Thank You cards

 Thank you cards

Made a bunch of Thank You cards to have in my stash, and for a couple of people who asked for them.

stamps used: Unity stamp co. flowers, butterfly, lady.  Sayings various companies

Two of the above cards are what I call Faux layer style cards.  That is where you mask off section, blend in some colors, remove mask then stamp image in black. I used my Catherine Pooler inks for blending the colors.  You know, if you follow my blog they are my favorite ink pads.  You can see more of my Faux layer cards in this post from 2020, in this post with a video showing how to do this technique.  The butterfly card is a Split negative card.  Check out how to do this technique in this post with written instructions, and here back in 2016.  To see more of both of these techniques just type in Faux layers, or Split negative in the search bar.

dies used:  Stampin' Up Share a Milkshake stamp/die set

These milkshake, ice-cream cone, and sundae cards are fun, and easy to create.  No stamping required just die cutting of the images.  The backgrounds are, starting with the milkshake card the wax paper pouncing with inks.  The ice-cream card is paper towel pouncing with inks.  The last but not least is the sundae card, which has a shaving cream background.  I usually have a stack of background panels done, so I can make up cards whenever I need.  To see more with the Share a Milkshake stamp/die set look here.  Check out the shaving cream technique look here including a video I did a while ago.  Check out the wax paper technique here with a video.  The paper towel technique is the same as the wax paper.  Remember you can type any technique name in the search bar to see more from me.

Thanks for stopping by.  Come back soon.

Water Lily

Water Lily

stamps/supplies used:  Altenew Water Lily craft a flower, Unity stamp co. Archies dies

If I'm not mistaken, even though I have been a customer of Altenew for years ... this is my first Craft a Flower die set.  I have lots of stamp/die sets but not Craft a Flower die sets that are just dies ... no stamps.

Basic instructions:

1.  I made a background by scrunching a piece of wax paper ... then tapping into an ink pad ... and pouncing on cardstock.

2.  I die cut the background piece, and a pink cardstock out of arches dies.  Layered onto an A2 (4 1/4" x 5 1/2") base card.  On the top of the base card I corner rounded the corners.

3.  Die cut all the Water Lily dies ... color blended all the dies,  glued die cuts together to form the Water Lily, and the bud on the lily pad. 

4.  Glue the Lily pad, and flowers onto background piece with the wax paper background technique.  

5.  Add die cut hello (which was also color blended), and some enamel dots to finish off the card.

If you go to Altenew stamp company You Tube channel you can see how to put the Water Lily together.

I am entering this card into Altenew challenge here.

Thank you for stopping by.  Come back soon.

***not affiliated with any of the above companies just a happy customer.***

 

Calming Koi

Calming Koi 

I've moved on (for right now) from Jelly fish to Koi fish.

stamps/dies used:  Altenew Calming Koi stamp/die set

These koi fish are a die set with a small complimentary stamp set.  The small Koi stamp set has spots for the fish, and several little sayings.  Background pieces on both cards is done with waxed paper.  Basically what you do is scrunch up a piece of wax paper, dab it on an ink pad then tap, tap, tap on a white card.  I used 3 colors for my background ... a couple of orange, and one pink.

Card #1

For card #1 I cut the background into a rectangle, adhered it to the front of an A2 (5 1/2" x 4 1/4") card.  Added a couple strips of pink cardstock to the top, and bottom of the background piece.  Glued the koi fish onto the background piece.  Stamped the saying above the background piece.  Added some tea party enamel dots to finish off the card.

Card #2

For card #2 I embossed a white panel with one of my favorite Altenew embossing folders called Organic Linen.  This folder goes with everything. I die cut a circle from salmon color cardstock, and die cut a circle out of the wax paper scrunch background.  Both circles were adhered to the right side of the embossed linen card, and cut off just a small end.  The embossed card is adhered to a salmon color A2 card.  Add the koi fish around the circle dies.  Next stamp, cut out the saying, and adhere to card. 

Altenew challenge.

I am entering this card into Altenew challenge here.

Thanks for stopping by.  Come back soon.

***not affiliated with above company just happy customer***

Shaving cream backgrounds with video

 Shaving cream backgrounds

Had a lot of fun getting my hands full of ink, and shaving cream. There is a short video I did years ago at the end of this post.

SU stamp sets

Shaving cream backgrounds are easy to create, but can be a bit messy.  

Instructions:

1.  Squirt out some foam (cheap-dollar store shaving cream) shaving cream onto any surface.  I used wax paper ... you could use a plastic coated paper plate, or pallet paper, too.  Level out the shaving cream into a spot big enough for a quarter sheet of cardstock.  At least that is the size I like to work with.

2.  Drop 1 to 3 different colors of dye ink re-inkers onto the shaving cream.  

3.  Use a wooden dowel or toothpick.  Whatever you can use to make swirls into the ink on the shaving cream.

4.  Lay a piece of cardstock on top of the swirled shaving cream.  

5.  Take the cardstock by one corner, and pull it out of the shaving cream.

6.  With an old credit card, or even a piece of cardboard, and scrap off all the excess shaving cream from cardstock.  Next wipe down the cardstock with a sheet of paper towel.  

Viola!!! See the fun background you created!

Hope you try this fun technique, and when you do show me your cards.  

Check out here instructions I wrote up back in 2009 in my background sketchbook, more here.  

Check out this short video I did years ago.

Thanks for stopping by.  Come back again soon.

Herringbone technique

 Herringbone technique

papers used:  Stampin' Up DSP

This is a classic technique I learned years ago, in fact, I have it in my background sketch book.

In my sketch book back in 2010, as you can see I used carpet tape for the base.  That tape is strong!  Now I just use whatever is in front of me ... could be glue, double stick tape or the full sheets of double sided tape.  

To see more samples with this technique look here, here, here, and here.  As you can see, I do like to bring back old techniques to life ... once in a while.

When I make these backgrounds into cards I will post them.  

***sorry won't be able to show cards ... sent out before I photographed them***

Thanks for stopping by and come back again soon.

Growing in Unity blog hop

 

I'm happy to announce that I am included in this Growing in Unity (GIU) blog hop because earlier this year I was one of the GIU gals. It is always a pleasure to guest blog for Unity stamp co., they have some of the best deep red rubber stamps.

As it reads in the above picture please visit each blog linked up below and leave a comment for a chance to win one of two Unity filled prize packs.

The above cards using Unity Cuddlebug Butterfly, Moments of Bliss and Time to Refresh stamp sets.  I did the acrylic block technique for the backgrounds on these card, which you can get more details on this technique in this post with a video.

In this second set of cards I used Unity Floral Tapestry big background stamp.  For these cards I did a gelato background technique, that you can see more details in this post with a video.

Here are the blog links for you to visit for your chance to win a prize pack from Unity.

1. Chandhini https://thecreativetwins.blogspot.com/

2. Sue https://stampingsueinconnecticut.blogspot.com/

3. Sammie https://www.littlestampededesigns.com/

4. Suzi https://suzannebakermckenzie.blogspot.com/

5. Kristina https://mamasanity.blogspot.com/

6. Sue https://suzyqstudio.wordpress.com/

I have totally enjoyed doing my GIU week earlier this week and today's blog hop.

Good luck!

*****CONGRATULATIONS to our latest winners from the GIU hop!!!! Thank you to all that commented on all the blogs.

From Chandhini's Blog: Claire (Mrs H)1 June 2021 at 13:37That background is so striking

From Suzi's Blog: Penny A. said…What a great page. So many different techniques and colors. It looks great.*****

Thank you for stopping by and come back again soon.

GIU day 5 - Perfect Pearls with video

 Perfect Pearls

                     PP technique #1                 

                                          all images by Unity stamp co. Vroom (car background) and Friendship                                                                                                       Blooms

It's my last day as GIU gal for the week.  It has been fun showing off Unity stamps with different techniques that I hope you found interesting.  Just a reminder to comment (with an email to be contacted) so you can be entered into drawing for a $20 gift certificate from Unity stamp co.

Today I played with an old product called Perfect Pearls pigment powders.  They have a binder in them, but I still like to set them with a Fixative that I spray on them outside. There will be a video at the end of this post but you can also go to my you tube channel to watch it, and more videos.

