LLLC - Merry...

Good morning all, on this La-La Land Crafts Wednesday! This week our theme is "Holidays Are Coming" and I have a flowery center-step Christmas card to share with you...

Anchoring the flowery cluster are a couple circles cut from the Stitched Nested Circles die set. Several candy canes were cut using the Candy Cane die set, and bunched together as a little "bouquet", tied with bows of pearls and gold ribbon...

The "merry" banner is cut from 110# white cardstock using the Flag Banner Die, and like the poinsettias, is colored with Fired Brick Distress Ink...

All the poinsettias were cut from white watercolor paper using the Pretty Poinsettia Die, and colored with Fired Brick Distress Ink around the edges and accented with dark yellow stamens - the bottom green leaf layer was cut from dark green cardstock.  (I enhanced the colors of the stamens with Ranger Ochre Vintaj Patina paint).

You can see from the photo of the die in the link that it has three flower portions - a large, a medium, and a small - so you can alternate and stack the layers to construct your flower.

The two larger flowers on the bottom of my card have 7 layers:  1 large green for the leaves, 1 large white, 2 medium white, and 2 small white for the flower portion. 

The smaller top flower has 1 large green for the leaves, 1 medium white and 2 small white for the flower portion...

Supplies:

LLLC Dies:   Candy Cane,   Flag Banner,   Pretty Poinsettia,   Stitched Nested Circles

Patterned papers:   Graphic 45 Christmas Past collection (8x8)

Pearl clusters:   Recollections           Stamens:   Wild Orchid Crafts            Alpha stamps:   Studio G

Miscellaneous:   craft store ribbons,   cheesecloth,   Ranger Vintaj Patina paint - Ochre

Thanks so much for visiting today! It's hard to believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving already...I have a strong suspicion more than the usual amount of sugary, yummy foods are going to be eaten around here tomorrow.  :)

I'll be back here on the blog next Monday...until then, I wish all my American friends a very happy Thanksgiving. And to all my friends who take the time to visit and leave sweet comments and encouragement, I'm thankful for you!

Mixed Media Shabby Chic for Any Occasion...

Happy holiday-week Monday, everyone! I took a little break from making holiday-themed cards because I was in a pastel mood. :)

I wanted a card with aqua, coral, and pink...I saw it in my head...and with all the patterned papers in my stash, surely there was the perfect one, or two, or three that would fit my vision, right? Nope - Murphy's Law says when you have something specific in your head, you won't have the supplies for it when you want to make it...LOL

So I decided to make my own mixed media background in those colors, and start my shabby-pastel card from there...

The background is made on mixed media paper using a fun edge stamp, circle stencil, molding paste, and sprays. 

Strips of patterned papers were layered over them, then a strip of scalloped lace, and, following the "text" theme of the patterned papers, Prima flowers made of text papers...

These little aqua and white roses were the perfect match...another "happenstance" in my favor, and another card designed and made all in one session!...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   Prima "Almanac" collection (6x6)

Background edge stamp:   Unity Stamp Co. "distressed quilt"

Color mediums:   Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays:  T-bird Turquoise,  Pink Ladies Pink,  Orange Creamsicle

Stencil:   The Crafters Workshop Mini Circle Explosion

Dies:   My Favorite Things Decorative Doily Duo;   Memory Box Elegant Scrollwork

Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com            Flower branch & coral flower:   Prima

Mini aqua roses:   Wild Orchid Crafts            Mini pearls:   Kaisercraft

Miscellaneous:   Golden molding paste,   cheesecloth,   hemp cording

Thanks for stopping in for a visit today...I hope your week is starting with a smile!

Let the Sunshine In...

Happy Friday, everyone! We're one week away from Thanksgiving, and then the Christmas season is upon us...time seems to be flying these days!

My crafty mojo seems to be on a seesaw lately - up and down - unpredictable.  And crafters know that holiday season isn't the ideal time of year for that to happen!

So I decided last week to take a step back, and make a quick and easy art journal page, drawing inspiration from the many pages I've seen online with houses...wonderfully drawn and creatively colored houses on pages brimming with fun ideas. But my page needed to be my own version of simple and fun and easy - I needed to be able to start and finish in the same short session - a chance to clean out the creative cobwebs and hopefully reset my mojo.

So here it is - a simple single page in my small (5-1/2" x 8") mixed media journal...

A little note about the background treatment - I made the sheet of background paper separately from the book and then glued it in before adding all the other details. The fact that I had this background already made was the motivation for me to use it on my quick and easy journal page.

