Magenta Trees Galore

I'm up on the Magenta blog today with this collection of watercoloured Christmas tree cards. I used the Blessings Tree stamp and Emerald Creek glitter heat emboss powders to create a variety of different card looks.  I started by cutting up 9" x 12" Canson XL watercolour paper into 3 strips of 4" x 9" and then scoring and tent folding them.

The above trio was watercoloured with Grass Green, Olive and Turquoise Nuance powders after heat embossing. I went with classic colour combos of green, red and gold.The above trio was watercoloured with Grass Green, Olive and Turquoise Nuance powders after heat embossing. Once dry, I added the jewels.

This trio was watercoloured with Mijello Mission Gold watercolours and once dry, I used a Zig 05 marker to add shadowed outlines.

This final one, was watercoloured with Mijello Mission Gold watercolours and once dry the jewels were added on.

Fun, festive and easy to make these are perfect for some quick homemade cards for family and friends. I hope you are inspired to give them a try.

Happy creating!

TTFN,

*****

Magenta products used:

Blessings Tree 07.961.L 

MNU009 Grass Green

Olive

MNU001 Turquoise

*****

Steampunk Blog Hop

***UPDATED July 5th: Bookmark and ATC giveaway is closed.

Winners are Penny -Bookmark & Elle - ATC. Congrats ladies! Please send me your mailing info so I can get these out to each of you.***

***UPDATE June 23rd: Commenting for Blog Hop prizes has ended. Commenting for my bookmark and ATC giveaway is open until Saturday, July 4th at 11:59 PM.***

Welcome, crafty enthusiasts! It's blog hop time with a spectacular array of steampunk creations with sixteen sponsored prizes up for grabs. My contribution to this sojourn is themed Sea, Land, & Air as I join in with a steampunk inspired bookmark and ATC.

The bookmark base is made from water spritzed and crinkled kraft cardstock topped with Stamperia Mechanical Sea World patterned papers including the glossy accent embellished fussy cut seahorse.

Some distressing with Tim Holtz Distress inks, chipboard gears from Creative Embellishments and cut out letters/words from the Mechanical Sea Worlds packaging completes the main part of the "Free to be Me" bookmark in order for it to maintain its functionality as an actual bookmark. Where I had more freedom to add dimensional pieces was with the "ribbon & charm" part that hangs outside of a book.

Supplies: Mechanical Sea World patterned papers (Stamperia), kraft carstock (CTMH), Glossy Accents, Walnut Stain Tim Holtz Distress Ink, Distress Collage Medium (Ranger), mini gear chipboards (Creative Embellishments), Cerith Seashell Stamp, Ancient Anchor Charm (Emerald Creek Craft Supplies), Timber Brown StazOn inks (Tsukineko), Shrink-It (Aleene's), Natural Hemp Cord (Darice), Tim Holtz Idea-ology Jump Rings (Advantus), glass beads (Misc.)

For that, I used hemp cord tied with glassbeads, a shrink plastic seashell stamped with the Emerald Creek Cerith Seashell stamp and an alcohol ink coloured anchor embellishment. I am so pleased with how this came together and that it is perfect for a steampunk enthusiast's use in a practical way.

Up next is this little up-cycled gem of an ATC. I like to reuse/repurpose what I can in art pieces and this one incorporates corrugated cardboard and shell plastic packaging as key elements in its design. It was an add-on item to my initial intention of just having the bookmark as a stand alone piece for this hop. As I waited for the hop day I wanted to make something that expressed the current world wide reflection of the status quo situation and came up with this. 

The "Unlock the Spirit of Change" ATC starts with a base piece of corrugated expose cardboard topped with a distressed piece of the Stamperia Mechanical Sea World patterned paper. After splattering it with Broken China Distress ink and Vintage Photo Distress inking the edges, I applied Tim Holtz Grit Paste mixed with Burnt Sienna Finnabair Fluid Acrylics through the Crafter's Workshop Mini Specimens stencil.

Supplies: Mechanical Sea World pattern paper (Stamperia), Mini Specimens stencil (The Crafter's Workshop), Finnabair Burnt Sienna Liquid acrylic, Mermaid Teal acrylic paint, Lucky Emerald Antique Brilliance, Ingvild Blome Stamp-N-Add Butterfly Wings (Prima), Tim Holtz Distress Grit Paste, Distress Collage Medium, Broken China, Vintage Photo and Ground Espresso Distress ink, Patina, Pool and Express Alcohol ink, Gold Mixative, Glossy Accents (Rangers), mini gears chipboard (Creative Embellishments), Mod Podge Industrial molds (Plaid), VersaMark ink (Tsukineko), Vega Gold emboss powder (Emerald Creek), Spirit metal tag (Dollarama), Tim Holtz Ideaology Hex Fasteners (Advantus), metal washer (Home Depot), cardboard and plastic packaging (Misc.)

On top of that is a collection of Creative Embellishments Mini Gears chipboard, Industrial Mod Podge molded gears, lock and key coloured with a combination of alcohol inks and Finnabair paint and wax. The butterfly was created from left over plastic shell packaging coloured with Patina and Pool alcohol inks and then heat embossed stamped with a Prima butterfly using Emerald Creeks Vegas Gold Emboss powder. The butterfly is mechanized with an alcohol ink coloured Prima metal wing screw embellishment hopefully giving the illusion that it is wound to fly as it is set free. There is much symbolism in this piece with elements purposely chosen that marry themselves well to express the message through a steampunk theme.

Now onto the give away part...

As for my blog's giveaway... it is both of these creations. Yes, you can become the owner of one of these crafty creations and yes, I am willing to snail mail them internationally so two lucky people can enjoy them. To be entered into my blog's Sea, Land and Air giveaway draw, you simply have to complete these two steps:

1. Be a follower of my blog or my IG account here or become a follower of either and 
2. Leave a comment below on this post stating which you would like to win e.g. ATC, bookmark, or either one.

My blog giveaway ends Saturday, July 4th at 11:59 PM. Please note that this is a different timeline than the Steampunk blog hop sponsored prizes which ends Monday, June 22nd.

As for a chance to win one of the 16 sponsored prizes for our Steampunk Hop - we're proud to say these are small businesses run by artists. Let's show them some love!

1) A Vintage Girl - $20 prize package

2) Angel Dream Crafts - $20 gift certificate (shipping not included)

3) Linda Israel Art - $50 gift certificate (shipping not included)

4) A Matter of Crafts - $20 gift certificate (shipping not included)

5) Expressions Craft - $25 gift certificate (shipping not included)

6) Nellys Artistic Creations - original artwork (see link for examples of her work)

7) Gecko Galz - $25 in digital products

8) Creative Embellishments - $50 (shipping not included)

9) Emerald Creek - $25 gift certificate

10) Electric Pandemonium - choose a $45 original artwork piece (shipping not included)

11) Thompson's Craft Supplies £20 (approx $25) (shipping not included)

12) It's Oddly Appealing - original artwork (see link for examples of her work)

13) The Funkie Junkie Boutique - $25 gift certificate

14) Hobbilicious - £15 (approx $19) (UK shipping free)

15) ITD - prize package worth £25

16) Stamperia - a pizza box prize pack

To have a chance of winning one of the 16 coveted prizes, leave a comment on this post, along with your email address or social media contact (IG, FB, etc) and what country you're from, from now through Monday, June 22nd. Sixteen winners will be picked randomly from all comments left from all of the artist's participating! The winners will be contacted via email/social media so it's important you leave your address/social media contact! Good luck and enjoy the hop!

For your next stop on the Steampunk hop, please head on over to Monica Longard's MonDo Creations.

If you are just beginning the Steampunk Blog Hop with your visit here on my blog, below is the full list of all the inspirational talented makers:

It's Oddly Appealing

Roni - Ink Stained

Krystal Overby - Electric Pandemonium

Crafts From The Fairy Den

Chaitali Dekhtawala 

Nellys Artistic Creations

Jane Austin

Priya Mishra

Archana Sehgal

Bhavani Balaji 

 You Are Here ➽➽➽➽➽ Cassandra - Scrap Savvy Creations

Monica Longard - MonDo Creations

Shraddha

Amy Love's Designs

Kanika Jain

Empire of the Cat

Shwetha's Art

Sonika Agarwal

In Search of my Creative Side

The Journey is the Start

Ina Grehan

Crea-Red
Kim Slade-Fuller 

Orquide'art

Juli Loves Paper

Leslie Lineberry

Linda Simpson

Jessica Larios

Riddhi Jani

Lynne Joncas

Zoe Bateman

Pooja Sharma

Nicole Palos
A Vintage Girl 

A big thank you goes out to Cathy Frailey (owner of Bleeding Art challenge blog and the coming in September Steampunk Challenge blog) for organizing this hop. Be sure to visit all the hop stops for some fun mixed media steampunk creations and be sure to leave some love!

