All Natural Batik

I'm back! I got in zero stamping this weekend, but I was able to get some alone time today. Ahhhh, alone time! I love it!

Today's technique lover's challenge was called "Colorwashed Batik". It was much easier than I thought! Basically you stamp your images with Versamark onto watercolor paper and emboss the images with clear embossing powder. Then you mix up some reinker with water in a spray bottle and spritz that onto your images... saturating the watercolor paper. Then you sandwich your watercolored paper (still soggy) between two pieces of copy paper (stamped side up) and iron on high (no steam) to "melt away" the embossed part. When the embossing is melted away, your image is left behind and it really stands out with the spritzed background.

Here's mine...

RECIPE:
Stamps: All Natural (SU Retired), Sanded
Ink: Versamark, black, Really Rust, Reinkers... More Mustard & Really Rust
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust, White, Watercolor
Accessories: clear embossing powder, linen thread, large oval punch, brads

That's it! Pretty cool technique! Not as difficult as it sounds. I had a little bit of difficulty getting all of the embossing powder to melt away, but most of it is gone. I love how the images stand out!

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Have a wonderful day!!! :)

Still no mojo!

Well, I've successfully laid on the couch all day today and watched a lot of tv. Tomorrow, I may have to force myself to stamp, just to get back into the groove of it again. Anyways, here's a card I created a few weeks ago. Thanks for looking!

RECIPE:
Stamps: Winds of Grace & Cheesecloth (SU), sentiment from Verve stamps
Ink: Night of Navy, Creamy Caramel, Soft Sky, black
Paper: Kraft, Soft Sky, Basic Black, White
Accessories: black 1/4 inch grosgrain ribbon, silver brads, silver star brad, pearl shimmer spray
Techique: Watercoloring with reinkers

Isn't it pretty?!? I watercolored the sailboat with reinkers and my aquapainter. When the whole image was dry, I sprayed it with pearl shimmer spray to give it a glittery, shimmery look.

Thanks so much for looking today!!! Have a great day! :)

Margarita Night!

Sorry.. no cards tonight! I stayed late at work to get caught up on some stuff and then met my parents, husband, and a friend for margaritas at my favorite Mexican restaurant. Two pitchers later... let's just say I don't think I could stamp straight if my life depended on it. Bummer too... I really wanted to do today's "Ways to Use It" challenge and use a charm on one of my cards. Maybe tomorrow I'll get around to two cards for you! Anywhoooo... I'll be back tomorrow. I'm off to bed (yes, it's 9:00 pm here) to ward off any possible hangover. Have a great night! :)

Bloomin' Beautiful

Here's my card for today's sketch challenge on SCS. I'm doing a quick post today because I still have a lot to do this week. Busy! Busy!

Here's my card...

RECIPE:
Stamps: Bloomin' Beautiful (SU)
Ink: Black momento
Paper: Baja Breeze, Not Quite Navy, White, Urban Garden designer paper
Accessories: Prismacolor pencils, gamsol, Swiss dots cuttlebug embossing folder, Classic Square Nestabilities, white tafetta ribbon, dimentionals
Technique: Gamsol & Prismacolor pencils

Thanks so much for looking today! Have a wonderful day!!! :)

Tuesday's Color Challenge

Greetings! What a day today! Busy, busy, busy! I did manage to squeek in some stamping though. I still have a TON to do tonight, but I took care of the most important stuff first... my stamping therapy!

Today's color challenge on SCS was to use Very Vanilla, Kiwi Kiss, and Baja Breeze. I'm in love with this color combination! It's fabulous! I pulled out a pack of Urban Garden designer paper and wha-la! A great card! I hadn't even opened up the designer paper and I don't know what I was saving it for! It's GORGEOUS!!!

Anyways, enough blabber. Here's my card....


RECIPE:
Stamps: Serene Spring (SU hostess set), All Holidays
Ink: Black Momento
Paper: Very Vanilla, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Urban Garden dp (SU)
Accessories: Silver hodgepodge hardware, vanilla tafetta ribbon, Classic and Scalloped rectangle Nestabilities, oval punch, dimentionals
Technique: Gamsol & Prismacolor Pencils

I love the peaceful colors of this card. It's very soft. Can you believe that my Serene Spring set had never seen ink until today??? I traded for it a couple of months ago and then let it sit in my cabinet. I will definitely be pulling this set out again. It's fabulous for the gamsol & prismacolor pencils technique!

Anywho.... that's all for today. I've gotta run and get some stuff done for tomorrow. Thanks for looking! Have a wonderful day!!! :)

Pineapple Gratitude

I'm still feeling kind of under the weather and I'm not really motivated to stamp today. So instead I'm posting a card I did a couple of weeks ago when my "newer" Papertrey stuff arrived. My "newest" package from Papertrey arrived today, but I've only unpacked it and put it away.(you know... so the evidence of my overspending is hidden!!) I'm hoping to get my mojo back tomorrow and feel a little more like stamping. Maybe then I'll pull out my newest toys and stamp! Until then...

RECIPE:
Stamps: First Fruits (PTI), Sanded (SU)
Ink: Summer Sunrise & Dark Chocolate (PTI), Old Olive (SU)
Paper: Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise, Vanilla (PTI), Old Olive (SU), First Fruits dp (PTI)
Accessories: Pure Poppy twill ribbon, cream buttons, linen thread, Classic Oval Nestabilities, Metallic Rub-on Paste, Really Rust Marker
Technique: thumping

What do you think?

I embossed the main image oval with my Nestabilities and cuttlebug, then I rubbed some metallic rub-on paste lightly over the embossing to make it more visable. The pineapple was stamped in Summer Sunrise Palette Ink and then "thumped" with a Really Rust marker to give it a "two-tone" look.

A while ago, on Nichole Heady's blog, she used this set and cut the pineapple "rind" with a craft knife to make the "rind" stand out more. I decided to try the same thing and I really like the results.

Here's a close-up of the raised "rind" of the pineapple...

You can see the raised parts and also the subtle highlight that the metallic rub-on paste gives to the embossed edge. You can also see the subtle contrast between the Summer Sunrise ink and Really Rust marker.

Thanks so much for looking today! I hope to be back tomorrow with something new. Have a great day!!! :)

Featured Stamper.... Autumn Apples

Sunday is always the Featured Stamper challenge on SCS. Today's featured stamper was E3stamper. I chose to case her card HERE. I also chose to use this card for Cammie's Heart-to-Heart Blog Candy. Cammie has been doing an awesome job raising money for the Alzheimer's Association through the sale of her newest stamp set at Gina K Designs. My grandmother passed away a little over 2 years ago from Alzheimer's, so her cause hits close to my heart.

Here's my card...

I changed quite a bit from the original card. First, I made it an A2 sized card instead of a square card. Next, I used a different image stamp... one from Cammie's stamp set, Whimsical Autumn. 100% of Cammie's proceeds will be donated to the Alzheimer's Association. Isn't that a great reason to buy stamps?!?!?! :)

I also used designer paper from Papertrey Ink instead of stamping a background.

Here's the full recipe:

RECIPE:
Stamps: Whimsical Autumn (GinaK)
Ink: black Momento
Paper: Vanilla, Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise, and dp all from PTI, Old Olive (SU)
Accessories: Pure Poppy twill ribbon, dew drops, Copic Markers, Square classic Nestabilities, pewter hodgepodge hardware, dimentionals

If you haven't hopped over to check out Cammie's HUGE Heart-to-Heart blog candy, you really should go over and check it out!!! Here's the link again!

Thanks so much for looking! Have a wonderful day!! :)

Inspiration Challenge

Today's Inspiration Challenge on SCS was a good one. As soon as I saw the beautiful dishes that were our inspiration, I knew what colors I wanted to use. The challenge was posted last night, so I had hoped to get it finished early. Once I pulled the colors out and started cutting down my cardstock, I decided that I needed to sleep on it to get my ideas together.

When I woke up this morning, I wasn't feeling so hot. I've got a sore throat and am just running low on energy today. Blech! Well, I finally got around to finishing my inspiration challenge card. Much later than I had hoped!

Here it is...


RECIPE:
Stamps: One of a Kind, Boho Backgrounds (both SU), sentiment from Simple Little Things (PTI)
Ink: Timber Brown Stazon, Cool Caribbean, Creamy Caramel
Paper: Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Creamy Caramel, Cool Caribbean
Accessories: corner rounder punch, filigree brad (SU), 5/8 inch Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, silver elastic cord, tiny tags cuttlebug die cut, dimentials, clear Spica glitter pen (on flower... hard to see in photo)
Techiques: watercoloring with reinkers

What do you think? I love the bright Cool Caribbean color on this card. I think the Chocolate Chip makes it pop.

Thanks so much for looking today! Have a wonderful weekend!!! :)

Limited Supply Challenge

Today's Limited Supply Challenge over at SCS was right up my ally! I tend to lean towards simple layouts and today's challenge required us to use white as the main color, our choice of brown, black, or gray, and one additional color of our choice. We could also use embossing folders but no background stamps. The main image had to be the same colors as our cardstock (no additional colors) and we were allowed one sentiment. We were also allowed to use ribbon or other embellishements. Here's what I came up with...


