Joan's Gardens Challenge #32

Time for another fun challenge at JOAN'S GARDENS!

This week it's all about FALL and the requirements are:

Fall card (possibly with a pumpkin)

Tree

Polka Dot back Ground

Grass

I started this card last evening but it wasn't coming together for me so I sat it aside and started back on it this morning.  My brain seemed to be working better today!!  Here's what I came up with . . .

I created my own background using SU 'pumpkin' ink and Versafine black ink and the All Nite Media 'splatter pattern' rubber stamp.  Next I added the tree - Stampscapes 'Oak Branch'  #203G.  Next came my pumpkin which is a Shelly's Images digi called 'fall friends'.  There is actually a cat with the pumpkin in this awesome digi set but I 'cut him out of the picture' since I just couldn't get him to fit in properly.  Coloring was done with Prismacolor markers.  My grass is a Memory Box 'grassland border' #825 which I purchased at Joan's Gardens.  And lastly are my embellishments ... Halloween wire ribbon from Michaels and a Cricut cut spider from the DoodleCharms Cricut cartridge.

Hope everyone is having a FABULOUS day and looking forward to a fun HOLIDAY weekend.
See you soon!

Joan's Gardens Challenge #31

Hello my friends!

Today I'd like to share with you the creation I made for the current challenge at Joan's Gardens.  The requirements this week are:

• Framed lattice background
• Any type of flowers
• A bird
• A vertical greeting

Selma has once again provided a 'gorgeous' sample creation and I'm so glad I found the time to play along with this one.   Here's what I came up with ... what do you think?

List of products used on this creation:

Paper:  SU Marina Mist, White

Stamp:  Magenta

Ink:  Versafine black, Tim Holtz broken china distress

Accessories:  QuicKutz diamonds & dots ef, Spellbinder Lattice Rectangles, McGill 'Floral Petals' #64503 punch, K&Co. chipboard bird, Marianne #0156 leaves, Marianne #0157 Flourish, Michaels black organza ribbon, PunchBunch Flower Making Kit & Black Mat

I didn't have any one piece lattice frame dies so I kind of create my own by first embossing my cardstock ... then cutting it with my lattice rectangle die.  I hope this qualifies!

Other qualifying challenges:

Craft Your Passion - Emboss It

Crafty Boots Challenge - Tweet-Tweet

Eureka Stamps - Anything Goes

Love to Create Challenge - Homemade Flowers

The Crazy Challenge - Anything Goes

The Cutie Pie Challenge - Borders & Frames

Well that's it for me today.  I have so many wonderful ideas swimming around in my head since I've come back from the workshop at Joan's Gardens last week and I have ALL DAY to play.  Guess I'd better get started!  THANKS so much for taking the time to stop by today ... it means the world to me!

TUTORIAL - Chalking on Black Cardstock

Several of my followers has requested a tutorial on how I did the chalking technique for my Sisterhood Sympathy card shown here . . .

I'm so glad to be able to share this technique with you and you're going to love it!  It's something different you can use on DARK cardstocks such as Black, Brown or Navy Blue.  And, here is the card we will make today . . .

These are the products I used on my creation:

• VersaMagic 'White Cloud' Archival Multi-surface Chalk Ink Pad
• Black woven textured cardstock
• Impression Obsession #F5549 Flourish 1 rubber stamp
• Pebbles Inc. Jewel Tones Pearlescent Chalks 
• VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad
• Ranger Embossing Pearls

STEP 1:

Ink up your stamp using CHALK INK and stamp your image onto DARK cardstock.

 STEP 2:

Choose your Pearlescent Chalk colors and start applying one color at a time using the cotton balls provided.  I have purchased a 'cotton picker' to use for this technique because I can control it better than the clip provided in the chalk set.

 

 

 

This is what it will look like once you have all your CHALK applied.

STEP  3:

With a soft cloth (I used hubby's old T-shirts), GENTLY wipe (1 or 2 swipes across) the excess chalk from your cardstock.

STEP 4:

Next you'll want to lightly HEAT SET the chalks to bring up the PEARLESCENTS.  The reason you see 'openings' in my image is because I have used a textured cardstock.  A smooth cardstock will result in a more solid, smooth finish.

 STEP 5:

I have used a white Gelly Roll pen to add 'movement' to the swirls in my image.

NOW for the SENTIMENT portion of this creation.  

I have used:

• VersaMark
• Sentiment Stamp of Choice
  (mine is from The Stamp Pad Co.)
• Ranger Embossing Pearls
  (my earlier photo shows GREEN but then decided to use the VIOLET)

 

 STEP 1:

(If you have an Embossing Buddy, use it first before stamping ... I forgot ... MY BAD!)

Stamp your sentiment with VersaMark then cover with your Embossing Pearls.

