Happy anniversary

Celebrating a fall anniversary...or 2...actually 4 this month among my circle of family and friends!

Yes, this is virtually the same card as the 10/12 birthday card post.  I was on a roll, fell in love with it and kept on creating!

Decorative cardstock (base); kraft paper colored with Walnut Stain distress stain for the layer; mixed media cardstock for the top

Stamp Camp "Love" and Hero Arts heart (found in the Sunny Lower Case Letters set) in Ground Espresso archival ink on Recollections cork tape.  The edges were smudged with the same ink.

Washi tape gave me a an area to merge 3 of my favorite fall colors using a blending tool (Wild Honey, Ripe Persimmon and Fired Brick).

Sizzix Fall Foliage thinlits die (leaf) was cut from mixed media cardstock.  Before the die cut was popped out of the die I smeared Tree Branch archival ink onto the veins of the leaf.  I puddled Antique Linen, Vintage Photo and Forest Moss distress stains on my nonstick craft sheet, spritzed with water and drug the leaf through the mix.  I let them air dry so the color would be more dramatic.  CMS266 Newsprint & Type was stamped over the dry leaf using Ground Espresso archival ink.

Hint for the color-blending:  if you lightly go over the entire strip with the lightest color (presuming you are using the a range of similar colors) then any 'lines' will be kept to a bare minimum.  They really do gradiate nicely if you go in with a gentle touch.

Happy birthday

Celebrating a fall birthday with you!


Decorative cardstock (base); kraft paper colored with Brushed Corduroy distress stain for the layer; mixed media cardstock for the top

Stamp Camp "celebrate" in Ground Espresso archival ink on Recollections cork tape.  The edges were smudged with the same ink.

Washi tape gave me a an area to merge 3 of my favorite fall colors using a blending tool (Wild Honey, Ripe Persimmon and Fired Brick).

Sizzix Fall Foliage thinlits die (leaf) was cut from mixed media cardstock.  Before the die cut was popped out of the die I smeared Tree Branch archival ink onto the veins of the leaf.  I puddled Antique Linen, Vintage Photo and Forest Moss distress stains on my nonstick craft sheet, spritzed with water and drug the leaf through the mix.  I let them air dry so the color would be more dramatic.  CMS266 Newsprint & Type was stamped over the dry leaf using Ground Espresso archival ink.

Fall friends

Bazzill cardstock - orange, green

Ranger:  Distress watercolor cardstock; clear embossing ink; clear embossing powder; archival inks-coffee, tree branch; distress inks & markers-vintage photo, ground espresso, peeled paint, ripe persimmon, fired brick, wild honey

Stamp Camp - friends stamp

Sizzix:  Tattered Leaves Bigz die

Stampers Anonymous: CMS Falling Leaves 097

Simon Says Stamp: Abstract Triangles 101638

Recollections:  cork tape

This abstract triangles stamp was one of the Stamptember offerings on the Simon Says Stamp website this month and I fell in love with it immediately.  I can see lots of uses for it and numerous ways to color within the triangles.  On this occasion I puddled up fall colored distress inks, spritzed them water, then plopped the cardstock onto them carefully.  Heat set, replop as desired.  Using the markers I made some of the triangles more intense or changed their color entirely creating a new color.

Seasonal magnets

We get quite a few magnets in the mail, especially ones from credit card companies.  I decided to alter four of them to make a seasonal set of magnets.  While they won't hold much more than a single sheet of paper, I do like seeing them on my refrigerator or file drawers.

Sticky back canvas was applied to the front of the magnets (I tried gesso but it just wasn't covering well enough for me).  To seal the fabric and make the images stamp better I coated each with a layer of gesso. 

Ranger archival inks were used to stamp all the images.  The seasons are by Stamp Camp and the other images are Rubber Stamp Tapestry (Cherry Blossom SFL34068, Sand Dollar and Starfish Border AQU00003, Fall Leaves and Acorns SLE18008, Cardinal in Holly SLE18007).

I let them dry thoroughly overnight before spraying them with a Krylon matte sealer.  This way there should be no issue with fingerprints or sticky fingers.  (I know how it is at my house!)

Thank you

My sister and her family hosted Easter lunch, gave out lovely Martha Washington geraniums and her art teacher daughters taught us how to dye eggs the Ukranian way using bees wax to create designs before dipping the eggs in various dyes.  Needless to say, a paper 'thank you' is necessary!

Ingredients:  Bazzill card stocks; Ranger distress and archival inks; Stampers Anonymous CMS156 'thank you'; Stamp Camp 'Make A Tree Set' #SS014 & 'Hanging Stuff'' #SS204; Martha Stewart rabbit punch

This card also works for 'Throwback Thursday' because the Stamp Camp stamps are quite a few years old...but so much fun to use.

Day 7 - Tracing Images

This technique was a bit challenging.  I had to really search for an image that I thought would work.  I will definitely try this one again but use different colors.

Ingredients:  Stamp Camp S149, Ranger (Old Paper Distress Ink, Wild Honey/Barn Door Distress Markers), Sakura Black Glaze Gel Pen, JustRite Small Pre-inked Stamper, white card stock

Day 7 - Technique 2 - Online Card Classes

Tweet

How about a nice and simple stamped card that uses Ranger distress inks and Stamp Camp stamps (Make A Tree and Hanging Stuff)?  I haven't pulled these out in a l-o-n-g time and thought it was high time they met an ink pad again.

As luck would have it, my base card and the ribbon just happened to coordinate with my stamped image.  Serendipity!  Victorian Velvet distress paint covered the white bridal flowers perfectly and also worked with my color scheme.  The flower center is a yellow dot out of Claudine Hellmuth's pastel yellow paint.

