Marshy Bog

I dug into my distress inked papers and found this lovely orange background. I thought of clouds and decided to create a marsh scene. I am thankful that I don't need a sympathy card right now and just decided to add that sentiment based on the serenity of the scene.

The background was created by inking up my craft mat with the spiced marmalade and corduroy brown (sparsely) and adding lots of water. I made 3 or 4 papers from the ink on the craft mat and this was probably towards the end as there is not much ink.


I added the yellow on the bottom after I stamped my images to create the illusion of a sunset or sunrise.

Products:

• Penny Black
• B Line Design Birds Cube
• Versafine - Vintage Sepia
• Ranger Distress Ink - Spiced Marmalade, Mustard
• Signo - White Gel Pen
• Color Pencils
• Hero Arts - Everyday Sayings
• Hero Arts - Friend Definition Cling Stamp

Thanks for stopping by...

Have a lovely Sunday...

Suzz

Golden Brown....

Anytime I hear the words golden brown I think of something delicious. I think that might have been part of my inspiration for this card. (All that good thanksgiving cooking.) Daria sent me this Hero Arts Antique Map Background stamp which I love! (Thank you Daria!) She did this as a lovely surprise for me... knowing that I had admired it. What a wonderful gift to find in the mailbox yesterday along with a lovely card.

I thought I was going to make a masculine card but the butterfly showed up and some flowers. :)

Products:

• Hero Arts - Antique Map Background
• Hero Arts - Everyday Sayings
• Hero Arts - Dandelion
• Hero Arts - Heart Winged Butterfly
• Versafine - Vintage Sepia
• Ranger Distress Inks - Broken China, Brushed Corduroy, Shabby Shutters
• Nestabilities - Label 8
• Inkadinkado - Dream
• Impression Obsession - Inspire
• Krylon - Gold Pen
• Ranger Stickles
• Recollections - Pearls
• Twine, Vintage Book, Buttons

Well the house is clean and now we have all the Christmas boxes out to make a disaster which hopefully will be cleaned up before family stops by.

Have a lovely day!

Suzz

Happy Birthday Uncle Paulywog!

Second of my birthday cards for this weekend. Uncle Paul (BIL) is having a birthday too! The kids will call him Uncle Paulywog sometimes which I think is funny. He is a great uncle and the kids love to see him. (He has 3 dogs which doesn't hurt his fun factor either)

Paul's birthday sometimes falls on Thanksgiving. Don't know how that was a child... We always get birthday cake at Thanksgiving which is alright along with the pie.

This card was so easy to create as the paper I used is from My Minds Eye Bohemian. The background was this lovely washed out background and the dragonfly was part of the pattern. I decided to use that as my focal point and just add some branches and leaves.

I cut up the edges of the dragonfly to give it dimension. The stamped leaves where accented with a touch of color pencil. The dragonfly wings and body have some stickles (rock candy) on them.

Products:

• My Minds Eye - Bohemian
• Versafine - Vintage Sepia, Habernero
• Watercolor Pencil
• Ranger Stickles - Rock Candy
• Twine, Buttons
• Inkadinkado - 98793-MM
• Penny Black - Japanese Maple
• Stampers Anonymous - U1 - 1334

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are spending the day with family. Special blessings and hugs to you and all your family near and far.

Suzz

Happy Birthday Lexi!

This weekend I have to create 3 cards... I finished 2 of them and am still working on the third. I also want to send off a few packages which need a few cards too. The first card is for our niece Lexi. She is turning 12 and I am hoping she will enjoy this card as much as I enjoyed creating it!

These colors were inspired by the Basic Grey Urban Prairie paper. I have this lovely Inkadinkado butterfly stamp and had never inked it up but thought how perfect it was for this paper. The other background I had in my scraps pile an it seemed to work well with the color scheme.

I love these colors together. The yellows, pinks and turqouise are such fun colors.

Products:

• Inkadinkado - 993113-P
• Basic Grey - Urban Prairie - 6x6 Pack
• Hero Arts - Black and White Flowers
• Hero Arts - Birthday Messages
• StaZon - Fuschia Pink, Teal Blue, Yellow
• Memento - Rosebud
• Watercolor Pencils
• Stickles - Crystal, Blue

Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz

Tag Tuesday # 27

Louise's Challenge is to create a holiday tag with the colors red, green, gold-yellow.



I had a santa already stamped in a gold yellow color and decided to emulate that on the tag and build the tag around him.

The images are mostly from a Stampers Anonymous Letters To Santa set. The Ho Ho Ho is stamped from a set of letters from Stamp Craft.

