Monday, August 24, 2015

Another Birthday Card

Good day to you.  This weekend, I played with my new Sizzix Tim Holtz Mixed Media Dies.  Below is the first card that I created.  For the sentiment, I used the Simon Says Stamps Big Scripty Sayings stampset (it is becoming one of my favorites) and I used distress inks on Ranger Distress watercolor paper for the background.  Flowers were made using stamps and dies from The Ton.

I hope you enjoy it.


Friday, August 21, 2015

Honey Goes North! A composition in white.

Greeting fellow crafty friends.  Today, I present to you my latest brainstorm- "Honey goes north!".

Using The Elizabeth Craft Design (ECD) die Ring Accordion, I cut four rings.  I cut out the center from two and set them aside.  I then glued the second ring to the first to create a more stable ring.  I attached the two rings together.  Since this was a white on white challenge to myself, I needed to focus on textures and embellishments to help me.  I used Stickles in Icicle on the rings and let that dry(I hope this is not cheating since there is a slight pinkish tinge to the Stickles).  Using the ECD  All Seasons Tree snowflakes, I cut out many snowflakes.  Once the Stickles was dry, I glued the snowflakes on the ring for a wintery frame.

Next, I wanted to find the perfect white buddy for the card.  North, white, a fox maybe?  No, a polar bear!  I used the Honey the Bear die from ECD and cut him out in white.  I used a bit of Wink of Stella on the body for a highlight and to deal with the eyes, I cut out a pair of glasses from the Props 1 set using white glitter paper.  I cut another pair in regular white cardstock and covered the lenses with Glossy Accents.  Once all was dry, I assembled Honey the White and had him hold a snowflake that I cut out using the ECD Snowflakes set.

Now I took the two leftover circles and embossed them with a snowflake embossing folder from Crafter's Companion.  I glued the circles on the card and added Honey on the left side.  Lastly, I die cut Season's Greetings three times (once in Glitter White and twice in white cardstock) and glue them together for depth and mounted the sentiment on the right circle.  I attached the inner circles together and the card was completed.  I hope you enjoy it.

The closed card.


The open card.



Have a great day and keep on crafting.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Happy Birthday Sizzix Flourish Set

Good day to you.  I hope you are doing well.  Last evening, I needed to create a quick birthday card.  I recently acquired the Sizzix Textured Impressions Embossing Folder with Stamp - Flourish Set and wanted to use it for the first time after being inspired by a Catherine Pooler video (love her videos!).  Using y Misti, I took out the foam and inserted the background stamp.  For the first card, I used Ranger Watercolor cardstock.  I used various Distress Ink colors randomly on the stamp and lightly sprayed the stamp with water and pressed it into the watercolor paper.  I thought the results were beautiful.

I repeated the process using regular Darice 110 lb Note paper.  This was beautiful also.  I embossed both pieces using the included embossing folder through my Sizzix Big Shot.  I trimmed a piece of vellum and stamped it using the Happy Birthday script stamp from Lawn Fawn with Versamark and then applied SSS White ultrafine Embossing Powder.   For the other card, I then cut out a Happy Birthday using the Elizabeth Craft Die set and black glitter paper.  I used a Distress Inkpad and colored the edges of the card stock and mounted the completed embossed piece.  I finished off with a couple strands of embroidery thread.  I hope you like the finished pieces.  I tried to keep the cards simple due to all the colors of the background.



Have a great day.
Mike

Sunday, August 9, 2015

Crazy Birds Part Deux

The Sizzix Tim Holtz Bird Crazy love is still continuing.  I stamped and die cut the other five birds from the set and watercolored these ( I used Neenah paper which was not made for watercoloring).  To ensure I did not ruin the paper when I used the Akashiya Sai Watercolor Brush Pen set,  I placed a bit of the ink on an acrylic block and using an aquabrush, colored the stamp.  I used various sentiments and finished the eyes of each bird with Ranger Glossy Accents.  I am pleased with the blending from the Akashiya Sai pens.  Thank you.






Thanks.
Mike


Newton's Naptime Card

Happy Sunday crafty friends.  Today, I created a card using Newton Nook Stamps "Newton's Naptime".  I stamped with Momento Tuxedo Black ink and they used Spectrum Noir pens to color this awesome stamp.  I used the corresponding die set to cut out the stamp and cut out the thought balloon and stamped the dream sentiment. I really like that this card can be a birthday card, or a congratulations card by changing the sentiment inside.  I did finish up the kitty with Zig Wink of Stella clear and a couple sequins.  I hope you like it.

Have a great day.
Mike

Friday, August 7, 2015

Farewell Dear Friend

One of my work buddies is leaving for other pastures and I wanted to say good bye to her.  I used the Friggin Awesome stamps from The Ton Stamps for the greeting and the flowers are from Simple Florals also from The Ton.  Hope you enjoy.



Have a great Friday.
Mike

Happy Birthday to you!

Good morning to you.  I have a friend at work who has a birthday this weekend so I created the below card.  I used the large Butterfly Die from the Stampin Up butterfly die set and the Lawn Fawn Scripty Sayings stamp.  The butterfly was water colored using distress ink and an aqua brush.


Have a nice day!
Mike

Monday, August 3, 2015

The Ton Simple Florals and Sentiment Shaker Card

Good afternoon to all.

Shaker cards.  You love them or hate them.  Combined with these gorgeous watercolor floral cards that I see, I realized I have a steep learning curve to get to the level of my favorite card designers. So, as an intermediary step while learning to watercolor, I experimented with 'smooshing' the color onto Tim Holtz Ranger Watercolor Paper and let the cardstock dry.  I then selected a few stamps from The Ton's Simple Florals set, stamped using Versamark Clear and embossed using SSS Ultra Fine White Embossing Powder.  After drying, I used the dies from The Ton for the stamp set and cut them out.  I felt like a star and consequently cut one out of a piece of Stampin' Up Crisp Canteloupe cardstock.  I stamped and embossed a sentiment from the awesome Friggin' Fabulous stamp set and finished the card with seed beads and some uber cool flowers and leaves.



I hope you enjoy.
Mike

Lawn Fawn Get Well

I have a friend in Texas that has had better days and really needs cheering up so I whipped up this little old card using the Lawn Fawns Get Well stamp set.



Have a dry day.  LOL
Mike

Lawn Fawn Critters Ever After

Good morning to all.  This weekend, I had a lot of fun coloring and diecutting from the Lawn Fawn Critters Ever After collection and new Rainbow.  To save paper and time, I cut the rainbow on Neenah white and used my Spectrum Noir pens to color the separate bands.  Overall I am happy with the results (and saving paper).  I hope you enjoy.



Have a great day and 'may all your dreams come true".
Mike