It's (Almost) Fall Y'all!

Can you all believe that tomorrow is September 1st?  It's not officially Fall but once we hit September, I know it's going to start cooling down. It seems like this year has really flown by! This time of year always makes me long for one of my favorite places in my home state of Missouri. It is incredibly beautiful there and I especially love it in the fall.  I'm talking about Alley Spring & Mill in Eminence, Missouri. At one time, Alley Spring and Mill was the social center for several communities in Shannon County, Missouri and that lasted into the Prohibition Era in the United States. The Jacks Fork River runs through Alley Spring and the spring itself pumps through 81 million gallons per day on average.  The water is so clear there that it's hard to tell just how deep it is.  It's actually difficult to hear people speaking if you are standing next to where the water goes through the mill because the volume of water is so large and it's quite loud.

Alley Mill has also been the location of some interesting photographs in our family as well. Suffice it to say that we are convinced we saw a ghost here at least once and we actually had photographic evidence of that at one time. When my youngest brother was still in junior high or high school, we traveled to the mill from our dad's place down the road near the Current River. Both of these rivers are part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways and were the first National Park in America to protect a river system. The discharge for the Current River is 2,815 cubic feet per second -- more than 21,056 gallons per second which equates to 1,263,372 gallons per minute and over 75 billion gallons per hour.  It's a powerful force and helps you understand why a float trip down the Current River gave you "I survived the Current River" bragging rights!  My hubby and I did that on our honeymoon going from Akers to Round Spring. Alley Spring is home to an annual event called "Haunting in the Hills" and the area school children are invited to decorate a pumpkin and display it on the grounds.  Anyway, all of this is just to say that this time of year reminds me of Alley Spring and Pumpkin Weather which was the inspiration for my card today.

When I created my background for this card, I was only playing a bit with my inks and my Finetec Gold Watercolor Paint leftovers.  Let me explain....

The first time I used my Finetec Mica Watercolors, I noticed that I was washing so much paint down the drain when I cleaned my brush so, I started saving my rinse water.  I have it in a container that easily lets me leave the lid open a bit to make the water evaporate and then I can reactivate it with a bit of water when I want to use it.  This is what I was doing last night when I got the idea for this card.

I used inks in Bright Buttercup, Berry Sorbet and Orange Zest with my reactivated rinse water to create my background just kind oif dabbing it on with a #8 Silver Black Velvet Round Brush. When I was happy with the way it dried, I doused it with a layer (or two) of Iridescent Gold Shimmer Spritz.  I love gold - it is the perfect neutral to dress anything up!  As far as I can tell, Tattered Angels is no longer in existence but that is the brand I am using.  I think you could use some Tsukineko Gold Shimmer Spritz to accomplish the same look.  You'd just have to try it to see.  I still have several bottles of the Gold and about a half bottle of Copper, Pearl, and few other colors as well.  I also tried out some water with a bit of Gold Perfect Pearls in it and feel it was pretty equivalent to the Shimmer Spritz so if you like the look, try that.  It is pretty hard to use too much water with watercolor, so just let it dry before you toss it.  You have to set it aside and walk away then come back to it because it is never the hot mess you think it was when you left it.  *Ü*

While that was drying, I stamped several pumpkins from Spooky Smiles using Versamark and heat embossed them with Rose Gold Embossing Powder from The Ton.  I also stamped the bat (my favorite of this set although I don't like real bats) from this set using Versafine Onyx Black Ink and heat set it with Simon Says Stamp Clear Embossing Powder.  The Simon brand clear powder is a Fine Detail powder and does a fantastic job. I watercolored the pumpkins using a combination of Ripe Persimmon Distress Marker and Zig Clean Color Real Brush Marker in Orange. I tried using Orange Zest Ink but it was too yellow once I added the water to it.  I cut a banner from watercolor paper using the Number The Stars Banner Die and stamped my greeting on it using the same Rose Gold Embossing Powder.  I die cut the leaves from the Stylized Autumn Dies and then stamped them in Ripe Avocado Ink with the Stylized Autumn Stamp Set for the area to the left of the pumpkins.  It really needed some filler in that area and the leaves were the perfect size and style.  The Spooky Smiles Stamp Set and Coordinating Dies also includes two different curly stems for the pumpkin, a little kitty and even a witches hat and a ghost.  I also used the same "reactivated" rinse water to watercolor the Pumpkins.

