Dragonfly Dreams

Hello again! Today I am showing you a card I made using this beautiful Modern Dragonfly stamp from Just For Fun Stamps.

I stamped the dragonfly onto acetate and colored the back side with regular and pearl alcohol inks. The dragonfly was fussy cut and adhered to the background. The background was made by spritzing an embossing folder with water and placing it on watercolor paper. I lifted off the embossing folder and applied Color Bursts over the wet areas and let it dry. I made a banner for the saying that came from the Sentiments 1 unmounted sheet.

Please join us in this month's challenge. The theme is "At The Shoreline." You might even win a gift certificate to the store!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day!

A Fall Day

Hi and welcome to my blog. I am glad you stopped by today! I want to show you a Fall card I made using the Penny Black Snowy Park stamp. I made this stamp look like a Fall day instead of a snowy day!

I used two backgrounds that I made where I had put alcohol inks on one piece of glossy card stock and then placed the glossy side of another piece on top and pulled them apart. It made sort of an ink blot print. I stamped the trees on one of the backgrounds, cut it out and adhered it to black card stock. I then adhered the image to the other background. All of that was layered on another piece of black card stock and then adhered to the gold card base. I added a wooden leaf, cord and sequins for embellishment.

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Challenges entered:

Addicted To Stamps: Anything Goes

Penny Black: Anything Goes

Alcohol Ink Lift

Hi and welcome to my blog! I have been experimenting with the alcohol ink lift technique and I love the look! On this card I used Yupo paper and did the polished stone technique first using alcohol inks. I made my own "lift" ink to lift off the alcohol inks already applied. I found an old Versa Mark ink pad and spritzed it with 91% alcohol and it worked great! I took the butterfly stamp (stamp unknown) and tapped it a few times onto the ink pad and then stamped it on my alcohol background. The ink lifted off the alcohol ink colors and left the butterfly impression. I also used a stencil at the bottom of the piece and sponged the ink over it. This also lifted off the colors to leave the stencil impression.

I added a blue velvet ribbon across the card. I used the Fancy Frame Tag die from Spellbinders, cut it in half and adhered the pieces on either side of the card. Silk flowers and punched leaves were also added. I used a Stampin' Up splatter stamp on the card base.

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

Challenges entered:

August Essentials Challenge: Alcohol Inks

ModSquad: Anything Goes

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes

Shabby Chic #5

Hi! I hope you are having a good day. It feels like Winter here today. I am looking forward to warmer Spring weather this weekend, so I made a Spring card in anticipation of it! I am back with another shabby chic card and once again I used a shaped card created by an svg cut. When looking through my stash I also found some tags from K&CO. that were the exact shape as my card, so I used the tag for the center of the card. I framed the saying from Sparkle N Sprinkle with a small die cut from my stash. The butterflies ( Sparkle N Sprinkle) were stamped on acetate, colored with alcohol inks, fussy cut and heated with a heat tool to bend the wings. The topper die is from the Spellbinders Butterfly die set. I stamped a Hero Arts script stamp, using light blue ink, across the base of the card and sponged the card with Distress ink.

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

Challenges entered:

Heartful Challenge:  Anything Goes + stamp

Jo's Scrap Shack: Always Anything Goes

Simon Says Monday Challenge:  Easter/Spring Inspiration

Sunsational Challenge:  Anything Goes

Butterfly Flurry

Hi and welcome to my blog. I hope you are having a good day. I found a butterfly in my image stash that I had stamped onto acetate and colored with alcohol inks. I wanted to make a card with it and I decided to make the card into a butterfly shape as well.

I used teal patterned paper and cut out the butterfly shape using the Spellbinder nested butterfly die. I then used cream card stock and cut with the Spellbinders Crisscross die. Next I cut out the butterfly again from the Crisscross die to lay it over the butterfly. I took my Magic Matter tool to make a bigger shaped butterfly card base. I attached the teal crisscross layer onto the cream card base just in the middle so that it pops up a little. You can see it here in the next picture.

I curled the butterfly by using my heat gun. Wire was added for the antennas. I used cream seam binding to make the bow and then added the butterfly on top. Pearls were added to the butterfly's middle and crisscross pattern.

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

Challenges entered:

Butterfly Challenge: L is for Layers + Color Cream

Dies R Us:  Shaped Cards + Dies

Scrapy Land:  Add Pearls and/or Lace + Die

Altered Dies #22

Hi Everyone! Are you ready for Thanksgiving? This card might put you in the spirit! Humor got the best of me with this quirky turkey! The saying is computer generated.

