Live Your Dream With Passion

Nothing like taking on a bit too much at once. I had signed up for Online Card Classes' Heat Wave course at the end of June and thought... How hard can it be doing both Summer of Creative Chemistry and Heat Wave? After all, I am on holidays... I should have time. LOL! I am laughing at myself now for my naivety and so today, I am going out of chronological order and sharing my Day 2 card first.

After watching both Day 1 and Day 2 videos from Heat Wave (hosted by Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner), I incorporated two techniques... one from each day (texture paste embossing and non-cardstock embossing) into a card that I had percolating in my mind for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog's Floral and Fauna Challenge.

I heat embossed the flowers with Emerald Creek's Hannukkah blue glitter embossing powder on the burlap texture paste stenciling. Then, I fussy cut it out and sewed it to the wood grain stenciled, Distress Paint resisted, Distress stained and inked background. I stamped the Tim Holtz Perspective sentiment using Black Archival ink onto foil tape and then heated embossed it with Ultra fine Clear emboss powder.

I am quite proud of myself for how that emboss turned out as the "Dream" word was tricky with its' detailing which was why I went with coloured ink and clear powder. I punched the corners with a ticket punch, faux stitched with a Signo white pen, and adhered it with foam tape to the card.

Next, I stamped, fussy cut, and Rock Candy Distress crackle painted the bird. Once it was done crackling, I coloured it with Picket Fence and Vintage Photo Distress stains. Then, when it was dry, I added some glitter glue details and adhered it to the card. To finish off the card, I added some jute twine and jewel details.

Supplies: watercolour paper (Canson), Tim Holtz stamps [Take Flight, Perspectives], Tim Holtz stencils [Woodgrain, Blossom] (Stampers Anonymous), Tim Holtz Distress Paint [Antique Linen, Hickory Smoke, Picket Fence], Distress Stain [Broken China, Picket Fence, Vintage Photo], Distress Ink [Broken China, Mermaid Lagoon], texture paste, foil, Black Archival ink, Clear emboss powder (Ranger), Hannukkah blue glitter embossing powder (Emerald Creek), brown glitter glue (Hampton Art), jute twine and jewels (Dollarama), burlap (misc.)

I am really pleased with how this one turned out. I love the colours and textures. It is shaping up to be one of my all time favourites. I am going to be hard pressed to give this beauty away.


TTFN,

ICAD Day 7 - Simon Says Stamp with IndigoBlu

My Day 7 ICAD is a Simon Says Stamp inspired one based on their Monday Challenge Blog's 'Red, White, and/or Blue' challenge featuring IndigoBlu stamps.

I have the IndigoBlu Ickle Poppy stamp which was a natural fit for the red. I Distress ink watercolour stamped it in Barn Door and Black Soot. Then, I went in with a brush and my Gansai Tambi paints to add more colour for the flower petals. Once dry, I created a mask and covered the flower so that I could create the background using blue watercolour paint and a stencil and whipped spackle. I finished it off with some black splatters.

Supplies: stamp (Indigo Blue), Distress inks (Ranger), watercolour paints (Gansai Tambi), stencil (The Crafter's Workshop), whipped spackle (Faber-Castell), sentiment die (Simon Says Stamp), index card (Staples), cardstock (CTMH)

Turning this one it into a greeting card was fairly simple. I distressed the edges, mounted it on cardstock, and die cut the "Thanks" sentiment using the Simon Says Stamp Painted Thanks die.

I am also adding this card into Simon Says Stamp's Work It Wednesday for its' stenciling and die cutting.

TTFN,

Prima Watercolour Day 5

After my success with watercolouring on a Michaels' simple sentiment card for the Prima Day 2 prompt, I thought I would give it a go on for the Day 5 - Border prompt. I used one of the other 5 pack cards that I had purchased with Prima stamps and IOD water-soluble oil pastels.

Supplies: Glorious Flora and Bayou Flora stamp sets and IOD oil pastels (Prima), Silver Wink of Stella (Kuretake), sentiment card (Michaels) 

To stamp with the pastels, I both rubbed the stamp image and some colour on my craft sheet and spritzed it with water. Then, I used a waterbrush to spread or add additional colour and/or details. 

