Lace Angel

I love the idea of all white projects or shades of white.  This week the   Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge   is all about shades of white. 

I have had this leftover dish soap bottle sitting out thinking it would be a great dress-form to decorate at some point.  The thought of shades of white had me thinking of my huge bin of lace and trim all white and ivory. 

So why not decorate my soap bottle with a mix of doilies, lace, trim and white flowers. I painted the bottle and repeated after dry. 

Then I decided to start with a doily along the bottom of the bottle.

After I put the bottom on I added a beautiful lace trim over the bust and added a row of flowers around the collar.  Well you get the idea I kept adding layers until she had a fancy frock made of lace and trim. 

Than I decided why not turn her into a lace angel.  A few tries later I have a a set of white wings stamped on kraft. 

I added a double row of pearls some white ribbon and flowers on waist. 

Now what does any good angel still need?  A set of wishes to hand out!  I die cut a series of hearts and placed them on wire stems.  I used the rubons with different words added a little angel dust.


Products: Maya Road Fabric Tape , Prima White Crochet Squares, Kaiser White Lace,  Prima White Flowers, May Arts White Ribbon, TIm Holtz Idea-ology Remnants Rub-Ons, Simon Says Exclusives Holiday Shapes, Wire, Melissa Frances Pearls, Kraft Cardstock, Stampers Anonymous - Tattered Wings , Hero Arts - White Ink, Ranger Distress Ink - Antique Linen, White acrylic paint, Stampendous Ultra Fine Glitter

Play along for a chance at a  Simon Says Stamp $50 Gift Voucher.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Blissful

Happy Saturday!  It was a long week and I am happy that the weekend is here.  I bought this new Penny Black background stamp called Blissful and I love it.  I inked it up and created a card and a tag.

I used the Ranger Archival Potting Soil ink to stamp the image onto a manila tag and over text.  I then colored them using STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell watercolor pencils with a waterbrush.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Suzz

Butterfly House

I had purchased this sweet little bird house at the craft store with the intention of decorating it with my stamps.  When I saw the new hydrangea and butterfly stamps from Stampendous I had a vision of a butterfly house.

 All I did was paint the wooden house white.  I measured the exterior of the house and cut a piece of white cardstock to fit the front.  Getting the circle placed on my cardstock was the trickiest part. :)

I punched out the circle from my white cardstock and then I stamped the hydrangeas around the white cardstock.

I colored them with my favorite watercolor pencils and a waterbrush.

I then applied a coat of glue to the roof and used Stampendous color fragments to cover the roof of my house. I also added it around the bottom after I attached my stamped flowers.

I painted the butterfly with Americana paints and stamped the butterfly over the dried painted background. 

I made a little banner to stick in the top of my house.   I stamped it with a sentiment from the Stampendous Regal Art Stamps

I also had a little canvas:

 I painted the canvas and used the mixed media stamps inked up in paint to add texture. I stamped the image on tissue paper and colored her to decoupage her to the surface. I finished her flowers with a touch of paint.

Products: DecoArts Americana Paints, Stampendous Creative Palette, Stack Arts - Royal Hearts Rubber Stamp , Mixed Media - NK Studio Wired Cling , Lovely Garden dies, Lovely Garden Rubber Stamp,   Floral Lady Stamp,  Color Fragments  STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell Watercolor

Louise Crosbie (Scotland, UK)

Lea Kimmel (North Carolina, USA)

Claudia Neubacher (Vienna, Austria)

Asia King (Oxford, UK)

Iliane de Fockert (Elly) (Niedersachsen, Germany)

Suzanne Czosek (Illinois, USA)

Julia Stratford-Wright (near London, UK)

Kristine Reynolds (California, USA)

Angelica Stark (Hudiksvall, Sweden)

Mark Gould (West Sussex, UK)

Debbie Cole (California, USA)

Jamie Martin (Oklahoma, USA)

Tobi Crawford (BC, Canada)

Wendy Price (New Jersey, USA)

Jessa Plant (Arizona, USA)

A few of the bloggers this week are new to hopping, so if you have an issue with any of the links, here's a little tip! If you get a page that says "Sorry that Page is not here" or something similar, try clicking on the header of the blog, or look for something that says Home. The hop page should be near the top of the day's posts. We will fix broken links as the day goes on, as well, so check back here if you are really lost.

The Official Rules.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Flower Pot

All this week the Stampendous, DecoArt, and Princeton Artist Brushes via inspired by Willow Wolfe are being showcased in an inspirational blog hop! If you missed the beginning of the week, be sure to go back and check  out MONDAY - TUESDAY - WEDNESDAY.   There are three prize packages to commenters with U.S. Mailing Addresses, and DecoArt will be sending three generous sample packages to international commenter.

I have a few projects that I am sharing today and a few more planned for Friday.

First up is a little paper mache flower pot painted with the pretty pink, orange and white acrylic paints.  I used the same paints to create the background for my lovely butterflies.  I colored the beautiful flowers with watercolor pencils and die cut them to place around the flowerpot.

My second project was a journal page using the Stampendous Creative Pallette and DecoArt Acrylic Paints to create my background.

I then layered on images from the Stack Art kits with ink and touches of highlights with a white gel pen.

Products: DecoArts Americana Paints, Stamepndous Creative Pallette, Stack Arts - Royal Hearts Rubber Stamp , Mixed Media - NK Studio Wired Cling , Butterfly Charm Perfectly Clear Stamps, Winged Cross Stamp, Hope Verses Perfectly Clear Stamps, Lovely Garden dies, Lovely Garden Rubber Stamp

Louise Crosbie (Scotland, UK)

Debbie Cole (California, USA)

Iliane de Fockert (Elly) (Niedersachsen, Germany)

Julia Stratford-Wright (near London, UK)

Suzanne Czosek (Illinois, USA)

Kathi Rerek (New Jersey, USA)

Wendy Price (New Jersey, USA)

Tobi Crawford (BC, Canada)

Melanie Artz (Washington, USA) 

A few of the bloggers this week are new to hopping, so if you have an issue with any of the links, here's a little tip! If you get a page that says "Sorry that Page is not here" or something similar, try clicking on the header of the blog, or look for something that says Home. The hop page should be near the top of the day's posts. We will fix broken links as the day goes on, as well, so check back here if you are really lost.

The Official Rules.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Art Journey & DarkRoom Door Hop!

This week the Art Journey Design Team and the Darkroom Door Design Team are hopping together all week. That means 5 days of fabulous artistic inspiration!  For all the details go to the Darkroom Door blog or the Art Journey Blog.

I decided a series of ATC's would be a fun way to mix in the different stamps and give me a chance to play with all of the different images.

My first ATC used a misted background in yellows and grays which inspired the colors on the card.  I stamped the beautiful Art Journey Baroque Swirl using the Ranger Archival - Watering Can around the edges.  I added the clock form the Darkroom Door Tick Tock set along with the sentiment.  I finished the ATC with a pair of butterflies from the Darkroom Door Butterfly Collage.

My next couple of ATC's were inspired by the Art Journey - Postcard stamps.   I started with a leftover piece of inky background created with shaving cream.  I stamped the bird and the postmark onto part of the inky cardstock. I cut an ATC sized piece of the background.  I stamped the postmark along with the postcard using the same gray ink.  I cut out the bird and the letter along with the postmark to pop dot and attach to the front of the ATC.  I stamped the pencils and pen nibs from the Darkroom Door Vintage Office along the sides.  I added highlights using Signo White Gel Pen.

This ATC went back to the first background of yellow and gray glimmer mists.  I stamped the Post Card images first and added the image of the little girl writing her letter.  I added the pen nibs along the bottom and a few more splotches of inks around the edges. 

For my final ATC I switched up my accent color and used the pretty Ranger Archival Ink - Cornflower to stamp some of the images and the Versafine Toffee.

The background is a mix of stamped images from Darkroom Door Tick Tock, Vintage Office and New York Volume II along with the Art Journey Postcard set. 

Darkroom Door and Art Journey will be giving away a few prize packs, with winners randomly chosen from ALL of the blog hop comments received by Sunday, June 29th. Lots of chances to win some goodies, just leave a comment on this post to enter!

 

Your next stop on the blog hop is the talented Corine van Kuilenburg!

 

Remember, if you find a link that doesn't work, you can always hop back to the Darkroom Door blog (http://www.darkroomdoor.com/Blog) for a complete list to all the blogs in the hop!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Suzz

 

Moments

Is there something in your stash that you don't use enough?  Or do you have a technique you love that you forget to use?   This week the   Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge   is to showcase a project doing something you should use more of or do more of...

There are quite a few extremely talented scrapbookers on the Design Team at Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge.  When I thought of what I should do more of I thought of all my pictures which I could be using in layouts.

This photo is a photo of my youngest and Grandpa at one of Grandpa's sledding parties.  The yellow in my father's shirt inspired me creating a yellow based layout.

The background a mix of Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist dripped and splattered direct from the bottle with out the spray top on.

After that I used the pretty doily stencil and sponged on black dye ink randomly.

I mixed in a bit of script, and circles.  I added a sentiment on acetate which was stapled onto the layout.

Maybe this will keep me inspired to scrap more projects.

Products: Tattered Angels - Glimmer Mist Marigold, Simon Says Stamp Exclusives Set of Snowflakes Dies, Tim Holtz Doily Stencil, DarkRoom Door - Tick Tock, Ranger Archival Ink - Black, Memento Dye Ink - Tuxedo Black, DarkRoom Door - Coffee Stain, Black Pen, Acetate, StazOn - Jet Black Ink, Filmstrip, Tissue Tape

Come show of your unused technique/products and play along for a chance at a  Simon Says Stamp $50 Gift Voucher.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Moments in a Masterboard

Part Two of my Masterboard.  I ended up creating two more cards with little vignettes.

 My first card had a strong line of color between the two parts and a stenciled clock. I placed the woman face into circle. I added more circles to continue the bubbles.

My second card turned into a travel and time themed card.

I just recently acquired the crackle/mosaic stamp from Stampers anonymous and I love how it added that cracked effect. Can' wait to play with i again!

Have a blessed Sunday!

Suzz

Measure Time

I have been having a bit of play time with some paint, stamps and stencils.  I started with a masterboard and made four projects which I am sharing two today and the other two tomorrow.

I love creating a bigger background piece on an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of cardstock  and then cutting it up into usable pieces for different projects.  The fun part is deciding which little snapshot you want in each piece. 

My second project was a tag:

 Here is the masterboard.  You can see which sections were cut up to create the tag and the card. 

I love the idea of color blocking I decided to use that here in my background.  I masked off sections and painted them to give blocked sections of colors. To help blend them I added a coat of smeared white paint over the surface. 

Tomorrow I will share the other two projects created from my masterboard.   I am going to be lazy and not share all the products.  If you see something you want to know what product /manufacturer let me know and I will tell you. :)

Have a wonderful Saturday!

Suzz

Texas!

Hi Y'all!

We are just back from a long road trip and we visited family in Texas.  We had a wonderful time (thanks Linda & Dan) .  I even was able to sneak away and visit a lovely stamp store in Salado Texas (Stamp Salado) and in Georgetown Texas there were a ton of fun Antique stores and a fabulous little tea shop called Lauren's which we had the best lunch.

One of my favorite antique store that we went into was called Gatherings and she had so many incredible and fun things.  I spent a good half hour in the front of the store before my SIL started calling for me because I took so long.   I highly recommend a trip there if you are in the area.

I created a few different projects today along with a few photos of my finds. I had to keep my purchases small as our van was fully loaded with five of us and all of our suitcases. :)

 First up is tag using one of the Texana Designs that I purchased.  They are designed by someone in Texas and I loved that there were a variety of Texas based stamps.  I ended up buying a bunch of them to make cards for the family we visted in Texas.

 Here are a few I purchased in cling. I also picked up a few more Wood block stamps for the flowers.

 I brought my STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell watercolor pencils along with a waterbrush my sharpener and some white cardstock.  I inked up some of my new stamps in Texas and colored them.  I finished my projects this morning.

My next purchases were some Paperbag Studio stamps.  I picked up this lovely lady and stamped her on a tag.  I stamped and colored the image this while in Texas but had to wait until I got home to add the embossing paste over the image.

Here are a few other little finds starting with this little lead dog.  I love that he is hand painted and looks a little rough. :) (Don't we all start to show our wear over time?)

 I also picked up two vintage stamps.  There were so many at the Gatherings store but I had to limit it to one so I picked the dog stamp. The other was an advertising stamp which I just thought was fun.

 Sorry for the long post but wanted to share a few of the goodies and fun that I had while on vacation.

Have a lovely day!

Suzz

Anytag Goes!

How about a challenge that allows you to play with anything you want?  This week the   Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge  is anything goes.  I decided to play with my favorite tags!

Tags are one of my favorite things because it allows me to try out some new ideas and keep them on hand to look back at and see the techniques.  This time I played with stencils and embossing paste.

This tag started with a soft background image.  Then I applied the Wendy Vecchi Crackle Texture Embossing Paste   through the  stencil.  After the paste dried I sponged on blue dye ink and then added a hint of brown dye ink to showcase the texture.    I stamped the sentiment in the background.  The butterfly is stamped on vellum with a painted backside of white acrylic paint with the front stamped using Stazon ink and sponged with blue distress ink.

For my second tag I played with a different stencil:

The background was stamped with the texture stamp and a soft yellow.  I then applied embossing paste through the stencil.  After it dried I sponged brown dye ink over the surface. It looks like a soft suede.  I then stamped the delicate flowers around my stenciled flowers and colored them with a touch of watercolor.  I added the bees and the sentiment.

Products: Bee, Hero Arts Delicate Blossoms, Wendy Vecchi Stencil, Wendy Vecchi - White Embossing Paste, STAEDTLER watercolor pencils, DarkRoom Door Floral Texture Stamp,   Impression Obsession In a Garden, Ranger Archival Ink - Black, Potting Soil, Saffron,  StaZon - Timber Brown,  White Acrylic Paint, Ranger Distress Inks - Vintage Photo, Broken China, Wendy Vecchi - Crackle Texture Paste, Penny Black Promenade Stencil, Stampendous Butterfly

Once again you have a chance to play along for a chance at a  Simon Says Stamp $50 Gift Voucher.

Thanks for stopping by!

Relax

The House Mouse &  Friends Lots of Layers HMFMC #171 challenge is hosted by Simon Says Stamps

I decided to share one of the cute little happy hoppers at the beach.  I paired it up with a small paper bag perfect for a gift card. 

The image is a House Mouse Design called Umbrella Nap.   I colored the image using STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell watercolor Pencils.    I distressed the edge sof the pattern paper with a distressing tool and brown dye ink.

The sentiment is from the Stampendous Angel Wings Perfectly Clear Stamps.

Have a happy week!

Suzz

Let's Talk

Hiya!

Here is a quick card for a friend who needs a little pick me up.

I used some pattern paper that had a mix of numbers to tie into the idea of phone call.  I had a few left over circles which I love to play with and I stamped the old fashioned phone on the circle.  I then stamped the sentiment on a banner to place in behind the circle.  The sentiment is from  Verses Rubber Stamps -  Best Friend. 

Thanks for dropping in!

Suzz

Textured Bark Technique

How about a new technique today?  I am calling this textured bark.  I had this idea percolating in my mind that I wanted to try out.  I wasn't sure how it was going to end up but I loved the effect at the end.

Of course I forgot to take pictures along the way.  I think that half way through I almost threw this into the garbage but I persevered and ended up somewhere I liked.

You are going to have to click on the picture to see all the details.  Here is the step by step:

1. Cut a piece of cardboard to size. Paint white. 
2. Cut sheets of tissue paper, old pages from a book, old sheets of music slightly small than size of cardboard. 
3. Mix sheets of papers together in layers. 
4. Staple sheets to cardboard.  If you can sew them on it would even be better. :) 
5. Cut random size slits on the paper all form top to bottom but in different lengths. 
6. Spray a mix of mists (orange, green, gold) 
7. Let dry.
8. Use your fingers or a piece of sand paper to rub the edges of the slits and start the curling process between the layers and to open them up to show the splits. 
9. Repeat the spraying, drying, and sanding process to get the texture you desire.  
10. I added in touches of white acrylic paint over the surface to soften and highlight areas.
11. When I was happy with the texture and the effect I added a piece of chicken wire over the top.  
12. I stamped a dragonfly and colored him with the coordinating glimmer mists. 
13. I heat embossed the dragonfly and second wings with a coat of shimmery embossing powder. My favorite is Stampendous Kaleidoscope Embossing Powder.
14. I added he sentiment and a few brads and was finished. 

I hope you enjoyed the effect and technique.

Suzz

Envelope with Pockets

How about playing with some paint this week?     Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge  is paint.  My paint this week is a combination of metallic and white paints.

 I started with a kraft envelope and streaked it with brown ink and white paint.  To add to the texture I inked up the DarkRoom Door Peeled Paint stamp with the Metallic Gold Paint Dabber and stamped it over the surface

I added pockets to the front with kraft cardstock.  I stamped on them with images from the DarkRoom Door - Vintage Office

I added hints of embossed foil on the envelope and my mini tags.

 And here are the tags:

Products: Sizzix Embossing Folder, Ranger Distress - Metallic Paint Dabber, White Acrylic Paint, Idea-ology Remnants Rub Ons Life Quotes, Hemptique Hemp Cord, Prima Jean Button Junkyard, DarkRoom Door - Vintage Office, DarkRoom Door - Peeled Paint, Ranger Archvial Ink - Black, Idea-Ology - Pen Nibs, Simon Says Stamp - Long Kraft Envelopes,   Prima Mini Numbers,

Come show off your painted project  for a chance at a  Simon Says Stamp $50 Gift Voucher.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Cherish the Moments

Tim's tag this month is a rainbow of watercolor and I had a great time inking up stencils and playing with the distress inks.

I loved that he used butterflies because any excuse to ink up butterflies is a good excuse! I used a Crafter's workshop stencil with Ranger Distress Inks.  The butterflies are Stampers Anonymous and the sentiment is from DarkRoom Door.

I played around with different colors and stencils:

 I loved the army colors on this stencil

 Two others I started to cut down and sponged the edges. I even started a few more butterflies!

That's all for now!

Suzz

Magic

Ho Ho Ho it's magic, you know never believe it's not so... I have that song going through my mind because of the challenge this week at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge   is Magic. When I heard the challenge was magic it brought to mind the wax paper resist technique.  I taught a class using wax paper techniques and one of the ladies declared it was magic when the color was applied and magically the resist shows up.

Here is the batch of backgrounds made from my session of playing with the wax paper:

and here is my finished card:

To create the background:

First you emboss the wax paper using an embossing folder.  I did a bunch of different embossed wax papers using different folders.

The next step is to take the wax paper and place it between two pieces of white cardstock.  Heat up your iron.  I set the heat on the iron to a cotton setting.  After it heats up you are going to iron the sandwiched wax paper  between the cardstock for about a minute moving the iron around over the surface to keep it from overheating. Typically I do this on a folded up towel because I don't want to pull out the ironing board. Whatever works best for you. :)

After you finish this you will have a nice resist on your paper that you can color with mists, or distress inks.    If you stamp before you put the resist on you can have a stamped image under the resist.

Onto the magic.  Apply dye inks to the surface using a sponge applicator randomly. Voila the embossed image will magically appear.  After you finish putting all the dye ink take a paper towel or kleenex and buff off the dye ink on the waxy surface. 

Here is my finished panel. I decided to add a speckling of white paint over the surface.  I put white acrylic paint down with a mix of water which I picked up on a brush and flicked over the surface.

The rest was a mix of white die cuts blended together to create an aviary scene. 

A few others:

This was ironed onto a page from a book and sponged with brown dye ink.

I also like to use the leftover embossed wax paper and I took two of the leftover wax pieces and painted them with a mix of paint sprays.

I added a piece of vellum with a sentiment to finish these off as cards.


Products: Provo Craft Aviary , Anna Griffin Wildflower - Embossing Folder, Memory Box - Simon Says Stamp Exclusive - Pointed Feather, Simon Says Stamp Die - Viola Sprouts, Memory Box Catalina Border, Memory Box Tupelo - Wreath, Memory Box - Grand Gothic Arch , Memory Box Meadow Bird, Ranger Distress Inks - Picked Raspberry, Ripe Persimmons, Walnut Stain, Ranger Archival Ink  - Magenta Hue , White Acrylic Paint, Stampers Anonymous - Happy Birthday, Glimmer Mists - Pink, Blue, Wax Paper, White Cardstock

Once again you have a chance to play along for a chance at a  Simon Says Stamp $50 Gift Voucher.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz