charmed by distress oxides on glossy paper

Been creating but not posting lately. So I thought I'd pop in today to share  something I tried,  something I saw Tim H. do. Distress Oxides smooshed on glossy paper and then glazed with DIY Micro Glaze.

So in a nutshell, this is what I did. Smooshed DOs onto my craft sheet. Spritzed 'em. Smooshed photo paper (cheapo). Dried and smooshed and dried and smooshed. Liked the resulting uber-oxidized look, but decided to pounce on the glaze anyhoo, polish with an old rag and voila!

Altenew Charmed stamp

Altenew Super Script stamp

vellum

Distress Oxides - Fossilized Amber, Worn Lipstick, Salty Ocean

sewing machine

Stamped the blooms multiple times on the inked panel and added black to the centers with a Sharpie. I chose my colors, BTW, based on this month's inspiration challenge at Altenew.

On the second panel I created, I gave a new blooms stamp a test drive. Stamped with black Archival ink on these panels, BTW.

Prima Fresh Flowers 1 stamp

Papertrey Tiny Tags die

Altenew Charmed stamp

Distress Oxides - Fossilized Amber, Worn Lipstick, Salty Ocean

sewing machine 

Used the MISTI to assure lineup of the stamp on both the cut panels and the white card base. Added my sentiment on a tiny tag and attached that with white crochet thread across the top.

An interesting technique. Not sure of my verdict. Adding the glaze removes the whole "oxide" effect and turns the muted colors back into bright ones... And the glossy-ness of the glossy paper is still there which isn't always the prettiest, IMO. But it is a cool way to get a vibrant Distress Ink look on glossy paper. And smooshing, well smooshing is always fun, right ?!?

I'm joining these challenges:
The Flower Challenge - #18 Anything Goes
SSS - Happy National Craft Month
SSS - Wednesday Challenge Girl Power
Just Add Ink - Just Add Water

MMCC #24 - reminder

I've got a card for you today, inspired by the "Sunset" challenge still happening over at the MMCC. You still have time to play with us until the end of day June 25th.

Once again, I have a card using sunset colors.

Trimmed CS panel. Inked it with Wild Honey Distress Ink. Used a die cut of PTI Chevron plate as a stencil to ink with Spiced Marmelade. Applied Ripe Persimmon through Prima's Perforated Dot stencil. Spritzed with bronze Perfect Pearls mixture. Splattered with water. Applied Versafine through the Crafter's Workshop Henna Hand stencil. Die cut “u” (Lifestyle Crafts) from vellum and put the negative on my panel. Placed the Crafter's Workshop dot stencil over the negative and applied Versafine through both.. Die cut Sizzix “love” and adhered it. I just love me some graphic images!

A closeup so maybe you can catch the shimmer of the Perfect Pearls. I love that stuff.

So although I didn't actually use stamps, there's lotsa ink on my card as well as:
TEXTURE - die cut and shimmery surface
DIMENSION - die cut and the depth of the various inked layers
TECHNIQUE - die cutting and stencilling

Not sure this fits the bill due to that die cut sentiment, but I'm joining the "Stencil" fun over at One Layer Simplicity. Thanks for visiting!

prosit! - a set of wine bottle tags

Made a set of wine bottle tags for a friend who lives in our wine town. How often do we all take a bottle of wine with us when we're invited somewhere? It's pretty standard in these parts. I'm so glad I invested in the PTI Wine Bottle Tag die ;)

I chose a color palette of Pumice Stone, Dried Marigold, Bundled Sage and Scattered Straw thinking they go well with the colors of wine bottles around here - green, brown and clear with a green tint. I used - from left to right - MFT Fleur de Lis, Prima Flourish, STAMPlorations Leaf Prints and STAMPlorations Flower Burst stencils. The die cuts are from PTI Uncorked and Uncorked Words. They live at my house too ;)

I was inspired to give two techniques a try. First was from the queen of techniques, Jennifer M. It's called "faux dimension with stencils". SUCH fun and amazing results. Here's a great video.

And since I was using Papertrey product, I decided to work in MIM #252 where it's about adding shadowing to a die cut sentiment with Copics. I added a drop shadow to all of mine with a C3 gray. See it here? TIP: Choose a larger sized sentiment to make your drop shadowing easier!

I'm taking my tags to the the challenges at:
CASual Fridays - Florals (the yellow tag)

Happy Little Stampers - Anything goes with Dies

One-Layer Simplicity - Stencil Not sure if my die cut sentiments count as a layer or an embellishment. In any case, the Jennifer M. technique with a stencil is totally worth checking out!)

The yellow tag is my favorite. I think because of the stencil. Do you have a favorite?

it's over... the cas watercolor that is

Bringing up the rear are two birthday and one hello card. Sure hope my Mom likes my prolific creations...

Papertrey die meets Sweet Stamp Shop sentiment

Only Papertrey products

FYI, I agonized on this one. Add a tiny strip of black CS after the "Y" and off to the edge? Nope. Add skinny washi (yellow and turquoise) down to the "happy" and after the "Y"? Nope. A tad of B/W chevron washi somewhere??? Nope. Call me crazy.

And meet my favorite of the whole bunch...

QuicKutz die meets Prima sentiment

This little kitty from Prima Yuki (I don't even like cats - all they do is mess in my garden) just jumped out at me (OK, fell out of the cupboard) to perch on the U. How cute is that?!? Which almost sent me off to peruse other stamp sets for image/word combo stamps that could be used with die cuts. Almost.

Hooking up at:
Mod Squad - Use Water

Bright and Beautiful

#99 CAS

#53 watercolor

CASual Fridays 136

triple embossed (WW, CMBC)

Well I think it's here to stay. Embossing paste that is. Used to be we had two kinds of embossing - dry and heat.  (TANGENT: Did you see Tim H.'s wunnerful interview where he says embossing got him hooked on cardmaking. I paraphrase.) But I think now that embossing paste has come to town, let's call it three.

There's a "Stamps and Embossing" challenge during October over at STAMPlorations. I made another card using stamps and embossing. Triple embossing even. Can you spot all three?

The peach damask is white embossing paste colored with orange acrylic paint and applied through a stencil. The pink is dry embossed after swiping Spun Sugar Distress Ink onto white CS  and I fussy cut the heat embossed sentiments. Voila!

Since I missed WCMD on Saturday, I've been playing catchup. I'll have a couple more cards coming at you this week.

I'm hooking this card up at Cure for the Monday Blues #31 cuz I think the colors are appropriate and the textures remind me of the comforter and rug. But I've got a better one coming ;)

The colors are from Gayatri's challenge over at Winnie and Walter:

So much great inspiration out there after the WCMD weekend. Are you making cards? See you shortly.

Supplies:

Paper:  Bringmann

Stamps: STAMPlorations, Winnie and Walter

Ink : Versamark

Tools: stencil Prima, die MFT, embossing folder Lifestyle Crafts

Other: embossing paste, orange acrylic paint, gold spray ink Heidi Swapp

say cheese, darnell (SSS)

Image Source

So can you believe my luck? I was just passing by the playhouse when I heard these funny noises coming from within. Turns out Ms. Darnell of DJKardkreations was inside having a nap. Plum tuckered out she was from all the hopping around she and hammy had to do during her smashing-success-of-a-NBUS-challenge last month.

Well, I posted myself in the hydrangea bushes next to the patio, fighting off Hitler to claim the best lookout spot, and waited with my camera to catch a shot of the birthday girl when she awoke to the wafting aromas of coffee and ice cream and birthday cake frosting. Or giggles from the grandtwinks. Or wet doggie kisses from the granddog. Or cuz hammy had to pee.

Are you ready? Here she is in the midst of her beautiful flower garden...

