Tutorial Tuesday - Clear Resist Techniques

Supplies:

Clear Resist ink pad
Variety of coloured ink pads
Glossy cardstock
Stamp
Sponge


Ink your stamp into the clear resist pad and stamp it onto your glossy paper. Let dry approximately 10 minutes. You can use your heat gun to speed up the drying process.
Tear a scrap piece of paper, making sure it is long enough to cover your card.
Lay your paper over your card, leaving an inch to ink with your sponge.
Continue to ink your card.
When finished, you are ready to complete your card.
Sponging colour randomly with a sponge is another way of decorating the card.
See what happens when you don't wear gloves?
I thought I would try a little vintage with this technique to show you how versatile this technique can be. When using a photo-like stamp, the image looks like a negative, so to give a nice detail of the face, I restamped the image onto cardstock and glued it on top of the resisted image.
Here I chose to add embellishments. I wanted to keep the "art" look of the card and stamped a flower onto a piece of polished stone paper. After cutting out the flowers, I adhered them down the spine of the card with glue dots.
I kept this as a one-layer card. There is so much one can do to make the one layer card interesting. By adding a sentiment, stamping over top of the resisted flower with a coloured flower, and adding dragonflies, there is enough interest without having to add embellishments.

Cupcake Anyone?

Did you have a nice weekend? Here is a justjohanna cupcake for you. A Happy Birthday tab was added. Stickles are sprinkled on the top of the icing. Yum!

To Someone Special

How's your weekend going? Are you ready for Halloween? My front yard is all decorated with scarecrows and mums, and the candy is bought.

Stacy's colour challenge, over at the Stamp Shack, is to use burgundy, cream, black and gold, which inspired me to go classic. Inside I added a Happy Birthday sentiment.

Have a great day!

Tagged--again, and again

Thank you to all the wonderful ladies who tagged me this week:

Ila
Sarah
Suzy
Kim B

Life has been hectic today--my DD and DS were in a car accident (thankfully they are fine). The car they were driving was totalled by a driver who turned left right into the oncoming car DS was driving. DD knew I was going to start crying when I saw her in emerg in a stretcher, with a neck brace, so she kept saying, "it's okay mom, it's okay, I'm okay, I'm okay." Pretty sad state of affairs that DD has to calm me down! How precious my children are to me!

Okay, on to business.

If you could have 100.00 worth of scrapbook paper or assorted embellishments, which would you choose? Only $100? What's with that?! I'm a paper piggy so it would most definately be paper. I love colour, colour, colour!

If you had to choose between using only stamps or rub-ons, which would you choose?
Stamps, of course!

If you knew how to do both awesome cards and layouts but could only do one for a whole year...which would you do?

Most definately cards. My viewers want cards and techniques, so I give them what they want.

Would you rather own a scrapbooking store or have your own scrapping room at home...(can't have both he he he) Store, and I'd sneak in lots of stamps.

And last but not least, what is your CURRENT cardmaking or scrapping style. Very colourful and funky. Of course I'm using loads of techniques too.

Now I get to tag. I'm tagging:

Kim H

Kim P

Have a great weekend folks.

Bonjour

Stamps: justjohanna

Sentiment: Bonjour was typed on the computer

Paper: Magnolia

Altered Art

Last night I went to my local scrap and stamp store, Lasting Impressions, and this is what we made in class. Five minutes before I was to be out the door, I ran downstairs and looked through my altered art box and found all these lovely items. The beads were left over from my sister's bedroom curtains she had made. The key came from a scrapbook package (sorry, I threw out the packaging), and the butterflies came from my favourite flea market, "Pete's." Tucked inside are twelve little index cards I made with scrapbook paper and tabs. I'm thinking this would be an excellent box to hold monthly birthday reminders. I purchased three more boxes to alter for Christmas presents, and I'll show you those when I have them finished. Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by.

Tutorial Tuesday - Bargello

Supplies:



Ink pads in a variety of colours
Small rubber stamps
Pencil crayons
Exacto Knife (not shown)
Metal Ruler (not shown)
Cutting Mat (not shown)
Cut your cardstock into a variety of widths, then stamp images onto cardstock. You may wish to colour areas on the images and this would be a good time to do that.
Lay strips of cardstock onto a double sided sheet of sticky tape carefully so there is no space between the strips. Trim edges that are hanging over.

The next step is to cut your strips. Turn your cardstock so the strips are horizontal, and using an exacto knife, cut strips into various widths. I cut in widths of 1/4", 1/2", 1", 1 1/2".
Starting from the centre, lay your pieces down onto cardstock. This can be done with glue, spray adhesive or double sided sticky tape.
Turn your piece over and trim edges with an exacto knife
When your bargello piece is cut to the size you want, finish it off by matting it.
These are the items I made with my bargello: two cards and a cheque book cover.


Try This:

- Stamp a large image in the same colour as your paper, and then use a smaller image and stamp in a co-ordinating darker colour
- If you do not have double-sided sticky tape sheets, Elmer's spray adhesive can be substituted
- Use a roller stamp with ink and cartridge
- Use those dollar-store clear acrylic stamps; there are many small flower images
- Use up your scraps. If you have different sizes of cardstock, simply butt the ends to join the two pieces

And A Partridge In A Pear Tree

Since the Christmas season is almost upon us, I thought I would start some Christmas art, and started with this chipboard tree tag.

Tree is covered with Basic Grey paper, and bronze cardstock was cut to make the star. justjohanna pear and partridge images were coloured with Prismacolours. I love using beads in my altered art and mounted them under the paper with glue dots.

Enjoy the start of your week!

Do Not Disturb

After 16 hours in my studio yesterday, I completed one project comittment. This is how my room looked when I was finished. I'm sure you can relate. The worst part is the clean up process, wouldn't you agree?

I'm working on Tuesday's tutorial for you. Want a hint? It will deplete your scrap paper pile.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Eat Cake

Good Saturday morning. The Do Not Disturb sign is on my door and I ain't coming out! Although I spent the entire day working feverishly in my studio yesterday, I only skimmed the surface of the to-do list. Here is a sneak peak into what I am up to this morning. This darling stamp is from justjohanna. Their images are way too cute. Background colour is sponged on, and of course I just had to use my Cool Caribbean again.

Kim Hutchinson and I are up to something too. We are going to show you just what it is sometime soon, so keep watching. Okay, you want a hint? It's something altered. And, speaking of something altered, anyone who is local has just a few more days to sign up for the altered box class at Lasting Impressions on Wednesday, October 24th. No altered art experience is necessary, and it will be a ton of fun--because I'll be there--LOL. This is one project I'm keeping for myself.

Okay, back to "The Piano" soundtrack by Michael Nyman (which was an exellent movie by the way), my coffee, and creating. Have a wonderful weekend.

Autumn Waterfall

Wow, it's Friday already. Did your week go as quickly as mine? I was looking forward to meeting up with my Stamp Shack friend, Christine, to scrapbook over in Michigan with her, but I am so behind in my studio work. There are contests to complete, swaps to start (and need to be mailed by Tuesday), birthday cards and presents to be made, and a tutorial to get ready for you. DH is working tomorrow, so I will hide in my studio to get caught up. When I come out Sunday night, I should be all caught up. I work well under pressure, like most of us do.

I finished these two cards for November's mailing. These are going to ladies in a Yahoo Hero Arts group I'm in. We are always looking for new members who enjoy working with Hero Arts stamps. To find us, click here. Next week I'll share another Yahoo group I belong to called Technique Junkies.

Recognize this background? It is Joseph's Coat With a Twist.

Have a great weekend. Thanks for stopping by!

