I haven't been on my blog much the past week and a half, and I was surprised to learn from my friend Marilyn that my butterfly card was chosen as Top Three at The Butterfly Challenge for Challenge #51. Wahoo!
Thank you very much to the design team who voted for me!
Sharon
April 8, 2016
Butterfly Birthday Card
I recently bought a new set of stamps by Tim Holtz, "Flower Garden", which I used for the background of this card for a long time friend. Her birthday was this past weekend - now I'm able to post the card here and not worry about ruining the surprise. LOL!
I decided to try a new-to-me technique - watercolouring with distress inks. For the base, I used Stampin' Up Ivory Natural paper. It has flecks of fibre in it, and is not quite as stiff as regular cardstock, almost like a thin watercolour paper. Then I stamped some of the chrysanthemum flowers and stems in Archival Black ink. I patted the following distress inks on my silicone mat for my "palette", spritzed with water and painted - Scattered Straw. Wild Honey, Tea Dye, Spiced Marmalade, and Crushed Olive. I masked off the flowers and overstamped with Tim's "Papillion" large background stamp in Archival coffee ink. The last step - spritzing some random dots with a spray tool and TH walnut stain marker.
Now I started the layering....I embossed the Just Rite verse on vellum with black EP, and trimmed the edge with fancy edge scissors. At first I used brown EP; however, it didn't stand out as well as the black. I cut a piece of lattice (Spellbinders shapeabilities die) sponging over with Antique Linen ink. Added a piece of green satin vine ribbon by May Arts.
The butterfly is a Sizzix Bigz Texture Fades TH die, which has two butterflies and the matching embossing folder. I sponged Scattered Straw, Tea Dye and Brushed Corduroy over the raised embossed areas, painting the dots on the top of the wings with white gel marker. Spritzed over the whole piece with Perfect Pearls spray "Biscotti" for a touch of sheen.The body is done with Finnibair "Pollen" micro beads. Also added antennae which I created with wire nose pliers.
Finished the card with some flowers I had in my stash, however I did sponge the edges with Spiced Marmalade ink. All paper layers were distressed, and the outside edge of the vanilla cardstock was also sponged with Spiced Marmalade.
My friend is a horticulturalist, has her own landscaping business, and she has her own line of body creams made from local honey, "Naturally Nancy's". Here's a shout out to you Nancy. LOL
Spring is almost here in Nova Scotia. I took this pic on Saturday of a few of my crocus poking through the snow in the garden by the back door. With the sun yesterday, they were in bloom, just in time for Easter. Lots more yet to come!
Sharon
March 28, 2016
Challenges:
Fashionable Stamping Challenge: #109 Butterflies
Butterfly Challenge: Butterfly + Margin
Allsorts Challenge: Wings
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I decided to try a new-to-me technique - watercolouring with distress inks. For the base, I used Stampin' Up Ivory Natural paper. It has flecks of fibre in it, and is not quite as stiff as regular cardstock, almost like a thin watercolour paper. Then I stamped some of the chrysanthemum flowers and stems in Archival Black ink. I patted the following distress inks on my silicone mat for my "palette", spritzed with water and painted - Scattered Straw. Wild Honey, Tea Dye, Spiced Marmalade, and Crushed Olive. I masked off the flowers and overstamped with Tim's "Papillion" large background stamp in Archival coffee ink. The last step - spritzing some random dots with a spray tool and TH walnut stain marker.
Now I started the layering....I embossed the Just Rite verse on vellum with black EP, and trimmed the edge with fancy edge scissors. At first I used brown EP; however, it didn't stand out as well as the black. I cut a piece of lattice (Spellbinders shapeabilities die) sponging over with Antique Linen ink. Added a piece of green satin vine ribbon by May Arts.
The butterfly is a Sizzix Bigz Texture Fades TH die, which has two butterflies and the matching embossing folder. I sponged Scattered Straw, Tea Dye and Brushed Corduroy over the raised embossed areas, painting the dots on the top of the wings with white gel marker. Spritzed over the whole piece with Perfect Pearls spray "Biscotti" for a touch of sheen.The body is done with Finnibair "Pollen" micro beads. Also added antennae which I created with wire nose pliers.
Finished the card with some flowers I had in my stash, however I did sponge the edges with Spiced Marmalade ink. All paper layers were distressed, and the outside edge of the vanilla cardstock was also sponged with Spiced Marmalade.
My friend is a horticulturalist, has her own landscaping business, and she has her own line of body creams made from local honey, "Naturally Nancy's". Here's a shout out to you Nancy. LOL
Sharon
March 28, 2016
Challenges:
Fashionable Stamping Challenge: #109 Butterflies
Butterfly Challenge: Butterfly + Margin
Allsorts Challenge: Wings
Valentine from friend
This lovely valentine from my friend Marilyn of Crafts and Beyond blog was a surprise in my mail last week. The verse on the tag (by Quietfire Designs) is a beautiful quotation from Dickens. The tag holder design along with the tag itself, the lattice diecut by Tim Holtz, and all the hearts and lace makes such a pretty card.
Thanks ever so much dear friend!
Sharon
Feb.21/2016
Thanks ever so much dear friend!
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Sharon
Feb.21/2016
Valentine for friend
This is a Valentine card I made for a friend.
The image is cut with a Heart Spellbinder die from a sheet of 12x12 paper with different vintage images. I coloured the image heart with Cinnamon Twinkling H20 paint and also the little bit of paint on the girl's palette. Then I edged the heart with Red Stickles glitter. On the background paper, there are random hearts (Ranger Clear Medium gel paste coloured with a tiny bit of Barn Door refill distress ink, applied through the Tim Holtz Heart stencil).
I layered other diecut hearts, some heart gem embellishments, a heart border cut from blue dotted paper (to match the girl's dress), and some red rickrack ribbon. The verse is by Hampton Arts, cut out with a Spellbinders die and given a heart gem. I purposely went off the edge of the layers with a heart and the verse to give some visual variety.
As with most of my cards, I kept it fairly flat for mailing.
Thanks for stopping by today!
Sharon
Feb. 10/2016
Challenges:
Little Red Wagon#328 Valentines
Dies R Us - Love
Just us Girls Word Week - Valentine
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The image is cut with a Heart Spellbinder die from a sheet of 12x12 paper with different vintage images. I coloured the image heart with Cinnamon Twinkling H20 paint and also the little bit of paint on the girl's palette. Then I edged the heart with Red Stickles glitter. On the background paper, there are random hearts (Ranger Clear Medium gel paste coloured with a tiny bit of Barn Door refill distress ink, applied through the Tim Holtz Heart stencil).
I layered other diecut hearts, some heart gem embellishments, a heart border cut from blue dotted paper (to match the girl's dress), and some red rickrack ribbon. The verse is by Hampton Arts, cut out with a Spellbinders die and given a heart gem. I purposely went off the edge of the layers with a heart and the verse to give some visual variety.
As with most of my cards, I kept it fairly flat for mailing.
Thanks for stopping by today!
Sharon
Feb. 10/2016
Challenges:
Little Red Wagon#328 Valentines
Dies R Us - Love
Just us Girls Word Week - Valentine
Grungy Valentine Tag
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On a kraft tag, I sponged Pumice Stone distress ink over Tim's doily stencil. Then using the TH heart stencil, I painted in a few hearts with Cinnamon Twinkling H20 paint. The paint has a sheen which doesn't show in my picture. I stamped a heart scroll border along with bottom with Fired Brick, distressed the edge, then sponged Fired Brick and Pumice Stone along all the edges.
The love tag and date (2,heart,14) are from my stash. I think they might by Authentique paper? I slightly sponged over them with Antique Linen to age, and sponged along the edges with Pumice Stone ink. On the love tag, I overstamped with a french script stamp in Pumice Stone, and adhered a red heart embellishment. The red heart on the date tag was outlined with Red Stickles glitter.
The red doily heart is by Cottage Cutz, and I used several other hearts - gold stickers, and a heart cut from red glitter paper.
The little centre heart is a plastic ribbon tag that I coated with very light beige acrylic paint, and stamped the verse in Memories Black ink. Luckily I had two of them, because the first one I didn't have the script centered evenly. It is an Impression Obsession stamp "Friends Heart" that was one of the first valentine stamps I bought years ago - the script fit the tag perfectly! Then I went along the edge with gold distress paint daubber, added a gold locket sticker and ribbon.
Finally, I cut a lock and key out of grunge paper (TH mini alteration die) and applied his "rusted grunge" technique using Pumice Stone distress embossing powder, Ground Expresso ink, and Gold distress paint daubber.
A bit of light cream crocheted lace finishes off the bottom of the tag.
Another storm is on the way with up to 30 cm's for our northern area in Nova Scotia - it seems every weekend since mid- January we've been hit with snow! Last Friday night we had 43 cm's of heavy wet snow causing a lot of power failures. Thankfully it rained on Wednesday reducing the snowbanks.
We have plans to go out to dinner tonight with friends to celebrate my birthday. It is already starting to freezing rain, so am keeping fingers crossed for later.
Sharon
Feb. 5, 2016
Challenges:
Tim Holtz Tags of 2016 February - technique remix
Anything but Cute: Grungy Love
Simon Say Wednesday Challenge: Have a heart
Valentine Tag
I have a friend in Windsor, Nova Scotia who is an avid reader and she likes to use my tags for bookmarks. She also likes vintage things and writes/types poetry, so I thought this antique typewriter die by Tim Holtz would be "right up her alley"! I didn't use too many embellishments because if the tag is too thick it won't stay in the book properly.
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The background is a Cuttlebug embossing folder "Fantasy Floral" done on red Bazzill paper. On the raised areas I sponged over with Tim Holtz Fired Brick ink, then a spritz of Heritage Gold Perfect Pearls spray.
The typewriter is cut out of black TH Coredination kraft paper, and the edges sanded. I used a fine watercolour brush to colour the gold areas with distress paint. I also put a very thin line of foam tape under the keys to pop them up a bit giving extra dimension to the typewriter. The little verse tag is one I had in my paper stash - I just sponged some Antique Linen distress ink around the edge to age.
I used one of Tim's chit chat kraft stickers, and acrylic facet to make the tag at the top. Added some red rickrak ribbon, and also another sticker at the bottom, along with a couple of heart gems.
I used one of Tim's chit chat kraft stickers, and acrylic facet to make the tag at the top. Added some red rickrak ribbon, and also another sticker at the bottom, along with a couple of heart gems.
Nova Scotia is having another winter storm... 25 to 40 cm's expected. I just got in from shovelling and it is already knee deep, heavy wet snow. My husband is away to a curling bonspeil until Sunday, so I'm going to have to clear it all myself. Not looking forward to tomorrow when the plow goes by and puts it all back in front of the driveway!
Sharon
Just A Note From Me to You Happy Mail
This is another happy mail card I recently sent to a friend in the States who had cataract Toric Lens implant eye surgery on Jan. 4th. She was very nervous about it, but says that her vision is so bright and clear now, and feels blessed that technology has lifted the "fog" of her sight.
I used papers from a 12x12 paper pad called "Tea Party" . The yellow layer was cut on the corner with a Tim Holtz mixed media die which reflects the same pattern as on the paper. The edges were sponged with Broken China distress ink. The circle image is a Just Rite stamp coloured with watercolour pencils, Gold Stickles glitter on the centre of flowers, and this is layered on another lacey circle (spellbinders die cut from the same rose paper as the background). Sorry for the photo quality - I took the pic at night because I wanted to walk to the mail box and get the card in the mail. The yellow is actually a nice rich buttercup yellow - looks faded here from the flash.
The butterfly die from Memory Box is also from the same paper pad. I positioned the bottom layer die over a rosebud for the main body of the butterfly with the gold shiny paper extending out to the wings, and the top layer is a scrap of the same pink & blue rose background paper.
A wide sheer ribbon bow finishes the card.
Last night was wild weather night - high winds gusting to 100 km's, and heavy rain which took away all our snow. Power was out in parts of our area of Town; however, we were fortunate we didn't lose ours . The sun is now trying to peek out of the dark clouds and it is very mild. Tomorrow the temperature is supposed to drop again and snowflurries. Crazy weather!
Thanks for popping to read my blog and I enjoy reading your comments.
Sharon
Jan. 11/2016
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I used papers from a 12x12 paper pad called "Tea Party" . The yellow layer was cut on the corner with a Tim Holtz mixed media die which reflects the same pattern as on the paper. The edges were sponged with Broken China distress ink. The circle image is a Just Rite stamp coloured with watercolour pencils, Gold Stickles glitter on the centre of flowers, and this is layered on another lacey circle (spellbinders die cut from the same rose paper as the background). Sorry for the photo quality - I took the pic at night because I wanted to walk to the mail box and get the card in the mail. The yellow is actually a nice rich buttercup yellow - looks faded here from the flash.
The butterfly die from Memory Box is also from the same paper pad. I positioned the bottom layer die over a rosebud for the main body of the butterfly with the gold shiny paper extending out to the wings, and the top layer is a scrap of the same pink & blue rose background paper.
A wide sheer ribbon bow finishes the card.
Last night was wild weather night - high winds gusting to 100 km's, and heavy rain which took away all our snow. Power was out in parts of our area of Town; however, we were fortunate we didn't lose ours . The sun is now trying to peek out of the dark clouds and it is very mild. Tomorrow the temperature is supposed to drop again and snowflurries. Crazy weather!
