Emboss Resist Birthday

 There's a fun emboss resist challenge going on over at the CAS Mix Up blog this month.

They have links to several different ways to achieve the look and I chose Heat Emboss Resist  with Water Color Wash.

I used a really cool stencil called Milky Way from A Colorful Life Designs, laying it over a panel of watercolor paper and taping around the edges to hold it down.  Then I sponged over the stencil using a finger dauber and Versamark Ink.   I carefully removed the stencil and heat embossed the panel with clear embossing powder.  Then I brushed water over the embossed area and brushed on  the water colors one at a time and not overlapping so it didn't make mud!   I adhered the die cut sentiment from Altenew over the image.

You'll find the challenge here.

Paper: Water color paper - Canson Cold Press, true black - PTI
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: Milky Way Stencil - A Colorful Life Design, Essential Sentiment Strips die set - Altenew, Winsor and Newton Water color paints, paint brush, water, heat tool, clear embossing powder.

Use Your Wings

 I'm joining in with the July CAS Mix Up challenge today.  The challenge this month is Watercolor and the theme is 'Things with Wings'.

My thing with wings is the dragonfly made using Curio Summer Findings from the Greetery.  My water coloring is the wings as well as the blue background.  I smooshed Dox inks in Speckled Egg and Spiced Marmalade (one at a time!)  onto my craft mat, spritzed with water and then smooshed panels of water color paper, one into each color.  I hope that counts as using watercoloring!

I used Pin Point Rings from Poppy Stamps to emboss the circles and a Small Talk Sticker for the sentiment.

Linking to:

CAS Mix Up

 

 

Less is More

Wishing everyone in the USA a Happy 4th of July!

My vase is a cute little woodpecker filled with Blanket Flowers from my garden.  

I thought they looked bright like fireworks!  

I change his topper every week using whatever is blooming.

The eagle is a die and stamp set from Papertrey Ink.

Paper: Water color paper - Canson Cold Press, white - PTI
Ink: Ranger Distress Oxide Speckled Egg and Spiced Marmalade.
Accessories: Curio: Summer Findings Dies- The Greetery, Pinpoint Rings Emboss - Poppy Stamps, craft mat, water mister, Small Talk Stickers - Tim Holtz/Idea-ology, black Copic.

Stencil Butter Sympathy

 I was excited to see that Loll started up the CAS Mix Up challenges after a 3 month hiatus.  Loll is the hostess this month and her challenge is to use pastes or gels through a stencil.

I have lots of pastes and gels that I don't use very often (!).  Never the less, I recently purchased some new Stencil Butter (mostly because the name sounded good enough to spread on toast!)

So that's what I pulled out to use for this challenge - Chartreuse Stencil Butter and Turquoise Stencil Butter.  I started with the Turquoise - spreading it over just part of the stencil with a palette knife and then tried to spread the Chartreuse over the open bits - of course the colors got blended a bit - but I love how it ended up! The stencil is Flower Mask from Lavinia.

I added the layered die cut sympathy and some Majestic Crystals.

The challenge is open until 6/24 and you'll find it here.

Paper:  Water color - Canson Cold Press, White, True Black - PTI.

Accessories:  Chartreuse and Turquoise Stencil Butters - The Crafters Workshop, Flower Mask Stencil - Lavinia, palette knife, Majestic Crystals - Prima.

Cloisonne Jar of Flowers

Today I'm joining in with the CAS Mix Up Card Challenge - using Faux Cloisonne.  I have not done this before so wanted to check it out!

I used embossing, and stenciling with mousse as my mediums and stamped the sentiment.

I used the cloisonne technique where you take a page from a glossy magazine and gold emboss an image over it.  I didn't have any magazines so I got out last years calendar from the Disabled Veterans that luckily, I hadn't thrown out yet.

This one was from a photo of a sunrise on a farm road, of oranges and tans with a pink sky.  I tried to line up the stamp in an area of colors that would work with the image.

 

Here's the image I used below -  I stamped it in two places  and ended up using the one cut out on the left where it showed the sun rising in the orange sky.    

The area on the right was all a mix of oranges and yellows and didn't have enough variation and you couldn't see the detail of the image very well.

I wanted to try another page with different colors so here is my second card.

Here's the calendar page I used for this stamping, just capturing the darkness of the night landscape and the purples and reds of the sunset.

For both cards, I die cut scalloped frames and stenciled over the center of them using Mother of Pearl Nuvo Embellishment Mousse with a bubbles stencil.  

I adhered each faux cloisonne image to a die cut piece of white card to give it sturdiness and layered it over the stenciling with foam dots after the mousse was dry.  

I stamped the Hello in coordinating colors, punched it with a Word Window punch, added 3 gold pearls and layered it over the image with foam dots.

The CAS Mix Up Card Challenge

Stamps: Mason Jar of Flowers - Stamping Bella, Hello from Hero Arts Sentiment Set
Paper: White - PTi, Watercolor paper - Canson Cold Press
Ink: Versamark, Marigold, Purple Wine - Altenew
Accessories: Mason Jar of Flowers die - Stamping Bella, Stacked Scallop Medium die- PTI, Bubble Layering Stencil - Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous, Nuvo Embellishment Mousse Mother of Pearl, word window punch - SU, foam dots, glossy image from a calendar, gold pearls, heat tool.

A Fun Day Pressing Plants!

 I checked out the CAS Mix Up Card Challenge this month and got so excited about it I made a plethora of cards.  Hostess Bonnie's  challenge is Botanical Prints -  to gather leaves, flowers, stems etc from your garden and then press them with your Big Shot or gel press them etc.  Bonnie has links to several videos for different techniques.

So my first card was made using a leaf stem from one of my Astilbe plants - long past bloom but the leaves are still green

I put the stem between two pieces of water color paper and ran it through my Vagabond.  The first card is more CAS and I'm linking this one to the challenge.  This is the print gotten from the back side of the stem and pressed much lighter than the panel that was over the front of the stem (see 2nd card)

I added a stamped sentiment panel up on foam dots, 3 green enamel dots and splatter - using a gold Paint Marker.

My second card uses the front panel of watercolor paper that was laid on top of the face up stem,  It gave a much darker imprint.  I die cut this panel with Ship Lap Builder from the Greetery, layered it over a piece of DP from Ink Drops/Earth paper pad from Craft Consortium..  The ship lap die adds woodgrain texture to the panels and they are popped up on foam dots.  I stamped the sentiment on a strip of water color paper in brown ink and splattered the panel  with the same gold Paint Marker I used above.

For my next card I pressed 2 geranium leaves and a few red single petals that were left on the geranium.  These leaves pressed very lightly on both front and back panels and the petals were very watery and ran across the panels.   I stamped Quinn and Hearts Mini from Lavinia over the pressing using my Misti to get good coverage over the water color paper, and added splatter using a Purple POSCA Ink fine tip pen.  I stamped the sentiment from Heart Felt Verses from Lavinia on a strip of watercolor paper and used it as a seat/grounding for Quinn.  I added Clear Glitter Wink of Stella to her wings but you can't really see the sparkle in the photo.

And finally,  another press from two geranium leaves and a full red geranium blossom - funny how it turns purple when pressed!  I die cut the panel with Nordic Circles from the Greetery, I layered the outside piece over a white card base with foam tape and adhered the pressed circle inside.  I splattered the card with a Purple POSCA ink pen and added the stamped sentiment on a die cut strip up on foam dots.

What a fun day I had in my craft room pressing these leaves and petals from my garden -  now I'm going back in to try out the gel press technique shown over at the challenge.

CAS Mix Up

Snow Drop Sympathy

Every month I have all good intentions of joining in on the CAS Mix Up Card Challenge - and the days go by.......  well, this month , the challenge is using Alcohol Inks on vellum which really intrigued me so I got right down to it!

I found some Linen Vellum from PTI on my shelves and thought that might add a little texture to the background - but it didn't really show through the inks.   I swished the Alcohol Inks on 4 panels before I was happy with any result!   You just really cannot control the inks - they just do what they want pretty much!

I used some new AI's that I recently purchased -  Cloudy Blue, Moss, Snow Cap Mixative and Alcohol Blending Solution.

I dropped some of the blue onto the vellum, then some Snow Cap into the middle of the drops, tilted the paper back and forth to make it run, added some Alcohol Blending solution to make it more watery and repeated all those steps with some drops of Moss!  The Snow Cap is really chalky and dried slowly, such that I hit it with my heat tool so I could get on with putting my card together!

I die cut the Snow Drops (Alexandra Renke) out of water color paper that I had put a double sided adhesive sheet on the back of, so when I had the die cut pieces there was already adhesive on the back and I didn't have to add glue to all the thin strips of stem.    I adhered them to the vellum panel.

I die cut a white panel using Crimped Frames from the Greetery and trimmed down my vellum panel to fit inside the crimping.    I adhered that to a white card base, stamped the sympathy sentiment on a sentiment strip and layered it over the panel with foam dots.

So finally -   I have a card to link to the CAS Mix Up Card Challenge!   

I used AI's on Vellum, stamping and die cuts.

Stamps:  Simple Strips: Sympathy - Taylored Expressions.

