Oldie Moldie Monday

I have lots of eyelets so I am on a mission to use them up.  I have been using them on ATC cards.  I have a long ways to go.

Here are two ATC's I made.  I grabbed some pieces of background paper I had made for the base of the ATC's.  I believe both were made with Twinkling H2O's.

This ATC also uses a very old stamp.  The stamp really works great for an ATC.  It is the perfect size.  Two eyelets used.  Five circles colored with acrylic paint with glossy accents over the top and two eyelets - an uneven number.  I love that little circle stamp from Judith.  It is great for mixed media items.

This is a new stamp from Studio 490 and it has a coordinating stencil with it.  There are two sized flowers.  The sentiment is from a Unity Stamp Set.  You will note that 5 eyelets were used on this ATC.  I added Faber Castell Bead Glitter gel on the flower and then put glossy accents on the flower and leaves.

Be prepared for more eyelets.  I think it will become my new signature item until I use up the approximately 5000 I have.

Show some love for your old supplies.

Unity Monthly Challenge

I am slow at getting to the monthly challenges.  Here I am skidding in under the wire.  Yesterday and today.  Here is the challenge for the month at Unity Stamps.

I decided to do the card sketch for today's post.  I enjoy how they say "loosely follow the sketch".  I am pretty loosey goosey sometimes with following sketches.

I have been trying to get some Christmas cards made (I even finished the inside of this one).  I also know who I am sending it too.  The snowman is an itty bitty.  The sentiment came in a grab bag from Unity.  The paper is the new winter collection from Doodlebug.  I am a sucker for teal and purple.  Favorite colors in my design palate.

Oldie Moldie Monday, Unity Stamps and SRM Stickers

Boom - they all collide and out of the dust comes a little fall canvas.  It is a very whimsical canvas because there are no leaves - just dots of paper to give the allusion of leaves.  That is why I say it is whimsical.

It is oldie moldie because the canvas is a $1 canvas that had an image on it for kids to paint.  I always picked them up because hey - it was a cheap 5 x 5 canvas.  I have had the stamp for awhile.  The SRM Sticker has been hanging out in my crafting area for a couple years.  You get so many stickers on a sheet it is hard to use them all up.

I covered the canvas with a page from a dictionary.  I used gel medium to adhere it to the canvas.  I then applied a layer of gesso.  I stamped the tree with VersaMark and used brown embossing powder.  The background was painted with distress paints.  The sentiment strip was painted with three colors of distress ink.

I am going to enter this into the monthly challenge at Unity Stamps.  You have a choice:  a picture to inspire your color selection or a sketch.  I chose the colors. I used different pieces of paper to coordinate with the colors in the inspiration picture.  I get so much use out of my little hand punch.

I am also entering it into the SRM Monthly challenge.  This time my project is inspired by the picture in the challenge.  The colors and the leaves.  (I used whimsical leaves.)

I am also going to enter this in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge which is "falling love with...".  I really am falling in love with mixed media.  I guess I just like to get my hands all goopy but I sure am having lots of fun.

It was kinda fun for me to be able to actually have my oldie moldie Monday creation work itself into a couple challenges.

Enjoy your Monday.  One day closer to the week end.

Friday - Friends With Flair

It is Friday - time to share a card made with a Unity Stamp on Friend's with Flair - if you have been stopping by lately you will kinda remember that I have used this stamp on two other cards.  I was busy stamping one day.  It is such a beautiful stamp.

As you can see I cut a narrow card base and have let the image overlap the top by a good inch.  (Yes the back of the image is neat also.  I added some embossing and a some patterned paper.  A friend gifted me some hand dyed seam tape.  It was the perfect color for this card.

Thanks for stopping by - I promise - next week I will use a different stamp for my card.  I do have another Christmas card made.  Yeah me.

Friends With Flair and Mixed Media

It is Friday - and I always try to use some Unity Stamps on Friday to share in their Friends With Flair challenge/share.

I have had this little project in my head for awhile.  I am going to make these for 4 very special women in my life.  They are my Ya Ya's.  We lost one of our Ya Ya's to breast cancer several years ago so it makes them even more special to me.  We kinda like to have a drink or two once in awhile so that is why this is so fun.  Plus one of our Ya Ya's winters in the Keys and several of us have visited her there.

 
This is a set that Unity made exclusively for Archiver's.  We use to have a store in Madison and I do miss being able to have paper therapy when I go to see my Mom.  Now I get paper therapy when I go to see my daughter in the Milwaukee area.  I even have a step out for you today on how I made the project.

The 4 x 4 canvas is covered with a page from an old dictionary.  I apply the dictionary page to the canvas with gel medium.

I then paint over the canvas with gesso.