Thanks for popping to read my blog and I enjoy reading your comments.
Sharon
Jan. 11/2016
Bottles Collage Happy Mail
This card was sent to a friend who needed some "happy mail" as she is undergoing treatment for cancer. The image is a new christmas gift stamp, made by Inkadinkadoo, stamped on watercolour paper and coloured with watercolour pencils. Unfortunately while painting the last bottle, the paint bled a bit outside the margins because the area was still wet from doing the pale blue background. I was going to throw it out and start again, but decided to cut a bottle using Tim Holtz mini die and create an aged pottery style container with crackle glaze to cover the 'boo, boo'. Even though the last bottle looks like an "odd man out", I decided to go with it.
Each bottle was given a coat of crystal glaze, and little embellishments; wine cork and wire on the green one; wire art on centre of blue one and micro beads on centre of flowers; flowers, brown pearl & leaves along with wire art on neck of yellow one; micro beads on centre of flower,and wire around neck of pink one; flower, brad & leaves along with twine on crackle glaze bottle.
The image is layered on striped paper cut with a semi-circle border punch, along with a flourish in upper corner, beige crocheted lace, and a spellbinders ribbon label popped up with foam tape
I had a Facebook note from my friend yesterday. She has it on display with some tulips on her sideboard. I was glad it made her happy!
Thanks for visiting.
Sharon
Jan. 8, 2016
Challenge:
Take a Stamp, Anything Goes: new stamp
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: something new
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Each bottle was given a coat of crystal glaze, and little embellishments; wine cork and wire on the green one; wire art on centre of blue one and micro beads on centre of flowers; flowers, brown pearl & leaves along with wire art on neck of yellow one; micro beads on centre of flower,and wire around neck of pink one; flower, brad & leaves along with twine on crackle glaze bottle.
The image is layered on striped paper cut with a semi-circle border punch, along with a flourish in upper corner, beige crocheted lace, and a spellbinders ribbon label popped up with foam tape
I had a Facebook note from my friend yesterday. She has it on display with some tulips on her sideboard. I was glad it made her happy!
Thanks for visiting.
Sharon
Jan. 8, 2016
Challenge:
Take a Stamp, Anything Goes: new stamp
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: something new
Winter sunset scene - Make your Own Background
This card will be for my daughter's in-laws who have a little cabin in the woods, very remote and isolated in a heavy snow area - no running water or electricity. When Julie and husband Jeff went winter camping a few years ago, they took the skidoo up the mountain road and snowshoed into the cabin. They were walking on the snow at the top of window height level! Jeff had to shovel down to get into the door. There is a generator and Jotul wood stove, so once it gets warm, it is nice and cozy. They often hear coyotes howling in the nightime. There are a lot of sugar maple trees on the property and in the Autumn season, the mountain is ablaze with all the red and gold leaves. Actually, it is beautiful there in all seasons!
For the background, I sponged TH inks (Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey, Chipped Sapphire, Worn Lipstick and Dusty Concorde...in that order) on specialty paper creating a winter sunset sky. I really like this product by Ranger as it allows you to "move" the sponged inks ensuring good blending. The ink doesn't soak into the cardstock immediately upon application. I gave a quick burst with the heat gun to ensure everything was dry before stamping the trees with Versamark, applying detail black EP and heat embossing. Hint.... If the distress inks are even slightly wet, they will pick up embossing powder and ruin your image! Finally, I gave a quick burst with TH Picket fence distress spray to look like snow in the air.
I cut a white "snow hill" layer of paper for the bottom section and created snow hills with distress inks. The white trees have an application of Deco Art snow and Stickles glitter, and the large one is popped up with foam tape. Stamped the verse on the very bottom with Archival black ink.
The coyote was cut from gray cardstock. Then I sponged Walnut Stain distress ink over his back and haunches creating dimension to the body. Gave a light touch of white pen to his tail and front of chest. Now he looks more like a real coyote than a flat gray diecut.
Well, I think I captured the feeling of the winter scenery around the little cabin in the woods and a sunset winter sky.
Thanks for popping in and I love reading all your comments. They are truly appreciated!
Sharon
Dec. 14, 2014
Products Used:
- Ranger Specialty Stamping Paper
- Tim Holtz Distress Inks
- Hero Arts "Winter Trees Pattern" wood stamp
- Tim Holtz Picket Fence distress spray
- Impression Obsesssion dies - Fir Trees
- Deco Art Snow Painter
- Stickles Glitter Star Dust
- Verse stamp - Daniel Johnson 2006 - set of holiday verses
- PoppyStamps Inc. die - "Fine Foxes" (but I think it can also be a coyote LOL!)