I don't really have any turkey stamps except for one small one. I really need to look at buying a few, so I made this fun turkey using a die and a chicken stamp by Sparkle N Sprinkle!

I started off  by cutting with the Cheery Lynn Mega Italian Flourish die. I cut from a background I had made a long time ago with alcohol inks.

The die was a little larger than the background, but I knew I would be cutting off some of the bottom anyway. I then cut between the scallops and this became the turkey's tail feathers!

The "turkey" is a chicken stamp courtesy of Sparkle N Sprinkle. I colored him with Spectrum Noir markers, fussy cut him and pop dotted him on top of  the "feathers."

I hope you enjoyed my altered die card today. Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great day!

Challenges entered:

Crafty Creations:  Animals

Scrapy Land:  Give Thanks

Word Art Wednesday:  Anything Goes #256-257

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

Oldie Goldies

Hi Everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Memorial day weekend! I want to show you a card I made using all old items from my stash. I have been stamping for about 21 years so I have a lot of old things to work with. The House Mouse stamp is at least 8-10 years old. I use this stamp a lot for birthdays. I stamped and colored the mouse using my Spectrum Noir markers that I have had for about three years. I stamped him again on some background paper I colored with Twinkling H2Os. Remember those? I have had them forever! I paper pieced the "icing" onto the doughnut with the H2Os paper. I also added Sparkle N Sprinkle Diamond Dust loose glitter to the doughnut to look like sugar. You can see shine of the H20s and the glitter here.

I used the Cheery Lynn Mega Italian Flourish Doily die behind the image. I have had that die about 5 years and the round Spellbinders die I used to cut out the image is about 7 years old. The yellow border was made using a Martha Stewart corner and border punch that I have had about 6 years too.

The silk flowers are about 10 years old. My dear stamping friend and I went to a warehouse store one day and found that they had the silk flower bushes on clearance for 90% off! We loaded up a cart full and divided them between us. I remember sitting watching television and pulling off the flowers for many days! I still have a lot left!

Also the little "glass" beads I used, we purchased at Michaels about 6-7 years ago or more.  They were clear. So we colored them by putting a few drops of alcohol inks in a zip lock bag and shaking the beads around in the inks. I still have plenty of them too!

I used a cuttlebug dotted swiss embossing folder on the patterned paper. Both of which are about 7 years old as are the card stocks I used.

The ribbon is seam binding I purchased 2-3 years ago on a large spool and dyed using my Faded Jeans Distress ink that I have had about 4 years. Even my glue I used to put it all together is about 2 years old.

I had fun making my "oldies" card. It brought back memories of when and how the items were purchased. Maybe this will inspire you to look in your stash to see what old things you have forgotten and can use to seem like new again!

Thanks so much for stopping by and reading my ramblings. Have a great day!

Challenges entered:

Cherry Lynn:  Lots of Layers - die

House Mouse and Friends:  Something Old - Nothing New

Quiet Garden

Hi Everyone! I hope you had a good Labor Day weekend. I want to show you a tag I made using alcohol inks, a stencil and some acetate.

I used glossy card stock, put various purple and blue alcohol inks along with silver on my craft mat. I swiped the card stock through the ink for my background. I laid the leaf stencil over the background and used translucent stencil paste. After it dried I outlined the leaves with a white marker.

It was fun using my new dragonfly stamp from Our Daily Bread. The dragonflies were stamped on acetate and glittered on the back of the wings. I fussy cut them to add to the tag.

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

Challenges entered:

Artistic Stamper:  Things With Wings

Mod Squad:  Marvelous Marbling

Paper Take Weekly:  Things With Wings

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge:  Use a Stamp

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2015: September

Oldies Technique #15 -- Polished Stone

Welcome back to another Oldies technique. I love using this polished stone technique because no piece ever looks the same. I also want to thank Debs Smith for joining my blog!

Supplies you will need:

several colors of alcohol inks

white glossy card stock

felt applicator

91% alcohol or blending solution

I wanted an old world look on my card so I chose Current, Slate, Ginger and Latte alcohol inks. Apply the inks to the applicator. I just cut a small piece of felt to fit the applicator and applied my inks side by side in a row.

Spritz the applicator a few times with alcohol or blending solution ( I used 91% alcohol ) and start pouncing the applicator over the glossy card stock. You will also want to make sure you are in a well ventilated room!

Here is the finished background!

