Tim Holtz March 2014 Tag

I had a lot of fun creating this month’s Tim Holtz tag – I like its theme and colors. I view creating his monthly tags like getting a kit from which I learn new techniques, with the safety net of the design and colors already thought out. I’m not sure why I didn’t make one in January – I need to go back and make that one as well!

THMarch2014Tag

One of this month’s techniques was smudging. This technique was shown in the Online Card Classes Chemistry 102 class, but I didn’t have much luck with it at the time. I had more success with it this time – smudging produces a subtle effect.

The tag on the left is the first generation and the one on the right is second generation. I smudged the stamped images on both tags. The images, from the Bird Feather set, are stamped with Distress Inks. The top part of the tag was misted with Distress markers using the new Tim Holtz Spritzer tool. This is an easy way to add misting, with or without a stencil to a project.

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Penny Black Spring Celebration!

Happy Spring for those of you in the Northern Hemisphere! Today, I’m sharing a spring-themed card inspired by a card design of Heather Telford’s.

FloralWatercolor

To begin, I stamped the Penny Black Sweetness [#40-208] background stamp on watercolor paper with Versamark ink and heat embossed it with white embossing powder. I applied several Distress Ink colors to the floral area. Any ink that went on to the embossed area was easily wiped away. After the panel dried, I ironed off the embossing. I cut the panel into squares, arranging them on a card base. I applied white embossing paste through a one-time stencil I created with one of the dragonflies in the Flutters [#51-006] die cut set. I finished the card with a sentiment stamped in gold ink from the Special Wishes [#30-229] set. I tried a couple of other color inks, including green and cocoa brown, before choosing the gold ink for the sentiment. I wanted something soft and elegant.

Did you know that Penny Black offers a free membership for all of their fans?  Simply join the Penny Black club by clicking HERE so you can get a first peek at new releases, blogging events, new card and scrapbooking ideas, and receive card ideas with step-by-step instructions.

I’m delighted to be sharing cards in an upcoming “Three Steps” feature to club members.

three steps

 

Penny Black Cityscape Scene

Ever since seeing Julie Ebersole’s fabulous card, using the Penny Black “A Day in Paris” stamp set, in the Online Card Classes CAS 3 course, I’ve been wanting to made a card with a scene.

Using stamps from the Penny Black Fashion Tweet [#30-233] set and a stencil made with the Penny Black Silver Linings [#51-033] die cut, I created a birthday card.

PennyBlackTweet

The car, the cake, a few of the windows, and the horizon line were painted with various stamp inks and a brush. I used as little water as possible since the card base is cardstock, rather than watercolor paper. For the clouds, I used a sponge dauber to apply ink through the stencil I made with the die cut. (It’s the smaller of the two clouds in the set.)

To finish the card, I stamped the “#celebrate” sentiment, included with the stamp set, on a red cardstock rectangle, which I adhered inside the card. This card makes me want to say “beep, beep”!

CAS3: Day Nine

I took the day off yesterday from the Clean & Simple Cardmaking 3 class. Well, technically, I tried a few things that didn’t work out the way I’d planned. One of those “fails” is incorporated into today’s card, which is based on the one shared in class by Debby Hughes.

CAS3: Day NineI made a few changes with the way I created my card. Rather than stamp and color a butterfly, as Debby did, I die cut a butterfly (Memory Box Vivienne Butterfly) that I inlaid into the panel. I backed the front panel with a heat-embossed and watercolored panel using the Penny Black Sweetness stamp (that was a project from yesterday which didn’t go according to plan). The butterfly was also cut from watercolor paper onto which I had scribbled some Distress ink. The front panel was stamped with a sentiment from the Hero Arts “Enjoy Today” set. I adding embossing paste with a Simon Says Stamp stencil.

I made the white panel three times. The first time I added some spray drops, as Debby did, and I didn’t like the effect at all. The second time, I got embossing paste in places I didn’t want! Third time’s a charm I guess!

CAS3: Day Seven

I’m sharing a card inspired by one shown by Jennifer Rzasa in today’s Clean & Simple Cardmaking 3 lesson. Jennifer’s card featured a beautiful painted feather.

CAS3: Day Seven

I wanted the simplicity of stamping (and wasn’t sure I could pull off painting a feather!). I stamped my sentiment, and then used a brush to apply some water to the paper. I colored the cityscape stamp with the Pitt Big Brush and stamped into the wet watercolor paper. The result was a subtle blur. I wanted to keep some of the cityscape detail. This is definitely a technique I’ll use for other stamps. From my brief investigation, it seems to work better with rubber stamps than clear ones.

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