New Crafting Adventure

Hello and Welcome!

I haven't checked in for quite a bit.  I have something new that has refreshed my crafting mojo - I signed up to do a craft show with my mom.  I have been working on Glass Cabochon jewelry which now also includes a line of snap jewelry.  I have ideas for some bead jewelry but I ran out of time so that will be revisited when I get past this weekend to prepare for future events.

Sadly, late today, they announced the event is cancelled due to weather in our area.

However, another venue in our town with indoor space has an event scheduled for the same day that still had openings so we just shift gears a little.  

What a relief after the amount of time and resources used to prepare for these events.  I will post some photos of my work soon.

If you have landed on this page after the event, because you purchased something from me, Thank you so much for the support.  It is very much appreciated.

Holiday Card Workshop 2021 - Day 5

So, yes, I skipped day 4.  The technique was using a Gel Press Printing - I don't have a gel press and for now that is something I am not interested in trying.  In the last few years I have started getting pickier about what I am interested in and gel press, along with slim line anything, isn't for me right now.

On to my day 5 card - dry embossing was the technique.  I tell ya, I loved the finished projects that were demonstrated in the class and have added a few things to my wish list (like that gorgeous SSS Matte Gold cardstock).  I have embossing folders so I went to the stash and pulled out one of my two winter ones.  Here is my card:

Supplies/Steps:

• Papertrey Ink White cardstock for the base and the circle, Blueberry Sky and Spring Rain ink to stamp up the Simon Says Stamp snowflake from the Snowflake Builder set using my MISTI to line it up since it is a two part stamp.  I cut out the circle using Waffle Flower Nesting Circles Die.
• DCWV Shimmer stack 12x12 that I have had forever.  Pulled a blue paper and use the PTI  Snowflake Impression plate (discontinued) running it through my Spellbinders Platinum.
• Adhered the blue snowflake panel and the circle using ATG.  I pulled out a SSS sentiment strips set and found the Winter Wishes! and affixed that with Darice thin foam strip.  I added Open Studio (Memory Box) Fairy Drops to the circles on the snowflake using Nuvo glue.  The little drops fit perfect and I love that they are just clear domes, no facets, no iridescence, just enough to add dimension and shine without adding too much.  Also, this is the first time I have tried the Gina K trick where she puts down her glue then waits a few seconds before affixing the jewels and it worked great.  Let the glue get a little tacky and you don't fight with sliding embellishments.

The finished product isn't anything like what it started out as, I actually simplified it as I went along and really like how it turned out.  I wish I had gotten further than day 5 by now but I just didn't have time.  I do plan to make more cards though using the techniques from the lessons.

 

Holiday Card Workshop 2021 - Day 3, card 2

 Here is the second card:

Supplies

• DCWV Candy Cane Lane 12x12 pad that I have had for years for the background and the Joy square on the front
• Simon Says Stamp red glitter card for the border square on the front
• I used Waffle Flower Additional Square Dies and Hero Arts Infinity Rectangles to cut my papers.
• Adhesives - 1/4" score tape for the plastic packaging and Red Glitter to the front, SSS Big Momma foam tape for the Joy square, ATG to affix to the PTI white card base
• Fillers:
• Trinity Stamps Peppermint Candy
• Little Things from Lucy's Droplets - Lily White Hearts 

When my husband saw these two full shaker cards he said 'now that's kinda cool'.  I'll take a compliment like that from him.

Holiday Card Workshop 2021 - Day 3

Make a full card shaker.  I have seen videos of this 'new' style of shaker recently and had every intention of trying it out but I hadn't yet.  Well now I have two cards and a love for this style so I expect to do it again. (Second card in the next post)  Just like one of my favorite YouTubers, Amy R, I knew I had been saving all of that packaging for a reason I just didn't know what that reason was until now :)

Supplies - card 1

• Brutus Monroe Sweater Weather paper
• Simon Says Stamps Warm Hugs die cut from vellum and gold polka dot scraps
• SSS sentiment strips, Sympathy, for the Sending word
• Fillers:
• Distress Mica Flakes
• Recollections Trees
• Little Things From Lucy's Droplets - Rose Hearts
• Martha Stewart Gold Stars
• Adhesives were 1/4" score tape to affix the clear packaging, Distress Collage Medium for the Warm Hugs die, Xyron sticker maker for the 'Sending' strip and ATG to affix the card panel to my Papertrey Ink white card base.