Once I had everything stamped, painted and spritzed, I started assembling my card onto a top folding card base made from Papertrey Ink Kraft Cardstock.  I die cut my background panel with the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die and adhered that to my card base. Then I adhered my greeting and deocrative elements with a combination of Ranger Multi Medium Matte, Bling Glue Dots and Thin 3D Foam Squares.  That finishes off my card.

I'll be entering this card over at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog where "Anything Goes".  Be sure to stop by and check out all of the Stamptember goodness starting at Midnight tonight, September 1, 2016.  I can't wait to see all the goodness that is STAMPtember and I hope to have a few more entries for the Simon Wednesday Challenge in the coming week!

Birthday Wishes Among the Stars

This week on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Challenge Blog the theme is to "Add Some Texture". The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog is "Anything Goes".  I'll be entering this card in both challenges.

We learned a night sky technique during last weekend's Stamp-A-Faire event at Papertrey Ink but I've been doing mine a bit differently so here's the details on how I do one.

To start you need a panel of good quality watercolor paper. My panels have been cut down to 4.5 x 6 inches.  I normally use Canson Bristol Watercolor Paper, but this technique uses much more water and needs to be able to hold the water a bit longer so I used Arches Hot Pressed Watercolor Paper for this technique.  The Hot Pressed Paper is much smoother than cold pressed. Lots of folks like the texture of the cold pressed.  I just don't happen to be one of them.  I have some cold pressed paper as well, but it is my last choice rather than 1st or 2nd choice.

Select some inks in night sky colors such as a deep Blue, Green, and Purple and with a touch of a medium toned pink. Using a Ranger Mini Ink Blending Tool apply liberal amounts of the Deep Blue color all the way around the edge.  The one I used here is Enchanted Evening from Papertrey Ink.  You can get pretty heavy handed for this part. Once I started working on the inside of the panel, I used Pine Needles (Distress Ink), Amethyst Allure and a touch of Hibiscus Burst both from Papertrey Ink.  I could have used Papertrey's Pine Feather rather than Pine Needles Distress Ink.  I applied those colors really randomly on the inside areas using a back and forth motion rather than blending in circles. I switch back and forth adding a couple of areas for each of those three colors and adding a bit more of the Enchanted Evening here and there as well. It's all going to be misted with water and I'm doing heavy coverage so I don't need to be as careful about marks showing up on the panel. Once I have all the color on there in a way that I like, I mist the whole panel with a liberal amount of water and set it aside to dry. You want it to be wet, but not dripping wet. Because I used better quality watercolor paper, it will hold the water in there a bit longer and do a great job of blending the different inks seamlessly for me.  You just have to leave it alone and let the water do the work for you.

I drew in the silhouette of some hills at the bottom of my panel and since my little set of Altenew's Pine Trees had arrived, I used it to stamp the tree silhouettes which did work a bit better than my hand drawn ones on the previous version.  I did okay with the Zig Pen that one time since it was only a silhouette, but stamping them in Versafine Black Onyx Ink was faster and easier.  This is a little mini stamp set available from Altenew in their store or over at Simon Says Stamp.

Next I went in with some Finetec Mica Watercolor Paint in Sterling Silver and added splatters for added texture and interest to the background. I did forget to cover my trees and hills, but it's just not that noticeable. While that was still damp, I took a pinch of WOW! Neutral Ultra Shimmer Embossing Powder and sprinkled it over my night sky then heat set it.  Then I spritzed the whole panel with Tsukineko Sheer Sparkle Shimmer Spritz and let it dry once more.  At this point, the panel was very damp all the way through so I left it alone until the next morning.  I knew I was going to be doing heat embossing for my greeting, so I needed to be sure the paper was good and dry.

