KittieKraft

Home for the Holidays

I set a reminder on my Outlook calendar to remind me to check out the new Papertrey Home Made set and template that is being released today. When I went in to see it I realized that some of the pieces of the Boards and Beams and Home for the Holidays sets would work with them as well.  That reminded me that I haven’t played with either of those sets for a long time so I pulled them out to use for the SCS Featured Stamper challenge today.  Dawn Easton (TreasureOiler) is our inspiration artist and here is a link to the project that inspired me.

I stamped the trees on the left side of the watercolor paper, masked them and stamped the house.  I masked the house and stamped trees on the right side.  I painted the house with reinkers and stamped the wreaths on the door and windows.  Sad that I couldn’t line them up evenly.  Duh!  I stamped the roof line with the snow border images and then added white craft ink along the roof top, window sills and ground area and embossed with white embossing powder.  I sponged the sky with blue and added a little cut out snowman to the front yard.  I assembled the card and added a multi loop bow. I finished by adding a touch of glue and white Flower Soft to the ground area.

Have a great week!

Stamps:  Papertrey Boards and Beams, Home for the Holidays, Rubbernecker Kittie Kits The Moose is Loose    Paper:  Burgundy, Olive, white, Watercolor    Ink:  Black Craft, Peeled Paint, Cranberry, Going Grey, Lemonade, White Craft Ink, Bashful Blue    Accessories:  Flower Soft, White Embossing Powder, Clear Embossing Powder,  Gingham, Brushes, Sponges

Inspired Away in a Manger

Don’t ask my what I am doing stamping this morning.  My mother-in-law, Marie is coming next week to spend the holidays with us and my house is not exactly company ready.  But….after a hard week of work I needed a little stamping therapy to sooth my rough edges before I started tackling the house,

This project is for the SCS Inspiration Challenge and   Lorelie Kay Designs was inspiration site.  I was intrigued by this little Christmas Box Scene because of the sheet music.  I wanted to combine the sheet music with the sweet little Sarah Kay angel waiting in the wings to play her part in the Christmas program.

I stamped the image on a piece of designer paper with black craft ink and embossed with clear embossing powder.  I stamped it a second time on watercolor paper, colored and cut out to paper piece on the designer paper.  I placed a coluzzle over the designer paper and roughly cut out a frame to allow the sheet music to show.  I hand cut the frame a little to give more drape feel.  I used a black glaze pen to add additional lines to the drapes. I printed sheet music off of the internet on to parchment paper and then sponged with antique linen to age.  I attached the music to the card base and then attached the frame with mounting tape.  The angel was attached and I applied a little Rock Candy Stickles to the star and the wings. This is a simple vintage Christmas card that brings back my childhood memories of singing in holiday programs with the sweet innocence only found in the heart of a young child.  Can’t you just hear the little voices singing Away in a Manger?

Have a great weekend.

Stamps:  Stampavie Sarah Kay Noel Peace    Paper:  BasicGrey, Parchment, Vanilla      Ink:  Black Craft, Peeled Paint, Antique Linen, Cranberry     Accessories:  Taffeta, Black Glaze Pen, Clear Embossing Powder, Rock Candy Stickles, Coluzzle, Mounting Tape, Brushes, Snips

A Spoon Full of Sugar Scene Challenge

Greetings!  It has been a while since I have posted as we had a death in our family and traveled to New Jersey.  I hope this finds all of you well. 

I am excited to be the guest designer for A Spoon Full of Sugar challenge blog post.  This is a weekly challenge posted every Tuesday and the challenge today is to create a scene. That is right up my alley.  I decided to do a snowy winter scene with a bright Christmas star in the sky.  I love making falling snow and painting icicles from the roof tops.

I cut two pieces of watercolor paper, one for the scene and one for the frame.  I started by stamping several trees on each side of the frame layer leaving enough space for the scene to show through.   I placed a rectangle coluzzle over the trees and cut out the frame above and below the tree line with the blade.  I hand cut out the trees with my snips to allow them to create the soft branch frame for the scene. I sponged the blue sky on the frame.

I stamped the neighborhood of houses on the second piece of watercolor paper, masked and stamped trees all around the background. I stamped the little star and painted both the star and  the windows of the house yellow using reinker and a blender pen and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I painted the house and then sponged in the sky area.  I heat set the ink on both the frame and scene so embossing powder wouldn’t stick when I created the ground and falling snow and icicles.  I painted the little roof tops and window sills with white craft ink using a tiny brush.  I dotted both pieces with tiny falling snow flakes using a tiny brush and white craft ink.  I finished by painting the ground area using a larger brush with white craft ink and then embossed both pieces with white embossing powder.  I applied glue on the ground area in front of the houses as well as the whole ground area around the framed trees and then applied white Flower Soft. I allowed the glue to dry and then attached the scene to the card base and then attached the frame to the scene with mounting tape.  The only thing missing is a sled leaning up against the wall of one of the houses.  Hint:  I emboss the ground area with white to create a perfectly white palette for the Flower Soft. 

I hope you will go and check out all the other gorgeous scene designs at A Spoon Full of Sugar.  If you play along you will have a chance to win a prize.  Have a great week.

Stamps:  Rubbernecker Neighborhood, Kittie Kits The Moose is Loose, Flaky Friends (star)   Paper:  Watercolor, SU Baja Breeze     Ink:  Bordering Blue, Lemonade, Peeled Paint, White Craft, Black Craft    Accessories:  Coluzzle, Brushes, Sponges, Mounting Tape, White and Clear Embossing Powder, Glue Flower Soft, Deckle Scissors

 

Weekend Holiday Stamping

I spent all my weekend stamping time creating Christmas cards.  What fun it is for me to figure new ways to make snow or to paint a vintage scene. I would like to share the three very different cards that I made.

I wanted to create a simple nature type winter scene so I pulled out my Kittie Kits with the cabin and three different size trees.  I stamped the cabin with black craft in on watercolor paper and heat dried.  I masked the cabin and stamped the trees all around it using darker green ink. I stamped a few tree tops using a lighter shade of green to make the trees appear to be in the distance and then painted the cabin.  I heat set all the ink and then sponged  pale yellow along the tree tops and then lightened the shade as I moved upward in the sky. I heat set again. I used a small brush to paint white craft ink on the roof top and around the windows and then used a larger brush to paint all around the ground area and then heat embossed with white embossing powder. I put a fine layer of glue on the roof and ground area and applied white Flower Soft to create a soft natural looking snow. I finished the card with simple designer paper, crimped crisp white paper along with brown gingham.

 

I love all the Stampavie Sarah Kay Noel 2009 collection and I think each image is my favorite as I use it in a project.  They are all so full of detail and bring back memories of old-fashioned holidays.  I stamped the image on watercolor paper and again on scrap watercolor with black craft ink and heat set.  I painted all the images using reinkers and then began cutting out the skillet, coal bucket, teapot and dress to pop up over the scene.  I embossed all the pieces and scene with clear embossing powder while the ink was still wet to create the appearance of a tile. I popped up the images with glue dots and then layered over Graphic 45 designer paper.  I ran white taffeta ribbon over an Antique Linen ink pad to color for aging and created a multi loop bow.

I wanted to create a shaker card using my new Shake It window pouches and fill it with white Flower Soft for snow.  I stamped the Rubbernecker trees and moose on watercolor paper and painted andI sponged in a light blue sky   I used a small brush to paint in falling snow and snowy ground and embossed with white embossing powder. I cut the moose heads out to pop up out of the trees with glue dots. I applied a small bit of Flower Soft in the pouch and attached it over the scene.  I cut a frame with Nestabilities using BasicGrey Eskimo Kisses and popped it up over the pouch and finished my card. I learned a lesson with this project.  Do not use glue dots when creating a shaker card as the snow will stick to it.  Duh!

Project 1:  Stamps:  Kittie Kits The Moose is Loose    Paper:  Watercolor, SU Designer Paper, White     Ink:  Black Craft, Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, Scattered Straw,  Vintage Photo, White Craft   Accessories:  White Embossing Powder, Flower Soft, Gingham, Crimper

Project 2:  Stampavie Sarah Kay Noel Eve    Paper:  Graphic 45 Designer, Watercolor ,Vanilla   Ink:  Black Craft, Fired Brick, Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, Fired Brick, Sahara Sand, Going Gray, Really Rust, More Mustard    Accessories:  Clear Embossing Powder, Versa Pen, Taffeta, Deckle Scissors, Sponges, Brushes, Glue Dots

Project 3:  Stamps:  Rubbernecker Moose, Trees    Paper:  BasicGrey Eskimo Kisses, Watercolor, Olive   Ink:  Black Craft, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo, White Craft   Accessories:  Shake It Window Pouch, Button, Grosgrain, White Embossing Powder, Brushes, Sponges, Glue Dots 

Fun Challenges

I really enjoy taking part in the Splitcoaststampers challenges.  They always present an opportunity to try something new, push out of a comfort zone or stretch to accomplish greater skill on a technique that can already be done well. 

I love paper piecing. It seems a stamped image can be brought to life by adding layers upon layers to the main base of the image.  For this month’s Dirty Dozen/Dirty Dozen Alumni challenge we were asked to create a project using paper piecing and either fall or Christmas colors. I wanted to create a life like project using Noel Stocking by Sarah Kay. The image has so many details that allow for layering from the stone fireplace right down to the little black and white cat.

I stamped the image a few times with black craft ink on burgundy designer paper, white cardstock and watercolor paper and embossed them all with clear embossing powder.  I painted the fireplace opening on one piece and the stone on another, clear embossed over the wet paint and then cut them out and pieced them together.  I painted and cut out an additional burning grate of wood to pop up over the original. I cut the girl’s dress out and popped it up over the original image, painted and cut out an additional head and apron and popped them up as well.   I created the stocking with designer paper and painted the toys and candy cane portion on watercolor paper and pieced together to hang from the mantle.  The tiny little cat was popped up in front of the fire with the the intent  that his little tale would hang out of the frame.  I painted a wood panel background as a base to build the scene up on and then finished the scene by attaching a frame.  The perfect finishing touch to me was to add an old fashioned Christmas tree complete with gold bows and tiny ornaments.  Well…..in truth….the ornaments were added because I somehow got a puncture wound on my finger without realizing it and bled on the beautifully finished tree.  I was not going to start over due to a couple drops of blood so I punched out several ornaments with my 1/8th circle punch and attached them as camouflage with Crystal Effects.  I love the multi loop gold bow on the bottom of the tree.

Last night I had the opportunity to play in the CAS (Clean and Simple) challenge.  This style of card is much harder than it looks and is not really my forte but I enjoyed stretching myself to try. I thought this large leaf stem from Rubbernecker could stand on it’s own as a feature for a simple card.

I stamped the image with medium green ink and used a blender pen to add pale yellow and darker green to the leaves and stem.  I put clear embossing powder over the wet paint and heat embossed to make the leaves pop.

Project 1:  Stampavie Sarah Kay Noel Stocking, Lovely as a Tree   Paper:  BasicGrey DP, Watercolor, Natural Vanilla, White, Cranberry Crisp   Ink:  Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint, Aged Mahogany, Fired Brick, Black Soot, Lemonade, Going Gray, Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard     Accessories:  Gold Metal Ribbon and Cord, Glue Dots, Brushes, Mounting Tape, Black Glaze Pen,Gold and Clear Embossing Powder, Snips

Project 2:  Rubbernecker Fall Trilogy   Paper:  Watercolor, Old Olive    Ink:  Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters, Scattered Straw   Accessories:  Blender Pen, Clear Embossing Powder, Grosgrain

Weekend Stamping Fun

Good Monday morning.  I hope you had an enjoyable weekend.  Our weather cooled down here in Florida dropping into the 40’s at night and the high yesterday was in the low 60’s.  We have been having exceptionally high temps for this time of year with highs in the 90’s so I enjoyed the cooler weather. I had a three day weekend and enjoyed being home, relaxing and having some wonderful stamping time.

My first project was made for the Stampavie bi-weekly challenge. The challenge was to make a Halloween card using at least one Stampavie image.  I must admit I was stumped as Stampavie has no Halloween images in their line.  Jay Jay, our challenge coordinator suggested that we modify an image so I finally decided  to “spook up” the Rachelle Anne Miller’s owls, Hoo Hoo There and use them with a spooky tree and old cemetery images from the Rubbernecker Halloween collection. I modified the image by cutting off the existing branch so they could be placed in the tree.

I stamped the owls on scrap watercolor paper, painted and cut out.  I stamped the tree and head stone images with brown craft ink and embossed with clear embossing powder.  I punched a circle out of scrap paper, placed the mask over the sky area, sponged the circle with bright orange ink to create the moon and embossed with clear embossing powder. My final step was to watercolor in the sky and ground area. I love the color combination on this project.  I wanted the sky to appear dark but not actually spooky Halloween black as these owl characters just can’t pull that off.  They only thing they could do to you is hoot you to death. I hope you will come and join us for the challenge and have a chance to win a prize.

My second project was made for the SCS Inspiration Challenge. Xanier Taler decorative tile site was given for our inspiration.  I was inspired by the tile below but decided on creating orange fall leaves instead of flowers and used the new Rubbernecker Fall Trilogy set.

I used Joan’s tap and smash technique to ink up the stamp.  I chose to work with three colors of ink, Dried Marigold, Peeled Paint and Aged Mahogany.  I tapped and smashed the ink pads directly onto the stamp starting with the lightest color first and then repeating with the darker colors.  I stamped the image on watercolor paper and heat dried.  I used a wet brush to fill in the leaves and then embossed with clear embossing powder.  I love the simple image layered over the dark green background created using the same image.

My third project was created for SCS Featured Stamper challenge. Riley, aka dancerriley was our featured artist and here is a link to the project that inspired me.

 

I stamped the Tim Holtz image on natural white cardstock with Aged Mahogany ink and embossed with clear embossing powder.  I thought this image would look great paired with this BasicGrey designer paper.  I sponged all the paper with Old Paper to give an aged appearance. I had the whole card almost totally constructed and got a big brown ink on the main image layer.  Ugh!!!!  I decided to try and cover up the boo boo by taking the ink pad directly to the paper to create an aged background. I created a multi loop bow with cream organdy ribbon and heated to curl and age.  The ribbon color was still to bright and new looking so I finished by sponging on Old Paper ink. This was a fast and easy holiday card that took only 15 minutes or so and could easily be mass produced.

Project 1:  Stampavie Rachelle Anne Miller Hoo Hoo There, Rubbernecker Halloween Collection    Paper:  Brocade Blue, Pumpkin Pie, SU Designer Paper, White, Watercolor    Ink:  Black Craft, Close to Cocoa Craft Ink,  Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo, Pumpkin Pie    Accessories:  Clear Embossing Powder, Deckle Scissors, Crimper, Circle Punch, Rice Baggy (for background)

Project 2:  Rubbernecker Fall Trilogy    Paper:  Old Olive, Watercolor, Cranberry Crisp    Ink:  Dried Marigold, Peeled Paint, Aged Mahogany   Accessories:  Clear Embossing Powder, Grosgrain

Project 3:  Tim Holtz Collection    Paper:  BasicGrey, Natural white   Ink:  Aged Mahogany    Accessories:  Organdy, Clear Embossing Powder

Winter Love

I had lots of fun this morning creating a winter card with a darling snowman couple in the Let it Snow set by Impression Obsession.  I think they are so cute.

I stamped the image with black craft ink and heat dried. I masked the snowmen and stamped the trees from Flaky Friends and Loads of Love and heat set.  I painted the whole piece of watercolor paper excluding the snowman images with clear water to prepare the paper for accepting my blue sky wash. Leaving the images dry keeps the color wash of the sky from running into them. I painted in the sky area and over the trees with a wash of aqua reinker and then added a light blue to create the night sky. I used a light wash of yellow around the star to create a glow. I painted the trees and snowman using reinkers and a brush and heat dried.  I used a small brush and white craft ink to paint in the falling snow and the snow on the tree. I wanted to cover the bottom image lines of the snowmen so I also painted the white craft on the ground area.  I heat embossed the whole project with white embossing  powder.  I then applied glue to the ground area and applied the white Flower Soft.  I added a touch of Flower Soft to the pompom of the snowman’s hat. I cut an additional star and popped it up over the tree and added Stickles to add some sparkle. I love the new Eskimo Kisses paper by BasicGrey and thought it was the perfect thing to layer behind this snow scene.  I tried out my new Shapeabilities snowflake dies to complete the project.

I hope you have a wonderful week.

Stamps:  Impression Obsession-Let it Snow    Paper:  BasicGrey Eskimo Kisses, Burgundy, White, Cold Pressed Watercolor   Ink:  Black Craft, Aged Mahogany, Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint, Aqua, Bashful Blue, Going Gray , white Craft    Accessories:  Flower Soft Polar white, Shapeabilities, Crimper, Needle, Piercing Template, Stickles, White Embossing Powder, Glue, Brushes

Holiday Inspiration

After a long work week with no stamping I’ve enjoyed getting my fingers inky today.  There is nothing more fun and relaxing to me than putting all my focus on a creative project.  I started my morning a with few good cups of strong coffee and then set out to play in the SCS Inspiration Challenge.

My first project was an experiment to create a spooky Halloween sky with watercolor.

I punched out a circle mask and placed the hole over the top part of my watercolor paper. I painted the moon in with a bright wash of reinker and then heat dried so the ink wouldn’t run.  I removed the mask and washed on a fine clear water base on the rest of the watercolor paper to prepare it to accept the blue ink and allow it to run down the paper. I then began applying a wash of blue reinker to create the night sky.  I purposefully pulled some of the blue over the moon to create cloudy shadows.  I had the paper sitting on an angle to allow the darker blue ink to run down the paper. I heat dried the whole piece of paper and then applied the images with versa and heat embossed with black embossing powder. I may have gotten a little too much blue on the moon but I really like the outcome.

My second project was a delight to create.  I love the darling little girl delivering her Christmas package.

I stamped the image on cold pressed watercolor paper with black craft ink and heat dried.  I painted the door by outlining all the lines with dark brown reinker and then used a brush with clear water to pull the color out to the panels of the door. This technique leaves darker shading around the seams and frame of the door . I used the same technique to paint the little girl’s clothes.  I applied a finely painted layer of Liquid Appliqué to the pompom of the hat and to the snowy steps and heated.

I love the touch of white in the designer paper and the white mat with all the olive and think this allows the painted image to pop and allows nothing to distract from it.  I thought the touch of red in the gingham multi loop bow brought out the red in the scene.

Project 1: Stamps: Rubbernecker Halloween Set 1, Rubbernecker Stamp Oasis Spooky Tree
Paper: Black, Watercolor, Barely Banana
Ink: Not Quite Navy, Lemonade, Versa
Accessories: Black EP, Deckle Scissors, Crimper, Oval Punch, Brushes, Heat Gun

Project 2: Stamps: Stampavie Sarah Kay Noel Charity
Paper: Cold Pressed Watercolor, White, Olive, Designer Paper
Ink: Fired Brick, Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint, Mustard (hair)
Accessories: Gingham, Liquid Appliqué, Watercolor Brush, Nestabilities, Baggy of Rice (frame background texture), Nestabilities 

Stampavie Box Challenge #14

I had fun this weekend coming up with a box project for the Stampavie Design Team blog challenge. Please come and check out the details and play along with us.  You may even win the secret prize.

I wanted to make a box that would be useful as well as a decorative gift.  I found a box template by Mel McCarthy  on Splitcoaststampers that would be perfect to fit 3X3 note cards and envelopes. I printed the template on white cardstock as well as on a piece of decorative paper and adhered together.  I scored and built the box and attached the decorative trim around the lid.  I painted the images and cut out. I applied liquid appliqué with a tiny brush and lightly dabbed with my fingers before heating to avoid the the dreaded blobs. I used mounting tape to attach to the box top. I thought the sweet girl dropping her letter into the mailbox was just perfect for this little box top.

I had the opportunity Saturday to walk with more than 5,000 people in the Orlando American Heart Walk.  The weather was beautiful, the traffic was blocked on our gorgeous tree lined street path of 3.5 miles and it was an exciting event.  I walked to honor my parents, Nellie and Richard who both lost their lives to heart disease.

I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Noel Faith

It’s Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Wheeeeee!! I got home early enough this afternoon to play in the SCS Limited Supply challenge.  The challenge was to create a project with a Christmas tree.  I instantly thought of this sweet Stampavie Sarah Kay image- Noel Faith.

I stamped the image on cold pressed watercolor paper and then used my artist pen to sketch in the floor, baseboard and wall.  I watercolored all the images with a brush and reinkers.  I embellished the project with a multi loop bow using taffeta ribbon. There’s really not much else to say. It was fun to get my fingers inky after a long work week.  Have a great weekend.

