Thinking Inking

Angel Ornaments

A couple of weeks ago PaperCrafts put out a call for ornaments with which they would decorate a tree, with proceeds going to a local children's hospital. I've been playing with ornaments and had several porcelain blanks finished by tonight.  Of course, when I dug out my e-mail with specifics on it, I didn't see porcelain mentioned anywhere!  I may have to redo some in paper. . .  Oh well--I have a few Christmas gifts made, if that's the case!  I'll share more when I get them made from paper.

First I stamped these two Lockhart Angels (Trumpet and Wreath) in Black Brilliance ink on a porcelain blank. **Please note that I've had these blanks in a drawer for a couple of years; the company that I originally bought from seems not to be around. I'm not sure where you  can get these now. If you happen to know a good source for porcelain blanks, feel free to post it in the comments section so that others can find it too!  Thank you!**

After hitting the stamped image with my heat gun for a few second to make sure that it was dry, I colored the images with my Copic markers. I love their vibrancy, even on porcelain!  Here's the part that I'm not sure of: the smaller-sized blank was too small, but the angels seemed to practically swim on these. I added sky to help fill in a bit of space (B00), and on one I added an SU sentiment. I wish I had put it about 1/8" lower. :-(  I should have gotten out my stamp positioner to experiment with positions before I stamped it!

I'll probably share more ornaments in the next few days if I have more playtime.  Thanks for visiting!

Edited to Add: Robin is the hero for the day! She found the company that Cridge Porcelain sold out to. I had googled everything that I could think of and hadn't come up with this information. Thanks, Robin! (Link embedded above.)  I will try to post Copic colors later today.  It was so late when I was posting that my brain didn't think to add that information. . .  Thanks!

Joy to You!

I've been thinking lately about how popular the concept of a one-layer card is, but how few of us actually make them.  I decided to challenge myself to make one tonight while I was looking at this Wordsworth set, V030 Mod Christmas. Because the images were strong but simple, they worked well for a one-layer card. I thought that my best coloring medium for the images would be my Copic markers because I could get such rich, solid coverage with them.

Copic markers used were:  C1, E00, R20, R29, R59, YG03, Y19, Boo. I used Adirondack Pitch Black ink to stamp all three images on PaperTrey Stamper's  Select White. The coloring took about seven minutes. One black sentiment, and one little red knot finished it off. Even though I am not a one-layer person by nature, I have to admit that this little exercises was quite fun! Try it!

Stem Silhouettes in Blue Bayou

Tonight was a challenging night.  Do you ever start playing with a set that you have seen lovely cards made with, and then just flat feel like you can't make it work?  That was me tonight!  I finally came up with one that pleased me, but you should see the pile of discards on and around my desk! (I have to say that it isn't the stamp set--it was user error. Ü)

On this Stem Silhouettes card, I used Blue Bayou and Soft Sky card stock, along with white. I used Blue Bayou ink to stamp with, and used a stippling brush with Soft Sky ink to add just a hint of color behind the blooms. I used the Aida Cloth background for the bottom two-thirds of the card, and the same stems that I used in the focal image to stamp the top part of the background.  The sentiment is from a hostess level one set, So Many Sayings. This is a fabulous hostess set simply because almost all of those little sayings can be punched with the Word Window punch. (I just trimmed my sentiment tonight. but I often use the word Window punch.)

For accessories I added some Soft Sky stitched grosgrain, a tiny bit of clear stickles on the blooms, and some of these blue pearls. I used the ticket  corner punch and a small corner rounder as well.  I hope you have a lovely day!

Rose Bracelet

Tonight I wanted to share a little story as well as a fun project.  A few months ago I came to a crossroads in my stamping journey; my stamping clubs were both ending due to oversaturation of product. It was simply time to quit buying so much and just use the stash! One chapter was closing, or at least drastically changing, and I wasn't sure what would happen next. Within a few days, Ellen Hutson called me and asked if I might be interested in working with her to try help in a  couple of areas that she was simply running short of time to cover. Have you ever heard that little saying that when God shuts a door He opens a window? Well, I've always liked Ellen for her genuine kindness, and that sounded like an open window to me! I said yes, and it has blossomed from there. Ellen and Karen Lockhart have been a huge help and encouragement over the past few months, and they have given me great advice and introduced me to other people who have also been a blessing. I have learned much over the past few months, and I have definitely been stretched from time to time. But it has been good. (And my stamping friends still come over to play with my toys!) I still enjoy my old toys, but new ones are fun too. They all get used!

Back to the story, I met Mish Wooderson and Trudee Sauer for the first time at Summer CHA. Ellen told us to be on the lookout for cool ideas that we might want to make kits from. One of my favorite project-oriented booths was the 7-Gypsies booth. Although I had one of the 7-Gypsies naked bracelets in a drawer at home, I hadn't thought of a way to use it yet. When Karen came out with her Millinery stamps, it occurred to me that these images were small enough to fit perfectly in the bracelet links! I spent a couple of days fiddling with the naked bracelet until I came up with a bracelet that I really liked using a rose stamp and some Cosmo Cricket Gretel paper. I found that even though my wrist is pretty large, I didn't need all eight links, so I used my extra link as a little necklace charm. (You could also use it as a fabulous embellishment on a card though--whatever you wish. Ü)  I wrote detailed instructions so that you wouldn't have to undo a couple of things the way I did the first time, and I included step by step pictures in it so that they would be simple to follow. (I included coloring instructions and color suggestions for both Copic markers [used above] and Prismacolor pencils.)  If you're interested in seeing this kit that Ellen is carrying, you will find it here. 

In case you're worried, my blog is NOT becoming a sales site.  I am not gifted in business things, and I have no aspirations along those lines. :-)  I just like to make things. My goal is to share and teach.

We have an exciting day ahead: my sister has already been on a plane for several hours and should arrive in Green Bay from South Korea Tuesday afternoon--woohoo!  My son can't wait to see his Auntie (who spoils him terribly, I might add).  Auntie will live with us for a few weeks while her husband finishes up his deployment there. I received my backordered Stem Silhouettes set this evening, so I'll try to get something made with that tomorrow after I get home. My son has already brought me a card with specific instructions that I was to post it on my blog. (He said that it was his best card ever!) I'll get that posted tomorrow too.  Thanks for visiting me in blogland. I hope you have a lovely day!

Snowflakes and Cake

 

What do snowflakes and cake have in common? Hint: it's PaperTrey release day again!  This month Nichole has released two stamp sets, Snowflake Serenade and Piece of Cake, and both are great fun to play with. My first Snowflake Serenade card above uses Pat Huntoon's double pocket fold, the October Technique Junkies online bonus technique. I used Cosmo Cricket's fabulous new Christmas line, Be Good, for my pocket and for the card mats. The "joy and wonder" sentiment is from one of last month's sets, Holiday Wishes. I used my new Spellbinder's Classic and Petite Scalloped Nestability circles to make the front medallion--I adore those tiny little scallops that barely peek out from behind an image!  I used Sage Shadow and Cranberry Crisp inks, as well as Antique Linen distress ink on the Neenah Classic Cream card stock. Hardware is We R Memory Keepers Coppered Out hardware, which my buddy Trudee made me buy. . .  I left space on the larger card to put a picture of our little boy or write a short note on. Ribbons and twill are both SU. This card made me happy because it makes me think of an old fashioned Christmas--back when the tree lights were big and ugly, and my grandmother's tree was silver. . .  Ahhhh!

   

My second Snowflake Serenade card uses no patterned paper--just stamping. Card stock is Shimmery White and SU"s Soft Sky. Ink Colors are Soft Sky and Blue Bayou. I made a pattern with the medium and small snowflakes for backgrounds and used a bit of glue pad with Dazzling Diamonds glitter on the word "Peace" as well as on the main snowflake. The only other embellishments  are the tiny blue pearls on the main snowflake, which is cut and matted with my Spellbinder's Classic and Petite Scalloped Nestability circles. (I couldn't believe how close the match was on the Soft Sky CS and the blue pearls!)

After all of that snow, we could use some cake. I love how Nichole made the flowers to drape effortlessly over the wedding cake!  I also used that same flower stamp with the four groups of flowers to stamp my background; it's a great stamp for a quick and easy random look.  I used SU's dog tag punch for my card front sentiment, and my Spellbinder's Classic and Petite Scalloped Nestability circles again for both the main image and the gift tag. The gift tag was a scrap that  I was playing with stamping off the flowers on. When I started to throw it away, it occurred to me that I might be able to use it for something! Ribbon is SU's white taffeta, and flower centers are Ranger's perfect pearls. Inks are Clearsnap's Rouge and Versamagic's Thatched Straw and Tea Leaves. I used SU's Barely Banana on the Barely Banana background.

Finally, how about a bright, kid-appropriate cake card? Inks on this card are Versamagic Chalk inks: Turquoise Gem, Red Magic,  Mango Madness, and Thatched Straw. Card stock colors are Rubber Soul's Marina and Tomato, as well as PaperTrey's Stamper's Select White. Tools used were the following: Spellbinder's Nestability Classic and Scalloped Square dies, Copic Airbrush System and C-1 marker, Spica lemon glitter pen, SU large oval punch, and Eclipse paper for masking the shadow for airbrushing.  I struggled a bit with making this card work, but after I added that simple shadow, I was pleased with it. (Card size: 4-1/4" x 4-1/4")

I hope that you will go see the PaperTrey InkPad Gallery; you won't be disappointed!

Shopping Chick

I had made this little Wordsworth shopping chick stick figure card a few weeks ago, but I haven't shared it yet; I thought I'd do so tonight rather than making another card since I just now finished my PaperTrey cards for the 15th!

I use Rubber Soul's Wave color card as a base, California Poppy as a mat layer, and then their Hoopla Collection for the strip of patterned paper. I used my retired SU scallop scissors to cut scallops, then used my Crop-a-dile to punch a 1/8" hole in each scallop.

I stamped the shopping girl twice so that I had one main image, and one to color and use for raised parts. The stick figure is colored in Copic markers: YG00, V15, E00, YG03, Boo, YR14, and YR16. The background is lightly airbrushed with my Copic airbrush system using marker B21. I used plum grosgrain to add one more splash of color and tie in with the printed paper. She was relatively simple. I liked the layout though; I had tried to tie her long, thin figure in to the line of the printed paper, and her belt to the line of the grosgrain, if that makes sense. 

Thanks for visiting!

What's New?

So, have you checked out the newest Cornish Heritage Farms releases?  Besides the Thomas Kinkade line that CHF has added to, I saw that Asela Hopkins had more beautiful stamps released as well! I think I might need that sledding snowman.  (I should use the snowman set that I already have here first, mounted and as yet uninked, . . . but "should" and "will" are two different helping verbs!)

Tonight I'm working on my next PaperTrey cards, so I think I'll share a couple more of the Thomas Kinkade cards that I made in preparation for yesterday's new release.  Remember when I said that this black and white card would be pretty in Christmas colors? Well, of course I had to try it. This is such a simple layout and would be easy to mass produce if you make Christmas cards. I stamped the Skater's Pond Vignette image in Clearsnap Maroon chalk ink on Poison Ivory card stock, and the background in Adirondack Cranberry ink on Bazzill Smooth Chili card stock. Background stamps are CHF's Victorian Pattern and Weave backgrounders. I used a gold paint pen to accent edges, as well as tiny stick-on pearls that I got from Ellen Hutson's store. Ribbon is an off-white taffeta, and punch is SU's ticket corner punch. **Please note that the Skater's Pond Vignette is not available quite yet; the labels are being reprinted to be the excellent color quality that CHF requires. Here is a link to the full-sized Skater's Pond stamp, however.)

This Stonehearth Hutch card is also simple, but it took a bit longer since I colored the image. Still, it's do-able as a Christmas card if you enjoy coloring and have a few extra minutes per card! I stamped the Stonehearth Hutch image in Versafine Black ink on PaperTrey Stamper's Select White card stock. (I did not use a brayer; with Versafine I tend to simply tap the pad lightly against the stamp. If I were using a dye-based ink, I would definitely use a brayer to apply the ink evenly.) I used Prismacolor pencils to color the image: PC923, 1030, 928, 1011, 997, 940, 1005, 907, 908, 919, 1024, and 1079. I dotted areas with a glue pen and applied a fine iridescent glitter to those areas, then trimmed my focal image and edged it in gold paint pen. I used a ticket corner punch to trim the edges to make room for the gold mini brads. Mat card stock is Bazzill Ivy and Gold Leaf Curious Iridescent metallic card stock. Finished card size is A-6 size, 4-1/2" x 6-1/4". 

Finally, a tribute to the guys and the lighthouse lovers out there! (My father-in-law loves lighthouses, so this stamp is for him.) I stamped the Light of Peace image in Versamagic Ocean Depth chalk ink and trimmed close to the oval. I used the CHF Burlap backgrounder with Adirondack Expresso ink on the chocolate chip card stock strip, and the CHF Weave backgrounder with Adirondack Denim ink on the Blue Bayou layer. Focal image is stamped on PaperTrey Stamper's Select White card stock. I used hemp to attach to each side of the aged copper hardware. The tag is one word inked in from the new CHF Inextinguishable Light stamp.

If I have a chance late Saturday afternoon, I'll try to post again.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Feeling a Little Better?

Tonight I needed a get well card for someone who has been really having a tough time lately. I pulled out a little Lockhart image, the slippers, and decided to try paper piecing with some new paper, Memory Box Enlighten. I also incorporated the SCS sketch of the week, SC145. (Thanks for a really cool sketch, Roxie!)

The front flap is a bout 1-1/4" shorter than the back flap. Card size is still a standard A-2, 4-1/4"  x 5-1/2". I used my Spellbinders Nestability Circles to cut both the scalloped and the plain circles (Standard Circle Small S4 116, and Classic Scalloped Circle Small S4 125). I lined the entire inside of the card with the green layer because there really wasn't a good way to cut it short inside, but I used a plainer paper so that I could stamp my "feeling a little better?" sentiment on the green without losing it.

The slippers are raised in two layers with foam tape: the vamp is stamped, cut , and raised, and the whole slipper is also raised from the round layer. I really wanted to use that somewhat busy print underneath the slippers since it reminded me of a carpet, but the slippers were disappearing into the paper. I used a Versamagic white chalk pad to gently tap some ink in the middle of my "rug" so that the slippers would still show against it. Then I sanded the edges of the circles for a bit more contrast against the background. Ribbon is SU's Mellow Moss taffeta. Instead of pulling out my sewing machine tonight, I did a faux blanket stitch along my patterned horizontal strip. Finally, I added some Dew Drops to the shoes simply because it needed something else, and I had already used my best sentiment inside. Yes, I still think it needs words on the outside, but overall I was pleased with it.

Thanks for visiting!

"Oh, So Lovely" Trio

Today I was able to play with an SU level one hostess set that I hadn't used before, Oh So Lovely. What a fun little set!  It reminds me of the retired Art of Life with its texture stamp, but the fine double lines give it a great up-to-date look.  Although I thought that the poppies would be my favorite stamp in this set because if their stem's beautiful curve, the berries were actually my favorite once I started coloring. I used a waterbrush and SU reinkers to color the images after stamping the texture in white craft ink on a Kraft background.

Card sizes for this trio are 3" x 6" closed. They are a little smaller than I normally make to fill the tag envelopes, but making them 6" long rather than 6-1/2" long allowed me to cut four long cards from one sheet of 12" x 12" Kraft card stock. Backgrounds are Purely Pomegranate, Groovy Guava, and Blue Bayou. From left to right again, focal images are matted in So Saffron, Soft Sky, and Wild Wasabi. I sewed a tiny tag on on and mounted the matted focal image on foam tape to give it a bit more dimension. I tried tying some stitched grosgrain on, but it seemed to clutter an otherwise clean card, so I snipped it off.  Background is wheeled with the SU mistletoe wheel; the mistletoe seemed light and airy enough to work with  these images, and it saved me from having to try to piece a background stamp together to cover almost 6" of length on that layer. The only non-SU things that I used were some Spica glitter pens by Copic. I love the ultra-fine glittery look that these pens give, as well as the smoothness with which they write! I used melon to color the flower stems and clear to enhance the flower highlights.

Thank you for visiting!

I'm Thinking of You

Tonight I pulled out a stamp that I haven't used before, a Rubber Soul image with three chairs. I wasn't quite sure what to do with it, though the mismatched chairs reminded me of a casual French bistro. While I was sorting through my Rubber Soul patterned paper, (Garden Variety in particular), it occurred to me that paper piecing might be a good solution for the chair cushions: I stamped my chairs on the patterned paper and cut out just the cushions to attach to the main focal image.

I stamped the focal image in Black Brilliance ink on PaperTrey Stamper's Select white card stock, then added a quick shadow under the chairs with a Copic marker (C1). I then used my Copic Airbrush System  and marker YR21 to airbrush a warm background in. Since I stamped the chairs on patterned paper and cut out the cushions, there was no need to create any masks. I also used a Spica clear glitter pen on all of the metal parts of the chairs, though I'm not sure you can see that from the photograph. Mini brads are SU.  "I'm thinking of you" sentiment is from a Wordsworth set, one of my favorites--Tiny Wise Words. The biggest challenge? Deciding which of the words to put on it!

Thanks for visiting; I should have another post ready by about mid-morning.

Happy Birthday, Sister!

Today is my sister's birthday: happy birthday, Kiddo!  Next week I'll get to see her for the first time since I visited South Korea for her wedding right after Christmas. Woohoo!

I used a Lockhart Gardening Angel image, stamped on Poison Ivory card stock with Adirondack Espresso ink. I colored the angel image with the following Copic markers: E09, E51, E21, Y17, YR14, YR24, R14, R59,YG93, BG72, W2, and 0. I also used Spica glitter markers in melon, clear, and red. Sentiment is from the PaperTrey Faux Ribbon set.

I used my Spellbinders Nestability circles in  classic and scalloped to get both the focal image and the sentiment trimmed. Background papers are Cosmo Cricket Gretel--what a rich Fall line! I sewed them together on my sewing machine to create a quilted look. Ribbon is SU's Mellow Moss taffeta. I hope that you have a lovely Fall day!

Another TK Sneak Peek. . .

Cornish Heritage Farms is releasing another batch of  Thomas Kinkade stamps very soon--perhaps today!

Need a mass-producible card? This one could work. I stamped the CHF Thomas Kinkade Stonehearth Hutch focal image in Versafine Majestic Blue ink on Poison Ivory card stock. (I've had best luck with Versafine ink and Versamagic chalk ink for these detailed images.)

I used a fabulous brass template that I got from Ellen Hutson's store to emboss the square Fabriano Medioevalis notecard (template:Marianne Design PE5205. Ellen may not have it out in the store yet, but I'm pretty sure that she is going to stock it soon). The embossing was painless as well; I used my tan Spellbinder's polymer mat in my Wizard to emboss the whole card in one pass. (I used a Coluzzle circle template to remove the circle simply because I didn't want to mess up my embossing by trying to use a circle die and possible flattening my embossed area.) To cut the image out, I used a Spellbinder's Nestability circle die, then attached it to the inside of the card with foam tape to add some depth. Ribbon is ivory taffeta.

Thanks for visiting!