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!

Chicago Peace, and IBSIC Challenge #51

Hello!

Today is my third week as March Guest Designer to play with the lovely and talented Design Team over at Inspired By Stamping Inspiration Challenge (IBSIC), and I am so enjoying making these projects for them, but the time is flying by too quickly!  Wah!

This week's color challenge was truly a challenge for me and was inspired by this picture:

What was challenging is that it is completely out of my comfort zone of pinks, purples, vintage and/or shabby and required some creative thinking on my part.  But what good is a challenge if it's not, well, challenging?  At least I knew exactly which stamp I would use.

I used the single rose from the IBS Elegant Flowers set.  I've had this stamp for a few weeks and have been dying to color it.  I've attempted to color it as a Chicago Peace rose, though admittedly I took a little creative license with it.  OK, roses are the hardest flower to color, so I just did the best I could.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I colored the image with Copics and used the pointelle method behind it.  That white was just too stark.  Also too stark was the white doily, so I colored it with two colors of CI Paints, Mango and Peach.  One was too light, the other too dark, so I attempted to lighten it again.  Think three coats was enough?  *sigh*

Layered ribbon bows, a pearl, and a custom made stick pin form the embellishment, and a banner with a sentiment from the IBS stamp set Vintage Frames offset the central image.

A little stitching and a lacy border complete this card.  I hope you've enjoyed it, and I do hope you'll join the ladies over at IBSIC.  Make sure you stop by the DT to see the lovelies they've created for you this week!

Happy crafting!

Supplies:

Stamps: Elegant Flowers, Vintage Frames (IBS)
Ink: Versafine Smoky Gray, Garden Green, Pumpkin Pie
Paper: X-Press It Blending Card, Very Vanilla, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie (SU), MME Miss Caroline Howdy Doody
Extras: Dies: Decorative Doily, Faux Crochet Border (Dienamics), ribbon, pearls, custom stick pin, sewing machine, Copics, CI paints, .

Challenges entered:

ALOTA #103 - Springtime
The Shabby Tearoom #158 - Anything Goes
Timeless Tuesday #212 - Bring On Spring!
Inky Impressions #102 - Flowers
3 Girl Jam #14 - Green with Ribbon
Really Reasonable Ribbon #68 - Flowers and Ribbon
Allsorts #198 - As Easy as 1, 2, 3 (3 embellies: pearls, bows, stick pin)
Pile It On #11 - Circles and/or Squares
613 Ave. Create #11 - Anything Goes (Optional: St. Paddy's Day Green)

Coffee, Java, Cappuccinoooo...

Hello and good morning!!

Have you had your coffee yet?

I've got lots of activities going on over the next few days leaving me little to no time to make any new cards (gasp!), so I will be pulling from my archives.  Today I am highlighting one of my favorite cards.

This came about from a challenge issued over at StampNation to make a card in neutral colors.  Can you guess what the coloring medium is?  Well, if you guessed ink, you'd be wrong.  If you guessed tea, wrong again.  However, if you guessed coffee, bells would go off and you'd be the winner.  Ding ding ding!  Yep, good old Folger's instant.  Years and years ago I bought a couple of watercolor paintings in Mexico that consisted of street scenes painted in coffee, and I loved those pieces so much and have mourned their loss for so long that I decided to play with the technique myself.  So I brewed up a tiny amount of very strong, almost syrup-like, instant coffee in a custard cup and painted it onto watercolor paper with paintbrushes.  The image, an Inkadinkado stamp w/no name, was stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa onto watercolor paper, then washed with a thin glaze of coffee and (mostly) water.  Then the painting began, using different strengths of the coffee blended on the brush.  I have to say it was fun watching the image come alive.  It was layered onto a Dienamics oval doily die and popped up on top of yet another oval, then adhered to the Soft Suede (or was it Early Espresso?) dry embossed layer, which was layered on top of Very Vanilla, which was on the base layer of Early Espresso (or was it Soft Suede).  Some coffee-dyed seam binding and brown pearls were all that was needed to finish off the card.

To this day it is still one of my favorite cards, and I think I need to make another one (different image).  Maybe next time I'll use some of the red berries from the Chinese Pistache tree in my garden.  Or some produce from the grocery store.  Organic coloring media abound out there!

Thank you for visiting me, and have a lovely day. 

Happy Crafting!