Pouring extra powder back into the container.

 As you see here, the Ranger Embossing Pearls are WHITE ... 

the magic comes when you heat set it with our heat tool. 

 VIOLA!!

 Then complete your card with ribbon or other embellishments.  Here I have simply adhered my black panel onto a Marina Mist Blue mat and added a strip of blue satin ribbon & a thinner lavender ribbon for a simple embellishment.  The 'purple' color on my finished card photo is more true to color (for some reason my camera goes nuts when I try to photograph purple hues).

FINISHED CARD

I hope you will try this technique.  And, if you do, please come back and leave me a comment so I can come see your creation and leave you some love!  It's so much fun to learn little tricks from each other and I'm SURE I can learn something from you!!

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and please come back again!

Catching my breath . . .

Happy Monday Everyone!

WOW!  What a whirlwind week I've had this past week and I'm just now trying to 'catch my breath'!  If you follow my blog, you know I just got back home from another FABULOUS workshop at Joan's Gardens in North Liberty (outside of South Bend) Indiana.  I'm so happy to be able to go out a few days early and help Joan with whatever she needs help on to get ready for the workshop and see all the new products in her shop (and of course do some early shopping for myself)!  I have made so many wonderful new friends through attending Joan's workshops ... here's a photo of Friday's group (you can see Saturday/Sunday groups on Joan's blog post HERE).

Here are MY projects from this workshop.  

More photos & product information can be found on Joan's blog post HERE.

 Qualifying Challenges:

Challenges 4 Everyone - Anything Goes (NEW challenge blog)

Stampin' Sisters in Christ - Punches & Dies

The Paper Shelter - Anything Goes

 

 Qualifying Challenges:

Come and Get It Challenges - Show Us Your Flowers

That Craft Place Challenge Blog - Vintage

 Divas by Design - Anything Goes

Qualifying Challenges:

Amusing Challenges - Anything Goes

Catered Crops - Distress

Fashionable Stamping Challenge - Anything Floral / Homemade Flowers

Robyn's Fetish Challenge Blog - Anything But A Card

Emergency Crafters - Tea & Cake

Aren't these projects FABULOUS!  I plan on making more of the Easel Cards and Teabag Holders for my upcoming craft show in November ... I think they will be a HIT!!

Again ... ALL THE INFORMATION on the products used can be found on Joan's blog post HERE.  And you can purchase all items used through Joan's Gardens (see her store product listing in her right sidebar).

LOTS of ideas swirling around in my head so I'd better get started on 'SOMETHING' (or at least write it down so I don't forget!).  Have a FABULOUS week, thanks for stopping by and hope to see you again real soon!! 

DT Call at Shelly's Images

Would you like to be part of a fabulously FUN design team?

You can find all the information here!

The Sisterhood of Crafters Challenge

Good Morning One & All!

I'm on the turnpike headed for a workshop at Joan's Gardens in North Liberty, Indiana and I hope this post came live when it was supposed to!  LOL!

Today's challenge at The Sisterhood is a theme that unfortunately we all have a card need for from time to time ... and that is:

SYMPATHY

It seems to be such a crazy busy time of the year for everyone right now, with the kids headed back to school and families trying to get that last little bit of summer vacation worked into their schedules.  So just in case my 'sistahs' found themselves 'out of time', I decided to create THREE cards for you today.  

 This card was created using a fun technique for DARK papers.  What I've done is stamp my image onto black cardstock using white CHALK ink.  Then I've used the Pebbles Inc. Pearlescent chalks with the small cotton balls supplied in the chalk kit for my coloring.  GENTLY swept away the excess chalk with a tissue and quickly heat set it with my heat gun.  A white gelly roll pen was used for the little dot accents.  

If you'd like me to do a tutorial on this method just leave me a comment and I would be glad to do that for you.

The sentiment was stamped with Versamark ink and embossed with the Ranger Embossing Pearl powder (Green).  Now this embossing powder is designed to be used on DARK papers since it looks white in the jar but actually comes out to be a different color when heat set.  I have the purple, blue & green and they are all gorgeous on the dark paper!

 

 These next two cards are pretty simple designs.  Above I have used the SU 'Thoughts & Prayer' stamp set, old olive & black cardstock and green organza ribbon from Michaels.  EASY PEASY!

 

 For this last card I have created my own background using a rubber stamp and Versamark directly onto the Old Olive cardstock.   The tree branch silhouette is a Stampscapes stamp and the sentiment is from the SU 'Close as a Memory' set.  I've used the Cheery Lynn Designs 'Olive Branches' #B147 die & a Prima flower as my embellishments.

Other qualifying challenges are:
Anything Goes Challenge - Make Your Own Background (card #3)
  Cards & More - Color Inspiration + Swirls (card #1)

That's it for me today.  I hope you'll come over to The Sisterhood of Crafters and share your creations with us.  We'd love to have you join in our challenges (and there's a prize too).

I'll be sure to share photos of my fun trip to Indiana next week (if I remember my camera this time!)

OH and a quick reminder ...

Don't forget to CLICK HERE for the easy details 
on how you could win my BLOGAVERSARY CANDY!

I've added 4 additional items (will add photos to the original post).

Family Forever . . .

Good Sunday Evening to All!

I just saw the challenge over at Sugar Creek Hollow and had to play along this evening.  The challenge theme is 'We Are Family'.  With my own upcoming family reunion (next weekend), I was drawn to create.  

Here's a little background on my family.

My mother is 1 of 12 children (9 girls & 3 boys).  Sadly, there are only four of the 12 left and my mother is next to the youngest at the tender age of 82. I have 42 first cousins so for the past 25 years, we have not only had an annual Family Reunion, but we have had a First Cousins Reunion (Fri & Sat) with the full Family Reunion on Sunday.  Here's a photo from 2010 that gives you an idea of just how big my family is and half of them aren't in the picture!  These are just the ones who were able to come into town that year!  

Anyways ... enough about my family (God Bless Them One & All) ... onto my card creation.

There are so many photos of my own family I could have used for this card but thought best to pull from a collection of 'vintage' images I purchased through TJ Designs (www.tweetyjill.com).  Here are the other items used on this creation:

• Black cs, Gray cs
• Tim Holtz Post Cardembossing folder
• Cheery Lynn Designs #DL112 Exotic Butterflies
• Memory Box #98290 Valencia Border Die
• Kaiser black pearls
• Creative Imagination Epoxy Sticker
• Black Stickles

I would also like to enter my card into these qualifying challenges:

Crafty Your Days Away - Final Challenge, Anything Goes

Hiding in My Craft Room - Limit to 2 Layers (HMCR59)

Avadares Challenge #2 - Anything for August

Fairytale Challenge Blog - Song Inspiration (We Are Family by Sister Sledge)

Inspire Me Friday #72 - Anything Goes

Totally Paper Crafts - Inspired by a Song (We Are Family by Sister Sledge)

Charisma Cardz Challenge - Monochromatic

It's All About The Vintage - Love

Paper Crafting Journey - Anything Goes

Well that's it for me tonight!  

I hope you've had a wonderful, fun-filled weekend. 

Thanks SO MUCH for taking the time to stop by and comment on my creations.

OH and a quick reminder ...

Don't forget to CLICK HERE for the easy details 
on how you could win my BLOGAVERSARY CANDY!

I've added 4 additional items (will add photos to the original post).

Water Stamping Tutorial

Hello Everyone!  

A short while back I shared with you a card using the 'Water Stamping' technique that I learned over at Splitcoast Stampers.  I've had some interest in this technique from some folks who don't belong to SCS so here we go.

List of items I used:

Hero Arts background rubber stamp

Tim Holtz 'broken china' distress ink*

SU 'pomegranate' ink*

Large sponge dauber

Tim Holtz ink applicator

Plastic lined paper plate

Paper Towel

Spritz bottle with water

Heat Gun or Iron

* Brighter Colors Work Best

STEP 1:  Apply your first color of ink leaving white space for additional color(s).  You can use as many colors as you want.  I just chose two colors so you could see the end result better.

 STEP 2:  Add your additional colors until white space is all covered.

STEP 3:  NOW COMES THE FUN!

I used a plastic coated paper plate but you can use what ever 'container' you wish.  Put a paper towel (or two) in it and wet it down with water ... it needs to be pretty wet.  Now take the background stamp of your choice ... 'stamp' it on the wet surface then onto your newly inked cardstock.

 STEP 4:  Heat your 'water stamped' cardstock with a heat gun or iron to dry it and watch the image 'come up' ... really cool!

 

 CLOSE-UP

STEP 5:  Make a card using this cardstock panel as your background ...

Easy Peasy & Fun!

Here I have used a Shelly's Images digi image called 'Balloons' for my focus.  They've been colored with SU markers, cut out with my Fiskars swivel craft knife, SU Crystal Effects added for shine and popped up with pop dits.  The ribbon is polka dot grosgrain from Michaels and I've done a little faux stitching around the outside (you know I don't like a lot of white space, lol).

I hope you enjoy this little tutorial and give it a try!
Thanks so much for visiting and if you've left me a comment, DOUBLE thanks to you for making my day!  I just love hearing what you think of my work.  We all need a little positive reinforcement from time to time!

OH and a quick reminder ...

Don't forget to CLICK HERE for the easy details 
on how you could win my BLOGAVERSARY CANDY!

I've added 4 additional items (will add photos to the original post).

A White Christmas & Musical Note Cards

Happy Weekend my friends!