I was adding the paints from Lindy's Stamp Gang Beauty School Dropout Flat Magicals set to my handmade color chart, and the background colors on this page are what I got when I "smooshed"  (not a very technical term, but crafters know what it means, right?) a piece of mixed media paper onto my craft sheet filled with the watery leftovers of all five colors of the set. Fun and easy!

For the "trees," I first used my 12x12 bubble stencil to outline with a Pitt Artist Pen, then fill the circles with gelato.  Once I blended the colors in each circle and highlighted with white gelato, I went back around the edges of each with a medium point Pitt pen and drew more freeform circles around each tree top...

The sidewalk is made with Prima's Stonewall 1 stencil and heavy gesso...once the stones were dried, I drew in the outline edges of the walkway, and shaded the stones with a Stabilo All pencil...

The sun was fun...it was experimental all the way. I started by using modeling/molding paste on a circle shape from a Puddles stencil...then added the "rays" using the edge of a palette knife and just scraping the paste rays on. 

Once the paste dried, I added gold and butterscotch gelatos to shade the rays at the bottom, and orange gelato around the top of the outside of the sun. Little white dots with a white paint pen and a thin coat of Rock Candy Distress Stickles, and the sun was complete. 

The final step was to shadow around the hand-drawn word tile pieces, the paper-pieced house, and the trees with black Stabilo pencil, and my little page was called "Done!"..

Supplies:

Background Color Mediums:   Lindy's Stamp Gang Beauty School Dropout Flat Magicals set

Stencils:   Memory Box Texture Rings and Puddles;   Prima Stonewall 1 (6x6);   Prima Bubbles (12x12)

Patterned papers:   Prima

Miscellaneous:   Ranger Rock Candy Distress Stickles;   Stabilo All black pencil;   Fabel Castell Gelatos;   Faber Castell Pitt Artist pens - black;   Uni Posca white paint pen;   Golden molding paste;   Liquitex heavy gesso

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

 

LLLC - Thanks for Being You...

It's La-La Land Crafts challenge day, and the Wednesday die-cut team has some fun creations to share with you! This week, our inspiration challenge is "Favorite LLLC Product."

Here's where the problem comes in for me...how do you choose your favorite LLLC product (in my case, dies) when you love every.single.one.of.them??? I tried - I really did - I put all my LLLC dies out in front of me, and picked one...then changed it for another...then another...you get the idea. This wasn't happening...there wasn't just one favorite. So I expanded the parameters....how about two faves? Well, that was better...but still not enough.

In the end, I decided on a design, with three of my favorite and most-used LLLC dies (with a little help from a couple more - LOL) ...

One thing I was sure of...I wanted a neutral background of grey and white. I found the perfect patterned paper, and added the white Lattice Doily Border Die pieces (as far as faves go, this die is "tied" with Lattice Border. But since I featured Lattice Border last week, this time it's Lattice Doily Border's turn). Then I decided to accent the edges a bit, so I pulled out a couple sparkly embossing powders, and gave the edges just a bit of shine with a slightly-colored sparkle. It's hard to see in the photo, so here's a closeup - it's a very subtle effect, but it's just enough...

Favorite dies #1 and #2?  Cherry Blossom Flowers and Berry Flourish...I use them A LOT!...

I embellished this pearl corsage pin with spacers and gems as a little extra touch to the Cherry Blossom cluster...

 

One little blossom fell down into the corner while I was gluing the others, and I decided I liked it there - happenstance is fun! :)  A label shape from the Stitched Elements set is the perfect fit for the small sentiment...I topped it with the small label frame from Book Tabs and Labels, and tied them both together to the front of the card...

Supplies:

LLLC Dies:   Cherry Blossom Flowers,   Berry Flourish,   Lattice Doily Border Die,   Book Tabs & Labels,   

Stitched Elements

Patterned paper:   Prima Almanac collection (6x6)

Sentiment stamp:   Inkadinkado          Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com          Pearls:   Recollections

Embossing powders:   Stampendous Winter Wonderland & Stardust         

Miscellaneous:   pearl stick pin,   white twine

I hope you'll stop by the La-La Land Crafts blog to admire the other projects my Wednesday Die Cut Team-mates have created to share with you!

Thanks so much for visiting today!

LOTV - Christmas Wishes...

