Zigs Coloring with Flora & Fauna

 Here's a question for you. What do you do when your mojo is stuck?  First, I stamped images in January to color and worked here and there on them when I had snippets of time. Second, I got inspired by a new idea I saw online and instead of just watching it I determined to do it! Actually, it took me a couple of tries, but here's my card.

Using watercolor paper,  I stamped the lovely image from Flora & Fauna (WPlus9) in Warm Wool ink, which is a soft gray. Using Zig markers and a paintbrush I colored the floral spray, adding detail on the clock face with a black marker and die cutting the image. 

The new technique involved using the frame die cuts to create a shaped card with vellum as the main front layer. Using a cover plate on the vellum gave a wonderful etched texture.

The die cuts are hinged at the top so the card opens and this close-up shows the panel for writing your note inside. It's really nice that the card stands up on its own.  

These are the colors I used, and supplies are listed below for those who want more details. Thanks so much for sticking with me for this long post. Happy crafting to you!

Be yourself

          Have delight in your craft 

               Make something beautiful!  

Supply List 

Stamps: Flora & Fauna stamps and dies from WPlus9
Ink: Warm Wool (WPlus9), Versamark
Accessories:  Lavinia Layers Background Die from WPlus9; 

Stitched Diamonds Coverplate Die from Pinkfresh Studio

For the video of the technique,  and many ideas, visit Jennifer McGuire HERE

I'm entering these challenges: 

TicTacToe where I chose the middle row across - Layers, Friendship, Circle

The Card Concept where my clean and layered card was inspired by the theme, flowers and colors. 

 

Hello, dear Pinpal!

 Hello ! It's a bright and breezy morning and I can't wait to share my card with you today! The Paper Players  #613 is a Clean-and-Simple Challenge with a theme: wheels!  I wheely had fun with this one! 

Card-making is such a delightful hobby. I absolutely love the zip that playing with challenges adds to my creativity! 

I got out all my stamps with cars. No. 

Then the bicycles stamps. Eh.... used that recently. 

Went through ALL of my stamps to find one that would measure up. 

Here it is, friends! SEW suite! See the wheels? I've had this stamp set for maybe 10 years? Playing with it was delightful.

After stamping, coloring and hand-cutting the images it was time to do more digging from the past.

 BUTTONS! For the sentiment, stitching underneath was just right.

I hope you've been inspired to join the fun and play along and even chuckled a time or two.  I promise you don't need to include silly puns, but I wanted you to know how much I enjoyed making this. After all, sewing USED to be my hobby, ha! 

Next post soon to follow. It's a two-fer day! Wishing you a lovely week.  
Be yourself
          Have delight in your craft
                Make something beautiful!  

 

 

I will be adding this to the Retro Rubber Challenge: Anything Goes! 

Stamps: Sew Suite, Stampin Up! (retired); sentiment from PTI, no longer listed
DSP: Tea Boutique, Stampin' Up! 

Playing with Friends!

 Hi there! 

It's a special kind of sharing on my blog today! You know we stampers love to play in challenges and sometimes in person. One of my favorite blog friends is Michele at I Card Everyone. I so admire her ability to design fabulous cards and then present them with her bit of wit and good humor! 

Today I'm part of her series called Playing with Friends.  She is such a fun friend to have, and gives much sweetness with her blog and many comments of encouragement to others.

We each create using the same supplies or, in this case a theme. BEACH!  It is National World Oceans Day, so we are creating projects around oceans or things to do at the beach. Of course I went with the beach theme, since that is my last name! That certainly makes me qualified, you think?

I have loved the Hello Bluebird stamps Seaside Girls set and I decided this was a good occasion to (order) and use it.  I colored these friends with Copics and used the Ocean Scene die to create a beach scene. Brand new supplies to me.  Inking each panel, I added dots and splatters as needed and assembled them on the card. The middle layer of the ocean is popped up for dimension. 

