Congrats card...Ismaki challenge

This is my first Ismaki challenge! The sketch is at the bottom of this post.

Here's my interpretation. This card will be going to an artist friend
who'll preside over the opening of her solo art show this Friday.

Background is done with Ecoline inks (# 361 Light Rose and 522 Turquoise Green). I mixed each ink in Ranger Mini Misters with a couple of drops of Winsor and Newton Iridescent Medium, and sprayed on glossy cardstock. Once that was done, I lifted it with tweezers and gently moved it around to encourage the inks to move. They create such wonderful patterns. Paste embossing done with Dreamweaver stencil and black matte paste. I attached the paste-embossed heart by sewing seed beads in the four corners, and also sewed them down each side of the base layer. I've learned to LOVE the Ecoline inks. It was very difficult to find them in North America. The Dreamweaver supplies and inks are available at the Canadian Quietfire Design shop.
I appreciate your visit to my blog!

Something a little different

These are done with Memories Mists and Glimmer Mist on glossy cardstock, using the "smooshinbg" technique. The birthday card is overstamped with Hero Arts leaves. The "Happy Birthday" is a Making Memories rub-on. The "For You" card is overstamped and embossed with the Stampendous Agapanthus stamp, and the greeting is computer generated. Thanks so much for visiting.

Bookmarks bookmarks bookmarks!

The challenge on Wednesday Stamper this week is to create bookmarks. I've really enjoyed doing these whimsicals for my four grand-boys and two sisters. I needed something fun to take me out of the winter doldrums. All stamps are Just Johanna. For colouring bits and pieces, I used Prismaclour Premier Art Markers. For several of them, I pop-dotted critters and books, although I'm not sure whether you can see that, and added googly eyes to the owl. Third bookmark top row uses a free font called kindergarten.

There's a little story about the "Big Owl says reading makes me wise" bookmark. First of all, this Just Johanna owl stamp's name is "Al." When my daughter was about six years old, I remarried. My husband's father, (whose name was also Al) didn't think he was old enough to be called Grandpa (lol), so he suggested she call him "Big Al." She thought he'd said "Big Owl," because she thought he was so wise, and the name stuck till he died. So THIS bookmark will be going to her, hopefully evoking a nice childhood memory.

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by.

Bookmark

This week's challenge at Wednesday Stamper is to create a bookmark.
The challenge over at Arty Girlz is to create something with green.

I love it when I can incorporate something I need to do anyway

into fun challenges!

We're all avid readers in my family.

For Easter, my daughter provides chocolate eggs for her four little boys,
and we always give them a book each. My nearly-four-year-old grandson
LOVES beads...any beads...from my jewelry box, from my bead stash,
anywhere he can find them. He loves WEARING beads,
as delightfully in touch as he is with his "feminine side."

(I hope this never changes!)So, of course, HIS bookmark
HAS to have beads!

This one uses a lovely freebie image from Dover, a couple of Just Johanna stamps,
"Happy Easter" and the pop-dotted bunny, and some punched flowers.

Thanks again for stopping by.

Now I'm off to work on three more bookmarks
for three more very special grand-boys!

Whimsicals

using Just Johanna stamps

Having some fun...

...with my Just Johanna toys!

Wedding card with interlocking blocks (tutorial further down on this blog)

For this baby card, I masked the nest and overstamped and Stickled the bird. I can't see them myself, but there's a Swarovski crystal in the centre of each flower. I didn't have any pink or blue flowers, so I painted white ones with Twinkling H2O's.

Cuttlebugged background, embossed flowers on vellum, coloured kisses and hugs with Tombow markers.

And this is the last one...BRIGHT 'eh!? (lol)

Thanks again for visiting!

Created by Hand Challenge

This week's Created by Hand challenge is to use glossy paper. I printed this fairy image (a freebie from Dover!) on high gloss paper. I stamped and embossed the sentiment on an acetate overlay. I kept the card "uncomplicated," because this beautiful florentine paper is fairly busy, and I like that it plays a central role here. The stamp and paper are available at one of my favourite artsy online shops, Suzanne Canon's Quietfire Design.

Valentine set

The challenge over at Wednesday Stamper during the past week has been for us to create Valentines.

This one used paper piercing with the paisley heart and medium lacy circle stamps.


This one uses the JJ tiny swirly heart and a JJ words stamp, along with a little hand stitching with metallic variegated thread.