Good Monday morning, all! I was in the mood to make a Christmas card last week, and especially in the mood for a shabby Christmas card with deeper, Victorian colors. Luckily for me, I just so happened to have the perfect patterned papers for that already on hand.

LOTV's Woodland Wishes paper pad is filled with the perfect colors for what I had in mind...so I made up a card using only papers from that collection. (I know...I hear the surprise all the way out here from some of you...the person who loves the challenge of combining different paper lines into one blended project actually used papers designed to go together. It happens now and then! LOL)

The little tag sitting in the bow is from Set 32, Christmas Sentiment Tags.  This set has become a staple in my Christmas crafting stash...there are so many uses for it. This time, it dangles from a dyed seam binding bow, accented with a small grouping of pearls, as a topper to the open frame die that anchors the front of the card...

The green pine branch is accented with a combo of Flower Soft mixed with clear coarse glitter...I made up a large batch of this last year, and still have half of it left for use this year...

This sweet sentiment is from this year's release of  Set 75, Christmas Wishes ...

  

There are seven layers on the front of this card...but it's not too bulky to mail...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   LOTV Woodland Wishes collection

Stamps:   LOTV Set 75, Christmas Wishes;   LOTV Set 32, Christmas Sentiment Tags

Punches:   Martha Stewart Doily Lace and Beaded Ruffle

Dies:   Memory Box Tiffany Frame;   Memory Box Star of Wonder;   Impression Obsession Pine Branch; 

Impression Obsession Deer Trio

Laces:   TheFunkieJunkie.com          Pearls:   Recollections

Miscellaneous:   Hug Snug seam binding,  Gold Stickles,  Polar White Flower Soft, Martha Stewart clear coarse glitter

Before I sign off for today, I've got a few fun LOTV announcements to make sure you're aware of. 

On November 22nd, LOTV is releasing 10 new image stamps, and 3 new paper pads...have you been "sneak peeking" with the other Design Team members on their blogs lately?

Then there's this fun offer for those of you who have a few items from existing stock on your shopping list...if you can order by the 19th you can take part in this great promotion! All qualifying orders (see below) placed by 11:59 PM (BST) on the 19th will be entered into drawings for all the new stamps that are releasing on the 22nd of this month, AND a set of the three new paper pads...

And last, but certainly not least, don't forget about this month's challenge on LOTV's Ideas to Inspire blog. The theme is "Merry Christmas"...easy one for this time of year, right? :)  There's still plenty of time to get in on the fun. There are *three* great prizes up for grabs this month, and if we get enough entries, there might even be more! So I hope you pull out your favorite LOTV products for a fun holiday card, and enter it into this final challenge for a chance to win.

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

LLLC - It's Cold Outside...

Happy "Hump Day" everyone!

This week, the La-La Land Crafts Wednesday die cut team is working with the theme, "It's Cold Outside."  I chose to illustrate the theme with frosty winter colors...white, pale ice blue, and silver...with a touch of yellow and gold for good measure. It's very sparkly, and as usual, hard to show that feature in a flat photograph ...

The sides of the front are "see-through," with the scalloped Lattice Border Die highlighted with tiny clear crystals up both sides...

Instead of patterned paper on the center front, I embossed the area with Shabby Blue Frantage embossing powder. It's a beautiful mix of white and gold embossing powders, with pale blue extra fine powder that all melts together to give a chilly, wintery-looking surface with sparkle and texture. I cut apart the small snowflakes on the Snowflake Banner die, and glittered each one with clear coarse glitter and touched up with Silver Stickles. The little berries on the  Berry Flourish stems were also coated with Silver Stickles...

The two large centerpiece flowers are made with the Pretty Poinsettia dies...they're coated with Star Dust Stickles...

Supplies:

LLLC Dies:   Lattice Border,  Pretty Poinsettia,  Berry Flourish,  Snowflake Banner

Small flowers:   Wild Orchid Crafts            Yellow stamens:   ChocolateLetters on Etsy

Clear crystals:   Doodlebug Design            

Miscellaneous supplies:  Shabby Blue Frantage embossing powder,  Silver and Star Dust Stickles,

Martha Stewart clear coarse glitter

Thanks for visiting today. Please check out the La-La Land Crafts blog to see what my teammates have crafted for this week's challenge!

Art Journal - Create Everyday...

Good Monday morning, all! I'm taking a deep breath, and jumping in with both feet...and sharing a couple pages from one of my art play journals with you.