RECIPE:
Stamps: Merry & Warm Words (Retired SU)
Ink: Pure Poppy (PTI) & Basic Gray
Paper: White, Pure Poppy, & Basic Gray
Accessories: Christmas Ornaments Cuttlebug embossing folder, Classic and Scalloped Circle Nestabilities, Pure Poppy double stitched ribbon, dimentionals, stickles


It's a simple card, but I think the ribbon and dry embossed background add a lot! The colors remind me of Ohio State University, but then again I live in Ohio so everything scarlett and gray is attributed to OSU.


Thanks so much for looking today! Have a fantastic day!!! :)

Spooky Tree

I'm late getting around to stamping today. I went and got a massage after work and then came home and cooked dinner around 7:00. I had hoped to get to this sooner, but better late than never!

Today's "Ways to Use It" challenge on SCS was to use a silhouette stamp. Silhouettes are SOOOOO popular right now! Stampin' Up! has some great sets with natural silhouettes and GinaK just released an awesome Halloween set. Have I mentioned that I LOVE making Halloween cards???? Have I mentioned that I LOVE collecting Halloween sets????

Here's my card...



RECIPE:
Stamps: Spooky Silhouettes (GinaK)
Ink: Stazon Black, Craft White, & Reinkers in Pumpkin Pie, Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive
Paper: Pumpking Pie, Elegant Eggplant, Old Olive, Glossy White
Accessories: 1/4 inch grosgrain ribbon in Elegant Eggplant, ticket corner punch, word window punch, Pumpkin Harvest Cuttlebug embossing folder, pumpkin brad from Making Memories
Techniques: Striped Wipe, sponging

I love how this turned out! The photograph isn't the best because I didn't have any daylight to work with, but I do love this card.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you have a wonderful day!!! :)

Beary Scary

I took the day off from blogging yesterday and went out to dinner with my husband after work. We bummed around the mall for a little bit and then hit Olive Garden. It was a nice, well deserved night out.

Today's sketch challenge on SCS was a fun one! I got the chance to use some of my SU Ghostly Greetings designer paper and of course I had to reach for that adorable Spooky bear from C.C. Designs. Super cute!!!

Anyways, here's my card...


RECIPE:
Stamps: "Spooky Spooky Spooky" by C.C. Designs
Ink: Black Momento
Paper: Basic Gray, Kiwi Kiss, Ghostly Greetings dp (SU)
Accessories: Copic Markers, bat brads (Making Memories), dimentionals, classic rectangle Nestabilities, Spica Silver glitter pen, ticket corner punch


Isn't he just adorable!!! I cut the rectangles with my classic rectangle Nestabilities and then cut some of the corners with my ticket corner punch. This made it easier to use the black bat brads.

I love how sparkley the bear's cape is! I colored it with a dark gray Copic marker and then went over it with silver Spica glitter pen.

Thanks so much for looking today!!! Have a wonderful day!!! :)

Windy Weather

Well, we survived the windy weather courtesy of Hurricane Ike. I'm sure our weather here in NE Ohio was nothing compared to what the people down and Texas went through, but we were pretty windblown here. A lot of schools were closed around NE Ohio today (not mine!) and there is talk on the news that some areas will be out of power until the end of the week. I was very lucky. Our electricity flickered a lot, but never went out. My parents live about 3 miles away and lost their power for about 45 minutes, but that was about it. We had a few tree branches down around out yard, and a few trees down in the surrounding neighborhood, but our house basically came through A-okay! Thanks for your concern!

Today's technique challenge was fun! It was to use a background stamp, a glue ink pad, and glitter to create a "now you see it, now you don't" background. I chose to use my new C.C. Designs stamp sets that were happily waiting for me when I got home from work today. I got so carried away coloring my main images, that I made that panel too big! The background is stamped with the word "spooky" over and over and glittered in black glitter, but the main image panel is so big that you can barely see it. I guess I should call mine a "Now you don't see it" background, since I covered most of it up!

I could have started over with my main image panel, but by then I already had all my pieces cut and glued together, and I was running out of time. I'm a very slow stamper, so to start over would have meant I'd be up later than I wanted to be. This just gives me another excuse to stamp, right???? Anyways, enough babble! Here's the card...

Isn't it cute???? Too bad you can't really see the background too well. Oh well.. another day!

RECIPE:
Stamps: "Spooky Spooky Spooky" and "Spooky Background" from C.C. Designs
Ink: Black Momento, Essential Glue Pad
Paper: Basic Black, Real Red, Basic Gray, white
Accessories: Black glitter, Copic Markers, corner rounder punch, ticket corner punch, bat brads from Making Memories, red Spica glitter pen

The bear's cape is colored with a red copic marker, and then I colored red spica glitter pen over top to make it really sparkly. The result is really cool in real life!

Thanks so much for looking today!!! Have a wonderful day!!! :)