Friday, August 29, 2014

The Twinery - You Hold the Keys...

Happy Friday, everyone! Today's my last Friday as Guest Designer on The Twinery blog - I've had so much fun this month working with these beautiful twines.

I know what you're probably thinking as you look at today's project...there she goes with those same colors again! I've reached for this color combo a LOT this summer...don't know why...it just happened. But in my defense, all the projects I've shared lately in this combo have been meant to send to other people...this project is for me to keep and display in my craft room. So what better place to display something in colors that seem to come natural to me? :)



I started out with the desire to make an 8" x 8" canvas...until I discovered that I didn't have a blank canvas in that size sitting in my stash. And as I've admitted before, patience is not one of my strong points, especially when the creative muse decides to show her face! So, I took matters into my own hands, and made myself a sort of "watercolor panel" (that's not the right term, but I don't know what else to call it - it's like a canvas panel, only made with watercolor paper) by using wet adhesive and a brayer to glue together three layers of 140 lb. cold press watercolor paper. (I can hear the watercolor purists out there gasping...but it wasn't the most expensive watercolor paper brand, so if you break it down, it cost me less than the purchase of a canvas panel - even more of a savings if you factor in that I purchased a large pad of this paper with a 50% off coupon.)

This is when I thought this would be an experimental piece...I had no idea if this would work the way I envisioned. That's why I don't have any stepout photos - and I should have made some anyway - because it would have shortened the explanation a lot. So in lieu of photos, here's a written explanation of how I made this piece. Feel free to skip over the next few paragraphs if that's not of interest to you...I won't be offended, I promise. :)

The first step to the background was to stick a few random pieces of dry wall tape to the watercolor paper, then gesso over the tape to make sure it was secure, as well as to make sure it would accept water-based color mediums. I randomly gessoed the rest of the surface, leaving some areas clean, so they'd accept the color mediums in a different way.

Next I sprayed on a few different Flat Fabio sprays, and then mixed Merci Beaucoup Mint Flat Magical powder with gel medium, and applied it randomly with a palette knife. The tan areas are colored using Cafe au Lait Flat Magical powder, only this time mixed with water and applied with a watercolor brush. When this all dried, I distressed the edges of the panel, and went over them with Black Soot Distress Ink and an ink applicator tool.

Next it was stencil time. I used a circle stencil with modeling paste in two corners, and let it dry (love that when dry, it picks up the color of the water based medium beneath it - in this case, the sprays and the colored gel medium). Once the modeling paste dried, I accented the edges of the circles with a black Stabilo All pencil to add depth.

I sprinkled on some of the same sprays to form random spots/splotches - and did the same with a white ink paint pen. The white streaks are from running the edge of a palette knife through a pool of white ink on my craft sheet (made when I got the pen primed for dropping splotches - can't let it go to waste!) then running the inked knife edge onto the canvas.

As a final step before embellishing, I wrapped a few pieces of Cappuccino Solid twine around the piece, to break up the large square a bit and help center the eye on the embellishments I planned to add.

Now it's time for the embellishing fun. I wrapped two old clunky metal keys with The Twinery's Caribbean Solid and Caribbean Stripe twines, using craft paint on the portions I couldn't wrap. (Delta Ceramcoat Turquoise was the perfect match for the turquoise key) - then realized they didn't look finished until I added a little tassel to each one. I had die cut the word "you" but it looked a bit lightweight next to the heavy keys, so I pulled some Charcoal Solid twine, and glued it to the die cut word...now it looked more proportional...




Next step was to add a large floral cluster at a slight angle across the center - I had a digi collage I'd made up a couple years ago, and wanted to find a place for it among the flowers. I tucked a few loopy bows of The Twinery's Caribbean Solid and Lilac Stripe twines among the cluster...





Supplies:
Twines:   The Twinery - Caribbean Solid,  Caribbean Stripe, Cappuccino Solid,  Charcoal Solid,  Lilac Stripe
Stencil:   The Crafters Workshop Mini Circle Explosion
Dies:   Simon Says Stamp "you"';   Sizzix Flowers Branches & Leaves
Flowers and stamens:   Prima and Wild Orchid Crafts           Pearls:   Recollections
Vintage Image:   digi collage made with images from TheGraphicsFairy.com
Sprays:   Lindy's Stamp Gang Flat Fabios (T-bird Turquoise, Pink Ladies Pink, Raspberry Lemonade, 
Pop Rock Purple, Frenchy's Pink Pouf)
Paints:   Lindy's Stamp Gang Flat Magicals (Merci Beaucoup Mint, Cafe au Lait);  Delta Ceramcoat Turquoise;  white
Miscellaneous mixed media supplies:   Cold press watercolor paper,  drywall tape,  gesso,  modeling paste,  gel medium,  Dymo label,  Uni Posca white pen,  Black Soot Distress Ink,  cheesecloth,  Stabilo All pencil,  Prima edge distressing tool 



Thank you to Julie and The Twinery's Design Team for the fun month as Guest Designer, and thank you for stopping by for a visit today.  Have a wonderful weekend!


Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Always Believe...

Summer's almost over for most people, school's back in session for many around these parts, so I decided to make up one last "summer-y" watercolor card for fun!

I added a few more shabby details to this card, but it's still clean and simple compared to my usual style...





There's white cheesecloth between the background patterned paper and the card base, and both aqua and white cheesecloth between the watercolor layer and the background paper...fun texture, with pearls peeking out behind it all...




Here are a few detail shots around the front...




Supplies:
Image stamp:   Unity Stamp, "Andie Girl"
Sentiment stamp:   Unity Stamp, "Empowered Words"
Pearls:   Recollections
Miscellaneous:   Sakura Koi watercolors,  Uni Posca white paint pen,  cheesecloth




Thanks so much for stopping in for a visit today!



Monday, August 25, 2014

LOTV-Shabby Christmas Cheer...

Good Monday to you! I'm starting off this week with a very shabby Christmas card, using some of LOTV's beautiful new holiday papers, and a few little mini stamps in addition to the sentiment stamp.

I love the color combo of aqua and red for holiday cards...it's been my favorite for many years now. The new Festive Trimmings paper pad is filled with this combo, and I paired three of those papers with a monochromatic patterned paper from the Snow Princess Solids pad that was perfect for an accent background, and for stamping the sentiment onto...



I stamped a couple ornaments from the new Set 79, Christmas Mini Images - Icons, added a bit of watercolors, cut them into shabby tag shapes, and attached them over loopy seam binding bows...





The main sentiment, from the new Set 75, Christmas Wishes, is accented with small holly branches stamped with the new Set 78, Christmas Mini Images-Foliage ...




The die cut Christmas tree is coated with Vintage White Frantage embossing powder, and topped with a large pearl, which by total happenstance, is also the center of the large snowflake behind it...hurray for happy accidents!




The large bows are accented with die cut pine branches coated with Glistening Snow-Tex...


Supplies:
Stamps:   LOTV Set 75/Christmas Wishes,   Set 79/Christmas Mini Images-Icons,   Set 78/Christmas Mini Images-Foliage
Patterned papers:   LOTV Festive Trimmings (stripe, text, holly);  LOTV Snow Princess Solids (patterned turquoise)
Dies:   Spellbinders Labels 25;   Cottage Cutz Pine Tree Forest;   Impression Obsession Pine Branch
Pearls:   Recollections            Hug Snug seam binding
Miscellaneous:   Glistening Snow Tex,  Frantage embossing powder,  white hemp cording,  craft store snowflake



Thanks so much for visiting today...I hope your week is starting with a smile!

Friday, August 22, 2014

The Twinery - Brighter Than The Stars...

Happy Friday, everyone! It's week three of my Guest Designer honor over at The Twinery blog, and I'm back to share one of my "fully loaded shabby chic" cards.

Very often, I design a card, then try to find a sentiment that fits with the theme of the design, whether it's the papers or embellishments. For today's card, I found the sentiment first, then designed a card to fit the sentiment...



Stars were the order of the day, and I opted to make some shabby ones from some corrugated chipboard, adding layers of paint, crackle medium, ink, and Distress Stains. I wrapped them with twines (Cappuccino, Cappuccino Stripe, and Strawberry Solid), added pearls and mini roses, and scattered them down the left side...





And finally, beneath the floral cluster, I added more loopy bows with Blossom Solid and Strawberry Solid twines...



Supplies:
Twines:   The Twinery - Cappuccino, Cappuccino Stripe, Blossom Solid, Strawberry Solid
Patterned papers:   Glitz Design Pretty in Pink
Sentiment stamp:   Unity Stamp Co.            Die:  Sizzix Stars #2            Flowers:   Wild Orchid Crafts
Pearls:   Recollections            Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com



Thanks for visiting today...here's hoping you have a fabulous weekend!


Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Be...

