Family matters

I promise I'll be back later on to do a crafty post, but for now I have a family related post. If you're only her for stamping stuff - feel free to skip it! :D

This is a quick video of Titi Susan and Zachary reading the spanish/english book she bought for him. I just took a quick video with the regular camera, so the quality isn't the best - but the humor can't be beat! :)

Did you have a happy Fourth?

I did! :)

We had a nice little BBQ at my dad's house and then off to see the fireworks. I've done a little studying since last year so I actually got some cool looking fireworks shots! Amazing what you can do with a digital camera at night....

Anywho, I have a little something pretty to show you. I found these great clear overlays that just begged to come home with me - how could I resist? They're about the right size to lay over a 4x6 photo, not exactly card sized, but I figured I'd make them work!

I clear embossed the birdbath stamp (also new from Inka) on white paper. Using cotton balls I rubbed in Peeled Paint, Broken China, Pine Needles & the denim color to make a nice scene. After that had dried I used some VersaMark & white Perfect Pearls with a Rhonna Farrer swirl to give a little depth and shine.

Since I had to allow enough space for both the flowers at the top and the word at the bottom I had to position the overlay over the image and draw around the edges of where it should be placed in relation to the image. I could have cut all in one go, but I was terrified that I would mess up the cut somehow and ruin this gorgeous overlay (there are four more designs in the pack - that rocks!)! I cut the main image down to 4x4, repositioned the overlay on it (using vellum tape) and trimmed the overlay down to size. Since the tape showed just a tiny bit (and I didn't like that!) I pulled out a heart shaped corner punch and made a half inch white vellum mat. Finally I mounted the whole shebang on a 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 base card - sort of a purple/blue IRL.

Here's a 'side shot' so you can see the PP a little better.

While it's not very 'wedding-y' I think it is appropriate for something like an anniversary? Either way, I love how it came out!

Thanks for dropping by... hope you're having a great week!

Opals embossing powder

Hello out there! I'm back with just a quick post using Opals Embossing Powder.

Opals are a gorgeous ultra thick ep from Australia. Amazing colors, rich & sparkly. I *love* them! You can get them from After Midnight along with tons of other really cool stuff.

For this card I used my nesties to cut a circle the right size for the tree stamp (it's new from Inkadinkado). After some trial and error I pulled out my long neglected Melting Pot and heated a bunch of The Nut for the base. After pouring the molten ep on the circle I sprinkled some Eucalypt and melted that with my heat gun. While it was still hot I pressed the stamp (coated with VersaMark) into the ep and let it cool. Finally, I rubbed a little Galaxy Gold on the raised parts of the design.

Because I don't have any paper that can come close to matching the rich color of those eps, I spritzed Hot Cinnamon Glimmer Mist over a piece of brown c/s - it's almost a perfect match! I also used a new punch from EK Success on the edges of the green base - it punches and embosses at the same time. Once I figured out the placement of all the pieces I used VersaMark and stamped just the branches on the green area.

A little ribbon and some serious double stick tape et voila! I really like how it came out - hope you do too! :)

Have a happy Fourth of July if I don't get back before then!

Depth of field and a visitor!

Back again! I've been having a heck of a time getting things done! I finally finished this card last night - after it had been sitting on my table for almost a week! Sheesh.

Anyway, it's a technique called Depth of Field from the latest TJ newsletter. This wasn't the best stamp (the ship) for this technique, but I do like how it came together. The ship and wave/ripple background are from Rubberstamp Ave and the sentiment is from River City Rubber Works - both great companies!

Otherwise, there were a lot of Distress Inks, some Perfect Pearls and a little twine. I know you can't see it in the pic, but the base card has the waves stamped around the edges with more Perfect Pearls - very shimmery in real life!

We also had a visitor a few days ago. Late in the evening I heard a crazy buzzing noise and wondered if a wasp had gotten in. Can you see it?

How 'bout now? :) (ummm, yeah, ignore the cobwebs, kay?)