Glazed Pumpkin

Tired of my Halloween cards yet? I'm still pumping out Halloween cards because I am a member of a Hero Arts yahoo group, where we RAK two members each month. The green cardstock on the tag was stamped with swirls. A circle punch was used to make the moon and then the witch was stamped. On the card front several layers of paper hold the pumpkin. Can you see the shine on the pumpkin? I used Ultra Thick embossing powder on the pumpkin to give it the shine that real pumpkins have. I'm not pleased with this card, but that's all I could come up quickly as I'm on my way to the YMCA water aerobics class.
My girlfriend, Kathy, made this card for me. Isn't it lovely? I like the crackled wood stamp that was used in the background, that fabulous fibre, and colourful maple leaf. True sign that fall is here.

Starbucks

I return tomorrow, but in the meantime let me share one of my favourite sites with you. If you like Starbucks, this site is for you. Here in town, Starbucks rolls out the red carpet for my girlfriend, Kathy. Are you a Starbucks fan too?

I'm Out Of Town

I'm out of town for a couple of days, and will return on Thursday. Tutorial Tuesday will return next week. Guess I owe you an extra special tutorial for missing this week, eh? (I'm Canadian; I can't help saying, eh). Today I am leaving you with a Michael Buble video. Enjoy.



I was tagged and have to list facts about myself. I really messed up with this one because I accidentally deleted the e-mail with the "tag, you're it" and I can't remember who tagged me.

1. I subscribe to 60+ blogs.
2. My blog doesn't reflect my love for collage and altered art.
3. Scrapbooking was my first paper-crafting hobby.
4. In the past year I participated in over 40 swaps.
5. Some of my best friendships are with bloggers I have never met.
6. I like teasing Kim Hutchinson about how many days are left until Christmas.

You're Invited

Good Monday morning. Today I am showing you my first attempt at the pocket card. Although this card was made for a scrapbook swap on Canadian Scrap'n Swap, I think it would make an excellent party invitation. Stamps used are from the Hero Arts Clear Design line. Each image shown is from the same package of stamps.

The template for this pattern was downloaded from Splitcoast Stampers, and can be found here. Next, I scaled the pattern down to 76% of size and cut out the template for tracing. Template was traced onto black cardstock and folded appropriately. Back tabs were adhered with double-sided tape. Rather than use the tag, supplied on the template, I cut my black tag to measure 3 1/4" x 5 1/2". Orange cardstock was cut slightly smaller and layered on top of the black cardstock. The orange layer, on the front of the card, was cut 3 1/4" x 2 3/4", and the purple cardstock was cut slightly smaller. Moon was punched with a 1 1/4" punch, and bats were stamped onto moon in black. The house and tree image was stamped onto the purple cardstock, and again on yellow and white. Yellow windows were cut out and adhered with a glue pen. White ghost was cut out and adhered with a glue pen as well. For the design on the tag, I used a 2" scallop punch on black cardstock, and cut lime green cardstock to 1 5/8" x 1 5/8". The pumpkin was stamped onto orange cardstock and mounted onto background square, tilting the square so that it points up.

I will be away for a couple of days. Tutorial Tuesday will resume next week. Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!

Docabella

Good morning. Are you having a nice weekend? I'm enjoying the lovely sunny, but cool, days we are now having. Yesterday I went over to Port Huron, Michigan, and did some shopping. Went to Barnes & Noble and picked up a book that is full of wonderful ideas for card making which I bought to help me out with my Tutorial Tuesdays. I can't wait to sit back with a cup of coffee and read my book.
Docabella was purchased with my sister in mind. My sister, Cathie, is a paediatrician in Mississippi, and I thought that it would be a hoot to make her some cards with this image. Cathie instantly fell in love with the cards and asked me to make her some to give to her four female partners at Christmas. These are just a few from the bunch I made. Each card set was custom designed with a particular person in mind. Hair colouring matched with each doctor, and classic, funky, and formal designs were again matched with each doctor in mind. It's been a while since I pulled my bellas out. Aren't they fun to play with? Enjoy what's left of your weekend.

RAK for Marla

Marla is a blogger who recently had a house fire and lost everything. Her friend Alesha is helping out by collecting donations.