Inks include: Versamark, Ranger Distress Ink Aged Mahogany, Versafine Toffee, Olive Green.

The edges are created using a Gold Krylon Short Cust Paint Pen.

I hope you are having a wonderful day...

Suzz

Willow, Juniper, and Citrus

I decided to pull out my alcohol inks last night and lined them up in a semi-circle around me. My daughter walked by and said "Got ink?" Which I thought was pretty funny.





I laid them out so I could decide on which colors I wanted to mix together. The willow and juniper was such a beautiful combination I decided to pull them out and lay them down first and the citrus lightened up the combination.

The shape is from the nestabilities label 8 template. I used it for each shape except the sentiment. That is the QuicKutz die.

Everyting was embossed with either a white embossing powder or the Zing Chestnut powder. I added a few highlights with the uni-ball signo white gel pen.

Products:

• Hero Arts - Antique Flower Background
• Ranger Alcohol Inks - Willow, Citrus, Juniper
• Hero Arts - Cling - Thinking of You
• Hero Arts - Everay Sayings
• Zing - Chestnut Embossing Powder
• Signo - Uni-ball White Gel Pen

Thanks for stopping by and hope you are having a great day!

Suzz

Trimmings...

We are getting prepared for Thanksgiving.. Part of that is planning to pull out all the Christmas decorations and setting up the tree.

In that spirit.. I created this ornament for the Trimmings challenge on the HA blog. I apologize up front because I am sure this has been done and I have seen it somewhere but can't credit the site I saw it on. (Probably Spellbinders Blog)

I shared two versions of the picture one without contrast:

One with the contrast applied:
Really simple. Stamp the design block background (Hero Arts - Antique Flower Background) on white card stock. Heat emboss with Enchanted Gold Embossing powder. Die cut 5 Pendant shapes (Spellbinders - Shapeabilities -Fleur De Lis Pendants) with the smaller pendant shape centered in the middle.

After all the die cuts are cut and all the little pieces are knocked out (Very tedious and time consuming) you can assemble. Fold the large and small pendent shapes with the plain white side facing out in half. Glue together white surface to white. Continue until the last piece which you glue to the ornament.

The only thing to remember is to run your string through the center before you close out your final pieces.

I would have to redo mine as I didn't get clean cuts on my dies for all the pieces but wanted to share how it will look. :)

Hope you have a fabulous day!

Suzz

Tag Tuesday Challenge # 26

Pink, Burgandy and Brown Holiday tag... Sounds deliciously vintage doesn't it?

Louise's challenge this week for her tag this week is a color and Christmas tag challenge.

This beautiful ornament was something I picked up at Hobby Lobby in the Christma aisles and have been wanting to use it on a card. Unfortunately the picture does not show how pretty the ornament is.

The ribbon was a RAK from Anna-Karin (thanks anna-karin). I have been wanting to use the script behind the stamped embossed image ever since I saw Lisette's gorgeous cards. (Check out her blog here)

The script stamp is from Stampers Anonymous - Letter to Santa. The Holly stamp is a Hero Arts Design Block- Holly Flourish. The Christmas Wishes sentiment is from a collection from Cornish Heritage Farms - Night before Christmas.

The script was stamped using a pigment ink onto a pink tag. Then the holly background was stamped using versarmark. Heat emboss using clear embossing powder. Sponge brown dye ink over the top.

Outline partially the images using white gel pen.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Suzz

Everything but the kitchen sink...

I decided to rename this post after I started typing up the details... This card had so many different elements to it..

This is for the HA blog challenge this week which is to use trimmings.


It all started with a package of goodies I recieved on Saturday. Anna Karin was so thoughtful and sent me an envelope full of lovely things. These were my RAK from her challenge on Two Peas for Stamptoberfest. (Thanks Anna-Karin!)

The background squares are from a masterboard I created awhile ago and made color copies of so I would have it on hand and it worked so beautifully with my main image. They were created using distress inks and resist embossing. The stamp is Hero Arts - Old French writing.

Recipe:

1. Cut card base from white cardstock 11 x 5 1/2". Score and fold in half.
2. Stamp typewriter letters using green chalk ink all over the front of the card.
3. Sponge edges of card using brown dye ink.
4. Cut 4 squares 2 1/2 x 2 1/2" from white cardstock and sponge brown dye ink around the edges.
5. Cut Frame 4 1/8" x 4 1/8" from white cardstock and die cut shape from center.
6. Cut square 4 1/4" x 4 1/4" from white cardstock and sponge edges using orange chalk ink.
7. Cut square 4 1/8" x 4 1/8" from white cardstock and stamp typewriter letters using green chalk ink.
8. Ink up flower stamp with yellow, orange, red, green chalk inks and stamp in center of typewriter background.
9. Ink up leafy branches with yellow, orange and brown chalk inks and stamp around flower.
10. Use brown colored pencil to accent leaves and flower on all stamped images.
11. Stamp butterfly on masterboard paper with versamark and heat emboss with brown embossing powder. Cut out butterfly.
12. Stamp sentiment on white cardstock using brown pigment ink.
13. Stamp typewriter letters using yellow chalk ink over sentiment.
14. Cut rectangle to mount sentiment on and sponge with orange chalk ink.
15. Assemble all layers. :)

