Summer Play

Just in case you weren't ready to see the Back-to-School card from yesterday, I thought I would immediately return to summer for those offended. :-)

This is actually just an example of me playing around with a different medium. For YEARS, I have had a USArtQuest Watercolor Palette (pastelles), yet have very rarely used it since my discovery of Copic markers and Prismacolor pencils. One of my future goals is to become more comfortable with the watercolor medium, and as you can see, I do have lots of room for improvement.

We were playing around at our local stamp club with paints that sparkle, such as Twinkling H20's, Pearl Ex and USArtQuest Watercolor Palettes. I stamped this beach image from Impression Obsession with Memento black dye ink onto Georgia Pacific cardstock...yes, I know, watercolor paper would have been WAY better. I then proceeded to paint the image with the USArtQuest watercolor palette. I was rather free and carefree and quick with my brushstrokes. This is my result. I'm not exactly proud of it...but I will say I think the pearlescent colors look great for sand and the sun. I will need to remember that. To me, these colors look really "beachy" and sparkle like real sand. That's what I like about it.

I then cut out the image with a Nestabilitie die and adhered to patterned paper and kraft cardstock. I used a ribbon and adhered a tag that reads "summer", which was made from my paper I used to clean my water brush and a Michael's $1 stamp.

Okay, back to Copics and color pencils, and most importantly, SUMMER!

School Days are Coming

Is Back-to-School a holiday worthy of a card? As a teacher who loves her summer, I'm not really celebrating the whole concept. However when I saw this adorable digital image from Michelle Perkett Studio, I couldn't resist whipping up a card with it.

I printed the image called "Mary Margaret" onto Georgia Pacific cardstock. I colored it with Copic markers. The card has several panels made from patterned paper scraps from Christmas and red cardstock, though I don't think the card has a Christmas feel to it, do you? I used a snippet from a Back-to-School ribbon and attached it with a circle clip. Three red brads were used for a little embellishment. The ribbon is acting as the sentiment, which fits the SCS Try a Technique Challenge, TLC286, which is to use ribbon without tying a bow or knot.

Now, back to summer. No need at all to rush things.

Birthday Cake...Mmm, Mmm, Good!

Here's a birthday card for the stash. Can never have enough birthday cards in the stash, can you? Let me tell you how it came to be.

Now that the wedding is over, I'm finding more time to surf the web. Perhaps I've been under a rock or something, but I just discovered another addicting ning site...this one called Crafter's Digital Art Center which features the use of digital stamps. How cool is that? Anyway, I joined the talented Michelle Perkett's group and learned that right now she is having a Design Team call and wants all interested to submit a project using this adorable cake image and sentiment. What an absolute blast and honor that would be to color her intricate images, so I immediately began creating. Here's the result.

I printed the Michelle Perkett cake image onto Georgia Pacific cardstock and colored it with Copic markers. I then proceeded to cut it out. I painted some Diamond Glaze onto the "chocolate frosting" and sprinkled a little Hot Kiss Art Institute glitter to give it some sparkle. I used a Nestabilities die cut and sponged around the die with SeaShells Seashell pink dye ink. I then adhered the cake image onto this die. I printed the sentiment onto ink jet shrink plastic and shrank. Love the texture this gave the card. Various patterned paper panels and curly ribbon were used to complete this card.

Thanks so much for visiting today. Though it is Friday the 13th, I'm hoping I'll have a little luck with this card.

Retirement of a Mentor

I'm back!

Though I haven't quite recovered from the wedding/honeymoon, I found myself in need of a retirement card. And, really, this couldn't come from my stash, as the recipient is a dear friend and mentor. She has taught me so much about the reading process through the years so I wanted to make a personalized card to attempt to celebrate her impact on so many educators.

This card is pretty much a case of this card found on Just For Fun's website. The file folder images and clips are from Just For Fun. I stamped the folders using Marvy Charcoal gray dye onto Georgia Pacific cardstock and sponged with SeaShell Sandal dye and Adirondack Latte dye. I cut these images out and arranged them onto a patterned paper panel. The clips were stamped with Marvy black dye and cut and arranged onto the folders appear as though are holding the following notes: Relax (computer generated), Ohio State logo (cut from a notepad) and an excerpt from an old agenda. With a black pen, I wrote some memorable presentations from my mentor. Black and red panels of cardstock were used to complete this card, along with a ribbon treatment and white gel pen was used for the dots on the red panel.

Calla Lilies on Kraft

Once again I found myself in the mood to create a card. I have been eying this PSX calla lily stamp on my shelf, since there will be calla lilies for our upcoming wedding.

This card came together rather quickly, so rest assured, I'm still getting things done that need to be done. I stamped the PSX image onto kraft paper with Marvy dye black ink. I colored the image with my severely neglected Coloursoft pencils I treated myself to last Christmas. (I'm starting to like them more and more...my initial reaction wasn't so great.) I then sprayed the image with a workable fixative, and layered the image panel with white and black cardstock panels. A white circle clip and white sheer ribbon helped to put the finishing touches on this card.

This card meets the requirements for two SCS Dare to Get Dirty Challenges, DTGD10Edna15 and DTGD10gbedwright.

Okay, back to laundry now.

Tulips Triptych

When I took a look at today's Inspiration Challenge #242 on SCS, I was immediately drawn to the bright, warm background colors of this Tulips Triptych seen on the Novica site. I thought through sponging and with a tulip image from Hero Arts, I could somewhat capture the beauty.

I sponged panels with the following dye inks: Distress Ink fire brick, Distress Ink mustard seed, and Adirondack Butterscotch. I then stamped the solid tulip image with Adirondack Lettuce dye ink and Distress Ink fire brick, Distress Ink mustard seed, Marvy dye violet, and Whispers Whisper pink dye ink. I then did some shading and added some additional color to these stamped tulips with color pencils. I cut the tulips out and arranged onto the sponged panels. Other cardstock panels were also used to complete this card.

Like I said above, this creation was inspired by IC242, but also meets the requirements of some Dare to Get Dirty 2010 challenges, including DTGD10melmel and DTGD10kmahany.

Okay, now back to doing things I should be doing.

Bee-ing Busy

I'm trying to decide whether I'm on a card roll right now to avoid all the other stuff I should be doing in preparation for the wedding. Basically, I'm not very good with detailed wedding things, but I'm a decent cardmaker, so I'm guessing I'm making cards right now just to feel good about something. At any rate, right now stamping is a de-stressing strategy I have, so I'm just going to go with it.

The bee image is from Stamps Happen. I stamped it with Marvy dye black ink onto a Nestabilities panel cut from Georgia Pacific cardstock. I did some sponging around the panel with SeaShells Seashell Pink dye ink. The image is so fun to color, so I did some multimedia coloring with Copic Markers and colored pencils; including Prismacolor, Caran d'Ache, and Derwent Coloursoft pencils.

Patterned paper panels were used to create this card, as well as brown brads for the antennae.

This card was inspired by a Dare to Get Dirty Challenge on SCS, DTGD10flowergal36.

Now back to the stuff I'm not so good at doing.