Today I'd like to share with you the card I made for the current challenge at Joan's Gardens.  I'm headed out to Joan's Gardens in Indiana next week for a workshop and I am SO EXCITED to see Joan and the other ladies again!  I always have such a fabulous time and learn some awesome new technique.  AND, of course I get to SHOP!!!  This week's challenge requirements are:

Challenge #30

• Make a Christmas Card
• Use all white 
• Use something from nature (deer, bear, bird etc)
• Use glitter or stickles

and here is my card creation:

Items used on this card are:

Paper:  White cs, White glossy paper

Accessories:  Cuttlebug Snowflake ef, Cuttlebug Swirls ef, Spellbinder Fanciful Holiday Shapeability die, PoppyStamps Picket Fence #837 die, Stickles (green, red, diamond, crystal), Pop Dots

Other challenges this card qualifies for are:

Chocolate, Coffee & Cards Challenge - Emboss (Wet or Dry)

Crafty Ann's Challenge - Christmas in August or Winter Olympics

Crazy Catz Weekly Challenge - Animals (reindeer)

The Poodles Parlour - Die Cuts

Stampin' for the Weekend - Monochromatic

Charisma Cardz - Monochromatic

* * * * *

Something else I've been playing with this week are Note Cards for my Mom's church organist/choir director Pam.  Pam asked me to make her some note cards using an old music book that she had acquired at a sale somewhere.  Here's a peek at the book ...

She wanted them to look 'aged' so after cutting the music sheets to size, I distressed the edges with my Zutter Distrezzz-it-all and sponged with Tim Holtz Tea Dye distress ink.

Here are a few of the completed 20 note cards.  I think they turned out pretty nice and perfect for a 'MUSICAL' person like Pam.  Just a little note about Pam ... she & my mother (age 82) have themselves a little duo called "Two P's in a Pod" (Pam & Pat).  Pam plays keyboard & my mother (Pat) sings.  They are booked all over the county at the nursing homes, senior citizen homes, etc. doing what my mother calls "Entertaining the 'old' folks" (remember she's 82 ... LOL).  How cool is that!

I hope you have enjoyed today post and have found a bit of inspiration along the way.  Wishing you a wonderful weekend ahead!  The temperatures here in Ohio are going to be in the mid 70s all week - AWESOME!  That means now I need to get outside and get some work done that was on hold during those upper 80s lower 90s days.  

Thanks for stopping by and please come back again soon!

Vintage Canvas Wall Hanging

This project has been sitting on my worktable (in pieces) for MONTHS!!  I finally decided I was going to quit 'thinking' about it and GET IT DONE!  It all started with this blank canvas . . .

I was visiting with my crafting friend, Lana (Blest With Stamps) and she was showing me how she had altered one of these canvas and I just had to give it a try.  Of course I wanted to do mine in a 'vintage' style and she introduced me to this adorable image by Sugar Nellie called 'Flora' (she's such an enabler) which would work perfectly to create a wall hanging for my vintage parlor!  

The items used to make this creation are as follows:
Paper:  White cs, Purely Pomegranate, Pear Pizazz, Mellow Moss and Paper Pizazz dp
Ink:  Versafine Black
Accessories:  Cheery Lynn Designs DL103 Italian Flourish doily die, Cheery Lynn Designs DL101 English Tea Party doily die, Cheery Lynn Designs B117 Fanciful Flourish die, Homemade flowers using a Spellbinders "Bitty Blossoms" dies, Butterfly was an RAK from Lana but came from Archivers, Kaiser pearls, Pearl Lace trim from Hobby Lobby, Prismacolor markers, pop dots, score pal, Webster Pages Bloomers silk flowers

A few challenges I'd like to share this creation with are:

Frilly and Funkie - Get Crafty with Canvas
It's All About the Vintage - Doilies
There's Magic in the Air with Paper Cupcakes - Doily
Addicted-to-Stamps - Pearls & Lace
Dream Valley Challenge - Die Cuts & Punches
Tammy's Scrapin Corner - Add some Flowers
The Outlaws Color Challenge - (must be a member to play)

Cards & More - Anything Goes
 City Crafter Challenge - Use fabric
Card Mania (new challenge blog) - Anything Goes

Art Impressions - Flowers
Delightful Challenges - Punches & Dies

I'm so glad I finally got around to putting this creation together and it looks fabulous hanging on the wall in my front parlor.  I hope you'll try something fun like this ... I know I didn't think I could created like this but I am having a fabulous time 'giving it a whirl'!
Well ... time for dinner!
Thanks so much for your visit and hope you're having a WONDERFUL day!

OH and a quick reminder ...

Don't forget to CLICK HERE for the easy details 
on how you could win my BLOGAVERSARY CANDY!

I've added 4 additional items just today (will add photos to the original post).