There's a Mouse in the House

Hey, it's the long weekend. Didn't the summer go by quickly? Autumn is in the air, here in Sarnia. Yesterday I was in long sleeves, and turned off the air. The day before was so hot and humid the air conditioning had to be on. Gotta love Canada's weather. What long weekend plans do you have? I'm going on three weeks vacation and there will be no internet connection. Are you kidding? How will I cope with no computer. Augh! No blogging, no reading my 50 blog subscriptions, no contact with family, friends, or viewers of my blog. Please don't leave me. I'm so worried that I'll be left in the dust because I can't blog.
This House Mouse image was sent to me as a virtual swap over at the Stamp-Shack. The task was to make a card and post it in the gallery. It is so neat to see what other cards are created with the same images. So far, I'm the only one to add real crayons to the card. This is the first virtual swap that I really, really wanted the stamp. How fun to add crayons to the card. It's perfect as a thank you card for a teacher, don't you think?

Enjoy your long weekend. Safe travels to those who are travelling.

RAK from Maria

Look what I got from Maria. Isn't this card gorgeous? It is so, so pretty, and must have been hard to part with. I almost left it in the plastic envie, and I am so glad I didn't; look at the inside.
The verse says, "Thanks for touching my life with your special friendship! Maria and I have become friends through blogging, and it is a friendship I treasure because Maria is such a sweetie. Maria has challenges every Tuesday, and I like to participate in them. Maria has been nominated for best hobby blog, so if you visit her blog, please scan along the right bar and cast your vote. Click here for her Card Inspired blog, and here for her Stamp'n Inspirations blog. You won't be disappointed.


Waterfall Card by a Jean

This wonderful waterfall card was made by Jean all the way from Australia. Jean is a frequent visitor and has tested out of my tutorials. She is such a wonderful person and has very creative cards on her blog. To see Jean's work click here.

Flap Fold

Good morning. Today's assortment is called the flap fold. True to their name, the front of the card is a flap. The card has a second opening, in behind the flap. This design is perfect for holding a gift card in behind the flap. These particular cards were made for one of my Christmas orders. Speaking of Christmas, did you see I have the countdown on my side bar? I thought it would be a reminder to us all to get those Christmas cards, and tags, made early.





Stamp: Doodle This
Image was gold embossed and coloured with Tombow markers. Stickles were added onto the petals. Flower is mounted with a brad. Some backgrounds were embossed with the cuttlebug.

Tutorial Tuesday - Alcohol Inks, Batik Mulberry Paper

As promised, here is part 2 of my alcohol ink tutorial. This technique calls for mulberry paper, but it does not have to be limited to just that type of paper; you can use homemade paper with skeleton leaves embedded right into the paper, as well as a variety of other papers. In today's tutorial I use white mulberry paper, but you can use pastel coloured paper. I am so lucky that Lasting Impressions, my local rubber stamp and scrapbook store, carries a huge selection of wonderful papers to experiment with. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment, and I will be happy to help you out.

SUPPLIES:
Mulberry, or handmade paper
Versamark ink pad
Clear embossing powder
Heat embosser
Stamps

Stamp image with Versamark and then coat with clear embossing powder.
Heat embossing powder, being careful not to singe mulberry paper.
Alcohol inks can be dripped into stamp pad lids, or a palatte.
Dampen mulberry paper with a spray mist, or lighly under tap.
Use a dampened sponge brush to transfer the alcohol ink onto the mulberry paper.
This technique is not limited to painting your ink onto your mulberry paper; you also drip it directly from the bottle.


Let your paper dry completely.
Place your mulberry paper between paper and iron to take off the shine of the clear embossing powder. It is important to use plain paper, and not newsprint, because the words will transfer from paper to mulberry paper. Iron should be on a heat setting without steam.


A sea of mulberry papers ready to be transformed into cards, tags, and other items.


When you are ready to create your card, glue the mulberry paper onto white cardstock. Using white cardstock will help to make a big impact in areas that do not have alcohol ink on it. Use a sponge brush and lightly cover your cardstock with white glue. Flatten out your mulberry paper as best as you can. A brayer is helpful in this process.


Here are two examples of how I used my mulberry paper.

Please let me know if you try this technique. I would love to post your cards on my blog. You can e-mail me your attachment, or leave a comment in this post, or the shaving cream post. Good luck!

Shaving Cream Technique

This is a very easy technique, and so fun. The name gives it away, "Shaving Cream Technique."





SUPPLIES:
Shallow palatte, or meat tray
Foam shaving cream
Alcohol Inks
Paper Towels (not in photo)
Straw or stir stick (not in photo)



Spray shaving cream on pallate



Using your straw, flatten the top of the shaving cream.



Randomly drip alcohol ink on top of the shaving cream.



Using your straw, make swirling motion so the ink is moved around.



This is how your palatte will look.



Take your paper and place it on top of the shaving cream.



This is how your paper will look.



Take a second sheet of paper and place it on top of your first paper.



Wipe shaving cream off your paper.

This is how your paper will look. Allow to dry completely. You are now ready to make your cards.



In this card the shaving cream technique was used as a background paper.

Here the image was stamped directly onto the shaving cream paper.

Autumn Gift Set

Good Monday morning. Did you have a nice weekend?

Autumn isn't far away. Why not celebrate the season with a gift basket for a friend.

My card and tag was made for Maria's weekly challenge. Her challenge was to make a card and matching tag.

I took the challenge a step further, and created an autumn gift basket by altering candles to match the card and tag.

The vibrant colours on the card and tag will be discussed in tomorrow's tutorial on alcohol inks, so get your mulberry paper, or coffee filters, ready, as well as your alcohol inks, clear embossing powder and Versamark.

Thanks for stopping

There's a Mouse in the House

There's a mouse in the house. Now if that isn't a catchy phrase. Thankfully these mice are loved by stampers.

If you look closely you will notice that these two cards use the same In-Colours, Groovy Guava, Blue Bayou, and Wild Wasabi. There are two brads on each card, albeit a different kind, and Riviting's "Wishing you the best." Ladybug ribbon purchased at my local scrapbook store, Lasting Impressions, matches so nice with these cute mice. Watercolour pencil crayons were used on these images.

I don't know about you, but I never make one card at a time. I make 2, 3, 4, 5, and even 10 cards at a time. Why? How else would I know what card would be the best one to post? I might not choose the right colour, the right embellishment, the right layout. Do you do the same? Let me know; I'd love to hear from you.



Look what my friend, Marja, sent me for my birthday. Marja is such a creative paper craft artist from Nederland. I strongly encourage you to check out her blog. Her commentary is not in English, but as they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words." Marja just celebrated her birthday too, so you might want to say happy birthday.

Red Hats

I'll bet that none of you would have guessed that I belong to the "Red Hat Society." What is it, you ask. Well, it is a very informal group that gets together once a month to participate in fun filled activities such as bowling, theatre, tea house dinners, etc. The only stipulation is that you have to wear a red hat and purple dress or clothes. If you are under 50, like me, you wear a pink hat and liliac clothes. Of course the more outrageous you dress, the better. These cards were made for my red hat girlfriends. Do any of you belong to a red hat group?

Stamp: Inky Antics. Image was watercoloured with Tombow markers and matted on black. Background purple was embossed with my Cuttle Bug and mounted on a second shade of purple. Rivit set was mounted on purple and then a pop dot was placed under the image. Ribbon was added.

TGIF

Woop, woop, it's Friday. Are you doing anything exciting this weekend? Since Donnie will be busy with his two boys, I decided tomorrow would be a good day to work in my studio and prepare for Tutorial Tuesday. I'm excited about trying out some new-to-me techniques for you. Now, shall I do bright and vibrant, or be more subtle? Hey, I have some more RAK's to share with you...



Cheri "Ctinyjoy" from the Stamp-Shack. The layout is very unique, and one that I'm going to have to CASE. The "happy" and "birthday" are mounted in a very unique way.



Amy (scraphappy908), also from the Stamp-Shack, sent me this yellow beauty. The main image was embossed in a Cuttlebug and tied in a ribbon.




As we say, on the Stamp-Shack message boards, "There's a bella in the house." Who isn't in love with bellas these days. This bathing bella was made by Barb (grammaStamper). Can you tell the word "beautiful" pops up off the card? Very nice indeed. You can visit Barb's blog here.

Pretty in Pink is the best way to describe Marilyn's card. Marilyn (aka Redhatmarilyn) is my friend from Ink Stains. What I love about this card is the way these two papers are cut on a diagonal. The top paper is pattern paper, and the bottom paper is stamped. Doesn't the stamped paper look fabulous?


Enjoy your weekend. Before you know it, summer will be done and school will be back in.

Artful Blogging

I'm just about to go into my studio to upload more RAK's I received, but before I do, I want to share with you my new purchase. Awesome, awesome magazine. It's one of the newest editions to the Stampington line. Believe it or not, it's sitting on the back seat of my van, waiting for me to go on vacation in a week. I can't wait to have my Tim Horton's coffee and magazine in hand, on my drive up to Tobermory. Anyone else have it? Let me know what you think of it--good and bad.

Random Thought

Okay, so my stamp room doesn't look like this one but my room is still my space. It's my space to keep as cluttered, or as neat, as I want. It's my space to think, to dream, to create. It's my space to book appointments, answer the phone, blog, surf, and eat. Why then, do us "smaller" artists--and yes, we are all artists, in one form or another--always call our rooms, the "craft" room, the "stamp" room, the "basement" or even the "scrapbooking room." When we read blogs, or interviews in a magazine, the "bigger" artists refer to their room as their "studio." So here this, from hereonin (or is it here on in?), I am referring to my "craft" room as my "studio." What are your thoughts on this? Oh, and by the way, I am really envious of this artist's studio. Isn't it gorgeous?

Christmas already?

Just playing around and getting some Christmas cards made. After embossing gold onto the red paper, I restamped the image onto beige paper with black ink, cut out the "sheet music" on this collage style stamp, and adhered it on top of the red. Ribbon was added.




Look what I had a friend make for me. This unit houses my supplies in a very neat and tidy way. What doesn't fit in here, gets stored in the basement in old kitchen cupboards filled with drawers.

Scrappy Diva Doodle tagged me. Isn't that blog name the coolest?


1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.
2. Players, you must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of their middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.
3. When you are tagged you need to write your own blog-post containing your own middle name game facts.
4. At the end of your blog-post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.


Right-handed
Over-weight
Silly
Eclectic

I am having a hard time deciding who to chose. If you're a scrapbooker, like me, take a peak at Scrappy Diva Doodle's blog.

Tutorial Tuesday

Today's tutorial is on alcohol inks. They are quite versatile and have many uses. Today's samples are an introduction to using the inks. Next Tuesday I will show you a few more wonderful ideas for using alcohol inks/reinkers.

Alcohol inks and reinkers are similar in nature. They contain the same type of ink, except alcohol inks have alcohol in them to speed up the drying time. Don't hesitate to use one or the other, or even both, types of inks together. My first sample uses Cool Carribbean on the background, and Pinata alcohol inks on the flowers. Two popular brands of alcohol ink are Adirondak and Pinata. If you like bright and vibrant, then Pinata is the way to go. If you like more subtle and colours close to what is in autumn leaves, then Adirondak is for you. I also use the two brands together, depending on the look I want.

Painting with your alcohol inks

Supplies
Watercolour paper
Waterproof black ink pad
Alcohol inks/Reinkers
Water held blending pens


Stamp image onto watercolour paper. Drip ink onto a palatte. Take your blending pen and place it into the ink, and then colour your image.
Cleaning your brush in between colours by wiping off old colour onto a scrap of paper or paper towel, colour your image with a second colour.
Continue painting until your image is complete.
In my example, I cut out the smaller flowers and placed pop dots behind the image and placed flowers randomly on card. Don't you just love the bright and vibrant results?






Direct to Paper

Supplies:
Alcohol inks (Pinata and/or Adirondak/Reinkers
Glossy paper
Felt pad with handle
Blending solution
Krylon gold leaf pen (optional)

Place alcohol ink drops randomly onto your felt. You can save money by using a cotton ball, but your results will not be the same as in these photos. Using blending solution, squeeze it onto your felt pad, being generous with the amount you place onto your pad.
Pounce your felt pad, randomly, onto glossy paper. Continue until your paper is filled. Don't reink, simply add more ink to your felt pad, and pull your felt pad from top to bottom, turn your paper, and repeat from top to bottom, to make a plaid design. Reink, add more blending solution, and turn your felt pad in a circular motion for circles. Felt pads do not have to be replaced with each 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 paper. I get approximately five to six sheets done with each felt pad I use. Many people use rubbing alcohol in place of blending solution. Again, your results will not be the same.
Samples showing this technique, using a variety of different colours.
Don't be afraid to experiment. Even I am surprised with each new paper I do. Why not make 20 samples at a time, to have on hand for use at a later time. Don't be afraid to use Pinata and Adirondak inks together. Some of my favourite backgrounds came from using the two brands together. To mix things up a bit, randomly place gold or copper Krylon pen ink on the same pad as your alcohol ink. You can make your own felt pad holder by taking an unused stamp apart, and placing a piece of velcro onto your wood. Possibilities are endless with these techniques.












Baby Wipe Technique

Supplies:
Baby wipes
Variety of alcohol inks
Place a baby wipe onto a palatte, and place drops of alcohol ink randomly on your paper towel.
Press your stamp onto the ink.


Today's tutorial showed you just a few examples of what can be done with alcohol inks/reinkers. Don't be afraid to play--results are stunning. Stay tuned for next Tuesday's tutorial where we will show you even more techniques. Results will amaze you.