Color with embossing

 I have watched many videos on how to apply color to embossed paper. Now that I was actually ready to try it my brain was totally blank. This is why I can't say in whose video I saw this idea - and where to find it.

So,  I started with a white embossed paper, turned it over to the reverse, de-bossed side. As I had a monochrome result in my mind I went rough over the whole sheet with an ink cube. I wanted to catch the background, not the flowers per se, but it was a nice surprise that even the flowers took color.

Then I went over some parts that hadn't caught the first time. Lastly I took a finger dauber and filled in softly some of the de-bossed parts. I used Distress Oxides in Picked Raspberries and Ripe Persimmon.

A simple vellum tag holds the heat embossed greeting.

 

Entering this in these lovely challenges:

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Lots of texture

TioT: Emboss it! - I used dry and heat embossing here

Allsorts Challenge: Week 782 AG or a Blast from the past - I went with AG 

Creative Crafting Uncles: #53 Monochrom - I went with reds

Can You Handle The Pressure: AG wit a twist of fruits and veggies - I went with AG

Moonshadow

 This text stamp must be one of my oldest stamps, I must have bought it around 2007 when I started paper crafting. It is a poem,  but I have no idea if it is by somebody or whether they just made it up at the stamp company. (There is no maker on the wood block.) Yes! It is on a wooden block. I recently pulled out my box of wooden stamps - they are too easily forgotten.

I created the background using distress oxides and water, then stamping a bit of texture in form of hazy clouds. The moon phases were cut up from a gelli print.

Entering this into these great challenges that served as my muse:

Retro Rubber Challenge: #rrcb223 Winter blue ombré    

The Paper Players : #PP674 Sketch

 #woodblockwednesday: January challenge 

TioT: Add some text

Simon Says Wednesday challenge: AG

A Christmas song

Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer in the late 19th and early the 20th c. His symphonies are still played, but his Christmas song "Jo joutuu ilta" (translated into: Over hill and dale) remains less known. I managed to find a rather recent recording (here) of this beautiful but rather mournful song. This is as traditional Finnish style Christmas as it can get, a song about the darkness, snow and quietness, sung in a minor key.

That song was my starting point for this card, which I combined with some other ideas. The background is a gelli print with TH fir trees stencil. I also cut some fir trees from the same dark blue paper than my edging, and added golden stars. The name of the song is printed on a gold paper and used as text.

Entering this into challenges that inspired me in its creation:

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Trees

Cupcake Challenge: #583 Color inspiration Blue-White-Gold 

TioT: Traditional Christmas

Use Your Stuff: #480 Shine bright

TGIF: #448 Theme challenge

Thank you for your visit!

It's cold outside

 First snow arrived today - how beautiful. Of course it prompted me turn to some challenges for inspiration. I found a few, and as a result I am combining the winter theme with a wintry-christmassy critter.

The background has been run through my Sizzix with neat method that combines wax paper, an embossing folder and follows up with a hot iron and some colors. I am not sure from whom I learned about it, but it was on Youtube. The deer is stamped, the snowflakes and text have been die cut. I find a deer perfect for wintertime cards, it has that woodsy feel (unlike reindeer that dwells in the treeless Lapland).

 

I am entering my card into the following challenges:

TioT: Baby it's cold outside

Traumfabrik: #122 "Elliot the little reindeer" Anything that is Christmassy or wintry and features a reindeer or a stag - I chose a deer

Stamping Sensations: Get ready for Christmas My text reads "Merry Christmas"

As You Like It: Favorite Christmas critter (and why?)  I chose a deer for reasons above

Use Your Stuff: #479 Winter or snow

Autumn

Autumn is all about produce. I love roaming through fields and forests and amidst the brown leaves and bare branches there is a red highlight: the rosehips. I was overjoyed to find this stamp, a recent PaperArtsy release.

I started with a misty, layered background. I used two stencils, and colored the card in with Victorian Velvet and Pumice Stone DO's using copious amounts of water.

I colored the berries in with watersoluble crayons and added some washi and light stamping for added 'noise'. 

Entering it into these lovely challenges:

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Stencil Fun

TioT: Autumn

Alphabet Challenge: N is for Nature

Thank you for your visit!

A "copperplate illustration"

 I  have wanted to make an old-fashioned botanical "copperplate illustration" for some time. I put it in quotes, because I am using stamps and not doing any copperplate or other drawing. That style just speaks to me.