Stamps:  Stampavie Sarah Kay Noel Faith    Paper:  Olive, Ruby Red, Designer Paper, Watercolor     Ink:  Aged Mahogany, Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo, Black Soot, Going Gray, Mustard    Accessories:  Taffeta, Brushes, Artist Pen

Holiday Cards

I enjoyed stamping on Sunday in between laundry and a shopping trip to Costco.  Oh man……….don’t wait to go Costco until late in the day on a Sunday as you can barely push your cart through the crowd.  I got behind the same older couple several times and found myself having to count to ten to keep my cool.  They were so slow!!!  I had to remind myself that my hair is plenty gray and my day of slow shopping is coming pretty quickly.

I had lots of fun creating my two projects. My first one is a Halloween project using an image from Rubbernecker’s new Halloween collection.

I stamped the little dragon boy on watercolor paper, colored with a brush and reinkers and cut out.  I created the simple fence and moon scene behind him with plain white cardstock using a circle punch and word punch. I used my deckle scissors to cut the tops of the fence posts.  I love the contrast of the black and white with the designer paper. Simple but fun project.

This is the sweetest shepherd boy from the Noel 2009 collection by Sarah Kay from Stampavie.  I stamped the image on cold pressed watercolor paper and heat dried to set the ink.  I brushed on a light yellow wash around the boy and dried again with my heat gun.  It is important to remember when watercoloring that your ink colors will run into each other if the ink is wet.  I have ruined many projects by not being patient enough to wait.  I completed painting the boy image and decided to stamp an additional image on scrap paper so I could cut out the lamb and the star to pop up. I don’t think it shows well in the photo.  I was going to pop up the staff as well but didn’t think I had what it takes to cut something so thin and make it look good on the project. I created a Nestabilities frame for the image and popped it up on the base of the card. I thought the holiday sentiment was perfect for this little shepherd boy.

Have a great week.

Project 1:  Stamps:  Rubbernecker Halloween Set 3    Paper:  Black, White, Watercolor, SU Designer Paper     Ink:  Black Craft, Peeled Paint, Pumpkin Pie, Tattered Rose, Caramel    Accessories:  Word Punch (fence), Circle Punch, Nestabilities, Brushes, Deckle Scissors

Project 2:  Stampavie Sarah Kay Noel Shepherd, All Year Cheer I     Paper:  Hunter Green, Riding Hood Red, Cold Pressed Watercolor Paper    Ink:  Aged Mahogany, Pine Needle, Black Soot, Going Gray, Lemonade, Vintage Photo, Tattered Rose      Accessories:  Nestabilities, Oval Punches, Decorative Scissors (tag) Clear Embossing Powder, Mounting Tape, Stickles (star, holly) Brushes, Grosgrain

Inspiration Saturday

The SCS Inspiration challenge was a fun treat today.  The Pajama Squid was the site we were provided to browse for inspiration.  There was lots of it. I especially loved this sweet dress with its rich colors.

I looked through my stamps and decided to use a sweet image from Stampavie by Tina Wenke called Mouse in  Nutboat.

I stamped the image on watercolor paper with black craft ink and heat dried.  I watercolored the sky with blue and yellow reinkers washed with water and heat dried.  I painted the ground and water areas and finished by painting all the sweet images. I stamped an extra scene on scrap watercolor paper so I could cut out the little heart flag and butterfly to pop up but it doesn’t really show in the photo.  I created the frame with Nestabilities and mounted on the card front with mounting tape.  I think this little scene is the sweetest ever with that darling little mouse. 

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.

Stamps:  Stampavie Tina Wenke Mouse in Nutboat     Paper:  Rose Red, Olive, Designer Paper     Ink:  Black Craft, Lemonade, Cranberry, Aqua, Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo     Accessories:  Nestabilities, Brushes,

Rubbernecker Blog Stroll

It’s Friday and I only work a half day.  I’m looking forward to some good quality stamping time. I haven’t been able to post on my blog during the week lately because of work responsibilities but the Red Hot Mommas are having a blog stroll to celebrate the recently released Rubbernecker Halloween stamps and I wanted to stroll.

Would you like to win “your choice” of one of the darling new Halloween sets? All you have to do is leave comments on each blog along the stroll including the Rubbernecker blog. The winner will be randomly chosen from all the comments left on the stroll. The stroll is open until noon on Monday, September 28th and the winner will be announced later that day.

 

I made this quick and easy card for our blog stroll.  I love the little guy with his mom’s old sheet and pillowcase.  He didn’t want to put much time into creating a costume. He was just going for the treats.     I stamped the image on watercolor paper, painted and cut out. I thought the image would show so much better popped up in front of the bright orange paper.  I love the contrast between the designer paper and the crimped layer.

Are you ready to stroll? This one is oh so easy! Just visit these blogs, enjoy the inspiration, leave a comment at each stop, and you might be the lucky winner of your choice of one of the new stamp sets! Here are your stops along the stroll:

Rubbernecker blog
Broni
Joan

Candy

Bev

Juliana

Tammy -welcome to our Guest Designer, Tammy Hershberger

While your are looking around on the Rubbernecker site for the new Halloween sets you may want to check out the new sets and background stamps  that Mr. Rubbernecker has on a Pre- Release sale.

Stamps:  Rubbernecker Halloween Set 2    Paper:  Pumpkin Pie, Designer Paper, Watercolor    Ink:  Black Craft, Pumpkin Pie, Black Soot, Going Gray    Accessories:  Grosgrain, Crimper, Brush, Black Embossing Powder

Snowball Fight and Yummy Soup Recipe Card

Check out the Price Reductions on my Stamp and Accessory Sale

I’ve had a fun Sunday. It doesn’t really matter whether it is a work day or weekend…my body clock wakes up at 4:30 or 5:00 a.m. no matter what.  I really enjoyed drinking my coffee early this morning and browsing through the SCS galleries and making comments on the beautiful creations. There is so much talent in the stamping community.

I especially had a great time searching through Heather’s (tankgrl) gallery since she was chosen to be the SCS Featured Stamper for the day. I was inspired by the simple and clean layout of this card of Heather’s. I kept the same basic layout but changed the color and theme for my project. I received a darling new set from Impression Obsession this past week and I just had to use it for the challenge.

I stamped the  snowmen images, masked and stamped the trees around them.  I painted the images with a watercolor brush and reinkers.  I heat dried the paint and sponged in the blue sky in the background.  I dotted falling snowflakes with a white Sharpie marker and then applied glue to apply the Sparkly Fluff for the hat, snowballs and snowy ground.  I love the simple crimped and pierced layer under the scene and the darling gingham knot with the tag.

I also had the opportunity to play today in the monthly Dirty Dozen/Dirty Dozen Alumni challenge. Betty Wright was today’s challenge host and you can see the challenge requirements below.

Challenge: Dirty Dinner Recipe paper project. Share at least one tried and true prepared entree recipe in decorative paper crafting format of choice.
Restricted Element: (No food images...just kidding...lol!!!) There are NO restrictions...bring on the calories, carbs, fat grams, and sugars!!!! We can alter it on our own if need be.
Required Element: It must be something you have cooked and your family LOVED it!!!! Also, share a little bit about the history of this recipe and how it came to be.

I chose to create a recipe card for Tomato and Spinach Soup, one of my old faithful recipes that I got out of Cooking Light years ago.  It is fast, easy and a delicious soup and is a perfect to cook on Sunday and have in the fridge for an easy meal on busy work nights. I have a pot on my stove as I write this. 

I created the recipe in Word and printed on white cardstock.  I do not have any food images so I sketched out a few tomatoes, garlic cloves and some spinach leaves.  Do you think the leaves look more like basil?  I sure do! I painted the images with reinkers and a brush, and cut out. I attached them to the base of the card and allowed them to overlap the recipe card. This is simple but I really like the pop of color from the veggies on the stark white. I hope you can read the recipe and that you give it a try.  Have a great week.

Project 1:  Stamps:  Impression Obsession-Let it Snow, Loads of Love (tree)  Paper:  Cranberry, white, Olive, Watercolor    Ink:  Cranberry, Peeled Paint, Sailboat Blue, Going Gray, Black Craft   Accessories:  Brushes, Color Box Stylus, Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool,  Sparkly Fluff , white Sharpie, MS Glue Pen, Word Punch, Gingham

Project 2:  Paper:  White, Olive, Watercolor   Accessories:  Computer, Artist Pen, Watercolor Brushes, Snips, Glue Dots

 

Saturday Inspiration

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I always look forward to the SCS Inspiration Challenge. It’s fun to get on up Saturday morning and know I don’t have to go to work and that I can enjoy stamping. Today we were given a Latin American site called LAMA and it had lots of fun stuff to be inspired by. I used the colors of the table cloth pictured below for my first project.  I liked the orange, pink and green with the white background.

    

I stamped the little Stampavie Sarah Kay Lucy twice on watercolor paper and painted.  I cut out the full image of one girl and just the cat and pinafore portion of the second. I sponged on the light green, yellow and blue scenery on a piece of watercolor paper for the background and added just a few touches of grass sprigs. I created a double frame with oval Nestabilities and attached to the scene with mounting tape. The little girl is so sweet and I thought popping up her head, the cat and top part of her body and allowing her feet to be out of the frame would bring her to life.  I love how she turned out. The tiny Love tag was just the perfect little sentiment for this sweet pair.

My second project was a play off this throw pillow.  Ugh!  I do not like scary skeleton things like in the photo below but I was inspired by the black and white.  I thought it would be fun to do a reverse white on black Halloween project.

 

I stamped these new Rubbernecker Halloween images on black paper with white craft ink and embossed with white embossing powder.  The moon is a circle punched piece of white paper and the cat was stamped on white with black ink and black embossing.  I thought this was fun and different take on spooky Halloween images.

Project 1   Stamps:  Stampavie Sarah Kay Lucy & Kitty      Paper:  Pretty in Pink, White, SU Designer Paper     Ink:  Black Craft, Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue, Barely Banana, Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard, Regal Rose,  Weathered Wood, Shabby Shutters, Tattered Rose        Accessories: Nestabilities, Crimper, Scalloped Border Punch, Gingham, Brushes, Color Box Stylus, Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool, Mounting Tape

Project:  Rubbernecker  Halloween Set 1     Paper:  Black and White    Ink:  Black and White Craft     Accessories:  Black and White Embossing Powder, Nestabilities, Mounting Tape

Blog Candy Winner

I have a winner for my Monday’s Country Girl blog candy contest. Congratulations to Crystal for being the 13th post telling her favorite technique for adding color to her stamping projects.  Crystal has won a new and unmounted Stampin’ Up! 2007 set-Delight in Life. Check out Crystal’s lovely blog “Sugar Crystals”

Kittie: you never fail to produce such beautifully colored images... wow ! My fav coloring technique is with Copics ... I finally gave it and bought some ... well, actually lots !

Posted by: Crystal | September 15, 2009 at 08:28 PM

Sunday’s Country Girl and Blog Candy

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My Sunday was quiet and restful with lots of time to stamp. I love easy weekends with no commitments and no place to go.  Of course there is always laundry and household chores that have to get done but I can always paint in between trips to the washer and dryer.  I took the time to dig through the stamp sets that I have up for sale and have several that are brand new and unmounted.  I thought it was time for me to give away blog candy since I haven’t in a while. Watercoloring is my favorite technique for adding color to my stamped image.  Leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite coloring technique and you will have a chance to win Delight in Life -2007 by Stampin’ Up! I will announce the winner Wednesday morning the 16th.

I am in love with the Stampavie Sarah Kay images and especially the girls in their jeans, overalls, halter tops and big hats. I enjoy painting these images and putting them into scenes. I had a wonderful time painting Country Girl and choosing the colors and card layout that would enhance the image.

I stamped the twice, once for the main scene on watercolor paper and again on scrap watercolor paper to cut pieces out to pop up for dimension. I painted the images with reinkers and water using a watercolor brush. I watercolored the green and blue areas with a light wash and then sponged lightly over them using a Color Box stylus and foam tip. The texture of the foam tip allows me to smooth out the color on the smooth hot pressed paper. I added a little texture to the grass with a background image and smoothed over it with the foam tip to soften. I cut out the second chicken and overalls and popped them up with rolled up glue dots.  This adds so much dimension to the scene but it is hard to see in the photo. I loved the bright pink and green with the white contrast elements and feel it allows the girl to be surrounded with color without distracting from her.  I enjoy creating frames with my Nestabilities to add an extra layer of dimension and interest to the project. 

I hope to have more time to stamp in the daily challenges on SCS this week but I never know what the work week will bring. If not I will I hope you have a great week.  look forward to stamping and posting on my blog next weekend. 

Stamps:  Stampavie Sarah Kay Country Girl   Paper:  Regal Rose, White, Watercolor Debbie Mumm    Ink:  Black Craft, Bordering Blue, Regal Rose, Bashful Blue, Caramel, Vintage Photo, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Lemonade Accessories:  Nestabilities, Color Box Stylus and Foam Tip, Brushes, Mounting Tape, Scalloped Border Punch, Glue Dots

Halloween Play Day

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I have had a wonderful time today participating in the SCS Inspiration Challenge. CWD Kids’ Halloween clothing line was provided for inspiration and did I ever have lots of fun stamps to work with.  Rubbernecker has just released three fun new Halloween sets and I got all three of them in the mail yesterday when I got home from work.

I really enjoyed working this darling dragon suit and boy image.  I thought he needed to be shown walking along a sidewalk on his way to Trick or Treat.  I stamped the image on watercolor paper and then again on a scrap to have an additional dragon head and treat bag to pop up.  I painted the image, masked and sponged on a little grass and sidewalk area.  I used the grass sprig image from my Kittie Kits Outdoor Master to add texture to the grass and sponged in a blue sky area.  I cut the little boys face out of my second dragon head so when I popped it up it would have dimension. I made the frame with Nestabilities and then ran it through my crimper for added dimension. I love how the image pops out of the orange and green frame.

I stamped the pumpkin and kitty image on watercolor paper and then again on scrap paper so I could pop up the cat, tail and treats. I painted the images, sponged a little yellow highlight and then attached the additional images with glue dots.  I used Nestabilities to create the frame.  You can’t really tell in the photo but the background scalloped layer is partially crimped and added so much dimension. I used scalloped decorative scissors to cut around the sentiment layer so it would match the background scallops.