To finish it off, I added a touch of Wink of Stella to the centres of the purple flowers and some splatters.


TTFN,

Celebrate You - Summer of Creative Chemistry - Week 5

Today, I am sharing a card that I made using three of the Distress Paint techniques that are part of Week 5 of Tim Holtz's Summer of Creative Chemistry - Creative Chemistry 102 over at Online Card Classes. My colour choices were inspired by this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday 'Red, White, and/or Blue' challenge.

I created a marbleized background in blues and white on a cutdown Number 10 manilla tag as I wanted my card to be on the taller side. I added the embossed script stamped image in Antiquities and used chalk, to soften the background blues. Then, distressed the edges and edged and splattered it with more Picket fence paint. The ray was stencilled with texture paste, inked with Barn Door red, and then fussy cut out. The reverse stamped, crackle painted, and fussy cut bird was given a few little highlights of Rock Candy Stickles and Silver Stickles.

I shaped the bird and strategically adhered it to give it more of a 3D effect. The frame was heat embossed stamped on a slightly Picket Fence muted pocket card, given a wash and wipe of Pewter metallic paint, and fussy cut out prior to heat embossing the sentiment and adding splatters. The metal foliage was given a swipe of Black Soot to age and coordinate it. A trio of stars for the finishing touch.

Supplies: Tim Holtz Distress paints [Picket Fence, Broken China, Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon, Blueprint Sketch, Candied Apple, Brushed Pewter, Black Soot], Distress ink [Picket Fence, Broken China, Barn Door, Emboss It], Distress Rock Candy Crackle Paint, Distress Rock Candy Stickles, Silver Stickles, Black Archival ink, Black emboss powder, number 10 tag (Ranger), Tim Holtz Rays stencil and stamps [Take Flight, Urban Grunge, Just Sayings] (Stampers Anonymous), Tim Holtz Idea-ology Newsprint Alpha Parts, Pocket Card, Metal Foliage (Advantus), cardstock (CTMH), jute twine (Dollarama)

Looking forward to trying out Week 6 techniques.

TTFN,

Prima Day 3 Polka Dots - 4 Splatters with ICAD Day 4 - 5

While I am doing a pretty good job of keeping up the daily art aspects of the ICAD2016 challenge and the Prima 30 Days of Watercolor Challenge, I am going to have to rethink the photographing and blogging logistics. It is posing the problem as too much art to blog and having the unintended consequence of making me feel behind. So for today, I am doubling up or rather quadrupling up. With my ICAD Day 4 and 5 plans calling for watercolour and Prima consecutively, it worked perfectly to combine them both with Prima's 30 Day Watercolor Challenge for Days 3 and 4.

ICAD Day 4/ Prima Day 3 - Polka-dots:

I was up for more experimenting with my Gelli Arts plate. A week ago, I tried Magenta Nuance powders with clear gesso ending in great results. So today, I wanted to try the Prima Water Soluble Oil Pastels with gel medium to see if it would work. I am happy to report a resounding YES!

Supplies: index card (Staples), water-soluble oil pastels, gel medium, stencils, stamps (Prima), Black Archival Ink (Ranger), black pen (Uniball), white Signo pen (Mitsubishi Co.), white paint marker (Elmer's)

I scribbled a quarter sized amount of pastel onto my craft sheet and then used a dollop (about a teaspoon) of gel medium and mixed it in. I found that it creates a light colour so if you want a deeper colour, you need to add more pastel crayon to intensify it or use a darker shade of pastel to get the depth you want.

Step-by-step:
I first punched out a bunch of 3/4" circles using a circle punch. Next, I rolled my Cadium Green mix colour out onto the gelli plate using a brayer, placed my circle dots down randomly, and then, placed the index card down and pressed/brayered. Once I peeled it up, I had my polka dot base. From there, I used Sky Blue with the Spark stencil and then Yellow-Green with the lace stencil. Once dry, I created a single circle punch paper stencil, aligned the circle over a polka-dot on the background, and stamped through it with the musical notation stamp from the Don't Forget to Fly stamp set. I repeated that process for all the dots. Next, using a black Uniball pen and my circle stencil, I went back over each dot and drew a circle and a slightly offset circle for each.  Then, I stamped the large Love Letter butterfly background with black Archival ink. Once dry, I added Blue pastel to the large butterflies wings and added some highlights with a white signo pen. Then, I rubbed the edges with Yellow-Green and blended it out with a dampened finger. Next, I added some Silver Wink of Stella to the blue and body of the large butterfly and to the two other butterfly's. Lastly, I splattered some watered down gesso to finish it off.

