media style, which I'm not that good with yet. Collage work is not my thing!

Anyway, what I wanted to share most is the masking fluid part. I saw a YouTube video showing other things you could use instead of the pre-made masking fluid, and Elmers Rubber Cement was one of them. And I must say, it works wonderfully!!

So, here's how it works. Stamp your image using a permanent ink. I used MFT hybrid ink. Distress doesn't work as well because it is reactive with water, and your image may smear. After stamping, apply a thin coat of the rubber cement using a flat paint brush, and wash it out right away or it will mess up the brush. The cement doesn't take long to dry, and will still be a little tacky throughout the process.

Now it's ready to be painted, distressed, sprayed, whatever you fancy. Once that is all dry you can now remove the cement. Just rub your finger over it and it will ball up and come right off! No tearing or pilling of the paper whatsoever, and I love that!! I tried this technique on three different types/weights of paper, and it worked on every one.

Now, back to this tag. My background was made using distress inks(finally bought some!) splashed with water, texture medium with a homemade stencil from a die, cork shapes(from the same die) and some inked ribbon. The floral image is from Unity's April SMAK kit and sentiment from Give Love-Laugh Lots kit.

Hope you enjoyed my little how to. I know I'll be doing this a lot! Thank you so much for visiting!

Faceless Beauties

Angie Blom is an Illustrator for Unity Stamp Company, and she is the one who draws all these lovely Girl images. They are called 'Angie Girls' and there are many stamp kits available that are full body or just the faces. I signed up earlier this year to their kit of the month stamp kits. You get a full 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of rubber cling stamps, and there has been one Angie Girl image in each kit I have.

This one is from the August kit. The stamps are pre-cut, mounted on foam, and have a paper protective backing that you peel off before use. I started to keep these paper backing pieces because they make wonderful masks. That is what I did on this image.

I stamped her with My Favorite Things hybrid Chocolate ink, colored with spectrums, then put the mask over her and stamped the leaves with Stampin Up's Crisp Cantaloupe ink. The leaves are also in this month's kit, and the card base is also stamped with another leaf image, that just peeks out.

I added a few small pearls to her hair, then stamped the sentiment in SU Chocolate Chip. I like the colors together, and I think it looks like a cheerful card.

Thanks so much for visiting!!

Winter Flower

Playing along with Unity's Facebook challenge, which has a sketch this time. I originally colored up some cute snowmen from Susan Weckesser for this card, but after putting the papers and snowflake tape down, it just didn't match. So I went with something totally different, and I like the result.

The flower is from Unity's July kit, and I stamped it with white Stazon onto Crumb Cake card. Sponged the edges a bit, then layered it onto a piece of white. The sentiment is stamped onto the patterned paper, but is a bit hard to see. It says 'Just hold on and I'll do the rest'.

After gluing everything down, it seemed a bit dark, so I sponged the edges with white dye ink from Hero Arts, and it softened it up nicely.

Thank you for having a look!

Bear Hugs

Playing along with the Your Next Stamp challenge, which I just used their colors this time.

Soft  and pretty colors. I decided to use this YNS stamp set called Tobi's Bear Hugs, and colored it with my alcohol markers(spectrum).

I layered a few papers from Stampin Up, and punched and popped up the sentiment and added a few candy dots.

Thank you so much for visiting!

Unicorns and Rainbows

Had some Girly fun with the Unicorn Dreams set from C.C. Designs. Colored with my various alcohol markers, I made the mane and tail into rainbow colors.

The sentiment and other stamps above it are also in this set, and makes a cute little scene. I backed it with some colorful papers from SU!.

Thanks for visiting, and have a magical day!! :)

Butterfly Journal

I have started making a little butterfly journal. I'm using a Sizzix original album die for the pages, all cut from chip board and covered with papers.

The stamps I'm using are from Unity. Almost every kit of the month kit has a butterfly image in it, that's what prompted me to make this album. I'm going to try to incorporate different techniques on the butterflies. The pic above is the cover, and here are a few other pages I have done.

The papers are all from the same pad, Prima Marketing Garden Fable. I like the look of stamping onto patterned paper, and this is perfect for that. I'll share more pages as I go, and then share it all put together.

Thank you for visiting!

I LOVE Polka Dots!

The current theme at Double D Challenge is.....you guessed it..Polka Dots!! And yes, I love polka dots!! I went all out with the theme and decorated this retired kraft box from Stampin' Up!

The papers are from SU as well, and I cut them to fit all around the box. The top flower is die cut from the bigz tattered florals die. Here is a pic of that:

Added some coordinating twine and pretty swirly font sentiment, and that is enough. The cute papers pretty much say happy!! :)

Thank you for visiting!!

First Anniversary

I'm celebrating along with Joy Clair Stamps, as they have been making stamps for 1 year now! They have a great mix of clear stamp sets, and I am happy to own quite a few ;)

I am playing along with their monthly challenge with this color board:

All 10 of Joy Clair's very first stamp sets are only $10.00 for the whole month of August. So I decided to use 2 of those sets on my challenge card Bandana Bits for the main images, and Hugs & Smiles for the sentiment.

I colored this with my Spectrum markers, and sponged on some ink around the edges. I looped around some twine, and added a gold button to the center.

Thank you for visiting today, and go take a peek at Joy Clair's blog and online store!

Roses



Sharing what I made for Unity's Facebook challenge which is a color theme this time:



Once this card was done, I just loved how these colors looked together. The rose stamp is from Unity's March kit of the month and I colored them with my Spectrum markers. They are stamped onto Very Vanilla card stock, I didn't want a bright white background.

Then I sponged it all around with Baked Brown Sugar, and stamped the sentiment from Unity's January 16 sentiment kit in Chocolate Chip. I layered it with a piece of Island Indigo, and a Cherry Cobbler card base.

I thought about adding some embellishments, but decided it really didn't need any. Dye ink and card stock are from Stampin Up.

Thanks so much for visiting!