TOMORROW'S TODAY

I almost forgot about my card for the Colour Q challenge this week. So, to make sure I meet the deadline, I'm posting today instead of tomorrow.

Here it is and I know you're thinking you've seen this before. Or one very much like it. You'd be right. I followed the same layout as this card

For my Colour Q card, I applied Crystal Effects to the large flower centers that dried to resemble brads, and dots of Smooch to the small flower centers. Added butterflies, a sentiment that was cut down to eliminate a dotted line and to allow different placement and called it done.

To see more beautiful samples using the colours in the challenge, go here.

Okay, I'm done now, I think :) Two posts in one day- kinda makes up for the days I miss.

Happy Canada Day weekend everyone!

BUTTERFLY PUNCH SAVE & COOL NEWS

Here is a good example of a card going in a direction other than the one I'd planned. Before I share the process, the blue background is not part of the card- it's there for contrast only.

Do you see the little shimmery bit on the butterfly? That is white shimmer ink that I had stamped on white card stock to begin the ink resist technique. I'll do it again so you see how gorgeous the technique is but this time, I went too far. I overstamped the piece with the French words and totally mucked it up. Way too busy! What to do?

This is why this post is called butterfly punch save. It works as a smaller segment.  So, I don't know if there's a name for the technique of cropping or punching your work to get a better result than the large piece, but this time, it's a butterfly punch save.

Don't you just love the calligraphy stamp? Suzanne Cannon (Quietfire Design) does fabulous work and shares it with us in the form of a stamp. Absolutely beautiful.

And the news? Suzanne has invited me to be a guest designer!!! This is so exciting and my brain has been grinding away with ideas to share. Truth: I am also somewhat terrified.

Here is her beautiful blog which also has links you'll want to check out.

So, I hope you have enjoyed your visit here today.

I feel a little bit like my slip is showing but I'm among friends who help me pull it all together.

Thank you for looking! 

BIRTHDAY CARDS

I recently had the pleasure of celebrating birthdays with friends. These are the cards I made for them.

The line drawing images required lots of marker colouring. The bicycle image was stamped with Stazon, then coloured with the markers. The poppies were embossed with black embossing powder, coloured with markers, then clear embossed. This second embossing thickened the black embossing areas but overall, I don't mind the look.

I like how the cards turned out but more than that, I loved celebrating with friends. 

We should do it more often.

Have a wonderful day and I hope you find yourself among friends- often!

Thanks for stopping by blogfriends.

LOVELY LAYERS

No fancy techniques here, just some basic stamping, embossing, sponging and layering. However, just the basics proves that you don't need some out-there technique to make something pretty. Although, personally, I love some of those out-there techniques.

Quite often, our stamping features an image and uses a sentiment like an accessory. For this card, I've done the reverse by featuring the sentiment. How could I not, it's so beautiful!

I hope you have a fantastic day!

Thank you for stopping by.

BARN BOARDS & QUIETFIRE DESIGNS

It's a B-technique today- barn boards. I like going into the grey tones to try for weathered barn boards. This never looks the same way twice which is part of its charm.

The cute words stamp is from Quietfire Design. It is one of the stamps in the Garden Delights set.

When I can, I like to include my technique card for you.

Don't be alarmed by the white left on your dye ink pad. Mine wiped off with a paper towel, no problem at all. (and I can be fussy about my stuff )

So, give it a try!

It's a good way to flex some creative muscle today.

Have a GOOD one!

DOTTY EDGES

A sampler card for you showing Dotty Edges. No rules for this other than placing dots around the edge of a design. I chose to extend the colour to the edge of the cut out and then to match the dots to the colour. Had I coloured just to the frame and left the border white, it would have a different look. That's the beauty of techniques with more than one method.

The colour for the image began with chalking and then I watercoloured ink into areas I wanted darker. This shows the card against a light background and this one.....

is against a dark background with the flash. The first photo shows truer colour.

