Month: July 2017

To create this card, I used Ranger Alcohol Inks: Red Pepper, Mushroom, and Oregano…all of a sudden, I’m hungry for spaghetti. 🙂 These inks came as a set. At first, I thought it was an unusual combination, but I liked how they looked together in the end. Shabby Shutters was used as the distress ink. I think it’s such a beautiful, soft color!

I always love when synchronicity happens to me. I’ll see something and get a really strong feeling that I NEED to buy it. I’ve learned to recognize that feeling-it’s different than ‘I have to, HAVE to, have that dress or I can’t go on.’ Then days or weeks go by, and I find that I need it for a particular situation and then I have it. The weirdest time was when I was standing in a hardware store. I looked at a tool, got that feeling, and thought ‘I don’t even know the name of this. Why would I need it?’ Yep, I needed it later on. I think of it as God and the angels looking out for me because they know what’s coming in my life and have my back. The dies I used on this card came in two different sets, and I bought them at two different times-they go together perfectly. Craft synchronicity!

Materials Used:

• Strathmore Watercolor Paper, Cold Press, 140 lb.
• Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink Yupo Paper, Translucent
• Core’dinations Cardstock, French Roast
• Ranger Alcohol Inks: Red Pepper, Mushroom, and Oregano
• Giottos AA1900 Rocket Air Blaster, LARGE
• Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Shabby Shutters
• Ranger Tim Holtz Mini Blending Tool
• Ranger Mini Ink Blending Foam
• Ranger Mister
• Small Paint Brush
• Ranger non-stick Craft Sheet
• Tim Holtz Distress Glitter, Festive Berries
• Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlits, Mixed Media #2, 661185
• Spellbinders Card Creator, A2 Scalloped Borders Three, S5-214
• Stampabilities “Merci” Stamp, C1080
• Tim Holtz Scissor, 5”
• Ranger Archival Ink, Jet Black
• Tombow Aqua Mono Liquid Glue
• Tim Holtz Tonic Stamp Platform
• Scor-Tape: 1/8”, 3/8”, 1-1/2”, and 2-1/2”
• Krylon Matte Finish (on the alcohol ink)

Machine: Sizzix Big Shot, with two cutting pads and the magnetic platform.

Merci pour la visite! I hope you have a day filled with good things and happiness!!!

Diane

To create this card, I used a combination of alcohol inks, distress inks, and dies. I can tell that I’m really going to like the Tim Holtz Mixed Media set that I recently added to my stash! This was my first attempt at flicking water, from my hand, onto distress inks. I might have flicked too much! 🙂

Materials Used:

• Core’dinations Cardstock, Hydrangea
• Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink Yupo Paper, Translucent
• Strathmore Watercolor Paper, Cold Press, 140 lb.
• Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks: Limeade, Pink Sherbet, and Amethyst
• Giottos AA1900 Rocket Air Blaster, LARGE
• Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Twisted Citron, Spun Sugar, and Wilted Violet
• Ranger Tim Holtz Mini Ink Blending Tool
• Ranger Mini Ink Blending Foam
• Ranger Mister
• Small Paint Brush
• Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlits Die, Mixed Media, 660220
• Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlits Dies, Detailed Butterflies, Mini, 661802
• Spellbinders Die-D-Lites, Petite Labels One-Scalloped 2, S3-205
• Stampabilities “Just Because” Stamp, Short Sentiments Set, 1249705
• Adhesive Foam Sheet (behind the butterflies and the sentiment to give them a 3D effect)
• Ranger non-stick Craft Sheet
• Tim Holtz Scissor, 5”
• Fiskars Lever Butterfly Punch
• Zig 2 Way Glue
• Imagine Crafts Craft Mat (I’m starting to use this blue mat a lot more. I use it when I’m gluing things. The glue can be wiped off with a wet paper towel.)
• Ranger Archival Ink, Jet Black
• Scor-Tape: 1/4”, 1/2” and 3/8”
• To give a protective finish, and to even out the dull and shiny contrasts of the alcohol inks, I sprayed Krylon Matte Finish as the first coat; Krylon Kamar Varnish, as the second.

Machine: Sizzix Big Shot-with two cutting pads and the magnetic platform.

I hope you enjoyed my card. Have a blessed day!

Diane

I finished the card that I’m going to enter in the Lavinia July 2017 Challenge-Create a Landscape. I love how the winner of the challenge is picked randomly. To me, that means that it levels the playing field. It gives newbies (like me) an equal chance against the awesome skills of the more experienced artists who may have been creating for many years. It’s a chance to win 40 British pounds of beautiful Lavinia stamps! Here’s crossing my fingers…

Recently, I downloaded the Tim Holtz Distress Ink (blank) color sheet and added the distress inks that I own to it. It took a little bit of time, but I felt that it gave me a more accurate visual of the colors versus the color chart with the colors already added to it. It made choosing the colors so much easier and faster for this card! I could see at a glance that Mermaid Lagoon, Broken China, and Tumbled Glass would work really well together, and I could see what order would work best.

The link for the color sheet I used is:

http://rangerink.com/pdf/organize/Distress%20Ink%20Chart_DEC_2015.pdf

I’ve discovered the wonderful world of Copic Alcohol Markers.  I tried to purchase them s l o w l y, but that didn’t work. But, I am thankful that there are THREE craft stores in my town, two of which carry them in their stores. Thankful, too, that they have such great coupons, and the three stores are within about a mile radius of each other. These markers are spendy, but they give such a cool looking end result!

FLOURISH FAIRY

I used the Lavinia Tree Root Stamp to create the roots and the tree trunk. Then I turned the stamp upside down and continued to stamp the trunk part, the length of the card. Copics E35, E37, and E57 were used to color the brown on the tree, and G24, the moss. Distress glitter gave the moss its sparkle.

The Tim Holtz Mixed Media #2 die, along with my Bigshot, were used to cut the leaves in the cardstock. I put a couple pieces of Scor-Tape behind the leaf die cut cardstock, sticky side up. I sprinkled Distress Glitter on top of that. What I love about this process is when I pull off the Scor-Tape backing, the glitter stays in place and the Scor-Tape also sticks to the base cardstock. I put a strip of Picked Raspberry Distress Ink on my non-stick craft sheet, spritzed it with water, and used a paintbrush to ‘paint’ around the leaf die cut image.  The rest of the distress inks were used to create the sky, as well as the grass.

I wanted the fairy to glow on this card so I stamped her on cardstock; cut around her; and colored the area with Copic Y13, Lemon Yellow. I added Ranger Stickles to her, as well as her wings, to add more sparkle. Y13 was also used to color the moon (or sun…haven’t decided yet).

Three leaf pieces from the die cut image were used and painted with Mowed Lawn Distress Ink. (I’m learning not to throw the little pieces of paper away!) The mini castle was added to create distance.

Yellow (Danford Iris) cardstock was used as the base.

Materials Used:

• Strathmore Watercolor Paper, Cold Press, 140 lb.
• Core’dinations Cardstock, Danford Iris
• Lavinia Stamps: Tree Goddess “Luna”, Silhouette Castle Miniature, Tree Root (Tracey Lavinia Dutton is the artist of the Lavinia stamps.)
• Scor-Tape: 1/8”, 1/4”, 3/8”, 1-1/2”, 2-1/2”
• Ranger Stickles: Crystal, Pink Taffeta, and Shamrock
• Ranger Archival Ink, Jet Black
• Memento Dew Drop: Tuxedo Black and Brilliance Chocolate (I’ve found that Memento inks work really well with Copics.)
• Copic Pens: 0 Colorless Blender, RV25 Dog Rose Flower, RV55 Hollyhock, E35 Chamois, E37 Sepia, E57 Light Walnut, G24 Willow, G46 Mistletoe, Y13 Lemon Yellow (Whoever created the 0 Colorless Blender is a genious!)
• Copic Multiliner Pens (Set A-2)
• Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink: Picked Raspberry, Mowed Lawn, Mermaid Lagoon, Broken China, and Tumbled Glass
• Ranger Tim Holtz Mini Ink Blending Tool
• Ranger Mini Ink Blending Foam
• Ranger Distress Glitter, Mowed Lawn
• Sizzix Tim Holtz Thinlets Mixed Media #2 Die, 661185
• Tim Holtz Tonic Stamp Platform
• Ranger non-stick Craft Sheet
• Zig 2 Way Glue
• Baby Wipes
• Tim Holtz Scissor, 5”

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

Diane

I wanted to create a card with a house image on it. My Silhouette Cameo was feeling TOTALLY ignored-it had been a while since I had used it. I’ll find an intriguing new medium and wander off in that direction. (it’s like ‘ooh, sparkly object.’) I’ve just discovered the wonderful world of Copics. But, anyway, back to my ‘sweet home’ card. I found this card image in the Silhouette Design Store. It was exactly what I was looking for!

