Handmade Background Card #1

Hi and welcome to my blog. I hope you had a Happy New Year! Each year I have a series on my blog so that I can try to use up my many craft items! I know I never will, but I try to make a dent anyway. LOL! I will show my background cards every 2nd and 4th Tuesday. I hope that you will drop by often to take a peek.

This year's series will be all about backgrounds. I love trying techniques and I have made hundreds of card backgrounds. I am starting off with a fun background that I made using acrylic paints.

For this background I swiped purple, blue and white paints over the card in a horizontal and vertical direction using a credit card. After it dried I brayered some white paint on bubble wrap and patted it on the swiped background.

I used an image a stamping friend sent me. I colored the scarf and carrot nose with alcohol markers. I added Sparkle embossing powder to the snowman's body. He was cut out using the Gina Marie stitched circle die. The snowflake is a Cuttlebug die and clear Stickles glitter was added to it for sparkle.

Thanks for stopping by today. Have a great day!

Challenge entered:

The Artistic Stamper:  Anything Goes

Wish Big!

Hi and welcome to my blog . I want to show you a winter birthday card that will be great for the guys!

I made the background by dropping a few drops of white and green acrylic paint onto some blue card stock. I then laid another piece of blue card stock over the first one, pulled them apart and I got the look of mountains! I stamped the Just For Fun Polar Bear Sketch stamp, added white sparkle flocking, fussy cut him and adhered him to the card. Lastly I stamped Wish Big on the background. The saying is from the Sentiments 1 unmounted sheet.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope that you will join in our challenge here. We would love to see your wonderful creations! The theme for the challenge is to use blue and silver.

Have a wonderful day!

Challenges entered: 2 Crafty Critter Crazies #22

Word Art Wednesday: Anything Goes #368 - #369

Warming Up!

Hi and welcome to my blog. I hope that you are enjoying the Christmas season. It has been unusually cold here in the South for this time of year. I made a card with this cute little mousie warming IN a cup of cocoa! LOL! I have been enjoying my cups of cocoa lately.

I used the Gina Marie dotted die for the background and cut it using metallic blue card stock. I stamped the image, colored it with alcohol markers and fussy cut it. I used the stem of a flower die for the "steam" in the cup. The white bottom portion of the card was run through a snowflake die. The greenery is a Gina Marie die cut from green card stock. I splattered white acrylic paint over the greenery and cup for snow. I made "marshmallows" using 4 pop dots and adding white sparkle flocking to them. You can see one marshmallow in the cup and 3 on the greenery.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful and warm day!

Challenges entered:

House Mouse and Friends:  Anything Goes - Option Something Warm

                         2 crafty Critter Crazies:  Anything Goes #21
                         Tuesday Throwndown: Anything Goes #420

Fishing Is The Life For Me

Hello and welcome to my blog. I want to show you a card that I used with a brand new Just For Fun stamp! This card is so fitting for my husband. We purchased a new boat this year and he has really enjoyed fishing off shore. We have eaten so many good fresh fish including mahi mahi, grouper, trigger fish, red and black snapper and wahoo!

I pulled out this fun background from my stash where I had dotted some white and blue acrylic paint onto purple card stock, then placed another piece of card stock over the paint and peeled the two pieces apart. The result were these wavy lines that reminded me of the ocean. I made a slit along the waves at the bottom using an exacto knife and placed the boat image down in the slit. The boat was colored using Tumbled Glass Distress ink and a water brush. I stamped the fun new saying at the top of the card.

This card also goes along with this month's challenge theme -- stripes. We would love for you to join the challenge! You might even win a gift certificate to the store!

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a wonderful day!

Challenges entered:

ModSquad:  Water

The Paper Girls:  Paint It!

