Happy Mother's Day

Here is a card for all of you whether you are a mother or not.

The other day I posted watercolor cards and I wanted to do more, so I looked at a new set of flowers I received from Sparkle N Sprinkle and here is the result, using a water color technique. I stamped the image on watercolor paper, using a dye ink. Next, I used a watercolor brush and markers, and I watercolored the image. I actually did two different cards so, you get to choose your card for the day. Hope you have a great day.

Well that's it for now, thanks for stopping by, see you soon,

Barbara

Making Your Own Background Paper

I have been in a mode to clean out and "thin the herd" so to speak. In my endeavor to clean out and rearrange, I ran across a stamp that I love to use to make a great background sheet. So I made a few sheets of background and then made a card using a piece of that background paper.

I start out using white or cream CS. Next I ink up the stamp using a shadow ink from Memories, then I take a darker dye ink and run it along the edge of the stamp.(Sorry the Fresco pad is so grundgy looking, this is my go to green. Love the Fresco colors and there are 30 different colors in all and they all remind me of Tuscany) The stamp I use is from Hero Arts, 2005, so, it's not available anymore but I bet you have something similar in your stamp stash.

So, when you stamp your CS you will get a rectangle with a darker edge. Getting started, I start in the center of the CS and stamp.

Next I reink the stamp in the same manner, ink the rubber in a softer color and then ink the edge in a darker color of the same color family, turn the stamp in the opposite direction and overlap the new image onto the stamped image already on the CS. You want to continue in this manner til the CS is totally covered. I find that right angle stamped images look better than randomly stamped rectangles all over the paper. But, you may find that you like that look, so try it and see which you like better. Next, cut your paper into the background size that you need and you now have a great background piece in whatever color you need. You can stamp an image onto it or layer over it.

Here is the card I finished,using my own background paper. This really lends itself to so many possibilities, don't you think??

Well that is it for now, thanks for stopping by, see you soon,

Barbara

Is it an envelope??? (part 2)

Friday I posted a cute little box that I made from an envelope die cut that I own. Thought you would like to see how this is done. So here we go.

I started with 4 identical envelopes that I cut from an Accucut Die that I own.

Next, from only 2 of the envelopes, I cut off the sides that look like wings.(This particular die automatically punches holes in the top and bottom flap portion of the envelope.) I made the cut at the score line on the two sides.

From the remaining two envelopes, I left about 1/4" from the score line cutting off the rest.

So, now with the sides trimmed or cut off, this are what my pieces looked like.

On the two pieces that have a 1/4" left on the sides, I attached redline tape to the 1/4" tab, both sides, both pieces.

Next you will want to line up your pieces in an alternating fashion. Starting with a piece with a tabs then a piece with no tabs, etc. I removed the redline tape and attached each piece to the next piece at the score line until I had all 4 pieces attached to each other.

Finally to make the box shape. Fold at each of the score lines on the sides and attach that last tab to the side with no tab and your box has now taken its shape.

Finally, to finish the bottom, fold the flaps in at the score lines and add redline tape, this makes the bottom permanently closed. Since the envelope I am using has holes punched in the flaps I then cut a bottom using the same cardstock that matched the panels I added to the front to further finish off the bottom on the inside. However you can use cardstock to match the box if you prefer.

With the bottom completed, I wanted to change the top flaps, so I trimmed them down so they were about 1" from the score line. Next I took a border punch and punched the border on that smaller flap.

(I should have changed the top flaps before I attached the last flap to make the box shape, but you know, sometimes, we see other things to do after the project is almost done. At least I do. Now you know you may still be able to make the change to the top at this late stage in the process.)

The last two steps were to add a decorative panel to each of the 4 sides and add a handle. When I made the handle I used the border punch again and punched a strip and adhered it to the inside of the box and now you have a really cute box made from envelopes.

And who would have thought these panels started out as envelopes?????

(Sorry for the quality of all these photos.)

This box would be ideal for a treat box at a table for a kids party or for adults or whatever. If you leave the top tabs untrimmed you can fold those tabs, add a bow at the top and it will look nice for a beautiful gift inside. You know, part of the present is in the presentation.

Well that is it for now, thanks for stopping by, see you soon,

Barbara

Is it an envelope ?

I saw an interesting tutorial, using a die that normally makes an envelope. Using 4 envelopes you can end up making a box. Since I knew I had an envelope die I set off to try this. As luck would have it, my envelope die is way too big. So as I looked at all the dies I have, I ran across a smaller one and tried the technique. Here is the end result.

 After I made the box, I used patterned paper for the background panels and then added a stamped flower on each panel and to further enhance the box I added leaf ribbon. This will make a nice small gift box or a little treat box. I will post more info on how to make this cute box and include photos to show how easy it really is to do, on Sunday.

Tomorrow I will be getting ready for my brothers wedding so I will be to busy to post.

Well, that's it for now, thanks for stopping by, see you soon,

Barbara

Watercoloring

Monday evening I got together with a few friends and took a watercolor class. We used stamps from Art Impressions and we made 3 different scenes. Are you familiar with the Art Impressions watercolor technique? No? It is so easy, and they have a whole array of stamps that will allow you to stamp a scene and then you add a damp brush here and there and it appears that it has been watercolored. Not hard and so much fun.

Here are the 3 cards.

Well that's it for now, thanks for stopping by, see you soon,

Barbara

No Stamps - going "green" today

Have you ever gone thru your stuff that you have saved for eons and organized it?? Well I did that the other day and I decided that I would make a few cards that used things I already had on hand (for the most part).

The first card I made is using a part of a store bought card. I was given 2 pieces of a card front that were dry embossed flowers and leaves on white cardstock. The flowes just had a gold center part where the stamens would be.Well, I felt the images needed color, in fact, it screamed color me, color me, so I did. I colored the flowers pink and the leaves are now green. I used circles that I had made a while ago using a corner adorner. I did one in pink and one in white. They turned out really nice. The flowers are the ones that I received, however the image was too long to fit on this card so I cut it down. Now I get to use the images on more cards.The circle with Hello Friend is the center of the pink circle using the corner adorner. Finally that bow was utilizing just a small amount of pink ribbon I have had for a while.

Next I adorned a bag with a bag topper I made and added a paper flower to it to jazz it up. I added Sparkle N Sprinkle Majestic Purple glitter (G1005) to the edges and attached that to the bag topper.Since the bag started out white I felt it needed more color so I cut a coated piece of cardstock to fit the front of the bag and I applied alcohol ink to the cardstock. In fact I used the reinkers for Copic markers since they were more of a soft Easter color. I attached the cardstock to the bag with redline tape and put the bag topper over the handles and I am ready to give a gift for Easter, birthday or whatever the occasion happens to be.








Next I made a card that would go great with the gift bag. Now I don't know about you, but I have white paper on my work area that I stamp off onto, when I am stamping and want to test something. I used to throw that away but now I save it and used it on projects. Look at the paper behind the flourish and on the side of the card. I have had that for a while and I finally came up with a card to use it with. I also had a few ovals and so I used some of my Cuttlebug folders to add a design to the "eggs" . I lightly brushed the ink pad over the design to add color and added Sparkle N Sprinkle Glitter to the edge of one of the eggs. The swirl is from the Cricut and I just added some ribbon and the card is done.No stamped images as such, but reusing stuff on hand. That's a good thing.

Well that's it for now, thanks for stopping by, see you soon.

Barbara

....a poem as lovely as a tree (pt 2)

Friday I mentioned I had another card to post and show how it was made. It is a tree and I used the tree stamp from Great Impressions but in a different way. Most of the items I used will probably be in your stash. The tool called Inscriblio you may not have. It engraves and for the life of me I can't remember why I originally bought it. But I just had to have it. And then it sat unused for years. Then along came Spellbinder dies and I decided to engrave the set number on the back of the dies. I decided doing that would keep the correct die with its right family. 

Not too long ago, I saw a technique that called for acrylic sheets and an engraver and I immediately thought of the Inscriblio. So I brought it out and tried the technique out and I fell in love with the look. So I thought you might like it as well. This group of pic's just shows how to get the image onto the acrylic sheet. So here is the finished card:

Here are the products/tools I used:

Stamp - Great Impressions, adirondack acrylic paint - lettuce, Adirondack paint dabber -  pitch black, acrylic sheet - 10 mil, Inscriblio - EK Success.

First position the acrylic sheet over the stamp image and engrave the acrylic using the image as your guide. When complete your image should look like the index of the stamp.(Sorry for the glare on the etched image)

 

Next, apply the pitch black onto the etched image, and then rub off with a paper towel. Don't wait to long, you want the black paint to still be wet as you are wiping it off. After you have wiped off the paint, you will be left with an etched image of the tree with black paint in it. Looks great doesn't it!! Just like the stamp.

      

Next  turn the acrylic sheet over, you will be applying the lettuce colored acrylic paint on the non etched side of the acrylic sheet. I used a swirl motion to apply the acrylic paint and the thin tipped nozzle makes it easy to achieve the swirly look. Cover the whole tree area where the leaves would normally be.

