Life Imitating Craft

I took the Altenew Academy Class Stamps Meet Scrapbook. It gave me the motivation to scrap this photograph I took after reenacting a stamp from Papertrey Ink's Studio Style with my collection of PTI ribbons (in Ocean Tides). The stamped images on Shrinky Dink shown in the picture are used on the page after being colored in with colored pencils.

The page is stamped with Papertrey Ink's Fine Linen ink using a stamp Altenew's Coffee with a Splash set. The acetate butterfly is from Altenew's Reflection kit.

I love all the different textures of the ribbons (twill, stitched, satin, grosgrain, swiss dot), the gold watercolor, gold embossing powder, gold Thickers, Altenew's Alphabet Stickers, and the matte shrinky dink embellishments.

The "My soul is fed with stamps and ink" sentiment comes from Aletnew's Crafty Life stamp set. "I [heart] paper crafting" and "Do something creative every day" come from PTI's Studio Style.

I stamped the largest frame from Altenew's Framed set on PTI's Linen Cardstock with Versamark Ink and the applied Ranger's Super Fine Detailed Gold Embossing Powder and then brushed it in places for a more distressed look before heating it. Then I painted it with #90 Gold Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolor before fussy cutting it.

The butterfly and ribbon Shrinky Dink embellsihments were attached by stitching them to the page with a 2ply handspun bombyx silk embroidery thread.

Stamp-a-Faire 2016 Remix

I chose Kay Miller's Watercolor Like a Master technique using Through the Trees and a sentiment from Year of Flowers: Lily of the Valley. The foliage is inked with Summer Sunset, Orange Zest and Berry Sorbet. After watering coloring the image there was a little puddle of water. On impulse, I restamped the image and got a little more definition from the 2nd stamping.

Thank You card

I used Altenew's Painted Flower stamp set. I really love this set. It has multi-layered stamps, but they can be used individually like I did with this detail stamp on Tim Holtz' Watercolor Paper with Versafine ink. Then I painted the flowers in with Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors. The pearlescent vellum is really vintage, I don't have any idea when I bought it or who makes it. It's cut with Papertrey Ink's Mat Stack 1 die with Taylored Expressions "thanks" die that was heat embossed with Rangers Fine Detail Gold Embossing Powder.  The card base is Papertrey Ink's Tropical Teal.

The vellum die cut was adhered to the watercolor by lightly tracing the mat where I wanted it to be in pencil, applying Scotch Vellum Tape to the water color within the pencil lines, erasing the pencil lines and putting the mat on. Putting the vellum tape on the watercolor rather than the vellum makes a world of difference.

Simon Says For the Love of Plants and it's been colored, so I'm entering it in the 30 Coloring Challenge also.

Meow Spring Meow

My take on today's Make It Monday #204: Watercolor Smooshing. I was channeling Daniel Tiger from Mister Roger's Neighborhood. I "smooshed" Melon Berry, Hibiscus Burst and Harvest Gold inks. Then colored a little Weathered Wood Distress ink as the shadow. The cat and meow sentiment are from the Cat's Meow set. "Spring" is handwritten. The sequins are adhered to the card with a drop of Stickles.Smooshing is easy peasy after watching the video. Still yearning for some serious spring here. The card base is Spring Moss.

Papertrey Ink February 2015 Blog Hop

I'm in desperate need of spring. So I grabbed the opportunity for today's Papertrey Ink's February 2015 Blog Hop.

I painted the watercolor paper with Hibiscus Burst, Limeade Ice, Hawaiian Shores and Plum Pudding inks smooshed (separately) on the craft pad and spritzed with water.

Corner Chompers round the corners. Since I don't have the Quatrefoil Die, I substituted a die cut from Cricut Paper Lace cartridge, applied Tombow Multi-Glue and let it dry till it was tacky before applying to the watercolor paper.

The leafy tag with the butterfly and "Enjoy" are all from Tags for Spring stamped with Simply Chartreuse and Ocean Tides. The card base is Harvest Gold.

Maile Belles Inspiration Challenge

The 2nd Day Challenge of the Papertrey Ink 8th Anniversary Celebration is to create a card inspired by Maile Belles. The card I was inspired by can be found here.

The flower and leaves are from the  Rosie Posie set. The scalloped layer is partially from the 1 3/4" Limitless Layers Circle Die Collection. The card base is Hibiscus Burst, everything else is Stamper's Select White. The leaves were put in a water spritzed puddle of Shabby Shutters Distress ink, then stamped in Mowed Lawn Distress Ink. The flower petals were stamped with Raspberry Fizz with an edge of Pure Poppy and then gone over with a water brush. The center was stamped with Summer Sunrise with an edge of Orange Zest. The sentiment is from Bold Bouquet.

And because Simon Says All Things Bright and Beautiful, it's there as well : ).

WOYWW 293

One of my Christmas gifts, Kuretake Gansai Tambi 36 Color Set Japanese Traditional Solid Water Colours The lid has a place to color in each paint including white, pearl and two golds. All I can say is oooooooooooooo : D.  I'm getting ready to color the card to go with the Christmas hat using the gnome stamp set I was gluing last week.

The Christmas hat is finally completed (blocking, big ass pompom, ends woven in and all).
Garden Gnome Hat pattern can be found on ravelry  here. It knits big. I used 2.50 mm needles
 instead of 2.25 because my friend said she has a big head, from what I read in the pattern comments on the ravelry page, I could have done without the  increase lol. Note to self, read all the comments on ravelry (I found it on Etsy first I think). Without the pompom it measures 14 inches in length, if I had knit per the gauge it should be  11". But it fits in a slouchy way that is warm and comfortable, I'm hoping it suits the taste of the recipient lol.

The  pom pom tutorial is one I found on Pinterest, it's in Japanese(?), but the pictures tell the story, at least enough to get the job done. I trimmed off a lot and it's still 3.5" across. Just another reason I'd hate to see toilet paper rolls disappear, but they seem to be much more flimsy then in the past.

To see more crafty spaces head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander : ).

Bits of Sparkle

This Wednesday Simon Says Make It Sparkle. So out comes the Diamond Stickles. The "U" is from a Martha Stewart alphabet stamp set stamped in Papertrey Ink Ocean Tides. "Miss" comes from Paper Tray stamp set. And a little watercolor to ground everything.

 And I love to do variations.

Mid-Summer's Portable Projects

While in reality I'm working at my craft-table, but in my imagination I'm sitting in at a table in a campground with a stack of these pre-stamped mats ready to color. Then bring them home to add a sentiment and attach to a cardbase (or use in a scrapbook layout or journal page). These projects are just the ticket for such mid-summer fun.

The technique is this week's Make It Monday #173 No Outline Watercolor. This mat is stamped with the Nuts for You stamp set. All of the mats are cut from Papertrey Ink's Vintage Cream cardstock. The only products that aren't Papertrey Ink are the water colors and Antique Linen Distress Ink.

This one reminds me of mid-summer so I'm entering it in Simon Says A Mid-Summer's Challenge. The flowers are from Friendship Jar Filler and the sentiment is from Forest Friends Sentiments. The cardbase is Hibiscus Burst.

It's difficult to see in the photograph but I used white watercolor and it does alter the flower from cream to white in a translucent sort of way lol.

This is with Forest Friends and Forest Friends Sentiments with a Simply Chartreuse cardbase.

Tea for Two, Tea for Two Additions and Make It Market kit: Beautiful Brushstrokes. This one really reminds me of a Jane Austenesque illustration.

 On My Couch (reminds me of a leather chair) image and sentiment with an Ocean Tides cardbase.

And another On My Couch card.

Make It Monday #173: No Outline Watercolor

Heather at Papertrey Ink shared a new (to me anyway) method of using line stamps and watercolors at Make It Monday #173: No Outline Watercolor. I used regular watercolors instead of re-inkers since all my re-inkers are brown and black. And I used Antique Linen Distress Ink instead of Papertrey Ink's Fine Linen (since I don't have that one yet).  The cardstock is all Papertrey Ink. The flowers are Pretty Peonies and the sentiment is from Forest Friends Sentiments.

Make It Monday #165

My card for Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday #165.  Using one of my favorite stamp sets (Funky Florals) I used Betsy Veldman's watercolor technique stamping the large flower in Simply Chartreuse and Ocean Tides. When everything had dried, I stamped the sentiment in black and the flower centers in Classic Kraft.

WOYWW 209 - whadda week

My craftdesk is still covered, so I used our new to this house kitchen table : D. One of my sisters and I swapped tables, always an adventure, mine required the removal of a door and the dismantling of the table to get it out. Now I know why it came with the house lol. I only got to make one thing this week, as I'm up to my ears in sorting and lots of life chaos (have I mentioned I aspire to boring?). This is my first attempt at Chinese-style Brush Painting. I needed a thank you card for my child's private lesson music teacher, and he likes goldfish.

Five years ago I bought this kit from BJ's (a wholesale shopping club), it came with a booklet (which I've been reading for 5 years). The need for a thank you card prodded me into action. That "rule" about if you haven't used it in 6 months, get rid of it is terrifying to me lol. Sometimes it takes me 10 years just to work my way up to trying something. I use the guideline, do I really see myself using this, and I have actually moved things along after as little as 3 months if I couldn't see it. No crafting rules for me, just guidelines.

The two sticks on the right are handles for the brush heads. The black rectangle at the top is a ink grinder/mixer, put in a little water then rub the ink stick (black stick next to brush handles) in the circle.

I probably had way too much delight in the miniature water pot and ladle (the pot is a little bigger than a quarter, but hey, one must find joy where one can right? The ladle serves up smaller amounts of water than can be poured (according to the literature, and I think it's correct). : D

If you are wondering what's all this WOYWW, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander. Better yet, snap a picture of your workspace and join in the fun.

Papertrey Ink Tag Download Challenge 7

This tag is by Alli Miles and is colored with ArtQuest Jewelz the shimmer is amazing and is only hinted at in the picture. The sentiment is from the Year of Flowers: Lily of the Valley stamp set. The card is made with White Shimmer Cardstock.