It's watercolor day here in the Korner - so that means a short-and-sweet post. :)

Once again, I couldn't resist the temptation to play around with adding texture to the background, just for fun. This is a 4" x 6" card...



I love this quote, and after I stamped it to the paper, realized I had the perfect word die to cut, and just enough room left to place it above the sentiment...





I added just a bit of white doodling to the watercolored flowers...just for fun...




And beneath the flowers, some modeling paste speckles were stenciled on. To keep them from looking like snow, I colored over them lightly with a Marvy aqua-grey watercolor pen that blended with the background colors...


Supplies:
Image stamp:   Unity Stamp Co., "Poppy Background"
Sentiment stamp:   Unity Stamp Co., "Empowered Words"
Die:   Simon Says Stamp "be"            Stencil:   Tim Holtz Speckles
Miscellaneous:   Sakura Koi watercolors,  Uni Posca white paint pen,  modeling paste




Thanks for popping in for a visit today!





Monday, August 18, 2014

Happy...Take Two...

It's the start of a new week...happy Monday, all! Today's shabby chic card is just for fun, so that's why the sentiment just says, "happy." :)

I started with a background of neutral medium gray woodgrain paper, added a couple pieces of turquoise patterned papers, shabbied all the edges, then played with a white ink pen, a stencil, and a bit of splattering.   It started out as just a background to make and put aside for later when I needed to make up a card quickly, but ended up getting made up now because I had an idea, and went with it...



I decided to die cut a golden yellow doily, and accent the card with yellow, green, and white to add some more brightness to the dark background colors. The bit of pink on the edges of the yellow gardenia adds a nice touch of fun...






Instead of stamping a sentiment in the lower corner, I die cut the word "happy" - I couldn't choose between the black word or the white, so I chose both! I backed the white with the black to add dimension, and nestled it into the flowers...




Supplies:
Patterned papers:   My Minds Eye Bramble Rose (doily);   My Minds Eye Miss Caroline/On the Bright Side Two (aqua dot);   My Minds Eye Miss Caroline/Dilly Dally (teal and woodgrain)
Dies:   Prima Eyelet Doily #1;   My Favorite Things Leaf-filled Flourish;   Poppy Stamps Massa Leaf Background;   
Simon Says Stamp "happy"
Stencil:   Memory Box Rings & Puddles            Flowers:   Wild Orchid Crafts           
Yellow stamens:   ChocolateLetters on Etsy            Pearls:   Recollections
Miscellaneous:   white hemp cording, Uni Posca white paint pen



Thank you for stopping by for a visit today...I hope your week is starting with a smile!




Friday, August 15, 2014

The Twinery - Stronger Than Anyone...

TGIF...Happy Friday! I'm back with another card made as August Guest Designer at The Twinery.

Today, I'm ending the week the way I started it - with a clean and simple post sharing a CAS watercolor card. I've used a stamp image & sentiment set from Unity Stamp Co, and accented it with several colorful twines from The Twinery...



Once the watercoloring was complete, I die cut a heart to the left, covered a piece of chipboard with "stripes" of twine to complement the colors used for the image, and adhered it behind the heart cutout.  (I used Red Shimmer, Maraschino Solid, Blue Shimmer, Denim Solid, Honeydew Stripe, and Honeydew Solid twines for the heart and tassel). It still wasn't quite enough for the "fully loaded" embellisher in me, so I took a cue from the tied bracelet on the girl's wrist in the image, made a small tassel with the same twines, and finished off the knot with a few bright gems for fun...


Supplies:
Twines:  The Twinery - Red Shimmer, Maraschino Solid, Blue Shimmer, Denim Solid, Honeydew Stripe, Honeydew Solid
Stamps:   Unity Stamp Co.,  "Stronger Than Anyone-Jessica Girl"
Die:   Xyron ShapeZ by Spellbinders / Heart
Gems:   Recollections           Watercolors:   Sakura Koi


Thanks so much for stopping in for a visit...I hope you have a wonderful weekend!




Wednesday, August 13, 2014

LOTV-Happy Birthday...

Happy Wednesday, everyone...I hope your week is going well.

When I received some of the new papers from the latest Lili of the Valley release, I knew that Snow Princess and the coordinating Snow Princess Solids would be among the first new papers I'd play with-I can't resist those aquas and purples!

(I seem to be on a bit of a "purple binge" lately...but it's almost over. LOL) Today I'm sharing a wintery birthday card made with a few of the purple papers in the two Snow Princess pads - accented only with white, and including a sprinkling of Glistening Snow-Tex to add to the wintery feel...