 

 

Holiday Card Workshop 2021 - Day 2

Day 2 at Online Card Class Holiday Card Workshop is Mass Produced Cards.  I made 4 of the same design.  The finished card size is 4.5 x 6.5 due to me wanting to use the selected sentiment stamp and wanting to have a nice border.  When I go to use them I can make envelopes if necessary so the odd size doesn't bother me.

 

Supplies/steps:

• Simon Says Stamp Candy Cane Background, stamped on Papertrey Ink Lovely Lady cardstock cut to 3 x 5 with PTI Pure Poppy Ink.
• Blended Pure Poppy and Aged Mahogany Distress Oxide inks over the panels to tone it down a little.  Set aside to dry.
• Cut PTI white cardstock to 4.5 x 6.5 and stenciled on a random Heidi Swapp diagonal stripe stencil with Bundled Sage Distress Oxide ink.  I had a different plan in my head but when I went to stamp a different 6x6 background stamp on this panel I realized the size wouldn't work so I had to find something larger.  Stencil to the rescue.  Let those dry.
• I used Versamark ink and Ranger Gold embossing powder for the edges of the four red candy cane panels.  My pad was pretty dry so the edges are just barely there but I actually like it.  I did reink before moving to my sentiments.
• Used Simon Says Stamp Holiday Greetings Mix 1 sentiment with Versamark Ink.  I did one panel with the same Ranger Gold that I did the edges but it was hard to read.  I did the next panel in Ranger Gold Super Fine Detail and it was a little easier to read.  The third panel I used Wow Opaque Bright White Super Fine embossing powder and it is legible but I liked the second one better so back to the Fine Detail Gold for the fourth panel.
• Prepared four 9 x 6.5 card bases and scored at 4.5 from the same PTI white cardstock used for the front panels.  Used my Misti without the mouse pad in it to line up the striped panel flush on the card base and adhere with ATG.  The L ruler from the creative corners set was the perfect 0.75 spacing to line up the center red/pink panel on the front of the card.  Happy accident that the spacing worked out perfectly!!

 

Holiday Card Workshop 2021 - Day 1

I have signed up for the Online Card Class Holiday Card Workshop 2021.  The goal for day one was to incorporate light or an aurora borealis look on your card.  Here is my card:

Supplies:

• Papertrey Ink Blueberry cardstock
• Distress Oxide ink -  Prize Ribbon, Chipped Sapphire, Villainous Potion & Seedless Preserves
• Mini blending tools and domes foam pads
• Momenta Christmas Village Intricate Die
• Black glossy paper from my scrap bin
• ColorBox Frost White Ink
• Perfect Pearls white
• Blending Brush - didn't have a finger dauber so a small blending brush worked fine
• Picket Fence distress paint and old paint brush for star splatter
• Gelly Roll white pen for more starts
• Tombow tape runner and Nuvo liquid glue for adhesive
• PTI White cardstock for the card base
• Misti for stamping the sentiment from SSS Holiday Cheer 6x8 stamp set with VersaMark ink and Wow Opaque fine detail white embossing powder

Here is the full die. On my finished card I cut off the top part with the snowflakes. 

Spring Card Camp 1 - Day 8

I am very happy with how quickly these two came together.  I didn't over think them and it all worked out fairly easily the first time.  I pulled out some oldie but goodies supplies, along with some never been used (as normal....have tons of stuff that has never been used).

I have not yet practiced watercolor enough to like my results but I do have the Pinkfresh Studio Rainbow with Splatters Washi tape that covers a whole card panel.  I have a few panels ready with the tape already on them and decided the other day the next card in the class that referenced water-coloring was going to get one of those panels so....here they are...

 

My oldie but goodie supplies are Papertrey Ink Enclosed Flower die, Melon Berry cardstock, my go to Stamper Select White.  The Pinkfresh washi is the watercolor.  The sequins are never been used but have had for a bit...Craft Medley in Princess (pink) and Go Green, Simon Says Stamp Celosia Cherished (peaches). 

 

Spring Card Camp - Day 7

Day 7 project for Online Card Class Spring Card Camp 1. 

My stencil of choice was Simon Says Stamp Deco Weave, inks are Distress Oxide Chipped Sapphire, Vintage Photo & Tea Dye, the die sentiment is SSS Thanks Frame.  I didn't use fun foam like Laurie used in the sample but I did stack three heavy weight card stocks for the sentiment.  Thank goodness for the press-n-seal to help it all transfer over and the fact that I thought it through and applied Xyron X sticker maker to the back of all of the pieces before die cutting those intricate cuts.