   

Now set it aside to dry completely, about 30 minutes.

After it is dry you will want to trim your acrylic sheet down to the size needed for your project.

When I finished and prepared the sheet for my card,I actually used the side that shows the etched side up.This lets the tree trunk and branches show more, but the other side is nice as well. You be the judge.

This is the completed image with the etched side down.

This is the other side. The etched side up, I preferred this side but you may like the other side up better.

This is how I made the tree using an etching tool and some paints on acrylic sheets. Easy and fun to do.
 
 Well that is it for now, thanks for stopping by, see you soon.

Barbara
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Altered States of Mind Retreat

Altered States of Mind is a club that meets at the store once a month for about 2 hours. A few months ago we all decided to have a retreat and hold it at the store and be together from 9:00 a.m. til 5:00 p.m.The date agreed upon was Saturday Oct. 17.  Carla offered to teach us a few things and we took her up on her offer. It was decided that we would make altered dolls, a water color transfer, and wire beads. So we all brought in the raft of things needed for each of our "classes" and so began our altered day of fun.

 Below are the photos of my dolls. I will post more later on the watercolor transfer and the wire beads.

ALTERED DOLLS

We all started out with wood blocks. I brought in about a dozen that were about 2.5"X3.5" and about 1.5" thick. Another size which was more square and larger was also made available to anyone. I made 2 dolls and used the size mentioned above. We then took porceline dolls purchased at the dollar store, and totally disassembled them and used the limbs and the heads.(To me this seemed so sacrilegious at first, as a child I would never do this to my dolls.) But the end result is so cool. After some paint, doll parts and ribbon and effemera, here are the end results of my creations.  

   

Its amazing how doll parts and various other items can really transform a block of wood. The altered doll on the left still needs a few more things before she is complete and the angel on the right still needs a halo, but this gives you an idea as to what I was up to on Saturday.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you again soon,

Barbara
  
  
 

The Weekend at Stamplistic

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything but I have been really behind and I've been trying to get caught up. Here is the latest:

I had an opportunity to attend a class taught by Tim Holtz at Stamplistic, a rubber stamp store in Amherst Ohio. I received an invitation from Jennifer, the owner of Stamplistic, to come up.So I signed up for a class and went up for the weekend.

Day One

I left Ft. Mitchell, Friday morning and arrived at Stamplistic later that afternoon. Tim and his assistant, Mario, were already at the store for a meet & greet from 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. What a great event that was. The ladies came in and sat down right next to him while he demo'd some distress techniques. These ladies were thrilled. After the meet & greet, we all headed to Jennifer's lake house for a grill out. It was great. We all got to get to know Tim and Mario better and we sat outside around a firepit to keep warm. It was a tad cool up on the lake.

Day Two

Saturday was Sweetest Day and neither Tim nor Mario was not familiar with that holiday. Tim thought Jennifer made that one up, but he researched info online, he read the story, and gave us the background on this day of celebration. So for rest of the afternoon Tim kept calling it SWEETNESS DAY and we kept correcting him, too funny. For those of you not familiar with this day of celebration, click here to read the story of the origin of the holiday.

Saturday was also the first day of classes. I got to work the 1st class. Let me explain how that works, all the students are given a paddle with a number on it, similar to one used by bidders at an auction. Then, as Tim explains a product, if the student wants to purchase the item, they raise their paddle and I write down their number next to the product name on a sheet of paper. We take the info to the front and start to bag up their requests and by the end of the class their bags are full of their goodies. Pretty cool. Everyone loved the ease at which this worked. In the second class I was actually a student and it was a great class. We made Raku and fragments from clay and used a host of other items that Ranger makes and Tim explained a lot of the properties of the various items. The class was 3 hours and that went by fast. We had plenty of time for the class though, it's nice not being rushed. Another nice thing,you do not need to bring anything to his classes (not even adhesive - a little private joke on this one). After class I went to the front counter and assisted Mara, Stacy, Jennifer and Bev getting everyone checked out and helped in getting the next group of class participants checked in. It was so busy.It was fun and the time flew. After the last class I went to Jennifer's house and crashed.

Day Three:

Day Three was a repeat of day two, with some students returning for more classes and some students taking their first class from Tim at the store. My plan was to leave at noon however that didn't happen. The store was slammed with one class leaving and another class getting set up. I also had to say my goodbye's to everyone.

So after helping everyone I left at 1:30. What a great weekend.

See you next time and thanks for stopping by,

Barbara