I had bought a new pad of paper and it had some blue patterned paper in it.  It was basically blue on blue - a very subtle design.  I was hoping to achieve this same look with acrylic paint and then using different stencils and varying shades of blue paint and gelatos.

I did achieve the look I wanted.  It is amazing how the same color on top of the same color but in a slightly different shade can make such a subtle background.  

I then stamped my Santa on more pieces of gessoed dictionary pages.

I colored the Santas with various gelatos, Big Pens and anything else that helped me get the look I wanted.  Santa is dressed in some wackier colors but hey he is having his afternoon toddy.

Ok now I stopped taking pictures.  I am working on trying to do a complete tutorial so you will have to picture the steps in your head.  I stamped the sentiment.  I could not get the 5:00 to turn out so I decided to just write it on the paper myself.  I adhered the image and sentiment with gel medium.  I carefully added gel medium over the top of the entire project to protect it.  I added a few snowflake rub ons and flourishes.  I use to  hoard rub ons so mixed media is a great way to use them.  I added texture paste down at the bottom to make it look like a snowbank.  I also rubbed Stickles over the top to give it some sparkle.  Swiped some gesso around the edges and called it completed.

If you notice, I flipped my canvas again.  The triangles were supposed to be on the left side well they are on the top in the finished project.

I am also placing this on the Monday challenge on Simon Says Stamp which is to use stencils.

I really like how it turned out and I know my Ya Ya's will enjoy it also.

Happy Friday.

Another Friday - Another Friends With Flair

Friday - the most glorious day of the work week.  It is also Friends With Flair on the Unity Blog.  I am trying to use my Unity Stamps each week - so why - am I using the same stamp that I used last week.  Well I stamped it three times - so be prepared - there will be another card coming.  Last week's card was the more traditional color range of brown, red and green.  Today we have green, pinkish and white.  I even used the same basic layout for both cards.

The green paper and pink paper are from the new Lawn Fawn Collection.  The plaid is from last year's collection from some company (I am too lazy to go look).  The image is pop dotted.

I am also going to enter it into the weekly challenge at Addicted to Stamps where the challenge is holiday.  Yesterday was Thanksgiving and today is Christmas.

So what color will next week's card be?

Have a good Friday and a good week end.

Friday - Time to Challenge Yourself

It is Friday - time to use one of my Unity Stamps and share on Friends With Flair.  It seems I am on a "make Christmas cards" kick.  If you look at last week's post, you will see that I used the same paper for this week's card.  The paper just goes so well with the dark brown embossing powder.

The image was done with Zing dark brown embossing powder.  I colored the tree with some distress paints just to add a little color to the image.  I then layered multiple layers of patterned paper.  Thus my other two challenges.

Addicted to Stamps - Make Your Mark - I colored my tree with distress paints

Virginia's View Challenge - Patterned Paper - lots of patterned paper on this card  The paper is from Simple Stories.

As I was putting my card together this week, I realized I had forgotten to add the beige pindots to my card from last week.  No wonder I kept looking at it wondering what it was missing.  The piece of paper came in handy this week and I made sure to put it on the card.

I must tell you (a peak into next week) that the card will be the same image only stamped in white embossing color.  I am contemplating what wacky colors I can use on it.  Any suggestions.

Enjoy your Friday - I have some fun planned for the week end so my card making will be a little limited plus next week I am staying with my grand dogs for a couple days.  I wonder what mischief we can get into.

Friday With Unity

Yeah it is Friday - time to play with your Unity Stamps for Friends With Flair.

It is time to start working on my holiday cards.  Living in the state of Wisconsin - deer hunting is quite popular so this card would be very popular with many friends.  I used a sentiment from the paper pad.

Happy Friday.  Why are short weeks so long?

Friday - More Unity Stamps

Friday - the day I try to share a card I made using a Unity stamp or stamps - the Unity Blog has Friends With Flair on Friday - so I try to play along.  I think it is safe to post my daughter's birthday card here - I would be very surprised if she ever looked at my blog.  Plus she is away for a wedding this week end.

the card is larger than an A2.  This is wonderful paper and had the patterned paper with the little bikes on it so it was perfect to use for this card.  The paper is by Basic Grey.  The stamps are by Unity.  (insert smile here).

I am also going to place it in the Anything Goes challenge on the Wednesday Simon Says Stamp challenge blog.  

A long week end - I took today off to try and accomplish some things around the house.  Enjoy your day and week end.

Another Friday Unity Creation and Mixed Media Mojo Tag

It is Friday - time for Friends with Flair on the Unity Blog.  I used a couple stamps from Unity.  The poppy image and the sentiment.  I used bright colors - they should make you "feel the joy".

The tag was cut by hand using a pattern from the Silhouette.  It is multi media paper with magazine page on top of it.  The two were adhered together with gel medium.  The magazine page was covered with gesso - I tried to achieve an ombre look with yellow, orange and red gelatos.  The image was stamped in Versamark and white embossing powder was used.  The same was done with the sentiment.  Some embossing paste was put through a stencil at the top of the tag.  I used another stencil to add some white squares with a Big Pen.  I used the end of a pen to add some pink dots to a couple places on the tag.  The bottom fringe is a piece of dictionary page that was gessoed and colored with gelatos.  I then pleated it and added to the bottom of the tag.  When I added this to the tag - it took an angle.  I added a layer of cord which was the perfect colors and then pop dotted the sentiment above the cord.  So the bottom elements are not straight but I think that is OK - I had better think - it is OK since I really can't do anything about it at this point.

I am entering this into the monthly challenge at Mixed Media Mojo where the challenge is to make a tag.

I am not sure what I will do with the tag.  It may go on a card.

Have a good Friday.

Friday - Time to Play With Unity Stamps

On Friday I try to post a card using some of my Unity Stamps an share it on Friends with Flair.  I am trying to use more of my Unity stamps but what do I do - but grab a stamp I have used before.

I decided I wanted to do a mixed media card - I love to play and get messy.

I am actually planning ahead - my youngest daughter celebrates her wedding anniversary in late September.  Don't you love those falling hearts that are really leaves.  It will probably gag Carrie - oh well.  The focal point of the card is a book page adhered to a piece of multi media paper with gel medium.  Gesso was added over the top.  The blue and green were gelatos.  The green did have other inks added to get a little more variation in the green grass.  The tree was heat embossed and it was colored in with distress paints and a Faber Castell Big Pen.  I added some embossing paste dots around the card.  The edges of all the papers were distressed.  I also wiped paint across some of the bottom mat which had been sanded also.  The sentiment and image are pop dotted.

I am also entering this card in to the Monday Challenge at Simon Says Stamp.  The challenge is Scratched Up.  Distressing, rubbing paint and ink over the paper, sanding paper - I think I nailed Scratched Up.

I also found another Mixed Media Challenge Site - Mixed Media and Watercolor - seem to be the hot picks in the world of card making right now.  Their monthly challenge is to use Stencils and Pastes.  I used a stencil  and embossing paste for my dots on the front of my card.

After I took the picture I did add glossy accents to all the hearts.

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your Friday and week end.

Friday - Time to Play With My Unity Stamps

It is Friday - time for Friends With Flair on the Unity Blog.  Time to show some love to my box of Unity stamps.

I have been wanting to use this shape on my Silhouette to make a shaped sewing card.  In days gone by - many many moons ago - I sewed - I sewed well - I worked over ten years in a fabric store.  I still love fabric but now - when I look at fabric sometimes - I think - this would make beautiful paper.  This cute stamp set from Unity was a great addition to the spool shaped card.  I decided to use a sentiment from the paper pad from We R Memory Keepers instead of using one of the sentiments from the stamp set.  This pad of paper is all sewing and artistic themed and has such beautiful colors in it.  I used the Martha Stewart button punch.  Some stitch stickers from SRM added the finishing touch to the card.

I am also entering this card in Virginia's View Challenge.  I have been wanting to participate in one of her challenges but time has not allowed it.  Today I accomplished it.  Her current challenge is for a shaped card.

Busy week end - I hope to make some cards on Sunday but who knows.  At least I will have to make my Oldie Moldie Monday cards.  Enjoy your week end.

Vacation Over - Time to Make a Card

I was on vacation.  I did get in some play time on vacation.  I visited one of my dear friends who has moved to South Carolina on a beautiful lake to live out their retirement.  Beautiful home, beautiful location, beautiful friends.  I am looking forward to when I retire to go spend some time with them in the winter months to escape the winter cold.

On Friday's I like to use my Unity Stamps and play in their Friday Challenge - Friends With Flair.  I have used this stamp before but he is cute - maybe next week I will try to use another stamp.  Although I do have this same card in my head in a different paper grouping - blues and kraft - so you never know what will happen.  I guess you will have to stop by next Friday to see what I did.

I based the card on the current sketch at Deconstructed Sketches.  A nice sketch - lots of layers.  I used a muted color palette for my card - it is a new pad I got from Heidi Swapp.

The card will go in my Operation Write Home box.  It is a card that can be used throughout the Winter months because it is not holiday specific.

The current challenge at Addicted to Stamps Challenge Blog - Anything Goes.  Love those challenges.

Two days of work and then I have the week end to catch up on rest and things.  Enjoy your Friday.

Friday - Unity Stamps and Friends With Flair

It is Friday and on my continued quest to use some of my supplies - I try to use my Unity Stamps because they have Friends with Flair on Fridays.  Last week I did not get anything made - I was helping a friend alter a skirt.  My sewing skills are very rusty.

This little doggie was cut out and waiting for me to make a card last week so this week he gets to be front and center on a card.  I love this doggie.  He is so sweet and there is so much you could do with him.  I chose to stamp him on pattern paper and cut him out and put him on my die cut circles.  I used a little off center balancing on my card.  Maybe I have invented a new design word.  Hmmmmmm.

All this paper (except maybe the paper I stamped the dog on) are oldie moldies so I could have posted on Monday.  Some even came out of the scrap bin.  Always good to use some of your older supplies.  This card will go in my Operation Write Home box.  It will bring many smiles.  This is one of the things that inspires me to make cards for Operation Write Home - the smiles - I smile when I make the card - hopefully the OWH shipper smiles when she packs the card to go overseas.  The Hero who picks out the card to send home is smiling and you can imagine the smiles the recipient has when they receive a card from their Hero.

Have a wonderful Friday.  I have the day off so I need to accomplish some things and now I have accomplished one of the first things on my list.  Don't tell anyone I also watched two craft videos.

Unity Monthly Challenge

Well here I come - sliding in at the last minutes, brakes on, gravel flying - phew I made it.  Only a few pieces of paper ruined.

I had forgotten about the monthly challenge from Unity.  I have been trying to use a Unity stamp once a week - so I had one sitting on my design table to be used.  Here is their monthly challenge.

I chose to do the sketch.  The colors would have been great to do with watercolor.  I had a snowman card out so we have a snowy card.  I did lots of paper piecing on my snowman.  I did stamp a couple extra hearts to put on the card also.  The sentiment was too long so I cut it apart.  He is a happy little snowman.

Thanks for stopping by.

A New Challenge to Try - "The Challenge"

As I was out cruising the net I found a new challenge site called appropriately "The Challenge".  It looks like their challenges are two part - you can choose or or the other or combine them.  I chose to just do the sketch this week.  I tend to shy away from doing color challenges.  Here is the sketch for this week.

Every Friday I try to use stamps from Unity.  I have an entire box full so I need to start using them so I have set a personal challenge to myself to use my Unity Stamps.  They also have a challenge on Friday where you post what you have made.  You get lovely feedback from the group for your creation.

I had already stamped my images when I found this sketch and I thought I could use my little clipboard could work - I am taking creative license with the sketch - as I always do.

The paper is from American Crafts.  I had the paperclip in my collection of stuff.  Do you have a collection of stuff?

This card will go in my next Operation Write Home box.

Happy 4th of July.

Friday With Unity and Addicted to CAS

I am trying to use my Unity stamps on Friday.  Hopefully I can keep this up.  I do pretty good with my Oldie Moldie Monday posts - I hardly miss a Monday using my old supplies.

When I saw the challenge at Addicted to CAS - Sun; I remembered a Unity stamp I had and that began the creative journey to make these two cards.

In my head the bottom card was going to be fantastic but I never could get it to fantastic.  I had this wonderful background paper I had made in yellows and oranges.  I really have no idea how I made it since it has been hanging out for awhile.

Both cards will go in my next Operation Write Home box.

Enjoy your Friday.

Friday With Unity

I am trying to use some of my supplies.  I have a box of Unity Stamps and I want to start using them.  Hard to believe but it is time to start thinking about winter/holiday cards for Operation Write Home.  Penguins are always popular and this sentiment makes it possible to use the card all winter.

The paper is from Bo Bunny.

Hope you enjoyed my use of my Unity Stamps.

You Color My World with Unity Stamps

I have set a goal to make some cards with my Unity Stamps each week.  I have a few and need to use them.  On Friday you can share what you made on Facebook.  I broke out the paint can and sentiment.  I made three cards.  The second card was the second card I made.  The first card was this same design but needed a little tweaking.  So the second card is the tweaked version.

After I made these two cards I had some paper leftover so I used it to make the first card.  I think it is my favorite.  Backing two of the pieces with black just makes the design pop.

All three cards will go into my next Operation Write Home box.

Enjoy your Friday.

More Watercolor

Here is another watercolor card I made in the online watercolor card class.  As you can see, I did enjoy this class.  In this class you used a design to paint your image.  I cut this flower shape with my Silhouette.  I then laid the design over my watercolor paper - taped it down - and painted inside the cut out shapes.  After you have the initial shape painted you can remove your cut design.  I think I colored it with gelatos and some watercolor pencils layering color upon color.  After I liked the design, I then added some color around the design.  I colored a strip of watercolor paper and also another piece where I stamped my sentiment.  The sentiment was from Unity Stamps.

I added the dots but I didn't really like them but they were stuck so there was no turning back.  In retrospect I think I would have liked to have done some splatters.  I matted the image in dark grey (my new black) - I wanted something dark on the card to pick up the black ink in the sentiment.

I still have more backgrounds made so there will be more cards coming soon.