Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Revolvers and Pistolas...

A very good friend has penned a new book, 'Revolvers and Pistolas, Vaqueros and Caballeros'.  While it's a fairly dry read for me (I usually read murder mysteries), I did learn quite a bit about the debunking of the Old West and Mexico's role in establishing the United States as we know it. 

One interesting fact I uncovered was that the writer of the Zorro stories was from Illinois; Chillicothe and Ottawa, to be exact.  Both are within a 2 hour drive from me.  Who knew????  I certainly didn't.  I wonder if either town shares the knowledge with its residents?

I wanted to send the author my congrats on the book and let him know of the valuable lessons I learned.  Here's the card I sent.
The woodgrain embossing folder (brown Core'dinations cardstock) is from Tim Holtz's collection of designs.  The stamp in the lower left corner is by Stampin' Up (brown and black distress inks); the upper right one is by Sunday International (Jet Black Archival Ink, distress markers on watercolor paper).  I've had some gun brads in my embellishments drawer for ages; not many occasions arise for them but felt this was the perfect one.  A bit of brown twine was twisted to resemble a lariat.

Have you read a good book lately that made you think differently, or opened your eyes, about a subject?

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

My altered puzzle is nearly complete

We're on the 12th week of altering a puzzle piece; my theme is 'These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things' so it's been difficult choosing just one for each piece, let alone making sure I have stamps, stencils, and embellishments that support my choice.


Top: Hero Arts C2604 (Winter's Butterfly); Ranger archival inks (Cornflower Blue, Sky Blue); Picket Fence Distress Paint; Clear Rock Candy Distress Glitter; distress inks (blue, purple); Tsukineko Sheer Shimmer Spritz Frost;  Sizzix mini move & shaper snowflake; Stampers Anonymous snowflake stencil; white cardstock scraps, washi tape, foam dot, doily

Bottom:  Lasting Impressions with Panache stamps (Small Rooster 167-003G, text 176-001F); watercolor paper; vellum; Ranger (Jet Black Archival Ink, Superfine Black Detail Embossing Powder, distress inks, distress markers), foam dots

Next week altered pieces will complete the puzzle for many participants.  I will still have a remaining piece which I shall use for my theme title.  This has been a fun and unique challenge and one I can see doing again but perhaps I would use each piece to support one overall theme.  Something to think about!

Monday, July 20, 2015

Bird Crazy stamps and dies and Ranger's Collage Glue Stick tip

So, I got my coordinating dies today (Yay!  Thank you Ms. Alleystamp!) and was trying to figure out how I was going to keep all the dies straight without a lot of guesswork each time I used them.  I came up with this solution.  I used a colored Sharpie (red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple - just enough for the 6 crazy birds!) and scribbled a color around the edge (front and back of all the dies.  On the stamp I also scribbled some color to match the dies.  Now all I have to do is look for all the red scribbles to make the owl-ish looking bird, and so forth.

I also thought it would be fun to cut the overall bird out and use it as a stencil or mask, depending on my idea.  Since I coordinate my envelopes with the cards I make stamping just the silhouette could be fun and give the recipient a clue as to what's inside waiting for him/her.

Yesterday I posted a 'find' regarding the Ranger Collage Glue Stick.  You might not have seen it so I'll repeat it here.  I discovered that if you carefully smear it all over a card front (and don't have any lumps) when you apply the vellum overlay and use a roller to smooth it down, you won't see the adhesive!!!  On the back I went around only the edges with the glue stick and it was not easy to detect.  Yay!!!  I think I'll be using vellum a lot more, now.

Sunday, July 19, 2015

Faking it

Recently a challenge was issued on the Gingerwood bulletin board (must be a member to participate) to create a winter holiday card using non-holiday stamps or create a non-holiday card using winter holiday stamps.  I opted to create 3 holiday cards using non-holiday stamps.  There was an 'oops' moment when I created a fall card first but that happens.  Sigh.

