I Stamped!! and a Brush Class Sample

It’s been days since I’ve made a card! I was behind on my CCEE challenge and the SCS challenges to boot! So this is a combo of “birds & bees”, color, sketch and today’s WT, pleats!

I stamped Our Daily Bread’s, Sing to the Lord, and colored with Copics, then airbrushed with the Spellbinder’s die in place.

I stamped the bees from Artful INKables, Thought I’d Bug You, on a strip of white cardstock and sponged it with Distress Dried Marigold and Peeled Paint, then scored it on my Scor-pal for the pleats.

My flower was close to the colors of my colored flowers, but it still needed a little something. I took the same Copic, Sardonyx, around the edges of the petals, then I spritzed it alcohol. Copics are alcohol based so this let the color bleed some. I kept up this process until I was happy with the color!
For the extra leaves, I swiped Peeled Paint on cardstock, spritzed it with water and scrunched it up good, flattened it out and hurried the drying process with my heat tool! Doing this gave the leaves the same texture as the flower.

*Designer tip…here’s another good tip! To get your layers to match your colored image, use one of the same markers you colored with to go around the edges of your layering piece. (bird layered this way)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Another Jessica Sprague class, Brush*Abilities Day 4, using Photoshop brushes. Today we made our own grunge frame with a brush added. It was really easy to do! I just need more time to be able to play around with it…yeah, how many times have I said that!!

I added some WordArt from Elegant WordArt too.

Well, I’m off to start canning beans………ugh! Jared is heading out to pull all the yellow wax beans which means while the canner is going I’ll be picking off the yellows and the process starts all over again! Remind me that in Winter I’ll be thankful I did this!

Thanks for stopping!

Dawn

Reflecting the Past in a Blog Hop

The Inky Girls are going to be showing you older sets from Artful INKables today. If you arrived here from Joanne’s blog then you’re in the right place, if not, no worries! You can start here and work your way through.

You know me, I love working with flowers, so no surprise I chose Plant Prints! I did a little marker to rubber and emboss resist.

I colored the rubber with Copics then spritzed with alcohol to “renew” the color on the stamp. Since Copics are alcohol based markers, you can’t spritz the image with water like other markers to moisten the “ink”.
Then I stamped the flowers, re-coloring and spritzing each time. When I was happy with this particular image, I went over them with my Versamarker, sprinkled clear embossing powder over and heat set with my heat tool. This way the next generation of stamping wouldn’t cover up what has already been put down!

I did the leaves next, following the above technique then added the little blue flowers… again embossing them.

Now for the total transformation of the emboss resist…Sponging on Distress inks!

Although I’ll admit, I did like it with the stark white background too! I guess that just means I’ll have to do another *wink*
I sponged on the inks starting at the bottom and working up in this order: Peeled Paint, Dried Marigold, Scattered Straw, Broken China and Worn Lipstick

I’ve had this printed vellum forever and just never think to use it! Cutting the words apart worked out perfectly! A little corner treatment with the Cuttlebug die and a corner punch… and voila! I’m done! The Prism layers are Razzleberry medium and dark.

Now, it’s on to the next person in the hop… Elena!

Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping!

Dawn

A Modern Grid Challenge, Some Sand and a Design Team Call!

I get to issue the challenges for the month of July to our CCEE group.

A while back, Frances, one of our group, did a card using the Modern Grid technique…it was cute and I’d never done it before, so I thought it would be a good one to start the month!

Basically what you do is (took this from our CCEE blog, thanks Frances!! LOL)

Stamp your image or images randomly over your card

Now take a ruler and black marker and draw lines equally spaced vertically and horizontally. Make sure you stop your line when you get to the stamped image and then start again on the other side of the image.

Add dots or doodles to some of the squares. You can also color in some squares if you desire.

Here’s my card

I used “Boys Will Be Boys” from Artful Inkables, colored with Copics. I made masks for the tree/tree house and the boy/vine (I didn’t bother with the leaves!), then used my ABS and airbrushed, then I made the grid. I wish I’d figured in more dashes, but I’d already done some solid lines before I thought about it! LOL!

The image panel is 4.75 square and is faux layered using a black marker and ruler. The card measures 5x5.

Be sure to see how the other girls did the technique! …CCEE Blog

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Yesterday for the Featured Stamper on SCS I made this card using another set from Artful Inkables, A Friendly Light. It’s colored with Copics, even the layers are Copics around the edges of white cs! It’s a great way to save on cardstock and get colors that follow your theme! The only other cardstock is the Cuttlebugg’d layer, Prism Kraft.

I also used a new Mudd Puddles sand I just got called, Sunset. I’m going to have to do a step by step tutorial with this sand so you can see how cool it is to work with! That layer is completely bendable, yet it’s hard! I have a lot of new colors to play with…I just need TIME!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

My time with Kristin and Artful INKables is almost over...wow, that was a fast 6mos! She's having a call for new design team members. Visit the AI blog to see the deets. Kristin is great to work with, you'll have a blast!!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The State Fair Llama Show is in 3 weeks…are we ready? NO! Our county fair starts 2 weeks after that with our 4H show the following week! I just know the garden is going to produce something that’s going to need canned or frozen during that time too!
So, if posts get a little scarce, you’ll know why!!

Hope your week is a good one!

Thanks for stopping!

Dawn

How Different A Sketch Can Look and a Sale!

Kristin is having a sale at Artful Inkables! Better head on over....in this economy we have to help each other with these kinds of things *wink*

Rox asked me if I could take this week’s Sketch Challenge on SCS for her while she gets a much needed break.

I did two cards of different levels of difficulty. One a beginner would have no trouble doing and the other, not hard really, just more involved! Here’s the simple one.

I used patterned paper from the Super Slab by Provo Craft. The narrow strips are embossed with Cuttlebug border folders. The 3 daisy-like flowers have half pearls from Kaiser Craft and the large flower and brad are from Imaginisce. Voila! No stamping! Can you see I embossed the envelope too *wink*

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The second one (which I actually did first, lol) is one stamp, colored then cut up! (I didn’t think to take a picture before I cut the strips…duh!) The Northwoods image was stamped on Georgia Pacific white, colored with Copic markers and airbrushed with the Copic Airbrush System.

I scored lines with my Scor-Pal only where I wanted to cut the strips, then using my craft knife I just cut along those lines. (it wasn’t on the lavender paper when I cut it out…remember I didn’t think to start taking pictures until I was at this stage and my image was already attached!)

For large areas I want to pop up, I like to use foam mounting tape. (the kind you find in the hardware dept)
I take my craft knife and carefully cut the wide strip in half while still on the roll, that way the “sticky” stays on the tape and not my scissors! Then just cut the strips to fit and stick ‘em down.

I only added Perfect Pearls and Stickles to the raised strips. I also added a little Sakura white gel pen to the buds on those strips.

I just love Hollyhocks! Mine are just about ready to bloom! Too bad they weren’t already blooming so I could have taken this pic outside!

The sentiment on the Spellbinders Nestie is from Basic Sentiments by Artful Inkables. The colored paper used is from Making Memories and Prism Candle Glow lt.

See what flipping a sketch or just making it “busier” does to it?! Why not play along, let your creativity go wild!

Have a beautiful day, and thanks for stopping!

Dawn

Face The Music

Today’s sketch on SCS has more pieces than a Lincoln Log set…well, not really…but, whew, there were quite a few! Fun though I must say!

I chose to do just that…have fun with it! With fun colors and paper.

Using Artful Inkables, Music a la Cart, colored with Copics. I made the fun “buttons” by  stamping on my cardstock, punching with a circle punch then covering with Glossy Accents.

I know my colors look different…two different light sources…and the orange isn’t quite that BRIGHT!! lol… oh well

So, what’s your plan for today? I sheared 3 llamas last night with the help of my 4H kids… I can tell I’m another year older!! Whew! I’m dragging today! LOL! I think I’ll save doing more for tomorrow… yeah, that sounds like a plan! Only 15 more to go (of my own… 6 others I do besides!)

Have a great day whatever you do and as always….

Thanks for stopping!

Dawn

A Fun Technique

Yesterday's technique challenge on SCS was this really *difficult* looking, fun Tri Shutter card. Notice I said difficult looking, because it's actully super easy and you can make it as involved as you want or keep it simple........and it still looks like you spent HOURS on it! You will amaze your friends...lol

I had so much fun making 2 yesterday, that I did the color challenge today and also did High Hope's doodle challenge!

It's all colored with Copics, doodled, and the foliage carefully cut with scissors.

The next 2 are the ones I did yesterday, new releases from Artful Inkables


Music a la Carte and Rodeo Rodent

The papers from DCWV and K&Company were just perfect

Hope you give this a try, you'll so glad you did!
Now... the sun and gorgeous weather are calling to me, so I think I'm going to head outside!!

Enjoy your day....and as always, thanks for stopping!

It's Another Blog Hop!

If you arrived from Joanne's blog, then you're hopping in order...if not, that's ok too! You can start at Kristin's blog...just make sure you hit them all because someone is giving some awesome prizes!

I tell ya, Kristin has outdone herself with this release! Did I ever have fun creating these 2 cards. (I know, 1 would have been enough...but I started thinking... smoke? fire? yup..Dawn's thinking! and one card led to two!)
I even worked one into the CCEE challenge Deb gave us (to use some sort of specialty paper, something we've had...you know, you had to have it...you never use it...and there it sits!)

This is Rodeo Rodent, isn't he too cute, and he's available today from Artful Inkables.


It's colored with Copics, and sponged with Frayed Burlap Distress ink. The Sheriff's Star and sentiments are all part of the set. I embossed some "velvet" paper that I've had FOREVER by running it through the Cuttlebug with 2 embossing folders. It looks so cool in real life! I've also had that Cuttlebug Cowboy Hat die FOREVER, never used! Figured it was high time to break it in! I dirtied it up a bit by sponging the same distress ink around the Kraft paper and glued a thin strip of leather for the hat band.
A Zig Painty silver pen was used on his buckle and the star tips.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

This one was so much fun to create!! As soon as I saw the set, I knew I wanted to make this little guy out in the desert with some Mudd Puddles sand! Again, all the coloring is with Copic markers; the background sky was done with the airbrush.

I colored in the "sandy" area with a marker before applying the sand, that way it was ok if there were open spots and I didn't have to make sure I covered every little space!

When it was dry, I popped up the Cactus/border above the base and attached the mouse by a foam dot just behind his belly! (he's totally cut out and freestanding)
The card measures 4x4.

stamps: rodeo rodent-artful inkables ink: memento tuxedo black-tsukineko, frayed burlap-ranger paper: gp white, prism kraft, hollo's black, white colored with marker, velvet paper?other: spellbinders nestabilities, copic markers, cuttlebug/folders/die, word window punch-ek success, distressing tool, jute, leather strip, foam dimensionals, martha stewart border punch, inkssentials white gel pen-ranger, zip dry glue, zig painty silver pen, airbrush system, sand-mudd puddles, craft knife

Now, make your way to Toni's blog!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

While I was typing this post, look who showed up on our front porch!
He must have known I was talking about his cousins!

The picture looks a little grainy because I had to take it through the screen! Isn't he cute!

Hey, thanks for stopping...good luck with the blog hop...hope YOU win!!

Is TODAY Wednesday?

Sure glad I left you with a slide show as my last post! At least you had a variety of moving pictures if you kept checking to see if I'd posted anything new!!

Friday it hit me...that scratchy feeling in the back of my throat, my nose starting to stuff up.

Saturday I spun at my friend's alpaca open house from noon to 5...hour by hour feeling it take its grip on me...ugh!
We went to a friend's house for pizza that evening and by the time we left all I wanted to do was cozy up with a blanket and take some drugs!!

Sunday I forced myself to make a card for our Monday challenge, and I haven't touched a stamp till today! So I must have been sick!!

Thank the Lord I'm feeling better this afternoon! Wednesdays are the Sketch Challenge on SCS and I try to never miss them. So I have several to share with you.

Isn't this the cutest penguin! It's called Penguin Looking Up from Stamps Happen.

It's colored with Copics, masked, then I airbrushed the background. The snowflakes I did with an Elmer's Paint Pen. All the black "layers" are fauxed using a ruler and marker. Actually the stamp has a rough frame around the image, so I just filled it in. And I got to use my new Spellbinder's Inverted Scallop Squares!

stamps: penguin looking up-stamps happen/janlynn paper: georgia pacific white, dcwv, hollos ink: tuxedo black-tsukineko other: copic markers, airbrush system (abs), white paint pen-elmers, spellbinders inverted scallop squares, ruler/marker

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

This one is a combo of Monday's technique: painting gesso on a magazine page, stamping and embossing an image, then sponging around the image. I did mine a little differently... I applied the gesso and after it dried, stamped and colored Greek Gardens from Artful Inkables, then I took my Versamarker and went over the entire image (minus the water, I'd cut that off to attach later)....then clear embossed it. Instead of sponging, I just used the ABS again with the Spellbinders Square in place.
Tuesday's color challenge and the Sketch for today.

I inked up the sentiment 2 separate times in order to split it between the upper and lower panels. I thought it worked well that way. The panels and base are faux layered using a marker/ruler. The dark gray layer was done using the same marker.

I love this pattern paper! I happened to be at Michael's in Columbus last week and found one of those 12x12 stacks...you know.. the HUGE stack of paper!...marked down! It was $7.99, regularly $19.99!! It's by Provo Craft and it also has matching stickers for each color section! I was tickled...ok, it doesn't take much I know...lol... but I do LOVE a bargain!

stamps: greek gardens-artful inkables paper: geogia pacific white, prism gray, provo craft stack, magazine ink: tuxedo black-tsukineko other: gesso, copic markers, abs, versamarker, clear embossing powder, heat tool, white gel pen-inkssentials (on the water), scissors

And one more item...Monday evening we had a doozy of a storm roll through! This was right after......

Hope you're having a beautiful day where ever you are....Thanks for stopping!

Artful Inkables Blog Hop and Candy!!

If you arrived here from Velta's blog then you're in the right spot! If you didn't and want to start from the beginning, you can go to Kristin's blog. What fun to win these sets!! You'll have to hop to each Inky Girl till you get to the one with the candy!

Kristin has been busy at Artful Inkables creating some fab new images that are available starting today! I'm tickled to be able to share the ones I got. This first one is called "Greek Gardens" It's such a pretty set!

This close-up shows this fun medium we found when we went to the Scrapbook Expo a couple weeks ago. It's from Mudd Puddles, it's so easy to use and gives such texture! I also painted on some Crackle paint by Deco Art on the one pot.

Colored with Copic markers and sponged with Distress inks...and lots of different layers going on!

stamps: Greek Gardens, paper: georgia pacific white, prism blush red lt, dcwv far east, ink: memento tuxedo black by tsukineko, distress dried marigold, shabby shutters, old paper, other: copic markers, sandy mixture by mudd puddles, spellbinders nestabilities, may arts ribbon, martha stewart border punch, designer label punch, foam dimensionals, crackle paint by deco arts, corner rounder by ek success, corner scallop punch by marvy

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a fun tag with the set called "Three Wishes". I got the idea for the "flying carpet" from Mel Stampz, I Cuttlebugged it too, to give it more of a Persian rug flare. I used the Labels Four largest die to trace the top of the tag to give it more of a "Taj Mahal" look.


The magic lamp is also a part of this set...yup...that's a stamp...but I did it with the faux metal technique!
Ink a piece of cardstock with Versamark and sprinkle with embossing powder and heat set with your heat tool. You need at least 4 layers of ep for a good impression. You can either keep inking with Versamark or you can just sprinkle the ep on after each heating. It usually stays 'soft' long enough to grab the next sprinkling. Then, as soon as your last application of ep is melted, take your image and stamp it. Don't worry, it's not hot enough to hurt your stamp! Let it set a minute and cut it out.


The "jewels" on his turban and cloak are punched from the faux metal scrap. The "smoke" coming out of the lamp is some mohair yarn from my stash.

stamps: three wishes, paper: georgia pacific white, me & my big ideas dp, hollo's green, ink: memento tuxedo black, versamark-tsukineko, other: copic markers, cuttlebug/folder, spellbinders labels four, yarn, silver ep, heat tool, cropadile, foam dimensionals, large brad by american crafts

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now! Joy is next in line in the hop! Enjoy and good luck!!

Thanks for stopping!

A Cloudy Sky

Head over to Artful INKables blog to see how I did this card

Stamps: Thought I'd Bug You-Artful Inkables, Paper: Georgia Pacific White, unknown blue, Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black, Espresso, Distress Broken China, Faded Jeans, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint-Ranger, Versamark-Tsukineko, Other: Copic Markers, Spellbinder's Double End Tag, Wire, Twinkling h2o's, Waterbrush, Clear EP, Helmar Scrap Dots (under the dragonfly), Foam Dimensionals

gonna be away a couple days...see you when I get back

Thanks for stopping!

Inky Antics Fun...and a Pretty Butterfly

Saturday, Amber and I went to the Scrapbook Expo in Columbus. Wall to wall vendors and people!


I didn't do a lot of buying...more looking...but I did make a point of stopping at Inky Antics! I love their stuff....and Janie Miller is such a fun illustrator!


Here are two cards I've done so far with Lester (the moose) and Puppy Love.

Lester is colored with Prismacolor pencils blended with baby oil. The trees are from PSX and the daisies from Cornish Heritage Farms.

Pup and Kitten are colored with Copic markers. The paw prints are from Top Dog by Artful Inkables.
Inside it says, Happiness is an unexpected hug. Awwww (sentiment is also from Inky Antics)
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

And this? Just because I love the simplicity of it...the Cuttlebug folder, Friends Forever is perfect for Gina K's Take Flight to light upon!

I hope you're having a beautiful day where you are! It's sunny and warmer today here!! Yippeee!!!

Thanks for stopping!

Multi-Colored Bow

Hey...this is pretty cool!
Head over to Artful INKables blog
and see how Holly makes this fabulous bow....SO EASY!!.

A Waxy Background For You

Today's challenge on SCS was to use your iron...I know, some of you probably don't even remember that household item that is supposed to be used to iron clothing! Is yours gummed up with all the things you've used it for on your craft projects? I do have a separate iron I use for crafts, but used the regular one since this project wasn't messy.

There are lots of ideas using an iron, melted crayon background, embossing on velvet, using fusible webbing on fabric or mulberry paper...I chose Wax Paper Resist. Beate has a nice tutorial on SCS for it, only I did mine a little differently at the suggestion of our challenge hostess today... I used an embossing folder.

I brayered over the wax paper resist with Ranger's Herb Garden spectrum pad, the Big Juicey. And who says big, leafy plants always have to be green? Once you've inked up glossy, I don't know of any way to color over it...so everything else was stamped on a separate piece of cardstock, colored with Copics, cut out and glued with Zip Dry glue into position. The rocks, dog, and fence are popped up and only the major portion of the stem is glued down.
To get kind of a "furry" look, I used my blending pen and dabbed in the dark patch and the ears.

This is 3 different sets from Artful INKables, Top Dog, Thought I'd Bug You and Basic Sentiments. The leaves and fence punches are Martha Stewart.

Have a look through the gallery, I'm sure there will be lots of interesting ideas....you just might not ever iron (the intended purpose) again!

Thanks for stopping!

Just Some Sketch Challenge Cards

For today's Sketch challenge on SCS, nothing fancy...


Confession is good for the soul...right? I don't normally start out with my pattern paper and work out to my image. I always color first then figure out IF I have paper that matches! LOL


So today I thought I'd be different, I had some of the paper left from our DD supplies and thought I'd try the tulips (A Year of Flowers) from Gina K colored with a combo of Copics and Prismacolor pencils, on those strips....I even had the flowers looking rather rusty, but, oh... did they look GROSS on that paper!


Plan B....found the Lilykate by Basic Grey that looked nice behind the tulips, masked and airbrushed them, added some "redder" tones, then layered on several 'rose' shades.

A Year of Flowers-Gina K designs, Hero Arts, Adirondack Pitch Black, Copic markers, Prismacolor pencils, baby oil, blending stumps, Pure Luxury cs-Gina K, Prism Rose lt/med/dk, Basic Grey Lilykate, Copic Airbrush System, ribbon

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Now, I still had the strips cut from the first try so I had to do another card! The ribbon frame from the Technique challenge was so fun, I incorporated it into the sketch. This is Top Dog from Artful INKables.

Top Dog-Artful INKables, GP white, Robin's Nest PP, Bazzill textured, Prism Kraft, Adirondack Pitch Black, Copics, Copic ABS, Ribbon, Flower, Brad-Paper Studio, Craft knife

He's masked, repeat stamped the sentiment at an angle and airbrushed. Isn't he cute!

It's another beautiful day here, not quite 70, but pushing it! Pretty soon I'll be seeing my tulips blooming....but for now I'll have to settle for my stamps!

Enjoy your day.................and Thanks for stopping!