Materials Used:

• Core’dinations Cardstock, Light Green Small Dot
• Core’dinations Cardstock, Golf Course (color)
• Jim Holtz & Ranger Distress Collection Cardstock, Scattered Straw
• Daniela Angelova Sweet Home Card, Design 45827 (I used just the front of the card, that the Silhouette Cameo cut out, and anchored polka dot paper behind that. Then I added a darker green cardstock as the base.)
• Scrap of red cardstock for the heart on the door
• Piece of Georgia-Pacific Cardstock Paper, 110 lb. (I printed off the SWEET and HOME text using my Microsoft Word program. I got creative after I had tried to tweak those same words, that the Silhouette had cut out, and I screwed that up. No way was this card not going to work out!)
• Scor-Tape: 1/8”, 1/4″, and 3/8”
• Faux light green gemstones
• Zig 2-way Glue

Thank you for checking out my card! Have a fantastic day!

Diane

I wanted to use this Stampendous mermaid stamp, but I needed to buy some skin-colored markers to get the look I wanted. I did some research-Copic markers seemed like a good choice until I looked at their price. WO!!! I decided to purchase the Spectrum Noir Alcohol markers instead.

Joanne’s had some good coupons, so I was able to purchase a few of the Spectrum Noir Alcohol marker sets. I had trouble opening a couple of the markers, without the refill part coming off too, but maybe that takes practice. I found some information about opening them, as well as some other useful information, at this link:

http://www.spectrumnoir.com/coloring-and-paper-faq/.

I liked how the colors looked; how they blended; and the Blender marker. I plan to use them only to color my stamped images. In the reviews, I read that people used these markers to color in adult coloring books. I know I wouldn’t be able to do that because of their alcohol smell. But, for my purpose of using them on rubber and clear stamped images, they will be very useful. In the future, I would like to (slowly and wisely) purchase a few Copic markers also so that I could compare them to Spectrum Noir.

(Please Note: Since writing this post, I did purchase (over time) a full set of Copics. I LOVED the end result of the Spectrum Noir markers, but I found the alchohol ink smell was too strong for me because of my allergies to scents.) 

Materials Used:

• Strathmore Watercolor Paper, Cold Press, 140 lb.
• Tim Holtz Alcohol Ink Yupo Paper, 5” x 7”, Translucent
• Gold Glitter Paper
• Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks: Mermaid, Sail Boat Blue, and Stream
• Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean, Broken China, Mermaid Lagoon, and Squeezed Lemonade
• Lavinia Stamp: Willow (seaweed) (Tracey Lavinia Dutton is the artist of the Lavinia stamp.)
• Stampendous ‘Mermaid Kisses & Starfish Wishes’ clear stamp, Ocean Wisdom set
• Sizzix Framelits Tickets, 657569
• Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels Four, S4-190, 1-3/8” x 2-1/8”
• Giottos AA1900 Rocket Air Blaster, LARGE (to control the direction of the alcohol inks)
• Darice Embossing Folder, Damask (sun)
• Hampton Art Stamp Perfect-Stamp Positioning Tool
• Acrylic Block
• Ranger Tim Holtz Mini Ink Blending Tool
• Ranger Mini Ink Blending Foam
• Ranger Archival Ink, Jet Black (seaweed)
• Scor-Tape: 1/8”, 1/4”, 1/2”, and 3/8”
• Krylon Matte Finish (on the alcohol ink frame)
• Ranger non-stick Craft Sheet
• Baby Wipes
• Scotch-Blue Painters Tape (This worked really well to anchor cardstock onto the non-stick craft sheet while I used the distress inks. It pulled right off when I was through with distressing.)

Mermaid:

• Stampendous Mermaid Stamp, P151
• Spectrum Noir Professional Alcohol Markers: FS6, BT4, BT5, BT7, and Blender Pen
• Memento Dew Drop Ink, Tuxedo Black
• Pearl Gemstones-I used Tombow Multipurpose Liquid Glue to anchor them.
• Ranger Stickles, Crystal
• Zig 2 Way Glue
• Tim Holtz Scissor, 7”

Machine: Sizzix Big Shot

Have a beautiful and wonderful day!

Diane