LLLC - Getting Krafty...

Good morning! Today's card for La-La Land Crafts is for this week's challenge inspiration - "Getting Krafty" - using kraft colored cardstock.

This was a fun challenge...I like to mix kraft cardstock with other colors, and this time, I chose rich purple. Here's the finished product...

I die cut three various sizes of circles using the Stitched Nested Circles Die Set to "anchor" the floral cluster, and set them to the side of the front before layering lots of kraft and purple flowers cut from the Cherry Blossom Flowers Die set...

Cheesecloth dyed with the same Distress Ink colors as those used on the purple Cherry Blossoms, along with lots of loopy threads, give it a shabby feel...

And finally, a touch of Magenta and Purple Stickles on the berries that are part of the Berry Flourish Die add a bit of sparkle...

Supplies:

LLLC Dies:   Berry Flourish,  Cherry Blossom Flowers,  Stitched Nested Circles

Patterned paper:   7Gypsies

Other dies:   Impression Obsession Bare Branch          Gems:   Doodlebug

Miscellaneous:   Magenta & Purple Stickles;   Seedless Preserves & Dusty Concord Distress Inks; 

thread;   cheesecloth

I hope you'll pop on over to the La-La Land Crafts Inspiration Blog to admire the projects my teammates have made to share with you.  :)

Thanks for visiting today...I hope you're having a wonderful week so far!

LOTV - Mixed Media Happy Birthday...

Happy Monday, everyone! Today's card is a mixed media card using Lili of the Valley patterned papers and stamps...a little twist to the usual style you see from me using the same supplies! :)

I'll start out by showing you the finished project, and then back up just a bit to give you an idea of how it all came together...

It's no secret I love the colors of the beautiful papers in LOTV's  Timeless Victorian paper pad - I've used them so often that I only have small bits of the papers left! But I wasn't about to let any bits of them go unused, so today, they became part of a mixed media card.  I started by gluing two pieces of a couple of the pastel, more solid-looking papers to a piece of 140-pound mixed media paper, and applying a coat of clear gesso over the top. The fun part is that the pieces I used had what appeared to be sprays of watercolor in the print already - perfect for what I had planned to come!...

Next, I used Archival Ink to stamp images from Set 21, Grunge Corners and Set 66, Grunge Elements around the edges of the piece, and used translucent molding (modeling) paste and a stencil to add a subtle textured design. If you look closely on the far right, and along the bottom, you can barely see the texture at this point...

Now it was time to start adding my watercolor sprays...I chose shades of aqua and orchid because those are the colors in the paper line that drew me to it in the first place (and so the bits of paper I was planning to add later would blend!). Now the stenciled texture is becoming more evident...

Next came more spraying, deepening the colors, and adding the sepia spray to accent some of the texture lines. If you look at the finished card, you can see that I later added some shading with a black Stabilo All pencil, highlighted the hearts and a couple of the vertical lines with white Gelato, and deepened some of the lilac-sprayed areas with another coat of color. I got so antsy to start adding embellishments and coloring flowers that I forgot to take a final pic of just the canvas itself. :)

The large rose in the center of the flower cluster was first made in white cardstock using Spellbinders' Rose Creations dies.  I colored it with Lindy's Stamp Gang Tilt-a-Wheel Teal and Sweet Violet Purple Teal sprays...

This time, instead of accenting the floral cluster with pearls as I usually do, I pulled out a baggie of multicolored beads, and glued them in clusters around the edges of the flowers...

I used a few more bits and pieces of the Timeless Victorian papers for small blocks around the sentiment, which is stamped using LOTV's  Set 25, Handwritten Phrases. The sentiment blocks are accented with more of the multicolored mini beads...

The little butterflies are part of Set 66, Grunge Elements - I first stamped them lightly with the black ink, then stamped again with VersaMark ink, and embossed them with a transparent powder that has tiny flecks of colored glitter...just a bit of sparkle...

And finally, down in the lower corner, another cluster of tiny beads as accent...