Like my other ICADs thus far, I turned this one into a greeting card also.

I used up some really old Prima chipboard alphabet stickers from my stash and the All About Me mini letter sticker for my sentiment. I used a white signo pen to give highlights and a grey Fibracolor marker to create shadows along  'celebrate' to make it standout from the background. I finished it all off with a scattering of Simon Says Stamp's Moonshine sequins.


ICAD Day 5/ Prima Day 4 - Splatters:

For my Day 5 ICAD, I started it off by second generation stamping with the Prima IOD large vintage background stamp with Coffee Archival Ink. Then, I added modeling paste roses by stenciling them on with the Fading Floral stencil. Once dry, came the messy and I do mean messy fun... splatters... lots and lots and lots of splatters using Prima watercolour Confections from the Classics and Tropicals sets. I had to wait and dry in between layers of blue, teal, a blend of both, wheat, and browns.

Supplies: index card (Staples), background stamp, stencil, watercolours (Prima), Coffee Archival ink (Ranger), whipped spackle (Faber-Castell)

Next, I turned it into a card by adding a flower and brown watercoloured leaves, an artistically placed jewelled cameo from my stash (yes, I have a lot of older Prima in my stash being that I have been a fan for over 8 years), a gessoed Finnabair mechanical plate piece along with stampings from various Prima stamp sets to create my sentiment, older Prima lace, some metallic thread, and some strategically placed glass beads. The sentiment on the inside reads... Just like you!

Additional Supplies: flower, leaves, jewelled cameo sticker, metal plate, stamps, lace (Prima), metallic thread and glass beads (Dollarama)

I am totally enamoured by with this card. I love, love, love how it turned out!

That is it for my shares for this post. I am linking up the Celebrate Summer card to Simon Says Stamps Work It Wednesday for stencils and the Art is Beautiful card based on the gorgeous Photo Inspiration moodboard colours this week at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog.  In the meantime, I will have to further ponder a manageable means of blogging all my challenge creations.


TTFN,

Prima Watercolour Day 2

For those of you who shop Michaels, if you are anything like me, you cruise the $1.50 bins (that is in Canada, likely they are $1 bins in the US) for potential crafty goodies. A month or so ago, I picked up a couple of different 5 card packs of Thank You cards, thinking that they would be perfect bases to add to for greeting cards. I had originally envisioned them for papercrafting but then in looking at them again the other day, I noticed that they were a nice textured cardstock and wondered how they would stand up to watercolouring. So for Prima's 30 Day Watercolor Challenge, with the Day 2 prompt of Blended Colours, I gave it a try. 

Got to say, it worked wonderfully! I used a wet-on-wet technique and it held up with only slight warping which was fixed under a heavy stack of books.

I used painter's tape to mask off the centre sentiment strip. Then, I clear heat emboss stamped a series of outline flower shapes from the Prima Glorious Flowers stamp set using VersaMark ink and Simon Says Stamp Fine Clear Embossing powder. Leaving the masking tape in place, I then watercoloured the flowers with a blend of Yellow and Pink using the Classics Confection watercolours. Once dry, I painted the leaves and flower centres with the Green. It needed a little more so I free formed loose florals and foliage until I was pleased with the composition. To finish it off, I splattered a bit of green. Once completely dry, I removed the tape and voila! I love how this one turned out!

I am joining in with this card over at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday 'Anything Goes' Challenge.


TTFN,

You Shine - ICAD Day 3

For my Day 3 ICAD, I used Dina Wakley products and some found items: bubble wrap, plastic flexible mesh from a bunch of clementines, and the caps from my sprayer and mini mister.

Supplies: Dina Wakley acrylic paints, Star Light stamp set, star mask, Archival ink, Distress ink (Ranger), white embossing powder (Simon Says Stamp), index card (Staples)

I started by stamping the smallest stars with Turquoise acrylic paint across a pre-gessoed index card. Then, I placed the star masks down to preserve the white. I had one star mask, but wanted three, so I used the outline of the stamps that I had decided to use to create two more. I brushed on some Blackberry Violet and then, used a baby wipe to spread and lighten it across from left to right. Next, I took off the masks and used a piece of bubble wrap with the Turquoise paint and the fruit mesh with the Lime. After all the paint dried, I stamped the 3 focal stars with Black Archival ink. I second generation stamped the striped star to lighten and recede it. Then, I used the different sized sprayer caps to add circle clusters in Magenta. I thought I would see how Picket Fence Distress worked with the 'Star Light, Star Bright' sentiment but it was too light so I quickly added white heat embossing powder. Loved the result!

In keeping with my goal, I turned my Day 3 ICAD into a card.

I added a mess of silver metallic thread under the die cut Simon Says Stamp 'You' and the first couple of Heidi Swapp block letter stickers which I popped up with foam tape. Next, I added some black glitter glue to the 'You' and once dry, I used a a white Signo pen to draw highlights. Lastly, I splatter some black paint and added some twinkle with a few jewels.

I am entering the card in this month's 'Reach for the Stars' challenge over at the Mixed Media Monthly Challenge and into Simon Says Stamp Wednesday 'Anything Goes' Challenge.

  

TTFN,

June 12 Tags Leftovers

I had a great little combination of leftovers from my June - 12 Tags of 2016 that made for a quick simple card. There was the stamped tissue collaged foliage piece, half of the elementary flash card with a number in the corner, and a vintage photo stamped butterfly.

I added some Rock Candy Distress Stickles to the butterfly. While it was drying, I added some splatters to the cardbase in Peeled Paint and Forest Moss and distressed the piece of flashcard with Vintage Photo. I clustered the foliage and flashcard along the left border and used the tiny attacher with black Sharpie coloured staples. Lastly, I stamped the sentiment, adhered the butterfly, and added some bling. Quick, easy, simple!

Playing along with this week's Simon Says Stamp Wednesday 'Anything Goes' challenge with this one.

TTFN,

Nations Celebrated with Emerald Creek Dare

Happy Canada Day!

For the first July Emerald Creek Dare, I am donning the red and white, in a patriotic show of colours, as I send warmest wishes to my fellow Canadians on our country's birthday.

Not to be left out, our neighbours to the south celebrate their Independence Day a few days latter so sending warm wishes their way too! You can't go wrong with a little emboss resist watercolour and some patterned background stamping for a quick celebratory card.

Emerald Creek Products used:
Warmest Wishes stamp
Happy Birthday Bars stamp
Small Butterfly stamp
Iridescent Shimmer Embossing Powder

Other products used and available from the EC shop:
Distress Ink: Barn Door, Black Soot

Ranger: Emboss Ink

Details for this Emerald Creek Dare Challenge and the creative projects of my fellow EC Dare-mates can be found here.

TTFN,

June - 12 Tags of 2016

Spent a nice night in my craft room playing with some new Tim Holtz products and techniques following Tim Holtz's June tag tutorial.

Supplies: Urban Grunge Script stamp, Papillon stamp, Stripes stencil (Stampers Anonymous), Distress Vintage Photo Archival Ink, Vintage Collage Medium, Distress Ink [Peeled Paint, Forest Moss, Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo], Vintage Photo Distress Spray Stain, #8 tags (Ranger), Garden Greens Alterations Die (Sizzix), Smooth Linen Textile Surface, Elementary Flashcard, Botanical and Elements rubs, Trinket pin, Foliage metal flower, jump ring, crinkle ribbon (Advantus), tissue paper, thread (misc.)

I decided to extend the tag with the little extra leftover stenciled linen at the bottom. By doing that and keeping the 3 dimensional items to a minimum, it will work as a nice bookmark. 

Talk about just squeaking this one under the wire but well worth it as it was a great way to start my summer vacation.

TTFN,