Monday, June 28, 2010

Sew Thankful




This is a set by Unity Stamps.  I stamped each image onto a separate piece of white cardstock and colored everything with Copic markers.  Then I cut out the images.  For the spool of thread, I used some light green embroidery floss and wound it around the spool and glued it on top of the stamped swirls and through the needle for a more realistic look.  (If you look closely, you can see the end of the thread hanging below the card base.)  I also pop dotted the sewing machine for added depth.

These are the Copic colors I chose to complete this card.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Little Boy Blue




This is a cling stamp by Penny Black called Fly Away (I purchased it here) and is a set of two clings - one saying and one image.  It's definitely one of my new favorites and is so fun to color.  (You'll probably be seeing quite a bit of this little guy in various colors.)  As usual, I used Copic markers to color everything.  The dog isn't nearly as dark as he is in the photo.  You could use a multitude of saying with this little guy, but I decided to use the one that came with the set. I stamped it in Memento's Rich Cocoa.

I used the Deckled Rectangles by Spellbinders  to cut out my image.  I went over the outside edge of die cut with Copic's B00 to make the white of the card stand out more.  I layered this on a light brown checked patterned paper and used light blue eyelets to accent the four corners before layering onto a darker shade of cardstock.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Happy Father's Day

This was a quick card I made for Father's Day.  The base card is two-sided patterned cardstock with the lighter side facing the inside.  The die is a Nellie Snellen die (you can read about where I purchased mine here) and  I used a sponged ink background technique to make my background for the bee.  The bee image is from Unity Stamps that I colored with Copic markers and then cut out and pop dotted onto my sponged background.  The phrase is a rub on that I had. 

Hope all you dad's out there enjoyed your special day.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Craft Critique Father's Day Carnival Blog Hop

Craft Critique is having a Father's Day blog hop to help get your creative juices flowing for ideas for the men in your life.  My Fly Fishing card was chosen to be on the list too (YEA!!).


Craft Critique's Father's Day Carnival is sponsored by My Favorite Things and you can enter a coupon code for discounts.  More info is on Craft Critique's web site.  Go check out everyone's cool ideas HERE and Happy Father's Day.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Cow poke


For this multi layered card, I started off with a linen look base cardstock in a mahogany color, to coordinate with the Aged Mahogany Distress ink  that I used to stamp my image.  The next layer was made using dye reinkers and marbles to create my background.  This is an easy, but somewhat loud, technique.  Just place a few drops of a dye reinker (colors of your choice) into a plastic container that has a lid.  (The Stampin' Up containers work really well for this.)  Next, adhere a piece of cardstock onto the top of the container with repositionable tape.  Drop in several marbles and shake to your heart's content.  You can always add more drops of reinker if you want more color.  When you're satisfied, take off the cardstock and you have just created a wonderful one-of-a- kind background.  Alcohol inks and glossy cardstock would look great too.  Felt covered brads were placed in the four corners.

The next layer is actually a piece of very thin wood that came in one of my husband's cigar boxes.  I'm always looking at things most people just toss in the trash to see if I can re-purpose it in one of my projects.  This piece of wood veneer was thin enough to cut with scissors.  There are now several internet companies that sell real wood veneer paper.  From what I understand, they are thin enough to use in your die cutting machines.  I haven't tried them yet, but they sound fun to use.

The final two layers were cut out using the Spellbinders Curved Rectangles dies.  First is a piece of handmade fiber paper that I had laying around and the top layer is a portion of an image from Viva Las Vegas Stamps (VLVS).   If you haven't visited this site, you're in for a real treat.  They have a lot of the unusual and funky, but fun, stamps.   I inked the edges of this final lyaer with Aged Mahogany Distress ink.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Flying high

One of my new favorite techniques is a sponged ink background.  I like to use either Distress inks or Memento dye inks for these backgrounds.  For the clouds, I cut out a cloud shaped template and sponged around it with Distress inks.  I then layered this on top of a strip of blue cardstock.  A piece of linen colored cardstock is used for the card base.

The stamps are both from Unity Stamps and I used Copic markers to color them in.  Next, I cut both images out and pop dotted them so they would look like they are flying in the air.   Lastly, I hand wrote my message on the plane's banner.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Fly fishing


This image is from My Heart Stamps for You.  I'm always on the look out for masculine images, since there are more males than females in my family.  I stamped the image twice.  One time for the card itself and one time in order to make a "mask"  For the mask, I cut my guy out carefully and then used repositionable double sided tape to layer him directly on top of the first stamped image.  I then used Copic markers and airbrushed the sky background.  These are the Copic markers I used for this project:
                                                                                 


After coloring, I used my Spellbinders Labels Eight dies to cut out both the image and the brown frame around the image.  Finally, I inked the sides of my card using Distress inks.  I'm thinking this will make an excellent birthday or Father's day card for someone in my family.


Sunday, June 6, 2010

Fluttering Hearts


This card has a lot of layers and four different patterned papers, some more subtle than others.  I don't often mix a lot of patterned papers together, so I'm stepping out of my comfort zone a little.  Both the image and the saying are from Unity Stamps.  I embossed the solid cardstock with a heart pattern using a Fiskars texture plate, which look like thisDistress inks were sponged around all the edges of the papers for a more finished appearance.

I stamped the heart image and, after trimming around the edges, I used Flower Soft's Heather mixture to fill in the center.  You can now find Flower Soft in various places on the internet.  It's fun to think of all the different places you can use this product on other than flowers.  (Think snow, a coat collar, animal fur, etc.)

I also outlined the wings with Ranger's Crystal Stickles.  They are VERY sparkly in person.  I rolled the wings up so they aren't flat against the paper so they would  look like they are fluttering in the air. Lastly, I used a black Atyou Spica Glitter pen to outline the words "heart" and "flutter" so they would sparkle as well.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

I am so excited and I wanted to share the news!  My card was the Grand Prize Winner of the May Hogs and Sketches Challenge #8 at Hambo Stamps.

This was the sketch that our cards had to follow.  I used the fish leaping out of the water for the circular elements of the sketch.


You can go HERE to see the details of how I made this card.

Thanks for letting me share my news!