Strength and Shield

Good Monday Morning to you!!!!!  I hope you had a good weekend.  It was actually a weekend home and without company for us.  I got a couple of projects finished up and a good start on the year end paper work for the shop.  I should get the W-2s finished up later today... woo-hoo.  First I have to go weld but thought I'd pop this card in here.  It's not a new project but a card I did for a sweet ladies birthday a few months ago.  It appears (as I didn't make notes) that I used paste through a PaperArtsy stencil in the background, then paint, then splatters of paint, then Treasure Gold.  The scripture is an Our Daily Bread Designs stamp die cut with a Spellbinders cutting die.  The flowers are created from Elizabeth Craft Designs Susan's Garden Notes Cosmos cutting dies.

Dream Tag

This tag started with a scrap of white-on-one-side cardboard that I was using to show our daughter-in-law some inking techniques and stamping.  I cut it down and used a corner punch on the top 2 corners.  The large foliage image and the word dream are both from a PaperArtsy Lin Brown set, ELB30.  I stamped the main foliage with embossing ink and embossed it with Sticky Powder (Ranger) and then added purple foil.  The rest of the foliage and Dream are stamped with Archival Ink.  

Circle Journal #7

Hello!!  Back in September I worked in the 7th journal for this round robin.  The journal is hand shaped and belongs to Debs Wainwright.  It also has these extra papers between the hands.  Fun!!!!

I didn't take any notes so I'll skip the play by play of what I did and just mention a few things.  The brick was done by putting ink through a stencil and then using embossing powder.  Other stenciling was done with paste and/or paint.  All paint is PaperArtsy Fresco Finish.  I've also done some stamping with paint.  There are infusions in the background of the in-between paper and the right hand.  "Bloom" is stenciled with black paste and then dotted with, I think, a glittery gel pen. There is other doodling with both black and white pens.  

You are the Best!

Hello!!!  Happy New Year!!!  I hope your holidays were good!!  We had a great time with family and friends both Christmas weekend and New Year's weekend.  

I stayed in from the shop today to play catch up in the house and to get in a little play time.  The very start of this tag came yesterday before our daughter and her family headed home.  I was showing her how you could put Ranger's Archival Ink reinker on your craft mat, add rubbing alcohol and put your paper through the puddle.  The reinker colors I used were bright tangelo, paradise teal and shadow grey. (they just happened to be close to grab).  I also dripped a little bright tangelo on the tag and sprayed on more rubbing alcohol.  Oh, this is a Distress Heavy Weight Mixed Media tag that I just got - Love!!!  So that tag was sitting here this morning and I just went with it.  I stenciled and stamped (Wendy Vecchi Sunburst stencil and Ticking background stamp) with Paradise Teal ink and rubbed a bit of the ink around the edges.  I splattered white gesso over the tag.  Lastly I stenciled Gold Embossing Paste (Wendy Vecchi) through a stencil (Stencil Girl Circle 9).  

For the flower I used the same Stencil Girl stencil.  There are multiple sizes of the different images on the stencil.  On the background I used the smallest and for the individual flower I used the medium size.  I stenciled the image onto a scrap of white cardstock with embossing ink (Ranger) and embossed with Stream Embossing Powder (Ranger - a discontinued powder from the Adirondack line).  I then sprayed the piece with Distress Spray Stain, dried it with a heat tool, wiped the stain off the embossing, cut out the image and also cut between the petals.  (In the picture, the spray is still wet)

 The words are a stamp from the set, I Don't Tell You Often Enough #5933 (Quietfire Design).  I stamped with Archival Ink Jet Black onto a scrap of Mixed Media Cardstock (Ranger), cut the words out and edged the pieces with Paradise Teal.  The "cluster" is some gold fibers, a piece of cheese cloth, velvet leaves, and the flower (shaped and a brad added to the center).  The words were glued on, added dots of Caribbean Coast Enamel Accents (Ranger), and tied gold ribbon to the top.  

I'm entering this into Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #32, Put a Stencil On It. 

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