Voyage

I had time to play around again yesterday and pulled out a new stamp from Impression Obsession that I hadn't used yet.  I love their Cover a Card stamps as they cover such a nice area and are perfect for backgrounds.

I started with a background created previously with a blue glimmer mist.  I pulled it from my leftovers folder. I have one just for backgrounds. I always use up any excess ink on cardstock and put the pieces of cardstock in a file folder.  When I knew I wanted to play with the new Map background I went looking for a background in blue.

I stamped the map over the inky background using Ranger Archival Ink. I then came back in and added touches of yellow around the key areas of the map lines.  I used my STAEDTLER watercolor pencil to add a little shading and my waterbrush to soften the area around the lines.

I then went looking for a coordinating stamp and found the B Line Designs cityscape to stamp over the map.  After that I spent time adding shading around the skyline and along the bottom of the cityscape to help pop the buildings from the details of the map.

I added the word Voyage from the Stampers Anonymous Classics #1 set and the Enjoy the Journey from a Lily Bee set.  To finish it off I just got this Mr. Hueys White Opaque spray and I wanted to see if I could get a snowy effect by spritzing it over the surface.  I sprayed a touch of it over the surface.

I liked how this turned out and decided to use a piece of it on my blog header.

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Cowgirl Christmas

Are all your Christmas presents bought? I am almost there.  Work is what has me busy right now and trying to finish up a few things to get to my vacation.  I saw the Ranger blog issued a challenge on Gifts and I needed another gift card holder.  I created this with a good friend in mind:

 When I was working on my canvas the other day I borrowed my husbands staple gun to put the canvas onto the frame. During the process I had to reload the staples and used up a box of staples.  I was going to through the box in the re-cycle bin but than realized another great box for a gift card!

Here is the box: 

Which I decided to paint:

 

 And then I decided to cover the outside surfaces with stamped cowhide:

 I stamped the cowgirl on white cardstock and colored her with STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell Watercolor Pencils. To giver her more depth in the color I embossed her with clear embossing powder.  On the inside I attached pattern paper and stamped the sentiment using brown ink.

I rummaged through my Christmas embellishments and found a few rusty snowflakes along with some pine cones and holly leaves.

I stuck a gift card inside and I was done.  Overall a pretty quick transformation.  The paint drying took the longest time.

Products:  Artistic Outpost - Cowgirl Strength, Snowy Woods, Ranger Archival Inks - Coffee, Ranger Distress Inks - Walnut Stain, Adirondack - Snow Cap, Ranger Distressing Tool

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Gift Cards

This week the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge is all about Gift-spiration.  The design team will be sharing tips and showing crafty projects they cooked up for the holidays.  My post is all about gift card holders.

In our family the nieces and nephews pick names from their cousins and purchase gifts for their cousins.  As the majority of the nieces and nephews are teens now the main request we get is for money or gift cards.

I have been storing up gum boxes to up-cycle into gift card holders:

I started with two different gum packs in two different shapes but both are the perfect size for a standard gift card.

You can either paint over the surfaces or use pattern paper to cover up the original box.  I decided to cover mine with paper.  To do so I needed a template. It was really easy to pull the glue off the sides of the gum packs and trace the shape on the reverse side of the paper I wanted to use:

After I cut it out I scored on the dotted lines. if you want to keep the shape for future gift card holders you can create a separate template. I also traced the inside in a coordinating paper to cover the inside of the holder.

After I cut and scored the paper I taped the paper to the outside and inside. 

Before I taped the inside piece on I stamped Vintage Christmas words over the paper using black ink.  After the paper was attached I smeared a touch of white acrylic paper over the entire surface inside and out.

I decided to create a little card to go inside with the gift card.  I cut a piece of scrap cardstock and folded it in half.  I cut a piece of the patter paper and attached it to the front of the card. I gave it a coat of white paint to match.  I stamped the deer and snowman on white cardstock using black ink.

I colored the images with a touch of watercolor pencils and waterbrush.  The tree was from pattern paper and was cut out and attached.  I finished off the bottom edge with a mix of glitter and mica flakes for snow.

I stamped the sentiments on a piece of white cadstock and cut it the shape of  tag and stamped the other sentiment on a peice of pattern paper to mount on white cardstock and attach to the front.

The other card holder was even quicker:

I covered the outside and inside with pattern paper.  I punched a piece of brown cardstock with a border punch.  I attached it to the inside lip and the top on the outside.  I added a thin strip of glittery pattern paper along the edges.  I bought a pack of these pretty stickers and attached one to the front.

Products: Bo Bunny,  American Crafts POW paper, K & Company Christmas Stickers, Martha Stewart Lattice Punch,  October Afternoon - Make it Merry, Artistic Outpost - Frosty & Friends, Memory Box - Vintage Christmas Words, Adirondack Snow Cap Paint Dabber, Button, Stampendous Mica Flakes, Blue Glass Glitter, White Hemp, Signo Uni-Ball White Gel Pen

Come join in the challenge for an opportunity to win a gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp:

 Thanks for stopping by.

Suzz

Noel Challenge

I have a few more cards for the holidays that I am creating.  This morning I was inspired by the Our Daily Bread Designs Noel Challenge. You need to include something on your card  for each letter in Noel. 

I pulled out my ODBD stamps and used "N - Nature/Nest (See the statice and moss in the nest)"  O-Ochre - The bird is colored using Ochre tones. :)  E - Epoxy I had to use a lot of glue to get that nest to stick and L - Layering I layered the images on the card. Phew...

This card is going to a special friend of mine and she lives close by so I won't have to worry about the nest in transit.   

 The background is stamped using the ODBD Joy to the World stamp on white cardstock.  I just purchased this Mr. Huey Gold spray and sprayed that over the surface of all of my images and my background it had a nice soft shimmer to it. 

I stamped the ODBD poinsettia using a black archival ink on white cardstock.  I colored it with my STAEDTLER Karat Oil Pastels and a Tsukineko sponge to blend.  I added a layer of shimmer with the mist and white highlights with the gel pen.  I finished it off with a coat of versamark and heat embossed using clear embossing powder.

The ODBD Chickadee was stamped with black archival on a remnant from the background music so there was the gold shimmer on the paper before I colored.  The bird is colored with my STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell Watercolor Pencils.  I added highlights back in with the white gel pen.  He too was finished off with a coat of clear embossing powder.

The next step was arranging my nest.  I did apply some Adirondack gold paint onto my moss along with a healthy dose of Stampendous Bronze glass glitter.  I glued it all down with Zip Dry.

I tied on the bow.  and found a few bells which were silver.  I rolled them on my Versamark Ink pad to give them a coat of Stampendous Champagne embossing powder.

I colored my ivory twine with the Adirondack Acrylic Gold paint to coordinate.

Assemble and send... :)

Hope your Sunday is blessed.  I am sending prayers to the families and children in CT who are impacted by the horrible tragedy that has occurred.

Suzz

Butterfly Perch

Today is another hopping day for the Stampendous DT.  We are still showcasing the fun SIMI Creative Wee Scapes products along with the Stampendous stamps.

This summer my husband picked up free mulch from our township.  When the township trims the trees or cleans up other wood debris they keep the mulch and pile it up.  All you have to do is haul it away.  Well the mulch that they provide usually has a bit more texture than the store bought mulch. :)

My project uses a piece of that mulch:

I was walking with the dog around the house and spied this rather large chunk of wood and brought it in the house to use for a project.  When we received our package of goodies from Wee Scapes I knew I was going to add some moss to my piece of wood.

The next step was to create a few butterflies to perch on the wood.

The butterflies are from the Jumbo Cling Butterfly Trio and the Butterflies set. I smeared yellow alcohol ink onto glossy cardstock over half of an 8 1/2 x 12 sheet of paper.   I stamped the butterflies using black Archival ink.  I colored the blue  with a waterbrush and  alcohol ink.  I poured the alcohol ink on my craft mat.  I used the waterbrush to paint the sections.  Be careful the alcohol will cause the ink to smear. After they had dried I added a coat of Versamark Ink and heat embossed with shimmery embossing powder.

My perch uses the Wee Scapes Green Cluster Foliage and some lovely little flowers.

For more inspiration hop along to the rest of the DT blogs (Don't forget to leave a comment for a chance to win a prize):

Annette Witherspoon

Jennifer Dove

Jennifer Ingle

Lea Kimmel

Melinda Gleissner

Suzanne Czosek

Wendy Price

As always thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Life's Rules

I know I should be doing a bunch of different things today but instead I started playing with a canvas and ended up creating a mixed media project.  So no holiday cards here and no Christmas colors.  I was playing with layers of paper, colors and paint. 

 After I finished I realized I made a card similar to this last year.  Oh well... It was fun playing with my different techniques and trying a few new things. 

I started with a white canvas with Gesso and white paint.  I added a layer of purples, and pinks which I didn't like how they looked so a coat of white paint over top of that.

Than I pulled out the Dylusions Sprays to try to get a brighter color.  Basically I layered the inks, old pages in a music book, tissue paper with more sprays, Beacon Adhesives Fast Finish and Stampendous ultra fine crystal glitter.  I repeated that until I got a background I liked.  I also sprayed a bit of Perfect Pearls Mister in the mix to add another layer of shimmer.

After that dried I added the images by stamping them using Versamark and heat embossing them using black embossing powder. 

The sentiment is Verses Rubber Stamps - Life's Rules The other stamps include: Stampendous Jumbo Cling Butterfly Trio, Inkadinkado - Birds, Stampers Anonymous - Lace Trim, Serendipity, Stampendous Postcard, Hero Arts - Fabulous Flourish

Thanks for stopping by,

Suzz

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to Laura Mann Weed!  The Stampendous DT is celebrating Laura's birthday today with a hop.  Laura is the Design Team Lead for the Stampendous design team along with her many other responsibilities at Stampendous.   We are celebrating by sharing cards we have created just for her!  If you are here for the Wee Scape post click on here.

Happy Happy Birthday Laura! I hope it is fantastic and may all your dreams come true....

Products: Stampendous Tutu Toad, Music Score, Alphabet stamps, Follow your Art, Agapanthus Cluster, Circus, Wee Scapes  Grass, Memory Box Arch Die, Seam Binding, Glimmer Mist, STAEDTLER Karat Aquarell watercolor pencils

Now onto the other team members for more Birthday Wishes!

Kristine Reynolds

Wendy Price

Krissy Fossmeyer

Lea Kimmel

Tenia Nelson

Janelle Stollfus

Suzanne Czosek

Cyndi Bundy

Yana Smakula

Mary Dawn Quirindongo

Asia King

Melinda Gleissner

Thanks for stopping by! 

Suzz