PP technique #1

Basic instructions:

Perfect Pearls technique #1

1.  ink up cardstock with clear embossing ink (any brand should work).

2.  add Perfect Pearls with a brush all over inked card.  tap off excess powder onto craft sheet to use for bonus background shown in video.

bonus backgrounds - watch video to see how this is done.

3.  ink up stamp with clear embossing ink and press into powdered card.  You can repeat stamp your image if you are using a stamp positioner but please remember to clean stamp each time before stamping.

Perfect Pearls technique #2

PP technique #2

1.  ink stamp with clear embossing ink and stamp on dark cardstock. 

2.  add Perfect Pearls to inked image with a soft brush and pouncing technique.

3.  burnish Perfect Pearls into card with soft brush then buff with swifter cloth or any soft cloth.

tip:  both techniques should be set with a spray of Fixative.  spray outside or in a well ventilated area.

You can see more on Perfect Pearls here.  If you want to see more samples using Perfect Pearls I've done, just type Perfect Pearls in the search box on my sidebar.

Thank you for visiting my blog this week and please come back again soon.  Don't forget to comment to be included in drawing for Unity gift certificate.  Please include an email to contact when commenting for the Unity gift certificate.  Winners will be announced soon.

GIU day 1 - gelato background with video

 GIU (Growing in Unity) Gal week

stamps used:  Unity stamp co.

Welcome to my blog where I'm the GIU gal of the week.  This week we will be exploring old and/or improved backgrounds using Unity stamps.  At the end of the week I will be drawing two names for a $20 gift certificate each from Unity so please comment (with an email to be contacted) to be included in the drawing.  I hope you will enjoy my cards I will be showing you, and maybe a technique you see here will encourage you to create something.

Now on with the show!

The first background I will be showing you this week is using Faber Castell gelatos.  I have had these creamy crayon sticks in my stash for ages so thought it was time to bring them back to life.

gelato backgrounds

gelato backgrounds on card

basic instructions:

 ***If you continue to the end of this post there will be a video***

1. stamp image on dark cardstock with any embossing ink and heat emboss.

2. rub generously with gelato all over embossed image then buff with paper towel. (see video for more details)

3. spray with Fixative in well ventilated area or outside.  allow to dry then create your card.

watch video here or at my you tube channel

Thank you for stopping by.  come back tomorrow for more Unity ideas and don't forget to comment (with an email to be contacted) to be in the drawing.

Dolphin cut away

 Dolphin cut away

stamps used:  Blue Knight rubber stamps

More cut away cards!  If you go to this post you will see this same style card using a big butterfly.  The difference with this card is the cut away part is on the top of the card, where the butterfly card is on the bottom.  Back to the leaping dolphins ... this is another of the watercolor backgrounds I did last month with this same dolphin stamp.  The watercolor set is from the company Altenew, but anyone you have I'm sure would work.  For the piece that the cut away dolphin is mounted on, I used the cloud stencil from Blue Knight rubber stamp company.  Maybe one day I will do a video showing how I do the watercolor wash and use the cloud stencil.  Would that be interest to you for me to make a video? Let me know in the comments.

Thanks for stopping by and come back again soon.

Dolphins

 Dolphins

stamps used:  Blue Knight rubber stamps

Blue Knight rubber stamps is a new company for me but, they have been around for awhile.  Living on the east coast I do like most things in or around the sea.  

For this card, I first did the background with a watercolor wash using Altenew watercolor set.  I haven't used it that much, so I do need some more practice with watercolors, but this was an easy background.  Basically I wet the watercolors, and my cardstock, then took a soft watercolor brush to swipe the color over the cardstock. After it dried, I used a cloud stencil from the above Blue Knight company, and made fluffly clouds over the watercolor wash background.  I do like the way the clouds came out ... what about you?  I overstamped the dolphin image with a very dark blue ink, then layered onto dark blue card.  I layered them onto an orange and a yellow A2 size card.

Thank you for stopping and please come back again soon. 

ATC's (artist trading cards)

stamps used:  Unity stamp co.

