Buzzing Bees

Hi! I just received this beautiful Buzzing Bees Rubber Stamp Set from Darkroom Door.  There are certain stamps that I can create all the time with and this is one of those sets!  I love bee images and this has a mix of all different size bees! 

I mixed up the bees with an old library catalog card.  I have had these sitting in my drawer and thought what a great background for my buzzy friends...

I stamped the bees twice to give a layer on the wings.  The wings were stamped on vellum to give a beautiful effect.

While I had the kraft cardstock out I decided to stamp and color on the kraft with the flower and bees.

I stamped a soft script background first using brown ink.  I stamped the flowers and bees and sentiment.  I finished with the cute sentiment. :)

I have to admit I love this little ATC. 

I started with a kraft cardstock with a coat of yellow paint. I let it dry and then stamped the script over the background.  I added the butterfly with the second set of wings and the Queen Bee stamp.

I finished it with a little vellum lace trim and some cute vintage buttons!

I liked the kraft card so much I replicated it with a white cardstock background and some simple splattering of the lemon zest and melted chocolate sprays!

I added a few vellum petals to the flower.  I simply stamped the flower a few times on vellum and cut it out to add the layered petals.

For my final card I used the honeycomb image:

I thought how fun it would be to cut along the edge of the honeycomb and use it as the bottom of the main panel.

I stamped everything on a panel and then cut straight lines up to the honeycomb and then cut the rest out by hand.  I then added foam tape behind the panel to put on the card base.  A fun way to give texture. 

I hope you enjoyed all the fun bees! 

Thanks for buzzing by!

Suzz

Products:  Darkroom Door
Darkroom Door Rubber Stamp Set - Buzzing Bees
Darkroom Door Texture Stamps French Script 
Dylusions Shimmer Spray - Lemon Zest, Melted Chocolate
Ranger Archival Ink - Potting Soil, Sunflower, Jet Black
White Gel Pen
White Acrylic Paint, Wild Honey Acrylic Paint
Vellum
Sizzix Tim Holtz Chapter Two Crochet
Vintage Buttons
Kite String
Twine

Honeycomb & Bees Wax

Hi!  I am back today with a post featuring the new Darkroom Door background stamp Honeycomb!  There is a new background stamp and a stamp set Buzzing Bee's from Darkroom Door which had me pulling out my melt pot and some bees wax!

The bees wax was calling my name when I saw the Honey Comb background Stamp.  I decided to melt up some pieces and try to create a textured beeswax with the honeycomb imprint.

Steps:

1.  Stamp honeycomb background on white cardstock using versamark.
2.  Emboss the stamped background with Ranger Distress Embossing Powder Antique Linen.
3.  Spray over the background with a mix of the lemon zest and melted chocolate.
4.  Spray lemon zest over white cardstock.  Let Dry.
5.  Stamp french script and cut a background panel.
6.  Stamp sentiment using brown ink and cut out.
7.  Distress edges of all panels with distressing edges.
8.  Stamp flower and bees on white cardstock.  Color with waterbrush and inks.  (Distress Ink, Watercolor Pencils, Sprays)
9.  Let dry completely and cut out.
10.  Sponge Versamark over bees and flower and heat emboss with clear embossing powder.
11. Die cut the crochet trim and spray with dark brown ink spray.
12. Beeswax instructions (see below)
13. Assemble card.

How to create the beeswax impressions:
 

Steps:
1.  I used a meltpot to melt my vintage beeswax embossing paste and beeswax.
2.  Pour beeswax into melt pot and let the beeswax turn liquid.
3.  To create the beeswax pieces:
      a.  Pour a little of the beeswax on a craft mat.
      b.  Ink up the honeycomb stamp with versamark or an ink color you want to impress onto the
           beeswax.
      c.  Wait for the beeswax to cool off.  You need to watch it turn from clear to waxy but you don't 
            want it to completely harden.  While it is still slightly warm you will push the stamp into the
            wax and leave it to completely harden.
      d.  For the vintage beeswax embossing powder you will want to do the same method. Only for
           the embossing powder you can stamp right after you pour.  Let cool completely and lift the
           stamp.  The versamark helps keep it from sticking to the embossing powder.
4.  You can also pour the wax liquid over the stamped background.  The wax may be cloudy and you can use a heat gun to thin it out.

Background with a wax overlay:

This is a background with Seth Apter Vintage Beeswax Embossing Powder:

 

Steps: 

1.  Sponge Versamark over surface where honeycomb is desired.  

2.  Pour on embossing powder.  

3.  Heat from underneath.  (I found with the chunky powder or if you don't shake off excess it will blow everywhere.  If you heat from underneath it takes a little longer to warm up but saves on the mess.) 

4.  Repeat until you have  a thicker consistency of the embossing powder.  

5.  Ink up the honeycomb stamp with either Versamark or any colored ink. 

6.  Heat up the embossing powder until you see it moving. 

7.  Place stamp into the honeycomb and press in and leave until the embossing powder cools. 

Next up was to use some various pieces in a few cards:

 

I love the strip of honeycomb on this card.  I created it using a piece of blank media tape that was covered in white gesso.  I stamped the honeycomb with versamark on the tape.  I heat embossed with brown embossing powder.  I finished it with a mix of the lemon zest and melted chocolate and it was such a beautiful shimmery honeycomb.

The card is just a mix of vintage beeswax honeycomb, bees and some strips including the media tape.  All assembled on a white cardstock splattered with the lemon zest and melted chocolate.

The next card uses a piece of that vintage beeswax embossed background.

 This card just uses a bit of the media tape, honeycomb and stamped bee to create a mixed media card.

Finally I didn't get to use this bee but love how he looks and he may get added to another project in the near future!  :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Products: (Links to Darkroom Door)
Darkroom Door Rubber Stamp Set Buzzing Bees
Darkroom Door Rubber Stamp Background Honeycomb
Darkroom Door Rubber Stamp Set Simple Sayings Vol 1
Darkroom Door Rubber Stamp Texture French Script
Seth Apter Vintage Bees Wax Embossing Powder
Versamark Watermark Ink
Ranger Clear Embossing Powder 
Heat Gun
Melt Pot
Bees Wax
Ranger Archival Ink - Sepia, Acorn
Ranger Distress Inks - Ground Espresso, Fossilized Amber 
Dylusions Spray - Melted Chocolate, Lemon Zest 
Dina Wakley - Blank Media Tape 
White Gesso
Ranger Distress Embossing Powder - Antique Linen 
Tsukeniko Ink - Delicata Gold
Gold Paint
Sizzix Thinlit Chapter 2 Crochet
Twine
Linen
Sizzix Bigz Tattered Bee

Bird Life

Hi!  The birds are always flocking around our neighborhood.  We get great enjoyment out of seeing their antics.  The new Darkroom Door Bird Life set designed by  Godelieve Tijskens is charming and reflective of the views we have from our porch.  I was lucky enough to receive the stamp set form Darkroom Door and wanted to share a few projects I created using the new set.

I am sharing this one first because it use the book stacks stamp which I love.  Rachel has designed a few different stamps with books and book related sentiments and I couldn't resist blending them with the birds.

The birds perch perfectly on the stack of books:

I started by stamping the birds on a pattern paper.  (The soft text gives them a lovely layer of texture).  I then colored them with watercolor pencils and a waterbrush.  After they dried I cut them out to place on my book stack.

I stamped the books using black archival ink and then cut them out to place on the card base.  The books were colored with the sames watercolor pencils and waterbrush.

I inked up the background of the card with a little bit of dye ink and stamping.  I also stamped the nest with eggs and colored to coordinate.

I stamped the sentiment and cut it up into pieces to place along the side of the card.

For my next set of cards I wanted to play with mixed media tape and stamps! 

I started by taking some of the Dina Wakley Media Tape and tearing off multiple strips.  I taped them to my craft mat.  I painted them with white acrylic paint and waited for them to dry.

I took the French Script and chicken wire and stamped using archival ink onto the painted surface.  I heat set the ink to make sure it didn't smear.

I then started working on the background of the card.  I started by smearing a little scattered straw dye ink onto the craft mat and spritzing it with water.   I dragged the background paper through the inky mat.  

I then stamped the coffee stain with a cobalt blue ink onto the background.  To finish the background I stamped partially the splatter and French Script with coordinating blue ink.    I stamped  the birds multiple times and colored them with watercolor pencils and a waterbrush.  After they dried I added highlights using white gel pen.

 I cut out the birds and placed them in a cheese cloth and washi tape nest.  (Leftover golden bits from an old project that were easy to shred up and place under the birds.

When I saw the cute bird bath and bird houses I immediately thought how cute they would be as a focal point for place cards on the dinner table. 

 I created a set of four little place cards with different sentiments and same color scheme to be set out on the table for a dinner party.

 I could hand write the names of the guest on the bird house.  I cut the width of the base but left the top long to allow for stamping and cutting out the bird house.  I could have just cut the bird  house out as well and taped it to the base.

My final project was just a scrap but I loved how it turned out so I turned it into a simple book mark.  It is folded like a card but I can slide it over my page and keep my page in the book.

The only thing with this is to make sure to seal the distress inks because you wouldn't want it to get wet and mark up the book pages!  :)

Hope you enjoyed the birds as much as I did! Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Product List (all linked to Darkroom Door)
Darkroom Door Rubber Stamp Set:  Bird Life 
Darkroom Door Texture Stamps:  French Script, Splatter
Darkroom Door Photo Stamp: Book Stack,
Darkroom Door Eclectic Stamp: Coffee Stain
Darkroom Door Rubber Stamp Set:  Garden Greetings
Darkroom Door Rubber Stamp Set: Wings
Darkroom Door Rubber Stamp Set: Bookworm
Darkroom Door Rubber Stamp Set: Nature Walk
Ranger Distress Oxide Ink:  Peeled Paint, Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo
Ranger Archival Ink - Cobalt Blue, Jet Black, Potting Soil
Ranger Distress Ink - Scattered Straw, Peacock Feathers
Staedtler Watercolor Pencils
Waterbrush
White Gel Pen
Twine
White Acrylic Paint