As Special As You Are

A quick card.  The background (laying in my work area) was started back when I was playing with using an acrylic block and ink to create background.  You ink the acrylic block, spray with water and stamp onto your paper.  I took the background, sponged ink through some sequin waste for the circles, stamped the flowers and sentiment using Archival Ink jet black, dried this, and edged the piece with gold Distress Paint.  I had a couple of white scraps that I added to the corners and layered it all to a folded green card.  

Happy Birthday Friend

I'm over on the Quietfire Creations Blog today sharing this card!!  THIS is the link.

My Peace I Give You

Before I get to talking about the canvas I want to take a moment to thank all the men, women and, if you go back in history far enough, even those we'd think of as children, for their service to this country.  Your sacrifice is truly appreciated!!!!

This is a 4x4 canvas created for a friend's birthday.  She will also become our son's mother-in-law in less than three weeks.  (I did not scream thinking about how fast the days are whizzing by)  For the background I've used a The Crafter's Workshop stencil and grungepaste.  After the paste was dry I used Distress Paint and water, and once that was dry added Treasure Gold.  The leaves are die cut from white cardstock, painted using Distress paint and Fresco Finish Paint, and stamped using a Wendy Vecchi stamp and Archival Ink.  Once the leaves were attached to the canvas I splattered with white paint.  The Our Daily Bread Design's scripture is stamped with Archival Ink, torn out, and edged with Distress Ink.  The butterfly, an old Rubber Stampede image, is stamped with Archival Ink, colored with Distress Ink, Distress Marker, and a white gel pen.  Also used is a peace of lace and there are dots made with a Viva Perlen Pen.

Piano Bird

Happy Thursday!!!  I hope your week is good so far!!!  This is a card I did for our son's birthday.  He turned 21 this past Monday and he is getting married in just over 3 weeks.  He loves playing the piano and singing, hence the keyboard on the card.  I used the Memory Box piano border die, cut it from black cardstock, attached it to white cardstock and trimmed around it.  For the background on the card I used Distress Inks (cracked pistachio, fossilized amber, mermaid lagoon) on my craft sheet, sprayed with water and dipped the paper into it.  After drying the ink I added snow cap pigment it applied with 2 sizes for sponge daubers.  The bird is from the Tim Holtz set Bird Crazy.  I stamped it directly on the card and then stamped it again on watercolor paper.  I colored bird on watercolor paper with Distress inks and a waterbrush, cut out the main part and attached it over the bird on the card.  The scripture is an Our Daily Bread Designs stamp, stamped with Archival Ink jet black and embossed with clear powder.  I used a Pitt pen for the doodle around the edge. 

Discover Life

Hello!!!!  Here is a page in my scripture journal that I finished up a week or so ago.  The background is a mix done over time using mostly extra from other projects.  I'm guessing there is some gesso or white paint in the background.. looks like I was just cleaning off a brush.  Then I'm thinking maybe sprays over that and blotted.  Next is some grungepaste through a stencil... probably paste that had been tinted green.  That's where it was at when I decided to finish it up.  I added some ink over the paste and then white fire Treasure Gold.  I did some scribbles around the edge, wasn't so sure about that so then used an All Stabilo pencil and smudged it out with my fingers.  Used a Pitt pen around some of the stenciled paste.  Discover Life is die cut (Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlits Adventure pack #660212) from a scrap, torn and the edges inked.  The scripture is computer generated, cut out, and the edges inked.  The butterfly I found at a local store.  They had stems of them like you get stems of silk flowers but they were butterflies... very cool and I got 4 different colors of stems.  

This is a wonderful scripture!!!  One that should be remembered!!  It's so easy, when we mess up and do something wrong to get down on ourselves and we start to doubt the work that Jesus is doing in our lives and we begin to believe the lies that say "nothing really happened, we are still the same".  This truth from scripture can help us see through the lie and remember that we are new and that we are being transformed day by day.  We have not arrived but we are on the way and we are new!!!!

Gasp!! No Color

Hi There!!!  I have a card today on the Quietfire Creations Blog.  I hope you'll take a look!! 

Without Limits

Happy Tuesday!!!  Here I am creating two days in a row!!!!  This card finishes at 5" x 7".  The background starts with china, caribbean sea, and buff.  I used a palette knife to spread the paint, not spreading too thin so I could then add marks with a couple of Catalyst Brushes (#15s B04 and B05). I then splattered with watered down bougainvillea.  Next is stenciling... mini chevron with candy floss, mini spinning tops with a mix of yellow submarine and chalk, and then some sequin waste using the yellow mix with green added (also sponged this around the edges).  The white dots are made with snowflake and the fine tip applicator.  Create without limits is stamped onto a doily with jet black and then some forget-me-not sponged around the center circle.  This is layered onto a gold doily and I've also added a die cut - shading added with a grey Pitt brush marker and then roughly brushed a Tombow marker over the top of the die cut.  

Supplies --

Create Without Limits rubber stamp (Quietfire Design)
Fresco Finish Paints - china, Caribbean sea, buff, candy floss bougainvillea, snowflake, yellow                                               submarine, tinned peas, limelight (PaperArtsy)
Stencils - mini chevron, mini spinning tops (The Crafter's Workshop)
Tim Holtz die - Trellis (Sizzix)
Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink - forget-me-not (Ranger)
Archival Ink - jet black (Ranger)
Catalyst Brushes - 15mm - B04, B05 (Princeton Artist Brush Co.)

Be A Good One

Hello!!!!  I hope your week is off to a good start!!!  Our youngest's graduation open house was this past Saturday and I was ready without even staying up late Friday... woohoo!!!!  The day was a complete blessing for us and our son (I think he was even a bit overwhelmed by the number of people able to make it and there were many more with scheduling conflicts that prevented them from coming).  

Today, after coming in from the shop, I was feeling the need to get my fingers into some color :-)  and this is the result.  I cut a piece of heavy smoothly cardstock, grabbed a color of paint, rubbed some on with my finger, grabbed another color.... and so on.  To build up the background I've used a stencil, stamps, splatters, and doodling.  The flowers were on my counter (left from trying out inktense pencils my friend brought over some time ago).  The stems are grungepaste mixed with paint through a stencil, inked and doodled.  I decided to add some gold around the edges by inking and using gold embossing powder.  Currently this is just a panel... I could make it into a card or I might add it to my art journal.  It occurred to me that it could be a page in an art journal all by itself but that would mean making a new journal and I'm not sure I want to do that right now.  Maybe I'll just stand it up on my desk, smile at the wonderful colors and see the reminder to "be a good one".

Supplies --

Fresco Finish Paints - smurf, banana, prawn, lavender, snowflake (PaperArtsy)

Stencil - Jofy PS007 (PaperArtsy)

Grungepaste (PaperArtsy)

Stamps - Sara Naumann ESN10 & 12, Hot Picks HP1303 (PaperArtsy)

Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink - forget-me-not, leaf green (Ranger)

Archival Ink jet black (Ranger)

Posca paint pens - white, black

Embossing ink and gold embossing powder