Romantic Rose

Hello!

Last week was a busy one as I worked on projects for future blog posts and finally today was able to work on something "just because."  I'm going to lose several days this week to an upcoming exciting trip to Houston for a Gecko Galz crafting retreat and was so anxious to get something made and posted, so here 'tis, my latest art journal pread.

The background was colored with various shades and tints of Neocolors which alone right there is a whole bucket of fun.  I do love spreading the colors around with a wet paintbrush.  

There is stamping with black archival ink, decoupage (butterflies from my favorite paper guest towel  which I've been using a lot lately), and some 3-D copper metallic molding paste put through a stencil.  There's even a bit of doodling around the edges, though it's clear that there's work to be done there.  I'm such a beginner...

Isn't she pretty?  I can see I'm going to be using this stamp set (Stamper's Anonymous "Classic Favorites") quite a bit as the images are all so wonderfully romantic.  I first stamped her onto gift wrap tissue paper then decoupaged her onto the page.  The tissue paper disappears and all that's left is the image.  It's the foolproof way to stamp on paper that isn't perfectly smooth, and I'm giving all the credit for this technique to my mother who recently shared it with me.  There is no risk anymore of smudging stamps onto these journal pages!  Her swirly "hair" was stamped directly onto the page as were the stars.

The butterfly is a bit of the top layer of a fancy paper guest towel.

This rose was torn from the box that contained my favorite hand cream, Tokyo Milk.  The image was just too pretty to discard.  Actually, the whole box is gorgeous and you will no doubt be seeing other parts of it in upcoming projects.

The butterfly is another from the paper guest towel.

A little more stamping.  Not sure why it appears a bit blurry, but the sentiment is crystal clear on the actual page.  That's because I stamped it onto tissue paper and decoupaged it to the page, just like the face image.  No chance for smudging!  The light pink swirls are archival ink put through a stencil.

You can see the bottom edge of the metallic molding paste that I applied through a stencil.

And that's it for today's project.  Thanks so much for joining me and I wish you a day full of beauty and lovely moments, big or small.

Happy crafting!

Summer Flowers

Hello!

I've been in the mood lately to try techniques I haven't tried before, and today's technique is that of sponging color between two pieces of torn paper, then stamp over the resulting color(s).  Very nice, very easy, and lots of fun.

I've used the colors from the inspiration photo found on Stamp Nation during this week's Inspiration Nation (Week 1), except I've used black instead of navy blue.

 

It's pretty straightforward - mask the center of the card with torn paper strips, sponge on the color, then stamp over the resulting strip of color.  The stamp I used was from Inspired By Stamping called "Daisies." 

I added some bright butterflies edged with matching colors of glitter and black glitter bodies.  Some rhinestones, ribbon and a tiny tag complete the front.

I had a butterfly left over, so where better to put it than on the inside?  I think I should draw in some antennae.  Hmmm...  Ever notice that one often doesn't actually see something until it's too late?  <angst>

So that, dear readers, is my simple, sparkly, antennae-free card for today.  Hope your day is sparkly too!

Happy crafting!

Challenges entered:

Really Reasonable Ribbon #77 - Things with Wings

Simon Says Monday Challenge - Ode to Sunshine

Simon Says...Anything Goes

Pile It On #30 - Anything Goes

Eclectic Ellapu - Anything Goes

Step Lively! (Step Center)

Hello and good morning!

Today's card is a new one for me, a Step Center Card.  The challenge (#43) is hosted by Tammy Ortiz, of Tammy's Scrappin' Corner, and I thought it would be fun to try something new and different.  I followed an excellent tutorial over on YouTube by Susanna Boyd (here), and got quite a surprise.  Here I was thinking this was going to be a tricky, time consuming card, but turns out it goes together in just a few minutes.  Really.  It's so fun, in fact, that I plan on making this part of my regular card repertoire.  Sure, it took a few minutes to cut the extra layers to go on the sides and bottom, but that's just a matter of personal preference.  You don't HAVE to.  It just looks nicer and makes the card a bit sturdier, which I need since I tend to add a lot of stuff to mine.

Kind of cool, huh?  I get the biggest thrill when I do something different, and do it right.  The colors come from the fun color challenge over at IBSIC, sage green, light purple, and blue.  The fact that they're also offering blog candy for entering the challenge just kind of "sweetens" the deal, right?

I had the light purple and blue down pat, but it took me forever to find anything resembling sage in my rather sizeable paper stash.  Finally found some in a Prima 6x6 pack (shown below in Supplies).  And I will be placing a paper order SOON.  

I colored the image with the new Copics that Santa brought me, and I paper pieced it to the blue oval, which I had stamped with the oval design and the image.  The stamens are Smooches and are a bit shimmery.

Note:  Some of the paper edges are inked, some aren't.

What took me the longest with this card was putting the papers together.  The sage was the hardest, and even though it's a very subtle print from the dp stack, I still wasn't happy with it, so I stamped it with Versamark and used SU Iridescent Ice to emboss it.  Gives a nice shimmer, which you can see a little bit here.  The main stamp set (oval, greeting, and embossing on the background paper) is from The Craft's Meow called "Lovely Ovals" and the hibiscus flower stamp is from There She Goes and is named, appropriately enough, "Hibiscus." 

Here's another view which also shows the shimmeriness of the tiny butterfly.  (Is "shimmeriness" a word?)  All butterflies were painted with Creative Inspirations paints, Tutu Pink on the lavender lovelies, Ivory on the sage.

I was still kind of bugged by the plain feeling I got with the sage, even though I layered it on top of the lavender CS.  That darned sage nearly did me in on this card, which is strange because I LOVE the color sage.  My entire living room and master bedroom are painted that color!  So I decided to add some machine stitching.

AHA!!  Perfect!!  I had finally solved the dilemma of how to dress it up just a tad with straight stitching on the three narrow panels and a curly, scallop-y stitch on the center panel.  I dug around in my button tin and found a perfect little vintage lavender button and added some white baker's twine.

Of course there had to be a bow, and I had just barely enough of my custom-dyed seam binding on hand to wrap the center panel and tie the bow.  I hope I remember how to make it again - right now I have no earthly idea which dyes I used.  For a bonus I made a quick little stick pin for the bow since I didn't have any on hand in this color scheme.

A few lavender pearls on the side panels, some smaller white pearls on the butterflies, and the card was finished.  The pile of crafting debris was enormous, but so was the satisfaction at having put together this card, the style of which I had never made before.  And in such luscious colors to boot.

Thanks for joining me today, and here's wishing you a colorful, PRETTY day!

Happy crafting!!

Supplies:

Stamps: Lovely Ovals (The Craft's Meow), Hibiscus (There She Goes)
Ink: Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black, Perfectly Plum, Marina Mist, Wild Wasabi
Paper: Marina Mist, Whisper White (SU),Sweet Fairy (Prima), Lavendar (Flourishes)
Extras:  SB Floral Ovals and Classic Ovals Large, Copics, pearls, seam binding, vintage button, baker's twine, Iridescent Ice ep (SU), custom stick pin, Beautiful Wings Embosslits (SU), Smooches, CI paints, sewing machine

Challenges entered:

Simon Says Stamp and Show - Totally Mad (no rules) Tea Party (Anything Goes)
The Pink Elephant TPE 180 - Anything Goes
Tammy's Scrappin' Corner - Step Centre Card
Really Reasonable Ribbon RRR#63 - My New Toys (+ ribbon) (my new toys are my Copics!)
Simon Says Stamp Challenge - New Something (Copics)
SCS Ways to Use It WT 408 - New Toys
IBSIC #40 - sage green, light purple, blue
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge #188 - Make Your Own Backing Paper (I stamped and embossed mine)
3 Girl JAM #9 - Anything Goes + ribbon
Drunken Stampers #112 - All That Glitters (glittery embossing on background paper, plus stick pin, which sparkles - does that count?)
Pile It On #49 - Pile On Embellishments
  
The Craft's Meow January Sketch Challenge