I was recently asked why I didn't post any of my journal pages. Short answer? 'Cause I'm a big ole' chicken! :)

I've got a few different art journals going at the same time. Each one has a lot of pages filled with mistakes and unsuccessful experiments -  a reminder of what works on certain types of paper, and what to do/not to do in the future. Each one has different types of papers inside - one filled with heavy kraft cardstock pages - one an old book of poetry with pages glued together and gessoed for future use - one with cold press watercolor paper - and the one I'm sharing today, the newest in the collection, filled with mixed media paper.

My newest journal is going to be filled with mixed media pages that are intended to be mini-canvases of experimental play, and I feel a bit more confident about sharing those now and then. They're not masterpieces by any stretch of the imagination, but I thought maybe there would be pieces of some that might inspire you to try a similar technique on your own projects.

Enough chatter...on with the photos...this is a 5-1/2"w X 8"h spiral-bound journal...turned on its side for these two pages...

The base of each page is a piece of Tim Holtz "Melange" patterned tissue wrap with a coat of clear gesso in spots, and white gesso in others, over the tissue.  Since I was going to be using molding paste (which dries translucent so you can see base colors beneath it), I applied the Lindy's Stamp Gang color sprays next (I've listed the names in the supplies section beneath the last picture). 

Next I used the Bubbles stencil and applied molding paste. After the paste dried, I shadowed the circles with black Stabilo All pencil, and highlighted inside some of the circles with white Gelato...

I've had this "A" stamp for many years...I think nearly 10! When these letter stamps first came out in wood mounted stamps, I started gathering as many as I could afford...and they're among the stamps I haven't been able to part with through several "purges" of the unused supplies in my room. LOL  I added a couple tiny letter stickers next to the stamped "A" for this page.

Using Archival ink, I stamped a few phrases from Unity's "empowered words" set around the two pages, emphasizing them with the dark crystal arrows...

Taking inspiration from the partially-visible butterfly on the tissue paper beneath it, I punched a few butterflies from a solid cardstock and tied them together with long black upholstery threads (it was after this step that I added strips of different washi tapes around the pages as a final accent)...

Supplies:

Tissue wrap:   Tim Holtz Idea-ology - "Melange"

Washi tapes:   Tim Holtz "Nostalgia" (text);  local craft store - damask

Stencil:   Prima "Bubbles" 12x12

Punches:   Martha Stewart Classic Butterfly and 3-in-1 Butterfly

Stamps:   Stampers Anonymous - "A";   Unity Stamp Co. "empowered words" - phrases

Color sprays:   Lindy's Stamp Gang - Pop Rock Purple,  Caribbean Blue,  Pink Ladies Pink,  Summer Lovin' Sun,  

South Shore Sand,  Frenchy's Pink Pouf

Miscellaneous mediums:   Liquitex clear and white gessos,  Golden molding paste,  white Gelato,  

black Stabilo All pencil

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

Cardabilities #110...Happy Everything...

TGIF! Don't you just love knowing the weekend is only one day away?

Today's card is an autumn-bright, shabby little number to end your week with a smile...

The larger pieces of background paper were accented this time using Dreamweavers's Studio 490 embossing paste and a damask stencil. This embossing paste used on its own leaves an almost transparent, shiny pattern once dry - as if you had used clear embossing powder over the design. Initially, I was going to leave it just the way it went on, but after applying the Lindy's Stamp Gang sprays on some of the areas of the front, I decided to run a very light coat of Vintage Photo Distress Ink over other parts of the design to emphasize it a bit more...

I found a beautiful and bright little flower stem in my stash, added a couple more individual striped flowers to it, a few light yellow and light brown roses, and finally a couple yellow stamen clusters...

The sentiment came from a couple different sentiment stamp phrases...a little mixing and matching makes for a perfect fit sometimes...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:   Prima Sunrise Sunset collection

Stencil:   The Crafters Workshop Mini Damask

Color sprays:   Lindy's Stamp Gang - Merry Go Round Green,  Bonjour Butter, and Bayou Boogie Gold

Flower stem and striped flowers:   Prima            Stamen clusters:   ChocolateLetters on Etsy

Roses:   Wild Orchid Crafts          Pearls:   Recollections            Lace:   local craft store

Sentiment stamps:   Fiskars ("happy");   Altenew ("everything")

Miscellaneous:   Studio 490 embossing paste,   cheesecloth,   Vintage Photo Distress Ink

My design is inspired by the current Cardabilities sketch, #110 ...

Thank you for popping in for a visit today...have a wonderful weekend!