I tried my hand at Michelle Zindorf’s background technique.  I thought the big orange moon was perfect with the silhouette tree and bats. Don’t look too close but I stamped my bats upside down by accident and I wasn’t going to toss the project for that. I stamped the little witch, painted, cut out and popped up over the framed scene for a fun twist.  The scene is so dark and she is so bright and sweet.

I hope you all enjoy your weekend and have a great week.

Project 1:    Stamps:  Rubbernecker Halloween Set 3 , Kittie Kits Outdoor Master    Paper:  Eggplant, Olive, Pumpkin Pie, Watercolor Ink:  Dusty Concord, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Going Gray, Black Craft, Fired Brick (cheeks)    Accessories:  Nestabilities, Brushes, Sponges, Crimper, Glue Dots, Word Punch, Clear EP, Grosgrain

Project 2:  Rubbernecker Halloween Sets 3 Paper:  SU Designer Paper, Pumpkin Pie, Watercolor, White    Ink:  Black Craft, Pumpkin Pie, Dried Marigold, Fired Brick, Vintage Photo, Dusty Concord, Black Soot , Lemonade  Accessories:  Nestabilities, Scalloped Scissors, Brushes, Sponges, Grosgrain, Scalloped Border Punch

Project 3:  Rubbernecker Halloween Sets 1 and 2    Paper:  Black, Pumpkin Pie, Watercolor    Ink:  Black Craft, Dried Marigold, Pumpkin Pie, Black Soot  , Lemonade, Vintage Photo, Not Quite Navy, Dusty Concord,    Accessories:  Black Glaze Pen, Brushes, Sponges, Black EP, Glue Dots, Circle Punch

Fun with Little Girls and Little Boys

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I love three day weekends.  How about you? I had extra time to play on Sunday and did two projects for the SCS Featured Stamper challenge. The featured artist was Lori (LMcAree) and her gallery is full of inspiration. I was inspired by her many little girl and boy projects.

I was recently chosen to be on the Stampavie design team and  I am very excited to work with their stamp line. My first project is a Sarah Kay image called Picnics of Daisies.

 

This little girl image is one of the most beautiful girl images I have ever worked with. I wanted to pop her up in a scene with depth and dimension and that placed all the focus on her. I stamped the image on a piece of watercolor paper and painted with reinkers, water and a watercolor brush.  I used my craft knife to do a free hand cut to create an open frame around the image but leaving her feet attached and I used snips to cut the paper away from the image. I started creating the scene by sponging a brown path and green ground area on both sides. I laid the frame over a second piece of watercolor paper, marked the path and grass to line up with the scene and sponged the path and grass.  I used a mini tip applicator to apply grassy texture and to create sprigs on both layers of the scene and then to apply little red dots to appear as red flowers. I placed a little dirt texture on the path using a small background image. Hint: Always heat set your ink before sponging on background highlight color. I began sponging on the yellow and blue to create my background and of course the red flower ink smudged.  Ugh!  I never learn!!!!  I covered my mistake with some higher grass sprigs and hoped that the smudges wouldn’t be too noticeable.  Note that the little red bow is covering a smudge that was just too high for a grass sprig although I did consider adding a tree. smile!   I attached the scene to the main card base and attached the frame with mounting tape.  I love how the scene shows up behind the girl.  See resource list below.

My second project was done using a retired Stampin’ Up set-Little Boys.  I so love the little boy holding his box of Puppies 4 Love.

I stamped the little boy on a piece of oval cut watercolor paper.  I sketched the little fence and tree behind him as well as creating a little sidewalk line at his feet. I wanted to try and keep the white embossed border of the oval clean and to keep the scene within that border.  I cut my fence off a little too short on each side.  Oh well!!!  I painted the images using  reinker, water and a watercolor brush.  I sponged on the tree top and ground area and then used small images from my Kittie Kits Outdoor Master to fill in leaves and grass. I stamped an extra image of the box of puppies so I could pop it up on the scene for a little dimension. I attached the puppies to the main scene with glue dots and assembled the card with a simple layout. I so loved painting the puppies and trying to make them look like a bunch of Heinz 57s. I especially love the one with the little black eye.

Project 1.   Stamps:  Stampavie Sarah Kay Picnics of Daisies   Paper:  Red, Olive, Watercolor    Ink:  Brilliance, Peeled Paint, Fired Brick, Brushed Corduroy, Lemonade, Tattered Rose, Caramel, Bashful Blue   Accessories:  Craft Knife, Sponges, Brushes, Mini Tip Applicators, Gingham, Snips, Mounting Tape

Project 2:   Stamps:  Little Boys-retired SU, Kittie Kits Outdoor Master     Paper:  DP, Yellow, White, Watercolor    Ink:  Brilliance, Bashful Blue, Bordering Blue, Celery, Mustard, Going Gray,  Sahara Sand, Lemonade, Peeled Paint, Black Soot,   Accessories:  Nestabilities, Scalloped Border Punch, Brushes, Sponges, Mini Tip Applicator, Artist Pen

Purse Inspired Pumpkin Riley

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The SCS Inspiration Challenge provided an interest site called Moyna and we were specifically to go to the handbag collection for our inspiration.  I loved this bright orange bag and instantly thought fall and pumpkins for my project.  As I searched through all my fall sets and images I ran across Pumpkin Riley and knew I had to use him. I think he is so darn cute.

I stamped the image on the main layer of watercolor paper and again on scrap paper.  I watercolored the images with reinker and water. I sponged a grassy area around the image of the main layer as well as pulling up grass sprigs with a mini tip applicator and then sponged on a light yellow to highlight. I cut out Riley and the small pumpkin and apple and popped it up over the scene for dimension.  I use rolled up glue dots rather than dimensionals on areas like the ears and pumpkin.  I created the simple frame using Nestabilities and attached it over the scene with mounting tape to add another element of dimension. I stamped and painted a few more extra leaves to cut out so I could pop them up on the outer part of the scene as well as the frame.  I think the leaves add so much interest to this simple project.

I hope you are enjoying a fun and relaxing holiday weekend. I hope to get in more fun stamping time today and tomorrow. I love three day weekends.

Little Chicken Srapling

Before I get into my blog post I wanted to draw your attention to my Stamp and Accessory Sale. I have already had great success with sales but there is still lots of good stuff there to check out.

Have you ever heard of a scrapling?  I hadn’t really until today.  The Limited Supply Challenge on SCS today was to make a little something out of scraplings.  A scrapling is the little end of cardstock cut off when creating a card other than the normal 5.5 x 4.25” size.  Who knew???!!!  Anyway, the challenge today was to make a tiny project out of the scrap paper and I had fun creating a little chicken scene and will use it as a bookmark. My project is a folded 8” x 1.5” piece of cardstock. My chicken and chick image from my Kittie Kits Chicken Coop set was almost the perfect size.  I did stamp a second momma chicken and pop her up and allowed her tail to go outside of the main card layer.  I like it.