Isn't that amazing? Dh & the boy managed to net it and put it outside to go on it's merry way. I do so love dragonflies! Gorgeous, wasn't he?

Thanks for dropping in!

Masked Butterflies

I'm baaaaack! Didja miss me? :)

I have to say that my muse has been sleeping lately. Not gone, mind you, but absolutely snoring away! Aside from the odd family trouble (does your muse sleep when you're upset about something? or is it just me?) we've also embarked on the most terrifying journey of parenthood to date. Yup. Potty training. Not that it hasn't been going well (for the most part!) but we've been living in a sort of terrified daze. It's like living on red alert - exhausting to say the least! :D

I have, however, managed to finally get this card to come together. It's not my original concept (I had planned to color the butterflies & leave everything else white) but I think I like this one more than I anticipated.

I used a process called reverse masking (mask the image instead of the background) to color in the boxes with my Distress Inks. First I drew out the boxes, dividing the space into three and allowing space for the white edges. The edges were masked with post it notes, then he butterflies were stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black. I cut the butterfly mask out of post it notes too, in two pieces because the sticky area wasn't big enough. Once the butterfly was masked, I used a cotton ball and rubbed Dried Marigold around the butterfly, following up with Fired Brick around the outside.

Even though you can't really see it in the pic, I used my Scor It to really define the white between the box edges and down the sides. Since I just couldn't stand to leave them alone you can see, just a little bit, that I used my black glitter pen on the bodies of the butterflies - much more shiny IRL. :)

The final touch was the vinyl printed ribbon you see on the side. Yes, it's a supple sort of vinyl-like-stuff (I have no idea what it actually is) that I bought by the yard at a scrap place in Fort Collins. I really have no idea who makes it, but if I had to guess - maybe 7 Gypsies?? Dunno. There were a couple of different patterns there - but I only liked this one!

So, that's it for today. Hope you're having inky fun! :)

A recycling project - settle in, long post ahead!

I don't know about you, but I've been eyeing everyday items lately. Usually I make cards, but this box seemed the perfect size for 'extras'. Originally it was the box for my Xyron Cheetah refill - now it's an excellent looking addition to my organizational products! lol Well, what I *wish* were my organizational products! ;)

Unfortunately I didn't start with a plan (hint: start with a plan!) so I did twice the work that was needed. It took me quite a while to fit together basic white card stock to cover all of the name brand stuff - my box was black, blue & orange but you can get the basic idea here. I thought I would cover it with thinner paper (stamped, of course!) and was worried that the colors would show through and make everything look wonky. Since the box wasn't exactly square (hey, it was stored for quite a while!) it was a task of monumental proportions to cover all the important bits. Of course I decided to cover it with a thick scrapbook paper after all that work. Of course I did. :roll eyes: I went to work and covered it again, this time trying to do an even better job. There were some flubs, but they're hardly noticeable now. :)

Once it was covered and glued down (and dried, again) I used my Tim Holtz flourish mask & added some new glittery VersaMark - but the sparkle wasn't enough! Perfect Pearls to the rescue! So, gold PP were dusted over the versamark - you can't even tell it started as the champagne color.

Here's a better shot of the gold (from head on you can barely tell they're there, even IRL). Yes, I did use the mask on everything except the bottom. You have to love the shimmer of perfect pearls! lol That, and I love the flourish mask to death....

Ah, do you see that gorgeous flower? I have a confession to make about that flower. I saw a video recently, in the last week I think, that showed how to make this flower. While I would love to share that video with you (and give credit, of course) I CAN'T FIND IT! I have searched through all of my history for the last three weeks; nothing. I went and searched through COTW (and got a little distracted); nada. I went through my Google Reader; zip. I know it was a post by a woman whose friend made her a quick video of how to do it (so the friend did the vid, not the poster) and I *think* she was from somewhere in Europe?! If this rings a bell for anyone, *at all*, please let me know!

So, I'll try to give you the basics that I followed. Using a large piece of white tissue paper I cut a bunch of circles using my Cuttlebug with a circle Nestie. And I do mean a *bunch*. I think there are 17 layers of circles in that flower! Because I wanted a close color match I chose to spray Walnut Ink (Tsukineko) on my craft mat and lay all the circles down. Then I spritzed with water and more ink until I liked the base color. While they were still (very) wet I pounced them with my Peony Scarlet Red Starburst Stain. (This came from Lindy's Stamp Gang - if you like Glimmer Mist, you will LOVE these - trust me!) I spritzed more water and pounced more color all over (all the circles were overlapping) then spritzed with more water & let them dry overnight. You can get a little bit of an idea of the glimmer of the SS in the pic.

The next day I folded the dried circles in half and stapled them in about the center of the circle (right next to the fold). Well, two of the circles were folded in quarters and stapled at the point - for the center. Then I just opened and stacked them up, using glue dots since they were handy. I checked every now and then to make sure everything looked good and spaced the bottom circles accordingly. Yes, I built it from the top down - easier to make sure you're still looking flower-like instead of blob-like! :) Finally I added the top two (mushed up next to each other) and did a little gentle scrunching. Ta Dah! It really takes much longer to write it out than to actually do it!

A little brown ribbon and a large brownish eyelet later and I was all finished. I think I'll do it again - perhaps in blue? What do you think? Like it?

As always, I appreciate your visit!

Another newsprint reveal and something entirely different!

Last time I showed you a newsprint reveal card that I made for a friend. I've made another card using the same technique, this time with a more Asian flair. Of course I *know* that I have an Asian newspaper here somewhere... maybe when I find it I'll redo this card on that paper.

This time I've used a mix of Distress Inks (Fired Brick and Dried Marigold) for a different look. You can still see the newsprint through the ink, but you could still faintly see it through the black too. I was a little irritated to notice that on the back side of my newspaper was a giant block of green - yes, that's what you see showing through on parts of the image. Guess I need to check the backs more carefully!

I stamped the background bamboo with black versafine. I guess I still haven't figured out that it doesn't dry well on coated paper! lol It doesn't look *bad*, you just have to be super careful not to smudge! :)

Ok, now on to the totally *different* project! :) Originally I made several of these tiles for a card. The card was only large enough for one - what to do with the rest?? Do something new, of course! :)

The tiles are originally chipboard squares that were painted with gesso. I added soft touches of ink and rub on's over that. A touch of radiant pearls (only in the flowers) completed the coloring. Finally I went over everything with a coat of glossy gel medium. Once that was dry I added the pearls, edged the squares with krylon pens and coated everything with Glossy Accents. These babies shine!

I still felt that they needed a little extra something (heh, when don't I feel that?!). Martha Steward butterfly punch to the rescue! I had some leftover paper that I had experimented on just waiting for that punch. Again, the paper was coated with gesso, inked with dye ink & 'finger painted' with clear gel medium. The punch had no difficulty cutting this thicker paper & the butterflies are a little more sturdy. They, too, needed something more - so a couple of spots of stickles went on the wings for bling.

I attached all three squares to sheer ribbon (actually a light orchid color) and then to a second sheer ribbon in white. More sticky back half pearls completed the front. And yes, that ribbon is folded over to make it possible to hang it. Although I will reconfigure that if I ever do another - make it easier to hang. You almost have to have a tiny little hanger to hang this one - but the friend I gave it to has plenty of wire and ingenuity! :) (Hi Chica!!)

To finish off the back I used some gold c/s and covered all the icky looking marks that showed where I attached the ribbons! lol Gotta make every angle look good, right? I didn't take a pic of the back, though. Wasn't all *that* cool looking! :)

Here's a final look at it - from a slightly different angle. This one really shows off that Glossy Accents shine to perfection.

Hope you enjoyed your visit! Come back soon for another 'altered' project!