Paint-poured tag

This was made during my third attempt at paint pouring:

Supplies:

• I used Distress Paint mixed with white glue and a bit of silicone spray for the pour after reading many sites and watching some videos... I just kind of "winged it". This was done about a month ago.
• Inspired By Stamping flowers and Stampabilities sentiment stamp inked with Distress Embossing Ink and heat embossed with Custer's Last Stamp Silver EP
• Viva Paper Pearls in Anthracite at flower centers
• Darice metallic hemp as the twine

I'd like to share this with the folks at City Crafter for their current tag challenge.

Nautical anniversary

... with reference to tying the knot:

I was trying to show the glittery Bridal Tinsel in this image... didn't really succeed.  FYI, it's that iridescent sparkle that yields pinks, greens, blues.

Supplies:

• Strathmore watercolor paper written on with a Letter It marker then heat embossed with Bridal Tinsel EP from the Letter It pack
• Dipped in an inked-up mat with all the blue DOx plus lots of water
• The knot stamp was from a nautical-themed set from Michael's my BFF used for her wedding in 2016-- Uh-oh, I guess I need to send it to her! I heat embossed it with Gold Tinsel from the Letter It pack.
• I also heat embossed the edge with the Gold Tinsel EP.

That's it.  Pretty cute, right?

I just want to add a few notes about the Letter It products I own: While the pens work super-well for heat embossing and for use with Perfect Pearls, I think I prefer my Zig Emboss Writer for heat embossing because it goes on blue so you can see what you've written/drawn. The embossing powder colors I bought are the Copper, Bridal, Gold, and Silver Tinsels and they are BEAUTIFUL.  Totally worth the money just to get this beautiful little set.  In case it matters you to, though, they do end up  rough after heating due to the glitter, and the Bridal Tinsel is more iridescent than just white. Use the Michael's coupon-- I felt like full price was steep. 

I'll share this at the following challenges:

• Retro Rubber: Anything Goes
  
• Addicted To Stamps and More:
  

Hipster Easter

Hipster Easter cards!  Whoops! These have already been sent out, never posted them!

Supplies:

• Martha Stewart bunny stencil sprayed with Dylusions spray into a different project then monoprinted onto photo paper
• The sentiment was written with a Faber Castell Pitt Pen
• Panels mounted onto Recollections cardstock

I even finished the insides... but no pictures.

I'll share these at Simon Says Stamp on Wednesday: AG!

Spring tin

Here's a spring tin I've been dreaming up for a couple months... well, now that Easter is upon us, I thought, "Okay!  Time to take action!"

Supplies:

• Tin from the Asian food store inked with Distress/Adirondack Alcohol ink in Mushroom and mixative in Pearl
• Moss-covered styrofoam pebble from the dollar store
• Flowers from various times and places... so interesting to think of where each came from and how they are all together now!
• "Egg" in background was a diecut from a Basic Grey pack from years ago.  I inked it with Frayed Burlap DI
• Bunny cut from a piece of DP (I think it was an Alice in Wonderland set, but the full page is long gone).  I glued the bunny to a tiny dowel and poked it into the mossy rock.

That's it.  I was close to adding a handle to make this look like a basket, but that definitely took away from the arched white flowers, which I feel fill that role.  I also considered adding pearl trim, but it was just too much for this scene, which I ultimately liked more natural and spring-y.

I'll share this cutie at the following challenges:

• Frilly & Funkie: Bloomin' Marvelous
• Make My Monday: Easter Fun
• Try It On Tuesday: The Call of Spring (moodboard)
  
• Simon Says Stamp on Wednesday: AG
• CASual Friday: Spring Fever 
  
• Alphabet Challenge: A is for Anything but a card!

SOS: No Ink!!!

This week the challenge at Shopping Our Stash is to go ink-free!  That's right: no ink!  So, the way I interpret this is that we challenge ourselves to use stash-items excluding ink.  (Tip, though: colored pencils do not have ink!)

Can it be done???  Yes!  Did I meet the criteria?  Mostly... see my note below my project before you judge me!

I ended up using a grey Spectrum Noir pen as a shadow and a black pen also to make the letters stand out more.  Sorry!  It was, like, a necessary evil.  Sorry, sorry, sorry.  I did, however, gut my stash!

Supplies:

• Anna Griffin paper from 2013 snipped with a Fiskars corner punch 
• A scrap of gold and white striped paper, most likely from a DCWV pad
• Pink cardstock from a Core'dinations pack from years ago
• Letters, girl stickers, and word stickers on the inside are all from a sticker sheet by Carta Bella from 2013
• Gold Stickles ice from 2014... I love these bigger bottles, though!  You really don't feel like you have to be conservative with them like you do with the smaller bottles.
• The gold accents inside are rub-ons by Heidi Swapp for American Crafts from 2015 
• Blue pom-pom trim is multiple years old-- starting to get dirty from years of not being stored properly. The pink pom trim is from Andrea Ockey-Parr... my fiber dealer.  Thanks!

Thanks for reading through the description of my little birthday card.  Look forward to seeing you guys do better than me at not using ink!  That was a challenge... and though I tried, I failed!  (But I am happy with the outcome, so I don't have bad guilty feelings, either!) 

See you at Shopping Our Stash!

Monogram!

The challenge at City Crafter inspired this sign for my teacher-friend:

Supplies:

• Strathmore watercolor paper
• Jane Davenport Mermaid pens... finally bought them and they are FUN to use!
• Glossy Accents added at the edge with Tim's Glitter Dust
• Some of my fave yarn at the top

I debated adding pom-pom trim to the bottom, but though I have just about every color, none looked quite right.  I needed a specific shade of blue.  White looked okay, but I always consider if the white pom-poms will get dirty.