I stamped the image, painted and sponged on grass.  I sponged on a little blue sky and that was about it.  I cut out the second momma image, cut her out and popped up for a little added dimension.

Stamps:  Rubbernecker Kittie Kits Chicken Coop   Paper:  Red, Olive, Watercolor    Ink:  Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Lemonade, Blue , Brilliance Chocolate     Accessories:  Gingham

Stamp and Accessory Sale

I’m making room in my stamping room and I hope you can help me out.  Please check out my Stamp and Accessory Sale page and see if there is anything there that you cannot live without.  Please feel free to email me with any questions you may have.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and that you can get some quality stamping and relaxing time in.

Wacky Wednesday #27

It’s time for another Wacky Wednesday challenge. Where does the time go?  Bev is hosting today and has challenged us to “Cut it Out”.  Check for all the details on the Rubbernecker blog  post and come along, grab your scissors, and 'cut something out'!

I chose to make one last summer beach scene before we cruise into the busy season of making fall and winter holiday cards. Two of my favorite images for summer and beach scenes is an umbrella and  Adirondack chair. I had to laugh as I uploaded this card into my file and saw how many cards I have that are very similar.  I never tire of trying to capture the feel of relaxing by the shore.

I stamped the chair in the corner of a 3.5” x 3.5” piece of watercolor paper. I cut the frame out around the chair free hand using my craft knife and then cut the chair out using my snips.  I painted the beach and chair, sponged in the water and sky and set aside. I painted in the sand line on the background scene layer and sponged in the water line and sky area.  I stamped texture on both layers using a sand dune image from my Beach Master and  used a mini tip applicator to create the green sea grass sprigs.  I added white sea foam to the surf using a white sharpie.  I stamped the umbrella on scrap watercolor paper, painted and cut it out. I mounted the chair frame over the background scene using mounting tape and attached to the card base. I popped the umbrella up over the chair using mounting tape. I sure wish I was sitting there today instead of going to work.

Stamps:  Rubbernecker Kittie Kits Fun in the Sun, Beach Master    Paper:  Yellow, Blue, Watercolor    Ink:  Black Craft, Baja Blue, Caramel, Soft Sky, Peeled Paint    Accessories:  Craft Knife, Snips, Mounting Tape, Brushes, Sponges, Sharpie, Mini Tip Applicator

Weekend Challenges

Notice:  Please forgive me if you are receiving double feeds of my blog post.  I am working on this problem with Feedblitz and I hope to have it corrected soon.

My stamping time has been mostly limited to weekends lately.  My job is keeping me extra busy and tired during the week and I just don’t seem to have the energy to be creative when I get home on work nights. I hope things will calm down over the next couple of months so I can get back to normal and play in the week day Splitcoaststampers challenges. For now the weekend challenges provide lots of inspiration and relaxation for me.

The Saturday Inspiration Challenge gave us Creative Wall Coverings  to use to find tons of inspiring examples to choose from. I loved this Truckin’ with Santa collection and was instantly reminded of my Loads of Love truck and the Santa in Holiday Tag Team.

Here’s my interpretation of the inspiration set.

I stamped the truck on a piece of watercolor paper to act as the base for my project.  I stamped the truck again on a scrap piece of watercolor paper along with Santa and the trees. I wanted to pop up all the images in the scene for added interest and dimension.

I hand sketched in the little wood portion to recreate the Woody truck from the inspiration piece. All the images were watercolored using Distress reinkers and cut out. I sponged in the light blue sky area around the truck and I painted white craft ink around the ground area of the truck and embossed with white embossing powder. **Hint always heat set all the ink around your watercolor paper before applying ink for embossing so the powder only sticks where you want it. I added the trees to the scene first and popped up the tops with rounded glue dots. I stuck Santa into the window of the truck and attached the tree to the back of the truck and then attached the whole thing over the original stamped image and only the tires from the main layer show.  I love how this adds interest and how the snow looks piled up on the sides of the tires. I popped the red Nestabilities  frame up over the scene and attached it on the plain white base for contrast with just the addition of the green grosgrain and the little tag for embellishment.

Darlene Pavlick was our inspiration artist for the Sunday Featured Stamper challenge. I was inspired by this vintage card of Darlene’s.  I have enjoyed playing with all my new Crafty Secrets sets over the last few weeks.  I love the vintage images.  The girl I chose to use is from Garden Girls and is from the same set that Darlene used on her project.

I stamped the girl image on scrap watercolor paper, painted and cut out. I stamped the tree image on a base of watercolor paper and created a simple scene to be behind the girl image.  I painted the tree, and sponged in the grass and sky area. I used a simple mini tip applicator to pull up some grassy sprigs and to add texture to the grass area. I cut a Nestabilities frame to pop up over the scene and to attach the girl image to.  I didn’t want to detract from this gorgeous girl so I chose not to add any embellishments and added the simple Cuttlebug tree embossed background for contrast.  I wanted the girl and her blue dress to really pop on this neutral project.

Project 1    Stamps:  Loads of Love, Holiday Tag Team    Paper:  Real Red, White, Watercolor     Ink:  Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Brushed Corduroy, White Craft, Bashful Blue    Accessories:  Grosgrain, White Embossing Powder, Glue Dots, Brushes, Sponges, Sparkly Fluff (Santa’s Hat and Beard)

Project 2:  Stamps:  Craft Secrets Garden Girls   Paper:  Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Watercolor   Ink:  Faded Jeans, Brushed Corduroy, Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint,  Lemonade, Going Gray    Accessories:  Sponges, Brushes, Nestabilities, Cuttlebug, Mounting Tape, Glue Dots

Fun To Paint “Little Boys”

The SCS Color Challenge was a fun combination of colors but left little room for doing my scenery work.  Well….truthfully I didn’t have lots of time for scenery as I got home late from work but I still wanted to play to get some good stress relief.  I dug through my images to see what would work with the challenge colors of Real Red, Chocolate Chip and Kraft and found my retired Stampin’ Up! 2002 Little Boys set.  The image I chose worked perfectly to color in lots of dark brown, lighter brown and red.  I added a little gray for the white shirts and pillowcase flag, a touch of green for the grass around the wash tub and a little touch of yellow to shade around the image. All images were colored with a brush, reinkers and water. I think the brown and red frame is perfect to highlight the scene. I didn’t think these boys needed any further embellishment than a simple crimped red layer on the Kraft paper.

 

Stamps:  SU Little Boys-retired          Paper:  Watercolor, Red, Chocolate, Kraft      Ink:  Fired Brick, Walnut Stain, Frayed Burlap, Peeled Paint, Lemonade, Going Gray, Caramel, Mustard, Black Craft   Accessories:  Nestabilities, Crimper, Brushes, Sponges

Weekend Stamping Fun

I have had lots of fun stamping and painting this weekend. Stamping is my way of relaxing and reducing stress after a long work week. The SCS Challenges always present something interesting that invites me to create.  That is a good thing for me.

Saturday’s Inspiration Challenge was fun as we were given an online site called Pylones to find something inspiring.  I loved the brightly colored mouse pad shown below.

I thought this sweet image from Stampavie by Rachelle Anne Miller was perfect to recreate an inspiration piece. I used the same colors  right down to the orange lady bug.

The Sunday Featured Stamper Challenge featured a good friend, Jojot (Joanne).  Her gallery is filled to the brim with wonderful creations.  I was inspired to case her Cardinal Snow project. I kept the Christmas theme and used my Crafty Secrets Sweet Kids Sleigh Ride image and went for a vintage feel.

I didn’t want to detract from the image itself by adding snow by painting on craft ink and embossing or by using Liquid Appliqué so I simply painted the images and then sponged over it with Distress Antique Linen ink to age.

I hope you have a good week.

Dog Days of Summer

It’s the 20th of the month and that means it’s time for the Dirty Dozen/Dirty Dozen Alumni monthly challenge on SCS. Valerie Stangle is hosting this month and has challenged us to create a card with the Dog Days of Summer theme. 

Required Element: Dog images or sentiments and heat of summer color scheme (so think orange, red, mustard, etc.)
Restricted Element: Flock, or any fuzzy type embellishment

I love  this challenge as I have several dog images and accessories in my stamping stash.  I settled on using  Bow Wow, a retired Stampin’ Up! set released  in 1997 and one of my all time favorite SU sets that I will never part with. 

 

The dog, dog house and tree are all one piece that have been cut out and popped up in front of the lake scene.  It didn’t start out that way but it turned into what I call a happy mistake. I stamped the images, sketched in the big tree with my artist pen and painted.  The leaves and grass texture was added with two little images in my Kittie Kits Outdoor Master. I had originally sponged the lake on the main scene but it got lost in the scene and looked like a brownish dirt patch around the grassy scene. It wasn’t good.  I decided to cut out the whole front portion to save all my work and created the lake and tree scene in the background on a separate piece of watercolor paper. The lake was sponged with blue and I used a mini tip sponge applicator to apply the green land strip on the backside of the lake. I hand painted in the little trees and used the mini sponge to apply the little tree tops. I wish you could see the dimension of this project with the front layer popped up. I am not a great photographer so it is hard for me to capture all the details.  I added more dimension by popping up two additional roof lines, an additional dog head, an additional tail and two dog bowls with cut out bones placed between them.  I created this project over the weekend so I had lots of free time to play (play is code for fix my mistakes) and get it just the way I want it.

Check out the whole DD/DDA gallery on SCS to see all the fun doggy projects.

Stamps: Bow Wow retired SU 1997 set
Paper: Watercolor, White, Red
Ink: Distress Peeled Paint, Vintage Photo, Fired Brick, More Mustard, Aqua,
Accessories: Brushes, Sponges, Mini Tip Applicators, Snips, Craft Knife

Vintage Garden Girl

I hope you all had a restful weekend. I enjoyed being home and relaxing and having time to stamp and paint. I am having lots of fun using my new Crafty Secrets sets that I purchased at the CHA Super Show. The children in the sets are so beautiful and I love creating scenes around them.

I stamped the image on watercolor paper and heat set it.  I painted the green base for the grass and added some brown in places for dirt showing through the grass.  I used a mini tip applicator to apply texture to the grass and to pull color up for sprigs along the grass border. I painted the images with a brush and reinkers and then sponged saffron around the sky background area. I wanted ribbon to match the picture so I pulled white taffeta across the saffron ink pad to color it. I assembled the card and attached the ribbon and heated it up to age and crinkle it.  The heat dulled the color of yellow a bit and then made the girls apron look too bright so I lightly sponged on Antique Linen over it to tone it down. I love the finished results.  My husband did too and came and took it right off my work table and got it ready to send to his elderly aunt for a speedy recovery greeting.

Have a great week.

Stamps:  Crafty Secrets Garden Girls    Paper:  Watercolor, Saffron, Parchment    Ink:  Black Brilliance, Saffron, Bordering Blue, Almost Amethyst, Going Gray, Vintage Photo, Peeled Paint, Ginger    Accessories:  Brushes, Sponge daubers and mini applicators, MS Border Punch, Taffeta, Distress Tool

Saturday Free Hand Stress Relief

It’s been several days since I have had the opportunity to stamp, paint or post to my blog.  Work has been quite busy and I just haven’t had the energy when I get home in the evenings. I’m glad to have the opportunity to play today.

I attended a lovely dinner party last Saturday night at the home of one of the physicians that I work with. We were honoring two physicians that are finishing up their year long fellowship program at the hospital where I work.  I wanted to hand paint my thank you card for the hosts and capture a simple version of the gorgeous sunset lake and trees view from their back patio. I’ve gone back and forth on whether it is a good enough painting to send someone and whether it is presumptuous that they would even like it.  But I decided it is a simple little thank you “gift from my heart” and it really is the thought that counts.

In reality their boardwalk is very long and goes way out into the lake. The dock is large and houses their boat. I didn’t think I needed to include those things and simplified the scene quite a bit. I could in no way capture the way the water looked with the sun spreading gorgeous yellow light everywhere but I did give it my best shot.

I painted water on a piece of watercolor paper to prepare it to accept the paint.  I then painted  Aqua, Lemonade and Lake Mist reinker to create the sky and water line. I mixed watercolors to create greens, yellows and browns and started painting, dabbing and holding my tongue just right to create my scene. I wanted to show the great Florida oaks that are around on the property and that shade the water’s edge. I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out.  Some of the paint spread a little under the mask that I used to frame in the scene but I don’t think it matters much.  Painting this was a wonderful stress release after a long week of work.  Nothing seems to work as well to relax the neck muscles as getting my hands covered with paint and ink.

I hope you enjoy your weekend.  I sure plan to.

Saturday Fun Inspiration

I enjoy the Splitcoaststampers Inspiration Challenge.  It is always interesting to find a special piece that I find inspiring. The inspiration site this week was Bellacor Vases and here is the image that inspired my project.

I love the seashells on this vase and I was inspired to create a beach scene with my new Crafty Secrets Seaside set. The little girl in her sailor dress/suit is so precious playing in the sand with her bucket and shovel.

I stamped the little girl image twice, once on my main image paper and again on scrap paper.  I painted in the sky, water and beach, heat drying each area before moving to the next. I painted the edges all around the little girl on the main image and then moved on to paint the second image fully and cut out to pop up.  I attached the hat flat to the surface but popped up the little girl’s bottom with rolled up glue dots.  I believe it adds to the dimension and looks like she is really squatting and leaning forward.  I had trouble coming up with a good basic card layer but finally decided to stamp random shells from the set on the frame as well as the main layer and scalloped border. I sponged Adirondack Sandal ink on white SU taffeta ribbon to age to match the vanilla paper and vintage feel of the card. 

Stamps:  Crafty Secrets Seaside       Ink:  Blue Bayou, Baja Blue, Sahara Sand, Not Quite Navy, Adirondack Sandal, Cranberry, Lemonade, Vintage Photo,     Paper:  Baja Blue, Blue Bayou, Watercolor, Vanilla      Accessories:  Taffeta, Nestabilities, Mounting Tape, Glue Dots, Brushes