Paper:  White, Linen Vellum - PTI, Water color paper - Canson Cold Press.

Ink:  True Black - PTI

Accessories:  Stick It Double Sided Adhesive Sheets, Snow Drops Die - Alexandra Renke, Crimped Frames - The Greetery, Simple Strips Dies - Taylored Expressions, foam dots, Ranger Alcohol Inks - Cloudy Blue, Moss, Snow Cap Mixative, Alcohol Blending Solution, foam dots.

CAS Mix Up Jan 2021 Splatter

 I've resolved to play more often in the CAS Mix Up Challenges in 2021.  So I'm starting right off in January!

I used splatters, Washi Tape, stamping and enamel dots on my card today.

Splatter is such a tricky thing, depending on what medium you use and the method of application, you really don't know where the splatter will go!   So mine worked out pretty well accept for that rogue dot in the sentiment!  I used a watery brown watercolor paint on a paint brush that I tapped with my finger over the panel.

There are two new members on the CAS Mix Up design team starting this month so be sure to check out the challenge and all of the DT's inspiration for splattering!  They also have some links to technique videos for splattering to help you hone your skills! 

You'll find the challenge here.

Stamps:  Coffee Set - Waltzingmouse (retired)

Ink:  Dark Chocolate - PTI

Paper:  White, Dark Chocolate, Soft Stone - PTI

Accessories:  Coffee Cups Washi Tape - Alexandra Renke, enamel dots - Altenew, brown water paint, paint brush, water.

Mid Month CAS Stencil Challenge Reminder! Alcohol Inks

Just a reminder that you still have time (until 7/24!) to link up your CAS Stencil Challenge card!  This month Cathy is our hostess and she is asking us to use Alcohol Inks and/or the Alcohol Lift Technique!

I wanted to do some more Alcohol Lifting with my card today!  I took a panel of Yupo White Heavy Stock and pounced over it with a felt pad on my applicator inked with Alcohol Pearls in Splendor (orange), Enchanted (pink) and Sublime (green).  Then I dropped some Alcohol Blending Solution over the panel to move the colors and again pounced on it with the inked felt to add some more color.  When I was happy how it was blended, I let it dry.  

Then I laid two different Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous mini stencils, a grid and a floral (one at a time!) over my panel.  I added a drop of Alcohol Lift Reinker to a foam circle on my applicator, rubbed it off onto my craft mat (as you only want a bit!) then pounced over the stencil to remove the ink.  I laid a paper towel over the stencil each time and pressed over it to remove some of the Alcohol Lift Reinker.  I removed the stencil and then laid a paper towel over the panel and pressed over it again to remove more Alcohol Lift Reinker.  When the panel was dry, I rubbed over it to remove any more of the Lift ink.

I die cut the Winterland Fairy from Poppy Stamps out of black card stock and her wings out of vellum.  I adhered her wings to her back and adhered the fairy to the panel with foam dots.  I die cut the white panel using Pierced Feature Frames from PTI.  I stamped the sentiment from Paper Angel and adhered the inked piece onto the white.
Hopefully you can see the shimmer from the Alcohol Pearls below.

You'll find lots of inspiration  from the Design Team and our July Guest Designer Janet as well as links to tutorials using Alcohol Inks and the lift technique over at the challenge blog.   

I was remiss on my first July CAS Stencil Post in not welcoming Viv as a new member to our Design Team!  We are so happy to have you join us Viv!

Also linking my card to:

CAS Mix Up

using stamping, alcohol ink lift and die cuts.

Lavinia World Challenge #5

Stamps:  Wishing You Joy -  Paper Angel
Paper:  Yupo White Heavy Stock  - Ranger, Vellum, White, True Black - PTI
Ink:  Alcohol Pearls Splendor, Enchanted, Sublime, Hero Hues Black
Accessories:  Floral and Grid Mini Stencils - Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous, Winterland Fairy Die - Poppy Stamps, Pierced Feature Frame Die - PTI, foam dots, felt pad, foam pad, applicator - Ranger, Alcohol Blending Solution.

July CAS Stencil Card Challenge - Alcohol Inks/Alcohol Lift

It's time for the July CAS Stencil Card Challenge!  Cathy is our creative host this month and she would like to see us use Alcohol Inks and/or Alcohol Lift Technique on our CAS cards!

I was excited to try out the Alcohol Lift Technique - as I had purchased all the supplies for it (Yupo paper, Alcohol Lift Ink and reinker and a few more Alcohol Inks) when the technique was first introduced by Tim Holtz last January, but never found the time to try it out!

There are links to some AI technique videos over at CAS Stencil.  One by our very own Loll!

I looked at this one by Jennifer McGuire

Alcohol Lift Ink Techniques: by Jennifer McGuire  (Stencil technique part starts at (~15:50)

 I have a few photos showing my process.

I dropped 3 alcohol inks, Dandelion, Coral and Pink Sherbet onto the felt pad applicator and pounced it onto a panel of Yupo paper.  I dropped some Alcohol Blending solution onto the card and pounced that as well until I had the blended look I wanted.

I laid the stencil (Oval of Flowers from SSS) over one side of the panel.

I squirted some Alcohol Lift Reinker onto a round felt on a mini applicator and pounced it over the stencil until I saw that a lot of the ink was lifted.

 NOTE:  OOPS!!! I realized after that I was supposed to use a round FOAM sponge on the applicator with the Lift Ink - you can have seepage using the felt - mine came out ok but for my next time I'll use the foam!

 Then I dabbed over the stencil with a paper towel to remove more of the lifted ink.

 I removed the stencil and waited a minute to be sure the lift ink was dry and then buffed over the panel with another paper towel to reveal the cleaned lift - so cool!  I repeated the process on the other half of my panel so I could make two cards.

 I cut a panel of watercolor paper for the background of my stenciled piece but it looked really plain (!) so I splattered some orange water color ink over it.  Some of the drops were large and watery so I dried it with my heat tool before moving on!

 I die cut my Yupo panel as well as a piece of Orange Zest card with the Pierced Feature Frames: Ovals from PTI.  I layered the frame over the splattered panel with foam dots and the stenciled piece inside the frame.  I stamped the sentiment (Label Love - Altenew) onto white card, cut it out and layered it over the frame.  Then I added some black rhinestones.

 I made the background panel for the second card with black watercolor ink splatters.

 A small change but big visual difference I think?!

So please join us this month with this fun challenge to use your Alcohol Inks with your stencils!  You have until July 18th to link up your CAS cards!

You'll find links to tutorials as well as lots of creative inspiration from the Design team as well as our wonderful guest designer this month,  Janet - Swanlady Impressions over at CAS Stencil!

I'm also linking my card to:

Inkspirational

Either card works!  I have 3 black rhinestones  on 3 flowers on the first card and 5 black rhinestones on 5 flowers on the 2nd!

CAS Mix Up

Stamps:  Label Love - Altenew
Paper:  Yupo Alcohol Ink Paper - Ranger, White, Orange Zest - PTI, watercolor paper - Canson
Ink:  Hero Hues Black,  Alcohol Inks Dandelion, Coral, Pink Sherbert.
Accessories:  Oval of Flowers Stencil - Simon Says Stamp, watercolor paints, brush, water, Pierced Feature Frames: Ovals - PTI, foam dots, black rhinestones - Kaiser Craft, felt applicators and handle.

Consider the Lilies

There's a fun technique challenge over on the CAS Mix Up Card Challenge blog this month!  

I was intrigued as I don't think I have ever heard of Layered Stamping with Heat Embossing??!! 

I used the technique Jennifer McGuire shows on this video that was linked to over on the CAS Mix Up Blog:  Layered Heat Embossing.  There are other links posted at CAS Mix Up as well.

I just purchased the older PTI stamp and die sets called Lilies of the Field and it just happened to have 4 stamps for each lily - so it was perfect for this challenge!

 I die cut the lily and stem out of kraft card.  I white embossed the first layer of stamp, then I used yellow on the 2nd layer and tree branch on the third little center piece there.   I stamped the final stamp (the stamens) in black ink .

I die cut the PTI oval frame out of Kraft card as well as a dotted vellum (the inside of the circle - can you see the dots?  It's pretty subtle.).   I gold embossed the sentiment from Garden of Faith Sentiments.  I popped up the outside frame as well as the lily blossom on foam dots.

ETA:  Another photo I took with my phone in the sunlight - hopefully showing the dotted vellum?!

Inside I stamped:  

& how much more he cares for you - from the Lilies of the Field set

HAPPY Easter -  from  Easter Alleluias 

So this was a fun new technique learned and now I want to try it out with other stamps I have that have multiple layers!

I'm linking my card to:

CAS Mix Up Card Challenge

Country View Challenges

April Easter/Spring

Stamps:  Lilies of the Field, Garden of Faith Sentiments - PTI
Paper:  White, Kraft, Sheer Basics Pattern Pack Vellum - PTI
Ink:  Versamark, Classic Kraft - PTI, Black Hero Hues.
Accessories:  Pierced Feature Frames: Ovals, Lilies of the Field Die Set - PTI, foam dots, Antique Gold Embossing Powder - Altenew.