Back to School to Live a Dream

This card is for a young woman I know who graduated from Radford University a few years ago with the dream of teaching art or maybe even photography.  Of course thanks to budget cuts and the emphasis on STEM, such positions are few and far between.  She cobbled together part time jobs, some in her field and some not, until last Tuesday she began the school year as a high school photography teacher.  I am so proud of her!

For the background I applied Distress inks directly to acrylic blocks, misted them with water, and pressed them onto smooth watercolor paper.  I left each block on for several minutes to allow the color to absorb and become more vivid.  I used a MISTI to stamp the cameras three times each to get the intense black and embossed the sentiment with black embossing powder on vellum.  The embellishments are Nuvo dots.  To make the mat I used the backside of a metallic paper I bought at Micheal's years ago because it was the most intensly black paper I had.

I plan to enter this card in the Paper Players "Back to School" challenge.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials:
Paper:  watercolor paper from Close to My Heart, vellum and metallic paper from Michael's
Ink:  Wild Honey, Worn Lipstick, and Broken China Distress Inks by Ranger, Black from Close to My Heart
Stamps:  Retired Close to MY Heart Stamp of the Months from years ago
Embellishemnts:  Caribbean Ocean Nuvo Drops, Black embossing powder by Stampendous

Freshly Made Sketches Meets Eastern Palace

I am an aging hippie who still sometimes wears flowing Indian print clothes.  Now they call it boho, lol!  I have always been fascinated with India.  I love the rich colors and gold accents in everything from clothing to artwork to home decor.  And the food of course...  My husband use to travel to India for work, and in 2009 I got to join him at the end of his trip and spend five too short days there.

When I flipped through the new Stampin Up catalog I knew the Eastern Palace suite products were going to be at the top of my wish list.  Today I played with a few of them using this Freshly Made Sketch:

For my first attempt I used the thinlits and stamp set, gold embossing the stamped images.  I even embossed along the edges of the center panel.  To accommodate the thinlit I wanted to use I had to make a 6.5 x 5 inch card rather than my usual 5.5 x 4.25.

You say you don't have a heat tool or maybe you don't have time for embossing?  No worries!  The suite includes gold vinyl stickers which I used here.

I had to fudge the dimensions a bit because the border stickers are 6 inches long.  This is the card I plan to enter in the challenge.  The suite also includes specialty paper and adorable mini tassels which I could not work into the design, so I will have to use them on my next card.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used:
Paper:  Fresh Fig and Tranquil Tide from Stampin Up, White Daisy from Close to My Heart
Stamps:  Eastern Beauty from Stampin Up
Ink:  Peacock from Close to My Heart, Versamark
Embellishments:  Ranger Princess Gold Embossing Powder, Blue Sparkles from Close to My Heart (retired)

Lighthouse and Waves for Mojo Monday

When I saw this Mojo Monday sketch I knew immediately what I wanted to do with it.  Finding the time this week was another story!

To make the background I stamped my new Hero Arts Waves background stamp using Versamark, embossed the image with Ranger White Detail embossing powder, and sponged on Distress Inks.  I left one at that and sprayed the other until it was saturated to the point of puddling and let it dry to a soft watercolor look.  I then ran it though my Cuddlebug with the sandwich I would use to die cut plus two pieces of cardstock to flatten it back out.  Lastly I sponged around the edge of each panel with Chipped Sapphire to ground it against the card base.  Background done!

Next I heat embossed the lighthouse and birds from Close to My Heart's Perfect Day set in white on vellum.  This is one of my favorite stamps because, not only do I love lighthouses, but this one resembles the Old Cape Henry Lighthouse in my hometown.  The trick to attaching vellum is to apply the adhesive behind the embossing.  For one I folded the top over the edge on the background panel and glued the flap to the back.

Rather than trying to match colored cardstock to ink, I cut strips of White Daisy cardstock and sponged on the same Distress Inks.  The scripture verse was stamped with Blue Denim pigment ink and embossed with Stampendous Clear Detail powder.

The Harriet Beecher Stowe quote was stamped with Versamark and embossed with Stampendous PEARLuster embossing powder.

Both sentiments were attached with foam tape.  A few Bitty Sparkles from Close to My Heart complete the card.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Sherlock Seizes the Birthday

My sister is owned by a mischievous ginger cat with a white chin, chest and paws named Sherlock, so how could I not buy this stamp by Stampendous to make her a birthday card and enter it into the Seize the Birthday challenge to use an animal?  I stamped him with Chocolate ink from Close to My Heart and colored him with Prismacolor pencils.  The sentiment is popped up with foam tape.  Here is the inside:

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used:

Paper:  White Daisy and Sweet Leaf cardstock from Close to My Heart

Stamps:  Feline Curious by Stampendous, Love My Cat and Birthday Sparkles by Close to My Heart

Ink:  Chocolate from Close to My Heart

Other:  Prismacolor pencils

Freshly Made Goldfish

I used my new Color Layering Goldfish stamp set from Hero Arts and this Freshly Made Sketch to make this card of encouragement for a friend.

Following the directions in Jennifer McGuire's Water Color + Embossing Folders video, I swiped mini distress ink pads across the flat side of an embossing folder, used the inked folder to emboss a piece of White Daisy cardstock, misted the now embossed and inked panel with water until it was saturated, and let it dry.  Of course it warped as it dried, so I ran it through my Cuddlebug set up as though I were going to use a die cut to flatten it out.

Next it was time for the goldfish.  I used my MISTI to stamp the first two layers leaving the second layer stamp in the MISTI and an acrylic block to stamp the "facial features."  I then stamped over the fish with Versamerk using the second layer stamp and embossed it with clear detail powder.  I repeated the embossing process two more times for dimension and shine.  The sentiment was embossed using a mixture of Sapphire and black powders on vellum.

Now to put it together.  I folded the ends of the vellum under the background panel and applied a toothpick sized bit of liquid glass under parts of the sentiment and the fins of the fish.  I attached the fish with thin foam tape and used liquid glass to embellish his eye and create some bubbles. 

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used:
Paper:  White Daisy cardstock from Close to My Heart, Vellum
Stamp:  Color Layering Goldfish by Hero Arts
Ink:  Broken China, Pine Needles, and Chopped Sapphire Distress Inks by Ranger, Honey, Poppy, and Cocoa by Close to My Heart, Versamark
Embellishments:  Clear Detail embossing powder by Stampendous, liquid glass by Close to My Heart, Quatrefoil embossing folder by Close to My Heart

Freshly Made with ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers

I have been seeing a lot about ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers and had a birthday check to spend so...  Here is my first attempt with them using Altenew's Persian Motifs stamp set and this Freshly Made Sketch:

Yes, the tip really is a brush and they can be used like watercolors.  I made life a little easier by embossing the image which helped me stay within the lines.  The panel is popped up with a sheet of craft foam and the sentiment with foam tape.  Here is the inside:

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used:
Paper:  Strathmore watercolor paper, Colonial White, Thistle, and Fern cardstock from Close to My Heart
Stamps:  Persian Motifs and Beautiful Day by Altenew, Holiday Tags by Close to My Heart
Ink:  ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers, Fern from Close to My Heark, Versamark
Embellishments:  Princess Gold by Ranger and PEARLusture Rubellitte by Stampenous embossing powders

Freshly Made Watercolor Embossing

After watching the Jennifer McGuire video, Watercolor + Embossing Folders, I couldn't wait to play.  Essentially you rub Distress Ink on one side of an embossing folder, usually the flat side, put in watercolor paper, run it through your embossing machine, spray it with water until saturated, and wait for it to dry.  After doing one panel inking the flat side, I tried it inking the raised side for a different effect.  When the paper was dry I put it back through the Cuddlebug set up for die cutting which flattened it somewhat so it had the texture of heat embossing.  Lastly I sponged a bit of ink around the edges.

I then used this Freshly Made Sketch and Altenew's Peony Bouquet stamp set to make a birthday card.

The Peony Bouquet has four (!) layers, a base, an optional outline, a midtone shadow, and a deep shadow layer.  There is a PDF guide as well as this post and this video on Altenew's website to help you line them up.  I found it was a lot easier to see the parts of the shadow layers that need to line up  after the stamp  was inked which makes it hard to use a MISTI.  If you want to use a MISTI it is easier if the stamps have acquired a bit of stain to help you see which parts actually stamp.  If you miss a bit so they are not perfectly lined up you can fussy cut them and remove the parts that "stick out."  After I cut mine out I used a foam eye make-up applicator to ink the edges where I cut off the outline.  I could have also skipped the outline layer all together but I found I needed the outline the first few times I used this stamp to help me line up layers.

The sentiment is heat embossed in gold on vellum. and the flower attached with foam tape.  I used a bit of gold metallic paper to compliment the embossing.  Here is the inside:

I also plan to enter this in the Seize the Birthday Anything Goes Challenge.

Thank you for stopping by!  Until next time, Hansi

Materials used:
Paper:  Watercolor paper, White Daisy and Desert Sand cardstock from Close to My Heart, Vellum from Michael's, Gold metallic paper from Amazon
Ink:  Pixie, Hollyhock. Vineyard Berry, Sweet Leaf, Topiary, New England Ivy, and Cashmere from Close to My Heart, Victorian Velvet, Aged Mahogany, Gathered Twigs distressed inks from Ranger, Versamark
Stamps:  Peony Bouquet by Altenew, Holiday Tags and You Mean the World to Me by Close to My Heart
Embellishments:  Princess Gold embossing powder form Ranger
Other:  Embossing folder by Spellbinders