I'll share this at the current challenge over at City Crafter which is to include a monogram. 

Cold coffee...

I've used this quote before.  It is a true sign of productivity.

Supplies:

• Sentiment typed on my old typewriter on the back of an old catalog card... this was probably done over a year ago.
• Loew Cornell watercolors
• A scrap of newsprint from my spray box

I'll enter this at the following two challenges:

• International Art and Soul: Add humor
• Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers: 
  

HLS Mixed Media in March

... the theme is Friendship.

Supplies:

• Strathmore watercolor paper inked using Color Bursts through  Tim Holtz's Birch stencil
• "Canvas" constructed by gluing and holding with paperclips until dry
• Edges inked with Antique Linen DI
• Tim's photobooth friends popped up with 3M dimensional adhesive
• Tim's Chitchat stickers
• A scrap of my fave twine used to hang

As my title implied, I'll share this with the good folks at Happy Little Stampers:

I'm an Inkspiational Guestie!

How fun!  I was invited to join the current challenge at Inkspirational after I evidently "inkspired" them during the GIFT challenge in December.

The current challenge theme is Mythical, and here is the project I'm sharing:

I had actually made a few different projects for this challenge, but after I saw the image below via BBC News, I was like, "Oh, now that's what I'm going for!":

Source: BBC News, photo by Patrik Stollarz/AFP 

Supplies:

• Unicorn gal drawn with a Micron pen
• Parts of a Dyan Reaveley star stamp used for the background using Distress embossing ink and Stamp-n-stuff EP in Winter Wonderland (white with silver sparkles)
• Image watercolored using various DIs
• Finetec metallic watercolor pan set used to accent the horn and add some detail to the girl's makeup
• Colorbok stars from a set my mom sent me a few years ago-- they are so mirrored that of course it is hard to get a good image!
• The white mat in the background is a piece of Strathmore watercolor paper with the birthday sentiment brushed using a Jane Davenport waterbrush in multiple DOxs.
• Recollections purple cardstock as the rear-most layer

Hope you like this project, and look forward to seeing everyone else's mythical projects at Inkspirational!

Magical new year...

Made this for one of my daughter's teammates:

...in the bright sunshine...

...in the bright sunshine...

Supplies:

• Background made over a month ago with a Dylusions star stamp inked with Distress embossing ink and embossed with Stamp-n-stuff in Winter Wonderland (white with silver sparkles)
• Background then inked using Poppin' Pink Magicals by Lindy's Stamp Gang
• Gold feathers from a diecut pack by Basic Grey from 2013
• Flower made using Tim Holtz's Tattered Florals dies with Canson Mix Media paper and inked using various DOx
• The center of the flower has Recollections micro beads in clear (which have an iridescent shine)
• Purple fiber from Andrea at Snapping Monsters, thanks!
• Gold thread from my stash
• Tim Holtz's Chitchat stickers

I'll share this with Happy Little Stampers for their March AG with Dies challenge!

Cheers!

Wonderful day

Recently bought this awesome layering bird stamp at Tuesday Morning for CHEAP... and it's one of the coolest things ever!  Magic!  It's operates in the same way that color TV used to work... you know when you looked at your screen up close and it was just cyan, magenta, yellow, and black dots???

Supplies:

• Layering stamp by We R Memory Makers
• Four inks used: ColorBox in Blossom, Ranger Jet Black, Wendy Vecchi in Buttercup and Forget-Me-Not
• Quote written with Distress Black Soot and water

Love this... can't wait to play with different colors for the bird.

I'd like to share this at the following challenges:

• Addicted To CAS: Birds
  
• Addicted To Stamps: CAS 
  

Floral watercolor with DOx

I had excess DOx on my mat from THIS project, so I used it to make this:

Supplies:

• DOx in Lucky Clover and Candied Apple
• Sentiment written with Distress Crayon in Black Soot plus water
• Viva Paper Pearls in Anthracite

I'll share this at the following challenges:

• Simon Says Stamp on Wednesday: Floral Frenzy
• The Flower Challenge: AG
  
• CAS Watercolor, March: Garden
  

Rose-heart hand-carved stamp

I carved this stamp last weekend.  Hope you like it!

Supplies:

• Stamp carved using Stampin' Up! tools and Speedball red rubber
• Stamp inked with Ranger Archival in Jet Black on Strathmore watercolor paper
• Stamp and sentiment colored with DOx in Lucky Clover and Candied Apple 
• Viva Paper Pearls in Anthracite added around heart
• Recollections charcoal paper used in the background.  I chose a charcoal instead of black because of the faded look of the stamp on the watercolor paper.  I think I need to look into getting a stamping platform... I've just never thought I was much of a stamper... but now I've had a few projects that caused me to think about it.

I'll share this at the following two challenges:

• The Flower Challenge: AG
  
• Addicted To Stamps: CAS
  

Needa Maragarita...

Love the way this turned out.  I only have a margarita about once every three years, but I think I'm about due...

Supplies:

• All-time favorite Hero Arts stamp is this gal I've named Kelly Jo after a friend of mine
• The lettering and her dress "painted" using DOx in Peacock Feathers, Twisted Citron, and Peeled Paint
• Hero Arts stencil used on background with Peacock Feathers DI
• Lime green cardstock by Recollections
• Kelly Jo's hair and skin colored with Rexel Derwent watercolor pencils and brushed in

That's it! 

I'd like to share this with the current  Hero Arts challenge: