Happy Spring

Hi!  In looking at the forecast the next ten days looks very spring-like.  Wet, warmer and a few dips into the 40's.  I was looking at a little scrap of distress oxide inks and thought it would look pretty with a row of flowers.

I just stamped the flowers using cobalt blue and then colored with water color pencils.  I added the tiny sentiment and the pretty little butterflies and I was done.  (Products: Stampers Anonymous - Flowers, Memory Box - Happy Spring, Stampers Anonymous - Butterflies, Ranger Distress Oxides, STAEDTLER - Aquarelle Watercolor Pencils)

A tiny card to be sent off and share a little spring with a friend.

Happy spring to you!

Suzz

Glory to God

Merry Christmas! 

 I love layering images and stamps and creating the illusion of shadows. 

This card is a mix of stamps and a traced star from a spellbinder die.  I used my watercolor pencils to add shadows and layering of stamped images.

Merry Christmas!  Glory to God in the Highest!

Suzz

Hats off to You!

Nancy is hosting the fun "Layer it Up" challenge at the Frilly an Funkie challenge blog.  She described it as "create any type of vintage or shabby chic project featuring multiple layers."   I have had this fantastic stamp set with the cool masculine image that I have been wanting to layer up for quite awhile and this was the perfect opportunity to play around with the image.

I started by stamping this image multiple times using black ink.  I then colored and cut the pieces out to layer.

Of course I had to have a card base to use as my background and just happened to have one of the new Tim Holtz layering stencil on hand to use in the background.  

I sponged a mix of Antique Linen with a touch of vintage photo left over on my sponge. :)  that gave me a nice soft background to frame out my image. 

I added some of the new Idea-Ology Tissue tape in the background for accents along with some bits and bobs of metal. 

Don't forget to play along with us for a chance to win a  $25 spending spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique!

Thanks for stopping by!


Suzz

Stampers Anonymous Brett Weldele Rubber Stamps BWC010 - Steampunk Selfies, Gents	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Layering Stencil - Industrial THS051 (February Pre-Order)	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Design Tape - Dapper TH93261 (February Pre-Order)	Ranger Tim Holtz Mini Distress Ink Pad - Antique Linen	Ranger Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool-With 2 Blending Foams
Prima Watercolor Brush-Pen Set 580421 (March Pre-Order)	Ranger Surfaces Watercolor Paper	Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Paper String - Solids	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Small Talk Occasions

Coloring Book Giveaway!

Hi There!  I have a real treat for everyone.  STAEDTLER has kindly offered up a Holiday giveaway prize package for one lucky person who comments on this post!

Here are all the details: 

Enter to win a STAEDTLER Coloring Set! Prize includes one 20-piece set of triplus® fineliner pens, one 24-piece STAEDTLER colored pencil set and a copy of the new Johanna Basford “Lost Ocean” coloring book. Retail value of this set is $60.00. Open only to residents in the US and Canada.

www.staedtler.us

www.johannabasford.com

I have the markers and the watercolor pencils from STAEDTLER  and I love using them.  I would love to have this beautiful coloring book to play with too!

Just leave a comment by November 22nd 11:59 PM CST and I will randomly select a comment on my blog to receive this prize package.  (Open only to residents in the US and Canada). 

Good Luck! 

** Edited to add *** Sending my prayers to all the families impacted by the tragedies yesterday in Paris. 

Suzz

Sympathy

I hate to have a reason to create Sympathy cards,  but I needed a few for later this week.  These cards are inspired by Birgit.  I love her art and can recognize her art because of her beautiful style.  I have been wanting to mask off a section and sponge in some color in the corner and then overlay the image and sentiment. For sympathy cards I like to keep it clean and focus on the words.

 The first features: Ranger Archival Ink - Black, Memento Plum Dye Ink, Darkroom Door - Garden Greetings, Darkroom Door Quote Stamp - Memory

The next two are the same concept with different stamps:

 Hero Arts - Bamboo, The Stamp Barn CHSH 304 M,  Memento Plum Dye Ink, Ranger Archival Ink - Black

 I swapped the bamboo stamped image from Memento Plum Dye ink to Ranger Archival Ink - Watering Can. This was my first version of this card and I decided the gray was too strong and switched to plum.  

Thanks for stopping by.

Suzz

Fossilized Amber

I have been in quite the amber mood lately.  I am playing along with Linda The Funkie Junkie's 12 tags of Christmas - Week #2.  Her challenge is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique. I was inspired by Linda's beautiful tag by the stars and rays coming down from the sky.

 I tried about 5 versions of the rays and stars stenciled in various colors and materials.  I ended up using this tag where I started with a stencil that had very thin rays which I sprayed over onto the tag with the yellow sprays.  I then stenciled the stars over the top with white embossing paste.

Then onto my next problem no trees the right size for the tag. I almost bought the cool tree dies that Linda used but I ended up using my money elsewhere. :(  So I dug through my stamps looking for something to stamp beneath my lovely sky.  I found this Stampscapes scene which I used to stamp along the bottom. I finished off with some more spray in a lovely green color.  I added more highlights/shading to finish of the tag.

I then used my Fossilized Amber Dye Ink pad to sponge in a large moon on the background. I wanted to try using the Ken Oliver's Color Bursts to create flowers.

 I sponged in my moon with a mix of the yellow, orange, and brown dye inks.  After I finished that I stamped in the stems of my flowers.   I then very carefully tried to squeeze a little of the powder around the ends of the stems.  I then spritzed with water to activate the colors.  (This was my third version)  Each time the powders ended up a little different.

Well that is all I have to share today!

Suzz

Christmas Berries

Stamps make me happy!  Especially one like this from Penny Black.

What a beautiful stamp and so fun to use with just a hint of color in the berries and then the soft yellow background.

A quick share for today!

Suzz

Let's go to the Fair!

Good Morning! Saturday at last!  A little inking, a little gardening and :( house cleaning but overall a lovely day! I am still playing with the ICAD and decided to pull out my favorite Artistic Outpost Stamps and play along in their June Challenge.  The prompt for the ICAD was Carnival and I think that is a perfect fit with the Frilly & Funkie challenge of  It's Summer. 

 When I thought of carnival I thought of our local summer carnivals in town and the county fair that happens once  a summer. 

There are a few different boy images in the Artistic Outpost sets and this one reminded me  of a boy getting ready to go to the County Fair.  I mixed it with the fun background and of course you have to see the animals in the animal barns at the fair!

Products: Artistic Outpost - Country Life,  Whimsical Melange, Hayride,  Darkroom Door - Texture Dots, STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell Watercolor Pencils, Idea-Ology - Chit Chat Seasonal Stickers, Ranger Archival Ink - Black, Memento - Rose Bud

The only thing missing is the lemonade and corn on the cob dripping with butter and loads of salt!

Have a great Saturday!

Suzz

Dragonfly Love

 Happy middle of the week!  I was cleaning up my desk and found this slip of paper which was a inventory tag.  I just grabbed the dragonfly and stamped him over the inventory slip.

 I love the blue and greens found on the dragonfly and decided to color him using the STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell Watercolor Pencils.

 I then layered it onto a card and added stenciled white embossing paste using the Tim Holtz Layering Stencil and sprinkled it with Stampendous Ultra Fine Glitter. I let it dry and added a few pops of pink sequins and the sentiment.

Quick and fun birthday card!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Suzz

Birthday Pop-Up

Hi!  I get the weekly email from Splitcoast Stampers and always like to check out the technique.  A couple of weeks ago there was a pop up card that I bookmarked to try later.  (check out the tutorial there is a wonderful video that shows how to make the card and all the measurements) Here is my take on the card.  My niece always asks for my handmade cards and I wanted something fun and interactive.

 Here is the card closed.  I used papers from My Minds Eye - The Sweetest Thing collection.  I have so many pattern papers that have a few sheets left in each set.  I was glad to be able to use a few of these pretty papers on her card.

 When you open the card there are two windows which allows the second image / sentiment to overlay the first image.

 As you pull open the card the second layer will slide over the first and display in the window.  I am in between computers so the final photo fully open will be uploaded later.

The cute image is from Great Impressions.  I was visiting my son the other day at college and checked out the local stamp store on my way.  I picked up this sweet image because he looks like our puppy.

The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp Happy Everyday set.  Ink was Ranger Archival / black and Aquamarine.  The color pencils are STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell.

That's all for me today.  Happy Friday!

Suzz

Monster Valentines

A little change of pace here as I share some valentines I have been working on... I just received the new Monsters valentine set form Simon Says Stamp.  They were so silly looking I wanted them for my kids even though they are getting a little old for monsters.

I used a few different color combinations...

and a few different images and layouts...

Cute aren't they?   I colored with STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell watercolor pencils and the images are Simon Says Stamp Monster Hugs.

Happy Tuesday!

Suzz

Christmas PostCards

Another oldy but goody for Day 22!  I love this Stampendous collage stamp with the bird. 

All I had to do was stamp it and add some color.  I trimmed it out with some Ric-Rac and a rusty old heart.

I colored it again with my favorite STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell watercolor pencils.   Maybe that will be my New Years Resolution to rotate through my coloring choices (watercolor pencils, distress inks, copics... :)

Christmas is coming!  Everyone is home and we are enjoying some time together between everyone running off with their friends!

Suzz

Christmas Finery

Day 21!  It is flying by quickly... I love the displays where they create a tree all full of peacock feathers and the colors associated with a peacock.  They are so beautiful together.

When I was searching my stamps for birds I remembered this gorgeous Peacock from Stampendous and decided to layer him over some beautiful Christmas pattern Paper.  I added the Idea-ology remnant of the Merry on top but the Christmas was trailing off the paper already.

I colored this with STAEDTLER watercolor pencils with just a touch of white gel pen highlights!

Wishing you a blessed Sunday!

Suzz 

Holly Birds!

Holly and Birds!  Day 11 is here.  I can't believe we are a short 2 weeks before Christmas!  There is so much to do and I haven't even finished putting up all our holiday decor yet.  

I can't get enough of these sweet birds from Stampendous.  I stamped them on a manila tag and colored them with STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell watercolor pencils. I used the Darkroom Door stamp to add a touch of splatter around the edges.  Then I used the Signo Uni-Ball White gel pen with a layer of snow on the branches.

Happy Thursday!

Suzz

Flowery Day Four

I love this paper and I think I used it on a few of the tags so expect to see it again!  :)  Day 4 today and the star of the tag is the paper.  I just added some shading and a hint of glitter.

 

There are some stamps that you just adore and re-use over and over again and I think a lot of the stamps on my 25 days fit that category for me.   The three little birds I have had forever and love because they can be stamped in as a little detail.  The Memory Box Heaven and Nature I just love.

 

Have a wonderful Thursday!  (Still working on my other projects but have hit a design block. Hate when that happens!)

 

Suzz 

Day 3 Tag!

Day 3 is here and I decided it was time to bring out Frosty the Snowman with a sweet little bluebird on his mitten as he has a bird for my birds of Christmas and he fits the card concept challenge to create a tag and snowmen.  I went for the Freestyle collage style for the challenge.  I also am entering this in the Artistic Outpost - Show us your Art December challenge! 

I stamped a bit of music in the background around the snowman.  The bottom has a rub-on added to finish off the image.

I added a touch of color to the image with STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell watercolor pencils.

Products:  Artistic Outpost - Winter Wonderland, Memory Box - Twelve Days Music,  Idea-Ology - Holiday Remnants, Maya Road Bingo, STAEDTLER - Karat Aquarell Watercolor Pencils

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Beach Treasure

How about a little summer?  The weather has definitely gotten very cool the last couple of days.  I was happy to ink up a pile of seashells and color them. 

I used a touch of embossing powder to make my image pop because this was stamped over a painted background.  I started with neutral colors in the background which I thought would be perfect for the shells.  After I stamped I embossed with brown embossing powder.  I then colored the images with STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell watercolor pencils.  I used the Darkroom Door new Shells Background Stamp and the words are from the DarkRoom Door Seaside Wordstrips.  I had fun picking out which words to  use on the card.

My final touch was the mixed twine with a poinsettia. Yep... I cut off a few of the poinsettia petals to try to make a starfish. :)   There is a little bit of sand glued around the edges but difficult to see in the photo.

Well I hope I warmed up your day a bit and took you on a little sea-side break.

Toodles!
Suzz

Today

I was in my studio this morning and I had three different projects going at once.  I got this project to his point and really loved what it looked like and decided to stop as I am not sure what I want to do next.

 I had die cut these houses (Impression Obsession Die) from some painted scraps.  I then added a layer of Hero Arts White In swiped down the front to add a white washed effect.

I pulled the Weathered clock scraps (Die cut from some more painted backgrounds) and cut them up to fit onto the backgrounds.

I added stamping in the background using Darkroom Door Texture Stamps (French Script, Floral).

I sponged on some white acrylic paint over the weathered clock die cut and around the edges.  I mixed a touch of blue watercolor pencil on the die cut.

Now I need to decide whether to make a house with the four sides, a mini book or a trip-tych. I will post updates as I continue on this creative endeavor.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Suzz

It's a Jungle Out There

Darkroom Door has a new line of stamps called Line Art.  I inked up this lovely lady and created a jungle feel.

I started with a background made from a mix of paints on a gelli plate.  I blended them together and then inked up several pieces of cardstock.

To get my images and sentiment to transfer to the background I stamped them all on tissue paper which I decoupaged to the surface.  After it dried I used water color pencils (STAEDTLER - Karat Aquarell) to color the images and finished with a white gel pen highlighting my images.

I love how the background bleeds through to give it a soft undercoat of neutral colors.

Stamps: Darkroom Door - Line Art - Flower Lady, Darkroom Door - Beauty,   Ranger Archival Ink - Black, Ranger Archival Ink - Potting Soil

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

STAEDTLER Giveaway!

 

You know how much I love my STAEDTLER - watercolor pencils.  I always have them in hand,  coloring up new images (Like this one just released from Stampendous - Pumpkin Ride).  Well, you have an opportunity to win a lovely prize package from STAEDTLER!

 

 

 

To play along for a chance to win a fabulous prize package all you have to do is  post a project you have made with any STAEDTLER product here on my blog.

 One winner will be chosen randomly on Thursday July 31st. 

Open only to residents of the US and Canada. 
Take a photo of your project and post it on any social media site with a brief description of the STAEDTLER product you used.
Write a comment with a link to your project photo on this post.

Make sure you mention what STAEDTLER products were used in your project 

and mention that you are posting for the STAEDTLER Summer Giveaway. 

We're looking for NEW projects made for this giveaway specifically. 
Projects must be posted no later than July 30th to be considered for a chance to win.

Prize package includes: 12 pc Karat Watercolor Crayons, 6 pc Triplus Fineliner Pastel set and 1 package of FIMO air dry clay. 
Posting a photo link in a comment below also allows STAEDTLER to re post your photo on their social media sites.

Hope you have time to join in on the fun! 

Suzz