For this one, I Cuttlebug-embossed four squares, then stamped the JJ alphabet letters for Love, then added a gold embossed paisley heart. I don't think it showed up in the scan, but I also applied pink chalks to the embossed stitching areas on the squares.


Finally, this one features a photo of some of my Valentine's Day roses from my honey, along with the paisley heart stamp (embossed in white) and shrubbery stamp (embossed in gold).

Thanks so much for visiting again.

Another one for Valentine's Day

Here's an anti-Valentine for this week's Wednesday Stamper challenge, to create a valentine, and another for this week's Arty Girlz challenge...to stamp!

Stamps are Just Johanna. Image is a Greek statue from my image stash, printed on some old Basic Grey paper.

This one has gone to a single-by-choice friend, we exchange funny Valentines every year.

Interlocking Blocks

Here's my Valentine for this week's Wednesday Stamper challenge, to create a valentine, and another for this week's Arty Girlz challenge...to stamp!

I used interlocking blocks.

Here's another, different colours, more masculine. ...I wonder if my husband will see the interlocking blocks as I intended...a subtle visual for a close relationship...hmmm...perhaps not. ;)



Here's how I created the card. You can click on it to see a larger image.

Interlocking Blocks

Cut two three-inch squares (see diagrams below) , one using patterned paper, another using a complementary solid colour paper. For the solid colour square, I used a background painted with Twinkling H2O’s, which I also used as one of the layers for the finished card, and for the punched heart embellishments.

Randomly stamp and heat emboss images over both squares (I used a fern leaf set from Hero Arts, with white embossing powder).

Turn each square over, and on the wrong side, measure 1/2" in from the edges, cut inner square with a craft knife.

Cut one side of one square on a slight angle, about 1/3 of the way up a side. Weave the two squares together in an “over-and-under” fashion. The cut in one square enables you to do this.

When you have a pleasing interlocking pattern, glue together, with the uncut square on top of the cut square, to cover the cut.

Use as you please!

For this card, I mounted the squares on stamped and heat-embossed acetate, again using the Hero Arts leaves set. I heat embossed the sentiment stamp with black embossing powder. I stamped the Inkadinkado flourish heart with Ancient Page Henna Archival Dye Ink, and mounted that inside the interlocking squares. Finally, I used pink and white cardstock and a Twinkling H2O painted layer to complete the card.

The challenge this week...

...at Created by Hand is to use the template provided, and create a house.

The challenge at Arty Girlz is an easy one...just use stamps!

So this piece will work for both.

This little girl from the Vintage Children sheet at Quietfire Design looks like she's sharing a "PSSST! Secret!" The flourish stamps , the sentiment stamp, and that little puffy fabric heart are all from Quietfire as well.

With great regret, I now have to enable comment moderation on my blog, due to the posting of a link (since deleted) containing a Trojan Horse virus by some cretin with too much time to spare and clearly inadequate social skills. Can you tell how happy this makes me!? I know how we hate to have to key in all those mixed up letters after we post a comment, but I sure hope you'll persevere.

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I do appreciate your visit.

Asian inspiration

This card was done for a challenge on Two Peas, to create a card with stencilling and stamping, and also for the current challenge on Wednesday Stamper.

I stitched and beaded the simple bridge-and-water design first, then applied Dreamweaver embossing paste (with a Dreamweaver brass stencil) in two colours/two steps (black matte and gold glossy).

I masked all the tree's leaves, and spread the black first. Then I let it dry and did the reverse: masked the tree trunk areas and applied the gold glossy paste.

The masking proved far more difficult than I'd imagined, because the stencil is so detailed.

Then I applied Variegated Green/Gold Leafing to (ha ha!) the leaves!

Finally, I used a Quietfire stamp at the bottom, and put it all together on a black base.

Here are some other Asian inspired cards, mainly using Dreamweaver stencils and embossing paste, and some variegated gold leafing.

THANK YOU for visiting my blog!

FUN challenges!

Two Peas has a whole week of FUN stamping challenges this week!

Click here to see the master thread, in the stamping forum, where you can whet your creative appetite in all kinds of ways.

I've posted two very different challenges, each has little prizes on offer.






Click here for the Quietfire Design black-and-white challenge.

For this challenge, you have a chance to win a couple of Suzanne's beautiful calligraphy sentiment stamps. Click here to see her full selection.
















Click here for the Just Johanna "Make Us Chuckle" challenge.

There's a fun prize package on offer for this one too. Click here to have a look at the fun and whimsical Just Johanna images.

Go play! Have fun!