Ms. Darnell ...(don't those words automatically bring one huge smile to your face, BTW?)... it's your birthday and you deserve one ginormous party attended by a gazillion of your blogland friends. I hope you enjoy your day and your new year. And thank you so very much for bringing joy to our days. Big hugs to you my dear friend.

Now get hopping. There's a linky party over at Ardyth's place where you can virtually deliver your card to Darnell. Let's make her day as great as she makes ours! I'm not a wagering woman (considering the win of the guy who bet on Suarez biting another player in the World Cup, maybe I should be) but I bet this will be one of the biggest linky party's blogland's ever seen ;)

Oh, and speaking of incredible odds... linking up to the Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge ;)

Supplies for enjoy your day:

Paper:  CS Bringmann

Stamps: image Prima, bow TAWS, sentiment PTI

Ink : Distress inks, Memento

Tools: corner rounder EKS

Other: waterbrush, ribbon, watered down gold paint

prologue to danke (STAMPlorations, SSS)

Yesterday I told you about how I was inspired by Joni A. and her way with cards.  And with this card in mind, I was going to heat emboss the damask pattern on the cardbase, then stencil it halfway up onto the focal panel too before adding the peony.  Or so I thought.

First mistake... I stencilled the Wild Honey onto the cardbase but forgot to apply embossing powder while it was damp.  And I was too scared to dab my Versamark ink pad over the inked areas for fear of contaminating it. Um.

So I figured I'd just leave it as is and attach the peony right to the cardbase.  Maybe not such a bad idea since the bloom is so huge.  Off to watercoloring it was.

Next mistake... I started with Festive Berries, then Picked Raspberry.  And then an hour later that bloom was just way too "in your face" and I wasn't happy with the stamens I had traced with a black marker OR with my shading.  TIP: When watercoloring, start with your lightest color and work up to the darker shade(s)!

So this was roughly what I had.

But didn't like. That's when these pieces got set off to the side and yesterday's card was born.  And since I forgot to wipe the Wild Honey off my stencil before starting with the blue on that card, I got yellow + blue = green.  Now you know what happened in that upper right corner of yesterday's card!  So back to this one... After wondering "what would Joni do?" (and I would love to know what Joni would have done at this stage)  I continued with this adventure.

Had two ideas.  First I thought about adding some blue to the base and adhering the bloom kinda vertically along the right edge, chopping off part of it. (Maybe I should have...) Then I decided to banish it to the inside, also chopped off.  Then I envisioned a window for some of it to peek through. And it became a Mother's Day card with a sentiment from Jane's Doodles Mother's Flowers.

Looking at that photo of the inside now, it could have been a typical Maria card front ;)  But I was pretending to be Joni, remember? So, out came some heat embossing and more distress inking, this time with Peacock Feathers.

I cut apart my STAMPlorations Mom Subway Art Builders #1 stamp and created the embossed BG before inking. Oh, and the window was born thanks to a Spellbinders Label One die.

Not earth shattering.  But not in the wastebasket either ;)

I'm playing at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where the theme is "Journey".  Cuz it certainly was a journey to arrive at this card.

Have a wonderful day, friends.  Thanks for coming by.

Supplies for mom:

Paper: Bringmann, watercolor (Target for kids)

Stamps: bloom Stampendous, Mom STAMPlorations, sentiment Jane's Doodles

Ink : Distress Ink, Versamark

Tools: stencil Prima, scissors, die Spellbinders

Other: white embossing powder, paintbrush, Sharpie

danke a la guess who? (STAMPlorations, RIC)

Sneaking in here with another twofer that I hope you'll enjoy.  Best things, first.

So I was catching up on some blogs and became enamoured with a certain someone out there (who I wouldn't be surprised to see as the next Papertrey gal).  Her work is gorgeous. She has a phenomenal way with color.  And photography.

This is a sneak of my card inspired by her. Can you guess who I'm talkin' about? Hint: she was a recent muse at CASE Study.

