Star of Light in a Shimmery Sky

Once again, I have a shiny card that needed to be photographed with and without the light hitting it at an angle to show the shimmer.  I created it using this Fab Friday sketch:

For the background I used a sponge to lightly dab Wild Wasabi, Tranquil Tide, Night of Navy and Blackberry Bliss on to white cardstock and then swirled diluted Frost White shimmer ink over it.  After trimming it down I lightly sponged some Night of Navy along the edge to ground it and used white craft foam to pop it up from the card base.  I also heavily sponged Blackberry followed by Frost White on a strip of white cardstock.    I used dies from the Star of Light set to cut the background star from shimmer vellum and the filigree star from silver foil paper.  The sentiment is from Jane's Doodles' Holy Night stamp set and is attached with thin foam tape.  I finished the card with a purple sparkle from Hampton Art and some silver sparkles from TPC Studio.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi 

Sparkling Snowflake Shaker Christmas Card

What a difference the angle that the light hits an object can make!  In the first picture the card is upright and shot using a flash aimed straight up flooding the subject with even, indirect light, which is how I usually shoot my cards.  For the second I propped the card back against the background and bounced the flash at the ceiling roughly halfway between the camera and card so the light reflects off the surface allowing y'all to see how shiny it is.  But I am getting ahead of my self...

To me this Freshly Made Sketch screams shaker card:

That would mean a Christmas themed shaker card given the time of year...  The ABC Christmas Challenge is S for sparkle and T for texture which is perfect because I am still playing with Hero Arts Glimmer paints which have a beautiful metallic finish.  They come in dropper bottles and are almost as thick as acrylic paint, so I use techniques involving water.  For the card in my last post I put a few drops on an acrylic block, spritzed it with water, and smooshed it onto watercolor paper.  For this card I put a few drops of Blue, Green, and Sliver on a craft mat and spritzed generously.  I then used a sponge to dab the color onto watercolor paper.  The layers of color combined with the rough paper provided lots of texture and sparkle.  I also used the same Hero Arts Snowflake Cluster die I used on my last card to cut snowflakes, but then cut them apart and placed them around the sentiment panel.  I used Galvanized Metal paper that was available last year from Stampin' Up for the word merry and the background of the shaker pocket.  The sequin mix is Frosty II mix from Kat Scrappyness.  I finished the card off with sparkles at the center of the snowflakes because y'all know I like sparkles.

I am also entering this card in the Simon Say Stamp Monday Challenge to use something clear because you can't make a shaker card without clear acetate.  Plus some of the shaker bits are clear.  

One more Christmas card done!  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time,  Hansi

A Snowflake Cluster For Freshly Made Sketches' 400th Challenge

I a Virginian which means I like snow as long as it melts before I have to drive in it and white Christmases are pretty much only in my dreams.  I can remember two and one of those was more a heavy frost which was gone by mid morning.  That said, snowflakes are one of my favorite design elements for a Christmas card, so I was excited to see this new die in the new Hero Arts catalog and couldn't wait to play with it.    I decided to interpret the rectangle in this Freshly Made Sketch as any shape in order to use my new toy die.

Did you notice this is Freshly Made Sketches' 400th(!) sketch?  What a milestone!  I started playing when it was sketch #64.  Congratulations and thank you to the talented, dedicated folks who have given their time and creativity to keep this challenge going. 

I made the background by dropping blue, purple, and silver Hero Arts Glimmer inks on an acrylic block, misting it with water, and smooshing it on to Archer Cold Press watercolor paper.  I love the metallic shine of these inks and the sandy texture created by using them on watercolor paper.  The photograph does not do it justice.  Because the watercolor paper is so much thicker than the Galvanized  Metal cardstock next to it, you could see the white ragged edge, so I sponged Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide Ink along the edge to make it less noticeable.

I cut the snowflakes five times, trimmed off the flourishes and bottom snowflake of four of them and stacked them to give the two upper snowflakes dimension.  I also popped up the sentiment with foam tape.  The color sparkles are from Hampton Arts and the clear from Close to My Heart.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

The Best Laid Plans...

My husband is into astronomy, so when I saw the Stargazing stamp set in Stampin' Up's new catalog I knew it was the perfect set for a Father's Day card for him from me.  To paraphrase Robert Burns, the best laid plans of mice and men...

I ordered the set the morning of June 4th as soon as the catalog went live.  It shipped on June 6th.  On June 8th UPS turned it over to the Postal Service in Sandston, Virginia, the hub for Central Virginia, for an estimated delivery date of June 11th.  Plenty of time to make a card, right?  It was not delivered on the 11th, or the 12th, or the 13th.  That evening the UPS tracker revealed it to be in Myrtle Beach which, if you are not familiar with beaches on the east coast, is two states away in South Carolina!  Maybe it wanted a vacation after the long trip from Utah.  My order finally arrived the day after Father's Day and this weekend I had a chance to play with it.

