Reused Paper Towel

 

I like to make backgrounds with ink smooshing, sprays, watercolor, Lindy's Magicals, Brushos, you name it.  If it involves pigment and water, I love to play with it.  That means I use a lot of water and paper towels to blot up puddling on the background in progress or wipe up the mat.  Sometimes when I am done I think the towel looks pretty cool and that I might want to do something with it "some day," so I toss it in a tray.  The Die Cut Divas September theme is "Re-cycle, Re-use, Re-Purpose."  If ever there was a sign to actually do something with one of my paper towels, this is it, so I went through my pile and selected this one.

I brushed matte gel medium on a piece of 110lb. white cardstock and carefully laid the paper towel on it.  I smoothed it a little, but not too much.  I realized too late that the gel reactivated some of the ink making the colors bleed a little. Next time I will use two sided adhesive paper.  Once the paper was dry I moved a 4.25x5.50 inch window around to figure out the parts that appealed to me and cut three full sized card panels and had a little leftover for something else.  Now to pick one and make it into a card.

First I lightly brushed distress ink cubes in Chipped Sapphire and Dusty Concord across the "wrinkles" which gave it a reversed batik effect.  Then, like I often do, I tried to stamp some script in Hickory Smoke Archival ink randomly along the left edge and discovered that the image didn't transfer well.  I don't know if it was the texture of the paper towel (Viva) or the gel medium.  Oh well, on to the next step.  

I found a new to me challenge, Paper Rocks Scissors, which asks you to use paper and or scissors to create any kind of project.  Paper is a given when you make cards, although I am not sure how many people use inky paper towels, so I focused on using scissors.  If you have never used rub-ons, they come on clear sheets with many images per sheet.  You use scissors to cut around the parts you want on your project, peel off the paper backing, lay the image where you want it, rub with a bone folder, finger nail. or whatever and then carefully peel back the clear sheet.   As you peel, if you see a part that hasn't transferred you can stop, put the plastic back down and rub some more unless you are going for a distressed look.  The flowers and butterfly from Aall & Create were white and faded into the background, so I colored them with a pink Prismacolor pencil to help them stand out.  Still some of the darker blue around the flowers threatened to overwhelm them, so I used a white Prismacolor to tone it down.

I used a die from Paper Rose to cut happy birthday three times and stacked them.  Lastly I trimmed the background to 4x5.25, ran an ink pad along the edge and attached it to a card base.  This is a closer look at the texture provided by the paper towel.

I plan to also enter this card in the Addicted to Stamps and More "Make Your Mark,"  Triple B (Birds, Blooms, and Butterflies), and Seize the Birthday "Anything Goes" challenges.  Thank You for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

 

Happy Purr-thday

 

I needed a birthday card, so I checked the Seize the Birthday Challenge.  The topping theme is Funny/Pun-ny, or if you that is not your style, Anything Birthday Goes.  I don't typically buy stamps with puns, but as a proud crazy cat lady, I do have a considerable inventory of cat stamps and some of them have puns like "pawsome" or "purrfect."  That meant I would be making a cat card (surprise!) and entering it in the Show Us Your Pussycats Challenge.  I selected a sentiment from the Black Cat Love set from Impression Obsession.  I also have a number of cat dies, so I checked the Die Cut Divas and they are looking for white on white with a splash of color which is one of my favorite styles.  I have several dies that cut windows which either include a cat or can have a cat added to them.  I could cut one out in white and back it with part of a colored background to show through.  That would make a clean and simple card which I could enter in the Simply Clean and Simple challenge.  So which die should I use?  I checked Time Out Challenges which is currently a pick two.  The choices are monochrome, geometric, floral, stitching (real or faux), birthday, and CAS.  I had birthday and CAS covered, but what if I used squares in my layout and put little cats cut using one of my favorite cat dies simply called Cat Set from Impression Obsession in them?  That would add a geometric element to my card.  Okay, cats in boxes it would be!  I had my concept, time to get to work.

I cut nine squares from 110 lb white card stock using Essential Squares from Ellen Hutson to get frames which I stacked to make three "boxes."  I used the same die to cut three from a background from my stash which I had painted with Lindy's Magicals using a mixture of Hydrangea Blue and a touch of Sweet Velvet Purple from the Victorian Bouquet set.  That gave me three blue frames to use on another project and three blue squares that fit perfectly in the white frames.  I arranged the frames, placing shims under the outer corners of the middle square to keep it level.  I had stacked three die cuts for each frame to provide ledges for cats to sit or stand on, so I picked three of the six that the die cuts and settled them in their boxes.  I stamped the word "Meow" for a greeting on the front.  Inside I stamped a birthday pun and framed it with two cats cut from the blue background.  I now have a birthday card ready for one of the many feline aficionados in my life.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Fall Leaves in Shades of Orange

It is getting to be fall here.  The heat has broken but don't put away your summer clothes.  You dress in layers because it can be chilly in the morning but much warmer by lunchtime making you regret wearing that heavy sweater you left the house in.  The leaves on a few trees are just starting to turn and folks are putting up Halloween decorations.  The theme for the Sisterhood of Crafters challenge is fall, the Cut It Up challenge wants to see embellishments, and the AAA Birthday challenge wants to see Ombre shades.  I am also playing the Seize the Birthday. A Place to Start, and Die Cut Divas anything goes games.  I should mention that the optional twist for A Place to Start is Pumpkins which are a fall theme, but I am not playing that option.  

I started by using the Simon Says Stamp Vine Background die and copper foil paper to cut an outline of leaves and glued it to a panel of Vanilla card stock.  Next I put a few dabs of red and yellow acrylic paint on different ends of my gel press and brayed the paint with the goal of creating a blend of color from yellow orange to red orange and then lifted the print on heavy weight printer paper.  I used the same Simon Says Stamp die to cut the print and used the leaf pieces to fill in the outline.  I used dies from Gina K Designs' Lace Flowers set first to cut three "birthdays," one in copper foil and two in white cardstock which I stacked and then the shadow from dark green cardstock.  I stamped the happy belated sentiment from the same set and embossed it in copper.  I glued everything on a dark green panel and glued that to a Vanilla card base. I finished the card off with some green sparkles.

The thing about the Vine Background die is that you end up with a lot of extra pieces.  I had an orange background, a copper background, an orange outline, and of course, some copper leaves left, so I made another card:

 

 

I will figure out what to do with the rest of the pieces later.  In the meantime why don't y'all go by the challenges above to check out the other entries and perhaps be inspired to enter yourself.  Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Digging Into My Stash to Make a Birthday Card

I need a birthday card for someone who loves cats and gardening.  The Shopping Our Stash theme is "The Cat is in the Bag" which means use a cat (no problem for this proud, crazy cat lady) or a purse, bag, backpack, etc.  I decided to challenge myself to use mostly old, as in retired, products.  When I saw this Freshly Made Sketch my concept began to form in my head.

I do not have arch dies, but I do have a retired die, Kitty Window, from Tutti Designs featuring cats looking on a garden through a cathedral shaped window.  I cut two from 110 lb white cardstock and stacked them.  Now for a background to go behind the window.  I looked though my stash of backgrounds and found one with appropriate colors made using Lindy's Magicals.  Because the current theme at Seize the Birthday is embossing, I put the background upside down in a retired 3D Fern embossing folder from Stampin' Up so that the design would be debossed, that is pressed down into the paper.  Then I rubbed a Stampin' Up ink pad in Wild Wasabi, a retired color, over it, so you could see the ferns.

Please forgive my stained craft mat and the quality of photos taken with my phone as I worked.  After selecting the part I wanted to use I traced around the window portion and cut it out.

Because the background was done on thick watercolor paper, the window portion of the die cut would be thicker than the window sill and cats' tails, so I needed make another die cut from watercolor paper, trim off the part I needed and glue it on the back to level up the die cut.

Now that my focal point was done I could work on the rest of my card.  I cut a 4 x 5.25 inch panel and embossed it with a retired Stampin Up embossing folder which I think was called Subtle.  I gilded the edges by holding the panel vertically and pressing each edge into Versamark ink, then Ranger Princess Gold embossing power, and melting the powder with my heat tool. 

I used the the retired Perfect Sentiments stamp and die from Pink Fresh Studio for the sentiment.  It is a single stamp and die which makes eleven  assorted sentiments at a time.  Because part of the sentiment over laps the cat die cut I ran into the same issue of having the prop up the part that was hanging off.  I put two small pieces of card stack and one of watercolor paper under the Happy Birthday sentiment in the die to make shadow pieces pieces that I could stack so they were the same height as the cat die and then snipped off part of it to glue onto the back of the sentiment to make it level.

Now all I had to do was put everything together on a card base and I had a birthday card.  Except for the paper, Magicals, and embossing powder, everything used in this card is not only older, but no longer available.  I also plan enter this card in the Sisterhood of Crafters Birthdays challenge.  

This is what it looks like when you tilt it to light.  I love Lindy's Magicals.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Grey Birthday Cats on Pink

 

The Word Power Challenge is a new challenge for me.  It is an "anything goes" one as long as the main focus is on the sentiment.  Did I mention that the Cut It Up challenge is to add a sentiment and I needed a birthday card?  The Color Hues challenge is to use pink and grey. so  now I had my concept.  

First things first: a background.  I went though my stash and found a pink one that I made using pink re-inkers to watercolor and stashed away because I wasn't happy with it and didn't have time to deal with it.  Now was time to try to salvage it.  I added some large splatters and let them run and dry naturally.  I liked it much better except for the center.  A birthday die from CZ Design cut from silver foil along with the shadow in vellum would disguise it.  Silver is grey, isn't it?  I used the Sacred Spells text stamp from Lavinia and a curly corner stamp by Inkadinkado with Shadow Grey Archival and Gina K Medium Carnation inks to lightly random stamp the background.  I wanted something to dress up the sentiment.  When in doubt, try a cat.  One of my favorite cat dies is Impression Obsession's cat set which cuts six small cats in different poses.  I have never cut the dies apart for fear of losing one, so every time I use it I have extras for my stash ready to go.  I picked out two in grey and used Prismacolor pencils to shade and give them dimension.  This was a challenge because my pointy eared darlings have long hair and manes, so you really don't see their bodies.  I swiped more grey ink along the edges, put everything together, and my card was done, or so I thought.  The silver sentiment outshoned the cats!  As Luna and Calli informed me, "That. Will. Not. Do."  I cut a second "it's your birthday" in white and carefully glued it over the silver.  Much better!  I also plan to enter this in the Show Us Your Pussycats Challenge.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Cat Gazing at the Universe

 

I need another birthday card.  Yes, I do have a stash of them, but certain people get cards made just for them.  Plus I want to play the Seize the Birthday Anything Goes and The Die Cut Divas Birthday challenges.  I used this Freshly Made Sketch for inspiration.

For the background I started with watercolor paper, sprayed it with some water, and then began spraying with Seedless Preserves and Unchartered Mariner Distress sprays and more water, drying, spattering with water, drying, repeating, sometimes letting colors move, sometimes dabbing up some of the ink until I was happy with what I had and then let it dry naturally.  Next I partially inked a swirly corner stamp from Inkadinkadoo, a cross hatched stamp from Stampin' Up's Timeless Textures set, and a script stamp, Sacred Spells from Lavinia and, without blocks, randomly stamped the background with black ink for texture.  I then lightly brushed Hero Arts white pigment ink through parts of a Feathered Leaf stencil from Lavinia to provide still more texture.  Lastly I swiped some silver metallic pigment ink from ColorBox along the edges and my background was done.  I thought about adding white splatters, but then thought they might take away from the swirly feel of the background.

I cut the "A" or top layer of the Prismatic Triangle layering die set by Birch Press Design to use to ground what my pointy eared darlings will tell you is the most important part of the card, a cat cut using a die from Spellbinders' Kitty Cats die set.  One of the things I love about this die cut is that you can wrap her tail through other die cuts on a card.  The sentiment comes from Taylored Expressions' Birthday Simple Strips set and is stacked on another strip of paper to pop it up.  Now I have a mixed media card for the Mix It Up Anything Goes + Mixed Media Optional challenge.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Birthday Glimmer Kitty

 

"Tis the season for birthdays!  Between family and friends I need quite a few this month.  I made this one for my brother, a crazy cat dad who likes to garden, following this sketch from Just Add Ink.

When I sit down to play with inks I will make a mess of backgrounds and figure out what to do with them later.  Sometimes I only use part of one and keep the leftover scrap for something else.  The background behind the cat was from a leftover bit made by smooshing Hero Arts Glimmer Inks in red, copper, and bronze on watercolor paper.  As you can see by the second image they really do shine when you tip them to the light!  The cat was cut using the Cat Collage die from Poppy Stamps and the vegetation with a die from Altenew's Leaf Mix die set.  I gilded the edges by holding the paper vertically and pressing the edges into a versamark pad and then gold embossing powder.  I stamped the sentiment with one from the So Many Sentiments set by Gina K Designs and embossed it as well.

I am also entering this in the Critter Crazy Special Birthday Bash Milestone challenge celebrating their 100th challenge and the Show Us Your Pussycats anything goes challenge.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi and