Copy Cat?!

Today I received a text with a picture of a printed postcard from one of my stamping ladies who asked, "Is this something we (meaning me) can do?" Here's the printed postcard she sent:

The only way I know of to get those bright vibrant colors and blending like that is with alcohol inks. So, I pulled out the alcohol inks and a bunch of felt pads for the applicator and started to work from the bottom up, overlapping the colors slightly. If the colors did not look "blotchy" enough I used a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol and dotted here and there to give it the look I was going for.Here's the background I got on Yupo paper:

I think I could have left off the Indigo ink which was very dark and just gone with the turquoise after the Purple Twilight. Well, now how to get the lettering on. I knew it had to be die cut from another background done the same as this and reverse it, but I needed it to be large enough to span all the colors. (Should have thought to make it smaller in the first place, but I didn't!! My Yupo paper is 5' x 7")So, I made another piece to "match" the first as best as I could and used Pinkfresh Studio's Coordinating Cuts alphabet set to cut out "THANK." Couldn't fit the "S," so I used the sentiments "A HUGE," and a "YOU" from Concord & 9th's "Say Hello" stamp set. I embossed them in white on black cardstock and added foam tape the back of them. Note: I think these dies and stamps are not available anymore, but using what I have! There are similar ones that you could use.Since the piece was so big, I decided to make a full-size card, but needed to add something on the edges, even after framing the piece on black cardstock. So, I think this is a Simon Says Stamp background stamp and I mixed Distress inks to stamp it to match the colors on the main piece. Here's the finished card, so how did I do?

Coloring on Kraft 3 Ways

Again, I had this image from Avery Elle ("Blooming" w/matching dies) embossed in gold on kraft and black cardstock and I thought I'd color them three different ways. 

The black cardstock was colored with Faber-Castell polychromos pencils and then to give it a cloisonne look I added Glossy Accents over the images. If you go over the image first with the white pencil the colors will show up even on black cardstock. This also works on kraft, but I am still "cleaning up" and had only one in black already done.

The top-right was an experiment to see if I could color on kraft cardstock with alcohol markers, and even though they tend to "bleed" more on this paper because of it's tooth they did pretty well. I think you need to select colors carefully, and it might help to test on a scrap of the same cardstock. Also, I found that on this cardstock the alcohol inks changed intensity after they dried, but they dry very quickly. And since it was embossed first, the embossing helps to keep the "bleed" contained pretty well.

Did you know that Distress Oxides can be painted on to blend, rather than always blending with a tool? The bottom card shows how you can use a paint brush to paint in the images to get a more vibrant look with the inks. If you add water, of course they will oxidize as intended, so it is better to use them straight if you want to get the colors as bright as this. Thanks for looking and if you have questions or need to know specific colors, leave a comment and I will respond. 

Cleaning Up

The snow storm that pulled down branches on the power lines last night caused a power outage from 1 am to tonight at 6pm so what to do with no power?! Clean up the stamp room. I don't know about you, but I assume if you craft, particularly with paper, ink, and stamps the area where you create gets pretty messy. Mine gets overrun with scraps of paper I keep thinking, "I can use this somehow!"

Needless to say, I have 2 boxes of backgrounds from watercolor, Distress blends, alcohol inks, etc. and etc.!! So tonight's card was made with a background I already had, a watercolored flower that was done a long time ago (so long ago that I had a hard time finding the die to cut it out with), some embellishments, and a sentiment strip that was stored in an envelope with a bunch of others.

Here's the card that I made with all the left-overs I found today!! All the information is below the photo.

The stamp is from Hero Arts (Hero Florals Magnolia) with a matching die, background was Distress Oxides blended and spritzed with water, the sentiment is from Taylored Expressions (Simple Strips Background), the silver lace "snowflake" is from Stampin' Up, and the crystals are from Nuvo. Thanks for looking and stay healthy!!

Blending a Little Sunset

So much fun to blend Distress Oxide inks! I did some masking for mountains, sky, and sun. Sky is blended with Fossilized Amber, Abandoned Coral, and Dusty Concord. Sun is done in Ripe Persimmon. Mountains are done with Weathered Wood and Hickory Smoke.

The white snow caps are done with Dr. Ph Martin's Bleed Proof White, and the foreground is done with Forrest Moss and Hickory Smoke. After cutting the die I added the Fossilized Amber for the fire with Festive Berries and Blueprint Sketch. The die is from Paper Roses.

Thanks for looking, and feel free to leave comments!

 

Simple Monochrome!

I've had this stamp set for about a year and have not used it yet so I thought it was about time! The problem is that every time I think of using it I really don't have time to color in all the flowers the way I would like. Even though I have the time today, I decided to make it simple.

I use Altenew's "Needlework Motif" stamp set and embossed the images in a Pearl embossing powder on Coastal Cabana cardstock. Then I colored in some areas with a white Prismacolor pencil and some with the Coastal Cabana marker. 

The "Hello," (from My Favorite Things - discontinued) I die cut from white cardstock 3 times, layering for dimension and then white heat embossed the sentiment on black cardstock. This sentiment comes from the same stamp set.

Finally, I added to a white card base. Thanks for looking! 

Mass Production!

I know I said I'd try during this time to post one card a day but when I use layering stamps like Altenew's "Angelique Motifs" I mass produce. Here's some of the ones for today, done in different colors and some clean and simple and believe it or not, a collage! I know, not my usual style, right?!

Also, if you get a chance to watch any of Tim Holtz's demos, there's one tomorrow, 2 pm Eastern time! Here's the card that I was inspired to make after watching the last demo which uses Distress glitter, Distress Resist spray, and that really neat little Glitter Duster from Stampers Anonymous.

Masking with Masking Fluid

Have you struggled with getting the background colored in after you've done all the stamping? Masking papers are great when you have larger areas and can easily make masks, but when dealing with tiny areas as I had with these stamps it's too time consuming and really impossible to mask off all these tiny areas. These stamps are from Stampin' Up's "His Grace."

Also if you try to put the background in first you would have to erase the color from all the tiny areas you want to color in, which, again does not work. This is where a liquid masking fluid comes in handy. I used the Molotow liquid masking marker for this. Also, if the felt tip on the marker is too large for some of the tiny areas I pumped out some fluid onto an acrylic block and used a paint brush to add it to some areas.

I heat embossed in gold the verse and flower vine and dove and then added the masking fluid to all the areas I wanted to color. After the fluid was completely dry I used Distress Oxides to blend the background (Twisted Citron, Tumbled Glass, and Salty Ocean). Using an ordinary pencil eraser I gently "erased" all the fluid from the flowers, leaves, and dove. Then I colored in the areas with markers. This is an easy single-layer card.

Easter Greetings!

This card was embossed in white using Stampin' Up's  "Breathtaking Bouquet" on Smokey Slate cardstock. I colored the image with dye inks from re-inks after brushing on some white craft ink into areas that I painted with the inks. The verse "He is Risen" is from Stampin' Up's "His Grace," which I white heat embossed on basic grey cardstock.

I cut the word "celebrate," twice from white cardstock and once from silver glitter cardstock and glued them together and then cut the background from white cardstock. This die is from
Neat & Tangled and includes the word and outline.

I hope you all have a blessed Easter!

Happy Good Friday Stamping

This card uses a background technique that I've forgotten to  use for years, but is easy to do and adds interest behind the focal image. Find a small-shaped simple stamp - for this I used an old Stampin' Up swirly circle. I don't even remember which set it came in as I store my wood mounted stamps in drawers by category. Anyway, a solid image like a circle or star would work well. Emboss the image in several spots onto the background cardstock. I used gold embossing on white cardstock.

The flower is from Avery Elle's "Magnolia" set and I used the matching dies to cut it out. I colored it with Copic markers and stamped the "Hello" from Stampin' Up's "Good Morning Magnolia" set. I added a clear Wink of Stela to the flower and leaf petals. Thanks for looking!

Cards to Encourage

Since I've been "sewing" masks for days and shipping them all over I thought I would post my recent card creations. This past week was Altenew's 6th anniversary and I pulled out one of my favorite stamp sets that remind me of Spring. This is the Enchanted Iris set, and the "Hello" is from Stampin' Up's Good Morning Magnolia.

When I saw Jennifer McGuire's video on quick coloring technique using craft foam cut into the shape of the flowers I had to try this, especially since I was making a whole stack of them. Here's a link to the video: Fast Coloring

One thing I would caution about this technique is to choose images that are solid enough that you don't have to cut tiny background details out. (Ask me how I know this!!) I cut a tiny background out of one of the irises with a craft knife. Also, remember to use TEMPORARY adhesive on the stamp positioned door. It makes a mess and removing the craft foam warps them so that you can't use them again! (Did this too!!)

Anyway, I used Altenew's Crisp Dye ink on the flowers and then to get the yellow on the petals, I used a marker right over the ink on the foam. I liked the way it blended. I used Stampin' Up's Granny Apple Green for the leaves and then used some copies to add shadows. Thanks for looking!