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!