You can also do this same technique on plastic or acetate. In fact you can used this on any non porous surface. I love the look of it done on plastic as shown below.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope your day is wonderful!

Challenges entered:

Crafting From The Heart:  Always Anything Goes #73

Penny's Paper Challenge:  Anything Goes

We Love to Create :  Anything Mixed Media/Creative Goes

Spring's Song

Hi Everyone and welcome to my blog. Thanks for stopping by today. Here is a card I made using an Impression Obsession stamp Bird Collage 4 (E13046) that a dear friend gave me recently. I love birds and Spring, so I really enjoyed making this card. This bird is so pretty with the music on it. I have had my windows opened these past few days and my cats are loving sitting in the windows watching and listening to the birds too! I used the spellbinders Eloquence Card Creator die to cut from an alcohol polished stone piece of card stock. The lavender leaves were cut using the Memory Box Fresh Foliage die. I fussy cut the bird and popped it up over the frame.

I hope you have a wonderful day. I hope Spring wins out over winter soon! LOL!

Challenges entered:

Impression Obsession:  Think Spring

Penny's Paper Crafty:  Ribbons and Bows

Simon Says Monday Challenge: Animals

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge:  Things That Fly

Shabby Tea Room: Beautiful Blooms

Stamp & Create: Is It Spring Yet?

Bokeh With Alcohol Inks

Hi Everyone! Welcome to my blog. I hope you are having a nice day. The bokeh technique has taken off lately and I tried a new spin on it. I started off by doing the polished stone technique with alcohol inks on glossy card stock. I used Currant, Slate and Denim alcohol inks. I spritzed the felt with 91% alcohol (or you can use Ranger blending solution) and tapped the applicator all over the card stock. It is best to make several layers of ink on the card stock, because when you start lifting off color the bokeh is more distinct as you will see.

Here is the finished polished stone background.

Now take your stencil and lay it where you want on your background. I found that larger simple designs work better with this. Use a small finger dauber sponge and spritz some alcohol on your craft sheet. Rub the dauber in the alcohol and blot it a little on a cloth. Hold the stencil down very firmly with your hand. Now rub the dauber LIGHTLY around in the circle stencil. If you press too hard alcohol will run under the stencil. I found that rubbing around in one direction and then the other worked best.

You will begin to see the circles turning whiter because the color is being lifted off by the alcohol. That is why you need several layers of the alcohol ink on the card stock to start with. Some of the color will move to the edges of the circle to form a distinct edge.

Here is the finished bokeh background. I really love the look of this!

This is the card I made with the background. It is SO hard for me not to add loads of things to my card. I made this one simple so that you can see the bokeh background. 

I hope you will have fun making some of your own backgrounds this way. I hope you have a wonderful day!

Dreaming of Spring

Hi Everyone! I hope you are having a good day. I am so glad to see the sunshine after many days of damp and cloudy weather. So this card has me dreaming of Spring! I am entering this into Penny Black's challenge -- NEW. With this card I have used my new vagabond machine to cut the dies, used my new gelli plate to make the background and the background is a new technique! I just love this cute hedgehog from the Penny Black stamp set Wonderful Day.

I pop dotted the center die to give the card some more dimension. 

The black embossing powder and glitter are compliments of Sparkle N Sprinkle. I also used Diamond Glaze over the glittered flower.

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

Challenge entered:  Penny Black -- New

( used new vagabond, new gelli plate, new background technique)

12 Tags of 2014 -- September

Hi Everyone! I hope you are having a good day. I want to share the tag I made for a few challenges. I was inspired by Tim Holtz's tag he made for September. You can see his tag here. 

We were to use our imagination a bit more as you can see that Tim has butterflies as "hair" on his lady. I used 2 leaf dies to make butterflies. Black Diamond Stickles was used on the flower's center. I used Tim's Bubble stencil for the background, used blending solution and then swiped the tag through Aqua alcohol ink. I added some of Tim's Element rub ons and washi tape numbers. The sunflower, by Sparkle N Sprinkle, was colored using Distress Markers.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope your day is fabulous! God bless!

Challenges entered:

12 Tags of 2014:  Septmeber

Artistic Inspirations:  Anything Goes

Diva's by Design:  Anything Goes

Simon Says:  Create Your Own Background

Happy New Year!

Hello and welcome to my blog! Thanks for stopping by today. I cannot believe we are starting a new year! This year has flown by. I want to wish you a happy and prosperous New Year! Stay warm and cozy this January too! We have gotten some cold weather lately!