Another butterfly

Hi everyone. Today I made another butterfly card. Gina K had another release party last week and the deadline for challenge cards is today, so I managed to get one done. I made a card for the sketch challenge.

In my scrap pile I found the black and vanilla circles already die cut, so rather than pull out my cuttlebug and dies, I just used these. I first stamped the butterfly on another piece of vanilla and colored it using gamsol magic technique and cut it out. Then I stamped it again on the vanilla circle and stamped over that with SU's linen background in caramel. For the flowers, I colored with markers, huffed and stamped. Brads were added to the centers. I sponged around the edges of the scallops with chocolate chip ink and matted on black.

The ruby red background is stamped with SU's French filigree background stamp in ruby red. The designer paper strip is Basic Grey.

For the smaller circle, I pulled out one of my crocheted flowers, added a button and backed it with a scalloped circle punch, sponged around the edges.

What's in it?
stamps: linen, French filigree (SU), take flight, peace & comfort (Gina K)
ink: jet black stazon, creamy caramel, ruby red, old olive, chocolate chip
paper: basic black, very vanilla, ruby red, naturals ivory, dp (Basic Grey confused)
other: black brads, cuttlebug, circles nestabilities, scallop circle punch, sponge dauber, crochet flower, button, foam tape

Thank you so much for visiting. Have a wonderful day.

the 3 day card

Hi everyone. Am I the only one who starts a card, but then just can't seem to pull it together to get it finished and sets it aside to work on later? That's what happened with this card. I saw this card by Kim Hughes and really liked the layout, so I thought I'd use it.

On Wednesday, I started by stamping French filigree in chocolate on an old olive card stock base. Then I added a piece of rust and a piece of mustard. On the mustard, I stamped the French filigree in mustard and then a couple of the stamps from extreme elements in mustard and ruby red. I had a sparkly butterfly, but it just didn't go with the rest of the card. I thought I could substitute a die cut bird, but since I was at my sister's, I didn't have the supplies I needed to do that, so the card was set aside to wait until I got home.

I had some old music glued onto chipboard from a cereal box, so I cut out the one I wanted. But then I didn't get to finish working on the card that night.

On Thursday, I pulled out the card again, sponged the edges of the bird with vintage photo ink, but couldn't figure out how to complete the card. The rust piece was too plain and the card just felt lifeless. So I set it aside again.

Today, I pulled it out again and made some major changes. I die cut a new bird and sponged the edges with not quite navy and stamped it with the flourish from baroque motifs in the same color -- oh, what a difference that color change made. Then I removed the piece of rust and replaced it with a piece of music that was just sponged in rust and stamped the flourish from baroque motifs in ruby red. That also brightened up the card.

But now that blue seemed needed some companion pieces to pull it into the card better, so I added the scalloped border at the bottom of the mustard piece. Better. I attached the bird with dimensionals.

I decided that I would like brads, but didn't want them to show on the inside of the card, so I resorted to making some faux brads by punching 1/4" & 3/8" circles from the music and gluing 4 together for thickness. I sponged the edges and used a marker to color the sides. They are attached with mini glue dots.

The sentiment is from a retired hostess set called happiness always.

All stamps are SU.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Be blessed.

fun butterfly

Hi, here I am again. This time I have the card I made for the technique challenge on SCS. Wrapped some drywall tape around my brayer and rolled it in acrylic paint and then rolled on my card stock. What a fun technique. Of course there were a few bumps in the road along the way.

I was going to make a horizontal card, but when I rolled the paint, I ended up a bit crooked, so I decided to trim it off and straighten it, so I made a vertical card instead.

The flourishes are from SU and Rubbernecker, stamped in navy over the paint. The sentiment is from Cornish Heritage Farms.

The navy layer is punched with my eyelet border punch.

I made the top layer of the butterfly from used dryer sheets. I will try to do a tutorial on how to make them. A rolled up glue dot is put under each wing, because the wings are translucent and I thought dimensional tape would show through. The glue dots are a bit less visible. The body is made with beads on thread.

I added some faux stitching around the edges to finish off the card.

What's in it?
stamps: priceless (SU), flourish set (Rubbernecker), sentiment (vintage butterflies - Cornish Heritage Farms)
ink: night of navy, versamark
paper: whisper white, pacific point, night of navy
other: eyelet border punch, brayer, drywall tape, white acrylic paint, cuttlebug, beautiful butterflies Sizzix bigz die, dryer sheet, iridescent ice ep, heat gun, sewing machine, beads, thread

Thanks so much for stopping by. Be blessed.

hello

Happy Monday. I'm working on today's technique challenge, but needed to take a break and get a couple of other things done. I thought I'd post another vsn card. This challenge required yellow and brown and some crumpled cardstock.

The stamp is from Hero Arts. I used some punches for the flowers. A lot of crumbling card stock, sponging and direct to paper to get a nice distressed card.