Products:

• Colorbox Chalk Inks
• Hero Arts - Old French Writing
• Hero Arts - Artistic Butterflies
• Velvet Ribbon - (Thanks Anna-Karin)
• Great Impressions - Coneflower (Thanks Anna-Karin)
• Ranger Distress Inks - Spiced Marmalade, Fire Brick, Mustard Seed
• Versafine - Vintage Sepia
• Versamark
• Zing - Chestnut
• Stampers Anonymous - School Desk
• Penny Black - Golden Leaves
• Stickles - Brass, Orange
• Memento - Rich Cocoa

Thanks for stopping by..

Suzz

Glittery Goodness

Still playing around with the glitter for the Hero Arts Blog Challenge for this week. When I was looking at inspirational pieces I did see a lovely bed cover that was toile but white on red.

I liked the shape and the colors and decided to emulate it in a card.

Very simple as the stamped background is the Hero Arts Poinsettia and Birds Design Block stamped in versamark and white embossed.

The sentiment is Hero Arts as well and is stamped again in versamark and embossed using white embossing powder.

Now on to something fun... My youngest got up this morning and decided to make a card. She saw an idea I was working on with some fun Memory Box stamps and decided to create her own version of my card.

She used some items from my wall of shame. (Island of Misfits - where I stick all my unused animals or cut out pieces that don't make it onto a card)

She created a scene where the penguin was ice-fishing for hearts and inside it says:

LOL! This was exactly my design but I didn't finish it yet. Something I was trying out for a class in January for Valentines day.

Well I hope you enjoyed her little card.

Have a lovely day...

Suzz

Inspiration...

I have been struggling again with ideas and inspiration the last couple of days... So I used an idea that Cathy over at the Moxie Fab World blog initiated for Tuesday Triggers... The idea is to find something beautiful that inspires you and create a card from that inspiration. I decided to go exploring and see if something inspired me to create.

I found inspiration in a pillow from Crate and Barrel:

I was thinking an all white card with layers of embossing. Of course somehow I ended up here:

The current challenge at Hero Arts blog this week is to use glitter... So I figured why not stay with the circles and layers but add edges of glitter.

The color happened by accident. In all my playing I used a purple StazOn on my Antique Flower Background stamp. I had wiped it off several times thinking it was clean. Unfortunately after I die cut all my circles and started to stamp with my versamark I was picking up a faint purple.

I decided to go with it...

Recipe:

1. Die cut 3 size circle multiple times. (I made 8 flowers in all and used the nestabilities large circle set.) I used the smallest 3 circles from the set.
2. Stamp using versamark the antique flower background all over on all of the circles. Heat emboss using clear embossing powder.
3. Crumple up every circle multiple times to soften the edges and the circles.
4. Sponge Memento Plum around the edges of the circles.
5. I then used a Zig glue stick to add glue around the edges and dipped the edges into the glitter.
6. Pop dot the circles together. Add gem in the center.
7. The rest is putting it together. I folded some ribbon in half and tucked it in various spots to make my foliage.

Products:

• Hero Arts - Antique Flower Background
• Nestabilities - Large Standard Circles
• Versamark
• Clear Embossing Powder
• Zig Glue Pen
• Penny Black - Full of Life
• Cuttlebug Embossing Folder
• Memento - Plum
• Martha Stewart - Ribbon
• Fairy Dust - Glitter
• Versafine - Imperial Purple

Well I hope you are having a beautiful weekend. We are! The weather is gorgeous.

Suzz

Caardvarks - Circle of Friends - II

Caardvarks challenge is circle of friends which is creating a circle card. This card started from a scrap idea on another card which I haven't shared yet. (Pending another challenge.)

This lovely antique background is embossed with clear embossing to resist the dye ink sponged over it.

This is going to some good friends of ours with whom we exchange ornaments. It is designed to be a card and then can be hung on their tree if they choose to.

Imagine the areas that look like black are actually a deep chocolate brown. Maybe one of these days I will use the light brown paper so it looks like dark brown when I take my picture. :)



I added the tag and the ribbon after I had finished the card to turn it into an ornament. The backside of the card is a off-white circle for us to write our holiday wishes!


Products:

• Hero Arts - Antique Flower Background
• Hero Arts - Deer
• Penny Black - Joy Seal
• Ranger Distress Inks - Antique Linen
• Versamark
• Clear Embossing Powder
• Martha Stewart - Cornice Edger Punch
• Versafine - Vintage Sepia
• Copics
• Memento - Tuxedo Black
• Signo - Uniball White Gel pen
• EK Success - Corner Punch
• Fiskars - Circle Templates

Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz

Tag Tuesday Challenge #25

Today is Tuesday and I actually was ready to tackle the tag Tuesday challenge on a Tuesday for once. :) Louise's Tag Tuesday Challenge this week is to use a picture on a tag. My sister Jodie had provided me with several antique pictures/postcards (thanks Jo!) awhile ago and I have them stored in an old book. When I pulled them out and perused them this lady jumped out at me and I pulled a page from the book to use as well.

I have this dark chocolate brown cardstock which always photographs like black. So really imagine a dark chocolate background. :)

I love the look on her face as she looks so happy in her outfit and her hat. The background was on a farm off in the distance. I think she was getting ready to go out for the day.

I layered a few stamps on the background and added a little bit of chalk to the stamping on her dress and the background in a lovely steel blue.

Products:

• Stampendous - Aganthapus Cluster
• Stampabilities - Tapestry Pattern
• Hero Arts - Artistic Windows
• Versamark
• Clear Embossing Powder
• Pebbles Inc. Chalk
• Pearls
• Lace, Pom Poms
• Versafine - Vintage Sepia
• Vintage Book, Picture

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Suzz

Winter Birdhouse

I had visions of a row of birdhouses all looking different similar to the famous houses in San Fran. The painted ladies... Well only one made it onto my card. This card was created for the Caardvarks Circle of Friends challenge.

The background was sponged on the bottom and top. The bottom was sponged with a purple and blue dye ink. The top was just the blue.

Recipe:

1. Stamp Flourish on white cardstock with versamark and heat with clear embossing powder.
2. Sponge with blue and purple dye inks.
3. Cut out circle and rip across the edge.
4. Rip little piece for snow drift on the post.
5. Cut out other circle and sponge lightly with blue dye ink.
6. Stamp snowflakes randomly with versamark and heat emboss with clear embossing powder.
7. Sponge over snowflakes with same dye ink.
8. Punch snowflakes from purple dye ink background.
9. Cut 1 1/4" x 2" rectangle of white cardstock.
10. Stamp swirls on rectangle using plum dye ink.
11. Stamp definition stamp on white cardstock using blue dye ink. Cut 1/8 " strip.
12. Cut two 1/8" x 1 1/4" pieces for the roof. Glue the tips together and attach to top of the birdhouse. Trim corners of birdhouse off.
13. Punch border of blue stamped definition and trim to fit bottom of the bird house.
14. Use hole punch to create bird hole!

So easy and addictive. I still have 3 other fancy birdhouses that didn't make it onto the card. It is too much fun making creative birdhouses... (victorian, ranch, tudor...)

Products:

• Hero Arts - Artistic Windows
• Hero Arts - Flourish Background
• Hero Arts - Friends Definition
• Ranger Distress Inks - Broken China, Dusty Concord
• Memento - Soft Plum, Black Tuxedo
• EK Success - Snowflake
• Fiskars Border Punch
• Versamark
• Clear Embossing Powder
• Amuse - Holiday Bird
• Memory Box - Merry Christmas
• Copics
• Versafine - Purple
  

Have a lovely day!

Suzz

Swirling Snow

Still playing at the Hero Arts Challenge this week which is to use unexpected colors for a holiday card.

I had to purchase a re-inker for my broken china and at the same time I picked up a re-inker for my purple inkpad too. This background started from mixing those two together.

1. Drip blue and purple re-inker onto acetate/transperancy.
2. Spritz with water.
3. Stamp snowflakes onto white cardstock using versamark. Heat emboss with clear embossing powder.
4. Lay stamped background into inks. Lift and see if any spots need color added.
5. Create additional backgrounds to use up the ink. :)
6. Stamp swirls using versamark onto the stamped background after it is completely dry.
7. Heat emboss using incadescent embossing powder. (You can't see it in the picture but there is a beautiful incandescent sheen on the background).

The rest is very straightforward. I stamped the swirls on the plastic snowflake using StaZon ink.

Products:

• Hero Arts - Stunning Snowflakes
• Impression Obsession - C-A-C Fluff
• Lime green - Pearls
• Snowflake - Hobby Lobby Christmas
• Stamp N Stuff - Kaleidescope Embossing Powder
• StaZon - Royal Purple
• Versamark

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a blessed day.

Suzz

Trees in Moonlight

We had the biggest orange moon the other night... My DD and I were admiring it as we ran to a meeting together.


It looked very similar to this:

Of course the sky was a little darker here than I put in this card. :) The sentiment on this was something I ordered. Usually I buy stamps when I see them, but my LSS was having a special on Verses stamps and I love their stamps. So I went through the catalogue and ordered this one. I have so many birds stamps and make so many scenes I knew this would work well.

The trees are from Stampers Anonymous - Tim Holtz Reindeer Flight. (I actually have the wood block but wish I had bought the set.)

The sentiment is from Verses and the rest is Ranger Distress Inks Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Broken China. I stamped the trees with Versafine Olympia Green.

My favorite birds are from the B Line Birds Cube.

Have a fabulous day. I am off to clean.. aack!

Suzz

Raspberry and Lime

Unexpected Colors for holiday cards is the Hero Arts Challenge this week. This is a simple little card.

I started with this fabulous ribbon from May Arts. I had some of this ribbon awhile ago and used it all up. Just purchased some more and decided to use it for my inspiration point.

Love the little penguin in his pink and green outfit. Hand me downs from his older sister I am sure. :)

Have a fabulous fall day...

Suzz

Tag Tuesday Challenge #24

This weeks tag challenge from Louise is a tough one... No paper!!

I created two tags but found it so challenging not to use paper.

Every time I went to do something I realized no can't do that...

The tag on the left is the back of a patterned paper pack. The cardboard used to keep the paper from buckling. I used that with some paints from ranger sponged on the background and stamped with versamark and embossed. The edges were touched up with a Krylon gold pen. The stamps are from Tattered Angels (tree), Hero Arts (Sentiment), and Stampers Anonymous (bottom half of tag).

The tag on the right was stamped on aluminum foil with a cardboard backing. I stamped using StazOn and ended up embossing with clear embossing powder. I added the touches of color using the new Smooch paints. I was fortunate enough to be given a few of them by a friend. They didn't dry on the foil very well.

The stamps are from rubber stampede and inkadinkado.

Thanks for stopping by...

Suzz

Plums & Buttercream

Cathy over at Moxie Fab World issued a plum challenge.. Love plum colors... Don't have any. :)


Lucky for me, Jacqueline did her challenge first and used the gorgeous Basic Grey Wisteria papers on her card which reminded me that I have a few sheets of that lovely paper too.


So here is my plummy card:

Products:

• The Crafters Workshop - Orchid Template - (Love these)
• Hero Arts - S5135 Outline Flowers
• PaberBag Studios - PBS-038-C Beauty
• Versafine - Imperial Purple
• Versamark
• Basic Grey - Wisteria
• Marvy Uchida - Butterfly Punch
• Pearls - Unknown
• Light Yellow Embossing Powder
• Ranger Stickles - Purple

Thanks for stopping by... Have a beautiful day...

Suzz

Silent Night

I hope you are having a great day...

Just sharing something I played with yesterday. Still felling a little blah so I pulled out this card from my scrap pile that had the trees stamped across the front. I decided to use a little white crayon resist on the tree branches.

Sorry about the color. I took the pictures 3 times and it still looked like this. My lights must have been at the wrong angle. Anyways...

I sponged the background using 4 different Ranger Distress Inks. (Faded Jeans, Broken China, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters)

The sky was the most fun as I added snow using my gel pen.

The trees (Hero Arts) and sentiment (Hero Arts - Silent Night) were stamped using Versafine Vintage Sepia. I added color to the tree trunk with my colored pencils.

So simple and easy. Felt like I should have mounted the picture but I was using it as an entry into the Hero Arts Blog challenge which was simple holiday cards.

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

Suzz

Tag follow up

I think you might recognize that bird... From my tag on Friday. I actually stamped and embossed it twice when I was creating my tag.

The second bird was sitting there and I decided to turn it into a circle and create a card. Still not feeling my mojo so it has been slow going.

Came back to add the products:

Products:

• Stampers Anonymous - Tim Holtz Collection Artful Flight CMS069
• Penny Black - 3886J berry branch
• Penny Black - 3932K Japenese Maple
• Judikins - Background Cube #1
• Impression Obsession - D6973
• Versamark
• Stampendous Pearlustre Garnet Opaque Embossing Powder
• Versafine - Vintage Sepia
• Ranger Distress Ink - Mustard Seed
• TCP

Thanks for stopping by..

Suzz