How can we help Marla out? Visit the above links to read more details. Another way to help out is to send the fire department a thank you note, on behalf of Marla and George Kostis. Marla has given permission to place their names on the card to the fire department.

Beecher Fire Department
c/o Doug McGee
RR#5
Wallaceburg, ON
N8A 4L2
Canada

One nice thing about us bloggers is that we all pull together, and many of us just love to send out RAK's. Thank you, to everyone, for joining in to help out the Kostis family.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

Snow, you say? Yes! This summer and fall has been so dang hot that we (DH, friends and children), are crying for cooler temps, and thankfully we got our wish this week. I'm not sure if it is because we are used to colder temps, but enough is enough already!

Something about this card says, "nestle up with a cozy sweater and hot chocolate." My kind of evening.

My dear blogging friend, Corie, recently had a Christmas card swap and this is what I made. Actually, I ended up making 35 of these babies so I could give my mom some to send out at Christmas time. Oh, and by the way, did you notice that my tree says 74 days until Christmas?

These were a joy to make. I knew I was going to use Cool Caribbean, and worked my design around that. The inside was stamped with a sentiment, and the back was stamped with trees, birds and stars. Trees were cut with a Cricut, and snowflakes were punched. Stickles were added to the snowmen scarves and each snowflake. Stamps are "It's Snow Time." Detailed instructions follow. Have a great weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

Cut a 11 x 5 ¼ piece of Cool Caribbean and score at 2 ¾ from each end.

For gate fold cut 2 4/8 x 5 1/8 black cardstock. Layer a 2 ¼ x 4 ¾ white cardstock on top (cut corners with decorative scissors before adhering). Add blue stickles to corners where the white cardstock was cut away.

Cut watercolour paper 2 ½ x 2, stamp image, and watercolour with Tombow markers. Add stickles to scarves. Adhere to left hand gate.

Die cut trees are cut with a Cricut and snowflakes are cut from punches. Use clear stickles on the snowflakes. Add snowflakes around gates.

There's a Giraffe in the House

Do you think this giraffe really thinks we don't know who is under that costume-LOL. If I see him come to my door, I'll pretend not to know who he is.

It was easy to get creative with this stamp from WillowGrove stamps. The creator of this stamp line is a good friend of mine, Kathryn Dodkin.



Kathryn will be the featured guest designer in November. She will be designing cards, from her line, just for you.
If you live in the Sarnia area, you can purchase this stamp, and others, from Lasting Impressions. If you aren't in the Sarnia area and wish to purchase this stamp, WillowGrove stamps sell on-line. Kathryn also takes custom orders.

Clearly this giraffee thinks he has us fooled. Just pretend you don't know who he is if he comes to your door, won't you?

William Tell Oveture Sung By A Mom

For some this video will be a repeat as I had it on for a few brief hours before it was pulled from Utube for copyright infringement. Things must have gotten settled because I found it again. This is the funniest video I have seen in ages, and I watched it no less than 10 times. It is a feel good video. Enjoy.

Sneak Peak

Good morning. We all like sneak peaks, don't we? Well, today's card is a sneak peak into what tomorrow's tutorial will be. While playing around with one method, I decided to combine a second method, and whalaa, Joseph's Coat With a Twist. What's the twist, you ask? Drop by tomorrow and see what it's all about. Enjoy that great weather we all have been having. I'm off to the Brigden Fair. See you tomorrow.

Funky Bright Tag

It's the weekend, which is always a blast, but the down side is that my mom goes back home to Atlanta, today. We had such a wonderful time laughing, shopping, and talking.

Today's tag was inspired by Cornish Heritage Farms stamp set by Marieke. Marieke takes colour to the next level, and you know how much I love colour. This tag screams "teenage girl", don't you think? This tag will be perfect as a birthday card for my niece.

Enjoy your weekend. For the Canadians out there, have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. I hope you are having the wonderful weather we are having here in Sarnia (yesterday we broke record temperature highs at 30 degrees Celsius).

