I wish...

that this project hadn't taken as long as it did! I had the idea for days but then couldn't decide on a color. Then I had too many flowers, leaves, etc. but couldn't figure out what to keep and what to save for another project. Changed out the inside piece colors, background stamps and sentiment everal times. Went vertical instead of horizontal. For a 3"x4" piece this took way too long to come together - IMHO.

The ivory moire place card frames I found on clearance in the bridal section at Michaels. The inside oval ring? It fit PERFECTLY as is...from an old box of 1700+ shapes by Nicole Crafts I got years ago at A.C. Moore. But I did change it from bright blue to blue-green by adding brown distress ink over it.

All the stamps are Wendy Vecchi's, the Elegant Flourish (used only part of the larger one) and the Tattered Flowers (2 smaller sizes) are Tim Holtz Alterations by Sizzix. The corner frame is Tim's from the Idea-ology line. All inks by Ranger (who else??) The fern punch is Martha's, the shiny buttons all started out clear (flower center, 3 flat leaves). I cut off their shanks and colored them with alcohol inks.

See that larger flower in the lower left corner? If you cut it up like the Tim/Wendy rose you get the middle flower on the bottom. You can stack the left and middle flowers (bottom) and get a really full rose. Unfortunately that one overpowered the piece. I know I have an even number of flowers - a decorating no-no but I think it's okay on this project. Not really noticeable from a design standpoint. All in all it turned out to be a rather decent project IMO.

Embossable You

Finally got a chance just to play in my stamp room! Made some artsy stuff but I can't show that to you yet. But here's something fun I did.

There's been plenty of talk of people creating their own embossing folders. But what do you call it if it's not a folder? I glued down some cardstock shapes (I purchased a very long time ago) onto a piece of cardstock. I chose to make my samples (multi-colored pieces) A2 size so I could completely fill a cardfront with my chosen design. On the sample I did lightly rub an ink pad over the embossed parts so you could see how they turned out. Cool, huh?

Just think of all the designs you can create with the punches you have on hand. But I have one warning to issue. You must make sure there is NO adhesive (or anything else you don't want embossed) showing because it WILL show up when you emboss. I did try chipboard letters but in the Wizard it kept tearing the paper. I think I'll try it without a 2nd hard pad (white or blue) to see if I can still achieve the look I'm wanting. I'm thinking a person's name embossed on a card would be cool!

You don't have to get inky to make art!

Distressed watercolors

I love Ranger's Distress Inks so much that I even watercolor with them. The image is stamped with Ranger Archival Black ink onto watercolor paper. It's easy to use the ink pads for watercoloring. I just smush a corner of the pad onto my craft sheet and use a wet paint brush (or water brush) to apply the colors. The image and blue layer were cut from a Spellbinders die. Subtle texture is added to the far right side with a Cuttlebug border embossing folder; the straight border line I created on my Scor-It. The rabbit's tail looks flat but I don't have anything dimensional on hand. Whatever I do I'll have to do times 18 because that's how many I made. The computer-generated sentiment is 'You...turn my world upside down!' Happy spring!

Inspired by the book

I'm really enjoying Tim Holtz' new book 'Compendium of Curiosities'. I didn't think I needed it since I can access his Ranger videos and have the tutorials for all his Christmas tags. However, the book also has info on all his Idea-ology products and how he goes about making a project. I certainly didn't need another 'here, make my project' book. The photos are truly awesome! I've even caught myself seeing if a clamp or pin is real or part of the photo. The book lays flat, the info is concise and written so a newbie or an advanced artist can follow and learn.

I was sitting at my desk poring over the book (again) trying to decide which tutorial to try first. The water stamping one caught my eye since it was completely new to me. I used Tim's flourish for the background water stamping and overstamped with his child and dog stamp. Even though the sentiment isn't Tim's it certainly fits this stamp. I'm always needing a card like this; don't always need it to be a get well card. This works perfectly for my needs. Since the back of my tag was so messy with distress inks I adhered the tag to coordinating cardstock so I could write my message.

Fun, simple and to the point!

With love - blog inspiration

On the EWV Yahoo group a challenge was issued to find a piece of Wendy's art from her newest book or a blog entry from this year and let it inspire you to create something of your own. Well, my book hasn't arrived so I scrolled through her blog looking for that certain something that would call my name. I thought I found it but then I didn't. I think I ended up using several that got my creative juices flowing - finally. One of those entries was from 2/11. I love the scalloped stitching on the bottom of the tag, 'with love' and the heart. So, here's my rendition using what I know of Wendy.

The Maya Road ribbon and yo-yo are a perfect match to Victorian Velvet DI. I found the Bazzill paper (2 colors went well with VV and the green worked well with Bundled Sage and Forest Moss). I already had the Sizzix leafy vines cut out (sorry, Wendy!). I shaded the edges with BS and FM and curled the leaves for dimension. VV on the heart, distressed the edges then added Tea Dye to the edges for aging. Hero Arts pearls are on top.

The art chick was stamped on another tag with Coffee Archival ink. A bit of Vintage Photo DI frames her face. I don't have small Fantastix sticks for coloring so I took a fine (dry) paint brush and lightly touched it to the BS pad to color her eye. I don't normally wear lipstick so I find adding it to faces hard for me to do. I have lots of ideas as to where this lady is going from here. I see some career and holiday options - kind of like all the Barbies.

I inked Wendy's stripes with white, heat set. The tag was smushed into BS, VV and TD that was on my craft sheet, lightly spritzed with Heirloom Gold PP & water. Keep it up until you find the look you want. Love this easy way to make your background!

Several layers of Bazzil, aged and distressed, are on top of the brown polka dot layer. Kraft photo corners were also aged, Tim's Idea-ology corner frames finish off the piece. All this was mounted on chipboard for sturdiness. I even created an easel leg so it could stand up as if in a proper frame. Don't know if you can tell but I added some shims between the corner frames and the base layer to add more depth. Some of the layers and elements have foam tape behind them for elevation.

Another long-winded explanation. Sigh.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

You don't have to be Irish to celebrate the wearing of the green. After all, you celebrate Halloween and you're not a pumpkin. (Sigh) I can't take any credit for that line; I saw it on the Gingerwood Bulletin Board a few weeks ago.

Whipped this card up yesterday-nothing like the last minute. The white layer features the Wisped Frames technique from the latest Technique Junkies newlsetter. The dancers and sentiment are by Art Impressions. The green layer has one of Wendy's new background stamps (love that plaid!) stamped in gold. A few brads and gold photo corners and I'm done...and satisfied with the square (a first for me!) card.

I've donned my green and am awaiting the smells of my corned beef to waft back to my stamp room. Can't wait for dinner!!!

Thespian flowers

I don't like to give flowers to thespians as they are standing in receiving lines after a performance. Where do they put them or how can they hold them while accepting words of praise, hugs, etc.? And they don't last long once they're home, providing they make it home, etc.

One of my nieces is performing the role of 'Ursula' in 'Bye, Bye Birdie' this weekend and she's also the student director. Great performance last night to a full house! There's another show tonight and a matinee tomorrow.

The flowers and 3" circle - chipboard; gears - Sizzix Sizzlits die; leaf punch - Martha Stewart; fragment - Tim Holtz; sentiment - Another Stamp Company; background stamps (flowers and circle) - Wendy Vecchi. Glossy Accents (Ranger) cover the flowers. All inks - Ranger.