MIM #77 Watercolor with Ink Pads-Card #2

Surprise!  I'm back with the second card for this week's challenge.  In case you did not see the first one, here's what's going on:

Take a little time before the August Release starts and learn a watercolor technique from Dawn McVey.  It's a great way to stretch your supplies and get a whole new look. 

Check out Dawn's great MIM video!

I love to create stamped and colored backgrounds so that was my plan for this card.  I chose a  color palette of Summer Sunrise, Lemon Tart, and Melon Berry.  While I intended for the flowers to be more yellow, the Melon Berry ended up on center stage. For the leaves I used Ripe Avocado, and Spring Moss.  In the open spaces of the background, I spritzed the paper and dabbed on a little Aqua Mist and enjoyed watching it move around on the watercolor paper.  I'm also trying to incorporated more patterned paper and the Melon Berry Pattern Paper Pack offers some great choices; in this case, Bitty Dots.  I die cut a scallop border from a scrap of the watercolor paper using the Heart Border Die and added a Melon Berry satin ribbon.  For something a little different, I die cut Framed Out #6 using the gingham pattern from Summer Sunrise Pattern Pack.  I stamped the sentiment from the coordinating stamp set in Summer Sunrise ink and topped it with the frame on foam adhesive.  Final touch was to tie the framed sentiment onto the bow with Doodle Bug Baker's Twine, Tangerine. I rounded all four corners of the top layer before mounting it on foam adhesive to the Melon Berry card stock base.

I hope you have given this challenge a go.  It was good for me to try something a little different.  I have a long way to go in the watercoloring department, but Dawn is a great teacher and I think I will use this technique again.

TaTa for now!

Thanks for stopping by,

Suzanne

Make It Monday #77: Ink Pads As Watercolors

Take a little time before the August Release starts and learn a watercolor technique from Dawn McVey.  It's a great way to stretch your supplies and get a whole new look. 

Whew!  I've been trying to post this since Tuesday.  Busy week, crafty week.  Just not enough time to blog about it!  I'll keep it short because I have two cards to upload for this challenge.  I really hope the link widget will someday allow us to upload two pictures from the same blog...or am I the only one who doesn't know how to do that?

My first card for the Watercolor with Ink Pads challenge was actually a technique I learned from a You Tube video a long time ago which reappeared on Wida's blog just this week. Here's the video.  It's well worth taking a look.  The technique is not hard.  Stamp the image with versamark ink onto white card stock and heat emboss with clear powder.  Then watercolor inside the lines created by the embossing powder, with lighter or darker shades of the colors you choose. In the video, Patty used white shimmer paper and so did I for this particular card, then fussy cut them and mounted them on the card base with foam adhesive.  While I don't think this card is particularly outstanding, I am pleased with the elegant simplicity of these beautiful flowers and leaves against a white background.  I used Pure Poppy, Hibiscus Burst, Melon Berry, and Harvest Gold for the flowers, and Ripe Avocado, Simply Chartreuse, and Spring Moss for the leaves.  I applied these to an acrylic block and used water and small paint brush as Dawn instructed.  Many of my thoughts recently revolve around how much I cherish my friends, so this beautiful sentiment (stamped with Ripe Avocado ink) from In Bloom seemed like a good companion for the flowers from the same set.  The final detail was to add a Sakura Glaze Pen to the word "friend" to continue the shininess of the roses and leaves.

I'm so glad you decided to stop by and check out my card.  I look forward to hearing from you!

Hope your weekend is fun and refreshing!

Suzanne

MFW Tuesday Trigger: Type Hype Revisited

Have you ever seen a cuter typewriter?  I have an old typewriter of about the same vintage, but it is sadly lacking in the cuteness!  Those colorful, adorable keys against the black body of the typewrite inspired me to reach for my ZING embossing powders.  (Love these-don't use them enough).  My second inspiration came from Helen, this week's Moxie Fabber.  I am just getting to know this sweet and talented lady, who mentioned that HER friend Karin, has made an entire page of little pages that just fit the typewriter in the stamp set I chose to use for this project.  You can download them for free, just like I did!  Thanks so much Karin, for making my project come together so easily.