Supplies:

LOTV Patterned Papers:   Timeless Victorian

LOTV Stamps:   Set 21, Grunge Corners;    Set 66, Grunge Elements;   Set 25, Handwritten Phrases

Stencil:  The Crafters Workshop "Mini Confetti"

Dies:    Spellbinders Rose Creations and Foliage Two;   La-La Land Crafts Cherry Blossom Flowers

Teal roses:   LayoutsFromTheHeart on Etsy            Sweetheart blossoms:   Wild Orchid Crafts

Berry stem:   Petaloo            Lace:   local craft store

Color sprays:   Lindy's Stamp Gang - Pop Rock Purple,  Tilt-a-Wheel Teal,   T-Bird Turquoise,

Sweet Violet Purple Teal,   Sandra Dee Sepia

Miscellaneous:   seed beads,  hemp cording

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

Back to the "Grab Bag"...

Happy Friday and Happy Halloween, everyone!

As you can see by the post title above, I went back into to my "grab bag" for today's card.

In case you haven't followed me for long and haven't seen me refer to this before, my "grab bag" is a large baggie of embellishments that I previously made/altered/painted, etc. for a project, but ended up not using. So I put them in my large "grab bag" and every now and then, I pull some of the items out and challenge myself to make up a card or altered project using them.

This time, I pulled out a group of aged/vintage-looking pieces - an inked and mini-pearl embellished kraft and white cardstock clock face, an inked air-dry clay frame, and an inked-up wooden flourish. Once I chose a piece of patterned paper from Prima's Stationer's Desk collection, it all came together beautifully...I decided on deep red accents to the vintage brown pieces...

The air-dry clay frame was already inked with Tea Dye and Vintage Photo Distress Inks from the first time I intended to use it. I added some Bisque Liquid Pearls around the beaded edges as another accent this time. The key charm inside was originally black...after a coat of gesso and red craft paint to the outside edges, I distressed it lightly with extra fine sandpaper...

Red lilies, and red and cream roses surround and accent the frames...

And the inked wooden flourish fit perfectly up in the corner, embellished with a few more roses and pearls...

Supplies:

Patterned paper:   Prima Stationer's Desk collection (A4)

Key charm:  Prima Vintage Trinkets - Tiny Treasures Fleur

Kraft clock face:   Maya Road            Frame:   Martha Stewart mold and air-dry clay

Flowers:   Wild Orchid Crafts            Wood flourish:   local craft store      

Lace:   TheFunkieJunkie.com            Pearls:   Recollections

Miscellaneous:   cheesecloth,  twine,  Bisque Liquid Pearls,  Vintage Photo Distress Ink

Thanks so much for visiting today...and if you're here in the US and on Daylight Savings Time, don't forget to "fall back" Sunday at 2 am...YAY for an extra hour's sleep! :)

Have a great weekend!

LLLC - Just Because...

It's La-La Land Wednesday, and this week the La-La Land Crafts team is working with a fun inspiration challenge...a "recipe"...

A splash of blue. A hint of pink.

3 squares, a circle, a dab of ink.

A touch of cute, and buttons bright,

Add die cuts plenty 'til it's just right.

Here's my finished project...can you spot all the ingredients?...

I wish the photos could pick up all the subtle sparkle on the card...it really shines IRL! I went with a darker, denim-like blue, accented with very pale mauve pink, all on a light taupe base. 

Along the side of one of the three squares of patterned paper, the Lattice Border Die adds a lacy feel. The  Fancy Butterfly die cut in the center circle is covered with Stardust Stickles that picks up the light so beautifully. The Cherry Blossom Flowers that sit in the center of the butterfly are made with pale pink cardstock, then watercolored with denim blue while a bit of the pink still peeks through...

The memo pin holding the sentiment tag was dry-brushed with white craft paint, then embellished with spacers and beads...

The seam binding bows were dyed with Distress Ink, and accented with a tiny pink button...the button isn't that "bright" but it sure is sparkly with clear coarse glitter in the center...

The leaves made with the Open Leaf Flourish die are layered beneath a couple more sparkly buttons and a small gray pearl flourish...

Supplies:

LLLC dies:   Open Leaf  Flourish,  Lattice Border,  Fancy Butterfly,  Cherry Blossom Flowers

Patterned papers:   Maja Design/Vintage Summer Basic collection

Doily:   Cricut Storybook cartridge            Scalloped circle punch:  EK Success

Taupe roses:   LayoutsFromTheHeart on Etsy            Silver asters:   Prima

Pearls:   Prima            Laces:   local craft store            Memo pin:   Tim Holtz

Miscellaneous:   cheesecloth,  Hug Snug seam binding,  Stardust Stickles,  Faded Jeans Distress Ink,

buttons,  coarse clear glitter

Thank you so much for stopping by today...I hope you'll take a moment or two to visit the La-La Land Crafts blog to enjoy the other wonderful projects my teammates have crafted up to share with you!

Have a great day!

How Beautiful a Day Can Be...

A happy Monday to you!

I have a short and simple post for today's card, a CAS watercolor card that I added just a bit of mixed media touches to - and it's still "flat" compared to my usual "fully loaded" and floral style.  :)

To get the black and white stencil details along the sides and top, I mixed black craft paint with molding paste, and applied it "sloppily" through the stencil, allowing some of the mix to seep underneath. I wanted to get some free-style shading with the black, but still make a guideline for the white that was to come. Once that black layer was dried (with a little help from my heat gun), I went back over it using the same areas of the stencil, but this time using super heavy white gesso for slightly more detailed lines...

I used mini pearls to accent the center of the poppies, to give a little texture to the stamped design (and used mini black gems inside the small purple flowers in the design)...

So hard to photograph sparkly glitter - at least for me! But I tried anyway. :)  Black Diamond Stickles was applied heavily over the butterfly in the design, to add just a bit of sparkly, understated texture...

Supplies:

Image stamp:   Indigo Blu "Blazing Poppies"

Sentiment stamp:   Reverse Confetti "Paper Crane"

Stencil:   The Crafters Workshop Mini Chickenwire Reversed

Pearls:   Recollections          Black gems:   Kaisercraft            Watercolors:   Sakura Koi

Miscellaneous:   black hemp cording,  Golden molding paste,  Liquitex super heavy gesso,   Black Diamond Stickles

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

Grateful...Mixed Media Card...

TGIF...happy Friday!  Today's card is the result of another experimental play session gone so well that I needed to do something with it. :) The temps are finally cooling down here, and I was in the mood to play again with autumn colors. This time, I pulled out what I call "Victorian" colors - rich shades of magenta, teal, and orange.

Out came a small scrap of 140# mixed media paper, some sprays, and other bits and pieces, and here's the finished product:

Here's a photo of the piece before I covered it with embellishments (as you can see, the molding paste wasn't completely dry yet, but it makes it easier for you to see the details of the grungy harlequin stencil). 

I tore the edges of the mixed media paper, and started layering, starting with strips of self-adhesive canvas, then torn strips of book pages. Next came the fun of adding the sprays,  and watching them mix and form new colors as they spread. Once the sprays dried, I highlighted the edges of the strips with white Gelato, blending it with my fingertips. Then the molding paste was stenciled on, and the edges of the harlequin pattern shadowed with black Stabilo pencil ...

In this lower corner, the orange blended with the teal to make a pretty olive green, with hints of the orange peeking through...it was fun watching the colors blend...

I found this piece of dangly crystal beaded trim in a little "leftover" bag...it came from the lamp section of the local craft store, and was a funky addition on a little lampshade a few years ago. I added a few smaller amber gems through the center, and it was a fun addition here, too! ...

The large flower in the center of the cluster was made using Spellbinders' Grand Peony Creations dies...

I had fun playing with the die-cut leaf stems, too. They were sprayed first with the same teal used on the card base, then a copper spray to give them a "patina" look...

Supplies:

Color Mediums:   Lindy's Stamp Gang Starbursts - Tibetan Poppy Teal,  Sweet Violet Purple Teal, Cowabunga Copper;

Lindy's Stamp Gang Flat Fabio - Mango Mania

Stencil:   The Crafters Workshop Mini Harlequin             Canvas:    Ranger

Dies:   Spellbinders Grand Peony Creations;   Sizzix Flowers Branches & Leaves

Roses and flower stamens:   Wild Orchid Crafts

Sentiment stamp:   Simon Says Stamp - Handwritten Greetings

Amber gems:  Doodlebug and Kaisercraft            Gem braided trim:   local craft store

Miscellaneous:   mixed media paper, old book page,  white Gelato,  Uni Posca white paint pen,  

Stabilo All pencil-black,  purple hemp cording

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