Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day!  Sharing the cards created for my kiddos for today!

 First up is a simple easel card for my son.  I wanted something masculine and fairly plain.

 I started with Authentique papers as the base and added a bit of stamping on the heart (Dark Room Door)  and the Valentine Wishes from Hero Arts.

The next card is for my youngest who loves robots.  Darkroom Door has these fun Montage papers which include a variety of images in a theme.  When I received the Robot Montage I knew I would be using them for my DD valentines.

 Click on image to enlarge

 I intermixed sentiments from the Hero Arts Valentines clear set to add words on the various images. I also accented with gem hearts.  I think she will be pleased. :)

Finally I have this adorable set from Simon Says Stamp which is an exclusive called: Simon in Love. 

 I used the sweet image stamped in Black ink and colored with the STAEDTLER watercolor pencils.  I added a heart and background using the Darkroom Door Love Word Block Stamp.

What is even cuter is the little paw print and sentiment which I stamped on the inside: 

Hope you have a lovely Valentines Day!

Suzz

Soar

Simon Says Stamp and Show challenges us this week to show our Messy Side.  I have to admit I am a messy stamper and enjoy getting my fingers inky.  The messiest technique that popped into mind for me was the shaving cream technique.  

I decided to create a triptych with gold embossing over a shaving cream backgrounds.

Background:

1. Spray shaving cream on craft mat. 
2. Spray into the shaving cream  glimmer mists (Blue, Yellow) 
3. Swirl glimmer mists together in shaving cream. 
4. Place cardstock onto inky shaving cream. pull up and scrape off excess shaving cream. I use my plastic ruler to shave my cardstock.  
5. Let dry. 

This is so messy but you end up smelling like shaving cream.

I ended up smearing gold paint over the surface as an accident but it actually gave it a nice soft color.  I then added liquid pearl drops around the edges that were silver.  I waited for them to dry and sponged the gold paint over them.

I stamped the lace stamp using Versamark across the bottom and heat embossed with gold embossing powder. I stamped the flowers using Versamark and heat emboss using gold embossing powder.

I stamped butterflies using Versamark on the same background paper. I heat embossed them using the gold embossing powder.

I decided I wanted the flowers to pop and thought I would try coloring them with white watercolor pencils and the effect reminded me of stain glass and I loved how it turned out.

I framed everything in black to make it pop and then added the sentiment using black ink. 

Products: Gold Embossing Powder, Stampendous Jumbo Clng Hollyhock, Artistic Outpost - Quote and Quotables, Liquid Pearls,  Hero Arts - Three Artistic Butterflies, Stampers Anonymous - Purely Random,
Versamark, Ranger Archival Ink - Black, Gold Paint Dabber

  Hope you join in and get  Messy with the DT for a chance to win a $50.00 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp:

Thanks for stopping by!

Suzz

Live in the Moment

 Yeah it's Friday!  I am going on a little road trip today with my son to check out a college.  He is trying to decide between a couple of schools.  I am looking forward to spending time with him as he is always busy.  I think my card is appropriate. :) I decided to share a card I made using the new Hero Arts release.

I used the beautiful Antique Background:

 This was so easy to create as the stamp already has all the different segments. I spent time highlighting the areas of the image with STAEDTLER watercolor pencils and a waterbrush. I added a few stamps from the Hero Arts clear set as an accent piece.  I stamped on an aqua color button the compass image using StaZon ink. 

Hope you have a wonderful Friday!

Suzz

Gardening Gift

I have a really fun project on the Crafts N Things Blog that is a perfect gift for Mother's Day or for someone who loves gardening.  The project uses all new Stampendous flowers.  There also is an opportunity to win new Stampendous stamp!  All you have to do is pop over and leave a comment before Feb. 14th on the Crafts N Things Blog for a chance to win.

Here are a few sneak peaks of the project:

 

I had to go to the hardware store looking for clay pots while it is all cold and wintry. I got a great deal. :)

I wanted to create gardening stakes too:

The best part is my project involved  up-cycling of something I would have thrown out: 

Can you guess what that box contained?  It started me thinking of how to use it which inspired the gift set idea.  To see the full project head over to Crafts N Things.

Have a lovely day!

Suzz

Mirror Mirror On the Wall

Mirror Mirror On the Wall, Who's the Fairest of them All?  Can you guess what the challenge is this week at Simon Says Stamp and Show?  The challenge is Ever After!  Doesn't that get you thinking of all the different stories, movies and quotes from your favorites?  I started thinking about who didn't get their happily ever afters because of their wicked actions.. My idea was inspired by the evil Maleficent in Snow White.

