Resist and Embossed Leaves

This is an old technique. You start by stamping leaves with a watermark pad onto white glossy paper. Next you apply the color over the whole paper. The color will resist the watermark ink so the leaves come though white. Then you watermark the large leaves and then pour black embossing powder over the ink and heat set. Makes a nice contrast.
I'm off to have coffee with a friend. Sure is nice to catch up with my buddies. Had a nice day with a friend this week going to a stamp store out here. Always like seeing what others are doing. Hope you are taking a run to your local stamp store.

Floral Thanks

If you've been wondering where I've been, I left for CA right after Easter and have been having a great time enjoying the weather and old friends. My one friend who I'm staying with has kept some of the cards I've sent her, so I took a picture of some and will post those till I get home.

This PSX stamp was stamped with dye black ink onto vellum. Then it was colored in on the back with dye base markers. Makes a great card for any occasion, but here I used it as a thank you card. Hope you're having as good a week as I am.

3 Crosses Easter Card

We'll be in PA tomorrow celebrating Easter with our families. So I've posted this last Easter card today. This stamp is by Stamp a Mania. Before stamping, the paper was brayered with a Kalidacolor multicolored pad. Then the image was stamped with a black dye ink. Simple, but turned out well. Hope you get a chance to enjoy an Easter service somewhere. It's my favorite day of the year.

Magenta Flower Card

Are you getting flowers for someone for Easter? Here's a nice alternative. I loved these precut flower cards by Magenta. All you have to do is add color. Before adding color to this card, design stamps were used with a Watermark pad on the vase and petals. Clear embossing powder was added and heated which created a resisit to the colors. The colors were then sponged on. After sponging on the color to the petals, a design stamp was stamped over the leaves in a darker green. The last step was to add irridescent glitter glue to various spots on the card. This also makes a great Mother's day card.

Hanging Eggs Card

Saw this image by Impression Obsession and knew it was a keeper. Just went too well with my egg collecting. The image was stamped in black and colored in with Copic markers. Once all the color was down, loose glitter was added by first using a fine glue pen over any area where the glitter was to stick. The colors in the picture are a little off-what looks blue is actually a darker purple. Glad to say my cards are mailed. Now on to making thank you cards. Went looking for one the other day and found my stash was completly gone.

Easter Blessings Card

Isn't this paper fantastic? The surface is actually slightly embossed. As you can see, there was no need to improve on it. This was a 12x12 sheet that was cut down to fit several cards. All that was needed was to positon it for each card. I positioned this piece so the little detail of the butterfly fit for this card. Then in the corner the message was stamped, and inside a message was stamped. When you need quick and easy, it doesn't get better than a great piece of printed paper!

Easter Button Card

Got some little ones? Here's a card that is a good one for the young folks. Found some cute Easter buttons and ran some waxed linen thread through the holes. They are attached to the paper with some Tacky glue. The bunny has two self adhesive gems placed on the eyes. Then with the help of circle punches, the buttons were layered onto the card. Some lavender ribbon was run under the purple paper so it wouldn't show on the inside of the card. The word stamp is by Penny Black and was stamped in purple.

Iris Easter Card

My husband and I just got back from a jaunt down to the Williamsburg area. Took in some of the plantations and gardens there. The irises are just starting to bloom down there, so this card seemed to fit for the day. The iris are by Posh and were colored with water base markers. The words were colored in with a multi colored pad. The paper is a white gloss. Two felt butterflies were added with tacky glue, and the ribbon was added with red line tape.

Spring Birthday Card

This may look like an Easter card, but it's not. It's birthday card for my sister in law. The saying stamped in side says, "You're still a Spring chick!" The stamp was inked with a black Momento pad and colored in with Copic markers. The a little bit of glitter was added to the top of the daisy. It seemed to go well with the glitter in the printed paper.

Off for a couple days of R&R. Hope you have a good weekend.

Lilac Card

This is one of my favorite spring stamps. It's by PSX and was stamped in black and then colored in with Copic markers. What is hard to see in the photo is that after coloring it in, loose glitter was added with the use of a glue pen. At the bottom of the card is a multi colored organza ribbon that was gathered across the card with the use of a piece of red line tape. At the end of each side of the ribbon are two large purple self adhesive gems that cover up the sight of the tape. Hope you are enjoying all the beauty of all that's blooming this spring.

Egg sticker Card

Couldn't remember who makes these stickers, but I got them at the store. I'm not ususally drawn to stickers, but these intriged me. Don't know if you can see, but the sticker was placed on top of a printed paper with a small design. The it was just a matter of cutting around the egg and layering it onto the card. The words were embossed with silver embossing powder. Happily, the stickers peeled off well in spite of the thin detail to image. Did a little outling of the card with a silver Krylon pen to finish it off. Liked the results.

Memory Box Spring Card

Ahh, spring time! Love seeing everything start to bloom. This cool weather here has kept the cherry trees blooming and now other trees are catching up. Loved this paper by Create and it goes so well with this stamp from Memory Box. A quick card to do. A little color was added to the stamped flowers with the touch of a Copic pen, and then tiny pink gems also by Memory Box.