TTFN,

Card of the Month - Creative Scrapbooker Magazine

*** UPDATE: Yeah! I made it onto Round 2. Voting ends April 12th. ***

Hello fellow crafty friends! Some of you might remember this card that I shared after it came back from being published in the Winter 2018 issue of Creative Scrapbooker Magazine. Well,  Creative Scrapbooker Magazine combed through their past publications and picked cards for their new Card of the Month People's Choice contest. To my surprise, they picked my foiled alcohol ink card as one of the entrants. 

I am so grateful and excited to be chosen for the inaugural match up. There are 5 rounds of voting during the month of April and each round is time sensitive. This contest if just for fun. There is no prize other than the honour of being crowned Card of the Month. It would be so awesome to make it to the top so I am asking if you would please be so kind to go and vote for my card. You will find it in bracket 14 down near the bottom. You can head to their site for voting here.

You can vote in one, a few, or all the brackets. It's up to you. Your email address is used to vote and so you can log on to vote in subsequent rounds. 1st round voting ends April 5th at 11:59 PM EDT. Your vote would be greatly appreciated.

Here is a close up of the card that shows the foil accents and texture details.

Supplies: Silhouette Spring Flowers stamp and alphabet chipboard (Magenta), Yupo paper (Yupo), Tim Holtz Citrus, Pool, Turquoise Alcohol Inks and Blending Solution, Black Soot Archival Ink, Picket Fence Distress Paint, Multi Medium Gel (Ranger), Bora Bora Green foil (Prima), stones (Emerald Creek), cardstock (CTMH)

To make this card, I started with a 3 1/2" x 5" piece of yupo paper which I covered with alcohol blending solution and added drops of Citrus, Pool, and Turquoise alcohol inks in three rows from bottom to the top tilting the card to move the colours around. Once dry, I placed a green foiling sheet over top and burnished it onto the yupo background. Once peeled away, it sticks bits of foil to some of the tacky areas on the background.

From there, I stamped the Magenta Spring Silhouette Flowers with Black Soot Archival ink. Next, I adhered the panel to a white card base. Then, I added the white acrylic painted "You Rock" chipboard sentiment using the Mini Alphabet chipboard letters and added some green foiling to them. Lastly, to complete the card, I glued on some tiny stones along the bottom of the panel.

If you give this technique or silhouette stamp a try, be sure to share it with me. And thanks for voting!

TTFN,

Snow Thanks

With so many seasonal celebrations and get togethers at this time of year, a quick seasonal Thank You card is always de rigueur. Today, I am sharing just such a simple sparkly card over on the Magenta blog.

Supplies: Snowflakes mask and Thank You stamp (Magenta), Tim Holtz Cracked Pistachio Distress Ink (Ranger), Silver Sheer Shimmer Spritz (Imagine Crafts), VersaMark ink (Tsukineko), silver glitter emboss powder (Emerald Creek), Assorted Moonshine sequins (Simon Says Stamp) 

Head on over to the my blog post here to find out how to make it.

TTFN,

*****

Magenta products used:

Snowflakes Mask

Thank You - Extra Large

Mini Notes of Thanks

Those that follow me might have noticed that I tend to make a lot of thank you cards as I am a believer in showing kindness and appreciation and that I tend to not make standard sized cards. I create for the sized area that I need to based on my idea or the scale size of the products used. This leads to a copious amount of various sized widths of cardstock strips. So I like to find ways to use up this stash and other various odds and sods from previous projects. Besides making ATCs, another way I have found that works well is to make cheery little mini cards of thanks. I have found that these mini gems always illicit a surprised delightful reaction from the receipt both for their novel size and cuteness factor.

Supplies: Apple Blosson Bouquet stamp, Mango Tango and Grass Green Nuance (Magenta), Tim Holtz script stamp (Stampers Anonymous), Vegas Gold and Irridecent embossing powder (Emerald Creek Craft Supplies), Thanks Script Die (Simon Says Stamp), black cardstock (Bazzill), vellum (The Paper Company), white cardstock and coffee filter (misc.)

The background was heat embossed stamped with Emerald Creek Vegas Gold emboss powder using a Tim Holt script stamp and splattered with Magenta Mango Tango Nuance. The sentiment is a multi layered die cut from Simon Says Stamp Script Thanks.

The flowers were created by iridecent heat emboss stamping on a coffee filter. To make the flowers, you will need a coffee filter and flower image stamp. On this card, I used the Magenta Apple Blossom Bouquet stamp. Load the stamp with VersaMark ink and stamp it onto the coffee filter. Here, I stamped the image four times prior to adding fine Iridescent glitter embossing powder. This will give you lots of extras for future projects. Once it is heat set, the emboss powder saturates the filter fibres and creates a perfect barrier for watercolouring.

Next, place the filter on a craft mat and spritz it with water so that it is fully saturated. Then, carefully pop the lid off the colour of Nuance that you wish to use (I used Magenta Mango Tango Nuance). Wet your paint brush and then pick up just a little bit of Nuance powder on the tip of the brush.

The colours are extremely concentrated and a little goes a long way. Start in the centre of the flower and dab the colour on, letting the water carry it to the edges. Add more spritzes of water and dab colour as needed to help move it and get the colour intensity that you want. Then, let it dry... either naturally or you could use a either a heat tool at a distance or a blow dryer on warm & low setting. Fussy cut the coloured flowers and use as you wish. They can be used singlely, like I did on this card, or you could even layer them up for a more dimensional flower. I added leaves which were free hand painted with Grass Green Nuance on vellum and then fussy cut when dry.

I am entering this card into Simon Say Stamp Monday Bright and Cheerful Challenge and Simon Says Stamp Flickr Challenge #128 - Anything Goes.

I don't always blog about smaller fast makes here on my blog. I did share these next two earlier this month on my IG account as part of Kathy Rac's 30 Days of Colouring and World Watercolouring Month. These are also 3 x 3" cards made from left over cardstock and watercolour paper (hence the different whites).

They are clear heat embossed stamped with a Close to My Heart mini stamp and painted with Kuretake Zig Gansai Tambi watercolours.

I hope you have been inspired to use up some scraps in make bright cheery cards to bring a smile to someone's day. Be sure to share in the comment or tag me on social media if you do.


TTFN,

Summer Love

Sometimes you create something and then you are just so excited and tickled pink about how it turned out. Such is the case with the panel that I am sharing today. Continuing my support of World Watercolour Month, I used inks as my medium to watercolour. My theme inspiration came from Simon Says Stamp's Monday Life on the Ocean Waves challenge.

I started with a 3 1/2 x 7 1/2" piece of Canson XL watercolour paper and Tim Holtz Distress Ink Oxides in Cracked Pistachio and Broken China. I used the smooched ink on a craft sheet and spritzed with water technique, drying between layers and going back in until I was happy with the results. Next, I splattered it with water, then Broken China and Salty Ocean Distress ink each mixed with water adding depth and layering going for a watery effect. I had left partial white patches on the bottom right corner. There, I used Brush Corduroy with mat water smooshing and a water brush to add splatters to give the area a sand colour. Once dry, I used the Ranger Emboss It dabber to dab little bits and heat embossing with Seth Apter's Dirty Sand Baked Textures made by Emerald Creek added bits and heating layering until I was happy with it.

While the panel was drying, I started creating the other element. I watercolour stamped and waterbrushed the Emerald Creek Conch shell onto watercolour paper with Dried Marigold. Once dry, I stamped it with water spritzed Tea Dye. Once that was dry, I restamped the image with VersaMark and heat embossed it with SSS Fine Clear emboss powder. After fussy cutting it, I brushed some water on the back and shaped it over a glue stick.

Next, I turned to the crafting of the sea horses using an Emerald Creek. They were made by water spritz stamping with Mustard Seed Distress ink onto watercolour paper. I moved the colour around with a waterbrush. Then, water spritz stamping with Worn Lipstick, added to certain parts. Once dry, I again stamped with some area of the image inked with Worn Lipstick. Then, I restamped the image with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with Fine Clear emboss powder and added touches of brown Stabillo All prior to fussy cutting them.

Next, I turned to the creation of the seaweed which I free hand cut from vellum and coloured with by swiping Shabby Shutters Distress ink on both sides. Then, I added small touch swipes of Crushed Olive and Peeled Paint spreading and blending it with my finger. Once dry, to make them come to life, I shaped them with twists and curls. 

After adhering the conch shell and seaweed, I used Mutil Medium Matte gel and glued on some Emerald Creek Shoreline shells and Citrine Gemstones. While it was drying, I die cut the Love from the SSS I Love You Brush Script die. After gluing layers together, and distressing it by dry brushing it with Sharpie white paint from a paint marker, I glued it in place. I sanded the Tim Holtz Label Letters as I spelled out and adheres the "summer" part. Lastly, I distressed the edges to frame in the scene.

I hope you enjoy this panel as much as I do. Be sure to check out the other inspirational pieces created by the DT's at Simon Says Stamp Monday Life On The Ocean Waves. I am also entering this into Craft Stamper Magazine's July Take It, Make It Anything Goes Challenge here along with Simon Says Stamp's IG July Watercolour Challenge and Flickr Group Split, Splat, Splatter Challenge #127. 

TTFN,

Shine Bright

It's a sunny summer day in my neck of the woods and I have another watercoloured card to share with you. Today's card was inspired by Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog Stars and/or Stripes, Dina Wakley Media Tribe's July On the Lighter Side challenge and for Kathy Racossin's ongoing The Daily Marker 30 Day Coloring Challenge.

I used watercoloured strip leftovers painted with Mijello Mission Gold watercolours and trimmed from fussy cut leftovers from my Thanks card posted a few days ago here. They became my starting point as the stripes and I picked out the turquoise and bright green-yellow hues from them in chosing Dina Wakley Scribble sticks in Turquoise, Lime and Lemon to be my watercolouring medium of choice for this project. I used the Crafters Workshop Mini Twinkle Twinkle stencil with sponged on gesso to start the background and as I used each colour in colouring the stars, I splattered colour onto the base. The Dina Wakley Star Light stamped stars, along with using the Scribble sticks, were heat embossed with Emerald Creek Craft Supply's Vegas Gold sparkly emboss powder as well as I used the splattered dots inside of the stars to emboss stamp the splatters onto the background.

After fussy cutting out the stars, I adhered and popped up layers for dimension before finishing the card off with the white heat embossed stamped sentiment created from two of the Star Light set set words.

There is still time to join in any of the inspirational challenges, so check them out by clicking on their name below:

• Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Stars and/or Stripes Challenge
• Dina Wakley Media Tribe's July On the Lighter Side challenge
• Kathy Raccosin's The Daily Marker 30 Day challenge

TTFN,

Shine Brightly

Hello Crafty Friends!

Today, I have an upcyled mixed media tag that I made inspired by Simon Says Stamps Monday Challenge - Use Something New and Bleeding Art's December - Shiny and Sparkly Challenge.

I live in a small town that just opened its first Starbucks over the Christmas break and my daughter and I went into the new store for Chia Lattes. I saved my cup and washed it out as I thought that I the design elements were perfect for fussy cutting; and that is what I did for this tag. I fussy cut out the pattern for the bottom of the tag and the stars. The other new to me items that I used on the tag were Emerald Creek's Fractured Ice embossing powder and Ice Resin Sterling German Glass.

Both the emboss powder and glass add the "shiny" part of the Bleeding Art Challenge component. For the "sparkly" part, I added Vicki Boutin Iridescent CreativFX glaze to Distress Clear Rock Candy Crackle paint for some subtle sparkly crackle texture and jewels to the centre of the stars.

The tag base was made by first adding colour with Tim Holtz Distress Stains in Broken China, Cracked Pistachio and Hickory Smoke. Once that was dry, I scraped on some Vaseline and heat embossed the Fractured Ice embossing powder. Next, I scraped on some more Vaseline which acted as a resist for when I added a watered down white acrylic wash. After letting the acrylic paint set up for a minute, I then wipe over it and it comes off of the resist areas revealing colour from the base and the emboss powdered areas. Using a clean paper towel, I completely removed and residual petroleum jelly and carefully heat evaporate the rest with a heat tool. Then, I mixed up a little Iridescent CreativFX with the Distress Clear Rock Candy crackle paint and painted sporadically around the tag with the mixture. I set it aside to dry and crackle and then coloured the Tim Holtz ribbon with a combination of Cracked Pistachio, Lucky and Hickory Smoke Distress Stain sprays. After the tag was dry, I matted it onto a piece of upcycled ceral box chipboard to help reshape it and distressed the edges. Now it was ready for the embellishing touches. I adhered the Starbucks cup stars and pattern segment along with a Jet Black Archival inked Tim Holtz Quote Chip piece. I finished it off by adhering the glass shards, jewels to the stars, and the crinkle ribbon to the top.

I really like how this turned out and have decided to keep it as a new bookmark for my reading pleasure. It always brings a smile to my face when I open up a book to one of my little pieces of art. Plus, I have a momento of a happy memory of time spent with my daughter sharing our love of Chia Lattes for our first visit to Starbucks when it first came to town.

You can check out the challenge details and other entrants creations here:


          




TTFN,