Tuesday Throwdown:  Anything Goes #TT404

Word Art Wednesday:  Anything Goes #346-347

Bits and Bobs #16

Hi! It is time for another bits and bobs card! I have a huge bag of rub ons that I have not used in ages. I pulled them out and while I had them out I made three cards with them. Rub ons are a great way to add flair to your card. On the first card I started with two different sheets of rub ons, but the sheet on the left must have been too old and it would not transfer. I wanted to use the music script. So I ended up using several of the rub ons on the sheet at the right.

The rub ons on this card are the swirls and two small butterflies at the top. After applying the rub ons I ran the card through an embossing folder. I found an oval piece of painted chipboard in my stash and stamped an old butterfly stamp on it. I added flowers and a ribbon scrap to make the bow. I don't think I have ever made a green and red card except for a Christmas card! This is why I like to make bits and bobs cards because you really don't go in with a plan and just try to match things as you go along, pulling things from your stash. You never really know how a card will turn out.

I have a hard time making simple cards because my thought is the "more the better!" Lol!  But I think this card came together pretty well. The flowers are rub ons. I found the cat in my image stash that I had already stamped on orange paper, so I pop dotted him to the card. Then I stamped a very old saying I have had for years.

Here is my last card. The circles are rub ons. I also found the typewriter in my image stash. I fussy cut it and pop dotted it on the card. Kids these days probably don't even know what a typewriter is. I got a portable one when I was in high school and I took it with me to college and used it a lot! Those were the days. Really old school!

I hope you enjoyed seeing my bits and bobs cards today. If you have any rub ons, pull them out and see what you can create with them. I had a lot of fun with mine.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a wonderful day!

Some Birdie Loves You

Hello and welcome to my blog! I want to show you a card I made using the StampTangle Chickadee and a saying from the Sentiments 3 stamp set from Just For Fun Stamps. I love birds and this is one of my favorites! I love the stamptangle stamps because you can color them in many different ways and get different looks using the same stamp.

I stamped the bird with Versa Mark ink, added white embossing powder and heat set it. Then I colored the bird using various colors of Twinkling H20s. I also colored the Memory Box Fresh Foliage die with gold TH20s and added it above the bird. I love these paints because of their beautiful shimmer. Here is a closer look at them.

I used a fun technique for the background. I put a few drops of light green acrylic paint on a piece of packaging plastic and spread it rather thinly over the plastic with a brush. I laid a darker green piece of paper on top of the paint and then another piece of plastic on top of the paper. I then pressed and patted down on the plastic with my fingers. Next I lifted off the paper from the plastic and came up with a neat looking background. This is called the dentrite technique.

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope you will enter our Sweet Things challenge here. You still have a few days left! You might even win a store gift certificate! 

Have a wonderful day!

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2016 - Septmeber

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my blog. I want to show you a tag I made for Tim Holtz's challenge this month. We were to start with a patina background. I used two metallic colors of acrylic paint - gold and purple, and some regular pink. I also spritzed water on them that had some White Glimmer Mist in it to give the whole piece some shine.

We were to use the alcohol resist technique here, and I used the trees stamp from Inkadinkado. I also had fun playing with the alcohol inks a bit at the top and bottom of the tag. I must say I really like using the alcohol inks on Yupo paper!

Here is the whole tag!

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day!

Challenges entered:

Simon Says Monday Challenge:  Stamp It

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge:  Stamp It

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2016:  September

Joy Faith Hope

Hi and welcome to my blog! I hope you are having a wonderful day. I want to show you a tag I made following a few of Tim Holtz's techniques. You can see them by clicking here. For the tree I used an embossing folder, brayered flesh colored acrylic ink over the raised areas, and applied Tim Holtz Walnut stain over the top. I wiped off the excess stain and the paint acted as a resist. I tore around the knot in the tree and added it to the tag.

I used one of the butterfly dies from Tim Holtz's Butterfly Duo dies. I did not have the grout so I used some white matte embossing paste on the butterfly. I then glued on the paper mosaic pieces and used Diamond Glaze over them so that they would look like tiles. I then sponged Gathered Twigs Distress ink in the "grout" spaces. Here is a close up of the butterfly.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a blessed day!

Challenges entered:

Simon Says Monday Challenge:  Butterfly Beauty

Tim Holtz:  Tags of 2016 - April

Thanks Tag

Hi Everyone!

I hope you are having a good day. I can't believe it is already November. It doesn't even feel like November here. It has been feeling a lot like Spring along with the rain too! I want to show you a Fall tag I made using some fun techniques. For the background I stamped a basket weave background stamp using tan acrylic paint. After it dried I applied Walnut Distress stain over it. Next I spritzed some water over it to lighten the center to give it a more distressed look. I also did a little stamping on the edges of the tag.

I wanted to use gold foil around the edges of my tag, but among ALL the colors of foil I had I did not have gold! LOL! So I used a glue stick on the edges and applied some gold leaf instead.

The pumpkins were stamped on watercolor paper and colored with Distress markers and a water brush. I fussy cut them to add to the tag. I swiped colors of  Distress inks on my craft pad, spritzed with water and swiped my card stock through the inks and let it dry. I then punched out the leaves to add to the tag. I used a thick cream color embossing powder on the fancy label and stamped Thanks on it.

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful and blessed day!

Challenges entered:

Love to Create Challenge #23:  Anything Mixed Media/Creative

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge:  Thanks/Thanksgiving

Tim Holtz :  12 Tags of 2015 -- November

Looking Forward to Fall

Hi Everyone! I hope you are having a good day. I am looking forward to Fall, how about you? I am looking forward to less humidity and cooler temperatures!  Here is a Fall card I made using Impression Obsession stamps, Pumpkin Patch F16031, Cover-a-Card Gingham CC006 and Cover-a-Card Birds in Trees CC102.  I made a frame by using Martha Stewart's border and corner leaf punches.

I put acrylic paints on a craft sheet, spritzed them with water and swiped my watercolor paper through them. I then stamped the pumpkins on the paper when it was dry and fussy cut them. I popped dotted them over the stamped background and birds.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful and blessed day!

    Challenges entered:  

Impression Obsession:  Fall Colors

Artistic Stamper:  Anything Goes

Chocolate, Coffee and Cards:  Frame It

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge:  Food/Drink

We Love 2 Create:  Anything Goes

Distressed Acrylics

Hi Everyone and welcome to my blog. I have been posting a lot of OLDIES techniques this year , but I have stumbled on some NEW ones and I just had to try them. Here is one I saw on line by Jan Hobbins. I really loved the look and I want to show you how I made the background to this card. She did not give a name to this technique so I am calling it distressed acrylics since you use acrylic paints and it looks old. The stamp I used is by Inkadinkado and the die is Spellbinders Decorative Labels 8.

I started off by applying several bright colors of acrylic paint to my craft sheet and spritzing it with water a few times. I took a heavy matte black card stock piece and drug it through the paint and this is how it looked. Let it dry. You can use a heat tool to help it dry faster.

I stamped some butterflies randomly over this using Versa Mark ink and then applied clear embossing powder over the images and heat set it. Here is what it looks like when you have applied the embossing powder. When it is heated the images will be clear.

I used a flesh color acrylic paint and put a blob of it on my craft sheet. I wet a paper towel with my spritzer, picked up some of the acrylic paint on the wet paper towel and wiped it over the embossed card stock. I kept doing this until the piece was covered.

To make the images stand out a little more, I wet a clean paper towel and rubbed it over each image to wipe off any paint that was left on them.

I then swiped 2 light colors of Distress inks over the whole piece to give some warmth to it. I wiped a cloth over this to soften it some.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you will try this technique to see what fun backgrounds you can make. Have a great day!

Challenges entered:

Scrapy Land: Anything Goes
Simon Says Monday Challenge:  A is For ( acrylic paint )
Stamp and Create:  Anything Goes

Spring

Hi Everyone and welcome to my blog. Here is a tag I made with a Spring theme. I am so ready for Spring as I know most of you are. As most of my stamping friends know, I love birds and birds remind me of Spring so I had to use them on my tag.