Stampscapes Easter Card

Decided to try out some Stampscapes images for Easter. In the middle of the card is the sun rays stamped in a dye base golden yellow. Around it is the cumulus cloud that was inked and stamped repeatedly using a dye base robin blue color. Then more color was added by applying the colors to the paper with a stylis tool with sponge tips. The cross was inked with the same blue used with the clouds onto white paper and cut out and applied after the coloring was completed. The word is by Clear and Simple and was stamped with a dark pink dye base ink.

Shadow Stamp Egg Card

Made an egg card today with the use of an oval shadow stamp. The stamp is a solid rubber stamp in the shape of an oval which was rubbed across a small multi colored purple pad. (Actually half of it was draged over the stamp pad, then the stamp was turned and dragged over it again so the light colors would be in the middle of the oval) Then it was stamped onto white glossy paper. A Penny Black saying was then stamped in black over the oval. Then it was layered up, and a piece of ribbon was knoted and attached with some white glue. A nice, quick card.

Egg Tree Card

Eggs are one of the things I collect. So when I saw this egg tree by Memory Box, I knew I had to have it. The tree was stamped with Versafine brown. Each egg was colored in with a mat glaze gel pen. Once dry, the colors are dimensional. It really didn't take too long to do the eggs. I did one color at a time which made it go more quickly. The paper and card are also by Memory box. So is the message stamp.

Embossed flower card

Here's my last post from the cards I did at the Collin's show. If you came late to this party, the cards from the show started back with the Hero Canvas on Tues, March 29th, and ran all week. For this card,the Cuttle Bug was used with an embossing folder to create the flower background. Then an Impression Obsession stamp was inked with black ink and colored in with Copic markers, cut out and placed on top of several punch out shapes from Paper Cut. I believe the ribbon is by Bo Bunny. By the way, we got a rainbow of papers in from the show by Bo Bunny this week. They make great background papers, are double sided, and have 3 designs for every color. Our Make and Take at the store next week will use some of this paper. Hope you can come take a look, or come for the Make and Take that runs all day Thurs.

Cuttle Bug Flower Card

Impression Obsession provided us lots of chances to make cards at the show. This one used an embossing folder to create the background. We then used I.O.'s stamps for the words and image. The ribbon is by May Arts. The image was colored in with Copic Markers. Was excited this week to see some of the boxes starting to show up not only from CHA, but from the Collins show we just attended. The new section in the store is very full! Yesterday a box arrived from Paper Cut, so I'm hoping the stair cards will be available by the weekend. Hope you can stop by and see some of the samples I've posted this week as well as the new stuff we have in the store.

Hero Arts H2O Card

Hydrangeas are wonderful flowers. On this image they worked perfectly for the technique we used. We took a water based marker and directly colored the rubber and stamped it. Then with a reservoir pen we went back over the stamped image lightly moving the ink to fill in the image and give it more of a water color look. So easy, and fun! Jen showed this idea at our Tuesday demo this week. If you missed it, don't fret, I plan on doing this card as a Make and Take at the store once the stamp comes in from Hero Arts.

Chicken Stair Card

We're ending the stair cards (for now) with a humorous use of this Impression Obsession chicken. All the other words are also by I.O. Couldn't help but smile when I saw this card. What makes these cards so easy is that you can stamp out every thing and just apply to the card with some cut paper or punched pieces. So easy, yet a fun and different look to a card. Needless to say, I really took to these. Still a few more cards to come from the show. Onto something else tomorrow.

Birthday Stair Card

Back to a side stair card today. Once again we used Impression Obsession stamps to create this birthday card. The cupcake stamp can be bought separately, as cling or wood. One of the reasons we love Impression Obsession is that they don't discontinue their stamps, and you have a large choice to how you get your stamps. They have cling, clear, and wood. Will show one more stair card tomorrow. We made more cards in this class, so stop by the store to see more samples. The stair cards haven't come in yet, but check the website. We'll let you know there when the packs of stair cards have arrived.

Birthday Stair Card

There are 3 different kind of stair cards. One where the stairs are on the left, one where the stairs are on the right, and one, like this card, where the stairs are in the middle of the card. The images are by Impression Obsession and were stamped with dye base ink pads. You can get the stair cards all in one color, or by two different color variety packs. There are 10 cards and envelopes to each pack. Love them!

Stair Card

If you are looking for something a little different Paper Cut has come out with some pre-cut cards they are calling "stair" cards. All you have to do is fold them and they are ready to go. Then it's just a matter of stamping and adding to the card. This is a Mother's Day set from Impressions Obsession that was used along with one of their "cover a card" background stamps. I have several stair cards from a class that I'll post over the next few days.

Canvas Distress Stain class

In this class we created this college canvas using Tim's new Distress Stains. We started by staining the resist paper and then layering it onto the canvas with Tim's tape. Most items were somehow stained before being put on the canvas. Tim is very good at explaining his products and how they can be best used. It was a fun and informational class. If you want to see this canvas in person, just stop by the store. It'll be over by the Ranger products.

Perfect Pearls Canvas

Did you get to attend the demo on Perfect Pearls this week that Jen did at the store? Here is a canvas we did in Tim Holtz's class using lots of Perfect Pearls. We also used a very unique material he has found that actually gets stronger the more you work with it. The flowers are made from that material and the colored pearls was added and heat set on the paper. A Pearl mist by Ranger was added over the whole canvas at the end that adds a beautiful gold tone that can be best seen under a direct light. It was a very informative yet inspirational class, and got me excited all over again about Perfect Pearls!