The sky was lightly inked and stamped with my message for Michele: I'm so lucky to have a friend like you! That message is for you too, dear readers.

I love collecting shells at the beach. It's my favorite thing to do! I can't wait to see which way the waves took Michele for her project, please join me in checking it out HERE.  

I will be linking at NBUS and at The Paper Players Summer Theme Challenge. 

Wishing you a day filled with sunshine and smiles. 

Be yourself.

     Find delight in your craft           
          Make something beautiful! 

Inspired By featuring The Greetery

 It's Thursday! I hope you're excited about the new inspiration from the gang at the Inspired By Challenge. 

The theme of Tweet Messages was my cue to pull out the Robin & Wren Set from The Greetery which I love to use because it reminds me of the cheery bluebirds that come to our bird feeder year round.

The Wood Slices Dies and some florals stamped and die cut from the Merry Sprigs set rounded out the scene. 

I have begun preparing stamped or colored and die cut images whenever I get a new set, and storing them with the set until I need them. This worked out really well, as all the items for this card were ready for me to place on the panel. Each image was stamped in layers with Distress Oxide Inks which I added with a sponge dauber.

I rounded the edges and placed it on the card front. The die cut Hello and sentiment are from WPlus9.  To tie in the black sentiment, I added Nuvo Drops in black.

That's it for me today. Thanks so much for taking time to visit! 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Happy Thoughts

Hi there! 

I saw the sketch at Freshly Made and knew that I just had to play along, so here's a quick post to share.

It turns out the layout works perfectly with my brand new stamps and dies from Sugar Pea Designs called You're My Type. So fun to play with colors, polka-dotted paper and a terrific sketch!

I will also be entering this at NBUS! 

See you next week, thanks for visiting. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

A New Technique - Monoprint

 Hello, crafty friends, I hope you are doing well. I had a chance to stamp today and picked up the pieces in my completed pile to finish up into a card. Thought maybe I should make a note card set with some of the other prints I've made, but that will be another day's project. 

The technique uses layers of ink and creates a monoprint. I used that as the main panel on the card, with a foam base to add dimension. After you create one of these you just don't want to cover it up! 

I used Oxide inks in soft yellows and pinks for this card, since it was made in spring. 

Yep, it's been sitting here ever since the Online Card Class Spring Card Camp 2! I loved learning this technique. It is also sometimes made using a Gelli Plate. See that panel underneath? That faux watercolor look is also part of the technique. A two-fer, if you will! The close up helps you see the softness of the print, created with ink and a brayer.

I hope you've enjoyed my post and been inspired today! Thanks so much for taking time to visit and leave a comment. See you soon!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: Uh-oh. I don't remember!

Paper: Neenah Solar White

INK: Distress Oxides

Accessories: Hello Die from WPlus9 and friend sentiment; leaf die is from The Greetery

Butterflies for a Wonderful Friend

Hello, how are you on this Monday? 

I am glad that it's a new week. A very big event took place this morning. We went to get peaches! I live 20 minutes from the orchards and these peaches are the best I've ever eaten! I don't buy more than a few at a time, since we eat very little sugar we like them best just off the tree! 

On the way we dropped off this thank you card to our friend and neighbor.  Could there be anything cheerier than butterflies in striped rainbow colors? 

I used DSP from Waffle Flower Crafts, and  layered the white die cut panel on top. (Bitty Butterflies Cover Plate from PTI.)

The sweet Fusion Card Challenge inspired me to pull out the die as it fits perfectly with the sketch. I loved the soft sweet pastel cupcakes and used the butterfly elements on my card. Pearls instead of icing swirls? 

The sentiment and die are thanks to Simon Says Stamp "You" stamp set and die. These sentiments are so unique and fill in the gaps left by occasions greetings. This card was easy and quick to make but I think it's special. 