This is another version using Dotty Edges. I used Spotlighting and then the dots to cover the circle edges. Another fun technique and I'm sure you could find many more samples online.

Thanks for looking and I hope you have a spectacular day!

TESTING 1,2,3

This card uses stamps and inks I did not want. During my first look through the new SU! catalogue, this stamp set did not make the cut. Nor did the new colours. By the time I placed the order, the stamp set had made it onto the list. I have used it repeatedly since I got it. 

 I noticed other bloggers work using the new in colors and thought the green would be nice for Christmas. Jutta came over with her new set of inks and paper, I tested them out and they're on my list. They are so vibrant!

I turned my sampler into a card and love it all.

So, all this has taught me that I can't trust my first impression  :) and that SU! consistently comes out with things I love. 

Have a wonderful day!

Thanks for looking.  

SCRAPS BOOKMARK

Lately, I've been using ledger paper for my scratch paper and that's the background paper on this bookmark. I was testing my Memory Box die to see how well it cuts felt. The tree cut beautifully. So did the leaves that you'll see in the next photo.

After placing the tree on the ledger paper, I laid clear adhesive backed vinyl over it, then ran it through the lattice embossing folder. That makes everything stay good and stuck. Then, I just attached that to the card stock base and made a nice big bookmark.

This was made the same way, but I die cut the  leaves, butterfly and bubble flower border from felt. I'm very impressed with the dies. They release the paper (or felt) very well too.

I've discovered that by making bookmarks with the bits and pieces on my work table, the items get used, not stuffed in some forgotten bin, and I'm reminded to try the technique again or a variation of it. So far, it's working and when I feel I've more than enough bookmarks, I'll switch to ATC's, then back again, I'm sure.

So, I'm just sharing another way to use up the bits.

Have an awesome day and thanks for looking!

PASTELS & GESSO

I'll try to find the actual technique name for this but in the meantime, here's how it went together.  It's made up of a few layers beginning with embossing with the first embossing folder. The high areas are coloured with pastels- not chalks, oil pastels. A light coat of gesso is applied and once dry, the piece is put through the big shot on the outside of the folder. This flattens the first embossed layer. Then, it's placed in the second embossing folder and... well, embossed. The high areas are coloured with pastels and a layer of gesso is applied. Once dry, sand the gesso back to reveal the colour below. Dark ink was sponged around the edges and the card was completed.

The original technique embosses, colours, gessos and sands, once. My version is twice and I'm sure you could add a third layer.

Some techniques are a great jumping off place to play. Use what you have, make substitutions and just try it. My 'fails' go in a bin and later show up in scrap type techniques. Chopped up, or in strips, they become something much better.

It's raining so it's a good day to create. Play. Try different things. Have fun!

Thanks for stopping by!

CRUMPLED BATIK?

This card has a technique that morphed from two to one- techniques that is. I began doing Crumpled Resist. The steps are: clear emboss images, crumple card stock, flatten out, spray with water, sponge on inks, let dry. I've done it before and it looks great. This time, however, I think I got it too wet and the ink wicked through the cardstock and behind the embossing. Once dry, I stamped flower stems randomly, then ironed off the embossing which is how to do Faux Batik.

In the end, I like the look so a happy creative accident. Don't you love those?

Do you have happy creative accidents to share?

Have a wonderful day. Flex some creative muscle. It'll make you feel great!

Thanks for looking.

REMEMBER THIS?

When I posted this card I wondered how it would look in blue.

Pretty darn gorgeous huh? I also sponged ink around the edges which really added to it.

This would pretty in pinks using heart dies, for a Valentine.

I really like the seam binding ribbon, top card, because it's lightweight and makes bows easy.

The ivory satin ribbon, blue card, is so scrumptious and rich, it's definitely a favourite.

Hope you liked seeing the comparison.

Thanks for stopping by!

TECHNIQUE STRIPS

Don't you love techniques that describe how they're done just by their name? This is such a technique. It's also another scrap user-upper and that's  great because you can't use them all in ATC's and bookmarks.

The sentiment is one of my Quietfire Design wins. It came as a set of two, the other is larger.

Love them!

I hope you get some time to create today. Take another look at those technique scraps you've been wondering what to do with.

Thanks for looking!

ACRYLIC BLOCK TAPING

Between the name and the card, I think you can easily figure out this technique. The rectangles are first and second generation 'stampings' of the taped acrylic block. 

Thanks for looking!

CLEARLY, IT'S CLEAR ON CLEAR

Clear on Clear, easy peasy. Clear embossing powder on clear ink -Versamark.

A very simple technique with a very striking finish.

And yes, I know there's a typo on my sample card. I missed it when I created the sample but saw it instantly when I uploaded the photo of it. Did you know that's a technique used in scrapbooking? When you can't see what's wrong with the page, take a photo and look at it. I remember being told that turning it upside down works too. It does- I've tried it. I'm sure there's some great reason but I only care that it works  :)

Have a super weekend and thanks for stopping by! 

MIXED MATCHED BACKGROUND

Mixed matched background technique, shows layers without adding the bulk of many layers. Using dies to make masks and stencils and stamping with different background stamps you create 'layers'. I'd like to try this one changing the colour of ink for each layer, even if it's different colours of one colour.

A technique that calls for more play, that's for sure.

Have a wonderful day!

PRETTY POPPIES

Remember these? This time, I used the poppy stencil.

Using a make-up sponge, I dabbed dye ink into the stencil, being sure to use plenty of ink and let it smoosh onto the stencil as well as through it. Lifting the stencil revealed this pretty image but I wasn't done yet. I lightly misted water onto the inky stencil and flipped it over onto white card stock.

This created a watercolour effect. I'd like to try this again using a glimmer mist instead of water.

For this bookmark, I attached an image on each side of the green card stock.

Thanks for looking today. I hope you find some play time because....

it's so good for you!

WHERESOEVER YOU GO....

I have always loved this quote- I even have it in Spanish! It was by accident that I bought it in Spanish but anyway......

I used the distressed spritz technique again with a dollar store stencil. In real life, this card has more green and less brown.  This technique is a little like heat embossing as it's fun to watch it happen.

It's raining and the birds in the neighbourhood are going crazy, chasing each other around. There's quite a racket going on out there. Maybe they're singing in the shower  :)

Enjoy this day, with all your heart.

Thanks for stopping by.

STENCILED BOOKMARKS

I recently bought these Dreamweaver stencils, peacock feather and poppies. I loved these stencils before I even did anything with them, they are pretty just on their own.

However....had to have some play time!

The sample, which became a bookmark, was made using a blue and a green colour spray. A spritz of blue at the top and a couple sprays of green to finish. Without moving the now very wet stencil, I laid white card stock over it, then lifted straight up. Before I lifted it up, I could actually see the colour seeping up into the white card stock. I flipped it over to reveal this....

This is not a new technique but I love the results so much it just never gets old. Once dried I attached the samples to a piece of green card stock, then ran it through an embossing folder. Last, was to add the ribbon. Nothing fancy or labour intensive but a very pretty bookmark, front and back.

The technique is called Misted Stencil. I also call it fun!

Haul out those stencils and give it a try.

Thanks for looking- I appreciate it.

Enjoy!

DISTRESSED SPRITZ & GARDEN DELIGHTS

This what happens when you combine a Quietfire Design stamp set with a Stampin' Up stamp set and Ranger Distress inks and a new Technique Junkies technique. Distress inks react to water a little differently than regular dye inks so when you spritz water on the ink, through a stencil, you get a bleached look. Cool huh?

I love the bees in this stamp set from Quietfire Design. You can almost hear them buzzing!

Thanks for stopping by!

COLOUR Q TIME AGAIN

These are the great colour selections for this week.

Here is my card. No technique other than butting card stock pieces together, taping cross the back of them and embossing.

Have a great weekend!