Background Die Cuts with Distress Oxide

Happy Saturday evening!  I picked up this Tim Holtz numeral die set for a song on clearance at HL a while back and thought I had better justify my purchase by putting it to use in this week's Simon Says Stamp challenge, we've got your number.  I was inspired by Tim Holtz's June 2016 tag HERE.

I cut out the larger numbers randomly from my panel, then inked with Distress Oxides and stamped with the lovely new IndigoBlu numerals stamp.  My backing panel is kraft inked with Walnut Stain DOX and stamped with the Prima tiny text stamp.  Some faux stitching along the distressed edges.

I tucked in some basket filler for dimension.

Dyed crinkle ribbon from D.L. Art, which I stained with Antique Mahogany.  The brown spots were already stained.  I finished with a Spellbinders wreath to frame this precious found relatives photo.  The Easter baskets in hand are perfect for my BFF's April birthday and she loves vintage and grunge.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend and thanks for visiting.  <3

I'm playing along with:

Simon Says Stamp: We've Got Your Number

Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes

Frilly and Funkie: Put Your Inking Cap On

Die Cut Divas: Birthdays

Creative Artiste: Anything Goes Mixed Media

Crafty Friends: Anything Goes

Really Reasonable Ribbon: Put a Bow on It

Vintage Owl Masculine Birthday Card

Some new rubber on the table from my SSS win.  :)  It's Friday night and I feel alright!  So quickly playing to enter the latest Simon Says Stamp challenge, we've got your number.  I used the new IndigoBlu numbers background stamp - swoon - and a PaperArtsy tiny numbers stamp for my background.

The background was made with a mix of Distress Oxides on kraft.  A little faux stitching around the edge.  The foreground panel was regular DI.

I thought this Carabelle Studios own was THE coolest.  I am a big owl lover, but don't like to tell people because they think I love all owls.  I don't.  Just way cool ones like this or very retro/vintage owls.  Anyway, I framed him by cutting out a Seth Apter die around his face, and then inking it with DOX.  I added a few cogs to fill the empty space.  I thought this sentiment would be fun for a birthday and stamped it with $1 tiny alphas from Michaels.  It feels so good to get messy after some CAS work.  LOL!  I'm so all over the place - I know...  Anyway, I hope you like this and are inspired to play along.  Happy weekend!

I'm playing along with:

Simon Says Stamp: We've Got Your Number

Use Your Stuff: Circles

Dragonfly Dreams: Anything Goes

Frilly and Funkie: Put on Your Inking Cap

Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes

SanDee & Amelie: Anything Goes Steampunk/Industrial

Words 2 Craft By: N-U-M-B-E-R Mouse

Birthday Bash Monster Popup Card Tutorial

For all the littles in your life, hop on over to the Tutti Designs blog and learn how to make this fun and whimsical card!  My niece absolutely loved it!  The new Balloon Corner die is so much fun and I know it will be on your wish list.  <3  Thanks for stopping by today.  Your support means so much to me!

I'm also sharing with:

Happy Little Stampers: Anything Goes w/Dies
Crafty Purple Frog: Celebrate Little People
Die Cut Divas: Birthdays
Die Cuttin' Divas: Chevron and/or Polka Dots
Digi Choosday: Anything Goes
Pile it On: Interactive and/or Birthday

Coloring Flowers with Prismacolor Colored Pencils

Hello sweet friends and thank you so much for your lovely comments on my "house" story.  <3  You all have encouraged me more than you'll ever know.  Ironically, we are going to be selling our house very soon and the thoughts are amplified.  I covet your prayers during this transition.

Today I am officially announcing that I have joined the Power Poppy bandwagon and am thrilled to be joining my first challenge with Power Poppy.  The new releases are absolutely AMAZING and I aim to enter the challenges with the few digital stamps I've won or found on the internet for free in hopes of winning some real life flower power stamps!  This card was made with Authentique Christmas plaid, which I thought went well with my poppies.  I colored both cards with Prismacolor pencils.

My second card features the reverse of the plaid paper with some Prima stripes and Basic Grey grunged pink stock.

Forgive me but I can't remember if this card is from Creative Market's weekly freebies or from a digital image I won.  Some of my free images have been saved to my Pinterest board.  For this card I used this amazing double stitched oval die that I won in the Winter Coffee Lovers hop.  YAY!  I splashed green watercolor on the card - because I can't help myself you know.  The sentiment stamp is by Verve Stamps.  I'm so thankful that Marcella is allowing any stamps in this challenge so that we can get to know Power Poppy better and try to win some rubber.  Thanks Marcella!

I'm sharing my poppy card with:

Power Poppy: April Sketch Challenge

Crafter's Cafe: Easter and/or Spring

Always Fun: CAS

My Creative Scoop: Anything Goes Hand Colored

613 Avenue Create: Anything Goes

A Perfect Time to Craft: Anything Goes

Simon Says Stamp: Flowers or Showers

I'm sharing my pink card with:

Power Poppy: April Sketch Challenge

My Creative Scoop: Anything Goes Hand Colored

Simon Says Stamp: Flowers or Showers

Distress Oxide Texture Paste Tehnique

When I was a baby girl, we lived in what my family referred to for all these years as "the shack".  My Grandmother would recall giving me baths in the kitchen sink with boiled water.  When my Grandfather came back from WW2, he was never the same.  He became an alcoholic and drank away everything they owned, drowning those dark memories.  He died just before I was born. Seems that we all just wanted to have something and be somebody thereafter.  The problem with having stuff and feeling like somebody, is that you often don't see that enough is simply enough and you forget who you once were.  I guess that's why this precious stamp set is so dear to me.  A reminder to build a life, not just a mass.  To focus on the heart of the home more than its size or color.  But now that I've shared more than you wanted to know, on with the art...

I am really loving the effect of stamping with misted DOX.  Using Walnut stain and the Cog Collection is a great match.  The stencil is by Carabelle Studios, mixed with Walnut Stain DOX.

Just in case you missed my tutorial on tinting texture paste at Stamps and Stencils, do check it out.  

I was so thrilled to find this lone set of Seth Apter dies at convention recently.  I cut a couple of circles from my inky paper.  Where have these rugged circles been all my life!?!?

Layers of holey paper.

I decided not to cut these two stamps apart and used them as a unit onto this little tag.  I layered with a handmade flower from my Small Tattered Florals set by Tim/Sizzix and punched inky leaves from one of his new punches.  I love that thing!  I really like it with these particular flowers.  A bright touch to this rather grungy card.  Thanks for bearing with me today!  To better days and precious memories...

Darkroom Door Home Sweet Home Stamp Set

I'm sharing with:

Country View Challenges: Rust

Simon Says Stamp: Flowers or Showers

Dies R Us: Tags

Addicted to Stamps: Not a Square Card

Stamping Sensations: Anything Goes

The Artistic Stamper: Backgrounds

Petal Lu: Yellow Flowers

Simon Says Stamp Abstract Triangles Watercolor Cards

Can I get a "Woot woot!  It's the weekend!"?  Ahhh, sometimes it feels like Friday will never come.  This week has been filled with stress and pain.  My little has been poked and prodded all week with allergy testing and blood work for his recurring fevers.  Pray pray pray that the upper sinus infection they found in the CT scan is the source of this problem and the antibiotics and allergy immunotherapy treatment will resolve it!

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."  Philippians 4:6 NASB

Meanwhile I found out through my lovely friend Greta's recent blog post that there is a Simon Says Stamp challenge on Flickr.  YAY!  This challenge is to highlight the SSS brand products.  I am so blessed to have won a few, including the Abstract Triangles background stamp - LOVE!  I made a couple of CAS cards for the challenge.

Both cards were made with my favorite medium, watercolor.  I used the Verve Stamps Kindness stamps and dies for my focal elements, along with some sequins and beads.

There is something so calming I find in making watercolor backgrounds.  Do you agree?

I colored a scrap with the same blues and cut out my sentiment, then clear embossed for an enamel effect.  I layered over glitterstock and was quite happy with the result.  What a great stamp set, here's the inside of my card.

Here is my Flick page.  And the SSS Challenge Group Page.  Read the details on the sticky post at the top of the group when you join for details.  Two $25 SSS shopping sprees are given every two weeks - yip yip!  Have a great weekend.  <3

Simple Birthday Card Ideas

Hello friends!  I'm sharing a sweet and simple birthday card on the Tutti Designs blog.  You can easily create a birthday stash with our beautiful Happy Birthday Square die.  Hop on over for more details.

I'm also sharing with:

Imagine That Creative Playground: Anything Goes

Crafty Gals Corner: Embellish It

Simon Says Stamp: Showers or Flowers

Seize the Birthday: Two Patterned Papers

Ooh La La: Birthday

Pile it On: Interactive and/or Birthday

Tim Holtz Memoranda with Paper Dolls and Handmade Flowers

It's time for another fun challenge at Scrapy Land.  Our theme this time is Flower Dies.  I really appreciated this boost to get a little stash of flowers crafted up.  I went in a rather vintage direction and hope you like it.  Let me tell you a little about my flower making process...

