Technique card

I love this Technique Junkies newsletter. It's amazing. Here is a card using a technique called Scrunchie. Great technique for recycling, and very easy to make work with the more artsy stamps. I want to try it with some of my flower stamps that I love so much, and also with some of the photo stamps.

This uses the Going Grey paper from SU! The images are from Cherry Pie Art and TAC (Artsy Elements). The background piece is the technique and the embossing colors used are garnet and black. So easy to make. I didn't want to cover the background with too much stuff since it really is pretty enough to stand as the main focus. I might add an embellishment or two, brads or something just to give it some more pizazz. But I really love it just the way it is.

Thanks for looking!

Cling and Scrunch Technique

This card uses a technique from the Technique Junkies newsletter. If you don't get the newsletter, you should definitely consider it. Pat is offering a special at her blog, The Technique Trail that is good until Sunday, September 30. Check it out.

Anyhow, I made the card with Lumiere paint. Gorgeous, shimmery paints. They smell horrid (in case you're sensitive to that kind of thing), but they are so pretty.

The image stamps are from the Artful Inkables line at Starving Artistamps. I stamped in Green Galore craft ink on Wild Wasabi paper (ink and paper from SU!). I used a blender pen and the craft ink to color in the grass a bit. I layered on Buckaroo Blue. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink. The ribbon is from SU! Click on the card to see the background. The cling and scrunch technique is so pretty. I used glossy card stock, so it pulled a bit of the paper up, which I think I've hidden on the card, but you might see a white spot here and there. I love this look - very watery.

Christmas? Already?

I signed up for a Christmas card swap on SCS (close your eyes if you're in the same swap as me!!). I finished these up last night. Very simple card to make, but time consuming because of drying time, then cutting out the layers and the heat embossing.

I used a Technique Junkies technique, Dry Embossed Pearls, for the background piece. I embossed with a Cuttlebug folder, the snowflake one. I used SU! stamps for the sentiment and the snowflake, then embossed with Iridescent Ice. The ribbon is from Walmart, just a sheer blue ribbon. Paper is Stardreams Metallic Sapphire and Blanc (both shimmer like crazy).

I have one more set of cards to make for this swap. I'm trying to figure out something as simple as this one because these might be my Christmas cards for this year. I am so not in the Christmas spirit. It's still too early for me. I don't get excited about Christmas until we're done with the turkey on Thanksgiving.

A few new ATCs for a swap

This post is going to be quick. It's late. I'm tired, and making some dumb mistakes! Here are three ATCs I made for a swap. I'm getting the hang of it, I think. Let me know if I'm far off the mark, and any suggestions to make them better will be appreciated!!

Thanks for looking!

This one is stamped with the Magenta stamp that I love so much, Mother and Child. The background is Silken Mist, done with Twinkling H20s.


This one is done by painting the cardstock first. As it dried, I crumpled up the tissue paper and smoothed it out. I stamped this Starving Artistamps Artful Inkables image onto the tissue and let it dry. Then colored in with Gelly Roll pens. I slapped some different pieces of phone book papers over the card, painted over them with the same yellow/brown color, then with extra thick gel medium, I stuck the tissue paper on the card. When it dried, I added a few leaves around for a little extra effect, added the cord, and voila!



This image came from AlteredPages. It was a transparency I purchased last week. LOVE them!! The base is done using the silken mist technique, stamped on some ledger paper (from Blockhead Stamps) with a stamp from Starving Artistamps. The frame was made with my Big Shot using Cuttlebug dies. Going to bed now. Please let me know what you think! I'm new at ATCs and feel like I'm starting to get it, but I need some feedback. Thank you all and good night!!

How I made Butterfly Kisses card

Someone asked me to share the technique. I'm not sure if she meant the fold (which is very coincidentally on another blog as a challenge - Beate from SCS!!) or the gesso resist to make the picture look older. I will start with the gesso resist, since the other would require me to measure and I have NO clue where my ruler is.

Gesso is an acrylic primer. It is wonderful stuff, and I use it on almost every surface before I paint it now. I'm in the middle of making an accordian scrapbook of the pictures I've been taking of Dylan, and I primed it with gesso before painting it with acrylic paints. Gesso also resists ink nicely.

I stamped the image on glossy white CS with Vintage Violet. After it dried, I sponged on some of the Tea Dye distress ink. When that dried (took a few minutes), I spotted on a little gesso with a very small piece of sponge. This stuff is very opaque, so a little dab will do ya - trust me, I've ruined a lot of images by not being careful!! Use a small amount. You can always add more. I let the gesso dry and then sponged on the Weathered Wood distress ink. I left some of the tea dye ink uncovered, and the gesso resisted the Weathered Wood perfectly. The image looks like it has been handled a lot over the years, which is exactly the look I was going for. Vintage.

I will show off my very first accordian scrapbook when I'm finished with it. I got some excellent pictures of Dylan (yes, tooting my own horn, realizing that I am in love with my kids and this kid has gorgeous grey/blue eyes!). I don't scrap, so it won't be fabulous. This is only the fourth scrapbook ever done by me, and it's the first one I am doing that I'm thinking about layout and color. The others were definitely before I found the wonderful world that is stamping!!