Technique Tuesday -- Watercolor and Cling Wrap

It is time for the Sparkle N Sprinkle technique Tuesday! When I saw this technique I just couldn't wait to try it! As you can see, once I started I couldn't stop.  I made three cards with these backgrounds! Each background ends up with it's own unique pattern.

Supplies:

1. heavy weight watercolor paper 140lb.
2. watercolor paint -- I used tubes of watercolor paint
3. water spritzer
4. cling wrap
5. paint brush
6. water in a dish to clean brush

First tear off some cling wrap, crinkle it up long ways and keep nearby. Spritz your watercolor paper with water and swipe several different colors of paint over the paper with your brush. I am a sloppy painter, so don't worry about how you are putting on the paint. You do want the paint to run and blend some, so have the paper pretty wet.

When the paper is painted, spritz it again with water to let the colors run more.

Now quickly put the cling wrap over the wet paper. I used my fingers to smoosh the cling wrap around. I then patted it down on the paper. Let the cling wrap stay on the paper until dry.

Peel off cling wrap when dry and you have a great textured background!

Here is another I did in earth tones.

I hope you have as much fun with this technique as I did. Experiment to see what you come up with! On my last card above, I stamped the Stained Glass Tree on one of the backgrounds, cut it out and adhered it to a background that didn't turn out very well. This technique seems to work better when the colors are very diluted.

Sparkle N Sprinkle supplies:

1. Chickadees
2. Bird of Paradise
3. Stained Glass Tree
4. Just for You

Have a great Tuesday and I hope to see you again next week!

April

Wish Upon A Star

Today is a beautiful day here. I hope you have been enjoying your weekend! I just love these Star Bunnies that I have gotten from Sparkle N Sprinkle. I have been using them a lot lately. I am entering this card into several challenges. Basic Grey's challenge is Wish Upon a Star. This star bunny was perfect for this challenge! I used Basic Grey papers from the Sweet Threads pack. At Cuttlebug Spot the challenge is Spring is in the Air. I used the dotted swiss cuttlebug folder on the cream layer. The frame is the Cheery Lynn French Flair Doily. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Challenges entered:
Basic Grey -- Wish Upon a Star
Cuttlebug Spot -- Spring is in the Air
Cheery Lynn -- Frame it
Allsorts -- It's Your Choice

Pink and White

Here is a card I am entering in Joan's Gardens challenge. The challenge is to make a pink and white card with lots of layers and also include an oval and a rectangle shape! I hope you are enjoying your weekend. It is sunny here, but 20 degrees colder than yesterday!

Sparkle N Sprinkle Sketch Card

Here is a card I made for the sketch at Sparkle N Sprinkle. You still have time to enter this challenge. So hop on over to the Sparkle N Sprinkle blog  and give it a try for a chance to win a stamp set! Good luck!

Sparkle N Sprinkle supplies:

1.  Dani's Swing stamp
2.  Bizzy Bee stamp
3.  Pretty Princess glitter
4.  Sunny Daze glitter
5.  Starfire glitter

Technique Tuesday -- Shimmer Background

It is Technique Tuesday at Sparkle N Sprinkle once again! I am having fun coming up with techniques each week. Marie and I learned this technique from a good friend of ours in North Carolina. It makes a beautiful background and is so easy!

Supplies:

1. Several colors of Twinkling H2Os. I used some blues and purples.
2. Water spritzer
3. Stipple brush
4. White 11o lb. weight cardstock

Spritz the card stock well with water. Spritz the TH2Os with water also. Take your stipple brush and pounce a color all over the wet card stock and do the same with each color. After the card stock is completely covered, spritz the card stock all over again to let the colors run together more.  Let dry, ( you can heat it some with a heat gun to speed up the drying time ). You will have a very shimmery background. I also used some of the colored cardstock to paper piece the girl's dress and dragonfly. I used a yellow piece to make the flower and a green piece for the leaves!

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you will try this easy technique!

April

Sparkle N Sprinkle supplies:

1. Dani Reading
2. Dragonfly Thinking
3. Pretty Princess Glitter
4. Black Detail Embossing Powder

Winterfest Cards

Happy Monday! This IS a happy Monday for two reasons. First it is bright and sunny and much warmer. Yesterday was very dreary, cold and rainy. I will also be going to my friend's house to stamp in a little while! Today I am showing a couple of cards that I made for Winterfest on the Two Peas stamping board. On the first card we were to use 3 different embossing folders. I used burgundy cardstock and inked up my embossing folder and ran it through my cuttlebug. It looks like faux leather. The layer over this is black cardstock that I ran through the cuttlebug using a leaf embossing folder. I brushed the Brilliance Platinum Planet ink pad over the leaves to enhance them. Then I used the dotted swiss embossing folder on the flower I punched out.

The second card is a birthday card where we had to use two stamps. I love making birthday cards and I used this cute stamp from Impression Obsession. I added the balloons to the top of the cupcake for my second stamp.

I hope you have a great day and a great week! Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Valentine's Day and Technique Tuesday

Happy Valentine's Day and welcome to another Technique Tuesday at Sparkle N Sprinkle! Today I am showing how to do blue block stamping. This is an old technique, but I always love the effect of it.

Supplies:

1. blue foam block or 2 layers of fun foam ( acrylic block )
2. embossing folder
3. pigment or die ink pad
4. heat gun

Take the blue foam block and heat it with your heat gun for a few seconds, then immediately press it on your opened embossing folder. I used a swirl folder from Sizzix. You see a patterned side to the block here, but on the other side it is smooth and that is the side you heat and press onto the embossing folder.  When you want a new design, just reheat the smooth side of the block and the design goes away and you can press it on a different folder for a new design!

This is what it looks like after you have pressed it on the embossing folder.

Now ink up the blue block with ink. I used an aqua pigment ink, but die ink works also. Then stamp the inked blue block onto your card stock.

You can also use 2 layers of fun foam if you do not have a blue block. Blue blocks can be hard to find now.  I used double sided tape to tape the 2 pieces together and then taped them on my acrylic block. Then you use  these layers the same way as I did on the blue block.

Here is the result when stamping with the fun foam layers.  I used a darker blue dye based ink on this.

Now you can use this as a background. I cut my piece smaller and used it as a background behind this sweet little Sparkle N Sprinkle girl! I hope you have fun with this one! Enjoy your day!

Sparkle N Sprinkle Products:

1. Gathering Flowers stamp
2. I Just Love You saying
3. Bubble Gum glitter

April

Bits and Pieces

I hope you are having a good weekend. Winter finally blew in this weekend. I have never seen such a ferocious wind! It has really been cold too. I guess we needed a taste of it since we have had all this Spring weather for so long! Here is a card I call  "bits and pieces" because I used my left over bits and pieces from other projects to make this. I always enjoy making cards from my scraps.

Sparkle N Sprinkle Spring Fling Blog Hop

Welcome to the Sparkle N Sprinkle Spring Fling Blog Hop! If you have come here by way of Lana's wonderful blog you are in the right spot! If you haven't, you might want to start at the beginning with Sparkle N Sprinkle's blog to make sure you have not missed a hop and to see all the info on the wonderful prizes that are being given away! Make sure that you leave a comment at each stop for a chance to win a prize. It has felt like Spring here for awhile so it was fun making some Spring cards. I have made three cards using the cute bunnies from the Star Bunnies Set 214. On my first card I used the Girl Bunny and had a lot of fun making it frilly and girly. I paper pieced her dress and ears and used Cerise and Sparkling Snow glitter to glam her up! I used the saying from the Spring Swirl set 425.

On my second card I used the cute little boy bunny and daisy stamps and the saying is from the Just for You set.

Lastly I made an easel card using another girl from the Star Bunnies set in her Easter hat. I also used the small butterfly and saying from the Fancy Butterflies set.

Thanks for stopping by. Remember to leave a comment on each designer's blog to be eligible for a prize. Now hop on over to Shona's blog to see her wonderful creations!

Technique Tuesday - Thumping

It is Technique Tuesday time again at Sparkle N Sprinkle! This technique is old but a fun one and easy peasy! It is called thumping. I hope you will try it and enjoy it.

Supplies:

1. Bold or close detailed stamps.
2. Several colors of  non permanent markers with a brush end --I used orange and light brown on the lion's mane and olive green, dark green and orange on the fern.

Start with your lightest marker and pounce the brush side of your marker all over the stamp using a loose wrist motion while at the same time rotating the stamp. Then go to your next darker color and pounce all over again. Keep doing this with each color of marker going to the darkest color. Then give your stamp a few huffs of breath and stamp immediately. The result is a variegated look.

Easy peasy and fun!  Enjoy!

April

Sparkle N Sprinkle products:

1. stamp - Leo
2. stamp - Dark Fern
3. Sparkle and Soft - Sparkling Sands
4. stamp - Just for You

House Mouse Love # 2

The House Mouse blog is having a challenge themed Love. Below I made a male card for the challenge and decided to make a female version this time. We are to have more than one heart on our card also. I just purchased this new image and have really enjoyed using it. I also used some of my favorite things on this card, buttons, bows and flowers!

House Mouse Love

Well, it is another warm and beautiful day here! I think we might miss winter altogether! I have made this card for the House Mouse challenge. The theme is love and we are to have more than one heart on our project. I enjoyed using quite a few new things on my card today. I just purchased this cute House Mouse stamp and I used buttons and an acetate flower overlay that I have never used before. This is a good card for males of which I have three at my house! 

Valentine Tag

It is cold and drizzly here today, so it is a good day to do some challenges! Here is a Valentine tag I did for the Posh Club challenge. I cut the rose and border from some DCWV decorative paper. I used the Heart Duet stamps from Posh Impressions and added these over the rose. I had fun making this since I don't usually make tags.