Hope you stay well today and find some brightness or sweet spots in your day. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Beautiful Butterfly, Beautiful Day

Hello, stamping friends. 
I am hanging on to summer for as long as I can! Even though I'm wrapped up in a warm sweater today, I still look forward to the last few days of summer. You'll have to wait a bit longer to see me pull out the fall and (GASP!) Christmas stamps. Especially since I still needed to ink up this beautiful butterfly to play with today. 

I love the mosaic look of this beauty from the Beautiful Day stamp set. My fav Zig markers were used for coloring in the images. I added Nuvo drops to the butterfly, plus patterned paper and textured card stock to complete the design. Thanks for coming by today!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps: (SSS) Beautiful Day, Sentiment from WPlus9 - Wishing You Sentiments

Paper: (SU) Daffodil Delight,  Basic Black, Bristol Smooth

INK:Simon Says Stamp - Intense Black

Accessories: Tim Holtz Kaleidoscope 3 D Embossing die, Beautiful Day Wafer Dies

 I'm playing along with: 
the special celebration at Freshly Made Sketches and 

Simon Says Stamp Weekly Challenge - Clean and Simple. 

Hello for a Sweet Friend

Hello to you! 
I'm happy to be finding just a bit of time each day to craft. Today I tried something new, hope you like it! 
I began with the sketch in mind. I wanted to try a new technique of making a background with inks. Beginning with lemon images in mind, I chose the pale pastel colors but you know how things go. Had to change my plans in the middle! 

I used a paper towel saturated with Distress Oxide inks and spritzed with water for the background, created on white card stock. If you look closely you can glimpse the texture of the paper towel in places. This looks pretty neat IRL! 

I used the Hand -Lettered Hello stamps and dies, and the Tossed Florals Border Die from WPlus9. All card stock used is white, and was inked for color. I added a hint of yellow with pale sequins.

Entering today's card at 
CAS Mix Up Challenge 

CAS(E) This Sketch

Thanks so much for your visit! Have a wonderful day!

Shimmering Butterfly Mandala

There is nothing I like better than trying out new products and new techniques. Always learning something new and having the ability to play are two of the factors that keep me in love with stamping! 
You can see the result in today's card.

I began by embossing the Butterfly Mandala stamp (WPlus9) in white onto Ranger Distress Watercolor Paper. This is a huge stamp that is intricate in detail and covers most of a card front with lacy leaves and butterflies in a circular shape. Isn't it gorgeous?

Then I added Nuvo Shimmer Powders in Atlantis Burst and Falling Leaves. When you sprinkle the tiniest bits of these powders and add water, they burst into many colors and flow together to blend beautifully. The result is AMAZING! Varying the placement of the powder and the amount of water enables you to watercolor a gorgeous background. I can't wait to do this again! 

This card was sent to a friend who is quite amazing herself. I die cut the sentiment, using three layers of the die to give dimensions. I doubt using the sequins was a good idea in the end for this card. But you know I just couldn't resist a bit more sparkle. 

Thanks so much for taking time to visit my blog. I hope you have a fabulous day!

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

A Woodland Scene

Hi there!
The other day I just wanted to do some inking for fun, trying out a new color combo. Of course I had to finish it into a card, so next I went looking for images that worked well with it.

Turns out I had Copic colored some critters for practice on our recent road trip so I mounted them up for this card. 

For the inside I will complete the sentiment with "Wishing you a fun-filled day!" 

That is also my wish for you friends, on this Wednesday. I appreciate your visit so very much. 

Be yourself

     Delight in your craft 

        Make something beautiful!

Supplies used:

Stamps:  Pretty Pink Posh - Woodland Critters and dies (2017), Sentiments are from WPlus9

INK:Simon Says Stamp - Intense Black, DOX - Squeezed lemon, Worn Lipstick, Abandoned Coral

Accessories: Nuvo Enamel Drops, White Gouache, White Gel pen, white embossing powder

Playing along at: 
Retro Rubber Challenge 

I love Jan's tic tac toe choices! Completed the top row across, and the bottom row across with my stamps from Nov. 2017.