The original plan was to stamp the nebula/galaxy in dark ink over a watercolored base to let stars show through in pastel colors, use the star cluster stamp to emboss a few stars in white over top, and finish it with that perfect sentiment.  I began by watercoloring on the smooth side of Ranger watercolor paper.  Now watercolor is an exercise of letting go as the water will move color where it wants to and changes it as it dries.  This is what I ended up with.  I apologize that I did not think to photograph it before I started trimming cutting it up.

I was working with this Freshly Made Sketch and thought the darker bleeding purple parts would make a good stripe.

I wanted to cover the whole center panel with the galaxy stamp which meant I would have to make multiple images and blend them.  Plus, I did not really want to have that center section of the stamp be so light.  After practicing on cardstock I decided the best bet would be to pounce ink on using a small thin Life Changing brush.  I used the same technique to color narrow strips of the watercolored paper.  Next I tested the star cluster stamp with Gina K fine detail white embossing powder on my galaxy test piece.  I am glad I did because no matter how fine a powder you use, Stampin' Up's DistINKtive stamps do not translate well with embossing.  Next I sprayed on some Perfect Pearls mixed with water to make the galaxy shimmer.  Note to self:  watercolor paper is not cardstock!  Although the spray worked well on my test piece, it did cause some running of the Night of Navy ink on the watercolor paper, softening the stars.  Then again, if you have ever looked though a high powered telescope on a hot, humid night there is some softening of the image, even when there is no condensation on the lens.

I heat embossed the sentiment on paper from DCWV's Weathered paper stack, cut it out with a thin die, pressed the edges into the Night of Navy ink pad, and attached it with foam tape.  A few sparkles finished the card off.  Whew!  I am also entering this card in the Watercooler Wednesday Challenge to make a masculine card and the Happy Little Stampers watercolor challenge.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Father's Day Cats 2019

This Father's Day card from our two and four legged daughters is based on this Freshly Made Sketch:

I started with a 4.25 x 5.5 inch piece of white cardstock and applied Candied Apple, Ripe Crimson, and Dried Marigold Distress Oxide inks, blending until I was happy with the result.  While I had the ink out I covered a small piece with Candied Apple, so I could have matching sentiment strips.  I cut the large cat using Close to My Heart's Artistry Cricut cartridge, the medium cat using a die from Spellbinder's Kitty Cats die set, and the little cats using Impression Obsession's Cat Set.  Then I heat embossed them with three coats of clear detail powder.  The sentiment was stamped with an old Close to My Heart set, Say It in Style using Black Versafine ink, heat embossed with clear detail powder and attached with foam tape.  The finishing touches were cut from Stampin' Up's Grapefruit Grove foil paper which has a hologram effect to it.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

A Kitty Birthday Card for Daddy

This is a birthday card for my daughters, two legged and four, to give to their Daddy AKA Soft Touch.  Here is the inside:

The cats, fish, and yarn were cut from and old Spellbinders set.  The sentiment on the front is from Simon Says Stamp and the one on the inside from Kat Scrappiness.  I can't believe I made a card with no stamping or ink of any kind!  I started this card for the Cut It Up Birthday Challenge and I guess you can say I took the die cut part to heart.  I also plan to enter this in The Seize the Birthday and Happy Little Stampers Anything with a Die challenge.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Wrapped Watercolor Snowflakes

It seems odd to be making Christmas cards while thankful for air conditioning, but making a few throughout the year is the only way I can manage to have enough ready at Christmas.  Having the time to sign, address and mail them in December is another matter, but I digress.  One of my inspirations to make Christmas cards in the off season is to play Christmas challenges such as the Christmas at Sweet Stampin's  challenge which this month is to use snowflakes.  I am combining this theme with Stamping Sensations' challenge to "show your true colors" with bright, bold, beautiful colors and Happy Little Stampers watercolor challenge.  Now bright and bold is not what I usually think of when using watercolors, but I tried a technique Jennifer McGuire calls wrapped watercolor where you use watercolors to paint a wet, heavy layer of color onto watercolor paper, cover it with wadded up plastic wrap, weigh it down (I used a cutting board with my skillet on top), and wait patiently for it to dry naturally.  It took mine overnight.  Let's just say this is not a technique to use if you need a card in a hurry.  You can see the technique in action by clicking on the link above.

Once my card was completely dry, I sponged Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink around the edges and used Stamper's Anonymous Tim Holtz Swirly Snowflakes and Mini Swirly Snowflakes stamps to heat emboss snowflakes in white.  The Merry Christmas sentiment comes from an old Close to My Heart set.  I used Navy Blue Nuvo Crystal Drops in the centers of the snowflakes and attached the panel to a white card base with craft foam for dimension.

Another card ready for Christmas!  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi