Flourished Tree Christmas Card

This card uses another new image from Quietfire Design, the flourished tree.  It's part of THIS set.  

The paper the tree is on is part of a page from a hymnal and I used white paint (PaperArtsy Fresco Finish) to mute the printing.  The tree is stamped with embossing ink (Ranger Ink) and embossed with Queen's Gold powder (Ranger Ink).  Distress markers were used to add a bit of color and then Glossy Accent added over the color.  The edges were torn and a bit of Distress Ink Antique Linen added around the tree.  

The next layer is a piece of Distress Kraft Core Paper.  Tim Holtz Stripes stencil and Fired Brick Distress Ink were used.  The panel was then spritzed with Distress Mica Spray Tarnished Brass for a bit of shimmer and the edges distressed.  

Next is burlap from the Idea-ology Textured Surfaces pack with a bit of Antique Linen Distress Paint.  I did peel off the liner sheet and stick it on my folded card.  The tree panel is popped up from the striped panel with a piece of cardboard and bakers twine wrapped around both before attaching them with foam tape.  The Idea-ology Tidings Token finishes it up.  

Happy Birthday Snowflakes

Hello!!!  I hope this post finds you well!!!

I really had fun making this card.  The stamps I used are all from Quietfire Design.  I've used 2 new snowflake images in the background from THIS set and Happy Birthday is from THIS set.  

For the background I've done the wrinkle free distress technique using tumbled glass, salty ocean, and wilted violet.   On this I stamped the flourishy snowflake with embossing ink, embossed with Ranger's Sticky Embossing Powder and then added silver foil.  Some of the snowflakes I didn't get inked well enough and they are pretty sketchy and others you can see more.  A happy accident that I think looks really good.  The smaller, more bold snowflake is stamped with wilted violet (stamping off once before stamping on the background) and some with broken china.  

Across the background is a border die cut (Sizzix, Tim Holtz), cut from Idea-ology Deco Sheets silver.

For that beautiful "bunch" I've used 3 different cutting dies - all Sizzix, Tim Holtz.  There is a pine branch cut from green card and then I've partly embossed it with Ranger's white embossing powder so it looks like there is snow.  Next is a large snowflake cut from Ranger's Foil Cardstock and then color added with Alcohol Inks Purple Twilight and Pool.  Next is a smaller snowflake also cut from Foil Cardstock and then Dry Rock Candy Glitter is glued to it using Glossy Accents.  I did leave some random spots without glitter.  In the center is an Idea-ology Gumdrop colored with Purple Twilight Alcohol Ink.  

Happy Birthday is stamped with Archival Ink Jet Black on a scrap of white card, cut free hand and edges inked with Distress Ink Wilted Violet.  

I love how this came together!!!!!

Christmas Thank You

Hello!!!  I'm sharing a beautiful thank you card over on the ECD blog just perfect for that special gift from that special person.  I hope you can pop on over HERE to see how I made it.  

Brrrrrrr Birdie

Hi There!!!!  I'm thrilled to be sharing over on the Elizabeth Craft Design's Blog again.  Winter will be upon us soon and I'm sharing an adorable card using Suzanne's Brrrrr die set!!  You can find the post HERE.

Circle Journal #6

Hello!!!  I hope you are well!!!  I'm squeezing in a blog post before I head out the door for church.  

This is the journal I worked in back in August and it belongs to Marie.  Her shape, as you can see, is a circle.  This swap gets more exciting each month as when the next book arrives there are more pages completed because more people have had a chance to work in it.  Just a few more months and we'll be getting our own books back!!!

We were asked to complete one page, both sides, in Marie's book.  For this side I started with gesso allowing the brush strokes to show, stamped into the wet gesso (PaperArtsy stamp), and then shook on Infusions spraying on a bit of water as needed to help the color move.  I let this dry (or I might have used the heat tool).  The butterfly is a Tim Holtz stamp.  The quote is a PaperArtsy stamp.    

For the flip side I scraped on Fresco Finish paints, set the stencil (PaperArtsy) on and using a baby wipes removed paint.  I then put the matching stencil with dots on and added paint with a dabber.  I cleaned excess paint from the dabber by pressing it in the background.  

I stenciled with white paint using a mesh stencil. I stenciled an extra flower on cardstock, cut it out, and added some texture with a stylus.  Added some yellow to the flowers in the background.  Die cut some leaves, added color and shaping.  Stamped the quote (PaperArtsy) with Archival Ink jet black. Oh, there is also some script stamping in the background.    

Hopefully I haven't forgotten any details... August was a couple months ago :-))  Have a good one!!!!

Autumn Wishes, Friend

Hi!!!  It's my turn over on the Elizabeth Craft Design's Blog today!!  Pop on over to see how I made this card!!

RubberStampMadness Holiday 2016

Hello, Friends!!!  

Thanks so much for being there even though I'm not posting much at the moment.  We are making progress on the house and I hope to have a bit more creative time (and blogging time for things I haven't shared yet) in the near future.  In the meantime, I'm thrilled to once again have something published in RubberStampMadness.  This 2016 Holiday issue is wonderful.  Along with lots of holiday inspiration is an article that focuses on tags.  There are 13 different tags in the article and one of them is mine (insert happy dance)!!  I share picture space with Sue Wisniewski, isn't her tag beautiful!! 

My tag uses mostly paints and Clare Lloyd stamps from PaperArtsy. 

I hope all is well with you and that you are having a good week!! 

Hugs, Wanda

Creating a Background and Making it into a Christmas Card

Hi There!!!  I'm over on the Elizabeth Craft Design's Blog sharing how to make this background and then use it to make a Christmas card.  I hope you have time to check it out!!!

I Will Write Peace on Your Wings

Hello!!!  I'm sure you're in shock with me posting 3 days in a row... lol.  I'm hoping to get some more posts in this week sharing some things that aren't new but haven't yet made it to my blog.  Today's project, however, is new and I even had my camera close and took some process pictures.  

The quote is another new Quietfire Design stamp.  Suzanne's calligraphy is so beautiful!!  I'm glad she takes her hand-penned words and makes rubber stamps for us all to use!!!  

To begin with I took a blank page that had been torn from a Dylusions journal.  I have little pile of these papers and have been trying to get them used.  In the process I'm finding I Love this paper!!  I knew I liked it but the more I use it the more I love it!!  

Wendy Vecchi makes sprays using her Archival Ink reinkers and 91% rubbing alcohol.  We used them when I went to her workshops in Ankeny (yes, I still need to write that blog post) and I've begun making some at home.  So far I've mixed up Cactus Flower (one of my favorite colors), Pink Peony, Sunflower, and Garden Patina.  I sprayed all of those on this paper.  I sprayed quite a bit letting them pool and mix.  I did a little blotting with a paper towel, not all over, and the pattern from that shows in some spots.

I cut a piece from that paper 4" x 5 1/4".  I stenciled on it using a new Wendy stencil and Pink Peony ink.

This is Wendy's new butterfly stamp (in the Artful Thoughts set).  I've stamped it on the left over paper with Jet Black Archival Ink and cut it out. 

Distress Ink Salty Ocean was used to add more color to the butterfly.

I wanted more in the background and used Quietfire Design's crackle image with Garden Patina ink just stamping bits of the image here and there.  

As I was deciding how to finish things up I remembered a page we did in Wendy's workshop where we were using that beautiful butterfly and we also used one of Tim Holtz's die cut trees.  They worked really well together and I liked it enough to decide to buy the dies so I got them out, cut a tree from cardstock and inked and embossed it.

The quote was stamped with Jet Black and embossed with clear powder.  Wendy's fern leaf image (Messages For Art set) was stamped along the bottom with Leaf Green ink.  Black pen doodles around the edge and a bit at the base of the tree to help ground it.  The butterfly is attached only along the body and Wild Orchid Enamel Accent dots added.  I am loving the enamel accents!!!  Besides beautiful colors I really like that the tops aren't tacky after it dries.  If you use them in a journal, it won't want to stick to the opposite page when you close the book.  Everything is layered to black cardstock.  

I hope you've enjoyed today's post!!!!  

Hugs, Wanda

The Extraordinary

Hey!!!  I hope your Monday is good!!  The card in my last post was made about a month ago and I've had the left over piece after cutting the leaf - it was just too nice to toss - sitting here and I took time this weekend to use it. I trimmed up the paper a bit, tearing the bottom and cutting the top and sides.  I put a piece of Tim Holtz Textured Surface burlap behind the leaf and then stuck this to a piece of white cardstock that was first sprayed with water, crumpled, and dried.  There is stenciling around the leaf - Tim Holtz stencils, one I used texture paste with and the other Archival Ink.  Walnut Stain Distress Paint is splattered over the piece.  A black pen was used to add "stitching" around the leaf.  The words are black Idea-ology Small Talk Stickers and the white was done with a gel pen.  I added some dots of Cheese Puff Enamel Accents, not easily seen but they catch the light and add a detail.  All this is attached to a folded black card that measures 4 1/2" x 6 1/8".

The Great King Over All The Earth

Happy Sunday to you!!!  I hope your day is wonderful!!

The first thing I did for this card is create the large leaf.  I used that custom blend distress pad, pressed the ink on my craft sheet, sprayed it with water, and pressed the paper into it - a blank page torn from a Dylusions journal.  I used the Sizzix, Tim Holtz big die and embossing folder set - cut the leaf, embossed it, and then inked over the high spots with Distress Tea Dye.  It made a beautiful, fall leaf. 

The other parts of the card.  For the background I used another Tim Holtz embossing folder and inked around the edges with Tea Dye.  For the strip across the middle I used an old Embossing Arts Co stamp and the Custom Blend Distress Pad, stamped up a paper and then tore the strip from it.  The scripture is an Our Daily Bread Designs image stamped with Archival Ink Jet Black and die cut using a Stitched Rectangles die (Tim Holtz - Sizzix).  The piece behind the scripture is a kraft piece from Tim's Substrate Sheets set.  I wet a whole piece, crumpled it well, opened it up, inked over the wrinkles, dried it and cut it out using deckle scissors.  

 

For the rest of my life....

Quietfire Design has some new stamps.  They can currently be found in the What's New category on their website.  I've used one of them, For the Rest of My Life, on this card.  

I started with a background I already had that was created using Dylusion Sprays and the shaving cream technique.  Over this I stamped the quote with Archival Ink Jet Black.  Next I stamped the Doily image (Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 - Stamper's Anonymous) with Archival Ink Buttercup.  I stamped part of it in the upper right corner and then again in the lower left corner letting them overlap a bit in the center.  Then I've stamp a some Wildflowers (Tim Holtz - Stamper's Anonymous) with Jet Black ink and embossed them with clear powder.  The orange dots are stenciled (Wendy Vecchi Lots of Dots stencil - Stamper's Anonymous) with Archival Ink Tiger Lily.  The bottom of the paper is distressed.  There is orangey twine wrapped around the piece and tied.  This is attached to black cardstock and then a folded white card.  The Red heart started as a gold metal filigree heart.  I altered it by inking it with Wendy's Archival ink and then embossing it with her powder.  There are actually 3 layers as I kept changing my mind.  First I did Tiger Lily but it just didn't stand out enough for me.  Then I reinked and used the orange blossom powder.  Still not quite right.  Finally I inked it with red geranium and used the red geranium powder.  This is glued on and an Idea-ology (Tim Holtz) Mirrored Heart glued on top.  

It's not necessary....

Happy Monday to you!!!  I had a great weekend!!!  The Wendy Vecchi classes at Memory Bound were fabulous!!!  Wendy is a really good teacher!!!  I'll do a post about the classes at another time.  I did share quite a few pictures on Instagram if you are curious before I get around to posting here. 

Today I'm sharing the project that I mentioned in my last post and you can see that I cut that second piece of marbled paper and put it behind my oval.  That oval was cut from a blank page that had been removed from a Dylusions journal using Tim's largest stitched oval die.  In that set of dies is also a couple of scallop borders and that gold you see to the left and right of the oval is the largest scallop cut from the same paper and then colored with Distress Paint Tarnished Brass.  The white dots are done with a Posca paint marker and the white lines with a gel pen.  

For the oval I used mostly brand new Wendy Vecchi Studio 490 stamps and stencils and one older stencil (the dots).  I stamped the fern first (Messages For Art stamp set) and embossed it with Wendy's Fern Green Embossing Powder.  Next I inked the paper with Distress Inks using a blending tool.  Then I splattered water over the panel getting lots of water around the fern - blotted and dried the panel - and then did water again around the fern, blotting and drying.  For the white stenciling (Intersecting Circles Stencil) I used Distress Ink Picket Fence.  The dots were stenciled with Archival Ink Watering Can.  The words were stamped with Archival Ink Black Soot.  The ferns at the bottom of the oval (Ferns Stencil) were stenciled with Archival Ink Fern Green.  I set the oval down inside a garbage bin and gave it one spray with Wendy's Buttercup Mica Spray for a very subtle shimmer that catches the light as the card is moved.  The butterfly is Wendy's Mat Mini.  I inked it with Distress Ink Picket Fence, dried it, inked it with Archival Ink Buttercup, dried it, stamped the flower (Art From Us stamp set) with Archival Ink Watering Can, dried it, colored the flower with Distress Marker, dried it, and added some white highlights with a gel pen.  The edge of the oval has Distress Paint Tarnished Brass on it.  

This was fun to make and I hope you like it!!!     

Autumn Dream

Hi!!! I'm ready for the weekend.  It's a weekend off from all the projects we have going on here as I'm going to 2 all day workshops up at the Memory Bound store in Ankeny.  The Wendy Vecchi is here for the weekend teaching... woo-hoo!!!!  Wendy is a wonderful teacher!!!!  I hope you have something good planned for the weekend!!  

The card I'm sharing today started with that background in the picture above.  I was actually working on something else (I'll share that in a day or two) when the thought popped in "I bet Distress Paint Black Soot and Tarnished Brass would make a fabulous marble" and I immediately pulled them out and tried it.  Doesn't it look fabulous!!!!  I was going to use that first piece for the project I was in the midst of but then decided it wasn't quite large enough.  I still have that puddle that shows in the picture on my craft sheet so I grabbed another piece of paper (a piece torn from a Dyan journal so mixed media paper), added a bit more tarnished brass to my craft sheet, sprayed the paper well with water and dipped it in moving a little and redipping to cover the entire piece.  I dried it and then lightly dipped it into the bits left on my craft sheet and dried it again.  What I got is the piece below... Yum!!!  I went ahead and finished that project but then today wanted to use that first piece I'd marbled.

I just got the Tim Holtz stencil with the leaves and wanted to use it.  I mixed some Fossilized Amber Distress Paint with Texture Paste and put it through the stencil over that marbled paper.  After it was dry, I put the stencil back on and inked with Fired Brick and Fossilized Amber Distress Inks.  I also did a light spray of Antiqued Bronze Distress Mica Spray (stencil still in place).  You can't see the shimmer in any of the pics but it does catch the light in person.  I was thinking it would be great if the leaves had some veins and wondered if it might work to add some.  I grabbed a toothpick and it worked.  The point of the toothpick broke pretty quickly so I grabbed a metal pointy tool and used that. 

The single leaf was die cut (Sizzix, Tim Holtz, Thinlit) from an already colored manila tag (I cut it from the bottom left corner and will turn it into a finished tag).  I added more ink to the leaf with Fired Brick, Fossilized Amber, and Vintage Photo.  Some Idea-ology items (trim, word band with paint and the words actually show up well in person but not so well in these pictures, hex fasteners) finish it up.  

Happy Birthday Sunflower Card

Hello!!!  I'm sharing a birthday card today.  The background is simply white cardstock cut with an ECD Stitched Rectangle Die, embossed with the ECD Swirly Curves folder, and Distress Ink added around the edges.  Happy Birthday is cut from Shimmer Sheetz using the ECD A Way With Words die (available from ECD or Quietfire Design).  The flower is ECD Susan's Garden Notes Sunflower die set.