I don't remember who makes the corner punch that I used on the white layer, sorry.

Fall into fall

Here in the U.S. the first day of fall was Saturday.  And a gorgeous day it was here in central Illinois.  Because of the drought and heat I doubt we'll have much of a show of color in our trees.  So I thought I'd make up for that with this entry for the challenge hosted by Frilly & Funkie.  They are offering a $25 gift certificate to their store as well as a chance to have your project named best in the competition.  The challenge closes Oct. 2 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Autumn is my favorite time of year...I love the color palette of browns, golds, oranges, greens and the dark reddish-purples.  I don't mind raking leaves but would prefer to scuffle through them on my morning walk.   Our flowers have pretty much gone to seed which make the birds very happy.

So, on with the show!  Up first is a completely (gasp!) naked 3" chip brush.  I found a 12 pack of them at the big box hardware store so I'm sure another one will show up every now and again.

Here's the back of the finished brush...you can see what happens when you cover it with Antique Linen distress crackle paint and a wash of watered down brown acrylic paint with a touch of Coffee archival ink rubbed along the edges.  It looks so old and beat up!

And here's the finished brush!  I really didn't know when to stop adding flowers and leaves.  A number of Kraft core'dinations strips were cut using Tim's Tattered Floral Garland and Autumn Gatherings alterations dies.  Before removing the die cuts from the strips I sanded them.  Saw that Tim had done that and I really like the effect; plus it's way easier than trying to do it on a fragile petal or leaf stem.

The petals were misted with water and formed with a ball roller or just my fingers.  Ditto for the leaves...floral and from the trees.  Some of them were smudged with distress inks.

The flower centers are small wood beads I colored with Ranger's archival inks in several colors.  Some took the color better than others but I guess that mimics nature.

I used some torn burlap around the top of the handle.  From it dangles a Maya Road canvas tag that I dipped in some distress stain and distress ink.  The word 'autumn' was stamped in Jet Black archival ink and is from Stamp Camp.  Mist, wad, heat.  Love it!

Perhaps I should add a pot or 2 of mums to my front stoop...the pumpkins, gourds and leaf garlands look kinda lonely without some flowers sporting their fall wardrobe.

Multi-masking

Have you checked out the weekly challenges over on the Simon Says Stamp and Show blog?  They're really fun!  This week they're into masking.  Well, I did more than just mask...I multi-masked!

Using Tim's Tattered Leaves die I created a mask of each leaf.  I laid down a light coat of Mustard Seed DI over the entire tag.  I positioned my leaves then stippled Wild Honey DI around them.  After repositioning them I stippled Rusty Hinge DI then did it again but used Barn Door DI.  There's a bit of Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo DIs around the edges of the tag.  I should have taken photos of each step so you could see the different layers.  Hindsight is always 20-20!

The background stamp is from Wendy's Artfully Noted set and was stamped in Coffee Archival Ink.  'Collections', from Collectible Art, was stamped in Black AI.  'Autumn' is by Stamp Camp and was also stamped in BkAI.

Wendy's leaf (Life and Art) was stamped in Olive Archival Ink on grungepaper and colored with Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge and Barn Door DIs and edged with Vintage Photo DI.  Mustard Seed, Dried Marmalade, and Worn Lipstick Distress Stickles were smeared over the respectively colored leaves.  Hey, Tim & Ranger, we sure could use Distress Stickles to match the last series of Distress Inks!!!!  These colors actually worked out well as they just gave a bit of color; the same colors might have been darker than I wanted.

I pen-stitched around the tag, added some fibers and a metal tag that I coated with the Black Paint Dabber then sanded it so you could see the words, 'Happy Fall Y'all'.  Even though we're currently in a very deep freeze I really needed to make something colorful and fall is my favorite time of year - so very colorful if Mother Nature is in a good mood.

Spooky is...

...ghosts, bats, blood, rats, tombstones, skeletons, haunted houses, and creepy trees.  Thanks to Tim's new holiday dies, Sizzix dies, Martha Stewart gravestone punch, shrink plastic and grunge paper I was able to come up with a suitable entry for this week's theme over on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Blog. 

There are so many layers of ink colors, crackle paints, and spray stone finishes on this it would take quite some time to list all the particulars.  The Sizzix bats are black shrink plastic - perfect size!  Don't know if you can see in the windows but the skeletons from Stamp Camp are having a party!  Wendy's spider is hanging in the long window keeping an eye on things. 

I punched out 6 gravestones from scrap cardstock, glued them together, then sprayed it with a stone Krylon spray.  Included with the punch was 3 stamps so I chose 'RIP', stamped it using black archival ink.  A bit of distressing ink around the edges creepens it up. 

You know all those little bits that fall out of the die from the fence?  Blacken the edges and they make the perfect size of layering pieces behind the fence and tree.  The whole piece is over 1/2" from front to back.

Isn't that mouse something?  He's from the dollar spot at Target; I just used a red Sharpie on his eyes.  Thanks to a friend's fantastic yard sale find, I had plenty of scrabble tiles to create the message.  And what do you think of the bloodied hand?  Found it at Dollar General and it's very accurate, even down to the pores on the top of the hand.  I also got the foot - same accuracy to details.  Not sure when/where I'll use it but didn't want to pass up the opportunity to add it to my Halloween stash.

Halloween is but a few days away...trick or treat, smell my feet...give me something good to eat!

Love is in the air

for special friends celebrating their wedding anniversary. Don't you just love the soft color families of sage and plum? Paired with white they just ooze romance to me. All stamps by Hero Arts except for the sentiment and that's by Stamp Camp. Don't remember which Cuttlebug folder I used, any floral will do.