- Recollections Mercury Glass paper - silver
Challenges:
Fashionable Stamping Challenges - Create your own background - winter sky
Craft Stamper - December Take a Technique - distress ink sponged sky background
Little Red Wagon - Snow much fun
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| click to enlarge |
I cut a white "snow hill" layer of paper for the bottom section and created snow hills with distress inks. The white trees have an application of Deco Art snow and Stickles glitter, and the large one is popped up with foam tape. Stamped the verse on the very bottom with Archival black ink.
The coyote was cut from gray cardstock. Then I sponged Walnut Stain distress ink over his back and haunches creating dimension to the body. Gave a light touch of white pen to his tail and front of chest. Now he looks more like a real coyote than a flat gray diecut.
Well, I think I captured the feeling of the winter scenery around the little cabin in the woods and a sunset winter sky.
Thanks for popping in and I love reading all your comments. They are truly appreciated!
Sharon
Dec. 14, 2014
Products Used:
- Ranger Specialty Stamping Paper
- Tim Holtz Distress Inks
- Hero Arts "Winter Trees Pattern" wood stamp
- Tim Holtz Picket Fence distress spray
- Impression Obsesssion dies - Fir Trees
- Deco Art Snow Painter
- Stickles Glitter Star Dust
- Verse stamp - Daniel Johnson 2006 - set of holiday verses
- PoppyStamps Inc. die - "Fine Foxes" (but I think it can also be a coyote LOL!)
- Recollections Mercury Glass paper - silver
Challenges:
Fashionable Stamping Challenges - Create your own background - winter sky
Craft Stamper - December Take a Technique - distress ink sponged sky background
Little Red Wagon - Snow much fun
Faith Card
I had a request from my elderly neighbour to make a faith based Christmas card, fairly flat as she is mailing it abroad. She didn't want bows or anything too "frou, frou". I didn't know what I was going to create when I agreed, but I knew I had some angel stamps. Well, I found a stamp in my craft cupboard that must be at least 8 or 9 years old, which I had forgotten about.
I seem to be giving love to a lot of my older stamps this season...LOL...however, I think it fits the request perfectly!
I created the background with TH distress inks by patting Wild Honey, Chipped Sapphire and Dusty Concord on a silicone mat, spritzing ever so lightly with water, then placing the cardstock on top to absorb the colour. I had pre-planned where I wanted the colour to be such as yellow mostly where the stars were located, and each angel a different colour. The first one came out too wet and the colours too diluted. The second one was exactly what I was going for! Then I spritzed again lightly with Glimmer Mist Heritage Gold. After the background was totally dry, I swiped the stamp with Versamark, and heat embossed the image with fine black powder.
I added a Northern Star cut from sparkly gold paper. Image is layered on gold paper.
I will give my neighbour the card tomorrow and hope it meets with her approval. Thanks for stopping by!
Products Used
- Ranger Specialty Stamping Paper
- Tim Holtz Distress Inks
- Tin Can Mail wooden stamp
- The Frantic Stamper die "Northern Star"
Sharon
Dec.13,2015
Challenges:
Our Creative Corner - Stars
Craft Stamper - Take a technique and Share the Season
(distress ink "marble effect" background)
I seem to be giving love to a lot of my older stamps this season...LOL...however, I think it fits the request perfectly!
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| Click to enlarge |
I created the background with TH distress inks by patting Wild Honey, Chipped Sapphire and Dusty Concord on a silicone mat, spritzing ever so lightly with water, then placing the cardstock on top to absorb the colour. I had pre-planned where I wanted the colour to be such as yellow mostly where the stars were located, and each angel a different colour. The first one came out too wet and the colours too diluted. The second one was exactly what I was going for! Then I spritzed again lightly with Glimmer Mist Heritage Gold. After the background was totally dry, I swiped the stamp with Versamark, and heat embossed the image with fine black powder.
I added a Northern Star cut from sparkly gold paper. Image is layered on gold paper.
I will give my neighbour the card tomorrow and hope it meets with her approval. Thanks for stopping by!
Products Used
- Ranger Specialty Stamping Paper
- Tim Holtz Distress Inks
- Tin Can Mail wooden stamp
- The Frantic Stamper die "Northern Star"
Sharon
Dec.13,2015
Challenges:
Our Creative Corner - Stars
Craft Stamper - Take a technique and Share the Season
(distress ink "marble effect" background)
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