There were a couple of challenges that I followed for guidance, mainly because copperplate botanicals are a vast subject and I have a vast amount of stamps. I also included a couple of printed papers in my composition. I stamped a nice selection of images and embossed all with clear embossing powder.

The finished card was kept to a tight color palette of olive and berry (with some variation). I looked for a way to include "a cluster of three" as prompted in one challenge. Can you spot it?

Entering in the challenges that made this stamped and collaged card happen:

Color Hues: #TCH#68 Olive and Berry 

Beautiful Blossoms Challenge: #9 AG flowers/ optional moodboard - I chose to go less tropical than the mood board

TioT: Pretty papers

Use Your Stuff: #489 A three item cluster

Festive Friday: Floral delights

Hmm - stars and stripes for Christmas?

 A couple of challenges gave me inspiration for this early Christmas card. I chose two embosing folders (but ended up using just the one with radiant stripes). The stripes are kept on the left half of paper, I found my inspiration for the layout in a challenge.

 I used Distress Oxides in two colors and added shine with Simon Hurley's Lunar Paste in gold ("Slippery when wet" is the name of the hue) and heat embossed the text with WOW golden shimmer embossing powder.

I am entering this into the challneges that I combined to achieve this look:

TioT: Use three colors

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Shimmer ans shine

Can You Handle the Pressure: AG with a twist of stars

Everybody Art Challenge: #540 Sketch - I turned it 90 degrees.

Double Trouble: #143 Christmas in July - I am entering with Thing 1, and 2.

Summer flowers for birthday

 Do you like plain paper or patterned paper for your projects? I would have answered this question with "plain", as I practically never buy patterned paper. Then I started my project and grabbed my favorite papers, made with gelli plate. I had to decide that they were not plain, not even those where I had used one color.  The color creates texture and thus a pattern, and I also use old books as a substrate.

Summer flowers are so pretty, especially those unassuming field flowers. I picked poppy, chicory and a simple nameless flower and stamped them onto some gelli prints, then  heat embossed them with a transparent embossing powder that gives the outline a nice shine.

The background papers are from my snippets box.
 

Entering in:

AsYouLikeIt Challenge: Favorite Patterned or Plain papers (and why) - it would be pattern, but one that I have created myself

Make My Monday: #204 Birthday 

Try It On Tuesday: Summer Blooms

Happy Little Stampers: July Birthday AG

SimonSays Wednesday Challenge: AG 

 

Thank you for stopping by!

Flying by to say ...

 A little bird flew by carrying a message: Trust in your abilities, have faith in yourself.

As always, I took inspiration from several challenges that play well together. The background is a dry pulled gelli print, the lower portion of which has been treated with an embossing folder for added interest. The bird is stamped, cut out and colored.

Entering it in:

Try it on Tuesday: Birds and/or feathers

Lost Coast: #169 Use some words  

Inkspirational: Emboss your background

Fab 'n Funky: #575 Use a sentiment

Wish upon a star -

 - now that would have been the perfect sentiment for this card. (I thought of it too late!)

I needed a card for a boy and was inspired by the sun-moon-stars idea. 

I cut blue cardstock to an arch shape and did some background enhancing with darker blues and black. The starry sky is through a stencil with Simon Hurley's gold paste; the moon, sun a a few stars were die cut from a gelliprinted paper and raised with foam squares.

Entering this in:

Global Design project #GDP396 CASE this design by Krista Frattin - I chose the sky/stars/moon

TioT: Make it Masculine

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Sun, moon, stars 

Allsorts Challenge: Week 731: Use a die

Groovy florals

 I am a sucker for 60's groovy colors and florals. I even have a few 60's fabrics that I use as curtains or tablespreads. So when Retro rubber announced their challenge I was over the moon.

I selected this large floral stamp that hasn't seen any love for a while. I bought it on a trip to Stockholm five-six years ago. I colored it in with Distress colors to get a watercolor look; Spiced Marmalade, Picked Raspberry, Dusty Concord and Frayed Burlap that has turned green in the bottle (so weird).

I was even able to achieve several more prints, each turning a bit paler. They will be great as backgrounds in future projects.

For the sentiment I wanted to stay in the groove (pardon the pun), so I dug out this old alphabet stamp. I have no idea who the maker is, I bought it when I first started and that was around 2007.

I used a fifth color, yellow, for the matting.