Back it up a bit.  Our challenge at STAMPlorations this month is Stamps and Technique.  I had made a card with heat embossing and distress inking.  Love that. Lots. So I was thinking about doing it again  and when I was devouring Joni's (did you guess right? Joni A. of Papell with Love) boldly-but-only-partially-inked backgrounds like on this card and then saw her use the Stampedous Jumbo Peony (NBUS in my stash) on this card I was off and running.

Well, with my first attempt I smashed into a brick wall.  But more on that tomorrow.

Watercolored another peony and this was born.

Heat embossed the bloom onto watercolor paper and watercolored with Distress Inks in Spun Sugar and Worn Lipstick. TIP:  Check out this fabulous video about watercoloring. Applied Distress Inks (Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Broken China and Peacock Feathers) through a Prima Damask stencil for the BG. My intent was to have the lighter green and blue up top and the darker tones down toward the bottom.  See the green-ish hues up on the right?  Should have been just light blue... you'll understand more when you've seen tomorrow's post ;)  Created a dymo label sentiment which I layered with some vellum before adhering it to the bloom which is popped up with foam adhesive.

Now it's a stretch, but I'm going to RIC # 57 with this since I was influenced by the colors although I did not end up going graphic with the BG.

Thanks for the inspiration, Joni! And to those of who who brightened my birthday celebration with your kind words and beautiful cards over on Shirley B.'s blog, DANKE!! This one's for you.

Supplies for danke:

Paper: Bringmann, watercolor (Target for kids)

Stamps: Stampendous

Ink : Distress Ink, Versamark

Tools: stencil Prima, scissors, dymo labelmaker

Other: white embossing powder, paintbrush

tag a la Teri A. (Ellen Hutson, CFC, PDC, Ribbon Girl)

I've really enjoyed the Feminine Twist on 12 Tags of Christmas over at Ellen Hutson's Classroom.  Here is my first take on Teri Anderson's tag for Day 6.

Heat embossed the trees and fussy cut.  Created snowy hills.  Distress Inked tag for a fun pinky sky.  Attached trees and knotted bows.  Heat embossed sentiment.  Added pearly accents to hills and the sky.  Used washi and a fun foam snowflake at the top.

Also playing at the Cafe:

And CASual Fridays:

And The Ribbon Girl - Ho Ho Ho December challenge.

Thanks for visiting.

Supplies for winter wonderland:

Paper: manila tag, scraps

Stamps: tree Bella Blvd,  sentiment Prima

Ink : Distress Ink, Versamark

Tools:

Other: embossing powder Zing, twine, washi, pearl glue pen, foam sticker

midnight blue friday (ATCAS, CFC, Caring Hearts)

No Black Friday for me, but here are two cards using some midnight blue.  Heat embossed the snowflakes onto CS and then die cut it, making two panels for the two cards.  At times like these I wish I had more PTI dies, but I made do with a Spellbinders shape.

I love how this sentiment seems to tuck right into the curve of the die cut piece.  As for the "curtain" of sheer ribbon scrap ... not sure what possessed me to put it there but I couldn't leave it off once I had considered it! Just a little touch of color with the red gem.

Here I used part of the negative die cut, a strip of PP and a strip of washi over it.  A little bow to bring out the green from the PP and a sentiment in gold.  Actually followed the Freshly Made Sketch #61 for this.  Really like the sketch - but I'm too late to the party.

Joining the parties at:
CASual Fridays #79 - Winter blues
Addicted to CAS #1 - Snow
Young Crafter's Unite #16 - Happy Holidays
And these are going to Vera Y.'s card drive, too.

To share with you my torn tree that was missing something.  He got some sequins.  Better now.

Thanks for visiting.

Supplies for Winter Wonders:

Paper: cardbase Papermania, CS ?

Stamps:   snowflakes Inkadinkado and Prima, sentiment Autumn Leaves

Ink : Versamark, Jenny Bowlin

Tools: die Spellbinders

Other: embossing powder Knorr Prandell, bling, ribbon

Supplies for merry and bright:

Paper: cardbase Buttinette, PP Penny Black, CS ?

Stamps:   snowflakes Inkadinkado and Prima, sentiment  WMS

Ink : Versamark

Tools: die Spellbinders

Other: twine, washi tape, embossing powder Knorr Prandell

CAS and fully loaded (Moxie Fab)

Hi followers.  Remember me?  Not surprised if the answer is no.  What started as a wonderful month-long vacation back in the good ol' USA continued into three more relaxing weeks of summer break back in Germany and then a couple more weeks of decluttering both my house and my brain.  And I ain't done yet.

Simplify.  My new word.

To make a long story short, I'm reading "Steve Jobs" and loving it.  What a stinker he could be, but what a genius!  Anyhoo, one of the company's first advertising slogans was a DaVinci quote

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

Wow.  How true.

As for my house, imagine you have two teenagers, boy and girl, and you've never gotten rid of their clothes.  Get the picture?  22 garbage bags full in my attic (the problem of having space).  Can you feel those 22 bags weighing on my shoulders?  That was my project last week - either find neighbors who would like things or give them away.  Simplify.

As for my brain, I've been all over the board as a cardmaker.  CAS or fully loaded shabby chic (not that I can really pull off either).   Can't seem to decide what I want to be when I grow up ;)  Which has also led to an accumulation of  stash.  As in piles of "maybe I'll need that scrap/TP roll/piece of cardboard one day" all over my laundry room.  Feel that on my shoulders too?

So.  It's pretty simple actually (no pun intended).  Ya know how you like a lot of cards you see out there in blogland.  But there are those precious few which you actually love.  They catch your eye when you glance over the InLinkz thumbnails - like, wow.  For me, it's the truly CAS beauties.  So now I know what I want to be when I grow up.  Clean and simple.  In my house and my cardmaking brain.  And I'm pretty certain it's gonna be quite a challenge.

And that wasn't very short either, was it?  Sorry.  Here's my CAS card for the Repetition challenge over at Moxie Fab.

Lotsa white space plus one of my fave techniques - heat embossing then distress inking.  Then punching.  Voila!

It's nice to be back.  Thanks for looking.  Happy Friday!

Supplies thanks again:

Paper: CS Neenah
Stamps:   CHF, Prima

Ink: Versamark, Distress Ink, Versafine

Tools: circle punch EKS, butterfly punch Martha Stewart

Other:  embossing powder, brad, scoring stylus

lace wedding (heat and dry embossing)

Yep, another silver and white wedding card.  Figured I could give my friend a couple to choose from.  And give the Moxie Fab challenges a go.  I actually love these Card Creation challenges - Damask, Lace, Gingham.  And Spatter.  Hmmm still no good idea for that one.

Anyway, here's my card.  This one's going to the Doilies and Lace Challenge.

Cut my front panel from CS, figured out where I wanted the dry embossed flutterbys to go and then where the die cut should be among them.  Die cut.  Dry embossed.  Then I figured out where the  lacy looking pattern needed to be on my card base in order to peek through the butterfly window.  Stamped and embossed.  (TIP: Better to stamp a bigger area than too small. Ask me how I know.)

I went with the beautiful "Love" sentiment and rounded it out with a pop of red heart and grounded it on a base of lace which I stitched on.  Adhered the panel with dimensional adhesive.

I'm wondering...  the wedding couple is German and Mexican, hope English is OK...
I sure love the Hero Arts wedding set CL360 - good for various styles.

Also going over to the "Punchy" challenge at CASual Fridays this week.



And to Jay Gee's Nook Challenge #19 cuz my choice of "Love" sentiment came right out of the inspiration pic.  Check out the owl on the chair.



Now I'm going out to plant some leaf lettuce in the garden.  Do you like to dig in the dirt too?