 
 

White card base, gold vellum, white card layer

Hickory Smoke Distress Ink on music background (CMS048 Festive Sounds); overstamp 'Christmas Carols' (CMS048 Festive Sounds) with gold pigment ink, heat set with gold embossing powder

The Fake Poinsettia features a starfish (CMS194 Nautical Blueprints) stamped numerous times using red ink on red mulberry paper.  It was stamped in green ink on green mulberry paper.  Using a roller ball I furled the petals and leaves.  From a tag used to create a yellow-y background I punched a snowflake 3 times and layered it with pop dots.

Yellow card base, black layer, white layer left over from a previous project

The arrows are actually Christmas trees from a Dylusions border stamp (Christmas Borders DYR 35824).  I painstakingly covered each star on top of each tree with paper tape and inked up the stamp using Snow Cap Pigment Ink.  The tape was removed quickly but carefully so I could stamp the image twice, in two directions.  The second stamping was a bit light so I went over it using a white Gelly Roll pen.


My fall card features a flower (Lower Case Art LCS019) that was stamped three times in orange ink on three scraps of orange cardstock.  The images were cut out and layered with foam tape.  The fake leaves are a small butterfly (CMS123 Attic Treasures) stamped twice on green cardstock and cut out.

The background is a floral filigree stamp (Botanical Art LCS037) that I colored with Peeled Paint and Brushed Corduroy Distress Markers, huffed, then stamped onto the white card base.  The images looked bolder than I wanted so I made an outside card using vellum.  And here's a neat find...I smeared Ranger's Glue Stick all over the card front in a thin layer...and it does NOT show through the vellum!!!  except for that small spot on the lower right..oops! because I got it too thick.  sigh. 

Using black permanent ink I stamped 'Happy Halloween' (Spooky Stuff CMS068) and the spider (Botanical Art LCS037).

I hope these samples encourage you to look at your stamps beyond their obvious intentions.

                   

Friday, July 17, 2015

Yellow Pig Day

What?  You didn't know today was Yellow Pig Day?  But the newspaper article I read said it was celebrated worldwide! 

Watercolor paper; Penny Black Pinky Pig stamp; Jet Black Archival Ink; miscellaneous cardstocks; Sizzix Handwritten Celebrate (660215) die; watercolor markers

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Celebrate summer

 
by taking a trip to the water's edge with me.
 
Stampers Anonymous Mariner stamp set; Sizzix (Waves Texture Fade, Celebrations Words: Script, mini bottle); Sarasota Stamps (sand); Copic Marker E31; Ranger (Jet Black Archival Ink, Pumice Stone, Abandoned Coral, Fossilized Amber distress inks, watercolor paper; Core-dinations blue, gray cardstock; plastic packaging 
 


Wednesday, July 15, 2015

America's big day

She turned 239 this year so I acknowledged her age on my version of Tim's July tag for 2015.

--#8 tag; foam tape; flag charm
--Idea-ology (Seasonal Paper Stash, Remnant Rubs-Numbers, Vial Labels, mini numeral, crinkle ribbon)
--Stampers Anonymous Mini Blueprints 4 (CMS154)
--Ranger (Jet Black Archival Ink, distress watercolor paper, distress markers, distress inks, Fossilized Amber distress paint)

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Week 11 - Altered Puzzle Pieces

Last challenge before some time off...need rejuvenation, room needs overhauling, etc.  You can see Christine's samples here.


I used archival inks and distress inks (including all the newest colors) to create my background color.  Hero Arts stamps (E3375 Fall Memories, LL762 Printer's Lowercase, LL761 Printer's Type); Stampers Anonymous stencils (Hearts THS017, Burlap THS007) and stencil (Falling Leaves CMS072); Spellbinders classic oval die (S4-110); Idea-ology (rub-ons); handheld punches (oval, 1/8" circle); misc. leaf punch; cardstock scraps; watercolor paper scraps

Already wondering just how much I'll really accomplish in my art room.  Hmmmmmm.....

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Fly away...butterfly

It's week 10 of the altered puzzle piece challenge.  Claudine joined 2 pieces to create one larger surface.

Ranger: archival inks (Pale Ochre, Tiger Lily, Orange Blossom, Jet Black, Leaf Green), Glossy Accents, Yellow Stickles; 3-D butterfly sticker (SpottedCanary.com); Hero Arts Graphic Squares E2470; Penny Black 2712...the butterfly; cardstock scraps, paper flowers