And this is the finished card:

 

I'd like to enter it into the following challenges:

Retro Rubber Challenge: #179 Groovy baby

Try it on Tuesday: Say it with flowers

Sweet Stamping Challenge: Use your older stash

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything goes

Cheerful flowers

 I had tremendous fun trying to bend my brain to use shapes, stamping and one color. I used paint chips for gradation of orange, the flower stamp is by Altenew, the sentiment from Glorous bouquet by Stampers Anonymous.

entering in:

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Bright and cheerful

TioT: Say it with flowers

Hand Stamped Sentiments: #385 

 Stamplorations: March theme challenge Shapes and stamps

Use your Stuff: One color

 

Double Trouble: #106 Less is More

My wish for you is...

 Today I took the mixed media approach to card making. Many challenges coincide again and I took cues from each one for this card.

Circles? You've got it. Lots of layers?  For sure. Stitching? Yes! A long sentiment? Absolutely. And a matching envelope? Oh yes, that too.

The background is a gelli print with circles. I piled on strips of paper in suitable colors, glued lightly and then  sewed them on. The butterflies are stamped on another gelli print, the pink die cut uses one, too.

The sentiment is nonsensical (and that's why I like it). It starts with a printed prompt "My wish for you is" - I finished it by "don't collect butterflies".  Somebody with oddball humor will appreciate it.

And finally the matching envelope:

Entering in:

Try it on Tuesday: Going round in circles

Let's Create Challenge: #175 AG/ opt. Lots of layers  

Lost Coast portal of creativity: #130 Sentiments in focus (at least five words)

Simon Says Monday challenge: Stitch it

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Card + matching envelope

(all photos can be clicked for a larger view)

Let it be autumn

 I just love it when challenges coincide and you can let your creativity be challenged twice or even three times in a single card. I call it serendipidity.

So this little card was inspired by all three challenges I am entering it into, one for autumn, one for suggesting to use picture of an animal with a tail and one challenging us to use book pages in your creation.

I make my gelli prints either on tissue or onto book pages, because the text showing through gives a nice additional texture. So I already had a nice stash. I am very much into die cutting at the moment, so that seemed like a natural way to go.

I have also been shopping on FB marketplace and there I recently found this cute stamp set by Rosie's Studio. I just love that little fox, all curled up and happily drowsy amongst the roses. 

I placed the fox sleeping under leaves, and some more leaves falling down on her.

 "Let fall come" seemed like an ideal sentiment for an autumnal card apropos of nothing.

Entering this in:

Try it on Tuesday: Use book pages

Everybody Art Challenge: #496 Herbst / Autumn

Double D Challenge: Anything with a tail

And because this is my first time using this stamp, I'm also entering it into the current #30 NBUS challenge

Some sparkle

 This card came together easily. I created the background with Distress inks and Oxides (chipped sapphire, prize ribbon, mowed lawn),

then stamped the giant poppy twice and colored it in with shimmer Gelatos. I cut the center out of the second poppy and sprayed it with Mica spray for added shimmer, then attached it with some foam tape. Lastly I dabbed some spots with glue and put sparkly blue flakes on them.

Entering in:

Try it on Tuesday: Summer Blooms

Allsorts Challenge: Week 637/8 Add some sparkle

Creative Artists: #74 Anything Mixed Media goes

NBUS Challenge: #29 August - this Poppy stamp by Stampendous arrived this morning.
 

 

Summer turning fall

 Sometimes you just feel like doing everything from scratch: the colored papers, drawing instead of stamping, fussy cutting instead of sizzixing... etc.

This card started with acrylic paints (an underused category of my crafting stash).

My initial idea was to match a color palette in the current 613Avenue challenge, this:

I doodled some shapes and cut them out. So far so good.

But my palette just didn't feel complete without green. (Sorry, you lovely folks at 613 Avenue, I tried! ) The green is a blend of several Distress oxides whose names I do not recall now. I then flicked black and white paint on everything.
 

I made the frame by cutting board with the help of scissor work, then I 'stitched' the edges by a rotary wheel of a sort (tracing wheel for home sewers). I popped a piece of vellum into the center and adhered a sentiment (7Arts Studio).

Entering this in:

Simon Says Wednesday challenge: Add a sentiment

Try it on Tuesday: Summer blooms - it's still summer although my colors remind of the nearing fall.

613 Avenue Challenge: #8 AG or the flavors of fall - I guess this falls into the AG section now...