Supplies Love:

Paper: cardbase Buttinette, CS American Crafts
Stamps: lace Prima, sentiment Hero Arts
Ink: Versamark, black Versafine, red Versamagic
Tools: die Memory Box, embossing folder Craft Concepts, sewing machine
Other: embossing powder, lace

all we are is just a...nother... (ric#8)

Why, when looking at the inspiration photo at Runway Inspired Challenge #8, the first thing I notice would be the brick wall must have something to do with the fact that I recently purchased a brick wall stamp from Prima!

So many funky elements in this photo (is that snow on leaves?) but the next thing that grabbed me was the splattering of colors and shapes on the dress.  Whoa.

Came up with this.

This is a mini card 2 1/2 x 3 1/2.  Stamped the brick wall then the sentiment which I clear embossed.  Added the confetti then mounted the panel onto black CS.  Scored the fold and was about to cut the back to be the same size as the front when I decided to leave it wider and "continue" the flourish idea from the front panel.  Kinda like the lace on the dress.  So it actually became a 3 1/2 square card.

Also popping this over to the Moxie Fab World.  Just love the topic Cath shared recently - practical solutions for paper crafters.  Lots of fabulous ideas to check out if you haven't yet.

I have a jar filled with confetti.  I never throw my paper scraps away until I've punched the heck out of them :)  First with circle or heart punches.  Then those last tiny bits with my hole puncher.  For this card I just picked out the colors I needed.  Call me frugal practical.

Thanks for visiting today.  Hope your day is colorful.

Supplies lots of love:
Paper:  scraps, confetti

Stamps:Prima, sentiment Hero Arts, flourish Fancy Pants

Ink: Versafine

Tools:

Other:  clear embossing powder Ranger

happily ever after... in your new home (watercolor paper)

Here's another peek into my creative process.  Have these things laying around.  Recognize this item?

It's what's left of the sheet that peel-off postal stamps come on.  And of course I've saved a few thinking "I could do something with this."

Enter this photo in my Living & More magazine:

And my brain thinks "Hey, I could go with that for this week's Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab."



I needed a Congrats on your New Home card for my cousin.  Normally I would jump all over the polka dots in this trigger photo.  BTW, Retro Mama who made this piece has a fabby blog.  Great inspiration.  But I chose to take items of the trigger and go with an artistic card.

I had such fun with this card. How did I use the trigger?
green, blue sky, red roses, curtains like fabric, polka dots on the curtains, woodgrain table, twiggy tree like the delicate fence and an overall home-y feel

Used watercolor paper.  Marked off the area where my "window frame" would go and then painted the landscape with Distress Inks as watercolors.  Stamped the tree.  Applied the window frame.  Stamped, dry embossed and stitched on the vellum.  Scored some wainscoting and swiped some Antique Linen Distress Ink across the panel.

Since I have no furniture stamps (how perfect would one of those chair stamps I've seen in blogland have been) I had to build something.  My table was an hourglass stamp in its previous life.  Fussy cut it and added a tabletop.  Stamped and pencil  colored the roses but had to freehand my vase.  Painted it too with Broken China Distress Ink.  LOVE that color.

Decided to use this wedding sentiment.  Thought it was appropriate since my cousin found this beautiful, old house they will probably stay in for many years.  Thank goodness for the quality of Hero Arts stamps - they stamp beautifully.  Which is a darn good thing cuz you don't want to ruin your entire card with a half-stamped sentiment.  I'm good at that.

TIP:  I've cut clear stamp sentiments apart to be able to use the words more freely.  But another good idea is to put a piece of cellophane tape over the area you don't want to use, ink it up, remove the piece of tape and then stamp.

Thanks for visiting.

Supplies:  happily ever after
Paper: watercolor paper, CS Coredinations, vellum recycled envelope 
Stamps: brocade Prima, branch Inkadinkado, roses/sentiment Hero Arts, hourglass Limited Edition
Ink: Distress Inks, black Versafine
Tools:   sewing machine, scissors, scoreboard Martha Stewart
Other: embossing folder Cuttlebug