Journal with Grungeboard Covers

This is a journal I made reently using Grungeboard for the covers and binding it with the Bind-it-all. More pictures and step-by-step directions can be accessed via the February byhand Newsletter. There are also other projects to be seen and other wonderful art. Check it out!!

Vamp Stamp News

Both of these cards use the soot stamping technique and are published in the March 2008 issue of Vamp Stamp News. I remember trying this technique a few years ago and having lots of trouble but after reading the article in the Jan. '08 VSN about soot stamping, I decided to try it again and it went so much better. Love my Vamp Stamp News issues!! They always have great information and articles very helpful to stampers. (Nope, I'm not just saying this because she publishes my cards :-) The calligraphy stamps, checkerboard, and flourish images are all from Quietfire Design. Also got the star border stickers from there.

You Make My Day Award

I am so blessed!!! Two wonderful people have awarded me with "You Make My Day Awards". Gayle and Jodi are both inspirations to me!!

The rules for the “You Make My Day” award are to re-present it to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blog land. Let them know through email or by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times, and if you do, consider yourself really, really loved. So to pass it on and keep the love going ~ here are 10 of the 100's of blogs that keep me inspired and bring a smile to my face. Check them out when you have a few minutes... perhaps there are some new friends to be made!

Yogi

Chris

Suzanne

Lenna

Deborah

Kristy

Keron

Nancy

Lori

Judy

Toilet Paper Casting

Happy Saturday!!! There has been a lot of talk on the Byhand Artists yahoo group about paper casting toilet paper and also with, I think it's called, cotton linter... or something like that. I also recently received an atc in a swap on that group that had a paper casting on it. My good friend, Michelle, was over and saw the atc and wanted to give it a try. I've heard of doing it before and it's been on my "to do some day list" for a few years so we sat down and played. We had lots of fun and I have more casting to make cards from. However, this morning while taking a shower (some of my best thinking happens there :-) I started wondering if I could do this with brass stencils. This flourish heart is a Dreamweaver Stencil and I got it from Quietfire Design. I took foam mounting tape, detacked it a bit and put it on the back of the stencil. I put a piece in each corner close to the design and also cut 2 tiny pieces to put in the center of the design to be sure the center stayed supported. I then attached the stencil to a piece of hard plastic and started laying on the toilet paper, pouncing with water and a stencil brush getting the tp down into the design and also I went out over the edge of the stencil. I used about 10 layers of tp on this. Dried it some with the heat tool keeping it at a distance and then let it finish air drying as I had some other things to get done also. As you can see, when I took it off the stencil it had worked very well!! I was so impressed!!! I tore all the edges just outside the stencil edge line. I kept this card simple. The base is Bazzill cardstock stamped with a medium sized flourish (Quietfire Design) in Adirondack butterscotch. The next layer is embossed paper from Quietfire Design and I edged it with a gold Krylon paint pen. I also added a peel offs sticker border along the bottom.

You Make My Heart Soar

This is an oversized card (9" x 7 1/2") that I've made for my husband for Valentine's Day. The folded card is a very light cream color. For the background, I stamped the large flourish (Quietfire Design) with Ranger resist ink and then sponged over it with Adirondack inks red pepper and cranberry. I've used the largest heart and largest set of wings in a pack of grungeboard(elements pack, dot pattern). The heart I painted with Golden fluid acrylic naphthol red medium, let it dry, and then dry brushed on iridescent gold deep. The wings were painted with iridescent bronze. "LOVE" is also grungeboard (alphabet set, swirl pattern) and is colored with a Krylon gold paint pen. "You Make My Heart Soar" was done with a Dymo labeler.

Purple Gothic Arch

The challenge at Gothic Arch is purple and I had been thinking maybe I would fit in getting something done for it. Well, I had bought some new towels.. purple even.. and after washing and drying them I was cleaning the lint screen on the drier and the lint was a light purple. On my way to throwing it away the challenge popped into my mind and I thought hmmm maybe I can use this :-)) So I put it on the counter until I had time. I had already scrunched up the lint or it would have been cool to glue on a fluffy layer... instead I mixed the lint with fluid matte medium and also added in a little bit of gold glitter. I cut the arch shape from watercolor paper, rubbed Stazon cactus green ink over it, dried it, and then smeared on my mixture and left it to dry. Good thing I did this at night because it's a lot easier being patient when you are sleeping, lol. It darkened the lint a lot but came out very cool. Lots of texture!! I printed and cut out the collage image (Quietfire Design) and attached it with gel medium. On a scrap of white cardstock I tapped the cactus green inkpad and then also sponged some ink on. On top of that I stamped "Serenity" (Quietfire Design) with Stazon royal purple, tore it out, and attached it with Glossy Accents. The flowers were punched from 3 different colors of purple cardstock and attached with Glossy Accents. Gold glitter glue added to the center of each flower. Along the top right I added 5 eighth inch gold eyelets, took white silk ribbon, colored it with Brilliance pearlescent purple ink, heat set it, and weaved it through the eyelets ending with a bow.

Another for Created Byhand

Since I still had part of an image left from cutting out the extra doves for the last card, I just had to make something else. This is an atc and it's probably inspired by the foot of snow we got last night. The background is from a tissue box. I stamped part of a flourish (Quietfire Design) along the right with Stazon pumpkin. Cut out the girl and glued her on. Punched several flowers and glued them on. Added glitter glue to the center of each flower, some yellow and some gold. Wrote the words with a black pen.

Created Byhand Challenge

This weeks challenge is to use a Free Collage Image provided by Quietfire Design... info here. I printed out the image twice... cut one out entirely and then cut just the 2 doves from the second one. Using foam tape I added the 2 doves over the doves on the whole image and then edged the image using a gold Krylon paint pen. This is layered to a folded Bazzill cardstock card. Calligraphy stamp (Quietfire Design) is stamped with Versamark ink and embossed with white. White silk ribbon (Quietfire Design) was colored using Distress ink antique linen and added to the card along with a gold clipiola.

Black and White Card

This week is WinterStamp on the two peas forum. There are several challenges posted with prizes to be won. One challenge is sponsored by Quietfire Design and you need to use black and white and a QF calligraphy stamp. For this card I started with watercolor paper and added water and Ecoline liquid watercolor black creating darker and lighter areas. While it was still wet I layed on some strips of bubble wrap and also some scrunched up plastic wrap, let it dry completely and then removed them. Next down both sides I stamped one of the QF flourish stamps using Brilliance moonlight white. At the bottom I used part of one of the larger flourishes and stamped it with white paint. The calligraphy stamp is stamped in black on white cardstock, torn out, and part of a small flourish stamped in two corners with black and attached it to the background. The background is attached to a folded card of white Bazzill cardstock. I then took a grungeboard flourish, painted it white, let it dry, pressed a black inkpad to it, and attached it to the card.

Friendship Card

I've been having lots of fun incorporating grungeboard into my projects this weekend!! This card is 4 1/4" x 5 1/2". The folded card is green Bazzill cardstock. The background starts with white cardstock. The flourish is stamped with Versamark ink and embossed in clear. I then sprayed the piece with diluted Ranger color wash butterscotch and stream and blotted immediately with a paper towel to keep the colors light. Next I placed the piece between 2 pieces of copy paper and ironed it to remove the embossing powder. The grungeboard flourish and the flower brads were painted with Lumiere halo blue gold. The saying was stamped on vellum, cut out, layered onto a larger piece of vellum and those edges torn. all supplies and stamps can be gotten from Quietfire Design.

My First Skinny

A skinny is 3" x 5" or some say any size just so it's more tall than wide. All supplies and stamps used on this one are from Quietfire Design. All inks are Distress Inks. I started with white cardstock and stamped the harlequin background with antique linen. I then turned the stamp 90 degress and stamped again with worn lipstick. The hands are stamped with walnut stain. I sponged over the whole piece using shabby shutter getting it a little darker on the edges. The hand stamped in the lower right is trimmed out just around the fingers using a craft knife. The saying is stamped on a scrap of white cardstock with walnut stain, torn out, edges rubbed with worn lipstick and attached under the fingers of the hand. The heart was punched from harlequin grungeboard, sponged with worn lipstick and then rubbed with fired brick dtp.

Grungeboard ATC

It was difficult getting a picture of this atc. I tried scanning and had too many shadows because of dimension so this pic was taken with the digital camera but I've got a lot of bouncing light. The base is cut from a piece of harlequin patterned grungeboard (basics pack), painted with Lumiere burgundy, edged with a gold Krylon paint pen, and speckled with gold Krylon. The heart and key are dots grungeboard (elements pack). I painted the heart with Lumiere pearl magenta, let it dry, and added red heart stickers on top of the dots. The key is colored with gold Krylon. Tied gold cording around the key and then around the heart. The paper at the bottom (brighter in real life) is from a dark chocolate Hershey's kiss.

Created Byhand - Black and White

This weeks challenge on Created Byhand is to use only black and white. This atc uses black cardstock. I stamped the large flourish with Brilliance moonlight white. Then using a score-it board I scored 1/4" from each edge creatinga a ridge and rubbed the Brilliance pad dtp over some of the ridges. The key is stamped with Brilliance on black cardstock, torn out, edges rubbed well with Brilliance and then the key highlighted with a white Souffle pen. White dots along the edges were also done with the white Souffle pen. Words were hand written, cut out and added. All supplies are available from Quietfire Design.

This ATC is for a Valentine's mingle

I really enjoyed making this atc. The background is embossed paper from Quietfire Design and I dry brushed on Lumiere burnt orange. White lace was added along the left, rubbed with Distress ink antique linen, and red sequins added. In the center of the sequins I added a drop of liquid pearls and when that was dry colored it with a souffle pen. The girl is a collage image from Quietfire design. It was printed on white cardstock. I also cut out an extra flower and layered it on with foam mounting tape. The words were printed with a dymo labeler on clear tape, attached to cardstock sponged with Adirondack rust ink, and cut out. Metallic heart stickers added.

Be Mine ATC

I was inspired by an article in Altered Arts Magazine by Lori Roberts. She used embossed papers along with lots of embellishments for an ATC book. For my atc I used textured wallpaper along with torn text and paint for the background. Added a metal frame with a collage image, be mine banner, and organza ribbon. Be mine was cut from Bazzill cardstock using the Cricut Expression, painted to match better, and backed with white cardstock. The gold "brads" are stickers.

ATCs for a swap

Two of the choices for themes for this month were African and Valentines and I decided to do a group of cards for each. I wasn't sure about the elephant when I started but really liked it when I was done and I always like Valentine's :-))

Created Byhand Challenge - Inchies

Inchies are just so much fun to make. It's really quite amazing what you can do with a mere 1 sq. inch. For this one I tapped the Distress ink pad worn lipstick onto white cardstock. I then stamped the square image (Quietfire Design) with Distress dusty concord and used a 1" punch to cut it out. The girl (Quietfire Design) was printed on white cardstock, cut out, and attached to the inchie. I added just a bit of pink chalk to her dress and hat and outlined her with the pink Souffle pen. Added 1/16" eyelets and tied a fiber. The flower was punch from a scrap of the worn lipstick dabbed cardstock. Purple souffle pen added to center. Created Byhand Challenge site

Polished Stone and TTS

There was a challenge on the TTSchat group to used the polished stone technique and, of course, to combine it with Time to Stamp stamps. I love that technique and will sit for a long time playing to fill by folder with backgrounds. I pulled this one out, stamped a background image on part of it and cut it into strips. I also cut some narrower strips of an unstamped area and then pieced them together for the background. This is attached to grey Bazzill cardstock edged with gold Krylon and then a blue Bazzill folded base. The peacock was stamped with versamark ink, embossed with sticky powder, and powdered pearls added. I colored in the body with chalks and added darker highlights with a fine tipped pen. Oriental splendor was stamped with black ink on a scrap of the background, cut out, layered on, and white glaze pen used around the edges. Clear crystal stickers were added.

POM - AMRSC - January

Here it is January 20th and I never posted about the Project of the Month on A Monthly Rubber Stamp Club. I had alot of fun working with this background technique!!!!

Eggstra Special atc

I was playing around with the Ecoline liquid watercolors I just got from Quietfire Design and managed to achieve this really cool background that I just had to do something with :-) The collage image (Quietfire Design) is printed on white cardstock and color added with chalk pastels. I stamped part of a flourish image (Quietfire Design) repeatedly around the 3 edges. The words are written with a Zig pen.

Inchie

Suzanne, Quietfire Style, posted an inchie a couple of days ago which got me thinking I hadn't made one in awhile so today I just had to make one. The background is Ecoline inks on watercolor paper. I then stamped part of a flourish stamp along the left edge with Distress ink fired brick. The collage image (yes, it's the same girl as the atc below but in a smaller size) was printed on white cardstock and cut out. The heart was punch from a scrap of the background paper. I stamped "Art is letting your fingers" calligraphy stamp on a scrap of paper with fired brick ink and cut the word heart from it. All supplies available from Quietfire Design.

Created Byhand - Distress Inks

The challenge on Created Byhand is to use Distress Inks. The flourish stamps, collage image, puffy heart, resist ink, and Distress Inks used on this atc can be found at Quietfire Design. I started with white glossy cardstock cut to atc size and stamped the largest flourish image on it with resist ink. Next I rubbed on Distress ink tattered rose, fired brick, and concord using a cosmetic sponge. I then cam back in with a the smaller flourish of the same shape stamping in fired brick and concord ink and dried them with the heat tool. The collage image is printed on regular white cardstock. After cutting it out I added an extra slip by the hand to tuck the corner of the heart into. Added the puffy heart using Glossy Accents and then added dots around the edge with a gold gel pen. The words were done with a Dymo labeler on clear tape.

Crackle Paint and Grungeboard

Last month I taught a class on Cyberstampers that focused on using the new Distress crackle paints and also some of the new Tim Holtz Grungeboard. These are some of the samples from that class. You can see the whole class on my picturetrail. The pics will come up along the left side and if you click on them you will get a pic along with directions on the right.

4 x 4 Friday - Music

The current theme on 4 x 4 Friday is music. For this piece I sprayed Memory Mists pale ale and pink lemonade onto white cardstock. The couple image (Time to Stamp) is stamped with Versafine black ink. The music image (Stampington) is stamped with Distress Ink walnut stain. There is also walnut stain in sponge around the edge. "Love" is cut with the Cricut Expression. The heart and music notes are punch. I got the alphabet brads from Quietfire Design. The letters come the same color as the brad but they are raised up making it easy to color them. I used a gold Krylon on the letters.

Frames

The current challenge on Created Byhand is frames. This atc uses a slide mount covered with textured paper for the frame. After covering the slide mount, I sponged Brilliance black ink over the paper to tone it down as it is very shiny and metallic. The collage image is printed on regular white cardstock. The background is gesso and Lumiere copper paint dabbed onto watercolor paper. "Cherish" is stamped with Versafine black ink. The extra swirls are done with the top part of the cherish stamp. A puffy heart was added to the frame.