May, 2014 - Right as Rain

Penny Black at Stamp Nation

Penny Black is sponsoring the latest challenge at StampNation and I’m playing along. The Stamp Nation DT and Penny Black DT shared gorgeous creations based on the challenge’s photo inspiration!

I stamped a floral image and a sentiment from the Friendship Flowers set [#30-223] in Archival ink on Strathmore watercolor paper. I colored the poppies with Distress Markers as my “paint” using a size #1 paint brush. The card base, SU’s baked brown sugar, was stamped in VersaMark ink with the Star Ivy [#40-310] stamp. I finished the card with a strip of SU’s Gumball Green cardstock and some May Arts twine.

OCC Watercolor Day Four

Today’s lesson in the Online Card Classes Watercolor for Card Makers class included a card by Shari Carroll in which she stamped with an image inked with Distress markers. Looking through my stamps, it seems that I don’t have that many that work for this technique, and naturally, I’m already starting a list of some to purchase!

For my card, I inked the Penny Black Iris stamp (it’s rubber and wood-mounted) with Chipped Sapphire, Broken China, Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint and Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink markers and stamped onto Ranger watercolor paper, smooth-side.

I finished the card with a sentiment from the Penny Black Special Wishes [#30-229], stamped with Archival ink on Ranger watercolor paper and die cut with a MFT tag die.

There are definitely some things that I could have done to “step up” the design, such as cut the dark blue strip with a border punch and/or dry-emboss the background. Short on time, I kept this one simple! Of course, I wasn’t so busy that I didn’t think about how I’d like for there to be a set of Distress ink cardstock. I spend entirely too much time worrying about matching cardstock and inks!

OCC Watercolor Day 3

I’m sharing a card created with the technique shown by Jennifer Rzasa in today’s Online Card Classes Watercolor for Card Makers lesson. The idea is to ink your stamp and mist with water before stamping for a watercolor effect.

I worked on this for most of the morning (read, tore my hair out) trying Memento dye ink pads, as she suggested, and finally switching to Distress Ink pads. I walked away from this more than once when I wasn’t getting the results I wanted! I had the best results stamping onto the Ranger Watercolor paper. I tried Neenah Solar White but the ink looked blah on it.

I die cut the sentiment four times, the last time in watercolor paper I colored with the Worn Lipstick Distress Ink pad to match to the flowers.

Supplies:

Paper Smooches Wise Dies, Quote Tag	Paper Smooches Clear Stamps, Reflections	Watercolor Paper, 10 pk	Sizzix, Textured Impressions Embossing Folders by BasicGrey, Plaid & Snowflakes
Distress Ink Pad, Peeled Paint	Distress Ink Pad, Worn Lipstick	Distress Ink Pad, Barn Door

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Penny Black Patterned Paper Sunflower

In addition to the watercoloring I’ve been doing lately, I’ve been crafting with my patterned paper collection. Today, I’m sharing a card created with the Penny Black Sunny Hello [#30-230] stamp set and the Leaves [#51-002] die set using patterned paper.

I stamped and heat-embossed the sunflower on patterned paper and then fussy cut it. I also stamped and heat-embossed the “Sunshiny HELLO” sentiment (I can see myself reaching for this sentiment time and again!). I cut the leaf die several times and cut some of the stems and leaves off in order to arrange them to my liking under the sunflower. The sunflower is attached to the card panel with dimensional adhesive.

Hope there’s sun shining in your part of the world today!

OCC Watercolor Day 2

Today was another fun day in the Online Card Classes Watercolor for Card Makers class, in which we had a second day to explore watercolored backgrounds. I’m sharing two cards based on cards shown by Debby Hughes in today’s class. I’ve substituted stamps in my stash for those she used on her cards.

Both cards use the Hero Arts Simple Leaf background stamp. For the top card, I inked the stamp with Picked Raspberry Distress Ink, gave the stamp about ten squirts of water with a Mini Mister, and pressed Ranger watercolor paper, smooth side down, onto the stamp. For the second card, I stamped with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink using the same method. To be honest, I’ve hardly used this stamp because I got stuck on it being a leaf motif. I like the Batik-like feel it gives, stamped with this technique.

Debby is a master at adding accents to her designs, in this case, black and white with touches of gold. I stamped an Impression Obsession Thin Line background stamp with VersaMark ink on vellum and heat-embossed it with Hero Arts gold powder. I used stripes of the heat-embossed vellum on both cards for a gold accent. Both card sentiments are from Hero Arts.