The sentiment is short and sweet, from Set 25, Handwritten Phrases, stamped onto a banner die cut, and  edged with a bit of the Snow-Tex...




Normally, when I used a pearl spray, it ends up at the top or the side of the floral cluster, so I went the opposite direction this time, and used the spray at the bottom, to accentuate the sentiment banner...




The largest flower is made up of several smaller Prima flowers, with texture paste and Snow-Tex adding some dimension. It's surrounded with smaller roses and a single large white leaf, with tiny branch accents as "fillers"...

Supplies:
Patterned papers:   LOTV Snow Princess and Snow Princess Solids
Stamps:   LOTV Handwritten Phrases
Dies:   Prima Eyelet #1 doily;   Tim Holtz Tattered Banners
Punch:   Martha Stewart Medium Branch           Large flower & leaf:   Prima
Mini roses:   Wild Orchid Crafts          Pearls:   Recollections
Braided trim, pearl spray, stamens:   local craft store
Miscellaneous:   white twine, white thread



Thanks so much for visiting today!



Monday, August 11, 2014

You Are Awesome...

Happy Monday! I'm starting the week with a short and sweet post sharing a clean and simple watercolor card (well, as close to clean and simple as I can get...LOL).

As soon as I saw this stamp, I knew I had to have it. I was so taken with the long, vertical sentiment - it opens up so many design options. For this 4" x 6" card, I used the flower stamp that came with the sentiment, and added a different stamp, and die cut, for the accompanying sentiment at the bottom. I realize I might have jeopardized the true "CAS" label with the tear-outs and cheesecloth inserts, but I fell to the temptation once again...



Here are a few closeup shots around the front...




Supplies:
Image stamp:   Unity Stamp Co., "Bloom & Simplify"
Sentiment stamps:   Unity Stamp Co./"Bloom & Simplify";   Winnie & Walter/"The Big, The Bold, and You"
Sentiment die:   Simon Says Stamp ("you")
Stencil:    Tim Holtz Speckles            Gems:   Kaisercraft
Miscellaneous:   Sakura Koi watercolors, Uni Posca white pen, Studio 490 Translucent Embossing Paste, 
cheesecloth, drywall tape



Thanks so much for visiting today...I hope your week is starting with a smile!


Friday, August 8, 2014

The Twinery - You Are So Sweet...

Good Friday morning, everyone! I'm so pleased to announce that I was invited to be a Guest Designer over on The Twinery blog for August! When Julie first invited me, the ideas started flowing immediately. I've been playing with different styles lately - shabby chic, mixed media, watercolor - and I knew incorporating their wide selection of beautiful twines into these would be a fun experience!

So today, I'm starting off with a "fully loaded shabby chic mixed media" card, in some of my favorite colors...




The background starts off on a piece of 140# cold press watercolor paper. I floated bright shades of purple, pink, green, and aqua watercolors, and when they dried, added some pieces from an old dress pattern. Next, I used modeling paste with a chickenwire stencil to add just a hint of texture to the left side (it's barely visible in the photo, but it's there). Finally, I used gesso to adhere some twisted pieces of cheesecloth, and sprayed the cheesecloth with purple sprays, adding a final touch of Diamond Stickles to brighten it up a bit.

The chipboard dress form was painted white first (you can see that I left it white under the skirt). I "distressed" the base and top with black, cream, and bronze acrylic paints to give them an aged look. The bodice is a scrap of patterned paper. The skirt was the fun part...a layer of cheesecloth, then tulle accented with Diamond Stickles, and finally, pretty accents of Lilac Solid and Lilac Stripe twines...




The sentiment block is tucked into the florals with the use of a painted memo pin...




And finally, Gold Shimmer twine added just the right amount of sparkly accent to the lower corner of the card as big bows tucked under the florals...


Supplies:
Twines:   The Twinery - Gold Shimmer,  Lilac Solid,  Lilac Stripe
Dress form:   Maya Road            Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com
Stencil:   The Crafters Workshop/Mini Chickenwire            Flowers:   Wild Orchid Crafts
Die:   Sizzix Flowers Branches & Leaves          Pearls:   Recollections            Tim Holtz Memo Pin
Sentiments:   Winnie & Walter/The Big, The Bold, and You;   Simon Says Stamps Handwritten Greetings
Mixed media supplies:   Sakura Koi watercolors,  sewing pattern pieces,  modelling paste,  Distress Inks,
cheesecloth,  Diamond Stickles


Thanks so much for visiting today...have a wonderful weekend!


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