I smooshed my background using acrylic paints and spritzs of water. I added music and bird washi tape randomly on the tag. I stamped the image and used black embossing powder to accent it more. I used Tim Holtz's Bubble stencil and white matte stencil paste over some areas of the tag. Sparkle embossing powder (courtesy of Sparkle N Sprinkle) was sprinkled over the stencil spots and heat set.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a wonderful day!

Challenges entered:

Simon Says Monday Challenge: B is For ( Bird, Butterfly )

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Things That Fly

Stamp & Create: Is It Spring Yet?

Tim Holtz:  12 Tags of 2015 March

Fall Tag

Hi Everyone! I hope you are enjoying your day. The weather is getting cooler and Thanksgiving is right around the corner. I want to show you a Thanksgiving tag I made for Tim Holtz's Tags of 2014 challenge. You can see Tim's demo here. I just love the colors this time of year, even though most of the leaves have passed their peak and are falling to the ground.

Isn't this a beautiful pumpkin? I stamped the image on metal and paper pieced it or should I say "metal pieced" it? LOL! The leaves were colored with Distress inks and a water pen. 

For the background I swiped the tag through several colors of acrylic paint that had been spritzed with water. I ran the tag through a leaf embossing folder and enhanced the leaves by sponging Gathered Twigs Distress ink over them. I used the Tim Holtz Collection Bubble stencil over the background and sponged on Versa Mark ink. I then added Candlelight embossing powder courtesy of Sparkle N Sprinkle. 

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope your day is full of good things! 

Entered in Tags of 2014 Challenge - November 

Spring Has Sprung

Hi Everyone! I hope you are having a good day. Well, Spring has sprung here in our area. The trees and azaleas are beautiful! I want to share a tag I made for Tim Holtz's tag challenge for the month of April. I had fun using the lattice cut from tag board. I used a brand new mixed media embossing powder from Sparkle N Sprinkle called Copper Flame and added in some Sparkle N Sprinkle Candlelight and Cerulean Star embossing powder with it. I love how the lattice turned out. Here is a close up of it. I love the shimmer and shine.

I also used some washi tape with birds on a wire that I recently received from a good friend of mine. She knows I love birds. Thank you so much, Kim! It went perfectly with this tag. Speaking of birds, I used my favorite bird stamp. He looks so chirpy for Spring!

To see Tim's demo, please click here. I always enjoy working with his fun techniques. Here is my completed tag with my handmade flowers.

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you have a great day!

Happy Spring!

Challenges entered:

Crafty Hands:  Anything Goes

Crafty Ribbons:  Flower Power

Creative Knockouts:  Spring is in the Air

Stampin' For the Weekend:  Favorite Stamp

Tim Holtz:  12 Tags of 2014 - April

12 Tags of 2013 -- Septemeber

Hi Everyone and welcome to my blog! I hope you are enjoying your weekend. I want to show you the tag I made for Tim Holtz's September tag challenge. I had fun using all the stencils and layering. On the dots stencil I used translucent paste and glammed it up by adding Sparkling Snow glitter, courtesy of Sparkle N Sprinkle. I used Distress inks and white acrylic paint with the other stencils. The background was made by using Distress stains. The stamps used are Tim Holtz (numbers) and Fiskars (cupcake). You can see Tim's demo by clicking here.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you have a great day!

Challenges entered:

Tim Holtz:  21 Tags of 2013 -- September

Loves Rubber Stamp Challenge:  Anything Goes

DRS Designs:  So Bright

Pink Elephant:  Numbers

Catch the Bug:  Anything Goes

12 Tags of 2013 -- April

Hi Everyone! I had so much fun making this tag for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags challenge. I always enjoy trying his wonderful techniques. I really liked how the background turned out. You can see his demo by clicking here. I used several stamps from Sparkle N Sprinkle, the butterfly, script and flower. Thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!