Spring Card Camp - Day 6

Day 6 entry for Online Card Class - Spring Card Camp.  It is day 17 already when I am posting this but no biggie.  These cards have been done for a few days I just hadn't had time to do the post.

I used the template provided in the class with three sheets of paper from the Reverse Confetti True Love paper pad that I have had for a few years.  With the left over pieces of pattern paper I cut the Simon Says Stamps Bold Thanks die and inlaid them back in to white frames.  I have a birthday coming up so these might just come in handy soon.

 I like that this was a very simple, no special supplies needed, type of project that ended up with three cards.  Thanks for looking.

Spring Card Camp - Day 5

My posts are getting smaller and smaller as this class goes on.  Here are my cards for day 5 of the Online Card Classes - Spring Card Camp.  It was a challenge because I got stuck at the watercolor demo...that is a medium I am not yet practiced enough with to be successful at making anything so I ended up doing ink blending.  That isn't much better, because I am still new to it, but much better than the water coloring turned out.

I used the Heffy Doodle Circle Masquerade stencil to help me line up the Simon Says Stamps Birthday Wishes Circle die cut.  I sprayed the back with ThermOWeb Pixie Spray temporary adhesive.  I ink blended with Distress Ink Picked Raspberry, Fossilized Amber and Salty Ocean.  Then I spritzed with water. 

There were a bunch of follies in between the ink blending and the finished cards below but I will save you that story.  Have a good day! 

Spring Card Camp - Day 4

Working from home and trying to keep up with some basic exercise has cause me to lose craft time..surprisingly.  I guess I get more physical activity during my normal (we are so not in normal times right now) work day than I realized.

Anyway here are my day 4 cards:

Very simple.  I like how they turned out.  The cardstock is PTI Stamper Select White, stamp and dies are Simon Says Stamps Beautiful Day, ink is Nocturne Clair, colored with Chameleon colored pencils and a few random sequins to accent the one card.  Have a good day!  

Spring Card Camp - Day 3

So I very much struggled with the technique for day 3 of the OCC Spring Card Camp class.  The goal was to use an abstract background, stamped on multiple colors of paper, then cut those papers up to 'color' the background of two cards - remember this class has a theme of doing two cards at once.  Here is the finished card, yes just one, but this wasn't the first one I attempted.

I started with an idea to use the Simon Says Stamps Gerber Daisy background to make two Mother's Day cards.  I did the stamping and TWO...yes TWO days of fussy cutting.

I started to place everything together....got frustrated, gently wrapped them up in press n seal and tucked them away for a future rainy day.  So, defeated, I have tried to move on to days 4-9 (yes, today is day 9) but I couldn't.  I wanted so desperately to do something even if it wasn't a 2-fer and even if it wasn't exactly abstract.  So today I pulled out the supplies below:

I stamped the SSS Plank Background with SSS Fog and SSS Smoke inks on PTI White and Sunny Studio Spring Fling pattern paper.  I then stamped the Concord & 9th Wonderful Florals in SSS Smoke and Gina K Black Amalgam on the same two papers.  I then fussy cut out a few of the planks to adhere with foam tape thus giving the card dimension.  The white with the stamped background helped keep the color piece lined up.  You can see the dimension in the two pictures below. 

I added Nuvo Aqua Shimmer pen to the letters of the Wonderful word to help them standout.  I stamped Have A and Day from the same Concord & 9th set to the panel to complete the sentiment.  I mounted the card front on a PTI white card base.

I am happy with the way this turned out.  I told my husband I could have struggled to do the exact technique shown and then hated the outcome or I could modify it to fit my style and have a finished product that I will use.  Thanks for looking...now off to try and catch up!

Spring Card Camp - Day 2

Day 2 of the OCC Spring Card Camp was to use an 11" x 4.25", create your design, then cut in half (5.5") to have two card panels. The demonstration video used multiple colors of ink on various stamps so my first attempt was to do a multi-colored embossing powder design through a stencil.  It worked well enough technique wise but I didn't like the look of the finished design.

So back to the drawing board.  I knew I wanted one large stamp or stencil image that I could then cut in half.  I stamped everything, including the sentiments, before I cut.  That made for two really quick cards.

My supplies were:  Papertrey Ink Kraft cardstock for the card panel and the base, Simon Says Stamps Bohemian Lace background stamp and Hand lettered Encouragement sentiment.  Versamark and Wow Metallic Copper Sparkle for embossing the background.  MISTI, Versafine Clair Nocturne, Ranger Distress Collage Medium Matte to glue down the Pretty Pink Posh Espresso Jewels.