I cut oodles of Small Tattered Florals and the next size up in the Tattered Florals (which is one of the smallest on that die) from plain white card.  These dies are both by Sizzix.  Next I set up an ink range from Mermaid Lagoon to Cracked Pistachio to Evergreen Bough to Frayed Burlap.  This is my favorite way to ink up my flowers.  I spritz my palette with ample water then dip each flower cutout into the inks randomly, front and back.  I love the variation in color this achieves.

Nest I squeeze and twist all the petals together, heat set lightly, then open up my flowers.  See all of the varied color.

I gather the colors and sizes that work best together, without gluing so that if I run short I can still change the composition.  When I have all of my bundles just so, I glue them together with Eileen's Tacky Glue.  For the largest blossoms I used these stamen I picked up at Joann's with a coupon.  They are found in the cake decorating isle.

For this card I only used two flowers.  I tried to pick the grungier colors.

Three of them ended up on THIS Easter card.  These three were more on the vibrant side.

Back to my card.  I used the Tim Holtz labels by Sizzix to cut three different patterns from Tim's new paper stash, Memoranda.  I used the ATC sized grid paper, which was the perfect size for these label dies and gave me smaller patterns.  I inked the edges of each label with DI.  I cut a Sizzix doily by TH and inked it up.  I added it to break up some of the lines.

I turned this label into a tag.  The Paper Dolls found a home and complimented my sentiment perfectly.  Don't they look so in love!

TIP: To stack your layers for dimensional mixed media, cut a separate die from thin chipboard to mount your patterned paper onto.  This gives you a sturdy base to build layers and will save you in foam tape.  For a group like this, I start with the foremost element, in this case the people and build my layers back, adding additional support as needed.

I inked and wrinkled up my backing paper and gave a splash of DI, then layered with another wrinkled up kraft sheet.  Beacon 3 in 1 glue works best for adhering paper layers like this.  And here's a closeup of that wonderful stamp (Cats Life Press).  Isn't' it wonderful!  Now go on and break out your Scrapy Land dies for a chance to win a $10 GC to the shop.  Find much more inspiration from our team of designers on the blog today.

I'm also sharing with:
Simon Says Stamp: Splash It On
Dragon's Lair: Anything Goes w/Twist Wedding Day
Simply Create Too: Anniversary
Whoopsi Daisy: Spring Sings in Flowers
Scrap & Craft: Show us some Chipboard
Frilly and Funkie: April Showers

Mixed Media Mini Album Binding Tutorial

It's inspiration time at the IndigoBlu blog.  My teamies are sharing a lovely inspirational post, so do hop on over and see what everyone has created.  I created a tiny journal using packaging.

I scored this great mat board packaging from a package of Pokemon cards.  LOL!  There were two pieces just like the above, and had great score marks.  I cut off the sides to make and some of the length to make tiny book covers measuring 3x4".

The two scored sides will be nestled together to form the spine of the book, which will be half an inch thick.

I adhered crumpled tissue paper to the covers and cut down, then used black GeeSso Good gesso to paint over the tissue.

I used a dry brush technique to lightly paint Metallic Goldfinger and Miss Moneypenny Metallic Copper paints over the raised areas of the crinkled tissue.

On the inside of my covers I applied Goldfinger paint to Phat Foam and bounced over my Vintage Flourish stamp and stamped each panel.  Using this foam with paint onto stamps creates such a beautiful impression!  I quickly wiped my stamp with a baby wipe and spritzed with water to help clean any paint from my stamp.  The foam shouldn't be pressed too hard into the stamp, just pounced upon the raised portions.

For my page I applied Vintage Photo Distress Ink and Walnut Stain Distress Oxide to my kraft mat liberally, then spritzed with loads of water to completely saturate each panel.  I lined up my two cover spines and punched holes with my Cropadile then lined up the same marks on my pages and pierced with an awl.  I used decorative rusty colored ribbon to tie the pages in place, then tied on a loopy bow.

Some details of the dry brushed tissue.

I adhered a sentiment sticker to some inky paper then lightly dusted with more Miss Copperpenny paint.  The metallic charm blended perfectly with the painted covers.

The inside of my tiny book.  You can see the overlap of the spines.

And the ribbon that ties things in place, not too bulky.

The spine with the loopy bow tied on.

And a side view of the pages.  I do hope you enjoyed this post and will be inspired to use your IndigoBlu metallic paints in a new way today.  If you have any questions, please do leave them in the comments section.  Thank you for your visit!

I'm also sharing with:

Rhedd's Creative Spirit: Anything Goes Altered/Mixed Media
More Mixed Media: Anything Goes w/Optional Twist of Yellow
Mix It Up: Just for Fun
The Artistic Stamper: Backgrounds
Creative Artiste: Anything Mixed Media Goes
Simon Says Stamp: Splash It On (I used wet media inking for my pages)

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