Thinking Inking

Night Owl. . .

Last night I played with a Wordsworth set, It's Your Day. Birds of all sorts seem to be "in" right now, and I don't have many of them--a fraction of as many as I have flowers! I thought that I'd pull out one of the two bird sets that I have and give it a whirl. The finished dimensions of this card are 3-1/4" x 6-1/2". I stamped the tree trunk in Versamagic Jumbo Java, the owl in Versamagic Night Sky and Pumpkin Spice, and the sentiment in Versamagic Tea Leaves and Key Lime. (The Key Lime is on top of the trunk, and the Tea Leaves is the rest of the sentiment. That was a little tricky but possible because this is a clear set of stamps.) 

After stamping the owl, tree, and sentiment, the whiteness of the paper seemed awfully stark, especially since the owl (usually nocturnal) was wide awake. So I tool my Copic Airbrush System and my BV04 marker and airbrushed some night sky behind where I wanted to pop up the owl image.  I was pleased with how that turned out since the darker background really makes the owl's eye whites stand out.

I used some Rubber Soul Meadow's Edge printed card stock as my background layer and matted with Rubber Soul's Limeaid.The green ric rac was some that I picked up in a cloth department, and while I love ric rac, it was not tying nicely. To solve that problem, I stretched the straight line around the patterned layer and taped in on the back, then tied a knot in a short piece and attached it with a mini glue dot. That made it lay much more nicely than it would have if I'd just wrapped it and tied the knot. Mini brads are SU Rich Regals.

Have a lovely day!

Pick a Petal Thinking of You

After seeing Michelle Giraud's incredible (and that doesn't begin to describe it) black and white Pick a Petal ensemble in this month's SplitCoastStampers DDGallery**, I wanted to play with Pick a Petal again. Since I'm on a mission to use some of my designer paper before it is hopelessly out of date, I used my SU Cutie Pie paper, along with my Wild Wasabi stitched grosgrain. 

To get that grosgrain to curve, I grabbed the white thread on just one side and pulled.  That worked a tiny bit of gathering into one side; I spread that gather out so that it didn't pucker and used a bit of monoadhesive on the back to hold the ribbon iin place. I dotted the flower center with some clear Stickles and attached the petals with foam tape. I matted the blue layer and stamped the sentiment (PaperTrey Ink's Faux Ribbon set) in Purely Pomegranate. The finished size of this card is 4-1/4" square. 

**I am linking to Michelle's creation, but if you are not a member of the SCS Fan Club, you still won't be able to access it. Trust me, it's brilliant. . .

Late Summer Flowers

Yesterday I took some pictures of my sunflowers. At this time of year, we can expect a killing frost soon, though our garden is well-protected and tends to get frost later than many of those nearby. Since I was taking pictures of sunflowers, I had yellow flowers on the brain when I started stamping. How about some older SU sets? I used Bud Basics for the main flowers and leaves, the swirl-vine stamp from Baroque Motifs, Fine Lace, and that French Swirl background that came out in a mini catalog last year.

Flowers are stamped in Summer Sun, with the edges rolled in So Saffron. Leaves and most of the background stamping  are in River Rock, with the PaperTrey Faux Ribbon sentiment being stamped in Always Artichoke. I used my ticket corner, photo corner, and 1/8" hole punches. Main image is stamped on Poison Ivory, the ivory version of Shimmery White. (That's Sharon Harnist's and Trudee Sauer's fault.  They tempted me to order it! BTW, thanks, ladies--I love it!)  The grosgrain is SU's stitched River Rock, and the beads on the stick pin are from SU's Pretties kit. I used my Copic Airbrush system to spray some yellow marker on the clear crystal to make it coordinate with the flowers a bit better. I have to confess that while I adore these stick pins on everybody else's cards, this is the first time that I've been able to make myself use one. Why?  I'm not sure. . .  It seems like many people who use them well have a talent for making them look artfully casual.  But when I try them, they just look odd. Go figure. The Robin's Eggs are some neat little acrylic baubles that Ellen Hutson sent me to try. They come in several colors, and I think that she is going to be carrying them in her store soon. Background mat is River Rock, and the focal image's mat is Always Artichoke.

I'd love to share my sun- flowers with you. See in the sky past the sunflowers on the outer left? That's one of our maple trees adorned in its Fall finery! In the second sunflower picture, you can see a bumble bee if you look closely. In picture three, I liked the way that the sun was filtering through the flower petals.

I included picture four simply because I loved the unique color of this particular variety of sunflower. It makes me smile to look out my windows and see these happy giants every day.

Thank you for visiting!

Shabby Christmas Tree

Tonight I played with the new CPS Sketch 32. I turned it on its side like Keri did in her sample because I wanted to use a long stamp as the focal image. My layout doesn't fit the sketch perfectly because my image was a bit long, but it's close enough.  Finished size of the card is 5" x 5". (Don't ask how I"ll get that into a standard envelope; I guess I'll have to make one!)

The Charlie Brown-ish Christmas tree is a Wordsworth image from the Tree Extravaganza clear set, 7006-V. The Merry Christmas sentiment is from Wordsworth's Mod Christmas, V030. Paper is Basic Grey's Dasher Collection. (I can't believe that I didn't get this pack last year! Now there's already a new collection--Figgy Pudding--to drool over. . .)

I used the Tsukineko Versamagic Dew Drops chalk inks in the following colors to stamp the tree and ornaments: Tea Leaves, Red Magic, Jumbo Java, Night Sky, and Mango Madness. I used my Copic airbrush system to add a hint of blue (B000) in the background and a slight shadow (W2) at the tree base. Next I used a Spica clear glitter pen to color all of the needles and the tree trunk for some delicate shimmer. I used a few drops of Ranger Glossy accents to give the ornaments dimension and shine. This was a fun little sketch to play with; thanks, CPS!

Have a lovely day!

. . ."Happy, happy Halloweenie"

Well, people, this is it--the last of my Halloween cards. Usually the biggest deal about Halloween at our house is that chocolate and superhero costumes will be half price when we shop the next day!

These two little Lockhart Halloween images* were so cute that I just had to play with them. I colored them with a combination of Copic markers** and Prismacolor pencils, and I used the Spica clear glitter pen to dot the stars for added twinkle. Background paper is Memory Box Spooky Collection, and mats are SU's Lovely Lilac cut with Spellbinders Scalloped Rectangle Nestability dies.

It's looking like Fall here in the U.P of Michigan!  The leaves get more beautiful every day.  Soon they will all be gone. . .  I think that a long walk is in order tomorrow. I hope that you have a lovely day too.

*Images are Lockhart Witch, Witch's Legs, and sentiment Witchie, Witchie.

**Copic markers used: W2, YR09, YR16, Y17, YG00, YG03, BV02, BV04. I list markers colors only because some of you have requested this. If you do not have exactly the same markers colors that I used, relax! This is supposed to be fun.  Substitute what you do have!

Trick or Treat Chickie

My little boy has been asking me to open a bag of candy corn ever since I bought it to do one of my PaperTrey treat projects a few weeks back. I thought that I'd let him open it tomorrow, but I had to make one more blog-project with it first. I used a little Rubber Soul ghost chick to make a 3" x 3" Mish-tent card and candy bag topper. Patterned paper is some Memory Box Spooky Collection, and words are from PaperTrey Ink's Spooky Sweets set.  I also used my Copic markers (Y15, Y17, Y19, YR16, Booo, C1, and 0) and  my brand new (as in arrived today!) Spellbinders Classic and Scalloped Circle nestability dies.

Many of you have e-mailed me in the past and asked which set of Spellbinders Nestability dies I have used, and I have not been able to give you an answer since I mixed them all up into the same case (by shape) when I got them. Not wanting to repeat that mistake, I was very careful to label my cases this time so that I could tell you which sets I had used!  Tonight I used the Classic Scalloped Circle Large Nest and the Standard Circle Large Nest. I took a picture of my die storage--not an original idea, but it's what I'm using. I know that many of you are getting your dies, and I thought that it might be helpful to see a picture of this.

Buy standard (not thin) CD cases. (Superstores generally carry them in a ten-pack for about $5.) Pop the actual CD holder out, and use magnetic tape to put about three strips of tape down both sides of the inside of the CD cases. Take your dies out of the packaging, remove the tape backing, and lay them in your CD case. I tried the magnetic inkjet business card sheets, and they did not have a strong enough magnetic pull to hold the dies securely; the magnetic tape rolls work much better. If your dies are in order, you can see at a glance when one is missing and look for it before it disappears forever. Ü 

Have a lovely day!

P.S. If you haven't seen the cruise news, you have GOT to check this out!  I just saw it. . . Nichole, Gina, and Em--that would have to be a blast!

Soft Sky Friendship

Isn't Soft Sky a lovely color?  Here I paired it with Shimmery White for a simple but elegant look. I've used a very similar layout with gray once, but the two cards feel different because of the colors. I used the Baroque background stamp with Soft Sky ink. (This is  a fabulous background!) Ribbon is SU's ivory taffeta, and the tiny pearls are self adhesive ones that I got from Ellen here. I had just a bit of trouble getting my ribbon ends to lay perfectly, so I put a tiny dot of foam tape under both ribbon tails--problem solved!

Thank you for visiting today.

Home Again

I don't do this often, but I wanted to tell you a non-stamping story. After lunch today we went into Iron Mountain to welcome the 46th MP Company home from Iraq. I doubt that you would see a story like this on a national newscast. But in small town America, families still line the roads along the route that the two bus-loads of our young men and women travel to get back to the National Guard Armory in Kingsford. (I so wish that I'd had my camera with me!  I didn't, so my friend Hope sent me a picture that she took.)

First came the police cars with sirens, then firetrucks from counties all around. Next rode a 147-motorcycle escort, many with double riders. (Someone else counted them!) Finally came our troops. I think they were touched. I know that I was. It was all pretty blurry behind my sunglasses. . . We rejoiced with those who came home physically unharmed. We ached for those who had come home earlier and are going through months or even years of rehab due to injuries. And we cried for the family of Jim Priestap, our only local young husband, father, son, and brother who won't see his family again this side of Heaven.  We thank them all. And we thank God for bringing them home.

Bark and Gingham, Oh My!

Tonight I'm posting a couple of dissimilar cards, but they have a common thread: both backgrounds were designed for Cornish Heritage Farms by Lisa Strahl (MonaLisa on SCS).  The first one uses her Montana Tree Bark backgrounder. What a great guy card background! I paired it here with a part of the Thomas Kinkade The Good Life stamp, stamped on Very Vanilla with Versamagic Jumbo Java chalk ink. I kept it pretty simple because bark and fussiness aren't generally compatible. One thing that I did here (that I usually do on wood grain backgrounds as well) is to stamp the image in one direction, then carefully lift the stamped image and turn it 180 degrees and stamp it again without reinking.  That will give you extra depth without a repetitive pattern showing up.

Second, I used Lisa's new Gingham backgrounder with one of my favorite Lockhart images, the Sunflowers in a waterpail. (I think I like coloring that pail!) I used Groovy Guava ink on a Blush Blossom Background and matted the image with Blue Bayou card stock. The little "sending joy" tag is from PaperTrey's Holiday Treats set.

One of my stamping friends came over this afternoon to learn how to use her new Spellbinders dies (a classic square here) and Copic markers; of course I had to show her my Copic Airbrush system as well. Since I had a mask cut for this pail already, I stamped the Sunflowers image, masked it, and airbrushed a quick background with Y21 and a very basic shadow with W2. I colored the flowers with R20 and R14, the flower centers with E31 and E27, the greenery with YG03 and G99, and the pail with 0, B000 and B99. (Booo is similar to Boo if you have Ellen's color assortment. It's just slightly more aqua than B00.) I dotted the little baby's breath-looking flowers with a Spica Gold pen for some lovely shimmer that you can't really see in the photograph.

Guess what just occurred to me?  I didn't use patterned paper again today. My paper rack may get lonely if I keep this up!  Thanks for visiting.

True Friend--no trios!

How about some more plain old stamping? No designer papers--just stamps. I was looking at my SCS Newsletter this week and found another sketch: SC 142. I also finally looked up the 2007-08 In Color Combination chart, so I thought I'd combine the SCS challenge with one of the SU color combinations. (If you still need a copy of the SU chart, you can download it here: Download incolor_combos_0708.pdf )

I stamped the background with Groovy Guava ink on the Baroque Stamp, then I used my Aida cloth stamp to "kiss" the Baroque stamp. Next I used the kissed Aida stamp to stamp the Blush Blossom card stock.  That toned down the heaviness of the Baroque stamp and gave me a cross-stitched texture as well. For the Groovy Guava strip of card stock, I wanted to replicate the look of the double-stitched ribbon on a larger scale. I stamped it with Linen, pierced it, then used the white Signo Glo gel pen to  faux stitch it. It still looked like it was missing something, so I went back and added a bit of real ribbon at the end of the strip, as well as the words above the strip. The flower image is matted in Old Olive and stamped in Very Vanilla. That's it--no trios, and no patterned paper (and I survived. . .)

Thanks for visiting!

Thinking in Threes

Now that I've got this three-sketch on my brain, I can't shake it. (Don't tell my husband about the threes-issue. Whenever I tell him that I have a song stuck in my head, he starts crowing the theme song to Green Acres or another song that shall remain unnamed. It's the replacement issue.  That's it!  I need to go find a new sketch!)

Before I do, I have to show you this card, because I thought it turned out kind of cute.  One of my new Impression-Obsession Christmas sets, Holiday Trios, has three patterned gifts, holly leaves, ornaments, and Christmas trees. You should have heard them begging to be used tonight. . . (Who says that stamps don't beg?) I had a couple of sheets of wonderful paper from the k-i Holiday Collection, Joyful Multi Stripe and Joyful Skinny Stripe. I paired these for another take on CPS Sketch 30. The presents are stamped in Clearsnap Fluid Chalk inks in Warm Violet and Lime Pastel, and SU's Garden Green. (The Garden Green was a bit dark, but I didn't have an ink that was just right for that green; it was a cross between Garden Green and Glorious Green.)

I stamped and cut out the presents, then I used a Sakura Clear Gelly Roll pen to ink over the ribbon and bow to add a nice raised sheen. It still needed something: when in doubt, throw a tag on! I used a couple of Sizzix tags and a Cuttlebug tag, stamped with words from PaperTrey's Believe set on Translucent Polyshrink in Staz-On Blazing Red. The silver cord is SU's new elastic cord. I matted the patterned paper with SU's Certainly Celery. Even though this is Christmas paper and a Christmas stamp set, I'm seeing a fun birthday card if it were in different colors.

While I'm at it, I may as well post my last three-some on here and be done with  the threes! I was looking at this cute summer set from Rubber Soul, Party 3002, and I wanted to use the lawn chair with some of Rubber Soul's Hoop-La Paper Collection. "What on earth would you use a card like this for?" you might ask. How about a Happy Retirement card?  Wordsworth has a Happy Everything set that includes the word "retirement." Since I needed a retirement card anyway, that worked out just fine! I used Copic markers in YR16, YR23, YG03, and BV04 to color in the word happy on the inside of the card.

Now, I must stop looking for threes. I must stop looking for threes. . .

Have a lovely day!

Joy to the World

I'm still on a campaign to avoid my layout rut by trying different things. Tonight I chose another stamp that I would normally use as a supporting image rather than a focal point, Lockhart's Holiday Ribbon. I love swags of spruce and holly! I used some of my Basic Grey Fruitcake Collection from last year's stash to support the strip of stamped greenery. The red is Bazzill Chili--(yes, another one of those colors that I needed a few sheets of and had to order a whole package).  Ivy and Chili are going to have to predominate my Christmas cards this year; it's a good thing that I like these two colors!

The Holiday Ribbon is stamped on Neenah Classic Cream card stock in Black Brilliance ink, and colored with the following Copic markers: YG03, G21, G99, Y21, 0, R29, and R59. I used a Melon Spica Glitter pen to glitz up the spruce; these glitter pens are very cool!  They shimmer in the light; I wish I could capture that shimmer in a picture! I then aged my tag with Old Paper distress ink and sewed it on to a strip of Chili card stock using a zig-zag stitch. I used my SU ticket corner punch to make a place for antique gold eyelets in the corners of the card front.

Although I wanted to include type of the front of the card, I couldn't quite figure out how to work it into my layout. It occurred to me that a little tag might work, so I pulled out my PaperTrey Take a Bough set and used the "joy to the world" from that set. I started to put an eyelet in the tag but couldn't find any more antique gold eyelets. While I was looking for them, however, I found my SU library clips that I hadn't used yet--perfect! I tied a tiny bow around the clip from the new SU elastic gold cord and attached the tag with foam tape. That's it! It's a pretty simple card, but I was still pleased with it. Thanks for visiting!