I wanted to use an old mirror as my base for my project.  We only have one handheld mirror  in the house.  I decided to go purchase a mirror from the dollar store. After finishing this project and working with the plastic frame I definitely would have created this from Chipboard and Heidi Swapp Mirrors. or Simon Says Plastic Mirror Sheet.

I started with a vision of doing a faux metal effect on the back.  I embossed the surface with Stampendous Aged Gold Embossing Enamel.  I knew the plastic was going to get soft on the frame but because of the quality of my mirror it got a little bumpy. 

Since the Faux metal was going to be an option I decided to use one of my favorite stamps and stamp it over the gold embossing.  I stamped the damask pattern using versamark. I sprinkled  black Embossing Powder and heated it enough to melt the embossing powder.  The uneven surface (from heating the plastic) caused the uneven stamping. I actually like the effect as it looks like she has been using her mirror for so long it has shown the wear on the gold.  I used a stazon ink pad to smear around the edges of the mirror to help frame it out. 

I ran into a problem when I turned the mirror over to emboss.  The frame holding the mirror in melted and fell out.  

To solve the exposed area I embossed around the edges of the mirror in the gap. There still was a gap and I decided to improvise with the black feathers.  In my story the queen had black swans and she decided to use their feathers to decorate her magical mirror.  I then set about glimmer misting my ribbon and my flower accents with Black Magic(how appropriate was the name of the glimmer mist!).  I had to answer the queen's question in the mirror. I stamped the princess onto the mirror using StazOn jet black ink.  I thought about coloring her but since everything else was in gold, black, and gray, I left her as she was.  Of course the queen was furious that the mirror did not select her!

Products:  Stampendous Daffodil Girl, Tattered Angels Black Magic Glimmer Mist,  Prima White Soprano, Stampendous Aged Gold Embossing Enamel, Stampendous Black Embossing Powder, Hero Arts Classic Fabric Design, StaZon - Jet Black, 
Versamark Watermark Ink

I hope you have enjoyed my magical mirror.  Come join in the Ever After  challenge for a chance to win a $50.00 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp:

Have a magical day!

Suzz

Steampunk Love

Tim posted his lovely Valentine inspired  February Tag yesterday.  It inspired me to create my own version of his tag:

I started with embossing Coredination's Chocolate Box Cardstock using the Sizzix Tim Holtz Valentine  embossing folder. I sanded off the edges and embossing to expose the pink color underneath.  I used this to top the bottom and top of my tag.

I then had to create a coordinating background using Tim's spritz method.  I didn't have any distress stains that matched the color of my cardstock. Instead I pulled out my re-inkers and water spritzer and used them to create a pink background.  I then spied the gold paint dabber and decided to edge everything out in gold.  That had me pulling out the Stampendous Micro-glitter Gold and ended up all glittery and gold along with the browns and pinks. :)

The main image on my card took the longest time to find. I couldn't think of what to use as I didn't have the Queen of Hearts image.  I ended up getting inspired by a beautiful set from Chocolate Baroque called Punky Romance.  It had the perfect heart image.  I stamped it with brown ink on a pink background. I edged it out with the gold paint and added the glitter again.

I wanted to add the touch of twine to my tag to add texture. I ended up taking ivory twine and painting it with the gold paint. I loved how it ended up drying with the crinkles as I scrunched it up while it was wet. It added a fun texture. 

I used the seasonal stickers from Tim for the sentiment which also received the Midas touch.  Tim did the lovely detail of the tissue tape as the ribbon and I just added a hint of the gold paint.

Another Valentine's project off my list. :)

Thanks for stopping by.

Suzz

Pooh Bear

Last night my youngest said "my teacher is coming back tomorrow do you have that baby card?  and can it be Winnie the Pooh?"... I said "tomorrow?" 

In my stash of things I had saved a gift card holder which had the sweet vintage images of Pooh and Christopher.  That was the only Pooh Bear image I had on hand.  I decided to create a background which works with Cath's Moxie Fab World Challenge to create your own background paper.  

I stamped the trees first along the white cardstock using the Hero Arts stamp.  I colored the trees using STAEDTLER watercolor pencils.  I sponged in the background using green, brown, yellow, orange, and two shades of blue. 

The sentiment is one I have from Verses Rubber stamps called Wee bit of Heaven. I inked up the first half of the verse and stamped it along the top.  I thought it was a little too dark with the black against the blue so I added a few white highlights from a gel pen.  They were too bright so I softened them with a touch of water. I cleaned the stamp and  inked up the bottom half and stamped it on the inside of the card: 

Isn't that beautiful?  A last minute card thrown together this morning, and my daughter was very happy with it, so a success.

Have a great Friday!

Suzz