Normally for a card that I am making only one of, I wouldn't bother getting the MISTI out, but because of the added texture on the background panel from the embossing powder, I didn't know if I could get a good impression from the Mama Elephant Birthday Wishes Greeting on the first try so I did use my MISTI so I could Double Stamp in Versamark.  I am so glad I did this because it did not stamp cleanly the first time and needed that second layer of Versamark to get a clean image.  I used WOW! Metallic Platinum Sparkle Embossing Powder to heat set my greeting and the front panel was finished.  I cut it using the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles Die and then adhered that to an A2 Top Folding Card made from Enchanted Evening Cardstock.  I also cut a panel of Stamper's Select White from the same Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles Die for the inside of my card. I used the new Background Basics: Galaxy to heat emboss the stars across the inside panel.  I love that the stamp is large enough to go across the panel on the diagonal.  I used the same WOW! Metallic Platinum Sparkle Embossing Powder as I did for the outside sentiment.  I adhered both panels to my card base with my ATG adhesive.  My Simon Says Stamp Stiched Rectangles Dies are my absolute MOST used dies.  They never get put away and in fact are always on my table right next to my die cutting machine.  They make an appearance on 95% of my cards and have been a very good investment for me.

For the finishing touch, I took several Darice Silver Star Sequins and placed them randomly on the front panel and a few on the inside panel using Ranger Multi Medium Matte.

My husband's birthday is tomorrow and this card is for him.  He loved the card I did for Stamp-A-Faire last weekend and I was having trouble before then figuring out what to do for his birthday card.  He made it easy for me at least this time.

Happy Sunday everyone!  We have a beautiful day here in Oklahoma.  Today is the anniversary of my first blog post 1 year ago.  Since then I have done 209 posts, counting this one.  I'll have a new project up soon, so be sure to check back.  I treasure every comment you take the time to leave for me.

Bonjour!

Today I created a card for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge to "Use Patterned Papers" and for the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge to "Add Some Shimmer". It is rare that one card will work for both challenges but this week it will.

This is a side folding 3.75 inch wide x 9.25 inch tall card made from Rustic White Cardstock which fits into a #10 envelope; a custom card size I created to fit my need for the project I did today.  I have no idea if folks make this size, but probably not.  It is fun and a little bit different for a change.

Several months ago I had purchased this Spellbinders Eiffel Tower Die but when it came, it was too big to use on most of the cards I make which are the standard A2 size.  I love how it looks although you are not able to see it very well in my photographs. If you click to follow the link, you will get the idea I think. The die cuts are embossed as well as cut. Since the Simon Wednesday Challenge is to "add some shimmer", I used my Essential Glue Pad and dusted the whole thing with some Ebony Glitter from Recollections.  That is the first time I have used the Essential Glue Pad but I remembered to only put a little bit of glue on it — just enough to swipe the die cuts with it. If you have one of these, don't forget to keep the little plastic cover or your glue pad will dry out way faster than normal.  I remembered Jennifer McGuire demonstrating this on her blog once.

The Eiffel Tower Die was made to be 3-Dimensional.  The only thing I can think of to equate this to is that the side seams of the top piece that are the "curvy", have been clipped on your "seam". If you know how to sew your own clothing, this will make sense but if not, I can't really figure out another way to explain this so once again, a picture is worth a thousand words. I attached the top piece to the bottom piece with thin 3D foam and then attached to the card base with regular thickness foam squares. I cut those in half to accommodate the thinner areas if I need to. The printed paper is one I bought last year that was called "Paris Girl".  I don't use much patterned paper but I did buy a few sheets of this at the time because I liked it so much.  The whole background panel is misted with Tsukineko Sheer Sparkle Shimmer Spritz and the edges were ink blended using Lovely Lady Ink from Papertrey.  It seems to be about my favorite pink although Hibiscus Burst is quite lovely as well. I could have used Pale Peony, but it hadn't arrived quite yet. *Ü*

The sentiment I used here was stamped on a Rustic White stitched rectangle (made by using my die creatively), one letter at a time with the Concord & 9th Sophisticated Script in both upper and lower case. The "r" on the end isn't quite right, but it's okay.  I stamped each letter using Versafine Onyx Black and then sprinkled Simon Says Stamp Clear Embossing Powder over it and heat set it. Since Versafine is a pigment ink, it stays wet long enough to sprinkle the embossing powder on it, but I do each letter as I stamp it in case I get pulled away for some reason.  Since I am not using my MISTI for this, I feel better doing it this way.

To finish up my card, I assembled everything using either foam squares or Scor-Tape and put a few black iridescent sequins on it with Ranger Multi Medium Matte.  I'm putting a few pictures on here today so you can see the detail a little better I hope.

I'm planning to send this to a French Canadian friend just for fun.  I think you might be able to see a bit of the glitter on these last two photographs.

There's not a lot of technique involved here. I just wanted to send something fun. I hope you all have a great week. Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today. It means the world to me when you take time to leave a comment.

You Are Awesome ♥

Hello there!  I have to say that I love challenges where we can use the inspirational photo, the sketch or we can combine the two into one card. They are my absolute favorites and I never know which way it will go until I am very nearly finished with my project.

I love the colors in the Sugar Pea Designs 1st Challenge inspiration photo but I also really like the sketch so I wanted to include a little of the sketch into my project as well.  I am inspired by the colors, but they aren't a new combination for me.  My mom bought her house almost 32 years ago and the bathroom has Peach/Coral and Blues. It has always been a lovely combination.  In fact, it is so lovely that Double D Challenges has the same color combination this week. Plus I'll be able to include the CAS Mix Up Challenge using Stamping, Die Cutting and Sprays, Stamping Royalty #332 with Flowers as the theme and Word Art Wednesday which is always Anything Goes. I don't know if I've ever been able to participate in so many challenges with just one card!

When I sat down in my studio yesterday my first project for the day was to create a page header for my blog.  I wanted it to be mine, not just some random text I could put in the little form box.  I'm happy to have that done. I've been thinking about it for a while. While I was sitting at my computer I was thinking about a thank you or encouragement type of card I wanted to make to send to a scrappy friend that lives in Europe.  I use the term "scrappy" because I started as a scrapbooker 20 years ago and those friends were "scrappy" friends. I think most card makers refer to them as "crafty" friends.

This particular person does a lot to share her knowledge and expertise with others who are getting started making cards and her YouTube videos are top notch all the way.  I have followed her blog (and YouTube Channel) from the first time I saw a video that she had done when I got seriously into making cards last year in August. Although English is not her first language, she speaks it incredibly well.  She is on several U.S. design teams and I love her style.  It is classic and elegant even when she is working on something more cutesy.  It's a style I mimic in my own projects.

I was trying to think about the card I would make for her and I wanted it to be different than the things she uses and has access to which meant using a stamp set from Papertrey Ink. Once I did that, it was easy to determine which one I would use; Tulip Time wins out almost every time.

I started with an A2 top folding note card made from Papertrey Ink Rustic White Cardstock. I wasn't sure I would like this cardstock even after it arrived but now I wish I would have ordered the bigger package as I've used it several times and only have about 5 sheets left.  It's a soft white with little flecks of color in it.  It's a nice alternative to crisp bright white without having to go with cream cardstock. It's the one I will use the way other cardmakers use Kraft.  I spritzed two 4.25 x 5.5 inch panels in Sea Glass (a Creative Memories paper) and Berry Sorbet with Tsukineko Sheer Shimmer Spritz and set them aside to dry while I was working on my other elements.

To stamp the Tulips, it definitely called for my MISTI Stamping Tool.  I cut the die cut pieces from Stamper's Select White and then used the negative in the MISTI to hold those pieces in place while I stamped all of the layers.  There are two layers for the leaves and three for the tulips. I used Spun Sugar, Abandoned Coral and Picked Raspberry Distress Inks for the blooms and Papertrey's Vintage Jadeite with Mowed Lawn Distress Ink for the leaves. I grouped them together using a combination of Ranger Multi Medium Matte and Thin 3D Foam Squares. I wanted to get the bow tied around them before I attached the bouquet to the card so that was next.  On the back side of the bouquet, I used a little Glossy Accents to keep the ribbon in place.

I die cut the frame from Spellbinders Labels 42 and Labels 42 Decorative Elements.  You have to have both sets to get the frame but you could also use just the label without the center cut out of it.  Look through the dies you already have to see what you have that would work as a frame or label.

Next I die cut the Sea Glass and Berry Sorbet panels using the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle.  I re-aligned the sea glass panel back into that same die to take a bit more off of 2 sides rather than going down to the next size die. This allows a narrow mat all the way around the panel. Then I started assembling everything to the card base.  I used Scor-Tape (Sookwang Paper Tape) on each of the background panels and adhered them to the card base as well.  For the tulips, I know the person I am sending this too really loves to have dimension on her cards so I used Foam Squares (Thin and Regular) to add dimension to the gold frame, the bouquet, and the little banner across the front.  I die cut the Waffle Flower "Awesome", adhering that and the little heart using Ranger Multi Medium Matte.  The little hearts are the extras I keep in the (real) Vintage Jadeite bowl that sits on my desk.  I use this Mini Hearts Die a lot and there are always extras from that die in my little bowl of leftover pieces.

This finishes up today's post.  Thank you so much for stopping by and I very much appreciate it when you take time to comment.

Color Throwdown #385

Today I am playing over at the Color Throwdown Challenge #385 which is Teal, Aqua and Gold.  This is truly one of my favorite color combinations. Actually, I like Gold with a lot of colors -- pink, purple, red, black - you name it, I like it. I am much more of a gold girl than a silver one.

For this Challenge I kept things pretty simple and didn't even do any stamping.  I chose Papertrey Ink Tropical Teal and Hawaiian Shores Cardstock and Simon Says Stamp Surf Blue with some gold foil cardstock.  I treated each of the three colored cardstocks with Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist and allowed it to dry before cutting it with my favorite, Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Dies in the two largest sizes. You could probably use the Tsukineko Gold Shimmer Spritz to get the same effect.

I taught myself a new trick with these dies tonight.  I really wanted a triple mat on this card to incorporate all three colors of card stock but there isn't an in between size in the dies.  So I cut two of the colors with the largest stitched rectangle and one from the 2nd largest.  Then by repositioning the positive piece into the die and realigning it to take a bit off of two sides, it cut just enough off to make the middle size mat.  I'm sorry for so many pictures, but I know just the words may not be enough for you to understand what I did.

By  taking just that little bit off of two sides, it made a mat for the in between size that still has the stitching lines in place. You could do this with any dies that have straight edges like squares or diamonds.  I've used a similar method to this in order to get a narrower rectangle for my cards. My Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles are already my most used dies so I'm happy that I can stretch them even further now.

I love this new die from Impression Obsession that says "Wishes" and I think it paired perfectly with the Make a Wish Die from Spellbinders.  You could add your choice of other words to it like Birthday, Happy, Best, Easter etc. and cover a whole bunch of different occasions.  My style tends to run more towards elegant than cute so I really like the way this card looks. It was really simple to make but very elegant with the gold dandelion and word die.  Everything is mounted to an A2 Card Base made from Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White #110 Cardstock which is my hands down favorite.  It's super smooth and heavy enough to make a nice crisp card.

Thanks so much for stopping by to check out my project. I have several others in the works this weekend.  If you have any questions or comments, I do read every single one.  Have a great Easter Weekend everyone!