ATC's for June and July swap

For June atc's

 I used the Unity cuddlebug Zebra which I think is adorable.  I stamped her in a dark purple ink but first I inked up a star stencil with a green ink, then overstamped the zebra on top of the stars. The saying is from the same cuddlebug Zebra stamp set which stamped in the same purple ink then fussy cut it out.  Next is just what I call collage stamping, that is where you choose several images ... then stamp with different color inks.  The saying was stamped onto a piece of vellum ... cut out then wrapped around stamped card and glued to the back.  Next I glued the stamped piece with the vellum strip to another piece of card the same size to hide the vellum and even secure it some more.

For July atc's

Background on butterfly atc is what we used to call Polished Stone years ago. 

 Polish stone technique: squeeze out all the AI (alcohol inks) colors onto felt on applicator. Squeeze just one drop of gold mixative onto the same felt on applicator. Mixatives go a long way, you only need one drop. Tap, tap, tap applicator with all the AI on it all over a piece of glossy cardstock. To blend colors add a couple of drops of AI blending solution and repeat the tapping. This will blend the colors and give you that polished stone effect.

Butterfly was stamped and fussy cut then adhered to the card on top of the polished stone background, gold doily and washi tapes.

Again for the next atc I did some more collage stamping ... stamped and embossed the staying over the collage stamping.  Added some Nuvo drops and was done.

Not sure if I ever showed my May atc's so I will just leave a pic below for you to see.  leave any questions in comment section if you want to know what I did.

That's it for this post.  Let me know what you think in the comment section.  Thanks for stopping by and come back soon.

Name tags for friends

I made a bunch more of the name tags for friends just because I had so much fun creating the ones for my cousin you can see here.  

Roberta tag - background is inked up bubble wrap.  Bird is from Unity stamp co. and the letters are from Nikki Sivils that I picked up at a craft store years ago.  Punched a couple of holes then tied ribbon hanger.

Petti tag - bubble wrap background.  Jar of butterflies from Unity stamp co. and letters from Nikki Sivils.  Punched a couple of holes and tied ribbon hanger.

Leslie tag - stamped Unity stamp co. butterfly with dark brown ink.   Masked the butterfly and blended a lighter brown ink around the butterfly.  remove the mask to reveal the butterfly.  Stamped name with Nikki Sivils letters stamp set with same dark brown ink.  Punched holes to add ribbon hanger then some self-sticking gems.

Jeanne tag - stamped another Unity stamp co. butterfly with a dark butterscotch ink.  Repeat same steps as on Leslie tag.

Josette tag - stamped Unity stamp co. butterfly with dark maroon ink.  Repeat same steps as on Leslie and Jeanne tags except for Josette's tag I added a magnet to the back.

Hope you have enjoyed all the name tags I have created.  Come back again soon.

Bubble wrap backgrounds

 stamps used:  Unity stamp co. stamp set designed by GinaK

stamps used:  GinaKdesigns

Just had some fun with regular bubble wrap that comes in packages that were mailed.  It's always good to use something you have around the house.  

basic instructions:

1.  pat ink pad onto bubble wrap (do not pop the bubble wrap).  I like to just ink in a random fashion better than straight stripes.  

2.  press card to inked bubble wrap then pull card straight up from bubble wrap to see the results.

That is it for inking bubble wrap.  After making the backgrounds it's time to make cards and tags!

thanks for stopping by ... please come back again soon.

Floral Tapestry stripes

stamps used:  Unity stamp co.

Another fun technique I saw by Angela of Unity stamp co. at one of her facebook lives.  Basically what you do is stamp a big background image, in this case I used Floral Tapestry in one color.  The first color is the base for the technique ..... clean the stamp then take another color and do a few stripes of color on the stamp then print it over the base color.  Oh yes, I forgot to mention that for this technique you really need a stamp positioner ... I have the TH stamp platform.  I like all three of these card but I think my favorite is the green one ..... if you know me I do like my green cards.

Thanks for stopping by.  come back again soon. 

Floral Tapestry delights

stamps used:  Unity stamps

Two for one cards.  I stamped the Unity Floral Tapestry big background stamp twice in Catherine Pooler purple ink for the base of two cards.  I stamp the same image one more time in the second color from Catherine Pooler ink.  The purple layers measure 4" x 5 1/4" which get adhered to note cards in this case one matches the purple layer and the other matches the red layer.  The red layer gets cut into a couple of strips.  The saying is stamped onto vellum with black ink and embossed with clear powder then get wrapped around the red cardstock strips then adhered to purple layers.  This is a fun technique I saw Angela from Unity stamp co. do in a facebook live.  I plan on making some cards like this in other colors.

Thanks for stopping by.  come back again soon.

paints, stamps and stencils

Playing with paints, stamps and stencils to create fun mixed media backgrounds and more.

six pages of mixed media fun.  

started off by spraying with dylusions sprays for the base of the backgrounds.  next it was lots of different stencils using dylusions paints and even just plain water for a bleached out effect. 

For these two tags I cut up one of the background pages.  One of the stencils I sprayed came out kinda looking like blobs so I got out some Ranger liquid pearls and drew a design in the blobs.  While that was drying I stamped images on separate pieces of cardstock, fussy cut them out and just added a big of color here and there to them.  I adhered them to the tags and viola!  done!  

what do you think?  thanks for stopping by and comment to let me know what you think of my backgrounds and tags.

Alcohol lift

stamps used:  Unity stamp co. flower spray, MFP stamp co. (out of business) Happy Anniversary

Used Ranger Alcohol lift ink pad for these two cards.  When you use this ink pad you automatically get two for the price of one.  Maybe I better start from the beginning on how to use this ink pad.

basic instructions:

1.  on yupo paper ( this is the best choice of paper for this technique) do any alcohol background technique.  I squeezed drops of alcohol inks onto the yupo paper and basically let them do their thing.  The inks bloomed and blended all by themselves.

2.  ink up stamp with alcohol lift ink pad and print onto alcohol background.  I hold stamp to the paper for a few seconds just so I'm sure the image has transferred then lift up the stamp.  you can let the card sit for a few minutes while you make second card.

3.  while the ink is still wet on the stamp print it onto a white card.  boom!  second card!

4.  back to first card.  buff the image with a soft cloth or tissue to reveal the "lift" of color from the card.

5.  over stamp saying onto card.

tips:  1.  you can use glossy cardstock instead of yupo paper but I just found that I got better results with yupo paper.

2.  you can search alcohol inks on my blog for lots of ideas.  I've been playing with alcohol inks off and on for years so there are a lot of past posts with more information.

Atc's with background videos

stamps used:  Unity stamp co.

I have a baggie of backgrounds that I have completed but not stamped so I decided to pull a couple out to use for these atc's.  This snowman Itty Bitty stamp set is one of the first Unity stamps sets I ever bought years and years ago.  the background on the snowman is the shaving cream technique.  You can look here to see this technique from way back in 2009 or here and here with a video .  The second atc has the Bokeh technique.  Watch video here or this post with a variation of Bokeh technique and here in my background sketchbook .  

Hope you like these two background techniques and the trip back in time with them.

thank you for stopping by and come back soon.

Halloween ATC's

stamps used:  Unity stamp co.

For these two ATC's I did alcohol backgrounds which is a simple background but dramatic. 

Oh, did I mention that I used glossy cardstock because to me that really showcases the alcohol ink technique.  One of the ATC I stamped a saying directly over the background.  Second ATC I stamped image then used paper punches and mounted it on the ATC.  

What do you think?

Short but sweet post today.

come back again soon.
***can someone please comment on this post.  I need to know if anyone can comment at all.  
thank you***

Halloween tags!

Today I'm showing some Halloween tags!

stamps used:  Unity stamp co.

inks:  Ranger distress oxide inks, VersaFine Clair Nocturne (black)

Background instructions:

1.  press distress oxide ink pads onto craft mat and spritz with water.

2.  tap tag into wet ink.  dry layer then repeat as desired.

3.  stamp images with black ink.

For the double tags I layered with black cardstock.

Added some ribbon and done.

The owl, hat and broom images are colored in with Prisma color pencils.

Hope you like these Halloween tags.

come back again soon.