guest designing at card concept 34

If you're looking for my post for Winnie & Walter's April/May release, please click here.

Are you up for another mixed media card for the gals over at The Card Concept? I've really enjoyed exercising my mixed media genes this month ;) Check out this sweet inspiration photo.

So what did I take away with me? A present, a tag, baker's twine, stripes, a rose hanging over the upper left corner of the photo... This is what I created.

No fully-loaded mixed media card this time, but rather a "cassy" one. CAS + messy = cassy.
I've still used mixed media - Glimmer Mist, watercolors, twinkling H2Os. And I've got techiques - dry embossing, heat embossing, watercoloring, splattering. And texture and dimension - dry embossing, heat embossing, twine, die and fussy cuts, and even a sentiment sticker.

Here's a closeup of the shimmer thanks to the turquoise Glimmer Mist splatters and the H2Os on the watercolored rose from STAMPlorations.

There were lots of lovely entries to the last challenge with its graphic photo. Hope to see just as many this time around too. Thanks for having me, Card Concept!

I'm joining in the Everything Goes challenge at Inspiration Journal and I'm hooking up to Simon Says Monday Challenge which is Anything Goes and also to the Wednesday Challenge where it's about Clean and Simple this week. I don't think it's written anywhere that mixed media cannot be CAS ;)

Thanks for looking.

guest designing at card concept 33

Happy Wednesday! I'm back with another mixed media card today, joining the lovely ladies at The Card Concept for challenge #33. Check out this inspiration photo. Makes my graphic-loving heart beat faster!

This photo totally "spoke" to me. How? Neutrals plus pink, geometric shapes, babies, textiles and two rubber duckies.

My card... gray/white with pops of pink; baby card; hexagons; a bunny rather than a rubber ducky; stitching and a pom pom in a nod to the textiles.

Wanna see how I created this mixed media card? Remember, mixed media simply means using various mediums, creating texture and dimension. I used inks, gesso and structure paste as mediums in addition to PP, vellum, washi, heat embossing and stitching for texture and dimension. Oh, and not to forget the little pom pom for the bunny's tail!

I started with a piece of recycled packaging trimmed to 10 x 15 cm. Applied some Worn Lipstick randomly. TIP:  odd numbers, especially "threes" are a great rule of thumb in design.

Then I added some "+" signs with a Glitz design stamp roller and Archival ink.

The next step was to glue down some hexagons I die cut from various PPs using a Sizzix Bigz die.

And then I covered 'em up with a layer of gesso!

Added three more hexagons on top of the gesso and highlighted them with some Picked Raspberry Distress ink.

Stamped a moon and some stars in gray with Imaginisce Baby Animals. Then I applied some structure paste through a Dylusions Leter Jumble stencil, again randomly in three areas. As you can see from the die cuts laying on the right, I was thinking of stringing various items across the card front on a piece of twine. But then I decided to use the negative of the vellum bunny die cut and that's how my final card was born!

More than one medium? Yep. Distress inks, Hero Arts shadow ink (gray), gesso, structure paste.

Texture? Yep. Die cuts, structure paste, washi.

Dimension? Yep. Raised sentiment label. Pom pom. And the panel is partially attached to my cardbase, with adhesive and stitching along the top edge only.

Hope you enjoyed all the photos. I certainly enjoyed guest designing for The Card Concept. I hope you will use the gorgeous inspiration photo to create a card. How about trying mixed media?

I'm joining Virginia's Layers and Dimension challenge. You may not see all the layers at first glance, but they are definitely there!

And I'm hooking up at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Middle. I don't often, but this time I put my focal image and sentiment in the middle of the card.

Appreciate your visit. I hope you enjoyed this mixed media card.

guest designing at card concept 32

Lucky me, joining the lovely and incredibly talented ladies at The Card Concept this month. And getting to play around in the Mixed Media category too!

If the inspiration photo for challenge #32 doesn't make you happy, don't know what will. For me, it evokes feelings of summer. Those blooms. The Ball jar. I can just feel the breeze coming in through an open window...

So how did I approach this Mixed Media-wise? Well wanting to use multiple mediums and techniques to create texture and dimension, first I stamped my card front with Stampendous Floral Tapestry. Then I watercolored a couple blooms with orange. (And later, cuz I'd forgotten it, a couple leaves with green. Consider that my pint. As in, gallon-quart-pint, remember that?)

Then I dabbed orange acrylic paint through a Craft Emotions Folklore Flowers stencil. BTW, anyone know a trick to get the dried paint off the stencil??? I waited too long and soap and water aren't working and the design is very delicate so I can't really scrub it!

Next I applied gesso over the front. Twice. I was going for a floral-wallpaper-in-Grandma's-house feel and I knew I needed it subdued in the center where my focal image was going to be...

Enter focal image. A NBUS Tim Holtz Bell Jar die. But first I applied alcohol inks to acetate - I forgot to snap the photo before I die cut so just placed them back into the remnants to show you. Die cut the bottoms from woodgrain PP.

So in case you didn't notice first time around, go back and check out the sweet cupcakes surreptitiously posing in the background of the inspiration photo... I had originally planned to house a nice big sentiment under the bell jar, but then STAMPlorations Sketched Cupcake came to mind and...

I heat embossed the image on white CS and turned it into a chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting! Fussy cut it and adhered it to my card.  Popped the bell jar base up on foam adhesive, capturing the bottom edge of the acetate too. Created a tiny tag punched with a border punch to mimic a doily and stamped the sentiment onto it before attaching it to the acetate with twine. I used a bit more foam adhesive on the back of the tag to hold the tag in place and attach the top portion of acetate.

TIP: Adhering acetate with dimensional adhesive allows it to really add some WOW to your card but visible adhesive is a problem. Hide it behind other card elements!

Thanks mucho for coming by today. I'm so happy I could share my Mixed Media project with you.  Can't wait to share my next guest designer project with you on April 15th.  I hope you'll peruse the Card Concept DT's works of art. Don't you love to learn more about card styles with every new challenge?

If you stop by later today, I'll be sharing another Mixed Media project - more flowers...

I'm hooking this card up over at A Sprinkle of Imagination (I've used Sailboat Blue and Stream Alcohol inks) where it's an Anything Goes this time around. And I'm joining the fabulous fun at Darnell's NBUS #4 too.

ETA: Have you seen Virginia's new challenge? #14 Layers and Dimension. I'm in.

return of the wonky cake

Wanted to share a card with you, very similar to this one. Seems to be the year for DD's friends to be hitting the magical sweet 16.

Stuck with the pink and orange color combo, multi-inking the STAMPlorations Birthday Cake stamp for the BG. Heat embossed the sentiments (Technique Tuesday and the numerals from We R Memory Keepers) on pink CS.

Added a layer of vellum and some sequins strung on metallic gold thread too.

Playing at:
A Blog named Hero where it's Bright and Bold  this time around.

The Card Concept #31 where it's about (cup)cakes! I've created a freestyle collage design.

Seize the Birthday where the focus is on the sentiment.

I'm pretty much over jet lag and can see the pinnacle of Mt. Laundry on my laundry/craft room floor (our washing machine went kaputt while I was in Michigan!) so I'm hoping the creative juices will get to flowing normally soon. Thanks for coming by today.

FYI, Here's the view that greeted me at 6 a.m. on my first day at my parents'. Whether reflecting off open water or jagged pieces of ice, the morning sun creates diamonds on the lake...

krafty Christmas part 2

Finally got my package off to Vera Y. for the Caring Hearts card drive. Do you know about it? Handmade cards to be distributed to people in nursing homes. I spent a lot of time in one when I was a kid, visiting my Grandma. Lotsa residents don't get many visitors. It must be rough at the holidays. If you live in the US or Canada you can probably still get your cards in before the deadline on November 28!

I played along with the Curtain Call challenge.

Here is one card.

Here is the whole family. So easy using the SSS Layered Tree which I die cut from five PPs, then assembled mixing and matching. Added a sentiment from STAMPlorations (sponsoring the Curtain Call challenge) Joyful and some twine.

I'm in trouble if the recipients can read German. The old book page is from some ten cent book about why women want to get married and men don't!

These krafty cards with tags are going to The Card Concept #23

krafty Christmas part 1

I was totally inspired by the color schemes over at Make the Day Special recently.

Pulled out Paper Smooches Winter Groves, Warm Hearts and Christmas Sampler stamp sets and my Avery Elle Word Fill in the Blank and this is what happened.

First off, same design using the first and second color schemes.

Added the red glitter die cut letters to the sentiment and a silver shimmer star to the top of this one.

And some embossing paste stencilled Falling Snow to this one. So I'm hooking up at a new-to-me challenge (it's already #7) at Stempelkueche.

Next up, a card design using the first and third color schemes.

The first colored with markers, the second with colored pencils. Nothing fancy but a nod to the trend of grouping illustrated images.

I'm playing at:
AEIU challenge #18

The Card Concept #23

Thanks for looking. Enjoy your weekend wherever you may be. Sunday is Turkey Day in our neck of the woods. We'll be eating leftovers when you are eating your bird. Guten Appetit!

16 to go (card concept, make the day special, sprinkle of imagination, KIS)

I'm gettin' there. Only 16 more invites to make for our "161" party. And before you raise your eyebrows on this one... may I remind you that our last name is Fischer...

Ready for card #1? I started with the sketch at Make the Day Special challenge #3.

And because the challenge requires you to use stamps from a company the store carries (they carry all the good ones!) I started thinking about which stamps I could use. Because I was also challenging myself to create a nautical card for the challenge #12 at The Card Concept and the June challenge at A Sprinkle of Imagination

the little fishies from Fish More from WPlus9 sprang to mind . It's one of those never-thought-I-would-have-needed-but-love-to-use-it sets. Still remember our last name?... and this card was spawned (tee hee hee). I'm callin' this one Clean and Layered. Sorta.

I even used the dots from WPlus9's Fresh Cut Florals (I've yet to make a flower card with that thought-I-had-to-have-it-cuz-everyone-else-has-it set) to make some bubbles in the Distress Inked water. The images are heat embossed with glitter embossing powder. They look like real fish reflecting the sun. Cool! Took some artistic license with the banner/sentiment part of the sketch as I am restricted to using my Dieversions "party" die cut. Does it remind you of a life preserver? It should ;))

Which brings us to card #2. I'm callin' this one Clean and Simple. Actually this beaut by Julie E. brings us to card #2. Enter a white die cut. Which needs to rest upon something. Enter the life preserver. Floating in the ocean. Nuff said.

Hooking up at Keep it Simple - Splatters. Got the water spots on the first and the watercolor splatters on the second card.

Are you getting sick of me and this die cut yet? I had my moments today. But maybe that's because I made four more cards. Come back tomorrow to see 'em. Hint: Shirley B. made me do it...

And while I toil away at invitations, DD is baking a batch of these every day in an attempt to create the perfect macaroon.

Supplies for #1:

Paper:  CS Bringmann

Stamps: WPlus9 

Ink : Distress inks, Versamark

Tools: die Dieversions

Other: glitter embossing powder, crochet thread

Supplies for #2:

Paper:  CS Bringmann

Stamps:  

Ink : Distress inks

Tools: die Dieversions, circle dies MFT

Other: waterbrush