Thanks for looking, have a safe day!

Spring Card Camp - Day 1

Time to get crafty!  Working from home, like so many others, I couldn't pass up an opportunity for another Online Card Class.  This one is Spring Card Camp and is lasting through the end of April!  The theme for this class is two for one cards.

Day 1 - Stamp an image, emboss many times, use it as an embossing folder of sorts. I made a total of four complete cards.  My stamp of choice was Picket Fence Studio Swallowtail Beauty stamped with Versamark on Gina K Artist Choice 110 lbs card and Hero Arts White embossing powder.

Card 1: 

Cardstock is Papertrey Ink Spring Rain, ink color is Distress Broken China, sentiment is Simon Says Stamp Just Because Word Mix 2 stamped on vellum with Versamark, SSS Fine Detail White embossing powder.  The top panel is mounted on a PTI Stampers Select white card base with SSS Big Momma foam tape.

Card 2:

Cardstock is PTI Aqua Mist, Distress Evergreen Bough.  All of the rest is the same as above.

Card 3:

Strathmore Bristol Smooth, Distress Picked Raspberry, Fossilized Amber and Salty Ocean.  Same as others for the rest.  I did decide to splatter this one with water.  It is harder to see the details of the butterfly on this one.

Card 4 - technically card 1??  lol:

This was technically the first panel that I used to emboss all of the rest.  Once done embossing I reheated it to make the embossing powder shiny again then I covered it with Distress Dusty Concord ink and sprayed it with shimmer spray.  The sentiment is from SSS Beautiful Day stamp set.

For a bonus I wanted to post a quick picture of the cards I sent out for Easter.  I don't normally make cards for Easter but a few things caused me to do it this year.  1.  We are not getting together, which is odd, so I wanted to send some happy mail.  2.  I found that I had a set of Egg shaped nested dies so I thought why not do a shaped card.  I stenciled the background piece to tuck the egg in while in the envelope to keep it safe in the mail.

Thanks for stopping by, comments are appreciated, and I hope everyone is staying well and getting crafty.  Off to work on my day 2 cards.  Already a day behind....yikes!

Coloring Challenge - Day 1

The timing for this newest Online Card Class could not have been any better; I am off work right now recovering from a very simple scheduled surgery.  I love these classes but doing them live is more fun than at a later time so I am excited to be home.  I logged in promptly at 9 on the first day, struggled to watch the videos (I had a lot of buffering -  I don't know if it was the popularity of the class or my internet service) and then off to the craft room to BE FEARLESS with my colors and get coloring!!

Well the first lesson, be fearless, quickly turned to a realization that I have a ton of mediums (alcohol markers of various brands, water colors of many types, color pencils and pens galore) but I do not appear to purchase many images that are for coloring......  I was quickly stumped and frustrated at the same time.  I picked the best I could, or so I thought, and off to the couch to get comfy and not strain my neck (a bonus tip).  It was terrible....and I mean terrible.  I told myself just keep going...still yuck....ok, add some colored pencil....ewwwww.....now try the gray border.  By now I also had a headache from the markers.  I put it down and took a nap.

I watched Day 2 & Day 3.  Each day I would go to the craft room, rummage through the supplies and pull the ones with potential to the front of the bins.  I would go look at the gallery, forum, instagram....anything to see what others were doing in hopes it would trigger something.  Finally, Friday mid-day (day 5) I had my inspiration and I started to color my day 1 homework....and it worked!!!!

I pulled out the Altenew Peony Bouquet stamp set and went to googling peony's to see their natural colors.  I COLOR PLUCKED three Copics (RV10, RV21 V06 - I guess they are actually the same family, so not totally plucked) stamped with my Gina K Amalgam black ink and got busy.  I was using the layering stamp set as my guide for my shading.  I was not liking it but I kept going....

I pulled out my various pencils and my sharpener and started with the NOOKS & CRANNIES and I was starting to really like what I was seeing.  The texture the pencils added, the way it blended, the way the fine lines gave the petals shape.  I was doing it!

 

The one thing I was too fearful to do was add in the gray shadow after I had done all of the pencil work.  Hindsight is telling me I should have done that before the pencils but I like the finished image.  I am not sure if it will ever make its way to a card that I give someone so for now it is proudly up on my memo board in the craft room to be looked at and admired.

Thanks for looking!  I now have all kinds of ideas for what to color next, what techniques I want to try and can't wait to get working on the next thing.  Off to work on Day 2 & 3.  Have a great day!!