Recipe: 5" tag was cut with a Cricut and used as a template for the tag (Taken With Teal). 4 1/2 x 3 6/8 background matt was cut from Green Galore. Fiskar's decorative scissors cut the corners. Foreground mat was cut at 3 1/2 x 3 5/8, using Orchid Opulence. A white heart brad was adhered to one of the three mats. Flourishes from Autumn Leaves were stamped in black onto Orchard Opulence cardstock. Images were coloured with Prisma Colour pencil crayons. Ruby brad was inserted into the centre of the flower. Images were mounted with pop dots, and then leaves, from Marieke's Flowers #3, were stamped around the flower and the stem of the other flower. Orange cardstock was added to the top of the tag and hole punched, to allow two kinds of ribbon to be attached. Orange ribbon, from Lasting Impressions (Sarnia), was added to the bottom of the tag.

Altered Art

Here is an altered angel I would like to share with you. Isn't she cute? These are guardian angels that I make to give away to my girlfriends. Well, I have to run now, my mom and I are meeting up with an old friend and the drive is 90 minutes away. Can't be late. Have a great day!

Trick or Treat

Good morning. Are you having a good week so far? I am. Oh my goodness I'm enjoying my moms visit so well. It is always a treat to eat her cooking; I swear she is the best cook around. Tonight we're taking a break from the kitchen because it's Thursday, and that means it is beer and wing night with DH and our friends. It is a weekly get-together that I look forward to. Do you have a weekly get-together with friends?


Hope you're not tired of Halloween cards yet because I'm having so much fun creating new cards with all my new stamps.


By now, I'm sure you recognize the ever-so-popular criss cross card. Normally I tie ribbon around the card, but this time I wanted to add trick or treat bags. This adorable stamp set is from Sunshine Designs. Images are coloured with Tombow markers and blended with brush and water. Ribbon was mounted behind the watercolour paper with glue dots. The witch image was adhered to the inside card with double-sided mounting tape.

Tutorial Tuesday - Faux Palate Knife With Cracked Glass Technique

Gentle as a Falling Leaf

Good morning. Before my mom and I go out for a walk (I'm signing myself up at the Y; I really need to lose weight!), I thought I would upload today's tutorial which was inspired by my dad's love for oil painting with a palate knife. My dad was a beautiful painter. One of his paintings is hanging up in my hallway. What I love about this particular painting is that he managed to paint a beautiful image using only a palate knife. The clean drag marks of the palate knife is so refreshing. Anyway, onto business.


Supplies:
Variety of chalk stamp pads (I did not end up using the white one as shown in the photo)
Versamark pad
Variety of stamps
1 - 6 1/2 x 5 light coloured cardstock
1 - 5 1/2 x 4 1/8 dark coloured cardstock
Ultra Thick embossing enamel
Heat embosser

With stamp pad in hand, drag your stamp pad onto your cardstock. Be sure to drag in a variety of directions. The outcome reminds me of watching my dad oil paint using just a palate knife. I really love the look of dragged straight edges.
Randomly stamp all over cardstock.
Distress the edges of the image. Lightly place light coloured stamp pad on top of your image for more distressing.
Cut cardstock into 1" strips.
Evenly space your strips onto dark coloured cardstock and trim around edges as necessary.
Stamp edges of coordinating cardstock.
Mount cardstock with strips onto light coloured cardstock.
Stamp leaf image onto white cardstock and cut out with an exacto knife.
Place image directly onto Versa Mark pad and sprinkle Ultra Thick embossing enamel onto leaf.
Heat emboss. Repeat embossing two more times. A three layer thickness is perfect for the cracked glass technique. To achieve a cracked glass look, place your embossed images into the freezer for about 5 minutes. Take out of freezer and bend your images. Cracks will appear on your image.
You are now ready to finish your card. I mounted two leaves onto the upper left corner, with glue dots. Next, I stamped sentiment and mounted it behind a metal oval. The metal was held in place with fibre.

I hope you like this technique. Let me know if you try it out. If you send me a link, or e-mail a photo, I would love to add it to my blog for viewers to see. Good luck with your card!