Muse Challenge #213

Today's card is for the Muse Challenge #213 this week featuring my extremely talented and crafty friend, Kay Miller. Kay's work is always so inspiring but what I particularly loved about this card is the bright pops of color.

I don't know about you, but here in Northeastern Oklahoma, we have had rain for days and days and days. Everything is lush and green (including the skies) and I am ready for some bright pops of color.

I am totally smitten with Papertrey Ink's Tulip Time Stamp Set and chose to do these in the bright Coral and Red tones as well.  I started by die cutting the tulips from Stamper's Select White Cardstock so I could use the negative as my placeholder in the MISTI tool for stamping.  I have found this to be a mostly fool proof way of stamping any of the layering stamps.  Another method I've been using a lot lately is stamping my initial layer of color on the blooms using Brilliance Pearlescent Pigment Ink. For these tulips I used "Pearlescent Coral".  I keep all of my pigment inks in the same container, so while I had them out, I used Pearlescent Thyme and Pearlescent Ivy for the leaves. The 2nd and 3rd colors for the blooms were Berry Sorbet and Pure Poppy, both from Papertrey Ink.  With the base layer (a.k.a. the most solid image) being done in the pearlescent ink, it makes the whole bloom pearlescent.

During the latest release from Papertrey Ink, there was this sentiment about "paper hugs" that I loved in the stamp set "Pen & Ink".  I asked on the forum if anyone was interested in doing a "split" since I only wanted this one sentiment. To my surprise, someone was all in for that and I was able to get this sentiment. I'm a hugger, as are many crafters, so this sentiment was perfect for many of the cards I send.  In fact, most of the cards I send are signed "Hugs" so again this is perfect and what I think a "Thinking of You" sentiment always makes me think of.  As always, I used a lot of powder tool on my cardstock before stamping it with Versamark.

The note card is made using the Noted: A2 Die Set, also from Papertrey Ink.  I don't make many side folding cards, but it's what I felt like making today.  I also wanted to check out my new Cuttlebug Magnetic Mat for the extended plates.  In case you didn't know, Anna Griffin came out with these magnetic mats for the Cuttlebug and you can buy the set of 2 (one regular and one for the extended plates) at HSN.com.  I am over the moon. I am still really careful and sometimes use a bit of delicate surface masking tape, but the dies do not shift around.  Let me qualify that by saying that my largest and second largest stitched rectangles have been used so much that they are bowed, so they don't lay flat on the magnetic mat and are the ones I'm using the masking tape with.  The sandwich order is A Plate, Magnetic Mat, B Plate, cardstock, die and another B plate. There is pretty much no need for the C Plate unless you are not using the magnetic mat. You do have to remove the Magnetic Mat for Embossing Folders, and I'm guessing that I will also need to remove it for some of the Cover Plate Dies, but it's really easy and has been a fantastic solution for how much die cutting I do.

I started making cards just about 2 years ago now and I've made more than 500 cards, so my stitched rectangle dies get quite the workout.  In fact, I've wondered if they will need to be replaced because I use them so much, but so far, they still work perfectly.

Thank you for spending a bit of time here on my blog today.  I'm sorry I am not putting in many products links right now since I am having computer issues but I'll get back to doing it soon.  Be sure to stop over at the Muse Challenge to see the inspiration and the entries as there are always so many great takes.

Papertrey Ink's Fresh Bouquet

Jenni Murray's Card

Today I have a card for 2 different challenges that was inspired by this card from Jenni Murray over at the Muse Challenge Blog. They are celebrating their 200th Challenge this week. As a card maker, I find my inspiration (a.k.a. Muse) in many different places but most often it is in seeing what others create and share. It might be a color or color combination, a design or a technique. I love going around to the different challenges and seeing what everyone creates.

One of my favorite techniques from the past year is Gold Paint Spatter.  It provides a lot of textural interest without having to add another layer of paper which makes it a CAS (Clean and Simple) technique and is why I am participating over at the CAS on Sunday Challenge as well with "Hearts" as the challenge.

I started by adding spatters of Gold Watercolor to a card base made from Stamper's Select White Cardstock.  Using the Papertrey Ink Fresh Bouquet Die I cut one from Stamper's Select White then stamped the Fresh Bouquet Outline Stamp in Versamark and heat set it with Simon Say Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  Next I stamped the images using Altenew's Ruby Red, Coral Berry and Forest Glades inks and then attached that to my card base using Foam Squares.  Fresh Bouquet is a multi layer stamp set so that you can use several colors for the blooms.  I love the color Jenni used so I chose to stick with the Ruby Red.

The greeting was cut from Gold Foiled Cardstock using the Big Basics: Love You Die from Papertrey and the hearts were cut using the Simon Says Stamp Mini Hearts Die.  I popped up only one of the hearts on some Thin 3D Foam Squares cut down to fit.  Everything else was adhered with Ranger Multi Medium Matte.

I have a few choices for Gold Watercolor but since I am only creating cards and not art pieces that need to last for the next thousand years, I've been looking for a less expensive alternative.  I adore the Finetec Mica Gold Watercolor Set, but it doesn't take long to use up one of the little pans and my supplier doesn't carry the individual refills in that brand although they are available.  Another choice is Gansai Tambi Watercolors Set of 36. My retailer carries the individual little pans of color for this brand but I found a less expensive alternative before they got them in the store.

While I was searching for Finetec Refills, I found Sargent Art Watercolor in Metallic Gold and Metallic Pearl White.  This is a huge 8 ounce bottle that is currently available for $6.64 for the Gold and $9.94 for the White on Amazon.  I love this size and I don't have to be careful with how much or how often I use it. It can also be diluted with water which is what I did with this card. You can see the spatter but it doesn't overtake the whole card.  I plan to try it again soon with a straight-from-the-bottle solution of the paint. There are so many ways to achieve this look.  I've also tried it with the Heidi Swapp Color Shine in Gold Lamé.  Rather than using the spray bottle, I put a bit in a small container and spatter it on with a paintbrush or you can use the end of the sprayer to tap color onto your paper or cardstock.  I'd recommend just trying different mediums and techniques until you come up with one you like. Personally I like them all but I use different ones for different looks.  The biggest bang for the buck is the Sargent Art brand and I can only imagine that a bottle will last a few years for sure.

Thanks for coming by today and spending a few minutes at my blog.  Be sure to check out the Challenge Blogs to see all of the beautiful cards for that have been submitted.

A Little Bit of Distress

Over at The Card Concept this week, they have a beautiful inspiration image with some Lilacs sitting in a container.  Since purple is a favorite color for me, I had to sit down and see what I could come up with.

There's a similar Challenge over at Muse Challenges #164 with the inspiration image in the upper right side of this post.

The first thing I did was to look through my stamps to see what I had that could look a little like Lilacs and this was the best I could come up. We can be inspired by what the item is, the colors or any number of things. It's actually not too bad. These flowering branches are from the Altenew Beautiful Day Stamp Set.  I cut the branches out with the Beautiful Day Coordinating Dies after water coloring the images.  

I started with a 4.25 x 5.5 inch piece of watercolor paper and stamped my images in Versamark then heat embossed using Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder. I love the little bit warmer tone of this powder.  It is identical in final appearance to WOW!'s Gold Rich Pale Embossing Powder.  To watercolor the branches I used Wilted Violet Distress Marker for the taller skinny ones and Seedless Preserves Distress Marker for the shorter, squattier branches then finished them off using Pine Needles Distress Marker for the leaves.

I also dry embossed a piece of white cardstock using the Birds and Swirls Embossing folder from Cuttlebug. I opted to ink this up using the DTP methods with Perfect Match Lavender Moon Ink by Papertrey Ink. The raised areas catch significantly more ink although some does get down in the lower areas as well. If you choose a design that is closer together more of the ink stays on just the raised portions better leaving more white space in the design. After that I misted it with Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist and set it aside to dry. The kind I have is Tattered Angels but you could use the Tsukineko Gold Shimmer Spritz to get a simlar effect. Once it was dry I cut it with a Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die in the largest size to be my background panel.

I cut a piece of SU! Rich Razzleberry paper from a scrap out of my folder for the smaller oval and a larger one from gold poster board.  I cut the center out of the larger oval since I was going to cover it up and used it to cut my "smile" word die. This word was a set of three made by Little Yellow Bicycle and I got it about a year ago at Hobby Lobby along with another set of three words. The ovals were adhered to the background panel with Tombow Mono Adhesive.  Then I arranged the floral branches how I wanted them and adhered with Ranger Multi Medium Matte and added the greeting.  Everything was attached to a top folding A2 card base made from Stamper's Select White by Papertrey Ink.  

I have to say, as much as I like the occasional soft pink color, it does not photograph very well. You really can't see the shimmer and shine I added but if I try to take the card apart and put it on a different color card base, it will tear. So, for today, I can live with it. Be sure to stop by The Card Concept and Muse to check out all the gorgeous creations there.  Thank you for taking time to stop and read my blog today.  I really enjoy reading all of the comments if you'd like to leave one for me. I'll be back soon with a new project.  Have a great weekend, everyone! *Ü*