See what I mean?  Life really is better with friends!  I hope you will check out the Tuesday Trigger challenge for yourself and join the fun.

Supplies:

Cardstock:  Soft Stone, True Black, White (Papertrey Ink)

Stamp Sets:  Hero Arts CL483, Studio Calico/Hero Arts 331073

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, VersaMark

Other:  Zing Embossing Powders:  Aqua, Mustard, Rouge  Stampendous: Detail White

Tiny messages by Karin

I hope you get a smile from this card-I sure did from making it!  If you have time to leave a comment, it would make my day complete!

Thanks for stopping by,

Suzanne

Make It Monday #76

Hi there, Friends

It's been a long, hot, month and there is lots more summer and travel and interruptions to come.  But tonight, I am delighted to share a card with you.

Nichole Heady has another great technique to stimulate our creativity; Double-time Bleach Stamping which means that she not only uses bleach to stamp her design, but comes back and adds color over the bleached areas.  She offers three beautiful examples.  Check it out.

As for my card, I chose to use some long neglected Ocean Tides card stock.  I was delighted and amazed at the change of color when the bleach was applied.  This determined that my color combo would include Classic Kraft.  I'll detail the other supplies used at the end of the post.

I think this is the perfect technique for the dandelion image used here.  I repeated the bleach technique with two different sizes of solid circle stamps for the card base.  After thorough drying, I stamped over the larger circles with Ocean Tides ink and the smaller ones with Pinefeather.  This is definitely an unusual color combo for me, but I am quite pleased with the final result.  

I'm looking forward to hearing from you, I have certainly missed everyone during the past three weeks!

Thanks for stopping by,

Suzanne

Supplies:  All Papertrey Ink

Cardstock:  Ocean Tides, Classic Kraft

Inks:  household bleach, Ocean Tides, Pinefeather

Stampsets:  Daydreamers, Beautiful Blooms II ( medium sized solid circle only)

Make It Monday #74 Stamping on Texture

 Heather Nichols has put together a fabulous tutorial for you today about stamping on texture.  By throwing this easy technique into your bag of tricks you can reinvent all of the images in your stamp collection!  


My project this week was doubly inspired.  First by Heather's tutorial and secondly by this picture from Nichole's post today introducing more of the stamps and dies to be released on July 15th.

I was already thinking that my favorite background texture is woodgrain, and the floral design on the picture above made me think of the Stitches and Swirls stamp set.  After running a small piece of card stock through my Big Shot using the impression plate, I applied Classic Kraft ink to the texture with a brayer as Heather had done in her tutorial.  This was adhered to the left side.  I stamped the invitation on the right along with a small image from Stitches and Swirls to move the eye from the image on the left to the information on the right. Finally, I added the ribbon and bow, rounded the corners and it was finished.  Pretty simple!

I like the combination of Sweet Blush, Kraft, and Dark Chocolate for the "Meet Julia" party I had in mind as I made this invitation.  I have some friends who are hoping to adopt a little girl so I want to be ready to host a shower when she arrives!


You will find the usual supplies list at the end of the post.  Please leave a comment; it really makes my day to hear from you!


Thanks for stopping by,
Suzanne


Supplies:  All Papertrey Ink unless noted
Card stock:  Sweet Blush
Ink:  Dark Chocolate, Classic Kraft
Stamps:  Stitches and Swirls, By Invitation
Ribbon:  Sweet Blush satin 
Other:  Woodgrain Impression Plate,  Copic Markers YG91, R11

Make It Monday #73: Stamping on Patterned Paper

Hello All!  Happy Saturday night.  I hope the weekend is going well for you.  My husband is on call and won't be home for another 30 minutes so I am making this a quick show and tell for this week's  MIM.  Ashley Cannon Newell has done one of her excellent tutorials showing her creativity with stamping on patterned paper. Check it out!

Here's my card

I am in love with all of the Pattern Packs being released at Papertrey Ink.  I chose the gingham check from the Fine Linen collection for the background.  I  stamped it with Turning a New Leaf in Ripe Avocado ink and finished this simple card with my favorite Fillable Frame #10 using a sentiment from the new We Go Together set.  What do you think about the little pink flowers?  These were made with an old EK Success punch that I have had for so long I don't remember where or why I have it.  But, I find that I frequently use it on a variety of projects.  To my surprise, however, I discovered that a small 5-petal flower in Beautiful Blooms II is the perfect stamp for it!   I also added a little Flower Soft in sunshine yellow to the the centers.  They remind me of the little crabapple blossoms in the early spring. One of the things I love most about paper crafting is that I have license to make any flower my little brain can imagine so here are my crabapple blossoms on a Carolina Jessamine vine climbing on a lattice in July!  LOL!

The card base is Fine Linen card stock and the mat is in Ripe Avocado.

Stay cool, girlfriends, it's hot out there!

Thanks for stopping by, 

Suzanne 

MIM # 72 and Winner Announcement

Make It Monday #72: Step It Up - Embellishments

Hello again!  I am so delighted that there were many, many of you who left comments for the June Blog Hop post.   Now I get to announce the winner of the $25.00 gift certificate to Papertrey Ink!

This is my first giveaway-eek!  I'm so excited!!  Since I am not connected to any random generator,   I cut up paper and wrote a number for each of the comments, and pulled #30 RENEE

   CONGRATULATIONS!

Please send your e-mail address to suzannebrussell@gmail.com and I will get the gift certificate off to you today!  Thanks so much for participating in the celebration with me.

Now, on to a new card, three cards actually since the challenge is Step-It-Up Embellishments by Dawn McVey.  I fell in love with Lovely Layers the very first time I saw Nichole's "You Make Me Happy" card during the countdown posts earlier in the month.  Such a romantic style and I love the way she and Dawn both stacked the colorful layers so I could not resist using the same set for my project today.  I chose a little used color for my card stock, Spring Rain.  It is so hot around here (we are in the +100's already), I wanted to cool things down a bit.  This brought to mind the dainty little pair of Jasper ware vases given to me by my grandmother as a wedding gift.  I think they are probably Wedgewood knock offs, but I admired them in her house as I grew up, and she graciously parted with them in celebration of my wedding, so they are dear to me.  This thought led me to create a wedding card.

1.  As with Dawn's tutorial, I started with a simple approach.  Actually this is all four die cuts from Lovely Layers, stamped and popped up on foam adhesive, but this image is the most basic part of the design for me.  The leaves are stamped with Simply Chartreuse ink, the veins of the leaves are done in Dark Chocolate.  The four smaller leaves are stamped with Spring Rain and their veins, as well as the flower petals, are stamped with Blueberry Sky.  The tiny scalloped edge of the flower center is stamped with Enchanted Evening, and the center is Simply Chartreuse again.

2.  Instead of adding more to the top of the embellishment, I added more to the back.  I used a Doily Detail Die on Vintage Cream card stock, adhering it directly onto the Spring Rain card base.

3.  For the final step-up, I replaced the doily with two die cuts from the Limitless Layers, Squares die set which are also from the June Release.  This step was really fun.  I first cut the basic square from Vintage Cream, cut it again aligning the four leaf die from Lovely Layers die set with the four corners.  Secondly, I used the open scallop LL-Squares die on Blueberry Sky card stock, and repeated the cut with the four leaf die allowing the two mats to stack up and reveal the base color underneath.  Attaching the basic image over this just made me giggle!  I really like the way it turned out.  The sentiment, from Love and Marriage was stamped with VersaMark Ink and heat embossed with white.

So that's all for this post.  I hope you have already checked out this week's challenge, but if not, click on the link above, and give it a try!

Thanks for stopping by,

Suzanne