What's in it?
stamps: woodgrain circle (Hero Arts)
ink: chocolate chip, tangerine tango
paper: chocolate chip, barely banana, tangerine tango, yoyo yellow
other: sponge, circle punches, trio flower punch, chocolate grosgrain ribbon, half pearls, foam tape

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderfilled week.

spice it up

Hello and happy Wednesday. No stamping for me today, so I thought I'd show you another one of my VSN cards. For this challenge we had to use spices or seeds on our card.

I started with a card base of always artichoke. I love all the food names that SU uses on their colors. I added a strip of certainly celery wheeled with artichoke and layered on black, with a ribbon tied around it.

Then I glued some old olive card stock to some chipboard from a pasta box and die cut leaves with a sizzix die in my cuttlebug. I glued spices to each of the leaves with mod podge. From top to bottom - mint, curry powder, celery seed, and chili powder. Then I put another coat of mod podge over the top to make sure that the spices didn't flake off.

The sentiment was stamped in artichoke on celery, punched with a large oval punch and layered on a black scallop oval punch. The sentiment oval and two of the leaves are popped up.

This card smells wonderful!

What's in it?
stamps: whimsy jumbo wheel, warmest regards (SU)
ink: always artichoke
paper: always artichoke, old olive, certainly celery, chipboard
other: spices, mod podge, cuttlebug, leaves 2 Sizzix die, large & scallop oval punches, foam tape, black gingham ribbon

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Be blessed.

wow, that's bright

Hello. I tried a new technique today on SCS called leafing pen resist. Basically, you draw on watercolor paper with a leafing pen and then use an ink wash over it and the paint resists the ink.

I wanted to use my gold leafing pen, but couldn't get it to work. So I decided to go with copper. Instead of using a spray ink wash, I misted the watercolor paper and then added drops of ink refill to the wet paper and spread it around with my aqua painter. It really didn't give the contrast I was looking for and I wasn't happy with the results. I actually tried about 6 or 7 pieces and wasn't happy with any of them. After letting them dry, I brushed over them with Mod Podge. But I really needed to make a card and wanted to have the technique work for me, so I took one piece and chopped it up into little 3/4" squares. Then I glued them to white card stock for a mosaic look with just a tiny bit of space between the squares.

Then I smooshed versamark ink all over the whole piece and embossed it with UTEE, which gives a real nice glaze. I stamped the sentiment on white and punched just the ends.

Since I was making a birthday card for my youngest, who turned legal today, I took a serrated knife and sliced up a wine cork and added a few slices to the card.

What's in it?
stamps: celebrate everthing (SU)
ink: yoyo yellow, only orange, real red, chocolate chip, jet black stazon, versamark
paper: real red, whisper white
other: copper leafing pen, clear UTEE, heat gun, wine cork, foam tape, curly label punch

Thanks so much for stopping by. Be blessed.

inspired vsn

Hi, it's me again. I thought I post one more card tonight. This one is actually a double challenge. Since Saturday on SCS is always the inspiration challenge, I decided to put that together with one of the VSN challenges. The inspiration came from the Curiosity Shoppe and I chose this image to inspire me. The VSN challenge was to use different cutting tools.

I started by using mod podge to glue some old piano music to a piece of cereal box chipboard. I die cut the bird and punched two different flowers from the music chipboard, and sponged the edges with bravo burgundy. The bird's wing is actually a smaller bird die with the beak cut off. I added a black brad for the eye. The 'ribbon' is a piece of faux ribbon left over from a previous card. I pulled out one of my crocheted flowers and topped it with a half pearl.

What's in it?
stamps: sincere salutations (SU)
ink: bravo burgundy
paper: bravo burgundy, regal rose, old music, cereal box chipboard, dp (?)
other: white gel pen, cuttlebug, nesting birds dies (Spellbinders), flower punches (SU/EK Success), sponge daubers, crocheted flower, half pearl, black brad, foam tape

Thanks so much for visiting. Be blessed.

take a peek

Hello. I only did one more of the VSN challenges today. Before I get too tired to post like last night when I was falling asleep at the keyboard, I thought I'd share another card I made for VSN. This challenge required a window card with a clear element and the colors pink and yellow.

I made a window in the card front with a circle die. The flowers are stamped on white and cut out. I added some sponging and then arranged them around the circle, which has clear acetate behind it. I wanted the inside to stand out, so I put a layer of white inside the card and stamped the sentiment on it so that it shows through the window. Then I finished off the front with some faux stitching.

What's in it?
stamps: eastern blooms, kind & caring thoughts (SU)
ink: yoyo yellow, pixie pink, jet black stazon
paper, pixie pink, whisper white
other: cuttlebug, circle nestabilities (Spellbinders), sponge daubers, white gel pen, clear acetate

Thanks for stopping by. Be blessed.

done for tonight

Hello again. I haven't done all the VSN challenges, but I'm done for tonight. Just too tired to do any more. I don't know if I'll get any more done by the deadline tomorrow evening or.

This challenge required the following colors: pumpkin pie, regal rose, summer sun, and white, as well as a flower and a circle and some type of ribbon. I colored the flower with watercolor crayons and aqua painter and added some glitter on the petals.

The ribbon is made from card stock and white gel pen dots and then the edges are sponged a little.

What's in it?
stamps: fifth avenue floral, kind & caring thoughts (SU)
ink: jet black stazon, regal rose
paper: pumpkin pie, regal rose, summer sun, watercolor
other: watercolor crayons, aqua painter, white gel pen, cuttlebug, circles nestabilitites, dazzling diamonds glitter, twill tape, foam tape, sponge

I'm having a difficult time keeping my eyes open, so I'm heading to bed. Thanks for stopping by.

It's VSN weekend

Happy Saturday, everyone. It's right in the middle of VSN (virtual stamp night on SCS). This is a totally fun weekend of challenges. You get only 45 minutes to complete each one and then a deadline for uploading them to the gallery, not like the normal weekly challenges which have no time limit. This vsn is all about food. Check it out and play along.

The first challenge was called orchid soup and the requirement were a flower and a circle on your card. I used my favorite Penny Black flower, blush. I inked it with markers and then misted with water before stamping on my circle. I sponged the edge of the circle with chocolate chip ink, added some pearls and layered it on a scalloped black circle.

My card base is rich razzleberry, and the scalloped layer is vanilla, also sponged with chocolate chip. The designer paper is layered on black and razzleberry. I don't remember who makes the paper.

The sentiment is from Small Script, punched out with a large oval punch and layered on black. I added some dots on the scalloped circle with white gel pen and some razzleberry dots for faux piercing along the vanilla scallops.

The image and sentiment are both popped up.

What's in it:
stamps: small script (SU), blush flower (Penny Black)
ink: rich razzleberry, garden green, soft suede, chocolate chip, jet black stazon
paper, rich razzleberry, basic black, very vanilla, dp (?)
other: sponge, white gel pen, cuttlebug, circle nestabilities, large oval and scalloped oval punches, half pearls, foam tape

Thanks so much for stopping by. I'll try to post more of my challenge cards later. Right now, I need to go see about lunch. Have a wonderfilled day.

what I've been doing

Hi everyone. I don't have any stamping to show you today. I have something completely different. I've been working on a quilt. I love quilting even more than stamping. However, because quilting usually involves much larger projects than stamping, you don't get the instant gratification that stamping supplies. The first picture is the quilt with the borders on and most of the quilting done. You can see the batting hanging out on the edges. The second picture is the completed quilt.

I did not make the whole thing -- I just did the borders and finishing, but even that was still a lot of work. The blocks on this quilt were all pieced and quilted by hand. The mother of a friend took a class at her church in the early 1980's and made all the blocks and had them all sewn together. But she never finished the quilt and ended up giving it to her daughter. Since the daughter (my friend) doesn't quilt, after her mom passed away, she decided that she really wanted to find someone who could finish the quilt for her. That's where I came in. She asked me if I would be willing to do this for her. I told her yes before I realized how big a project I was getting myself into. I kept track of the time I spend quilting and that was over 60 hours. That was in addition to sewing on the border strips. I estimate that I spent more than 75 hours to complete the quilt -- just the borders, binding and a label. So you can just guess how many hours it took to make all the blocks.


What is really interesting is that I made a quilt just like this one, oh different colors, but the blocks were the same size and patterns. My sister and I took a 12-week class at a local quilt shot and each week we worked on a new block. These are 15" blocks with a 2" lattice strip around each block, so you can see that it was a big project. My friend and I were trying to determine when her mom would have made this quilt, but we weren't really sure.

I asked my sister if she might remember the mom, since we had both attended that church at one time. She said she didn't, but...

Here's where the story gets better. My sister said, "I taught that class at the church and you helped me!" What she remembered is that we took the class on Monday night, and then on Thursday night, we went over to the church and taught what we'd learned earlier in the week -- well, she taught and I just helped her remember all the details. I don't remember doing that, but then at that time I was newly married and working full time, so my brain was probably on overload, and now, my memory is just seriously lacking.

I do remember that for both of us, the border was the hardest part -- and I volunteered to do the border on my friend's quilt - YIKES! I think the border may have seemed more difficult, because by the time we got to that, the class was over and we were now floundering on our own.

This last picture is the quilt that I made. I've made a lot of quilts since that day, but I piece most of them on the machine. Some are hand-quilted and some are tied with yarn. And I know that even now I have several that are partially done. Hopefully, now that I'm done with the quilt for my friend, I'll be able to get some more of my own finished.

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a wonderfilled day.

Happy August everyone. I just wanted to remind you that there is still time to sign up for my Big Shot Club that is meeting next week, August 13, 2009.

See this post for details. Deadline for sign up is this Thursday, August 6, 2009.

Have a wonderfilled day.